Meeting with IBM.
Gene Amdahl meets with time travelers Bob Thomas and Bruce James. So far he is the only person at IBM fully briefed, so he is IBM’s contact with what they are told is classified research. Bob Thomas remembered his name, along with Fred Brooks as being in charge of IBM’s groundbreaking System 360 project in the 1960’s. Fred Brooks is presently in a PHD program at Harvard. It was decided to wait until he graduates before considering recruiting him.
Gene Amdahl addressed them, “I have been briefed on what you have already said. We were actually already looking into a transistor version of our IBM 700 series of computer. We are considering three approaches, point-contact transistors, surface barrier transistors and diffusion transistors. Which approach will work best?”
Bob Thomas answered, “I’m pretty embarrassed by this, since I should know about transistors, but I simply have never heard about any of those. I know about npn transistors and that they were made with silicon, and have a base collector and emitter, but not much more than that. I actually studied this in school and that is about all I remember.” Bruce James added, “I don’t know about any of that.”
Gene Amdahl replied, “That helps a little, it sounds like diffusion might be the process that was used. Also Bell Labs and Texas Instruments have done some work with silicon transistors. This project is going to have us share some of our basic research. We are also doing some destructive analysis on your devices. We have identified a non-critical area to at least identify what elements were used, but we understand that a 2008 device might have very little to do with 1954 research.”
Chapter 19
Cuba.
The US made several arrangements with Batista, including increased anti-insurgency military aid, and some financial aid to finance some land reforms. Part of the arrangements were to turn over the Castro brothers to unofficial US custody. Che Guevara was in Mexico, and the US was not able to secure his custody. However, he was not yet involved in activities in Cuba.
Dr. Chadwell told Fidel and Raul Castro, “First of all, I’ll explain the purpose of this meeting. We want to discuss with you the future of Cuba, and hear your ideas.” Fidel Castro said, “I think you are under some false impressions. First, our movement never killed hospital patients. Secondly, the maximum prison term for what the Cuban court said I was guilty of, is 15 years. Third, we cannot be guilty of an uprising against the Constitutional State, since the Batista regime itself is not following the Constitution.” Robertson answered, “None of that is relevant, we are interested in the future of your movement, not in your past actions. How could the Cuban government change, so your movement would no longer would feel the need to overthrow it?” Fidel Castro proclaimed, “Reinstate the 1940 Constitution, reform land rights, give industrial workers 30% of profits, give sugar workers 55% of profits, and confiscate ownership from anyone guilty of fraud based on the pre-Batista law.”
Robertson asked, “Do you think a cessation of insurgency is possible under Batista?”. Fidel Castro answered, “No. Batista is a monstrum horrendum, without entrails. It is not my movement that will free Cuba, but the Cuban people. You can stop me, my movement, but not the Cuban people, who will prevail in the end.”
The meeting with the Castro’s didn’t provide any new information. They would be kept in indefinite secret detention. US advisors would significantly help the Cuban military to stop guerrilla warfare, including trying helicopters in similar ways to how they would have been used a decade later in Vietnam. The CIA backed a coup against Batista by a general who seemed able to follow advice and therefore be able to prevent a revolution.
Vietnam.
The US and British time travelers were asked about Vietnam. Professor Robertson asked “What can you tell me about Ngo Dinh Diem?” Bob Thomas answered, “Not much, except he was the leader of South Vietnam in the early 1960’s, when the Buddhists were self-immolating to protest against him. JFK favored him because he was Catholic, but I think there are more Buddhists than Catholics there. It is possible that he indirectly ties into the Kennedy assassination. The CIA killed Diem a few weeks before the JFK assassination. I had read that JFK was not in favor of removing Diem, and this was a rogue operation, and that he then said he would split the CIA into a thousand pieces, and then JFK was killed.” Bruce James said, “I had heard that statement about the CIA was made after Bay of Pigs, in 1961, not Diem in 1963. About Diem itself, one thing to consider was that he was in charge of South Vietnam from around now to 1963, a period of time where the government’s position deteriorated. To avoid the trajectory that leads to the Vietnam War in 1964, perhaps a different leader would be helpful.”
Dr Chadwell said, “That is what we are thinking. What do you know about General Nguyen Van Vy?” Neither time traveler had ever heard of him.
Eastern Europe
Meanwhile in a dacha near Moscow.
Sergei Beloglazov was using his weight machines. It was similar to a Universal all-in-one machine, with some aspects of a Nautilus. There were also some prototype individual exercise machines, and a few prototype aerobic machines. They were setup in a new building next to his Dacha, which also had a sauna heated by a wood burning stove. Khrushchev insisted that Sergei do all his own wood chopping, splitting, storage and stove loading.
Nikita Khrushchev sent a message and a pair of writers to Sergei, it said “Write me a report about what happened to every Communist Country. Also write me advice about how to handle the 1956 rebellions in Poland and Hungary, and what to do about Austria.”
The report included the following summary version:
The countries that are Communist in 2008 include Cuba and North Korea. Cuba used to be subsidized by the USSR, but that largely ended around 1991. North Korea, very isolated except by China, extremely tightly controlled. Other nations officially Communist include Vietnam, Laos, maybe Cambodia. However, those are mixed economies.
Around 1989 Gorbachev announced that the USSR would not intervene in Eastern Europe.
Most of the Eastern European Communist governments fell in 1989. Albania faded out over the next couple of years. Yugoslavia broke apart into ethnic war starting in 1991. Prior to 1989, Poland and Hungary were becoming less controlled, essentially Communism fading in importance. Prior to that Poland cracked down on an anti-communist movement in 1980. Hungary had its crackdown in 1956. Both tried later to please their people’s more causing a loss of central control.
In 1989, Hungary’s border to the West was open, and East Germans started escaping that way. Soon the pressure caused the sudden collapse of the East German government when the Berlin Wall was breached by East Germans with no military response. Czechoslovakia had demonstrations that they could not stop, and agreed to a coalition government. Elections followed, and Communism ended there. Later they peacefully split into Czech and Slovakia.
The Romanian leader Ceaușescu was killed by a mob. He was allowed by the USSR to have an independent foreign policy, maybe since the 1970’s. He was an informal ally of Tito. He ruled in strongman style, causing resentment and eventually his sudden overthrow. It started with a mob booing instead of cheering him and getting away with it. Then the military stopped backing him and the dam broke. There was some violence, but Communism ended there.
Bulgaria didn’t wait for a rebellion. The government ended its political monopoly and called elections.The Socialists, which was largely the same as the previously Communist party actually won their election. Over time, Bulgaria became more towards the free market.
China and the USSR had different paths in 1989. China had a rebellion in its capital city in 1989 and it looked like it would go the way of Eastern Europe. Instead they called in an army from a distant part of China, which had no qualms with massacring people in Beijing. The Communist Party maintained control, while increasingly presiding over a capitalist economy.
The USSR in 1989 had Glasnost and Perestroika. Gorbachev thought he would reform Communism. Instead by 1991 he was losing control. Hard-liners attempted a coup against him, but by this time there were elected leaders of the Republics. Boris Yeltsin rallied the armed forces and declared that Russia was leaving the USSR. All of the other republics followed. Then there was a period of chaos and corruption, until Vladimir Putin took over at the end of 1999. He was KGB and probably likes some of their methods, but believed also that Communism does not work.
What to do about 1956 rebellions? First I’ll say that while my personal opinion is not that repression is good, but that a nuclear war almost started then. Probably the neutralization of Austria prevented that possibility. NATO had no logistical way to help the Hungarian rebellion. A neutral Austria is geographically more favorable to the USSR than a NATO western Austria. Eastern Austria provides no great advantage to the USSR.
For Hungary, first get rid of Nagy. That was going to happen anyway, but he was still around and ready to be named as a new anti-Soviet leader. Kadar had to be threatened into accepting leadership after the Soviet military intervention. Later he came up with Gholash Communism with some market reforms and easing of human rights. At the same time the recent experience of the Soviet invasion prevented any sort of easing from going out of control, the way it did in 1989.
With Poland, it was partly your own denunciation of Stalin and Stalinism in 1956 which led to a change in Poland, which the Poles thought would lead to independence.
For both Poland and Hungary, they need to know how far reforms and destalinisation will be allowed to go. Mild reforms don’t stop there on their own. In the experience of 1991 to 2008, China has been more successful than Russia.
Khrushchev next asked Sergei to tell Soviet experts about small arms for the Soviet armed forces and for export. Sergei wanted to meet with Mikhail Kalashnikov, who wasn’t given clearance to know about time travel, instead he met with Yevgeny Dragunov who was.
“I am a fan of yours. The Dragunov sniper rifle, which you are soon to invent, is an enduring classic, chambered in 7.62x54R”. Dragunov replied, “Thank you, I’ll go over with you my designs in progress and you can point me to which will later become this model named after myself. Tell me about our infantry rifles.” Sergie said “The AK47 is refined to the AKM in a few years. Steel stamping with 1 mm thickness instead of milled receiver. 1 kg lighter, more accurate. Receiver adds cross section support. Muzzle break vented up and to the right. It is still widely used in 2008 and is one of my favorites.”
Dragunov asked, “You seem familiar with it, can you help design it?” Sergie said, “Yes, and I can assemble it blindfolded. I used a version with a folding stock and night vision. I didn’t personally like the AK74 and later models. They used 5.45×39. Logistically especially for export it made sense. Lighter cheaper rounds, much less recoil, easier for follow on shot accuracy, can carry more rounds. Designed to tumble when hitting a target. Maybe two thirds the power of a 7.62×39. Nothing wrong with it, but I prefer the larger caliber.”
Dragunov then switched to asking “What about the machine pistol you were carrying when you were found?” Sergei said, “For concealment but with decent firepower, an Israeli Micro Uzi. 9×19 mm, 282 mm long with the stock folded. Obviously you’ll be using that for design ideas, but you, on your own, designed the PP-91, in the 1970’s chambered in 9×18 Makarov. I can help a little bit with that, but I don’t have that detailed knowledge of it. It has some over similarities in shape with the Uzi, but not quite as small.”
Chapter 20
Dr. Chadwell met with Bob Thomas and Bruce James. “What do you know about Claude Shannon?” Neither were familiar with his name. “He says some of what you were saying about computers” Dr Chadwell said to Bob Thomas. “Among what he has said is that ones and zeros can be used to represent any information, very much like your explanation of the cell phone. He proved that the logic elements you talked about NOT AND and NOT OR could be created from electronic circuits, and he did that as a student at MIT in 1937. He designed a mechanical mouse that can discover how to solve a maze, combining robotics and artificial intelligence, and he did this in 1950. He worked for AT&T Labs, but insisted on building this device himself at home. He has worked with Alan Turing.” Bob Thomas replied “This is similar to the Ferranti company, it is either an area that I really should know about, given my background, and just inexplicably don’t know about, or evidence of another time traveler, either this individual or someone who he learned from.”
Later after being shown writings by and articles about Claude Shannon, Bob Thomas said, “The Shannon number for understanding chess complexity is almost familiar to me, and maybe I remember that name, but I’m not sure. The puzzle solving mouse robot however, is something I didn’t even know they had in the 1960’s, let alone in 1950.” Dr. Chadwell replied, “We will investigate him thoroughly, and in all likelihood bring him into the project. If he is not a time traveler we will see if we can determine if he was influenced by time travel, apparently starting at a young age.”
Actually he was part of their history, and was just one of those areas of history that the time travelers just didn’t know about.
Timefiction 