Innocents Pay Chapter 6: Ghosts of Stalin

The next few weeks were mind boggling for Jeremy, Aelita, and Ulrich. Jim had fabricated excuses for their absence, and spent the mornings lecturing them on "true history." "Time is not linear. Events occur to you as you see them, not before or after, no matter what the history books say. We can only travel backwards in time, and thus, we cannot change the true course of history. Whatever we have done has already changed what will happen. Here is our problem: The Soviets plan to use the C-bomb in May, this year. Edsonel Hoptoff, although he was a communist, believed that no nation should possess such power, and so he has left clues scattered throughout history. These clues, whatever they are, contain the secret to stopping Poliakoff."
Jeremy gasped. He knew where he had heard that name before. "Poliakoff as in, like, Nicolas from school?"
"No, Jeremy, haven't you been paying attention? This is Sergei Poliakoff, ex head of KGB. He was dismissed when he married an  Englishwoman, 'betraying' communism. However, KGB agents from the past do not know this...or they just don't care.  Nicolas may be related, but not closely. But I digress. Edsonel left these clues, six of them, across history. Rumor has it that your father, Aelita, had the key to the first clue."
Aelita nodded. "The CD. Jeremy was working on it with his laptop. He said it would be uncoded by around lunch, if I remember right."
Jeremy shook his head. "Apparently, my system couldn't handle it at all. We need to fire up the super computer."
Jim nodded. "Let's go there now. No time to waste."
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As Jeremy fired up the super computer, he couldn't help but feel a rush. At his fingertips was not just a virtual world, but a portal system to travel in time and space! He rode the elevator back up. As he did, Aelita, up in the main control room, decided to quickly text Yumi to meet them. They would surely need her help. Jeremy arrived, and enthroning himself on his technological throne, pushed the disk into the machine. As the computer unscrambled it, he remembered the first time he turned it on. The first time he met Aelita. He looked at her now. She was standing next to his chair quietly, her left arm hanging down, the other grasping the left at the elbow. He could see the sadness in her eyes. She'd always hated the computer, and now it seemed to be responsible for Neil's death, too. "Hey," he said, chucking her chin, "It'll be alright." Suddenly, the computer started bleeping. It had finished working on the CD. Jeremy opened it, and a video started to run. An old man with shaved pink hair started to speak. "This is Edsonel Hoptoff. Waldo, if you are seeing this, then humanity is on the brink of destruction. If this is anyone else, use the supercomputer to run the program shown here."  A string of intensely complicated code sprawled across the screen, and then the video ended. Jeremy copied the code, and entered it into the console. The super computer whirled to life. Lyoko was re awakened, and a tower in the desert sector glowed with a golden aura.  Jim barked an order. "Jeremy, Aelita, get into the scanners." Although, he was squeamish about going into Lyoko, he thought better of contradicting Jim. Jeremy opened the elevator. Aelita followed him, and they stod quietly as it descended. The door rolled open. As the pair walked in Jeremy suddenly thought out loud, "How does Jim know how to run the machine? And why did I let him tell me to go to Lyoko? I said I'd never, ever go back in there!" Aelita smiled at him, and seizing the moment, kissed him quickly. "Don't worry, Jeremy,-It'll be alright." She smirked deviously and pushed him into a scanner before entering one herself. Jim ran the code, virtualizing them almost as fast as Jeremy. Jeremy felt like he was burning, drowning, falling, and in a tight space all at once. Finally creaking his eyes open, he saw Aelita in her usual Lyoko outfit. He himself was clad in black military gear, with a tablet hanging on his back. Aelita turned around and jumped. "Wow, Jeremy, you look so much...different! From last time, you know." As if from out of the air, Jim said, "Of course! We couldn't have had him running around in his original get up! Gag me with a rusty chunk of rebar and grind glass into my stomach! I gave him the standard issue Gladio uniform. Now hold on while I send you a vehicle"
Jeremy and Aelita were painfully far away from the tower, so when an open top Jeep-looking car virtualized in front of them, they thanked Jim from the bottom of their hearts. The vehicle was flashy and glamorous, garnering attention through hot rod flames, over size tires, and apparent attitude. They could practically hear the smile in Jim's voice as he said, "We call it the 'General McArthur,' for obvious reasons." Neither Jeremy nor Aelita could think of a reason, or even who General McArthur was. They jumped in, and Jeremy found that it was quite responsive. As they speed across the surreal desert landscape, they could already see the golden tower in the distance. In a few minutes, they were parked next to it. Aelita hopped out, and felt a moment of dread as she pushed into the tower. Jeremy followed close behind. By the time he discovered how to enter the structure and got inside, Aelita had already opened the console. Jim spoke, "Enter 'Hoptoff' as the code."
Aelita complied, and to her surprise, the world around her was torn to pieces. Everything went black, and the last thing she heard was Jeremy shouting her name.
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Back at the factory, Ulrich had grown restless. "Jm, I'm going outside for a second." Jim grunted, focused exclusively on the computer, and said "Be back quickly." Fifteen minutes would pass before Ulrich came back, and those fifteen minutes would prove to have saved his life. Seconds after he left, a swarthy Russian man crawled with catlike stealth down the ladder. Jim whipped around, alerted by the slightest noise. The Russian was on the ground poised to shoot. Jim leapt over the shot, smashing into the man with a snarl. They tussled on the ground, wrestling for control over the handgun. Jim grunted through his teeth, "Peter, I'd thought you'd never come." Peter laughed, and replied, "I wouldn't miss it for the world, G.I. Jim!"Jim's hand was on the top of the pistol, while the Russian retained his hold on the handle. After deftly depressing the switch, Jim yanked the slide of the pistol forward, disassembling the handgun neatly and rolling away. Both special forces operatives regained their feet and pulled out knives. Jim seized the initiative and jumped for Peter, who blocked the blow and caught Jim's wrist with both hands. Peter smiled. The battle was his, and his first move was to slit Jim's wrist Jim groaned in pain, but didn't relinquish his hold on the knife until Peter stabbed through, severing Jim's tendons. Jim dropped the knife, no longer physically able to hold it, and broke off. The combatants stood about ten feet away. Jim opened his stance, looking for a weapon. It was the second, and last mistake he made. He saw Peter's thumb press onto the Russian-made knife's handle, and realization hit him. It was a ballistic knife, and the blade, ejected by the force of a spring, sailed through the air and buried itself in Jm's neck. He collapsed, gurgling. His vision dimmed, but he was aware, of Peter coming to gloat over his corpse. Even as his brain started dying, he realized the extent of his failure. This man would destroy the computer, strand the teens in Lyoko , and doom the world to destruction. No! He could not let that happen! With a roar, Jim sprang up, ripped the knife out of his own throat, and rammed it into Peter's eye. Dying simultaneously, their blood was spread across history. Each man was by no means innocent. They had both followed the edicts of nations whose only goal were the destruction of the enemy. They had both murdered many innocents, for different causes. If both causes call for innocents to pay, is either side right? Although the tree of liberty may have to be watered with the blood of tyrants, it is much more often sated with the blood of the innocents.
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Jeremy and Aelita both woke up simultaneously. They glanced at eachother, and realized that they were both wearing ancient Egyptian clothing. Aelita stammered, "Wh-where are we?" A voice from behind them said, "Egypt, in a time you would know as somewhere around 3000 B.C." The voice belonged to Edsonel Hoptoff.