A Trial of Time- India/US Transference.

Chapter 6: Regal Sight V2

"DOD wouldn't allow it." Mr. Perry bluntly replied. "The email had a long line of excuses that was so mind numbing, I already forgot most of it by the time I closed it. But they will be meeting you at the White House."

The Indian plane completed its final procedures and began powering down while base personnel attached a stepladder on the door. A few minutes later, the door opened and the Foreign Minister of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Vyacheslav Molotov, stepped out of the plane and got down to the stairs.

"Prime Minister Churchill." Molotov said, as he greeted the man. The group had made their way closer to the plane once the doors had opened.

"Minister Molotov." Churchill greeted back as the two men shook hands. Molotov then shook hands with Anthony Eden, General Eisenhower and Ambassador Winant before he was face to face with Perry.

"Mr. Molotov. I am Evan Perry, the Secretary of State. On behalf of the US Government, I welcome you to the United States of America." Perry said.

"Thank you, Mr. Perry. On behalf of the People of the USSR, I thank you for having this meeting on such short notice." Molotov replied.

"Ah... High Commissioner Evans. How've you been?" Perry asked as he shook hands with another man who descended down the steps.

"I've been good, Secretary Perry. Of course, all this notwithstanding." Evans replied.

"Ah, right. Mr. Evans, you may already know them from the history books, but I'll still do the introductions. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom John G. Winant. Gentlemen, Mr. Thomas Evans, the British High Commissioner to the Republic of India."

"Gentlemen." Evans said as he shook everyone's hands.

The last group to come down the steps were the officials from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, and after another round of introductions, everyone bundled into the motorcade before they left Andrews Air Base.

As the motorcade (which was given a police escort by the Maryland State Police the second it left Andrews) made its way via Maryland into Washington, D.C. The eyes of everyone from the 1940s were glued to their windows.

For Churchill himself, this was a very different United States than the one he had visited the last time. Last time he had come to this side of the Atlantic, there was a general mood of grief, hopelessness and more importantly, rage, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941, or as Roosevelt put it, "A day that will go down in infamy!"

However, in this America, the mood was... different. Churchill was not sure how he should word it, but he had a queasy feeling in his gut. As if a voice was in his head telling him that he should not expect his objective to be met smoothly. On the other hand, while it was disappointing that there were no flying cars yet, the amount of cars on the road was mind-boggling, to say the least.

Half an hour later, the Maryland State Police was joined by the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia aka the MPDC, making the former turn back once the motorcade crossed into Washington, DC. Men like Churchill and Eisenhower could not help but notice the weapons the MPDC officers on the street were carrying, and the latter would have confused them for soldiers had their badges and vests not clearly said 'POLICE'.

That was, until another group of armed men could be seen as they got deeper into the US Capital. "Why is the Army deployed on the streets of Washington, Secretary Perry?" Churchill asked. His question was supplemented by General Eisenhower's "Army is not allowed to be deployed on US Soil unless there is a risk of invasion."