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...ont-family: Arial;">“Hello Jack! I understand you were at Pearl Harbor,” Dr Szilard smiled at him.

“Yes sir, I wanted to serve the country, but I was informed that they didn’t need my services.” Jack replied.

“Oh, Uncle Sam certainly needs your services son, but just not at the naval base,” the man in the military uniform said. Jack looked at him quizzically as the professors smiled and eyed him keenly.

“So Jack, Dr Szilard speaks very highly of you and of your paper about controlled nuclear chain reactions,” Dr Fleming spoke. “Tell me, do you think it is possible to build a device that would initiate such a mass nuclear chain reaction?”

Turbulence in the Pacific

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9 COMMENTS ABOUT THIS STORY RSS

Just Chatting
ganga "Thank you Seldom! Yes, I've been mixing fact and fiction while trying to stay loyal to history. It's a first for me as well. Was trying to see if any history / world war buffs would be interested in continuing from one of these branches. Don't want to continue branching on my own any more!"
Just Chatting
seldom "Can see how easy it would be to get bogged down in the detail. Seems extremely well-researched to me - although I don't know anything about it so can't truly comment on that ;)
But it's really impressive Ganga - you're interweaving the facts with the fiction in a way, I reckon, makes them both resonate and become more real, more immediate.
Seriously impressed here lol.
"
Just Chatting
ganga "Thanks for the feedback! Yes, you're right about the challenge in that we all know the outcome of the war. After writing two chapters, I was getting overawed with the history that I found myself losing track of the actual story! That said, the world war has so many "what ifs" that could have completely altered the course of the war, and provide interesting story opportunities.

For instance, the Germans began the nuclear research first, but the Americans, while they were late starters, beat them to it.

Also, it is believed that after the fall of Germany, America and Russia shared the spoils of the German nuclear research, and went on to become the two nuclear superpowers later. What if Germany came closer than we thought in building the nuclear weapon? This was one plot I had in mind - the nuclear race in the midst of the war, along with some drama, espionage etc.

The other plot (which hasn't been branched yet) I thought about is set in the Pacific, featuring Japan where the bombs were finally deployed.
"
Just Chatting
Spuds "I figured I would read some of your stuff, since you are reading mine. I'm impressed. This is well-written. The challenge here, since we know who developed nuclear technology and we know who won the war, is to center the story around people who are swept up in the events of the time. Hmmm. I'll bookmark this story and give some thought to making an addition."
Just Chatting
ganga "One more side-note (sorry, can't help it!):

- The Uranverien project was real, but nothing great came out of it, although there is a lot of speculation on how far Germany went in its nuclear plans during the war. I've just made an exaggerated twist out of it for this story.
"
Just Chatting
ganga "Thanks guys! I've always found the world war stories fascinating and believe that the 1930's and 40's shaped the world we live in today. I hope it doesn't become too daunting! A little bit of wikipedia reading gives all the historical information one needs! Now we just need some characters and a story to build on them!"
Just Chatting
surreal78 "Bravo.. daunting to follow up on, but that's amazingly well thought out and detailed..."
Just Chatting
Jillian "Wow ganga, this is really amazing. This beginning is so fluent and really sets a great scene. Also, your 'rough guidelines' for the different directions are really well thought-out; they both offer some really intriguing possible points of view that could lead to any number of amazing story lines.
I really like the idea of seeing a love story or some sort of drama amidst all the destruction that is to come; gives it a 'real life' sort of feel.
I'm looking forward to reading more, although, admittedly, I'm a little too intimidated to add a branch myself!
Great work!
"
Just Chatting
ganga "Wanted to add some side-notes:

#1 - The letter, as some of you probably know, was real. So the fiction part would have to begin from the next branch.

#2 - I was thinking of weaving a story of characters around the war - common people from across the world who were involved in the war, in the development of nuclear technology, and affected by it.

As such, I've posted two possible branches if anyone is interested in adding to it! One, to Germany where the war has just begun (Sep 1939) and where Hitler is nursing his nuclear ambitions. The second branch goes to Japan (set in the following spring, since I said cherry blossom ;)) with possibly a story of love, drama and heroics where the atom bombs will explode in about 5 years.

These are just some rough guidelines I had in mind. Thanks for reading!
"

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