Chapter Text
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk opened his eyes after felt like a long slumber. He recalled being in the Dolmabahçe Palace as he rubbed his eyes only to see lush green plains ahead of him even though it was certainly a nice piece of scenery this was without a doubt not Turkey.
Atatürk looked around before seeing İsmet İnönü, his right-hand man, also awaken and be absolutely confused by his surroundings before he saw Atatürk, just as surprise to see him.
“Good morning, İsmet. It is a surprise seeing you here.” Atatürk told him as he got up and offered a hand to help his friend get up.
“Quite a surprise seeing as well, Mustafa, but where are we?” İnönü asked him as he looked around to see the lush green plains, spotting some mountains in the distance.
“I have no idea, but we must explore our surroundings if we wish to survive.” Atatürk suggested.
“And if we encounter someone who is hostile?” İnönü asked.
“Then we’ll stand by each other, whether we fight back or retreat. Giving up was never our strategy before and it especially will not be it this time.”
İnönü agreed with Atatürk as the two negotiated as to where to start. The two soon agreed two approach the coast laying witness to the perfectly blue waves, untainted by signs of industrial pollution. In fact, the ground they walked on seemed to lack any soot while the sky and ocean shared a clear vibrant blue, indicating to Atatürk and İnönü that they were in a possibly pre-industrial world.
Atatürk and İnönü decided to walk to their right along the coast to find some aspect of civilisation whether that be a large city or a small town. The two looked as far as they could into the distance past the clouds and horizon trying to find an indicator of something like a roof of a house.
Soon, Ataturk saw a thin line of smoke emitting into the sky after some more walking, pointing it out for İnönü to see.
“It seems we have found our luck.” İnönü remarked.
“Let’s head there. They could have some answers to our situation.” Atatürk told him.
“What about shelter?”
“I trust you to negotiate. If you have done it well before, then I trust you will do extremely well no, especially with the stakes being lowered.”
İnönü nodded his head as he and Atatürk headed towards the unknown port town in the distance. İnönü went through his ears to check if he had his hearing aid, which to his surprise was still snuggled tightly into his ear.
“Port Talma… an interesting name.” Atatürk remarked as laid his eyes on a sign that marked the port town’s name. Despite it being a port town and possibly serving importance in terms of commerce, Atatürk and İnönü could see that that Port Talma was no Istanbul with the lack of tall, polished buildings with rectangular prisms that had rather dull coloured roofs populating the ground while the port infrastructure also seemed to be rather substandard. Despite this, there were number of people near the coast which Atatürk and İnönü could together with their shared number of hands. Some of them moved what looked like fish, others were fishing them, while others partook in farming on the land.
Atatürk and İnönü looked around to find an elderly man with thick white eyebrows that covered his eyes. He also had a bushy moustache and a small beard. Atatürk looked to İnönü, nodding to him.
“Excuse me, sir. Do you know where the mayor is?” İnönü asked the elderly man.
“I believe he is in his quarters.” The elderly man replied, pointing his cane towards a home that stood out slightly from the others with a sign that was explicitly labelled as the mayor’s office which was not too far from them. Atatürk and İnönü thanked the elderly man for answering before they entered the house, encountering another man who resembled the elderly man they just spoke to.
“Excuse me, are you the mayor?” İnönü asked them as Atatürk followed him into the interior of the office.
“Yes, I am indeed the mayor. You two seem to be foreign to this land.” He remarked.
“Indeed, we wish to ask if my friend and I could possibly settle in Port Talma.”
The mayor thought about İnönü’s request, stroking his chin before responding. “We do have a home available for residence. However, it will come at the cost of a large debt.”
“What is the debt?” İnönü asked, as Atatürk was concerned about the vagueness of what the mayor could have possibly meant.
“About 50,000 gold.”
İnönü looked at Atatürk, who nodded, willing to take on the debt.
“We accept.” İnönü told the mayor, as Atatürk nodded his towards the mayor. The mayor led Atatürk and İnönü towards a home that was positioned near the coast. The home looked slightly cramped even though it was almost empty except for the basic utilities with a bed and furnace alongside several chairs and a table. Atatürk and İnönü accepted their new home, with the mayor looking pleased before he left.
Atatürk and İnönü decided to sit down together at the table looking at the dormant furnace.
“What do you suppose we do next, Mustafa?” İnönü asked.
Atatürk thought about it for a moment before coming up with a response. “We will need to find employment. We need to pay our debts somehow, and I suppose the locals will be able to acclimatise to our presence as foreigners.”
“Good idea!” İnönü agreed as Atatürk led the way, approaching the coast to the fishermen who were diligently committed to their work, who were quite surprised to see two men they had never seen before. Soon after, Atatürk and İnönü found themselves employed, with Atatürk pulling in fish and other edible marine animals with the fishing rod he was offered, yanking them out of the water immediately as he felt a tug while İnönü found himself responsible for handing the fish over in a form of distribution, handing them over to the leader of the fishing operation who put them in crates, seemingly to be sold at a market wherever or whenever it would be.
After the working day was over, Atatürk and İnönü managed to collect 100 gold together as their wage for the day. The two bought some fresh groceries such lettuce, tomatoes, cheese much to their personal surprise. They were also allowed to take some fish from the job as another form of compensation.
Atatürk took charge of cooking dinner using the ingredients to make a fish salad which he and İnönü ate to their heart’s content, filling their stomachs before they rested, preparing to sleep for tomorrow and the days ahead. Just before he closed his eyes Atatürk decided to ask İnönü a question he had in his mind for a while.
“İsmet, how is the republic ever since I departed from Earth?” Atatürk asked him.
İnönü stayed silent for a moment before giving a response.
“Well, Mustafa, it was successful.” He replied as he could see a smile of pride show itself on his face before he continued “However, two decades after the second great war, the military initiated a coup, I was involved in settling the first coup, but then another coup occurred before I perished a decade later.”
Atatürk was pleased to hear the republic was survived. Even though İnönü was vague about the war he mentioned, he was possibly referring a war that occurred because the peace in Europe was broken, possibly by Nazi Germany, although he was more focused on Turkey, inquiring further as to what happened, with İnönü explaining that the coup happened because the military sensed that his values and the democratic vision of Turkey were being threatened when opposition to the CHP, the Democratic Party, became increasingly authoritarian ever since the election that was held in 1950 that marked the beginning of a proper democracy in Turkey.
“If that is the case, then it proves that democracy was worth building and defending for the future.” Atatürk told him.
“It seems so, I can only hope that it holds true now that we are gone from the Earth.” İnönü replied as the two slept together, preparing for tomorrow and the days ahead.