Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Eighty-Six


7th August 1963

Des Moines, Iowa

The fairgrounds were packed with the crush of humanity and Zella had taken entirely too much delight in recording Kiki’s introduction to the culinary atrocity called a corndog. The rest of State Fair was hot, dusty and extremely crowded. Kiki had ditched the clothes that she might have been expected to wear in favor of those that Zella was certain she had last worn in Korea. A white button-up shirt and a pare of pants that might have once been dyed a camouflage pattern but countless washes to get unappealing stains out of them had left them basically colorless. The broadbrimmed “Bucket” hat she was wearing nearly matched that except the sun had bleached the colors out of it. Kiki being Kiki, she had put zinc oxide crème on every bit of exposed skin and insisted that Zella do the same. Vicky had enough foresight to claim that she wasn’t feeling well and as much as she hated to leave Kiki and Zella in lurch, she stayed behind in the hotel with the air-conditioning and pool. Zella was mad that she had not thought of that first.

In many respects though, they were lucky in their timing. The Governor of New York was present today and compared to that, with this crowd, a visiting German Princess who didn’t look the part was small potatoes. The idea of this whole thing was so that Kiki could get a feel of the real America before they headed north into Wisconsin and Minnesota, both were somehow different from Iowa. For Zella it was a bit much. The video camera was heavy and if it wasn’t on loan, she seriously would have considered stashing it somewhere and being somewhat indifferent about whether it walked off in the meantime. Kiki had told her to leave it behind with her leather jacket in the hotel room, but she had been more interested in getting good recordings. Things like corndogs and the inevitable moment when someone thought that it would be funny to hand an ill-behaved animal off to Kiki could happen at any time. If Zella couldn’t get a recording, then she would be kicking herself afterwards. Kid Goats and lambs were favorites for that sort of thing. Anyone who thought they were gentle, or innocent had clearly not spent a great deal of time around them.

“Can we get out of the sun for a bit?” Zella asked, hating the way her voice sounded in her ears. It was a reminder of the last argument that she’d had with her mother. Zella had heard the usual things that her mother said. “There are millions of other people on the planet, so it didn’t revolve around her” Or “You are not a child anymore. Can’t you ever think of anyone other than yourself for a change?” This time, there had been a message waiting at Idlewild Airport when she got there. As Chief Editor of the Berliner Tageblatt, Zella’s mother had to fend off claims that she kept her daughter on out of nepotism and she was tired of it. This time, Zella had to either come up with something truly groundbreaking or else her pretensions of being a starving artist would no longer be pretensions. She should expect that there would be actual starvation in her future. That was the reason why she had talked Kiki into letting Bob Dylan as well as Andy Warhol and his people into her suite. They were considered to be the next big thing in their respective fields and there was obviously a story there. Unfortunately, Zella had been scooped. No one cared that the story was first going to run in the September Edition of Playboy Magazine. It was a serious article and the photographs of Kiki that they were planning on using were ones in which she was fully clothed. The Mirror back in Berlin had already secured the rights to republish it.

Zella still had the video footage from that day in the hotel. The performance of Dylan with Kiki and Vicky was good. Warhol arguing about the significance of his study of soup labels was a bit more niche. There was also Kiki’s reactions to the changing landscape as they passed through it. Zella needed more, a lot more if she didn’t want to get the boot when she returned to the BT. Suddenly, the video camera didn’t seem so heavy, it was what she needed if she had any hope of getting something that her mother might like as a story.

It took a few minutes, but Kiki spoke with one of the vendors. He gave her directions to where they might find a bit of shade and something cold to drink. When they got there, Zella saw the obvious problem. It was a large tent that was roped off and Country & Western music was coming out from the darkness. Over the entrance was a sign proclaiming that it was sponsored by the local American Legion Hall and that only persons over the age of twenty-one were welcome.

“The idea is to get to know Americans, correct?” Kiki asked.

“Yes” Zella replied, “But we might not be welcome in there.”

It wasn’t just Kiki, but her security detail was composed of men who might be seen as the enemy. Then Zella realized that they needed some time in the shade even more than Kiki and Zella did. Zella was reminded of all the times that her mother had pointedly reminded her that she needed to think of others.

Upon entering the tent, Zella noticed that they were being glared at by a dozen men who must had been their age or younger at the time of the Battle of Ussy-sur-Marne.

“Good afternoon” Kiki said amicably with a smile on her face. “We just wanted to get out of the sun for a little bit.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Eighty-Seven


7th August 1963

Des Moines, Iowa

There were legal niceties that needed to be observed. No one wanted to get in turf war over having the 1st Special Forces Group domestically, so the FBI had been tasked with keeping an eye on the Princess. Parker had been sent to observe with Ritchie because they knew her by sight. The previous week had been odd to say the least. The FBI Agents had just about shit themselves when a man who was already known to them as an agitator had entered Kristina’s hotel suite. Parker had looked at the absurdity of that in disbelief. How could a folk singer who he had never heard of prior to this drew that sort of reaction? Then the Princess and her small entourage had left New York by train with the FBI trying to get ahead of them in a manner which Ritchie had compared to the Keystone Cops.

The FBI didn’t seem to understand Kristina. Yes, she was a Princess, but she also had been trained to the standard of the German Special Forces Command to be a team leader in their Medical Service’s elite Airborne Search and Rescue. The CIA and US Special Forces had been trying to figure out some of the strange aspects of the German KSK. Women were ten percent of the German military but played a disproportionate role in the KSK. Some of the men had joked about them being portable R&R only to get silenced by those who knew better. Underestimating them was a surefire way to get killed. There were stories about a scared Co-Ed approaching soldiers talking about a broken-down car after running out of gas after getting lost on the backroads. The first inkling that they might have that she wasn’t what she seemed to be would come when she killed them. There was a real possibility that Kristina, Princess or not, could be trained to be that girl.

Now today, things had gotten particularly absurd.

Some genius in State had suggested that the Princess should go to the Iowa State Fair before going onto other events in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan, without considering that every Presidential hopeful in next years election would be passing through. The same day that Kristina had taken in the world’s largest butter sculpture in Des Moines was the same day that Governor Rockefeller was shaking hands just a couple hundred yards away. It was confusing mess as the Field Agents tried to keep track of two young women and their four bodyguards in the August heat. Then they vanished on the main concourse, because of course they had, when one of the Agents collapsed in the heat.

Parker was on his feet in an instant with Richie following him. They needed to keep the Princess out of trouble and deal with the Agent. Justice could try to sort out the rest of the bullshit later. Leaving the airconditioned trailer that the Feds were using as a command post was like walking into a wall of heat and humidity. It took only minutes to get across the main concourse, but Parker could feel sweat trickling down his sides as he reached the two Agents. It was to Parker’s annoyance that he saw once again that they were not dressed appropriately for the weather. Pulling the Agent who had collapsed to his feet, Parker could see that other one wasn’t in much better shape. For lack of anything better to do he pulled them in the direction of the nearest shelter.

Parker found himself standing in the defuse light as the sun was filtered through canvas. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the change in light, but when his vision cleared, he saw a dozen old men sitting at a makeshift bar in the middle of the tent locked in conversation with Kristina and her friend Marcella. The two of them being German, they were more than happy to drink beer with these old-timers on a hot afternoon. As for the old-timers, Parker was certain that they were finding a conversation with women young enough to be their granddaughters to be a real hardship.

Kristina took one look at the Federal Agents who had come in with Parker and started rattling off terms in German, that no one could understand beyond Marcella. She paused for a second, before starting over in English. “I need water and ice packs” She said and the man who was tending bar and he scrambled to get those things for her. It only took her seconds to get the suit jacket off the first Agent before Parker could stop her. She saw the badge and radio clipped to his belt as well as the revolver in the shoulder holster, then said nothing about that. “Heatstroke is nothing to mess around with” Kristina asked Parker, “What was he out dressed like this for?”

“He was watching you” Parker replied.

By now he could hear the guffaws among the old-timers. There was no way that they wouldn’t recognize the Agents for what they were. That was when Kristina started shoving icepacks into places that would cool them quickly but had no regard towards their dignity.

“And you just made it my problem” Kristina said as the bartender handed her a bucket of water. “Thank you, Stu” She said before she turned her attention back to the Agents.

Parker could see that Marcella had turned the lens of a strange looking camera that was attached by a cable to a suitcase towards the unfolding events. As embarrassing as this whole thing was, he had inadvertently gotten the Agents into the best hands it seemed. It was then that Kristina noticed Ritchie and she demanded to know just what he was doing here. She obviously remembered him. That was when Parker remembered just how problematic his own presence here was.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Eighty-Eight


11th August 1963

Pohnpei Island, Caroline Islands

The villa they were staying in was the one that Louis Ferdinand used while he was in the islands, usually for a couple of weeks a few times a year. Suga had been expecting something far grander than what it had turned out to be. Compared to the palaces in Potsdam or Berlin it was relatively small and homely. Buildings of whitewashed masonry and a definite island ascetic in the décor. It was hardly a surprise considering that the Emperor had designed it along his own preferences. Freddy and Suga had come here for their honeymoon and as they had discovered, they were still learning exactly how to define themselves as a couple.

For Suga walking along the shoreline was meditative. The ocean lapped against the beach, very different from the distant crash of the surf out on the distant coral reef. A vivid blue ocean under a tropical sun and white sand. It seemed as if all the colors in these islands were more intense. It was certainly one of the most beautiful places that She had ever been. For all of that, she was still troubled though. Earlier that day, Suga had sat by Freddy’s side as the daily briefing had occurred. As Crown Prince, he was supposed to be kept informed about every aspect of the German Empire that was pertinent of his station. The idea was that he could step in and fill his father's position at a moment’s notice if he had to.

Suga personally found the briefings fascinating and disturbing at equal turns. She wanted to learn everything she could about the nation that she had adopted as her own. At the same time, she was being presented with the darker aspects of the German Empire. Militarism, nationalism and crass bigotry were constantly threatening to overtake matters. The political extremes were loudly demanding that either society be taken back to a golden age that had never existed or else be burnt down in its entirety so that a new impossible utopia could be built on the ashes. She had realized that both positions were driven by fear. Fear of a changing world as well as fear of a world that was stagnating into decay. It drove their need for control, or at least the illusion of control, where none was really possible.

It always seemed to come down to a fear of the future.

Pausing to pick up a piece of driftwood, Suga drew out the word for future in Japanese in the wet sand. The Latin alphabet was good for conveying ideas quickly, from Suga’s perspective it lacked the deeper meaning and insights that existed in the Japanese Alphabet that had been adapted from Chinese. Words and names frequently could have several meanings. The written word for future in Japanese consisted of two symbols, the first meaning not yet and the second symbol meaning next. There was a simple truth in that. The future hadn’t happened yet, and most certainly it was what was going to happen next. That was something that should be embraced rather than feared.

As Suga stood up she saw a small wave roll in and it washed the word away even as the warm water swept over her bare feet. In that second, Suga had a different insight, almost an intrusive thought, about what the future might hold for herself in the weeks and months ahead. How difficult it was going to be. Only time would tell if it was correct, but one thing was clear. By embracing the future, she found hope.

As the water drew away, Suga saw that the word she had written in the sand was gone. As was the transient nature of such things and with a slight smile she whispered the word future to herself as she resumed her walk up the shoreline.


Near Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin

Parker heard Victoria scream, followed an instant later by a loud splash. At the moment, he felt like he had been put into a beer commercial that had been weirdly turned on its head. In the commercial it was never one of the girls who pilots the boat, Kristina was a licensed Mariner according the German Navy, because of course she was. Looking at the smile on Ritchie’s face, Parker could see that he was having fun despite Parker having told him that the mission wasn’t over, and he needed to be mindful of that.

After what had happened in Des Moines the idea of keeping Kristina under FBI surveillance seemed absurd. The embarrassing fact that two Field Agents had found themselves in need medical attention and that having been provided by the subject of their surveillance wasn’t lost on anyone. It had resulted in a whole of fancy footwork by whoever the Feds had doing public relations. The video of the incident had run first on Des Moines television, later broadcast nationally. People had seen Kristina in that video, not as a Princess but as a Field Medic who had known what she was doing in that situation.

After that it was safe to assume that the FBI collectively had a stick up their ass after that and they had not been inclined to help Parker. That was when it was decided that the best way for him to keep an eye on the Princess would be to travel with her. When Parker had informed his commanding officer of the change in plans, the Colonel had called him a lucky dog. He didn’t bother to inform him of the truth. Parker found all three of the women unattractive for different reasons. Kristina reminded him of the sort of entitled heiress that he had gone out of his way to avoid for his entire life and her younger sister, Victoria seemed to be cut from the same cloth. Marcella was physically attractive, but then she opened her mouth and revealed just how shallow she was. Knowing that, Parker found himself sitting on a pontoon boat on the Wisconsin river where the Princess had paused her friendship tour to rest for a couple days, counting down the days until the Princess would get on an airplane and go back to where she had come from.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Eighty-Nine


19th August 1963

St. Cloud, Minnesota

In most towns they came to, a now familiar pattern played out. They would arrive by train and representatives of the City Government and civic organizations would greet them. Kiki was aware that she was retracing the steps of her mother who had taken a similar tour of the Upper Midwest of the United States twenty years earlier. Kiki would have been an infant and her mother had been pregnant with Louis Junior at the time. Saint Cloud was a going a bit out of her way though. She had her own reasons for coming here. Meeting Olivia Anderson eight years after lying to her in Jerusalem to apologize for having done that.

The Saint Cloud Ladies Garden Club had been overjoyed to have her visit and had clearly pulled out all the stops. The hall was decorated with American and German flags. There were also extensive flower arrangements that seemed to be everywhere.

“Good morning, you will be pleased to know that the people of your sister city of Spalt, in Bavaria wished me to extend a warm greeting to you” Kiki said into the microphone as she stepped up behind the podium. Even as she finished with those words, she was met with the howl of feedback. Grabbing ahold of the old condenser microphone, Kiki put a stop to that. “I’m sure most of you know by now that I met Mrs. Anderson in Palestine a few years ago.” That was met with a bit of laughter. In the weeks since Kiki had reached out to Olivia to talk about coming here, she had apparently told everyone who would listen, several times over.

“I wasn’t feeling well that day and while we were in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre so I told her that my name was Kristina Fischer” Kiki said, “She’ll be pleased to know that was the same name that I first enlisted in the Medical Service under.”

There was applause for that, though Kiki got the impression that these people had probably heard that a time or two before.

“Mostly though, I am here to talk about peace and international friendship…” With that Kiki launched into her well-practiced speech. The same one that she had given several times. She talked about her work in Korea under the League of Nations mandate and the importance of organizations such as the German Joint Medical Service and the Pioneer Corps. How bettering lives through medicine and infrastructure development was morally and fiscally superior to the use of more traditional uses of the German Military.

As always, when Kiki said “And I conclude…” She got the most applause. She really wished that she was a more compelling public speaker, so that she didn’t get that sort of reaction.

“It was wonderful that you came Kristina” Olivia said afterwards at the reception. “Thank you for this.” Then she went off and visited with others leaving Kiki standing there alone.

Even after doing this several times over the previous weeks, Kiki was still uncertain about what to do next. She was supposed to interact with the people once she was through with her presentation. Mostly she found herself in a crowded room and was left feeling extremely lonely. In a few minutes her security detail would take her back to the hotel. She would find that Zella and Vicky were just waking up and they would want something to eat before they left for the next town. According to Kiki’s Social Secretary the next stops would be in Michigan and she still had an entire week to slog through before she would go back to Chicago to catch the first leg of her flight back to Berlin.

It might have once seemed unimaginable, but the way that she was spending this Summer Holiday was making going back to University seem far preferable.


Goose Bay, Canada

The flight line was the sort of thing that would probably have been seen by a most of the world’s militaries as the most unlikely of speculative fiction just a few decades earlier. Canadian, British, French, Italian, German and Russian fighters and attack aircraft were parked there. With the exercise having been officially concluded a couple days before everyone was just waiting for orders. The powers that be had concluded that everyone trying to leave at once would be impractical. So, they waited.

The issue that Ben was discovering was that there simply wasn’t a whole lot to do in Goose Bay other than play cards and drink. By the time that they would get ordered to take off, the pilots of SKG 18 would not be in any shape to take the long flight home. The Oberst had figured that out at about the same time and had ordered them to refrain from that. Instead, they were waiting on the tarmac with Ben sitting in the cockpit of his airplane. Wim had been kicking a football around with some of the mechanics, but he had gotten bored of that.

The prior weeks had been particularly difficult for Ben. It seemed like every time someone turned on the television, the news would be on and Kiki would be on there. She would be smiling as people greeted her warmly, very much in her element. He had seen her on with Johnny Carson and she had accepted his jokes graciously and had even thrown a few back at him. Knowing that she was just a couple hours away by airplane had been the aggravating part for him. Of course, Ben understood that if he flew his Pfeil south of the US Border then the USAF would lite him up with everything they had. The Oberst had mentioned that anyone in the Wing who behaved like a love-sick moron would get a well-deserved thrashing without mentioning him by name.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Ninety


24th August 1963

Tempelhof, Berlin

The men were watching television, something about Football and a new league forming, they seemed excited about it. Marie found that it bored her to tears, but her father, uncles, brother and male cousins seemed to considerate it something that was worth dropping every other consideration over. Her mother was down in the kitchen meeting with the household to plan for the upcoming season and that was equally boring. About now Marie would have played with her cousins, but Aunt Ilse and Nancy were elsewhere for the Summer Holiday and they had taken Nikolaus and Sabastian with them.

Sitting in the stairwell, Marie was scratching Cheshire behind his ear as he was purring loudly. That was when a familiar figure came walking up the stairs.

“Noella!” Marie yelled as she met her former nanny on the stairs with a hug.

“My God, Marie Alexandra” Noella Proulx said, “How did you get so big?”

Noella spoke in the same French that was a key part of Marie’s earliest memories.

“Poppa said the same thing with he carried me up to bed the other night” Marie said in the same language. It was odd because she didn’t seem any bigger from her perspective. At the same time, her mother had Petia go through her clothes and a lot of old favorites of Marie’s had been sent to charity because they no longer fit her.

“Well, it will be nice working for your family again” Noella said, “The children of Monsieur and Madam Schultz are wonderful, but they are a handful.”

“Sabastian” Marie said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

“Not to mention Anna and Gretchen” Noella said as she led Marie up the stairs. “They are spirited, I’ll grant them that. Your mother hired me so that I could help care for your Aunt Asia’s child.”

“Heinrich” Marie replied, “He’s just a baby, he doesn’t do anything.”

“You were once a baby too Marie” Noella said, “And personally I am looking forward to making Asia and Heinrich’s acquaintance. But before I do that, I understand that you are about to start a new school term.”

Marie was more than happy to tell Noella about that.


Idlewild Airport, New York

“While it has been enjoyable Ladies, once the call comes over the intercom that your plane is boarding you will longer be my problem” Parker said as they situated themselves in the airport lounge.

At that moment, Ritchie was collecting Parker’s car from long-term parking and in less than an hour they would be headed back to Fort Drum. Life there wasn’t always perfect there, but he didn’t have to deal with his mother trying to fix him up with the daughters of her friends or the odd German Princess who needed to be babysat in Middle America.

“I don’t get you” Kristina said, “What have we done to earn your animosity?”

Parker had been nothing but polite to the Princesses and the Marchioness. He had not exactly gone out of his way to make them feel welcome either.

“Do they have Social Studies in Germany?” Parker asked, “Though I cannot imagine that they would be the same class as it would be taught on the far side of the Atlantic.”

“Exactly what is that supposed to mean?” Kristina asked in reply.

“It means that I was taught that in America we don’t have Kings or Kaisers” Parker said, “That if you are born into wealth, it is an accident of birth, not a ratification of life’s hierarchies.”

Kristina’s jaw dropped open out of shock. If Parker had to guess, no one had ever had the nerve to state it so plainly to her in her life.

“You honestly believe that I think that way?” Kristina asked as she fought not to get angry with him.

“The problem is that I doubt that you believe that you think that way” Parker said, “My observations on the other hand suggest something entirely different.”

With that, a voice came on over the intercom announcing that their flight was boarding. Kristina looked like she was about to say something in response to what Parker had just said, but instead gathered her things and headed towards the concourse with the rest of her entourage.

----------------------------------------------------------------

“Can you believe the nerve of him” Kiki said as she got into the seat and buckled the seatbelt. “Telling me something like that.”

“You were the one who brought it up with him” Zella replied, “If you had been able to keep your mouth shut for just a few more minutes then everyone would have been happy. Or at least happier than they would be if they didn’t have to listen to you complain.”

Vicky was looking out the window on the opposite side of the cabin as far from Kiki and Zella as she could get, clearly not wanting to get drawn into the conversation.

“Still” Kiki said, “You would think that a man in his position…”

“Would put aside everything that he had been told his entire life and bow down worshipfully before the great and wonderful Princess Kristina?” Zella asked, cutting Kiki off midsentence. “How much do you want to bet that there is similar sentiment in Berlin if you looked for it. Those Jacobin posers who ambushed you last spring. Would they count?”

“It’s just I don’t think the way he said I did” Kiki replied, “I’ve gone out of my way not to use my name to gain the advantage in my life. I volunteered to go to Korea even.”

“I know that” Zella said, “But someone like Parker, you cannot change his mind by yelling at him.”

“I wasn’t yelling at him” Kiki said.

“You would have” Zella said with a great deal of certainty, “And it would have changed nothing.”

“Do you have any idea what he thought of you?” Kiki asked.

“Yes, and he didn’t need to say anything to me” Zella replied, “Most people think I’m a selfish bitch, and as I said, you can’t change people’s minds by yelling at them that they are wrong.”

Kiki was a bit put out by that, it wasn’t the tact that she might have expected Zella to have taken.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-One


2nd September 1963

Jena, Thuringia

Kiki had survived her first day back at University. Presently, she was laying on her bed plucking the synth-silk strings on her guitar absentmindedly.

It was telling that every class that Kiki had was either remedial or a prerequisite. Two years of service had taken a toll and while her Professors were willing to work with her, they had made it clear that she would need to dedicate herself for the next couple years to the course of study. No exceptions would be made for her. They felt that one had already been made with her entry into the Friedrich-Schiller University, her PLM and relationship with the University Chancellor would not gain her any additional favoritism.

Moving to Jena had also further complicated Kiki social life. The first week she had moved into the one room apartment that she had leased, Ben had come to visit and for the first time in what had seemed like an eternity they were alone together. Just the thought of some of the things they had done still caused Kiki to blush. She hadn’t told Ben, but she had taken Doctor Berg and her stepmother’s advice about contraception. Having an IUD put in turned into a particularly mortifying experience the next day when Nella was full of questions about what she had been doing in front of her parents. Kiki had put her off by saying that it was for a Doctor’s appointment. That had led to further uncomfortable questions, from her father and stepmother. She had been forced to finally tell her father that it was absolutely none of his business and to Kiki’s amazement, Charlotte had backed her once it became apparent that he was delving into territory where no father wanted to go.

“We will need to talk later” Was what Charlotte had said before they had allowed Kiki to leave the table.

Fortunately, later had never come. The next day, Kiki had arranged for her things to be moved from the Meta to the apartment and the barge had been put in storage. Then Ben had visited…

It was absurd, the way people talked about such matters as if they were somehow out of bounds. Kiki knew that there was a massive amount of hypocrisy involved. Her parents had six children, and they might have had more if her mother’s health hadn’t declined. None of that was by accident. As it was, Nella was from her father’s second marriage and Kiki had the impression that Charlotte had put her foot down after that. As for her own situation, when Kiki had broached the topic with Berg, she had seemed overjoyed. When Kiki had been growing up Berg had been the few adults who had not tried to snow her with nonsense or evade the topic. Now that Kiki was older shockingly little had changed. She supposed that if she ever put pin to paper, she might write about the strange contradictions that defined her life, but Kiki had the next few academic terms to get through first.


Mitte, Berlin

Zella had tapes, dozens of them. Getting them back through customs had proven a bit difficult as the Customs Officer had never heard of video recording before and had wondered if she had been trying to put one over on him. The issue that Zella then had was a far harder sell.

Convincing her mother that she hadn’t just spent the Summer Holiday just messing around. Part of the issue was that Zella had a great deal of fun shooting the videos and there were hours of tape to cull through. Zella knew that if she attempted to leave anything out then somehow her mother would know and that would create more problems for her.

Starting in New York, Zella showed the bits with Dylan and Warhol. Then on across the United States to the day they had spent in Chicago and the Iowa State Fair. There was a brief clip of Nelson Rockefeller awkwardly greeting Kiki followed by what had happened a couple hours later with the Federal Agents. That had also been when Parker and Ritchie had entered the picture. What followed were video clips of the local people’s reaction to Kiki’s presence. Those varied extensively depending on the person. Some saw her as a link to their family’s past while others tended to see her as the enemy. Either way, they tended to be rather vocal about it.

Then came the part that Zella was most worried about her mother’s reaction. It was of the two days on the pontoon boat and camping on the Wisconsin River. There was some footage where it was obvious that Zella had either put the camera down or else handed it off to someone else so that she could join the fun.

Finally, it was back to footage of Kiki meeting the locals or trying some regional dish. Eventually culminating in their departure from America.

“I know that it isn’t exactly what you told me to do” Zella said, “But some of that is good?”

“My worry is that you are finding your way onto major stories without being seen as having earned your place through personal connections” Maria stated, “I have an entire pool of reporters who resent you for it.”

“What am I supposed to do about that?”

“There isn’t a whole lot you can do” Maria said, “Much of this footage works as supplemental material to other existing stories, I will be up to the editors as to where it fits.”

Zella supposed that she ought to be happy that her mother hadn’t sacked her like she had threatened to do. She couldn’t help but feel that the footage she had captured was more important than her mother thought it was.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Two


14th September 1963

Rural Upper Silesia

Looking through his binoculars, Manfred saw the bullet take the boar just behind the shoulder. It was the perfect shot, the bullet was a 7.62mm Springfield soft point that would open like flower, dumping all its energy and ending matters in seconds. It was exactly as Manfred had taught his namesake grandson since he was old enough to accompany him into the forest. The animal took a minute to realize that it no longer had a heart pumping blood. That was the nature of swine, Manfred doubted that there was a tougher creature in all of creation. Too bad that it was one of the escaped farm stock that had bedeviled him since the war had ended nearly two decades earlier.

Manny smiled as he ejected the cartridge from the Winchester 1895 that had once been a part of Manfred’s collection. The Graf had given it to Manfred the Younger on his recent sixteenth birthday after he had decided that he liked it. Manfred never had liked that particular rifle, it kicked extremely hard for a rifle chambered in that cartridge. Manny was considerably larger than his grandfather, so the recoil didn’t seem to bother him as much.

Malcolm and Nikolaus were watching intently. Malcolm was twelve and Nikolaus was five, so they were still learning. Manfred had done his best to impress upon his grandson the importance of his relationship with his younger cousins. He was reminded of when he had spent countless days in this same forest with his brother Lothar and cousin Wolfram. Both of them were gone now, Lothar having died in the First World War and Wolfram having succumbed to cancer. By some twist of fate, Manfred had lived to be an old man. He frequently wondered exactly how that had happened.

Picking their way through the forest, Manny stuck with his grandfather while the two younger boys ran ahead. Manfred had noticed that Manny was taller than him by the time he was thirteen, these days he had grown absolutely imposing.

“Good shot” Manfred said as they came upon the boar, Nikolaus was poking at it.

“I thought it was a bit high” Manny replied.

“No one likes a smartass” Manfred snapped as Manny just smirked.

Looking at the size of the boar, Manfred realized that it was possibly a prize winner if they weighed it before it was butchered. He knew that he would need to send one of the boys running back to the Forester’s lodge to get help. It would have to be Malcolm because Nikolaus was still too young for that sort of errand. The difficulty was that Malcolm was prone to flights of fancy. Asking him to walk through the forest on a warm Saturday afternoon was asking for trouble. Considering his grand-nephew, Manfred knew that he would need to be creative and make that work for him.

“I need a runner, you” Manfred said, looking at Malcolm. “I need to report to the Forester and tell them that the General needs help bringing that beast back from the front forthwith.”

Malcolm gave him a nod and ran off as fast as he could.

“The Forester is going to be trying to figure out just what the Hell is going on when he gets here Opa” Manny said.

“Yeah” Manfred replied, “But sometimes you need to play the game to keep a man focused.”

“Malcolm is hardly a man yet” Manny said.

“True” Manfred said, “But he is getting there.”


Tempelhof, Berlin

Sharing a room in the dormitory with Zella again was a considerable relief for Aurora. She had spent the Summer Holiday at the Prora in Binz, so being back with her irreverent friend was a welcome change after spending weeks neck deep in family togetherness in what became the largest Jewish city in the world for the month of August every year. There were all the politics that came with it and because word had gotten out that Aurora was dating yet another Goy, she had received quite a bit of grief over the matter. The people there quite literally had nothing better to do than complain and brag in equal turns about what their children were doing.

Tonight, Zella was fumbling with a suitcase sized box that she had kept in the closet of their room. She had pulled it out and had connected it with cables to the television in the recreation room on their floor, much to the annoyance of those who might have wanted to watch something other than the static on the screen. Zella had said that this was something that Aurora needed to see, so far Aurora couldn’t see what the big deal was.

“Hold on” Zella said, “I think I got it.”

Zella hit a button on the box and garish music filled the room as a man with grey hair was delivering a monologue in English on the television. Zella fast forward through this and what looked like sketch comedy.

“This was in New York” Zella said. And Kiki came walking out on the stage after the man made a joke about her kissing Benjamin.

“This is a recording?” Aurora asked.

“The latest technology” Zella said, “Sony lent it to Kiki, and she forgot to ask for it back.”

Zella was right, this was something that Aurora needed to see.

“What else can this do?” Aurora asked.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Three


16th September 1963

Mitte, Berlin

No one knew how it had happened but the buildings and trees around the headquarters of the Panzer Corps had become the roosting place of hundreds of crows during the autumn and winter. The Inspector of the Panzer Corps, Generaloberst Walther Wenck, said that they were welcome because they were always in uniform. It was perfectly in keeping with how the black uniforms of the men of the Panzer Corps had earned them that nickname. Or as the joke went, whenever one of them went to Wunsdorf or the Ministry of War in Berlin they were a crow among pigeons. Today, Kurt had learned that change had come to the Panzer Corps and like everyone else, he wasn’t thrilled about it.

While the black dress uniform would remain the sole province of the Panzer Corps and attached Cavalry units. The field uniform of the Panzer Crews would no longer be the black coveralls. Instead, new coveralls made of a grey fire-resistant fabric similar to those already used by Luftwaffe air crews had been selected. Hoods and gloves of the same fabric had been introduced for greater flash protection. Finally, in a major departure from past practice, the crews were to be issued with specially designed steel helmets with radio headphones and microphones built in. While that dispensed with the hated throat mics, Kurt’s phone had been ringing off the hook as hundreds of Panzer Commanders had informed their crews of the changes. They knew that Kurt Knispel was one of them having worked his way up from having once been an enlisted Gunner in Spain, decades earlier. The difficulty was that Kurt had been ordered to sell them on the changes. The Panzer Corps had spent five decades cultivating a certain kind of mindset that Kurt found himself at odds with in this particular situation.

Hans von Mischner had found it amusing. The Dragoons had worn standard issue uniforms from the beginning, back when they had just been a Platoon hitching a ride on the back of von Wolvogle’s Raupe Panzers. “I know a thing about dealing with this sort of thing” Hans said, “You need to be inevitable or else they will eat you alive.”

Kurt had tried to take that advice to heart. As he had to take angry phone call after angry phone call, he was finding that difficult. He understood the reasoning for the changes, that they were the direct result of lessons learned in Mexico and Korea. Still, he had many fond memories of how it had been when he had been in the commander’s cupola himself.


Jena, Thuringia

Sony finally called and they wanted to know where their video camera had disappeared to. It had taken a few calls, but Kiki had figured out that Zella still had it. From Zella’s reaction when Kiki had told her that it needed to be returned, Kiki realized that Sony had a product that was about to happen. So, Kiki had arranged for Sony to send someone to help Zella edit the footage that she had shot in America over the summer in return for giving the camera back. They were more than happy to do that after Kiki had become a substantial shareholder in their corporation. Zella had the ambition of making a documentary film out of their experiences. Kiki wished her luck.

The Hohenzollern trust had kittens when they had learned that Kiki had made such an investment without consulting them first. She had one of the managers completely forgetting who she was and yelling at her about her buying stock in a Japanese corporation that few outside of Japan had ever heard of that made unproven technology.


Washington D.C.

Throughout 1962 and 1963 things had seemed to level out. The economy was good and the various social programs that had been fought over since the Truman Administration were finally starting to show tangible results. Foreign policy had been a bit more questionable as their allies in China slid into a civil war. However, with the efforts of the Germans and British as well as the recent successful tours by a representative of their respective Monarch’s families, relations across the Atlantic were better than they had been in a generation.

The recent good times ended abruptly. All summer the Whitehouse had been getting reports of voter registration efforts ahead of the 1964 General Election. Today the offices of the NAACP in Mobile, Alabama had been firebombed with dozens of the staff still inside. Averell Herriman was still waiting for additional information from the local police and fire department when word came of two nearly identical attacks in Charlestown, South Carolina and Dallas, Texas. No one believed for an instant that it was just a coincidence, someone was singing from the hymnal book. The question was exactly what to do about it.

It was at that moment that the recent death of Eliot Ness, the former FBI Director was most acutely felt. He had restored the credibility of the Bureau after it had fallen into disrepute under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover. An obvious interstate conspiracy was what they were made to deal with. The rub was the that new Director lacked the public confidence despite having been a Field Agent and a Field Supervisor for the previous two decades. The truth was that Herriman felt that the new Director having everything to prove might just cause him to get results in a hurry, which was exactly what the American Public was demanding.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Four


20th September 1963

Jena, Thuringia

What fresh new Hell was this, Kiki thought to herself as one of her classmates took the time to show her the article in Playboy Magazine that she had been featured in.

Kristina “Kiki” von Preussen, Princess, Musician, Medical Student, Artist, Officer in the German Airborne Search and Rescue. Definitely not your typical Girl next door. It was an in-depth article about her by Hunter S. Thompson that featured a copy of the scathing letter that Kiki had written to Hugh Hefner telling him what she thought of his offer when she turned eighteen, as well as several photographs of her where she was fully clothed. Unfortunately, two of them she was still wearing the clothes that she slept in, her hair disheveled and wearing her glasses because she hadn’t had a chance to put her contact lens in. The others were of her playing her viola with Bob Dylan or eating breakfast with Zella and Vicky while they were talking about art with Warhol. Finally, there was one of her in her dark blue dress uniform, someone had taken the time to list all of the medals starting with the PLM.

Kiki obviously hadn’t quite been forceful enough when she had kicked Thompson out of her hotel suite. Oddly, one of the photographs depicted her doing exactly that.

The contents of the article itself was composed of biographical information and details from the observations that Thompson had made while he had been talking with her. Her time in Korea as well as her activities in Germany since she had come back from there were mentioned. Then it said that she had been accepted into the Friedrich-Schiller University. Kiki saw that after the article concluded there was a pictorial of a woman Kiki’s age wearing nothing more than a pasted-on smile and a suntan. She was disgusted that she had been featured in such a publication.


Mitte, Berlin

There were times when Manny realized that his parents were not quite who he thought they were. He had asked his father for his opinion about a paper that he been given by the Commandant of his Gymnasium’s Cadet Company; The 30 Commandments of the Panzer Corps Dragoon Company Commander.

“I think that your mother is going to kill me if she sees you with this” Was what Manny’s father had said. “She is determined that you are going to University.”

This was a continuation from years earlier when they had been reluctant to allow him to join the Cadet Company in the first place. That reluctance was a surprise. Manny’s father had served in the Panzer Corps in the Dragoons in Spain, Russia, Manchuria, South Africa, Mexico and Korea. Johannes von Mischner was a bigger than life hero who everyone said was being groomed to take over as Inspector of the Panzer Corps, a position once occupied by the legendary Field Marshal von Wolvogle and was expected to go even higher than that with time. Now it seemed as if having his son following in his footsteps wasn’t something that he wanted. When Manny had recently discussed this matter with Opa von Richthofen, he had said that having him continue the family’s Cavalry traditions would possibly be among the most noble things that he could be doing with his life.

There was the other aspect that Manny considered as well. His little sister Ina was one of most gentle people he knew. She was simply incapable of hurting anyone else or imagining that anyone might hurt her in turn. He had occasionally been forced to take corrective measures against those who would take advantage of Ina’s nature. It had come as a relief that Ina had made friends with Suse Knispel and Jo Falk. The two of them were formidable enough to chase off anyone who Manny would have had to deal with otherwise. Opa said that Ina was free to be how she was because people like Manny’s father and his Aunt Katherine had sworn an oath to protect that freedom. Manny had a choice of what to do with his life and compared with that, going to University first like his mother said she wanted him to do seemed selfish.


Washington D.C.

“Have you ever had dealings with a foreign Government?” The Polygraph Operator asked.

“Yes, you are aware of what I do for a living?” John asked in reply.

The Polygraph Operator frowned and moved onto the next question.

“Have you ever knowingly passed classified information to an agent of a foreign Government?”

“Yes” John said with an evil grin. And one of the observers spit out his coffee.

The Polygraph Operator looked furious as he marked the paper where John had answered that question.

“For clarification Director Aleshire was ordered to read in Sven Werth from German Federal Interior Intelligence into the investigation of the attempted assassination of President Truman and the Augusta Conspiracy” One of the Bureau Lawyers interjected.

“I think you’ve proven your point Sir” The Deputy Director who was John’s replacement in Counterintelligence said. It was part of a larger debate that was going on in the FBI as well as other Law Enforcement Agencies. The polygraph was a marvel of technology, but to rely on it was foolhardy in the extreme.

“My point is that if there is a high-level mole, I can guarantee that he could strap himself into this machine, answer the questions, lie his head off and the needle won’t move” John said.

“With all due respect Sir” The Polygraph Operator said, “This is the best our experts can come up with.”

“Do you honestly think that the other side’s experts are sitting still?” John asked in reply.

The truth that no one in this room knew was that the case that gave John the credibility to be the Director was one where he had been tipped off. For years, there had been rumors of a high-level German spy in the CIA who they jokingly called Jürgen. As it had turned out, Jürgen was real, and John had worked backwards once he had learned who it was to prove it. In reality Jürgen had gone rogue and the BND had suggested that John do something about him. Eventually it had come down an interrogation where John had verbally cornered Jürgen and got the collar. Everyone in the Bureau had said that it was legendary and had joked that one-day Hollywood was going to get ahold of that story and they would see it on the movie screen. John was aware that what had happened was also a warning to him about what would happen if he ever forgot who held his leash.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Five


5th October 1963

Mitte, Berlin

“I think I know what is going on, but you need to see a real Doctor just to be sure” Kat said to Suga after she had asked her for help this morning. Years earlier when Kat had ordered all soldiers in the 1st Foot Guard Regiment to receive basic first aid training she had not made an exception for herself. Suga had asked her opinion in this matter.

“Is it some sort tropical bug?” Suga asked, “I’m afraid that I might have brought something back.”

Suga had been complaining that she hadn’t been feeling well ever since she and Freddy had returned from Pohnpei. She felt fatigued as well as suffering from headaches and nausea over the prior weeks. Those symptoms were all too familiar to Kat, who hoped that the conversation she hoped to avoid having with Suga wouldn’t be one that she would need to have with her own daughters for an extremely long time.

“As I said I am not a Doctor” Kat said, “I don’t want to overstep, and you really do need to…”

“If you think you know what is going on you need to tell me” Suga said firmly.

Aunt Marcella had warned Kat that this day would come eventually. When Kat would find herself in the same sort of position that she had forced Marcella into time and again came back to haunt her at that moment.

“I don’t think that it is tropical in nature, but I think that you did bring something back from your honeymoon” Kat said, “If you want a positive outlook on the matter, the Junkers will be happy that you and Freddy don’t seem to be wasting any time.”

“Wait, what?” Suga asked giving Kat a confused look, not getting the meaning of what Kat had just said.

Kat felt her stomach sink. Explaining this to Suga without panicking her would be a challenge because there seemed to be a bit of denial here.


Tempelhof, Berlin

Doug was hosting Hans today because Hertha was playing an away game and Hans said it was because Doug’s television was better for watching Football. The truth was that Hans and Helene were at loggerheads over what Han’s son Manfred was talking about doing with his life. Hans said that he felt that if he forbid Manfred from joining the Panzer Corps, he would spur his son in the opposite direction. Helene was demanding that Hans do exactly that. Hans also said that Helene didn’t want to see the role that her father had played in this whole mess. From Hans perspective, the worst part was that from an objective point of view Manfred was relatively intelligent even if he wasn’t necessarily the greatest of students as well as an athlete, a nearly perfect recruit for the Panzer Dragoons if he was anyone else’s son.

Today’s game wasn’t a great distraction from any of that though. They were watching Hertha getting creamed by Hamburger SV in Hamburg. Hans was scowling at the television while drinking from a can of beer. “This is just turning into a crappy day all over” He said.

“They seem to be having a good day in Hamburg” Doug said which earned him the stink eye from Hans.

“They don’t count” Hans growled.

Eventually the game went into half-time, it was a welcome break from the bloodbath that had been happening on the Football pitch though they still had forty-five minutes of the game still to go. The Commentators who had been following the game switched over to an interview with one of the players from Hertha and he wanted to talk about anything other than how his team was doing on the field that afternoon. He brought up how in a recent article Princess Kristina was photographed in New York wearing a Hertha jersey and how great it was to know that their team still had fans in high places. The banter had then turned to the nature of the publication and the Hertha player said that for the first time in his life he had opened it to read an article. They all got a laugh over that.

As the game resumed Hans pitched his beer can into the wastepaper basket in the corner just in time to see Hamburg score another goal. “Damn” Hans muttered, and he sat there quietly for a few minutes.

Finally, Hans broke his silence and in a sign of just how disgusted he was with his team’s performance he changed the subject.

“If I’m going to get Helene off my back, I’m going to need to get creative” Hans said, “Just that sort of creativity is not exactly what I am known for. You on the other hand might just be the right sort of man for the job.”

“Exactly what do you have in mind?” Doug asked.

“Knispel’s girl had this strange idea that she would be the first woman Panzer commander” Hans said, “He put her off by asking her to lift a twenty-five-kilo bag of flour over her head, physical requirements to join you know.”

Doug knew Suse Knispel well and she was a spitfire. Just she was physically small and probably weighed forty kilos, forty-five at most. Lifting twenty-five kilograms over her head would be nearly impossible for her.

“And you think I could help create a situation like that with your son?” Doug asked.

“Not just with him” Hans said, “But if the Panzer Corps exceeds its recruitment goals next year, the standards to join will go up and Manfred’s scores in math will deep-six his application.”

So that was what Hans had in mind as the sort of thing a photographer could help with.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Six


14th October 1963

Tempelhof, Berlin

Coming back to Berlin the day before had not exactly been Kiki’s idea but her father had insisted that she was needed because there was something important that they needed to discuss as a family. Kiki wondered exactly what was going on this time during the entire train ride between Jena and Berlin. All sorts of things came to mind, however when Kiki arrived at the Winter Residence, she swiftly saw that everyone was in a celebratory mood except for Freddy and Suga who looked like if they had been poleaxed. Kiki’s father had been talking with Freddy about how this was great news, but an official announcement should probably wait until Christmas.

When Kiki had questioned them about what was going on, Suga handed her a paper that was a readout of laboratory results from the day before that revealed that Suga had extremely elevated levels of hCG, something that Kiki understood could only mean one thing. Then she saw the name of the Doctor who had asked for the test to be done, N. Berg. Kiki wasn’t surprised that they looked like that, Berg was usually about as subtle as a piano dropped down an elevator shaft. She spent the rest of evening fuming and had arranged to meet Berg the next day with the intent of telling her exactly what she thought of her manners.

First though, Kiki had been forced to endure a public appearance at her father’s request. Years earlier, Freddy and Michael had been forced to give up their Hertha gear because the two princes couldn’t be seen as taking a side in professional sports. That was how Kiki had acquired the jerseys that she had slept in ever since. Now that was well known, and the reaction was far different. The about face was inexplicable and reeked of politics, Kiki just didn’t know what the angle was.

She was sent to the stadium that Hertha played home games where Kiki smiled and was pleasant to the players who were delighted to find out she was a fan. The truth was that all Kiki knew about Football was that the ball went into the goal and you were supposed to kick it. She had worn the oversized jerseys as her pajamas because they were comfortable, and she had liked the blue and white stripes. The fact that they represented a team had not entered her thinking at all. Today, Kiki had ended up learning exactly what that had meant when she had been introduced to thirty or so men, most of whom were the same age as she was and listened to how much her support meant to them. As photographs were taken with them Kiki did her best to just nod and smile in a way that she had grown entirely too good at over the years in order to hide her ignorance. After what had seemed like an eternity, Kiki escaped from the stadium and with a great deal of reluctance she headed to the University Hospital in Tempelhof where she had agreed to have lunch with Doctor Berg.

When Kiki entered the Hospital Cafeteria, she saw that Berg was seated in her usual place. She had already ordered food for them and at that moment that particular habit of Kiki’s mentor didn’t seem nearly as endearing as it had in the past, now it just seemed controlling.

“Doctor Berg” Kiki said as she sat down across the table.

“Hauptmann von Preussen” Berg replied, she had a slight smile as she said that. “I know what this anger directed at me is about and I think you ought to know that it is misplaced.”

“Anything else?” Kiki asked.

“Just that I hope you are taking full advantage of the services that the Medical Faculty at the University in Jena is best known for” Berg said. Kiki knew that she was referring to either the Emergency Surgery or the Psychology Departments. The Psychology Department in Jena was considered the world leader in the treatment of the effects of Traumatic Stress disorders. Kiki didn’t want to get into that with Berg.

“What did you do to Suga?” Kiki asked.

“That is between me, your brother and his wife” Berg said.

Kiki reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope that she handed to Berg. The letter inside raised Berg’s eyebrows when she read it. It gave Kiki permission to speak freely with Doctor Berg about matters including Suga’s health. It had been signed by Freddy and Suga.

“If I call your brother, he will verify this?” Berg asked.

“Yes” Kiki said, “It was their idea once I was able to get them away from my father for a few minutes. They wanted someone knowledgeable talking for them.”

“You understand that this situation is far from ideal, completely unplanned” Berg said, “Did Suga also tell you about the first option that she considered?”

“Yes” Kiki replied, “Would you have done that?”

“Discreetly, if requested” Berg said, “However, I could tell that she was uncertain, I asked her to think about it for a day and she changed her mind. Your brother said that he would support whatever her decision was, which was good on him.”

“You didn’t employ your usual blunt manner on her?” Kiki asked, that was crux of this entire conversation.

“I use the manner that is appropriate for the situation” Berg said, “That situation required sensitivity, other situations require giving a naïve girl a kick in the right direction.”

That was a relief for Kiki.

“I am an Army Doctor regardless of what my specialty is” Berg said, “Blunt advice is what I am good at.”

“How does this happen?” Kiki asked, “Suga isn’t some ignorant girl.”

“She said that other members of her family have had difficulties in matters like these” Berg said, “She assumed that it would be far more difficult for her than it turned out to be.”

There it was; assumptions. Berg had been worried that Kiki had been making them as well.

“The science regarding human reproduction is far from complete” Berg said, “All things being equal, I would say that a romantic luxury vacation to an exotic tropical island is rocket fuel for that sort of thing.”

“I guess” Kiki said, she didn’t have an opinion on that matter either way. She poked at the green salad that Berg had ordered for her with her fork.

“Another theory is that a woman achieving an orgasm increases the odds” Berg said, “I would say that it is a good thing that you have taken this matter seriously because apparently your boyfriend managed to really ring your bell the last time you two got together.”

Kiki’s fork paused halfway to her mouth. How the Hell?

“Don’t look so surprised, everyone in your building knew what was going on” Berg said, “One of your downstairs neighbors is an old classmate of mine. You might want to be more discrete in the future.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Seven


20th October 1963

Mitte, Berlin

Sometimes, everything that you had been warned about for months, even years, comes to pass and you wonder why you didn’t listen. Ben had a lot of time to think about that as he was dragged out of his bedroom in the middle of the afternoon by two men with no necks and scarred knuckles. He had caught a glimpse of his mother and father with shocked expressions on their faces as he had those two brutes holding him by the arms and marching him down the stairs. They had shoved him into the back of a waiting car and every question he asked was met with silence. Minutes later when the car stopped, he was dragged out by the collar and through what looked and smelled like tunnels until they came to two steel doors that slid open. Ben was pushed in and was roughly shoved into the back wall as he felt the floor move and he realized that this was a rapidly ascending elevator.

When the elevator stopped, a bell chimed cheerfully in direct counterpoint to what was going on aboard it. Seconds later, Ben was marched across what must have been a street at one time with his feet hardly touching the ground, but the ends had been blocked off by walls topped with concertina wire. Warning signs proclaimed that it was electrified. It was then that he realized where he was, the Hohenzollern Palace used to have an apartment block adjacent to it. Sometime after Soviet agents had gained access to the Palace just before the Second World War those buildings had been purchased and were said to have been put to other purposes. The buildings that housed the headquarters for the more secretive Government and Military agencies supposedly, including the BND, BII and KSK.

That wasn’t the direction that they were taking Ben, and in many ways that was worse. Because there could only one man with the power to have Ben yanked out of his home like this where they were going. Finally, after being marched through a security checkpoint, up numerous stairs and down hallways Ben was dragged through a doorway and into a room that reminded him strongly of every time he had been sent to the Headmaster’s Office in Primary School, only this time was worse. The Headmaster had never had a personal motivation in dishing out punishment. The two men who had marched Ben in here made a point of throwing him to the floor in front of the desk, taking one last opportunity of letting him know just who was really in charge here.

The Louis Ferdinand looked over his desk at Ben. “You can leave us, Aviv” He said.

That thug’s name was Aviv? Ben had a hard time squaring that.

“Sir” Aviv said, before he gave Ben a contemptuous look and leaving with his buddy.

Ben couldn’t help but noticing that there was nowhere to sit on this side of the desk, leaving him no choice but to stand there enduring whatever was in store for him. Getting to his feet with as much dignity as he could muster, it was only a question as to just how bad this ultimately became.

“I spend a lot of time pretending that I don’t understand what is going on with my children” Louis said, “Unfortunately, circumstances don’t always allow me to turn a blind eye and you are now getting a good look Benjamin.”

That didn’t sound good.

“I know that my daughter has always needed to live her life on her own terms and is an unconventional young woman” Louis said, “The problem is that my own people are reluctant to talk to me about her activities. Care to enlighten me about the role you have played.”

Ben wasn’t stupid. He knew that there was absolutely nothing he could say that wouldn’t make matters worse.

“Lou Junior, my youngest son, is leaving for New Swabia on a two year expedition in a few days” Louis said mildly, “If you don’t speak up on your behalf, I will arrange for you to be sent to Kiel to be on that ship when it leaves.”

That sounded brutal. Since Ben had joined the Luftwaffe Reserve, he had heard jokes about New Swabia. That there were outposts in that frozen Hell whose personnel was composed of those who had angered someone in a powerful enough position to make it happen. Ben had the Emperor himself threatening to make exactly that happen to him.

“Kiki has one rule” Ben said, “I am not to talk to her about the future, ever.”

That didn’t even start to explain what had happened over the last couple years.

“Marriage, children, even finishing University” Louis said, “You expect me to believe that you’ve never discussed any of that? Especially considering how long the two of you have been together.”

Ben gulped. He would have asked Kiki to marry him in a heartbeat except he already knew what her answer would be.

“I’ve tried” Ben said, “But she always shuts that down by telling me that we are impossible as a couple. Eventually, the world is going to pull us apart, so talking about the future is pointless.”

Louis stared at Ben for an extremely long moment.

“Exactly what is that supposed to mean?” Louis asked, “Is that some sort of excuse?”

It was hardly an excuse, but how did Ben convince someone like Louis Ferdinand of that?

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Eight


21st October 1963

Mitte, Berlin

The door flew open taking a good chunk of the doorframe with it and it sounded like the doorknob had embedded itself in the wall. Kiki stepped through the door with two of Louis’ bodyguards standing behind her, clearly at a loss for how to handle this situation. She was livid and had taken that out on the door. While she always had known how to make an entrance, one of the things that the military had clearly taught her was how to go about doing in the noisiest way possible.

Louis was aware that his daughter had a temper, but he had very seldom seen it once Kiki had stopped being a toddler. Today was obviously different.

“You do know that it was unlocked” Louis said hardly looking up from the page that he was proofreading with a red pencil.

“You have some nerve” Kiki hissed at him.

“This is about me finally trying to rein in a daughter who I get to learn from many different people is out of control in several different ways?” Louis asked in reply as he put down the papers, “Including the Board of the Hohenzollern Trust, people who can make both our lives miserable if they so choose. How do you think they will react to you kicking in that door?”

“Speaking of needing to be reined in” Kiki said, “They question every single thing I do.”

Louis looked tired as he looked across his desk at Kiki.

“Does 1917 mean anything to you?” He asked, “The Board of Trusties was created by your grandfather with the express purpose of preventing the public perception that an out of control autocracy exists in this country.”

“I bought shares in a corporation in what seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity” Kiki replied, “And I used money that I had been authorized to spend.”

“It is about public perception. Not to put too fine a point on it, everyone expected you to spend that money on frivolous things” Louis said, “The spending of money on something like that without having them in the loop surprised them. And having to head off questions about your personal morality because you are having an affair with Benjamin Hirsch on top of it?”

“You didn’t need to have him dragged in here though” Kiki said.

“My instructions were just to bring him in” Louis said, “The people I sent were a touch overenthusiastic.”

“That is one of the biggest understatements I have ever heard” Kiki said, “Do you have any idea of the sort of promises I had to make to Nadine to keep her quiet about this mess?”

“I’m sure you will manage” Louis replied, “I’m more worried about what you’ve been telling that boy. Never talking about the future, how impossible you two are as a couple? That has got to be the most absurd melodrama I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s the truth, isn’t it?”

“Yes and no” Louis replied, “The whole matter is complicated, but it sounds to me as if you are making excuses in this instance. Do you actually love Benjamin or are you just playing games?”

Kiki was about to answer that question when possibly the worst person on Earth walked through the door, just as Louis was starting to get through to her.

“Did you really give Kiki’s squeeze the full psychopathic protective father routine Poppa?” Rea asked, he watched as Kiki threw herself into a chair to sulk, probably completely shutting everything out in the process. The presence of Rea was pouring petrol on a fire that was already burning out of control.

“Now is not a great time Marie” Louis said.

“Is that what I get to look forward to if I ever meet the right man?” Rea asked, “Because I always thought that you were more forward thinking than that?”

“I was trying to this situation back under control” Louis said, “It just didn’t play out the way I intended. You, Victoria and Kristina will all have men in your life that I will need to be understandable with.”

Ria reacted to that as if there was something in that which she found hilarious.

“That’s never going to happen with Vicky” Ria said.

The expression on Kiki’s face changed back to anger. “Don’t you dare” She said to Rea who just looked smug about whatever was happening here.

“It is not as if it’s a great horrible secret” Rea asked, “Vicky is a… umph!”

Louis had never seen anything like it before. Kiki was on her feet instantly and she attacked Rea. The two of them landed them in front of desk with a crash. Kiki may have been trained by the KSK, but she didn’t actually want to hurt her sister, Rea had no such compunctions. The bodyguards pried the two of them apart and were coming off somewhat worse for the wear in the process.

“You have no right to do that to Vicky!” Kiki spat at Rea as she tried to pry her arm out of the grip of a man from the First Foot.

“ENOUGH!” Louis shouted, “No more sneaking around, no more secrets, no more drama! I am sick and tired of this!”

Kiki and Rea were staring at him and it occurred to Louis just how seldom he had raised his voice with his girls. Both of them were staring at him in shock. One of Kiki’s eyes was swelling shut and Rea’s nose was bleeding.

That was when Louis noticed that Charlotte and Victoria were staring at them through the doorway. Completely aghast.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Nine


28th October 1963

Kiel

The SMS Albatros II resembled the Aircraft Carrier that had been converted to a research ship after the Second World War, but only to the extent that she had a flat deck up top. This one though had been optimized for the use of helicopters. The lack of a catapult system and arrestor gear precluded the use of most fixed wing aircraft. That didn’t mean that there weren’t a handful of Storch utility planes and a pair of the larger twin-engine STOL Kranich transports that had also been built by Fieseler aboard. Like the helicopters they had been adapted for the cold conditions ahead. It hardly mattered though, because almost all of the deck space was covered in cargo bound for Wilhelm Station on the coast. Food, fuel, entire vehicles and parts of every description were in crates on the flight deck and crammed into every available space below. The Albatros was joining the small fleet of ships jointly operated by the respective Navies of Germany and Norway that were the lifeline back to civilization for that outpost and the others further inland.

Over the prior summer, Louis Junior had undergone Arctic and Mountaineer training in the Bavarian Alps. Most of his instructors had been from the Alpine Divisions and they had looked with amusement at the High Seas Fleet patches sewn onto his uniform. As it turned out, they hadn’t had too many sailors going through their program until very recently. Most Naval personnel had trained in Schleswig-Flensburg for Arctic expeditions because there had never been too many of them. With the growing strategic importance of those regions, someone in the OKW had realized that the Navy needed to get serious about that training. Louis had been among the first Naval Officers sent to the Alps and trained with the tools and weapons that he should expect to use in Antarctica.

As he stood at the rail of the hanger deck of the Albatros watching the gathering crowd of people there to see them off, Louis could only think about how much he hated to leave things as unsettled as they were. He had only heard about what had happened second hand from Kiki who was still angry about it when he had arrived for a final meal with his family. She had asked him if the Albatros needed another medical officer, because two years away from the insanity that had overtaken their lives was sounding pretty good from her perspective. The black eye that Kiki had ended up with spoke volumes about the reasons for that.

Vicky was a complete mess. While Rea might not have said it herself, just the fact that Kiki had started a fight in order to prevent that from happening had forced Vicky to tell their father the truth about what had been happening with her over the last few years. It wasn’t something that Louis would have thought. Vicky had seemed to be conservative in her outlook, embracing wholeheartedly the idea of community and family as outlined by the Church services that she attended. To learn the secret that she had been carrying around with her… What was the truth about Vicky? Had she done all that in an effort to convince others, or even herself, that everything was normal? It had turned out that Kiki had been Vicky’s confidant and protector for a long time. Oddly the only time that Vicky said she had felt like she could be herself was when she had either been with Kiki at the castle or oddly, traveling with her in America.

So far, no one had been able to gauge their father’s reaction. It was obvious to everyone that certain things had been mishandled in recent days and all the children except Nella had been told to leave him alone until he got a handle on what exactly had happened.

Kiki had told their father that she felt that it was something about Vicky that couldn’t be changed, it was a part of who she was. Rea saw things differently and that was hardly a surprise. The relationship between the twins had grown strained and as Rea had come seen as the more problematic of the two Vicky had gone to great lengths to be as perfect as possible. Rea had started making jokes about how her sister wasn’t so perfect and had speculated frequently about what she was hiding. Now with this, Rea saw it as validation. Freddy had told Louis that he and Suga were just watching to see how this panned out. Then he had joked that it was probably just as well that they were dealing with this now as opposed to what would happen in a couple years. Louis had made the mistake of asking what Freddy was talking about and he had pointed out that after two years at sea and on Antarctica the two hundred or so men who made up the crew of the Albatros would probably be a hundred very lovely couples by the time they made it back to Kiel. Real funny. Louis would have liked to have thought that he no longer fell for his brother’s jokes by now.

Just before the Albatros cast off, Louis spotted a pair of cars parking in a cordoned off area of the pier. His father got out of the backseat followed by Charlotte who was holding Nella by the hand as they walked to the shore as Nella was waving enthusiastically. Kiki got out of the passenger seat and was leaning on the front fender with her arms crossed. The crew only saw that the Emperor himself was here to see them off, the ship’s horn sounded as Louis felt a jolt through the rail as the Albatros was underway.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred


1st November 1963

Mitte, Berlin

Sitting in his office, Louis was slightly annoyed by the smell of fresh paint and varnish from the repairs that had just been completed. He was still trying to grapple with the sudden revelations over the prior weeks. Kiki had revealed a side of herself that Louis was still trying to comprehend. He had known that for a long time Marie Cecilie could be vindictive and lacked direction, he hadn’t realized just how vicious she could be, especially if it was her twin sister she was going after. And finally, Victoria, he had no idea what to make of what she had reluctantly told him about herself.

When Louis had last seen her, Kristina had been angry because Nadine Hirsch had made her promise that she would effectively be completely gone from her life for the rest of the year. Louis Ferdinand suspected that it would have been forever if Nadine had her way. Kristina had made absolutely no secret of the fact that she blamed him entirely for that. Then the other shoe had dropped. Someone on the Board of the Hohenzollern Trust had taken it upon themselves to conduct an exhaustive background check on not just Ben himself but his family as well. According to Parrish records it went back to a forester who lived in Upper Saxony nearly six centuries earlier. Anyone who knew the meaning of the surname Hirsch could have probably figured that out without putting in as much effort. A few of the Board members had been somewhat put out when they learned that, they had said that to them the name Benjamin Hirsch sounded Jewish to them. Kiki had told them that she was certain that he wasn’t, practically daring them to guess how she knew that. That had been when Louis had intervened. It was obvious to him that they had allowed their own prejudices get the better of them and the fight that Kristina seemed to be picking was one that would leave everyone burned. She saw the Trusties as petty bureaucrats who regularly overstepped, what she didn’t understand was that they had the authority to reign her in hard if they chose to.

Louis Junior had left with his ship, bound for Rio Gallegos in Argentina. From there the Albatros II would go on to deliver supplies to various research stations with her ultimate destination as Wilhelm Station on Lützow-Holm Bay. From there Junior would go where he was needed but Louis worried, that was about as far as one could go and still be on the globe and his son had needed to go through special training after he had volunteered to go there. It was for good reason that Antarctica had a reputation for being the hardest of postings and had frequently been the sort of place where men who had made potentially career ending mistakes, but not quite bad enough to be thrown into prison were sent. It was the most unforgiving and dangerous place on Earth.

The door swung open and someone he’d not anticipated entered the room. For years Kat von Mischner had loathed the uniform that came with her rank, preferring the business casual clothes that she wore today. She walked over and threw open the curtains.

“Brooding in the dark is my thing” Kat said, she paused to think for a minute. “And it seems like the world is determined to turn me into my Aunt Marcella” She added.

“You are aware of what has been happening but still come back around here?” Louis asked. Most of those who had been able to, had made excuses to elsewhere this week.

“I live with my newborn nephew, my daughters have figured out that living in the same house full time is not to their liking and have started bickering” Kat replied, “At least it’s quiet here. Besides that, what happened with your family sounds no different than any other I’ve ever heard of.”

“Heinrich?” Louis asked, “I’ve been asked to help with that situation.”

It was a ticklish matter, an apparent drunken one night stand had resulted in the birth of a boy whose father was the last of a nearly extinct dynasty. Let a family line end or acknowledge the child as the son and heir. Either choice would create serious problems for Louis Ferdinand. It wasn’t something that he wanted to think about at the moment. If only his grandfather hadn’t been so eager to do his best friend a favor, that had created the precedent which complicated this.

“Yes” Kat said as she sat down in the same chair that Kristina had sat in just before she had attacked Marie.

“I have no idea what I am going to do about Victoria” Louis said.

“I would suggest that you do nothing at all” Kat replied, “Your daughter is still the same young woman she was last week.”

“You understand that it is regarded by many as a mental condition” Louis said.

“So is hysteria” Kat said, “A catchall term that makes being a woman a mental illness. Don’t forget that I studied Psychology.”

“What exactly should I do then?”

“If I were in your shoes, I would treat it exactly the same way that your father handled Alexandrine” Kat said, “Love and acceptance can be difficult at times but doing what is easy always seems to turn out to be incredibly cruel.”

That gave Louis pause, his younger sister had been born with Down’s syndrome. Was what was going on with Victoria the same sort of thing?

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred One



2nd November 1963

Werder

Because she and Suse were completely different there were moments when Gerta was completely unsure about how to react to some of the things that happened to her fifteen-year-old daughter. Today she was having one of those moments because Suse had been determined to prove her father wrong by lifting a twenty-five-kilogram bag of flour over her head and she had stubbornly refused to accept that she couldn’t raise it more than a few centimeters. At 1.5 meters in height and maybe weighing forty kilograms soaking wet, it was painfully obvious what Suse’s problem was. She had always been on the small side and that hadn’t changed now that she was nearly an adult.

Gerta had been in the kitchen talking with the Cook about that night’s dinner when she heard the sound of ripping paper and a loud thud from the storeroom. When she ran in to see what had happened, Gerta saw that there was flour all over the floor and hanging in the air. Suse was sitting in the middle of a large pile of flour because she had fallen over backwards pulling the bag on top of her even as it split open. Flour completely covered her face, clothes and hair. Suse was this completely white figure with two cornflower blue eyes looking out from under the powder caked to her face. It was an incredibly comical scene, but Gerta knew that Suse wouldn’t see the humor in this.

Then Suse started crying as she sat up.

This wasn’t crying because she was sad, no, this was wailing because Suse had been thoroughly defeated by something so trivial. Frustration and anger at this situation were coming out in a manner that Gerta hadn’t seen her express like this since she was a little girl. Kurt had told Gerta that Suse was extremely unlikely to ever have the upper body strength to lift twenty-five-kilograms. He had gone out of his way to avoid dashing her dreams, but he had known that something like this was going to happen eventually. It was also one of those moments when no matter how old Suse was, she needed Gerta to step in and be her mother.

“It’s going to be alright my little Rose” Gerta said using the nickname that Suse had as small child and brushing the flour off Gerta’s face with her hand. In the past that had always gotten a smile from Suse, no matter how upset she was. Not this time though.

“How can you say that?” Suse replied, “Look at this… MESS!”

With that Suse started crying again and she hugged Gerta, completely unconcerned about being covered in flour to the point that it was running off her.

“We can just sweep all this up and I can promise that things will get better” Gerta said that knowing how absurd that sounded, twenty-five-kilos of flour in this small space was going to be a nightmare to clean up. She hugged Suse back while trying not to think about what this was doing to her clothes.

“How?” Suse asked plaintively.

“When I was just a bit older than you are, I was dropped by my Agent” Gerta replied, “He said that I had no real talent and would never land anything other than bit roles.”

Suse looked at Gerta in surprise. She had only known her mother as a successful actress who had starred in movies and television shows before moving on to heading a production company.

“You’ll find a way Suse Rosa” Gerta said, “Just like I did.”

Suse tried to smile at that, but Gerta could tell that she didn’t really believe it.



North Atlantic, South-West of Ireland

The SMS Albatros II may have seemed like a large ship when she was in port. Being out on the open ocean put things in a very different perspective. For the last several hours she had been making sedate headway in a storm that was heaving the ship about. The Deckoffizier had said that it was mere squall and just a small taste of what was ahead when they reached the Southern Ocean. All but the most junior of the Ship’s Officers and Enlisted had made this passage before, so Louis listened to what they had to say.

Oberfähnrich zur See Hugo Georg Wieck, who Louis shared a cabin with that wasn’t much larger than a broom closet, was seasick. Louis had been surprised to learn that Hugo’s only prior experience at sea had been the relatively brief jaunts out on the Baltic aboard ships and boats maintained by the Mürwik Naval Academy. They were roughly the same age, which happened to be the only thing that they had in common. Hugo had been shocked to learn that Louis had volunteered to go to Korea, had served aboard the SMS Brandenburg and had eventually commanded an LC. In turn, Louis couldn’t figure out how Hugo could have possibly made it through Arctic training without divine intervention. So, they had been told that they were sharing accommodations. Louis didn’t see the reason for this yet. They were going to take on the Scientists and Technicians in Argentina, there was plenty of space aboard the Albatros where Louis wouldn’t have to listen to Hugo get sick in the bunk right below his.

Laying on his bunk with his pillow under his chin. Louis was trying to read the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, part of a correspondence course he was taking that had been set up by the Naval Academy in Partnership with the University of Berlin. He had selected this book because he had been told that he was going to be extremely likely to encounter Americans in Antarctica. He was finding the world depicted in the book completely alien and he wondered how much of a reflection that was on the people in that region of the United States. That was when he heard Hugo throw up into his bucket again. Louis was a bit surprised that he still had anything left in his stomach by now.

“Sorry you had to hear that again Lieutenant” Hugo groaned before he staggered for the door. At least he was smart enough to empty the bucket in the head. Hearing was bad enough. If Louis had to smell it as well, he would seriously be tempted to lock Hugo out the next time he left.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Two



4th November 1963

Wunsdorf-Zosen

The SPz-4 was charging forward over rough ground and Doug was wedged in just behind the driver’s seat with a squad of Dragoons filling the remainder of the tight space. He was wearing a helmet and flak vest that had been lent to him, the word PRESSE had been stenciled on the front and back of the vest in large yellow letters. An MG-42/48 was in the middle of the floor along with several boxes of ammunition. The arrangement was that the driver sat on the left side of the hull just behind the transmission in the bow and the steel box that contained engine was on the right. He could see the feet of the armored vehicle’s Commander and Gunner as they sat in the turret above the main compartment. Unlike an actual Panzer, there was no turret basket. They sat with their feet on rests or on the peddles that controlled the 20mm cannon and coaxial 8mm machine gun. He had grown used to the constant and violent motion of the APCs decades earlier, otherwise spending his time looking through the viewfinder of his camera would have made him sick. Soren Yount and other senior Noncoms of the Panzer Dragoons had greeted him as if he was an old friend, basically one of them.

“You came with us all the way from Poland to Moscow, then went to Manchuria” Soren said, “The only difference between us was that you could gone home at any time. Hell, you were even the one who got the girl too.”

That wasn’t quite true. If Doug had ever called it quits during that time, he would have found himself sent right back to Europe with the Canadian Army. As for getting the girl, Kat would probably have quite a few things to say about that. Especially regarding Soren’s inability to knock on doors before he opened them and just how he had gotten his nose broken. It was the same incident that had prompted Kat to do that photo session that Doug would certainly never forget. Soren did not need to know any of that though.

The reason why Doug found himself in an APC was that he was photographing a Platoon of Heavy Infantry as they went through a live fire training exercise was because Hans wanted him to help create a new advertising campaign for the Panzer Corps. Glossy, full color adverts with lots of action depicting how fun and exciting the Dragoons were was what he had asked for. However, just getting those photographs was proving to be a bit of a challenge. Doug’s insider/outsider status was made clear when the machine gun started firing, the spent cartridges and loose belt links that missed the chute started landing on him. No one had wanted to sit where Doug was because they knew that this would happen. The smirk that most of the others in the red light that filled the interior of the APC revealed as much. These were Soren’s “men” though Doug had a hard time thinking of them that way. Most of them were still teenagers with the fire team leaders being in their twenties. Though Doug knew that they were more or less the same age that Hans, Soren and Jost had been when Doug had met them, they still looked like schoolboys playing at being soldiers to him.

The soldier sitting across from Doug was holding the 40mm grenade launcher that this outfit was supposed to be evaluating. According to Doug’s source, the Heer had stumbled across examples of the American M-79 Korea. Thinking of it as an enlarged version of a break-action shotgun, Procurement in Wunsdorf had turned to Merkel in Suhl to help with reverse engineering it. While the gunsmiths at Merkel had certainly recreated a version of the M-79, the examples of what they had produced was simply too beautiful to be a weapon of war, rust-blued and with a walnut stock. They had even engraved the receivers, but instead of things like ivy, trees, boars or stags they had added things that reflected what they thought were part of the mission of a Grenadier. This had been a big hit with the men, though no one thought for an instant that any production versions would look like that if it was adopted by the Heer. The one that Doug was looking at had an engraving of a Lynx Panzer and curlicues that looked like barbed wire.

“Keep low Herr Blackwood” The Unteroffizer in charge of this Squad yelled, “And try to keep out of fields of fire!”

“Not the first time I’ve done this” Doug yelled back, “Unlike the cardboard targets you’ll be dealing with, the Russians and Japanese tend to shoot back!”

That got Doug several wide-eyed looks. These young men were in awe of their elders from the Second World War, the ones who had thrown themselves into the gears a machine that should have ground them to paste and broke it.

With that the light in the interior of the APC changed from red to blinking amber, letting them know that they were nearing the sector that they had been ordered to attack. Then the light went back to red. Everyone grabbed the gear that was assigned to them and Doug took a quick snapshot, hoping that the photograph would come out despite the dim light.

Seconds later, the ramp dropped, and the Dragoons stormed out the back of the APC. Doug hung back and took photographs. More than a few times he was showered in debris and he kept as close to the action as he could. Finally, the exercise ended and when Soren saw Doug he laughed.

“Some things never change I see” Soren said, leaving Doug wondering what he was talking about. Then he noticed that a piece of shrapnel had cut a hole in the sleeve of his coat without him noticing or hitting him.

“I would appreciate it if you could avoid telling my wife how that happened” Doug replied.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Three



15th November 1963

Mid-Atlantic Ocean

Louis ranked slightly higher than the Deckoffizier in the ship’s chain of command. Still, the old Warrant Officer had the advantages that came from having spent a lifetime at sea, so when it came to actual authority, he was just below the Captain. That was a reason why Louis was on watch in the bridge. The Albatros was making fast headway on calm seas as she passed into the Southern Hemisphere. He was up here with the silent Helmsman because most of the rest of the crew was enjoying the festivities that surrounded crossing the equator and someone sober needed to be in charge. He had done that ceremony aboard the Brandenburg south of Singapore on the way to Korea and didn’t feel the need to partake this time. Hugo had no idea what the rest of the rest of the crew had in store for the “polliwogs” aboard the ship, but he was probably getting more than his fill of that at that very moment. There were times when Louis found Hugo’s apparent naivety to be completely unbelievable.

It was bad enough that Hugo’s specialty was that he was a Cartographer. It was something that would keep him busy once they got to Antarctica, in the meantime he was regarded as not much more than cargo by most of the crew. Louis might have been seen the same way, as the Assistant Navigator and Coxswain there wasn’t a whole lot for him to do. The difference was that Louis had earned their respect in Korea and took watches up on the bridge. He was seen as playing a role in the ship’s crew and the expedition.

The other day though, Hugo had made a mistake that made Louis wonder why they had allowed him to leave the Academy. Louis had discovered that one of the books that Hugo had brought with them was the sort that was bound to cause trouble. It was a copy of The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and Hugo had jokingly asked him about whether or not they would find an alien city like the one in At the Mountains of Madness. Louis had told him that it was extremely unlikely and suggested that he keep his possession of that book to himself. Perhaps Louis had overreacted, but he understood how things worked with the crew. They lived and breathed superstition. Talk of space aliens as ancient gods that manipulated mankind for all of history, inherited guilt and the vagaries of fate cut a little too close for comfort. The Sailors had tattoos that were seeped with meaning, mostly relating to survival or the fickle nature of luck and the sea. A book like that aboard this ship was playing with fire, especially because they really were going off into the unknown and it wasn’t the monsters in the shadows that they needed to fear. Louis understood that the real threat was the all too human reactions of people in desperate situations.

It was a good thing that most of the crew couldn’t be bothered to read a book, Louis thought to himself.



22nd November 1963

Dublin, Ireland

Jack was exhausted as he stepped out of the Law offices where he worked. It was a rainy evening and Bridget said that dinner would be on the table when he got home. A week earlier, before he had left for Hong Kong, Bridget had said that she thought she was pregnant again. Jack had a bad feeling that it was a matter that she was going to bring up tonight over said dinner. If they were going to have another baby, then they would probably need to move into a bigger house. Jack could certainly afford it these days. Still, another kid…

The partners of his firm were over the moon as the billable hours that he had been racking up and putting them in contact with the businesses that were very interested in opening shop in Ireland now that China was growing ever more chaotic. Still, the roundtrip between Dublin and Hong Kong was brutal. Heaven help Jack if the partners ever learned that he was also acting as the go-between for British Military Intelligence and certain factions in mainland China. Most of the partners would cold-bloodedly see it as the cost of doing business, but they would be furious about him not letting them in on it. They saw MI6 as a big pool of money that they could dip into. Jack on the other hand knew that in Ireland there were still a lot of people who saw the British Military in general and their Intelligence Agencies in particular as the lapdogs of the Devil. They wouldn’t hesitate to…

Jack was preoccupied as he started to cross the street, when he felt a hand grab him by the shoulder and pull him backwards roughly. A wall of steel passed by inches from his nose. Jack was still trying to process what it was when he heard the blast of an airhorn and saw the red taillights of a lorry growing smaller in the distance before it went around a corner. Turning around Jack saw the man who had grabbed him by the shoulder. He was wearing a black coat and Jack noticed a white clerical collar.

“Careful my son” The Priest said, “None of us are guaranteed a tomorrow and I doubt that you are in a hurry to meet God.”

Jack was reminded of all the information that had been coming to light in dribs and drabs as the Irish Catholic Church had fought a losing battle to keep its secrets that ranged from less than flattering to hang the bastards from the nearest tree. That was the Church as an institution though, it was often different on the individual level. It was something that Jack had to remind himself of occasionally.

“Thank you” Jack said.

The Priest tipped his hat to him. “We wouldn’t want you going to your eternal judgement too soon would we Mister Kennedy” He said.

Jack took his previous thought back. The cursed English weren’t the only ones who had too many spies.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Four



26th November 1963

Silesia

The fire was crackling and the warmth from it was welcome compared to the wintery weather that was closing in on the estate outside. Something that Manfred noticed more and more with each passing season was that cold seemed to bother him more. He remembered all the time he had spent in the open cockpits of airplanes when he was young. Patrols on winter days surrounded by clear air that was well below zero and marveling at how the lift from the wings was so very different than on warm days in the summertime. Recently, Manfred had become aware of medical studies that were being conducted on British, French and German pilots. It seemed that they had been doing some sort of damage to themselves back then that they had been unaware of and they had been dying in inordinate numbers of maladies associated with the blood vessels in the brain.

Manfred almost laughed when his Doctor had explained that to him. When he had commanded the Flying Circus, the idea that they would have lived to become old men was ludicrous. Survival time for pilots was measured in hours and they all had lived as if the next patrol would be their last. It was a dangerous, brutal life, but at least it had some glamour and an individual could be seen as making a difference. The alternative was the trenches where survival was just as precarious, just the odds of recognition were profoundly lower. There was also the aspect of living in mud, sleeping in mud and finally, dying while drowning in mud that had never held a whole lot of appeal.

Rust woke up for a few seconds, looked for Manfred and then fell back asleep. The big dog loved it when cooler weather set in, bred for snowy conditions, he had been Manfred’s constant companion during the recently concluded hunting season. This year had been somewhat special in that another of the boys who he had been teaching had taken an important step. Malcolm, his grandnephew had gotten his first deer. Later that afternoon, when he had returned with Manfred the younger, everyone had seen where the Graf had put a smear of blood on his cheek. Malcolm’s twin sister Tatiana had been livid. Manfred understood it, as siblings the two of them had shared everything in childhood. Now as they entered adolescence, they were entering different worlds. Manfred had absolutely no doubts about Tatiana, or any of the other girls of her generation within his family. They had the examples of Helene, Tatiana’s mother or even Helene’s actress friend Gerta, who despite not being the sharpest tool in the shed managed to do well for herself. In Manfred’s personal opinion, the boys would have a more difficult balance in their lives. How did one teach them that they had nothing to prove so that they didn’t become the sort of posturing blowhards who everyone despised? It was Manfred’s hope that he was doing it right.

Then there had been Nikolaus wanting a friend along. It had been a shock to find out that the friend was none other than Sabastian Schultz, the grandson of Manfred’s former business partner, Johann Schultz. Johann's son, Dietrich and his American wife Nancy had warned him that Sabastian could be a handful at times but had welcomed the opportunity to have him up in the woods for a spell. Manfred had found Sabastian to be spirited and a bit lacking in focus. Joining Nikolaus and the older cousins in plinking cans under Manfred’s supervision and helping out during the drives during the hunt had been exactly the sort of thing that he needed to be doing.

Later, talking with the boys as they had spent the night in the Forester’s hut had been fun. Nikolaus had teased Sabastian about his “girlfriend” which Sabastian had vehemently denied. Manfred knew that girl in question was Marie Alexandra, Nikolaus’ cousin who happened to be their age and had grown up with them. She had arrived on the estate with her parents wearing a coonskin cap in what almost seemed a parody of what had been going on that week. Manfred understood that the day would come when Sabastian changed his tune, though he also figured that Sabastian would also learn the hard way what it meant to be thought of only as a friend, now and forever.



Rio Gallegos, Santa Cruz Provence, Argentina

It was with great fanfare that the SMS Albatros II entered port. Louis knew this was the last stop in civilization before they headed south to the howling, desolate wilderness that was Antarctica. He couldn’t help but notice that it was a warm spring afternoon in the Patagonian seaport as he stood at the rail. The Captain had briefed the ship’s Officers the night before about what they could expect over the next few days. They would be taking on two hundred and fifty scientific personnel from the various Universities and foundations that were sponsoring the expedition as well as an additional hundred passengers bound for Wilhelm Station as replacements, whatever that meant.

The way that the Captain had described the latter group, it sounded like they would be brought aboard in chains under armed guard. Louis doubted that would be the case though, that seemed like something from another century. Then again, Antarctica had a reputation for being the end of the line for those who had angered the powerful and there were stories about how the polar continent was the graveyard of the feckless and unlucky. Not for the first time, Louis wondered about the nature of what he committed himself to when he had volunteered for this.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Five



1st December 1963

Jena

“If you could hold your chin a little higher please? Zella asked Kiki. This was the latest sitting for the painting that Kiki had commissioned her to do. Next year the Royal family was updating the official portraits and Kiki had absolutely hated the one that had been done the last time and was determined to have it be done on her terms this time. Kiki had said that she didn’t even want to think about what the Protocol Office or the Hohenzollern trust would insist emphasis be placed on. So, she had asked Zella to do a painting that she would present to her father as a Christmas present. The painting was nearing completion and Zella realized that she would miss collaborating with Kiki.

Presently, Kiki was sitting on a chair with a pillow on her lap that was a stand in for Hera and a vase with dried flowers in it standing in for Rauchbier. Hera was watching them from her favorite perch atop the bookcase and Rauchbier was laying on his side by the radiator as he kicked his feet softly, dreaming of chasing rabbits. Zella was working from snapshots and studies that she had done of them because she knew that animals were right up there with small children as being among the worst live subjects.

The southern facing windows of Kiki’s one room apartment let in a lot of natural light even in December. As she had in all the previous sittings, Kiki was wearing a black velvet dress that turned cobalt blue in the folds depending on the light and a matching ribbon in her hair. Zella had no idea if the dress was a Klaus Voll original that was worth enough to pay the rent on Kiki’s apartment for the next year or something that she had found in a second-hand store. Either way it looked absolutely stunning on her. The only jewelry she was wearing was the necklace made of lapis lazuli beads that had been a birthday present from Zella and Aurora years earlier when they had spent the summer holiday in France. Zella had been touched when Kiki had explained what it meant, she said that everything that was going to be in the painting with her represented what was important to her. What the stack of books and viola represented were obvious. The necklace was a bit more subtle. There was also a black chess piece that she held in her left hand, a knight, that she had not explained. Zella suspected that it had something to do with Benjamin.

Looking at the stack of books, Zella had seen that they were a mixture of novels and textbooks. The novels were those that Kiki had enjoyed, the textbooks were the subjects she was taking or aspired to take.

“I still cannot believe that you are taking Theology as an elective” Zella said.

“Taking a year of Humanities courses is required” Kiki replied, “Not all of us are naturally gifted artists, so I took one that interested me. And this is Jena, so it comes with the territory.”

Zella frowned at that. For her entire life she thought of Jena as being almost as much home as Berlin. Her grandmother lived here as well as her aunts, uncles and cousins. Oddly, her father had been born here and was considered the Markgraf of Jena though he had never been too interested in playing that role. Having Kiki explain to her the history of this city months earlier had not been a welcome experience. The role it had played in the Reformation, the Napoleonic Wars and the Optics industry. All the things that she had been too lazy to learn for herself.

“Aunt Olivia wanted me to tell you that you are invited to lunch later” Zella said changing the subject. And instantly knew that she had probably made a mistake in bringing that up.

Olivia was the wife of Zella’s Uncle Peter. Everyone knew that Peter Holz and Kiki had a history. What few understood was that included a great deal of manipulation on his part when he had made her the poster girl for the Medical Service. Much later he had greased the skids for Kiki to get into University in Jena. It was an action that finally got her into the career track that she had wanted all along but had gotten sidetracked into FSR and Korea. The fact that Kiki had been avoiding him for months spoke for itself.

“Sorry to spring that on you” Zella said.

“I suppose that I am going to deal with your uncle eventually” Kiki replied, “He is the Chancellor of the Medical Academy.”

Kiki resumed the pose for the painting and Zella was unable to read what she was thinking. After several minutes Kiki spoke up again. “Vicky wants to come to Jena to attend University” She said, Zella wasn’t the only who could change the subject.

“It would be nice to have her here” Zella said, “You would need to find a bigger place though.”

“No” Kiki replied, “Vicky would need to have her own place, a different apartment in this building or just down the street would be perfect.”

Kiki lived in the surviving Medieval section of Jena. The way buildings were crowded together with the narrow streets had their advantages and disadvantages. Kiki had mentioned how everyone in her building had been a little too aware of her activities when Benjamin had visited in September. It also meant that if Vicky moved here, she could live in an entirely different building while still being just seconds away and it would seem as if they were in the same house.