The Slow Horses approach: send the guy somewhere so miserable that he’ll hopefully resign.Langley, Virginia, USA.
Deputy Director, Operations: "OK, what the fuck went wrong in Montreal?"
Head of the Canada Desk: "Not sure, but it looks as if one of our surveillance teams got sloppy and got made. Probably because they're following a pretty co-ed. Then, after the subject bullied them into driving her and her friend, one of our people tried to assault her in front of witnesses. Including what appears to be a Japanese national, who intervened."
Head of the German Desk (reading file): "Marie von Mischner-Blackwood might be a "pretty co-ed", but I'm not surprised she made our people. Being kidnapped by terrorists when you're a little kid tends to focus your awareness on your surroundings. Something her mother would definitely have reinforced. Hell, she's probably made every team we had watching her."
DDO: "You think she's a player?"
HoGD: "Not as yet. She would have called an ambulance or a cab if she was. But as for the future?" (Shrugs)
HoCD: "I tend to agree. She was faced with an emergency and decided to make our surveillance work for her."
DDO: "What about the idiot who tried to assault her at the hospital?"
HoCD: "The Canadians have PNG'd him, so he's getting a transfer to our listening post on Little Diomede Island for a year or two. That should cool him down a little."
Idiot Agent (looking at a map): "FUCK!!!"
Little Diomede Island - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
With the surveillance operation blown and Director Church’s skepticism about it in the first place, the CIA should go to an “Observe and Report” operation using American students who are on things like the Fulbright Scholarships and other aid indirectly provided by the CIA.
Remember in the first timeline Nancy got paid by the US State Department when she went to the University of Berlin and there should be plenty of students who want and need extra cash and would have no qualms about making reports on Marie.
There should be visiting faculty from the United States who are getting consulting fees from the State Department and as a requirement they have to make reports and if they have Marie as a student all the better.
Marie once she settles in, may want to join the Dramatic Society and with her training in make-up from a professional makeup artist and her training from Aunt Marcella in sewing should be a very welcome addition to the club.
Remember in the first timeline Nancy got paid by the US State Department when she went to the University of Berlin and there should be plenty of students who want and need extra cash and would have no qualms about making reports on Marie.
There should be visiting faculty from the United States who are getting consulting fees from the State Department and as a requirement they have to make reports and if they have Marie as a student all the better.
Marie once she settles in, may want to join the Dramatic Society and with her training in make-up from a professional makeup artist and her training from Aunt Marcella in sewing should be a very welcome addition to the club.
After Little Diomede you have numerous choices you can make if he stays around and doesn't get the message.
1. Southern Chile, way southern Chile
2. Border between Chile and Argentina way up in the Andes.
3. Johnston Island, way out in the Pacific. Bonus if its still used as Chem weapons dump that has occasional leakers.
4. U. S. Antarctic base.
5. Some place in the Panama Jungle monitoring traffic in the Canal, not observing more of a listening post for radio. Secret so you are really out in jungle.
6. Liberia has a few jungle spots also to monitor whats going on in Africa.
7. Somewhere in the Mojave Desert, like the equivalent to China Lake Naval Air Station, but CIA so its super secret and you have to live in the wire while there.
8. US Spy ship out in the Arctic or the Southern Oceans as the CIA rep with them. Bonus if you have to go out on deck to take photos.
1. Southern Chile, way southern Chile
2. Border between Chile and Argentina way up in the Andes.
3. Johnston Island, way out in the Pacific. Bonus if its still used as Chem weapons dump that has occasional leakers.
4. U. S. Antarctic base.
5. Some place in the Panama Jungle monitoring traffic in the Canal, not observing more of a listening post for radio. Secret so you are really out in jungle.
6. Liberia has a few jungle spots also to monitor whats going on in Africa.
7. Somewhere in the Mojave Desert, like the equivalent to China Lake Naval Air Station, but CIA so its super secret and you have to live in the wire while there.
8. US Spy ship out in the Arctic or the Southern Oceans as the CIA rep with them. Bonus if you have to go out on deck to take photos.
Part 136, Chapter 2338
Chapter Two Thousand Three Hundred Thirty-Eight
11th November 1974
Los Angeles, California
Life had returned to as close to normal as it ever did in Los Angeles as the rainy season set in. For a few days, Ritchie had been the face of the response to rioting that had gone on. Now he was back to relative obscurity and was back on patrol. Aside from the upcoming Sergeant’s Exam, which he was being strongly encouraged to take, there was nothing else going on. His hope was that it would stay that way.
With it being November, the Christmas themed stuff had gone up in the stores the very instant the Halloween themed stuff had come down. Ritchie had listened to Big Mike complain about that. How all the imagery was of the classic New England Christmas that had about as much relevance to life in LA as a rerun of Star Trek with the constant drizzle and rain of the last few days being as close to snow as you were ever going to get. Besides that, weren’t they supposed to wait until the day after Thanksgiving before going all in on the Christmas stuff? Ritchie had just listened without comment. His idea of Christmas was his mother making a big spread of food and his entire extended family being there at the house in the San Fernando Valley. If it was really the whole “White Christmas” thing then the back yard would be useless, and the entire party would have to be moved indoors. He had seen enough of that in New York State when he had lived there. If Mike wanted snow, he had the option of spending the holidays up at Big Bear. In the meantime, he had other considerations…
Ritchie tapped the taillight of the car with his right hand as he walked up to the driver’s side window. This wasn’t exactly the crime of the century with the can having made an illegal turn several blocks back. It was instantly clear to him what must have happened as the woman who was driving was yelling at the children in the car, the children were largely indifferent to the yelling. Ritchie was reminded of his own childhood as one of the kids was staring at him as he approached, ignoring his mother, the other two were continuing their argument. The kids must have distracted her, she had been paying attention to them and not the road around her.
“Do you know why I pulled you over Ma’am?” Ritchie asked as she rolled down the window. As he heard the kids yelling over the car radio, he saw in the look on her face that she couldn’t care less. Talking to her about that U-turn she had performed would be pointless. To her, he was just one more obstacle to be overcome in a hectic day that had dozens of others. With a sigh, Ritchie asked, “License and registration, Ma’am? Do you have proof of insurance?”
It took a few minutes for the woman to find the necessary papers and her driver’s license. From the look of it, the inside of the car was a complete mess. The entire time Richie stood there trying to keep his mind from wandering.
Walking back to Frankenstein, Ritchie could see that cars were slowing down as people tried to see what was going on he saw that Mike had already gotten back into the car once it was clear that this would be a routine traffic stop. Same everywhere, he thought to himself as he sat down in the driver’s seat and started relaying the information to dispatch as he filled out the ticket.
“Woman with kids?” Mike asked in a better you than me tone.
“Yes” Ritchie replied.
“Crying, then rage” Mike said, “You think?”
Ritchie knew that Mike was referring to how the woman would react when Ritchie gave her the ticket. That was one of perks that would come with leaving Patrol Division, no more traffic stops. The trouble was that Ritchie didn’t have the first clue as to what else he would be doing in the Department. Out here, what he did was tangible. That wasn’t so true elsewhere.
“Good luck” Mike said as Ritchie finished filling out the ticket and got the confirmation number from Dispatch.
“Whatever” Ritchie replied as he got out of Frankenstein and walked back to the car. Traffic continued to roll past.
Mike’s prediction of theatrics was wrong as the woman gave Ritchie a death glare as he handed her the ticket. A minute later, she drove off as Ritchie walked back to Frankenstein. Mike would probably be focused on lunch as he tended to be this time of day. Putting the car in gear and pulling into traffic, Ritchie was slightly annoyed with how the traffic tended to slow down as soon as people saw a patrol car in their rearview mirror.
“Thought at all about lunch?” Mike asked as Ritchie had expected.
“Right now, I am thinking about everything but lunch” Ritchie replied, “The last few months, total garbage.”
“I won’t disagree with you there” Mike said, “You been paying attention to what’s been going on in South-Central?”
It was one of those turns that could only happen in LA. The neighborhoods which had been largely destroyed by rioting and the firestorm that had followed, were suddenly valuable real-estate. The safe assumption was that if the destruction had been less complete, then the property would be worthless. The detail that both Ritchie and Mike knew all too well was that it was because the people who had lived in those neighborhoods had been forced to move elsewhere that had caused the speculators to come in.
11th November 1974
Los Angeles, California
Life had returned to as close to normal as it ever did in Los Angeles as the rainy season set in. For a few days, Ritchie had been the face of the response to rioting that had gone on. Now he was back to relative obscurity and was back on patrol. Aside from the upcoming Sergeant’s Exam, which he was being strongly encouraged to take, there was nothing else going on. His hope was that it would stay that way.
With it being November, the Christmas themed stuff had gone up in the stores the very instant the Halloween themed stuff had come down. Ritchie had listened to Big Mike complain about that. How all the imagery was of the classic New England Christmas that had about as much relevance to life in LA as a rerun of Star Trek with the constant drizzle and rain of the last few days being as close to snow as you were ever going to get. Besides that, weren’t they supposed to wait until the day after Thanksgiving before going all in on the Christmas stuff? Ritchie had just listened without comment. His idea of Christmas was his mother making a big spread of food and his entire extended family being there at the house in the San Fernando Valley. If it was really the whole “White Christmas” thing then the back yard would be useless, and the entire party would have to be moved indoors. He had seen enough of that in New York State when he had lived there. If Mike wanted snow, he had the option of spending the holidays up at Big Bear. In the meantime, he had other considerations…
Ritchie tapped the taillight of the car with his right hand as he walked up to the driver’s side window. This wasn’t exactly the crime of the century with the can having made an illegal turn several blocks back. It was instantly clear to him what must have happened as the woman who was driving was yelling at the children in the car, the children were largely indifferent to the yelling. Ritchie was reminded of his own childhood as one of the kids was staring at him as he approached, ignoring his mother, the other two were continuing their argument. The kids must have distracted her, she had been paying attention to them and not the road around her.
“Do you know why I pulled you over Ma’am?” Ritchie asked as she rolled down the window. As he heard the kids yelling over the car radio, he saw in the look on her face that she couldn’t care less. Talking to her about that U-turn she had performed would be pointless. To her, he was just one more obstacle to be overcome in a hectic day that had dozens of others. With a sigh, Ritchie asked, “License and registration, Ma’am? Do you have proof of insurance?”
It took a few minutes for the woman to find the necessary papers and her driver’s license. From the look of it, the inside of the car was a complete mess. The entire time Richie stood there trying to keep his mind from wandering.
Walking back to Frankenstein, Ritchie could see that cars were slowing down as people tried to see what was going on he saw that Mike had already gotten back into the car once it was clear that this would be a routine traffic stop. Same everywhere, he thought to himself as he sat down in the driver’s seat and started relaying the information to dispatch as he filled out the ticket.
“Woman with kids?” Mike asked in a better you than me tone.
“Yes” Ritchie replied.
“Crying, then rage” Mike said, “You think?”
Ritchie knew that Mike was referring to how the woman would react when Ritchie gave her the ticket. That was one of perks that would come with leaving Patrol Division, no more traffic stops. The trouble was that Ritchie didn’t have the first clue as to what else he would be doing in the Department. Out here, what he did was tangible. That wasn’t so true elsewhere.
“Good luck” Mike said as Ritchie finished filling out the ticket and got the confirmation number from Dispatch.
“Whatever” Ritchie replied as he got out of Frankenstein and walked back to the car. Traffic continued to roll past.
Mike’s prediction of theatrics was wrong as the woman gave Ritchie a death glare as he handed her the ticket. A minute later, she drove off as Ritchie walked back to Frankenstein. Mike would probably be focused on lunch as he tended to be this time of day. Putting the car in gear and pulling into traffic, Ritchie was slightly annoyed with how the traffic tended to slow down as soon as people saw a patrol car in their rearview mirror.
“Thought at all about lunch?” Mike asked as Ritchie had expected.
“Right now, I am thinking about everything but lunch” Ritchie replied, “The last few months, total garbage.”
“I won’t disagree with you there” Mike said, “You been paying attention to what’s been going on in South-Central?”
It was one of those turns that could only happen in LA. The neighborhoods which had been largely destroyed by rioting and the firestorm that had followed, were suddenly valuable real-estate. The safe assumption was that if the destruction had been less complete, then the property would be worthless. The detail that both Ritchie and Mike knew all too well was that it was because the people who had lived in those neighborhoods had been forced to move elsewhere that had caused the speculators to come in.
These are the voyages of Starship Constitution...
The Klingons and Romulans were based on the American perception of the Russians and Chinese. So yes, the show would be very different, more complex for certain, with the Federation's dealings with a rival coalition of planets.
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You know, considering I do two-fingered hunt and peck for my typing, you would think these kind of typos wouldn't slip past me.
Part 136, Chapter 2339
Chapter Two Thousand Three Hundred Thirty-Nine
14th November 1974
Charlottenburg, Berlin
It being a Thursday evening, Zella was not going out and was at home watching videos that she had of Star Trek. She missed watching the show when there had been a new episode coming out every week when the show had concluded a few years earlier in 1971. One hundred thirty-five episodes over five seasons. The voyages of the Starship Constitution on its five-year mission to explore strange new worlds to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. Zella had always been thrilled to hear those words as they were recited by Captain Christopher Pike.
It had taken a considerable amount of effort on her part, but Zella had all the episodes on video so that she could watch them at home. Tonight, she was watching what was regarded as one of the best episodes of the series, the season three finale called “The Greater Good.” It was where Captain Pike discovers that the story that the Vulcan Commonwealth had been playing a dangerous game pitting the Federation of Planets against the Romulan Empire had been a lie that his own superiors had spread. The truth was that the Romulans and Vulcans were of the same people, they had been puppeteering the brutish Klingon Empire and the Federation in equal turns. If the leadership of the Federation revealed the truth, it would provoke a war where a pyrrhic victory would be the best they could hope for. Up until that episode, the series had been criticized for being utopian. It revealed that utopia was only a surface veneer.
As Zella watched, Pike confronted Ambassador Spock across the table in a tavern aboard a space station over the situation. At what point did pure logic simply become a cover for self-serving ends? And why making sacrifices for the greater good was ultimately a fallacy. Pike said that in a monolog, only to have Spock tell him that there were reasons why the Vulcan Commonwealth acted the way it did and that there were threats beyond human comprehension out there in the Galaxy. It set the stage for the events in season four as the implications worked themselves out and was the first hint of the actual big bad who was behind the scenes all along.
Zella thought that it was unfortunate that her friends didn’t share the same interest in Science-Fiction that she did. It wasn’t even about Sci-Fi. It was just about carving out the time to do something that was entirely for themselves for just a little bit. Instead, they were totally caught up in day-to-day concerns and had little time for anything else. Not that Zella blamed them, they all chose the lives they were living. She had noticed that it wasn’t making Kiki and Aurora happy though.
Tempelhof
Sophie wondered if Cheshire remembered Marie Alexandra as he let himself into her room from the window once she opened it. She had no idea how he managed to scale the side of the house to reach her room that way, just that she frequently woke to him batting on the glass. Sprocket wasn’t thrilled about the intrusion because Cheshire always displaced him from his place on Sophie’s bed. Swiftly closing the window, she shivered in the cold night air that had been let in. That was a reminder that Kat and Doug had asked her if she had any ideas for the upcoming holiday season. She found it depressing how life had just gone on without any acknowledgement of everything that had happened. It was just perverse. Aunt Marcella had told her that she felt the way that she did because it was all so new to her, her first love and first heartbreak. Marcella told Sophie that she along with Sepp had learned and grown a great deal because of their relationship. A year was also an eternity at her age with that sort of thing.
The thing that Sophie couldn’t get past was how she had messed everything up. They had been in the park and Sepp had kissed her. It was like in the movies, such a perfect moment, and she had liked it. Then she had suddenly remembered all the times that her mother had told her that she would inevitably become a complete disgrace for that very reason. She had rather forcibly pushed Sepp away and he had asked her if he had done something wrong. Which had been exactly the wrong choice of words. Her response though, she knew even then that it was completely uncalled for.
Sophie had lit into him about how it wasn’t always about him having done something wrong. That he wasn’t responsible for what other people did and how she found his constant desire to martyr himself to be pathetic. She had been angry with herself and her inability to let go of the hurtful things that had been said to her, Sepp had just been a convenient target at that moment though he had not deserved it. It wasn’t until Sophie had seen the look on his face that she had realized just how much of a mistake she had made. He had come back by telling her that at least he wasn’t constantly hiding who he was, unlike Sophie who went to such great lengths to pretend that she wasn’t from a working-class background just like him. Things had escalated from there as it devolved into them shouting hateful things at each other.
Sophie remembered the horrified expressions of passersby and how she had fled home, refusing to leave her room until Kat had forced her out to go back to school. Holding Cheshire, who was purring and rubbing his head on Sophie’s chin, it was all she could do not to start crying again.
14th November 1974
Charlottenburg, Berlin
It being a Thursday evening, Zella was not going out and was at home watching videos that she had of Star Trek. She missed watching the show when there had been a new episode coming out every week when the show had concluded a few years earlier in 1971. One hundred thirty-five episodes over five seasons. The voyages of the Starship Constitution on its five-year mission to explore strange new worlds to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. Zella had always been thrilled to hear those words as they were recited by Captain Christopher Pike.
It had taken a considerable amount of effort on her part, but Zella had all the episodes on video so that she could watch them at home. Tonight, she was watching what was regarded as one of the best episodes of the series, the season three finale called “The Greater Good.” It was where Captain Pike discovers that the story that the Vulcan Commonwealth had been playing a dangerous game pitting the Federation of Planets against the Romulan Empire had been a lie that his own superiors had spread. The truth was that the Romulans and Vulcans were of the same people, they had been puppeteering the brutish Klingon Empire and the Federation in equal turns. If the leadership of the Federation revealed the truth, it would provoke a war where a pyrrhic victory would be the best they could hope for. Up until that episode, the series had been criticized for being utopian. It revealed that utopia was only a surface veneer.
As Zella watched, Pike confronted Ambassador Spock across the table in a tavern aboard a space station over the situation. At what point did pure logic simply become a cover for self-serving ends? And why making sacrifices for the greater good was ultimately a fallacy. Pike said that in a monolog, only to have Spock tell him that there were reasons why the Vulcan Commonwealth acted the way it did and that there were threats beyond human comprehension out there in the Galaxy. It set the stage for the events in season four as the implications worked themselves out and was the first hint of the actual big bad who was behind the scenes all along.
Zella thought that it was unfortunate that her friends didn’t share the same interest in Science-Fiction that she did. It wasn’t even about Sci-Fi. It was just about carving out the time to do something that was entirely for themselves for just a little bit. Instead, they were totally caught up in day-to-day concerns and had little time for anything else. Not that Zella blamed them, they all chose the lives they were living. She had noticed that it wasn’t making Kiki and Aurora happy though.
Tempelhof
Sophie wondered if Cheshire remembered Marie Alexandra as he let himself into her room from the window once she opened it. She had no idea how he managed to scale the side of the house to reach her room that way, just that she frequently woke to him batting on the glass. Sprocket wasn’t thrilled about the intrusion because Cheshire always displaced him from his place on Sophie’s bed. Swiftly closing the window, she shivered in the cold night air that had been let in. That was a reminder that Kat and Doug had asked her if she had any ideas for the upcoming holiday season. She found it depressing how life had just gone on without any acknowledgement of everything that had happened. It was just perverse. Aunt Marcella had told her that she felt the way that she did because it was all so new to her, her first love and first heartbreak. Marcella told Sophie that she along with Sepp had learned and grown a great deal because of their relationship. A year was also an eternity at her age with that sort of thing.
The thing that Sophie couldn’t get past was how she had messed everything up. They had been in the park and Sepp had kissed her. It was like in the movies, such a perfect moment, and she had liked it. Then she had suddenly remembered all the times that her mother had told her that she would inevitably become a complete disgrace for that very reason. She had rather forcibly pushed Sepp away and he had asked her if he had done something wrong. Which had been exactly the wrong choice of words. Her response though, she knew even then that it was completely uncalled for.
Sophie had lit into him about how it wasn’t always about him having done something wrong. That he wasn’t responsible for what other people did and how she found his constant desire to martyr himself to be pathetic. She had been angry with herself and her inability to let go of the hurtful things that had been said to her, Sepp had just been a convenient target at that moment though he had not deserved it. It wasn’t until Sophie had seen the look on his face that she had realized just how much of a mistake she had made. He had come back by telling her that at least he wasn’t constantly hiding who he was, unlike Sophie who went to such great lengths to pretend that she wasn’t from a working-class background just like him. Things had escalated from there as it devolved into them shouting hateful things at each other.
Sophie remembered the horrified expressions of passersby and how she had fled home, refusing to leave her room until Kat had forced her out to go back to school. Holding Cheshire, who was purring and rubbing his head on Sophie’s chin, it was all she could do not to start crying again.
It's glad to see Star Trek is a thing ITTL too, though a bit surprised it's Pike (Jeffrey Hunter?) in the captain's chair and not Kirk. And Spock (Nimoy?) is an ambassador?!
Part 136, Chapter 2340
Chapter Two Thousand Three Hundred Forty
17th November 1974
Near Balderschwang, Bavaria
With Nina asleep, everyone else in the house had gone back to their respective corners. The amazing part was that this chalet, if it could even be called that, was so large that they could do that was a bit mind-blowing. The fact that this was the house of the Director of the Argelander Observatory suggested to Ben that the audit he had ordered should probably proceed with a bit more urgency. Fianna Dunn, the Irish woman who for cared Nina, and Steffi Bader, Kiki’s Personal Secretary, always traveled with them along with a handful of bodyguards. At the moment, Ben didn’t have an Aide and it had been suggested to him that he would need a team of assistants as soon as they could be found to help manage the operations up at the Observatory. The chalet already had a staff who were mostly from the surrounding community who had worked here for years.
For Ben, it was a ten-minute walk to the aerial tramway that took him up to the Observatory most days. There was an access road that took considerably longer, but if the weather was that bad then there probably wasn’t much call for him to be up there anyway.
The whole point of coming here was so that they could escape the world and just be a family for a few months. Unfortunately for Kiki, it felt like the whole would was beating a path to their door. Vicky and Anna had already made the trip from Munich a few times. To Kiki’s consternation, they had told Ermentrud Aue that she was working in Sonthofen. Which by what Kiki regarded as an unhappy coincidence happened to be only minutes from Frau Aue’s home in Blaichach. Kiki couldn’t figure out how Frau Aue had figured out that she would be at the clinic in Sonthofen because she didn’t work on any particular schedule. Kiki went there when they called and said they needed her.
“She said that Vicky told her that I was a stubborn bitch, so she knew what to expect” Kiki said to Ben, “And that like everyone else she didn’t want a repeat of what happened the last time. I wish that everyone would stop talking about that.”
Ben wasn’t sure exactly how to respond to that.
Sure, Kiki understood how difficult things could get for her in the coming months and would need all the help she could get. At the same time, she was reluctant to trust just anyone. Perhaps Frau Aue could get through to her, the elderly Midwife had a lifetime of experience which included the delivery of three of Kiki's own nephews.
“Mostly it is out of concern” Ben said, “They know how you can be when you are focused on doing a job.”
The extreme focus Ben mentioned was one of the things that made Kiki good at what she did. The was a dark side to that though. She ignored everything else to her own detriment, her health had failed as a result a few different times. It was widely believed that included ignoring the symptoms of pregnancy when she had been in South America. First when she had been the Executive Officer of a Medical Services Regiment and later when she was intent on surviving as she made her way across a war-torn continent. Everyone was worried that she might do something like that again.
“Not everyone” Kiki replied, “Nina has an entirely different set of questions.”
Ben snorted at that, trying not to laugh.
They had sat Nina down and told her that she was going to have a little brother or sister in six months or so. At nearly four, she was aware of far more than most people would give her credit for. Mostly that came in the form of her being highly inquisitive, much like what Ben imagined Kiki was like at that age. There was a key difference though, Nina didn’t seem to be nearly as introverted as her mother tended to be. That took the form of questions about what had happened and what was going to happen. While Kiki didn’t want to fill her daughter’s head with contradictory rubbish, gently explaining it to her in a way she would understand had proven difficult. They had been saved Louis Ferdinand and Charlotte showing up, and Charlotte had a lot more experience with this sort of thing than Kiki and Ben did. Charlotte said that she was happy to answer the questions of a small child as opposed to the thornier issues presented by her fifteen-year-old daughters.
“I know you think it is funny” Kiki said, “But Nina asking how it got in there and not being happy with the answer I gave her… Where did she get that kind of persistence?”
Ben had a few ideas. He just couldn’t say them aloud.
“Think this one is going to be the same?” Kiki asked, pointing at her belly. She had hardly shown when she had been pregnant with Nina, an advantage of having a relatively long body. It remained to be seen if that might happen again.
“I think that there are far worse things than that” Ben replied.
Kiki gave him a look. While she loved Nina, there were moments when their daughter could be incredibly obnoxious. Two of them at once was not something she was looking forward to.
17th November 1974
Near Balderschwang, Bavaria
With Nina asleep, everyone else in the house had gone back to their respective corners. The amazing part was that this chalet, if it could even be called that, was so large that they could do that was a bit mind-blowing. The fact that this was the house of the Director of the Argelander Observatory suggested to Ben that the audit he had ordered should probably proceed with a bit more urgency. Fianna Dunn, the Irish woman who for cared Nina, and Steffi Bader, Kiki’s Personal Secretary, always traveled with them along with a handful of bodyguards. At the moment, Ben didn’t have an Aide and it had been suggested to him that he would need a team of assistants as soon as they could be found to help manage the operations up at the Observatory. The chalet already had a staff who were mostly from the surrounding community who had worked here for years.
For Ben, it was a ten-minute walk to the aerial tramway that took him up to the Observatory most days. There was an access road that took considerably longer, but if the weather was that bad then there probably wasn’t much call for him to be up there anyway.
The whole point of coming here was so that they could escape the world and just be a family for a few months. Unfortunately for Kiki, it felt like the whole would was beating a path to their door. Vicky and Anna had already made the trip from Munich a few times. To Kiki’s consternation, they had told Ermentrud Aue that she was working in Sonthofen. Which by what Kiki regarded as an unhappy coincidence happened to be only minutes from Frau Aue’s home in Blaichach. Kiki couldn’t figure out how Frau Aue had figured out that she would be at the clinic in Sonthofen because she didn’t work on any particular schedule. Kiki went there when they called and said they needed her.
“She said that Vicky told her that I was a stubborn bitch, so she knew what to expect” Kiki said to Ben, “And that like everyone else she didn’t want a repeat of what happened the last time. I wish that everyone would stop talking about that.”
Ben wasn’t sure exactly how to respond to that.
Sure, Kiki understood how difficult things could get for her in the coming months and would need all the help she could get. At the same time, she was reluctant to trust just anyone. Perhaps Frau Aue could get through to her, the elderly Midwife had a lifetime of experience which included the delivery of three of Kiki's own nephews.
“Mostly it is out of concern” Ben said, “They know how you can be when you are focused on doing a job.”
The extreme focus Ben mentioned was one of the things that made Kiki good at what she did. The was a dark side to that though. She ignored everything else to her own detriment, her health had failed as a result a few different times. It was widely believed that included ignoring the symptoms of pregnancy when she had been in South America. First when she had been the Executive Officer of a Medical Services Regiment and later when she was intent on surviving as she made her way across a war-torn continent. Everyone was worried that she might do something like that again.
“Not everyone” Kiki replied, “Nina has an entirely different set of questions.”
Ben snorted at that, trying not to laugh.
They had sat Nina down and told her that she was going to have a little brother or sister in six months or so. At nearly four, she was aware of far more than most people would give her credit for. Mostly that came in the form of her being highly inquisitive, much like what Ben imagined Kiki was like at that age. There was a key difference though, Nina didn’t seem to be nearly as introverted as her mother tended to be. That took the form of questions about what had happened and what was going to happen. While Kiki didn’t want to fill her daughter’s head with contradictory rubbish, gently explaining it to her in a way she would understand had proven difficult. They had been saved Louis Ferdinand and Charlotte showing up, and Charlotte had a lot more experience with this sort of thing than Kiki and Ben did. Charlotte said that she was happy to answer the questions of a small child as opposed to the thornier issues presented by her fifteen-year-old daughters.
“I know you think it is funny” Kiki said, “But Nina asking how it got in there and not being happy with the answer I gave her… Where did she get that kind of persistence?”
Ben had a few ideas. He just couldn’t say them aloud.
“Think this one is going to be the same?” Kiki asked, pointing at her belly. She had hardly shown when she had been pregnant with Nina, an advantage of having a relatively long body. It remained to be seen if that might happen again.
“I think that there are far worse things than that” Ben replied.
Kiki gave him a look. While she loved Nina, there were moments when their daughter could be incredibly obnoxious. Two of them at once was not something she was looking forward to.
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The Observatory is Albrecht's Pride and Joy, and Ben is going to find out that his new job is no sinecure.
There is fundraising to be done, and schedules for the use of the telescope(s) and if it cloudy or otherwise not available then those who were scheduled are SOL and have to go to the back of the line and reschedule.
Kiki is going to find out why their new home is so big is that they are going to host a number of VIPs with dinners and small meetings, and she won't like it, but she can use her pregnancy as an excuse to limit her social interactions.
Ben is going to have to make deals with other directors to trade slots for certain astronomical events.
There are going to be a number of "Blue Ribbon Commissions" in the aftermath of the Los Angeles Riot, one of which is going to be the recommendation of hiring more minority law enforcement officers and more promotion of current minority officers who have been previously blocked from advancement.
Ritchie, if he passes his Sargent's exam should be easily promoted and along with his National Guard pay the promotion to LAPD Sargent should allow Lucia to quit her job at the supermarket and possibly have another child.
There is fundraising to be done, and schedules for the use of the telescope(s) and if it cloudy or otherwise not available then those who were scheduled are SOL and have to go to the back of the line and reschedule.
Kiki is going to find out why their new home is so big is that they are going to host a number of VIPs with dinners and small meetings, and she won't like it, but she can use her pregnancy as an excuse to limit her social interactions.
Ben is going to have to make deals with other directors to trade slots for certain astronomical events.
There are going to be a number of "Blue Ribbon Commissions" in the aftermath of the Los Angeles Riot, one of which is going to be the recommendation of hiring more minority law enforcement officers and more promotion of current minority officers who have been previously blocked from advancement.
Ritchie, if he passes his Sargent's exam should be easily promoted and along with his National Guard pay the promotion to LAPD Sargent should allow Lucia to quit her job at the supermarket and possibly have another child.
It reminds my daughter of the same age. Is very quiet and almost never ask the typical simple question of a girl of her age, but usually they are almost adult questions as if she understand all we talk about.