Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
Ritchie can go far in the LAPD and remember that IOTL Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley got his start in the LAPD...
This is a good time for Ben to reconnect with the space program and if there are any plans for an Earth Orbital Laboratory he could help out with the onboard telescope.
Kiki once there is a medical emergency mission will forget to be depressed and will actually enjoy herself for once.
This is a good time for Ben to reconnect with the space program and if there are any plans for an Earth Orbital Laboratory he could help out with the onboard telescope.
Kiki once there is a medical emergency mission will forget to be depressed and will actually enjoy herself for once.
That s like asking to die/be gravely injured in a wierd incident in that timeline...stupid luck and happenstance.
Part 115, Chapter 1912
Chapter One Thousand Nine Hundred Twelve
3rd July 1969
Panama Canal Zone
Watching the jungle roll by was relaxing as Kiki looked out the porthole of her cabin for lack of anything better to do today. As a Doctor and the Commanding Officer of the Ship’s FSR Company, she had a room to herself. It wasn’t a whole lot, just a bunk and a desk that were bolted to opposite bulkheads, but it was hers alone on ship where space was at a premium. The porthole was open allowing fresh air in, though it was hot and humid it was a welcome change from the stormy North Atlantic days earlier where opening it would have gotten her a face full of spray. Even a ship as big as the SMS Antonia Marie could get thrown around by a storm at sea. While others in the ship’s company were looking forward to the 24-hour liberty in Panama City, Kiki wasn’t planning on joining them. What she wanted was for the Hospital Ship to get to Western Samoa so that the official mission could began. The ship would ply the waters of the South Pacific to the remote island chains. The annual visit would be when the people of the islands got medical services beyond the rudimentary care they normally received. According to the Head of the Mission, the operating theaters aboard the Antonia would be used to perform dozens of elective surgeries, so not only would they be saving lives, but they would also be improving the quality of those lives markedly.
Kiki not being interested in going on liberty was yet one more thing that caused her to stand out from the rest of the Medical Staff aboard the Antonia. During the hours when she had been on duty, there had been briefings, planning meetings, and inventories that had needed to be conducted. The rest of the time, Kiki had spent in her cabin unless she needed to make use of the facilities in the common areas. It was something that she had found excruciating. Mostly because everyone had heard about the events that had preceded her coming aboard and thought they understood how she was feeling. Mostly they got it wrong by blaming the Medical Service, when Kiki knew that was completely misplaced. It was rare that any of the Service Branches overly concerned themselves with what individuals wanted, there were however the occasional exception. A Princess who had just completed her medical certification and explicitly stated repeatedly in the past that she had wanted to go out on these ships because of the adventure and experience that it would bring, for example. Kiki had gotten exactly what she wanted at possibly the worst possible time and had no one other than herself to blame.
Mitte, Berlin
Zella maintained her regular column in The Mirror, mostly her thoughts about the music scene. It was also the reason why she received the latest albums from the Record Companies and the Artists themselves. Already from this month’s offerings, it was clear to Zella that John Lennon’s refusing to compromise a couple years earlier had unforeseen consequences. As the Moondogs had moved in a heavier direction, a legion of other bands had followed. That was clear from the band whose music Zella was listening to, some no-name outfit out of Birmingham that she had never heard of before, whose love of camp horror movies was clear from the songs and the artwork on the album cover. Zella used her cigarette lighter to light a smoke that contained no tabaco to steady her nerves, fortunately her mother left her entirely alone if she knew that Zella was working. Then she continued to contemplate the structure of the article forming in her head.
The Kinks and the Animals had stepped up with offerings of their own. It was as if the Moondogs had given everyone permission to pull out all the stops. Zella put those albums in the pile of those she wanted to write up in a good way. Next to it was a shorter pile of the albums that she intended to pan. There was only one album on that pile so far, a terribly derivative album that seemed to rip off every blues cliché to the point of plagiarism. Considering what she knew about the individuals who made up the band, it would be a race between a civil lawsuit and a host of very likely criminal charges that would result if they attempted to tour the United States. Of course, Zella wouldn’t mind seeing their guitarist be on the receiving end of a bit of ironic justice if he landed in an American jail considering the sort of pervert he was reputed to be. Not that Zella could write a word about that unless she had concrete proof, but if she ever did… God help him, because no one else on Earth would.
The album, she was about to put on had a note attached saying that the band had met her at the V8 Club a couple years earlier. She couldn’t recall having seen a band called The Skorpions, but she would give it a listen to see if their latest studio offering were any good. Putting on her headphones and laying back on her bed. Zella listened to the music that was heavily influenced by the Berlin Gutter Blues scene, clearly owing a lot to the bands Napkinwaffe or die Idioten in particular. Zella would say that they had a great deal of potential and leave it at that. High praise indeed if they were savvy enough to understand that.
3rd July 1969
Panama Canal Zone
Watching the jungle roll by was relaxing as Kiki looked out the porthole of her cabin for lack of anything better to do today. As a Doctor and the Commanding Officer of the Ship’s FSR Company, she had a room to herself. It wasn’t a whole lot, just a bunk and a desk that were bolted to opposite bulkheads, but it was hers alone on ship where space was at a premium. The porthole was open allowing fresh air in, though it was hot and humid it was a welcome change from the stormy North Atlantic days earlier where opening it would have gotten her a face full of spray. Even a ship as big as the SMS Antonia Marie could get thrown around by a storm at sea. While others in the ship’s company were looking forward to the 24-hour liberty in Panama City, Kiki wasn’t planning on joining them. What she wanted was for the Hospital Ship to get to Western Samoa so that the official mission could began. The ship would ply the waters of the South Pacific to the remote island chains. The annual visit would be when the people of the islands got medical services beyond the rudimentary care they normally received. According to the Head of the Mission, the operating theaters aboard the Antonia would be used to perform dozens of elective surgeries, so not only would they be saving lives, but they would also be improving the quality of those lives markedly.
Kiki not being interested in going on liberty was yet one more thing that caused her to stand out from the rest of the Medical Staff aboard the Antonia. During the hours when she had been on duty, there had been briefings, planning meetings, and inventories that had needed to be conducted. The rest of the time, Kiki had spent in her cabin unless she needed to make use of the facilities in the common areas. It was something that she had found excruciating. Mostly because everyone had heard about the events that had preceded her coming aboard and thought they understood how she was feeling. Mostly they got it wrong by blaming the Medical Service, when Kiki knew that was completely misplaced. It was rare that any of the Service Branches overly concerned themselves with what individuals wanted, there were however the occasional exception. A Princess who had just completed her medical certification and explicitly stated repeatedly in the past that she had wanted to go out on these ships because of the adventure and experience that it would bring, for example. Kiki had gotten exactly what she wanted at possibly the worst possible time and had no one other than herself to blame.
Mitte, Berlin
Zella maintained her regular column in The Mirror, mostly her thoughts about the music scene. It was also the reason why she received the latest albums from the Record Companies and the Artists themselves. Already from this month’s offerings, it was clear to Zella that John Lennon’s refusing to compromise a couple years earlier had unforeseen consequences. As the Moondogs had moved in a heavier direction, a legion of other bands had followed. That was clear from the band whose music Zella was listening to, some no-name outfit out of Birmingham that she had never heard of before, whose love of camp horror movies was clear from the songs and the artwork on the album cover. Zella used her cigarette lighter to light a smoke that contained no tabaco to steady her nerves, fortunately her mother left her entirely alone if she knew that Zella was working. Then she continued to contemplate the structure of the article forming in her head.
The Kinks and the Animals had stepped up with offerings of their own. It was as if the Moondogs had given everyone permission to pull out all the stops. Zella put those albums in the pile of those she wanted to write up in a good way. Next to it was a shorter pile of the albums that she intended to pan. There was only one album on that pile so far, a terribly derivative album that seemed to rip off every blues cliché to the point of plagiarism. Considering what she knew about the individuals who made up the band, it would be a race between a civil lawsuit and a host of very likely criminal charges that would result if they attempted to tour the United States. Of course, Zella wouldn’t mind seeing their guitarist be on the receiving end of a bit of ironic justice if he landed in an American jail considering the sort of pervert he was reputed to be. Not that Zella could write a word about that unless she had concrete proof, but if she ever did… God help him, because no one else on Earth would.
The album, she was about to put on had a note attached saying that the band had met her at the V8 Club a couple years earlier. She couldn’t recall having seen a band called The Skorpions, but she would give it a listen to see if their latest studio offering were any good. Putting on her headphones and laying back on her bed. Zella listened to the music that was heavily influenced by the Berlin Gutter Blues scene, clearly owing a lot to the bands Napkinwaffe or die Idioten in particular. Zella would say that they had a great deal of potential and leave it at that. High praise indeed if they were savvy enough to understand that.
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Kiki, it's ok to go for a walk on level ground during liberty, geez.
Zella discovering cannabis happened later than I thought.
Zella discovering cannabis happened later than I thought.
Yep, and the third band mentioned, that "ripped off every blues cliche", sounds like a certain band that got in hot water years down the road for plagarism with the two part name that ends in 'Zeppelin. That band's first album was released a few months before the latest timeline entry for Zella.
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Kiki may not want to take shore leave but she is going to have to take it because the Capital City of Panama is Panama City and no doubt that there is going to be an “Informal Reception” at the German Embassy for the ship officers with many important Panamanians politicians and business people in attendance and it would be an insult to them if Princess Kristina MD did not show up for it
Now I have to wonder, what's Lemmy up to. Taking into account how things have changed, perhaps an up and coming politician inspired by mr. Hendrix... 😅
EDIT: Unless he continued his career in journalism, OTL being the editor of his school magazine and all...
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I wonder if the late 1960s ITTL will still see many of the British 'invasion' acts looking back 50 years to WWI as they did IOTL as an allegory for the 1960s and particularly the IOTL war in Vietnam? I'm thinking of IOTL records such as The Who's 'Tommy', the Pretty Things' 'S F Sorrow' and the Kinks' 'Arthur, or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire'.
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Don't forget Richie Blackmore and Eric Clapton! I'd like to what OTL bands like Deep Purple and Cream are up to as well.
He would have left the Rocking Vicars last year, and is probably working as a roadie around the world, just not for Jimmy Hendrix. Hopefully, as per OTL or maybe sooner, he joins Hawkwind next year before leaving to form Motorhead. But certainly Ian Kilminster should be popping up soon.
Part 115, Chapter 1913
Chapter One Thousand Nine Hundred Thirteen
4th July 1969
Mitte, Berlin
The exhibition in the Heer Hall of the Imperial War Museum was a 25-year retrospective on the Soviet War in photographs. Many of Doug’s photographs were featured in exhibition, as were those of his professional rivals. Only one of them was present tonight, Franz Grasser. During the war, Grasser had enjoyed an inviable position as the official photographer of the General Staff during the later stages, after having impressed Field Marshal von Wolvogle somehow. Also, unlike Doug, who had been imbedded with the 4th Panzer Division, Grasser had been one of the Soldaten himself, so he had enjoyed access to every unit of the Heer and Luftwaffe.
“You really needed to be mindful of the shutter speed” Grasser said looking at the print of one of Doug’s photographs. “This image is a bit blurred when you don’t want it to be.”
“The idea was to create a sense of movement as opposed to just looking like everything was hanging in air” Doug replied as he turned his head to keep an eye on what Marie was doing.
The photograph was of Jost Schultz and Henrik Werth attacking a dug in Russian position. In the foreground, Hans von Mischner’s left shoulder was visible. Doug remembered that he had been somewhat distracted by the bullets flying around his head and shutter speed had been the last thing on his mind. It had been a happy accident that the image being slightly blurred had lent a sense of motion to the photograph.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what became of the two men in the photograph?” Grasser asked.
“The one in front, Henrik Werth, died in Moscow a few hours before the war ended” Doug replied, “The last I heard, Feldwebel Schultz is still in the Heer.”
He figured that Grasser would probably take a bit too much amusement in knowing that Doug had ended up married to the little sister of the acting CO of the outfit that he had been with. So, Doug didn’t mention Hans being in the photograph. Glancing back over his shoulder, Doug noticed that he had lost track of Marie. Looking over his other shoulder, he saw that Marie was wandering vaguely towards the far wall.
“Is something going on?” Gasser asked.
“My youngest daughter” Doug replied, “There is always something going on with a thirteen-year-old. And because Marie is very much her mother’s daughter, having her being bored in a museum is like juggling atomic bombs.”
“I would rather face the Russian Army again” Grasser said, before he rushed off towards something presumably outside the blast radius.
Panama City, Panama
Kiki might have wanted to sulk in her cabin as the rest of the crew had gone on liberty. The Captain of the SMS Antonia and the Director of Medical Mission had other ideas though. There was a reception at the German Embassy in Panama and wasn’t it a happy coincidence that Doktor Kristina Prinzessin von Preussen zu Hohenzollern happened to be available to attend. It seemed that the wife of the Ambassador was a fan of hers. Because she came from one of the wealthiest families in Germany, the Medical Service was angling be the benefactor of any largess if Frau von Achterberg were in a charitable frame of mind. That was where Kiki came into the picture, whether she liked it or not.
The theme of reception was German-American friendship, and it was being held on the American Independence Day. Even Kiki could tell that the BND’s North American Division must have been behind the planning of the reception, John Volpe, the U.S. Ambassador to Panama had been forced to cross Panama City and make an appearance. He had clearly been less than thrilled by the interruption that had resulted and had only said a few curt words to Kiki when they had been introduced. It might have been because of the unrelated machinations of the BND-NAA and they didn’t even acknowledge her existence, but it was nice to know that Kiki wasn’t the only one who had been pressured to attend the reception.
“This young man who you were going to marry, this Burggraf Hirsch, is he nice?” Frau von Achterberg asked. Of course, that was what she, along with everyone else, wanted to talk about.
“He is” Kiki said. They also seemed to be focused on his title, as if Kiki cared. Both times she had entered into a relationship with Ben had been before he had taken that on. The entire reason why he had accepted a courtly rank was entirely because of her. Her own unconscious snobbery was something that Kiki looked at with considerable regret. If she could have handled him asking her to marry her before he went to the Moon, things would have been different.
“Is it true that he is obsessed with the stars?”
“Benjamin has a Doctorate in Astronomy” Kiki replied, “That said, the last time we talked, he wanted to talk about anything else. The Friedrich Wilhelm University stuck him in a leading role in the construction of the Argelander Observatory and that has basically become another job for him. He did not seem particularly happy with it.”
“He surely has other things in his life” Frau von Achterberg said.
“He loves to fly” Kiki replied, and his interest in Kiki herself. She didn’t feel the need to mention that last part.
“Yes, your Benjamin is a pilot” Frau von Achterberg observed, “Isn’t he.”
At that moment, the fireworks that had been promised all evening started being fired off in the Canal Zone. Saving Kiki from further conversation.
4th July 1969
Mitte, Berlin
The exhibition in the Heer Hall of the Imperial War Museum was a 25-year retrospective on the Soviet War in photographs. Many of Doug’s photographs were featured in exhibition, as were those of his professional rivals. Only one of them was present tonight, Franz Grasser. During the war, Grasser had enjoyed an inviable position as the official photographer of the General Staff during the later stages, after having impressed Field Marshal von Wolvogle somehow. Also, unlike Doug, who had been imbedded with the 4th Panzer Division, Grasser had been one of the Soldaten himself, so he had enjoyed access to every unit of the Heer and Luftwaffe.
“You really needed to be mindful of the shutter speed” Grasser said looking at the print of one of Doug’s photographs. “This image is a bit blurred when you don’t want it to be.”
“The idea was to create a sense of movement as opposed to just looking like everything was hanging in air” Doug replied as he turned his head to keep an eye on what Marie was doing.
The photograph was of Jost Schultz and Henrik Werth attacking a dug in Russian position. In the foreground, Hans von Mischner’s left shoulder was visible. Doug remembered that he had been somewhat distracted by the bullets flying around his head and shutter speed had been the last thing on his mind. It had been a happy accident that the image being slightly blurred had lent a sense of motion to the photograph.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what became of the two men in the photograph?” Grasser asked.
“The one in front, Henrik Werth, died in Moscow a few hours before the war ended” Doug replied, “The last I heard, Feldwebel Schultz is still in the Heer.”
He figured that Grasser would probably take a bit too much amusement in knowing that Doug had ended up married to the little sister of the acting CO of the outfit that he had been with. So, Doug didn’t mention Hans being in the photograph. Glancing back over his shoulder, Doug noticed that he had lost track of Marie. Looking over his other shoulder, he saw that Marie was wandering vaguely towards the far wall.
“Is something going on?” Gasser asked.
“My youngest daughter” Doug replied, “There is always something going on with a thirteen-year-old. And because Marie is very much her mother’s daughter, having her being bored in a museum is like juggling atomic bombs.”
“I would rather face the Russian Army again” Grasser said, before he rushed off towards something presumably outside the blast radius.
Panama City, Panama
Kiki might have wanted to sulk in her cabin as the rest of the crew had gone on liberty. The Captain of the SMS Antonia and the Director of Medical Mission had other ideas though. There was a reception at the German Embassy in Panama and wasn’t it a happy coincidence that Doktor Kristina Prinzessin von Preussen zu Hohenzollern happened to be available to attend. It seemed that the wife of the Ambassador was a fan of hers. Because she came from one of the wealthiest families in Germany, the Medical Service was angling be the benefactor of any largess if Frau von Achterberg were in a charitable frame of mind. That was where Kiki came into the picture, whether she liked it or not.
The theme of reception was German-American friendship, and it was being held on the American Independence Day. Even Kiki could tell that the BND’s North American Division must have been behind the planning of the reception, John Volpe, the U.S. Ambassador to Panama had been forced to cross Panama City and make an appearance. He had clearly been less than thrilled by the interruption that had resulted and had only said a few curt words to Kiki when they had been introduced. It might have been because of the unrelated machinations of the BND-NAA and they didn’t even acknowledge her existence, but it was nice to know that Kiki wasn’t the only one who had been pressured to attend the reception.
“This young man who you were going to marry, this Burggraf Hirsch, is he nice?” Frau von Achterberg asked. Of course, that was what she, along with everyone else, wanted to talk about.
“He is” Kiki said. They also seemed to be focused on his title, as if Kiki cared. Both times she had entered into a relationship with Ben had been before he had taken that on. The entire reason why he had accepted a courtly rank was entirely because of her. Her own unconscious snobbery was something that Kiki looked at with considerable regret. If she could have handled him asking her to marry her before he went to the Moon, things would have been different.
“Is it true that he is obsessed with the stars?”
“Benjamin has a Doctorate in Astronomy” Kiki replied, “That said, the last time we talked, he wanted to talk about anything else. The Friedrich Wilhelm University stuck him in a leading role in the construction of the Argelander Observatory and that has basically become another job for him. He did not seem particularly happy with it.”
“He surely has other things in his life” Frau von Achterberg said.
“He loves to fly” Kiki replied, and his interest in Kiki herself. She didn’t feel the need to mention that last part.
“Yes, your Benjamin is a pilot” Frau von Achterberg observed, “Isn’t he.”
At that moment, the fireworks that had been promised all evening started being fired off in the Canal Zone. Saving Kiki from further conversation.
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It took only one sentence to see how snobby and condescending that that woman is, but to make that four sentences really makes you see how little nobles really know and look down on....unnecessary talents.
Haha, this is like when I went to my girlfriends house to meet her parents. I have never met more uninteresting people and that relationship went in the gutter.