Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Seven



20th October 1979

Añelo, Neuquén Province, Argentina

There was a profound difference between what Neuquén Province was currently like and what it had been when Kiki had arrived months earlier as the value of oil and natural gas had creeped up. Suddenly, the oilfields north of the City of Neuquén were back into production after having been idled for much of the last few years. When Kiki had taken a team out into the field, they got a bit more than they had anticipated when they had left the hospital a few days before when they stopped in Añelo while on the return leg of their journey. Like always, Kiki had focused on the smaller places that were unlikely to have seen the visit of a Physician. The two young Doctors, namely Jean Allard and Ivo Fabel, who Kiki had with her had spent much of the time bickering with each other whenever they didn’t have anything better to do, so Kiki made sure that they were constantly busy.

Kiki couldn’t help but think of her brother Freddy and all the times that he had told her about how everything always came down to logistics. Throughout Patagonia she had encountered bad roads and the difficulty of conducting field repairs if anything broke. How to improvise in the sort of situations they found themselves in was probably among the most valuable skills she could teach her students, that was inadvertent.

As it was Saturday night, the streets of Añelo were packed with oil workers looking to blow off steam. There might as well have been a sign on the edge of town with the words “Trouble Brewing” painted in three-meter letters on the edge of town. Kiki had not wanted to do more than to refuel their vehicles. Añelo was only a couple hours out of Neuquén and Kiki was looking forward to going home for a hot shower and a chance to sleep in an actual bed.

Their vehicles were two civilian VW Iltis Light Utility Vehicles that were painted in Medical livery, white with the blue Star-of-Life painted on the sides. That made them highly visible in case of an emergency even if they were covered in dust after driving hundreds of kilometers through the Patagonian Desert. That was why Kiki was not in the least bit surprised when one man, followed by several more in the following minute or two. There had apparently been an incident and someone needed help, or at least that was what Kiki thought they were saying because they were all talking over each other.

Eventually, Kiki was able to get them to lead her to where whatever had happened, had happened. Grabbing her bag out of the back of the Iltis, she told her staff, particularly Allard and Fabel to grab anything else that they thought they might need and follow her. Her Assistant already had the Hospital in Neuquén on the radio, both to alert them about what was coming and to see if they could dispatch whatever help they could. A moment later, Kiki entered a tavern that had become a charnel house after what had been a heated disagreement between a group of men had turned into a brutal fight with them going after each other with whatever weapons they had or could improvise. The most surreal aspect was that there was a television over the bar that had a Football game playing. The sound of the crowd cheering stood in stark counterpoint to the scene around her. At that second, Allard and Fabel entered and were shocked by what they saw.

Perhaps it was training taking over, or compartmentalization, but with hardly thinking about it Kiki went to a man who looked most injured first. She could see that he must have a depressed skull fracture, such a thing being plainly visible was never a good thing. When she found no pulse she mentally noted that this one was a black tag. Moving on, she found a man that was still breathing, but with a number of deep stab wounds in his abdomen that were leaking arterial blood suggested that he wouldn’t be for much longer. If he the only one here and a Surgical suite at the Hospital was less than kilometer down the road then she might have been able to do anything. Neuquén was more than a hundred kilometers away though and any help they might send would arrive far too late. Another black tag, Kiki thought to herself. She moved onto the next one, this was a woman who had been caught up in the fight and one of her legs looked like it was badly broken.

That was when Allard started to see if their was anything that he could do for the second man. “Save your efforts for the ones we can save” Kiki told Allard before nodding towards a man who had gotten a face full of glass, messy sure, but that one was more likely to survive the drive to Neuquén. The woman heard what Kiki had said to Allard and the man must be her husband or boyfriend, the result was a whole lot of begging and screaming. It didn’t matter if this happened in the waiting room or in a situation like this, this sort of reaction was normal. It was what happened next when the threats and accusations started flying around. Ben had told Kiki that the biggest problem she had was that people thought that she could perform miracles, and she did, just not in the way they thought.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Eight



31st October 1979

Bethlam Royal Hospital, Beckenham, England

Over the summer Malcolm’s Mountaineering Club had watched with bated breath as an Anglo-Italian expedition had attempted to summit Karakoram 2. The end result was that the mountain had won another round after the team that had attempted to reach the summit had come to grief just short of the summit. Unlike with Compagnoni and Lacedelli who had vanished on the mountain, there was a survivor this time who had staggered into Camp 2 by the name of George Fennell. After apparently having descended alone, he had seemed to have completely lost the plot, ranting about how the mountain was a malevolent entity that was actively trying to kill them all. Malcolm understood full well that what Fennell had been going on about had more than a bit of truth to it. The trouble was that no one on the expedition had been able to get a coherent explanation as to what had happened to the other five men who had gone up the mountain beyond “The mountain took them.”

It had taken Malcolm weeks to find out where Fennel had ended up. In the end, he had spoken with Fennell’s mother and she had told him that he was in the Bethlam Royal Hospital, better known as the infamous Bedlam Asylum. She had said that she hoped that a fellow Mounteer around his age would be able to get through to him, unlike the Doctors who had failed. It had seemed strange to Malcolm that until he had contacted Mrs. Fennell, she had not heard from anyone else in the Mountaineering Community. She figured that they were afraid that her son’s bad luck might rub off on them. Malcolm had thought that he would need to call in a bunch of favors to arrange this meeting, but in the end that had not been required. Most of the difficulty was that Mialexa had insisted on coming to London to help out and her friend Jacqueline had tagged along thinking that it would be interesting diversion from studying Art History at University Dublin. When Jacqueline had been disappointed to learn that Bethlam no longer allowed spectators to gawk at the inmates, she had begged off. It was when they were on their way to the hospital that Malcolm found out that she had used a connection she had through Jacqueline’s father to gain access to Fennell, something that she had neglected to tell her friend.

The hospital itself was not what Malcolm had been expecting. He learned that the image he had of it with the elaborate Balls celebrated by the inmates in a caricature of the Royal Balls and sinking buildings was one of the previous incarnations of the hospital which had spanned seven hundred years in multiple locations. Malcolm had heard about “Thorazine Dances” and the complaints that it just wasn’t the same as in the old days. That was according to British Comedian John Beverley who had spent several months as a patient here as a teenager and had incorporated making fun of that part of his life as part of his standup routine. Malcolm supposed that the feeling of the place had not changed much over the centuries, it felt like despair and terror were oozing out of the walls. Then there was the smell…

When they found George Fennell, he was staring off into space with blank expression. Despite his passive demeanor, it was noticeable that the Hospital Staff was avoiding getting too close to him. Malcolm knew that this was due to the level of fitness that Mountaineers developed in their pursuits, the upper body strength of someone who had climbed to the very top of the world was not something to take lightly.

“Good morning George” Malcolm said as he sat down in the chair across from Fennell. Mialexa remained standing, she had conducted several interviews like this over the last several months and was probably wise to maintain the ability to step back quickly if necessary.

“Who’re you?” Fennell asked, his voice little more than whisper.

“I am Malcolm von Mischner-Blackwood” Malcolm replied, “Marie Alexandria is my younger sister. Your mother asked us to help you if we could, that is if you allow us.”

Malcolm knew that Fennell knew who was by reputation if anything. The two of them had several mutual friends and had moved within the same circles but had never been introduced.

“Help?” Fennell asked, before he gave them a dismissive wave of his hand with a snort of a laughter. Malcolm couldn’t help but noticing that the skin on Fennell’s hands had been ravaged by frostbite.

“I am an authorized representative of John Kennedy, a Senior Partner at Mallon, McGill, and Ó Doirnáin” Mialexa said, “They have offices in London and I cannot imagine you want to spend anymore time it a place like this than you have to.”

“And in return? Fennell asked. His tone suggested that he already knew he wasn’t going to like the answer.

“All I want is information” Malcolm replied, “As far as we know you got further up the mountain than anyone else.”

Fennell gave Malcolm a dirty look. “That evil bloody mountain” He said growing agitated, Malcolm had heard that this had tended to become ranting since he had returned from that remote corner of India. “It knows about your ambitions, how you want to reach the peak more than anything, and it is right there just above out of reach. That costs you everything. I watched it take five friends in the blink of an eye…”

“You say that” Mialexa said evenly, cutting Fennell off. “But it is not saying how that happened that is to blame for your current predicament.”

“That is all I am asking for” Malcolm said, “The how.”

There was a long awkward silence as Fennell debated telling them.

“There is a couloir near the peak that looks like the easiest way to the top that is overhung by seracs” Fennel said, “We were working our way up with Harding up front setting ropes when the whole thing collapsed, I was last in line and everyone in front of me was gone in an instant.”

With that, Fennell went silent. That was more than he had said in months.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Nine



2nd November 1979

Fort Meade, Maryland

It was a cool afternoon with fall on the verge of turning into winter. The leaves of the trees which had been a riot of color just weeks earlier had mostly gone after a storm had blown through a couple days earlier. Stevie had heard the weatherman on TV speculate that there might be an early winter this year and it actually snowed in Maryland. That was something that Stevie had never seen before. No sooner than the trick-r-treating was done on Halloween, Stevie had been told by Dad that he had to go with Kristie because they needed to stay with the Eisenhowers for a few days. That was because the baby was coming.

Concentrating on the black & white ball, Stevie was able to get it around Doud’s big brother DJ who had assumed that because he was a Track & Field star then picking up Soccer would be easy. He passed the ball to Doud, who had no idea what to do with it. With it being late autumn, Stevie missed playing in the Youth Soccer League like he had the last couple years at this time. If there was a formal Soccer league in Maryland, it hadn’t reached Fort Meade yet. That hadn’t stopped Stevie from trying to interest Doud in the sport with a couple of Doud’s older brothers wanting to get involved.

Stevie was still trying to figure out where he fit in with the base hierarchy. He knew that his father was a Chief Warrant Officer and that he worked closely with his Commanding Officer, Colonel David Eisenhower, who commanded 1st Special Forces Command, which sounded incredibly strange. The result was that Stevie had either been welcomed with open arms or else treated like a bomb that might go off at any second depending on who he was dealing with. Unfortunately Mrs. Smith, his teacher was one of the latter. They had gotten off on the wrong foot when she had reacted with disbelief over parts of Stevie’s essay about what he had done over the summer. She had called the bit about the visit to the Whitehouse fanciful and had not liked it when Stevie had shown her the photographs proving that it was not.

Doud had five older brothers, the oldest of whom was DJ, short for David Junior, who at seventeen and had already been accepted into West Point next year as a Legacy. Whatever that meant. The rest of them were overachievers of some sort or another. That meant that when Doud had failed to be a great student or athlete it was inevitable that he was a disappointment. Into this was Doud’s love of comic books, horror movies, and Dungeons & Dragons, things that no one else in his family could even pretend to understand. Stevie watched all of this as he had stayed at Colonel Eisenhower’s house for the last few days. Mourine, Doud’s mother had apparently always wanted a daughter, but as she had put God it had blessed her six boys, so Kristie was always welcome. So was Stevie, but he was encouraged to go do what the boys were doing, preferably outdoors.

Dad had come around briefly the day before and Stevie had overheard the conversation between him, Colonel Eisenhower, and Mourine. Mom was at Walter Reed. She and the baby were doing well but the Doctors wanted to keep an eye on them for a few days. Then Dad had mentioned the name James Robert and the Colonel congratulated him on having a boy. Stevie already knew that Dad was going to speak to him when he got a chance, it would be the same thing he had been hearing since Kristie had been born. As the oldest he had duty to his younger sister and that now extended to his kid brother now that he had one.

With that thought, Doud kicked the ball back to Stevie. DJ spun around and despite weighing more than twice as much as him, charged straight at him. Stevie knew that DJ had been a bit shocked that he had not been able to get the ball away from him earlier without throwing his weight around by knocking Stevie over. That frustration was evident as Stevie stopped the ball for an instant, setting it up for him to blast it between two trees that were the improvised goal. DJ just looked at it dumbfounded while Doud was overjoyed. It seemed that DJ had very seldom been shown up like this by anyone, especially not by a kid the same age as his youngest brother, the cloudy expression on his face suggested that Stevie would probably have been wise to just have let him have the ball.

Doud was talking a million miles a second at Stevie as DJ stormed into the house. As he picked up the ball, Stevie heard Doud talking about how the new issue of Iron Man might have finally reached the bookstore in the new shopping mall in Hanover and how getting a copy would be quite the capper. He knew that would get them in trouble if they got caught. That was off base, therefor off limits even if it was only a few miles away. How easy it must be for Tony Stark. As a millionaire he could just go wherever he wanted and if anyone said no he had his powered armor that he could just blast off in.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred



4th November 1979

Washington D.C.

Ritchie knew that riding in Frankenstein was a rare treat for Stevie. The rumble of the 440 Magnum engine and how the other cars seemed to be holding still as the Dodge accelerated on the highway. Still, he just looked out the window at the passing countryside. The radio was tuned to a Rock station in Baltimore with the song being a new one that was unapologetically Rock & Roll that Ritchie had heard a few times already over the last few weeks. The two singers who were joyfully singing a song that probably sent a shutter up the spine of pearl-clutchers everywhere. There was nothing wholesome about it.

“Listen up here, I’ll make it quite clear. I’m gonna put some boogie in your ear! Shake and bop, don’t you stop. Dance like a maniac until you drop!” Came blasting out of the speakers of Frankenstein’s stereo system. The gruff voice of the first singer followed by the reedy voice of the other singer. “I don’t mind, I don’t mind. Gonna run a razor right up your spine! What are you waiting for! What do you think you were created for!”

Then both men shouted in curious harmony “Show us you care show us you dare! You don’t know what happened if you weren’t there!”

Then they launched into the chorus “Born to raise Hell! Born to raise Hell! We know how to do it and we do it really well!”

Ritchie had been perfectly happy to turn the men in the Barracks on to this song. They had swiftly discovered the rest of the songs on the Hammersmith album with Born to Raise Hell, Overkill, The Devil may Care, and I don’t Know being favorites. It seemed strange that a band largely comprised of British expats recording in Berlin would produce an album that so perfectly nailed the ethos of the US Special Forces by accident, but there they were.

Riding in Frankenstein wasn’t nearly as interesting for Kristie who had grown bored and she did the sort of thing that children had always done in similar situations since the dawn of time, namely antagonizing their older siblings. She did this by kicking the back of the seat that Stevie was sitting in. That caused the two of them to start bickering with each other, but Stevie was at a disadvantage because he had to turn around to yell at his sister, which was difficult due to the seatbelt. Kristie wasn’t stupid and knew perfectly well what she was doing. It was fortunate that he was pulling into the Hospital parking lot. Knowing how his kids could be at times, it was extremely nice for Dave and Mourine to watch them for a few days. That Dave was Ritchie’s CO was always at the back of his mind, especially since his son Doud was friends with Stevie. All it took was meeting the two of them together to understand that the term “Trouble brewing” certainly applied to them like all boys even if they were mostly harmless.

It was a simple enough matter of getting into the Maternity Ward. The Nurses knew Ritchie after how he had been coming and going over the last few days. Lucia had been surprised by how she had gotten the royal treatment when they had arrived here late Wednesday night having gone into labor after Ritchie had gotten back from taking the kids trick-r-treating. The Doctors had said that her due date was going to be around Halloween. Ritchie was a Chief Warrant Officer, but he was also known to have briefed the President of the United States on a few occasions as well. So the Obstetrician who they had this time was the same one who had delivered President Nixon’s grandson last year, probably at the suggestion of Nixon himself. The rest of the Hospital Staff had fallen into line once they had seen where that was leading. Hours later, Ritchie’s son James Robert Valenzuela had been born. He and Lucia had debated the name with Ritchie figuring that giving him Robert as his middle name would make his mother happy, while Lucia’s family had tended to name their children by the Saint’s Feast Days, that proven to be a problem as their son had been born on All Saints Day. So they had settled on naming him after Lucia’s grandfather, sort of. His name was Jamie, pronounced like it was in Spanish, but they had hit the same problem that Ritchie’s must have encountered when he and his older brother were born, the idea that he would get a leg up if he had an American sounding name. So Ricardo Estevan had become Richard Steven and their youngest son would go by the name James.

Walter Reed Hospital was intended for the vast number of Army personnel and their families who lived in the general area of Washington D.C. There was talk of combining Walter Reed with the much newer facilities of the Bethesda Naval Hospital. The idea of sharing anything with Squids, Pencil Eaters, and Wing Wipers was heresy as far as the Army was concerned, but the Army didn’t have last call. It was Congress and they were always looking to save money. The idea of eliminating redundant services always appealed to them, so Ritchie had the understanding that it was only a matter of time before that happened because the bean counters always got their way.

They walked through long hospital corridors until they found the right one. Entering the room, Ritchie saw that Lucia was resting until Stevie and Kristie entered. They were happy to see her. Then there was the blanket wrapped figure with her. For ages, Stevie had made clear that he thought that Kristie was a nuisance and she did her level best to be one. There were moments though when Ritchie could tell that he cared about his little sister and watching James grab ahold of Stevie’s fingers he could tell that he would probably be the same dynamic.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and One



26th November 1979

Washington D.C.

The American Holiday of Thanksgiving had come and gone followed by the strange obsession with large retail chains during what was called Black Friday that seemed to involve stories about people fighting over televisions and the latest fad toy on the evening news. Washington D.C. itself was so festooned with tinsel and colored lights that it looked like an elf had vomited on the city. What that meant to Tatiana was that another year had passed and she was still stuck as an Administrative Assistant of the Ambassador at the German Embassy. What that meant in practice was that it was her job to babysit the Ambassador’s wife on her shopping expeditions…

“That looks wonderful on you Tatiana” The Ambassador’s wife, Viktoria Louise Prinzessin von Schaumburg-Lippe said. Admittedly, when Tatiana looked at herself in three mirrors that allowed her to see herself from the front and sides that the silk dress that looked like it was made of shimmering silver did look good.

Viktoria’s nephew was the current Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, a tiny Principality that Tatiana had not heard of until she had been posted to the Embassy. At first glance, it seemed that Viktoria embodied all the worst stereotypes of the Old Junkers families. Which made her marriage to Ernst Eierkuchen, a career Diplomat whose family fortune had come from the manufacture paper goods, a bit puzzling. Ambassador Eierkuchen himself was a fussy little man who was very serious about his job, and God help any of the Embassy Staff who were foolish enough to refer to him as “Lord Pancake” as the American Press had dubbed him, within his earshot.

For some reason, Viktoria had decided that Tatiana was taking part in the Embassy’s Winter Social Season as opposed to being a recluse like she had last year in the wake of the events of the prior Summer. Viktoria said that a woman of Tatiana’s station with her education and Diplomatic credentials was doing everyone a disservice by hiding away. Then she had found out that Tatiana’s mother had extended Tatiana an expense account to pay for her wardrobe which included formal wear and that meant that Tatiana was out of excuses. Viktoria was more than happy to help her spend her mother’s money.

“I would have loved a dress like that when I was your age” Viktoria said with a smile, “But I was in the service and there was rationing, you know.”

Viktoria had come of age during the Second World War, so silk which had also been used to make parachutes would have been among the luxury goods that were most heavily rationed. It was also no surprise that she would have been in the Women’s Auxiliary Service, most of the women who had been eligible to join had. Of those who had remained had remained involvement in War production had not been optional, everyone had a role to play if they didn’t want to find themselves overrun by the Soviets.

“My mother was too” Tatiana replied without thinking about it until after she said it. “An Auxiliary in the Luftwaffe, that is.”

Viktoria didn’t laugh. “Don’t be silly Tatiana” She said, “Your mother was far more than that, when she…”

Then Victoria saw Tatiana’s frown and paused.

“We don’t get along” Tatiana said, “Me and my mother.

“Is that what has been eating at you lately?” Viktoria asked.

“Sort of” Tatiana replied.

It was actually the latest letter from Aunt Marcella she asked if Tatiana was going to be coming home for Christmas this year and if so, would she finally stop being such a stupid little bitch? Taiana had known that Marcella could be extremely direct her whole life but had seldom been on the receiving end of it until now. Aunt Marcella had decided that the personal conflict between Tatiana and her mother had gone on for entirely too long. The thing was that being the peacemaker didn’t come naturally for Marcella and it had mostly come in the form of figuratively smashing their heads together. Tatiana being on the other side of the Atlantic had made it so that Marcella’s efforts were somewhat limited and Tatiana had been able to push it out of her mind. That was until Uncle Hans had gotten into act and he had told Tatiana that there was a reason why Aunt Marcella was being so insistent this time. She was eighty-two years old. While she was a tough old bird, Marcella had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. All it would take is a bout with the flu or something and she would be gone just like that. No one felt that more than Marcella herself and what she wanted to see before she died was a reconciliation between her niece and grandniece.

It made Tatiana want to smash something.

How many times had she tried to explain it? Whenever Tatiana was around her mother for more than a few minutes, all the old aggravations and frustrations came flooding back. The subtle way her mother implied disapproval or how she listened to you without actually hearing what you were saying. Finally, as Tatiana had discovered too many times to count, you couldn’t have an honest disagreement with her mother. There had also been a number of hurtful things that Tatiana had done deliberately to antagonize her mother in misguided retaliation when she had been a teenager that would be hard for either of them to get past.

None of that was helped by what Tatiana saw every time she saw her face in a reflection. Through perverse genetics, Tatiana and her brother Malcolm heavily favored the Mischner side of the family while their younger sister Marie Alexandra favored the Blackwood side. What that meant in practice was that every time people met Mialexa they thought “Princess” mostly because she actually looked the part. When they saw Tatiana they immediately thought of her mother, Katherine von Mischner-Blackwood, the Prefect of Berlin.

“I took Beatrix clothes shopping when I was home last summer and it is a bit harder to find clothes for her” Viktoria said, changing the subject back to the matter at hand. “She just doesn’t have the figure for a dress like that.”

Tatiana frequently heard about Viktoria’s youngest daughter Beatrix who was a University Student in Göttingen. So, she knew that what Viktoria had said was a nice way of saying the Beatrix had taken after her father in that she was short and fat.

“Klaus Voll once told me that he has never met a woman he could not find the right clothes for” Tatiana replied, “I can introduce you if you want.”

Tatiana saw Viktoria smile at that mention. She also bought the dress, if for no other reason than to make Viktoria happy.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Two



1st December 1979

Philadelphia Municipal Stadium

This was Little Mike’s Senior Year at Annapolis, so it made sense that Big Mike and Claire would fly out to see him play in the annual Army-Navy Game. Claire also wanted to see Ritchie and Lucia’s new baby. That had made it all very simple months earlier when Big Mike had made the arrangements. What no one had predicted had been that for the first time in years, both West Point and Annapolis would be going into their match with winning records. What in years past had been a rather humdrum NCAA Regular Season game with a bit of spice added by historical and interservice rivalry was suddenly a huge deal with both teams playing for all the marbles. The winner would have a shot at a National Championship while the loser would go home. For Little Mike, this would be the height of his Athletic career, he had already made a commitment to the US Navy, so as soon as he graduated he would be off to sixteen weeks of further training before he would get an assigned to the Fleet. As Little Mike had said that it seemed rather obvious that Big Mike and Claire would probably see even less of him than that had even over the last few years. Mike had talked to a member of the Department back in LA who had served in the Navy and he had told him that the best thing for Little Mike would be to spend the next few years at sea. With the Navy it really was the school of hard knocks regardless of what your Rank was.

Ritchie had jokingly warned Big Mike that Fort Meade was “Enemy Territory” for Navy fans and he had told Ritchie to bite his tongue. Big Mike was UCLA through and through. So, he was just here for Little Mike and his kid had better have one Hell of a game because they’d had to leave Big Mike’s other college-age son Derik in LA as well as their teenaged daughters Keri and Shauna. They were not crazy enough to leave the kids alone for the weekend, so Claire’s sister, Bernice had come down from Oakland to keep an eye on them but she wasn’t always that great at keeping them out of trouble. So they were not sure what sort of destruction they were going to return to when they got home.

Even so, it was nice to see Ritchie again. Working with the Green Beret again had kept him out of trouble even if he couldn’t tell Mike much about what he had been up to over the last few years. There were hints about where he had been, like when they had talked about the winter weather in Maryland and Pennsylvania, Ritchie had mentioned being in Ukraine during this time of the year. Mike wondered when that had been and what he had been doing.

Mike had not been expecting what he found when he arrived at the stadium, the place was packed with over a hundred thousand people there to see the game and it had the same energy as the Rose Bowl. Normally, this was the high point of the year for the Academies involved so they had gone all out. The event that was happening ahead of the game on the field was a ceremonial “prisoner exchange” where students who were attending the opposing Academy for a semester were handed back to their respective institutions.

It turned out that Ritchie’s CO had gone to West Point, as alumni he was able to get halfway decent tickets near the 20-yard line even if he’d had no interest in going to the game himself. He hated to consider what sort of favors Ritchie had called in to convince his boss to do that. All Ritchie said was that he had told Colonel Eisenhower that Mike’s kid was playing in the game and the Colonel had offered him the tickets. So far the only catch was that the Colonel’s kid was best friends with Ritchie’s oldest boy so they brought him along. It was to Big Mike’s surprise that Doud Eisenhower reminded him of his son Derik. Both were into the same sort of things that seemed childish at first glance, comic books video games, and what not, things that Big Mike couldn’t even pretend to understand. Mike had spent a whole lot of time telling his son that he needed to do something practical, only to be forced to eat his words when Derik had been accepted into the USC Fine Arts Program. Stevie was still the same kid he had been in Los Angeles, taking everything way to seriously for a boy his age. Lucia was pleased as punch to stay at home with Kristie and the baby. She said that freezing at the game didn’t appeal to her, but they should go have fun and that she would have dinner ready when they got back to the house.

While Mike’s mind had been wandering, it was announced that that everyone needed to stand for the National Anthem. It took a moment but Mike found Little Mike standing with the Defensive Linemen of the Annapolis Midshipmen, the West Point Black Knights were on other side of the 50-yard line. Claire didn’t know a whole lot about Football, but she was overjoyed to see their oldest son on the field. With that the offense and defense headed for the sidelines as the special teams got into position for the kickoff.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Three



3rd December 1979

Fort Meade, Maryland

It was cold when they got out of school for the day, it was cold enough to snow, but disappointingly there was no snow. Instead it was clear and windy. It made riding their bicycles particularly difficult, especially whenever they turned into the wind. They eventually got to Doud’s house and were hanging out on the front porch with no rush to go inside.

All day today in school everyone had been talking about the game the previous Saturday. However, no one had believed Stevie and Doud when they said that they had been there, they had seen the whole thing. Considering the role that Stevie and Doud had played in the school since the start of the school year back in September, merely being disbelieved was probably a good thing.

Dad had told them on the car ride home that it was a once in a lifetime thing that they had watched. Two longtime rivals in a big game that had come down to the final play in the last seconds of the fourth quarter. It didn’t matter which side you were rooting for it had been an incredible game. How it had played out was with the lead shifting back and forth until the Fourth Quarter with a minute and change on the clock. The score was 28-31 with Navy in the lead with Army taking possession. As Army started their drive up the field, the crowd had been going nuts as the Navy defense struggled to hold them back. No one could have predicted what happened next as Army’s drive stalled just out of field goal range. On fourth and nine, the pass thrown by Army’s QB was intercepted by one of the Safeties who had started to run towards Army’s endzone only to get hit hard by Army’s offensive line and fumbled it. Suddenly, there had been a loose ball midfield with seconds left on the clock and the result was mad scramble.

The result had been pandemonium on the field as well as in the stands as both teams argued with Officials about who was in possession when the whistle was blown. There was a whole lot of debate on the field and the instant replay must have been being viewed somewhere. Stevie had been aware that he was surrounded by a hundred thousand people holding their breath with the outcome of the whole game possibly riding on the call. When the Official started to make his announcement, you could have heard a pin drop in that stadium. Then he said that Navy had been in possession and that it was first down, the result was an instant uproar as Navy fans celebrated and Army fans jeered that decision. If the Official had ruled the other way then Army would have had one more chance to get a touchdown. Stevie had certainly heard a lot about it on Sunday and Monday at school as the opinion was that Army had been robbed.

Stevie’s kept thinking about what else his father had said on the car ride home. That the final call wasn’t as important as people seemed to think it was. Both teams had been at their best and it had been a good game. That was what everyone should take away from it.

That had not really mattered a whole lot to Stevie as Big Mike and Claire had come to dinner on Sunday night with Little Mike, whose return with the rest of the Football team to Annapolis on Saturday night had apparently been quite triumphant. Stevie was used to being around Big Mike and Little Mike having known them his whole life, but Doud’s reaction was a reminder that not everyone was used to that sort of thing. Little Mike was really tall, while Big Mike was not only tall but well, big, like in all dimensions. Little Mike had been amused by Doud’s reaction to him. He said that his disability, meaning his stature, had been the reason why his application for flight training in Pensacola next year had been rejected.

“My grandfather is coming to visit over Christmas this year” Doud said. Something about the way he said it suggested that Stevie should expect to see a whole of Doud over the Holidays. Still though.

“Grandma Concha is coming too” Stevie said. He left unsaid that Uncle Bobbie was coming with her. Grandma and Grandpa Cruz had said that they would like to have come but they couldn’t swing it. Mom said that they had offered to pay for airline tickets for her parents however Grandpa Cruz was scared of flying but was too proud to admit it. Stevie had heard about Doud’s grandfather, that he had commanded a Division in Mexico and Doud being named after him came with expectations, expectations that Doud would never actually meet, not in a thousand years.

“My grandparents are not like yours” Doud said.

That much had been clear from the start. Doud’s parents were not like Stevie’s either. Stevie had heard his parents talking about how Colonel Eisenhower was incredibly ambitious and so was Mourine, his wife. Supposedly, the Special Forces Command was going to be expanding and the Colonel was looking at being at the front of the line to get stars on his collar when that happened. Stevie just shrugged in reply. For him the most important thing was the rumor that a Soccer field was going to be constructed on the Base next spring and a Soccer field meant that a Soccer League was coming too. For him that was almost as important as the Baseball tryouts that were coming about the same time.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Four



15th December 1979

Krakow, Galicia-Ruthenia

Olli hated the idea of getting drawn back into the Queen’s Court in Krakow, it was why he had seldom left his farm over the last few years. Seeing his daughter chattering at Rea about what she had been up to over the last few months was a bit satisfactory considering how many times she had done that to him. There was also his wife wanting to see how Rea’s little boys were doing. Nele said that even with the amount of help that a Queen would receive, having twins would still be daunting. Now that Ferdi and Jerry were toddlers their ability to cause destruction had grown exponentially. Olli was reminded of the old jokes about having children that are exactly the same as you. Olli had told Rea that when her boys were older they would be more than welcome on his farm, like with his own boys there was a considerable number of ways that he could put that youthful energy to good use. That was still a few years off though.

“Your daughter is quite something Markgraf Olaf” One of the Courtiers said. Olli almost didn’t respond to that. He was the Marshal of Galicia, a largely ceremonial rank that had come to include the title “Lord of the Marches” within it. Meaning that whoever received it was considered a Markgraf within the Imperial Court. In the Queen’s Court in Krakow they called him Markgraf Olaf though they very seldom said his surname of Bauer because they disliked it. Olli thought they were being foolish because it was who and what he was.

“Thank you” Olli replied, getting a weird look from the Courtier in return. That was a reminder of why he didn’t come into Krakow to often. The people here functioned within an elaborate set of rules that seemed to not include basic courtesies.



Alexander Marketplace, Mitte, Berlin

When Henriette had agreed to come to the Christmas Market with Nella and Nan she’d had no idea what it was. She had assumed that is was like a shopping mall. Instead, it was like nothing else she had seen before and that was before they even reached the Christmas Market. Fresh produce for sale that was locally produced even in December was something that Henriette had not been expecting. There were also artisan goods that probably could be found nowhere else. There was a stall that they had passed that reminded her of Canada where anything that could be fit into a jar had been pickled. That had included a huge glass jar of eleven or twelve liters with dozens of eggs floating in amber colored brine or vinegar. It had not occurred to Henriette to ask.

Nella and Nan had been sharing the latest gossip from the Imperial Court. Rumor had it that Princess Vicky was pregnant again, clearly hoping for a little girl this time. Nan pointedly changed the subject when Amedio came up, it seemed that the Prince of Naples was very interested in her giving him an answer. They ended up talking about prior years when they had come to the Marketplace.

“It just isn’t the same” Nella said as she walked with their small party through the vast Christmas Market that occupied a whole wing of the permanent marketplace in the center of Berlin telling Henriette all about how she had come here with her older sister Kiki when she had been a little girl. It was one of those things that was funny in retrospect, but Henriette figured that it must have been a bit terrifying for Kiki to have her little sister make herself sick by gorging on sweets. She had never actually met the Princess Royal of Germany, but from everything that Henriette had heard from those closest to Kiki she was starting to get a picture that was rather different from the one presented in the tabloids. What was evident was that Nella and Nan obviously missed the presence of their older sister.

Henriette had met the two youngest members of the German Royal family through her association with Marie, but she had hardly seen her friend over the last few months. When Marie had come around a few times, it was obvious that whatever she was doing in Ireland was eating at her. Henriette would have liked to have helped; it was the least she could do after everything that Marie had done for her. The trouble was that it had come at a bad time even if Marie was willing to tell her what exactly she was doing. Henriette wasn’t just visiting this time; she was trying to reestablish herself in Breslau and Alice had started school. Bas, bless him, was a bit embarrassed by the situation they found themselves in. He was a University Student, Athlete, and a member of the Cadet Corps of Silesia, a reserve formation. None of those things were known for being particularly lucrative.

The trouble was that Bas had the example of his parents, both of whom had lived entire lives before they had gotten married. Their situation was a bit different in that they were just starting out. Henriette had told him that they didn’t need a whole lot for now, but that didn’t really matter. Henriette going to work for Niko’s mother to make ends meet was a bit of a blow to his ego. Not that it was all roses. Ilse von Richthofen nee Mischner was the younger sister of Marie’s mother and was if anything more intense than Katherine. It seemed that the public perception of Ilse was very different from who she was to those who worked directly for her. The only comparison that Henriette could think of for that sort of cunning and ruthlessness was Marie’s grandmother back in Montreal, even if that struck her as an unfair comparison.

Alice was looking at everything in wide-eyed amazement while enjoying a candy cane that Nan had gotten her. It was easy to see how Nella had overindulged year after year at this thing.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Five



22nd December 1979

Fort Meade, Maryland

Taking the boys, and Ritchie included his brother Bobbie in that, to the Air & Space Museum earlier that day to get them out of the house had been a no brainer. The vast collection of airplanes and rockets had few rivals. With it being a few days before Christmas and on a weekend the Museum was crowded. Still, everyone had fun. Something that was easy to forget about Bobbie was that he had worked at the Lockheed Assembly Plant in Burbank for years. So he was able to tell them all about the things that he had worked on. That had included a number of the planes and engines present as well as explaining the convoluted process of installing and tuning a Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major in an airliner back when he had first started. Ritchie had taken a look at the monster supercharged 28-cylinder engine that the museum had on display and couldn’t for the life of him understand how Bobby was so hopeless with cars.

Later, after they got home Ritchie remembered that he still had work to do. The Colonel had asked if Ritchie would start doing the “Know your Enemies” film presentations in Fort Meade having heard that he had done them at Los Alamitos Joint Training Base. Everyone knew that the films were a complete load of manure, but it was useful because it showed how the men in the various European Armies, particularly those of Germany, saw themselves. Through a connection he had in a front company that was run by the CIA, Ritchie had acquired a stack of film canisters. Most of them were forgettable war films that were basically popcorn viewing. There was however a biographical film about Manfred von Wolvogle that Ritchie marked for further viewing by the analysts. The idea was to get into the heads of the Panzer Dragoons who in the event of a war would be among Ritchie’s worst enemies, who better than the original Panzer General. He did make a note that in the opening minutes there was scene where a five-year-old von Wolvogle is watching his father leave to fight in the Franco-Prussian War and Ritchie recognized that the woman playing his mother was Suse Rosa von Knispel, the granddaughter of von Wolvogle himself. There was an Italian film that revolved around the involvement of the Italian Army in the Ukrainian Campaign during the Soviet War that depicted the German Panzer Corps as heavy handed, food obsessed oafs. Ritchie figured that the men in the various Special Forces Groups would enjoy it.

Finally there was an hour-length documentary film that had appeared on the German equivalent of PBS. It revolved around Nikolaus Oswald Prinz von Richthofen zu Breslau, Heir to the Throne of Silesia as he went about his business over the course of a few days the previous autumn. There were shots of him going to college classes or conducting drills with what was identified as the Cadet Corps of Silesia. While Ritchie figured that the CIA wouldn’t have much use for this film with the focus being on minor royalty in a German State that few in America had ever heard of, the State Department would probably find the information extremely useful.

The focus shifted Nikolaus’ life at home with a shot of him riding his horse who the narrator said was named Zwei. It was mentioned that the cameramen swiftly learned that Zwei was an ill-tempered brut, prone to biting and kicking. Nikolaus said that Zwei was mostly Trakehners, whatever that meant, but there was a real possibility that he might be part alligator or rottweiler. The narrator said that Zwei was Nikolaus’ mount when he had been serving in one of Germany’s Cavalry Regiments in Argentina. Which was a bit surprising.

Then they cut to Nikolaus’ interactions with his little sister Ingrid Minke as she was talking about what she wanted to do on her upcoming tenth birthday. It was obvious that the two of them were close and that Nikolaus was extremely patient with her. Something about the way that Nikolaus carried himself was familiar, then it occurred to Ritchie that he was Manny von Mischner’s cousin. Ritchie couldn’t remember, but Manny might have mentioned Nikolaus a time or two as well as a Sabastian, two younger cousins who thought he was some sort of hero.

“So this is what you do” Ritchie heard his mother say as she stepped into Ritchie’s home office and saw the television and VCR.

“Just a small part of it, Mom” Ritchie replied, “Sharing with the men what I know about German Culture.”

Ritchie knew that his mother tended to look at the men in the First Special Forces Command thought the same lens as she had viewed his classmates back when he had been in grade school. It was bit to his annoyance that they sort of acted the part.

“That boy, he looks a bit like Lloyd Bridges son” Concha said, “You know, the one who joined the Coast Guard.”

“This isn’t a telenovela” Ritchie said, “It’s a documentary about the Prince Nikolaus of Breslau.”

That was when the next scene featured Niko speaking with his fiancée. “She is very pretty, who is she?” Concha asked.

“That would be Monique Chanson” Ritchie replied, “She is engaged to Nikolaus, but because she is the granddaughter of a Lutheran Bishop there is a bit of controversy over their marriage.”

Concha gave Ritchie a look. “Are you sure that this isn’t a telenovela?” She asked.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Six



24th December 1979

Neuquén, Argentina

Christmas Eve or not, it was late in the day and Kiki was hiding in her office as she waited until it was time to go home hoping that she wouldn’t get called back into the Emergency Department at the last minute, like if it were any other day. She was talking with Nurse Ainsworth because it was better than feeling alone.

“Nina is complaining because she feels that Christmas doesn’t feel like Christmas this year because it doesn’t belong in the middle of summer” Kiki said, “That moving to Argentina was some sort of hideous prank that we pulled on her.”

“She has to understand that you and Benjamin cannot control the weather, or that we are in South America” Nurse Ainsworth replied. She pronounced Ben’s name in the American fashion which Kiki found to be a bit grating, but she didn’t exactly have many people to discuss these matters with.

“No one expects that an eight-year-old will be particularly reasonable” Kiki said, “Especially when she wants to go back to Bavaria, that is what she asked for as a Christmas gift.”

It annoyed Kiki but as the months had dragged on she had found herself continuing to work closely with Ellen Ainsworth despite knowing that the American Nurse was probably reporting whatever got said to the CIA. Still, when the group had returned from Añelo Nurse Ainsworth had understood perfectly what had happened and had taken Kiki’s side when she had put Jean Allard in his place. His argument was that their job was to save lives, not watch people die. Kiki was in full agreement with him, but what Allard didn’t understand yet was something that Kiki had learned with bitter experience.

Being a Field Surgeon meant that you occasionally found yourself in situations where you had to make choices and those were often of the sort that left no one happy. The idea was to save as many as possible while minimizing harm. They had been far from the nearest hospital with limited supplies so they had needed to concentrate on those who could be helped. The day would come when Allard found himself in that sort of situation without a Senior Surgeon on scene to make the hard choices for him, he had better hope that he didn’t mess up on that day. That had also been when Kiki had learned that Nurse Ainsworth knew all about what she had done in Korea, that had been an international story at the time. Nurse Ainsworth remembered that Kiki had been credited with saving an absolutely staggering number of lives over the course of that six months. She remembered how she had gone up the helicopters heading for the forward aid stations every chance she got, there had been so much to do and she had felt that her efforts had just not been enough. Then she had received the PLM and the Heer Air Service clasp to go with her EK1 with Oak Leaf and diamonds, meaning that she had spent hundreds of hours aboard helicopters in combat. It was to the extent that many had wondered when she had ever had time to sleep, as they had transported the wounded to the hospital ships out in the yellow sea. Her job had been keeping those men alive after they had been stabilized to the extent that they could be transported. Dozens had still died in her care though, so crediting her with saving so many lives was probably not deserved.

Talking about her children was a much safer topic.

“You are giving Nina what she wants this autumn… Well spring back there” Nurse Ainsworth said, “For a couple weeks anyway.”

“That is just to visit” Kiki replied, “And there are going to be a lot of demands on my time while I am there. Which isn’t exactly fair for any of my children.”

Steffi, Kiki’s personal secretary had warned her that she had received a number of letters that suggested that Kiki’s travel plans in the coming weeks had leaked. They were of such a nature that not even Kiki could afford to ignore them. Queen Elizabeth of England and Kat von Mischner wanted to see her, it was a bit difficult to figure which of those was more daunting. There was also the Hohenzollern Province where Kiki was theoretically the Monarch, such as it was. It had been a long time since she had spent much time there, so there was probably a considerable backlog of things that would need to be addressed by her when she got to the castle.

“Nina told me how important the things that you and Benjamin do are” Nurse Ainsworth said, “That he is this big deal University Professor and you are the greatest Doctor in the whole world.”

“She doesn’t know better” Kiki replied, “Both Ben and I are in professions where longevity and experience are of paramount importance. Both of us have had colleagues treat us like children because we are still in our thirties.”

“Try being a Nurse” Nurse Ainsworth said, “If you are lucky, they treat you like furniture.”

“My mentor, Doctor Berg told me that the Nurses should be treated with courtesy because they are the ones who make your job possible by catching the stupid mistakes” Kiki said, “She was a Nurse before she went to the Surgical Academy during the Soviet War. Nora said that in those days if you had a hand to hold a scalpel and pulse they let you in, she was able to specialize in Obstetrics and Gynecology after the war.”

“You’ve mentioned this woman before, yes?” Nurse Ainsworth asked.

“Doctor Berg has been my mentor since I was twelve and she was the Surgeon who presided over the birth of all three of my children” Kiki replied, “Fortunately, she wasn’t needed.”

“Who delivered your babies then?” Nurse Ainsworth asked with a confused look on her face. Kiki remembered that Medicine was practiced differently in the United States. Nurses were not the only ones who got treated like furniture.

“That would have been Ermintrude Aue” Kiki replied, “She is the Midwife who has delivered my children as well as those of my sisters. She is highly regarded.”

That was not an answer that Nurse Ainsworth had been expecting.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Seven



31st December 1979

Mitte, Berlin

The roof of the Central Branch of the Berlin State Library was secret that few outside the Staff knew about. During the summertime the trees and plants that grew in the pots lent it a parklike feel with a breathtaking view of the city’s skyline. During the last minutes of the year and decade, many from the party that had been going on in the Breakroom had decided to head up to the rooftop, the sudden cold of the nighttime air on New Year’s Eve was a bit of shock. It was mostly members of the Staff and their families. It was not just the Librarians though. The building’s Caretaker, his wife, their children, along with much of the library’s Clearing and Maintenance Staff, lived in apartments hidden away on the top floor of the library. Considering how everything else that happened in the library was dependent on them; it would have made no sense not to invite them. Leni saw that there were hundreds of thousands of people filling the streets below them. Like always, whenever Leni saw a crowd of people she heard her father’s voice as an intrusive thought, how she had best be earning her keep for once or else. That had meant picking pockets and stealing things like watches and jewelry. Her father was long dead, killed in the blasts from bombs dropped on Berlin for reasons of Soviet morale, a revenge attack aimed solely at the civilian population of Berlin in a manner that made seeking shelter difficult if not impossible. Leni had not known until years later what a FAB-5000 was, but that was what had leveled several buildings in that part of the city and not filling any actual strategic purpose. Along with Leni’s father, Judita’s whole family had also been wiped out that night. Leni had been elsewhere because her father, playing the role of Fagian had left her with a black eye and had thrown her out, telling her not to come back until she had something to show for it. Leni had not mourned his death after she found out.

Leni was still the Curator of the Rare Books Section of the Library and she couldn’t imagine doing anything else. That didn’t sound too impressive until the nature of the Section was factored in. Many of the books were irreplaceable and the people allowed anywhere near them had to be carefully vetted and versed in the proper handling of the materials, never without supervision. Leni was all too aware of the sorts of things that proved extremely destructive given a long enough timeline, fingerprints, and hairs for example. So much of her work involved restoration and preservation she saw that a lot. Having months of painstaking work undone by a moment of carelessness was something that she had come to dread.

It might seem counterintuitive that a Public Library had an entire section of books that no one was allowed to touch and needed to be kept under high security. Leni understood that her Section included the Hohenzollern collection along with the additions of several other Royal collections that had been added over the years the value had grown proportionally. It wasn’t as if they hid it away from the public, this year Leni’s section had conducted a very successful exhibition of the correspondence between Friedrich the Great and Francois-Marie Arouet better known by his nom de plum M. de Voltaire over the prior months.

Her husband Richard occasionally made fun her for preferring to be at the Library, which was well ordered and comfortable as opposed to their home which was far more chaotic. Of course, he did the same thing at the University Clinic but the world saw a man who was at the forefront of Cardiology very differently.

“What do you want in the coming year, Mum?” Isabel asked. Eighteen-year-old Isabel was Leni’s youngest daughter and something of a miracle, at least by Leni’s thinking. Conceiving Lara, Leni’s oldest daughter and carrying her to term had been extremely difficult with Leni having suffered a series of failed attempts, including a devastating miscarriage before that had happened. Then a few years later Isabel came along. That had been much to Leni’s surprise, though like Lara, Isabel had come into this world to a family that wanted her.

Leni thought for a second before she replied, “I want everyone to be happy and healthy.”

“You say that every year” Isabel said, a touch of exasperation.

“It’s still true” Leni said as they joined Ric and Lara. Ric was looking at his watch and saying something to Lara that Leni wasn’t close enough to hear. Lara was a University Student at Social Sciences Department in the urban campus of the nearby Friedrich-Wilhelm University.

As Leni got close, Ric gabbed her and kissed her right as the fireworks on barges on the river launched. The mortar shells exploded directly over their heads. What must have been less than a minute later, Leni saw that her daughters seemed rather pleased with themselves. That meant that they must have conspired with their father in setting that up. Her coworkers and subordinates were bemused by what they had seen. It was not on the clock as it were, but Leni had no doubt that this would fuel a whole lot of gossip over the next few weeks until they found something else to talk about. Then Leni remembered the prestigious guest that wanted to visit the Library in only a few days, her Section in particular. That was going to suck all the air out of the room.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Eight



1st January 1980

Dublin, Ireland

With Ed’s Alma Mater, Ohio State, in the Rose Bowl this year there was no way that he was going to miss it. What surprise him was that among the American expat community in Dublin there were a surprising number of sports fans who were more than happy to welcome him at the pub where they gathered, often in the middle of the night because of the huge time differences. With California being eight hours behind Dublin it was a good thing that the kickoff was around Noon on the West Coast, Ohio State Buckeyes versus Annapolis Midshipmen. The commentators called it the sort of classic matchup which had seldom been seen in recent years with both schools bringing a different ethos onto the field.

The game that followed was the sort of Midwestern slugfest that bored anyone but the most dedicated of fans to death. Both teams had made drives up and down the field, but they always seemed to lose steam around the fifty-yard line. The Buckeyes kept trying to run the ball, which played right into the strengths of Navy’s defense. Finally halftime arrived and it was noticeable that everyone in the bar lost interest in the game as the marching bands took to the field and the whole rah-rah patriotic spectacle that had started before the game started anew. Something that Ed had noticed was that with the exception of the Germans, most Europeans he encountered weren’t into those sorts of displays of nationalism, it made them uncomfortable. Of course, the Germans themselves were very likely the cause of that. Finally, the special teams came onto the field and the kickoff resumed the game ending with the Buckeyes on the thirty-yard line.



Pasadena, California

The game had been one of the toughest that Little Mike had ever played and he was only coming back from halftime. The Head Coach had read them the Riot Act in the locker room, all about how they needed to hold the number one offense in college football. This game was the end of the line for most of them, so they needed to play like it.

For Little Mike it was as if he was coming home and playing on the same field that his father had twenty-odd years earlier. No one had blamed him for feeling like the conquering hero as he had stepped off the 727 at LAX a few days earlier, that was nothing compared to the welcome he received when he arrived at his parent’s house in Baldwin Hills. It seemed like everyone he had ever known had turned out and that was quite the party. The truth was that what Little Mike had wanted more than anything was to sleep in his own bed for the first time in months.

The trouble was that Derik had gotten used to having the room all to himself and all his art stuff was everywhere, including Mike’s bed. The result was the same argument that they had been having since they’d been little. Mike liked things like being able to see the floor or not having the place smell like a barn full of Billy goats. Derik on the other hand, considered dust bunnies his friends and believed that having a working knowledge of the sedimentary layers of the accumulated junk helped make sure that he never really lost anything.

His younger sister Shauna was her usual self, but Mike could tell that the health problems that had dogged her for years had not gotten better. Even before they had known what the cause was, it was obvious that something was wrong. While everyone else in their family was relatively tall, Shauna’s growth was stunted due to the Sickle Cell Disease that she had been born with. That, coupled with Chronic Asthma had ensured that she had not led a normal life, frequently being in and out of the hospital. She had still gotten good grades and had told Little Mike that she dreamed of going to Stanford in a couple years. The trouble was that Mom and Dad were not exactly thrilled with the idea of her being so far from home. Their other sister Keri was far better at fashion and window shopping, though had no idea how she could possibly turn that into a career. Mom wasn’t about to stand for that, either she was going to go to college or else she was going the route that her parents had taken, the City of Los Angeles had lots of positions that needed warm bodies to fill them.

It was funny how Little Mike kept thinking about his family as he took his place on the line of scrimmage. The opposing offense had mostly been running the ball throughout the first half and it had worked, mostly. If he were in the shoes of their QB though, he knew what he would do…



Dublin, Ireland

There were moments where everything turned on a dime. As Ed was watching the game, he couldn’t say what exactly but the instant the snap occurred he knew with sickening certainty that the Buckeyes Offense had just made a big mistake. One of the Navy’s Tackles managed to get through into the pocket as the Buckeye’s QB had gone back for a pass and was looking for a Receiver. Under pressure, the QB threw the ball down field seconds before the other player smashed into him. As soon as the ball left his hand Ed just knew what was about to happen as it took a high arcing trajectory right into the hands of one of the Navy’s Safeties. The Buckeyes managed to stop the Safety before he ran it in but that left Navy in possession on First and Goal. Ed just knew that last play had just changed the momentum of the game.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Nine



7th January 1980

Dublin, Ireland

Jack had been listening to his daughter Jaqueline complaining about Marie Alexandra for months. Mostly those revolved around the effect that Marie’s presence had on her personal life and some of the truly strange “Continental” habits that Marie had. It seemed that almost all of the young men Jaqueline had gotten involved with lost all interest in her the instant they met Marie, curiously because of what these young men thought they knew about those strange habits. It was through Jaqueline that Jack was getting a clearer picture of Kat von Mischner’s youngest daughter beyond what those who didn’t really know her thought of her. Introvert, prude, snob, and very likely a lesbian had been the terms that he had heard used to described Marie. According to Jaqueline, Marie being an introvert was the only thing among those terms that was actually true. Otherwise Jaqueline wouldn’t be so annoyed, clearly seeing Marie as a competitor, albeit a competitor with extremely high standards. When Bridget had suggested that those two move in together Jack had been incredulous. They had needed Marie to take care of herself and for Jaqueline to well, not behave like a female version of Jack when he was younger. Putting the two of them under one roof insured that they would cheerfully police each other out of spite if for no other reason.

A few days earlier, Jack had submitted the brief to the High Court stating his intent to pursue a lawsuit against the Republic of Ireland, the Catholic Church, as well as various individuals and institutions who had profited handsomely through protracted, and continued, violations of Irish Labor Law. He also stated his opinion that the matter was also in breach of the European Law Accord’s ban on involuntary servitude which had gone into effect at the start of the year. To say that this had caused a firestorm was if anything an understatement. Marie had been acting as his investigator for months and that had not gone unnoticed. Suddenly, it seemed like every reporter in Ireland was on the lookout for a young woman with red hair with what they presumed spoke with a German accent. Jack found that amusing right up until he saw that Marie had been forced to sneak into the office, oddly disguised as one of the very reporters who was laying in wait outside the front doors. Regardless of that, Jack had a press conference scheduled and he needed Marie as herself next to him because of optics, it seemed that having a man of Jack’s age delving into the topics involved wasn’t a great look. Marie’s presence would offset that even if she wasn’t going to be doing any talking. What he had not figured on was that it took a bit more than a change of clothes and having Marie wash her face, which was why she was in the bathroom of Jack’s office. It was clear that she wasn’t happy about any of this though as she stepped out of the bathroom.

“You asked me to come in today?” Marie asked in German, knowing full well that while Jack could understand, he couldn’t really reply. Considering the situation, he was lucky that she wasn’t speaking Chinese. One of the Secretaries gave them a quizzical look as she passed the door to Jack’s office. The firm’s staff had heard Marie’s voice more in the last five minutes than they had in the last year. “Without mentioning those vultures downstairs” Marie concluded acidly.

“I was afraid that you wouldn’t come in” Jack replied, in English. “I also figured that you were resourceful enough to figure out a way to get past the press. I wasn’t wrong.”

Marie gave Jack a sour look. He had long suspected that what Marie really wanted was to be invisible and she had gotten very good at it. She just didn’t like it when that was pointed out to her.

“All of this comes at a bad time” Marie finally said after a long pause, switching to English. “The Christmas Holiday was horrible, my brother is determined to climb a mountain that has killed most of the people who have tried, my mother and sister are still sniping at each other, across an ocean this time and my Aunt Marcella has joined in, and Suga wants me to travel with her when she visits Japan this summer.”

The cynical part of Jack’s mind recognized that he was seeing the Marie as a vulnerable young woman whose family drama was making an already difficult situation worse. It was exactly how the public needed to see her. That was going to be necessary because it was doubtless that the opposing counsel had figured out that their clients had revealed damning information to Marie and would be looking to paint her in a different light. Still, he had known Marie since she had been a newborn, so taking advantage of her at a bad moment would be exactly the same as treating Jaqueline that way. Something else would need to be done.

“If you don’t want to take an all expense paid trip to Japan and be a guest of Emperor Hirohito for a couple of weeks” Jack said, “Could you do me a favor and tell your Kaiserin that I would be perfectly happy to go in your place the next time you see her.”

“Is that a joke?” Marie asked.

“Hardly” Jack replied, “Four-star accommodation all the way, not to mention meeting with the big man himself. I’ve clients who would cheerfully kill for that opportunity, Hell, I would seriously consider it.”

Marie looked appalled that Jack would say such a thing.

“That is not how these things work” Marie said, “Just considering such a meeting an opportunity is proof that you would have no business being there.”

As Marie said that Jack figured that she was in the correct state of mind. Despite the protocol that had been drilled into her since she was a child, he knew Hirohito extremely well and that Marie would probably be quite surprised to learn that the Emperor of Japan liked talking business.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Ten



8th January 1980

Mitte, Berlin

The night before it had been a bit of a surprise to see Mialexa on television with whatever she had been caught up in blowing up into an international news story, one so big that it pushed the usual crime and crisis stories aside for a few hours. Malcolm had found it amusing, because anyone who knew her knew that it was the sort of thing that was bound to happen eventually. Malcolm had not really paid too much attention to what the story was, people not getting wages owed or something. He had entirely too much to do with the upcoming publication of his Doctoral Dissertation and preparing for the expedition to India in a few months. He also had another matter to attend to that involved returning a favor.

“They call them fitness studios here because gymnasium has a different meaning” Malcolm said as he led Fennel into the massive building, “This one is rather special.”

Mialexa had been true to her word about knowing people who could spring George Fennel out of Bedlam, the problem was that Fennel had been faced with same problem that everyone else had. What do you do with the rest of your life? Fennel’s mother had picked up the phone and called Malcolm to see if he had any ideas and next thing he knew Fennel was on his way to Berlin. Not that Malcolm minded, Fennel had been up K2 and he had not said everything that had occurred on that mountain. Things like how he had gotten down it alone was something that Malcolm was extremely interested in.

At first glance, the fitness studio looked exactly the same as any one of the dozens of similar establishments that had sprung up in Berlin over the last few years. Mialexa had told Malcolm all about the Montreal Ladies Athletic Club and he had realized that something like that was coming to Berlin at about the same time his mother had. That meant that while it had all the traditional features such as the swimming pool, weights, boxing ring, and whatnot, the key feature which made it unique and Malcolm had a hand in designing came into view as they entered the atrium. It wasn’t the first climbing wall in Berlin, that had happened years ago shortly after the idea had been popularized by King Leopold of Belgium decades earlier. This one was the tallest and most complex indoor wall in the City though and Malcolm had gone over many of the scenarios he had regularly encountered with the Architects as it had been going up. There were still key differences between this and real mountaineering. With the construction of concrete and steel the anchor points were all clearly marked, as were the paths which were marked with brightly colored paint.

“Bloody Hell” Fennel muttered.

“I figured that if you were interested in getting back on the horse as it were” Malcolm said, “This is a safe place for that.”

Fennel looked a bit annoyed.

“Last year my mother decided that me and Sophie were driving her crazy over the winter” Malcolm said, “She said we need somewhere to go.”

“And this was the result?” Fennel asked, “Who has the money to pay for all this, just to get you out of the house?”

“I wouldn’t say that she paid for it” Malcolm replied, “This was more of an investment. The space was sitting unused and as it turned out, every office worker in this part of the city wanted a membership before we opened. Then word got out that Sophie was going to be here and got the privilege of setting up the computer system.”

“Who is Sophie?” Fennel asked as they walked out of the atrium and into the offices, one of which Malcolm used.

“One of my sisters” Malcolm replied, “She’s a big deal in Women’s Cycling, you might have seen her in the Olympics a few years ago.”

“That’s a thing?” Fennel asked, reminding Malcolm that he had been in close proximity to Sophie for years and not everyone would be interested in what she did or had the time to follow it.

“Yeah” Malcolm replied, “And you wouldn’t believe how big a draw she is.”

Fennel just shrugged.

Malcolm knew that a lot of people totally discounted women’s sports, yet it would have been impossible for him to have done that in the house he had grown up in. Long before Sophie had come to live with them, he had seen how Contact-Combat and target shooting were important to his mother and the young women who she had taken in to be a part of her strange extended family. There was also lethal purpose behind that. The same could be said of many of the things that Mialexa was into. If she wanted to come here and teach Fencing or Swimming, Malcolm would hire her in a heartbeat.

Opening his desk drawer, Malcolm grabbed the envelope that he had prepared earlier. “This has a brochure that spells out everything we have to offer and a keycard that gives you access to everything we have to offer.”

It had taken some convincing to for Malcolm to get his mother to spring for the access system. Just giving people the cards with the magnetic strip made it easy to tell who had been someplace and when, as well as keeping them out of places they had no business being.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Eleven



12th January 1980

Mitte, Berlin

New year, new decade, same old problems, and Zella was having a really bad month. She had been trying to get out of her role in managing the band, and the band was not letting her do that. This was after it had accidentally been named Hammersmith by record company who had mistaken a live recording that the band had done in that location before Ozzy and Ian had thought up a name they could live with, then couldn’t think of anything better. The job of the Manager was to keep the band pulling in the same direction and anticipating problems, not depending on random chance or dumb luck. Into this, Paul McCartney had sent her an advance copy of his latest solo album and as soon as Zella had listened to it, she had known that there was a serious problem. The title said it all, All the stuff that went before, and she just knew that the Moondogs were over. It was supposed to be an introspective album about growing older and the fragility of human relationships, but Zella could read between the lines. Paul was drawing a line under the Moondogs and there was no way that John was not going to go ballistic when he heard it.

Coming home and vegetating on the couch in front of the television had not turned out to be the sort of escape it usually was. The rerun of Star Trek that was the only thing on was the series finale titled The Final Directive. The episode revolved around how far the crew of the USS Constitution were willing to go to live according to their principles, as they learn that a planet outside Federation Space with a Pre-Industrial Civilization was threatened with invasion and assimilation by the Borg Collective. The fact that the Constitution might have sped off at maximum warp with none the wiser, instead they made the choice to stand and fight to enforce the Prime Directive. It was a battle where those that they were defending would have no idea what was going on and because the Constitution was overmatched, it was likely that the Federation would never know either. Where did duty and valor fit to during a battle that no one would ever know about?

In probably the most shocking turn, Captain Pike contrives a way to trick the Borg into a boarding action at the end of the battle as he evacuated the remaining members of his crew off the Constitution. The self-destruction sequence of the Constitution manages to destroy the Borg and their ship. The final scene is of Pike and his crew standing on the planet watching the wreckage of their ship burning up in the atmosphere while facing an uncertain future with there being a coda of a man from the alien race in a roadside tavern, telling the story of the “Men from beyond the stars” to the other patrons who told him that his tall tales needed work. Perhaps that was a disappointing ending of the series, but it did set the stage for the movie that was supposed to be coming out next year.



Annapolis, Maryland

“What do you mean you told them no?” Sam, who had shared a room with Little Mike since they had both started at the Academy. “Most of us would give anything for that.”

“Good thing I’m not most of you” Little Mike replied.

After the Army-Navy Game and Rose Bowl, Mike had been subjected to quite a lot of attention from scouts from various NFL teams offering him all sorts of enticements to go play in the Pros. The thing was that wasn’t what he wanted to be doing with his life, not since he had toured the USS Arizona a few times back when he had been in school. When he had tried to Enlist in the Navy four years earlier, the Recruiter had taken one look at him and asked if he played Football and would he be interested in playing for Annapolis. His parents had made clear that if he was going to be joining the Navy anyway, he would be a damn fool if he passed up the opportunity he was having handed to him on a silver platter. Now he was having to deal with the pushy scouts who were telling him all about the various ways that he could sidestep the service requirements and that was the exact opposite of what he wanted.

Next May, Mike was going to graduate as an Ensign and he already had a slot at the Surface Warfare Officers’ School in Newport waiting for him. The SWO pin and an Academy Ring would ensure his future, and after that he would be doing exactly what he wanted to be doing. It was something that no one seemed to understand. There were also the realities of playing Football too. Sure, he could go play for Dallas, San Francisco, Detroit, or whatever, but he also might blowout a knee at the next practice and that would be that. Then where would he be? Having to drag himself back to Los Angeles, where he would get to be the most overqualified burger flipper in all of Southern California. Seriously? Fuck that. His brother seemed to be the only one who understood Mike’s thinking but Derik was, to put it charitably, the biggest nerd that he had ever met. The thing with the comic books, Derik’s idea for a Black Superman… Of course, Mike had been warned that if he eventually got assigned to a Destroyer then his experiences in dealing with Derik would have prepared him to deal with pretty much all the men in ASW.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Twelve



14th January 1980

Richthofen Estate, Silesia

These days visits by Michael and Birdie were a huge deal. It was no longer a visit of friends, but a peer-to-peer visit of the respective heads of the ruling families of each State. As much as they wanted to keep things informal, there were still protocols that needed to be observed. All of this was because Niko had asked for Michael’s help. With the Olympic Summer Games coming up in only a few months, Niko wanted to have a far better showing in Moscow than he managed in Montreal and Michael had competed in the Olympics several times and had a well-deserved reputation as being a marksman with a pistol.

Of course, Michael being Michael, he had brought with him a substantial number of experts to help Niko and not just with the areas he was deficient in. Not that he had been slacking though. Over the last few years Niko had been keeping up with practice as well as competing in Cavalry, Fencing and Modern Pentathlon events. He figured that he had been getting better even if the competition wasn’t quite as stiff as is had been in Montreal. The people who Michael had brought with him had disabused Niko of that notion in a hurry. The Russians felt they had a lot to gain in the way of National Prestige by hosting the Summer Games and it was expected that competition was going to be especially cutthroat this year because of that. Niko was also warned that it would be safe to assume that the judges would not be particularly inclined to rule in his favor. Niko couldn’t figure how that was any different from before.

There was also Monique to consider, they talked on the phone regularly and she was close to finishing her study of Theology at the University of Flensburg. Once that happened Niko knew that they would need to go forward with the plans that they had been putting off and that was scary. There were a whole lot of expectations because of who they both were. Then there were a few oddities, like Monique’s great-grandmother who was shockingly still alive at the age of around a hundred and living in Window Rock, Arizona. They were going to need to arrange to get her to Silesia along with some of Monique’s cousins. Niko had no idea how the people of Silesia were going to react to that.



Fort Meade, Maryland

The latest cold snap had arrived bringing snow and freezing rain with it. Stevie had learned bicycles were a bad mix with icy conditions. That was why he was walking today with his hands shoved as far into his pockets as he could get them. As he could hear the snow crunching under his feet, he was starting to wish that spring would get here already. In December the idea of snow had been a novelty and when it had first started snowing during the week between Christmas and New Years it had been like something from a movie. Then once there had been places to be and things to be done, the winter weather had lost its charm extremely fast. Fortunately it had warmed up enough to turn to rain within a few days, but then a couple weeks later it got cold and it started snowing again. Perhaps today would have been tolerable if he had Doud to talk to, but he had been dragged off to an Orthodontist appointment that afternoon.

Stevie was not in any rush to get home though. It seemed like every time he turned around the baby was crying and Mom made a point of telling him that he was exactly the same when he had been little. Then there was Kristie wanting to do whatever he was doing, even homework. Walking across the parking lot of the PX, he could see that there were a lot of cars. The bowling alley looked empty, hardly a surprise considering that it was a weekday afternoon. Mom said that he had no business being in there, as if Stevie had any interest in that. Instead he walked into the commissary. He had been told that he had access to the place as a dependent, which meant that Dad was in the Army. Looking at the slices of lemon meringue pie, Stevie was tempted for a few seconds until he remembered that Mom always seemed to know that he had eaten something he wasn’t supposed to before dinner. Instead, he grabbed an apple and a small carton of milk which he paid for with a bit of the remaining money that Uncle Bobby had given him for Christmas. Actually having money was out of the ordinary for him, so Stevie was trying to make it last as long as he could.

Sitting down at an empty table, Stevie was confronted by one of his prior mistakes this school year as he pulled his math book out of his backpack. At the start of the year he had discovered that he was repeating some of the lessons from the year before. When his teacher, Mrs. Cartwright noticed that Stevie was acing every assignment, she had started assigning him more difficult assignments. That was how he had found himself dealing with long-division and decimals well ahead of his class. Doud had found it funny because Stevie had told him all about what he had been doing, only to be done in by his own cleverness.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirteen



18th January 1980

Mitte, Berlin

Leni was nervous about this visit even if it wasn’t exactly relevant to her personally as she paced in the Library’s entry. There had been visits by prominent people in the past, but nothing quite like this. The Director of the State Library had told her that this was quite a feather in her cap, to be requested personally. Still, she had to question why.

It had taken time to make the proper arrangements for this particular visiting scholar. Closing the library early on a Friday afternoon so the whole building could be secured had been the best call, even if many of the regular patrons were not thrilled about having to go elsewhere. The Rare Books Section in the Central Branch, which Leni curated, was considered the crown jewel of the City’s library system. When Leni had been contacted by the representative of the Pope months earlier she had thought that it was a joke. Didn’t the Vatican have a collection of books and artwork that would dwarf all but the largest museums and libraries in the world? Even as she had that thought, it occurred to her that she managed the Hohenzollern Collection which had been accumulated over the last couple centuries and had seen numerous additions over the last few decades. That was one of the large collections in question.

Unfortunately, there were items like the Medical textbooks that had been gifts to Kiki by her family and various other wealthy individuals. They were beautifully illustrated and their creators had pushed the boundaries of human understanding at the time. Unfortunately, they were products of their time. Which meant that many of the practices mentioned would amount to quackery by today’s standards and a few of them were rumored to be bound in human skin. It was that latter thing that gave Leni the creeps every time she walked past them in the vault. There were also the books that had come from an unnamed member of the Hohenzollern family who had been obsessed with the occult. That was where the original copies of the Paradise Lost and curiously, The Witch’s Hammer had come from. The other volumes ranged from esoteric to morbid. There had also been a number of volumes that dealt in all manner of erotism. Leni didn’t want to answer any questions about those. She had been tempted to have them moved from the collection to the vaults in the deep mines where Berlin’s institutions kept priceless items against the possibility of nuclear war. However one thing that Leni had learned over her career was that the absence of items tended to draw notice to their very absence. She had no idea what to expect from Cirino Pablo Vargas, better known as Paul VI, or even how to address him. Originally from a farming village in Spain, it was hardly a shock that he had gone by his middle name since he had ascended to the Papacy. A name derived from Cyrus was probably not the best name for a Pope for reasons that were obvious to anyone who knew even a smattering of history.

“Err, welcome, Sir” Leni said awkwardly as the Pope entered the library.

Paul just nodded to her as he and his entourage entered the library. A bit annoyed by this Leni followed as they walked up to the Rare Books Collection on the fourth floor. Looking up Leni saw the children of the Building Superintendent looking down from the top floor landing, they were generally harmless so no one objected to their presence so long as they stayed up there. That didn’t stop them from being curious though. The doors that were normally kept locked had been opened, so reaching the alcove that Leni had used as an office for the last several years took far less time than normal. Every bit of space in the vast room was filled with books that were all first editions or books that had limited printing runs despite the prominence of their authors. Besides Leni’s swiveling chair, the only other place to sit down was a folding chair that seldom enjoyed much use. Generally, everyone here including her had things to do that didn’t involve much sitting around. Entertaining someone of great influence was an exception though.

“Your agent was a bit vague about the reason for your visit” Leni said, “And your request is interesting.”

“What if I said I was looking to avoid making a historical mistake” The Pope replied.

“Doesn’t your organization never admit to making mistakes?” Leni asked.

“That only extends to certain theological and spiritual matters and is subject to considerable debate” The Pope said, “Members of the Church sort of understand that. Our detractors…”

The Pope just shrugged as if to say, what can you do?

“A dear friend of mine was born into a Polish Catholic family” Leni said, “I think that she might be one of your biggest detractors.”

To Leni’s surprise, he found that amusing.

“The Church is comprised of people and everything that comes with that Frau Schirmer” The Pope said, “Families have disagreements with just a few, spread that out to tens or hundreds of millions.”

“Yes, but how does that explain your interest in the Luther Bible?” Leni asked. The Library had one of the best-preserved copies of the Bible that had been translated into German by Martin Luther that had been bequeathed to it by the House of Wettin a few years earlier.

“Anyone who has ever been in the Vatican can understand the excesses and the reaction” The Pope said, “Luther was a part of that. I want to understand the man and the era. Because not understanding had consequences.”

That was one way to describe a century of bloodshed, Leni supposed. She had heard that Paul VI had been forcibly conscripted by both sides of the Spanish War multiple times when he had been a teenager, deserting or finding himself in the midst of bloody carnage at different turns. That conflict had been the result of conflicting ideologies with ordinary people caught between.

“You think that we are in experiencing something similar?” Leni asked.

“Now and in the future, yes” The Pope replied.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred Fourteen



26th January 1980

London, England

Having tea with the Queen of England was a minefield. That was doubly so when she was offering you anything because it was seldom out of the goodness of her heart. There was always an angle that had to be considered and it was likely that it wouldn’t be clear what it was for some time, months or even years later.

“I am sure that you are used to this sort of thing by now” Elisabeth said, “The popularity of you and your family extends well beyond the borders of your country. You might recall that your younger brother was awarded the George Cross for rescuing the passengers and crew of a ferry in the North Sea.”

Kiki knew that the whole thing was all about diplomacy. Freddy had already been extended this courtesy, induction into the British Order of the Garter as Knight Stranger and now that the Statute had been changed to allow women into the Order, Kiki was being granted that appointment as well. The difference was that Kiki was also being rewarded for her efforts in the Medical Care of Soldiers from Commonwealth Nations. She remembered British and ANZACs being in Korea as part of the League of Nations Forces but couldn’t remember if she had treated any of them. Here Kiki was with Elizabeth herself saying that she apparently had.

This had come at a time when there was a lot of interest in Kiki’s actions with all the stories had been reaching the press in Europe about her adventures in Patagonia. How while her husband was involved with the Southern Observatory project, Kiki had been practicing medicine in the Neuquén General Hospital as well as in the field. It had not been her intention, but Kiki had played a role in making Patagonia exciting. People liked the adventure stories, and where once going to the Southern Cone of South America would have involved weeks on a ship it was now just an airline flight away.

The Government of Argentina was pleased as punch to facilitate this by making sure that advertisements for vacations in the Andes with regular flights to places like Rio Gallegos or Las Grutas were aired on radio and television. Kiki knew what was behind it though. Though many it would just be a few weeks of adventure, not all would leave. They would discover that because of the exchange rate between the German Mark and the Argentine Peso they were suddenly relatively wealthy or just fall in love with the place. There was also the expanding presence of the Kaiserlichmarine in Rio Gallegos, to the extent that it was jokingly referred to as Süd-Wilhelmshaven. Kiki was certain that would eventually cause trouble. In the meantime though the National Government in Buenos Aires saw increases in the population of the Santa Cruz Province or the Tierra del Fuego Province as a means to further solidify their claim on the strategically important Strait of Magellan. The Patagonian War might have ended with a cease-fire almost a decade earlier but negotiations for a final peace were still dragging on. The Chileans wanted all land occupied during the war back and the Argentines had no intention of doing that. They were prepared to give up the Aysén Region, which remained occupied by the Argentine Army and they probably wouldn’t mind getting rid of it, but the rest, fuck you very much.

Into this was Raul Martínez, President of Argentina who was running for reelection at a time when the electorate had the attitude of “What have you done for us lately?” and a relatively young candidate who was the head the of the opposition in the National Assembly. To say that the situation was tense was an understatement, God help everyone if the National Police or the Army took a side. In South America politics were not for the faint of heart. Kiki’s return to her house in Plänterwald had been a profound relief. She still had the request from Elizabeth II though and it wasn’t as if Kiki could put her off forever.

“The appointment will not be announced until Saint George’s Day” Elizabeth said, “And I already know how difficult you can be, so Kristina, no subverting this please.”

“I am not planning on subverting anything” Kiki replied, “No more than when my father urged my appointment to the Johanniter.”

Kiki saw Elizabeth smile at that and quickly added. “And that is not to give you any more ideas.”

“The Order of Saint John here is considered part of the same Chivalrous Order as the Brandenburg Bailiwick and the Grand Prior would probably be overjoyed to have you as a guest at one of the Order’s events” Elizabeth replied, “And it didn’t surprise me to learn that you had gotten that appointment several years ago when you started having that black cross embroidered on all your lab coats.”

Kiki had not asked for that, but as a Dame of Honor of good standing in the Order she was required to have that as Physician. There was talk about elevating her to be a Dame of Justice, Kiki wasn’t sure exactly what that entailed and she wasn’t in a hurry to go to Sonnenburg to find out.

“Granted” Kiki said before trying to change the subject, “Does the dark blue cloak over white tunic look better than the black cloak over the red tunic?”

“That is a matter of opinion” Elizabeth said, “I like the blue and white, though I am a bit biased here. Did you know that I extended the same invitation to your other brother, Michael, and he has yet to respond. That is a bit surprising considering that he is married to Alberta.”

Alberta Charlotte, better known as Birdie to her friends, was the Queen Consort of Bohemia, Kiki’s sister-in-law as well as Elizabeth’s oldest child. Kiki had learned long ago that she had no idea what she would be walking into when she traveled to Prague. It seemed that reality seemed to take a back seat with whatever Michael was involved in at any given moment. Birdie had proven to be a very willing accomplice to his antics over the last few years.

“I am not the first one to know anything these days” Kiki replied, “When I get a chance I will give them a call. Knowing them, Michael is probably trying his hand at herding zebras with Birdie’s help, gotten involved in the filming of a movie featuring Samurai, or something equally absurd.”

Elizabeth smiled at that mention. “Alberta seems to be leading an exciting life, I will give her that much.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifteen



28th January 1980

Tzschocha Castle

It was the sort of winter afternoon where little was going on. A real howler of a storm had blown in and all Gretchen could see were snowflakes spiraling in the wind every time she looked out a window. The rooms in the castle that made up the student dormitories didn’t reflect what was going on outside, instead the common room had a fire going and Mathilda had a dozen of the first-year students enraptured with the stories that she told as the television wasn’t working and no one in their right mind was about to go out into the storm to fix the antenna. It was a sort of a fractured fairytales mishmash of Norse, Old German, Celtic, and Greco/Roman mythology. Mathilda’s stories were pretty silly but they did logically flow from their source materials. For example, what would happen if Siegfried met Achilles and the two supposedly invulnerable warriors fought and their massive egos wouldn’t let them back down? The result was a whole shouting after their weapons had all been broken, and their respective Pantheons still working to game the battle. With the large number of heroes and villains, Gods and Goddesses to work with, it wasn’t like Mathilda would ever be short of material. Presently, Mathilda was telling her own version of the Battle of Troy where Helen, disgusted by the bloody carnage, listened to Cassandra, and told Menelaus to go get stuffed. Then when the Greeks brought their famous horse around the Trojans had a nice cookout as they marveled at the sound of the horse screaming as it burned outside the city walls. Mathilda made it clear that she might have taken a few liberties with the story. That was met with laughter.

Gretchen knew when Mathilda and Eddie had studied the Iliad, Mathilda had been annoyed by Helen. Mathilda had explained to Gretchen at length about how she was depicted with no real thought or agency beyond how beautiful she was. Apparently that was all there was to her. This was doubly true after Paris managed to get himself killed. It was no surprise that she had made a few changes to make Helen less of a doormat. It was then that Mathilda launched into her version of Siegfried and Gretchen knew that they were probably in for a wild ride. She had once told Gretchen that she loved to tell these stories, twisted beyond all recognition, knowing that her father would be aghast and that was what made it so much fun for her.

The reason for all this today was because Vera Kappel, the Headmistress’ Assistant, had recommended Mathilda for this role. Most of the first-year students had never been away from home before they had been sent to Tzschocha and it was felt that seventh year students like Mathilda and Eddie would be perfect to introduce them to student life in the castle. What had been left unsaid was that Anna had pointedly been rejected. Anything Mathilda had she wanted. On this case though her past actions and petty cruelty came back to haunt her. Vera had told Anna that she would not be the appropriate mentor for the younger students and when Anna had pressed the matter, she had been shown her rather voluminous disciplinary record. And that was just comprised of the things that facility knew about. Vera had somehow learned about some of the other things that Anna had done over the last seven years that everyone had mostly remained quiet about. Gretchen had found watching her older sister finally getting a long overdue comeuppance for once extremely satisfying.

At the same time, Mathilda was extremely good at it. At first with the handful of first-year girls who Vera had referred to her and later with many of the others. Gretchen remembered her first, rather disastrous, attempt to leave home by being one of the first girls to go to the Wahlstatt Institution. That had not worked out, but Gretchen had realized that if she’d had someone like Mathilda there she probably wouldn’t have left at the end of the first year. Or at least would have effectively guided her past the foolish schoolgirl’s crush that she’d had on Nikolaus von Richthofen.

The thought about Wahlstatt was a reminder about what most everyone in her class had been aflutter about since it had been announced. The Spring Formal Dance was coming up in March and the Prussian Institution at Wahlstatt was going to host it this year. For Gretchen it would mean returning there for the first time since she had left and that was a source of embarrassment for her. Sure it had been five years, but what if someone remembered her? For the others, it was all about the pretty clothes that they were going to wear if they could convince their parents to pay for them. Gretchen had written all about that in the letter she had sent to Erich, in the response he had joked about whether or not he should be jealous about her dancing with the Cadets. The truth was that if Gretchen had her way, she would go down to that place in Italy where Erich said that he trained with the “Frogmen” of Regia Marina. He had described in vivid detail what it had been like to be in the blue water of the Mediterranean as sunlight had filtered down. It just sounded magical and that couldn’t be any further from Gretchen’s present reality. Tzschocha Castle might as well be on Mars.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixteen



2nd February 1980

Tempelhof, Berlin

It was one of those rare winter days when it was so clear that everything seemed to be in incredibly sharp focus. For Kat it was the last thing she wanted to see. It was a day like this one that had irrevocably changed the course of her life and ended with her in the hospital. To this day people thought that her actions had been heroic, but she long ago concluded that was only after staggering amount of papering over her personal failures that day. Kat had the ringing in her left ear as a reminder of that. People had died because she had been slow on the uptake, now after forty-one years she was being told that she was one of the last remaining survivors of that incident. Which was a complete farce. And like with most years at this time, there was a spike of interest in Kat. As much as she would love to turn a machine gun, or better yet, a flamethrower, on the journalists who pestered her, it was Kat’s understanding that dealing with them that way was sort of illegal. She had hoped that with Kristina being back in the news again they would have forgotten about her, but there was no such luck.

That was why Kat was holed up in her house as much as she had come to hate it. It wasn’t that she had any hate for her home. It had always been a place of shelter for her. What she hated was feeling like a prisoner…

It was then that Kat’s melancholy was interrupted by noise from the library. As she reluctantly got up from behind her office desk, she felt the too familiar pain in her back. It was what was termed a “Service-Related Injury” and had resulted in a KZS Doctor telling her that she had a condition that might eventually require surgery to correct, somewhat. It would possibly reduce the amount of pain she was in, but at the cost of her ability to move if it worked as planned. She was understandably reluctant to agree to that. Despite having retired years ago, Peter Holz regularly called Kat to check how she was doing and when they had talked about it he reminded her that she had taken what was equivalent to a hard blow from a 10-kilogram sledgehammer to her back. That wasn’t without Long-term consequences.

Entering the house’s library, Kat saw that there were five young women present, two of them were the last of the girls who Kat had taken in, talking to each other. It might have seemed strange that she had built a family, not just with her biological children, but eleven more who had needed a place to go, twelve if you included Anne, whose daughter Lina was in the library with the others. It was a bit strange that Lina was now in University. Had it really been so long? She had recently changed her surname from Kauffmann to her mother’s maiden name, Frank, after being annoyed by her father once too often. Kat had not reached a conclusion about that yet. She was arguing with Angelica over what music to put on. Angelica wanted to listen to the Moondogs’ Spiraling album, which was an odd choice considering the role that one of the members of that band had played in her life. While she had not yet completed her secondary education, Angelica was interested in studying Archaeology at University next year with the main focus having shifted quite a bit over the last few years. First it had been Rome, then China, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Egypt since she had gone there over the Easter Holiday last year. Kat figured that meant that her foster daughter was going to lead quite an adventurous life once she went out into the world.

Sophie was talking with Gabriele and Franziska as they were spreading the materials from the day’s lectures on the table. It was the first time that Kat had seen Sophie in a few days with her being kept busy lately. When Kat had established the fitness studio with the help of Malcolm, it had been an interesting diversion. The fact that she didn’t have Sophie underfoot this winter had been a happy accident. The idea had come from conversations where Marie had talked at length about the athletic club she had been a member of in Montreal, and Kat had realized that there might easily be a demand for a place like that in Berlin which was not attached to a Football Club or training Boxers. Malcolm’s climbing wall and presence of not just Sophie, but the other members of her Cycling team made it different as well. The thought of Malcolm reminded Kat of how she was filled with dread every time she thought about the Mountaineering expedition he was a part of. Everything that she had heard suggested that the mountain was absolutely lethal, which she understood was part of its allure. Malcolm had spent his life being discounted for reasons that were not his fault, so he saw reaching that summit as a way to prove all of his detractors wrong. The thing was that it was entirely unnecessary. Kat knew that the Alpenkorps had contacted him. All they cared about was that he was on the verge of receiving a Doctorate in Computer Science, had attended the Arctic Training School near Bad Reichenhall, and was a Mountaineer of note. They were giving Malcolm everything that he ever wanted after the Luftwaffe had basically shoved him into a hole to watch a monitor screen and ignored him for the last decade.

“Aunt Kat” Lina said as she noticed Kat standing in the doorway. “We aren’t bothering you. Are we?”

All of them were staring at Kat.

“No, not at all” Kat replied.