Chapter Eight Hundred Sixty-One
15th October 1950
Washington DC
The Generals were pleased as punch with him for once. However, that wasn’t what had motivated him, Harry Truman had restarted the draft because he knew that it would give him some control in a spiraling situation and he didn’t like what the State Department was telling him was happening in Mexico. That the country was getting ready to fall into revolution again. If that happened while the South was wracked with continued violence, then he would have an even bigger problem on his hands. He saw bringing back the draft as killing two birds with one stone. He knew that he would be inducting the easy cannon fodder of any potential rebellion into the US Army. As much as those in the South liked to think of themselves as being some superior form of patriot right up until they ripped off the mask they were, in reality, a minority in the country. The South were sparsely populated, impoverished and took a surprising amount of Federal largess. It was a simple matter of drafting young men and leaving them spread thin across the whole of the US Army. Guarding the Canadian border against the day the Canucks invade North Dakota or Montana surrounded by cynical New Yorkers would be perfect. The issue was that he had extended the draft across the entire country and that would probably anger some voters eventually, if it already hadn’t.
It galled Truman that he needed to be pursuing this matter. He had been told that the French and the British were copying the Germans in building a site to launch rockets in French Guiana. It seemed like every time he tried to get America back on course another pile of domestic horseshit was thrown in his path. There were times when he felt like he was in the middle of Shakespearian play that was a mixture of tragedy and black comedy. While his delightful constituents where blowing each other up the entire country was falling further behind the rest of the world as it had continued to advance.
Judenbach
“I only want two things!” Kat yelled angerly, “A divorce and a new set of friends!”
“Don’t be that way Kat!” Helene yelled through the door, “We knew that this was the only way we could get you to come to something like this! We need you to unbar this door this instant!”
Everyone had conspired against her. Her husband, the Empress, her family and SKA itself. Everyone. All the subterfuge had been to get her to come to Judenbach so that they could throw a celebratory dinner in her honor. “You are carrying the Heir to Judenbach Katherine” Oberst Zimmer had said, “That might seem terribly patriarchal, but he might be the patron of the SKA one day, it’s politics.”
“It could just as easily be a girl” Kat replied, and Zimmer had just smiled at that.
“If she is as formidable as her mother then the future of the SKA will be in good hands” Zimmer said.
Kat had locked herself into her hut shortly after that and demanded that Douglas come for her so that she could go home because she didn’t trust anyone here after they had lured her here under a false pretense. Only to find out that Douglas was already in the camp and had been in on the plan from the start. After that she had refused to open the door for anyone. Food and water had been left for her and she had snuck out several times to use the latrine. She had been left alone Friday night and all-day Saturday but now that Sunday was here she had Helene, Douglas, Gerta, Ilse and Gia knocking on the door asking her to come out because the formal dinner couldn’t start until she did. As far as Kat was concerned she was prepared to stay in this hut until Hell froze over.
“Kat” She heard Douglas say from the other side of the door. “You know that this camp has a number of trained sappers, there are plenty of axes and chainsaws around as well. I know that this hut has always been a place of safety for you. Will you please be reasonable?”
With great reluctance she lifted the bar and opened the door, Douglas stepped inside with a smile.
“I will have you know that is the lowest form of blackmail” Kat hissed at him.
“Hardly” Doug replied, “I was just stating the obvious, everyone is here, and they are going to be waiting for you and your Aunt Marcella though that you should have a chance to get cleaned up before that happened. We were even able to convince the United States State Department to free Nancy Jensen for a few days.”
Kat groaned and threw herself back on the cot. That meant that every one of the people close to her was here. That also meant that… “Please tell me Kira isn’t here.”
“Not yet” Douglas said, “But Louis Ferdinand is due to arrive at any time, the Empress is expected to be accompanying him.”
This was far worse than Kat had imagined.
“I know you hate social functions like this, but it has to be done occasionally” Doug said.
“It’s politics” Kat said with her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“You are the Mistress of the Keys to the Empress” Douglas said, “There are politics involved but mostly it’s because she wants to be here to support her friend.”
When Kat was in a mood like this she hated it when Douglas was right. “Anything else?” She asked.
“No, but I always thought that this would be bigger the way you described it.”
Kat looked at Douglas and realized that the confines of the hut were hardly larger than the cot, small desk and foot locker that were contained inside. It seemed crowded with him standing there. She let loose a heavy sigh, Kat had been prepared to get sacked again when she came here. Was this really that much worse?
“I’m not happy about any of this and no one should expect me to enjoy it” Kat said to Douglas as she got to her feet.
“You said the same thing about our wedding” Douglas replied as he opened the door.
“And look where that got me” Kat said pointing at her midsection.
Douglas just shrugged.