Anger was starting to seep into his voice now, coloring the ice. Mike was glad to see it come. The anger of a man like Simpson, he could reach. He could do nothing with a man of stone.
"In our old universe, I should say," Simpson half-snarled. "In this new one, who knows? I don't believe you even have a Congressional Medal of Honor. Forgot about it, naturally."
"Yes, I did," said Mike calmly. "My apologies. I'll see to correcting that immediately." He said nothing else; just waited.
Simpson's icy glare held for a few more seconds. Then, he closed his eyes. Took a deep breath, and slowly let it out through half-open lips. By the time the exhalation was finished, the lips looked human again.
"Sorry, Mr. President. That was quite uncalled for on my part."
"No, it wasn't. It was a screw-up. Mine. I guess I never really thought-wanted-ah, hell." He took a deep breath of his own. "I'll see to it, John. Today, if possible. There won't be any problem, believe me."
Simpson's shoulders slumped. With the slump, went all trace of stone from the face. It was still a wooden face, true, but…
Such was the nature of John Chandler Simpson. Mike had his full measure now. He could live with wood.
Wearily, Simpson rubbed his face. "Ah, it's all crap anyway, Mike. Just the last parting shot of a man who hates to admit he was wrong about anything." When he removed the hand, to stare back out of the window, he was almost smiling. "You were right, weren't you? When all is said and done. I thought you were insane to think we could build another United States your way. Throw it open overnight to people who had none of our background, customs, traditions."
Mike's mouth twisted. "Well… it was a risky enterprise. And still is, John. Risky as hell. I could use your help, that's for sure."
"You'll get it." The words came as sure and certain as John Chandler Simpson could say any words. Which was sure and certain indeed. "I'd be betraying those dead boys if I didn't. The proof is in the pudding. The first Congressional Medal of Honor will go to a German boy-and rightly so. And the other two young heroes were among those who first took him in, and welcomed him with open arms. Which I sure as hell didn't."
He made a fist and rapped the desk with it. The gesture was not an angry one; simply… firm. The way, Mike imagined, Simpson had often in times past pronounced that something involving his business was settled and done.
"That's what it all came down to in the end, Mike," he said sadly. "Just the raw courage of four young men. Two Americans, a German and a Swede."
"Two lashes is enough, John." Mike's chuckle was dry; even harsh; but not caustic. "We country boys have lower standards, y'know, than you High Church types. There's no apology needed, and sure as hell no penance. You trained them, remember? You built this Navy, not me, not anyone else. Just like Jesse built the Air Force. Their sacrifice will give you-all of us-the tradition we need. The start of it, anyway. But it couldn't have happened without you either."
Simpson turned his face back to meet Mike. There was pain in those eyes. Not that there hadn't been before; but now, it was plainly visible.
"I like to think so, Mike," he said softly, almost whispering. "I'm not sure I could get through this otherwise."
"Yeah, I know. It's keeping me going too. But it won't happen without-"
An interruption came, in the form of a very worried-looking Dietrich Schwanhausser almost barging through the door.
"Excuse me, Admiral, but General Torstensson-"
Torstensson himself came through the door, shouldering the aide aside. He took two steps into the room, and planted his boots. Then gave Mike and Simpson a look that was part-glare, part-challenge, and… oddest of all, more than a trace of simple curiosity.
"So!" he exclaimed, in his thickly accented but quite good English. "Now we will see. The city is erupting beneath our feet, President and Admiral. What do you propose to do about it?"
Chapter 49
By the time Mike and Simpson neared the entrance to the naval yard, Mike was pretty sure he understood what was happening. The hurried words spoken by Nat Davis as he came up to meet them confirmed it.
"I don't know what's happening, Admiral," said Nat, his face creased with worry and confusion. "Almost nobody showed up to work today. Sergeant Kohler tells me a lot of the sailors didn't either."
Mike cocked his head, listening. He could hear what sounded like a low murmur in the distance. Words were impossible to make out, but he knew that was the sound of a huge crowd in the making. He recognized the odd feeling it gave to the air itself, like an echo in a cavern. He'd felt it before, from time to time, when he'd participated in mass demonstrations in Washington, D.C. called by the labor movement.
Except the crowd at those demonstrations had not been angry so much as simply resolved to exercise-as the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights put it-"the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
But that right was not established in the CPE as a whole, even if it had been in the new United States. And, in any event, the population of Magdeburg was not one accustomed to the fine etiquette of a long-established democratic society. That they were gathering in the city to demand a redress of grievances was clear. It was also clear to Mike, just listening to the undertone of fury in that distant murmur, that the crowd was going to be paying little attention to any notions of "petition" and "peaceable assembly."
"It's blowing wide open," he pronounced. "The news from Wismar must have been the last straw."
General Torstensson was gazing at him with a kind of detached curiosity. As if he was an observer of a heretofore unfamiliar phenomenon, interested to hear what a self-professed expert might have to say on the subject.
Simpson was frowning. He, clearly enough, was simply confused.
"But… why? We won at Wismar! Whatever else-whatever it cost us-that much is crystal clear. Why are they angry? Why aren't they celebrating?"
For a moment, Mike felt a flash of anger. For all that he'd come to understand and respect Simpson-even, to a degree, develop a certain liking for the man-he was forcefully reminded of the enormous gap that still existed between them. In the end, Simpson would always look at the world from the top down. Mike, no matter how high he rose, from the bottom up.
Try watching men you love choking their lives out with black lung, you rich bastard, fighting the companies tooth and nail-and their so-called "experts" and 90% of the government-for every dime they can get. Try-
He broke off the thought. Snapped it off, rather. This was no time for it.
"Why are they angry? Well, John, let's start with the fact that for fifteen years they've watched Germany's princes-and every other prince in the world except maybe Gustav Adolf-grind their lives under. Even Gustav is only on probation, as far as they're concerned. Add to that the fact that their lives before the war weren't exactly a commoner's paradise."
He shook his head. "Wismar didn't make them angry. Anger, they already had-anger and rage and grief and bitterness, drunk to the dregs. And I can guarantee you that the spectacle they've been watching right here in Magdeburg for the past few weeks"-Mike pointed a rigid and accusing finger in the direction of the palace where the Chamber of Princes had been holding their sessions-"did nothing but rub salt in the wounds. Once again, Germany's princes will bicker and dawdle and protect their privileges, while Germany's millions stare at their blood and intestines spilling on the ground."
Torstensson grunted. The sound was that of a detached observer, acknowledging that the expert had made a valid point.