Streets of Vienna
The wagon made its way down the cobbled street, carrying a ton or so of gravel. It was before dawn and aside from supply wagons like this one, the streets were empty. But they were well lit. There was a Coleman lamp on each street corner, with enough fuel that each would last most of the night. Besides, the wagon had one too, with a curved mirror behind to send the light out ahead. The wagoner shivered in the cold, and flicked the reins to encourage the horse to pull a little harder. He wanted to get back to the docks so he could get inside. He turned a corner and headed for the work site for Liechtenstein Tower.
Reaching the tower, he pulled up behind another wagon, which carried a load of sand. He couldn’t see the work under the tent, but he knew that the basement had been finished. They were now working on the ground floor, which was supported by a set of interconnecting arches that were based on the work of some up-timer who used chains to design buildings. It was funny looking but at the same time it had a sort of grace that was almost like a church.
The sand cart moved out and he flicked the reins again to move into its place. The crane, a set of pulleys and a framework, was shifted by a team of workers. The wagoner climbed back into the bed of the wagon and helped. He wanted to get back to the docks and in out of the cold. It took almost an hour to get the wagon unloaded, but the work kept him warm except for his hands and he had good canvas gloves. He would rather have been sleeping, but it was a good job. . and even bad jobs were hard to come by.
Race Track City
Gayleen Sanderlin held Ron the Latest on her lap while the nanny, Lisa, kept a wary eye on three-and-a-half-year-old Carri. They were all in the imperial box, but it was still a cold snowy day. The crowds scared Ronny, but Carri was excited, all bundled up in her little fur coat and constantly trying to get a look at the two-year-old heir to the throne. Not because he was heir to the throne, but because he was a potential playmate.
Meanwhile, the sound system was playing records from the Magdeburg Opera House. The emperor was crazy for music. The stands were packed, even on a cold and blustery day like today, because once the music was over Ferdinand III would read out the agreement that the Austro-Hungarian crown had worked out with the Barbies over the course of the past several weeks. Her Serene Highness Sarah Wendell von Up-time was made the chair of the Imperial Bank and the right to issue money was moved to her and her heirs or appointees. The emperor had insisted on the heirs and Sarah had insisted on adding appointees. At the moment, Moses Abrabanel was the appointed heir to the chair of the imperial bank, which took Karl Eusebius off the hook.
The song ended. Sarah and the emperor went out onto a raised platform at one end of the race track, where Sarah knelt and received her tiara and bank book.
They went back to their seats, and Sarah sat down muttering dire imprecations about Judy and her overblown sense of theater. Personally, Gayleen thought it all looked rather splendid. From the applause, so did the audience.
Millicent then went out on the platform and got her crown and a gavel. She was going to set up the Vienna stock exchange.
Trudi von Bachmerin was next. This was all as new to Trudi as it was to any of them. This ceremony was as much the child of Judy the Baracudy’s imagination as it was a product of the seventeenth century. Trudy got a bank book like Sarah’s, but smaller and trimmed in silver, not gold. Her tiara was silver, with an amber stone in the front.
Gabrielle would have been next but she had declined the honor. Gabrielle wasn’t interested in any title other than “doctor.”
Vicky Emerson was next and she was a little stiff, which was a considerable improvement over her initial response to the idea of swearing an oath to a foreign potentate. Vicky was an American, not of the Club 250 sort. Bill Magen had been a down-timer, after all. But Vicky hadn’t approved of the New U.S. joining the CPE, much less becoming a state in the USE. Marton was working on that and she swore her oath as required. Besides, the news out of the USE was starting to get scary. It looked like a civil war might be coming. Emperor Gustav Adolf’s condition meant that Chancellor Oxenstierna was able to run wild.
Next came Judy, playing it for all it was worth. The tiaras had been made by Morris Roth in Prague and flown in. They had more in common with a beauty queen’s crown than a down-time crown. Judy’s was gold-well, electrum-and had a huge emerald in front. She really did look like a princess. She got a bank book, too.
Susan went up next and got her tiara and bank book. She didn’t carry it off with Judy’s grace, but she wasn’t as stiff as Vicky had been.
Then Emperor Ferdinand called up Ron and her. She gave little Ron to Lisa and took Ron’s hand as they walked out onto the platform. At which point Carri abandoned her examination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and ran after them on her stubby little legs, only to be caught up short by Lisa. “I wanna go too!”
Little Ron, upset by the sudden movement or his sister’s shout, started crying.
Ron grinned ruefully. “Well, so much for solemn state occasions.”
Gayleen wanted to slug him. They walked on out to the platform and swore their oaths into the microphone and the emperor invested them as imperial counts. On their way back to the imperial box, Ron sneezed.
The Fortneys were counted too, then it was Hayley’s turn. The whole morning standing out in a blizzard had been leading up to this. First, the emperor read out the agreement making Race Track City an imperial principality. Then Hayley read out the constitution, which included a bill of rights right in it, and called on the assembled people to accept or reject it. There was a great shout of acceptance from the audience. After which the emperor went down and got into the 240Z and the newest princess went down and got into the Sonny Steamer. Gayleen, Ron, and the kids got into their truck and the Fortneys into their Range Rover, and all of them, in a parade, drove the bounds of the new principality.
Liechtenstein House, Vienna
Of course, they all caught colds. Emperor and empress, all the way down to scullery maids, everyone caught a cold. The Hofburg Palace and Race Track City were as drippy as leaky faucets, and it spread to just about every noble house in Vienna.
“If you indend that we get married in duh streed, I will no-Aaahhchooo! — be adending,” Sarah told Karl.
Karl, eyes puffy and long nose red as a beet, just looked at her. Anna, outside the room, blew her nose loudly and then brought in a silver service with tea, lemon, and honey.
“Dno.” Judy was, for once looking just as raggedy as any normal human, agreed. “Ub-time we did weddings id church. ‘Id’ being duh impordand poind.”
“Dere are a couple of reasons we can-Aaahhchooo! — cannod do id dat way. De most impordant is that id’s looking like St. Sdephen’s is leaning toward Borja-sniff-and if we give Anton Wolfradt an excuse, he’s likely do make an issue of id.”
“Wad aboud cidy hall?” Sarah sniffed, and it hurt.
“Don god one,” Karl said.
“Din you to can jusd wade dill da dower-Aaahhchooo! — tower is finished.
Karl sneezed again, then held his head like he was trying to keep his brain from falling out. But after a minute, he said, “Wade a minid. We can pud the roov on de first do floors, radder din wade.”
Sarah tried to think through the pain. The first two floors of the Liechtenstein Tower were two stories of shops surrounding a large mezzanine. The third floor was planned to cover over the mezzanine, to act as support for the higher floors. The first floor and about half of the second was done. If they put in the floor of the third floor before extending it, they could have a functional roof over the center area in a month. “Id’s gonna be darg, dark.”