“Yep, that’s true. But the point is that calling them down had an effect on Moses. Sometimes there are not any good answers and someone has to do something iffy-or even downright evil. It’s never something to be proud of, and there is a moral cost. Also, if you do it enough, you end up one of the bad guys, no matter how noble your motives.
“What about spying?” asked Amadeus.
Sonny Fortney looked over at Amadeus like he had no clue what he was talking about. Then he gave a twitch of a shrug. “Yes, that would be one of the things that leaves a mark on the soul. You’re making friends with people with the full intent to betray them as necessary for your cause.”
“What sort of a cause would justify that sort of betrayal?” Amadeus wondered aloud.
“I’m not sure ‘justify’ is the right word. Necessitate, maybe. ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ There’s also a moral cost to standing around doing nothing while those rights are being denied to your fellow men. Like I said, sometimes there are no good answers, just a choice between evils. The scary bit is how easy it is to convince yourself that those necessary evils aren’t evil because they’re necessary.”
There was something in the up-timer’s face and voice that Jack couldn’t quite identify. A hardness. . or a tiredness.
“Then what do you think we should do?” asked Carla Barclay.
“Break the law,” Sonny said. “But don’t kid yourselves that what you’re doing is good or just.”
After that they got into ways and means. Hertel and Jack were assigned to coordinate the information they gathered and-especially in Jack’s case-give them what legal cover he could. Carla would, in essence, spy on her parents, who had fallen in with the Spanish faction at court. That was a group of conservative nobles and clergy, mostly Dominican, but including about a fourth of the Jesuits.
“Do you think we should include Julian?” Amadeus asked Carla.
“Not yet. I’ll see what I can find out from him.” Then she looked over at Sonny. “Yeah, this really sucks.”
Jack could sympathize with the young woman, but the reason she was here was because they needed an information source into the Spanish faction. As well, Carla’s name had been on the list of people Farkas was going after. Which was another reason to suspect Archduke Leopold.
Liechtenstein Tower Construction Site, Vienna
The concrete arches gave the interior of the tower a forestlike look. It was as though the ceiling was held up by flowers or smooth trees. There were pipes for gas lighting that ran beside channels for wires, once they had enough light bulbs to light the place. And the place had an unfinished look. Bare concrete columns, and bare concrete floors.
The shops around the edge of the building were mostly finished and they were putting a wooden roof over the center plaza. Karl Eusebius von Liechtenstein, in a yellow fiberglass and rosin hardhat, was standing at a table with the construction foreman, going over the placement of the load-bearing arches. “The idea is to use as little steel reinforcement as we can get away with.”
“Yes, Your Serene Highness, but I think we should go ahead and use reinforcement in this section. It will let us skip this whole set of supports.” He pointed to the central open arches that honestly looked like a cross between the acropolis of Athens and a forest of almost gothic arches. The arches were slightly different in shape and started about halfway to the two-story ceiling.
“It’s not the money, Heinrich,” Karl said. “It’s just that steel is really hard to come by at the moment. It would probably cause a delay and Sarah has instructed me to have the two floors ready for the wedding by mid-January or she’s going to start looking for a more efficient suitor.” Karl looked over at the foreman, saw his expression, and said, “Oh, go ahead and laugh, Heinrich. But believe me, you’d rather have Judy the Baracudy angry at you than her sister Sarah.”
Heinrich squeezed his legs together in unconscious reaction to that comment and Karl tried not to laugh.
The Hofburg Palace, Vienna
“Are your parents going to be able to attend?” asked Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress of Austria-Hungary. The room was cozy by Hofburg standards, but incredibly plush. Aside from the empress, her step-mother and sister-in-law were there, along with Sarah, Judy, Vicky, Hayley, and Millicent. Susan and Gabrielle had both ducked out on the preparations. They would show up at the bridal shower with gifts, and at the wedding.
“Yes,” Sarah let herself smile but continued gravely. “Dad got fired from the treasury when Wettin came in. And considering the guy Wettin put in at treasury, the Austro-Hungarian thaler is liable to become the preferred currency in the next few years.”
“Really?” asked the dowager empress.
“Well, they couldn’t fire Coleman Walker. He has another two years on his term before he has to be reconfirmed. But if the head of the Fed as well as the head of treasury are Wettin appointees, I would expect confidence in the American dollar to diminish.”
“I don’t know whether to be upset or pleased,” Her Imperial Highness Cecilia Renata said. “I mean, I don’t wish your family any bad luck, but it’s to our advantage to. .” She looked around and sort of ran down.
“Actually, no. The USE is running a couple of years ahead of the rest of Europe in industrialization, and it will be easier for you guys to gear up if you can buy crucial parts from the USE. Things like water pumps to make mining possible at greater depths.”
“Enough,” declared the empress’ mum. “We’re hear to talk about wedding plans, not dreary economics. “You said your parents were coming, too?”
“Yes. We’ve gotten the king in the Low Countries to loan us a Jupiter again. In fact, there is a possibility that Their Majesties will come to the wedding. The thing is, a Jupiter can’t make it all the way from the Low Countries to Vienna in one hop, so they would have to stop in Grantville. Which, as it happens, is right on the way. But the politics involved in King Fernando landing in the USE, both on the way here and on the way back. . there would have to be some assurances from Ed Piazza that no one would interfere with them. Bohemia isn’t a problem, because they will be at five thousand feet all the time they are over it.”
“I’d love to see Maria Anna again,” said Cecilia Renata.
“So would I,” said Empress Mariana. “I’ll mention to Ferdinand that he should perhaps write a letter to the President of the State of Thuringia-Franconia on the matter. In the meantime, tell me more about this up-time custom, the bridal shower?”
Sarah listened as Judy, Vicky and Hayley told the highest noble ladies in Austria-Hungary about bridal shower and the sorts of gifts that were given at the different types of showers. The “kitchen” shower idea brought forth quite a bit of laughter, but the “lingerie” shower was given more approval.
Liechtenstein House, Vienna
“Well, Nephew, are you getting a bit nervous?” Uncle Maximilian asked with a smile that seemed to Karl less than completely kind.
“Yes, Uncle, a bit. But overall, I am quite happy.” And he was. He even felt more than a little sympathy for both his uncles and most of the rest of the people in his class. He had, after all, gotten to choose his own bride, and he hadn’t had to do it based on establishing or maintaining control over lands for the family. He picked up his fork. It had four tines and was electroplated in gold. It was very nice flatware, but it was flatware that most prosperous burghers could afford. He speared a piece of roast beef from his plate and popped it into his mouth. After he swallowed, he continued. “I have been incredibly lucky. First in finding Grantville on my grand tour, and then in finding Sarah Wendell. I feel a bit guilty about the limits our family’s position put on the rest of you and, at the same time, incredibly fortunate that my choice of bride was allowed to be mine.”