Sarah blinked in sudden realization. Mike Stearns had attended a lot of weddings since the Ring of Fire. Heck, he probably attended a lot of weddings before the Ring of Fire as a union leader. She considered. “I still say this is over the top, even for post Ring of Fire weddings,” she insisted, but with considerably less heat. “But okay. At least the so-called ‘Prince of Germany’ won’t be coming.”
“Welllllll. .” Karl said in a tone of exaggerated musing. “Unless I invite King Albrecht. He is my liege lord, you know. And I understand that General Stearns is going to be visiting him.”
“You know, Mrs. Sanderlin, if I were to just shoot Karl it would solve all the wedding problems.”
St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna
“They are going to endorse Urban,” Father Lamormaini told Father Montilla. “It’s confirmed. I still have connections in the Hofburg.” The last part of the statement was true, and he was almost sure that the first part was true as well. The decision hadn’t been made yet, but if things continued as they were now, Lamormaini didn’t see any other outcome. “They have to be stopped before they make the public announcement, which will be shortly after the wedding of Prince Karl Eusebius and the Wendell peasant girl.”
“It is a hard thing you ask, Father,” said Montilla, but his tone didn’t bear him out. There was an excited light in the chubby little Spanish Jesuit’s eyes and the quaver in his voice was of excitement, not doubt.
“You saw the documents,” Lamormaini said. “The Omen clearly documents that the Antichrist had already arrived in that other history, before the Sphere of Fire transported the seed of evil into our world. The vile satanic rites that Friedrich Babbel sent us, confirming the evil that they allowed under the guise of secularism. Rosemary’s Baby. Left Behind. The Satanic Bible. The truth of the up-timers is there in their libraries. They tried to hide it, but a careful study of their archives proves it beyond doubt. The ‘force’ from their movie Star Wars that we have seen right here in Vienna. Trying to make God into a mere field of energy. We talked about all this. You have seen the proofs.”
“Yes, Father Lamormaini, and I would willingly burn every up-timer at the stake! But the Holy Roman Emperor-”
“He has rejected that duty. Quailed from it like a startled rabbit running from a fox.”
“Very well. I will need some equipment. I don’t want to use a slow fuse. It is too likely to be smelled. Besides, there is a certain justice to using Satan’s tools against his minions.”
“What do you need?”
“I will need wires. Insulated copper wires. A battery. It can be lead acid, zinc-carbon or really anything that will produce the juice. And a spark generator. Or, if you can get one, one of the blasting caps. If you can’t get me a blasting cap, get me some light bulbs and I can rig something from them.”
“From a light bulb.”
“They make light though heat. Remove the glass container, surround the filament with gunpowder, and when the electricity flows, it heats the filament, which burns. That’s all you need.
“I’ll get them for you.”
“Just make sure your man can send them to us before the wedding.”
Dressmaker, Race Track City
It was white silk, a bow to the up-timer custom. Floor length, with gold-embroidered lace cap sleeves, a low sweetheart neckline, a full skirt with gold-embroidered lace insets.
“That’s about the most princessy dress I’ve ever seen,” Judy remarked airily. “Too bad it’s wasted on you.”
Sarah stuck out her tongue.
“Ahh, the the true Platonic form of ladylike maturity,” offered Imperial Princess Cecilia Renata, giggling. Cecilia had declared herself a probational Barbie during the negotiations and nobody had objected. All the Barbies liked her.
Judy’s dress was the same style, but in emerald green with gold embroidery. Cecilia Renata’s was grass green with gold, Susan’s was dark blue with silver embroidery. Millicent was in red with silver. The rest of the girls had similar dresses in all the colors of the rainbow, even Gabrielle and Trudi. Of course, none of them had quite as much gold embroidery as Sarah’s. It was her day, after all. And Judy, as much as she might tease, wouldn’t allow any of the rest to outshine Sarah on her wedding day.
Instead of a veil, Sarah would wear her tiara, which was gold with green jewels.
* * *
The next couple of weeks were caught up in wedding preparations and Christmas celebrations. However, during that time Moses managed to propose and Susan accepted. When Susan told Judy, Judy suggested that they have a double wedding with Sarah and Karl.
“No!” Susan said. “First, I want a quiet ceremony, and second, I am not going to be a part of your political machinations.”
“Oh. You spotted that, did you?” Judy said.
“I agree that having the wedding of a Jew attended by half the crowned heads of Europe would be a good thing in the long run. It’s just not going to be mine.”
“It’s also too soon,” said Trudi. “What we are seeing in the USE now and what we saw in front of the synagogue when Mayor Dreeson was murdered, is proof of that.”
CHAPTER 37
January 1636
The Vienna airfield, near Race Track City
The Jupiter made its landing on the Danube with no difficulty. In the months since its first visit, the airfield had been considerably improved. The runway was now macadamized.
First off the plane was Fernando, King in the Low Countries, followed by Queen Maria Anna, Dona Mencia, and her brother. Four more counselors, and, finally, the father and mother of the bride.
* * *
The next day, Mike Stearns arrived, flown in on a Gustav aircraft by the head of the USE Air Force himself, Colonel Wood. General Stearns and his Third Division were now stationed in the southern Bohemian city of Ceske Budejovice.
His visit was unofficial, however. In theory, this was purely a personal trip to attend the wedding of a daughter of old friends. Never mind that the Wendells had never been more than casual acquaintances, and especially never mind that Stearns hadn’t bothered to ask permission from the USE government.
And whose permission would he ask, anyway? Word had just arrived that Prime Minister Wettin had been arrested in Berlin at the order of the Swedish chancellor Oxenstierna-who had precisely no authority to give such an order in the first place.
Not to mention that the Swedish general Baner had just placed Dresden under siege, despite being ordered not to do so by Ernst Wettin, the administrator of Saxony appointed by the emperor himself before his incapacitating injury. For all practical purposes, the government of the USE was now a vacant abstraction. The nation was dissolving into civil war.
Liechtenstein Tower, Vienna
“Karl? You do know that a tower is supposed to be taller than it is across?” Fletcher Wendell asked with a sardonic smile, and Karl hid a grimace.
He had gotten along quite well with Fletcher Wendell before he started courting Sarah, but since then Fletcher never missed an opportunity to call Karl’s abilities into question. Sarah’s mother was bright and helpful, if a little awkward around people she didn’t know. Judy the Younger was was charming, if manipulative. But Fletcher Wendell was snide. “Yes, Fletcher, I do know that,” Karl said, as he led the way up the three steps to the main entrance.
“Have you considered changing the name? Liechtenstein Lump, perhaps.”
“We did consider that, Dad,” Karl offered, with a certain emphasis on “Dad.” “But there’s all that bureaucratic paperwork involved, so we thought we’d simply add fourteen more floors.” The doorman opened the door for them and they walked in. The generator and the steam heat plant were both installed in the basement. At this point, neither of them was working at anything near capacity, but that was because it wasn’t needed yet. There was plenty of heat and power for what they did need. They also had enough light bulbs to light the shops on the first two floors and the grand indoor plaza.