“And how did the, umm, ‘Thief! Thief! guy’ take this development?”
“Not very well. The Jena police seemed more or less inclined to take his side. That was when Carol bent over, took a running start, and rammed him in the balls with the top of her head. It distracted him—and them—long enough that we were able to toss Benny and Minnie into the government truck that had brought you and your guests up to Jena to attend the state dinner. Sorry about that, by the way. But we figured that those two needed fast transportation more than you did. Right then and there, anyway. You’ll probably be hearing from the guy’s uncle. I bailed Carol out. She’s feeling rather smug that she finally got to use one of the techniques she learned in the self-defense for women class that Ron sort of made her take. Not that I’d really classify the way that she used it as ‘defensive,’ but she says that she was defending Minnie, ‘so it counts.'”
Ed stretched. “How was the dinner, by the way?” The exigencies of his post-riot diplomatic activity had caused him to miss it.
“Pretty stiff. The seating was according to protocol, which meant that half of those who were seated next to one another weren’t on speaking terms. Since I was the only head of state there besides the two counts, I got to talk to the Oldenburg guy. He seemed pretty pleased with the outcome.”
“He ought to be pleased,” Ed said. “He engineered it.”
“You know,” Mike commented, “this isn’t the way that the story is supposed to turn out.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s backwards from what we expect. It’s the liberals and the progressives who are supposed to revolt against the forces of princely tyranny, ally with enlightened ideas, and forge onward toward future progress. Melissa calls it ‘the Whig interpretation of history.'”
He leaned back, smiling slyly. “I wish that Melissa was here, actually. I’d really love to see her face when she gets the news that the theological liberals are still happily in bed with the established-church guys and the ultra-orthodox are showing every sign of running with ‘separation of church and state.'”
Ed frowned. “That’s not quite right, Mike.”
“What’s not quite right?”
“Theological liberals.” Ed thought a few second; then said: “The word ‘liberals’ is wrong. Really, the Philippists—the ‘crypto-Calvinists’ that the orthodox Lutherans are so opposed to—or at least a lot of them—aren’t any more ‘liberal’ than the orthodox. They don’t believe their doctrines any less. They just think that fewer of them are essential. They’ll be just as stubborn about the ones that they do consider essential.”
“Oh, grief!” said Mike. “Well, ‘it’s a great life, if you don’t weaken.’ Let’s get back to work.”
* * *
Ed went back to his office. Sitting on a bench outside the door was Leopold Cavriani, who smiled pleasantly and asked, “Would you be interested in talking about Naples, now?”
Ed studied him for a moment. Cavriani Frères de Genève—facilitators.
“I’d ask who you were working for, at the moment,” he said dryly, “but I’m sure the answer would confuse me even more than the fine points of theological doctrine argued at the colloquy.”
Cavriani’s smile now bore a remarkable resemblance to that of a cherub.
Ed shrugged. “Sure, why not? Let’s talk about Naples. ‘O brave new world, that hath such people in it.'”
RADIO IN THE 1632 UNIVERSE
by
Rick Boatright
Introduction
The military and diplomatic radio situation in Europe at the end of the novel 1633 is a result of a unique combination of the authors’ needs in the story line, the limitations imposed by the authors’ choice of town to base Grantville on, and other historical accidents which left us with a wealth of some technologies and a dearth of others.
There are four important elements to the radio background of the 163x series: the environment that the planet and solar system provide due to Eric Flint choosing to start the series in the year 1632, the people of Grantville, the physical resources they have available, and the goals of their government.
The Radio Environment
From a political perspective, 1632 occurs during the Thirty Years War. From a social perspective, 1632 occurs during the “Early Modern Era.” From a biographical perspective, 1632 features players who are still household names, such as Cardinal Richelieu, Galileo, King Charles the First, Oliver Cromwell, etc. It’s a fascinating time and a critical point in the development of western culture. When Eric contacted me and asked that I help brief him on the possibilities for radio in 1632, it became quickly clear that from a radio specialist’s perspective, Eric could not have chosen a worse time to drop a town into than 1632. Just at the beginning of the period where there are telescopic observations of the heavens, approximately simultaneous with the trial of Galileo, 1632 drops Grantville into the beginning of a time best known to science as the “Maunder Minimum.”