Duke Etienne was caught in a dilemma set up by his wily friend. He was proud of the work he’d done as Manager of the Circus, and he enjoyed it more than anything he could do in his life. But he was also extremely proud of his son’s abilities and of all he’d managed to do in the Galaxy so far. He couldn’t very well deny that Jules would run the Circus in an excellent fashion.
“Perhaps,” he admitted grudgingly. “But you can’t expect an old star rover like me to settle down behind a desk, can you?”
“Nobody said anything about settling down behind a desk,” von Wilmenhorst soothed. “If you’re going to ride herd on thirty-six grand dukes, hundreds of dukes, and who knows how many thousands of lesser nobles, you’ll have to be on the move a lot – more even than you were with the Circus.”
“We’ll see,” Duke Etienne muttered, but Jules caught his eye and made him smile despite himself. Jules looked back at the Head and gave a brief nod, signifying that he would take the position and convince his father – if that was what the Empress wanted.
“You seem to have mapped out a future for everyone but Pias and me,” Yvette said. “Where are we going to end up in your plans?”
“You’ve got your own future mapped Out already,” von Wilmenhorst told her. “Pias is going to be the next Duke of Newforest, and you’ll be his duchess. From all reports, that will be happening in the near future. I’m sorry, Pias, for your father’s unfortunate illness, but I’m glad you’ve reconciled. You and Yvette should return there and spend as much time with him as you can before the end – and also help make a smooth transition to your own administration.”
“I’m going to feel so useless,” Yvette said. “Every one else is getting exciting jobs, while Pias and I get to nursemaid a planet. I was always glad Robert was older than I was, so he’d inherit Papa’s title and I could do the real work.”
“Oh, even as a duke I saw my share of action,” her father said with a wink.
“Precisely,” von Wilmenhorst added. “As I told you before, there’s going to be a lot more responsibility placed on the shoulders of the nobility under the new regime, and you’ll be doing important work in holding the Empire together. Besides, I think Newforest represents an underused resource. We’ve recruited a lot of DesPlainians into the Service, but not many Newforesters; the new internal security agency will need all the good people it can get. You may end up doing some recruiting and training for us. Don’t worry – I have a feeling you won’t feel slighted at all.”
He looked back at the Empress. “Well, you did ask for comments, Your Majesty. I know I’ve talked a lot and been rather free with my assumptions. I’ll give you more detailed and formal proposals in writing within a week or so, as soon as my workload permits.”
“You’ve at least given me a lot to think about,” Edna told him. “And, as usual, what you say makes a great deal of sense. I knew there would have to be some major shakeups in the organization – it may well be along the lines you suggest;
“In the meantime,” she continued, raising her glass, “I’d like to thank all of you for the help you’ve given me through the years. I can’t think of a better way than with the official Service salute: Here’s to tomorrow, fellows and friends. May we all live to see it!”
They drank the toast and glasses were refilled. At the end of the table, Jules stood up hesitantly. “Your Majesty, I’ve been thinking. We’ve been talking a lot tonight about what’s going to happen. At the risk of seeming heretical, I’d like to propose a new official toast.”
He raised his glass once again. Up and down the table his dinner companions raised their own glasses and looked at him expectantly as he said, “Here’s to tomorrow, fellows and friends. May we make it what we wish it!”
APPENDIX
The Stanley Dynasty
STANLEY ONE: Born George Stanley, 2175. Became King Stanley Six of Earth in 2205, at age 30. Crowned himself Emperor Stanley One of the Empire of Earth in 2215, at age 40. Reigned 31 years – 10 as king, 21 as Emperor. Strong and able, but harsh and frequently unjust. Married in 2201, at age 26. Two children: Crown Prince Theobold and Princess Theodora. Assassinated in 2236 at age 61 by his son.
STANLEY TWO: Born Theobold, 2202. Crowned 2236 at age 34 after killing his father. Reigned one year. A bachelor with a harem of concubines; no legitimate offspring. Not content with murdering his father and mother, he tried in 2237 to murder his sister Theodora. The plot backfired and she killed him.
STANLEY THREE: Born Theodora, 2204. Crowned 2237 at age 33 after killing her brother. Reigned 37 years. Married 2233 at age 29. Had 3 children including Crown Prince Karl. First of the Great Stanleys. Consolidated the Empire and founded the Service of the Empire. Established the structure of nobility by elevating selected commoners to noble rank. Propounded the Stanley Doctrine: strict primogeniture with no distinction as to gender; royalty must and nobility may marry commoners; spouse is elevated to the level of the higher-ranking spouse, except that in any difference of opinion, the decision of the higher-born is final; inbreeding within one-thirty-second consanguinity positively forbidden; full loyalty to the throne is mandatory, with the penalty for failure being death. Stanley Three abdicated at age 70 in 2274 in favor of her oldest son.
STANLEY FOUR: Born Karl, 2235. Crowned 2274 at age 39. Reigned 19 years. Married 2256 at age 21. Had four children: Crown Princess Stephanie, Prince Edmund, Prince Charles, and Princess Charlene. A good ruler, but not great. Assassinated in 2293 at age 58 in a full-scale revolution led by Prince Edmund and Grand Duke Gaspard of Sector Nineteen. This was the first real test of the Navy’s tradition of loyalty to the throne and to the Stanley Doctrine. Crown Princess Stephanie was hustled aboard the flagship and kept in Fleet Admiral Simms’s own cabin until the rebellion was put down. 728 Navy officers were court-martialed and shot; the rebellion was helpless without the Navy they thought they’d subverted. After a few weeks of turmoil, Stephanie succeeded her father.
STANLEY FIVE: Born Stephanie, 2257. Crowned 2293 at age 36. Reigned six years. Married 2279, age 22. Had five children, the youngest of whom, Prince Edward, was born in 2284. Her first imperial act was to execute the leaders of the rebellion, including her brother Edmund. Because of her frightening experience, she was constantly on the lookout for plots against her, executing hundreds of people and banishing many others to the new, raw planet Gastonia at the far edge of Sector Twenty. She became known as “Mad Stephanie,” and her harsh rule inspired many new plots. She, her husband, and four of their five children were assassinated simultaneously in 2299; Prince Edward, then an ensign in the Navy, escaped death only because the plotters did not know and could not find out that Fleet Admiral Simms was guarding him as no one had ever before been guarded. Simms declared martial law and executed not only every person whose guilt was probable – including Prince Charles and Princess Charlene – but also the entire families of everyone convicted, the bloodiest purge in all history. Simms declared himself Regent for the new, underage Emperor.
STANLEY SIX: Born Edward, 2284. Crowned 2299, at age 15. Reigned 42 years – 6 under Regent Simms (who, much to everyone’s surprise, relinquished the Regency on the day Stanley Six became 21) and 36 on his own. Married in 2312, at age 28; had one child, Crown Princess Evelyn. Considered the second of the Great Stanleys. Advanced the Empire tremendously, strengthened SOTE, promoted the arts and sciences. Fleet Admiral Simms (Ret., but still Head of SOTE) died 2341 at age 94 – supposedly of a stroke. (Assassination was later suspected, but not at the time.) Later in the same year, Stanley Six was assassinated by a palace clique who wanted Crown Princess Evelyn as Empress.
STANLEY SEVEN: Born Evelyn, 2313. Crowned 2341 at age 28. Reigned nine years. Official date of her marriage (February 15, 2329) is decidedly questionable, as it was kept secret (and all royal marriages are supposed to be imperial functions) until April 8 of that year, and her only child, Crown Prince Rudolph, was born on October 10, 2329, when Evelyn was 16. Considered the weakest Stanley of all – used by cliques of “friends,” first one, then another. Was killed in a drunken brawl (2350) by a discarded lover, who also killed her current lover and himself.
STANLEY EIGHT: Born Rudolph, 2329. Crowned 2350 at age 21. Reigned 27 years. Married in 2352 and had three sons, including Crown Prince Ansel. His administration was mediocre; honest, but stodgy and unimaginative. He and his Empress were assassinated, together with the two younger princes and their families, by Crown Prince Ansel in 2377.