wealthy man like Dr. Gribbleflotz?
Lips remained doubtful about his sister's marrying Dr. Gribbleflotz right up to the minute, soon after the exchange of vows, when she launched herself into her husband's arms. There was a sparkle in her eyes he hadn't seen for years, and she was glowing. Her new husband looked just as happy.
'Lips, you have to save me,' Dina implored.
Lips shot out of his chair and rushed over to his sister. 'What's the matter?'
'Someone's given Phillip books on bringing up babies.'
Lips whistled. That could be serious. 'Has he said anything?'
'Not yet, but you know what Phillip's like, and I don't want him making a project out of my babies.'
'Babies?' Lips knew Dina was pregnant, but that seemed to suggest more than one.
Dina smiled and ran a hand over her belly. 'Yes, Dr. Shipley says I'm carrying twins. She let me listen to their heartbeats.'
Lips ignored the dreamy look on his sister's face and concentrated on dealing with her problem. 'What is it you want me to do?'
'I need you to approach Phillip and pretend an interest in alchemy. Maybe teaching you what he knows will stop him concentrating on me and the babies.' She slumped. 'Why did he have to pick now to decide that there was something wrong with the pyramid power thing?'
Lips hugged his sister. He'd always been interested in the new science, and now, instead of sneaking into the laboratories and seminars, he could do it openly, firm in the knowledge that Dina would support him if Mama and Papa asked questions.
Lips stared at the poster of a young woman wearing nothing but strategically placed whipped cream, and wondered,
He found him in his office, with Frau Mittelhausen, Frau Beier, and Dina. 'Oh, I'm sorry,' Lips said as he hastily backed out of the room.
'What is it, Lips,' Dina asked.
'I just wanted to ask Phillip something, but it can wait.'
'We aren't doing anything important, just reviewing the new advertising campaign for Sal Vin Betula.'
Lips struggled to stop the grin that statement elicited from turning into a smirk. It had been Phillip's Sal Vin Betula, better known in the market as Dr. Gribbleflotz' Little Blue Pills of Happiness, that had got him into selling revitalizing fluid. Some up-timer had mistaken his blue aspirin pills for some up-time sex drug. 'Maybe you should try something like Paxton's poster.'
'What poster would that be?' Phillip asked.
'Are you talking about the poster of the female wearing nothing but revitalizing cream?' Frau Mittelhausen asked.
'That's the one,' Lips said. 'Phillip, do you know how they did it?'
'Did what?'
'You haven't seen the poster?'
Phillip shook his head.
'Well, it’s a color poster, but it's not block color like most posters are. The color is so realistic; it's like a photograph out of an up-time book.'
'That certainly bears looking at. Where is this poster?'
'In the front window of Vorkeuffer's,' Lips said, naming a local store that had been nothing much more than a common grocery store four years ago, and was now the largest general store in Jena, all on the back of selling the products of HDG Laboratories.
Phillip pushed back his chair. 'If you will all excuse me, I must have a look at this poster Lips is so excited about.'
'I'm coming too,' Dina insisted, as she too pushed back her chair.
'I was invited in to record the king's aura yesterday,' Zacharias Held told his colleague. Well, more bragged, really, but serving the king was surely something to brag about.
Johann Dent whistled. 'How did you manage that?'
'Talent, Johann, pure talent.'
Johann snorted. 'More likely you found out who to pay. So, is the king as ill as we hear?'
Zacharias nodded. 'I think he's in a very bad way, but that dragon guarding him refused to let me take a Kirlian image of his head. How does she expect me to know how to rebalance his aura if I can't see it properly?'
'So you only got a hand?'
'And just the left one at that.'
'You can't tell much from the weaker hand. Didn't you explain?'
'In front of the king? With his dragon glaring at me? Of course I didn't.' Zacharias pulled out a Kirlian photograph and passed it over to Johann. 'Have a look at that. I think he definitely needs an aluminum bracelet to balance the aura, but it also needs a red gemstone in a number three cut.'
'Oh, dear. You do have a problem.'
Zacharias ignored the smug smile on Johann's face. He was merely jealous that he hadn't been invited to examine the king. However, Johann did have a point. Both of them knew, from Aural Balance 101, that you didn't mix aluminum metal with gems containing aluminum.
'You can't use glass for the king.'
'No,' Zacharias agreed. One didn't use glass for the king, not even if you were adding gold to it to make a lovely ruby red.
'And rubies are just aluminum oxide, after all. Spinels and tourmaline are out, too. But what about a carbuncle?'
'No. All red garnets have aluminum in the B location, all the ones with something else are green or black.'
'Then I guess you need see if Roth's can suggest anything,' Johann said.
Lips helped his brother-in-law set up his latest creation-a three-color camera-obscura. Not that Phillip was laying claim to the idea for the machine. That had been someone at Schmucker and Schwentzel, in Rudolstadt. After seeing the poster for Paxton's Revitalizing Cream, Phillip had been as interested as Lips in learning how it was done. And Lips had learned just how powerful his brother-in-law was, although to be fair, Phillip didn't seem to be aware of his power.
No sooner had Phillip asked Paxton's how the poster had been produced, than he'd been directed to Schmucker and Schwentzel. The fact that Paxton's Revitalizing Cream was riding on the coattails of Phillip's revitalizing fluid probably had something to do with the friendly response to his inquiries.
The printers hadn't been as obeisant when Phillip and Lips turned up to ask questions, but they'd been more than willing to describe their technique-maybe the fact the film and photographic chemicals they were using all came from one of the HDG facilities had something to do with it. Not that Lips was feeling cynical.
The visit had seen the commissioning of a smaller version of Schmucker and Schwentzel's camera. The camera for Phillip had been treated as a rush job, and been delivered just yesterday. Lips, again not feeling particularly cynical, wondered how much Phillip was going to be charged, because none of the people they dealt with that day had mentioned anything as common as price. He made a mental note to ask Frau Mittelhausen how much everything had cost.
'It would be so much easier if we had color film,' Lips said. Certainly Phillip's black and white camera was nowhere near as finicky to set up.
'It would, but there have been difficulties replicating the
