1633

the case in the Thirty Years War, political and dynastic ambitions overrode religious affiliation. Until Gustav Adolf's stunning victories at Breitenfeld and the Alte Veste, France had been the Swedes' principal supporter. Religion be damned. Catholic France had always been far more concerned about the ambitions of the Catholic Habsburg dynasty which ruled Austria and Spain than they were about heresy.

Since Gustav's power had grown so unexpectedly, largely due to his alliance with the newly arrived Americans, France had become hostile. So an alliance with the Danes was now quite logical. Still, that left Spain as France's traditional enemy. If the history of this universe remained true to that from which the Americans had come, France and Spain were 'scheduled' to start a war in the year 1635.

That war would last for a quarter of a century, have no conclusive result, and leave both countries exhausted and Spain half-shattered. The Portuguese would revolt successfully in 1640, the Catalans unsuccessfully. Both revolts would be brought on by the stresses of the war and the exactions of the Spanish crown. The French would come out of it in somewhat better shape than Spain, but not much. They would gain a few piddling little territories-Artois, Gravelines, Roussillon and Cerdagne-at an enormous cost in blood and treasure.

'Richelieu's read the history books too,' Gretchen murmured. 'And the man is not stupid.'

She turned to look at Rebecca, and saw in the vigorously nodding head a confirmation of her own thoughts.

'There is really no great reason for France and Spain to go to war,' Rebecca stated firmly. 'In-' Her left hand made that little vague motion which people often did when trying to indicate that other universe that would have been, or might be somewhere else. 'In that universe, the war was brought on by nothing more than the usual stupid reasons. Petty dynastic quarrels over petty towns and statelets. And nothing came of it worth the cost.'

'A grand alliance, then,' said Gretchen. 'France and Denmark and Spain-and that, in turn, will require the French to end their long support of the United Provinces. That would be the Spanish price.' She hesitated. 'But I still don't really see what France gets out of it, other than striking against us.'

Rebecca's eyes seemed a bit unfocused, as they often did when she was thinking. 'True. At first glance, at least. Richelieu can be subtle, though. And let us not forget how critical the Baltic is to any nation with maritime pretensions. Timber, pitch, iron, copper… the list is endless, all of it the sinews of naval power. The fact that Gustavus is poised to cut all of Europe off from those supplies-or, at least, to grant access solely on his own terms-gives him enormous additional influence. Indeed, over the next few years, Dutch foreign policy will-or would have-walked a careful line designed to play Swede off against Dane to insure that no one was ever in the position Gustavus now holds.'

'You think that accounts for all of this?' Gretchen asked skeptically, and Rebecca snorted.

'Of course not. Oh, I feel sure it forms part of the… subtext, let us say, but it is scarcely the major factor. Not for France, at any rate.'

She frowned, obviously thinking hard.

'It seems clear enough for everyone else,' she murmured, as much to herself as to Gretchen. 'The Danes would get the strength they'd need to attack Sweden in the Baltic and reestablish Danish control over it. The Spanish would get another chance to reconquer the rebellious provinces in the Low Countries-and a better one than they've had in decades, without the French army to threaten them from the southwest.'

'Still have to defeat the Dutch navy, which is the strongest in the world,' Gretchen pointed out.

Rebecca made a face. 'With a French betrayal, Gretchen, that becomes possible. Especially'-the next words were almost hissed-'when the stupid Dutch won't listen to my warnings.'

She rose abruptly and began pacing around. 'I knew there was something wrong. But it was hard to explain it to those stupid fat burghers just based on my impressions of Richelieu's demeanor in a private meeting.'

'Hard to blame them for being skeptical, in some ways,' Gretchen said unwillingly. Rebecca looked a question at her, and she shrugged. 'The one constant point of Richelieu's foreign policy, the single goal from which he has never wavered, has always been to resist and beat back Habsburg power,' she pointed out. 'Why should he change that now? If we can see no advantage for him in such a betrayal, then why should the Dutch? He's told the entire world he intends to support them against any fresh Spanish aggression, and we've seen no true evidence to prove he's lied. If I were the Dutch, I wouldn't believe he had, either. Not without some sort of hard proof, at any rate.'

'Well, then,' Rebecca said, holding up the radio message in her hands, 'perhaps with this-'

'Don't be silly, Rebecca. All that contains is a Swedish chancellor's impressions of the Danes. Of course Oxenstierna will suspect King Christian of all manner of dark designs upon Sweden and the Baltic! The Dutch will just say it's the usual Swedish-Danish rancor at work.'

Rebecca's hand fell to her side. 'True,' she sighed. 'Damn those complacent Dutchmen.'

'Danish, Spanish, and French,' Gretchen murmured to herself, then looked back at Rebecca and raised an eyebrow. 'That accounts for everyone but the English,' she observed. 'Where do you think they fit into all this?'

Rebecca shrugged.

'At this point, I don't have the least notion,' she acknowledged. 'They have a much greater interest in the Baltic's naval stores than the French, and I would think they would be unlikely to support anyone who threatened to monopolize access to them. That should mean they would be as opposed to giving the Danes dominance of the Baltic as to leaving it with Gustavus, so perhaps they intend to remain neutral in all this. God knows the rumors suggest Charles faces troubles enough domestically without borrowing still more in foreign adventures! But what matters most is the French. The French… and the Spanish.'

She shook her head decisively and moved over to the table where Jimmy had set up the radio equipment. To his right, sticking out of the third-story window, was a hexagonal thing with a coil in the middle on the end of a stick. Even to Rebecca, who was not very familiar with radio, the antenna looked bizarre. It was large in cross- section, too-almost three feet across in its widest dimension.

Gayle Mason and the two other Extra-class hams in Grantville had built the thing, along with an identical one carried by the mission to London. They called it an 'isotron design,' and had chosen it because it could be packed up to fit easily in a trunk and didn't require a tall antenna.

Jimmy was fiddling with the radio, which was getting nothing but static. To his left, sitting on a nearby chair, one of the German soldiers was stoically pedaling away at a small contraption which they'd bolted to the floor. That provided the power source for the radio, and had also been designed by Gayle and her cohorts. Jimmy had told Gretchen that it was modeled on a device first pioneered in the early 20 th century by people in the Australian outback.

For a moment, Gretchen was almost overwhelmed by an urge to laugh. There was something peculiarly comical about her situation. There she was, in a house in Holland, a girl born in 17 th -century central Germany, consorting with Americans from centuries in the future, who, in turn, were relying on a gadget which had been designed in a country which didn't exist yet-on a continent which had only recently been discovered by Europeans.

She saw Rebecca giving her a cocked eye, with a smile on her face.

'Yes,' murmured the young Sephardic woman. 'It is all a bit… twisted.'

Rebecca turned to Jimmy and laid a hand on his shoulder. 'No luck with England?'

His long, half-muttered reply meant very little to Gretchen. Not because his voice was too low but simply because the words themselves were meaningless. To anyone, at least, except someone who shared his technical jargon.

'There's a lot of static, but the bands are clean, since we're the only folks on the air. So there's no QRM, and the QRN ain't too bad-probably some thunderstorms causing that-and it wasn't any real problem making the QSO earlier with SK-1.'

Rebecca rolled her eyes. Jimmy plowed on: 'But if they're having any kinda problem in London getting that antenna outside-like maybe they've gotta keep it hidden in a room-bad business that, you don't want to get too close to an operating antenna with them kinda voltages-so-'

'Jimmy!' exclaimed Rebecca. 'Could you please translate all that into English?'

The youngster started in his chair. 'Oh. Sorry. What I mean is…' The effort of abandoning his beloved acronyms was obvious on his furrowed brow. ' 'QRM' is interference caused by other radio stations. In the here and now, that's not gonna be a problem. Not for a while, anyway. 'QRN' means noise caused by… uh, God, basically. You know, bad weather, that kinda thing. 'QSO' just means 'contact made.' '

'Three syllables saved by using three other syllables,' chuckled Rebecca. 'Sometimes I think Americans suffer from a bizarre form of dementia that manifests itself in a compulsive urge to use acronyms.'

Jimmy stared up at her, confused. Rebecca smiled sweetly. 'Never mind. And what does 'SK-1' stand for?'

'Oh. That's a station call sign. Gotta have 'em.'

'Why?' mumbled Gretchen. But-perhaps fortunately-Jimmy didn't hear her.

' 'SK-1' is Magdeburg. Chester'll be guarding the sked there. Uh… that means he's monitoring the frequency at scheduled times. Which, for him, means pretty much the first four hours after nightfall.'

' 'SK-1.' ' Rebecca rolled the syllables over her tongue, smiling. 'Again, three syllables for three. I admit the logic escapes me.'

Jimmy was frowning. 'You gotta have call signs, Becky! It's-it's-just the way it's done, that's all. Grantville's 'W-1.' People got 'em too. I'm 'NШOXF'-'

'Instead of the two-syllable 'Jimmy,' ' murmured Rebecca.

'-and Gayle's 'KC6EU'-'

'Instead of the one-syllable 'Gayle.' '

'-you just don't understand!' The last was practically a wail.

'Never mind, Jimmy,' soothed Rebecca, patting his shoulder. 'I am quite sure I am mistaken and being obstreperous. 'NШOXF' it is. It is quite a nice name, by the way. It suits you, I think.'

Jimmy looked somewhat mollified. 'Had it since I was-'

Suddenly the radio burst into noise. Interposed over the static came a series of beeps and whoops. That, at least, was what it sounded like to Gretchen.

Jimmy almost jumped in his seat. 'That's her! That's her! That's Gayle!' He grabbed his pencil and began scribbling, translating the noises as he went.

' 'CQ CQ DE KC6EY CQ CQ'-jeez, why is she CQ-ing? That means 'call for anyone out there.' ' He sounded aggrieved. 'Who the hell else would be out there except me? She can't reach SK-1 or W-1 directly, not with this gear.'

He started tapping away at his own key, muttering the words aloud as he transmitted them.

' '-KC6EY HC6EY KC6EY DE NШOXF'-that's the way she shoulda done it except the other way around-'reading you 559'-that means… never mind, it's too complicated. But it's good, especially the tone.'