DIPLOMATIC EFFECTS / CH. 19:IMPLICATIONS OF FRIENDSHIP
MARS COUNCIL OFFICES, 9AM MONSOL 19TH MARCH, 2278
“Madam Ambassador! You look distressed, is there a problem?” Eloise greeted the Chinese ambassador.
“I present to you this document as evidence, honoured Council secretary, and as I do so, I ask that my claim no longer be considered the embassy of China, that my status as ambassador of my former people become null and void, and that I be granted political asylum. I hereby renounce my Chinese citizenship. I also ask that you increase protection tenfold around her Highness Svetlana of Russia, and grant me and my former staff some too. They also resign. We will not have any part in what this calls for.”
“Urm, I cannot read this, honourable lady.”
“It declares that the crown princess has breached our country's state secrets, declares itself a state secret, and then cites passages of international law that justify an assassination in cases of breaching state secrets. The implication is clear that we should arrange for the princess to die but it is worded in such a way they can say we misunderstood and acted on our own. There are no specifics of course, except that it asks me to report on Chinese citizens who work in the hospital. So, as I give you this, I commit a capital crime. But I do what is right.”
“Honourable lady, have a seat and let me make some calls,” Eloise said.
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“Alice,” Eloise said to her wrist unit, “the honorable lady, the former ambassador of China is extremely concerned about a recent communique she received concerning the Tsarevna. Could you please check with your government if they happen to have intercepted anything from China, arriving here at eight this morning, or from India, and if so could they pass it around appropriately?”
“Former ambassador?”
“I understand the embassy staff have resigned en-mass. I hope you don't mind checking.”
“The document concerns Svetlana's safety?”
“Among other things, it apparently asks if there are any Chinese citizens at the hospital. Svetlana's being moved.”
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ST PETERSBURG, 19TH MARCH
[Nadiya,] Alice called, [More news about your cousin.]
[She's all right?]
[Yes. She's recovering from the infection, able to get up for short periods. But in case her father asks, she's now staying in a very secure part of the Mer embassy.]
[There is some kind of problem?]
[The official communication link from China sent a message which made their ambassador and embassy staff resign.]
[A threat to Svetlana?]
[From what I understand, implied, and deniable. A clear threat to the embassy staff if they told people what it said. I presume your secret services are decoding it now.]
[If they notice it.]
[I do know when it was sent. But if they read it, I expect there will be repercussions. So please, if you tell the Tsar anything, tell him what I've said is for his reassurance, not so he can react too hastily, before all the facts are known. Svetlana's winning friends here.”
[Svetlana's winning friends for Russia in lots of places.] Eliza chipped in.
[Hello, Mystery.] Alice asked [Should I leave?]
[No. Could you ladies please tell the Mars Council and the Tsar that that their Majesty's ambassador to the U.N. has called for an emergency meeting of the Security council. A unilateral response by Russia would, I think, be premature.]
[I don't know the Tsar knows what you're talking about, my lady,] Nadiya thought.
[Someone's just not believing the translation of it in what I presume is your secret service's underground decryption bunker,] Alice supplied.
[Don't tell me!{fear}] Nadiya thought.
[I didn't see where it was, don't worry. I think you should go and see his imperial Majesty, and see if you can avoid him doing anything like triggering world war four.]
[Oh thanks!] Nadiya thought back.
[Would you like my Martian friend or me to stay in contact with you?] Eliza suggested.
[I have a suggestion,] Alice said. [I could persuade some thought-hearing Mer to ask Svetlana to send her dad a message, and relay it to you faster than slow photons. Would that help?]
[Probably, yes.] Nadiya agreed.
[And another suggestion,] Alice said [The Tsarina is quite well today, not at all too sick to go with you. I've just checked.]
[{relief} That's an excellent suggestion. Thank you.]
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MER EMBASSY TO MARS, 19TH MARCH
“This is weird, sending a message home with someone else in the room, knowing that Nadiya's going to hear it and pass it on,” Svetlana said, “Well, I'm here, in the Mer embassy. I'm recovering from a meningitis bugs I probably picked up a couple of weeks ago, and only gave in to when it seemed like the crisis here was pretty much resolved. As for the latest crisis... please don't leap to conclusions. Top officials in the Chinese government have apparently been in contact with their ex-ambassador saying 'What message about the princess?' So, I think someone's playing 'tweak the dragon's tail'. I'm fine, I'm well guarded, and I'm also assured there's no one planning to harm me on Mars at the moment. What else shall I say? Working for peace seems like a good move from my perspective, father. I love you lots. Bye! Recording's off now, but Nadiya, hopefully you're still on the line, can you suggest Krista asks the Mer ambassador there if sheets of what the Mer call crystal might be for sale in the Mediterranean area? The ambassador here is selling the stuff, but maybe that's just Mars. Thanks.”
“Your Cousin says OK, she'll ask, the person with the gift says you're let off that extra thought and that your mother is very glad to hear you're well protected,” the mermaid thought-hearer — named Pania — said, then asked,
“What are you planning to do with sheets of crystal, highness?”
“Princess Claire of Basse Monaco might want to use it as lovely insulating windows for some lovely insulating walls she's getting made.”
“Oh, OK. She hasn't thought of it as a structural material, then?”
“I'm pretty sure she hadn't thought it would be available,” Svetlana said.
“Oh, well, highness,” Pania grinned, “I do have a brother who's quite the expert in programming the extruders. If she'd be interested...”
“I expect so.”
“Not to mention a cousin who's a trader. He actually idly speculated that you might happen to have vast tracts of forest to your name and perhaps be interested in exporting some top grade paneling to Atlantis.”
“Hmm, I expect other people have had that idea too. And he could walk into pretty much any town in Russia and find enough wood fill any Mer boat I've seen.”
“Yes. His little twist was the thought that hand-carved panels might be quite valuable anywhere, it's just getting the contacts that's hard.”
“He's interested in carving or buying carved?”
“Buying carved.”
“OK, that might be interesting, too. I presume there's no link between the two trades?”
“Well, I'm sure that if you offered hand-carved wood for the work with the extruder.....”
“You might get a gem or two in commission from your brother and your cousins.”
“Or a gem and the odd piece of wood-panelling.”
“I'll make some enquiries. Any favourite themes, or would something geometric be preferred?”
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RESTORATION, THURSDAY 20TH MARCH 2278
“Hello? Have I got the right number thing? I'm told this is the number of an architect called Zara.” The voice on the phone said.
“Who said that?” Zara asked.
“Tsarevna Svetlana of Russia told my sister you were doing a project for someone she knows called princess Claire.”
“Sounds complicated. But no matter how good the recommendation, I'm afraid I'm not taking new commissions at the moment.”
“Oh, urm, no. I'm calling to give you some details about what we call crystal, in case it fits the project you're working on for princess Claire. On the Monaco beach. You are working on it?”
Zara decided this was either some kind of marketing attempt or he was trying to extract data from her; that had happened before too.
“If you believe that then you'd better talk and I'll listen then. Be aware that your network I.D. has been automatically recorded. I will not give away details of any commissions I may or may not have contracted to do.”
“Err, but you are Zara the architect who's working on Princess Claire's youth hostel?”
“I am called Zara and I am an architect,” Zara said carefully.
“But you won't tell me if you're the right Zara?”
“I have no desire to fall for some kind of confidence trick.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Oh. Urm. You're not expecting my call are you?”
“Should I be?”
“I don't know. I mean, Pania — she's my sister, said the Tsarevna was wondering about crystal sheets for windows to start with, but then they talked some more and she said she'd make some calls, but maybe I'm too quick off the mark. Crystal isn't really a crystal of course. Would you like numbers? If so what units do you prefer?”
“What sort of numbers?” Zara asked. Wondering what was so special about this new type of glass he wanted to sell Claire via her.
“Structural, thermal. Are metres, kilos, seconds and watts OK? I've got a converter thing if they're not, just I'm not very confident it gives sane values, because I don't ever use anything else.”
“That set of units are fine.”
“Oh great, well, lambda, you use that, yes? Watts per metre kelvin? Zero point zero three. Density is about twelve hundred.”
“Hold on, you can't quote lambda for a window, in any sane window you've got multiple layers,” Zara protested.
“I suppose you could make it multi-layer if you really wanted to, I guess you'd gain insulation but lose structural strength... it's not a compromise I'd make. But window, wall, it's all the same stuff.”
“That density's not right for glass, either,” Zara pointed out.
“Of course not. It's crystal. You know, keeps warm air on the inside and the cold, the sea and the sharks on the outside.” the voice said.
Zara felt that something in this conversation wasn't adding up. “Sorry, you've lost me. What are you talking about?”
“Urm, have you been to Atlantis, or at least seen pictures?” the voice asked.
“Atlantis? You're talking about mer crystal?”
“Who else makes it?”
“I assumed you were talking about some new type of glass. You're mer?”
“Yes. Didn't I say?”
“No. Nor your name.”
“I didn't? Oh, I hate these telephone things! Let me start from the beginning will you? I'm Xavier Renata Tulag, I walked together with the Tsarevna's lady in waiting, Olga, for a while but that turned out to have been based on an embarrassing misunderstanding. Which was a shame, she's a lovely person. So, anyway, the Tsarevna heard that the Mer ambassador was selling crystal on Mars, and she knows about princess Claire's building plans, and gave me your number via my sister who's on Mars.”
“And you're offering Mer crystal to land-folk?”
“To princess Claire du Basse-Monaco, anyway. I mean, she's part-Mer.”
“She is?”
“Of course, so's the King of Monaco, they're distant cousins of mine. The grandmother of the first princess of Basse-Monaco — that's to say the grandmother who married the king of Monaco — was my great-great-great-grandfather's cousin. Urm, maybe they don't know that, actually. I guess I'll have to ask.”
“I guess you should,” Zara agreed.
“So, anyway, her highness can have crystal if she wants it, and if the architect she's got wants to try to incorporate it into her designs.”
“As I understand it, Crystal is rather hard.”
“Harder than diamond, yes.”
“So how on Earth do you get it the right shape?”
“Oh, well, you make sure it's made into the right shape to start with, or you just cut it with a rock-cutter.”
“So, easy to work with if there's a Mer around with a rock-cutter, and pretty much impossible otherwise?”
“Err, I guess so.”
“But on the other hand it's fire-proof, from what I understand. What about bullet-proof?”
“Depends how thick, but probably. It can break.”
“Shattering into tiny pieces like toughened glass, or cracking like normal glass?”
“Urm, that rather depends on other stresses involved. Generally more like normal glass, I suppose.”
“OK. Can you tell me about what shapes can and can't be made?”
“It depends on the extruder, but... pretty much any shape you can think of a wall being, really. Gaps are a bit of a pain, though, and don't expect a perfect point on the top of a cone.”
“And there's no problem with sun, wind, rain, or anything someone might decide to try to clean up messes with? Acids, alkalies, soaps, detergents, and so on?”
“Ultra-violet ought to be OK, but we've not had masses of time to test that. Oh, hold on, yes, we have. No problem there either. But, you'd get too hot in summer if you had it as a roof, I expect. It's too transparent.
“But you can make it opaque.”
“No. You can paint it, but if you try adding colourants or light absorbing inclusions then the other properties don't work so well.”
“And you have the technology to stick it together?”
“If you get two perfectly flat edges with no contaminants and in a perfect vacuum, and squash it together with a few gigapascals and then flash-heat the joint area with an infra-red laser to white heat, it'll stick. But it's easier to extrude it in one piece.”
“How well does your paint stick to it?”
“Reasonably well. We'd repaint a floor every few years.”
“It's not slippery?”
“The paint helps with that, too.”
“Hmm. So... I understand concrete, steel, bricks, plaster and wood. I've mixed them and cut them and worked them and abused them until they bend or break or splinter. I like the sound of your crystal, but ...”
“You want to touch, feel, and break some? No problem. If you can bring appropriate safety gear for high speed sharp edges, I can bring a little extruder to Basse-Monaco next time you're there. Just name the date.”
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MESSAGE TO ZARA, FROM KRISTA, 20TH MARCH 2278
Dear Zara, Claire asked me to let you know that a Mer expert in shaping their crystal will be in contact with you. His sister's been guarding the Tsarevna, apparently. Thought one is it might be lovely insulating windows, thought two is would you use it for anything else significant? Please try to get him to quote prices. The price on Mars is apparently 'what the market will bear', which is rather vague. Sorry, no one's told me his name.
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MESSAGE TO KRISTA, FROM ZARA, 20TH MARCH 2278
Dear Krista, His name's Xavier Renata Tulag, and he claims a past queen of Monaco — grandmother of the first Princess of Basse-Monaco — as a distant cousin of his. He mentioned this as a reason that he could provide her highness with Crystal. He also claims to have gone out with the Tsarevna's lady in waiting, and seems sorry it was all based on a misunderstanding, whatever that means. I'll be meeting him on the beach when I go down and check on the foundations.
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MESSAGE TO ZARA, FROM KRISTA, 20TH MARCH
Hi Zara, I know Olga — we're almost neighbours — when you said Xavier seemed sorry, does that mean he's sorry they started 'walking together' or that they broke up?
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MESSAGE TO PANIA, FROM XAVIER. 21ST MARCH 2278
Hi Pan, do you see much of Olga? What's your impression of her? I'm thinking that if you're running into her, then maybe it's not as hopeless as we convinced each other when we broke up. Also... if you're on chatting terms with her imperial highness, can you ask her how you go about asking royalty if they know their ancestress was a Mer.
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MESSAGE TO KRISTA, FROM ZARA, 21ST MARCH 2278
Hi Krista,
Sorry for the slow reply, I was on-site at my other project. He said something like 'it's a shame it was all based on a big misunderstanding, she's a lovely person.' So, yes, I got the distinct feeling he was sorry they broke up.
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MARS EMBASSY OF ATLANTIS, 22ND MARCH, 2278
“Tsarevna? Can I ask some advice?” Pania asked.
“Of course,” Svetlana said.
“Would you expect an important land-person to be upset to learn that an ancestress five generations back was Mer? And if my brother told her they were relatives, might that be taken badly?”
“Probably not. Depends what he was about to ask for.”
“Oh, I don't think he's going to ask anyone for anything. Well, actually... by the sound of it, if Xavier runs into Olga again he might ask her for a date, but I'm more thinking of 'By the way your majesty, did you know your great-great-grandma was half-Mer? And by the way she was my great-great-great-grandfather's cousin.'”
“Your brother's that Xavier? I thought he dumped her?”
“From hearing him talk, it was more like she said 'you thought I'd asked you out didn't you?' then he replied 'Yes. I was really surprised, but...' draws deep sad breath, 'it's not going to work is it? You're going back to St Petersburg with the Tsarevna,' and she agreed and said 'And we'll probably never meet again.' And then, knowing him, he probably said something about it all being his fault and how sorry he was and walked away before he embarrassed everyone by bursting into tears.”
“And she probably interpreted that as him saying sorry he wasn't really interested. Hmm. You think he's still interested?”
“He asked me what I thought of her, which I'm taking in the sense of 'would I recommend he tracks her down and asks her to walk with him.'”
“I won't ask you what you're going to say to that,” Svetlana said, “But the way they were getting on together certainly made me realise that I'm too reliant on her. But back to your question, am I allowed to ask who's the royal is?”
“The king of Monaco.”
“Really?”
“My great-great-great-grandad's mother's brother fell for a pretty girl from near Monaco, and his daughter married the king of Monaco. Her granddaughter became the first princess of Basse-Monaco.”
“Who then met and married the duke of Moscow and had three daughters, one of whom married the Tsar, cousin.”
“Oh! I didn't realise! Sixth cousin isn't much of a relationship, but I had no idea at all!”
“I realise that,” Svetlana smiled at her discomfort.
“So no wonder you know what princess Claire is up to! She isn't just a friend. Is she your first cousin? Or.. she's not your sister is she?”
“Better if you don't ask that question, Pania,” Svetlana said, seriously. “Or I'm duty-bound to tell my father you know a secret that could be dangerous to princess Claire.”
“You made a decision there, Tsarevna Svetlana,” Pania said, equally serious. “And unfortunately I have been learning some Russian. If you are duty-bound to tell your father, then tell you must; tell him I am Pania Renata Tulag of the mer, and by my oath, I will do all I can to keep my distant cousin Princess Claire's dangerous secret.”
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MESSAGE TO OLGA, FROM XAVIER, 23RD MARCH
Olga, I'm coming to realise that I'm an idiot, and if I hadn't been so sad about it all being based on a misunderstanding and trying to apologise for not realising, I should have said something like 'do you know any way that a designer of crystal structures might earn his living in St Petersburg?'
Is it too late to ask that now?
Missing you a lot,
Xavier.
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EMBASSY OF ATLANTIS ON MARS, 24TH MARCH.
“I choose that other job, highness, if you really think I can do it,” Yuliya said.
“I wouldn't have asked you otherwise, Yuliya,” Svetlana said.
“Sorry, am I interrupting anything? Lunch is ready.” Ruth asked, sticking her head round the door.
“Nothing private,” Svetlana said, grinning at her friend. “Yuliya has just agreed to take on the position of ambassador.”
“Oooh! Welcome to the club,” Ruth said, offering a warm handshake, then she looked suspiciously at Svetlana. “I hope you're planning to give her a proper cargo package, soon.”
“I told her she could bring a hundred kilos with her just in case and she brought her boyfriend...”
“'Lana!” Yuliya protested, “You suggested he come along.”
“I know, just teasing. Anyway, yes, Ruth. As our ambassador, Yuliya will have access to start up funds as befits her station, there's a carrier drone on its way already with boring stuff like furniture, and she also has first call on that high-thrust courier vessel the space force pilots are vying with each other to fly.”
“All right, all right. Just having been ambassador in name but stuck eating gloop with hardly a change of clothes and the feeling that the others are laughing at you... It wears out really quickly, you know?”
“She brought some cargo with her, particularly clothes and freeze-dried food.”
“Oh, yummy,” Ruth said, “But it's better than gloop. Far better.”
“And if you remember, one of the first things we did when we got here was order a complex,” Svetlana said.
“OK, OK. You win, you're not abandoning her here without any support.”
“Glad you agree. But now that is settled, I'm going to ask if, given that I'm going home soon, there's anything, or indeed anyone, that you'd like me to take to Earth. It seems the least I can do, after all the Mer hospitality and generosity you've given.”
“Pania.” Ruth said, decisively. “Lovely girl, I hope you agree, but really, she needs to go back to Atlantis.”
“Oh? Problems?”
“Missing home too much. No, that's not quite right. She's a bit too scared of storms, a bit too worried about air leaks, that sort of thing. What's worse is she knows it. She's constantly on edge and it's wearing her out. She was going to be going home on the next scheduled flight anyway, but if you've got space...”
“Of course. Anyone else? I'm assuming that you want to keep Vladimir this side of the solar system, Yuliya?” Svetlana asked.
Yuliya blushed, “A bit closer than that, highness. We did discuss things with our parents too, and decided that one decision really meant the other too.”
“Pardon?”
“It doesn't make much sense for us to set up homes individually on a new planet. We've um, 'had an understanding' as they used to say, for a while.”
“You're engaged,” Svetlana said.
“Not officially. Vladimir was only on a trial contract, you know? We didn't really want to get engaged when neither of us had a stable job and we'd no idea if we'd be be able to get married in six months or six years.”
“Hmm, well! In that case... option one, pick your own time and deny anyone who's known you very long the chance of sharing your happy occasion, option two, be stupidly fast and take vows before we leave, option three... I could come back in August, I think, with up to four parents.”
“You'd do that? Just for me?” Yuliya asked.
“Yuliya, silly, you're my friend!”
“What about... you know who? Won't he moan about missing you?”
“He'll survive, I'm sure.”
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