Part 36 (1/2)

”Huh?”

”Your sister is talking about clans. I'm not sure what she means.” She handed him the letter and waited impatiently as he read it.

”Clan seems a fairly good word.” He pursed his lips like he wasn't quite sure. ”I think I would say family connections, but I am not sure. From what I understand your government frowns on what you call nepotism, right?”

Brandy nodded, wondering where this was going.

”Muscovyis different. Nepotism is an inst.i.tution of government.”

Brandy giggled, thinking he must be exaggerating to make his point. But Vlad was looking serious, even concerned. ”You don't meanliterally ?”

Vlad nodded, looking a little shamefaced. ”Yes. If a person whose extended family is of lower rank is placed over a person whose family is more highly ranked . . .”Vladimir hesitated. Brandy had seen it before, both in Vlad and other down-timers. She had even done it herself, trying to explain things like the Goth style of dress. It wasn't just that the concept was missing, it was that there were half a dozen interrelated concepts that were all a bit different from the down-time concept.

”A person's rank inMuscovy is determined by three things,” Vlad finally continued. ”His personal rank in the bureaucracy, his family's rank and his inherited rank. However, they are all at least somewhat mixed together. My family is small but descended from independent princes. Because it is small and doesn't have a lot of connections to other great families, it's fairly weak. In my case, that is somewhat counter-balanced by the fact that I am the prince. But a cousin of mine, if I had one, would be of significantly lower rank than a cousin of Ivan Borisovich Cherka.s.skii, because the Cherka.s.skii family has connections by marriage to many other great families. Also, because the Cherka.s.skii family has served in the government ofMuscovy for many generations and counts several boyars among it ancestors.

”So, say my cousin and Ivan Borisovich's cousin both get jobs in the bureaus. My cousin, through talent or luck, advances more quickly. So my cousin is placed as section chief over a section in which Ivan Borisovich's cousin serves.”

”Makes sense.”

But Vald was shaking his head. ”Because the Cherka.s.skii clan is higher ranked than the Yaroslav clan, it would be against the law for my cousin to be placed in authority over Ivan Borisovich's. He could have higher personal rank, but still could not be put above Ivan Borisovich's cousin in the same chain of command.”

”Like, say, he's a prince?” Brandy tilted her head to the side.

”Yes.” Prince Vladimir got a bit red in the face. ”But not just that. It's the rank of the family as much as that of the individual. The family's situation must be considered first. Before individual wants.”

Vladimirhad just opened the packet fromMoscow when someone used the door knocker. He looked at the clock he had purchased and stifled a curse. Time pa.s.sed so quickly. Brandy Bates and her mother, Donna, had agreed to come to dinner tonight. It would be a quiet dinner, just the three of them.

One of the letters in the packet caught his eye. Surely it must be important. As all of them were-to their originators, at any rate.Vladimir was beginning to dread the packets, in truth. There was yet another over-large stack of letters in this packet. Vlad knew they would contain more requests, demands, and commands, depending on who the writer was. And probably half of the questions would have already been answered.

The turnaround time for communications was over two months. The message packets came every week or so. Often he got requests for clarification of some point, did the research and sent an answer. Then a week or two later he got another message saying ”never mind, we figured it out.” They had obviously figured out the problem before he ever got the request. Sometimes their solutions matched the answer he had sent and sometimes not.

Sometimes the solutions were better than the answer he had sent. That meant opportunities Vlad could take advantage of here in Grantville. There were, as of his last report, something like a hundred of the brightest minds in Muscovy living in his dacha a few miles outside ofMoscow . This wasn't anywhere near the number of bright minds that were in Grantville by now, but still const.i.tuted a fairly robust R&D facility. Sometimes they came up with solutions that the up-timers wouldn't because the up-timers knew ”it didn't work that way.”

Vladimiraveraged sending one message packet a week back toMoscow . Usually it would include the most recently copied up-timer books and what answers he had been able to get for the lists of questions that came in every packet.

His major-domo announced Brandy and Donna moments after he broke open the impressive looking letter. As they were shown in, he read the first paragraph. ”Will you look at this!”Vladimir stood and stomped around the room. ”Just look at it!” The letter had the imperial seals as well as those of the Russian Orthodox church. It was from Filaret, the patriarch of the church. Who also happened to be the father of the czar.

”Well, I could.” Brandy giggled. ”But it wouldn't do much good, you know. I can't read your language, remember. Suppose you just tell me what it says.”

Vlad stopped his pacing and looked startled for a moment. ”Ah . . . yes. I forget. You've learned so much about me and my country that I feel you must know the language by now. Silly of me, I suppose.

Come ladies, come. Sit down, please. Will you have a gla.s.s of wine?”

Brandy smiled. ”I do the same thing. It always surprises me when you need a word translated these days. Anyway, what does that very impressive looking letter say? It must be important, considering all the seals and ribbons. And yes, please. After this day, I could use a gla.s.s. I could use several for that matter. It's really been a day.”

Donna Bates was enjoying the conversation. Brandy and Vlad's relations.h.i.+p had been developing nicely over the past few months. True, there had been hopes of a relations.h.i.+p with Henning Drugen. Henning was a good man, very responsible. The problem was that he wouldn't release any responsibility to Brandy. He made the decisions and expected Brandy to comply with them. That relations.h.i.+p just hadn't worked out. Henning and his sister, Justine, had moved to a home in Forest Grove a few months back.

But Vlad, well, Vlad was different. He and Brandy discussed things and came to mutual agreements.

Donna had high hopes for this one. Vlad was basically theMuscovy amba.s.sador these days, as well as a pretty good researcher.

”Tell me, Donna Ivanovna, was the government in yourAmerica as impossible to please as mine is?”

Vlad's face was still a bit flushed with irritation. ”The patriarch, of all people, sends me a request to have the entire library sent toMoscow . Impossible, totally impossible. Have they no idea of the size of such a project? Have they any idea of the expense?

”Oh, and you will love this part.”Vladimir waved the paper again. ”At the same time, I am to prevent the sale of up-timer books to other nations. EspeciallyPoland and nations ruled by the Habsburgs. And I am to especially prevent the books from falling into the hands of the Roman church. Let me read you this. It is impossible.”

”To Knaiz Vladimir Petrovich Yaroslavichov It is most necessary that the knowledge of the up-timers be limited to those of the true faith or at the very least provided to those of us of the orthodox church first. This must happen before it becomes available to those influenced byRome . You must acquire the library, especially the National Library, mentioned in your dispatches and send it to the Church as soon as possible.

You are to be congratulated on sending so many books so rapidly. As you know, I am an expert on books and the time it takes to make copies. It is clear that you are somehow acquiring originals of the books you have sent because so many could not have been copied so quickly.

The spiritual tracts and philosophical knowledge gained by the up-timers must especially be sent to the church first. This is so that they may be reviewed before they are released. We wish to avoid partial understanding and crisis of faith among the followers of the true faith.

Further, it is essential that advances in techniques, new techniques and the knowledge of science be limited to nations that share in our beliefs. Some Protestant nations, particularlySweden , may be allowed this knowledge but it must be kept fromPoland and the Habsburg beast. Especially, knowledge of medicines and healing must be controlled, lest the unscrupulous Roman clergy use it to bolster faith in their misinterpretation of G.o.d's word.

”Can you believe it?” Vlad asked. ”Can you believe it?”

Donna very nearly snorted wine up her nose.Vladimir was still stalking around the room and waving his arms in the air. It was clear the man was under a little too much stress lately. And this letter from the czar's father certainly hadn't helped. Still, watching Vlad stomp around was entertaining. ”You really need to calm down a little bit. You're going to give yourself a stroke. Come on. Sit down and relax a bit. After all, as they say: the czar is very far away.”

Vladimirslumped into a chair and poured his own gla.s.s of wine. ”Every week I send a report. And every week I get more and more impossible requests. And I have no doubt that there are at least half a dozen more in this packet alone.” A piece of paper fell out of it.

”Well, if it isn't going to violate national security or something, why don't you pull them out and read them to us?” Donna suggested. ”That way you can blow off steam before you try to answer them. Unless you're afraid of the servants or something like that.”

”Not my servants,” Vlad a.s.serted. ”Well, not most of them. I hired local help, except for a few. Grigorii Ensheevich and Vasily, they are both from my lands and Grigorii Ensheevich almost raised me. Vasily grew up with me. Was educated with me, for that matter. I'm safe with them.” Vlad didn't mention the rest of the Bureau personnel, but dug into the packet of letters and grinned mischievously. ”Oh, you're going to enjoy this, Brandy. Here. You have a letter from Berna.” Vlad handed Brandy a letter, one that was not decked out in ribbons and seals. After she took it, he picked up another missive. He was glad to see it had fewer ribbons and seals.

”Oh, no.” Brandy stared at the letter like it might be a snake. ”Two months ago it was 'send me a sewing machine.' Last month it was 'send me a generator.' And we've done it, every time. What do you suppose Bernie wants now? I'm almost afraid to read it.” Brandy glared at the letter, suspicion all over her face.

Donna stifled another snort at the look she wore. ”Come on, Brandy. At least it will be in English. Read it to us.”

”Okay, Mom.” Brandy gingerly opened the letter. ”I'll read it. But hang on to your hat. There's just no telling, there really isn't”

”Hey, girl”

”You know,” Brandy muttered, ”he could use my name, just to freaking be polite.” She continued,

”Well, if Dad really wants the old car out of the way how about we do this? I'm sending you an authorization to take money out of my savings account. Will you give Dad some money for me? Tell him it's a storage fee, or something. Anything to keep him from getting rid of the car. Then, if you could have Vlad get someone to pull the engine out of it for me, I'd really appreciate it. I'm enclosing a bill of sale from me to you, just in case.

The body doesn't really matter that much, I don't guess. But I want the engine and the transmission. I want them bad. Actually, I'd like to have all of it, but there's no way to s.h.i.+p it, not in one piece, probably.

Ask Vlad, will you? I'd take it all if I could get it.