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The Viennese Waltz(130)



“Is it that bad?” Empress Mariana’s face had gone a bit pale, apparently from seeing the expression on Sarah’s.

Sarah wished she had Judy’s poker face. “We need Judy!” it came out as almost a shout.

“What?”

“We need my sister Judy. The rest of the Barbies, too, especially Trudi. But most of all, we need my little sister Judy.”

“But I thought you were the economist?”

“I am. But what we really have here is a perception problem. There are major economic aspects to it and economic constraints that will limit the options, but when it comes down to it . . . what we have is an image problem and Judy does image better than anyone I know.” Sarah paused. “Please don’t tell her I said that, Your Majesty. She’d never let me forget it.”

Sarah saw Empress Mariana’s mouth twitch up on the left side.





CHAPTER 32

You Ain’t Got a Thing If You Ain’t Got that Zing

October 1635

The Hofburg Palace, Vienna

“Sarah has gone to fetch her sister Judy and the Barbies,” Mariana told the emperor and the gathered nobility in the room.

“Why?”

“She says what we have is an image problem and I tend to agree.”

“An image problem?”

“We have vaults full of silver, and no one trusts our money.”

Heads turned as the movers and shakers of Austria-Hungary looked at each other.

“So why the sister?” asked Duke Leopold, and Mariana looked at him. His expression was even more sour than his tone had been. He continued. “From what I have heard her say, she has very little true understanding of economics or any of the other up-time sciences. She said she has no need to understand how airplanes work, she just hires one when she needs to go somewhere. She made similar comments about medicine, steam, internal combustion and, specifically, economics.”

Mariana was actually fond of her brother-in-law, at least most of the time. Just at the moment, however, he was acting like a spoiled three-year-old. “According to Sarah, Judy understands the making and managing of image better than anyone Sarah has ever met. Considering that Sarah knows Mike Stearns, Gustav Adolf, Els Engel, not to mention Wallenstein, Pappenheim, the Roths and who knows who else, I think we must assume that that the young woman you chose to grope in public is the greatest expert on style in Christendom.”

“Leo,” Ferdinand said, “go to your apartments.”

Leo looked shocked, but after a moment he stood stiffly, bowed to his brother and left the room.

Ferdinand watched him go, then looked around the room, his eyes resting for some time on Gundaker and Maximilian. “There will be no suggestion in this meeting that the young ladies who are coming here are peasants or even lesser nobility. Assume for the time that they are my sisters or cousins. If you can’t do that, leave now.”

Mariana knew that Ferdinand was not comfortable with the von Up-time rank and she realized that he was being as harsh as he was on the subject to counter his own doubts. She was more comfortable with the notion of von Up-time than he was, because she believed that God was talking to the world though the Ring of Fire. Pope Urban had not gone to the USE, but neither had he come to Austria-Hungary. Her faith had not had a strong anchor in Rome. Instead, there was the miracle of the Ring of Fire, and whatever the judgment of the clerics, she found herself clinging to that.

Fortney House, Race Track City

“So what’s up at the palace?” Judy asked as Sarah hurried in the front door.

Sarah looked around at the curious faces. “Judy, Trudi, Susan, we need to talk.”

A few minutes later, in Hayley’s private office with the door closed, Sarah began. “How do we restore faith in the reich money?”

“Why do we want to?” Judy asked.

“Why do we need to?” Trudi asked at the same time.

“Because there aren’t enough barbies to run Austria-Hungary,” Sarah said.

“Well, we could print more barbies,” Judy said.

“No. Liechtenstein Tower and all the other projects are still only a small fraction of the Austro-Hungarian economy. They’re becoming a vital fraction but even that’s more because of the perception rather than the percentage of GDP.”

“Well, we could print barbies and buy reich money,” Trudi suggested.

“No way,” Susan said.

“So we turn around and buy silver with the reich money,” Trudi said.

Susan shook her head. “No. We pay two percent a year on every barbie we issue and you know it. Besides, silver is going down against BarbieCo.”

“But silver is going to go back up someday. Isn’t it, Sarah?”