Leo was wondering where Sonny Fortney was as the second hand made its orbit and when the minute hand moved again he began to get really worried. Also he was feeling more than a little woozy and his side hurt a lot. He really didn’t want to be sitting here unconscious when the bomb went off.
* * *
Amadeus ran up the stairs to the first floor and was lost in the milling crowd. The whole first floor of the uncompleted tower was packed with people. The wedding party, the wedding guests and Sonny Fortney would be at the other end of the hall with his family and the Wendells. No one was making any move to leave. He wondered what the hell was going on and where the guard had disappeared to.
* * *
The guard was arguing with the third undercaptain, who had gotten his orders from the steward and wasn’t convinced by the hysterical ramblings of a guard who had probably been paid by the archduke to interrupt the wedding. By now, the guard was almost hoping the place would blow up.
* * *
Amadeus looked around for anyone he knew who might know something about electricity. There was no one. Then he saw Dr. Faust looking at one of the unused light sockets that were built into the columns in the main foyer. “Herr Doctor Faust!”
Amadeus ran up to the man, who was looking confused and a little concerned.
“I need you to come with me.” Amadeus still wondered if he should be shouting at everyone to get out, but he wasn’t sure, so he didn’t.
“Well, all right,” said Dr. Faust, looking back at the light fixture.
“Now, Doctor! It’s urgent.” He grabbed the doctor’s arm and pulled him along toward the staircase leading to the basement.
“What is going on, Count von Eisenberg?”
“What do you know about electrics?”
“You mean electronics. Quite a bit. Why?”
* * *
The minute hand was now getting close to the 24 and the hour hand was almost touching the stud. Leo assumed that bad things would happen when the hour hand reached the stud. He pulled the steel knife out of the scabbard at his side, thinking to place it between the dial and the moving handle, so that they couldn’t touch.
There was a sound in the distance. Leo turned still holding his knife. “Herr Fortney?”
“No. I couldn’t find him,” Amadeus shouted back and Leo turned back to the ticking device, knife in hand. “I brought Dr. Faust instead. He knows about electrics.”
“Please hurry, Herr Doctor. I don’t think there is much time for delay.”
Dr. Faust and Amadeus came running up, and Leo pointed with his knife. “I think that when the hour hand reaches the stud, something bad will happen.”
Panting, Dr. Faust looked at the device and after a moment nodded. Leo offered the the doctor the knife. “You can keep them separate with this.”
Dr. Faust looked at the knife and blanched. Then he reached down with his hand, grabbed one of the wires, and yanked it free.
“Was that all it took?” Leo asked, feeling disappointed. “From the books, they are supposed to take some sort of specially trained experts to disarm?”
“That’s because up-time they used antitampering devices. Lots of wires, and if you pulled the wrong one, the bomb went off. But, Your Grace, iron and steel are excellent conductors. Putting your knife blade in between the two wires would have been as bad as touching them together.”
Leo fainted then. He would forever after claim that it was from blood loss.
“Just something I thought you should know, in case something like this ever comes up again,” Dr. Faust said to the unconscious archduke.
* * *
Mike Stearns stood on one of the balconies that overlooked the milling crowd of colorfully dressed people. It was early afternoon and the electric lights glittered from the masses of jewels women wore, as well as the pommels of dress swords worn by the men.
He was standing on the mezzanine taking a breather from the dancing, wishing with all his might that Rebecca was here. Partly just so she could rescue him from what seemed like hordes of females who all wanted their chance to dance with the Prince of Germany.
He heard a soft step behind him and turned his head to see Ferdinand III, Emperor of Austria-Hungary, walk up to him. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law Fernando, the King in the Low Countries.
So. The heads of two of the three Habsburg houses. As often happened at royal weddings, business would be conducted. Mike was not surprised, of course. It was the main reason he’d come.
“Glittering crowd down there, Your Majesties.”
Ferdinand nodded. “Glittering, it certainly is, and your young ladies are providing a lot of the glitter.” He stepped nearer the rail and stared out over the crowd. Fernando joined him.