So she knew who to talk to and, most importantly, she knew who would keep the job secret.
* * *
The artists of the seventeenth century would have been right at home at Disney Studios in the thirties and forties. They understood schedules and working to them, and there was darn little of the later nonsense about “prostituting their art.” They painted what the client wanted and they did it as quickly and efficiently as they could manage. When they were privileged to work for Heather Mason, they also had access to digital photographs and computer-aided design. The photographs they used were the high school dance photos and, for Hayley Fortney, a year book photo for the last year she was in Grantville High.
They knew what they needed to do and they—for altogether too much of the time—had Heather Mason looking over their shoulders and encouraging them to hurry up.
Two weeks after she got the notice, Heather delivered into the hands of Dave Marcantonio a floppy disk containing twenty-eight image files. Then, for a truly exorbitant fee and as a personal favor, Dave used those image files to cut twenty-eight high carbon steel printing plates.
“Interesting thing here, Heather,” Dave Marcantonio said, grinning as he examined the image files. “I see Susan, Hayley, Judy, Vicky, Gabriel, Millicent and even Trudi, but I don’t see a picture of Heather Mason.”
Heather put on a look of great dignity. “I made an executive decision. It’s time and past time that people started realizing the Barbie Consortium is not just an up-timer club, so I put Trudi in.”
Heather sniffed. “We only needed the seven denominations.” Then she laughed out loud. “Judy figured I’d be using bucks and fins and stuff. But Els was right. We don’t want these to look too much like the American dollars. Besides, the reichs money uses a picture of Ferdinand II, Ferdinand III on the new ones. So if they have people’s pictures, they will look more like money to the Austrians. I considered using the Ken Doll, looking all regal like he can, but I figured that might cause problems with Ferdinand III. Heck, putting just one face on the money would have caused problems. This was the best choice.”
“And you think your co-conspirators aren’t going to notice that you are the only one not on a bill?”
“Oh, they’ll notice all right.” Heather Mason smiled like a naughty five-year-old who just got the very last piece of cake at the birthday party. “Think of it, Mr. Marcantonio. I got the bunch of them.”
Dave Marcantonio laughed and went back to work. Two days later, those plates were on a plane to the Danube. Three days after that, they arrived in Vienna. But all that would take into August. In the meantime, the Barbies were still learning about Vienna.
CHAPTER 24
The Wall around Race Track City
July 1635
Race Track City
“What is all this business about a wall around Race Track City?” Judy asked, looking around at the road and the canal. “It’s all anyone is talking about.” They were back at the wine shop.
“We’re quasi-official,” Hayley said. “We have a deal with the emperor. But while the businesses that the emperor set up out here are Hofbefreiten, the businesses that we set up are sort of semi-Hofbefreiten.”
“Why did he go along with it?” Vicky asked.
“At first he just wanted a place to drive his 240Z,” Hayley started to explain.
Gayleen Sanderlin interrupted. “But there were so many people looking for work, any kind of work . . . we had to do something.”
“We know,” Vicky said. “Hayley wrote us about it. But why was the emperor willing to give you guys even quasi-Hofbefreiten status?”
“For the money,” Hayley said. “In this case, for the money it would have cost him to build the canal on his own. The deal was we would pay for half of it. As it worked out, we paid about three-quarters of it and he owes us the money for the rest of his half.”
“But why build the canal in the first place? It’s a road, ah, canal to nowhere.”
“No. The race track is a real attraction. The place is jumping every time the emperor comes out and now that Dad has finished the Sonny Steamer, we can do runs even when the emperor is busy. Then there are the gardens of the emperor’s hunting lodge. Brandon cut a deal with the lodge’s chief gardener, and a bunch of up-time flowers and—”
“So that’s what that was all about,” Judy said, “I was there when Delia got the letter about needing flower seeds.”
“Right. Between the extensive gardens they already had and the flowers, the royal gardens are a big draw. It’s a half pence to take the tour which lasts about an hour. It’s all ‘look, no touch’ but it is pretty and it smells wonderful.”