The Shadows of God - J. Gregory Keyes [55]
He had only an hour before his appointment with the king. With any luck, he could arrange it in that time, if he could bring himself to ask it.
* * *
Franklin gazed around him in almost stupefied delight at the laboratory. It was almost wonderful enough to push aside his other worries. Entirely at odds with the rest of the makeshift chateau, located in a separate building surrounded by withered botanical gardens, it was almost as light and airy as a pavilion. Its shelves were cluttered, not with the rubbish Franklin feared, but with every sort of scientific apparatus imaginable. Cabinets burst to overflowing with vials and jars of chemicals.
A fine layer of dust covered everything.
“Will it do?” the king asked.
“Will it do? Your Majesty, I have never in my life seen a better-equipped laboratory, even when I was with Sir Isaac. Did you supervise its outfitting yourself?”
“As a matter of fact, I did,” he said proudly. “Before Paris fell I loaded almost the entire contents of the Academy of Sciences on wagons and sent them to the fleet I was gathering. I don't have to tell you how many miracles it took to see it all here safe and sound.” His face fell a bit. “Now I know it would have been better to load the ship with provisions and other necessities of life. I did not know, then, how poorly our New World colonies had fared. It is an act of vanity for which I have not forgiven myself.”
“But, Sire, the answers to many of your troubles are here! I can build you a manna machine, for instance, to feed your hungry. In fact, I'm puzzled. I sent the Sieur de Bienville a manna machine years ago, as a token of friendship.”
“We had one, but it failed eventually. No one here had the skill to repair it. I was too proud to admit it to you English. Can you really make another?”
“In a few days, if you give me an assistant or two.”
“I would be most grateful.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. Franklin could almost see the scales in the king's mind, weighing this against that. “I give you and your men the freedom of the palace and grounds. I give you the freedom of the laboratory, as well. I pray you do not abuse my hospitality.”
“I will not, I assure you, Majesty. But may I ask, does this mean—”
“I have not yet decided to join your rebellion, Mr. Franklin. My reservations are still deep. Moreover, I hear things do not go well for the English colonies.”
“What have you heard, sir? My aetherschreiber was lost when the Coweta captured us.”
“I will make one available to you— one of our own Franklinned ones, if that will help. As to the other, Sterne tells me that your forces have been defeated, with only a few remaining outlaws in Indian country.”
Franklin waited for the rest of it, but the king seemed to have finished. He did not know, then, that that remainder was marching to New Paris, in hopes of a friendly reception. Or did he?
Either way, if he did not bring it up, Franklin certainly would not. This wasn't the time to make explanations about the Junto, which could be seen pretty easily as a spy organization.
After a moment, the king did go on, however, in a slightly different vein.
“It may be that in the end you may realize that you must take refuge here—refuge I would willingly give you, I might add, whatever my cousin should request. That, if nothing else, I will promise you.”
That was a sort of opening, Franklin figured. “Sir, if that be the case—and I hope it is not, I will tell you, for if the struggle against James goes badly, it is bad for us all—and my welfare lies with Your Highness, I wonder if I might make a few suggestions?”
“Certainly.”
“Your defenses, Sire. I fear they are not strong enough should your cousin force the issue. You have heard, no doubt, of the submersible ships he brought to Carolina. I wonder, can you be assured that no such ships lie in your own harbor?”
“Oh, dear.”
“And the flying ships. You have no defense against them either, nor against the other demonic things they have contrived in Russia this past decade.