Beware, I added a few words to the chapter I published earlier...
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21 Chapter 21 Eldorado Colony
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Manuel Godoy y Alvares de Faria was, at the same time, quite satisfied and very worried. He made great efforts to show neither and smiled at his King.
Carlos the Fourth, King of Spain, who was not considered by anybody as the sharpest blade in the kitchen wasn't the fool some prenteded. And he had a great advantage in this particular situation: he knew Manuel Godoy like nobody else.
"What is it that worries you? The invitation comes from the Regent of Great Britain. Is it the fact that Napoleon is like us, a guest at the Palace?"
Manuel abandoned all efforts to hide his worry.
"Yes and no!" said he. "It's more the suddenness of said invitation, I don't see why the Regent needed to see us on such short notice. He did even send us an airship to give us the opportunity to be back within a week. Timeo Danaos…"
Carlos couldn't help but laugh at his best friend's frown.
He quite liked Fitzwilliam Darcy who was one of the exceedingly rare rulers who seemed to take Carlos seriously. And his wife was a marvel of humor and irony. He loved to exchange witty comments with her. And her smiles were as genuine as those of her sisters. No hypocrisy anywhere there. How refreshing!
"Regent Darcy is a real honest man who lives up to his own ethical rules. I'm quite sure that he isn't planning anything against us. And consider that he just came back from America where he brokered a Treaty with the North American States. Some of them even accepted to become members of the Federation. He's perhaps about to make us the same proposition?"
"I doubt that very much because he knows that we will never accept," rumbled Manuel. "Spain is, still, a world power and we will never accept to be gobbled by England."
"It's the Commonwealth or the Federation," said Carlos with a smile. "And I'm not so sure about that. Would he propose it, I would at least think about it."
He shook his head.
"I'm tired, Manuel. So tired. I'm less and less sure that I'm the right man at the right place. We've lost Cataluña…"
He stopped Manuel's protests with a placating gesture.
"I know that we would have lost them nevertheless, but I really cannot understand why they chose to abandon us to enter the French Empire! They were part of the Spanish Empire and they were in no way subordinates…"
"Because they are morons! Napoleon's men had worked on those idiots for years! They, like so many others in Europe, fell in love with the notion of Republic forgetting to see that behind the façade a Tyranny was growing. They will soon see their foolishness, but it will be too late, Napoleon won't let them go again."
Carlos let out a long sigh.
"And still I'm not sure that Napoleon has really stopped lurking in our direction."
"He hasn't," said Manuel. "But for now, we've slipped our head out of the noose. No rebellion has spontaneously blossomed in Southern America to topple our Viceroys there. I consider that as a great achievement. And that achievement has, I will admit it, been provided by Fitzwilliam Darcy's brilliant stroke in Northern America. Once the Southern US States had declined William's invitation and sent their moronic ultimatum to France to evacuate New Orleans, Napoleon had no choice but to send his armies. And while invading Southern North America, they aren't available to invade us. We've bought a few years. We need to use those years to rebuild our strength."
Carlos was looking out of the window of their apartment's office when Manuel saw him frown.
"What is it? Napoleon?"
"No, it is not," answered Carlos. "It is José the King of Portugal."
Manuel was immediately at his King's side and could only nod his approval. Joao the Sixth was leaving a coach and was being greeted by the Regent's wife.
The presence of João Maria José Francisco Xavier de Paula Luís António Domingos Rafael better known as José the Sixth of Portugal was indeed adding a new layer to the whole play. A very unusual new layer.
"Now, I'm really worried"
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"Your Majesties," said Fitzwilliam while bowing in the Kings' direction.
He turned to bow towards the last man sitting at the round table.
"First Consul!"
All three rulers acknowledged the greetings while staying seated.
It had been an awkward moment when both Kings had entered to discover that Napoleon was already present standing at the window with a glass of red wine in his hand.
They had all bowed towards the other present party before choosing a seat at the table.
As soon as they had been seated Fitzwilliam had entered the room and greeted them.
He sat and pointed at the scroll boxes they had all lying in front of them.
"Please, have a look at the map in the scroll box, take a few minutes to examine it and then we'll speak."
Manuel was, as always at his King's side and an armchair had been prepared a yard away from the table.
Carlos looked at the map, frowned and handed it to his adviser who frowned even more.
Joao who hadn't insisted to be accompanied by an advisor took his time to look at his own map. A map of a part of the Southern American continent. A part that was situated at the South of Brazil and the North of what the Spaniards called Argentina. And the limits of said parts were clearly cut in such a manner that half of included land came out of Spanish ownership and the other half out of Portuguese ownership.
It was finally the King of Portugal who has been a trustworthy ally of Great Britain for the last twenty years who spoke up.
He knew about the problems Spain had had with France and he was ready to take the brunt of the probable backlash by asking the difficult questions. He had already met the English Regent and was quite sure that he would not be treated like a servant.
"Why is this map depicting a country that doesn't exist and who has been sewn together with parts that have, clearly, been cut out of Spanish and Portuguese owned colonies? Is there a reason why we, the legitimate owners should accept to renounce to lands who have been ours for around three centuries?"
"Well," said Fitzwilliam with a smile. "I'm here to give you all the explanations you need."
He took a long breath and went on.
"As you probably know, our Airship got into a storm while we were crossing the Atlantic. The storm pushed us out of…"
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"And that's why your Majesties, we hope that you will accept my offer to buy those lands in the name of France and Grand Great Britain."
Carlos was the first to react.
"How m…"
But he was immediately interrupted by Joao his Portuguese counterpart.
"Sorry, Carlos," said he in Spanish. "Not yet, we have heard the official version and it hasn't convinced me at all."
He shot a look at Napoleon and didn't hide his mistrust.
"I do know the Regent's wife and quite a few of her sisters and I don't doubt a second that they are, indeed, full of compassion for the natives who helped them."
He took a long breath and shook his head.
"But I know the First Consul and the fact that he is aboard this whole scheme hints at a lot more than just a few poor tribes the Regent's wife wants him to protect."
He pointed an accusing finger at Fitzwilliam.
"I would have bought the good soft-hearted story if you would have been alone on the bargain, Fitzwilliam. But with our dear First Consul sitting there and having, I have no doubt about that, forced himself into the bargain, I suspect something else is hiding there!"
He shot an unhappy smile at Napoleon.
"And knowing his reputation I do fear that this whole operation has a very different background than your wife's good heart."
Napoleon's eyes became two very small slits and after a few very tense seconds a rumble came out of his chest.
"They did find Eldorado and if to get my part I have to eradicate both your Kingdoms, I'll do just that…"
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"How did it work?"
Lizzy was genuinely interested, after all it had been her scheme they had tried out.
"They agreed on a condominium and a twelve percent share of the bonds," answered Fitzwilliam. "You were right they didn't buy the compassionate wives' plot."
"With you it would have been credible. With Napoleon? No sane person will ever believe that that man loses a thought about what could happen to poor natives and hunted aborigines. No, money is his world and that's a language all Kings know perfectly well. Did they approve that it will be a State of the Federation?"
"From the moment they knew that they would both get exactly half of what the Consulate will be given and that it would be paid on their Company bank accounts, the rest was no longer worth their time. They know that it is land they wouldn't have been able to develop for quite a few more decades, so they were more or less happy with the deal. They have a lot more territory to deal with, so it didn't seem to be a great loss. It seems that having the Company doing the job of dealing out the gold through their accounts was an exceptionally good incitement. They know Edward's unbreakable work ethics and it did reassure them. And the fact that they seem to have double crossed Napoleon added indeed another layer of satisfaction for them. They both loved it."
"And it didn't anger our dear First Consul?"
"Of course, it did," said Fitzwilliam with a smile. "And he was quite volcanic in his final eructation. Both Kings were so impressed that they didn't even think of getting a place on the Condominium Board. Once they knew about the terms of the deal and had the guarantee that Edward Gardiner would be the one dealing with the mines' benefits, they were more than satisfied. They know that we could have taken the whole thing and destroyed them and their armies while doing it. I believe it's a real win-win for everybody and they know it. Even Napoleon wins since he hasn't lost a slide of his share and hasn't been forced to launch a new war. For now, he seemed truly angry but I'm quite sure that he has already grasped the truth of said matter."
He smiled at his wife.
"It seems we've gotten ourselves a new State to include into the Federation."
"Indeed, it seems so and how are we going to deal with this State's peculiarities?"
"It will probably be your job to get those natives at the highest education standard as soon as possible. They are not very numerous, but their land is quite interesting even if economically it looks not very promising. We need to have at least a few of them in London at the Nations' Club."
The Nations' Club had been, like a lot of changes brought with the system change after the invasion, been a pet project from the Dark Council. The youngsters insisted that one could not incorporate people from too many different cultures into the commonwealth without having an organization where delegates from all those cultures could discuss and discover the others' world views.
Hence the Nation's Club where people from all over the world could come and, at the condition that they were sent by their own people's leaders, get a place to live and to study how things were done in Grand Great Britain.
Nothing really revolutionary had come out of it -the elders all over the world did indeed tend to send people who were in synch with their society's ideas and therefore rather conservative- but to everybody's surprise the delegates had found ways to influence the GGB politics in quite a few interesting and different ways. A lot of American Native Nations had sent delegates and those delegates had been at the base of the Mother Earth Survival Academy (known all around London as the MESA) whose members tried to influence the Crown (and the Company) in order to lessen the pressure on Earth's Nature by teaching kids how to survive outdoors. Since their goals were now heavily sponsored by Ishalon's advise and Jed's directives it was quite certain that they would have unexpected results.
"I will ask Charles to speak with the score of natives he has brought to become airmen. One or two of them will perhaps be interested by the Club?"
"What about our sacrificial lambs?"
Lizzy couldn't help but sign in frustration. The so-called sacrificial lambs -the girls the tribes were willing to sacrifice in honor of the Goddess- had been the Bennet Girls number one frustration for the last weeks.
"They are still longing after their sacrifice," hissed Lizzy. "We have tried everything to convince them that there are other ways to serve the Gods but they are still convinced that they had failed the test and been rejected. From time to time I do envision getting at them with a sharp knife… It would be so freeing…"
Fitzwilliam couldn't help but laugh at his wife's frustration.
The Sacrificial Lambs had been a total surprise for her and Mary. Jane, like in so many other circumstances, had reacted with understanding and compassion and had not felt the frustration her sisters are still feeling.
Because Ishalon's Tribe was a lot less savage than everybody aboard the Arrow had thought.
They did maintain a score of people ready to be sacrificed but they hadn't done a sacrifice for quite a lot of years.
The Sacrificial Lambs had never been captives or kidnapped girls from neighboring tribes as was thought in the beginning. They were members of the tribe who had volunteered to be killed in exchange for a life of -relative- luxury and absolute idleness until they passed the twenty-five years threshold when they were freed of their burden and could be married to some valiant hunter of the tribe.
Exactly the type of girls Lizzy and Mary abhorred in the most vivid fashion.
"Had I known the truth I wouldn't have insisted to take them with us. Those girls are a shame for all the females of the race. No ambition, no skill, no interest, no use at all. And they are angry with us because we took them away from their deserved future."
Fitzwilliam snickered at his wife's never-ending frustration in that matter.
"We'll ask Charles to bring them back to their Tribe next year. Meanwhile you'll just have to convince them that they have been elevated to some fancy priestess title. I'm quite sure they will forgive you to have spoiled them of their former destiny if you give them another."
"If you order him to throw them out in the middle of the Atlantic, he would have to obey you, wouldn't he?"
"No, he wouldn't and they are really not worth such a huge amount of reprobation coming from you. We have quite the same dancing at each ball the ton organizes. And we do not kill those either, remember?"
"You are right we should also organize bathing tours for some members of the ton! It would help to heighten the ton's general intelligence."
"Lizzy, please, that's not at all how you should react. You are now one of the rare females the ton follows in almost everything…"
Lizzy's eyes began to glint with a very unusual fire.
"You believe so? Have you ever heard the story of the Scandinavian Lemmings, husband dear?"
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"How did it go?"
Napoleon smiled at his son and his fiancée.
"As you predicted," answered Napoleon. "Once they knew the terms of the deal, they made no problems to get rid of a few million acres of jungle and rivers. It will cost a yearly tribute in gold but since that gold's value will flow through the Company's Bank Accounts, it will have no influence on the gold market price. And they never even asked to be a member of the Condominium's board."
Lexi, who had thought the whole thing over, wasn't surprised.
"A secure yearly income that is independent from what they do or don't do with their economy is more than they could ever have dreamed of. I hope they will use it to jump start their economy but when all is said and told, it's their money, let them do with it what they want. The important thing is that they accepted to sell the whole territory."
She pointed at the map they had asked the Royal Cartographic Society to produce.
"There are some real cool climatic features around the Rio de la Plata estuary. We should be able to convince quite a good proportion of the would-be French colonists to forget Quebec and its long, frozen winters to look towards the South. The climate is quite the same as in continental France and a lot of crops should be easily adaptable."
She pointed at the hills at the south of the Rio de la Plata.
"It could even be that grapes could be planted there. Wine could become a major part of their agricultural production."
Napoleon who wasn't in the least interested in what the future French Colony of the Plate estuary would plant to make their income, winked at his son.
"I suppose that means that you are volunteering to lead the Southern Colonization Plan?"
Both youngsters looked up at Napoleon.
"Are we?" asked Alexandre.
"It could be an excellent training path," said Napoleon. "I could let you use the money Bingley will pay us yearly to let you organize everything. And I'm quite sure that our dear Regent will have no problems to let William and the rest of the brood give you a hand down there. Time to earn some experience the hard way, ladies and gentlemen. Prove us that you are ready to take over our domains by succeeding in launching your own."
He wasn't surprised to see worry and doubt in Alexandre's eyes while Lexi's were full of projects, self-confidence and impatience.
They would form a good pair. He always braking to restrain her impatience and she pulling him out of his procrastinations to get things done. Indeed, a well-matched pair.
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"Are you sure about that?"
"It is a condominium, William," answered Lexi. "That's the crux of the matter we build it and rule it together. Napoleon proposed it himself and I'm more than anxious to begin…"
"We are not ready," said Alexandre. "I can't help it but doubt that we can do it."
"Of course, we can," said Betty and Janet in one and the same voice. "If your father grants you the Eldorado funds to launch the whole thing, we will ask for the same sum from Uncle Fitzwilliam. It should still let enough money for Uncle Charles' manyfold experiences. And your father is right when he says that we need experience. We need to prepare for what we one day will be: this planet's rulers."
Janet looked at William who, after having smiled at Geoffrey, nodded.
"Let's go see Aunt Lizzy," said he, knowing that once they had Aunt Lizzy on their side the rest would be only a matter of time.
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"Napoleon proposed it? You are sure about that? In my memory there is no occurrence of our dear preferred dictator ever renouncing to a bunch of money."
"He probably looks at it as an investment," said William. "And if we are good it will be a rich country that will pay taxes aplenty…"
Not for quite a long period. Colonization is a very costly endeavor. And even if the money to invest comes without any real effort from our part, it still is a very costly business.
"I doubt it will pay taxes for the first two or three decades," said Janet showing that she had had the same thought as her brother. "In the beginning to lure people to come to those very distant shores we will have to induce them by advantages they won't have elsewhere…"
"Giving them land isn't enough incentive?"
"Why should we give them land, William? Once given out you have no way to get it back if those who got it look like doing a poor job of exploiting it. No, we don't give away land, we give them the right to sell the products of the land we've allowed them to use, nothing more. And if they do a good job and earn enough money to buy it after a few decades, then we sell it to them. Not before and we sell it only to those who have exploited it for the last years. And we don't allow resells to outsiders. I've studied the way North America has been colonized. Too many profiteers have exploited the original settlers to make easy money out of other people's work. If we have a say in what happens in Eldorado, we must do it in the most cautious manner."
Lizzy couldn't help but let a foolish proud smile invade her face.
Those young ones were indeed responsible beyond their age.
"I will speak with Fitzwilliam," said she finally just before William could react to her daughter's comment. "I don't see why he would refuse what is, all in all, a good idea and an even better preparation for all of you."
She looked at William.
"Please go see Charles and present him your plans. You need to convince him to give you a little fleet of sturdy airships with Biorna crews. But don't try to get them without paying for them. You've money and you want to invest in Eldorado's future. He is a businessman and he will like it a lot more if you come in that disguise and not wearing your nephews' and nieces' hats. Go and ask him how much he would price you to build your own airship fleet. I'm quite sure that he will give you bargain prices on his older models without making a fuss. Go at it as businessmen with a business plan. Or, even better, ask him or Uncle Gardiner to help you to create your business plan. He will like it that you go to the best to get your information."
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Charles looked at Mr. Gardiner and couldn't hide a proud smile. Those youngsters were making him proud and satisfied.
It was Edward Gardiner who finally took the floor.
"We will help you," said he finally. "And we will help you as we help every other business partner that comes to see the Company with a project and money. It will cost you the usual rates even if it will be me or Charles who takes up the job. The cost cannot be discussed. We have rates and those rates apply to everybody. But you being family it is only normal that we take your endeavor into our, hopefully, not yet incompetent, hands."
He joined the little band in their laughter.
"But we must agree that there will be no other special treatment within this business deal. You will make orders; we will follow said orders and we will send you invoices to get paid. If you chose Charles or me as your factor, and that too comes with a price, we will see that all the commercial and business issues are treated in time within the company's offices by Company staffers. After all, your money will be on a Company Bank Account, there is no reason not to deal with internal or external payments, too."
He looked at the little group of anxious youngsters.
"Are we in agreement?"
They all nodded.
"Well let's go to business then! What name do you wish your bank account to go under?"
"We would need another name than Eldorado," said Lexi. "It's too good publicity and way too revealing. We need something more serious and neutral… But still revealing of what we want to do… Could we use a provisory name, meanwhile?"
"No problem," said Mr. Gardiner. "It often happens but then we need to use the name of the CEO of the business. Who would it be?"
"Alexandre Bonaparte," said Lexi after having received William's discreet approval. "For the moment it is his money we will put on the Account. More will probably follow," said she while looking at Charles, "but for the time being those are the only sums we've been granted."
"You all agree," asked Mr. Gardiner.
They all nodded.
"Then we have a provisory name. What else should we do Charles to…"
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"Is it a good idea?"
As usual it was Maureen who had spoken out her and Jane's fears.
"It is an excellent idea," said Fitzwilliam. "It will be their first experience dealing with the real thing. Responsibility, power, money and pressures will be at the center of their endeavor. They will learn a lot faster than with only teachers."
He made himself grow an inch more.
"And even if they have, with me the best of all teachers, it cannot replace real problem solving and real failure facing. That's how you learn a job and better to have them do it at a small level than once they have an Empire to manage."
He shook his head and looked at d'Arcy.
"For once, your boss surprises me…"
"He's really interested in preparing Alexandre for his future job, Fitz. That's why Alexandre is here with William and you. He knows you are a better teacher than he will ever be. And he is, very slowly, overcoming his abysmal greed. He is even, as you see, able to have good ideas and to invest in them. Not that he really needs more money. He's gotten to the point where all gangster bosses and tyrants finally arrive. He has too much money and no longer finds a real smart way to spend it. For the last five years his only way to spend his money was to buy new estates and have them restored. And now that he has six estates more than the ominous d'Arcy, even that is no longer a motivation and is becoming a bore. Giving the sums to Alexandre to have him experience rulership is an excellent idea and the fact that the whole band is willing to help him is even a better thing."
He smiled at his youngest wife.
"It could be that the next generation of tyrannical rulers is about to be nipped in the bud."
"I really hope so," said Fitzwilliam. "And I indeed propose to give them the equal sum that Napoleon granted them…"
He was quite surprised to see about everybody within the room make a face.
"You don't agree?"
"Why give them money they don't yet need," said Jane. "Let them use the funds they already have and should said sums not be enough, let them come out and barter with you. After all negotiations are also part of a ruler's life. They know that the principle of a condominium is a sharing of everything. When they have spent all of Napoleon's money, they will remember that sharing the costs is also a part of the deal. But meanwhile let them take care of what they have. Let them manage the huge sums they already have and see what happens. Who knows, they will perhaps come up with original ideas to refill their accounts."
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"They haven't said they would pay," said Lexi. "Uncle William just let us know that he agreed. Have they even considered paying their part?"
"Of course, they have" answered Alexandre with a smile. "But for now, they look at us like the teachers they are. They want to know if we are able to do what we want with the available funds and, if you want my estimation, we won't need a lot more money than we already have. Not this year at least. What we have to do is more or less a cartographic survey of the land. We will have a pair of geologists aboard of each and every airship we will soon possess and with them we will soon know what the real possibilities of the land are, Eldorado excluded."
"And Uncle Charles has been very reasonable with his airship prices. His older models look a lot like his modern ones, don't you think?"
"It did strike me with their similarity. But I've seen the boarding certificates, they are clearly all two years old. In perfect working order but two years old. The thirty percent discount is customary for two years old airships."
"We could ask Aunt Kitty," added Lexi. "She's her husband's greatest fan. She knows everything about every airship, plane and other flying gizmo that ever came out of her husband's shipyards. And probably also what the French and the Russians have ever launched, too. She could tell us if those models existed two years ago."
"Do we really want to know?"
"Probably not" admitted Lexi. "Probably not…"
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"You don't understand the range of what just happened, do you?"
William looked up from his map and frowned at his twin sister.
"What do you mean the range of what just happened. We've got ourselves a job, that's all."
"We've got ourselves financial independence," rectified Betty. "We've got ourselves our own fleet of three airships we will be able to use whenever we want. We've got ourselves our parents' authorization to open our own business. At our age…"
For a very long moment William could only think about his sister's words and ponder the reality behind them.
"By all the Gods, you are right. They just granted us their complete trust."
He shook his head.
"And now that I know, it scares the shit out of me…"
"Oh, that's the reek my sensible nose got those last minutes…"
She jumped out of the book's trajectory just in time.
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"What can I do for you, William?"
He looked at his Uncle and sighed.
"It is about the Eldorado deal Uncle. We have thought about everything and we need a few more things."
Charles didn't play dumb and did show that he had been awaiting them.
"I am quite satisfied that you and the rest of your gang have accepted to take risks you didn't need to take," acknowledged Charles. "Managing the Condominium will be a true enterprise, and I must say that I'm quite proud to see so young members of the family accepting to take over on an endeavor that isn't an easy one…"
"We are aware that it isn't an easy prospect, but it seems doable if we do what has to be done…"
Charles nodded once more and looked William in the eyes.
"I agree and your visit in my office tends to make me believe that you want my help for more than what we had already agreed on."
"Yes and no, Uncle! We want to do it ourselves but that doesn't mean that we have all the skills that will be needed. We were wondering if you could help us hire a staff. We do have money and we do have means of displacement. But that's not enough at all. We need at least one skilled manager -probably more than one- and we need an architect who should perhaps be a military engineer and we will need a score of other people to support us. What we don't really know is what skills should these people have."
Charles smiled at his young nephew. He wasn't surprised about his demands and he was even proud to see them think about their needs before having even begun to spend money.
"There are quite a lot of young talented people who are, as we speak, looking for jobs. Have you looked at the job centers' lists?"
"We have and no, Uncle there aren't a lot of talented young people looking for a job. At least not in London! There were, for about a week, last July. In August all had found an employment either in London, in Great Britain or for the less talented in America and India. The Labor Market is not very favorable for a young and unknown new business like ours."
"And you don't want to wait till next July?"
"Not at all, we are ready to wait but there are a few slots we believe must be filled immediately and if we want to fill them, we will probably need to take them away from some job they already have. So, we thought, since we are, anyway, going to plunder you, why not ask you to provide us with the perfect two or three staff members we need immediately? It would save time and we would get what's best just outside of your top employees."
Charles rubbed his hands together, closed his eyes and took a few seconds to think about William's request.
"What are the slots you want to fill immediately?"
"We don't know exactly what name we could give him or her, but what we need is a jack of all trades who could, at least in the beginning, intervene in all the fields we believe need to be covered by our preparations. We could call it a secretary, but we feel that we need more than a simple secretary. As said, we need a manager who accepts to invest his time and his passion into our project and who isn't too specialized."
"A multi-tasking manager, I'll see if I can find somebody that could suit you in that role."
"And an architect, or a military engineer or a civil engineer, we don't really know. We need probably roads and bridges a lot more than buildings, but it could be that with your new airship technology roads and bridges are no longer as useful as in the past. It could be that since we are the first who can create a land that has access to planes and airships the old ways to manage a land are no longer the only ones or even the best. We have looked at the maps and we have seen how the land was covered with tropical rain forests. We are aware that the settlers will have access to lots of rivers and even an important stream and that a lot of the basic business will probably be conducted by boat but we all agree that airships will -must- be a the center of our plans."
"As our little detour to South America has shown, airships, because they are airships, do tend to be very difficult to steer when in a storm. And Eldorado is not the safest country when storms and tempests are to be considered."
"We know and we will consider that but, for now, we refuse to let the old ways be forced upon us. Airships exist and thanks to you and your engineers they are faster and safer every year that passes. And I have seen Jeanne's latest experimental heavier than air airships. There is a lot of huge progress still possible and airships of every construction type will be available to our people. So, we would be fools not to take all those new possibilities into consideration."
William smiled at his Uncle.
"We have spoken a lot about what we could do and at one point we became aware that we still think like our ancestors when it comes to imagine the infrastructures needed to build a country. We were looking at ways to build roads and bridges until Janet pointed at our foolishness. And she was right, this a new world, Uncle. A world where we can easily fly! A world where a mountain is just the occasion to get a little more lift and not a reason to spend a few more weeks wadding in some tropical bogs that force you to waste ever more time."
"Airships are a lot more expensive than chariots or even railroad steam-powered carts."
"We know that, but we think that nobody has really thought about how airships and planes should have changed our ways to create Humanity's new dwellings. Since we will have carte blanche to equip our new land, why not use the opportunity to think differently and look at new solutions to the old problems linked with infrastructure? And roads, bridges and railroads are a lot more expensive through a tropical forest than through England's or France's mild climates and smooth countries."
He smiled at his Uncle.
"We don't have yet reckoned the cost overrun but we will and once we know we will be able to decide if we really have options and make real plans."
"So, you should perhaps hire an outstanding accountant," said Charles with a smile. "Having a perfect knowledge of how much money you still have at your disposal is always a good idea. It helps to avoid bad surprises."
"So, it seems that we need three specialists, Uncle. Would you have within your staff some people who would be ready to take some career risks?"
"What career risks, William? If I say that it is to work for you, Alexandre and the rest of the Darcy youngsters, I know what will happen, you will be overrun with hundreds of candidates. Who wouldn't want to be able to show his or her expertise to the next King of Great Britain and First Consul of France. Your little endeavor is a fast track to fame for any ambitious career man or woman. They all indirectly already work for the family but having the supreme honor to work side by side with the few people who will in the next decades be the Powers that Be is a one lifetime opportunity."
William took a few seconds to think it over and finally made a face.
"You could be discreet about us, Uncle…"
"Why would I be discreet, William?"
"Because ambition is not really what we are looking for. Open mindedness and passion would be a lot more satisfying."
"And there you are wrong, my dear William. Ambition is a good thing. Ambition is an enormously powerful motivator. Why would you shun ambitious people? Ambition is not exclusive of open mindedness and passion."
"Can we trust too ambitious people?"
Charles took a few seconds to think over his answer.
He could understand why a passionate young man who had been trained by the most unambitious man in the whole of the Empire could end up mistrusting ambition. But soon enough he would need to understand that Fitzwilliam Darcy couldn't be the yardstick to judge followers.
"It's not ambition that is the problem, William. What you fear is disloyalty. In your mind you mix both values. An ambition man or woman can be loyal. But, of course, he can also be disloyal. Loyalty isn't something inherent in any of us. Look at your father's old generals. They are loyal to him and they are loyal to Napoleon. And you would put them into a wench if you would force them to choose. Loyalty is won by the actions and the deeds of the man or the woman who succeeds in making another Human being become loyal to him or her."
William's face changed to show understanding.
"You are right, Uncle but isn't ambition a dangerous emotion? Isn't an ambitious man or woman more likely to betray you if somebody else offers him a better bargain?"
Charles couldn't help but laugh at William rather extreme utterance.
"We always come back to the same notion, William. You can trust loyal people and loyalty is a two-way emotion nobody can force on anybody else. You can make people fear you in order to scare them into showing an apparent loyalty. But real loyalty comes only out of a true trusting relationship. And don't ever forget that loyalty goes both ways! Fitzwilliam's retainers are totally loyal to him and Lizzy and their kids and probably you and your siblings. But they know that Fitzwilliam and those others they trust will always fight for them. They know that you are also loyal to them."
Charles forced himself to rethink William's questions.
"Please believe me when I say that ambition is a good thing. It becomes a bad thing if it is mixed with negative feelings or false impressions. Look at your Uncle George's difficult relationship with Fitzwilliam. George's ambition is there and has always been there. It cannot be denied or ignored. It was an energy George always had in himself."
Charles took a few more seconds to choose his words. William was a kind boy and never in all his life had he shown anything but respect for George Darcy.
"George's ambition could have been to become as rich and powerful and famous as his half-brother and that would, probably, have been a good thing. But since George's ambition was polluted by his impression that Fitzwilliam's father has wronged him, he began to focus on taking away from Fitzwilliam what was his brother's rights and his legitimate heirloom. His ambition became twisted and made him Fitzwilliam's enemy when that same ambition could have transformed him into his brother's most precious ally. As his current support for his wife and children amply proves, George Darcy's ambition had everything to be a favorable character trait."
William nodded.
"So, what you mean is that it's up to us to make sure that ambitious men and women around us feel loyalty towards us…"
"This is always a superb achievement, William, but it is not necessary. Use your followers' ambition to get the best out of them. And, if one day, they should decide that somewhere else is better for them or their ambition, don't be surprised or disappointed. As long as, when they worked with you, they did their best, you can't be upset, and you can't blame them the day they quit. If they leave it is perhaps because you weren't as good as you believed, but more probably it will be because a better opportunity will have been presented to them…"
"A better opportunity than working with us?"
"A man or a woman does, from time to time, have other drives than work. Imagine that they have met the perfect partner, and that perfect partner doesn't want or can't follow them into their current life. Will you try to stop them?"
"Of course not," acknowledged William while letting a smile appear on his lips. "I see now where you wanted me to look."
"Then, let's be clear and let me make a summary. Don't ask for too much and take what your employees are ready to give you. Most of the time you'll get just what you need, but, in some rare circumstances you'll get more. But that will be infrequent and often unique. Use your opportunities and make the best out of them. More is unlikely."
William nodded and took a long breath.
"I got your lesson, Uncle. I'll take what you will be able to provide…"
"And since only the best work for me, you'll have good people, believe me. Just don't push them too hard because of what you believe they should provide you with."
"We will be reasonable, Uncle…"
"I never had any doubt, William. But do also try to be fun and welcoming. It will ease the whole prospect immensely."
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