"Eric Flint & David Weber - 1634 - The Baltic War42" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flint Eric)

who deemed themselves politicians in the newly formed United States of Europe had jumped on board.

Not that everything's gone my way, Jesse grumbled. The frigging Kellys, for instance. What do those
stupid politicians think we are, anyway? Boeing vs. Lockheed?
The object of his ire came into view as he walked towards the flightline. On the opposite side of the
field, a sizable building, smoke curling from one of its chimneys, stood in the midst of squalor, despite
its newness. Junked cars, stacks of lumber, cans of waste, and piles of trash unidentifiable at this
distance stood in front of the building's wide, closed doors. It was the Kellys' touted "Skunkworks," and
Jesse's irritation surged as he thought of the waste involved.
He'd been shocked when, just as the politicians seemed certain to give him all he needed to build a
fighting air force, a small but vocal faction had temporarily stopped everything by demanding
competition in aircraft construction. He'd even complained to Mike Stearns, demanding that he intervene
in the foolishness.
Only to be turned down. Stearns, though sympathetic, had given Jesse a short, painful lesson in politics.
He'd pointed out that many thought it unfair for Wood and Smith to be given so much deference and
support in their aircraft building business—never mind the fact that they had built aircraft that had
proven themselves in combat and hadn't yet realized a dime in profit from the enterprise.
"And there are new angles involved too, Jesse," Stearns had explained. "Now that the Confederated
Principalities of Europe is on the junk heap, replaced by the United States of Europe, we don't have the
same autonomy we used to have. We're a province in the USE now, which has a federal structure. We're

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 - Chapter 1

no longer the independent-in-all-but-name New United States."
"So?"
Mike rolled his eyes. "So stop it with the pigheaded 'I don't need no steenkeeng politics' routine, Jesse.
What do you think? You know damn well that most of the principalities that Gustav Adolf roped into the
USE were frog-marched into it. From the standpoint of those disgruntled little princelings, one of the
few bright spots is that they can now make a claim to getting a piece of up-time technology."
It was Jesse's turn to roll his eyes. "You've got to be kidding! What? We're supposed to divert resources
to having—who, for God's sake?—the Hessians? the Pomeranians?—start building airplanes?"
"Oh, it's not that bad. None of the important princes are dumb enough to think they can set up an aircraft
industry right now, from scratch. But look at the issue of the Kellys from their point of view. As long as
you and Hal Smith have a monopoly on aircraft construction—with your close ties to the federal
authorities—they can't see any way to get a foot in edgewise."
Jesse made a face. "Hey, look, Mike. It's no secret that I don't like the Kellys, especially She-Who-Will-
Not-Be-Named. But I never suggested they were traitors."
"You couldn't anyway, even if you did think it," said Mike forcefully. "What 'treason' would be
involved? Moving their aircraft works from Grantville to Magdeburg or Kassel? That's just silly. It'd be
like accusing Lockheed of 'treason' if they decided to move their works from Burbank, California, to
somewhere else in the United States. We're a federation now, Jesse. If the Kellys wanted to, they'd have
every right to pack up their operation and move to another city in the USE."
He ran fingers through his hair. "But that's not even the issue. So far as I know, the Kellys have no
intention of leaving Grantville. The Kellys aren't really what's at stake, to begin with, from the
standpoint of the down-time princelings. Right now, they simply want to break up what amounts to your
semi-official monopoly over up-time aircraft technology. And there's only so far I can resist that
pressure, without starting to feed the sentiment—and there's plenty of it—that we up-timers are dogs in a
manger. We can afford some waste in aircraft production a lot more than we can afford that issue to start
getting explosive. So live with it, Jesse."