Leaving the Planet Cornwall for Space Station Atlas
On Cornwall, the Royal barge waited for the command to lift off with Princess Anne and Sir Henry, in route to Atlas Station.
“This is a bad time to leave Mother,” the Princess complained. “She’s not herself, she needs me. I shouldn’t be going off on a junket.”
“We’ll be back in three or four days,” Sir Henry lied soothingly. Princess Anne had a temper and he didn’t need that just now. “With the Second Fleet off to war, it is important that we have a Royal presence on the space stations to boost morale. Since Her Highness is indisposed, that means you.”
Anne’s eyes flashed. “The Queen is not ‘indisposed,’ Sir Henry, and you know it. She’s depressed, clinically depressed, and she needs care.”
“The Queen is getting the best care available, Princess. We need you here.”
The Princess looked at him, her eyes hard. “What I need, Sir Henry, is to keep an eye on those fools at the Foreign Office. That used to be Mother’s job, and she has not been doing it for the last year. They are so focused on the Tilleke that they have quite forgotten the Dominion of Unified Citizenry! Am I the only one who is bothered that the Dominions — the Dominions! — are suddenly our friends?”
Sir Henry sighed. “Really, Princess, would it not be best to leave that in the hands of the professionals at the Foreign Office-”
“Professional sycophants!” the Princess said scornfully. “All the real professional foreign officers were forced to retire and my Uncle replaced them with his cronies. They tell the Duke exactly what he wants to hear, and what he wants to hear is that Victoria is loved and respected by all because we are strong, beneficent and wise!”
Sir Henry winced inwardly. Queen Beatrice had made very few mistakes in her long reign, but appointing her younger brother to be head of the Foreign Office was one of them. “My Lady, this is not the time to dissect the Duke of Kent’s virtues. We need you at Atlas to-”
Princess Anne made a most un-princessly noise. “Don’t ‘My Lady’ me, Sir Henry, you’ve known me since I was in diapers and I know you too well to be charmed by pretty words and flattery.” She held up one finger. “First, Uncle Harold is a weak, arrogant, self-centered stupid man who thinks the Foreign Office is a plaything for his own personal amusement. I can forgive him for being self-centered, but I cannot tolerate him being a fool. What Mother was thinking of when she gave him the Foreign Office is beyond me.”
She held up a second finger. “Second, you keep telling me that we are going to Atlas, but in fact you’re taking me to the Home Fleet, are you not?” She looked at him coolly.
Sir Henry gazed coolly back at her. “And where did you hear that, Princess?”
“I may be young, Sir Henry, but I do have resources.”
But still young enough that you have not yet learned that you never disclose your assets if you don’t have to, he thought. Still, the little Princess obviously had a very well placed informant. That would bear thinking about.
He looked at his watch. “Princess, we have to go. I wouldn’t ask you if it were not of the utmost importance.”
Princess Anne looked at him unblinkingly for a long moment, then she gave the slightest nod. “Very well, Sir Henry, but soon, perhaps very soon, I may have questions for you that you will answer. Do you understand?”
Sir Henry hid a rueful smile. He bowed. “You are your mother’s daughter, Princess.”
Anne stood. “I am, indeed, Sir Henry. Best not to forget it.”