John Scott, Lord Eldon, sat across from the US emissary. Richard Rush was sipping tea, which was starting to be in low supply these days, while the Chancellor was considering his proposal.

“I will present this to the House. Of course. I think everyone will be agreeing to the recognition of the licensing system. But the rest may be difficult.”

“Take your time. We can agree to a partial treaty first, then move forward later,” the American replied.

The two exchanged a few more platitudes and mandatory diplomatic dances before the emissary excused himself and left the meeting room.

Scott turned to Careful Tactician Louisa Grey, raising his eyebrows.

“So, what do you think.”

She steeled herself.

“They got us by the sack. Even then, I’m amazed they’re only asking for a 20% tax on the trickle we’re going to be able to manage through their gate.”

“20% of every item we bring back is harsh. But I agree. They could refuse all traffic,” Scott commented.

“They know we have no choice. And the current government is relatively neutral to the French since Napoleon never pushed on the Louisiana[18] matter after conquering the Spanish Crown.”

Scott let his displeasure show.

“They feel safe across the Atlantic. Because we are the ones who secure the sea lanes and threw out France from all of its colonies across the ocean. If France still had Guadeloupe, Martinique or Haiti, they’d be singing a different tune.”

“Grandpa never trusted either, and he was right,” she said.

“Well, now, we can trust the French to be aiming for us. There are definitive movements of troops around. The number of troops stationed in the Flanders and Normandy is increasing steadily.”

The Chancellor made a deep sigh before continuing.

“Bonaparte does not want to tip his hand early, but he’s going to attack before the year’s end, I think.”

“Maybe he thinks we can reopen the Gate? The more he waits, the better his position,” Grey speculated.

“That, or he is wary of us getting actual help from the USA. He probably wants to bring us down – if he can – before we get things settled with the Colonies.”

“All the more to warrant getting help from the USA. I mean… if we reopen the gate, those tariffs mean little. If we don’t, the amount lost is less than getting nothing.”

“I’m more worried about the insertion of their top Professionals into some of our teams. Getting access to higher British tiers…”

She dismissed immediately the Chancellor’s worries.

“They can always go sideways. There’s always a way around. You worry always too much about high-tier zones. There’s way more of them around than low-tiers, and the real resource up there are the Artefacts from our Legends. And they’ve not said one peep about access to those.”

Looking at Scott’s thoughtful face.

“You’re like Father. Even two decades later, you can’t wrap your head around the Labyrinth.”

“I do. But I have the Earth-side British Empire as a priority.”

“High-tiers means high power. The entire Royal Company fiasco cost us way too much,” she countered. “A single tier-six high-quality item exported from the Labyrinth is worth half a dozen common ones from the bottom-tier feeders.”

“Yes. I’ve seen the designs for the Mark Two Skyships. The ones that will… would be built next year.”

Louisa Grey stood up and turned. But before she left, the Chancellor called her back, “By the way, Sir Babbage wants to go with you to the Labyrinth. He wants to be there when your… anomalies arrive.”

She turned back.

“He’s got time to acquire a walkback?”

“Apparently, he does not care. Either the Gate reopens or not, and he says he’ll be more useful on the Labyrinth side anyway.”

“Typical Babbage. The constraints of the world do not matter for him, only his pure abstractions. Well, let him come.”

John Scott sat heavily in his chair, still seething. The House would take the deal, anyway. And he would support it because there were no alternatives. It wasn’t as if they could use China as a gateway to the Labyrinth.