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Chapter 100

As we left the control room, I asked the admiral to have several of the senior commanders in my office after lunch. I wanted to work on organization, as well as mixing the soldiers and sailors from various nations into one, Dracul force.

I led everyone back to the elevator room, reset the combination, then turned and said "As I said before, behind that door are the treasures of Dracul. Those that need access, have it already. I will decide who needs access to the base, and will arrange for that." I then pointed across the room and said "That door leads to our dungeons. Yes, we actually have dungeon cells, although I am told they are nicer than most prisons. All are currently empty, I hope to keep it that way for quite a long time."

I turned to the final door, opened it, and said "As you may have heard me mention, behind this door is what has been called `the lab'. If we are being more proper, I believe it is research and development, but I doubt we will ever get away from calling it `the lab'. Reinhardt, as this is your baby, please educate everyone."

As we walked down the hall, Reinhardt explained "Throughout history, vampires have usually been on the leading edge of scientific and technological development. As I said earlier, our being able to build on the work we've done for centuries gives us a distinct advantage over the short-lived humans. That said, when a human has appeared and shown the aptitude, intellect, and proper discretion, we have offered them the chance to continue their work, long after their human life span would normally allow. Until recently, we have had small groups of vampire scientists, scattered around the world. When we began work on the castle, Sam and I saw it as a chance to bring all those minds together."

As I was opening another vault door, Sam picked up the story "You will recognize some of the individuals you are about to meet, while others you may not be so familiar with. Some are from more modern times, and a few from your history books. Due to our having the greatest minds in history gathered here, almost all of the advances have been ours, released when we wanted. Of course, we keep the best toys for ourselves, and give the humans the out-of-date stuff."

I opened the door and we walked into a conference room, obviously interrupting a meeting. Those around the table turned to stare. I heard Alex gasp. Reinhardt stepped forward and said "Your Majesty, may I present Nikola Tesla. Master Tesla, His Majesty, King Gregory the first, King of Dracul."

The men and women at the table quickly stood and bowed, as Nikola said "It is an honor to meet you, Your Majesty. Am I to assume this means we can come out of hiding?"

I shook my head as I said "Not yet, but relatively soon. Would you introduce us to your team?"

"Of course, Sire. Would you prefer the names you know from history? Or the names we've chosen to use?"

I thought for a second, then said "Whatever name I should use when speaking to you. You can share your historical names if you choose, but please, give me an idea of your field of expertise."

"As Prince Hauer said, I was known as Nikola Tesla. I invented alternating current, hydro-electric power, x-rays, the induction motor, and neon lights. The few times I've gone into the world recently, I've gone by Nick Slate." He pointed to an attractive young lady to his right and said "This young woman goes by Eva Kiesler. I will let her tell you about herself."

Eva smiled an incredibly seductive smile and said "I use my given name, Sire. My stage name is well known, but I stopped using it when I was changed. My work in the 1940's involved frequency hopping radio signals for controlling torpedoes. It has since evolved into mobile phones, wireless internet, and Bluetooth technology."

When she finished, a man with thick, round eyeglasses bowed and said "Majesty, if I were to return to the human world, I would probably use Emil Klaus, but in my most famous life, I was known as Klaus Fuchs. When Prince Hauer heard of the work I was doing at Oak Ridge, he asked me to share the research with the Soviets. I did so, and spent 9 years in a British prison for it. I do not regret serving vampires by keeping the superpowers on an equal footing."

The next man looked at Alex and said "Nice to see you again Alex." Then he turned to me and said "Sire, I go by Joe now that I have been changed. I haven't come up with a last name I like, but I don't think I want to leave the island for a few decades, so it's fine. As Alex will probably tell you, my work involved computer science, cybernetics, and artificial intelligence. And, unlike a certain politician, I can honestly say that I invented the internet."

I laughed at his reference, then turned to hear a very young man with red hair say, in a heavy Italian accent "I go by Vincent DiNardo these days, and I would love if you would allow me to paint your portrait, Sire. Need I go into my body of work?"

I smiled as I said "No, Master DiNardo, I am quite familiar with your extensive body of work. I would be honored to sit for a portrait, though I doubt I could display it in public." I turned and said "Master Faraday, I hope you will allow me to correct the oversight of Victoria by accepting a Knighthood in the Royal Order of the Dragon?"

"I would be honored, Your Majesty, although I go by Cameron Fairlead these days."

I turned to the next man and asked "And what name does the father of the space age go by today?"

Robert Goddard smiled and said "I am honored you recognize me, Sire. I use Brad Drogher in this life."

I turned to the Asian woman beside him and said "I apologize, madame, I don't recognize your face."

She smiled, bowed, and said "That is as it should be, Your Majesty. I am Chien Shiung Wu, as I have been since my birth in 1912. My humble work contributed to that of Herr Fuchs, and others."

When I turned to the last man, he said "My name was Artem Mikoyan. I am an aerospace engineer from the former Soviet Union. I am honored to continue designing aircraft in your service, Your Majesty."

I looked around at those that had accompanied me and said "As you can see, we have the greatest minds in the world, working on keeping us ahead of humans." I looked at the group of scientists and said "Earlier, Mike asked where the ships got their fuel. Would one of you care to explain?"

They looked at each other for a moment, then Klaus Fuchs said "As we were involved in both the US and Soviet nuclear programs, it wasn't difficult for us to acquire material. We long ago developed the recyclers and fission reactors, also known as breeder reactors. With the first generation of subs, we had to remove, recycle, and reuse the fuel every few years. Those we've built more recently will not need refueled during their operational lifetime. We have enough material to fuel the current fleet for 2000 years, though we hope to improve efficiency, as well as finding other fuel sources."

Billy asked "I thought nuclear power wasn't safe?"

All the scientists laughed, then Wu said "While nothing is entirely safe, the fact that the we, the US, the UK, India, China, France, and Russia have had nuclear powered ships for seven decades without any accidents related to the power plants, demonstrates the safety of the technology."

Niko said "What about Chernobyl? That qualifies as an accident."

Joe said "The Soviet government was known for cutting corners to save money. That explosion would never have happened, had they spent money on computer fail safes. All of our power plants have multiple systems that monitor and prevent human error in their operation. Of course, we have humans, er vampires, monitoring the systems, as well as systems monitoring the systems. An accident isn't impossible, but it is more likely that you will win every lottery around the world, on the same day, than one of our systems will fail so badly as to melt down."

I looked at my group and asked "Anything more on the nuclear issue?" When no one spoke up, I looked at Billy and said "You were wondering about subs talking to each other?"

Billy nodded as he asked "How do our subs communicate while submerged? I didn't think it was possible?"

Eva said "The same way your cell phone connects to your earpiece, Bluetooth! My original work on frequency hopping was aimed at torpedo guidance systems, and preventing their signals from being jammed. Cellular signals and Bluetooth are things that have come from that work. Our subs transmit and receive via Bluetooth."

Niko shook his head as he said "You're joking, right? My Bluetooth won't stay connected for more than 20 meters or so."

She smiled as she said "Your Bluetooth is what we've given to the humans. Every piece of technology you know is likely three generations, or more, behind what we use. The Bluetooth in the subs has a range of 100 kilometers."

Billy spoke up with "Can I get a headset for my phone with that range?"

When everyone had stopped laughing, Alex said "Seriously though, I would like to have your help providing the network and computers for the castle, as well as electronic security, phones, and anything else you've developed that I'm not aware exists."

Joe smiled and said "It will be great working with you again, Alex. I'm sure we can help you, and you us."

Tom looked at Artem Mikoyan and said "Admiral Hopper said our fighters were X47's. I thought those were unmanned drones?"

The inventor of the Soviet MiG fighters smiled and said "Please, do not compare what we have to anything you know from the human world. Our X47 multi-role jet is only named that due to our keeping the same shape as those we shared with Grumman. Our jets can be either manned or unmanned, and function as fighters, bombers, or reconnaissance. They cannot be tracked by radar, and fly sub-orbital at hypersonic speeds. We achieved mach-32 in a recent test. To put that in more relatable terms, the circumference of the earth is 40,075 kilometers at the equator. Our test flight circled the earth in sixty-one minutes."

Joshua asked "The humans have to know about this. With all the radar and satellites, someone has to have noticed something."

Nick laughed as he said "You forget, they got all their technology from us. Do you think we would fail to give ourselves control of their systems? Their radar only detects what we allow it to detect. Their satellites only see what we want them to see."

Niko said "And our jets only fly from the carrier subs?"

Sam answered "If you will wait, Your Highness, I think it best we allow the commanders to discuss this? You will be meeting with them this afternoon."

Niko nodded his agreement, then I looked at Nick and asked "Are you the head of this section? Or whatever you call yourselves?"

"We are a team, Sire. Depending on the project, we choose the team leader based on expertise in that field. If someone has a new idea, that person usually puts together the team they want until they reach production."

I nodded, saying "While that works to a point, I need someone to act as a focal point. Someone I can come to with questions, and who can administer things. As this was spearheaded by Reinhardt, can all you scientists work through him? Accept him as my Minister of Science and Technology?"

They looked at each other and I could tell there was an issue. Finally, Joe said "Sire, Prince Reinhardt is a fine businessman, but we would likely work better with someone who has a scientific background. Might I suggest Alex?"

I turned to Reinhardt to see him nodding his agreement, so I turned to Alex and said "Congratulations, you are now Minister of Science and Technology. I have two initial requests for you. First, get everyone cell phones and tablets that are secure and work worldwide. And second, get this place, and the base, looking like we are the leading edge of science. They look like bunkers from the cold war."

Reinhardt laughed as he said "Well, that is basically what they are, Sire. We didn't know what to expect from the Soviets and the US during the 50's and 60's, and we didn't know when you were going to appear. All of this was originally dug out as a bomb shelter for the King and his Government."

I nodded, then glanced at my phone. I saw it was near lunch time, so I said "We need to head up to lunch. Then I have to meet with the military commanders. George, Vlad, and Tommy, please join me for that. The rest of you, we will meet again in the morning."

Alex said "Sire? If I may, I'd like to stay here and start getting a grasp on things?"

"This is your lab, of course you can stay. Meet with me later this afternoon and fill me in."

Alex nodded and turned to talk with his scientists, so I led our group back up to the office. Andrew had laid out sandwiches, drinks, and blood in my office. Joshua, Billy, Niko and I dug in as we discussed the implications of what was below our feet. Just like the vast financial assets, the advanced science and military power put us in a strong position. The real issue we needed to sort out was whether Dracul wanted to be a player on the world stage, or simply remain in the background, quietly pulling the strings of other nations.

When Andrew came to clear away lunch, we headed our meeting. I walked in and again, I recognized some of the faces from history books while others were unfamiliar to me. Joshua, Billy, Niko, and I went to our places, then I directed Tommy to sit across from me, with George and Vlad on either side of him. I waved my hand around the table and asked the officers to simply sit somewhere until we sort out precedence and rank issues. I was about to ask this group of historic military leaders to introduce themselves when Andrew stepped in carrying a tray of drinks. The room went silent when his tray crashed to the floor.