Ch.82Just a Doodle

* * *

“Tell me anything.

I’ll back you up as much as possible, so hurry up and make nuclear weapons for Russia. No, for Anastasia.

If we secure nuclear technology first, we’ll ultimately win. That’s why I’m treating Einstein so well.”

“Of course it’s important. Do you have something to say about physics?”

“I appreciate students interested in physics, but I’d like Russia to invite physicists from other countries.”

Inviting physicists from other countries, he says.

“So you want to research together.”

Well, when it comes to physics, it’s all about this man.

He was ultimately the core of modern civilization.

“Are you not satisfied with Russian scholars? Don’t we have students as well?”

If he’s not satisfied with Russian scholars, well… what can we do?

“Not at all. There are capable friends like Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa. And those working with us from Germany like Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner are also talented. But I’d like to do something bigger. I believe this would greatly advance physics in Russia.”

Ah, I see now that the man and woman following him must be those two.

Wait, Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner? Aren’t they both involved with nuclear research?

Aren’t Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner both from the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute?

So there won’t be a German Uranprojekt.

Nazi Germany ultimately failed too. Because during the project, they invaded Poland and conscripted physicists into the Wehrmacht, ending the research.

But separately from that.

I see. So he wants to open something big.

He wants to gather Russian physicists.

I established the United States Royal Society for Einstein, following the London Royal Society. If we want to achieve something, Einstein is right.

We should let our Dr. Einstein do what he wants.

But there should be conditions.

With Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner here, they’re probably researching nuclear physics.

Ah, I see. When else would I get a chance to bring this up?

I raised my finger in front of Einstein.

“But there’s a condition.”

“Please tell me.”

I like how straightforward he is.

I have some knowledge about nuclear physics.

Of course, I don’t have the process knowledge like a physicist would—I only know the results.

I’m not going to build nuclear weapons in this apocalyptic world anyway.

When nuclear war was about to break out, I looked into how to deal with nuclear weapons.

How to survive when nuclear bombs fall.

When you research this, you eventually learn that you’re going to die anyway, so it’s better to go to ground zero and die gloriously.

As a bonus option, I naturally learned how nuclear weapons are made and about nuclear fission.

I searched my memory and quickly wrote down notes about nuclear fission theory and formulas on paper.

The type of nuclear reaction, units, and formulas.

Just enough to whet their appetite.

Of course, I’m not an expert in this field.

I handed my scribbled notes to Einstein and the other scientists.

“What do you think?”

“This is…”

Just looking at it wouldn’t be enough to say anything definitive.

The physicists would need to research it anyway.

Even if I suddenly presented this, they wouldn’t say “What is this, you nerd?” but they would at least want to experiment with it.

So this is how I drop the bait.

At first, I’m not suggesting weaponization, just the material itself.

Literally nuclear fission, the phenomenon.

Curious, aren’t you? How about researching this? That’s my approach.

As scientists and physicists, they’d want to verify if this is real.

“Please research this nuclear fission.”

“Your Majesty, may I ask a question?”

Einstein and the others’ faces turned serious.

Right. This wasn’t supposed to emerge until 1938. It’s like writing just the answer on a math test without showing the work.

They would need to experiment directly to understand.

“Yes, go ahead.”

“Where did you learn about this?”

I shouldn’t pretend to know too much here.

I wouldn’t have had time to learn this during the civil war, and before that, I would have had even less opportunity.

Pretending to know more might lead to them questioning me further, which would be uncomfortable.

The dream explanation is better here.

“Just… an old man told me about it in a dream.”

Since Tesla also said he heard from an old man, I’ll say I heard it from an old man too.

“In a dream?”

“So, how about proving this in nuclear physics? If you do, I’ll grant you whatever you wish.”

In conclusion, if they experiment to prove what I saw in my dream, they can do whatever they want.

“In that case, yes, I’ll try.”

“Ah, regarding this nuclear physics research, I’d prefer if you didn’t inform the physicists invited from abroad. Or you could make their naturalization to Russia conditional on this research.”

At least until the end of World War II, Russia alone should possess nuclear technology.

That way, if we’re ever pushed back by Germany, we can just say “here’s a nuclear bomb” and end it.

Later, to prevent Russia from going out of control, I might share nuclear technology with countries like the United States.

But at least until World War II, we should keep it to ourselves.

“Very well. Then do whatever else you wish.”

“Thank you.”

And so Einstein’s group withdrew with the Tsarina’s scribbles.

I wonder if they really needed to come to me directly to discuss this.

But since I granted them asylum, I suppose it makes sense.

Or perhaps they see this as an absolute monarchy.

I’ve figured out how to drop the nuclear hint to this person, and gradually I should suggest developing it as a weapon.

I heard he opposed nuclear weapons because of their danger.

Later there will be people like Lev Landau, the Soviet version of von Neumann.

No, for now I need to focus on building rapport.

Later I can argue for weaponization because of communist Germany.

It’s miraculous that this person came to Russia in the first place.

He could have gone to Austria or another country, but he came to this nation that just ended a civil war—isn’t that a kind of destiny?

If Einstein invites foreign scholars to Russia…

I should add conditions to absorb talent in physics, chemistry, and biology.

“Your Majesty, what you just handed over…”

The Black Baron seems curious about what I gave them.

“Are you curious?”

“Haven’t you foreseen many things so far, Your Majesty?”

No, I’m not perfect at everything.

My foresight only extends to World War II at best.

And even that’s just guesswork because of variables like the zombie state called the Free Socialist Republic of Germany.

What I wrote might be wrong, and Dr. Einstein might later say, “That old man must have taught you some scribbles, haha.”

If that happens, I’ll just be a foolish Tsarina who made physicists work on something from a dream.

So I should be vague for now.

“Ah, these are just scribbles.”

“Scribbles?”

Well, not exactly scribbles.

What I handed over about nuclear fission will either be scribbles or not depending on whether they can verify it.

“If they can’t figure it out, they’ll just be scribbles. Just something I, the Tsarina, saw in a dream.”

But I firmly believe they’ll succeed.

Of course, even if this process is faster than in the original history, developing nuclear weapons requires a lot of money, which is a problem.

I wonder if money could suddenly come in from somewhere.

For example, if something happened in the United States and Russia helped solve it, with the US paying Russia enormously. Ah, that’s quite appealing.

I really wonder if money could fall from the sky somewhere.

Earning money by selling oil is good, but it would be nice to have money in the wallet from the beginning.

Money from others is always better.

Even if we sell oil now, it won’t immediately be invested in atomic bomb development.

Russia has too many things to change.

* * *

United States

Around this time, Beria and the Okhrana agents dispatched to the United States were having trouble finding Trotsky.

A chicken restaurant they frequented lately.

Beria and the Okhrana agent always came here to eat chicken after failing to find Trotsky.

Today, as usual, Beria threw off his hat in anger.

“Damn it. Where has that bastard Trotsky gone?”

“Hmm, how about we stop here?”

“Many Okhrana agents still think I’m a Cheka spy. Finding him would prove my loyalty, wouldn’t it?”

Within the Okhrana, no one actually believed Beria was a Cheka spy anymore.

Communists in Russia had been virtually exterminated.

The idea that he would brutally slaughter his former comrades and still be a Cheka agent made no sense.

Beria persisted because he wanted to achieve something.

“Well, what you’ve done so far is enough, why bother? Besides, the Tsarina plans to assign you a new mission. If finding Trotsky takes this long, you might miss that opportunity.”

“What mission?”

“Grand Duke Kirill tried to return home to get a piece of the pie, but the Tsarina drove him out.”

Grand Duke Kirill. Right, Nicholas II’s cousin who was manipulated by that demon Rasputin.

He must be an insignificant figure.

Given the current atmosphere, is the Tsarina ordering his elimination?

Beria slightly bowed his head and spoke quietly.

“You don’t mean to eliminate him?”

It would be nice if we could kill him.

“No, the plan is to send Okhrana agents to monitor him. The Tsarina wants to assign a capable person to watch Grand Duke Kirill in Finland, as we don’t know what he might do.”

So, we’ll take turns monitoring him?

I could kill him if ordered.

But what he was most curious about was Trotsky’s whereabouts.

“Ha, by the way, that model looks like Trotsky.”

While eating chicken, his eyes wandered to a human model outside the window.

It really resembles Trotsky.

It would look even more like him if it weren’t so fat and holding chicken.

“Hahaha, as if that vicious Trotsky would be so plump, smiling kindly while frying chicken?”

“I suppose not.”

That evil Trotsky wouldn’t be so fat, frying chicken.

Considering the model is somewhat idealized…

That man is probably somewhere shouting about revolution even now.

It doesn’t seem likely he’d be in this country of nouveau riche, the United States.

Trotsky lives and dies for revolution.

If he’s anywhere, it might be China or France.

Beria knew this well.

Though not prominent, as the Red Army’s defeat became apparent and it grew more extreme, Trotsky’s madness and radicalism were probably known even to rural people under Soviet rule.

The Tsarina might have guessed, but given that she identified someone like Goddard, she might know something about Trotsky too.

“I’ll speak to the Tsarina. How about returning home?”

“Hmm, let me think about it for a few days.”

He wanted to achieve something.

He needed to capture Trotsky somehow.

Meanwhile, Trotsky, whom Beria was desperately searching for, was contacting American communists and holding communist rallies targeting marginalized Black Americans.

“Slaves still exist in the United States. Where? You! Black people are slaves! Despite emancipation, you’re still treated no better than slaves. You are humans just like white people! Proud citizens and workers of this continent! Yet why are you treated like slaves?”

During the Civil War, about 60 years ago, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

Even now, lynching culture persisted in the South, and Black people were migrating from southern states to other states in what was called the Great Migration.

Why were Black people still discriminated against?

In the original world’s 1935 Berlin Summer Olympics, Black American athlete Jesse Owens set world records and won four gold medals, yet still faced racial discrimination.

Even during his time at Ohio State University, he couldn’t use white-only dormitories and had to use Black-only restaurants and buses.

The situation now was worse, not better.

In this world, Trotsky targeted this painful aspect of Black discrimination.

And…

Black people, as people of color, were drawn to Trotsky’s eloquent speech and verbal techniques, welcoming him like rain during a drought.

“Oh! That’s right!”

“What have we done wrong to be treated this way?”

“We are humans too! We deserve to be treated as workers just like white people!”

“You’re truly great, sir!”

Black people were moved by Trotsky’s speech.

“You are not inferior to white people, nor are you less than the yellow race like the Japanese who imitate white imperialism! Who ruins the precious value of life just because your skin is black? If we trace your roots, you were once part of civilizations and proud members of history! Stand up! Demand your rights proudly!”

Trotsky’s idea that all humans are precious and that Black and white people are all workers was far from his usual revolutionary rhetoric.

However, it resonated with people of color in America, and Trotsky wasn’t just inciting Black people solely for his revolutionary desires.

These Black people would indeed be exploited by white people their whole lives without him.

It was mutually beneficial.

Of course, Trotsky didn’t show his face to them.

His comrades advised him to hide his appearance because of the Okhrana agents searching for him in America’s shadows.

He wore a thick coat, thick glasses, and partially covered his face.

Though he looked suspicious to anyone, Black people didn’t doubt Trotsky at all.

Anyone who scratches where it itches and empathizes with pain becomes likable.

Moreover, with American communists and Russian communists who had been with him since Russia by his side, Black people didn’t find this strange and trusted Trotsky, waiting for his rallies and speeches.

Thus, Trotsky…

Gathered people of color and sympathetic American communists who were marginalized by American society.

Most of them were former military who had fought in the Great War, which was no secret.

And so…

Where Trotsky gave speeches and passed by, the savory smell of chicken remained.