In Which Caroline of Braunschweig Plays the Harpsichord

Caroline of Braunschweig considered the elaborate harpsichord manuscript which had been placed atop her instrument overnight.  She took out her tuning fork, struck it sharply against a nearby table, and as she began to tune her instrument, she also spread the pages across the available space of the music desk, so she could scan them as she tuned.  Harpsichords require constant tuning, and Caroline played the harpsichord almost constantly when she was confined to her home, so Caroline did a lot of harpsichord tuning, and it was second nature to her.

Her yelp of surprise as she looked through the music was not, therefore, a routine occurrance.

Her harpsichord instructor, a student of J. S. Bach named Friedrich Gottlob Fletcher, paused upon entering the conservatory and asked her what the matter was.

“Nothing at all — a very sour low A, only, Meister Fletcher.” she said, quickly stacking the music into a single pile again.  She resumed tuning with a look of feverish intensity.

“I shall return in fifteen minutes to give you time to finish tuning,” he said, and left the room again.

Caroline stopped tuning again and spread out the sheets of music before her on the floor, and began humming along until she reached the same spot which had given her pause in her previous perusal.

“A balloon?” she said aloud.  “A balloon which will suspend a man above the battleground, so he can report on what is happening by dropping messages to the ground, wrapped around rocks?”

Caroline pulled the small red notebook from her pocket and made a quick note.  Herr Fletcher would notice if she wasn’t finished tuning on time.

That evening, in the illuminati cave, Airmedh demanded an explanation.

“It’s quite simple, dear,” said Elizabeth Fawkener.  “Caroline’s connection in Paris encodes his news in the counterpoint annotations of sheet music he sends her.  Caroline is a complete genius when it comes to the harpsichord, so it is only a matter of moments before she can decode these messages.  In today’s manuscript—“

“Ironically entitled ‘On Angels Wings’” giggled Caroline.

“In today’s manuscript,” continued Elizabeth, “Caroline learned that the Committee of Public Safety has commissioned a twenty-person ‘Aerostatic Corps’ which specializes in putting a balloon in the air, above a battlefield.”

“What is a ‘balloon,’” asked Air.

“A large tent made of silk which can be filled with hot air or some other gas, such as hydrogen, which causes the tent to rise into the air, dragging a basket up with it.  As ashes rise from our fire, only organized.” said Caroline.

“Sounds festive!  Are they building it for decoration?” asked Air.

“Oh Airmedh!” said Caroline, jotting a note in orange juice onto an embroidered handkerchief.  “It’s for reconnaissance, signalling and the distribution of propaganda.” 

Elizabeth Fawkener added, “you can picture the tactical advantage to be gained by one side of a battle, if they can see more of the whole battlefield, because they have a lookout placed thirty feet above the ground.”

Caroline said, “Lazare Carnot is sending the aerostatics corps to the Army of the North for the second time, apparently.  The first time, he sent a note along with them to assure General Jourdan that ‘Citizen Coutell is not a charlatan,’ but even so, the general sent them packing back to Paris, with the message that an Austrian attack was imminent, and a battalion was required, not a balloon.”

“And Lazare Carnot is?” Air said.

“Carnot is the Organizer of Victory — he is the Revolution’s military strategy genius.  He specializes in logistics—wrote a dissertation while he was still in school about how to build harbor fortifications.”

“So Lazare Carnot has been funding research into this balloon concept?”

“In his spare time when he isn’t planning military campaigns, he supports entrepreneurial efforts such as the balloons, that’s right,” Caroline averred.  “He has a group building a semaphore telegraph as well, that can send messages from the coast of Brittany to Paris in 45 minutes.”

“During DAYLIGHT” pointed out Elizabeth Fawkener.

“Still quite a good thought.” said Caroline.

Airmedh considered, “on such flat country, in Flanders, such a balloon might indeed provide a significant advantage.”

Caroline nodded at her approvingly.