Issue #27 RRP $8.95 Rory Douglas Abel Aliette ... - Upgrade Systems

6
Bill McKinley
printed as a new series of Oxford pamphlets. You will deliver the third lecture in the
program. It will be about Beowulf and the other great Anglo-Saxon sagas.”
Tolkien exhaled a cloud of pipe smoke and attempted to sound apologetic. “I’m
sorry, Major, I’m virtually the head of the English department these days. I just don’t
have time with my administrative workload.”
“I think you do, Professor. Lectures and tutorials are suspended. They won’t start
again for the Michaelmas term. You have all the time you could need.”
“I don’t think my subject would interest the general public. It’s very specialised,
after all.”
Major Schroder waved his hand. “Professor, you forget that I have seen you
lecture. I’m not asking you to talk about vowel shifts in West Mercian. You will talk
about Nordic culture and the racial affinities between England and Germany.”
“I’m sorry,” Tolkien said. “I’m not the man for the job.”
“I think you are, Professor, because I need to discuss a second matter with you.”
Schroder rummaged around on his desk and located a thin folder. He sighed,
straightened his tunic, did up his pocket button, and sat back down.
“The Ministry of Propaganda says you have written a children’s book about a
burglar, a dragon, and a magic ring. Inspired by Wagner, no doubt?”
“They both involve a ring, that’s all,” Tolkien said.
“No matter. I see that a German publisher wanted to print a translation before
the war.”
Tolkien remembered it well. Rütten and Loening had been very interested, but
demanded that he provide them with a Bestätigung — a certificate of Aryan descent.
Tolkien had refused.
Schroder read something in the file and chuckled. “Such an English response,
and it was all so unnecessary. I can see you’re as Aryan as my Oberleutnant just by
looking at you.”
“How did you find out about this?” Tolkien asked.
“Rütten and Loening sent your file to the ministry. They still want to publish your
book. The only question is whether you’ll be paid for it. Rütten and Loening have
argued most persuasively that your rights should be part of the war reparations,
particularly given your obstructionist attitude before the war.”
Tolkien gripped his pipe and wished it was an axe. He forced himself to breathe
in a deep draught of smoke and let it trickle out slowly.
“You can’t do that,” he said finally. “You can’t seize my foreign language rights just
because of the war.”
“Of course we can, Professor. Reparations aren’t just about coal and iron. After the
last war, you seized thousands of German chemical patents.”
Schroder leaned forward in his chair and tapped the folder on his leg to emphasise
each word. “I have to make a decision. It will depend on how co-operative you are.
Do you understand me?”
Tolkien did. “I’d like to think about it overnight,” he muttered.
“You do that, and tell Oberleutnant Hippke about your decision in the morning.
Guten Tag, Professor.”