Page 453 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

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On the last evening of the Budapest conference, Rebecca and the other delegates were given a tasting of Tokaj wines. They were taken to a cellar owned by the Hungarian government bottling organization. It was in the Pest district, east of the Danube River. They were offered several different kinds of white wine: dry; strong; the lightly alcoholic nectar called eszencia; and the famous slow-fermented aszu.

All over the world, government officials were bad at throwing parties, and Rebecca feared this would be a dull occasion. However, the old cellar with its arched ceilings and stacked cases of booze had a cozy feel, and there were spicy Hungarian snacks of dumplings, stuffed mushrooms, and sausages.

Rebecca picked out one of the East German delegates and gave him her most engaging smile. "Our German wines are superior, don't you think?" she said.

She chatted flirtatiously with him for a few minutes, then asked him the question. "I have a niece in East Berlin, and I want to send her a pop record, but I'm afraid it might get damaged in the mail. Would you take it for me?"

"Yes, I suppose I could," he said dubiously.

"I'll give it to you tomorrow at breakfast, if I may. You're very kind."

"Okay." He looked troubled, and Rebecca thought there was a chance he might hand over the disc to the Stasi. But all she could do was try.

When the wine had relaxed everyone, Rebecca was approached by Frederik Biro, a Hungarian politician of her own age whom she liked. He specialized in foreign policy, as she did. "What's the truth about this country?" she asked him. "How is it doing, really?"

He looked at his watch. "We're about a mile from your hotel," he said. He spoke good German, like most educated Hungarians. "Would you like to walk back with me?"

They got their coats and left. Their route followed the broad, dark river. On the far bank, the lights of the medieval town of Buda rose romantically to a hilltop palace.

"The Communists promised prosperity, and the people are disappointed," Biro said as they walked. "Even Communist Party members complain about the Kadar government." Rebecca guessed that he felt freer to talk out in the open air where they could not be bugged.

She said: "And the solution?"

"The strange thing is that everyone knows the answer. We need to decentralize decisions, introduce limited markets, and legitimize the semi-illegal gray economy so that it can grow."

"Who stands in the way of this?" She realized she was firing questions at him like a courtroom lawyer. "Forgive me," she said. "I don't mean to interrogate you."

"Not at all," he said with a smile. "I like people who speak in a direct way. It saves time."

"Men often resent being spoken to that way by a woman."

"Not me. You could say that I have a weakness for assertive women."

"Are you married to one?"

"I was. I'm divorced now."

Rebecca realized this was none of her business. "You were about to tell me who stands in the way of reform."

"About fifteen thousand bureaucrats who would lose their power and their jobs; fifty thousand top Communist Party officials who make almost all the decisions; and Janos Kadar, who has been our leader since 1956."

Rebecca raised her eyebrows. Biro was being remarkably frank. The thought crossed her mind that Biro's candid remarks may not have been totally spontaneous. Had this conversation perhaps been planned? She said: "Does Kadar have an alternative solution?"

"Yes," said Biro. "To maintain the standard of living of Hungarian workers, he is borrowing more and more money from Western banks, including German ones."

"And how will you pay the interest on those loans?"

"What a good question," said Biro.

They drew level with Rebecca's hotel, across the street from the river. She stopped and leaned on the embankment wall. "Is Kadar a permanent fixture?"

"Not necessarily. I'm close to a promising young man called Miklos Nemeth."

Ah, Rebecca thought, so this is the point of the conversation: to tell the German government, quietly and informally, that Nemeth is the reformist rival to Kadar.

"He's in his thirties, and very bright," Biro continued. "But we fear a Hungarian repeat of the Soviet situation: Brezhnev replaced by Andropov and then Chernenko. It's like the queue for the toilet in a home for old men."

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