Shadow of the giant

Caliph
lived.
    They were driven far enough that they might be outside
Damascus. When they emerged from the van, it was not in daylight, it was indoors
... or underground. Even the porticoed garden into which they were ushered was
artificially lighted, and the sound of running and trickling and falling water
masked any faint noises that might have seeped in from outside and hinted where
they were.
    Alai did not so much greet them as notice their presence as
he walked in the garden. He did not even face them, but sat a few meters away,
facing a fountain, and began to speak.
    "I have no desire to humiliate you, Peter Wiggin,"
he said. "You should not have come."
    "I appreciate your letting me speak with you at
all," Peter answered.
    "Wisdom said that I should announce to the world that
the Hegemon had come to see the Caliph, and the Caliph refused to see him. But
I told Wisdom to be patient, and let Folly be my guide today in this
garden."
    "Petra and I are here to—"
    "Petra is here," said Alai, "because you
thought her presence might get you in to see me, and you needed a witness that
I would be reluctant to kill, and because you want her to be your ally after
her husband is dead."
    Peter did not let himself glance at Petra to see how she
took this sally from Alai. She knew the man; Peter did not. She would interpret
his words as she saw fit, and nothing he could see in her face right now would
help him understand anything. It would only weaken him to show he cared.
    "I'm here to offer my help," said Peter.
    "I command armies that rule over more than half the
population of the world," said Alai. "I have united Muslim nations
from Morocco to Indonesia, and liberated the oppressed peoples in
between."
    "It's the difference between 'conquered' and
'liberated' that I wanted to talk about."
    "So you came to rebuke me, not to help after all,"
said Alai.
    "I see I'm wasting my time," said Peter. "If
we can't speak together without petty debate, then you are past receiving
help."
    "Help?" said Alai. "One of my advisers said
to me, when I told them I wanted to see you, 'How many soldiers does this
Hegemon have?' "
    "How many divisions has the Pope?" quoted Peter.
    "More than the Hegemon has," said Alai, "if
the Pope should ask for them. As the old dead United Nations found out long
ago, religion always has more warriors than some vague international
abstraction."
    Peter realized then that Alai was not speaking to him. He
was speaking past him. This was not a private conversation after all.
    "I do not intend to be disrespectful to the
Caliph," said Peter. "I have seen the majesty of your achievement and
the generosity of spirit with which you have dealt with your enemies."
    Alai visibly relaxed. They were now playing the same game.
Peter had finally understood the rules. "What is to be gained from
humiliating those who believe they stand outside the power of God?" asked
Alai. "God will show them his power in his own good time, and until then
we are wise to be kind."
    Alai was speaking as the true believers around him required
him to speak—always asserting the primacy of the Caliphate over all non-Muslim
powers.
    "The dangers I came to speak of," said Peter,
"will not ever come from me or because of the small influence I have in
the world. Though I was not chosen by God, and there are few who listen to me,
I also seek, as you seek, the peace and happiness of the children of God on
Earth."
    Now was the time, if Alai was completely the captive of his
supporters, for him to rant about how it was blasphemous for an infidel like
Peter to invoke the name of God or pretend that there could be peace before all
the world was under the rule of the Caliphate.
    Instead Alai said, "I listen to all men, but obey only
God."
    "There was a day when Islam was hated and feared
throughout the world," said Peter. "That era ended long ago, before
either of us were born, but your enemies are reviving those old stories."
    "Those old lies, you mean," said Alai.
    "The fact that no man can make the Hajj in his own skin
and live," said Peter, "suggests that not all the stories are lies.
In the name of Islam terrible weapons were acquired and in the name of Islam
they were used to destroy the most sacred place on Earth."
    "It is not destroyed," said Alai. "It is
protected."
    "It's so radioactive that nothing can live within a
hundred kilometers," said Peter. "And you know what the explosion did
to Al-hajar Al-aswad."
    "The stone was not sacred in