Shadow of the giant

something that nobody
else knew. They thought they knew what life was about. But they could only have
a life like that because people like Peter—and Han Tzu and Alai and that wacko
self-deifying Virlomi—actually concentrated on important matters and tried to
make the world a better place.
    Then Peter remembered that Bean had said almost exactly what
his mother said. That Peter chose to be Hegemon, and now he had to work it out
on his own.
    Like a kid who tries out for the school play but he doesn't
like the part he's been given. Only if he backs out now the show can't go on
because he has no understudy. So he's got to stick it out.
    Got to figure out how to save the world, now that he's got
himself made Hegemon.
    Here's what I want to have happen, thought Peter. I want
every damn Battle School graduate off Earth. They are the complicating factor
in every country. Mother wants them to have a life? Me too—a nice long life on
another planet.
    But to get them offplanet would require getting the
cooperation of Graff. And Peter had the sneaking suspicion that Graff didn't
actually want Peter to be an effective, powerful Hegemon. Why should Graff accept
the Battle School kids into colony ships? They'd be a disruptive force in any
colony they were in.
    What about this? A colony of nothing but Battle School
grads. If they bred true, they'd be the smartest military minds in the galaxy.
    Then they'd come home and take over Earth.
    OK, not that.
    Still, it was the seed of a good idea. In the eyes of the
people, it was the Battle School that won the war against the Buggers. They all
wanted their armies to be led by Battle Schoolers. Which was why the Battle
Schoolers were virtually the slaves of their nations' military.
    So I'll do as Mother suggested. I'll set them free.
    Then they can all marry like Bean and Petra and live happily
ever after while other people—responsible people—did the hard work of running
the world.
     
     
    In India, the response to Virlomi's message was immediate
and fierce. That very night, in a dozen incidents scattered across India,
Muslim soldiers committed acts of provocation—or, as they saw it, retaliation
or defiance to Virlomi's blasphemous, outrageous accusation. Thereby, of
course, proving those accusations in the eyes of many.
    But it wasn't riots they faced this time. It was an
implacable mob determined to destroy them no matter what the cost. It was
Shiva. So yes, the streets were littered with the dead bodies of Hindu
civilians. But the Muslim soldiers' bodies could not be found. Or at least,
could not be reassembled.
    Reports of the bloodshed flowed into Virlomi's mobile
headquarters. Including plenty of video. She had a selected version out on the
web within hours. Lots of pictures of Muslims committing acts of provocation,
and then firing on the rioters. No footage of human waves swarming over the
machine-gun-firing Muslim soldiers and tearing them to pieces. What the world
would see was Muslims offending Hindu religion and then massacring civilians.
They would only hear about the fact that among the Muslim soldiers, there were
no survivors.
     
     
    Bean and Petra boarded attack helicopters and headed out
across the ocean to Africa. Bean had heard from Rackham and knew where Volescu
was.
     
     
     
    6
     
    EVOLUTION
     
     
    From: CrazyTom%[email protected]
    To: Magic%[email protected]
    Forwarded and Posted by IcomeAnon
    Encrypted using code ********
    Decrypted using code ***********
    Re: England and Europe
     
    I hope you're still using this address, now that you're
official and not hiding from Mr. Tendon anymore. I don't think this should go
through channels.
     
    I keep getting these feelers from Wiggin. I think HE thinks
he's got some special affinity for members of the Jeesh, just because he's
Ender's brother. Does he? I know he's got his fingers in everything—the items
the Hegemony seems to know before we do are sometimes quite amazing—but does he
have his fingers in us?
     
    He's asked me for an assessment of the European willingness
to surrender sovereignty to a world government. Given that the whole history of
the past two hundred years consists of Europe flirting with a real European
government, and always backing away, I wonder if the question comes from an
idiot child or a deep thinker who knows more than I do.
     
    But if you think his question is a legitimate one, then let
me say that surrendering sovereignty to any existing world or regional