Shadow of the giant

the Middle Kingdom.
Or—tell me, Vlad—should we prefer to be ruled over by the government that now
treats you so kindly?"
    "I'll think about this," said Vlad. "And you
think about something else. Ambition was part of the basis by which we were
chosen for Battle School. Just how self-sacrificing do you think we'll be? Look
at Virlomi. As shy a person as Battle School could possibly admit. But to
achieve her purpose, she made herself into a god. And she does seem to play the
part with enthusiasm, doesn't she?"
    "Ambition balanced against survival instinct,"
said Peter. "Ambition leads you to great risk. But ambition never leads
you to certain destruction."
    "Unless you're a fool."
    "There are no fools in this park today," said
Peter. "Unless you count the spies lying underwater breathing through
straws in order to overhear our conversation."
    "It's the best the Estonians can do," said Vlad.
    "I'm glad to know that Russians haven't forgotten their
sense of humor."
    "Everybody knows a few dozen Estonian jokes."
    "Who do Estonians tell jokes about?" asked Peter.
    "Estonians, of course. Only they don't realize that
they're jokes."
    Laughing, they left the park and headed back, Peter to his
chauffeured car, Vlad to the train back to St. Petersburg.
     
     
    Some Battle School graduates came to Ribeirão Preto to hear
Peter's invitation. Others, Peter contacted through mutual friends. Members of
Ender's Jeesh, Peter met with directly. Carn Carby in Australia. Dink Meeker
and Crazy Tom in England. Shen in Tokyo. Fly Molo in Manila. And Dumper amid a
council of Quechuas in the ruins of Macchu Picchu, his unofficial headquarters
as he worked steadily to organize the Native Americans of South America.
    None of them accepted his offer. All of them listened and
remembered.
    Meanwhile, the guerrilla fighting in India grew more savage.
More and more Persian and Pakistani troops were withdrawn from China. Until the
day came when there was no one penning in the starving Chinese army in Sichuan
province. Han Tzu set it in motion.

    The Turks withdrew to Xinjiang province. The Indonesians got
back in their boats and withdrew to Taiwan. The Arabs joined in the occupation
of India. Han China was free of foreign occupiers, without the Emperor firing a
shot.
    At once, the Americans and Europeans and Latin Americans
were back, buying and selling, helping China recover from empty wars of
conquest. While the Muslim nations continued to bleed weapons and wealth and
men in the ever-more-brutal war to control India.

    Meanwhile, a new pair of essayists emerged on the nets.
    One styled himself "Lincoln" and spoke of the need
to put an end to bloody wars and oppression, and to secure the rights and
freedoms of all societies by giving an honest, law-abiding world government
exclusive control of all weapons of war.
    The other called himself "Martel," harking back to
Charles the Hammer, who stopped the Muslim advance into Europe at Poitiers.
Martel kept pounding at the grave danger the world faced from the existence of
a Caliph. The Muslims, who now made up more than a third of the population of
some European countries, would be emboldened, seize power, and force all of
Europe to live under brutal Muslim law.
    There were some commentators who saw in these two new
essayists a similarity to the days when Locke and Demosthenes dueled, with a
similar division between statesmanlike peace-seeking and warnings of war. Those
had turned out to be written by Peter and Valentine Wiggin. Only once did Peter
answer a question about "Lincoln": "There are several ways the
world could be united. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who hopes it will be
through a liberal democracy rather than a conquering despotism."
    And only once did Peter comment when questioned about
"Martel": "I don't believe it helps the cause of peace in the
world to stir up the kind of fear and hatred that leads to expulsions and
genocide."
    Both answers only added to the credibility of the two
essayists.
     
     
     
    8
     
    ENDER
     
     
    From: Rockette%[email protected]
    To: Noggin%[email protected]
    Re: I'm having fun so don't carp
     
    Beloved husband,
     
    What ELSE can I do while I'm sitting around with a belly the
size of a barn except type? It's actually hard work, considering the keyboard
is at arm's length. And it's not as if anti-Muslim propaganda is harder than
breathing. I'm Armenian, O Father of the Balloon I'm Carrying Around Inside My
Abdomen. We learn about how