Shadow of the giant

because of his reputation. Isn't that
about it?"
    Graff smiled benignly.
    "But that's stupid," said Dumper. "Bean
really is a good commander. I've seen him. Commanding his Rwandans in our
campaign in Peru. It's true that the Peruvian Army wasn't well led or well
trained, but those Rwandans—they worshipped Bean. They would have marched off a
cliff if he asked them to. When he twitched, they sprang into action."
    "And your point is?" asked Dink.
    "My point is," said Dumper, "we didn't follow
him well, but other people do. Bean's the real thing. He's still the best of
us."
    "I haven't seen his Rwandans," said Fly, "but
I've seen him with the men he and Suriyawong trained. Back when the forces of
the Hegemon were a hundred guys and two choppers. Dumper's right. Alexander the
Great couldn't have had soldiers more devoted and more effective."
    "Thanks for the testimonials, boys," said Bean,
"but you're missing Hyrum's point."
    " 'Hyrum,' " muttered Dink. "Aren't we
cozy."
    "Just tell them," said Bean. "They know it,
but they don't know that they know it."
    "You tell them," said Graff.
    "Is this a Chinese reeducation camp? Do we have to
indulge in self-criticism?" Bean laughed bitterly. "It's what Dink
said right at the start. I'm not hungry. Which might seem stupid, considering I
spent my whole infancy starving to death. But I'm not hungry for supremacy. And
all of you are."
    "That's the great secret of the tests," said Graff.
"Sister Carlotta gave the standard battery of tests we used. But there was
an additional test. One that I gave, or one of my most trusted aides. A test of
ambition. Competitive ambition. You all scored very, very high. Bean
didn't."
    "Bean's not ambitious?"
    "Bean wants victory," said Graff. "He likes
to win. He needs to win. But he doesn't need to beat anybody."
    "We all cooperated with Ender," said Carn.
"We didn't have to beat him."
    "But you knew he would lead you to victory. And in the
meanwhile, you were all competing with each other. Except Bean."
    "Only because he was better than any of us. Why compete
if you've won?" said Fly.
    "If any one of you came up against Bean in battle, who
would win?"
    They rolled their eyes or chuckled or otherwise showed their
derision for the question.
    "That would depend," said Carn Carby, "on the
terrain, and the weather, and the sign of the zodiac. Nothing's sure in war, is
it?"
    "There wasn't any weather in the Battle Room,"
said Fly, grinning.
    "You can conceive of beating Bean, can't you?"
said Graff. "And it's possible. Because Bean is only better than the rest
of you if all else is equal. Only it never is. And one of the most important
variables in war is the hunger that makes you take ridiculous chances because
you intuit that there's a path to victory and you have to take that path
because anything other than winning is inconceivable. Unbearable."
    "Very poetic," said Dink. "The romance of
war."
    "Look at Lee," said Graff.
    "Which one?" said Shen. "The Chinese or the
American?"
    "Lee L-E-E the Virginian," said Graff. "When
the enemy was on Virginia soil, he won. He took the chances he needed to take.
He sent Stonewall Jackson out on a forest path at Chancellorsville, dividing
his forces and exposing himself dangerously against Hooker, exactly the sort of
reckless commander who could have exploited the opportunity if he'd realized
it."
    "Hooker was an idiot."
    "We say that because he lost," said Graff.
"But would he have lost if Lee had not taken the dangerous move he took?
My point isn't to re-fight Chancellorsville. My point is—"
    "Antietam and Gettysburg," said Bean.
    "Exactly. As soon as Lee left Virginia and entered
Northern territory, he wasn't hungry anymore. He believed in the cause of
defending Virginia, but he did not believe in the cause of slavery, and he knew
that's what the war was about. He didn't want to see his state defeated, but he
didn't want to see the southern cause win. All unconsciously. He didn't know
this about himself. But it was true."
    "It had nothing to do with the North's overwhelming
force?"
    "Lee lost at Antietam against the second stupidest and
most timid commander the North had, McClellan. And Meade at Gettysburg wasn't
terribly imaginative. Meade saw the high ground and he took it. And what did
Lee do? Based on how Lee acted in all his Virginia campaigns, what would you
have expected Lee to do?"
    "Refuse to fight on that ground," said Fly.
"Maneuver. Slide right. Steal a march. Get between Meade and