Shadow of the giant
have Bean" she said. "How can Alai stand
against you?"
"Well," said Peter, "if Bean is so all
powerful and irresistible, why do I need you?"
"Because Bean can never be as fully trusted as a wife.
And Bean doesn't bring you a billion people."
"Virlomi," said Peter, "I'd be a fool to
trust you, wife or not. You wouldn't be bringing India into the FPE, you'd be
bringing the FPE into India."
"Why not a partnership?"
"Because gods don't need mortal partners," said
Peter. "You've been a god too long. There's no man you can marry, as long
as you think you're elevating him just by letting him touch you."
"Don't say what you can't unsay," said Virlomi.
"Don't make me say what's so hard to hear," said
Peter. "I'm not going to compromise my leadership of the whole FPE just to
get one country to join."
He meant it. He actually thought his position was above
hers. He thought he was greater than India! Greater than a god! That he would
diminish himself by taking what she offered.
But now there was nothing more to say to him. She wouldn't
waste time with idle threats. She'd show him what she could do to those who
wanted India for an enemy.
He rose to his feet. "I'm sorry that I didn't
anticipate your offer," said Peter. "I wouldn't have wasted your
time. I had no desire to embarrass you. I thought you would have understood my
situation better."
"I'm just one woman. India is just one country."
He winced just a little. He didn't like having his foolish,
arrogant words thrown in his face. Well, you'll have more than that thrown at
you, Ender's Brother.
"I brought two others to see you," said Peter.
"If you're willing."
He opened a door and Colonel Graff and a man she didn't know
entered the room. "Virlomi, I think you know Minister Graff. And this is
Mazer Rackham."
She inclined her head, showing no surprise.
They sat down and explained their offer.
"I already have the love and allegiance of the greatest
nation on Earth," said Virlomi. "And I have not been defeated by the
most terrible enemies that China and the Muslim world could hurl against me.
Why should I wish to run and hide in a colony somewhere?"
"It's a noble work," said Graff. "It's not
hiding, it's building."
"Termites build," said Virlomi.
"And hyenas tear," said Graff.
"I have no need for or interest in the service you
offer," said Virlomi.
"No," said Graff, "you just don't see your
need yet. You always were hard to get to change your way of looking at things.
It's what held you back in Battle School, Virlomi."
"You're not my teacher now," said Virlomi.
"Well, you're certainly wrong about one thing, whether
I'm your teacher or not," said Graff.
She waited.
"You have not yet faced the most terrible enemies that
China and the Muslim world can hurl against you."
"Do you think Han Tzu can get into India again? I'm not
Tikal Chapekar."
"And he's not the Politburo or Snow Tiger."
"He's Ender's Jeeshmate," she said in mock awe.
"He's not caught up in his own mystique," said
Rackham, who had not spoken till now. "For your own sake, Virlomi, take a
good hard look in the mirror. You're what megalomania looks like in the early
stages."
"I have no ambition for myself," said Virlomi.
"If you define India as whatever you conceive it to
be," said Rackham, "you'll wake up some terrible morning and discover
that it is not what you need it to be."
"And you say this from your vast experience of
governing ... what country was it, now, Mr. Rackham?"
Rackham only smiled. "Pride, when poked, gets
petty."
"Was that already a proverb?" asked Virlomi.
"Or should I write it down?"
"The offer stands," said Graff. "It's
irrevocable as long as you live."
"Why don't you make the same offer to Peter?" asked
Virlomi. "He's the one who needs to take the long voyage."
She decided she wasn't going to get a better exit line than
that, so she walked slowly, gracefully, to the door. No one spoke as she
departed.
Her sailors helped her back into the rowboat and cast off.
Peter did not come to the rail to wave her off; just another discourtesy, not
that she would have acknowledged him even if he had. As for Graff and Rackham,
they'd soon enough be coming to her for funding—no, for permission to operate
their little colony ministry.
The dhow took her back to a different fishing village from
the one she had sailed from—no point in making things easy for Alai, if he had
discovered her departure from Hyderabad and followed her.
She rode a train back to Hyderabad, passing
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