Shadow of the giant

boss.
    "But the truth that underlies the joke," said
Bean, "is that Petra herself is a match for Alai. So am I. And Virlomi is
no match for any of us."
    Petra hoped that this was true. Virlomi now had years of
experience in the field—if not in the logistics of moving huge armies, then in
exactly the kind of small operations that would be most effective in Armenia.
    "We have to think about it," said the President.
    "Then we're where we were before," said the
Foreign Minister. "Thinking."
    Bean rose to his feet—a formidable sight, these days—and
bowed to them. "Thank you for meeting with us."
    "Wouldn't it be better," said the Prime Minister,
"if you could get this new Hindu-Muslim ... thing ... to go to war against
China?"
    "Oh, that would eventually happen," said Bean.
"But when? The FPE wants to break the back of Caliph Alai's Muslim League
now. Before it grows any stronger."
    And Petra knew they were all thinking: Before Bean dies.
Because Bean is the most important weapon.
    The President rose from his seat, but then laid a
restraining hand on the other two. "We have Petra Arkanian here. And
Julian Delphiki. Couldn't we ask them to consult with our military on our
preparations for war?"
    "I notice there are no military men here," said
Petra. "I don't want them to feel that we've been thrust on them."
    "They won't feel that way," said the Foreign
Minister blandly. But Petra knew that the military was not represented here
because they were eager to join the FPE, precisely because they did not feel
adequate, by themselves, to defend Armenia. There would be no problems with a
tour of inspection.
    After the top leadership of Armenia left the Arkanian flat,
Father and Petra flung themselves down on the furniture and Bean stretched out
on the floor, and at once began discussing what had just happened and what they
thought would happen.
    Mother came in as the conversation was winding down.
"All asleep, the little darlings," she said. "Stefan will drop
David off after the movie, but we have a little while, just us grown-ups."
    "Well, good," said Father.
    "We were just discussing," said Petra,
"whether it was a waste of time for us to come here."
    Mother rolled her eyes. "How can it be a waste of
time?" And then, to everyone's surprise, she burst into tears.
    "What is it?" At once she was enveloped in the
concern of her husband and daughter.
    "Nothing," she said. "I just ... you didn't
come here and bring these babies because you had negotiations. Nothing happened
here that couldn't have happened by teleconference."
    "Then why do you think we're here?" asked Petra.
    "You came to say good-bye."
    Petra looked at Bean and, for the first time, realized that
this might be true. "If we are," she said, "it wasn't our
plan."
    "But it's what you're doing," said Mother.
"You came in person because you might not see us again. Because of the
war!"
    "No," said Bean. "Not because of the
war."
    "Mother, you know Bean's condition."
    "I'm not blind! I can see that he's giraffed up so he
can hardly get into houses!"
    "And so are Ender and Bella. They have Bean's same
condition. So once we get all our other children, we're going out into space.
At light-speed. So we can take advantage of relativistic effects. So that Bean
will be alive when they finally find a cure."
    Father shook his head.
    "Then we'll be dead before you come home," said
Mother.
    "Pretend I'm away at Battle School again," said Petra.
    "I get these grandchildren, but... then I don't get
them." Mother cried again.
    "I won't leave," said Bean, "until we've got
Peter Wiggin safely in control of things."
    "Which is why you're in such a hurry to get this war
started," said Father. "Why not just tell them?"
    "We need them to have confidence in me," said
Bean. "Telling them that I might die in mid-campaign won't reassure them
about joining the FPE."
    "So these babies will grow up on a starship?"
asked Mother, skeptically.
    "Our joy," said Petra, "will be to see them
grow old—without any of them growing as big as their father."
    Bean raised one enormous foot. "These are tough shoes
to fill."
    "It really is true," said Petra, "that this
war—in Armenia—is the one we want to fight. All these hills. It will go
slowly."
    "Slowly?" asked Father. "Isn't that the
opposite of what you want?"
    "What we want," said Bean, "is for the war to
end as soon as possible. But this is one case where going slow will speed us
up."
    "You're the brilliant strategists," said Father,
heading for