Shadow of the giant

if you thought it
would work. If you thought one of them would emerge triumphant. What you
couldn't stand was the knowledge that they were so evenly matched that none of
them would win. They'd use up the resources of Earth, all that surplus
population, and still there'd be no clear winner."
    "That wouldn't help anything," said Rackham.
    "So if you could have found a cure for Bean's
condition, you wouldn't need me. Because Bean could do it. He could defeat the
others. He could unite the world. Because he's so much better than they
are."
    "But he's going to die," said Rackham.
    "And you love him," said Peter. "So you're
going to try to save his life."
    "We want him to help you win first."
    "That's not possible," said Peter. "Not in
the time he has left."
    "By 'win,' " said Rackham, "I mean, we want
him to help you get into a position where your victory is inevitable, given
your abilities. Right now, you could be stopped by all kinds of chance events.
Having Bean increases your power and influence. Another thing that would help
is if we could get the rest of the Jeesh off this planet. If we've removed from
the board all the pieces that could challenge you—if, in effect, you're the
queen in a game of knights and bishops—then you won't need Bean anymore."
    "I'll need somebody," said Peter. "I'm not
trained for war the way these Battle School kids were. And as you said, I'm not
the kind of guy that soldiers want to die for."
    Rackham leaned forward. "Peter, tell us what you're
planning."
    "I'm not planning anything," said Peter. "I'm
simply waiting. When I met Virlomi, I realized that she was the key to
everything. She's volatile, she's powerful, and she's drunk. I knew that she'd
do something destabilizing. Something that would break things apart."
    "So you think the war between India and China will
happen? And that Alai's Muslim League will be drawn into it?"
    "That's possible," said Peter. "I hope it
won't happen."
    "But if it does, you'll be poised to attack Alai when
his forces are tied up fighting China."
    "No," said Peter.
    "No?"
    "We're not going to attack anybody," he said.
    "Then ... what?" said Rackham. "Whoever
emerges from that war—"
    "I don't think that war's going to amount to
much," said Peter, "if it happens at all. But if it does happen, then
both sides will be weakened by it. There's no shortage of ambitious nations
ready to step in and pick up the pieces."
    "So what do you think is going to happen?"
    "I don't know," said Peter. "I wish you'd
believe me. There's only one thing I'm sure of. Alai's and Virlomi's marriage
is doomed. And if you want either or both of them to command any of your
precious colonies, you'd better make sure you're ready to get them off planet
fast."
    "Are you planning something?" asked Rackham.
    "No! Aren't you listening? I'm watching the whole damn
thing just like you are! I've already played my cards—making the Muslim
leadership suspicious of my intentions. Provoking them. Plus a little quiet
diplomacy."
    "With whom?"
    "With Russia," said Peter.
    "You're trying to get them to join with you in
attacking Alai? Or China?"
    "No, no, no," said Peter. "If I tried
anything like that, word would get out, and then what Muslim nation would ever,
ever join the FPE?"
    "So what are you doing with your diplomacy?"
    "Begging the Russians to stay out of it."
    "In other words, pointing out the opportunity and
telling them that you're not going to interfere in any way."
    "Yes," said Peter.
    "Politics is so ... indirect."
    "That's why conquerors rarely make great rulers."
    "And great rulers are rarely conquerors."
    "You closed the door on my becoming a conqueror,"
said Peter. "So if I'm to be the ruler of the world—a good one—then I have
to win that position in such a way as not to have to keep killing people in
order to stay in power. It does the world no good if everything depends on me,
if it all collapses when I die. I need to build this thing piece by piece, bit
by bit, with powerful institutions that have their own momentum, so that it
will make very little difference who's at the head. It's what I learned from
growing up in America. It was a nation created out of nothing—nothing but a set
of ideals that they never measured up to. Now and then they had great leaders,
but usually nothing but political hacks, and I mean right from the start.
Washington was great, but Adams was paranoid and lazy, and Jefferson was as
vile a scheming politician as a nation has ever been cursed