"Peter, it's not about brains," said Bean. "It's about playing the hand you're dealt."
"Virlomi has the stronger hand," said Petra.
"I don't see it," said Peter. "What am I missing?"
"Han Tzu won't just sit there while the Muslim armies try to subdue India. The Muslim supply lines either run across the vast Asian desert or through India or by sea from Indonesia. If the Indian supply lines are cut, how long can Alai hold his armies there in numbers sufficient to keep Han Tzu contained?"
Peter nodded. "So you think Alai will run out of food and bullets before Virlomi runs out of Indians."
"I think," said Bean, "that what we just saw was a marriage proposal."
Peter laughed. But since Bean and Petra weren't laughing..."What are you talking about?"
"Virlomi is India," said Bean. "She just said so. And Han Tzu is China. And Alai is Islam. So will it be India and China against the world, or Islam and India against the world? Who can sell that marriage to their own people? Which throne will sit beside the throne of India? Whichever one it is, that's more than half the population of the world, united."
Peter closed his eyes. "So we don't want either to happen."
"Don't worry," said Bean. "Whichever happens, it won't last."
"You're not always right," said Peter. "You can't see that far ahead."
Bean shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. I'll be dead before it all shakes out."
Petra growled and stood up and paced.
"I don't know what to do," said Peter. "I tried to talk to Alai, and all I did was provoke a coup. Or rather, Petra did that." He couldn't hide his annoyance. "I wanted him to control his people, but they're out of control. They're roasting cows in the streets of Madras and Bombay and then killing the Hindus who riot. They're beheading any Indian that someone accuses of being a lapsed Muslim--or even the grandchild of lapsed Muslims. Do I just sit here and watch the world collapse into war?"
Petra snapped at him. "I thought that was part of your plan. To make yourself seem indispensable."
"I don't have a great plan," said Peter. "I just...respond. And I'm asking you about it instead of figuring things out on my own because the last time I ignored your advice it was a disaster. But now I find out you don't actually have any advice. Just predictions and assumptions."
"I'm sorry," said Bean. "It didn't cross my mind you were asking for advice."
"Well, I am," said Peter.
"Here's my advice," said Bean. "Your goal isn't to avoid war."
"Yes it is," said Peter.
Bean rolled his eyes. "So much for listening."
"I'm listening," said Peter.
"Your goal is to establish a new order in which war between nations becomes impossible. But to get to that utopian place, there's going to have to be enough war that people will know the thing they're desperate to avoid."
"I'm not going to encourage war," said Peter. "It would discredit me completely as a peacemaker. I got this job because I'm Locke!"
"If you stop objecting and listen," said Petra, "you'll eventually get Bean's advice."
"I'm the great strategist, after all," said Bean with a wry smile. "And the tallest man in the Hegemony compound."
"I'm listening," said Peter again.
"You're right, you can't encourage war. But you also can't afford to try to stop wars that can't be stopped. If you're seen to try and fail, you're weak. The reason Locke was able to broker a peace between the Warsaw Pact and the West was that neither side wanted war. America wanted to stay home and make money, and Russia didn't want to run the risk of provoking I.F. intervention. You can only negotiate peace when both sides want it--badly enough to give up something in order to get it. Right now, nobody wants to negotiate. The Indians can't--they're occupied, and their occupiers don't believe they pose a threat. The Chinese can't--it's politically impossible for a Chinese ruler to settle for any boundary short of the borders of Han China. And Alai can't because his own people are so flushed with victory that they can't see any reason to give anything up."
"So I do nothing."
"You organize relief efforts for the famine in India," said Petra.