Read Online Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card - Free Book Online

ask.”
    Bean knew. It was America. Big sleepy do-nothing America. Burned out from trying to police the world back in the twenty-first century, disgusted at the way their efforts earned them nothing but hatred and resentment, they declared victory and went home. They kept the strongest military in the world and closed their doors to immigration.
    And when the Buggers came, it was American military might that finally blew up those first exploratory ships that scoured the surface of some of the best agricultural land in China, killing millions. It was America that mostly funded and directed the construction of the inter-planetary warships that resisted the Second Invasion long enough for New Zealander Mazer Rackham to find the Hive Queen’s vulnerability and destroy the enemy.
    It was America that was secretly funding the I.F. now, developing new ships. Getting its hand into the business of interstellar trade at a time when no other nation on Earth could even attempt to compete.
    “And how will it be in their interest for the world to be united, except under their leadership?”
    Rackham smiled. “So now you know how deep our game has to be.”
    Bean smiled back. So Graff had sold his colony program to the Americans—probably on the basis of future trade and a probable American monopoly. And in the meantime, he was backing Peter in the hope that he could unite the world under one government. Which would mean, eventually, a showdown between America and the Hegemon.
    “And when the day comes,” said Bean, “when America expects the I.F., which it’s been paying for and researching for, to come to its aid against a powerful Hegemon, what will the I.F. do?”
    “What did Suriyawong do when Achilles ordered him to kill you?”
    “Gave him a knife and told him to defend himself.” Bean nodded. “But will the I.F. obey you? If you’re counting on the reputation of Mazer Rackham, remember that hardly anybody knows you’re alive.”
    “I’m counting on the I.F. living up to the code of honor that every soldier has drummed into him from the start. No interference on Earth.”
    “Even as you break that code yourself.”
    “We’re not interfering,” said Rackham. “Not with troops or ships. Just a little information here and there. A dollop of money. And a little, tiny bit of recruitment. Help us, Bean. While you’re still on Earth. The minute you’re ready to go, we’ll send you, no delays. But while you’re here…”
    “What if I don’t believe Peter’s as decent a man as you think he is?”
    “He’s better than Achilles.”
    “So was Augustus,” said Bean. “But he laid the foundation for Nero and Caligula.”
    “He laid a foundation that survived Caligula and Nero and lasted for a millennium and a half, in one form or another.”
    “And you think that’s Peter?”
    “We do,” said Rackham. “I do.”
    “As long as you understand that Peter won’t do a thing I say, won’t listen to me or anyone, and will go on making idiotic mistakes that I can’t prevent, then…yes. I’ll help him, as much as he’ll let me.”
    “That’s all we ask.”
    “But I’ll still give my first priority to finding my children.”
    “How about this,” said Rackham. “How about if we tell you where Volescu is?”
    “You know?”
    “He’s in one of our safe houses,” said Rackham.
    “He accepted the protection of the I.F.?”
    “He thinks it’s part of Achilles’s old network.”
    “ Is it?”
    “Somebody had to take over his assets.”
    “Somebody could only do that if they knew where his assets were.”
    “Who do you think maintains all the communications satellites?” asked Rackham.
    “So the I.F. is spying on Earth.”
    “Just as a mother spies on her children at play in the yard.”
    “Good to know you’re looking out for us, Mummy.”
    Rackham leaned foward. “Bean, we make our plans, but we know we might fail. Ultimately, it all comes down to this. We’ve seen human beings at their best,