"Canada," said Graff. "New Zealand. Sweden. America. Noncompliants who don't make speeches about it get along decently there. You wouldn't be the only ones who had children going to different schools, with the authorities looking the other way, because they hate punishing children for the sins of the parents."
"Which is best?" asked John Paul. "Which has the most Catholics?"
"America. The most Poles and the most Catholics. And Americans always think international laws are for other people anyway, so they don't take Hegemony rules quite as seriously."
"Could we go there?" asked John Paul.
"No," said Father. He was sitting up now, his head still bowed in pain and humiliation.
"John Paul," said Graff, "we don't want you to go to America. We want you to go to Battle School."
"I won't go unless my family is in a place where we won't be hungry and where my brothers and sisters can go to school. I'll just stay here."
"He's not going anyway," said Father, "no matter what you say, no matter what you promise, no matter what John Paul decides."
"Oh, yes, you," said Graff. "You just committed the felony of striking an officer of the International Fleet, for which the penalty is imprisonment for a term of not less than three years--but you know how the courts put much heavier penalties on noncompliants who are convicted of crime. My guess would be seven or eight years. It's all recorded, of course, the entire thing."
"You came into our house as a spy," said Mother. "You provoked him."
"I spoke the truth to you, and you didn't like hearing it," said Graff. "I did not raise a hand against Professor Wieczorek or anyone in your family."
"Please," said Father. "Don't send me to jail."
"Of course I won't," said Graff. "I don't want you in jail. But I also don't want you issuing foolish declarations of what will or will not happen, no matter what I say, no matter what I promise, no matter what John Paul decides."
This was why Graff had goaded Father, John Paul understood now. To make sure Father had no choice but to go along with whatever John Paul and Graff decided between them.
"What are you going to do to me to make me do what you want," said John Paul, "the way you did with Father?"
"It won't do me any good," said Graff, "if you come with me unwillingly."
"I won't come with you willingly unless my family is in a place where they can be happy."
"There is no such place in a world ruled by the Hegemony," said Father.
But now it was Mother who stopped Father from speaking more. With a gentle hand she touched his face. "We can be good Catholics in another place," she said. "For us to leave here, that doesn't take bread out of the mouths of our neighbors. It harms no one. Look what John Paul is trying to do for us." She turned to John Paul. "I'm sorry I didn't know the truth about you. I'm sorry I was such a bad teacher for you." Then she burst into tears.
Father put his arm around her, pulled her close, rocked her, the two of them sitting on the floor, comforting each other.
Graff looked at John Paul, eyebrows raised, as if to say, I've removed all the obstacles, so...do what I want.
But things weren't yet the way John Paul wanted them.
"You'll cheat me," said John Paul. "You'll take us to America but then if I still decide not to go, you'll threaten to send everybody back here, worse off than before, and that's how you'll force me to go."
Graff did not answer for a moment.
"So I won't go," said John Paul.
"You'll cheat me," said Graff. "You'll get me to move your family to America and set you up in a better life, and then you'll refuse to go anyway, and you'll expect the International Fleet to allow your family to continue to enjoy the benefits of our bargain without your living up to your end of it."
John Paul did not answer, because there was no answer. That was exactly what John Paul was planning to do. Graff knew it, and John Paul didn't bother to deny it. Because knowing John Paul planned to cheat him did not change anything.
"I don't think he'll do that," said the woman.
But John Paul knew she was lying. She was quite concerned that he might do that. But she was even more concerned that Graff would walk away from the bargain John Paul was asking for. This was the confirmation John Paul needed. It really was very important to these people to get John Paul into Battle School. Therefore they would agree to a very bad bargain as long as it gave them some hope that he might go.
Or else they knew that no matter what they agreed to now, they could go back on their word whenever they wanted. After all, they were the International Fleet, and the Wieczoreks were just a noncompliant family in a noncompliant country.