"After I left, to notify the Hegemon of what was happening, so that perhaps my friends from Battle School could be saved from Achilles's plan to murder them all--when that errand was done, I set up resistance to Chinese rule in the mountains of the East. But back in Battle School, led by a brilliant and brave and beautiful young man named Sayagi, the Battle Schoolers drew up plans that would have saved India, if you had followed them. At risk of their own lives, they published it on the nets, knowing that Achilles would let none of it get to you if they submitted it through him. Did you see the plans?"
"I was not in the habit of getting my war plans from the nets."
"No. You got your plans from our enemy."
"I didn't know that."
"You should have known. It was plain enough what Achilles was. You saw what we saw. The difference is, we hated him, and you admired him--for exactly the same traits."
"I never saw the plans."
"You never asked the most brilliant minds in India for a shred of advice. Instead, you trusted a Belgian psychopath. And followed his advice to make unprovoked war on Burma and Thailand, pouring out war on nations that had done no harm to us. A man who embraces the voice of evil when it whispers in his ear is no less evil than the whisperer."
"I'm not impressed by your ability to coin aphorisms."
"Sayagi defied Achilles to his face, and Achilles shot him dead."
"Then he was foolish to do it."
"Dead as he is, Sayagi has more value to India than you have ever had or will ever have in all the days of your life."
"I'm sorry he's dead. But I'm not dead."
"You're mistaken. Sayagi lives on in the spirit of India. But you are dead, Tikal Chapekar. You are as dead as a man can be, and still breathe."
"So now it comes to threats."
"I asked my aides to bring you to me so I could help you understand what will now happen to you. There is nothing for you in India. Sooner or later you will leave and make a life for yourself somewhere else."
"I will never leave."
"Only on the day you leave will you begin to understand Satyagraha."
"Peaceful noncompliance?"
"Willingness to suffer, yourself and in person, for a cause you believe is right. Only when you are willing to embrace Satyagraha will you begin to atone for what you have done to India. Now you should go."
Chapekar did not realize anyone had been listening. He might have stayed to argue, but the moment she said those words, a man came into the hut and drew him out.
He had thought they would let him go, but they didn't, not until they led him into the town and sat him down in the back room of a small office and brought up a notice on the nets.
It was his own picture. A short vid taken as the young man tossed dirt onto him.
"Tikal Chapekar is back," said a voice.
The picture changed to show Chapekar in his glory days. Brief clips and stills.
"Tikal Chapekar brought war to India by attacking Burma and Thailand without any provocation, all to try to make himself a great man."
Now there were pictures of Indian victims of atrocities. "Instead, he was taken captive by the Chinese. He wasn't here to help us in our hour of need."
The picture of him with dirt being flung on him returned to the screen.
"Now he's back from captivity, and he wants to rule over India."
A picture of Chapekar talking cheerfully with the Muslim guards outside the gates of the compound. "He wants to help our Muslim overlords rule over us forever."
Again with the dirt-flinging.