Capitol - By Orson Scott Card Page 0,42

Peninsula. Herman stared in disbelief. It had only been overnight, and suddenly all the revolutions had come at once.

It was unprecedented in history. How could the computer have been so mad? It had to be a malfunction. Many empires had faced rebellion, but never, never so general-- never universal revolution. Even the army was in mutiny. And the enemies of Italy were madly plunging over the borders to take advantage of the situation.

"Grey!" Herman shouted over the phone. "Grey, do you know what hes doing?"

"How can I help it?" Grey asked nastily. "All the gamesplayers on my staff have been chattering about it all morning."

"How did he do it?"

"Look, Herman, you're the games expert. I don't even play, all right? And I've got work to do. Did you meet with him?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"He's my grandson."

"I wondered if he'd tell you."

"You knew?"

"Of course," Grey answered. "And I had his psychologicat profile. Do you think I would have let you meet him alone if I hadn't been sure he had no intention of harming you?"

"Not harming me? What about those walking turds he had beat me to a pudding last week?"

"Retaliation, Herman, that's all. He's a good retaliator."

"You're fired!" Herman shouted, slamming the button on the console that disconnected the conversation. And he watched grimly, hour after hour, as the loyal fragments of Italy's army attempted to cope with the mutiny and revolution and invasion all at once. It was impossible, and by late afternoon, the only pink areas on the globe were in Gaul, Iberia, Italy itself, and a small pocket in Poland.

The computer reported that Doon's persona, the dictator of Italy, had vanished, and would-be assassins couldn't put him to death. And as Rome itself fell to an invading army from Nigeria and America, he knew that now defeat and destruction were inevitable. Impossible yesterday, inevitable today.

Still he fought his despair, and sent an urgent message to Grey, forgetting that he had fired him that morning. Grey responded as deferently as ever.

"Offer to buy Italy," Herman said.

"Now? The thing's in ruins."

"I might pull it out. I still might. Surely he's proved his point by now."

"I'll try," Grey said.

But by late evening, there was no pink on the board. The other players and the computer's ironclad adherence to the laws of public behavior had left the game no chance of Italy's rebirth. The information appeared on the status lists. "Iran: newly independent; Italy: discontinued; Japan: at war with China and India over the domination of Siberia..." No special notice. Nothing. Italy: discontinued.

Grimly Herman played back all the information he could find in the computer. How had Doon done it? It was impossible. But for hours as he pored over the information the computer gave him, Herman began to see the endless machinations that Doon had set in motion, always postponing revolution here, advancing it there, antagonizing here, soothing there, so that when the full revolution erupted it was universal; so that when Italy's defeat was obvious, there was no lingering desire to have some fragment of it remain. He had gauged the hatred better than the computer itself; he had destroyed more thoroughly than any man had ever built. And in his bitterness at the wrecking of his creation, Herman still had to recognize a kind of majesty in what Doon had done. But it was a satanic majesty, a regal power to destroy.

"A mighty hunter before the Lord," said Doon, and Herman whirled to see Doon standing in his living room.

"How did you get in here," Herman stammered.

"I have connections," Doon said, smiling. "I knew you'd never let me in, and I had to see you."

"You've seen me," Herman said, and turned away.

"It went faster than I thought it would," Doon said.

"Glad to know something could surprise you."

Doon might have said more, but at that point Herman's self-control, overstrained that day, broke down. He didn't weep, but he did grip the console of the computer far too tightly, as if afraid that when he let go the centrifugal force of Capitol's rotation would throw him into space.

Grey and two doctors came at Doon's anonymous call, and the doctors pried Herman's fingers away hvm the console and led him to bed. A sedative and some instructions to Grey, and they left again. It was only mild-- too much in one day, that's all. He'd feel much better when he woke up.
* * *

Herman felt much better when he woke up. He had slept dreamlessly-- the sedatives did their work well. The false sunlight