So they spent that morning writing each component of the plan. Sayagi, as their de facto leader, assembled them into a single, fairly coherent set of documents. In the meantime, Petra browsed the net and worked on the project she had been assigned by Achilles, taking no part in what they were doing. They didn't need her for this, and it was her desk that was most closely monitored by Achilles. As long as she was being obedient, Achilles might not notice that the others were not.
When they were almost done, she spoke up, even though she knew that Achilles would be notified quickly of what she said-that he might even be listening through that hearing aid in his ear. "Before you email it," she said, "post it."
At first they probably thought she meant the internal posting, where they could all read it. But then they saw that, using her fingernail on a piece of rough tan toilet paper, she had scratched a net address and was now holding it out.
It was Peter Wiggin's "Locke" forum.
They looked at her like she was crazy. To post military plans in a public place?
But then Sayagi began to nod. "They intercept all our emails," he said. "This is the only way it will get to Chapekar himself."
"To make military secrets public," someone said. He did not need to finish. They knew the penalty.
"Satyagraha," said Sayagi. He took the toilet paper with the address and sat down to go to that netsite. "I am the one doing this, and no one else," he said. "The rest of you warned me not to. There is no reason for more than one person to risk the consequences." Moments later, the data was flowing to Peter Wiggin's forum.
Only then did he send it as email to the general command-which would be routed through Achilles' computer.
"Sayagi," someone said. "Did you see what else is posted here? On this netsite?"
Petra also moved to the Locke forum and discovered that the lead essay on Locke's site was headed, "Chinese treachery and the fall of India." The subhead said, "Will China, too, fall victim to a psychopath's twisted plans?"
Even as they were reading Locke's essay detailing how China had made promises to both Thailand and India, and would attack now that both armies were fully exposed and, in India's case, overextended, they received emails that contained the same essay, pushed into the system on an urgent basis. That meant it had already been cleared at the top-Chapekar knew what Locke was alleging.
Therefore, their emailed plans for immediate withdrawal of Indian troops from Burma had reached Chapekar at exactly the time when he knew they would be necessary.
"Toguro," breathed Sayagi. "We look like geniuses."
"We are geniuses," someone grumbled, and everyone laughed.
"Does anyone think," asked the Tamil, "we'll hear another pep talk from our Belgian friend about how well the war is going?"
Almost as an answer, they heard gunfire outside.
Petra felt a thrill of hope run through her: Achilles tried to make a run for it, and he was shot.
But then a more practical idea replaced her hope: Achilles foresaw this possibility, and has his own forces already in place to cover his escape.
And finally, despair: When he comes for me, will it be to kill me, or take me with him?
More gunfire.
"Maybe," said Sayagi, "we ought to disperse."
He was walking toward the door when it opened and Achilles came in, followed by six Sikhs carrying automatic weapons. "Have a seat, Sayagi," said Achilles. "I'm afraid we have a hostage situation here. Someone made some libelous assertions about me on the nets, and when I declined to be detained during the inquiry, shooting began. Fortunately, I have some friends, and while we're waiting for them to provide me with transportation to a neutral location, you are my guarantors of safety."
Immediately, the two Battle School grads who were Sikhs stood up and said, to Achilles' soldiers, "Are we under threat of death from you?"
"As long as you serve the oppressor," one of them answered.
"He is the oppressor!" one of the Sikh Battle Schoolers said, pointing to Achilles.
"Do you think the Chinese will be any kinder to our people than New Delhi has?" said the other.
"Remember how the Chinese treated Tibet and Taiwan! That is our future, because of him!"
The Sikh soldiers were obviously wavering.
Achilles drew a pistol from his back and shot the soldiers dead, one after another. The last two had time to try to rush at him, but every shot he fired struck home.
The pistol shots still rang in the room when Sayagi said, "Why didn't they shoot you?"
"I had them unload their weapons before entering the room," Achilles said. "I told them we didn't want any accidents. But don't think you can overpower me because I'm alone with a half-empty clip. This room has long been wired with explosives, and they go off when my heart stops beating or when I activate the controller implanted under the skin of my chest."
A pocket phone beeped and, without lowering his gun, Achilles answered it. "No, I'm afraid one of my soldiers went out of control, and in order to keep the children safe, I had to shoot some of my own men. The situation is unchanged. I am monitoring the perimeter. Keep back, and these children will be safe."
Petra wanted to laugh. Most of the Battle Schoolers here were older than Achilles himself.
Achilles clicked off the phone and pocketed it. "I'm afraid I told them that I had you as my hostages before it was actually true."
"Caught you with your pants down, ne?'' said Sayagi. "You had no way of knowing you'd need hostages, or that we'd all be here. There are no explosives in this room."
Achilles turned to him and calmly shot him in the head. Sayagi crumpled and fell. Several of the others cried out. Achilles calmly changed clips.
No one charged him while he was reloading.
Not even, thought Petra, me.
There's nothing like casual murder to turn the onlookers into vegetables.
"Satyagraha," said Petra.
Achilles whirled on her. "What was that? What language?"
"Hindi," she said. "It means, 'One bears what one must.' "
"No more Hindi," said Achilles. "From anyone. Or any other language but Common. And if you talk, it had better be to me, and it had better not be something stupid and defiant like the words that got Sayagi killed. If all goes well, my relief should be here in only a few hours. And then Petra and I will go away and leave you to your new government. A Chinese government."
Many of them looked at Petra then. She smiled at Achilles. "So your tent door is still open?"
He smiled back. Warmly. Lovingly. Like a kiss.
But she knew that he was taking her away solely in order to relish the time in which she would have false hopes, before he pushed her from a helicopter or strangled her on the tarmac or, if he grew too impatient, simply shot her as she prepared to follow him out of this room. His time with her was over. His triumph was near-the architect of China's conquest of India, returning to China as a hero. Already plotting how he would take control of the Chinese government and then set out to conquer the other half of the world's population.
For now, though, she was alive, and so were the other Battle Schoolers, except Sayagi. The reason Sayagi died, of course, was not what he said to Achilles. He died because he was the one who posted the withdrawal plans on Locke's forum. Being plans for a retreat under unpredictable fire, they were still usable even with Chinese troops pouring down into Burma, even with Chinese planes bombing the retreating soldiers. The Indian commanders would be able to make a stand. The Chinese would have to fight hard before they won.
But they would win. The Indian defense could last no more than a few days, no matter how bravely they fought. That was when the trucks would stop rolling and food and munitions would run out. The war was already lost. There was only a little time for the Indian elite to attempt to flee before the Chinese swept in, unresisted, with their behead-the-society method of controlling an occupied country.