The tectonics of empires are shifting.
The plates of power are overlaying other powers.
The plates of force are grinding down civilizations.
Those are plates of omnipotence:
of empires begging for society's compliance.
I had a feeling that most people at the Physicist's Conference in Venice supported us. Against all expectations we got a standing ovation at the end for what Steve had presented. The applause for him appeared to be more than just a gesture of respect for his stature in the scientific community as a renowned professor in the field of theoretical physics. In spite of the initial boos and heckling the applause in the end was evidently an infinitely greater acknowledgment of what we stood for and what we were trying to accomplish than Stravinsky had received on his opening night of the Rite of Spring.
Ross, our second man in scientific authority on this diplomatic mission, said that we should celebrate, because we had achieved a victory against the strongest possible opposition, namely that of the scientists who had worked on the project that we canceled, and then turned it upside down on them. Still, unlike everyone else, I didn't feel that much like celebrating. Something was up that was troubling me. Something wasn't right. Something was in the air that was hard to put ones finger on, something that dominated the background that could now no longer be ignored, like the danger of an avalanche in the mountain after a heavy snowfall. We had dared to do what had not been done since the days of the League of Cambrai in 1509. Like the Renaissance powers had threatened Venice with extinction, the leading slave-trader and looting empire of this time, we had dared to declare war against the modern fondi and had done it symbolically on their own home ground, right at the heart of Venice.
We had done precisely what I had recognized that the Renaissance powers had done wrong. We had repeated their mistake, their crucial mistake that became their undoing. Steve's speech at the physicist's conference was in all respects a hidden declaration of war against the fondi. I had a feeling that we would be paying a steep price for this, and possibly for a long time to come.
As it was, we received the fondi's response in short order. There was a letter waiting for me the next evening before our departure. The letter had been stuck under our hotel room door while we were out for supper. It was from the man from the fondi. The letter was addressed to me directly.
"Congratulations," the letter said, "you have won this battle. The fondi have lost this round, but don't celebrate yet. You have not won the war, and you never will. There are other methods the fondi will now use, and other times they will select to destroy America and the USSR. Think about that. Actually they like what is now taking place. Having you as an opponent adds a little spice to the fight, though you will never win. You won't win, even with all the backing that your Uncle Sam can give you. You simply are not in the same league with the fondi. Also, you are a fool. You should have found a way to negotiate with the Russians to keep the SDI alive for both country's sake."
The person that wrote the letter wrote that this was not the fondi's view, but his own.
"The fondi's long-range target is China, not Russia," he wrote. "Russia is useful to them as a trigger to draw the USA into a nuclear confrontation that will not only destroy both nations, but create the background in which their other stooges can destroy China, India, Iran, and Indonesia in one fell swoop. Your friend, Steve, was right in what he said, but he didn't think far enough ahead. He didn't see the danger to China. His bungling proves my point, that you are amateurs when it comes to geopolitical games."
He remarked sarcastically that this is what we will always be, amateurs.
