Part 4 (1/2)

”All right,” I said. ”But I got you the men and their arms--”

”Sure you did,” he said. ”You got me everything I needed--to hang myself with.” He raised a hand. ”I'm not saying you worked against me.

You didn't have to.”

”I got you everything you wanted,” I said.

”Sure,” he said. ”Did you ever hear of jujitsu?”

”I--”

”You used my strength against me,” he said. ”You got me what I wanted--and did it in such a way that it would ruin me.”

”But the attack was a success,” I said.

He shook his head. ”How many men are going to come back?” he said.

”Fifty? Sixty? How many of them are going to get lost out there, return to the city, try to go up against New Didymus with a heater and nothing else? How many of them have had all the excitement they want?

Those are going to head for home. A success--”

He paused. I waited.

”There was a general in Greece in the ancient days,” he said. ”A general named Pyrrhus. He won a battle once, and lost most of his men doing it. 'For my part,' he said, 'another victory like this and we are undone.' That's the kind of success we had.”

Hollerith had brains. ”A Pyrrhic victory,” I said.

”And you know all about it,” he said. ”You planned it this way.”

I shrugged. ”By doing what you wanted done,” I said.

He nodded, very slowly.

”What now?” I said quietly.

He acted, for a second, as if he didn't hear me. Then he spoke. ”Now,”

he said, ”we go back. Democracy--it's a limited tool, like anything else. No tool is so good that it can be used in every case, on every problem. We were wrong. We'd better admit it and go back.”