Ambition Read Online Free PDF Page A

unbelievers.
    It was a stain on the historical record, brought about by ignorance, fanaticism, self-intoxication, and intolerance, and was bitter proof of the fact that those who believed, without doubting, in God and in justice could become the most brutal, the most violent of all people. Were these Terraists trying to re-create on a galactic scale a folly more than 2,400 years in the past?
    There was a proverb that said, “He who works virtue does so in solitude, but he who works folly seeks companions.” Grief awaited anyone who followed after such people.
    But was this movement to recapture Earth really nothing more than the foolishness it appeared to be on the surface?
    Behind the Crusades, there had been seafaring merchants in Venice and Genoa who planned to weaken the influence of the unbelievers and monopolize trade between the East and the West. Ambition backed by cold calculation had been supporting that fanaticism. Supposing that bit of history were to repeat itself as well …
    Could the third power, Phezzan, be behind this?
    Yang was stunned at the thought as it came to him in a flash in the back of his mind. In the seat of the narrow taxi, he moved so suddenly that Julian’s eyes snapped open wide, and he asked him what was the matter. After giving him a vague answer, Yang sank into thought again.
    From Phezzan’s standpoint, it would be most welcome for the empire and alliance to reach new levels of mutual hatred and killing in a dispute over Earth. That much he could see. However, if both sides were to fall, and there were a complete collapse of order, wouldn’t it be Phezzan—a nation dependent on commerce—that would be most distressed? Unless the activity were limited to a range that could be controlled by Phezzan’s will and calculations, fomenting something like this would be meaningless. And it was safe to say that the energy of a fanatical spirit would inevitably break free of control and explode. There was no way that Phezzan didn’t know that.
    He couldn’t believe that they were seriously aiming to recapture Earth militarily and restore its lost glory, but …
    “I just don’t understand it,” Yang murmured with an unintentional grimace. “What is Phezzan thinking?” Then, amused at himself, he thought ruefully, I’m worrying too much over nothing—it’s hardly certain that Phezzan has anything to do with this Terraism movement at all .
    They arrived back at Yang’s official residence, and wanting a drink to help clear his exhaustion, Yang called out to Julian.
    “Can you get me a brandy?”
    “We’ve got some vegetable juice, but …”
    After a pause, Yang said, “Now listen here, you think inspiration comes from vegetable juice?”
    “What matters is how hard you’re trying.”
    “Gah! Where’d you pick up an expression like that?”
    “Everyone on Iserlohn is my teacher.”
    Yang growled as the faces of the venom-tongued Caselnes and von Schönkopf rose up in his mind.
    “I should’ve given your boyhood educational environment a little more thought.”
    Julian smiled and reminded Yang it was “just one glass” as he brought him his brandy.
V
    The party was an improvement, at least when compared to the ceremony that had preceded it.
    Although the humorless, rambling speeches from politicians, financiers, and high-ranking bureaucrats continued, there was predictably little hysterical content here.
    At Iserlohn as well, parties were held for the purpose of military-civilian relations, but as the one ultimately responsible for them, Yang insisted on doing things in his own personal style. When asked to give a speech, he would say, “Everyone, please enjoy the party,” and with that be done with it. In both the military and the private sector, there were many notable persons who loved giving speeches, but when Yang did that, the other dignitaries had no choice but to shorten their speeches as well.
    “Admiral Yang’s two-second speech” had become an Iserlohn