The Devil You Know Read Online Free PDF Page B

me.”
    The customer is always right; if we had a physical headquarters, that would be written up on the wall in golden letters. But you can’t help speculating. Why would a man want to invade a country? The primeval will to power, maybe, or perhaps he likes watching the way blood changes colour when it soaks away into the dust. A philosopher? He might want to observe the changes that absolute power made to his personality—does it corrupt absolutely, or can the philosopher-king control it and bend it to his will? An opportunity to create the perfect society; I considered and rejected that, because if that was what you had in mind, you wouldn’t try and do it in Mysia. Or perhaps he’d played with toy soldiers as a boy, or years ago a Mysian kicked sand in his face on a beach somewhere. You just don’t know, with humans. There is no wrong or right, except for the eternal, unchangeable rightness of the customer.
    Mine not to reason why. Not my place.
    “You’ve got to tell me,” I said to him. “It’s driving me crazy. What are we doing here?”
    He looked up from a huge scale plan of the Citadel. He’d been going over it for hours, making tiny notes in red and green ink; improvements in the defences. I’d peeked over his shoulder a few times. They were brilliant. He should’ve been a military engineer. Belay that; Mankind, thank your lucky stars he was never a military engineer.
    “Excuse me?”
    “You know exactly what I mean. Why did we invade this country? Why are we here?”
    “Oh, that.” He carefully dried the nib of his pen on a scrap of cotton waste before laying it down, so it wouldn’t splodge the plans. “I’d have thought you’d have figured that out for yourself by now.”
    He had the only chair. I sighed and sat down on the floor. “I’ve tried, believe me. But I can’t.”
    “Keep trying,” he said. “It’s dogged as does it.”
    I’m ashamed to say I jumped up and banged the desk with my fist. He gave me a pained look. “You want me to tell you?”
    “Yes.”
    “Ah well.” He leaned back in his chair. It had been the seat of twelve consecutive garrison commanders, and the arms were scarred by fingernails picking at the carved edges. “It’s a bit of a sideshow, really.”
    “Is it?”
    “Oh yes. It’s just that I want Mankind to be in a suitably receptive frame of mind, for when my great hypothesis is published. You may disagree, but my personal experience is that when you’re trying to concentrate on the higher metaphysical and ethical issues, things like hunger, poverty, and the constant threat of violent disruption really don’t help at all. Get rid of them, therefore, and they’ll be that much more willing to listen and easier to persuade.”
    I looked at him. “Get rid of them,” I repeated.
    “Yes, why not? And that’s what we’re doing here.” He winked at me. “That’s a hint,” he said. “A great big one. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m trying to get some work done.”
    Disturbing the customer’s concentration when he’s engaged in his chosen task is explicitly forbidden in the contract; so I didn’t talk to him again until he’d finished for the day, rolled up his plans, closed his books, and put his feet up on the desk. Only then did I take him in a light supper and a glass of white wine.
    “Here’s what I think,” I said. “Mysia is bordered by three powerful, militaristic nations. For centuries, all three have lived in terror of one of the others seizing Mysia and using it as a springboard for invasion. In consequence, they’ve spent a grossly large proportion of their national wealth on defence, anticipating what they see as the inevitable aggression; their kings have taxed their feudal barons to the point where all three countries are on the edge of economic collapse and revolution and civil war are a distinct possibility, but the foreign threat refuses to go away so long as Mysia remains independent and weak.”
    He gave me a faint