Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card

networking, aboon. Making and keeping friends. I would have been a good commander, if they hadn’t canceled Battle School out from under me.”
    “So you already know Alai?” said Petra. “Toguro.”
    “But like I said,” Ambul repeated, “he’s completely incommunicado.”
    “Ambul, I need his help,” said Bean. “I need the shelter of the Muslim League. It’s one of the few places on Earth that isn’t susceptible to either Chinese pressure or Hegemony wheedling.”
    “É,” said Ambul, “and they achieve that by not letting any non-Muslims within the circle.”
    “I don’t want to be in the circle. I don’t want to know their secrets.”
    “Yes you do,” said Ambul. “Because if you aren’t, if you don’t have their complete trust, you’ll have no power to do anything at all within their borders. Non-Muslims are officially completely free, but in practical terms, they can’t do anything but shop and play tourist.”
    “Then I’ll convert,” said Bean.
    “Don’t even joke about it,” said Ambul. “They take their religion very seriously, and to speak of converting as a joke—”
    “Ambul, we know that,” said Petra. “I’m a friend of Alai’s, too, but you notice Bean didn’t send me.”
    Ambul laughed. “You can’t mean that the Muslims would lose respect for Alai if he let a woman influence him! The full equality of the sexes is one of the six points that ended the Third Great Jihad.”
    “You mean the Fifth World War?” asked Bean.
    “The War for Universal Liberty,” said Petra. “That’s what they called it in Armenian schools.”
    “That’s because Armenia is bigoted against Muslims,” said Ambul.
    “The only nation of bigots left on Earth,” said Petra ruefully.
    “Listen, Ambul, if it’s impossible to get to Alai,” said Bean, “I’ll just find something else.”
    “I didn’t say it was impossible,” said Ambul.
    “Actually, that’s exactly what you said,” Petra said.
    “But I’m a Battle Schooler,” said Ambul. “We had classes in doing the impossible. I got A’s.”
    Bean grinned. “Yes, but you didn’t graduate from Battle School, did you, so what chance do you have?”
    “Who knew that being assigned to your army in school would ruin my entire life?” said Ambul.
    “Oh, stop whining,” said Petra. “If you’d been a top graduate, now you’d be in a Chinese reeducation camp.”
    “See?” said Ambul. “I’m missing out on all the character-building experiences.”
    Bean handed him a slip of paper. “Go there and you’ll find the identity stuff you need.”
    “Complete with holographic ID?” asked Ambul doubtfully.
    “It’ll adjust to you the first time you use it. Instructions are with it. I’ve used these before.”
    “Who does stuff like that?” asked Ambul. “The Hegemony?”
    “The Vatican,” said Bean. “These are leftovers from my days with one of their operatives.”
    “All right,” said Ambul.
    “It’ll get you to Damascus, but it won’t get you to Alai. You’ll need your real identity for that.”
    “No, I’ll need an angel walking before me and a letter of introduction from Mohammed himself.”
    “The Vatican has those,” said Petra. “But they only give them to their top people.”
    Ambul laughed, and so did Bean, but the air was thick with tension.
    “I’m asking you for a lot,” said Bean.
    “And I don’t owe you much,” said Ambul.
    “You don’t owe me anything,” said Bean, “and if you did, I wouldn’t try to collect it. You know why I asked you, and I know why you’re doing it.”
    Petra knew, too. Bean asked him because he knew Ambul could do it if anyone could. And Ambul was doing it because he knew that if there was to be any hope of stopping Achilles from uniting the world under his rule, it would probably depend on Bean.
    “I’m so glad we came to this park,” said Petra to Bean. “So romantic.”
    “Bean knows how to show a girl a good time,” said Ambul. He spread his