"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."

"But your men--"

"The good ones know the truth now," he said, "just as I do. The others ...
there's nothing else they can do, without me and without the rest of the
force."

I took a deep breath. It was all over.

"And now," he said suddenly, "I want you to tell me just who you
are."

"I--"

"Not James Carson," he said. "And not from Ancarta. Not even from
Wohlen."

"How do you know?" I said.

"Nobody on this planet," he said, "would do this job in just this way.
I'm familiar enough with the top men to be sure of that. You're from
the Comity."

"That's right," I said.

"But ... who are you? What force? What army?"

"No army," I said. "You might call me a teacher; my corps is made up
of teachers. We give lessons--where lessons are needed."

"A teacher," he said quietly. A long time passed. "Well," he asked,
"do I pass the course?"

"You pass," I told him. "You pass--with high marks, General."