Twenty?"

"It will hold two or three troopers at once," Hartford answered. "We have several of them, though."

"So ... ka?" white-bearded Togo exclaimed. He leaned over to whisper into the ear of Takeko's father, who nodded and smiled.

Old Kiwa spoke, and Takeko interpreted. "We must surprise a group of troopers," he said. "We must cause all their silken suits to be torn, or all their glass heads shattered, at one time. It is so simple as that."

"Simple in all but the doing," said Yamata the calligrapher. He picked up a brush and sketched on the mat before him a line of trooper-silhouettes, a platoon, marching single-file. "How do we break into all those Stone Houses at once?" he asked.

Hartford's face was pale. "We could use grenades, perhaps," he said. "Or bombs. After all, these troopers we speak of are no more than my family, my village, my people. I may of course be expected to cooperate in their destruction."

Takeko reached over and took his hand, then dropped it. "Ano ne! You do not understand! We can no more injure your brothers than you can, Lee-san. We may not harm any living person. Forgive us. You misunderstand us. We are bound, Lee-sensei, by Butsudo: the Peaceful Path of the Lord Buddha." She bowed toward him, her hands clasped together, her head touching the tatami.

"It is my fault if I have misunderstood," Hartford said. The men were staring, Takeko's eyes were filled with tears, the room was silent. "I do not know you well. I did not know you do not kill."

"Let me tell you, then," Takeko said, rising to sit beside him. "Our people, who once lived on islands in the greater sea of Earth, were folk mighty in battle. Their pride was named the Way of the Warrior, which is called Bushido. Their loveliest flower, the sakura or cherry-blossom, they made the symbol of the warrior, so highly did they hold his calling.

"After their villages had been crushed many times in war, our ancestors vowed forever to abandon Bushido, the warrior's path, and to place their feet in the path of the Lord Buddha, called Butsudo. This was many years ago, before any man had ventured into space, before our ancestors found this world you call Kansas. When they came here, they came in peace. And they named this place Jodo, which we still call it. It means the Pure Land, where men are just. And all justice is built on a single law. No man 

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