From this point forward we had to move, move, move; we were trying to create a highly specific emotional state in our audience. If people were given a chance to reflect on what was really going on, everything could yet fall apart. So I paused only long enough for the little square of floor at the base of the rostrum to rise so that I wouldn't appear as short as I actually was. Normally it was the sort of thing I joked about, but today wasn't at all the time for that sort of thing. "Death to the Emperor!" I agreed, shaking an angry fist and drawing a sort of savage growl of approval from the officers and cadets. "Death, death, death!" Then I lowered my fist and tilted my head to one side. "But how exactly shall we accomplish this?" I let my question hang in the air until there was near-silence in the hall. "It's one thing to make savage threats," I said softly. "And another entirely to bring them to fruition." I paused and scanned the auditorium, meeting every eye I could among the thousands present.
