Enders In Exile

come back. But Graff didn't
send Bonzo. Bonzo was a volunteer for the duty he assigned
himself—attacking me and allowing us all to learn that no, I
would not allow myself to lose, ever. Bonzo volunteered. Just like the
buggers volunteered by coming here and trying to wipe out human life.
If they'd left us alone, we wouldn't have hurt them. The court martial
has to understand. I am what Battle School was designed to create, what
the whole world
wanted
it to create. Graff cannot
be blamed for shaping and sharpening the weapon. He did not wield it.
No one did. Bonzo found a knife and cut himself on it. That's how they
have to look at it."
    "Are you done?" Mazer
had asked.
    "Why, are you running
out of recording room?"
    Mazer got up and left.
    When he came back, he
said nothing about their discussion. But Ender was now free to come and
go anywhere. They no longer tried to hide things from him. He was able
to read the transcript of Graff's arraignment.
    He had been right on
every point.
    Ender also understood
that Graff would not be convicted of anything serious—he
would not go to prison. The court martial existed only to damage Ender
and make it impossible for America to use him as a military leader.
Ender was a hero, yes, but he was now officially a really scary kid.
The court martial would cement that image in the public mind. People
might have rallied around the savior of the human race. But a monstrous
kid who killed other children? Even if it was self-defense, it was just
too terrible. Ender's political future on Earth was nonexistent.
    Ender tracked how the
commentator Demosthenes responded as things began to come out in the
trial. For months—ever since it became clear that Ender was
not
being sent home immediately—the famous American chauvinist
had been agitating on the nets to "bring the hero home." Even now, as
Ender's private killings were being used against Graff at the trial,
Demosthenes still declared, more than once, that Ender was a "weapon
that belongs to the American people."
    This practically
guaranteed that no one from any other nation would consent to that
weapon getting into American hands.
    Ender thought at first
that Demosthenes must be a complete idiot, playing his hand completely
wrong. Then he realized that Demosthenes might be doing it on purpose,
energizing the opposition, because the last thing Demosthenes wanted
was a rival for American political leadership.
    Was the man that
subtle? Ender pored over his essays—what else did he have to
do?—and saw a pattern of self-defeat. Demosthenes was
eloquent, but he always pushed a little too hard. Enough to energize
the opposition, inside and outside America. Discrediting his own side
of every argument.
    Deliberately?
    Probably not. Ender
knew the history of leaders—especially of the original
Demosthenes. Eloquence didn't imply intelligence or deep analysis. True
believers in a cause often behaved in self-defeating ways because they
expected other people to see the rightness of their cause if they just
stated it clearly enough. As a result, they tipped their hand in every
game and couldn't understand why everyone ganged up against them.
    Ender had watched the
arguments unfold on the nets, watched the teams form, saw how the
"moderates" led by Locke kept benefiting from Demosthenes' provocations.
    And now, as Demosthenes
continued to agitate in support of Ender, he was actually the one doing
Ender the most damage. To everyone who feared Demosthenes'
movement—which was the whole world outside
America—Ender would not be a hero, he'd be a monster. Bring
him
home, to lead America on a nuevo-imperialista rampage? Let him become
an American Alexander, Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler, conquering the world
or forcing the world to unite in brutal war against him?
    Fortunately, Ender did
not want to be a conqueror. So he wouldn't be hurt by missing out on
the chance to try it.
    Still, he'd love to
have a chance to explain things to Demosthenes.
    Not that the man would
ever consent to be alone in a room with the killer hero.

    * * * * *
    Mazer never discussed
the actual court martial with Ender, but they could talk about Graff.
    "Hyrum Graff is the
consummate bureaucrat," Mazer told him. "He's always thinking ten steps
ahead of everyone else. It doesn't really matter what office he holds.
He can use anybody—below him or above him or complete
strangers who've never met him—to accomplish whatever he
thinks is needful for the human race."
    "I'm glad