Enders In Exile

to the base of the steep hill where Abra had climbed.
"Come up," said Abra.
    When Ender had
scrambled up the slope—displacing a few turves in the
process, since he was bigger than Abra and weighed more—Abra
gestured to the body-like structure of the artificial hills. "Can you
believe this?"
    Apparently Ender didn't
see it the way Abra did. He simply looked, and said nothing.
    "It's like a giant died
here," said Abra, "and the earth grew up to cover his carcass."
    Abra heard a sharp
intake of breath from Ender, so he knew now that he had seen.
    Ender looked around and
pointed wordlessly at some of the smaller, vine-covered structures. He
pulled out his binoculars and looked for a long time. "Impossible," he
muttered.
    "What? What are they?"
    Ender didn't answer.
Instead he walked the length of the hill, toward the "head." Abra
scrambled down onto the neck and up the chin. "Somebody had to build
this," Abra said. He scratched at the white surface. "Look, this skull
place, it's not rock, look at it. This is concrete."
    "I know," said Ender.
"They built it for me."
    "What?"
    "I know this place,
Abra. The buggers built it for me."
    "They were all dead
before Grandpa and Grandma even got here," said Abra.
    "You're right, it's
impossible, but I know what I know." Ender put a hand on Abra's
shoulder. "Abra, I shouldn't take you with me."
    "Where?"
    "Over there." Ender
pointed. "It might be dangerous. If they knew me well enough to build
this place, they might be planning to—"
    "To get even with you,"
said Abra.
    "For killing them,"
said Ender.
    "So don't go, Ender.
Don't do what they want you to do."
    "If they want to get
revenge, Abra, I don't mind. But perhaps they don't. Perhaps this is
the closest they could come to talking. To writing me a note."
    "They didn't know how
to read and write." They didn't even know the
idea
of reading and writing—that's what Father said. So how would
they know about leaving notes?
    "Maybe they were
learning when they died," said Ender.
    "Well I'm sure as hell
not sticking around here if you're taking off somewhere. I'm going with
you."
    Ender looked amused
when Abra said "hell." He shook his head, smiling. "No. You're too
young to take the risk of—"
    "Come on!" said Abra
with disgust. "You're Ender
Wiggin
. Don't tell me
what eleven-year-old kids can do!"
    So they rode in the
skimmer together until they got to the first set of structures. Ender
stopped and they got off. The shape of the structures came from metal
frameworks underlying and supporting the vines. Now Abra realized they
were swings and slides, just like those in the town park in Miranda.
The ones in Miranda were smaller, because they were just for the little
kids. But there was no mistaking what they were.
    But formics didn't have
babies, they had larvae. Worms would hardly needs swings and slides.
    "They made human
stuff," said Abra.
    Ender only nodded.
    "They really were
taking stuff out of your head," said Abra.
    "That's one
explanation," said Ender. Then they got on the skimmer and went on.
Ender seemed to know the way.
    They neared the
farthest structure. It was a thick tower and some lower walls, all
covered with ivy. There was a window near the top of the tower.
    "You knew this would be
here," said Abra.
    "It was my nightmare,"
said Ender. "My memory of the fantasy game."
    Abra had no idea what
"the fantasy game" was, but he understood that this place represented
one of those dreams that the formics were taking out of Ender when they
vivisected him in that nightmare he had talked about.
    Ender got out of the
skimmer. "Don't come after me," he said. "If I'm not back in an hour,
it means it's dangerous here, and you
must
go
home at once and tell them everything."
    "Eat it, Ender, I'm
coming with you," said Abra.
    Ender looked at him
coldly. "Eat it yourself, Abra, or I'll stuff you with mud."
    His words were jocular,
and so was his tone. But his eyes were not joking, and Abra knew that
he meant it.
    So Abra stayed with the
skimmer and watched Ender jog over to the castle—for that's
what it was. And then Ender climbed up the outside of the tower and
went in through the window.
    Abra stayed, watching
the tower, for a long time. He checked the skimmer's clock now and
then. And finally his gaze began to wander. He watched birds and
insects, small animals in the grass, clouds moving across the sky.
    That's why he didn't
see Ender come out of the tower. He only saw him walking toward the
skimmer, carrying his jacket