Enders In Exile

reassign you at the last minute to another ship that
isn't leaving till later. No publicity that time. You'll just happen
not to go.
    As for Ender, we'll let
him in on the lie from the start. He doesn't need or deserve any more
surprises. But he also doesn't need you or me to protect him. I think
he's proven that many times over.
    —Hyrum

    PS: It's just too cute
for you to use your real name as your secret identity on Unguessable.com .
Who knew you had a sense of irony?
    Mother and Father were
both out of the house. That was a bad thing, because it meant Peter
could get in full carpet-chewing mode if he felt like it, and things
were definitely heading that way.
    "I can't believe I got
suckered into this," said Peter.
    "Suckered into what?"
    "Having Locke and
Demosthenes push for Ender not to come home."
    "You haven't been
paying attention," said Valentine. "Demosthenes is pushing for Ender to
come back and restore America to its former greatness. And Locke is the
conciliatory moderate, trying to find a middle way, as he always does,
the miserable appeaser."
    "Oh shut up," said
Peter. "It's too late for you to start playing dumb. But I had no way
of knowing they were going to turn that stupid court martial into a
smear campaign against the Wiggin name!"
    "Oh, I see," said
Valentine. "It's not Ender, it's the fact that you can't take advantage
of being Locke without revealing who you are, and who you are is
Ender's brother. Now that won't be such a nice boost for you."
    "I can't accomplish
anything unless I get into a position of influence, and now it's going
to be a lot harder because Ender
killed
people."
    "In self-defense."
    "When he was a
baby.
"
    "I distinctly
remember," said Valentine, "that you once promised to kill him."
    "I didn't mean it."
    Valentine had her
doubts. She was the only one who didn't trust Peter's sudden bout of
niceness several Christmases ago, when apparently he was anointed by
Saint Nick—or Uriah Heap—with the unguent of
altruism. "My point is that Ender didn't kill
everybody
who threatened him."
    And there it
was—a flash of the old rage. She watched, amused, as Peter
fought it down, got it under control.
    "It's too late to
change our position on Ender's return." He said it like an accusation,
as if this had all been her idea.
    Well, in a way, it had.
But not the actual implementation—that was all Peter's script.
    "But before we let it
be discovered who Locke really is, we have to rehabilitate Ender's
reputation. That's not going to be easy. I just can't figure out which
of us should do it. On the one hand, Demosthenes would be right in
character—but nobody would trust his motives. On the other
hand, if Locke does it openly, then everybody will think I had an
ulterior motive when it comes out who I really am."
    Valentine didn't even
smirk, though she knew—had known for years—that
Colonel Graff and probably half the I.F. command knew who Locke and
Demosthenes really were. They had kept the secret so that it wouldn't
compromise Ender. But at some point, somebody was going to let it
slip—and it wasn't going to be on Peter's own timing.
    "No, I think what we
have to do," said Peter, "is bring Ender home after all. But not to the
United States, or at least not under the control of the U.S.
government. I think Locke needs to speak with compassion about the
young hero who can't help how he was exploited." Peter put on his Locke
voice—a conciliatory whine that if he ever used it in public,
Locke would be out of business in a trice. "Let him come home, as a
citizen of the world he saved. Let the Hegemon's Council protect him.
If no one threatens him, the boy poses no danger." Peter looked at her
triumphantly and went back to his own voice. "See? We bring him home,
and then when my identity comes out, I'm a loyal brother, yes, but I
also acted for the good of the whole world, and not for the advantage
of the United States."
    "You're forgetting a
couple of things," said Valentine.
    Peter glared at her. He
hated it when she accused him of making a mistake, but he had to listen
to her because she was often right. Even though he usually pretended
that he had already thought of her objection.
    "First, you're assuming
that Ender wants to come home."
    "Of course he wants to
come home."
    "You don't know that.
We don't know him. Second, you're assuming that if
he does come home, he'll be such a cuddly kid that everybody will
decide he isn't
really
a child-killing monster."
    "We've both