see. Minister of
Colonization doesn't go to Earth to be under the thumb of the Hegemon.
He stays in space, nicely ensconced with the International Fleet. So
even if they change hegemons, it won't involve you. And if they fire
you—"
"They won't," said
Graff.
"You're so sure of
that."
"It's not a prediction,
it's an intention."
"You, sir, are a piece
of work," said Ender.
"Oh, speaking of pieces
of work," said Graff, "did you hear that Demosthenes has retired?"
"The guy on the nets?"
asked Ender.
"I don't mean the Greek
author of the Philippics."
"I don't actually
care," said Ender. "It's just the nets."
"The nets, and this
rabble-rouser's screeds in particular, are where the battle was played
out and you lost," said Graff.
"Who says I lost?"
asked Ender.
"Touché,"
said Graff. "My point is that the person behind the online identity is
actually younger than most people imagined. So the retirement isn't
about age, it's about leaving home. Leaving Earth."
"Demosthenes is
becoming a colonist?"
"Isn't that an odd
choice," said Graff, sounding as if it weren't odd to him at all.
"Please don't tell me
he's coming on my ship."
"Technically, it's
Admiral Quincy Morgan's ship. You don't take over till you set foot on
the ground in your colony. That's the law."
"Dodging the question
as usual."
"Yes, you'll have
Demosthenes on your ship. But of course no one will be using that name."
"You've been avoiding
the use of the masculine pronoun—of any pronoun," said Ender.
"So Demosthenes is a woman."
"And she's eager to see
you."
Ender sagged in his
chair. "Oh, sir, please."
"Not your normal
hero-worshiper, Ender. And since she's also going to be awake through
your whole voyage, I think you'll want to be prepared by seeing her in
advance."
"When is she coming?"
"She's here."
"On Eros?"
"In my cozy little
antechamber," said Graff.
"You're going to make
me meet her
now
? Colonel Graff, I don't
like
anything she wrote. Or the result."
"Give her credit. She
was warning the world about the Warsaw Pact's attempt to take over the
fleet long before anybody else took the threat seriously."
"She was also crowing
about how America could conquer the world once it had me."
"You can ask her about
that."
"I have no such
intention."
"Let me tell you one
pure and simple truth. In everything she wrote about you, Ender, her
only concern was to protect you from the terrible things people would
have done to exploit you or destroy you if you ever set foot on Earth."
"I could have dealt
with it."
"We'll never know, will
we?"
"If I know you, sir,
what you just told me is that you were behind this. Keeping me off
Earth."
"Not really," said
Graff. "I went along with it, yes."
Ender wanted to cry.
From sheer moral exhaustion. "Because you know better than me what's in
my best interest."
"In this case, Ender, I
think you could have dealt with any challenge that came to you. Except
one. Your brother, Peter, is determined to rule the world. You would
have been either his tool or his enemy. Which would you have chosen?"
"Peter?" asked Ender.
"Do you think he really has a chance of it?"
"He's done incredibly
well so far—for a teenager."
"Isn't he twenty by
now? No, I guess he'd still be seventeen. Or eighteen."
"I don't keep track of
your family's birthdays," said Graff.
"If he's doing such a
great job," said Ender, "why haven't I heard of him?"
"Oh, you have."
That meant Peter was
using a pseudonym. Ender quickly thought through all the online
personalities that might be considered close to some kind of world
domination and when he got it, he sighed. "Peter is Locke."
"So, clever boy, who is
Demosthenes?"
Ender rose to his feet
and to his own chagrin he was crying, just like that. He didn't even
know
he was crying till his cheeks were wet and he couldn't see for the
blur. "Valentine," he whispered.
"I'm going to leave my
office now and let the two of you talk," said Graff.
When he left, the door
stayed open. And then she came in.
CHAPTER
5
To: imo%
[email protected]From: hgraff%
[email protected]Subj: What are we screening for?
Dear Imo,
I've been giving our
conversation a great deal of thought, and I think you may be right. I
had the foolish idea that we should test for desirable and useful
traits so that we could assemble ideally balanced teams to the
colonies. But we're not getting such a flood of volunteers that we can
afford to be really choosy. And as history shows us, when colonization
is voluntary,