Enders In Exile

was it?—because if there is anyone who should be
receiving these reports, it is you.
     
    —Hyrum

    Forwarded Message:
To: [email protected]
From: LPo%[email protected]/bda
Subj: Report on Planet Making
    Dear Hyrum,
    I'm not sure you're in
the need-to-know loop, since it will be a long time before the
subject planet will be ready for colonization, but since there is also
no further enemy presence there, I thought you'd want to know something
of the aftermath—our official "damage assessment" reports.
(You'll note that in my new assignment, I do NOT get to follow normal
military abbreviations and call my area "DamAss" or "AssDam." We have
to use mere initials, BDA. As the kids say, kuso.)
    SecureLinka7977@rTTu7&!a***********bdA.gov
    I've set it so your
full name is a nonce password for the next week.
    In case you don't have
time to read the whole report at the above site, here's the gist: The
former formic home world, destroyed last year by molecular disruption,
is re-forming. Our follow-up ship, instead of trying to salvage a
losing battle, is finding that its mission is astronomical: to watch
the formation of a planet out of, quite literally, elemental dust.
    Since the md field
broke everything into its constituent atoms, it is coalescing with
remarkable quickness. Our observer ship has recently been in a position
to see the dust cloud with the star directly behind it, and during the
passage sufficient spectrometry and mass measurements were taken to
assure us that the vast majority of the atoms have re-formed into the
common, expected molecules, and that the gravity of the cloud was
sufficient to hold most of the material in place. There has been some
loss from escape velocity and further loss to solar gravity, solar
wind, etc., but our best estimate is that the new planet will be at no
less than 80 percent of the original mass, and perhaps more. At that
size, there will still be atmosphere, potentially breathable. There
will also be molten core and mantle, ocean, and the probability of
tectonic movement of thicker areas of crust—i.e., continents.
    In short, while no
artifacts of the former civilization can possibly be found, the planet
itself will be back in a nice wad, in stellar orbit, within the next
thousand years, and perhaps cool enough to explore in ten thousand
years. Colonizable in a hundred thousand, if we seed it with
oxygenating bacteria and other life as soon as the oceans are fully
formed. We humans can be destructive, but the
universe's thirst for creation goes on unslaked.
    —Li

    Public spaces were few
on the "Good Ship Lollipop" (as Valentine called it), also known as
"IFcoltrans1" (which was painted on its side and broadcast continuously
from its beacon), or "Mrs. Morgan" (as the ship's officers and crew
called it behind their captain's back).
    There was the mess
hall, where no one could linger long, since one dining shift or another
started every hour. The library was for serious research by ship's
personnel; passengers had full access to the contents of the library on
their own desks in their staterooms and so were not particularly
welcome in the library itself.
    The officers' and
crew's lounges were open to passengers by invitation only, and such
invitations were rare. The theater was good for viewing holos and vids,
or for gathering all the passengers for a meeting or announcement, but
private conversations tended to be shushed, with some hostility.
    For conviviality, this
left the observation deck, whose walls offered a view only when the
stardrive was off and the ship was maneuvering close to a planet; and
the few open spaces in the cargo hold—which would increase in
number and size as they used up supplies during the voyage.
    It was to the
observation deck, then, that Ender betook himself every day after
breakfast. Valentine was surprised at his apparent sociability. On
Eros, he had been private, reluctant to converse, obsessed with his
studies. Now he greeted everyone who entered the observation deck and
chatted amiably with anyone who wanted his time.
    "Why do you let them
interrupt you?" asked Valentine one night, after they returned to their
stateroom.
    "They don't interrupt
me," said Ender. "My purpose is to converse with them; I do my other
work when no one wants me."
    "So you're being their
governor."
    "I am not," said Ender.
"I'm not governor of anything at the moment. This is Admiral Morgan's
ship, and I have no authority here."
    It was Ender's standard
answer when