Enders In Exile

transmitting it certainly took time, and
times, and half a time," he said.
    "I'll need
to—I'd like to see some evidence that this is what you say,"
said Morgan. "You have to understand that anything that seemed to
threaten the security of my ship and my mission must be verified."
    "Well, that's the
awkward thing," said Valentine. "I'm perfectly happy to let you see the
entire infodump—in fact, I suggest that it be put into the
library so everyone can have access to it. It's bound to be fascinating
to people to have an idea of the things that have been happening on
Earth. I can't wait to read it myself."
    "But?" asked Ender.
    "It's the cover letter
itself." She looked genuinely embarrassed. "My brother makes slighting
references to you. I hope you understand that neither Ender nor I
discussed you with Peter in any way—anything he says is his
own assumption. I can assure you that Ender and I hold you in the
highest respect."
    With that, she rotated
the holodisplay and Ender and Valentine sat silently to watch Morgan
read.
    At the end, he sighed,
then leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, his forehead on
his fingertips. "Well, I am embarrassed indeed."
    "Not at all," said
Ender. "A perfectly understandable mistake. I'd rather fly with a
captain who takes every potential threat to his ship seriously than one
who thinks that losing communications for three hours is no big deal."
    Morgan took the olive
branch. "I'm glad you see it that way, Admiral Wiggin."
    "Ender," Ender
corrected him.
    Valentine stood up,
smiling. "So if you don't mind, I'll leave the whole thing unencrypted
here on your desk, as long as you assure me that every speck of it will
be downloaded into the library—except my brother's personal
letter." She turned to Ender. "He says he loves me and misses me and he
wants me to tell you to write to our parents. They aren't getting any
younger, and they're very hurt not to have heard from you."
    "Yes," said Ender. "I
should have done that as soon as the ship left. But I didn't want to
take up ansible time on personal matters." He smiled ruefully at
Morgan. "And then we end up doing
this,
all
because Peter and Graff have an inflated sense of their own importance."
    "I'll tell my
egocentric brother to send future messages a different way," said
Valentine. "I assume you won't mind my sending such a message by
ansible."
    They were heading for
the door, Morgan shepherding them, full of smiles and "I'm glad you're
so understanding," when Ender stopped.
    "Oh, Admiral Morgan,"
said Ender.
    "Please call me Quincy."
    "Oh, I could never do
that," said Ender. "Our respective ranks allow it, but if anybody heard
me address you that way, there'd be no way to erase the visual image of
a teenager speaking to the captain of the ship in a way that could only
seem disrespectful. I'm sure we agree on that. Nothing can undermine
the authority of the captain."
    "Very wisely said,"
Morgan replied. "You're taking better care of my position than I am
myself. But you wanted to say something?"
    "Yes. The play reading.
It really is just that—we're reading
Taming of the
Shrew.
I'm playing Lucentio. Val has a small part, too.
Everyone was looking forward to it. And now it's
been canceled without a word of explanation."
    Morgan looked puzzled.
"If it's just a play reading, then go ahead and do it."
    "Of course we will,"
said Ender, "now that we have your permission. But you see, some of the
participants invited crew members to attend. And the cancellation might
leave some bad feelings. Hard on morale, don't you think? I wanted to
suggest a sort of gesture from you, to show that it really
was
a misunderstanding. To patch up any bad feelings."
    "What sort of gesture?"
asked Morgan.
    "Just—when we
reschedule it, why don't you come and watch? Let them see you laughing
at the comedy."
    "He could play a part,"
said Valentine. "I'm sure the man playing Christopher Sly—"
    "My sister is joking,"
said Ender. "This is a comedy, and
every
part in
it is beneath the dignity of the captain of the ship. I'm only
suggesting that you attend. Perhaps just for the first half. You can
always plead urgent business at the break halfway through. Everyone
will understand. Meanwhile, though, they'll all see that you really do
care about them and what they do during this voyage. It will go a long
way toward making them feel good about your leadership, during the
voyage and after we arrive."
    "After we arrive?"
asked Valentine.
    Ender looked at