Enders In Exile

quietly to
prepare for an expedition southward. It would be on
foot—there had been no beasts of burden in the original
expedition, and he was not going to deprive the colony of any of its
vehicles. And even though many of the new edible hybrids had spread
widely, he meant to pass out of their optimum climate, which meant he
would have to carry his food with him. Fortunately, he didn't eat much,
and he would bring along six of the new dogs he had genetically altered
to be able to metabolize the local proteins. The dogs would hunt, and
then he would harvest two of them—and turn the other four
loose, two breeding pairs that could live off the land.
    New predators turned
loose in the wild—Sel knew exactly how dangerous this could
be to the local ecology. But they could not eat
all
the native species and would not interfere with the vegetation. It
would be important during later exploration and colonization to find
edible and tamable creatures loose in the wild.
    We aren't here to
preserve the local ecology like a museum. We're here to colonize, to
suit the world for ourselves.
    Which is precisely what
the formics had started to do to Earth. Only their approach was much
more drastic—burn all, and then plant vegetation from the
formics' native planet.
    Yet for some reason
they had not done so here. He had found none of the species the formics
had planted on Earth during the Scouring of China nearly
a century ago. This was one of the formics' oldest colonies, and its
flora and fauna seemed to be too distant, genetically, to have shared
common ancestors with the formic varieties. It must have been settled
before they developed the formification strategy they had begun to use
on Earth.
    In all the years till
now, Sel had had to devote himself entirely to the genetic research
required to keep the colony viable, and then, for the past five years,
to governing the colony. Now he could go into unexplored lands and
learn what he could.
    He could not go any
great distance—he supposed a few hundred kilometers would be
his limit—for it would do no good to range so far that he
could not return and report his findings.
    Ix Tolo helped him
pack, griping about this and that—his normal behavior. Not
taking enough equipment, taking too much, not enough food, too much
water, why this, why not that . . . it was his constant attention to
detail that made him effective in his job and Sel bore it with good
humor.
    And, of course, Ix had
a mind of his own.
    "You can unpack that
other bag," Sel told him, "because you're not going with me."
    "Other bag?"
    "I'm not an idiot. Half
the equipment I decided not to take, you've put into another pack,
along with more food and an extra bedroll."
    "I never thought you
were an idiot. But I'm not so stupid I'd endanger the colony by sending
both our lead xenobiologists on the same journey."
    "So who's the pack for?"
    "My son Po."
    "I've always been
bothered that you named him for an insanely romantic Chinese poet. Why
nobody from Mayan history?"
    "All the characters in
the Popol Vuh have numbers instead of names. He's a sensible kid.
Strong. If he had to, he could carry you back home."
    "I'm not
that
old and wizened."
    "He could do it," said
Ix. "But only if you're alive. Otherwise, he'll watch and record the
process of decomposition, and then sample the microbes and worms that
manage to feed on your old Earthborn corpse."
    "Glad to see you still
think like a scientist and not a sentimental fool."
    "Po is good company."
    "And he'll allow me to
carry enough equipment for the trip to be useful. While you stay here
and play with the new stuff from the colony ship."
    "And train the
xenobiologists they've sent along," said Ix. "No doubt you've told
Wiggin that I'll help him. That will not happen. I'll have plenty of
work to do in my own field without babysitting the new governor."
    Sel ignored his
kvetching. He knew Ix would help in whatever way Wiggin needed him to.
"And Po's mother is happy about his going with me?"
    "No," said Ix. "But she
knows he'd never speak to her again if she barred him from it. So we
have her blessing. More or less."
    "Then first thing in
the morning, we're off."
    "Unless the new
governor forbids you."
    "His authority doesn't
begin until he sets foot on this planet. He isn't even in orbit yet."
    "Haven't you looked at
their manifest? They have four skimmers."
    "If we need one, we'll
radio back for it. Otherwise, don't tell them where we went."
    "Good thing the formics
got