Enders In Exile

been
walking.
    "Is it following the
light or our body heat?" asked Po as they turned again and began to jog.
    "Or the carbon dioxide
of our breath? Or the vibrations of our footfalls? Or our heartbeats?"
Sel held out the stick toward him. "Take it and run."
    "What are you going to
do?" said Po, not taking the stick.
    "If it's following the
light, you can stay ahead of it by running."
    "And if it's not?"
    "Then you can get out
and call for help."
    "While it has you for
lunch."
    "I'm tough and gristly."
    "The thing eats stone."
    "Take the light," said
Sel, "and get out of here."
    Po hesitated a moment
longer, then took it. Sel was relieved that the boy would keep his
promise of obedience.
    Either that, or Po was
convinced the larva would follow the light.
    It was the right
guess—as Sel slowed down and watched the larva approach, he
could see that it was not heading directly toward him, but rather
listed off to the side, heading for Po. And as Po ran, the larva began
speeding up.
    It went right past Sel.
It was more than a half-meter thick. It moved like a snake, with a
back-and-forth movement, writhing along the floor, shaping itself
exactly like the columns, only horizontally and, of course,
moving.
    It was going to reach
Po while he was scrambling through the tunnel.
    "Leave the light!"
shouted Sel. "Leave it!"
    In a few moments, Sel
could see the light leaning against the wall of the cavern, beside
where the low tunnel began, leading toward the outside world. Po must
already be inside the tunnel.
    The larva was ignoring
the light and heading into the tunnel behind Po. The larva didn't have
to crawl or walk bent over—it would catch Po easily.
    "No. No, stop!" But
then he thought: What if Po hears me? "Keep going, Po! Run!"
    And then, wordlessly,
Sel shouted inside his mind: Stop and come back here! Come back to the
cavern! Come back to your children!
    Sel knew it was insane,
but it was all he could think of to do. The formics communicated mind
to mind. This was also a large insectoid life form from the formics'
home world. Maybe he could speak to it the way the hive queens spoke to
the individual worker and soldier formics.
    Speak? That was
asinine. They had no language. They wouldn't
speak.
    Sel stopped and formed
in his mind a clear picture of the gold bug lying on the cavern floor.
Only the legs were writhing. And as he pictured it, Sel tried to feel
hungry, or at least remember how it felt to be hungry. Or to find
hunger within himself—after all, he hadn't eaten for a few
hours.
    Then he pictured the
larva coming to the gold bug. Circling it.
    The larva reemerged
from the tunnel. There had been no screaming from Po—it
hadn't caught him. Maybe it got too near the sunlight and it blinded
the larva and it couldn't go on. Or maybe it had responded to the
images and feelings in Sel's mind. Either way, Po was safely outside.
    Of course, maybe the
larva had simply decided not to bother with the prey that was running,
and had come back for the prey that was standing very still, pressing
himself against a column.

CHAPTER
16

    To: GovDes%[email protected]/voy
From: [email protected]
Subj: As requested
Handshake key: 3390ac8d9afff9121001
    Dear Ender,
    As you have requested,
I have sent a holographic message from me and Pole-march Bakossi Wuri
to the ship's system, using the hook you inserted into the ship's
ansible software. If your program runs as advertised, it will take over
all the ship's communications. In addition, I have attached the
official notification to Admiral Morgan for you to print out and hand
to him.
    I hope you have won his
trust well enough that he will let you have the access you need to use
any of this.
    This message will leave
no trace of its existence, once you delete it.
     
    Good luck,
Hyrum

    Admiral Morgan had been
in communication with the
acting
acting governor,
Ix Tolo—ridiculous name—because the official acting
governor had had the bad manners to take off on a completely
meaningless trip right when he was needed for the official public
transfer of power. The man probably couldn't stand being displaced from
his office. The vanity of some people.
    Morgan's executive
officer, Commodore das Lagrimas, confirmed that, as far as could be
ascertained from orbit, the runway the colonists had constructed for
the shuttle met the specifications. Thank heaven they didn't have to
pave these things anymore—it must have been tedious in the
days when flying vehicles had to land on