First meetings in the Enderverse

for this.”
    “You have to,” said Valentine. “You can’t get through customs without proving that you’ve paid your taxes and that you have enough left over to support yourself without becoming a drain on public resources.”
    “What if I didn’t have enough money? They send me back?”
    “No, they assign you to a work crew and compel you to earn your way free at an extremely unfair rate of pay.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “I don’t. I’ve just read a lot of history and I know how governmerits work. If it isn’t that, it’ll be the equivalent. Or they’ll send you back.”
    “I can’t be the only person who ever landed and discovered that it would take him a week to find out what his financial situation was,” said Andrew.
    “I’m going to find somebody.”
    “I’ll be here, paying my taxes like a grown-up,” said Valentine. “Like an honest woman.”
    “You make me ashamed of myself,” called Andrew blithely as he strode away.

    ***

    Benedetto took one look at the cocky young man who sat down across the desk from him and sighed. He knew at once that this one would be trouble.
    A young man of privilege, arriving at a new planet, thinking he could get special favors for himself from the tax man. “What can I do for you?” asked Benedetto-in Italian, even though he was fluent in Starcommon and the law said that all travelers had to be addressed in that language unless another was mutually agreed upon.
    Unfazed by the Italian, the young man produced his identification.
    “Andrew Wiggin?” asked Benedetto, incredulous.
    “Is there a problem?”
    “Do you expect me to believe that this identification is real?” He was speaking Starcommon now; the point had been made.
    “Shouldn’t I?”
    “Andrew Wiggin? Do you think this is such a backwater that we are not educated enough to recognize the name of Ender the Xenocide?”
    “Is having the same name a criminal offense?” asked Andrew.
    “Having false identification is.”
    “If I were using false identification, would it be smart or stupid to use a name like Andrew Wiggin?” he asked.
    “Stupid,” Benedetto grudgingly admitted.
    “So let’s start from the assumption that I’m smart, but also tormented by having grown up with the name of Ender the Xenocide. Are you going to find me psychologically unfit because of the imbalance these traumas caused me?”
    “I’m not customs,” said Benedetto. “I’m taxes.”
    “I know. But you seemed preternaturally absorbed with the question of identity, so I thought you were either a spy from customs or a philosopher, and who am I to deny the curiosity of either?”
    Benedetto hated the smart-mouthed ones. “What do you want?”
    “I find my tax situation is complicated. This is the first time I’ve had to pay taxes-I just came into a trust fund-and I don’t even know what my holdings are. I’d like to have a delay in paying my taxes until I can sort it all out.”
    “Denied,” said Benedetto.
    “Just like that?”
    “Just like that,” said Benedetto.
    Andrew sat there for a moment.
    “Can I help you with something else?” asked Benedetto.
    “Is there any appeal?”
    “Yes,” said Benedetto. “But you have to pay your taxes before you can appeal.”

    “I intend to pay my taxes,” said Andrew. “It’s just going to take me time to do it, and I thought I’d do a better job of it on my own computer in my own apartment rather than on the public computers here in the starport.”
    “Afraid someone will look over your shoulder?” asked Benedetto. “See how much of an allowance Grandmother left you?”
    “It would be nice to have more privacy, yes,” said Andrew.
    “Permission to leave without payment is denied.”
    “All right, then, release my liquid funds to me so I can pay to stay here and work on my taxes.”
    “You had your whole flight to do that.”
    “My money had always been in a trust fund. I never knew how complicated the holdings were.”
    “You realize, of course, that if you keep telling me these things you’ll break my heart and I’ll run from the room crying,” said Benedetto calmly.
    The young man sighed. “I’m not sure what you want me to do.”
    “Pay your taxes like every other citizen.”
    “I have no way to get to my money until I pay my taxes,” said Andrew.
    “And I have no way to support myself while I figure out my taxes unless you release some funds to me.”
    “Makes you wish you had thought of this earlier,