Shadow Puppets (Ender, Book 7) (Shadow Saga)

mean he would not see Virlomi for a long time, and he had recently decided that he loved her and wanted to marry her when they both grew up.
    CHAPTER THREE
    MOMMIES AND DADDIES
    encrypt key ********
    decrypt key *****
    To: Graff%[email protected]
    From: Locke%[email protected]
    Re: Unofficial request
    I appreciate your warning, but I assure you that I do not underestimate the danger of having X in RP. In fact, that is a matter with which I could use your help, if you are inclined to give it. With JD and PA in hiding, and S compromised by having rescued X, persons close to them are in danger, either directly or through being used as hostages by X. We need to have them out of X's reach, and you are uniquely able to accomplish this. JD's parents are used to being in hiding, and have had some near misses; PA's parents, having already suffered one kidnapping, will also be inclined to cooperate.
    The difficulty will come from my parents. There is no chance they will accept protective concealment if I propose it. If it comes from you, they might. I do not need to have my parents here, exposed to danger, where they might be used for leverage or to distract me from what must be accomplished.
    Can you come yourself to RP to gather them up before I return with X? You would have about 30 hours to accomplish this. I apologize for the inconvenience, but you would once again have my gratitude and continue to have my support, both of which, I hope, will someday be more valuable than they are under present circumstances.
    PW
    Theresa Wiggin knew Graff was coming, since Elena Delphiki gave her a hurried call as soon as he had left her house. But she did not change her plans in the slightest. Not because she hoped to deceive him, but because there were papayas on the trees in the back yard that had to be harvested before they dropped to the ground. She had no intention of letting Graff interfere with something really important.
    So when she heard Graff politely clapping his hands at the front gate, she was up on a ladder clipping off papayas and laying them into the bag at her side. Aparecida, the maid, had her instructions, and so Theresa soon heard Graff's footsteps coming across the tiles of the terrace.
    "Mrs. Wiggin," he said.
    "You've already taken two of my children," said Theresa without looking at him. "I suppose you want my firstborn, now."
    "No," said Graff. "It's you and your husband I'm after this time."
    "Taking us to join Ender and Valentine?" Even though she was being deliberately obtuse, the idea nevertheless had a momentary appeal. Ender and Valentine had left all this business behind.
    "I'm afraid we can't spare a followup ship to visit their colony for several years yet," said Graff.
    "Then I'm afraid you have nothing to offer us that we want," said Theresa.
    "I'm sure that's true," said Graff. "It's what Peter needs. A free hand."
    "We don't interfere in his work."
    "He's bringing a dangerous person here," said Graff. "But I think you know that."
    "Gossip flies around here, since there's nothing else for the parents of geniuses to do but twitter to each other about the doings of their brilliant boys and girls. The Arkanians and Delphikis have their children all but married off. And we get such fascinating visitors from outer space. Like you."
    "My, but we're testy today," said Graff.
    "I'm sure Bean's and Petra's families have agreed to leave Ribeirao Preto so that their children don't have to worry about Achilles taking them hostage. And someday Nikolai Delphiki and Stefan Arkanian will recover from having been mere bit players in their siblings' lives. But John Paul's and my situation is not at all the same. Our son is the idiot who decided to bring Achilles here."
    "Yes, it must hurt you to have the one child who simply isn't at the same intellectual level as the others," said Graff.
    Theresa looked at him, saw the twinkle in his eye, and laughed in spite of herself. "All right, he isn't stupid, he's so cocky he can't conceive of any of his plans failing. But the result is the same. And I have no intention of hearing about his death through some awful little email message. Or -- worse -- from a news report talking about how 'the brother of the great Ender Wiggin has failed in his bid to revive the office of Hegemon' and then watch how even in death Peter's obituary is accompanied by more footage of Ender after his victory over the Formics."
    "You seem to have a very clear view of all the future