Speaker for the Dead

you."
      "Jane," he said, "you did this, didn't you! Why else would they notice what Libo and Miro and Ouanda have been doing if you didn't call it to their attention?"
      She didn't answer.
      "Jane, I'm sorry that I cut you off, I'll never--"
      He knew she knew what he would say; he didn't have to finish sentences with her. But she didn't answer.
      "I'll never turn off the--"
      What good did it do to finish sentences that he knew she understood? She hadn't forgiven him yet, that was all, or she would already be answering, telling him to stop wasting her time. Yet he couldn't keep himself from trying one more time. "I missed you. Jane. I really missed you."
      Still she didn't answer. She had said what she had to say, to keep the ansible connection alive, and that was all. For now. Ender didn't mind waiting. It was enough to know that she was still there, listening. He wasn't alone. Ender was surprised to find tears on his cheeks. Tears of relief, he decided. Catharsis. A Speaking, a crisis, people's lives in tatters, the future of the colony in doubt. And I cry in relief because an overblown computer program is speaking to me again.
     
     
     
      Ela was waiting for him in his little house. Her eyes were red from crying. "Hello," she said.
      "Did I do what you wanted?" he asked.
      "I never guessed," she said. "He wasn't our father. I should have known."
      "I can't think how you could have."
      "What have I done? Calling you here to Speak my father's-- Marcão's-- death. " She began weeping again. "Mother's secrets-- I thought I knew what they were, I thought it was just her files-- I thought she hated Libo. "
      "All I did was open the windows and let in some air."
      "Tell that to Miro and Ouanda."
      "Think a moment, Ela. They would have found out eventually. The cruel thing was that they didn't know for so many years. Now that they have the truth, they can find their own way out."
      "Like Mother did? Only this time even worse than adultery?"
      Ender touched her hair, smoothed it. She accepted his touch, his consolation. He couldn't remember if his father or mother had ever touched him with such a gesture. They must have. How else would he have learned it?
      "Ela, will you help me?"
      "Help you what? You've done your work, haven't you?"
      "This has nothing to do with Speaking for the dead. I have to know, within the hour, how the Descolada works."
      "You'll have to ask Mother-- she's the one who knows."
      "I don't think she'd be glad to see me tonight."
      " I'm supposed to ask her? Good evening, Mamãe, you've just been revealed to all of Milagre as an adulteress who's been lying to your children all our lives. So if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to ask you a couple of science questions."
      "Ela, it's a matter of survival for Lusitania. Not to mention your brother Miro." He reached over and turned to the terminal. "Log on," he said.
      She was puzzled, but she did it. The computer wouldn't recognize her name. "I've been taken off." She looked at him in alarm. "Why?"
      "It's not just you. It's everybody."
      "It isn't a breakdown," she said. "Somebody stripped out the log-on file."
      "Starways Congress stripped all the local computer memory. Everything's gone. We're regarded as being in a state of rebellion. Miro and Ouanda are going to be arrested and sent to Trondheim for trial. Unless I can persuade the Bishop and Bosquinha to launch a real rebellion. Do you understand? If your mother doesn't tell you what I need to know, Miro and Ouanda will both be sent twenty-two lightyears away. The penalty for treason is death. But even going to the trial is as bad as life imprisonment. We'll all be dead or very very old before they get back."
      Ela looked blankly at the wall. "What do you need to know?"
      "I need to know what the Committee will find when they open up her files. About how the Descolada works. "
      "Yes," said Ela. "For Miro's sake she'll do it." She looked at him defiantly. "She does love us, you know. For one of her children, she'd talk to you herself."
      "Good," said Ender. "It would be better if she came herself. To the Bishop's chambers, in an hour."
      "Yes," said Ela. For a moment she sat still. Then a synapse connected somewhere, and she stood up and hurried toward the door.
      She stopped. She came back, embraced him, kissed him on the cheek. "I'm glad you told it all," she said. "I'm glad to know it."
      He kissed her forehead and sent her on