Xenocide (Ender Wiggins Saga)

both sides of the issue. I was a clerk."
    Qing-jao bowed her head. She knew the truth, and so did everyone else. It had been the beginning of Han Fei-tzu's greatness, for he not only wrote the treaty but also persuaded both sides to accept it almost without revision. Ever after that, Han Fei-tzu had been one of the most trusted advisers to Congress; messages arrived daily from the greatest men and women of every world. If he chose to call himself a clerk in that great undertaking, that was only because he was a man of great modesty. Qing-jao also knew that Mother was already dying as he accomplished all this work. That was the kind of man her father was, for he neglected neither his wife nor his duty. He could not save Mother's life, but he could save the lives that might have been lost in war.
    "Qing-jao, why do you say that it is an obvious lie that the fleet is carrying the M.D. Device?"
    "Because-- because that would be monstrous. It would be like Ender the Xenocide, destroying an entire world. So much power has no right or reason to exist in the universe."
    "Who taught you this?"
    "Decency taught me this," said Qing-jao. "The gods made the stars and all the planets-- who is man to unmake them?"
    "But the gods also made the laws of nature that make it possible to destroy them-- who is man to refuse to receive what the gods have given?"
    Qing-jao was stunned to silence. She had never heard Father speak in apparent defense of any aspect of war-- he loathed war in any form.
    "I ask you again-- who taught you that so much power has no right or reason to exist in the universe?"
    "It's my own idea."
    "But that sentence is an exact quotation."
    "Yes. From Demosthenes. But if I believe an idea, it becomes my own. You taught me that."
    "You must be careful that you understand all the consequences of an idea before you believe it."
    "The Little Doctor must never be used on Lusitania, and therefore it should not have been sent."
    Han Fei-tzu nodded gravely. "How do you know it must never be used?"
    "Because it would destroy the pequeninos, a young and beautiful people who are eager to fulfill their potential as a sentient species."
    "Another quotation."
    "Father, have you read The Life of Human ?"
    "I have."
    "Then how can you doubt that the pequeninos must be preserved?"
    "I said I had read The Life of Human . I didn't say that I believed it."
    "You don't believe it?"
    "I neither believe it nor disbelieve it. The book first appeared after the ansible on Lusitania had been destroyed. Therefore it is probable that the book did not originate there, and if it didn't originate there then it's fiction. That seems particularly likely because it's signed 'Speaker for the Dead,' which is the same name signed to The Hive Queen and the Hegemon , which are thousands of years old. Someone was obviously trying to capitalize on the reverence people feel toward those ancient works."
    "I believe The Life of Human is true."
    "That's your privilege, Qing-jao. But why do you believe it?"
    Because it sounded true when she read it. Could she say that to Father? Yes, she could say anything. "Because when I read it I felt that it must be true."
    "I see."
    "Now you know that I'm foolish."
    "On the contrary. I know that you are wise. When you hear a true story, there is a part of you that responds to it regardless of art, regardless of evidence. Let it be clumsily told and you will still love the tale, if you love truth. Let it be the most obvious fabrication and you will still believe whatever truth is in it, because you cannot deny truth no matter how shabbily it is dressed."
    "Then how is it that you don't believe The Life of Human ?"
    "I spoke unclearly. We are using two different meanings of the words truth and belief . You believe that the story is true, because you responded to it from that sense of truth deep within you. But that sense of truth does not respond to a story's factuality-- to whether it literally depicts a real event in the real world. Your inner sense of truth responds to a story's causality-- to whether it faithfully shows the way the universe functions, the way the gods work their will among human beings."
    Qing-jao thought for only a moment, then nodded her understanding. "So The Life of Human may be universally true, but specifically false."
    "Yes," said Han Fei-tzu. "You can read the book and gain great wisdom from it, because it is true. But is that book an accurate representation of the pequeninos themselves? One can