Dorabella took a deep breath and laid it on the line. “If you don’t have Ender Wiggin locked down and tied up in a relationship with you within these next four weeks, he almost certainly will be left behind on this ship, under guard or in stasis, when Admiral Morgan goes down to see how the colony is getting along. But if Ender Wiggin is Admiral Morgan’s son-in-law-to-be, then he will most definitely be presented to the Shakespearians as their new governor. So either you will be affianced to the titular governor and hero of the human race, or you’ll be permanently separated from him and will have to pick one of the local clowns when it comes time for you to marry.”
Alessandra closed her eyes for long enough that Dorabella was thinking about throwing a cup of water on her to wake her back up.
“Thank you,” said Alessandra.
“For what?”
“For telling me what you actually meant,” said Alessandra. “What the plan is. I can see that whatever I do will be for Ender’s own good. But I’m fifteen, Mother, and the only thing I know is the way the worst girls in school behaved. I don’t think that will have any good results with Ender Wiggin. So even though I would like to do what you say, I have no idea how to do it.”
Dorabella went to Alessandra’s bed and knelt beside it and kissed her daughter’s cheek. “My darling girl, all you had to do was ask.”
CHAPTER 14
To: smenach%[email protected]
From: GovDes%[email protected]/voy
Subj: As we approach
Dear Dr. Menach,
I have admired—and been grateful for—your work as I’ve studied it during the voyage. Vitaly Kolmogorov spoke of you with feelings beyond admiration—awe and deep friendship are also inadequate words—and while I have not known you as he did, I have seen your accomplishments. The fact that I and the thousands of new colonists with me will arrive to find Shakespeare Colony a going concern, instead of coming here as rescuers of a failing colony, is owed to all the colonists, of course, but without your solutions for the diseases and protein incompatibilities, it is quite likely we would have come to find no one here at all.
Vitaly told me that you were reluctant to consider accepting the governorship, but I see that you have done so, and governed effectively for nearly five years. Thank you for bending your principles and accepting a political job. I can assure you that I was nearly as reluctant to take the job myself; in my case, I had nowhere else to go.
I am young and inexperienced as a governor, though like you I have served my time as a soldier. I hope to find you in place when I arrive, so I can learn from you and work with you in helping assimilate four thousand “new colonists” and one thousand “old colonists” so that, within a reasonable period of time, they will simply be…citizens of Shakespeare.
My name is Andrew Wiggin, but I have usually been called by my childhood nickname, Ender. Since you served as a pilot during the battle within the system where now you are a colonist, it is quite possible that you heard my voice; certainly you heard the voice of at least one of my fellow commanders. I grieve for those pilots whom we lost during that action; we may not have known that our mistakes would cost real lives, but that does not remove our responsibility. I realize that for you, more than forty years have passed; for me, that battle was only three years ago, and has never been far from my thoughts. I am about to face the soldiers who actually fought that battle, and who remember those whose lives were lost because of my mistakes.
I look forward to meeting the children and grandchildren who have been born to your compatriots. They, of course, will have no memory of battles that to them are ancient history. They will have no idea who I am, or why they would be insulted by having a fifteen-year-old boy placed over them as governor.
Fortunately, I have with me the very experienced Admiral Quincy Morgan, who has kindly offered to extend his leadership over the colony as well as the ship, for as long as he remains here. Vitaly and I discussed the nature of leadership and command, and we came to think of Quincy Morgan as a man of peace and authority; you will know better than I what that can mean for the colony.
I am sorry for the burdens that our coming will impose on you, and grateful in advance.
Sincerely,
Andrew
To: GovDes%[email protected]/voy
From: smenach%[email protected]
Subj: Poor scheduling
Dear Ender,
Thank you for your thoughtful letter. I do understand exactly what you meant about Admiral Morgan being a man of peace and authority, and I wish I were equipped to give him the appropriate greeting. But the only soldiers among us are as old as me; our youngsters have had no reason to learn military discipline or skills of any kind. I fear you would find our attempts at maneuvers an embarrassment. Whatever ceremonies are to take place upon your arrival must be planned entirely from your end. Having seen YOUR work, observing it at least as closely as you have observed mine, I have every confidence that you will handle everything with perfect aplomb.
Not since Vitaly died have I had the opportunity to use “aplomb” in a sentence. Perhaps, since you are to be governor (to my great relief), I have simply transferred to you the style of discourse I always used with him.
It is unfortunate that your arrival coincides with an urgent and long-scheduled trip I must take. I am no longer lead xenobiologist, but my duties in that area have not simply disappeared. Now that you are coming, I can at least make that journey into the broad stretch of land to the south of us, which remains almost completely unexplored. We settled in a semitropical climate, so we wouldn’t freeze to death if we could not find adequate fuel and shelter when we first arrived. Now you are bringing Earth vegetation which needs cooler climes to thrive, and I must see if there are appropriate environments for them. I also need to see if there are indigenous fruits, vegetables, and grasses that we might be able to make use of, now that you’re bringing means of transportation that could make it practical for us to grow crops in one climate and consume them in another.
For reasons that should be obvious to you, I also believe that having an old man underfoot will not be as helpful to you as you imagine. When two men who have been called “governor” are together, people will turn to the one they have more experience with. And the new people, having been in stasis, will probably follow the practice of the old. My absence will be your greatest asset. Ix Tolo, the head xenobiologist, can acquaint you with ongoing projects.
I’m sure you will understand that my taking this journey does not reflect any wish on my part not to meet you or help you. If I thought my presence would be better for the colony than my absence, one of my greatest pleasures would be to shake the hand of the commander who led us to victory. Among the old coots of the colony, you’ll find many who are still in awe of you. Please be patient with them if they’re a bit tongue-tied.
Sincerely,
Sel
Sel began quietly to prepare for an expedition southward. It would be on foot—there had been no beasts of burden in the original expedition, and he was not going to deprive the colony of any of its vehicles. And even though many of the new edible hybrids had spread widely, he meant to pass out of their optimum climate, which meant he would have to carry his food with him. Fortunately, he didn’t eat much, and he would bring along six of the new dogs he had genetically altered to be able to metabolize the local proteins. The dogs would hunt, and then he would harvest two of them—and turn the other four loose, two breeding pairs that could live off the land.
New predators turned loose in the wild—Sel knew exactly how dangerous this could be to the local ecology. But they could not eat all the native species and would not interfere with the vegetation. It would be important during later exploration and colonization to find edible and tamable creatures loose in the wild.
We aren’t here to preserve the local ecology like a museum. We’re here to colonize, to suit the world for ourselves.
Which is precisely what t
he formics had started to do to Earth. Only their approach was much more drastic—burn all, and then plant vegetation from the formics’ native planet.
Yet for some reason they had not done so here. He had found none of the species the formics had planted on Earth during the Scouring of China nearly a century ago. This was one of the formics’ oldest colonies, and its flora and fauna seemed to be too distant, genetically, to have shared common ancestors with the formic varieties. It must have been settled before they developed the formification strategy they had begun to use on Earth.
In all the years till now, Sel had had to devote himself entirely to the genetic research required to keep the colony viable, and then, for the past five years, to governing the colony. Now he could go into unexplored lands and learn what he could.
He could not go any great distance—he supposed a few hundred kilometers would be his limit—for it would do no good to range so far that he could not return and report his findings.
Ix Tolo helped him pack, griping about this and that—his normal behavior. Not taking enough equipment, taking too much, not enough food, too much water, why this, why not that…it was his constant attention to detail that made him effective in his job and Sel bore it with good humor.
And, of course, Ix had a mind of his own.
“You can unpack that other bag,” Sel told him, “because you’re not going with me.”
“Other bag?”
“I’m not an idiot. Half the equipment I decided not to take, you’ve put into another pack, along with more food and an extra bedroll.”
“I never thought you were an idiot. But I’m not so stupid I’d endanger the colony by sending both our lead xenobiologists on the same journey.”
“So who’s the pack for?”
“My son Po.”
“I’ve always been bothered that you named him for an insanely romantic Chinese poet. Why nobody from Mayan history?”
“All the characters in the Popol Vuh have numbers instead of names. He’s a sensible kid. Strong. If he had to, he could carry you back home.”
“I’m not that old and wizened.”
“He could do it,” said Ix. “But only if you’re alive. Otherwise, he’ll watch and record the process of decomposition, and then sample the microbes and worms that manage to feed on your old Earthborn corpse.”
“Glad to see you still think like a scientist and not a sentimental fool.”
“Po is good company.”
“And he’ll allow me to carry enough equipment for the trip to be useful. While you stay here and play with the new stuff from the colony ship.”
“And train the xenobiologists they’ve sent along,” said Ix. “No doubt you’ve told Wiggin that I’ll help him. That will not happen. I’ll have plenty of work to do in my own field without babysitting the new governor.”
Sel ignored his kvetching. He knew Ix would help in whatever way Wiggin needed him to. “And Po’s mother is happy about his going with me?”
“No,” said Ix. “But she knows he’d never speak to her again if she barred him from it. So we have her blessing. More or less.”
“Then first thing in the morning, we’re off.”
“Unless the new governor forbids you.”
“His authority doesn’t begin until he sets foot on this planet. He isn’t even in orbit yet.”
“Haven’t you looked at their manifest? They have four skimmers.”
“If we need one, we’ll radio back for it. Otherwise, don’t tell them where we went.”
“Good thing the formics got rid of all the major predators on this planet.”
“There’s no self-respecting predator would eat an old wad of gristle like me.”
“I was thinking of my son.”
“He won’t want to eat me either, even if we run out of food.”
That night, Sel went to bed early and then, as usual, got up to pee after only a few hours of sleep. He noticed that the ansible was blinking. Message.
Not my problem.
Well, that wasn’t true, was it? If Wiggin’s authority didn’t begin until he set foot on the planet, then Sel was still acting governor. So any messages from Earth, he had to receive.
He sat down and signaled that he was ready to receive.
There were two messages recorded. He played the first one. It consisted of the face of the Minister of Colonization, Graff, and his message was brief.
“I know you’re planning to skip town before Wiggin gets there. Talk to Wiggin before you go. He won’t try to stop you, so relax.”
That was it.
The other message was from Wiggin. He looked his age, but his adult height was coming on him. In the colony, teenagers his size were expected to do a man’s work, and got a man’s vote in the meetings. So maybe his position wouldn’t be as awkward as Sel expected.
“Please contact me by ansible as soon as you get this,” said Ender. “We’re in radio distance, but I don’t want anyone else to be able to intercept the signal.”
Sel toyed with the idea of turning the message over to Ix to answer, but decided against it. The point wasn’t to hide from Wiggin, was it? Only to leave the field clear for him.
So he signaled his intention to make a connection. It took only a few minutes for Wiggin to appear. Now that the colony ship wasn’t traveling at a relativistic speed, there was no time differential, and therefore the ansible transmitted instantly. Not even the time lag of radio.
“Governor Menach,” said Ender Wiggin. He smiled.
“Sir,” Sel replied. He tried to smile back, but…this was Ender Wiggin he was talking to.
“When we got word that you were leaving, my first thought was to beg you to stay.”
Sel ignored him. “I was glad to see on the manifest a full range of beasts of burden as well as milk, wool, egg, and meat beasts. Are they Earth-natural, or have they been genetically altered to digest the local vegetation?”
“Your methods were very promising at the time we left, but did not prove out until we were well under way. So all the animals and plants we brought with us are Earth-natural. They’re all in stasis, and can be maintained in that condition on the surface for some time, even after the ship leaves. So there’ll be time to make the alterations on the next generation.”
“Ix Tolo has ongoing projects of his own, but I believe he’ll be able to train your new xenos in the techniques.”
“Ix Tolo will remain the head xenobiologist, in your absence,” said Wiggin. “I’ve seen his work in recent weeks—years, to you. You’ve trained him to an exacting standard, and the xenos on this ship intend to learn from him. Though they’re hoping you’ll return soon. They want to meet you. You’re something of a hero to them. This is the only world that has non-formiform flora and fauna. The other colonies have been working with the same genetic groups—this is the only world that posed unique challenges, so you had to do, alone, what all the other colonies were able to do cooperatively.”
“Me and Darwin.”
“Darwin had more help than you,” said Wiggin. “I hope you’ll keep your radio dormant instead of off. Because I want to be able to ask for your counsel, if I need it.”
“You won’t. I’m going back to bed now. I have a lot of walking to do tomorrow.”
“I can send a skimmer after you. So you don’t have to carry your supplies. It would increase your range.”
“But then the old settlers will expect me to come back soon. They’ll be waiting for me instead of relying on you.”
“I can’t pretend that we’re not able to track you and find you.”
“But you can tell them that you’re showing me the respect of not trying. At my request.”
“Yes,” said Ender. “I’ll do that.”
There was little more to say. They signed off and Sel went back to bed. He slept easily. And, as usual, woke just when he wanted to—an hour before dawn.
Po was waiting for him.
“I already said good-bye to Mom and Dad,”
he said.
“Good,” said Sel.
“Thanks for letting me come.”
“Could I have stopped you?”
“Yes,” said Po. “I won’t disobey you, Uncle Sel.” All the grandchildren generation called him that.
Sel nodded. “Good. Have you eaten?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s go. I won’t need to eat till noon.”
You take a step, then another. That’s the journey. But to take a step with your eyes open is not a journey at all, it’s a remaking of your own mind. You see things that you never saw before. Things never seen by the eyes of human beings. And you see with your particular eyes, which were trained to see not just a plant, but this plant, filling this ecological niche, but with this and that difference.
And when your eyes have been trained for forty years to be familiar with the patterns of a new world, then you are Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, who first saw the world of animalcules through a microscope; you are Carl Linnaeus, first sorting creatures into families, genera, species; you are Darwin, sorting lines of evolutionary passage from one species to another.
So it was not a rapid journey. Sel had to force himself to move with any kind of haste.
“Don’t let me linger so long over every new thing I see,” he told Po. “It would be too humiliating for my great expedition to take me only ten kilometers south of the colony. I must cross the first range of mountains, at least.”
“And how will I keep you from lingering, when you have me photographing and sampling and storing and recording notes?”
“Refuse to do it. Tell me to get my bony knees up off the ground and start walking.”
“All my life I’m taught to obey my elders and watch and learn. I’m your assistant. Your apprentice.”
“You’re just hoping we don’t travel very far so when I die you don’t have so long to carry the corpse.”
The Ender Quintet (Omnibus) Page 189
