Ender’s Game

Suddenly they remembered that Ender was there. “Sorry, Ender,” Shen said.

Sorry. For what? For being friends? “I was there, too, you know,” Ender said.

And they apologized again. Back to business. Back to respect. And Ender realized that in their laughter, in their friendship, it had not occurred to them that he was included.

How could they think I was part of it? Did I laugh? Did I join in? Just stood there, watching, like a teacher.

That’s how they think of me, too. Teacher. Legendary soldier. Not one of them. Not someone that you embrace and whisper Salaam in his ear. That only lasted while Ender still seemed a victim. Still seemed vulnerable. Now he was the master soldier, and he was completely, utterly alone.

Feel sorry for yourself, Ender. He typed the words on his desk as he lay on his bunk. POOR ENDER. Then he laughed at himself and cleared away the words. Not a boy or girl in this school who wouldn’t he glad to trade places with me.

He called up the fantasy game. He walked as he often did through the village that the dwarves had built in the hill made by the Giant’s corpse. It was easy to build sturdy walls, with the ribs already curved just right, just enough space between them to leave windows. The whole corpse was cut into apartments, opening onto the path down the Giant’s spine. The public amphitheatre was carved into the pelvic bowl, and the common herd of ponies was pastured between the Giant’s legs. Ender was never sure what the dwarves were doing as they went about their business, but they left him alone as he picked his way through the village, and in return he did them no harm either.

He vaulted the pelvic bone at the base of the public square, and walked through the pasture. The ponies shied away from him. He did not pursue them. Ender did not understand how the game functioned anymore. In the old days, before he had first gone to the End of the World, everything was combat and puzzles to solve―defeat the enemy before he kills you, or figure out how to get past the obstacle. Now, though, no one attacked, there was no war, and wherever he went, there was no obstacle at all.

Except, of course, in the room in the castle at the End of the World. It was the one dangerous place left. And Ender, however often he vowed that he would not, always went back there, always killed the snake, always looked his brother in the face, and always, no matter what he did next, died.

It was no different this time. He tried to use the knife on the table to pry through the mortar and pull out a stone from the wall. As soon as he breached the seal of the mortar, water began to gush in through the crack, and Ender watched his death as his figure, now out of his control, struggled madly to stay alive, to keep from drowning. The windows of his room were gone, the water rose, and his figure drowned. All the while, the face of Peter Wiggin in the mirror stayed and looked at him.

I’m trapped here, Ender thought, trapped at the End of the World with no way out. And he knew at last the sour taste that had come to him, despite all his successes in the Battle School. lt was despair.

There were uniformed men at the entrances to the school when Valentine arrived. They weren’t standing like guards, but rather slouched around as if they were waiting for someone inside to finish his business. They wore the uniforms of I.F. Marines, the same uniforms that everyone saw in bloody combat on the videos. It lent an air of romance to that day at school: all the other kids where excited about it.

Valentine was not. It made her think of Ender, for one thing. And for another it made her afraid. Someone had recently published a savage commentary on the Demosthenes’ collected writings. The commentary, and therefore her work, had been discussed on the open conference of the international relations net, with some of the most important people of the day attacking and defending Demosthenes. What worried her most was the comment of an Englishman: “Whether he likes it or not, Demosthenes ca

Peter had been delighted, but then he would be. Valentine was afraid, that enough powerful people had been a

So she was not surprised to find a message marching around her desk as soon as she logged in.

Valentine waited nervously outside the principal’s office until Dr. Lineberry opened the door and beckoned her inside. Her last doubt was removed when she saw the soft-bellied man in the uniform of an IF colonel sitting in the one comfortable chair in the room.

“You’re Valentine Wiggin,” he said.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“I’m Colonel Graff. We’ve met before.”

Before? When had she had any dealings with the I.F.?

“I’ve come to talk to you in confidence, about your brother.”

It’s not just me, then, she thought. They have Peter. Or is this something new? Has he done something crazy? I thought he stopped doing crazy things.

“Valentine, you seem frightened. There’s no need to be. Please, sit down. I assure you that your brother is well. He has more than fulfilled our expectations.”

And now, with a great inward gush of relief, she realized that it was Ender they had come about. Ender. It wasn’t punishment at all, it was little Ender, who had disappeared so long ago, who was no part of Peter’s plots now. You were the lucky one, Ender. You got away before Peter could trap you into his conspiracy.

“How do you feel about your brother, Valentine?”

“Ender?”

“Of course.”

“How can I feel about him? I haven’t seen him or heard from him since I was eight.”

“Dr. Lineberry, will you excuse us?”

Lineberry was a

“On second thought, Dr. Lineberry, I think Valentine and I will have a much more productive conversation if we walk outside. Away from the recording devices that your assistant principal has placed in this room.”

It was the first time Valentine had seen Dr. Lineberry speechless. Colonel Graff lifted a picture out from the wall and peeled a sound-sensitive membrane from the wall, along with its small broadcast unit. “Cheap,” said Graff, “but effective. I thought you knew.”

Lineberry took the device and sat down heavily at her desk. Graff led Valentine outside,

They walked out into the football field. The soldiers followed at a discreet distance: they split up and formed a large circle, to guard them from the widest possible perimeter.

“Valentine, we need your help for Ender.”

“What kind of help?”

“We aren’t even sure of that. We need you to help us figure out how you can help us.”

“Well, what’s wrong?”

“That’s part of the problem. We don’t know.”

Valentine couldn’t help but laugh. “I haven’t seen him in three years! You’ve got him up there with you all the time!”

“Valentine, it costs more money than your father will make in his lifetime for me to fly to Earth and back to the Battle School again. I don’t commute casually.”