{"id":2124,"date":"2026-01-03T22:12:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/enders-saga-08-first-meetings-card-orson-scott\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T22:12:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:12:02","slug":"enders-saga-08-first-meetings-card-orson-scott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/enders-saga-08-first-meetings-card-orson-scott\/","title":{"rendered":"Ender’s Saga 08 – First Meetings – Card, Orson Scott"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Book Preview<\/h3>\n
\n

First Meetings in the Enderverse<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
\n

THE POLISH BOY<\/h2>\n

John Paul hated school. His Mother did her best, but how could she
\npossibly teach anything to him when she had eight other children\u2014six of them to
\nteach, two of them to tend because they were mere babies?<\/p>\n

What John Paul hated most was the way she kept teaching him things he already
\nknew. She would assign him to make his letters, practicing them over and over
\nwhile she taught interesting things to the older kids. So John Paul did his
\nbest to make sense of the jumble of information he caught from her
\nconversations with them. Smatterings of geography\u2014he learned the names of
\ndozens of nations and their capitals but wasn’t quite sure what a nation was.
\nBits of mathematics\u2014she taught polynomials over and over to Anna because she
\ndidn’t even seem to try to understand, but it enabled John Paul to learn
\nthe operation. But he learned it like a machine, having no notion what it
\nactually meant.<\/p>\n

Nor could he ask. When he tried, Mother would get impatient and tell
\nhim that he would learn these things in due time, but he should concentrate on
\nhis own lessons now.<\/p>\n

His own lessons? He wasn’t getting any lessons, just boring tasks that
\nalmost made him crazy with impatience. Didn’t she realize that he could already
\nread and write as well as any of his older siblings? She made him recite from a
\nprimer, when he was perfectly capable of reading any book in the house. He
\ntried to tell her, \u201cI can read that one, Mother.\u201d But she only
\nanswered, \u201cJohn Paul, that’s playing. I want you to learn real
\nreading.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe if he didn’t turn the pages of the grown-up
\nbooks so quickly, she would realize that he was actually reading. But when he
\nwas interested in a book, he couldn’t bear to slow down just to impress Mother.
\nWhat did his reading have to do with her? It was his own. The only part of
\nschool that he enjoyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re never going to stay up with your lessons,\u201d she said
\nmore than once, \u201cif you keep spending your reading time with these big
\nbooks. Look, they don’t even have pictures, why do you insist on playing with
\nthem?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s not playing,\u201d said Andrew, who was twelve. \u201cHe’s
\nreading.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, yes, I should be more patient and play along,\u201d said
\nMother, \u201cbut I don’t have time to…\u201d And then one of the babies
\ncried and the conversation was over.<\/p>\n

Outside on the street, other children walked to school
\nwearing school uniforms, laughing and jostling each other. Andrew explained it
\nto him. \u201cThey go to school in a big building. Hundreds of them in the same
\nschool.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Paul was aghast. “Why don’t their own
\nmothers teach them? How can they learn anything with<\/p>\n

hundreds?”<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s more than one teacher, silly. A teacher
\nfor every ten or fifteen of them. But they’re all the same age, all learning
\nthe same thing in each class. So the teacher spends the whole day on their
\nlessons instead of having to go from age to age.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Paul thought a moment.
\n\u201cAnd every age has its own teacher?\u201d \u201cAnd the teachers don’t
\nhave to feed babies and change their diapers. They have time to really
\nteach.\u201d But what good would that have done for John Paul? They would have
\nput him in a class with other<\/p>\n

five-year-olds and made him read stupid primers all day\u2014and he wouldn’t
\nbe able to listen to the teacher giving lessons to the ten- and twelve- and
\nfourteen-year-olds, so he really would lose his mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s like heaven,\u201d said Andrew bitterly. \u201cAnd if Father
\nand Mother had had only two children, they could have gone there. But the
\nminute Anna was born, we were cited for noncompliance.\u201d John Paul was
\ntired of hearing that word without understanding it. \u201cWhat is
\nnoncompliance?\u201d \u201cThere’s this great big war out in space,\u201d said
\nAndrew. \u201cWay above the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what space
\nis,\u201d said John Paul impatiently. \u201cOK, well, big war and all, so all
\nthe countries of the world have to work together and pay to build hundreds and
\nhundreds of starships, so they put somebody called the Hegemon in charge of the
\nwhole world. And the Hegemon says we can’t afford the problems caused by
\noverpopulation, so any marriage that has more than two children is
\nnoncompliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew stopped as if he
\nthought that made everything clear. \u201cBut lots of families have more than
\ntwo kids,\u201d said John Paul. Half their neighbors did. \u201cBecause this is
\nPoland,\u201d said Andrew, \u201cand we’re Catholic.\u201d \u201cWhat, does the
\npriest give people extra babies?\u201d John Paul couldn’t see the connection.
\n“Catholics believe you should have as many children as God sends you. And
\nno government has the<\/p>\n

right to tell you to reject
\nGod’s gifts.\u201c \u201dWhat gifts?\u201c said John Paul. \u201dYou,
\ndummy,\u201c said Andrew. \u201dYou’re God’s gift number seven in this house.
\nAnd the babies are gift<\/p>\n

eight and gift nine.\u201c \u201dBut what does it have
\nto do with going to school?\u201c Andrew rolled his eyes. \u201dYou really are
\ndumb,\u201c he said. \u201dSchools are run by the government. The<\/p>\n

government has to enforce sanctions against noncompliance. And one of
\nthe sanctions is, only the first two children in a family have a right to go to
\nschool.\u201c \u201dBut Peter and Catherine don’t go to school,” said John
\nPaul.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause Father and Mother don’t want them to learn all the
\nanti-Catholic things the schools teach.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Paul wanted to ask what \u201canti-Catholic\u201d meant, but then
\nhe realized it must mean something like against-the-Catholics so it wasn’t
\nworth asking and having Andrew call him a dummy again.<\/p>\n

Instead he thought and thought about it. How a war made it so all the
\nnations gave power to one man, and that one man then told everybody how many
\nchildren they could have, and all the extra children were kept out of school.
\nThat was actually a benefit, wasn’t it? Not to go to school? How would John
\nPaul have learned anything, if he hadn’t been in the same room with Anna
\nand Andrew and Peter and Catherine and Nicholas and Thomas, overhearing their
\nlessons?<\/p>\n

The most puzzling thing was the idea that the schools could teach
\nanti-Catholic stuff. \u201cEverybody’s Catholic, aren’t they?\u201d he asked
\nFather once.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Poland, yes. Or they say they are. And it used to be
\ntrue.\u201d Father’s eyes were closed. His eyes were almost always closed,
\nwhenever he sat down. Even when he was eating, he always looked as though he
\nwere about to fall over and sleep. That was because he worked two jobs, the
\nlegal one during the day and the illegal one at night. John Paul almost never
\nsaw him except in the morning, and then Father was too tired to talk and Mother
\nwould shush him.<\/p>\n

She shushed him now, even though Father had already
\nanswered him. \u201cDon’t pester your father with questions, he has important
\nthings on his mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have nothing on my mind,\u201d said Father wearily. \u201cI
\nhave no mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyway,\u201d said Mother.<\/p>\n

But John Paul had another question, and he had to ask it. \u201cIf
\neverybody’s Catholic, why do the schools teach anti-Catholic?\u201d<\/p>\n

Father looked at him like he was crazy. \u201cHow old are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

He must not have understood what John Paul was asking, since it had
\nnothing to do with ages. \u201cI’m five, Father, don’t you remember? But why do
\nthe schools teach anti-Catholic?\u201d<\/p>\n

Father turned to Mother. \u201cHe’s only five, why are you teaching him
\nthis?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou taught him,\u201d said Mother. \u201cAlways ranting about the
\ngovernment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not our government, it’s a military occupation. Just one
\nmore attempt to extinguish Poland.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, keep talking, that’s how you’ll get cited again and you’ll
\nlose your job and then what will we do?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was obvious John Paul wasn’t going to get any answer and he gave up,
\nsaving the question for later, when he got more information and could connect
\nit together.<\/p>\n

That was how life went on, the year John Paul was five: Mother working
\nconstantly, cooking meals and tending the babies even while she tried to run a
\nschool in the parlor, Father going away to work<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

so early in the morning that the sun wasn’t even up, and all of the
\nchildren awake so they could see their father at least once a day.<\/p>\n

Until the day Father stayed home from work.<\/p>\n

Mother and Father were both very quiet and tense at breakfast, and when
\nAnna asked them why Father wasn’t dressed for work, Mother only snapped,
\n\u201cHe’s not going today,\u201d in a tone that said, \u201cAsk no more
\nquestions.\u201d<\/p>\n

With two teachers, lessons should have gone better that day. But Father
\nwas an impatient teacher, and he made Anna and Catherine so upset they fled to
\ntheir rooms, and he ended up going out into the garden to weed.<\/p>\n

So when the knock came on the door, Mother had to send Andrew running
\nout back to get Father. Moments later, Father came in, still brushing dirt from
\nhis hands. The knock had come twice more while he was coming, each time more
\ninsistent.<\/p>\n

Father opened the door and stood in the frame, his
\nlarge strong body filling the space. \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d he demanded.
\nHe said it in Common rather than Polish, so they knew it was a foreigner at the
\ndoor.<\/p>\n

The answer was quiet, but John Paul heard it clearly.
\nIt was a woman’s voice, and she said, \u201cI’m from the International Fleet’s
\ntesting program. I understand you have three boys between the ages of six and
\ntwelve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur children are none of your business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, Mr. Wieczorek, the mandatory testing initiative is the
\nlaw, and I’m here to fulfill my responsibilities under that law. If you prefer,
\nI can have the military police come and explain it to you.\u201d She said it so
\nmildly that John Paul almost missed the fact that it wasn’t an offer she was
\nmaking, it was a threat.<\/p>\n

Father stepped back, his face grim. \u201cWhat would you do, put me in
\njail? You’ve passed laws that forbid my wife from working, we have to teach our
\nchildren at home, and now you’d deprive my family of any food at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t make government policy,\u201d said the woman as she
\nsurveyed the room full of children. \u201cAll I care about is testing
\nchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew spoke up. \u201cPeter and Catherine already passed the
\ngovernment tests,\u201d he said. \u201cOnly a month ago. They’re up to
\ngrade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn’t about being up to grade,\u201d said the woman.
\n\u201cI’m not from the schools or the Polish government\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no Polish government,\u201d said Father. \u201cOnly an
\noccupying army to enforce the dictatorship of the Hegemony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m from the fleet,\u201d said the woman.
\n\u201cBy law we’re forbidden even to express opinions of Hegemony policy while
\nwe’re in uniform. The sooner I begin the testing, the sooner you can go back to
\nyour regular routines. They all speak Common?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course,\u201d said Mother, a little pridefully. \u201cAt least
\nas well as they speak Polish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI watch the test,\u201d said Father.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m sorry, sir,\u201d said the woman, \u201cbut
\nyou do not watch. You provide me with a room where I can be alone with each
\nchild, and if you have only one room in your dwelling, you take everyone
\noutside or to a neighbor’s house. I will conduct these tests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Father tried to face her down, but he had no weapons for this battle,
\nand he looked away. \u201cIt doesn’t matter if you test or not. Even if they
\npass, I’m not letting you take them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet’s cross that bridge when we come to it,\u201d said the woman.
\nShe looked sad. And John Paul suddenly understood why: Because she knew that
\nFather would have no choice about anything, but she didn’t want to embarrass
\nhim by pointing it out. She just wanted to do her job and go.<\/p>\n

John Paul didn’t know how he knew these things, but
\nsometimes they just came to him. It wasn’t like history facts or geography or
\nmathematics, where you had to learn things before you knew them. He could just
\nlook at people and listen to them and suddenly he’d know things about them.
\nAbout what they wanted or why they were doing the things they were doing. When
\nhis brothers and sisters quarreled, for instance. He usually got a clear idea
\nof just what was causing the quarrel, and most of the time he knew, without
\neven trying to think of it, just the right thing to say to make the quarreling
\nstop. Sometimes he didn’t say it, because he didn’t mind if they quarreled. But
\nwhen one of them was getting really angry\u2014angry enough to hit\u2014then John Paul
\nwould say the thing he needed to say, and the fight would stop, just like that.<\/p>\n

With Peter, it was often something like, \u201cJust do
\nwhat he says, Peter’s the boss of everybody,\u201d and then Peter’s face would
\nturn red and he’d leave the room and the argument would stop, just like that.
\nBecause Peter hated having people say he thought he was boss. But that didn’t
\nwork with Anna, with her it took something like, \u201cYour face is getting all
\nred,\u201d and then John Paul would laugh, and she would go outside and screech
\nand then come back inside and storm around the house, but the quarrel itself
\nwas over. Because Anna hated to think she ever, ever looked funny or silly.<\/p>\n

And even now, he knew that if he just said, \u201cPapa, I’m
\nscared,\u201d Father would push the woman out of the house and then he would be
\nin so much trouble. But if John Paul said, \u201cPapa, can I take the test,
\ntoo?\u201d Father would laugh and he wouldn’t look so ashamed and unhappy and
\nangry.<\/p>\n

So he said it.<\/p>\n

Father laughed. \u201cThat’s John Paul, always wants to do more than
\nhe’s able.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman looked at John Paul. \u201cHow old is he?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot six yet,\u201d said Mother sharply.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d said the
\nwoman. \u201cWell, then, I assume this is Nicholas, this is Thomas, and this is
\nAndrew?\u201d \u201cWhy aren’t you testing me?\u201d demanded Peter. \u201cI’m
\nafraid you’re already too old,\u201d she answered. “By the time the Fleet
\nwas able to gain access to<\/p>\n

noncompliant nations…\u201c Her voice trailed off.
\nPeter got up and mournfully left the room. \u201dWhy not girls?\u201c said
\nCatherine. \u201dBecause girls don’t want to be soldiers,” said Anna. And
\nsuddenly John Paul realized that this wasn’t like the regular government tests.
\nThis was a test<\/p>\n

that Peter wanted to take, and Catherine was
\njealous that it couldn’t be given to girls. If this test was about becoming a
\nsoldier, it was dumb that Peter would be considered too old. He was the only
\none who had his man-height. What, did they think Andrew or Nicholas could carry
\na<\/p>\n

gun and kill people? Maybe Thomas could, but he was
\nalso kind of fat besides being tall and he didn’t look like any soldier John
\nPaul had seen. \u201cWhom do you want first?\u201d asked Mother. “And can
\nyou do it in a bedroom so I can keep their<\/p>\n

lessons going?\u201c \u201dRegulations require that I
\ndo it in a room with street access, with the door open,\u201c said the woman.
\n\u201dOh, for the love of\u2014we aren’t going to hurt you,” said Father. The
\nwoman only looked at him briefly, and then looked at Mother, and both of John
\nPaul’s parents<\/p>\n

seemed to give in. John Paul realized: Somebody must have been hurt
\ngiving this test. Somebody must have been taken into a back room and somebody
\nhurt them. Or killed them. This was a dangerous business. Some people must be
\neven angrier about the testing than Father and Mother.<\/p>\n

Why would Father and Mother hate and fear something that Peter and
\nCatherine wished they could have?<\/p>\n

It proved impossible to have a regular school day in
\nthe girls’ bedroom, even though it had the fewest beds, and soon Mother
\nresorted to having a free-reading time while she nursed one of the babies.<\/p>\n

And when John Paul asked if he could go read in the other room, she
\ngave consent.<\/p>\n

Of course, she assumed he meant the other bedroom,
\nbecause whenever somebody in the family said \u201cthe other room\u201d they
\nmeant the other bedroom. But John Paul had no intention of going in there.
\nInstead he headed for the kitchen.<\/p>\n

Father and Mother had forbidden the children to enter
\nthe parlor while the testing was going on, but that didn’t prevent John Paul
\nfrom sitting on the floor just outside the parlor, reading a book while he<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

listened to the test.<\/p>\n

Every now and then he was aware that the woman giving
\nthe test was glancing at him, but she never said anything to him and so he just
\nkept reading. It was a book about the life of St. John Paul II, the great
\nPolish pope that he had been named for, and John Paul was fascinated because he
\nwas finally getting answers to some of his questions about why Catholics were
\ndifferent and the Hegemon didn’t like them.<\/p>\n

Even as he read, he also listened to all of the testing. But it wasn’t
\nlike the government tests, with questions about facts and seeing if they could
\nfigure out math answers or name parts of speech. Instead she asked each boy
\nquestions that didn’t really have answers. About what he liked and didn’t like,
\nabout why people did the things they did. Only after about fifteen minutes of
\nthose questions did she start the written test with more regular problems.<\/p>\n

In fact, the first time, John Paul didn’t think those
\nquestions were part of the test. Only when she asked each boy the exact same
\nquestions and then followed up on the differences in their answers did he
\nrealize this was definitely one of the main things she was here to do. And from
\nthe way she got so involved and tense asking those questions, John Paul
\ngathered that she thought these questions were actually more important than the
\nwritten part of the test.<\/p>\n

John Paul wanted to answer the questions. He wanted to take the test.
\nHe liked to take tests. He always answered silently when the older children
\nwere taking tests, to see if he could answer as many questions as they did.<\/p>\n

So when she was finishing up with Andrew, John Paul was just about to
\nask if he could take the test when the woman spoke to Mother. \u201cHow old is
\nthis one?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe told you,\u201d said Mother. \u201cHe’s only five.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLook what he’s reading.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just turns the pages. It’s a game. He’s imitating the way he
\nsees the older children read.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s reading,\u201d said the woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, you’re here for a few hours and you know more about my
\nchildren than I do, even though I teach them for hours every day?\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman did not argue. \u201cWhat is his name?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mother didn’t want to answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Paul,\u201d said John Paul.<\/p>\n

Mother glared at him. So did Andrew.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to take the test,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re too young,\u201d said Andrew, in Polish.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI turn six in three weeks,\u201d said John Paul.
\nHe spoke in Common. He wanted the woman to understand him. The woman nodded.
\n\u201cI’m allowed to test him early,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllowed, but not required,\u201d said Father, coming into the
\nroom. \u201cWhat’s he doing in here?\u201d \u201cHe said he was going into the
\nother room to read,\u201d said Mother. \u201cI thought he meant the other
\nbedroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m in the kitchen,\u201d said John Paul.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn’t disturb anything,\u201d said the woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo bad,\u201d said Father.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’d like to test him,\u201d the woman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d said Father.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody will just
\nhave to come back in three weeks and do it then,\u201d she said. “And
\ndisrupt your<\/p>\n

day one more time. Why not have done with it
\ntoday?\u201c \u201dHe’s already heard the answers,\u201c said Mother. \u201dIf
\nhe was sitting here listening.\u201c \u201dThe test isn’t like that,\u201c said
\nthe woman. \u201dIt’s all right that he heard.” John Paul could see
\nalready that Father and Mother were both going to give in, so he didn’t bother<\/p>\n

saying anything to try to influence them. He didn’t
\nwant to use his ability to say the right words too<\/p>\n

often, or somebody would catch on, and it would stop working. It took a
\nfew more minutes of conversation, but then John Paul was sitting on the couch
\nbeside the woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really was reading,\u201d said John Paul.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d said the woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow?\u201d asked John Paul.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause you were turning the pages in a regular rhythm,\u201d she
\nsaid. \u201cYou read very fast, don’t you?\u201d<\/p>\n

John Paul nodded. \u201cWhen it’s interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd St. John Paul II is an interesting man?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did what he thought was right,\u201d said John Paul.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re named after him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was very brave,\u201d said John Paul.
\n“And he never did what bad people wanted him to do, if he<\/p>\n

\u00a0First
\nMeetings in the Enderverse<\/p>\n

thought it was
\nimportant.\u201c \u201dWhat bad people?\u201c \u201dThe Communists,\u201c said
\nJohn Paul. \u201dHow do you know they were bad people? Does the book say
\nso?\u201c Not in words, John Paul realized. \u201dThey were making people do
\nthings. They were trying to punish<\/p>\n

people for being
\nCatholic.\u201c \u201dAnd that’s bad?\u201c \u201dGod is Catholic,\u201c said
\nJohn Paul. The woman smiled. \u201dMuslims think that God is a Muslim.\u201c
\nJohn Paul digested this. \u201dSome people think God doesn’t exist.\u201c
\n\u201dThat’s true,\u201c said the woman: \u201dWhich?\u201c he asked. She
\nchuckled. \u201dThat some people think he doesn’t exist. I don’t know, myself.
\nI don’t have an opinion<\/p>\n

on the subject.\u201c \u201dThat means you don’t
\nbelieve there is a God,\u201c said John Paul. \u201dOh, does it?\u201c
\n\u201dSt. John Paul II said so. That saying you don’t know or care about God is
\nthe same as saying you<\/p>\n

believe he doesn’t exist,
\nbecause if you had even a hope that he existed, you would care very much.\u201c
\nShe laughed. \u201dJust turning the pages, were you?\u201c \u201dI can answer
\nall your questions,\u201c he said. \u201dBefore I ask them?\u201c \u201dI
\nwouldn’t hit him,” said John Paul, answering the question about what he
\nwould do if a friend tried<\/p>\n

to take away something of his. “Because then he
\nwouldn’t be my friend. But I wouldn’t let him take<\/p>\n

the thing either.\u201c The follow-up to this answer
\nhad been, How would you stop him? So John Paul went right on without pausing.
\n\u201dThe way I’d stop him is, I’d say, ‘You can have it. I give it to you,
\nit’s yours now. Because I’d rather keep you as a friend than keep that thing.’
\n“<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere did you learn that?\u201d asked the woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s not one of the questions,\u201d said John
\nPaul.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

She shook her head. \u201cNo, it’s not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think sometimes you
\nhave to hurt people,\u201d said John Paul, answering the next question, which
\nhad been, Is there ever a time when you have a right to hurt somebody else? He
\nanswered every question, including the follow-ups, without her having to ask
\nany of them. He did<\/p>\n

it in the same order she had asked them of his
\nbrothers, and when he was done, he said, “Now the<\/p>\n

written part. I don’t know those questions cause I couldn’t see them
\nand you didn’t say them.” They were easier than he thought. They were
\nabout shapes and remembering things and picking out right sentences and doing
\nnumbers, things like that. She kept looking at her watch, so he hurried.<\/p>\n

When it was all done, she just sat there looking at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid I do it right?\u201d asked John Paul.<\/p>\n

She nodded.<\/p>\n

He studied her face, the way
\nshe sat, the way her hands didn’t move, the way she looked at him. The<\/p>\n

way she was breathing. He realized that she was very
\nexcited, trying hard to stay calm. That’s why she wasn’t speaking. She didn’t
\nwant him to know. But he knew. He was what she had come here looking for.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people might say that this is why women
\ncan’t be used for testing,\u201d said Col. Sillain. \u201cThen those people
\nwould be mentally deficient,\u201d said Helena Rudolf. \u201cToo susceptible to
\na cute face,\u201d said Sillain. “Too prone to go ‘Aw’ and give a kid the
\nbenefit of the<\/p>\n

doubt on everything.\u201c \u201dFortunately, you
\ndon’t harbor any such suspicions,\u201c said Helena. \u201dNo,\u201c said
\nSillain. \u201dThat’s because I happen to know you have no heart.\u201c
\n\u201dThere we are,\u201c said Helena. \u201dWe finally understand each
\nother.\u201c \u201dAnd you say this Polish five-year-old is more than just
\nprecocious.\u201c \u201dHeaven knows, that’s the main thing our tests
\nidentify\u2014general precociousness.\u201c \u201dThere are better tests being
\ndeveloped. Very specific for military ability. And younger than you<\/p>\n

might think.\u201c \u201dToo bad that it’s already almost too
\nlate.\u201c Col. Sillain shrugged. \u201dThere’s a theory that we don’t
\nactually have to put them through a full course<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

of training.”<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, yes, I read all
\nabout how young Alexander was. It helped that he was the son of the king and that
\nhe fought unmotivated armies of mercenaries.\u201d \u201cSo you think the
\nBuggers are motivated.\u201d \u201cThe Buggers are a commander’s dream,\u201d
\nsaid Helena. “They don’t question orders, they just do.<\/p>\n

Whatever.\u201c \u201dAlso a commander’s
\nnightmare,\u201c said Sillain. \u201dThey don’t think for themselves.\u201c
\n\u201dJohn Paul Wieczorek is the real thing,\u201c said Helena. \u201dAnd in
\nthirty-five years, he’ll be forty. So the<\/p>\n

Alexander theory won’t have
\nto be tested.\u201c \u201dNow you’re talking as if you’re sure he’ll be the
\none.\u201c \u201dI don’t know that,\u201c said Helena. \u201dBut he’s
\nsomething. The things he says.\u201c \u201dI read your report.\u201c \u201dWhen
\nhe said, ‘I’d rather keep you as a friend than keep that thing,’ I about lost
\nit. I mean, he’s five.\u201c \u201dAnd that didn’t set off your alarms?
\nHe sounds coached.\u201c \u201dBut he wasn’t. His parents didn’t want any of
\nthem tested, least of all him, being underage and all.\u201c \u201dThey said
\nthey didn’t want.\u201c \u201dThe father stayed home from work to try to stop
\nme.\u201c \u201dOr to make you think he wanted to stop you.\u201c
\n\u201dHe can’t afford to lose a day’s pay. Noncompliant parents don’t get paid
\nvacations.\u201c \u201dI know,\u201c said Sillain. \u201dWouldn’t it be ironic
\nif this John Paul Whatever\u2014\u201c \u201dWieczorek.\u201c \u201dYes, that’s the
\none. Wouldn’t it be ironic if, after all our stringent population control
\nefforts\u2014for the<\/p>\n

sake of the war, mind you\u2014it turned out that the
\ncommander of the fleet turned out to be the seventh<\/p>\n

child of noncompliant parents?”<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, very ironic.\u201d \u201cI think one theory
\nwas that birth order predicts that only firstborns would have the personality
\nfor what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll else being equal. Which it isn’t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re so ahead of ourselves here, Captain
\nRudolf,\u201d said Sillain. “The parents are not likely to say<\/p>\n

\u00a0First
\nMeetings in the Enderverse<\/p>\n

yes, are they?\u201c
\n\u201dNo, not likely,\u201c said Helena. \u201dSo it’s all moot, isn’t
\nit?\u201c \u201dNot if…\u201c \u201dOh, that would be so wise, to make an
\ninternational incident out of this.\u201c He leaned back in his chair. \u201dI
\ndon’t think it would be an international incident.\u201c \u201dThe treaty with
\nPoland has very strict parental-control provisions. Have to respect the family
\nand<\/p>\n

all.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Poles are very
\nanxious to rejoin the rest of the world. They aren’t going to invoke that
\nclause if we impress on them how important this boy is.\u201d \u201cIs
\nhe?\u201d asked Sillain. \u201cThat’s the question. If he’s worth the gamble of
\nmaking a huge stink about it.\u201d \u201cIf it starts to stink, we can back
\noff,\u201d said Helena. \u201cOh, I can see you’ve done a lot of public
\nrelations work.\u201d \u201cCome see him yourself,\u201d said Helena.
\n“He’ll be six in a few days. Come see him. Then tell me<\/p>\n

whether he’s worth the risk of an international incident.”<\/p>\n

This was not at all how John Paul wanted to spend his birthday. Mother
\nhad made candy all day with sugar she begged from neighbors, and John Paul
\nwanted to suck on his, not chew it, so it would last and last. Instead Father
\ntold him either to spit it out into the garbage or swallow it, and so now it
\nwas swallowed and gone, all for these people from the International Fleet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got some questionable results from the preliminary
\nscreening,\u201d said the man. \u201cPerhaps because the child had listened to
\nthree previous tests. We need to get accurate information, that’s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was lying\u2014that was obvious, from the way he moved, the way he looked
\nFather right in the eye, unwaveringly. A liar who knew he was lying and was
\ntrying hard not to look like he was lying. The way Thomas always did. It fooled
\nFather but never Mother, and never John Paul.<\/p>\n

So if the man was lying, why? Why was he really coming to test John
\nPaul again?<\/p>\n

He remembered what he had thought right after the woman tested him
\nthree weeks ago, that she had found what she was looking for. But then nothing
\nhad happened and he figured he must have been wrong. Now she was back and the
\nman who was with her was telling lies.<\/p>\n

The family was banished to other rooms. It was evening, time for Father
\nto go to his second job, only he couldn’t go while these people were here or
\nthey’d know, or guess, or wonder what he was doing, hour after hour during the
\nevening. So the longer this took, the less money Father would earn<\/p>\n

\u00a0First
\nMeetings in the Enderverse<\/p>\n

tonight, and therefore the less food they’d be able to
\neat, the less clothing they’d have to wear. The man even sent the woman out of
\nthe room. That annoyed John Paul. He liked the woman. He didn’t like at all the
\nway the man looked at their house. At the other children. At Mother and<\/p>\n

Father. As if he thought
\nhimself better than they were. The man asked a question. John Paul answered in
\nPolish instead of Common. The man looked at him blankly. He called out, \u201cI
\nthought he spoke Common!\u201d The woman stuck her head back into the room.
\nApparently she had only gone to the kitchen. “He<\/p>\n

does, fluently,” said the woman.<\/p>\n

The man looked back at John Paul, and the disdainful
\nlook was gone. \u201cSo what game are you playing?\u201d In Polish, John Paul
\nsaid, “The only reason we’re poor is because the Hegemon punishes
\nCatholics<\/p>\n

for obeying God.\u201c
\n\u201dIn Common, please,\u201c said the man. \u201dThe language is called
\nEnglish,\u201c said John Paul in Polish, \u201dand why should I talk to you at
\nall?\u201c The man sighed. \u201dSorry to waste your time.” He got up. The
\nwoman came back into the room. They thought they were whispering soft enough,
\nbut like most<\/p>\n

adults, they thought that children didn’t understand adult
\nconversations so they weren’t all that careful about being quiet. \u201cHe’s
\ndefying you,\u201d said the woman. \u201cYes, I guessed that,\u201d said the
\nman testily.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if you go, he wins.\u201d Good one, thought
\nJohn Paul. This woman wasn’t stupid. She knew what to say to make this man do
\nwhat she wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr somebody does.\u201d<\/p>\n

She walked over to John Paul. \u201cColonel Sillain
\nthinks I was lying when I said you did so well on the tests.\u201d In Common,
\nJohn Paul said, \u201cHow well did I do?\u201d The woman only got a
\nlittle smile on her face and glanced back at Col. Sillain. Sillain sat back down.
\n\u201cAll right then. Are you ready?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Polish, John Paul said, \u201cI’m ready if you
\nspeak Polish.\u201d Impatiently, Sillain turned back to the<\/p>\n

woman. \u201cWhat does he want?\u201d In Common, John
\nPaul said to the woman, \u201cTell him I don’t want to be tested by a man who
\nthinks my family is scum.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the first place,\u201d said the man, \u201cI don’t think
\nthat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLiar,\u201d said John Paul in Polish.<\/p>\n

He turned to the woman. She shrugged helplessly.
\n\u201cI don’t speak Polish either.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Paul said to her, in
\nCommon, “You rule over us but you don’t bother to learn our language.<\/p>\n

Instead we have to learn
\nyours.\u201c She laughed. \u201dIt’s not my language. Or his.
\nCommon is just a universalized dialect of English, and<\/p>\n

I’m German.\u201c She
\npointed at Sillain. \u201dHe’s Finnish. Nobody speaks his language
\nanymore. Not even the Finns.\u201c \u201dListen,\u201c said Sillain, turning to
\nJohn Paul. \u201dI’m not going to play around anymore. You speak<\/p>\n

Common, and I don’t speak
\nPolish, so answer my questions in Common.\u201c \u201dWhat are you going to
\ndo?\u201c asked John Paul in Polish, \u201dput me in jail?” It was fun
\nwatching Sillain turn redder and redder, but then Father came into the room,
\nlooking very<\/p>\n

weary. \u201cJohn
\nPaul,\u201d he said. \u201cDo what the man asks.\u201d \u201cThey want to take
\nme away from you,\u201d said John Paul in Common. \u201cNothing of the
\nkind,\u201d said the man. \u201cHe’s lying,\u201d said John Paul. The man
\nturned slightly red. \u201cAnd he hates us. He thinks we’re poor and that it’s
\ndisgusting to have so many children.\u201d \u201cThat is not true,\u201d said
\nSillain. Father ignored him. \u201cWe are poor, John Paul.\u201d \u201cOnly
\nbecause of the Hegemony,\u201d said John Paul. \u201cDon’t preach my own
\nsermons back at me,\u201d said Father. But he switched to Polish to say it. “If
\nyou<\/p>\n

don’t do what they want, then they can punish your
\nmother and me.\u201c Father sometimes knew exactly the right words to say, too.
\nJohn Paul turned back to Sillain. \u201dI don’t want to be alone with you. I
\nwant her to be here for the<\/p>\n

test.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0First
\nMeetings in the Enderverse<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the
\ntest,\u201d said Sillain, \u201cis seeing how well you obey orders.\u201d
\n\u201cThen I fail,\u201d said John Paul. Both the woman and Father laughed.
\nSillain did not. “It’s obvious that this child has been trained to be
\nnoncooperative, Captain Rudolf.<\/p>\n

Let’s go.\u201c \u201dHe has not been trained,\u201c
\nsaid Father. John Paul could see that he looked worried. \u201dNobody trained
\nme,\u201c said John Paul. \u201dThe mother didn’t even know he could read at
\ncollege level,” said the woman softly. College level? John Paul thought
\nthat was ridiculous. Once you knew the letters, reading was<\/p>\n

reading. How could there be levels? \u201cShe wanted you
\nto think she didn’t know,\u201d said Sillain. \u201cMy mother doesn’t
\nlie,\u201d said John Paul. \u201cNo, no, of course not,\u201d said Sillain.
\n\u201cI didn’t mean to imply\u2014\u201d Now he was revealing the truth: That he was
\nfrightened. Afraid that John Paul might not take his<\/p>\n

test. His fear meant that John Paul had power in this situation. Even
\nmore than he had thought. \u201cI’ll answer your questions,\u201d said John
\nPaul, \u201cif the lady stays here.\u201d This time, he knew, Sillain would say
\nyes.<\/p>\n

They gathered with a dozen experts and military
\nleaders in a conference room in Berlin. Everyone had already seen Col.
\nSillain’s and Helenas reports. They had seen John Paul’s test scores. They had
\nwatched the vid of Sillain’s conversation with John Paul Wieczorek before,
\nduring, and after the test.<\/p>\n

Helena enjoyed how much Sillain hated having to watch this six-year-old
\nPolish boy manipulate him. It hadn’t been so obvious at the time, of course,
\nbut after you watched the vid over and over, it became painfully obvious. And,
\nwhile everyone at the table was polite, there were a few raised eyebrows, a
\nnod, a couple of half-smiles when John Paul said, \u201cThen I fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of the vid, a Russian general from the office of the
\nStrategos said, \u201cWas he bluffing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s six,\u201d said the young Indian representing the Polemarch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s what’s so terrifying,\u201d said the teacher who was there
\nfor the Battle School. \u201cAbout all the children at Battle School, actually.
\nMost people live their whole lives without ever meeting a single child like
\nthis one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, Captain Graff,\u201d said the Indian, \u201care you saying
\nhe’s nothing special?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re all
\nspecial,\u201d said Graff. \u201cBut this one\u2014his tests are good, top range.
\nNot the very best we’ve seen, but the tests aren’t as predictive as we’d like.
\nIt’s his negotiating skill that impresses me.\u201d Helena wanted to say,
\n\u201cOr Colonel Sillain’s lack of it.\u201d But she knew that wasn’t fair.
\nSillain had<\/p>\n

tried a bluff, and the boy had called it. Who knew a child would have
\nthe wit to do that?<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d said the
\nIndian, \u201cit certainly shows the wisdom of opening Battle School to
\nnoncompliant nations.\u201d \u201cThere’s only one problem, Captain
\nChamrajnagar,\u201d said Graff. “In all these documents, on this vid,<\/p>\n

in our conversation, no one has even suggested that
\nthe boy is willing to go.\u201c There was silence around the table. \u201dWell,
\nno, of course not,\u201c said Col. Sillain. \u201dThis meeting came first.
\nThere is some hostility from<\/p>\n

the parents\u2014the father stayed home from work when
\nHelena\u2014Captain Rudolf went to test three of the older brothers. I think there
\nmay be trouble. We needed to assess, before the conversation, just how much
\nleverage I’m to be given.”<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean,\u201d said
\nGraff, \u201cleverage to coerce the family?\u201d \u201cOr entice,\u201d said
\nSillain. \u201cPoles are stubborn people,\u201d said the Russian general.
\n\u201cIt’s in the Slavic character.\u201d \u201cWe’re so close,\u201d said
\nGraff, “to tests that are well over ninety percent accurate in predicting
\nmilitary<\/p>\n

ability.\u201c \u201dDo you have a test to measure
\nleadership?\u201c asked Chamrajnagar. \u201dThat’s one of the components,\u201c
\nsaid Graff. \u201dBecause this boy has it, off the charts,\u201c said
\nChamrajnagar. \u201dI’ve never even seen the charts, and I<\/p>\n

know that.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real training ground
\nfor leadership is in the game,\u201d said Graff. \u201cBut yes, I think this
\nboy will do well at it.\u201d \u201cIf he goes,\u201d said the Russian. \u201cI
\nthink,\u201d said Chamrajnagar, \u201cthat Colonel Sillain should not carry out
\nthe next step.\u201d This left Sillain sputtering. Helena wanted to smile, but
\ninstead she said, “Colonel Sillain is the team<\/p>\n

leader, and according to protocol…\u201c \u201dHe
\nhas already been compromised,\u201c said Chamrajnagar. \u201dI make no
\ncriticism of Colonel Sillain, please. I don’t know which of us would have fared
\nany better. But the boy made him back down, and<\/p>\n

\u00a0First
\nMeetings in the Enderverse<\/p>\n

I don’t think there is a
\nhelpful relationship.\u201c Sillain was careerist enough to know how to hand
\nthem his head, when asked for it. \u201dWhatever is<\/p>\n

best to accomplish the
\nmission, of course.\u201c Helena knew how he had to be seething at
\nChamrajnagar, but he showed no sign of it. \u201dThe question Colonel Sillain
\nasked still remains,\u201c said Graff. \u201dWhat authority will the negotiator
\nbe<\/p>\n

given?\u201c \u201dAll the authority he needs,\u201c
\nsaid the Russian general. \u201dBut that’s precisely what we don’t know,\u201c
\nsaid Graff. Chamrajnagar answered. \u201dI think my colleague from the
\nStrategos’s office is saying that whatever<\/p>\n

inducement the negotiator feels is appropriate will be
\nsupported by the Strategos. Certainly the<\/p>\n

Polemarch’s office has the
\nsame view.\u201c \u201dI don’t think the boy is that important,\u201c said
\nGraff. \u201dBattle School exists because of the need to begin military
\ntraining during childhood in order to build appropriate habits of thought and
\nmovement. But there has been enough data to suggest\u2014”<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know this
\nstory,\u201d said the Russian general. \u201cLet’s not begin this argument
\nagain here,\u201d said Chamrajnagar. \u201cThere is a definite fall-off in
\noutcomes after the trainees reach adulthood,\u201d said Graff. “That’s a
\nfact,<\/p>\n

however much we may not like the implications.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know more, but do worse?\u201d said
\nChamrajnagar. \u201cIt sounds wrong. It is hard to believe, and even if we
\nbelieve it, it is hard to interpret.\u201d “It means that we don’t have to
\nhave this boy, because we won’t have to wait for a child to grow to<\/p>\n

adulthood.”<\/p>\n

The Russian general was scornful. \u201cPut our war in
\nthe hands of children? I hope we are never that desperate.\u201d There was a
\nlong silence, and then Chamrajnagar spoke. Apparently he had been receiving<\/p>\n

instructions through his earpiece. \u201cThe office of
\nthe Polemarch believes that because this data Captain Graff speaks of is
\nincomplete, prudence suggests we act as if we do, in fact, have to have this
\nboy. Time is growing short, and it is impossible to know whether he might be
\nour last best chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Strategos concurs,\u201d said the Russian
\ngeneral. \u201cYes,\u201d said Graff. \u201cAs I said, the results are not
\nfinal.\u201d \u201cSo,\u201d said Col. Sillain. \u201cFull authority. For
\nwhoever it is who negotiates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think,\u201d said Chamrajnagar, \u201cthat the
\ndirector of Battle School has already demonstrated whom he has the most
\nconfidence in right now, planetside.\u201d<\/p>\n

All eyes went to Capt. Graff. \u201cI would be glad to
\nhave Captain Rudolf accompany me. I believe we have it on record that this
\nPolish boy prefers to have her present.\u201d<\/p>\n

This time when the Fleet people came, Father and Mother were prepared.
\nTheir friend Magda was a lawyer, and even though she was forbidden, as a
\nnoncompliant, to practice law, she sat between them on the sofa.<\/p>\n

John Paul was not in the room, however. \u201cDon’t let them bully the
\nchild,\u201d Magda had said, and that was it. Mother and Father immediately
\nbanned him from the room, so he didn’t even get to see them come in.<\/p>\n

He could listen, however, from the kitchen. He realized at once that
\nthe man he didn’t like, the colonel, was not there, though the woman was. A new
\nman was with her now. His voice didn’t have the sound of lying in it. Captain
\nGraff, he was called.<\/p>\n

After the polite things were said\u2014the sitting down, the offering of
\ndrinks\u2014Graff got down to business quickly. \u201cI see that you do not wish me
\nto see the child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Magda answered, quite imperiously, \u201cHis parents felt it best for
\nhim not to be present.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silence for a long moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMagdalena Teczlo,\u201d said Graff softly, \u201cthese good
\npeople may invite a friend over to sit with them today. But I’d hate to think
\nyou might be acting as their attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Magda answered, John Paul couldn’t hear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to see the boy now,\u201d said Graff.<\/p>\n

Father started explaining that that would never happen, so if that’s
\nall he wanted, he might as well give up and go home.<\/p>\n

Another long silence. There was no sound of Captain Graff getting up
\nfrom the chair, an operation that could not be performed silently. So he must
\nbe sitting there, saying nothing\u2014not leaving, but not trying to persuade them.<\/p>\n

That was a shame, because John Paul wanted to see what he would say to
\nget them to do what he wanted. The way he silenced Magda was intriguing. John
\nPaul wanted to see what was happening. He stepped from behind the dividing wall
\nand watched.<\/p>\n

Graff was doing nothing. There was no threat on his
\nface, no attempt to outface them. He gazed pleasantly at Mother, and then at
\nFather, and then at Mother again, skipping right over Magda’s face. It was as
\nif she didn’t exist\u2014even her own body seemed to say, \u201cDon’t notice me, I’m
\nnot really here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Graff turned his head and looked right at John Paul.<\/p>\n

John Paul thought he might say something to get him in
\ntrouble, but Graff gazed at him only a moment and then turned back to Mother
\nand Father. \u201cYou understand, of course,\u201d he began. \u201cNo, I don’t
\nunderstand,\u201d said Father. “You aren’t going to see the boy unless we
\ndecide you’ll see<\/p>\n

him, and for that you have to meet our terms.”<\/p>\n

Graff looked blandly back at
\nhim. \u201cHe isn’t your breadwinner. What possible hardship can you
\nclaim?\u201d \u201cWe don’t want a handout,\u201d said Father furiously.
\n\u201cWe aren’t looking for compensation.\u201d \u201cAll I want,\u201d said
\nGraff, \u201cis to converse with the boy.\u201d \u201cNot alone,\u201d said
\nFather. \u201cWith us here,\u201d said Mother. \u201cThat’s fine with me,\u201d
\nsaid Graff. \u201cBut I think Magdalena is sitting in the boy’s place.\u201d
\nMagda, after a moment’s hesitation, got up and left the house. The door banged
\nshut just a little<\/p>\n

louder than usual. Graff beckoned to John Paul. He
\ncame in and sat on the couch between his parents. Graff began to explain to him
\nabout Battle School. That he would go up into space in order to study<\/p>\n

how to be a soldier so he
\ncould help fight against the Buggers when they came back with the next
\ninvasion. \u201cYou might lead fleets into battle someday,\u201d said Graff.
\n\u201cOr lead marines as they blast their way through an enemy ship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can’t go,\u201d said
\nJohn Paul. \u201cWhy not?\u201d asked Graff. \u201cI’d miss my lessons,\u201d
\nhe said. \u201cMy mother teaches us, here in this room.\u201d Graff didn’t
\nanswer, just studied John Paul’s face. It made John Paul uncomfortable. The
\nFleet lady spoke up. \u201cBut you’ll have teachers there. In Battle
\nSchool.\u201d John Paul did not look at her. It was Graff he had to watch.
\nGraff was the one with all the power<\/p>\n

today.<\/p>\n

Finally Graff spoke. \u201cYou think it would be unfair for you to be
\nin Battle School while your family still struggles here.\u201d John Paul had
\nnot thought of that. But now that Graff had suggested it…<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNine of us,\u201d said
\nJohn Paul. \u201cIt’s very hard for my mother to teach us all at once.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat if the Fleet can persuade the government of Poland\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cPoland has no government,\u201d said John Paul, and then he smiled up at his
\nfather, who beamed down<\/p>\n

at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current rulers of Poland,\u201d said Graff
\ncheerfully enough. \u201cWhat if we can persuade them to lift the sanctions on
\nyour brothers and sisters.\u201d John Paul thought about this for a moment. He
\ntried to imagine what it would be like, if they could<\/p>\n

all go to school. Easier for Mother. That would be
\ngood. He looked up at his father. Father blinked. John Paul knew that face.
\nFather was trying to keep from showing that he was<\/p>\n

disappointed. So there was
\nsomething wrong. Of course. There were sanctions on Father, too. Andrew had
\nexplained to him once that Father wasn’t allowed to work at his real job, which
\nshould have been teaching at a university. Instead Father had to do a clerical
\njob all day, sitting at a computer, and then manual labor by night, odd jobs<\/p>\n

off the books in the
\nCatholic underground. If they would lift the sanctions on the children, why not
\non the parents? \u201cWhy can’t they change all the stupid rules?\u201d said
\nJohn Paul. Graff looked at Capt. Rudolf, then at John Paul’s parents. \u201cEven
\nif we could,\u201d he said to them,<\/p>\n

\u201cshould we?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mother rubbed John Paul’s back a little. \u201cJohn
\nPaul means well, but of course we can’t. Not even the sanctions against the
\nchildren’s schooling.\u201d John Paul was instantly furious. What did she mean,
\n\u201cof course?\u201d If they had only bothered to<\/p>\n

explain things to him then he wouldn’t be making
\nmistakes, but no, even after these people from the<\/p>\n

Fleet came to prove that John Paul wasn’t just a
\nstupid kid, they treated him like a stupid kid. But he did not show his anger.
\nThat never got good results from Father, and it made Mother anxious so she
\ndidn’t think well.<\/p>\n

The only answer he made was to say, with wide-eyed
\ninnocence, \u201cWhy not?\u201d \u201cYou’ll understand when you’re
\nolder,\u201d said Mother. He wanted to say, “And when will you
\nunderstand anything about me? Even after you realized I<\/p>\n

could read, you still think I don’t know anything.” But then, he
\napparently didn’t know everything he needed to, or he’d see what was obvious to
\nall these adults.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If his
\nparents wouldn’t tell him, maybe this captain would.<\/p>\n

John Paul
\nlooked expectantly at Graff.<\/p>\n

And Graff
\ngave the explanation he needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of your parents’ friends are noncompliant Catholics. If your
\nbrothers and sisters suddenly get to go to school, if your father suddenly gets
\nto go back to the university, what will they think?\u201d<\/p>\n

So this was about the neighborhood. John Paul could hardly believe that
\nhis parents would sacrifice their children, even themselves, just so the
\nneighbors wouldn’t resent them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could move,\u201d said John Paul.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere?\u201d asked Father. \u201cThere are
\nnoncompliants like us, and there are people who gave up their faith. There’s
\nonly the two groups, and I’d rather go on as we are than to cross that line.
\nIt’s not about the neighbors, John Paul. It’s about our own integrity. It’s
\nabout faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn’t going to work, John Paul could see that now. He had thought
\nthat his Battle School idea could be turned to help his family. He would have
\ngone into space for that, gone away and not come home for years, if it would
\nhave helped his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can still come,\u201d said Graff. \u201cEven if your family
\ndoesn’t want to be free of these sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Father erupted then, not shouting, but his voice hot
\nand intense. \u201cWe want to be free of the sanctions, you fool. We just don’t
\nwant to be the only ones free of them! We want the Hegemony to stop telling
\nCatholics they have to commit mortal sin, to repudiate the Church. We want the
\nHegemony to stop forcing Poles to act like… like Germans.\u201d<\/p>\n

But John Paul knew this rant, and knew that his father usually ended
\nthat sentence by saying, \u201cforcing Poles to act like Jews and atheists and
\nGermans.\u201d The omission told him that Father did not want the results that
\nwould come from talking in front of these Fleet people the way he talked in
\nfront of other Poles. John Paul had read enough history to know why. And it
\noccurred to him that even though Father suffered greatly under the sanctions,
\nmaybe in his anger and resentment he had become a man who no longer belonged at
\nthe university. Father knew another set of rules and chose not to live by them.
\nBut Father also did not want educated foreigners to know that he did not live
\nby those rules. He did not want them to know that he blamed things on Jews and
\natheists. But to blame them on Germans, that was all right.<\/p>\n

Suddenly John Paul wanted nothing more than to leave home. To go to a
\nschool where he wouldn’t have to listen in on someone else’s lessons.<\/p>\n

The only problem was, John Paul had no interest in war. When he read
\nhistory, he skimmed those parts. And yet it was called Battle School. He would
\nhave to study war a lot, he was sure of it. And in the end, if he didn’t fail,
\nhe would have to serve in the Fleet. Take orders from men and women like these
\nFleet officers. To do other people’s bidding all his life.<\/p>\n

He was only six, but he already knew that he hated it when he had to do
\nwhat other people wanted,<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

even when he knew that they were wrong. He didn’t want to be a soldier.
\nHe didn’t want to kill. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to obey stupid
\npeople.<\/p>\n

At the same time, he didn’t want to stay in this situation,
\neither. Crowded into their apartment most of the day. Mother always so tired.
\nNone of them learning all they could. Never quite enough to eat, nothing but
\nshabby threadbare clothing, never warm enough in winter, always sweltering in
\nsummer.<\/p>\n

They all think we’re being heroes, like St. John Paul II under the
\nNazis and the Communists. Standing up for the faith against the lies and evils
\nof the world, the way St. John Paul II did as pope.<\/p>\n

But what if we’re just being stubborn and stupid? What if everybody
\nelse is right, and we shouldn’t have had more than two children in our family?<\/p>\n

Then I wouldn’t have been born.<\/p>\n

Am I really here because God wants me to be? Maybe God
\nwanted all kinds of children to be born, and all the rest of the world was
\nblocking them from coming by their sins, because of the Hegemon’s laws. Maybe
\nit was like the story of Abraham and Sodom, where God would be willing to save
\nthe city from destructions if twenty righteous people could be found, or even
\nten. Maybe we’re the righteous people who save the world just by existing, just
\nby serving God and refusing to bow to the Hegemon.<\/p>\n

But existing is not all I want, thought John Paul. I
\nwant to do something. I want to learn everything and know everything and do
\nevery good thing. To have choices. And I want my brothers and sisters to have
\nthose choices too. I will never have power like this again, to change the world
\naround me. The moment these people from the Fleet decide they don’t want me
\nanymore, I’ll never have another chance. I have to do something now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t want to stay here,\u201d said John Paul.<\/p>\n

He could feel Father’s body stiffen on the couch next to him, and
\nMother gasped just the tiniest of gasps inside her throat.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I don’t want to go into space,\u201d said John Paul.<\/p>\n

Graff did not move. But he blinked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve never been to a school. I don’t know if I’ll like it,\u201d
\nsaid John Paul. \u201cEverybody I know is Polish and Catholic. I don’t know
\nwhat it’s like to be with people who aren’t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don’t go into the Battle School program,\u201d said Graff,
\n\u201cthere’s nothing we can do about the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan’t we go somewhere and try it out?\u201d asked John Paul.
\n\u201cCan’t we all go somewhere that we can go to school and nobody will care
\nthat we’re Catholics and there are nine of us children?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s nowhere in the world like that,\u201d said Father
\nbitterly.<\/p>\n

John Paul looked at Graff questioningly.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYour father is partly right,\u201d said Graff. \u201cA family
\nwith nine children will always be resented, no matter where you go. And here,
\nbecause there are so many other noncompliant families, you sustain each other.
\nThere’s solidarity. In some ways it would be worse if you left Poland.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn every way,\u201d said Father.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we could set you up in a large city, and
\nthen send no more than two of your brothers and sisters to any one school. That
\nway, if they are careful, no one will know that their family is
\nnoncompliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they become liars, you mean,\u201d said Mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d said Graff, \u201cforgive me. I didn’t know that your
\nfamily never, ever told a lie to protect your family’s interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re trying to seduce us,\u201d said Mother. \u201cTo divide
\nthe family. To get our children into schools that will teach them to deny the
\nfaith, to despise the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMa’am,\u201d said Graff, \u201cI’m trying to get a very promising
\nboy to agree to come to Battle School because the world faces a terrible
\nenemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes it?\u201d said Mother. \u201cI keep hearing about this terrible
\nenemy, these Buggers, these monsters from space, but where are they?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason you don’t see them,\u201d said Graff
\npatiently, \u201cis because we defeated their first two invasions. And if you
\never do see them, it will be because we lost the third time. And even then you
\nwon’t see them, because they will do such terrible things to the surface of the
\nEarth that there will be no humans alive when the first of the Buggers sets
\nfoot here. We want your son to help us prevent that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf God sends these monsters to kill us, maybe it’s as it was in
\nthe days of Noah,\u201d said Mother. \u201cMaybe the world is so wicked it
\nneeds to be destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, if that’s so,\u201d said Graff, \u201cthen
\nwe’ll lose the war, no matter what we do, and that’s that. But what if God
\nwants us to win, so we have more time to repent of our wickedness? Don’t you
\nthink we ought to leave that possibility open?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon’t argue theology with us,\u201d said Father coldly, \u201cas
\nif you were a believer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don’t know what I believe,\u201d said Graff. \u201cAll you
\nknow is this: We will go to great lengths to get your son into Battle School,
\nbecause we believe he is extraordinary, and we believe that in this house he
\nhas been and will continue to be frustrated. Wasted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mother lurched forward and Father bounded to his feet. \u201cHow dare
\nyou!\u201d cried Father.<\/p>\n

Graff also stood, and in his anger he looked dangerous and terrible.
\n\u201cI thought you were the ones who didn’t like lying!\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a momentary silence, Father and Graff facing each other
\nacross the room.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI said his life was being wasted and that’s the simple
\ntruth,\u201d said Graff quietly. \u201cYou didn’t even know that he was really
\nreading. Do you understand what this boy was doing? He was reading with
\nexcellent comprehension, books that your college students would have had
\ntrouble with, Professor Wieczorek. And you didn’t know it. He did it in
\nfront of you, he told you he was doing it, and you still refused to know
\nit because it didn’t fit into your picture of reality. And this is the
\nhome where a mind like his is going to be educated? In your list of sins,
\ndoesn’t that count as perhaps a tiny little venial sin? To take this gift from
\nGod and waste it? Didn’t Jesus say something disparaging about casting pearls
\nbefore swine?\u201d<\/p>\n

At this, Father could not stand it. He lunged forward to strike a blow
\nat Graff.<\/p>\n

But Graff was a soldier, and blocked the blow easily. He did not strike
\nback, but used only as much force as was needed to stop Father until he could
\ncalm himself. Even so, Father ended up on the floor, in pain, with Mother
\nkneeling over him, crying.<\/p>\n

John Paul knew, however, what Graff was doing. That Graff had
\ndeliberately chosen words that would cause Father to get angry and lose control
\nof himself.<\/p>\n

But why? What was Graff trying to accomplish?<\/p>\n

Then he realized: Graff wanted to show John Paul this scene. Father
\nhumiliated, beaten down, and Mother reduced to weeping over him.<\/p>\n

Graff spoke, as he gazed intensely into John Paul’s
\neyes. \u201cThe war is a desperate struggle, John Paul. They nearly broke us.
\nThey nearly won. It was only because we had a genius, a commander named Mazer
\nRackham who was able to outguess them, to find their weaknesses, that we
\nbarely, barely won. Who will be that commander next time? Will he be there? Or
\nwill he still be somewhere in Poland, working two miserable jobs that are far
\nbeneath his intellectual ability, all because at the age of six he thought he
\ndidn’t want to go into space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ah. That was it. The captain wanted John Paul to see what defeat looked
\nlike.<\/p>\n

But I already know what defeat looks like. And I’m not going to let you
\ndefeat me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still Catholics outside Poland?\u201d asked John Paul.
\n\u201cNoncompliant ones, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d said Graff.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut not every nation is ruled by the Hegemony the way Poland
\nis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCompliant nations continue to be governed by their traditional
\nsystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo is there some nation where we could be with
\nother noncompliant Catholics, and yet still not have such bad sanctions that we
\ncan’t even get enough food to eat, and Father can’t work?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCompliant nations all have to have sanctions against
\noverpopulators,\u201d said Graff. \u201cThat’s what being compliant
\nmeans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA nation,\u201d said John Paul, \u201cwhere we could be an
\nexception, and nobody would have to know it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada,\u201d said Graff. \u201cNew Zealand.
\nSweden. America. Noncompliants who don’t make speeches about it get along
\ndecently there. You wouldn’t be the only ones who had children going to
\ndifferent schools, with the authorities looking the other way, because they
\nhate punishing children for the sins of the parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich is best?\u201d asked John Paul.
\n\u201cWhich has the most Catholics?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica. The most
\nPoles and the most Catholics. And Americans always think international
\nlaws are for other people anyway, so they don’t take Hegemony rules quite as
\nseriously.\u201d \u201cCould we go there?\u201d asked John Paul.
\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Father. He was sitting up now, his head still bowed in
\npain and humiliation. \u201cJohn Paul,\u201d said Graff, \u201cwe don’t want
\nyou to go to America. We want you to go to Battle School.\u201d “I won’t
\ngo unless my family is in a place where we won’t be hungry and where my brothers
\nand<\/p>\n

sisters can go to school. I’ll just stay here.”<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s not going
\nanyway,\u201d said Father, \u201cno matter what you say, no matter what you
\npromise, no matter what John Paul decides.\u201d \u201cOh, yes, you,\u201d
\nsaid Graff. “You just committed the felony of striking an officer of the
\nInternational<\/p>\n

Fleet, for which the penalty is imprisonment for a term of not less
\nthan three years\u2014but you know how the courts put much heavier penalties on
\nnoncompliants who are convicted of crime. My guess would be seven or eight
\nyears. It’s all recorded, of course, the entire thing.”<\/p>\n

\u201cYou came into our house as a spy,\u201d said Mother. \u201cYou
\nprovoked him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke the truth to
\nyou, and you didn’t like hearing it,\u201d said Graff. \u201cI did not raise a
\nhand against Professor Wieczorek or anyone in your family.\u201d
\n\u201cPlease,\u201d said Father. \u201cDon’t send me to jail.\u201d \u201cOf
\ncourse I won’t,\u201d said Graff. “I don’t want you in jail. But I also
\ndon’t want you issuing foolish<\/p>\n

declarations of what will or will not happen, no
\nmatter what I say, no matter what I promise, no<\/p>\n

matter what John Paul decides.” This was why Graff had goaded
\nFather, John Paul understood now. To make sure Father had no choice but to go
\nalong with whatever John Paul and Graff decided between them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you going to do to me to make me do what you
\nwant,\u201d said John Paul, \u201cthe way you did with Father?\u201d \u201cIt
\nwon’t do me any good,\u201d said Graff, \u201cif you come with me
\nunwillingly.\u201d \u201cI won’t come with you willingly unless my family is in
\na place where they can be happy.\u201d \u201cThere is no such place in a world
\nruled by the Hegemony,\u201d said Father.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But now it was Mother who stopped Father from speaking
\nmore. With a gentle hand she touched his face. \u201cWe can be good Catholics
\nin another place,\u201d she said. \u201cFor us to leave here, that doesn’t take
\nbread out of the mouths of our neighbors. It harms no one. Look what John Paul
\nis trying to do for us.\u201d She turned to John Paul. \u201cI’m sorry I didn’t
\nknow the truth about you. I’m sorry I was such a bad teacher for you.\u201d
\nThen she burst into tears.<\/p>\n

Father put his arm around her, pulled her close, rocked her, the two of
\nthem sitting on the floor, comforting each other.<\/p>\n

Graff looked at John Paul, eyebrows raised, as if to say, I’ve removed
\nall the obstacles, so… do what I want.<\/p>\n

But things weren’t yet the way John Paul wanted them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’ll cheat me,\u201d said John Paul. \u201cYou’ll take us to
\nAmerica but then if I still decide not to go, you’ll threaten to send everybody
\nback here, worse off than before, and that’s how you’ll force me to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graff did not answer for a moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I won’t go,\u201d said John Paul.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’ll cheat me,\u201d said Graff.
\n\u201cYou’ll get me to move your family to America and set you up in a better
\nlife, and then you’ll refuse to go anyway, and you’ll expect the International
\nFleet to allow your family to continue to enjoy the benefits of our bargain
\nwithout your living up to your end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Paul did not answer, because there was no answer. That was exactly
\nwhat John Paul was planning to do. Graff knew it, and John Paul didn’t bother
\nto deny it. Because knowing John Paul planned to cheat him did not change
\nanything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think he’ll do that,\u201d said the woman.<\/p>\n

But John Paul knew she was lying. She was quite
\nconcerned that he might do that. But she was even more concerned that Graff
\nwould walk away from the bargain John Paul was asking for. This was the
\nconfirmation John Paul needed. It really was very important to these people to
\nget John Paul into Battle School. Therefore they would agree to a very bad
\nbargain as long as it gave them some hope that he might go.<\/p>\n

Or else they knew that no matter what they agreed to now, they could go
\nback on their word whenever they wanted. After all, they were the International
\nFleet, and the Wieczoreks were just a noncompliant family in a noncompliant
\ncountry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you don’t know about me,\u201d said Graff, \u201cis that I
\nthink very far ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

That reminded John Paul of what Andrew had said when he was teaching
\nhim to play chess. \u201cYou have to think ahead, the next move, the next move,
\nthe next move, to see where it’s all going to lead.\u201d John Paul understood
\nthe principle as soon as Andrew explained it. But he stopped playing chess
\nanyway, because he didn’t care what happened to little plastic figures on a
\nboard of sixty-four<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

squares.<\/p>\n

Graff was playing chess, but not with little plastic
\nfigures. His game board was the world. And even though Graff was only a
\ncaptain, he obviously came here with more authority\u2014and more intelligence \u2014than
\nthe colonel who had come before. When Graff said, \u201cI think very far
\nahead,\u201d he was saying\u2014 this had to be his meaning\u2014that he was willing to
\nsacrifice a piece now and then in order to win the game, just like chess.<\/p>\n

Maybe that meant he was willing to lie to John Paul
\nnow, and cheat him later. But no, there would be no reason to say anything at
\nall. The only reason to say that was because Graff did not intend to
\ncheat him. Graff was willing to be cheated, to knowingly enter into a bargain
\nwhere the other person could win, and win completely\u2014as long as he could see a
\nway, farther down the road, for even such a defeat to turn to his advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to make us a promise that you’ll never break,\u201d said
\nJohn Paul. \u201cEven if I don’t go into space after all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have the authority to make that promise,\u201d said Graff.<\/p>\n

The woman clearly did not think so, though she said nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs America a good place?\u201d asked John Paul.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are an awful lot of Poles living there who think so,\u201d
\nsaid Graff. \u201cBut it’s not Poland.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to see the whole world before I die,\u201d said John Paul.
\nHe had never told this to anyone before.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore you die,\u201d murmured Mother. \u201cWhy are you thinking
\nabout dying?\u201d<\/p>\n

As usual, she simply didn’t understand. He wasn’t thinking about dying.
\nHe was thinking about learning everything, and it was a simple fact that he had
\nonly a limited time in which to do it. Why did people get so upset when
\nsomebody mentioned dying? Did they think that if they didn’t mention it, it
\nwould skip a few people and leave them alive forever? And how much faith in
\nChrist did Mother really have, if she feared death so much she couldn’t bear
\neven to mention it, or hear her sixyear-old child speak of it?<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing to America is a start,\u201d said Graff. \u201cAnd American
\npassports aren’t restricted the way Polish passports are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ll talk about it,\u201d said John Paul. \u201cCome back
\nlater.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you insane?\u201d asked Helena as soon as they were out of
\nearshot. \u201cIsn’t it obvious what the boy is planning?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo to the insanity, yes to the obviousness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese vids are going to be even more embarrassing for you than
\nthe earlier ones were for Sillain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNot
\nreally,\u201d said Graff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy,
\nbecause you intend to cheat the boy after all?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I did that, then I truly would be
\ninsane.\u201d He stopped on the curb, apparently meaning to finish this
\nconversation before getting back into the van with the others. Had he forgotten
\nthat what he was saying now was still being recorded?<\/p>\n

No, he knew it. He wasn’t speaking to her alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cCaptain Rudolf,\u201d he said, \u201cyou saw,
\nand everyone will see, that there was no way we could get that boy willingly
\ninto space. He doesn’t want to go. He doesn’t care about the war. That’s what
\nwe’ve accomplished with this stupid repressive policy in the noncompliant
\nnations. We have the best we’ve ever seen, and we can’t use him because we’ve
\nspent years creating a culture that hates the Hegemony and therefore the Fleet.
\nWe pissed on millions and millions of people in the name of some stupid
\npopulation control laws, in defiance of their core beliefs and their community
\nidentity, and because the universe is statistically more likely to be ironic
\nthan not, of course our best chance at another commander like Mazer Rackham
\npopped up among the ones we pissed on. I didn’t do that, and only fools would
\nblame me for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what was that all about? This agreement you promised? What’s
\nthe point?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get John Paul Wieczorek out of Poland, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what difference does that make, if he won’t go up to Battle
\nSchool?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s still… he still has a mind that processes human behavior
\nthe way some autistic savants process numbers or words. Don’t you think it’s a
\ngood thing to get him to a place where he can get a real education? And out of
\na place where he’ll be constantly indoctrinated with hatred for the Hegemony
\nand the I.F.?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that’s beyond the scope of your authority,\u201d said
\nHelena. \u201cWe’re with the Battle School, not some Committee to Shape a
\nBetter Future by Moving Children Around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m thinking of Battle School,\u201d said Graff.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo which John Paul Wieczorek will never go, as you just
\nadmitted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re forgetting the research we’ve been conducting. It may not
\nbe final in some technical scientific sense, but it’s already conclusive.
\nPeople reach their peak ability as military commanders much earlier than we
\nthought. Most of them in their late teens. The same age when poets do their
\nmost passionate and revolutionary work. And mathematicians. They peak, and then
\nit falls off. They coast on what they learned back when they were still young
\nenough to learn. We know within a window of about five years when we have to
\nhave our commander. John Paul Wieczorek will already be too old when that
\nwindow opens. Past his peak.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously you’ve been given information I don’t have,\u201d said
\nHelena.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOr figured it
\nout,\u201d said Graff. \u201cOnce it was obvious John Paul was never going to
\nBattle School, my mission changed. Now all that matters is we get John Paul out
\nof Poland and into a compliant country, and we keep our word to him,
\nabsolutely, to the letter, so he knows our promises will be kept even when we
\nknow we’ve been cheated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat’s the point of
\nthat?\u201d asked Helena. \u201cCaptain Rudolf, you’re speaking without
\nthinking.\u201d He was right. So she thought. \u201cIf we have more time before
\nwe need our commander,\u201d she said, “then do we have time for him to<\/p>\n

marry and have children and then the children grow up
\nenough to be the right age?”<\/p>\n

\u201cJust barely, yes. We have just barely enough
\ntime. If he marries young. If he marries somebody who is very, very brilliant
\nso the gene mix is good.\u201d \u201cBut you aren’t going to try to control that,
\nare you?\u201d \u201cThere are many steps on the continuum between controlling
\nsomething and doing nothing at all.\u201d \u201cYou really do think in
\nthe long term, don’t you?\u201d \u201cThink of me as Rumpelstiltskin.\u201d She
\nlaughed. “All right, now I get it. You’re giving him the wish of his
\nheart, today. And then, long<\/p>\n

after he’s forgotten, you’re going to pop up and ask
\nfor his firstborn child.\u201c Graff clapped an arm across her shoulder and
\nwalked with her toward the waiting van. \u201dOnly I don’t have some stupid
\nloophole that will let him get out of it if he can guess my name.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Read the full book by downloading it below.<\/p>\n

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Book Preview First Meetings in the Enderverse THE POLISH BOY John Paul hated school. His Mother did her best, but how could she possibly teach anything to him when she had eight other children\u2014six of them to teach, two of them to tend because they were mere babies? What John Paul hated most was the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[116],"class_list":["post-2124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-orson-scott-card"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}