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.��"Don't give me that kind of crap," Peter said.�"It says, I didn't die a natural death.Peter killed me, and if he hasn't already killed Andrew, he will soon.Not enough to convict you, but enough to keep you from ever getting elected.��"You're his monitor now," said Peter."You better watch him, day and night.You better be there.��"Ender and I aren't stupid.We scored as well as you did on everything.Better on some things.We're all such wonderfully bright children.You're not the smartest, Peter, just the biggest.��"Oh, I know.But there'll come a day when you aren't there with him, when you forget.And suddenly you'll remember, and you'll rush to him, and there he'll be perfectly all right.And the next time you won't worry so much, and you won't come so fast.And every time, he'll be all right.And you'll think that I forgot.Even though you'll remember that I said this, you'll think that I forgot.And years will pass.And then there'll be a terrible accident, and I'll find his body, and I'll cry and cry over him, and you'll remember this conversation, Vally, but you'll be ashamed of yourself for remembering, because you'll know that I changed, that it really was an accident, that it's cruel of you even to remember what I said in a childhood quarrel.Except that it'll be true.I'm gonna save this up, and he's gonna die, and you won't do a thing, not a thing.But you go on believing that I'm just the biggest.��"The biggest asshole," Valentine said.�Peter leaped to his feet and started for her.She shied away.Ender pried off his mask.Peter flopped back on his bed and started to laugh.Loud, but with real mirth, tears coming to his eyes."Oh, you guys are just super, just the biggest suckers on the planet earth.��"Now he's going to tell us it was all a joke," Valentine said.�"Not a joke, a game.I can make you guys believe anything.I can make you dance around like puppets." In a phony monster voice he said, "I'm going to kill you and chop you into little pieces and put you into the garbage hole." He laughed again."Biggest suckers in the solar system.��Ender stood there watching him laugh and thought of Stilson, thought of how it felt to crunch into his body.This is who needed it.This is who should have got it.�As if she could read his mind, Valentine whispered, "No, Ender.��Peter suddenly rolled to the side, flipped off the bed, and got in position for a fight."Oh, yes, Ender," he said."Any time, Ender.��Ender lifted his right leg and took off the shoe.He held it up."See there, on the toe? That's blood, Peter.��"Ooh.Ooh, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die.Ender killed a capper-tiller and now he's gonna kill me.��There was no getting to him.Peter was a murderer at heart, and nobody knew it but Valentine and Ender.�Mother came home and commiserated with Ender about the monitor.Father came home and kept saying it was such a wonderful surprise, they had such fantastic children that the government told them to have three and now the government didn't want to take any of them after all, so here they were with three, they still had a Third.until Ender wanted to scream at him, I know I'm a Third, I know it, if you want I'll go away so you don't have to be embarrassed in front of everybody, I'm sorry I lost the monitor and now you have three kids and no obvious explanation, so inconvenient for you, I'm sorry sorry sorry.�He lay in bed staring upward into the darkness.On the bunk above him, he could hear Peter turning and tossing restlessly.Then Peter slid off the bunk and walked out of the room.Ender heard the hushing sound of the toilet clearing; then Peter stood silhouetted in the doorway.�He thinks I'm asleep.He's going to kill me.�Peter walked to the bed, and sure enough, he did not lift himself up to his bed.Instead he came and stood by Ender's head.�But he did not reach for a pillow to smother Ender.He did not have a weapon.�He whispered, "Ender, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I know how it feels.I'm sorry, I'm your brother.I love you.��A long time later, Peter's even breathing said that he was asleep.Ender peeled the bandaid from his neck.And for the second time that day he cried.3�Graff���"The sister is our weak link.He really loves her.��"I know.She can undo it all, from the start.He won't want to leave her.��"So, what are you going to do?��"Persuade him that he wants to come with us more than he wants to stay with her.��"How will you do that?��"I'll lie to him.��"And if that doesn't work?��"Then I'll tell the truth.We're allowed to do that in emergencies.We can't plan for everything, you know.���Ender wasn't very hungry during breakfast.He kept wondering what it would be like at school.Facing Stilson after yesterday's fight.What Stilson's friends would do.Probably nothing, but he couldn't be sure.He didn't want to go.�"You're not eating, Andrew," his mother said.�Peter came into the room."Morning.Ender.Thanks for leaving your slimy washcloth in the middle of the shower.��"Just for you," Ender murmured.�"Andrew, you have to eat.��Ender held out his wrists, a gesture that said, So feed it to me through a needle.�"Very funny." Mother said."I try to be concerned, but it makes no difference to my genius children.��"It was all your genes that made us, Mom." said Peter."We sure didn't get any from Dad.��"I heard that," Father said, not looking up from the news that was being displayed on the table while he ate.�"It would've been wasted if you hadn't.��The table beeped.Someone was at the door.�"Who is it?" Mother asked.�Father thumbed a key and a man appeared on the video.He was wearing the only military uniform that meant anything anymore, the I.F., the International Fleet.�"I thought it was over," said Father.�Peter said nothing, just poured milk over his cereal.�And Ender thought, Maybe I won't have to go to school today after all.�Father coded the door open and got up from the table."I'll see to it," he said."Stay and eat.��They stayed, but they didn't eat.A few moments later, Father came back into the room and beckoned to Mother.��"You're in deep poo," said Peter."They found out what you did to Stilson, and now they're gonna make you do time out in the Belt.��"I'm only six, moron.I'm a juvenile.��"You're a Third, turd.You've got no rights.��Valentine came in, her hair in a sleepy halo around her face."Where's Mom and Dad? I'm too sick to go to school.��"Another oral exam, huh?" Peter said.�"Shut up, Peter," said Valentine.�"You should relax and enjoy it," said Peter."It could be worse.��"I don't know how.��"It could be an anal exam.��"Hyuk hyuk," Valentine said."Where are Mother and Father?��"Talking to a guy from I.F.��Instinctively she looked at Ender.After all, for years they had expected someone to come and tell them that Ender had passed, that Ender was needed.�"That's right, look at him," Peter said."But it might he me, you know.They might have realized I was the best of the lot after all." Peter's feelings were hurt, and so he was being a snot, as usual.�The door opened."Ender," said Father, "you better come in here [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]