1 Ender's Game (24 page)

  Ender's mind felt dead. This was stupid. He didn't have a chance, outnumbered two to one and forced to attack a protected enemy. "In a real war, any commander with brains at all would retreat and save his army.”

  “What the hell,” said Bean. "It's only a game.”

  "It stopped being a game when they threw away the rules.”

  "So, you throw 'em away, too.”

  Ender grinned. "OK. Why not, Let's see how they react to a formation.”

  Bean was appalled. "A formation! We've never done a formation in the whole time we've been an army!”

  “We've still got a month to go before our training period is normally supposed to end. About time we started doing formations. Always have to know formations,” He formed an A with his fingers, showed it to the blank door, and beckoned, A toon quickly emerged and Ender began arranging them behind the star. Three meters wasn't enough room to work in, the boys were frightened and confused, and it took nearly five minutes just to get them to understand what they were doing.

  Tiger and Griffin soldiers were reduced to chanting catcalls, while their commanders argued about whether to try to use their overwhelming force to attack Dragon Army while they were still behind the star. Momoe was all for attacking -- “We outnumber him two to one” -- while Bee said, "Sit tight and we can't lose, move out and he can figure out a way to beat us.”

  So they sat tight, until finally in the dusky light they saw a large mass slip out from behind Ender's star. It held its shape, even when it abruptly stopped moving sideways and launched itself toward the dead center of the eight stars where eighty-two soldiers waited.

  “Doobie doe,” said a Griffin. "They're doing a formation.”

  “They must have been putting that together for all five minutes,” said Momoe. "If we'd attacked while they were doing it, we could've destroyed them.”

  “Eat it, Momoe,” whispered Bee. "You saw the way that little kid flew. He went all the way around the star and back behind without ever touching a wall. Maybe they've all got hooks, did you think of that? They've got something new there.”

  The formation was a strange one. A square formation of tightly-packed bodies in front, making a wall. Behind it, a cylinder, six boys in circumference and two boys deep, their limbs outstretched and frozen so they couldn't possibly be holding on to each other. Yet they held together as tightly as if they had been tied -- which, in fact, they were.

  From inside the formation, Dragon Army was firing with deadly accuracy, forcing Griffins and Tigers to stay tightly packed on their stars.

  “The back of that sucker is open,” said Bee. "As soon as they get between the stars, we can get around behind--”

  “Don't talk about it, do it!” said Momoe. Then he took his own advice and ordered his boys to launch against the wall and rebound out behind the Dragon formation.

  In the chaos of their takeoff, while Griffin Army held tight to their stars, the Dragon formation abruptly changed. Both the cylinder and the front wall split in two, as boys inside it pushed off; almost at once, the formations also reversed direction, heading back toward the Dragon gate. Most of the Griffins fired at the formations and the boys moving backward with them; and the Tigers took the survivors of Dragon Army from behind.

  But there was something wrong. William Bee thought for a moment and realized what it was. Those formations couldn't have reversed direction in midflight unless someone pushed off in the opposite direction, and if they took off with enough force to make that twenty-man formation move backward, they must be going fast.

  There they were, six small Dragon soldiers down near William Bee's own door. From the number of lights showing on their flash suits, Bee could see that three of them were disabled and two of them damaged; only one was whole. Nothing to be frightened of. Bee casually aimed at them, pressed the button, and--

  Nothing happened.

  The lights went on.

  The game was over.

  Even though he was looking right at them, it took Bee a moment to realize what had just happened. Four of the Dragon soldiers had their helmets pressed on the corners of the door. And one of them had just passed through. They had just carried out the victory ritual. They were getting destroyed, they had hardly inflicted any casualties, and they had the gall to perform the victory ritual and end the game right under their noses.

  Only then did it occur to William Bee that not only had Dragon Army ended the game, it was possible that, under the rules, they had won it. After all, no matter what happened, you were not certified as the winner unless you had enough unfrozen soldiers to touch the corners of the gate and pass someone through into the enemy's corridor. Therefore, by one way of thinking, you could argue that the ending ritual was victory. The battleroom certainly recognized it as the end of the game.

  The teachergate opened and Major Anderson came into the room. “Ender,” he called, looking around.

  One of the frozen Dragon soldiers tried to answer him through jaws that were clamped shut by the flash suit. Anderson hooked over to him and thawed him.

  Ender was smiling. “I beat you again, sir,” he said.

  “Nonsense, Ender,” Anderson said softly. "Your battle was with Griffin and Tiger.”

  “How stupid do you think I am?” said Ender.

  Loudly, Anderson said, "After that little maneuver, the rules are being revised to require that all of the enemy's soldiers must be frozen or disabled before the gate can be reversed.”

  “It could only work once anyway,” Ender said.

  Anderson handed him the hook. Ender unfroze everyone at once. To hell with protocol. To hell with everything. “Hey!” he shouted as Anderson moved away. "What is it next time? My army in a cage without guns, with the rest of the Battle School against them? How about a little equality?”

  There was a loud murmur of agreement from the other boys, and not all of it came from Dragon Army. Anderson did not so much as turn around to acknowledge Ender's challenge. Finally, it was William Bee who answered. "Ender, if you're on one side of the battle, it won't be equal no matter what the conditions are.”

  Right! called the boys. Many of them laughed. Talo Momoe began clapping his hands. “Ender Wiggin!” he shouted. The other boys also clapped and shouted Ender's name.

  Ender passed through the enemy gate. His soldiers followed him. The sound of them shouting his name followed him through the corridors.

  “Practice tonight?” asked Crazy Tom.

  Ender shook his head.

  "Tomorrow morning then?”

  "No.”

  "Well, when?”

  "Never again, as far as I'm concerned.”

  He could hear the murmurs behind him.

  “Hey, that's not fair,” said one of the boys. "It's not our fault the teachers are screwing up the game. You can't just stop teaching us stuff because--”

  Ender slammed his open hand against the wall and shouted at the boy. “I don't care about the game anymore!” His voice echoed through the corridor. Boys from other armies came to their doors. He spoke quietly into the silence -- “Do you understand that?” And he whispered. "The game is over.”

  He walked back to his room alone. He wanted to lie down, but he couldn't because the bed was wet. It reminded him of all that had happened today, and in fury he tore the mattress and blankets from the bedframe and shoved them out into the corridor. Then he wadded up a uniform to serve as a pillow and lay on the fabric of wires strung across the frame. It was uncomfortable, but Ender didn't care enough to get up.

  He had only been there a few minutes when someone knocked on his door.

  “Go away,” he said softly. Whoever was knocking didn't hear him or didn't care. Finally, Ender said to come in.

  It was Bean.

  "Go away, Bean.”

  Bean nodded but didn't leave. Instead he looked at his shoes. Ender almost yelled at him, cursed at him, screamed at him to leave. Instead he noticed how very tired Bean looked, his whole body bent with weariness, his eyes dark from lack of sleep; and yet his skin was still soft and translucent, the skin of a child, the soft curved cheek, the slender limbs of a little boy. He wasn't eight years old yet. It didn't matter he was brilliant and dedicated and good. He was a child. He was young
.

  No he isn't, thought Ender. Small, yes. But Bean has been through a battle with a whole army depending on him and on the soldiers that he led, and he performed splendidly, and they won. There's no youth in that. No childhood.

  Taking Ender's silence and softening expression as permission to stay, Bean took another step into the room. Only then did Ender see the small slip of paper in his hand.

  “You're transferred?” asked Ender. He was incredulous, but his voice came out sounding uninterested, dead.

  "To Rabbit Army.”

  Ender nodded. Of course. It was obvious. If I can't be defeated with my army, they'll take my army away. “Carn Carby's a good man,” said Ender. "I hope he recognizes what you're worth.”

  "Carn Carby was graduated today. He got his notice while we were fighting our battle.”

  "Well, who's commanding Rabbit then?”

  Bean held his hands out helplessly. "Me.”

  Ender looked at the ceiling and nodded. "Of course. After all, you're only four years younger than the regular age.”

  "It isn't funny. I don't know what's going on here. All the changes in the game. And now this. I wasn't the only one transferred, you know. They graduated half the commanders, and transferred a lot of our guys to command their armies.”

  "Which guys?”

  "It looks like -- every toon leader and every assistant.”

  “Of course. If they decide to wreck my army, they'll cut it to the ground. Whatever they're doing, they're thorough.”

  "You'll still win, Ender. We all know that. Crazy Tom, he said, 'You mean I'm supposed to figure out how to beat Dragon Army?' Everybody knows you're the best. They can't break you down, no matter what they--”

  "They already have.”

  "No, Ender, they can't--”

  "I don't care about their game anymore, Bean. I'm not going to play it anymore. No more practices. No more battles. They can put their little slips of paper on the floor all they want, but I won't go. I decided that before I went through the door today. That's why I had you go for the gate. I didn't think it would work, but I didn't care. I just wanted to go out in style.”

  "You should've seen William Bee's face. He just stood there trying to figure out how he had lost when you only had seven boys who could wiggle their toes and he only had three who couldn't.”

  “Why should I want to see William Bee's face? Why should I want to beat anybody?” Ender pressed his palms against his eyes. "I hurt Bonzo really bad today, Bean. I really hurt him bad.”

  "He had it coming.”

  "I knocked him out standing up. It was like he was dead, standing there. And I kept hurting him.”

  Bean said nothing.

  "I just wanted to make sure he never hurt me again.”

  “He won't,” said Bean. "They sent him home.”

  "Already?”

  "The teachers didn't say much, they never do. The official notice says he was graduated, but where they put the assignment -- you know, tactical school, support, precommand, navigation, that kind of thing -- it just said Cartagena, Spain. That's his home.”

  "I'm glad they graduated him.”

  "Hell, Ender, we're just glad he's gone. If we'd known what he was doing to you, we would've killed him on the spot. Was it true he had a whole bunch of guys gang up on you?”

  “No. It was just him and me. He fought with honor.” If it weren't for his honor, he and the others would have beaten me together. They might have killed me, then. His sense of honor saved my life. “I didn't fight with honor,” Ender added. "I fought to win.”

  Bean laughed. "And you did.  Kicked him right out of orbit.”

  A knock on the door. Before Ender could answer, the door opened. Ender had been expecting more of his soldiers. Instead it was Major Anderson. And behind him came Colonel Graff.

  “Ender Wiggin,” said Graff.

  Ender got to his feet. "Yes sir.”

  "Your display of temper in the battleroom today was insubordinate and is not to be repeated.”

  “Yes sir,” said Ender.

  Bean was still feeling insubordinate, and he didn't think Ender deserved the rebuke. "I think it was about time somebody told a teacher how we felt about what you've been doing.”

  The adults ignored him. Anderson handed Ender a sheet of paper. A full-sized sheet. Not one of the little slips of paper that served for internal orders within the Battle School; it was a full-fledged set of orders. Bean knew what it meant. Ender was being transferred out of the school.

  “Graduated?” asked Bean. Ender nodded. "What took them so long? You're only two or three years early. You've already learned how to walk and talk and dress yourself. What will they have left to teach you?”

  Ender shook his head, “All I know is, the game's over.” He folded up the paper. "None too soon. Can I tell my army?”

  “There isn't time,” said Graff. "Your shuttle leaves in twenty minutes. Besides, it's better not to talk to them after you get your orders. It makes it easier.”

  “For them or for you?” Ender asked. He didn't wait for an answer. He turned quickly to Bean, took his hand for a moment, and then headed for the door.

  “Wait,” said Bean. "Where are you going? Tactical? Navigational? Support?”

  “Command School,” Ender answered.

  "Pre-command?”

  “Command,” said Ender, and then he was out the door, Anderson followed him closely. Bean grabbed Colonel Graff by the sleeve. "Nobody goes to Command School until they're sixteen!”

  Graff shook off Bean's hand and left, closing the door behind him.

  Bean stood alone in the room, trying to grasp what this might mean. Nobody went to Command School without three years of Pre-command in either Tactical or Support. But then, nobody left Battle School without at least six years, and Ender had had only four.