-15-
He was asleep when Graff and Maezr Rackham found him. They came in quietly and roused him. He awoke slowly, and when he recognized them he turned away to go back to sleep.
“Ender,” Graff said. “We need to talk to you.”
Ender rolled back to face them. He said nothing.
Graff smiled. “It was a shock to you yesterday, I know. But it must make you feel good to know you won the war.”
Ender nodded slowly.
“Maezr Rackham here, he never played against you. He only analyzed your battles to find out your weak spots, to help you improve. It worked, didn’t it?”
Ender closed his eyes tightly. They waited. He said, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Maezr smiled. “A hundred years ago, Ender, we found out some things. That when a commander’s life is in danger he becomes afraid, and fear slows down his thinking. When a commander knows that he’s killing people, he becomes cautious or insane, and neither of those help him do well. And when he’s mature, when he has responsibilities and an understanding of the world, he becomes cautious and sluggish and can’t do his job. So we trained children, who didn’t know anything but the game, and never knew when it would become real. That was the theory, and you proved that the theory worked.”
Graff reached out and touched Ender’s shoulder. “We launched the ships so that they would all arrive at their destination during these few months. We knew that we’d probably have only one good commander, if we were lucky. In history it’s been very rare to have more than one genius in a war. So we planned on having a genius. We were gambling. And you came along and we won.”
Ender opened his eyes again and they realized that he was angry. “Yes, you won.”
Graff and Maezr Rackham looked at each other. “He doesn’t understand,” Graff whispered.
“I understand,” Ender said. “You needed a weapon, and you got it, and it was me.”
“That’s right,” Maezr answered.
“So tell me,” Ender went on, “how many people lived on that planet that I destroyed?”
They didn’t answer him. They waited awhile in silence, and then Graff spoke. “Weapons don’t need to understand what they’re pointed at, Ender. We did the pointing, and so we’re responsible. You just did your job.”
Maezr smiled. “Of course, Ender, you’ll be taken care of. The government will never forget you. You served us all very well.”
Ender rolled over and faced the wall, and even though they tried to talk to him, he didn’t answer them. Finally they left.
Ender lay in his bed for a long time before anyone disturbed him again. The door opened softly. Ender didn’t turn to see who it was. Then a hand touched him softly.
“Ender, it’s me, Bean.”
Ender turned over and looked at the little boy who was standing by his bed.
“Sit down,” Ender said.
Bean sat. “That last battle, Ender. I didn’t know how you’d get us out of it.”
Ender smiled. “I didn’t. I cheated. I thought they’d kick me out.”
“Can you believe it! We won the war. The whole war’s over, and we thought we’d have to wait till we grew up to fight in it, and it was us fighting it all the time. I mean, Ender, we’re little kids. I’m a little kid, anyway.” Bean laughed and Ender smiled. Then they were silent for a little while, Bean sitting on the edge of the bed, Ender watching him out of half-closed eyes.
Finally Bean thought of something else to say.
“What will we do now that the war’s over?” he said.
Ender closed his eyes and said, “I need some sleep, Bean.”
Bean got up and left and Ender slept.
– End Chapter Fifteen –
