Chapter 10 – Children of the Spirit

Rule 1: All children of the Holy Spirit must be married, otherwise they cannot join the order, but they must remain chaste. (Note: The order is a subordinate body of the Catholic Church, and its members may or may not be ordained.) Here the congregation does not have a priesthood for its members. ）

Question 1: Why is marriage necessary for all?

The fool said, "Why do we have to get married?" Only love is necessary between my lover and me. To them, I would say that marriage is not only a contract between a man and a woman; See the book of Job. to reproduce their next generation. Marriage is also a contract between a man and a woman on one side and the society in which they live on the other. To marry according to the laws of the society in which you live means to be a full citizen, and to refuse marriage is to be a stranger, a child, an outlaw, a slave, or a traitor. The unchanging law in all human societies is that only those who obey the laws, taboos, and customs of marriage are true adults.

Question 2: So why do priests and nuns have to be celibate?

In order to separate them from society. Priests and nuns are servants, not citizens. They serve the church, but they are not the church itself. The mother church is the bride and Christ is the bridegroom, and the priests and nuns are merely guests at the wedding because they have renounced their citizenship in the Christian society to serve it.

Question 3: Then why do the children of the Spirit get married, and don't we also serve the church?

We do not serve the church, except through marriage, as all women and men do. The difference is that they pass on their genes to the next generation through marriage, we pass on knowledge, and what they leave to future generations is based on genetic molecules, and we live on in the minds of future generations. Memories are the output of our marriages, and their value is the same as that of the children of flesh and blood born in Divine Love.

——

St. Angelo, Statutes and Catechisms of the Order of the Children of the Holy Spirit, 1511:11:11:1

Everywhere the imams of the cathedral were taken with him the silence of the chapel and the great high walls: as soon as he entered the classroom, a solemn silence fell on the students, and when he floated silently to the front of the room, they were even holding their breath.

"Mr. Christopher," the Imam whispered. "The bishop needs to meet with you. ”

The students, most of them in their teens, were no longer at the age when they were ignorant of the tensions between the leadership of the Church and the relatively laissez-faire congregation that ran the vast majority of the world's Catholic schools. Mr. Christopher, in addition to being an outstanding teacher in history, geology, archaeology, and anthropology, is also the president of the Filhosdamentedecristo, the Order of the Children of the Holy Spirit. His status made him the main rival of the Episcopal Bishop of Lusitania as a spiritual leader. In a sense, he can even be seen as the superior of the bishop, and in most worlds each Son of Spirit president corresponds to an archbishop, and each bishop corresponds to a headmaster in the school system.

But Mr. Christot, like all children of the Spirit, has taken a permanent position of complete deference to the leadership of the church. When the bishop arrived, he immediately closed the pulpit and left the lecture, not even bothering to finish the topic under discussion. The students were not surprised; they remembered that they had been ordained in the past. The priest came to interrupt his lesson, and it turned out to be like this. In this way, of course, it was a supreme flattery for the priests to see how important they were in the eyes of the children of the spirits, but it also made it clear to them that every time they visited the school during school hours, the lessons were completely disrupted wherever they went. As a result, priests rarely visited the school, and the children of the spirits, through extreme deference, gained almost complete autonomy.

Mr. Christopher had an idea of why the bishop had summoned him. Dr. Navio was a big mouth, and rumors had been flying all morning about the terrible threats made by the man who spoke of the deceased. For Mr. Christopher, it was uncomfortable to endure the unfounded fears of the leadership every time they faced the unbelievers and infidels. The bishop is probably furious, which means that he will ask certain people to act, although the best response, as usual, is to be inactive, patient, cooperative. In addition, news came that this extraordinary speaker claimed that he was the one who spoke of the death of St. Angelo. If that were the case, he might well not be an enemy at all, but a friend of the church. Or at least a friend of a child of the Spirit, and in Mr. Christopher's mind, the two are the same thing.

As he walked through the buildings of the academy and the gardens of the cathedral after the imam who had not said a word, he removed the anger and the troubles he felt from his heart. Over and over again he repeated his Christian name: amaiatudomundoparaquedeusvosame. You must love all people so that God may love you. He chose this name when he joined the Order with his fiancée, knowing that his greatest weakness was irritability and impatience with stupidity. Like all children of the spirits, he named himself after the prayer that would overcome his greatest sins. This is one of the ways in which they expose their own souls to the world. We don't have to be hypocritical as our own garments, St. Angelo taught. Christ will clothe us with the virtue of a lily in the field. But I say to you, even when Solomon was in his most glory, he was not clothed like this flower. This means that God will naturally arrange for believers, not to worry about what the future holds, but to pray for faith and the kingdom of heaven. But we should not act on our own to demonstrate virtue. Don Christopher felt that his garment of virtue was going to be worn out in many places today, and that the impatient cold wind might freeze him to the bone. So he silently chanted his name, thinking: Bishop Peregrino is a damn fool, but, amaiatudomundoparaquedeusvosame.

"Love brothers," said Bishop Peregrino. The bishop never called him by the honorific title of Mr. Christot, even though it was known that even the cardinal maintained this etiquette with him. "You've come just in time. ”

Navio was already in the softest chair, but Mr. Christopher was not jealous of him. Laziness had made Navio fat, and his obesity had now made him even lazier, and Christopher had to thank himself for being spared such a vicious cycle of self-positive feedback. He chose a high stool for himself that had no back at all. This will keep his body from slacking off and help keep his mind sharp.

Almost immediately, Navio began to report on his painful meeting with the Speaker of the Dead, explaining in detail what the Speaker threatened to do if he did not cooperate. "An inquisitor, can you imagine! How dare an unbeliever usurp the power of the Mother Church!" Oh, this lay believer possessed the soul of a jihadist when the mother church was threatened—but when he was told to attend Mass every week, the soul of the mujahideen curled up and went to sleep.

Navio's words did have some effect: Bishop Peregrino grew angrier, and a flush of red flushed beneath the dark brown skin on his face. When Navio's chatter was finally over, Peregrino turned to face Mr. Christopher, his face turned into a mask of wrath, and said, "Now what are you going to say, love brother!"

I would say, if I weren't so cautious, you'd be a fool to bother this speaker knowing that the law is on his side and that he has done nothing to hurt us. Now that he's been, the danger has risen dramatically, and if you had simply ignored his coming, how could he have done that.

Mr. Christopher forced a forced laugh and lowered his head. "I think we should take the initiative to attack and deprive him of the ability to hurt us. ”

These belligerent words were beyond the expectations of Bishop Peregrino.

"Exactly," he said. "But I never expected you to think of that. ”

"The children of the spirit are as zealous as any uncivilized Christian," said Mr. Christot. But because we have no priesthood, we have to act in a pitiful substitute for authority by reason and logic. ”

Bishop Peregrino always felt sarcasm, but he was never sure where the sarcasm was. He snorted, his eyes narrowing. "So, go on, brother, how do you plan to attack him?"

"Well, Father Peregrino, the law is clear. He has power over us only if we interfere with His priesthood. If we want to deprive him of the ability to harm us, we just have to cooperate with him. ”

The bishop roared, slamming his fist against the table in front of him. "I should have thought that all you could spit out of your mouth would be this kind of sophistry, love!"

Mr. Christopher smiled. "There's really no choice here – either we answer his questions, or his application to become an inquisitor will be perfectly justified, and then you'll have to board a spaceship to the Vatican to face accusations of religious persecution. We all love you too much, Bishop Peregrino, and cannot do anything that would cause you to be removed. ”

"Oh, yes, I know all that I love you. ”

"The words of the deceased say that people are actually quite harmless (note: the original text of the Quite can be understood to a certain extent, but it can also be understood to be complete. It seems that the dean is playing sloppy. - They didn't set up an enemy organization, they didn't hold any sacraments, they didn't even declare the Queen of Worms and the Overlord to be a holy canon. All they do is try to uncover the truth about the life of the deceased, and then tell everyone who is willing to listen to the story of the deceased's life, from the perspective of the deceased himself. All those who are willing to listen to the story of the life of the deceased from the perspective of the deceased himself. ”

"You're pretending to think those actions are harmless?"

"Quite the opposite. St. Angelo founded our congregation precisely because speaking the truth is such a powerful act. But I think this is much less harmful than some of the other things, for example, compared to the Protestant Reformation. Protestant, an oath, refers to an oath against the papacy. ）。 Moreover, as soon as our Catholic charter is revoked on the grounds of religious persecution, a large number of non-Catholic immigrants will be granted at once, which will result in us being at most in the third largest number of people. ”

Bishop Peregrino stroked his ring. "But will the Galactic Council really approve it? They have set a fixed cap on the size of the colony - bringing in so many unbelievers will far exceed that limit. ”

"But you must also know that they are ready for it. Why do you think two spaceships are left in orbit around our planet, because a Catholic charter would inevitably lead to unbridled population growth, and they would have to move away our surplus population by forced immigration. They're going to start doing it in a generation or two — what's going to stop them from doing it now?"

"They won't. ”

"The Council of the Galaxy was established to stop the jihad and massacres that were going on in half a dozen places at the time. A legal complaint about religious persecution is a serious matter. ”

"That's an exaggeration! A couple of half-mad heretics have brought together a deceased speaker, and then all of a sudden we are faced with forced emigration!"

"My dear priest, this is often the case between secular and religious authorities. We must be patient, if not for any other reason: they hold all the guns at their fingertips. (^_^ Tribute to the President)"

This made Navio laugh.

"They may be holding guns, but we hold the keys to heaven and hell," the bishop said.

And I'm sure half of the members of the Galaxy Council are already worried about the future (Note: See, half of the members of the Council are atheists. ）。 At the same time, despite this, I may be able to help relieve the pain caused by this embarrassing situation. You don't need to publicly retract your earlier comments—"(your stupid, destructive, opinionated comments)—but let everyone know that you have taught the children of the Holy Spirit to endure the burden of answering the question of the unbeliever. ”

"You can't know all the answers he needs," Navio said.

"But we can find those answers for him, can't we? In this way, the people of Miracle Town probably don't have to speak directly to the person who said it, but they just have to talk to our harmless brothers and sisters in the order. ”

"In other words," said Peregrino coldly, "the monks of your order will become the servants of this unbeliever. ”

Mr. Christopher silently recited his name three times.

————————————————————————————

Never since his childhood at military school had Ander felt so clearly that he was in enemy country. The road leading from the square to the hill has been somewhat tarnished by the footsteps of many pilgrims, and the dome of the cathedral is so high that it can be seen all but a few of the steepest places on the hillside. The elementary school was built along the hill to his left, and on the right was the teachers' quarters, nominally the teachers' quarters but in reality mainly the grounds keepers, guards, clerks, consultants, and other miscellaneous servants. The teachers Ender saw were all dressed in the gray loose robes of the Spirit Child, watching curiously as he passed.

The hostility arose when he reached the top of the hill, where a wide expanse of grass and gardens was unblemished and almost flat, with neat roads paved with crushed metallurgical slag. This is the world of the Church, Ander thought, and everything has its place, and no weeds can survive. He noticed that many people were looking at him, but now the robes were black or orange, and the priests and priests had eyes that were hostile to their authority. Did I come here and steal anything from you?" Ender asked them silently. But he knew that their hatred was not without cause. He is a wild lily that appears in a well-tended garden...... ）; Wherever he stood, chaos struck, and many lovely flowers would die, if he took root and drew life from their soil.

Jane talks to him affectionately and tries to provoke him to answer her, but Ender refuses to be captured by her tricks. The priests could not see his lips moving, and a considerable part of the church considered human implants like the earrings in his ears to be a blasphemy and an attempt to improve a perfect body created by God.

"How many priests can this community support, Ender?" she said, feigning amazement.

Ander should have cross-examined that she already had the exact number in her file. One of her pleasures was to say something that annoyed him when he was in a situation where he could not retaliate, or to openly let people find her talking in his ear.

"A drone that doesn't even reproduce. If they don't reproduce, why hasn't the evolutionary process made them extinct?" she knew, of course, that priests were responsible for most of the stewardship and public service in the community. Ander mentally spelled his answer as if he could read it aloud. Without the priests, the political axe or the business community or the guild or some other group would have expanded to take over the task. Some kind of stubborn leadership will always appear in the community as a conservative force, allowing it to maintain its self-identity, despite the constant change that surrounds it. Without a strong advocate of orthodoxy, the community will inevitably fall apart. A strong orthodoxy is irritating, but it is necessary for the community. Didn't Valentine write about this in her book in Zanzibar?

Merely to show him that she could guess his argument, even if he didn't, Jane provided the quotation, and mockingly read it in Valentine's own voice, which she apparently had preserved to torture him. "Bones are hard and look lifeless like boulders in themselves, but by rooting themselves in the bones and pulling them, the rest of the body is able to do all the normal activities. ”

Valentine's voice hurt him more than he expected, and it certainly exceeded what Jane originally wanted to achieve. His pace slowed. He realized that it was her absence that made him so sensitive to the hostility of the priests. He once brushed the lion's whiskers in the Calvinist lion's nest, and he also walked naked and calmly in the Islamic fire cave, (translator's chatter: I actually have the urge to translate this passage into the following: He has also, Calvin's nest has brushed the lion's beard, and he has also done it, the halal fire cave is walking ~ Please sing the above in the tune of Huangmei Opera...... Cough. Seriously, this is another allusion to Christian saints. See Old Testament Daniel 6:16–23 for the former and 3:13–27 for the latter. Many of the martyrs of early Christianity were martyred following the example of these two passages. Shinto fanatics once sang death threats outside his window in Kyoto. But in those moments, Valentine was always by her side – in the same city, breathing the same air, enduring the same circumstances. She would encourage him as he set out, and her words would make sense of his defeat as he retreated from the front, and would drape him in triumphant stripes when he was defeated. I had left her only ten days ago, and now, I have felt her absence.

"Go left, I thought," said Jane. Be merciful, she now uses her own voice. "The monastery is on the western edge of the hill, overlooking the Alien Workstation. ”

He walked along the edge of the middle school, where students over the age of 12 were studying advanced science. Low ahead, the monastery awaited him. The contrast between the cathedral and the monastery made him smile. The children of the spirits are almost defiantly rejecting the opulence. No wonder the leadership doesn't like them anywhere. Even the monastery's garden became a rebellious manifesto - everywhere except for a vegetable garden was thrown to weeds and unmowed lawns.

The abbot of the abbey was called Mr. Christopher, of course, and if the abbot had a female surname, it would be Ms. Christie. In this place, there was only one principal, because there was only one primary school and one secondary school, and in a straightforward way, the husband was in charge of the monastery and his wife was in charge of the school, and a single marriage took care of the affairs of the order. Ander had told San Angelo that this was a high-level posturing...... Xiao An, you are pretending to be b, pretending to be high...... Not at all modest, for to call the leaders of monasteries and schools "Mr. Christians" or "Mrs. Christians" is to usurp the title that should belong to every selfless follower of Christ. Sant'Angelo just smiled—because, of course, that's exactly what he had in mind, exactly what he was thinking. Humble and arrogant, that's who he is, and that's one of the reasons I like him.

Mr. Christopher came out to welcome him in the courtyard, not in his own office—there are rules in the Order that you deliberately keep the inconvenience to yourself for the convenience of those you serve. "Andrew!" he cried. "Mr. Sephiro!" Ander replied. Sefero - Reaper - is the official name for the abbot within the order, the headmasters of the schools are called Aradoris, the cultivator, and the teachers and friars are Semendoris, the sower.

Sephilo laughed because the speakers didn't call him by his usual title, Mr. Christopher. He knew how troublesome it was for others to call the Children of the Spirit by their Christian names and titles. In the words of St. Angelo, "When they call you by your title, they confess that you are a Christian, and when they call you by your religious name, they spit out admonition from their lips." He put his arm around Ender's shoulders and smiled, "Yes, I'm Sephiro." What are you doing to us—is it a plague of weeds?"

"Everywhere I go, I want to be a blight. ”

"Be careful, then, or the Lord of the harvest. Therefore, the following tare is also translated from the Chinese Bible as weed. See Luke 10:2.) You will be burned with the weed. ”

"I know—God's punishment is only beyond one breath, but don't think I'll repent. ”

"The priests are the ones who do the work of repentance. Our job is to educate the mind. It's good that you're here. ”

"Good thing, you invited me here. I've been pushed to the point where anyone who says something to me has to wield the roughest stick. ”

Sephilo understood, of course, that the speaker knew that the invitation was only because of his threat to be an inquisitor. But Brother Ai wants to keep this conversation pleasant. "Now, tell me, do you really know St. Angelo, and you are the one who spoke of his death?"

Ander gestured to the overgrown weeds on top of the courtyard wall. "He will appreciate this disorder in your garden. He loves to tease Cardinal Aquila, and your Bishop of Peregrino will undoubtedly be so angry with your poor management of the land that his nose will be wrinkled. ”

Mr. Christopher winked. "You know so many of our secrets. If we help you find the answers to your questions, will you leave?"

"There is a lot of hope. Since I started as a speaker, the longest time I've been in a place has been in Reykjavik on Trondheim, where I've lived for a year and a half. ”

"I hope you'll promise us to stay here just as short. I beg of you, not for myself, but for the peace of mind of those who wear robes much heavier than mine. ”

Ander replied sincerely, with the only answer that could have put the bishop's mind at ease. "I promised that if I were to settle down in a place, I would remove my title of speaker and become a good citizen. ”

"In a place like this, that would include conversion to Catholicism. ”

"San Angelo told me many years ago that if I wanted to be religious, then I would believe in him. ”

For some reason, this doesn't sound like a sincere statement of faith. ”

"That's because I don't have any faith yet. ”

Sephilo laughed, as if to say that he wouldn't be fooled, and insisted on showing him around the monastery and school before answering Ender's question. Ender didn't mind – he also wanted to see how far the idea of San Angelo had gone centuries after his death. The school seemed to feel quite good, and the quality of education was quite high, but Sephilo brought him back to the monastery and into him and his wife, Aradona. It was dark before sharing in the cubicle.

Donna Christopher was already there, writing a set of grammar exercises on the terminal between the beds. They waited until she could stop before they started talking to her.

Sefiro introduced him as Andrew, the man of speech. "But he seems to find it difficult to call me Mr. Christopher. ”

"The bishop too," his wife said. "My real name is detestaiopecadoefazeiodireito. "Abomination," Ander translated. "My husband's name can be turned into a cute short form – love, love you. But what about me? Can you imagine you shouting at a friend, 'Hey, hate!'" they all laughed. "Love and hate, this is who we are, husband and wife. What do you want to call us, do you think the title of Christian is too high for me?"

Ender looked at her countenance, which was already wrinkled, and someone more mean than him might say that she was old. But the smile in her smile and the energy in her eyes made her look much younger, even younger than Ender. "I want to call you beleza (Portuguese, beautiful, beautiful), but I am afraid that your husband will accuse me of molesting you. ”

"No, he'll call me Beladona, a little mischievous joke about everything from beauty to poison. Wouldn't you, Mr. Christopher?"

"It's my duty to keep you humble. ”

"Just as it's my duty to keep you chaste," she replied.

Hearing this, Ander couldn't help but look back and forth at the two beds.

"Ah, another one who is curious about our chaste marriage," Sephilo said.

"No," Ender said. "But I remember San Angelo urging husbands and wives to share a bed. ”

"We can't do that, unless," said Aladoris, "one of us sleeps night and day sleep." ”

"The rules must correspond to the power of the children of the Holy Spirit," Sephilo explained. "There are undoubtedly people who can share a bed and remain celibate, but my wife is still too beautiful and my carnal desires are too stubborn. ”

"That's exactly what San Angelo wanted. He said that the marriage bed should be a place of constant examination of your love of knowledge. He hoped that every man and woman in the congregation would, after a certain period of time, choose to give birth to their sons of flesh, just as they did sons of spirits. ”

"But once we do that," Sephilo said, "we must leave the Children of the Spirit." ”

"This is something that our dear San Angelo did not understand, because the Order never really had a convent when he was alive," said Aradona. "The convent became our home, and leaving it would be as painful as a divorce. Once rooted, the plant cannot move unless it is subjected to great pain and tearing. So we sleep in separate beds so that we have enough strength to stay in our beloved congregation. ”

Her tone was so contented that, completely against her will, Ender's eyes filled with tears. She noticed the situation and looked away with a red face. "Don't weep for us, Speak Man Andrew. Our joy is far greater than our suffering. ”

"You're mistaken," Ender said. "My tears are not for pity, but for beauty. ”

"No," said Sephilo, "even the celibate and ascetic priests think that our chaste marriage is, at best, quirky. ”

"But I don't think so," Ender said. For a moment, he wanted to tell them about his long-standing relationship with Valentine, dear as a wife, but chaste as a sister. But the thought of her made him speechless. He sat down on Sephiro's bed and buried his face in his hands.

"Is there something wrong?" asked Aladona. At the same time, Sefero's hand was gently placed on his head.

Ander raised his head, wanting to wave away the sudden love and longing for Valentine.

"I'm afraid I'm going to pay more for this trip than the others. I left behind my sister, who had traveled with me for many years. She got married in Reykjavik. For me, it had only been a week or so since I left her, but I found that I missed her more than I thought I would. You two—"

"Are you telling us that you're also celibate?" Sephilo asked.

"And he's still a widower," Aladona whispered.

For Ender, it didn't seem wrong to use those words to describe his loss of Valentine.

Jane muttered in his ear. If this is part of some of your great plan (Note: Christianity often refers to God's great plan that is incomprehensible to mortals. Ander, I admit it's too esoteric for me. ”

But of course, this is not part of the plan at all. Ander was surprised to feel that he was out of control like this. He had been in control of the situation at Ribeira's house last night, and now he felt that he was at the mercy of the two married monks, and that he had given up on himself as Coyula or Greg had done.

"I think," said Sefero, "you have come here to ask more questions than you think." ”

"You must be so lonely," Aradona said. "Your sister has found her resting place. Are you looking for one too?"

"I don't think so," Ender said. "I'm afraid I've taken advantage of your hospitality. Monks who have not received consecration should not listen to confessions. ”

Aladona laughed. "Oh, any Catholic can listen to the confession of an unbeliever. ”

Sefero didn't laugh, though. "Andrew, the Speaker, you have obviously given us more trust than you intended, but I can assure you that we deserve it. And in the process, my friend, I believe that I can trust you too. The bishop is afraid of you, and I have to admit that I had my own worries, but not now. I will help you as much as I can, because I am sure that you will not intentionally harm our little village. ”

"Ah," Jane whispered, "I understand now. You're a very clever trick, Ender. You're so good at tricks than I always thought. ”

Her taunts made Ender feel cynical and disgusting, and he did something he had never done before. He felt for the earring, found the little slider on it, tossed it aside with his fingernails, and pressed it. The earrings stopped working. Jane could no longer speak into his ears, could no longer see and hear from his point of view. "Let's get out," Ender said.

They understood exactly what he had just done, for the function of such an implantable device was well known, and they saw it as evidence of his desire for a cordial conversation in private, so they readily agreed to go. Ander had only wanted to turn off the earrings for the time being, in response to Jane's insensitivity, and he had thought it would only take a few minutes to open the interface again. But the relaxed look that Aradona and Sephilo show as soon as the earrings are in dormant mode makes it impossible to turn them back on, at least temporarily.

On the hillside at night, during a conversation with Aladona and Sephiro, he forgot that Jane was not listening. They tell him about Nowanhua's childhood loneliness and the memories of seeing her rejuvenated by Pippo's fatherly care and Lipo's friendship. "But since the night he died, she felt like a dead person to all of us. ”

Nowanhua never knew that anyone had ever discussed her with concern. The grief of the vast majority of the children does not give rise to meetings in the bishop's boardroom, conversations among her teachers in the convent, endless speculation in the mayor's office. The vast majority of the children, after all, are not the daughters of the Venerables, and the vast majority of the children are not the only alien biologists on their planet.

"She became very aloof, always with a businesslike attitude. She reported on her work to improve native species for human use and to improve the planet's native species so that they could survive in Lusitania. She answers all questions fluently, pleasantly, and straightforwardly. But she's like a dead person to us, she has no friends. We even asked Lipo about God to rest his soul, and he told us that he, her former friend, would not even give him that empty smile that she showed to others. On the contrary, she was always angry with him, and forbade him to ask her any questions. ”

Sefero pinched a small piece from the leaf of the native grass and licked its inner surface. "You should try this, Andrew—this thing has a special flavor, and since your body can't metabolize it at all, it's completely harmless. ”

"Warn him, husband, that the edge of the blade of grass can cut his lips and tongue like razor's edge. ”

"I was about to get to that. ”

Ander smiled, pinched off a leaf, and tasted it. Sour cinnamon, a faint hint of orange, a strong smell of bad breath - the smell of a lot of things mixed together, not a few good ones, but this one is very strong. "It's addictive. ”

"My husband is going to use this analogy to speak Andrew. Be careful. ”

Sephilo smiled sheepishly. "Didn't St. Angelo say that Christ taught the right way by comparing the new with the old?"

"The smell of grass," said Ender, "what does it have to do with Nowanhua?"

The metaphor is a bit of a twist. But I think Nowanhua tasted something that wasn't pleasant at all, but the smell was so strong that it captivated her, and she never got rid of it. ”

"What's that?"

"In theological terms, pride in the midst of universal sin. This is a form of vanity and megalomania. She thinks she's responsible for something, but it's not her fault. It's like she's in control of everything, like other people's suffering comes as punishment for her sins. ”

"She blamed herself," said Aradona, "for Pippo's death." ”

"She's not a fool," Ender said. She knew it was the pigs, and she knew that Pippo had gone to them alone. How could this be her fault?"

"The first time I had this idea, I raised the same objection. But then I read the transcript and summary of the events of the night Pippo died. There's only a hint of what's going on—a quote from Lipo asking Nowanhua to show him what she and Pippo were working on before Pippo went to meet the pigs. She said no. That's all there was to it - the others interrupted the conversation, and they never came back to the subject, at least, not at the Xenologist Workstation, not where the records should have been kept. ”

"It made us both wonder what had happened before Pippo died," said Aragona. "Why did Pippo go out in such a hurry? Did they quarrel over something? Was he angry? A man died, a loved one, and your last contact with him was angry or grudgeful, and you start blaming yourself. If only I hadn't said it, if I hadn't said it, how good it would have been. ”

"We tried to reconstruct what could have happened that night. We visited the computer journal, where work notes were automatically saved, and a record of everything that everyone who logged in to. And everything that belonged to her was completely blocked. It's not just a document of what she's specifically doing. We don't even have access to the chronicle that records when she logged in. We couldn't even find out which documents she hid from us. We don't have access at all. Not even the mayor, her usual priorities are useless—"

Aradona nodded. "This is the first time that a public document has been locked up like this—working documents, part of the fruits of colonial labor. ”

"She's so unreasonable in doing this. Of course, the mayor has emergency priority available, but what's the emergency? We have to call a public hearing, and we don't have any legal justification. It's just that she cares, and the law doesn't support those who spy on intelligence for the benefit of others. Maybe one day we'll see what's in those documents and what really happened between them before Pippo died. She couldn't erase the documents because they were public property. ”

Ender didn't realize that Jen wasn't listening, and that he had locked her out. He also thought that as soon as she heard this, she would immediately undo all the protections that Nuo Wanhua had set up and find out what was in her documents.

"And her marriage to Marcos," Aladona said. "Everybody knows it's crazy. Lipo wanted to marry her, and he made no secret of it. But she said no. ”

"It's like she's saying, I'm not worthy to marry a man who can make me happy. I will marry a man who will become cruel and vicious, and he will give me the punishment I deserve. Sephilo sighed. Her thirst for self-punishment separates them forever. He reached out and took his wife's hand.

Ender waited for Jane to say something to make fun of the six children who proved that Lipo and Nowanhua weren't completely separated. She didn't say anything, and Ander finally remembered that he had closed the interface. But now, Sefero and Aladona are looking at him, and he can't turn it on again.

Because he knew that Lipo and Nowanhua had been lovers for many years, he also understood that Sefero and Aladona were wrong. Oh, Nowanhua may have felt guilty - that would explain why she had put up with Marcus, why she had separated herself from the others. But that wasn't the reason she didn't marry Lipo, and no matter how guilty she was, she certainly felt she deserved to have a bed with Lipo.

She rejected her marriage to Lipo, not Lipo. And in such a small colony, especially a Catholic colony, this is not an easy choice to make. So what accompanies marriage but not in the war, and what does she want to avoid?

"So you see, it's still a mystery for us. If you really want to talk about the death of Marcos Ribera, you have to answer the question anyway - why did she marry him? And in order to answer this question, you have to find out the cause of Pippo's death. Tens of thousands of the world's best minds have been working on this question for more than twenty years. ”

"But I have an advantage over all the best minds. Ender said.

"What's that?" Sephilo asked.

"I have a message about the help of people who love Nowanwa. ”

"We can't even help ourselves," Aladona said. "We haven't been able to help her with anything. ”

"Maybe we can help each other," Ender said.

Sephilo looked at him and put a hand on his shoulder. "If you really want that, Andrew, then you should be as open to us as we were to you. You should tell us what you had less than ten seconds ago. ”

Ander paused, then nodded solemnly. "I don't think Nowanhua refused to marry Lipo out of guilt. I think she refused to marry him in order to keep him from having access to the documents that were hidden. ”

"Why?" Sefiro asked. "Was she afraid he'd find out what she was arguing with Pippo?"

"I don't think she had an argument with Pippo," Ender said. "I think she and Pippo found something, and that knowledge led to Pippo's death. That's why she locked up those files. Somehow, they contain information that can kill people. ”

Sephilo shook his head. "No, Andrew the Speaker. You don't understand the power of guilt. People don't ruin their entire lives for a few bits of information – but they do it for even less self-reproach. You see, she did marry Marcos Ribera. And that's self-punishment. ”

Ander didn't struggle to argue. They were right about Nowanhua's guilt, and what other reason could have made her never complain while Marcos Ribera beat her? But she married Macao for another reason. He is ashamed of being barren, and in order to hide from the town that he is incapable of having a male surname, he prefers to endure a marriage that is planned to cuckold him. Nowanhua is willing to suffer, but she is not willing to live a life away from Lipo's ** and his children. No, the reason she didn't want to marry Lipo was to keep him from accessing the secrets in her papers, because whatever that was, it would cause the pigs to kill him.

Well, how ironic is that. How ironic, in the end they killed him.

————————————————————————————————

Back in his cabin, Ander sat down in front of the terminal and called Jane, again and again. She didn't talk to him on the way home, although he apologized as soon as he reopened the earrings. On the terminal, she didn't answer him either.

Only now did he realize that the earrings meant so much more to her than to him. He just waved away an annoying interrupting guy, like a troublesome child. But for her, that earring was her eternal connection to the only human who knew her. They've been torn apart before, many times, because of space travel, because of sleep, but this was the first time he had locked her up. It was as if the person who knew about her now refused to acknowledge her existence.

He imagined her crying in her bed, like Koyula, longing for someone to pick her up, hold her, and reassure her. It's just that she's not a flesh-and-blood child. He couldn't find her. He could only wait, hoping that she would return.

What did he know about her? There was no way he could fathom how strong her emotions were. It might even be so strong that to her the earrings was herself, and he killed her by closing the earrings.

No, he told himself. She was somewhere in the Philo sub-connection of the hundreds of Ansebo that spread between the galaxies of the Great Hundred Worlds.

"Forgive me," he typed on the terminal. "I need you. ”

But the ornament in his ear was silent, and the terminal remained cold and motionless. He hadn't realized how much he depended on her constant companionship for him. He had thought he valued his solitude, but now that loneliness weighed heavily on him, he felt an urgent need for dialogue, for someone to listen, as if he could not even be sure of his own existence without the evidence of other people's conversations.

He even dragged the queen out of its hiding place, though their communication could hardly be considered conversational. But now even that can't be done. Her mind was absent-minded and weak when it came into contact with him, and there was no language that she found difficult to use, just an inquiring sensation and an image of her cocoon being placed in a cool, moist place, like a cave or a tree hole in a living tree. She was like asking. No, he could only answer, not yet, sorry - but instead of waiting to hear his apology, she just slipped away and went back to the person or thing she had found to communicate with her in her own way, and Ender had nothing to do but sleep.

Then, in the middle of the night, when the guilt of what he had done to Jane gnawed at him, and when he woke up again, he sat down in front of the terminal and began to type. "Come back to me, Jane," he wrote. "I love you. Then he sent the message with Ansebo to a place she couldn't have overlooked. Someone in the mayor's office will read it, just as all public information about Ansebo will be read, and no doubt the mayor, the bishop, and Mr. Christopher will know about it by the morning. Let them wonder who Jane is and why the speaker is calling to her at midnight over a distance of light years. Ender doesn't care. Because now, he has lost both Valentine and Jane, which makes him completely alone for the first time in twenty years.