Chapter 12 - Documents

Council Order 1970:4:14:0001: The license of the Lusitania colony is revoked. All files in the colony will be read, regardless of their security level, and when all data is copied to the memory system of the Great Hundred Worlds, all files on Lusitania except those directly related to life support will be locked with top-level privileges.

The administrator of Lusitania was to be repositioned as a local representative of the council, and to carry out the orders of the Lusitania Retreat Supervisory Committee, which was established by council decree 1970:4:14:0002, without free disposition.

Currently located in Lusitania orbit, it belongs to Andrew Wiggin (Occupation: Speech/Death, Origin: Earth, Registration Number: 001.1998.44-94.10045) (Note: The abbreviations /cit/reg appear here in the original text. This is a guess. ), which was declared the property of the Parliament, will be subsequently compensated in accordance with the Ordinance of Full Compensation (note: abbreviated CO), Decree of the Council 120:1:31:0019.

The spacecraft will be used to immediately transport the aliens Marcus Fatimir "Miró" Ribera von Heser and Ouanda Kunhata Figoyla Machumbi to the nearest world, Trondheim, where they will be interrogated, deprived of their political rights on an indictment by Parliament, charged with treason, dereliction of duty, embezzlement, perjury, fraud, and alien extermination under the appropriate statutes of the Galactic Code and Parliamentary Decrees.

Council Decree 1970:4:14:0002: The Colonial and Exploration Supervisory Committee is to appoint a Lusitanian Evacuation Supervisory Committee of no less than 5 and no more than 15 people.

The committee was instructed to immediately collect and dispatch enough colony ships to completely evacuate the entire population of the Lusitanian colony.

It should also prepare a plan for parliamentary adoption to completely remove all evidence of any human presence in Lusitania, including the relocation of all native plants and animals that show the existence of genetically or behaviorally influenced effects of human presence.

It should also assess Lusitania's obedience to the orders of the Parliament and make recommendations from time to time as to further interference, including the use of force to compel obedience, or to apply for the lifting of Lusitanian documents or to otherwise reward Lusitania for his cooperation.

Council Order 1970:4:14:0003: In accordance with the terms of the secrecy charter of the Galactic Code, these two orders and any related information are to be kept strictly confidential until all Lusitanian documents have been successfully read and locked, and all necessary spaceships have been collected and placed at the disposal of council agents.

Orjardo didn't know what was going on. Isn't this man an adult? hasn't he roamed between planets, but he doesn't have the slightest idea of how to handle anything on a computer.

Aljardo was a little annoyed when he asked him about it. "Orhado, just tell me which program to run. ”

"I can't believe you don't know which one it is. I've done data comparisons since I was nine years old. Everyone has to learn how to do it at that age. ”

"Orjado, I went to school a long time ago. And it's not an ordinary elementary school either. ”

"But everybody uses these programs all the time!"

"Obviously not everyone. I haven't used it. If I knew how to do it myself, I wouldn't have had to hire you, would I? And since I'm going to pay you with extraterrestrial money, your service to me will make a real contribution to Lusitania's economy. (Note: It seems likely that Ender is a mercantilist...... ）”

"I don't understand what you're talking about. ”

"I don't understand, Orjado. But it reminds me. I don't know how I'm going to pay you. ”

"All you have to do is transfer the money out of your account. ”

"How do people turn?"

"You must be kidding. ”

The speaker sighed, knelt down in front of Orhado, grabbed his hand and said, "Aljardo, I beg you, stop making a fuss and help me! I have some things that I have to do, but I can't do them without understanding that if someone using a computer helps me." ”

"Please, I'll be wasting your money. I'm just a kid. I'm only twelve. Kim would be much better than me if he came to help you. He's fifteen years old, and he really understands what these things mean. He also knows math. ”

"But Kim thought I was an unbeliever and prayed every day that I should die. ”

"No, that's just before he meets you, yes, you'd better not tell him I told you that. ”

"How do I transfer money?"

Orjado turned back to the terminal and connected to the bank.

"What's your real name?" he asked.

"Andrew Wiggin. The speaker spelled it out. The name looks like Star Language - probably a reference to the lucky guy who learns Star Language at home instead of stuffing it into his head at school.

"Okay, what's your password?"

"Password?"

Orjado banged his head on the terminal, and a part of the display went blank for a moment. "Please, don't tell me you don't know your password. ”

"You see, Orjardo, I used to have a program, a very clever program, that helped me with all this kind of thing. I just say 'buy this' and the program will take care of the finances. ”

"You can't do that. It is illegal to bind a public system to one such server. Is that what that thing in your ears is for?"

"Yes, and it's not illegal for me to do so. ”

"I don't have eyes, I don't talk about people, but at least it's not my fault. You don't know anything. It was only after Orjardo had he realized that he was now speaking in a rude manner to the speaker, as if he were a child.

"I thought politeness was something they were going to teach their thirteen-year-olds. "The man who speaks says. Orjardo glanced at him. He was smiling. If the father had shouted at him, he would probably have gone in and beaten the mother because she had not taught her children upbringing. But then again, Orjardo would never have spoken to his father like that.

"It's a pity," Orjardo said. "But I can't help you with your financial system without your password. You have a little idea of what it is. ”

"Try it with my name. ”

Orhado tried. Useless.

"Try hitting Jane. ”

"Nothing. ”

The speaker grimaced. "Try 'Ender'".

"Ender, the one that exterminated the aliens?"

"You just have to try. ”

This worked. Orjardo couldn't figure it out. "Why would you have a password like that? It's like using a dirty word for your password, except that the system won't accept any swear words. ”

"I have a perverse sense of humor," replied the speaker. "And my servo, as you call it, has an even worse sense of humor. ”

Orhado smiled. "Okay. A program with a sense of humor. "The balance sheet is displayed on the screen. Orhado had never seen such a large number in his life. "Well, then maybe computers can really tell jokes. ”

"Is that how much money I have?"

"That must have gone wrong. ”

"Well, I've traveled at the speed of light many times. When I'm on the road, I've definitely had some good results in my investments. ”

Those numbers are true. Orhado couldn't imagine anyone as old as the deceased speaker. "I want to say to you," said Orjardo, "don't give me a salary, why don't you just pay me a percentage of the money for the hours you are given? say, a thousandth." That way, in just two weeks, I can buy Lusitania and ship it to another planet. ”

"It's not that much money. ”

"Tell me, if you want to make so much money through investment, the only possibility is that you have lived for a thousand years. ”

"Hmm," said the speaker.

Seeing the look on his face, Orjardo realized that he had just said something funny. "Are you really a thousand years old?" he asked.

"Time," said the speaker, "is such an ethereal, fleeting thing. In the words of Shakespeare, 'I have wasted time, and now time has wasted me.' ’”

"What does this 'will' mean?"

"It means 'put'. (Note: The English predicate preposition emphasizes the does, and Shakespeare uses the Middle English doth here.) Therefore, the more literal and more modern vernacular will be used here to translate. ）

"Why are you quoting a guy who doesn't even know what to say in Star Language?"

"You can transfer as much as you think you should get a week's salary to your account. Then began to compare the working documents of Pippo and Lipo in the last few weeks before his death. ”

"They're probably safeguarded. ”

"With my password. It should get us in. ”

Orjado conducted a search. The deceased said that people had been watching him. Every now and then, he asked Orhado questions about what he was doing. Listening to his question, Orjado dared to say that people knew more about computers than Orjado. All he didn't know were specific instructions, and it was clear that the speaker understood a lot just by observing. At the end of the day, the search still hadn't found anything out of the ordinary, and it didn't take Orjado a minute to understand why the speaker seemed so satisfied with the day's work. You don't want anything at all, Orjado thought. You want to see how I do my search. I know what you're going to do tonight, Andrew Wiggin, the Dead Speaker. You'll do your own search for some other files. I may not have eyes, but I can see more than you think.

You're stupid to keep this so secret, talker. Don't you know I'm from your side? I'm not going to tell anyone how your password gives you access to private files. Even if you do a search for the mayor's papers, or the bishop's papers. You don't have to hide secrets from me. You've only been here for three days, but I know you well enough to like you, and I like you enough for me to do anything for you, as long as it doesn't hurt my family. And you're never going to do anything to hurt my family.

――――――――――――――――――――

The next morning, Nuo Wanhua almost immediately noticed that the speaker had broken into her documents. He was presumptuous, and what annoyed her was his results. He did manage to access some of the documents, though the most important one, the records of the simulations that Pippo saw, were still closed to him. What annoyed her the most was that he had no intention of hiding himself. His name is recorded underneath each path, even those that can be changed or deleted by any schoolchild.

Well, she wouldn't let that interfere with her work, she made up her mind. He came into my house, squabbled on my children, spied on my papers, all as if he had the right—

And so and so on until she realized that she had been patronizing and thinking about what mean things to say the next time she saw him, and that she hadn't done any work.

Don't think about him at all. Think of something else.

The night before, Miro and Ella had laughed. Think about that. Of course, Miro had reverted to his gloomy self by the morning, and Ella, whose happiness had lasted a little longer, and who was soon as anxious and busy, and vicious as before, and who was everywhere. And then there's Gregor, who, as Ella told her, may have cried and hugged the man, but the next morning he picked up scissors and cut all his own sheets into thin strips, and slammed his head into the crotch of Brother Adomai at school, causing the class to abruptly end and end up having a serious conversation with Ms. Christie. That's all the healing hand of the speaker. He may have thought he could come into my house and fix all the things he thought I had done wrong, but he would find that some wounds were not so easy to heal.

In addition to this, Ms. Christie told her that Koyula had spoken to Lady Bebe in class, or in front of all the other children, but why she had spoken, and that she had met the notorious, terrible falantepelosmortos, whose name was Andrew, and that he was exactly as terrible as Bishop Peregrino had said, and perhaps worse, because he had tormented Greg to tears. In fact, in the end, Mama Bibel had to be forced to ask Koyula to stop speaking. It was a work that pulled Koyula out of her deep self-isolation.

And Orjado, so shy, so cold, now he was so excited, and he couldn't stop talking about this man at dinner last night. You know, he doesn't even know how to transfer money? Also, you won't believe how terrible the password he used was - I thought the computer would reject words like this - no, I can't tell you, it's a secret - I'm actually teaching him how to search - but I think he understands computers, he's not an idiot or anything like that - he said he used to have a server, and that's why he put that earring in his ear - He told me I could pay myself what I wanted, and now I didn't have that much to buy, but I could save it up and wait until I went out to live on my own - I think he was really old. I think he remembers something a long time ago. I think he speaks the star language as his mother tongue, and not many people in the world grew up speaking about it, do you think he was born on Earth?

At last Kim screamed at him to shut up and stop talking about the devil's servant, or he would ask the Bishop to perform an exorcism, for Orhado was clearly evil, and Orjado just grinned and blinked, and Kim rushed out of the kitchen and out of the house in a gust of wind, and did not return until late in the night. Maybe it's better for someone to live in our house, Nuo Wanhua thought, because he could affect the family anyway if he wasn't here, and now he's spying on my papers, and I don't want to tolerate that.

Except for those, as usual, it was my own fault, it was my own fault that I had called him here, I was the one who had brought him from that place he called home—he said he had a sister there—Trondheim, and that was the name—it was my fault, that had brought him to this miserable town in the middle of a hundred worlds, surrounded by walls, but the walls had not stopped the pigs from killing everyone I loved. She thought of Miro again, and he looked so similar to his real father that she wondered why no one had sued her for annihilation, of him lying on the hillside like Pippo, of the pigs cutting him open with their cruel wooden knives. They will. And even if they hadn't, the day would have come when he would be old enough to marry Oanda soon, and then I would have to tell him his true origins and why they would never get married, and then he would know that all the pain that had been inflicted on me was indeed what I deserved, and that he had beaten me with the hand of God and punished me for my sins.

Even me, Nuo Wanhua thought. The things that this speaker forced me to think about have been trying to avoid for weeks, months. How long ago was the last time I spent all morning thinking about my children, let alone hope. The last time I allowed myself to think of Pippo and Lipo was a long time ago? The last time I noticed that I did believe in God, at least the God of the Old Testament who punished people with a smile and wiped out the cities because they didn't pray to him...... - I don't know what Christ has done.

Nuo Wanhua went on like this all day, without doing any work, and her mind refused to let her draw any conclusions.

At two or three o'clock in the afternoon, Kim came to the door. "I'm sorry to bother you, Mother. ”

"It doesn't matter," she said. "Anyway, I can't do anything today. ”

"I know you don't care that Orhado spends his time with that demon's bastard, but I think it's necessary for you to know that Koyula went there straight after school. His residence. ”

"Oh?"

"Or don't you even care about that, mother?, what, are you planning to lift the sheets and let him replace your father completely?"

Nuo Wanhua jumped to the ground and walked towards the boy with a shuddering rage. He wilted in front of her.

"I'm sorry, Mother, I'm so angry—"

"In all the years that I have been married to your father, I have never asked him to raise a hand to my children. But if he's alive today, I'll tell him to give you a hard shot. ”

"You can call him," Kim defiantly said, "but I'll kill him before I let one of his hands fall on me." You may like to be pumped around, but no one can do that to me. ”

She wasn't going to do that, and she didn't realize what was going on until she swung her hand out and slapped him in the face.

He certainly wasn't badly hurt. But he immediately burst into a howl and fell to the floor, his back to Nowanhua. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he whispered as he cried.

She knelt behind him, awkwardly caressing his shoulders.

She suddenly remembered that she hadn't hugged the child since he was Gregor's age. When did I decide to be so ruthless? And why, when I touched him again, it wasn't a kiss but a slap?

"I'm also worried about what's happening. Nuo Wanhua said.

"He's destroying everything," Kim said. "When he got here, everything changed. ”

"Well, for that matter, Iste, things haven't been so good that they have changed unpopularly. ”

"Not his way. Repentance and penance (note: penance is often translated as penance, but here we are referring to penance that is remedied by ritual and behavior after confession of sin) and forgiveness of sin, these are the changes we need. ”

This was not the first time, and Nowanhua was jealous of Kim's faith in the priests' power to cleanse sins. That's because you've never sinned, my son, and because you're completely ignorant of the powerlessness of penance.

"I think I'll have to talk to this speaker. Nuo Wanhua said.

"And take Koyula home?"

"I don't know. I couldn't help but notice that he had made her speak again. And it doesn't look like she likes him. She didn't say a word of kindness from him. ”

"Then why did she go to his residence?"

"I guess it's to say something foul to him. You'll have to admit that was an improvement for her silence. ”

"The devil disguises himself by superficial good deeds, and then—"

"Kim, don't give me a theological lecture. Take me to where the talker lives, and I'll deal with him. ”

They walked on the road beside the bend. The water snake was molting, so the scraps of the decaying snakeskins made the ground slippery underfoot. This will be my next goal, Nowanhua thought. I've got to figure out how these dirty little monsters work, so maybe I can put them to good use. Or at least stop them from continuing to stink the riverbank for six weeks a year. The only merit is that the skins of the snakes appear to be fertile soil, and that the soft riverside grass grows thickest where the snakes molt. It was the only native life form of Lusitania that was pleasantly human-friendly, and people came up the riverbank all summer to lie on the long strips of natural lawn that meandered between the reeds and the rough-touched savannah. The snake molt, as unpleasant as it is, is still good afterward.

Kim was clearly along the same line. "Mother, can we plant some riverside grass near our house at some time?"

"This is one of the first things your grandparents have ever tried, and that was years ago. But they have not been able to find a way to implement it. The riverside grass pollinates but does not produce seeds, and when they try to transplant it, it only lives for a while before it dies and does not grow again the next year. I guess it just has to grow near the water. ”

Kim made a strange gesture and walked faster, obviously a little angry. Nuo Wanhua sighed. Kim always seemed to be so self-centered about the fact that everything in the universe didn't work exactly the way he wanted it to.

It didn't take long for them to reach the speaker's dwelling. The children were, as a matter of course, playing in the square - they were talking loudly to drown out the noise so that they could hear each other.

"This is it," Kim said. "I think you should get Orhado and Koyula out of there. ”

"Thank you for bringing me here," she said.

"I'm not kidding. This is a serious battle between good and evil. ”

"Everything," Ms. Noe said. "It's really hard work to figure out which side is which. No, no, Kim, I know you can tell me the truth, but—"

"Don't treat me with a condescending attitude, Mother. ”

"But Kim, it seems natural, considering you're always so superior to me. ”

His face hardened with anger.

She reached out and touched him tentatively, his shoulders tensed at her touch, as if her hand were a poisonous spider. "Kim," she said, "stop trying to teach me anything good and evil. I've been there, and you've never seen anything but a map. ”

He shook off her hand and strode away. Gee, I miss the days when we didn't talk to each other for weeks.

She clapped her hands vigorously. A moment later the door opened. It's Koyula. "Oi, m?ezinha," she said, "tambémveiojogar?"

Orhado and the Talkers are playing a spaceship war game on the terminal.

The Speakers had a much larger machine than most of their counterparts and a much more elaborate holographic projection field, and both of them were controlling a squadron of more than twelve ships at once. It was quite complicated, so neither of them looked up at her, not even to say hello.

"Orjado wants me to shut up, or he'll pull my tongue out and force me to eat it in a sandwich," Koyula said. "So you'd better not say anything until the game is over. ”

"You may be seated," the speaker muttered.

"You're about to be slaughtered, man," Orjado shouted.

More than half of the Speaker's fleet disappeared in a series of simulated explosions. Nowanhua sat down on a stool.

Koyula sat down on the floor next to her. "I heard you and Kim talking outside," she said. "You're yelling, so we can hear everything. ”

Nuo Wanhua felt her face flush. The speaker heard her arguing with her son, which made her uncomfortable. It has nothing to do with him. Nothing in her house had anything to do with him. And she was sure that she did not appreciate his behavior in playing war games. Anyway, it's too old-fashioned, too old-fashioned. There hasn't been a space war in hundreds of years, unless the battles against the smugglers count. Miracle Town is such a peaceful place that no one even has a better iron fist than the sheriff's iron fist. More dangerous weapons. Orjardo will never see a war in his lifetime. But now he's been captured by a war game. Maybe it's something that has evolved so deeply in the surnames of men of all races, eager to blow their opponents to small pieces or smash them to the ground. Or maybe it was the violence he saw in his house that made him seek violence in his game as well. My bad. Again, it's my fault.

Suddenly Orhado screamed in frustration, and at this point his fleet disappeared in a series of explosions.

"I don't understand! I can't believe you did! I don't even see what's going on!"

"Well, don't shout about this," said the speaker. "Replay it and see how I did it, so you can deal with it next time. ”

"I thought you were saying that people should be like priests or anything like that. How can you be so good at tactics?"

When the speaker replied, he smiled pointedly. "Sometimes it's a bit like a battle to get people to confide in you. ”

Aljardo leaned back against the wall, closed his eyes, and replayed what he had seen in the game.

"You've been asking around," Ms. Noe said. "And you're not very clever. Is this what the deceased said people call 'tactics'?"

"It got you here, didn't it?" said the Speaker with a smile.

"What are you looking for in my files?"

"I'm here to talk about Pippo's death. ”

"I didn't kill him. My files have nothing to do with you. ”

"You called me here. ”

"I changed my mind. I'm sorry. It doesn't give you the right to-"

His voice suddenly became softer, and he bent his knees in front of her so that she could hear him. "Pippo learned something from you, whatever he knew, and the pigs killed him for it. So you lock your files away where no one can find them. You even refuse to marry Lipo so that he doesn't come into contact with what Pippo sees. You have twisted your life, and the lives of everyone you love, and in order to prevent Lipo, it is now Miró who knows the secret and dies. ”

Nuo Wanhua felt a sudden chill, and her hands and feet began to tremble. He'd only been here for three days, and he already knew more than anyone else, something that only Lipo had guessed. "These are all lies. She said.

"Listen to me, Ms. Ivanova. It's useless. Lipo is still dead, aren't you? whatever your secret is, you didn't save his life by hiding it yourself. That won't save Miró. Ignorance and deception will not save anyone. Knowledge is what saves people. ”

"Never. She whispered.

"I can understand that you don't let Lipo and Miró know, but what am I to you? I'm not your person, so even if I know this secret and am killed by it, what does it matter?"

"It doesn't matter if you're dead or alive," Ms. Nuo said, "but you're never going to get those papers." ”

"You don't seem to understand at all that you don't have the power to blind others. Your son and his sisters go out every day to meet the pigs, and they don't know if their next word or action will be their death verdict. I'll go with them tomorrow, because I can't say anything about Pippo's death without talking to the pigs—"

"I don't want you to talk about Pippo's death. ”

"I don't care what you want, I'm not doing this for you. But I'm begging you to let me know what Pippo knows. ”

"You'll never know what Pippo knows, because he's a kind and loving man, and he—"

He brought home a lonely, frightened little girl and healed the wound in her heart. As he said this, his hand rested on Koyula's shoulder.

This made Nuo Wanhua unbearable. "How dare you compare yourself to him! Koyula is not an orphan, did you hear me? She has a mother, I, she doesn't need you, none of us need you, no one!" Then, somehow, she was crying. She didn't want to cry in front of him. She didn't want to stay here. He's messing with everything. She stumbled out the door, slamming it behind her. Kim was right. He's like a demon. He knew too much, asked too much, gave too much, and they were all too dependent on him. How could he gain so much influence over them in such a short period of time?

The next thought immediately dried up her tears, and her heart was filled with fear. He just said that Miro and his sisters go out every day to see the pigs. He got it. He knows all the secrets.

All of them, except for the secret she didn't know about, the secret that Pippo somehow discovered in her simulation. Once he figured it out, he had everything she'd been hiding all these years. When she summons the deceased to speak, she wants him to find out the facts about Pippo, and when he comes, he finds out the facts about her.

――――――――――――――――――――――――

The door slammed shut. Ander lay on the stool she had sat on, her head buried in her hands. He heard Orhado stand up and walk slowly across the room towards him.

"You're trying to get your mother's papers," he said calmly.

"Yes," Ender said.

"You asked me to teach you how to search so you could spy on my own mother. You made me a traitor. ”

None of the answers would satisfy Orhado right now, and Ender didn't want to answer either. Orjardo waited quietly as he walked to the gate and left.

However, the restlessness in his heart was not silent for the queen worm. He felt her drawn to his distress, rummaging in his mind. No, he said to her silently. You can't do anything, and I can't explain it. Human things, that's all, strange, out of place human problems, beyond comprehension.

Then he felt her touch him in the depths of his soul, like a breeze caressing the leaves of a tree, and he felt the strength and vitality of the upright trunk, the roots of the tree in the soil clinging to the earth, and the sun gently frolicking among the passionate leaves.

The queen withdrew from his thoughts, and the feeling faded. The power of the trees remained in him, its quiet silence replacing his own painful silence.

It was only a brief moment, and the sound of Orhado closing the door still echoed through the room.

Beside him, Koyula jumped up and jumped from the floor to his bed. She jumped on it a few times. "You've only lasted two days," she said gleefully, "and now everybody hates you." ”

Ander smiled sarcastically and turned to look at her.

"What about you?"

"Oh yes," she said. "I'm the first to hate you of all, except maybe Kim. She slipped out of bed and walked over to the terminal. Hit one key at a time and land carefully. A bunch of two-digit addition problems appeared in the air above the terminal. "Do you want to see me do arithmetic?"

Ander stood up and went to the terminal to stand with her. "Of course. He said. "Those seem to be difficult, though. ”

"It's not hard for me," she boasted, "and I do it faster than anyone else." ”