"You have a life. A good reason for staying home."
"But you're going," said the captain.
"Have to see the formic homeland," said Ender. "Or the next best thing, considering that their home planet doesn't exist anymore."
"Which I'm damned happy about, sir," said the captain. "If you hadn't whupped them for good and all, sir, we'd be looking over our shoulder through the next ten thousand years of human history."
There was a stab of insight there. Ender caught it and then it immediately slipped away. Something about the way the hive queens thought. Their purpose in letting Ender kill them.
Well, if it's true, then I'll think of it again.
Ender hoped that optimistic thought was right.
When all of Ender's tours and training sessions were finished, he finally got an interview with the Minister of Colonization.
"Please don't call me Colonel," said Graff.
"I can't call you MinCol."
"Officially, a Hegemony minister is addressed as 'Your Excellency.'"
"With a straight face?"
"Sometimes," said Graff. "But we're colleagues, Ender. I call you by your first name. You can call me by mine."
"Never in my life," said Ender. "You're Colonel Graff to me, and that will never change."
"Doesn't matter," said Graff. "I'll be dead before you get to your destination."
"Hardly seems fair. Come with us."
"I have to be here to get my own work done."
"My work is done."
"I don't know about that," said Graff. "The work we had for you is done. But you don't even know yet what your own work is going to be."
"I know it won't be governing a colony, sir."
"And yet you accepted the job."
Ender shook his head. "I accepted the title. When I get to the colony, then we'll see just how much of a governor I'll be. The Constitution you came up with is good, but the real constitution is always the same: The leader only has as much power as his followers give him."
"And yet you're going to make the voyage awake instead of in stasis."
"It's only a couple of years," said Ender. "And it'll make me fifteen when we arrive. I'm hoping I'll get taller."
"I hope you're bringing a lot of books to read."
"They stocked a few thousand titles for me in the ship's library," said Ender. "But what matters to me is that you use the ansible to give us all the information about the formics that comes out while we're in flight."
"Of course," said Graff. "That will be sent to all the ships."
Ender smiled slightly.
"All right, yes, of course I'll send them directly to you as well. What, are you suspecting that the ship's captain will try to control your access to information?"
"If you were in his place, wouldn't you do the same?"