Sel looked at the marines, who had their hands on their sidearms. "No weapons needed. We're not exactly talking with the things, but they understand rudimentary images."
"Things?" asked Ender.
"While we were feeding the one, two others came up. I don't know if it's enough to sustain a breeding population, but it's better than coming upon a species when only one specimen is left alive. Or none."
"'Formicoid' is a word that's been bandied about," said Ender.
"Can't be sure till we get the genetic material scoped and scanned," said Sel. "If they were really formics, they'd be dead. The adult bodies have carapaces; they're not furred, with an endoskeleton. Might not even be as close to formics as lemurs are to us--or they might be as close as chimps. But Ender," said Sel, his eyes glistening. "I talked to it. No, I thought to it. I gave it an image and it responded. And it gave me one back. Showed me how to hitch a ride on it through the tunnel."
Ender looked at Sel's scraped and torn clothing. "Rough ride."
"Rough road," said Sel. "The ride was fine."
"You know I came here for the formics," said Ender.
"Me too," said Sel, grinning. "To kill them."
"But now to understand them," said Ender.
"I think we've found a key here. Maybe not to every last door, but it'll open something." Then he put an arm across Ender's shoulder and led him away from the others. Ender usually disliked the arm-across-the-shoulder move--it was how one man asserted superiority over another. But there was no hint of that in Sel. It was more like an assertion of camaraderie. Even conspiracy. "I know we can't talk openly," said Sel, "but give it to me straight. Are you governor or not?"
"In fact as well as name," said Ender. "The threat was averted and he's back on the ship, cooperating as if that's all he ever intended."
"Maybe it was," said Sel.
Ender laughed. "And maybe this larva you've found will teach us calculus before the day is out."
"I'll be happy if it knows how to count to five."
Later, after night fell and the men sat around a fire eating the fresh, easily spoiled food Po's mother had sent for tonight's supper, Sel was expansive, full of speculation, full of hope. "These creatures metabolize gold and extrude it in their carapaces. Maybe they do it with whatever metal is in the ore, or maybe they bred separate subspecies for each metal they needed. Maybe this isn't the only population with survivors. Maybe we can locate iron miners, copper miners, tin, silver, aluminum, anything we need. But if this group is average, then we'll find some groups that are all dead, and some that have larger populations. It would be too freakish for this to be the last surviving group in the world."
"We'll get on it right away," said Ender. "While we still have marines from the ship to help in the search. And they can take...locals with them to learn how to fly the skimmers like experts before the ship goes away."
Ix laughed. "You almost said 'natives' instead of 'locals.'"
"Yes," Ender admitted freely. "I did."
"It's all right," said Ix. "The formics didn't evolve here either. So 'native' just means 'born here,' and that describes me and Po--everybody except the ancient ones of Sel's generation. Natives and newcomers, but in the next generation, we'll all be natives."
"Then you think that's the term we should use?"
"Native Shakespearians," said Ix. "That's what we are."
"I hope we don't have to do some kind of blood ceremony or initiation to be accepted into the tribe."
"No," said Ix. "White man bringing skimmer is always welcome."
"Just because I'm white doesn't mean--" Then Ender saw the laughter in Ix's eyes and smiled. "I'm too eager not to give offense," said Ender. "So eager I was too quick to take offense."
"You'll get used to our Mayan sense of humor eventually," said Ix.
"No he won't," said Sel. "Nobody else has gotten used to it, anyway."
"Everybody but you, old man," said Ix.
Sel laughed along with the others, and then the conversation took another turn, with the marines describing their training, and talking about what life was like on Earth and in the high-tech society that moved throughout the solar system.
Ender noticed Sel getting a faraway look in his eyes, and misunderstood what it meant. As they prepared for sleep, Ender took a moment to ask Sel, "Do you ever give any thought to going back? Home? To Earth?"