"I suppose I should congratulate you for undoing the damage you did to Ender Wiggin."
"Sir, I respectfully disagree that I did any damage."
"Ah, good then, I don't have to congratulate you. You do realize that your status here will be as observer."
"I hope that I will also have opportunities to offer advice based on my years of experience with these children."
"Command School has worked with children for years."
"Respectfully, sir, Command School has worked with adolescents. Ambitious, testosterone-charged, competitive teenagers. And quite aside from that, we have a lot riding on these particular children, and I know things about them that must be taken into account."
"All those things should be in your reports."
"They are. But with all respect, is there anyone there who has memorized my reports so thoroughly that the appropriate details will come to mind the instant they're needed?"
"I'll listen to you, Colonel Graff. And please stop assuring me of how respectful you are whenever you're about to tell me I'm an idiot."
"I thought that my leave of absence was designed to chasten me. I'm trying to show that I've been chastened."
"Are there any of these details about the children that come to mind right now?"
"An important one, sir. Because so much depends on what Ender does or does not know, it is vital that you isolate him from the other children. During actual practices he can be there, but under no circumstances can you allow free conversation or sharing of information."
"And why is that?"
"Because if Bean ever comes to know about the ansible, he'll leap straight to the core situation. He may figure it out on his own as it is--you have no idea how difficult it is to conceal information from him. Ender is more trusting--but Ender can't do his job unless he knows about the ansible. You see? He and Bean cannot be allowed to have any free time together. Any conversation that is not on point."
"But if this is so, then Bean is not capable of being Ender's backup, because then he would have to be told about the ansible."
"It won't matter then."
"But you yourself were the author of the proposition that only a child--"
"Sir, none of that applies to Bean."
"Because?"
"Because he's not human."
"Colonel Graff, you make me tired."
The voyage to Command School was four long months, and this time they were being trained continuously, as thorough an education in the mathematics of targeting, explosives, and other weapons-related subjects as could be managed on board a fast-moving cruiser. Finally, too, they were being forged again into a team, and it quickly became clear to everyone that the leading student was Bean. He mastered everything immediately, and was soon the one whom the others turned to for explanations of concepts they didn't grasp at once. From being the lowest in status on the first vo
yage, a complete outsider, Bean now became an outcast for the opposite reason--he was alone in the position of highest status.
He struggled with the situation, because he knew that he needed to be able to function as part of the team, not just as a mentor or expert. Now it became vital that he take part in their downtime, relaxing with them, joking, joining in with reminiscences about Battle School. And about even earlier times.
For now, at last, the Battle School tabu against talking about home was gone. They all spoke freely of mothers and fathers who by now were distant memories, but who still played a vital role in their lives.
The fact that Bean had no parents at first made the others a little shy with him, but he seized the opportunity and began to speak openly about his entire experience. Hiding in the toilet tank in the clean room. Going home with the Spanish custodian. Starving on the streets as he scouted for his opportunity. Telling Poke how to beat the bullies at their own game. Watching Achilles, admiring him, fearing him as he created their little street family, marginalized Poke, and finally killed her. When he told them of finding Poke's body, several of them wept. Petra in particular broke down and sobbed.
It was an opportunity, and Bean seized it. Naturally, she soon fled the company of others, taking her emotions into the privacy of her quarters. As soon afterward as he could, Bean followed her.
"Bean, I don't want to talk."
"I do," said Bean. "It's something we have to talk about. For the good of the team."
"Is that what we are?" she asked.