"So this security, it has to continue for years."
"Why?" said Petra. "No one wants the babies that are left. We destroyed the ones with Anton's Key."
"We know that," said Bean. "But they're still the children of two members of Ender's jeesh. Even without my particular curse, they'll still be worth stealing."
"But they won't be old enough to be of any value for years and years," said Petra.
"Not all that many years," said Bean. "How old were we? How old are we even now? There are plenty of people willing to take the children and invest not that many years of training and then put them to work. Playing games and winning wars."
"I'll never let any of them anywhere near military training," said Petra.
"You won't be able to stop them," said Bean.
"We have plenty of money, thanks to the pensions Graff got for us," said Petra. "I'll make sure the security is intense."
"No, I mean you'll never be able to stop the children. From seeking out military service."
He was right, of course. The testing for Battle School included a child's predilection for military command, for the contest of battle. For war. Bean and Petra had proven how strong that passion was in them. It would be unlikely that any child of theirs would be happy without ever having a taste of the military life.
"At least," said Petra, "they won't have to destroy an alien invader before they turn fifteen."
But Bean wasn't listening. His body had suddenly grown alert as he scanned a message on his desk.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I think it's from Hot Soup," said Bean.
She got up and came over to look.
It was an email through one of the anonymous services, this one an Asian-based company called Mysterious East. The subject line was "definitely not vichyssoise." Not cold soup, then. Hot Soup. The Battle School nickname of Han Tzu, who had been in Ender's jeesh and was now assumed to be deeply involved in the highest levels of strategy in China.
A message from him to Bean, until recently the military commander of the Hegemon's forces, would be high treason. This message had been handed to a stranger on a street in China. Probably a European-or African-looking tourist. And the message wasn't hard to understand:
He thinks I told him where Caligula would be but I did not.
"Caligula" could only refer to Achilles. "He" had to refer to Peter.
Han Tzu was saying that Peter thought he was the source of the information about where the prison convoy would be on the day Suriyawong liberated Achilles.
No wonder Peter was sure his source was reliable--Han Tzu himself! Since Han Tzu had been one of the group Achilles kidnapped, he would have plenty of reason to hate him. Motive enough for Peter to believe that Han Tzu would tell him where Achilles would be.
But it wasn't Han Tzu.
And if it wasn't Han Tzu, then who else would send such a message, pretending that it came from him? A message that turned out to be correct?
"We should have known it wasn't from Han Tzu all along," said Bean.
"We didn't know Han Tzu was supposed to be the source," said Petra reasonably.
"Han Tzu would never give information that would lead to innocent Chinese soldiers getting killed. Peter should have known that."
"We would have known it," said Petra, "but Peter doesn't know Hot Soup. And he didn't tell us Hot Soup was his source."
"So of course we know who the source was," said Bean.
"We've got to get word to him at once," said Petra.
Bean was already typing.