joy when they learned that you exist. And now our interview is coming to an end. We were discussing your low opinion of the quality of teaching here at Command School."
"How did you guess."
"You're not the only one who can do that."
The two officers - an admiral and a general, both wearing big false smiles - greeted them and asked how the interview had gone.
"You have the recording," said Graff. "Including the part where Bean insisted that it was still being recorded."
"And yet the interview continued."
"I was telling him," said Bean, "about the incompetence of the teachers here at Command School."
"Incompetence?"
"Our battles are always against exceptionally stupid computer opponents. And then the teachers insist on going through long, tedious analyses of these mock combats, even though no enemy could possibly behave as stupidly and predictably as these simulations do. I was suggesting that the only way for us to get decent competition here is if you divide us into two groups and have us fight each other."
The two officers looked at each other. "Interesting point," said the general.
"Moot," said the admiral. "Ender Wiggin is about to be introduced into your game. We thought you'd want to be there to greet him."
"Yes," said Bean. "I do."
"I'll take you," said the admiral.
"Let's talk," the general said to Graff.
On the way, the admiral said little, and Bean could answer his chat without thought. It was a good thing. For he was in turmoil over the things that Graff had told him. It was almost not a surprise that Locke and Demosthenes were Ender's siblings. If they were as intelligent as Ender, it was inevitable that they would rise into prominence, and the nets allowed them to conceal their identity enough to accomplish it while they were still young. But part of the reason Bean was drawn to them had to be the sheer familiarity of their voices. They must have sounded like Ender, in that subtle way in which people who have lived long together pick up nuances of speech from each other. Bean didn't realize it consciously, but unconsciously it would have made him more alert to those essays. He should have known, and at some level he did know.
But the other, that Nikolai was really his brother - how could he believe that? It was as if Graff had read his heart and found the lie that would penetrate most deeply into his soul and told it to him. I'm Greek? My brother happened to be in my launch group, the boy who became my dearest friend? Twins? Parents who love me?
Julian Delphiki?
No, I can't believe this. Graff has never dealt honestly with us. Graff was the one who did not lift a finger to protect Ender from Bonzo. Graff does nothing except to accomplish some manipulative purpose.
My name is Bean. Poke gave me that name, and I won't give it up in exchange for a lie.
***
They heard his voice, first, talking to a technician in another room. "How can I work with squadron leaders I never see?"
"And why would you need to see them?" asked the technician.
"To know who they are, how they think - "
"You'll learn who they are and how they think from the way they work with the simulator. But even so, I think you won't be concerned. They're listening to you right now. Put on the headset so you can hear them."
They all trembled with excitement, knowing that he would soon hear their voices as they now heard his.
"Somebody say something," said Petra.
"Wait till he gets the headset on," said Dink.
"How will we know?" asked Vlad.
"Me first," said Alai.
A pause. A new faint hiss in their earphones.
"Salaam," Alai whispered.
"Alai," said Ender.
"And me," said Bean. "The dwarf."
"Bean," said Ender.
Yes, thought Bean, as the others talked to him. That's who I am. That's the name that is spoken by the people who know me.
CHAPTER 23 - ENDER'S GAME
"General, you are the Strategos. You have the authority to do this, and you have the obligation."
"I don't need disgraced former Battle School commandants to tell me my obligations."
"If you do not arrest the Polemarch and his conspirators - "
"Colonel Graff, if I do strike first, then I will bear the blame for the war that ensues."
"Yes, you would, sir. Now tell me, which would be the better outcome - everybody blames you, but we win the war, or nobody blames you, because you've been stood up against