few meters there was a pole for downward passage or a ladderway for going up. To get down the pole to the gym, he had had to palm a pad. But there seemed to be no pad on most of these. Which made sense. Most poles and ladderways would merely let you pass between floors - no, they called them decks; this was the International Fleet and so everything pretended to be a ship - while only one pole led down to the gym, to which they needed to control access so that it didn't get overcrowded with people coming when they weren't scheduled. As soon as he had made sense of it, Bean didn't have to think of it anymore. He scrambled up a ladder.
The next floor up had to be the barracks level for the older kids. Doors were more widely spaced, and each door had an insignia on it. Using the colors of some uniform - no doubt based on their stripe colors, though he doubted the older kids ever had to palm the wall to find their way around - there was also the silhouette of an animal. Some of them he didn't recognize, but he recognized a couple of birds, some cats, a dog, a lion. Whatever was in use symbolically on signs in Rotterdam. No pigeon. No fly. Only noble animals, or animals noted for courage. The dog silhouette looked like some kind of hunting animal, very thin around the hips. Not a mongrel.
So this is where the crews meet, and they have animal symbols, which means they probably call themselves by animal names. Cat Crew. Or maybe Lion Crew. And probably not Crew. Bean would soon learn what they called themselves. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the colors and insignia on the crew that passed and mocked him in the corridor earlier. He could see the shape in his mind, but didn't see it on any of the doors he passed. It didn't matter - not worth traveling the whole corridor in search of it, when that would only increase his risk of getting caught.
Up again. More barracks, more classrooms. How many kids in a barracks? This place was bigger than he thought.
A soft chime sounded. Immediately, several doors opened and kids began to pour out into the corridor. A changeover time.
At first Bean felt more secure among the big kids, because he thought he could get lost in the crowd, the way he always did in Rotterdam. But that habit was useless here. This wasn't a random crowd of people on their own errands. These might be kids but they were military. They knew where everybody was supposed to be, and Bean, in his launchy uniform, was way out of place. Almost at once a couple of older kids stopped him.
"You don't belong on this deck," said one. At once several others stopped to look at Bean as if he were an object washed into the street by a storm.
"Look at the size of this one."
"Poor kid gots to sniff everybody's butt, neh?"
"Eh!"
"You're out of area, launchy."
Bean said nothing, just looked at each one as he spoke. Or she.
"What are your colors?" asked a girl.
Bean said nothing. Best excuse would be that he didn't remember, so he couldn't very well name them now.
"He's so small he could walk between my legs without touching my - "
"Oh. shut up, Dink, that's what you said when Ender - "
"Yeah, Ender, right."
"You don't think this is the kid they - "
"Was Ender this small when he arrived?"
" - been saying, he another Ender?"
"Right, like this one's going to shoot to the top of the standings."
"It wasn't Ender's fault that Bonzo wouldn't let him fire his weapon."
"But it's a fluke, that's all I'm saying - "
"This the one they talking about? One like Ender? Top scores?"
"Just get him down to the launchy level."
"Come with me," said the girl, taking him firmly by the hand.
Bean came along meekly.
"My name is Petra Arkanian," she said.
Bean said nothing.
"Come on, you may be little and you may be scared, but they don't let you in here if you're deaf or stupid."
Bean shrugged.
"Tell me your name before I break your stubby little fingers."
"Bean," he said.
"That's not a name, that's a lousy meal."
He said nothing.
"You don't fool me," she said. "This mute thing, it's just a cover. You came up here on purpose."