Chasing Ender

Chapter 7

Sometimes, things happen and no one sees them coming, thought Wang-mu. Here we are on Kalagan. The baby will be born in eight months, and I still haven't told Peter.

"All right," said Bean. "Dink, Ender, and Bella can go with you. But I have to stay on the ship."

"Okay," said Peter. "I have an idea. Ender, Bella, you're quite small. If you act like street children you can make the people hate the rulers. Dink, you need to tell Bean your story, but after that you can join Ender and Bella. Jane, go with them and act like you're their mother and you live on the streets too. Meanwhile, Miro will be assessing how the people react. He will also spread propaganda. Wang-mu and I are going to talk to Kublai Kaito. If we can weaken him from the top with Miro in the middle and you guys on bottom, we can make the government collapse. From there, it's likely to be chaotic. We'll all meet then and get together people who support and train them. Bean, you're going to have to draw up battle plans if necessary. Everyone agree?"

"We do," said Ender. "Speaking for Bean's kids."

"I do," said Wang-mu. 'I've always wanted to try to start a revolution."

"I'm in," said Bean. "Seeing as I might not have to do anything if all goes well."

"Agreed," said Miro. "I did learn something about propaganda from my stay with Valentine."

"Reluctantly, I'll do it," said Jane. "Bean's kids need someone to watch them. Plus I can always give everyone advice from the terminal on Bean's ship."

"No one likes a backseat driver," Miro teased.

"But some people need one," said Jane, clearly not bothered by the information. "Especially you, Miro dear."

"All right," said Peter. "If you're quite done, let's go." They all walked off. Dink walked on to the starship.

"Okay," he said to Bean. "Randi De Flandres, a woman who was in love with Achilles, raised me to believe you were an assassin and I was Achilles' child. I think she really believed that herself. She left on a colony ship from Earth with me and we traveled until we met Volescu on Kakk. Then we hid there, and I discovered who I really was. Happy?"

"No. Not even a little. What happened to Randi and Volescu?"

"Randi didn't know who I was, but Volescu did. So I have no idea what they're doing."

"That's what matters now. What did Randi and Volescu teach you?"

"How to overthrow the Council and kill Peter Wiggin. I was hoping you could reeducate me."

"Interesting concept. But I just got an even more interesting ansible message."

"What?"

"A starship left Kakk to go to Kalagan with one female passenger on it, and a man's dead body was found. Randi is going to be here in one year."

"Anything else?"

"Yes. An incoming message from Randi De Flandres."