"Wiggins is back on earth then?"
"Yes."
"And this Bean?"
"Beans."
"What about him?"
"He will be arriving at his destination in 20 minutes."
"No problems encountered?"
"No problems."
"Where is Wiggins?"
"That information is restricted. I don't even know."
"But he is being reunited with the others soon?"
"He has to be woken up from his freezing first. Then he'll be put with the others in his crew."
"What of the girl?"
"Petra Arkanian has already arrived at the destination."
"No difficulties with her?"
"Other than the fact that she drove our crew insane...No."
"Good. I expect this to go quickly."
"It will if all goes well."
"That's what I mean."
***
Bean was greeted on his arrival at NASA by a squadron of I.F officials carrying large, but impractical weapons
and wearing face gear.
Although this was all needless it confirmed Bean's theory.
All of this cost lots of money that the I.F didn't have and that meant it was important.
Bean realized that what he had just thought brought up something else.
The I.F didn't have the money.
So somebody else was helping them with findings, but who?
It had to be someone against the rising hegemonic power.
But who was there that was against the US that had money to fund something like this?
In less than an hour they'd used up huge costs and getting Ender back would cost them even more.
Who could provide funding?
Russia was certainly against America at the time and they had the money, but they didn't seem like they would
add extra expenses since they were undoubtedly building an army.
But wouldn't everywhere be like that?
No.
China had funding, but it was too late to start building an army.
But if they joined with the crumbling I.F...
Bean thought for a few moments more.
It had to be China.
They had weaponry, they had funding, none of it was enough to possess a world, but a country?
While he didn't know exactly what their economical status was, he knew it was good enough.
This also meant that what he had thought was America was a smaller group within America.
If China and the I.F waged war on the country it would start annoying both sides allies and no one wanted the war
to start yet.
Nobody was prepared.
Preparing, but not ready.
He was brought out of his thoughts as another squadron took him towards a guarded corridor.
This was in NASA now.
It had been renovated with new technologies and machinery, but it still looked old.
The men took him into a small room and motioned for him to sit.
There were other chairs so he would be joined soon.
A door across the room opened and a squadron stepped in.
Then came the rest of Ender's jeesh.
Petra sat down across from him and he noticed a wave from Crazy Tom, but other than that no one seemed to notice
him.
No.
They noticed him.
They were just hostile.
He knew they didn't hate him anymore, but it seemed they still didn't like the fact that the 8 year old, dwarfed by them, was
smarter than they could ever hope to be.
It was uncomfortable, but not unbearable.
A new question arose in his mind.
Why are we all sitting here?
Mission briefing?
No.
They wouldn't do that yet.
At least not until Wiggins got there and that shouldn't be for two days.
Unless they had taken Bean's advice and put Ender in an even more intense freezing and sent him back at the most extreme
speed possible.
And why not?
Graff was running for I.F position again and it looked like he would get it.
That meant he had influence and, while Bean knew he irritated Graff to no end, he also knew Graff would know to take his advice
seriously.
That meant, if his calculations were correct, that Ender would be on earth in less than a half-hour.
So were they waiting for Ender?
Probably so.
The I.F would want them to have some time to talk and see there old friends.
Friends?
Were any of these really Bean's friends?
They were the closest he had to friends next to Sister Carlotta.
So here he was, waiting while the others talked, to see Andrew Wiggins for the first time in almost two years.
"Yes."
"And this Bean?"
"Beans."
"What about him?"
"He will be arriving at his destination in 20 minutes."
"No problems encountered?"
"No problems."
"Where is Wiggins?"
"That information is restricted. I don't even know."
"But he is being reunited with the others soon?"
"He has to be woken up from his freezing first. Then he'll be put with the others in his crew."
"What of the girl?"
"Petra Arkanian has already arrived at the destination."
"No difficulties with her?"
"Other than the fact that she drove our crew insane...No."
"Good. I expect this to go quickly."
"It will if all goes well."
"That's what I mean."
***
Bean was greeted on his arrival at NASA by a squadron of I.F officials carrying large, but impractical weapons
and wearing face gear.
Although this was all needless it confirmed Bean's theory.
All of this cost lots of money that the I.F didn't have and that meant it was important.
Bean realized that what he had just thought brought up something else.
The I.F didn't have the money.
So somebody else was helping them with findings, but who?
It had to be someone against the rising hegemonic power.
But who was there that was against the US that had money to fund something like this?
In less than an hour they'd used up huge costs and getting Ender back would cost them even more.
Who could provide funding?
Russia was certainly against America at the time and they had the money, but they didn't seem like they would
add extra expenses since they were undoubtedly building an army.
But wouldn't everywhere be like that?
No.
China had funding, but it was too late to start building an army.
But if they joined with the crumbling I.F...
Bean thought for a few moments more.
It had to be China.
They had weaponry, they had funding, none of it was enough to possess a world, but a country?
While he didn't know exactly what their economical status was, he knew it was good enough.
This also meant that what he had thought was America was a smaller group within America.
If China and the I.F waged war on the country it would start annoying both sides allies and no one wanted the war
to start yet.
Nobody was prepared.
Preparing, but not ready.
He was brought out of his thoughts as another squadron took him towards a guarded corridor.
This was in NASA now.
It had been renovated with new technologies and machinery, but it still looked old.
The men took him into a small room and motioned for him to sit.
There were other chairs so he would be joined soon.
A door across the room opened and a squadron stepped in.
Then came the rest of Ender's jeesh.
Petra sat down across from him and he noticed a wave from Crazy Tom, but other than that no one seemed to notice
him.
No.
They noticed him.
They were just hostile.
He knew they didn't hate him anymore, but it seemed they still didn't like the fact that the 8 year old, dwarfed by them, was
smarter than they could ever hope to be.
It was uncomfortable, but not unbearable.
A new question arose in his mind.
Why are we all sitting here?
Mission briefing?
No.
They wouldn't do that yet.
At least not until Wiggins got there and that shouldn't be for two days.
Unless they had taken Bean's advice and put Ender in an even more intense freezing and sent him back at the most extreme
speed possible.
And why not?
Graff was running for I.F position again and it looked like he would get it.
That meant he had influence and, while Bean knew he irritated Graff to no end, he also knew Graff would know to take his advice
seriously.
That meant, if his calculations were correct, that Ender would be on earth in less than a half-hour.
So were they waiting for Ender?
Probably so.
The I.F would want them to have some time to talk and see there old friends.
Friends?
Were any of these really Bean's friends?
They were the closest he had to friends next to Sister Carlotta.
So here he was, waiting while the others talked, to see Andrew Wiggins for the first time in almost two years.