--Something Wicked...--

(Out of the frying pan, into the fire.)

(What?)

(Nothing. It is a human metaphor.)

(Explain.)

(We all thought we were out of danger when the Fleet was turned away.)

(We aren't?)

(A human died. The Starways Congress is troubled, and...)

(Humans die all the time. They live very short lives compared to us.)

(Yes, but this was an important human.)

(Oh? Who deemed this human's life more important than the other's?)

(The Congress, I suppose. And everyone else just accepted it.)

(Yes, we see this often in human history. Why do they enslave themselves like that?)

(To free themselves from choices? They don't have to think much if they elect someone over

themselves, right? They long to be freed of life.)

(Then they should just die.)

(But they're afraid of death.)

(We have been alive for generations on end, queen to queen, and never have we seen a race who

wants to be both alive and dead. Humans are quite the contradictory species.)

(They seem to sense their indecision on some level. They're always looking for that kernel of

truth.)

(Ender said that once...)

(You miss him, don't you?)

(Hive Queens do not miss anything, not even our own workers.)

(Yes, but how many Hive Queens before you had a friend?)

(...none...)

(See? You do miss him.)

(Things fall apart...)

(True, but what do you do when they can't be put together again?)

~~~~~~~~

Peter kissed Wang-Mu. Or rather, Ender kissed Wang-Mu. He still wasn't sure who he was. 'A

new life, with a woman I love.' He smiled at the thought. Wang-Mu smiled back and everything

seemed perfect. They hadn't had much of a chance to smile recently. Peter got up from the short

mat Wang-Mu favored as a bed and he drew open the curtains. Pacifica. Not their choice, at least

not for now, but they had friends here, and the danger still wasn't over yet. Wang Mu beckoned

for Peter to come back to bed. The idea was enticing, but his terminal lit and Jane appeared

wearing a mischievous smile. In mock concern, she averted her eyes.

"Oh, am I interrupting something?"

"You know you are..." She laughed and her face morphed into that of Han Fei-tzu, Wang-Mu's

mentor. She immediately covered herself with the blanket.

"Jane! Enough!" Peter glared at her.

"Oh fine, but you're taking all the fun out of this. So...how was it?" She asked slyly. Peter gave

up and folded his arms, seething at Jane.

"Ok, I did have a reason for coming to you this early. Miro and I need to discuss some things

with you and Wang-Mu." Miro's face appeared above the terminal, near Jane's and greeted Peter

and Wang-Mu.

"Alright, we have some...issues." Miro's handsome face was lined with stress. 'This is how he

spends his honeymoon?' Peter mused silently.

"It seems we always have issues now." Wang-Mu replied quietly, standing from the mat and

moving behind Peter.

"The ansible connections aren't being restored."

"Well, I am getting back most of my memories, but I still sense many connections left closed."

"But, did Admiral Lands not submit his report?" Miro nodded at Wang-Mu's question.

"Yes, but that's just it. Admiral Lands is dead." (A/N: Lands, after some convincing from Peter,

Wang-Mu, and Jane, turned the Lusitania Fleet around and reported to Congress that the

situation was under control.) Peter leaned in closer to the terminal and spoke quietly, and

infuriated.

"The Congress silenced him?"

"No, he suffocated himself. His superiors found him in his quarter's in front of his terminal."

Peter stormed to a chair and sat down.

"Not a homicide?"

"No. He died over five days ago. The scene has been investigated many times already. No note,

no warnings. He was just...hanging..." Jane stopped her explanation when Wang-Mu gasped in

horror. Peter motioned for her to sit with him. Holding his wife, he thought everything over.

"Jane, can you send us to there? Maybe there's something we could find."

"It might take some time. Congress had stopped the restoration of the ansibles after Land's

death. Now they're in session and won't take any communications and the station that Land's

was residing in is quarantined."

"Has that ever stopped you?" She smiled wryly and disappeared from the terminal leaving Miro.

"Miro, how is your family?"

"To tell you the truth, Wang-Mu, I haven't spoken to them directly since we were married. Just

messages here and there. They're still working out the descoladores problem, and they know

about Land's death." Peter shook his head confusedly.

"Is this a serious problem?" Miro paused.

"Jane isn't in danger of dying."

"Then let's not focus too much attention on it."

"Peter, Lands was a witness to faster-than-light travel, to Jane, to many things he could have

testified to..."

"And Congress has dropped many of their projects to consider Lands' report and his death."

Wang-Mu added.

"Yes, yes, I know. But if they were to find out about the descoladores...we could have another

Xenocide looming over us." That silenced everyone. 'Could Congress really be so arrogant?

How many lessons do they need?' thought Wang-Mu. Peter watched as she left his arms and

began to prepare breakfast.

"Miro, make sure the work on the descoladores is kept secret." Miro nodded an disappeared

from the terminal.

~~~~~~~~

Quara finished her entry. Her family, or what was left of it, had decided it was time to rest and

Jane returned them to Lusitania. She wanted to stay on the ship, told them she wanted to finish.

She really wanted to get away from them. No one understood her, and when she tried to explain,

she was yelled at by that cyber-bitch, Jane. 'Who is she to question what I do? She's had that

body for a few months and already she's rooted herself into our family.' She turned to a terminal

in which the latest message from the descoladores hovered. After some trial-and-error, she

thought she recognized the cell. She typed her password in and accessed the computer's storage.

The terminal flickered, shut off, and then turned back on. Confused, Quara entered her password

again only to have the same result. She drummed her fingers on the desk for a minute, then went

on the webs and searched for the cell. A handful of documents poured on the screen. She started

to engross herself in the research. The cell was indeed human. 'A good sign. But what effect

does it have?' She skimmed through more documents, and, finding nothing, continued her

search.

~~~~~~~~

Bishop Gregorio entered Mayor Vieira's office. Coming from a Mass, he was still dressed in his

bishop robe, causing Vieira to glance only once before returning to his work.

"Vieira, did you know that another ship was taken today?"

"Hm?"

"Mayor!" Gregorio slammed his fists down on the mayor's desk. Vieira leaned back in shock

and was about to reprimand the bishop, but Gregorio cut in.

"Another ship was taken today. I had a family in hysterics at Mass this morning!"

"What do you mean 'taken'?"

"You really have no idea what I'm talking about. Don't you have any interest in your colony?"

"Do I tell you how to run your damned Church?" Bishop Gregorio reddened in anger, his mouth

opened and closed, trying to form words at the mayor's heresy. The new Mayor and Bishop did

not enjoy each other's company, not that any of the previous mayors or bishops had.

'Government and religion, they just don't mix' Vieira thought. He relaxed outwardly, realizing

his sudden edge. He paused a few minutes to let the bishop regain his composure.

"I'm sorry about my outburst, but I'm in the middle of dealing with some issues with the

Congress."

"The Congress still bothers us?"

"Admiral Lands, the one piloting the Fleet, was found hanging in his office. They seem to think

it was suicide und the influence of some of our colonists, or homicide by the same."

"Who could do something so horrible?"

"Lands' X.O. Causo described Peter Wiggins." The bishop flinched.

"The little devil is up to some tricks, I think."

"That "little devil" has a bit of Ender in him."

"The Xenocide and the atheistic Speaker for the Dead."

"There's just no getting through to you is there?"

"Merely stating my opinion."

"Anyways, with Lands dead, the reports of our cured status are being held as "inconclusive".

Besides being interrogated by Congress officials, I'm trying to keep the work the xenobiologists

are researching secret. If Congress got a whiff of that, they'd have my head on a platter."

"Sorry, but I'll have to add to your list. Two freight ships carrying supplies, one commercial ship

housing two families, and one small station outside the orbit of the planet Pacifica have all

been...attacked." The mayor looked incredulous.

"Who? What did they want?"

"Congress won't say anything except that the attack came from the inside. No force was used.

They think the oxygen was cut off or the food was poisoned, perhaps." The mayor fell back into

his chair, unblinking.

"It's all coming apart at the seams..."

"May God have mercy on us all."

~~~~~~~~

A/N: Next chapter, an investigation and a special guest.