When the Hegemon opened his in-box, the first thing he observed was that he had three new e-mails. One was from his secretary, Hermione, asking whether to annul the press conference or reschedule the meeting with Anderson, Jr. The other was from the Israeli prime minister inviting him to dinner next Thursday evening. This one he re-sent to his secretary to check his agenda. He paused on the third one.
It was not an address that he recognized. On the other hand, it hadn't been blocked by his security system…He opened it.
I'll never beat you, will I?
-Ender
Peter stared at the screen. Ender. It was so…so unexpected. It had been more than thirty years since he had heard from him. Not since that little bugger had gone to Battle School and saved the world from the Formics. The Ender that as a child he had tortured and threatened to kill out of jealousy and hate. The Ender-Andrew-that was his little brother. He felt a stinging sensation in his eyes. He reached up to rub it and saw it come away wet. For the first time in his life, he was crying involuntarily.
There came a knock at the door of his study. "Sir, the press is here."
"One moment, Hermione," he said straightening his clothes and turning off his computer. It would not do for the ruler of the world to show weakness.
Although he answered the questions readily and posed for the pictures with a smile, Peter's mind kept wandering back to that e-mal, its words echoing in his head.
I'll never beat you, will I? Will I?>>>
There was such sorrow and anger in those words. If anyone else had read those words, they wouldn't have understood them. Perhaps they'd thought it was silly brotherly competition. Competition between Ender the savior of mankind and Peter the ruler of it. That wasn't it-not in the least.
That night he sat down at his computer. He rested his hands on the keyboard and began to type.