Ender's Game Page #5

Ender, they want me to talk

you into going back.

I told them I won't cooperate.

I don't think you're hiding here

just because you care about Bonzo.

I think you're hiding

because you're afraid.

Afraid you don't know your enemy.

Afraid you might lose.

But what if you're the

next Mazer Rackham?

You can't hide here forever.

But if you stay here,

if you don't try,

then we will all be lost.

I'll miss you.

I'll miss you, too.

I need to know that you will

not block my emails again.

Attention,

prepare for transporter

docking operation.

Initiating final approach.

I thought we were going

back to Battle School.

- We're not.

- Where are we going?

Much further.

"Dear Valentine...

"I must now travel to our

advanced command base

"near the Formics' home planet,

"where I'll begin final training.

"If successful, I'll command

the entire invasion fleet.

"I wish there was another way,

but war seems inevitable.

"Stay safe. Love, Ender."

Not very hospitable, is it?

We took it from the Formics

27 years after Rackham's victory.

Flushed them out of these tunnels

like rats from a sewer.

Drove 'em all the way back

to their home planet.

- How long did they live here?

- We're not sure.

This was a forward staging post

for their invasion of Earth.

We built our base hereto be

closer to their home planet,

to allow instantaneous communication

by Ansible with our attack fleet.

If they're on their home planet,

do we have them contained?

For now.

If we have them boxed in,

why go to war?

For the same reason that

you kept kicking that bully

before I recruited you.

The purpose of this war

is to prevent all future wars.

Your training begins

first thing tomorrow morning.

Sergeant Dap will show you

to your quarters.

Yes, sir.

We're still re-seeding

the atmosphere.

It's breathable, but thin.

In the event of an evacuation,

two breaths every minute

from one of these

will compensate for lower

levels of surface oxygen.

Lights out in five.

Who are you?

Look, this may be amusing to you,

but they'll come looking for me.

You wanna fight me?

Is that the test?

To see if I'll attack an old man?

Well, I won't.

I'll just sit this one out.

Okay. You win.

Since when do you tell

the enemy when he has won?

I surprised you once.

Why didn't you destroy

me immediately after?

I thought you were a teacher.

There is no teacher but the enemy.

Only he will tell you

where you are weak,

where he is strong.

From now on,

I am your enemy, got it?

- Yes.

- Good.

During training, I will devise

the strategy of your enemy.

Remember, he is stronger than you.

From now on, you are

always about to lose.

Sir?

Do you have a name?

Mazer Rackham.

What?

You thought I was dead?

Sir, I've been building

models of your planes

since I was six years old.

I have a question, sir.

On the vids,

they always cut out

right after you destroy

the one carrier.

Why?

Get dressed.

Sir, I've already seen this.

And I wanna know

what happens after.

Just watch.

After the explosion cleared,

everything was incredibly still.

Their ships just stopped shooting.

And then they started

falling out of the sky.

Scroll back, please.

To just after you

lost your wing man.

There.

Play back, please.

You took cover in the cloud.

You couldn't see anything,

so you must have been

using your HUD.

There. Stop.

You saw something.

What did you see in your HUD?

Did you find a pattern?

Very good, Ender.

Thermal imaging from a satellite.

The enemy's in red.

What pattern do you see?

It seems random.

But it's not.

There's an epicenter, right there.

Meaning?

You took out that one

particular ship,

and the rest just

gave up?

Why?

To what animals are the Formics

most often compared?

- Ants.

- Which have...

A queen...

Who directs the worker ants.

What she thinks they do.

Without her,

they can't think for themselves...

And they die.

You destroyed the queen's ship.

I must have. Yes.

- But you can't be certain?

- No.

And so the Hegemon insisted

we keep it classified.

That's why they never show

the rest of the battle.

Or my face.

To the world I'm dead.

Colonel...

Your face...

You mean, why is it marked?

My father was a Maori.

Lost him in the war.

Ta Moko is a way to

connect to my past.

To my inner skin.

It was a way for me to

speak for the dead.

Sir, have you ever seen a queen?

No. No one has.

But if the Formics have

rebuilt their fleet,

there must be more than one queen.

Yes, of course.

On their home planet.

What happened when

you attacked here?

- Did you find one?

- No.

Why did they come?

Water.

Attention!

Officer on deck!

- Hey, Bean.

- Ho, Commander!

Petra.

We thought you were iced.

We were gonna have to

have Dink take over.

That was never gonna happen!

Salaam, Alai.

Salaam, Commander!

- Bernard.

- Good to see you, sir.

At ease.

While you've been skinny-dipping

the Colonel's been flogging us

to death on the simulator!

All right. Take your seats.

In a matter of weeks

we may be called on to

fight a real battle.

Let's bring your

commander up to speed.

Our latest probe images

will give you an idea

of what's happening

on the enemy planet.

Like us, they appear to have

a population growth rate

that's unsustainable.

For now, they're contained

on their planet.

Time is not on our side.

Where are they?

High surface temperatures limit

their above-ground activity

to just a few hours a day.

What's most alarming is the rate

at which their military

power is expanding.

But they have not yet

moved against us.

No.

They're planning to

colonize another planet

before they breed

themselves into extinction.

Our orders are to defeat them

before they pose an

irreversible threat.

Their very

existence is a threat.

Is that clear, Commander?

- Clear, sir.

- Good.

Carry on, Colonel.

We will begin with

photo real simulations

to best approximate real battles.

You will command overall strategy.

Your toon leaders will

each command a battle group.

You will issue orders to them.

They will issue orders

to their squadrons of drone pilots.

Finally.

Your entire fleet must support

and protect your most

important asset.

Seventy billion dollars

of pure destruction.

The M.D. 500.

Which Petra is trained to fire.

M.D.?

Molecular Detachment Device.

We call her "the little Doctor."

Particle beams accelerate

from her twin barrels.

At the focus point, they reach

critical effective mass.

A chain reaction spreads outwards,

shattering molecular bonds.

Leaves nothing standing.

That's the beauty of

the little Doctor.

No need to identify

a specific ship for the queen.

The chain reaction takes

out an entire swarm.

But I'll only get one shot.

Once the Formics see how she works,

they won't clump together again.

You will have to win this war

one battle at a time.

Once our battle

fleet is detected

entering the Formic solar system,

we will have no alternative

but to engage.

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