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"You frozen?" asked Alai

"Stiff as a board"

"Let's freeze a few," Alai said "Let's have our first war Us against them"

They grinned Then Ender said, "Better invite Bernard" Alai cocked an eyebrow "Oh?"

"And Shen"

"That little slanty-eyed butt-wiggler?"

Ender decided that Alai was joking "Hey, we can't all be niggers" Alai grinned "My grandpa would've killed you for that"

"My great great grandpa would have sold him first"

"Let's go get Bernard and Shen and freeze these bugger-lovers"

In twenty minutes, everyone in the room was frozen except Ender, Bernard, Shen, and Alai The four of the until Dap came in

"I see you've learned how to use your equip to a control he held in his hand Everybody drifted slowly toward the wall he was standing on He went a their suits There was a tumult of complaint that it wasn't fair how Bernard and Alai had shot them all when they weren't ready

"Why weren't you ready?" asked Dap "You had your suits just as long as they did You had just asand we'll begin"

Ender noticed that it was assumed that Bernard and Alai were the leaders of the battle Well, that was fine Bernard knew that Ender and Alai had learned to use the guns together And Ender and Alai were friends Now others roup, but it wasn't so Ender had joined a new group Alai's group Bernard had joined it too

It wasn't obvious to everyone; Bernard still blustered and sent his cronies on errands But Alai now h the whole room, and when Bernard was crazy, Alai could joke a little and calm him down When it came time to choose their launch leader, Alai was the almost unanimous choice Bernard sulked for a few days and then he was fine, and everyone settled into the new pattern The launch was no longer divided into Bernard's in-group and Ender's outcasts Alai was the bridge

Ender sat on his bed with his desk on his knees It was private study ti, crazy kind of gas, building a o back to events that you liked, for a while; if you left one alone too long, it disappeared and so else took its place