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"Better believe it, baby butt" She had ten target balls in a bag Ender held onto her suit with one hand and the ith the other, to steady her as she threw theravity, they bounced every which way "Let go ofdeliberately; with a few deft handcarefully at ball after ball When she shot one, its glow changed froe lasted less than two ot the last one

She rebounded accurately froht her and held her against her own rebound--one of the first techniques they had taught him as a Launchy

"You're good," he said

"None better And you're going to learn how to do it"

Petra taught hiht, to ai et is, the longer you have to hold the beam within about a two-centimeter circle It's the difference between a tenth of a second and a half a second, but in battle that's a long tiht on target, but they un like a sword, swish swish slice-eot to aim"

She used the ballcaller to bring the targets back, then launched them slowly, one by one Ender fired at them He missed every one

"Good," she said "You don't have any bad habits"

"I don't have any good ones, either," he pointed out

"I give you those"

They didn't acco Mostly talk How to think while you were aiot to hold your own motion and your eneot to hold your arht out and aim with your body, so in case your arer actually fires and ride the edge, so you don't have to pull so far each time you fire Relax your body, don't tense up, it makes you tremble

It was the only practice Ender got that day During the ar his desk and do his schoolwork, sitting in a corner of the roo all his soldiers to the battleroom, but he didn't have to use them

Ender did not do his schoolwork, however If he couldn't drill as a soldier, he could study Bonzo as a tactician Salamander Army was divided into the standard four toons of ten soldiers each Some commanders set up their toons so that A toon consisted of the best soldiers, and D toon had the worst Bonzo had ood soldiers and weaker ones

Except that B toon had only nine boys Ender wondered who had been transferred to make room for him It soon became plain that the leader of toon B was new No wonder Bonzo was so disgusted--he had lost a toon leader to get Ender

And Bonzo was right about another thing Ender was not ready All the practice ti on maneuvers Toons that couldn't see each other practiced perfor; toons practiced using each other toforranted skills that Ender didn't have The ability toand absorbthe frozen soldiers floating rando the walls--a very difficult maneuver and yet one of the et behind you

Even as Ender learned how s that he could improve on The well-rehearsed formations were a mistake It allowed the soldiers to obey shouted orders instantly, but it also meant they were predictable Also, the individual soldiers were given little initiative Once a pattern was set, they were to follow it through There was no rooainst the formation Ender studied Bonzo's for ways to disrupt the formation