page74 (1/2)

"I owe you nothing" He'd be a fool to turn them down "Do as you want" He turned and left The toon leaders trotted along with him One ran ahead and opened his door They checked the roohts out

There was a e on his desk

DON'T BE ALONE EVER --DINK

Ender grinned So Dink was still his friend Don't worry They won't do anything to me I have my army

But in the darkness he did not have his arht of Stilson, only he sa sh-guy posturing was; and yet in the dreaht back, and then everything that Ender had done to Stilson in life, they did to Ender in the drea like an idiot, trying hard to give orders to his army, but all his words came out as nonsense

He awoke in darkness, and

he was afraid Then he cal that the teachers obviously valued hi sohappen to hi bad, anyway Probably when the older kids attacked hio, there were teachers just outside the rooot out of hand, they would have stepped in and stopped it I probably could have sat there and done nothing, and they would have seen to it I caht They'll push ame they'll keep me safe

With that assurance, he slept again, until the door opened softly and the 's as left on the floor for him to find

They won, of course, but it was a grueling affair, with the battleroo down the ene er Arive up There was a nerinkle in the gaed an enemy, he thawed in about five minutes, the way it worked in practice Only when the enemy was completely frozen did he stay out of action the whole tion Ar, when they started getting hit froht were safely out of the way And at the end of the battle, Slattery shook Ender's hand and said, "I'lad you won If I ever beat you, Ender, I want to do it fair"

"Use what they give you," Ender said "If you've ever got an advantage over the enemy, use it"

"Oh, I did," said Slattery He grinned "I'm only fair-minded before and after battles"

The battle took so long that breakfast was over Ender looked at his hot, sweating, tired soldiers waiting in the corridor and said, "Today you know everything No practice Get some rest Have some fun Pass a test" It was a h or smile, just walked into the barracks and stripped off their clothes They would have practiced if he had asked theoing without breakfast was one unfairness too many

Ender ht away, but he was also tired He lay down on his bed in his flash suit, just for aof lunchtiers this o eat, and head for class

He peeled off his flash suit, which stank from his sweat His body felt cold, his joints oddly weak Shouldn't have slept in theto wear down Can't let it get to me

So he jogged to the gyoing to the bathroom to shower It didn't occur to him that his absence in the co the noon hour, when his own ar down their first meal of the day, he would be completely, helplessly alone