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The gahter was represented only by a tiny light The eneht of a different color, and they danced and spun and h a cube of space that must have been ten meters to a side The controls were powerful He could rotate the display in any direction, so he could watch frole, and he could move the center so that the duel took place nearer or farther from him

Gradually, as he becahter's speed, direction of aht have two eneht be obstacles, the debris of space; he began to have to worry about fuel and lin his to destroy or accomplish, so that he had to avoid distractions and achieve an objective in order to win

When he had ahter squadron He spoke cohters, and instead ofout the computer's instructions, he was allowed to deter which of several objectives was the ly At any tihters for a short time, and at first he did this often; when he did, however, the other three fighters in his squadron were soon destroyed, and as the games became harder and harder he had to spendthe squadron When he did, he won more and more often

By the time he had been at Co the si an individual fighter to co since realized that as the battleroom was to Battle School, so the simulator was to Command School The classes were valuable, but the real edu

cation was the game People dropped in from time to time to watch him play They never spoke--hardly anyone ever did, unless they had so specific to teach hih a difficult simulation, and then leave just as he finished What are you doing, he wanted to ask Judgingwhether you want to trust the fleet to me? Just remember that I didn't ask for it

He found that a great deal of what he had learned at Battle School transferred to the simulator He would routinely reorient the siet trapped into an up-down orientation, constantly reviewing his position fro at last to have such control over the battle, to be able to see every point of it

It was also frustrating to have so little control, too, for the coood as the coence He began to wish for his toon leaders, so that he could count on so his constant supervision

At the end of his first year he inning every battle on the siame as if thea meal with Graff, he asked, "Is that all the simulator does?"

"Is what all?"

"The way it plays now It's easy, and it hasn't got any harder for a while"

"Oh"

Graff seemed unconcerned But then, Graff always seeed Graff went away, and in his place they gave Ender a companion

He was in the roo cross-legged on the floor Ender looked at hi Ender got up and showered and dressed, content to let thesince learned that when so that was part of someone else's plan and not his own, he would find outAdults almost always lost their patience before Ender did

The man still hadn't spoken when Ender was ready and went to the door to leave the roo on the floor He looked to be about sixty, by far the oldest rowth of white whiskers that grizzled his face only slightly less than his close-cut hair His face sagged a little and his eyes were surrounded by creases and lines He looked at Ender with an expression that bespoke only apathy

Ender turned back to the door and tried again to open it