The Authorized Ender Companion (18 page)

With the success of the investment program, Bean and Hyrum used the computer to track where Bean’s stolen embryos had gone, too. Hyrum located
the first of these in Portugal. A girl named Bella had a 100 percent DNA match to Bean and Petra. Petra traveled there to retrieve her daughter.

As Peter built the Hegemony into the Free People of Earth, Hyrum again offered Ender’s colleagues the opportunity to leave Earth and govern a planet. It was his fear that Ender’s army would be used in the worldwide conflict, manipulated by whatever political power rose to prominence, and he wanted to prevent that. Every member who received the offer, which did not include Han Tzu, Petra Arkanian, or Alai, said no. The others were already too involved in matters on Earth to leave.

Hyrum helped Bean leave Earth to travel with three of his children as they awaited a cure for the genetic mutation that had affected their physical and mental development. Bean stayed in touch with Hyrum in space for a while.

Hyrum found the last of Bean and Petra’s missing embryos when a woman named Nichelle Firth spit on Hyrum at a launch of a colony ship. She carried with her a boy she thought was Achilles’s son. Hyrum notified Ender, who was soon to arrive at the colony he was going to govern. He asked his former protégé to, in a few years, travel to Ganges, the colony to which Nichelle and her stolen son had gone, and learn about Bean’s missing child.

As Ender approached the colony, he sought help from Hyrum, too. The commander of Ender’s colony ship wanted to usurp his authority in the colony. To prevent this, Hyrum and the new Polemarch sent the admiral a letter warning him that if he attempted anything that would detract from Ender’s standing in the government, he would be charged instantly with mutiny. The letter worked, and Ender became the governor without problem.

From a distant colony in space, Valentine Wiggin wrote the history of the Formic Wars. Peter Wiggin, as an adult, praised Valentine’s work, saying that he spent a lot of time with Hyrum before he died, and Valentine captured the essence of the Battle School Administrator and Minister of Colonization.

In his later years, Hyrum placed himself in stasis for ten months out of the year, prolonging his life. He worked as the Minister of Colonization during his two-month awakenings before being fired from the position for not fulfilling his duties. Left to live on his colonel’s pension, Hyrum retired to a small home he owned in Ireland. He sent Ender one last letter to say good-bye, admonishing the boy-governor to have a family.

Hyrum was grateful to receive a letter from Valentine telling him that Ender had found Bean and Petra’s last stolen embryo. He was gratified that Virlomi was also doing a good job as the governor of her colony.

The facts around Hyrum’s death are unknown. What is known, however,
is that he loved the children he worked with at Battle School. He loved humanity, and longed for the day when the species would be united on Earth.

Despite his occasional run-ins with his superiors, the people of Earth loved Hyrum, too. He had become a hero in the annals of history. He’d helped save the world, and in the process became a legend in his own right.

Grasdolf (TP)

Grasdolf was a friend of Hinckley Brown’s who heard that Theresa Brown’s research funding had been withdrawn. He informed Hinckley of the university’s decision.

Great Expansion (XN)

The “Great Expansion” is the term applied to the time where humans settled former Formic worlds, leading to the creation of the Starways Congress and the Hundred Worlds. (
See also
Dispersal Project)

Greensboro, North Carolina (WG, EG, ES, EH, EE, SH, SP, SG)

After losing their son and brother Ender to Battle School, the Wiggin family moved to Greensboro, North Carolina. Valentine and Peter Wiggin both attended school there, and Ender once visited his family in the city. Greensboro became a sanctuary for Bean Delphiki and Peter Wiggin when their lives were threatened in their early adult years. The goodness of neighbors and friends of the Wiggin family allowed Peter to function as the world-leading Hegemon from Greensboro during the attempted coup led by Achilles Flandres.

Grego (
See
Ribeira von Hesse, Gerão Gregario “Grego”)

Ground School (SH)

Ground School was the term given to Earth-bound schools attended primarily by those not sent to Battle School. Following Ender’s victory over the Formics, several Battle School grads, because they were still young, were sent to Ground Schools upon their return to Earth. Petra Arkanian was such a grad, though she hated the social caste system that was firmly in place at Ground School.

Guards (ES)

The guards were stationed in Sophia, Russia, to observe retired scientist Anton. Anton had had an implant placed in his brain that would cause panic
if he spoke of confidential matters such as his own research. When the implant worked during a conversation he had with Sister Carlotta, the guards rushed in to check on him, having been notified by the implant.

Guatatinni, Pietro (SD)

Pietro Guatatinni was a professor at the University of Sicily, Milano campus, on the planet Etruia. He communicated with the xenologists on the planet Lusitania, studying the Descolada virus with them.

Gussman, Vladimir Tiago “Gusto” (SD)

Gusto was, with his wife Cida, the top xenobiologist on the planet Lusitania. He was devoutly Catholic, as were most of the colonists on the planet, and had several children. Most notable among his children was Novinha, a five-year-old girl who longed to be a xenobiologist, too.

Gusto died trying to find a cure to the deadly virus called the Descolada. Though he and his wife were successful in discovering the cure and were beatified by the pope for it, their deaths were hard on Novinha.

Gusto (
See
Gussman, Vladimir Tiago “Gusto”)

Guti (SD)

Guti was a child of Gusto and Cida, the xenobiologists on the planet Lusitania, and was killed by the Descolada virus.

Halkig (SD)

Halkig were native birds on the planet Lusitania.

Han Fei-tzu (XN, [CM])

Han Fei-tzu was an adult man of Chinese descent who lived on the planet Path, one of the Hundred Worlds settled by human colonists after Ender Wiggin’s victory over the Formics. He lived three thousand years after the victory. He was married to Jiang-qing, and was the father of Qing-jao.

He worked for the Starways Congress. When the fiery words of the political pundit known only as Demosthenes began reinforcing the rebellious actions of the citizens of the planet Lusitania, other revolutions began on other planets. Han Fei-tzu was among those who drafted the resolutions that quashed the other rebellions and authorized the congressional fleet to travel to Lusitania and utilize the devastating Molecular Detachment Device on the planet if necessary. This act was kept secret from the public until Demosthenes
revealed it in an essay. But by then, the fleet was well on its way to Lusitania.

During this time, Fei-tzu’s beloved wife was in failing health. He watched her wilt, and grow brittle. He spent much time with her before she died.

He was heartbroken by the death of Jiang-qing, and worried that he would not be able to raise their daughter properly. Jiang-qing gave her dying wish that Han Fei-tzu would teach their daughter the Path. Han Fei-tzu promised he would, though bitter that the Gods had taken his love away through death.

During the three years after his wife’s death, Fei-tzu established a reputation as the greatest of the godspoken. It was said that someday he might even become the god of the planet Path. He was among the godspoken, but had an unusual capacity for staving off the desires that the god put into him. He could wait out the “hunger” of their instructions, ably prioritizing his duties.

He was overjoyed that his daughter showed the first signs of being godspoken and took her to be tested. The tests were physically and emotionally life-threatening for Qing-jao, though, and Fei-tzu had to be restrained by the monks to prevent him from interfering on his daughter’s behalf. When she passed the tests, he rejoiced, and took her to the recovery bed.

For ten years Qing-jao trained in the ways of the godspoken. When she reached sixteen years of age, Fei-tzu was to give her an assignment; her final test to prove fully her devotion to the gods. This test dealt with his work with the Starways Congress fifteen years earlier.

The fleet that was to potentially destroy Lusitania had disappeared, and no contact was coming in or out from its last known location. Fei-tzu assigned his daughter to find the fleet. He believed that the gods were on the Congress’s side, and would lead her, if she was truly godspoken and worthy, to finding them.

When Qing-jao returned to her father stating that the gods had caused the fleet to disappear, Fei-tzu taught his daughter that they had indeed. But it was more important to discover why and how the gods did what they did, not just the what.

He also approved of Si Wang-mu, Qing-jao’s newly hired secret maid. He knew that Wang-mu would be a trustworthy companion for his daughter, and was glad for it.

As Qing-jao searched for the Lusitania Fleet, she got very close to finding it, and to exposing Jane, the sentient computer program. Such exposure would result in Jane’s death. To prevent her own destruction, Jane communicated with Han Fei-tzu, telling him of the research conducted by the father
of his long-lost lover, Keikoa Amaauka. His research discovered that the godspoken were actually people who had undergone a unique genetic evolution. They had the patterns of obsessive-compulsion disorder programmed into their genetic coding. What they thought were commandments from the gods were merely genetic messages to fulfill compulsions.

This revelation was devastating to Han Fei-tzu and completely disbelieved by Qing-jao. She had discovered Jane, as well as the true identity of the political pundit Demosthenes. Fearing for her life, Jane exposed herself to Fei-tzu and his daughter. Qing-jao decided to do what was necessary to kill Jane and preserve the traditions of her planet. Jane agreed to let the plan go forward, and Qing-jao told Starways Congress of the program’s existence. Han Fei-tzu was angry with his daughter for communicating in such a fashion without his permission. He resorted to his traditional style of self-purification despite no longer believing in the gods.

His daughter’s servant Si Wang-mu believed in Jane’s words about the godspoken. When the two girls fought over this belief, with Qing-jao firmly believing that the gods spoke to her, Wang-mu was banished from the house, excused from her service.

Han Fei-tzu called Wang-mu back to him, saying that Qing-jao had the authority to excuse Wang-mu from being her personal shadow servant, but not from the house. Fei-tzu promised Wang-mu that he would continue the education Qing-jao had started, and they would work together to stop the Starways Congress from finishing its evil deeds.

Jane communicated with Fei-tzu, telling him that she needed his and Wang-mu’s help to survive the impending shutdown of the philotic web, which would kill her. She said that in exchange for their help in developing faster-than-light travel technology and a possible antidote to the Descolada, she would have the scientists on Lusitania work on unraveling the genetic mutation that caused the OCD.

Fei-tzu, though doubting his own ability, agreed to help with the research in whatever ways he could. He initially planned to gather the necessary genetic samples from many godspoken personally, but Wang-mu refused to let him. She cited his prestige among the people of Path and insisted that she perform the base work, since she was a servant. Fei-tzu consented.

Jane also asked Fei-tzu, under Ender’s and his stepson Miro’s direction, to help locate Jane’s place of philotic origin. They thought that if they could find the sentient computer’s first spark of life—the location where her philote originated—they could find a way to help her live. Again, Fei-tzu agreed to help however he could.

All of these actions were emotionally challenging for Fei-tzu, however. He was still compelled to purify himself, despite no longer believing in the gods. He’d also lost his relationship with his daughter since she dogmatically maintained her belief in the planet’s deities. He was saddened for this, but grateful to have found a new ally in Wang-mu.

He sent Wang-mu to ask Qing-jao to help them study the Descolada. Qing-jao refused, as he knew she would, but in the process she provided Wang-mu with good questions that helped Ender and Ela in their research.

Weeks later, Jane and Ela informed Fei-tzu that they had developed a theory that would allow the genetic manipulation that had made him godspoken to be reversed. It involved practices similar to their theory regarding the Descolada. If successful, the reversal would undo the great damage that had been done by the Congress.

In that same conversation, Ela revealed to Fei-tzu that there was one person who had had the genetic manipulation, but evolved past it. It was Si Wang-mu. She had all the intelligence of the godspoken, but did not suffer the obsessive-compulsive side effects that had been prominent with all others.

Fei-tzu was elated to learn of this. He told Wang-mu that in his heart, and he thought she in hers, he had believed that she was among the godspoken. He made her promise never to bow to him again, for they were equals in his eyes.

With the knowledge of the virus that would cure them, Han Fei-tzu approached his daughter and told her that he was going to tell the people of Path about the virus and that it would put an end to the godspoken. Qing-jao reacted by saying that the gods would be angry with her father. He was heartbroken that he’d taught her to be so dogmatic about the gods speaking and wished he never had.

Once the antivirus was ready, it was given to Han Fei-tzu by Peter Wiggin II. Fei-tzu drank it and then used physical proximity and contact with as many people as possible to spread it. The virus made the people of Path sick for a few days but reversed the genetic manipulation.