The Authorized Ender Companion (19 page)

Fei-tzu exposed Qing-jao to the genetic reversal, shutting out the OCD “voice of the gods.” Qing-jao continued to live the commandments she’d been given from the gods and respected her father.

Han Fei-tzu died years later, a respected man who had brought the “Plague of the Gods” to Path. Jane revealed Congress’s evil genetic manipulation, but Han Fei-tzu told the world that the gods had spared his people. He was given a lavish, expensive funeral, but was not canonized as the God of Path.

Han Pei-mu (CH, [EE])

Known only as “Father” to Han Tzu, this man found great pride in his son, and particularly his selection as a potential Battle School student. He felt that Han Tzu would bring great honor back to the Han family and all of China, which had been taken from them during the Communist regime in China. He was one of the richest men in China. He didn’t have complete faith in Tzu’s ability to pass the International Fleet’s tests, and therefore secured the answers to the tests and had Tzu’s tutors give them to his son. He was arrested for this.

Han Qing-jao (XN, [CM])

Han Qing-jao was born on the planet Path, of Chinese descent. The planet had been settled by humans three thousand years before, after the end of the Formic War. The daughter of Han Fei-tzu and Jiang-qing, Qing-jao, at age four, saw her mother die. It was her mother’s dream that Qing-jao become devoted to the gods of the Path. Jiang-qing had been godspoken and made Han Fei-tzu promise to raise their daughter with the Path at her center. Han Fei-tzu agreed, first becoming the greatest of the godspoken himself.

Three years after her mother’s death, Qing-jao first heard the voices of the gods. They told her to wash her hands because she was filthy. She washed until she was bloody. Excitedly her father took her to the monks of the nearby temple, where she was tested to see if she was truly godspoken. Because of her ingenuity in the tests, it was determined that the gods did, in fact, speak to Han Qing-jao. The tests were physically and emotionally life-threatening. After completing them, Qing-jao’s father took her to the recovery bed.

For ten years, Qing-Jao studied the ways of the godspoken. She learned the physical, emotional, and spiritual paths that such chosen individuals were to walk. She was chastised once by her father when she was twelve years old for setting incorrect personal priorities. She was scared her father would kill her for it, but that was proven irrational.

At age sixteen, Qing-jao reached the point of her final test to prove her worthiness to the gods. This test was to be established by her father.

She had known for many years of the Starways Congress’s plans to quash rebellion throughout the Hundred Worlds. She had heard about the fleet that was going to Lusitania to potentially destroy that planet for its colonists’ rebellion. She’d read the essays of the political analyst, Demosthenes, decrying the fleet’s potential attack on Lusitania and use of the Molecular Detachment Device—the same weapon Ender Wiggin had used to wipe out the Formics three thousand years earlier.

Qing-jao had also read
The Life of Human
by the Speaker for the Dead. She believed that the alien life on Lusitania, the pequeninos, was worth protecting. She disagreed with the rumors of annihilating the planet.

Her father taught Qing-jao that the Starways Congress had the gods on their side. He told her that if the gods allowed the congressional fleet to destroy Lusitania, it was because it was necessary.

All of this related to Qing-jao’s final test because the fleet of ships going to Lusitania had disappeared. No one had contact with them, and it was cause for concern as the ansible—the interstellar communication device—had lost its connection to the ships as well.

Han Fei-tzu told his daughter to find the ships and why they disappeared. He was certain, and reassured her, that the gods would help her find them if she was truly godspoken. Qing-jao undertook her assignment, believing she would find the fleet.

Little did she know that it was the sentient computer called Jane that had cut off the ansible communication. If Qing-jao found Jane, the computer knew, her programming would be terminated—she would be killed.

Qing-jao worked hard on trying to figure out the secret of the disappearing fleet. She realized one morning that the gods had made the Lusitanian Fleet vanish. Clearly, she thought, the gods did not want Lusitania destroyed and had prevented the fleet from doing so. Logically she assumed that if the gods did not want the fleet to fulfill its mission, it was because the Starways Congress had erred in assigning the fleet in the first place.

She told her father all of this, and Fei-tzu explained that the gods indeed did not want the fleet to fulfill its assigned mission, but not to assume that the congressional leaders had violated the gods. The gods, he explained, would not have allowed the mission to be assigned if they did not want it to be. As such, he told Qing-jao to continue her study into the mission and disappearance. She was to discover why and how the gods made the ships disappear. It was not enough to figure out what the gods did without knowing the why or how.

Being godspoken was a great burden to Qing-jao. She felt heavy as she performed the daily purification rituals such as washing her hands until they bled, or tracing the grain in the wood walls. This assignment from her father only added to the challenging nature of her life role.

It was in this mind-set that Qing-jao first met Si Wang-mu, a girl younger than Qing-jao, who longed to be her servant. Wang-mu bribed her way past the Han family’s guards and spoke confidently to Qing-jao. Impressed with Wang-mu’s lack of intimidation, Qing-jao hired her to be her secret maid.

She told Wang-mu that they were equals and would speak to each other as such. Qing-jao realized that Wang-mu must have prostituted herself to get past the guards. In exchange for this greatest of sacrifices, and in payment for being her servant, Qing-jao decided that she would provide Wang-mu with great education. Qing-jao was more grateful to have found a friend than a servant. Wang-mu was someone to share the burden of the godspoken.

As Qing-jao continued the search for the Lusitanian Fleet, Wang-mu shared with her what the common folk were saying. They were repeating the seditious words of Demosthenes, believing that Starways Congress was wrong and evil to have sent the fleet. Qing-jao felt compelled to perform the purifying wood grain action after hearing these words. Wang-mu felt incredibly guilty for causing it.

Wang-mu went on to question the gods entirely. She felt that they did not believe in justice, for no just being would quash a rebellion on a colony like Lusitania. Furthermore, Wang-mu was worried that if the congress could do this to one colony, why not another—like Path?

Qing-jao sent Wang-mu away for speaking against the gods and congress. As she left, Wang-mu made one last comment: Perhaps Qing-jao would have some success if she looked for who made the fleet disappear, and that might lead her to how. Qing-jao was dismissive of the idea, but soon came to realize the wisdom in it. First, she would find Demosthenes, and that would lead her to “who.”

Jane realized that Qing-jao was on track to exposing her and Valentine Wiggin, the real Demosthenes. Despite her best efforts to prevent such exposure, Jane was discovered. Qing-jao’s efforts had paid off, and with Wang-mu’s help, she figured out Jane’s programming.

In an effort to preserve herself, Jane exposed the truth of the godspoken to Qing-jao’s father. Jane told him that the gods did not speak to people, but the godspoken were actually people who had a genetic mutation that caused the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder to exist in the godspoken’s mind without having the actual disorder. Qing-jao refused to believe this, though her father did.

Jane revealed her true self to Qing-jao who, in response, decided to inform Starways Congress of Jane’s existence, and tell them that she was responsible for the disappearance of the Lusitania Fleet. This act would result in Jane’s destruction. The sentient computer program decided to allow it to happen. Wang-mu pleaded for Qing-jao not to do so.

Han Fei-tzu was angry with his daughter for exposing Jane to the Congress. The congressional leaders, however, were grateful to the Han family and promised medals for both Qing-jao and her father.

The announcement of finding the fleet and discovery of the gods’ true identity put wedges in Qing-jao’s relationships with her father and Wang-mu. She cut off Wang-mu from being her servant and all but cut off communication of any kind with her father.

Wang-mu aligned herself with Qing-jao’s father, while Qing-jao became more obsessed with doing the will of the gods, as she perceived it, by ensuring Jane’s destruction and the end of Lusitania.

Under the direction of Fei-tzu, Wang-mu asked Qing-jao to help them with their research into the Descolada. Qing-jao refused, stating that there was not enough scientific evidence to support such research. She asked Wang-mu several questions about the virus that Wang-mu could not answer. Banished again from Qing-jao’s presence, Wang-mu took these questions to Ender and Ela, via ansible, leading to a new hypothesis regarding the virus. Qing-jao had unwittingly helped more than she’d intended.

She had come to hate Wang-mu and called her many names. Obsessed with doing the gods’ bidding, Qing-jao refocused her labors on hearing the gods’ voice. She refused to have anything to do with Wang-mu or waste any more time on her.

When her father told her of the virus that Ela had developed on Lusitania that would cure the godspoken of their OCD, Qing-jao believed it was not the virus that would bring the end of the godspeaking, but the gods themselves. They would be angry with Han Fei-tzu for rebelling against them and would withdraw their communication.

Han Fei-tzu was saddened that his daughter believed in the gods so dogmatically. He exposed her to the virus that reversed their genetic manipulation. Though free of the obsessive compulsive disorder that had caused her to trace the woodgrain in the floors and walls of her home, Qing-jao felt that the gods still spoke once more to her. They told her that her inability to hear their voices was a test of true obedience and discipleship.

For the rest of her life—nearly ninety more years—Qing-jao was faithful to the gods and their commandments. She wrote their words and taught their doctrine. When she died at a hundred years old, the people of Path, who loved and worshipped her, unanimously declared her to be the God of Path. It had been thought this honor would be given to her father, but after a century of service to the gods, it was Qing-jao who was beatified.

Her writings became scripture on Path, titled
The God Whispers of Qing-jao
.

Han Tzu “Hot Soup” (CH, EG, ES, EE, SH, SP, SG)

Han Tzu (pronounced “Han Zi”) was a contemporary of Ender’s in Battle School and the leader of China during Peter Wiggin’s reign as Hegemon. His story began at a very young age when he was selected as a potential Battle School student and given the blinking red monitor in his neck. Tzu’s selection by the International Fleet’s testers brought great honor to his family and would restore China to world dominance and prestige.

In preparation for his Battle School tests, Tzu was given many tutors and played with many boys and girls, learning “how to win” from boys and “what to care about” from girls. Most important among his tutors was the Shapes Tutor, Shen Guo-rong, who also taught Tzu logic and memorization skills through a series of games. Guo-rong told Tzu not to mention their sessions to anyone who came to their house. Though the games grew tiresome, Tzu stuck with them in order to not disappoint his father.

Tzu spoke Chinese, but was also tutored in Common, the language of the rest of the world. Tzu tried to leave the walls of his home to go read, but neither his Common tutor Wei Dun-nuan nor the house cook Mu-ren would allow it. This experience taught him that he was a prisoner in his own home. This affected him deeply, and from then on, he became determined to get away from this prison.

When the Battle School tester came, Tzu realized that his father, by giving the tutors the answers to the tests ahead of time, had cheated on the tests. Tzu had been prepared with all the “correct” answers ahead of time. This was why Guo-rong had ordered him not to speak of their studies. Realizing that his father had cheated was a hard blow to Tzu’s confidence, as it symbolized his father’s lack of faith in his son. Consequently, Tzu consciously answered the questions incorrectly. However, the testing officers identified the apparent cheating and arrested Tzu’s father for this illegal action.

Following the arrest, the female testing officer brought Tzu to take another test—one for which he’d not been prepared. This test he passed and was admitted to Battle School.

In Battle School, Han Tzu excelled and was given a promotion to toon leader in Ender’s Dragon Army. He was initially skeptical of Ender’s strategy, and sided with Fly Molo when the latter spoke poorly of their commander. He eventually came around, and his toon, D toon, helped defeat Rabbit Army in their first battle.

Han Tzu was one of the toon leaders who helped Bean protect Ender from the threats from Bonzo Madrid. They were unable to be Ender’s bodyguards all the time, but made a concerted effort to protect him.

After competing so well at Battle School, Han Tzu was moved to Tactical School for a week, and to Command School where he was one of Ender’s unseen squadron leaders in their simulator exams, which were actual battles unknowingly commanded by Ender and the squadron leaders. Han Tzu and Ender shared an emotional good-bye after the war. Han Tzu hoped Ender would someday visit him in China. Ender was polite, but knew that he would never be returning to Earth, making such a visit impossible.

Han Tzu was one of ten of Ender’s former colleagues who was kidnapped and forced to play war games by his captors. Though a prisoner, he remained mostly positive, trying to contact Peter Wiggin to save him and his friends.

He was separated from the other prisoners by their captor, Achilles Flandres. Though they were still allowed to communicate with each other via e-mail, no one was permitted to be in the physical presence of the other captives.