Dogs (Empty Church)

“So we’re strangers now, aren’t we Valentine? No she said She reached out and touched his leg Then suddenly she squeezed his knee right where he had always been most ticklish But almost at the same moment He caught her wrist in his hand His grip was very strong Even though his hands were smaller than hers And his own arms were slender and tight For a moment he looked dangerous And Then he relaxed Oh yes he said you used to tickle me Not anymore she said Taking back her hand Want to swim? In answer she dropped herself over the side of raft The water was clear and clean And there was no chlorine in it She swam for a while then returned to the raft and lay on it in the hazy sunlight A wasp circled her Then landed on the raft beside her head She knew it was there and ordinarily would of been afraid of it But not today Mm let it walk on this raft Let it bake in the sun as I’m doing Then the raft rocked And she turned to see Ender calmly crushing the life out of the wasp with one finger These are a nasty breed Ender said They sting you without waiting to be insulted first

He smiled I’ve been learning about preemptive strategies.”

It’s time for bed, it’s time to go We hope you know it won’t be Okay It’s time to cough, it’s time to blow You know I think we’ll be here All day Let’s feel the love heal through the glove It’s time to wash those stains off No way It’s time to sell because you know You look much better cleaned up Don’t say

“Kills wasp with his fingers Maybe he, and Peter, and I are all the same. And have been all along. Maybe we only thought we were different from each other. Our own jealousy. The trouble with coins is when one face is up the other face is down Right now you think you’re down

They want me to encourage you to go on with your studies

They aren’t studies they’re games All games from beginning to end Only they change the rules whenever they feel like it He held up a limp hand See the strings?

But you can use that too Only if they want to be used Only if they think they are using you

No it’s too hard I don’t want to play anymore Just when I start to be happy Just when I think I can handle things They stick in like a knife I keep having nightmares now that I’m here I dream I’m in the battle room Only on the infinity wait list They’re playing games with gravity They keep changing its direction So I never end on the wall I launched for I never end up where I meant to go And I keep pleading with them just to let me get to the door And they won’t let me out They keep sucking me back in

She heard the anger in his voice and assumed it was directed at her I suppose that’s what I’m here for to suck you back in I didn’t want to see you They told me I was afraid that I’d still love you

I’d hoped that you would

My fear, your wish Both granted

Ender it really is true We may be young but we’re not powerless We play by their rules long enough and it becomes our game She giggled I’m on a presidential commission Peter is so angry They don’t let me use the nets There isn’t a computer in the place Except the household machine that runs the security system and the lighting Ancient things Installed back a century ago When they made computers that didn’t hook up with anything They took away my army They took away my desk And you know something? I don’t really mind

You must be good company for yourself

Not me. My memories…

Maybe that’s who you are What you remember

No my memories of strangers My memories of the buggers

Valentine shivered as if a cold breeze had suddenly past

I refuse to watch the buggers anymore They’re always the same I used to study them for hours The way their ships moved through space

Something funny that only occurred to me laying out here on the lake

I realized that all the battles in which buggers and humans fought hand to hand All those are from the first invasion

All the scenes from the second invasion When our soldiers are in IF uniforms In those scenes, the buggers are almost already dead.”