The Authorized Ender Companion Page 14

  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  Grasdolf was a friend of Hinckley Brown’s who heard that Theresa Brown’s research funding had been withdrawn.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.

  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.