Fixer-Uppers, Monday

[endsthegame]

Ender sat down with his computer that morning, and looked sternly into the webcam. Which made him feel ridiculous, so he dropped his eyes away from it and at the screen before he spoke.

"Have you been messing with the Fixer-Uppers wifi system?" he asked.

"I'm just a banking program," Jane retorted. "Little old me wouldn't go and do something like that."

"But you're not, are you? Just a banking program? All these security protocols you have, the access, none of it belongs to a normal program. And the way you respond to what I do and say, that's not normal, either."

"Oh, look, mister I-Saved-The-World-And-I-Like-To-Brood-About it has decided to take up being a kettle. How do you manage that?"

Ender sighed in irritation. "You're just proving my point," he said, feeling slightly silly for arguing with a computer.

"Was there anything you wanted done?"

"Stop infecting computers," he ordered, "And let me get my email in peace."

"Boring."

With a groan, Ender got back to work. There were bananas on the holographic projector, but he really didn't want to deal with it today.

[[ jane is nfb as always, the rest is good fb, and open! ]]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

"Ho, Ender," Ben said, carrying in containers of Chinese take-out today.

[endsthegame]

"Ho, Ben," he said, "And ho, slightly irregular lunch."

[momslilassassin]

"I was tired of sandwiches," Ben said with a little grin. "Is your computer behaving itself?"

[endsthegame]

"Define 'behaving'," Ender said, beckoning some of the Chinese food closer.

Or for Ben to bring it closer. He didn't have fancy Force powers, after all.

[momslilassassin]

"It's not freezing up randomly or giving you pop-up ads for devices you don't need to fix ailments you don't have?" Ben asked, handing over a couple of cartons of food.

[endsthegame]

"Then yes, it's behaving," Ender said, poking around in the carton. He still wasn't sure what to make of Jane, and so he kept that to himself; somehow it felt important. "Just my banking program sassing me and a lot of email I haven't finished going through yet."

He was getting more and more mail every day. Partly thanks to the extra email account he'd gotten Chamrajnagar to set up on Eros.

[momslilassassin]

"Colonists on Eros or on the planet?" Ben asked, digging into a cartoon of orange chicken.

He was very proud of himself for not asking how many emails came from the girl.

[endsthegame]

Somewhere, Alessandra Toscano made really big puppy dog eyes for no reasons she could discern.

"A little from one corner, a little from the other," said Ender, "Though nothing explicitly important today. They're still doing research on the orchards, and more colonists are flooding in and hearing about my email set-up."

[momslilassassin]

"'Dear Ender: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I LOVE YOU is this really you no way is this really you can I have an autograph oh please I named my kitty and my puppy and three dolls for you'," Ben quoted.

The first bit was a little ear-splitting, thanks, Ben.

[endsthegame]

Ender winced, rubbing demonstratively at his ear. "Thanks," he muttered.

Even the thought of mail like that made him incredibly uncomfortable. And squirmy.

[momslilassassin]

Ben gave him a little smile and dug back into his Chinese food. "Or you could messages that are actually useful?"

[endsthegame]

"Mostly," Ender said, shaking that one off. "Of course, it wouldn't surprise me if they were all pre-read by the IF. God forbid I read anything that hasn't been rubbed appropriately first."

[momslilassassin]

"Because you're really a delicate flower who shouldn't be bothered by reality," Ben said with a laugh. "Their relationship with you is fascinating."

[endsthegame]

"At least I didn't let them sic their psych staff on me this time," Ender voiced, irritation slipping into his tone. "Last time I spent two years being told left and right not to do things because a piece of paper said I was 'fragile'."

... well, they might have actually had a point, Ender.

[momslilassassin]

"Well, it might have been correct a few years ago, kreetle," Ben pointed out gently. "Not that I'm all that inclined to give the IF the benefit of the doubt."

[endsthegame]

"I was sturdy enough to make my own decisions, and know what's going on," he retorted. (Considering his resulting guilt issues over Bonzo and Stilson, that was also debatable.) "Either way, this just keeps on being annoying."

[momslilassassin]

"Annoying," Ben said a little dryly. "Force forbid. Would finding someone here to run a pysch battery help at all to get them to stop bothering you?"

[endsthegame]

"Of course not," Ender said, "It's the International Fleet."

For once, he wasn't entirely sure of what to make of Ben's tone, which unsettled him.

[momslilassassin]

"Well, stop them from bothering you on this particular aspect," Ben amended.

Not that he could be sure that Ender wouldn't game the system in order to give the test administrator the answers they wanted.

[endsthegame]

Well, sophistry was his second best talent...

"Still probably not," he said, lightly. "I'm not really interested in having my head shrunk again, either."

[momslilassassin]

"It would make it easier for you to get through doors," Ben offered with a note of genuine concern under all of the banter.

[endsthegame]

Ender snorted softly. "I'll pass," he said, "I've had enough people poking around in my brain for a lifetime."

[momslilassassin]

"And here most people want to be respected for their minds," Ben teased.

[endsthegame]

"I think the phrase 'I'm not most people' is a little cliche, but it works," he said. "I'm duller, for a start."

[momslilassassin]

Ben snorted. "Tell that to someone who will believe it, kreetle."