Fixer-Uppers [all day]

[momslilassassin]

Ben hadn't needed the radio broadcast to tell him that Leia had returned to the island, and he promised himself that he'd go track her down and see how she was doing once his shift at the shop was over. Seeing Dink and Carn over the weekend and hearing them talk about some teacher named Anderson had prompted him to listen to a few more of the audio tracks from Ender's past: he'd guessed from context that Anderson was the second voice in the earlier recordings. Ben took a deep breath, braced himself, and then clicked the next conversation.

"With Ender, we have to strike a delicate balance. Isolate him enough that he remains creative-- otherwise he'll adopt the system here and we'll lose him. At the same time, we need to make sure he keeps a strong ability to lead," Graff said and Ben could tell he was going to hate the way this discussion was going to go already.

Anderson replied with, " If he earns rank, he'll lead."

"lt isn't that simple," Graff replied. "Mazer Rackham could handle his little fleet and win. By the time this war happens, there'll be too much, even for a genius. Too many little boats. He has to work smoothly with his subordinates."

"Oh, good," Anderson said with some of the frustration Ben felt boiling up inside himself. "He has to be a genius and nice. too."

"Not nice. Nice will let the buggers have us all."

" So you're going to isolate him," Anderson concluded.

"I'll have him completely separated from the rest of the boys by the time we get to the School," Graff promised.

"I have no doubt of it. I'll be waiting for you to get here. I watched the vids of what he did to the Stilson boy. This is not a sweet little kid you're bringing up here," Anderson said.

"That's where you're mistaken. He's even sweeter. But don't worry. We'll purge that in a hurry," Graff said and Ben glared at the computer, even though he knew exactly how useless that was.

"Sometimes I think you enjoy breaking these little geniuses," Anderson said, and it didn't sound entirely complimentary.

"There is an art to it, and I'm very, very good at it," Graff said, and Ben snorted. "But enjoy? Well, maybe. When they put back the pieces afterward, and it makes them better."

"You're a monster," Anderson declared.

"Thanks. Does this mean I get a raise?" Graff asked.

"Just a medal. The budget isn't inexhaustible." And with that sentence, Ben decided he hated Anderson too. He glanced at his chrono and decided he had the time to listen to one more conversation before Ender would be showing up for lunch.

A new voice, but one Ben recognized, began talking first.

"You have my admiration. Breaking an arm-- that was a master stroke," Chamrajnagar began.

"That was an accident," Graff replied.

"Really? And I've already commended you in your official report," Chamrajnagar said.

"It's too strong. It makes that other little bastard into a hero. It could screw up training for a lot of kids. I thought he might call for help," Graff said and Ben snorted loudly. Ender solved his own problems and Graff knew that.

"Call for help? I thought that was what you valued most in him: that he settles his own problems. When he's out there surrounded by an enemy fleet, there ain't gonna be nobody to help him if he calls," Chamrajnagar argued.

"Who would have guessed the little sucker'd be out of hs seat? And that he'd land just wrong against the bulkhead?"

"Just one more example of the stupidity of the military. If you had any brains, you'd be in a real career, like selling life insurance," Charmrajnagar said wih a little laugh.

"You, too, mastermind," Graff shot back.

"We've just got to face the fact that we're second rate. With the fate of humanity in our hands. Gives you a delicious feeling of power, doesn't it? Especially because this time if we lose there won't be any criticism of us at all." Ben rolled his eyes at the screen.

"I never thought of it that way," Graff mused. "But let's not lose."

"See how Ender handles it," Chamrajnagar concluded. "If we've already lost him, if he can't handle this, who next? Who else?"

"I'll make up a list," Graff said.  

"In the meantime, figure out how to unlose Ender."

"I told you. His isolation can't be broken. He can never come to believe that anybody will ever help him out. Ever," Graff said. "If he once thinks there's an easy way out, he's wrecked." The hair on the back of Ben's neck stood up and he ran through a Jedi calming technique twice to bring himself back under control. They had screwed up his friend and good from the very start.

"You're right. That would be terrible, if he believed he had a friend," Chamrajnagar said dryly.

"He can have friends. It's parents he can't have," Graff said and Ben slammed the top on his computer shut with a little more vehemence than was really good for the machine. "Kriffing bastard," he snarled.

Ben picked up the flip camera from the AV Club on Wednesday to take apart and modify, his chosen way of repressing Bad Things.

Shhh, it was healthy.

Fixer-Uppers was open!

[OOC: Contents of audio NFB, stolen and modified from Orson Scott Card...]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

"Dad blowing it up," Ben said, looking a little surprised. "You don't know this story?"

[endsthegame]

"Parts of it," Ender said, "But not enough to know everything that happened to Leia." He tilted his head. "I think it's your turn on storytime anyway, Skywalker."

[momslilassassin]

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away," Ben began with a little grin, "there was a Rebel princess who was fleeing from the Empire with copies of the Death Star plans. She was caught by the evil Darth Vader--but not before she jettisoned the plans--who took her to said Death Star, interrogated her without results and then took her up to the observation deck where he and Grand Moff Tarkin told her that she either told them the location of the Rebellion outpost or they'd blow up her defenseless planet. She gave them a name--not the right one because that's Aunt Leia--and they blew up Alderaan anyway." He frowned hard. "Because that was Vader."

[endsthegame]

Ender nodded, and set his jaw. Not very tightly, though, and even if you weren't an empath it was easy to tell he was investing in the tale by the look in his eyes.

Stupid human empathy.

"But she got out, and I assume that's where the rest of your family came in."

[momslilassassin]

"Tarkin and Vader put her back in her cell and scheduled her for execution," Ben said, nodding, "and while she was waiting, Dad and Uncle Han and Obi-Wan had gotten sucked up in the tractor beam: Dad had found the plans Aunt Leia had sent away and they'd been returning them to Alderaan and got there too late."

Or at the right time. A lot of things would have gone differently if Luke and Han had died.

"Dad and Uncle Han broke her out of the detention bloc while Obi-Wan was disabling the tractor beam, and the three of them escaped on the Falcon while Vader was killing Obi-Wan." Ben took a deep breath. "Vader was never an idiot, so he'd put a tracking device on the Falcon and the Death Star followed them to the Rebel base."

[endsthegame]

"And tried to take a shot at it, but Luke got to it first," Ender hazarded, exhaling. He knew people well enough - and had heard from Ben enough - to be able to fill in the rest of the story. "Got it."

[momslilassassin]

"Vader survived," Ben said. "The rest of the people on the Death Star weren't that fortunate."

[endsthegame]

Ender reached up and rubbed at his brow. It was too easy to make the jump from Death Star - from Alderaan - to the Formic homeworld, and he really didn't want to be doing that right now when Ben's problems were much more pressing. "But I doubt Leia will be thinking about that."

[momslilassassin]

Ben's eyes were sympathetic as he watched Ender. "No, it's too early for any regret about that to set in. It was them or the Death Star, and they chose them. It's time for Aunt Leia to mourn Alderaan now."

[endsthegame]

"So give her a hug from me," he volunteered. "Just don't tell her it's me; we're not exactly close."

[momslilassassin]

Ben smiled. "I will," he promised. "I think there'll be a lot of hugs in the next few weeks."

[endsthegame]

"Group hugs?" Ender said. "I've heard about those. Sounds like a fad."

[momslilassassin]

"If you want a hug, you don't have to hint like this, kreetle," Ben said with a little grin, reaching out to ruffle Ender's hair.

[endsthegame]

Which Ender bore stoically. For the most part. He was still smiling a little.

"I keep telling you," he said, "If I want anything, I'll say so. You're the one promoting hugs."

[momslilassassin]

"I didn't know they needed promotion," Ben said. "I thought they were pretty astral on their own merits."

[endsthegame]

"Look at you," said Ender, "Defying male stereotypes."

[momslilassassin]

"Only some of them," Ben decided.

[endsthegame]

"Maybe we should get you a list."

[momslilassassin]

"There's a list?" Ben replied, laughing.

[endsthegame]

"There's always a list," Ender said, poking through his pasta, "Though the levels of accuracy vary."

[momslilassassin]

"So liking hugs is not stereotypical," Ben said. "Where does belching fall?"

[endsthegame]

"Stereotype, at least in the west," Ender said, easily. "In the east, it's considered polite to do it after a good meal."

Thank you for explaining that, Alai.

[momslilassassin]

"Huh," Ben said, looking interested. "I wonder how that will play out in colony planets."

Dork.

[endsthegame]

"Any colonies with a lot of Turkish or Greek people, or other cultures like it, they'll probably wind up skewing that way," Ender said, thoughtfully. "I mean, it's too early to say which way any of them are going to lean. Right now Shakespeare is mostly Mayans, for example, but we're going to be bringing in a lot of people from around the Mediterranean..."

[momslilassassin]

"That's an interesting mix," Ben said. "Have they studied what countries seem most interested in joining the colonies?"