"Orson Scott Card - Ender's Saga 01 - Ender's Game" - читать интересную книгу автора (Card Orson Scott)

"He was thorough. He didn't just beat him, he beat him deep. Like Mazer
Rackham at the--"

"Spare me. So in the judgment of the committee, he passes.

"Mostly. Let's see what he does with his brother, now that the monitor's off."

"His brother. Aren't you afraid of what his brother will do to him?"

"You were the one who told me that this wasn't a no-risk business."

"I went back through some of the tapes. I can't help it. I like the kid. I
think were going to screw him up."

"Of course we are. It's our job. We're the wicked witch. We promise
gingerbread, but we eat the little bastards alive."

***

"I'm sorry, Ender," Valentine whispered. She was looking at the bandaid on his
neck.

Ender touched the wall and the door closed behind him. "I don't care. I'm glad
it's gone."

"What's gone?" Peter walked into the parlor, chewing on a mouthful of bread
and peanut butter.

Ender did not see Peter as the beautiful ten-year-old boy that grown-ups saw,
with dark, thick, tousled hair and a face that could have belonged to Alexander
the Great. Ender looked at Peter only to detect anger or boredom, the dangerous
moods that almost always led to pain. Now as Peter's eyes discovered the bandaid
on his neck, the telltale flicker of anger appeared.

Valentine saw it too. "Now he's like us," she said, trying to soothe him
before he had time to strike.

But Peter would not be soothed. "Like us? He keeps the little sucker till he's
six years old. When did you lose yours? You were three. I lost mine before I was
five. He almost made it, little bastard, little bugger."

This is all right, Ender thought. Talk and talk, Peter. Talk is fine.

"Well, now your guardian angels aren't watching over you," Peter said. "Now
they aren't checking to see if you feel pain, listening to hear what I'm saying,
seeing what I'm doing to you. How about that? How about it?"

Ender shrugged.