Page 1045 - Enders_Game_Full_Book

conversation of the mind was truer than any language, and they knew each other better than they ever could have by use of mere sight and touch.
<You always start in the middle of the thought,> said Human.
<And you always understand everything surrounding it, so what difference does it make?> Then she told him all that had passed between her and Young Valentine and Miro today.
<I overheard some of it,> said Human.
<I had to scream to be heard. They aren't like Ender-- they're thickheaded and hard of hearing.> <So can you do it?>
<My daughters are weak and inexperienced, and they're consumed with egglaying in their new homes. How can we make a good web for catching an aiua? Especially one that already has a home. And where is that home? Where is this bridge my mothers made? Where is this Jane?>
<Ender is dying,> said Human.
The Hive Queen understood that he was answering her question.
<Which of him?> asked the Hive Queen. <I always thought he was the most like us. So it's no surprise that he should be the first human like us in his ability to control more than one body.>
<Badly,> said Human. <In fact he can't do it. He's been sluggish in his own old body ever since the others came into existence. And for a while it looked like he might slough off Young Valentine. But that's changed now.>
<You can see?>
<His adopted daughter Ela came to me. His body is failing strangely. No known disease. He just doesn't exchange oxygen well. He can't rise up into consciousness. Ender's sister, Old Valentine, says that maybe he's paying full attention to his other selves, so much so that he can't spare any for the here and now of his own old body. So his body is starting to fail, here and there. Lungs first. Maybe a little bit everywhere, only it's the lungs that show it first.>
<He should pay attention. If he doesn't, he'll die.>
<So I said,> Human reminded her mildly. <Ender is dying.>
The Hive Queen had already made the connection that Human intended. <So it's more than needing a web to catch the aiua of this Jane. We need to catch Ender's aiua, too, and pass it into one of his other bodies.>