Page 1173 - Enders_Game_Full_Book

"Not the real Peter," said Jane.
"Look, it's sort of Ender and it's sort of Peter. Can you find him? Can you talk to him?"
"When our aiuas meet, we don't talk. We sort of-- what, dance around each other. It's not like Human and the Hive Queen."
"Doesn't he still have the jewel in his ear?" asked Miro, touching his own. "But what can he do? He's hours distant from his starship--"
"Jane," said Miro. "Try."
***
Peter looked stricken. Wang-mu touched his arm, leaned close to him. "What's wrong?"
"I thought we made it," he said. "When Congress voted to revoke the order to use the Little Doctor."
"What do you mean?" said Wang-mu, though she already knew what he meant.
"They launched it. The Lusitania Fleet disobeyed Congress. Who could have guessed? We have less than an hour before it detonates."
Tears leapt to Wang-mu's eyes, but she blinked them away. "At least the pequeninos and the hive queens will survive."
"But not the network of mothertrees," said Peter. "Starflight will end until Jane finds some other way to hold all that information in memory. The brothertrees are too stupid, the fathertrees have egos far too strong to share their capacity with her-- they would if they could, but they can't. You think Jane hasn't explored all the possibilities? Faster-than-light flight is over."
"Then this is our home," said Wang-mu.
"No it isn't," said Peter.
"We're hours away from the starship, Peter. We'll never get there before it detonates."
"What's the starship? A box with a lightswitch and a tight-sealing door. For all we know, we don't even need the box. I'm not staying here, Wang-mu."
"You're going back to Lusitania? Now?"
"If Jane can take me," he said. "And if she can't, then I guess this body goes back where it came from-- Outside."