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struck once, it was unlikely that Achilles would come out of hiding for some time. So Sister Carlotta had no choice but to proceed with Bean.
At first the boy was distracted, and did poorly. Sister Carlotta could not understand how he could fail even the elementary parts of the test, when he was so bright he had taught himself to read on the street. It had to be the death of Poke. So she interrupted the test and talked to him about death, about how Poke was caught up in spirit into the presence of God and the saints, who would care for her and make her happier than she had ever been in life. He did not seem interested. If anything, he did worse as they began the next phase of the test.
Well, if compassion didn't work, sternness might.
"Don't you understand what this test is for, Bean?" she asked.
"No," he said. The tone of his voice added the unmistakable idea "and I don't care."
"All you know about is the life of the street. But the streets of Rotterdam are only a part of a great city, and Rotterdam is only one city in a world of thousands of such cities. The whole human race, Bean, that's what this test is about. Because the Formics --"
"The Buggers," said Bean. Like most street urchins, he sneered at euphemism.
"They will be back, scouring the Earth, killing every living soul. This test is to see if you are one of the children who will be taken to Battle School and trained to be a commander of the forces that will try to stop them. This test is about saving the world, Bean."
For the first time since the test began, Bean turned his full attention to her. "Where is Battle School?"
"In an orbiting platform in space," she said. "If you do well enough on this test, you get to be a spaceman!"
There was no childlike eagerness in his face. Only hard calculation.
"I've been doing real bad so far, haven't I," he said.
"The test results so far show that you're too stupid to walk and breathe at the same time." "Can I start over?"
"I have another version of the tests, yes," said Sister Carlotta.
"Do it."
As she brought out the alternate set, she smiled at him, tried to relax him again. "So you want to be a spaceman, is that it? Or is it the idea of being part of the International Fleet?"