Page 408 - Enders_Game_Full_Book

"It is, I promise."
"Do you mean to say that you obeyed her? That when your mother told you not to do any theoretical work, you simply turned off your mind and did what she wanted?"
Ela giggled. "She thinks so."
"But you didn't."
"I'm a scientist, even if she isn't."
"She was once," said the Speaker. "She passed her tests when she was thirteen." "I know," said Ela.
"And she used to share information with Pipo before he died."
"I know that, too. It was just Libo that she hated."
"So tell me, Ela. What have you discovered in your theoretical work?"
"I haven't discovered any answers. But at least I know what some of the questions are. That's a start, isn't it? Nobody else is asking questions. It's so funny, isn't it? Miro says the framling xenologers are always pestering him and Ouanda for more information, more data, and yet the law forbids them from learning anything more. And yet not a single framling xenobiologist has ever asked us for any information. They all just study the biosphere on their own planets and don't ask Mother a single question. I'm the only one asking, and nobody cares. "
"I care," said the Speaker. "I need to know what the questions are."
"OK, here's one. We have a herd of cabra here inside the fence. The cabra can't jump the fence, they don't even touch it. I've examined and tagged every single cabra in the herd, and you know something? There's not one male. They're all female."
"Bad luck," said the Speaker. "You'd think they would have left at least one male inside."
"It doesn't matter," said Ela. "I don't know if there are any males. In the last five years every single adult cabra has given birth at least once. And not one of them has mated."
"Maybe they clone," said the Speaker.
"The offspring is not genetically identical to the mother. That much research I could sneak into the lab without Mother noticing. There is some kind of gene transfer going on."
"Hermaphrodites?"