Page 417 - Enders_Game_Full_Book

ago, for instance, the piggies were running short of macios, the bark worms they mostly lived on then--"
"You're going to tell him that first?" asked Ouanda.
Ah, thought Ender. It isn't as important to her to maintain the illusion of solidarity as it is to him.
"He's here partly to Speak Libo's death," said Miro. "And this was what happened right before."
"We have no evidence of a causal relationship--"
"Let me discover causal relationships," said Ender quietly. "Tell me what happened when the piggies got hungry."
"It was the wives who were hungry, they said. " Miro ignored Ouanda's anxiety. "You see, the males gather food for the females and the young, and so there wasn't enough to go around. They kept hinting about how they would have to go to war. About how they would probably all die. " Miro shook his head. "They seemed almost happy about it."
Ouanda stood up. "He hasn't even promised. Hasn't promised anything." "What do you want me to promise?" asked Ender.
"Not to-- let any of this--"
"Not to tell on you?" asked Ender.
She nodded, though she plainly resented the childish phrase.
"I won't promise any such thing," said Ender. "My business is telling."
She whirled on Miro. "You see!"
Miro in turn looked frightened. "You can't tell. They'll seal the gate. They'll never let us through!"
"And you'd have to find another line of work?" asked Ender.
Ouanda looked at him with contempt. "Is that all you think xenology is? A job? That's another intelligent species there in the woods. Ramen, not varelse, and they must be known."
Ender did not answer, but his gaze did not leave her face.
"It's like the Hive Queen and the Hegemon," said Miro. "The piggies, they're like the buggers. Only smaller, weaker, more primitive. We need to study them, yes, but that isn't enough. You can study beasts and not care a bit when one of them drops dead or gets eaten up, but these are-- they're like us. We can't just study their hunger, observe their destruction in war, we know them, we--"