Page 441 - Enders_Game_Full_Book

"And yet he still has access to them--" said Dom Crist o.
"He is invisible to Starways Congress. If they place an embargo on all data transfers to and from Lusitania, his files will still be accessible because the computers do not see his file accesses as data transfers. They are original storage-- yet they are not in Lusitanian memory.
"Are you suggesting," said Bishop Peregrino, "that we transfer our most confidential and important files as messages to that-- that unspeakable infidel?"
"I am telling you that I have already done exactly that. The transfer of the most vital and sensitive government files is almost complete. It was a high priority transfer, at local speeds, so it runs much faster than the Congressional copying. I am offering you a chance to make a similar transfer, using my highest priority so that it takes precedence over all other local computer usage. If you don't want to do it, fine-- I'll use my priority to transfer the second tier of government files."
"But he could look in our files," said the Bishop.
"Yes, he could."
Dom Cristao shook his head. "He won't if we ask him not to."
"You are naive as a child," said Bishop Peregrino. "There would be nothing to compel him even to give the data back to us."
Bosquinha nodded. "That's true. He'll have everything that's vital to us, and he can keep it or return it as he wishes. But I believe, as Dom Crist o does, that he's a good man who'll help us in our time of need."
Dona Crist stood. "Excuse me," she said. "I'd like to begin crucial transfers immediately."
Bosquinha turned to the Bishop's terminal and logged into her own high priority mode. "Just enter the classes of files that you want to send into Speaker Andrew's message queue. I assume you already have them prioritized, since you were printing them out."
"How long do we have?" asked Dom Crist o. Dona Crist was already typing furiously.
"The time is here, at the top." Bosquinha put her hand into the holographic display and touched the countdown numbers with her finger.
"Don't bother transferring anything that we've already printed," said Dom Crist o. "We can always type that back in. There's precious little of it, anyway."
Bosquinha turned to the Bishop. "I knew this would be difficult." The Bishop gave one derisive laugh. "Difficult."