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The chapter opens with two men, Colonel Graff and Major Imbu, discussing what Ender encountered in the fantasy game. Graff is not at all too happy with the fact that Ender saw a picture of Peter. Peter is a touchy subject to Ender and Graff seems to want to protect Ender from his thoughts of Peter.
Graff doesn’t know why the computer displayed a picture of Peter. Imbu explains that the computer had to do something it rarely does. It had to go into files outside of the International Fleet’s system to get the picture. Imbu then gives a few guesses why the game might be showing Ender his brother.
At the end, Imbu explains that the computer has its reasons and it is creating the game as Ender progresses. Graff relates to the computer’s methods, since he too is creating obstacles for Ender as he continues his time in Battle School.
The scene then goes to Valentine back at home. Her family has moved to North Carolina where they have relocated for the benefit of Peter’s unruly nature. There, Valentine’s parents hope the new setting will help Peter calm down.
Peter now acts like a changed boy, yet Valentine knows that Peter is just as menacing as ever. While his parents and his teachers think that Peter is a good kid, Valentine has seen the truth behind his fakeness. For example, she knows that he has recently mutilated an innocent squirrel. Valentine is fully aware that the evil within Peter is still present, but now he is cunning enough to hide it from others.
After going into details about Peter’s true nature, Valentine gets into a conversation with Peter. Peter has a plan for Valentine. Before disclosing his plan, he lets Valentine know that he has studied and become aware of Russian troop movements in Eurasia. Peter knows that the Russian Polemarch is getting troops ready for something that is coming. Valentine thinks that the Strategos know about the movement, however, Peter knows better.
Valentine finally deduces that the peace that is supposedly being followed by the entire world isn’t real. Once, the world was working together against the common enemy of the bugger, but now that peaceful drape is beginning to tear apart.
Next, Valentine describes how she and her brother Peter have some interesting powers of persuasion. Peter can get people to fear things, while Valentine can convince people to believe things. Valentine admits that she is more powerful than Peter himself since she can persuade him to believe things. She can control Peter.
Peter dwells deeper into his conversation and explains how the world changes at certain points. He points out that at times historical figures, like Demosthenes, are able to force change. He believes that he also has the power to change things now. He believes that this is a moment in history when things can be altered.
Peter divulges into his master plan: use their father’s citizenship to get onto the net so he can fake the role of an intellectual adult and preach to the masses. Peter wants to influence and persuade the world to believe his thoughts. He needs Valentine to convince their father into handing over his log-in information to her.
Valentine isn’t too sure of Peter’s intentions. Peter tries to convince her that his purpose is to keep everybody as united as they were during the bugger invasions. He doesn’t want things to fall apart as they did during the past world wars. He wants to attain control and use it to help humanity.
At one point, Peter even begins crying. He is trying incredibly hard to get Valentine to believe him. At one point, he even admits that he loves his siblings. He also opens up and admits that he is aware of his savagery. He tries his best to coax his sister to support him.
BROWSE CONTENTS
ENDER'S GAME -- CHAPTER 9: LOCKE AND DEMOSTHENES
Lastly, he wants to form an alliance with Valentine so that they both can work together to attain power. He realizes that he needs her and her power of persuasion on the net.
Peter and Valentine, eventually, get their father’s log-in information, and they begin to practice speaking in forums on the net. They use fake names and they start off by speaking strongly to get lots of attention.
Although they are working together, they act on the net as if they don’t know each other. They each focus on nets elsewhere in the world and they each work to develop their own fine-tuned net personalities. They even come up with names for themselves on the net: Demosthenes for Valentine and Locke for Peter.
Slowly, they watch as things they are saying in forums begin to appear on more important forums. Their words are beginning to appear elsewhere on the nets. These words are things that Peter has come up with and orchestrated. Valentine comes to Peter for facts.
After a while of working on a column in a newsnet, Demosthenes’ words are repeated at the dinner table by their own father. He is clueless as to the fact that Demosthenes is actually his daughter. Valentine is not too pleased with the fact that her father agrees with the words of Demosthenes.
The scene flash-forwards to a year later when Ender is nine-years old. Now, he is in the Phoenix Army as the head of a toon. Everybody looks up to Ender and respects him. He now, however, feels like his prestigious position makes him a bit of an outsider.
Things have also changed quite a bit in the fantasy game that Ender plays. There are dwarves who have made a home out of the bones of the Giant that Ender killed. They do nothing to him. Likewise, nothing happens in any part of the game except for the castle at the End of the World where he always dies.
The scene shifts back to Valentine who is at school. There, she is met by Colonel Graff at the front office. At first, Valentine thought the International Fleet has finally come to pick her up for her comments as Demosthenes, but Graff is there to talk to her about Ender.
Graff has noticed that Ender is depressed. Likewise, he also has noted how Ender is stuck at the part of the fantasy game where Peter’s reflection is constantly showing up in a mirror. Graff is hoping that Valentine can help him figure out what is going on with Ender.
Valentine eventually explains how Ender always resisted Peter. Ender was always better than Peter. She is very animate on how Peter would always use people for harm. Yet, Ender was always the exact opposite.
Graff goes onto ask Valentine to write Ender a letter to help drive his success at Battle School. Unlike her other letters that were kept from Ender, Graff will make sure this letter gets to him.
The scene shifts back to Ender who is reading Valentine’s letter. The letter is thoughtful and comforting, but it makes Ender come to the realization that everything in his life now is controlled by other people in charge. Those in charge made her write a letter that coaxes Ender into remembering that he is not like his brother.
With anger and frustration in mind, Ender plays the fantasy game again. When he reaches the snake he greets it with a loving kiss, it turns into Valentine, and he walks down a set of stairs with his sister. He has passed the game.
The scene then goes back to Valentine who receives word of Ender’s success. She’s even rewarded for it; however, she feels terrible for helping Battle School manipulate her brother.
To right her wrong and to honor her brother, she later writes as Demosthenes and calls for an end of the population laws. She feels that there should be no problem with Thirds.
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by Orson Scott Card
