“Tired. Tired of being in here.”
Would you like to leave the room?
Was he really asking me that? “Yes.”
The door opened. Was that a trick? Whatever, I’d be a fool not to try to leave. I got up and walked out. The Ender guard was nowhere in sight.
We don’t need the guard if we can watch you.
I gasped slightly.
Don’t worry, I cannot hear your thoughts. Those are yours. Private.
“It’s the only thing left that’s private around here.”
I walked to the end of the hall and went through the door. Another hallway. I followed it and turned right.
It’s quite a maze, this place.
“So where’s the exit?”
He laughed. I hated having him laughing in my head. I had a horrible desire to knock him out with something hard and heavy. Lot of good that would do me.
The hallway ended at another door. I opened it and saw a child’s playroom. Tables heaped with colorful wooden blocks and puzzles lined the room. But there were no children in sight. And it was too clean, too set-up.
You’re in the fun room, I see. Why don’t you have a seat?
I went to the door opposite the one I entered and tried to turn the knob. It was locked. I went back to the door I had entered through, and it was locked from the other side.
Yes, you really should sit down.
I pulled up a chair and sat. I was clearly stuck in this room with locked doors and no windows.
You see before you several colored blocks of wood in various shapes. Can you pick up the red circle?
I picked it up and held it in front of my face so he could easily see it.
Perfect. Now place it on the tray in front of you.
I did what he asked.
Now lay your hands on the table, straight out in front of you. Keep them relaxed.
I had no idea what he was testing. This seemed too easy.
“If I do this, will you let me—”
One thing at a time. Just stay there, like that, until I give you another instruction.
I waited for a few moments. Then something horrible happened.
My right thumb moved. Only I wasn’t making it move.
A chill ran up my neck.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
Just relax. Don’t speak.
My right hand vibrated uncontrollably, shaking back and forth. Then it rose an inch off the table and moved toward the red circle block. It hovered over it, shaking, while I could do nothing but watch.
The hairs on my arm raised.
Just relax, let go. His voice sounded smooth and even, as if he were trying to lull me into a trance.
Then my hand fell on the red block like a claw in an old-time arcade machine, and my fingers clumsily clutched it. My hand rose and brought it back in front of me. And dropped the block there, on the table. My hand then collapsed on top of it.
“What did you do?” I asked.
I controlled you. He couldn’t contain the glee in his voice.
I hated this. I focused with all my will to kick him out of my head. I didn’t know how to do this, I just knew that I wanted it, I was willing it. I concentrated on picturing him gone, blown away by an invisible tornado, until my mind was clean, clear, and all my own.
I don’t know if he left on his own or if I’d actually succeeded, but suddenly all was quiet.
I sat there in silence for fifteen or twenty minutes, until an Ender guard arrived. He brought me to another room—a large indoor shooting range.
“Proceed to the last stall,” a female Ender’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker.
I looked around. She stood behind a glass wall, in a viewing area off a control room on a second level. She wore the black military uniform but was tall and elegant, with her white hair worn upswept.
A rifle waited for me at the last stall. I picked it up. I wondered—if I shot the glass wall, would it be bulletproof ? Of course it would.
The rifle was heavy for my weight. I heard the creaking of a target moving into place with a mechanical sound. It was a special holo of an Ender man, dressed in what looked like terrorist gear. A mask covered his face, and he held his own gun pointed at me.
“On the count of three,” the Ender woman said over the mike. “One.”
I put the rifle to my cheek and aimed.
“Two.”
I breathed in.
“Three.”
I took one shot at the target, aiming for the heart. The rifle kicked back, but I held my ground.
“Hold your fire,” she said.
The target was moved forward so I could examine it. The holo had frozen and recorded the shot. The hole was right at the heart. I turned and stared up at the Ender. Her face was expressionless.
She had me repeat the test several times, and each time a red circle lit up for the spot I was to aim for. Each time I hit it. My father’s lessons were not forgotten.
Then the target holo changed to an Ender woman wearing a floral dress and carrying a cane.