'Then first thing in the morning, we're off.'
'Unless the new governor forbids you.'
'His authority doesn't begin until he sets foot on this planet. He isn't even in orbit yet.'
'Haven't you looked at their manifest? They have four skimmers.'
'If we need one, we'll radio back for it. Otherwise, don't tell them where we went.'
'Good thing the formics got rid of all the major predators on this planet.'
'There's no self-respecting predator would eat an old wad of gristle like me.'
'I was thinking of my son.'
'He won't want to eat me either, even if we run out of food.'
That night, Sel went to bed early and then, as usual, got up to pee after only a few hours of sleep. He noticed that the ansible was blinking. Message.
Not my problem.
Well, that wasn't true, was it? If Wiggin's authority didn't begin until he set foot on the planet, then Sel was still acting governor. So any messages from Earth, he had to receive.
He sat down and signaled that he was ready to receive.
There were two messages recorded. He played the first one. It consisted of the face of the Minister of Colonization, Graff, and his message was brief.
'I know you're planning to skip town before Wiggin gets there. Talk to Wiggin before you go. He won't try to stop you, so relax.'
That was it.
The other message was from Wiggin. He looked his age, but his adult height was coming on him. In the colony, teenagers his size were expected to do a man's work, and got a man's vote in the meetings. So maybe his position wouldn't be as awkward as Sel expected.
'Please contact me by ansible as soon as you get this,' said Ender. 'We're in radio distance, but I don't want anyone else to be able to intercept the signal.'
Sel toyed with the idea of turning the message over to Ix to answer, but decided against it. The point wasn't to hide from Wiggin, was it? Only to leave the field clear for him.
So he signaled his intention to make a connection. It took only a few minutes for Wiggin to appear. Now that the colony ship wasn't traveling at a relativistic speed, there was no time differential, and therefore the ansible transmitted instantly. Not even the time lag of radio.
'Governor Menach,' said Ender Wiggin. He smiled.
'Sir,' Sel replied. He tried to smile back, but. this was Ender Wiggin he was talking to.
'When we got word that you were leaving, my first thought was to beg you to stay.'
Sel ignored him. 'I was glad to see on the manifest a full range of beasts of burden as well as milk, wool, egg, and meat beasts. Are they Earth-natural, or have they been genetically altered to digest the local vegetation?'
'Your methods were very promising at the time we left, but did not prove out until we were well under way. So all the animals and plants we brought with us are Earth-natural. They're all in stasis, and can be maintained in that condition on the surface for some time, even after the ship leaves. So there'll be time to make the alterations on the next generation.'
'Ix Tolo has ongoing projects of his own, but I believe he'll be able to train your new xenos in the techniques.'
'Ix Tolo will remain the head xenobiologist, in your absence,' said Wiggin. 'I've seen his work in recent weeks — years, to you. You've trained him to an exacting standard, and the xenos on this ship intend to learn from him. Though they're hoping you'll return soon. They want to meet you. You're something of a hero to them. This is the only world that has non-formiform flora and fauna. The other colonies have been working with the same genetic groups — this is the only world that posed unique challenges, so you had to do, alone, what all the other colonies were able to do cooperatively.'
'Me and Darwin.'
'Darwin had more help than you,' said Wiggin. 'I hope you'll keep your radio dormant instead of off. Because I want to be able to ask for your counsel, if I need it.'
'You won't. I'm going back to bed now. I have a lot of walking to do tomorrow.'
'I can send a skimmer after you. So you don't have to carry your supplies. It would increase your range.'
'But then the old settlers will expect me to come back soon. They'll be waiting for me instead of relying on you.'
'I can't pretend that we're not able to track you and find you.'
'But you can tell them that you're showing me the respect of not trying. At my request.'
'Yes,' said Ender. 'I'll do that.'
There was little more to say. They signed off and Sel went back to bed. He slept easily. And, as usual, woke just when he wanted to — an hour before dawn.
Po was waiting for him.
'I already said good-bye to Mom and Dad,' he said.
'Good,' said Sel.
'Thanks for letting me come.'
'Could I have stopped you?'
'Yes,' said Po. 'I won't disobey you, Uncle Sel.' All the grandchildren generation called him that.
Sel nodded. 'Good. Have you eaten?'
'Yes.'
'Then let's go. I won't need to eat till noon.'
You take a step, then another. That's the journey. But to take a step with your eyes open is not a journey at all, it's a remaking of your own mind. You see things that you never saw before. Things never seen by the eyes of human beings. And you see with your particular eyes, which were trained to see not just a plant, but this plant, filling this ecological niche, but with this and that difference.
And when your eyes have been trained for forty years to be familiar with the patterns of a new world, then you are Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, who first saw the world of animalcules through a microscope; you are Carl Linnaeus, first sorting creatures into families, genera, species; you are Darwin, sorting lines of evolutionary passage from one species to another.
So it was not a rapid journey. Sel had to force himself to move with any kind of haste.
'Don't let me linger so long over every new thing I see,' he told Po. 'It would be too humiliating for my great expedition to take me only ten kilometers south of the colony. I must cross the first range of mountains, at least.'
'And how will I keep you from lingering, when you have me photographing and sampling and storing and recording notes?'
'Refuse to do it. Tell me to get my bony knees up off the ground and start walking.'
'All my life I'm taught to obey my elders and watch and learn. I'm your assistant. Your apprentice.'
'You're just hoping we don't travel very far so when I die you don't have so long to carry the corpse.'
'I thought my father told you — if you actually die, I'm supposed to call for help and observe your decomposition process.'
'That's right. You only carry me if I'm breathing.'
'Or do you want me to start now? Hoist you onto my shoulders so you can't discover another whole family of plants every fifty meters?'
'For a respectful, obedient young man, you can be very sarcastic.'
'I was only slightly sarcastic. I can do better if you want.'
'This is good. I've been so busy arguing with you, we've gone this far without my noticing anything.'
'Except the dogs have found something.'
It turned out to be a small family of the horned reptile that seemed to fill the bunny rabbit niche — a big- toothed leaf-eater that hopped, and would only fight if cornered. The horns did not seem to Sel to be weapons —
