First Meetings

First Meetings Read Free Page B

Book: First Meetings Read Free
Author: Orson Scott Card
Tags: Retail, Personal
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shrugged. “There’s a theory that we don’t actually have to put them through a full course of training.”
    “Yes, yes, I read all about how young Alexander was. It helped that he was the son of the king and that he fought unmotivated armies of mercenaries.”
    “So you think the Buggers are motivated.”
    “The Buggers are a commander’s dream,” said Helena. “They don’t question orders, they just do . Whatever.”
    “Also a commander’s nightmare,” said Sillain. “They don’t think for themselves.”
    “John Paul Wieczorek is the real thing,” said Helena. “And in thirty-five years, he’ll be forty. So the Alexander theory won’t have to be tested.”
    “Now you’re talking as if you’re sure he’ll be the one.”
    “I don’t know that,” said Helena. “But he’s something. The things he says.”
    “I read your report.”
    “When he said, ‘I’d rather keep you as a friend than keep that thing,’ I about lost it. I mean, he’s five .”
    “And that didn’t set off your alarms? He sounds coached.”
    “But he wasn’t. His parents didn’t want any of them tested, least of all him, being underage and all.”
    “They said they didn’t want.”
    “The father stayed home from work to try to stop me.”
    “Or to make you think he wanted to stop you.”
    “He can’t afford to lose a day’s pay. Noncompliant parents don’t get paid vacations.”
    “I know,” said Sillain. “Wouldn’t it be ironic if this John Paul Whatever—”
    “Wieczorek.”
    “Yes, that’s the one. Wouldn’t it be ironic if, after all our stringent population control efforts—for the sake of the war, mind you—it turned out that the commander of the fleet turned out to be the seventh child of noncompliant parents?”
    “Yes, very ironic.”
    “I think one theory was that birth order predicts that only firstborns would have the personality for what we need.”
    “All else being equal. Which it isn’t.”
    “We’re so ahead of ourselves here, Captain Rudolf,” said Sillain. “The parents are not likely to say yes, are they?”
    “No, not likely,” said Helena.
    “So it’s all moot, isn’t it?”
    “Not if…”
    “Oh, that would be so wise, to make an international incident out of this.” He leaned back in his chair.
    “I don’t think it would be an international incident.”
    “The treaty with Poland has very strict parental-control provisions. Have to respect the family and all.”
    “The Poles are very anxious to rejoin the rest of the world. They aren’t going to invoke that clause if we impress on them how important this boy is.”
    “Is he?” asked Sillain. “That’s the question. If he’s worth the gamble of making a huge stink about it.”
    “If it starts to stink, we can back off,” said Helena.
    “Oh, I can see you’ve done a lot of public relations work.”
    “Come see him yourself,” said Helena. “He’ll be six in a few days. Come see him. Then tell me whether he’s worth the risk of an international incident.”

    This was not at all how John Paul wanted to spend his birthday. Mother had made candy all day with sugar she begged from neighbors, and John Paul wanted to suck on his, not chew it, so it would last and last. Instead Father told him either to spit it out into the garbage or swallow it, and so now it was swallowed and gone, all for these people from the International Fleet.
    “We got some questionable results from the preliminary screening,” said the man. “Perhaps because the child had listened to three previous tests. We need to get accurate information, that’s all.”
    He was lying—that was obvious, from the way he moved, the way he looked Father right in the eye, unwaveringly. A liar who knew he was lying and was trying hard not to look like he was lying. The way Thomas always did. It fooled Father but never Mother, and never John Paul.
    So if the man was lying, why? Why was he really coming to test John Paul again?
    He remembered

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