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Mandachuva stood absolutely still.
"What do you mean?" said Ouanda. "You're making him upset."
"I expect he'll be more upset before this day is over," said Ender. "Come, Ouanda, take us to the fence where Miro is."
"What good will it do if we can't get over the fence?" asked Bosquinha.
"Call for Navio," said Ender.
"I'll go get him," said Dona Crista. "You forget that no one can call anybody."
"I said, what good will it do?" demanded Bosquinha.
"I told you before," said Ender. "If you decide to rebel, we can sever the ansible connection. And then we can turn off the fence."
"Are you trying to use Miro's plight to force my hand?" asked the Bishop.
"Yes," said Ender. "He's one of your flock, isn't he? So leave the ninety-nine, shepherd, and come with us to save the one that's lost."
"What's happening?" asked Mandachuva.
"You're leading us to the fence," said Ender. "Hurry, please."
They filed down the stairs from the Bishop's chambers to the Cathedral below. Ender could hear the Bishop behind him, grumbling about perverting scripture to serve private ends.
They passed down the aisle of the Cathedral, Mandachuva leading the way. Ender noticed that the Bishop paused near the altar, watching the small furred creature as the humans trooped after him. Outside the Cathedral, the Bishop caught up with him. "Tell me, Speaker," he said, "just as a matter of opinion, if the fence came down, if we rebelled against Starways Congress, would all the rules about contact with the piggies be ended?"
"I hope so," said Ender. "I hope that there'll be no more unnatural barriers between us and them."
"Then," said the Bishop, "we'd be able to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Little Ones, wouldn't we? There'd be no rule against it."
"That's right," said Ender. "They might not be converted, but there'd be no rule against trying."
"I have to think about this," said the Bishop. "But perhaps, my dear infidel, your rebellion will open the door to the conversion of a great nation. Perhaps God led you here after all."
By the time the Bishop, Dom Cristao, and Ender reached the fence, Mandachuva and the women had already been there for some time. Ender could tell by the way Ela was standing between her mother and the fence, and the way Novinha was holding her hands out in front of her face, that Novinha had already tried to climb over the fence to reach her son. She was crying now and shouting at him. "Miro! Miro, how could you do this, how could you climb it--" while Ela tried to talk to her, to calm her.
On the other side of the fence, four piggies stood watching, amazed.
Ouanda was trembling with fear for Miro's life, but she had enough presence of mind to tell Ender what she knew he could not see for himself. "That's Cups, and Arrow, and Human, and Leaf-eater. Leaf-eater's trying to get the others to plant him. I think I know what that means, but we're all right. Human and Mandachuva have convinced them not to do it."
"But it still doesn't get us any closer," said Ender. "Why did Miro do something so stupid?"
"Mandachuva explained on the way here. The piggies chew capim and it has an anesthetic effect. They can climb the fence whenever they want. Apparently they've been doing it for years. They thought we didn't do it because we were so obedient to law. Now they know that capim doesn't have the same effect on us."
Ender walked to the fence. "Human," he said.
Human stepped forward.
"There's a chance that we can turn off the fence. But if we do it, we're at war with all the hu
mans on every other world. Do you understand that? The humans of Lusitania and the piggies, together, at war against all the other humans."
"Oh," said Human.
"Will we win?" asked Arrow.
"We might," said Ender. "And we might not."
