First Meetings (20 page)

“How did you do it?” asked Benedetto.

“Do what?” asked Andrew.

“Blank out my file.”

“The file isn’t blank,” said Andrew.

His heart pounding, his mind racing with second thoughts, Benedetto decided to opt for the better part of valor. “I see I was mistaken,” he said. “Your tax form is approved as it stands.” He typed in a few codes. “Customs will give you your I.D., good for a one-year stay on Sorelledolce. Thank you very much, Mr. Wiggin.”

“So the other matter—”

“Good day, Mr. Wiggin.” Benedetto closed the file and pulled up other paperwork. Andrew took the hint, got up, and left.

No sooner was he gone than Benedetto became filled with rage. How did he do it? The biggest fish Benedetto had ever caught, and he slipped away!

He tried to duplicate the research that had led him to Andrew’s real identity, but now government security had
been slapped all over the files and his third attempt at inquiry brought up a Fleet Security warning that if he persisted in attempting to access classified material, he would be investigated by Military Counterintelligence.

Seething, Benedetto cleared the screen and began to write. A full account of how he became suspicious of this Andrew Wiggin and tried to find his true identity. How he found out Wiggin was the original Ender the Xenocide, but then his computer was ransacked and the files disappeared. Even though the more dignified newsnets would no doubt refuse to publish the story, the tablets would jump at it. This war criminal shouldn’t be able to get away with using money and military connections to allow him to pass for a decent human being.

He finished his story. He saved the document. Then he began looking up and entering the addresses of every major tablet, onplanet and off.

He was startled when all the text disappeared from the display and a woman’s face appeared in its place.

“You have two choices,” said the woman. “You can delete every copy of the document you just created and never send it to anyone.”

“Who are you?” demanded Benedetto.

“Think of me as an investment counselor,” she replied. “I’m giving you good advice on how to prepare for the future. Don’t you want to hear your second choice?”

“I don’t want to hear anything from you.”

“You leave so much out of your story,” said the woman. “I think it would be far more interesting with all the pertinent data.”

“So do I,” said Benedetto. “But Mr. Xenocide has cut it all off.”

“No he didn’t,” said the woman. “His friends did.”

“No one should be above the law,” said Benedetto, “just because he has money. Or connections.”

“Either say nothing,” said the woman, “or tell the whole truth. Those are your choices.”

In reply, Benedetto typed in the
submit
command that launched his story to all the tablets he had already typed in. He could add the other addresses when he got this intruder software off his system.

“A brave but foolish choice,” said the woman. Then her head disappeared from his display.

The tablets received his story, all right, but now it included a fully documented confession of all the skimming and strong-arming he had done during his career as a tax collector. He was arrested within the hour.

The story of Andrew Wiggin was never published—the tablets and the police recognized it for what it was, a blackmail attempt gone bad. They brought Mr. Wiggin in for questioning, but it was just a formality. They didn’t even mention Benedetto’s wild and unbelievable accusations. They had Benedetto dead to rights, and Wiggin was merely the last potential victim. The blackmailer had simply made the mistake of inadvertently including his own secret files with his blackmail file. Clumsiness had led to more than one arrest in the past. The police were never surprised at the stupidity of criminals.

Thanks to the tablet coverage, Benedetto’s victims now knew what he had done to them. He had not been very dis
criminating about whom he stole from, and some of his victims had the power to reach into the prison system. Benedetto was the only one who ever knew whether it was a guard or another prisoner who cut his throat and jammed his head into the toilet so that it was a toss-up as to whether the drowning or the blood loss actually killed him.

Andrew Wiggin felt sick at heart over the death of this tax collector. But Valentine assured him that it was nothing but coincidence that the man was arrested and died so soon after trying to blackmail him. “You can’t blame yourself for everything that happens to people around you,” she said. “Not everything is your fault.”

Not his fault, no. But Andrew still felt some kind of responsibility to the man, for he was sure that Jane’s ability to resecure his files and hide his voyage information was somehow connected with what happened to the tax man. Of course Andrew had the right to protect himself from blackmail, but death was too heavy a penalty for what Benedetto had done. Taking property was never sufficient cause for the taking of life.

So he went to Benedetto’s family and asked if he might do something for them. Since all Benedetto’s money had been seized for restitution, they were destitute; Andrew provided them with a comfortable annuity. Jane assured him that he could afford it without even noticing.

And one other thing. He asked if he might speak at the funeral. And not just speak, but do a speaking. He admitted he was new at it, but he would try to bring truth to Benedetto’s story and help them make sense of what he did.

They agreed.

Jane helped him discover a record of Benedetto’s financial dealings, and then proved to be valuable in much more diffi
cult searches—into Benedetto’s childhood, the family he grew up with, how he developed his pathological hunger to provide for the people he loved and his utter amorality about taking what belonged to others. When Andrew did the speaking, he held back nothing and excused nothing. But it was of some comfort to the family that Benedetto, for all the shame and loss he had brought to them, despite the fact that he had caused his own separation from the family, first through prison and then through death, had loved them and tried to care for them. And, perhaps more important, when the speaking was done, the life of a man like Benedetto was not incomprehensible anymore. The world made sense.

Ten weeks after their arrival, when Andrew and Valentine left Sorelledolce, Valentine was ready to write her book on crime in a criminal society, and Andrew was happy to go along with her to her next project. On the customs form, where it asked for “occupation,” instead of typing “student” or “investor,” Andrew typed in “speaker for the dead.” The computer accepted it. He had a career now, one that he had inadvertently created for himself years ago.

And he did not have to follow the career that his wealth had almost forced on him. Jane would take care of all of that for him. He still felt a little uneasy about this software. He felt sure that somewhere down the line, he would find out the true cost of all this convenience. In the meantime, though, it was very helpful to have such an excellent, efficient all-around assistant. Valentine was a little jealous, and asked him where she might find such a program. Jane’s reply was that she’d be glad to help Valentine with any research or financial assistance she needed, but she would remain Andrew’s software, personalized for his needs.

Valentine was a little annoyed by this. Wasn’t it taking personalization a bit too far? But after a bit of grumbling, she laughed the whole thing off. “I can’t promise I won’t get jealous, though,” said Valentine. “Am I about to lose a brother to a piece of software?”

“Jane is nothing but a computer program,” said Andrew. “A very good one. But she does only what I tell her, like any other program. If I start developing some kind of personal relationship with her, you have my permission to lock me up.”

So Andrew and Valentine left Sorelledolce, and the two of them continued to journey world to world, exactly as they had done before. Nothing was any different, except that Andrew no longer had to worry about his taxes, and he took considerable interest in the obituary columns when he reached a new planet.