by Black, Jake
Jane, after the conversation with Ender, came to realize that if Jane could persuade Qing-jao’s father Fei-tzu to stop looking for Demosthenes, that would be the best chance to remaining hidden.
She knew that Novinha, Ender’s wife, hated her. It came to a head a short time later, as Novinha screamed hateful insults at Ender and Jane, claiming that Ender loved Jane more than his wife. Ender was heartbroken to hear it, but couldn’t give up Jane in the jewel in his ear.
Qing-jao uncovered the true identity of Demosthenes, and with her servant Wang-mu’s help, figured out Jane’s existence and her role in the disappearance of the Lusitania fleet. Knowing that her life was in jeopardy, Jane revealed herself to Qing-jao, Wang-mu, and Han Fei-tzu. She told them that their godspoken ability was actually a manifestation of a genetic mutation similar to obsessive-compulsive disorder they shared, and not actual communication with deities.
Qiang-jao was angered by this revelation, though her father believed it. She swore vengeance for the gods against Jane, stating that she would expose the computer program’s existence to the Starways Congress. Jane would have to allow such a message to go through to the congress if it were to happen.
After consulting with Ender, who tried to dissuade Jane from allowing it, she consented to let Qing-jao expose her, though it would certainly result in her death. The Starways Congress received Qing-jao’s message and began the process of eliminating Jane and sending the fleet the order to destroy Lusitania.
Jane continued to communicate with Qing-jao’s father Fei-tzu and her servant Wang-mu. She asked them to help her and the scientists on Lusitania, with three projects she was working on in her remaining months among the living: (1) faster-than-light travel using the Philotic Web; (2) curing the Descolada; and (3) undoing the genetic manipulation that had caused their godspoken obsessive-compulsive disorder. Although both felt inadequate, they agreed to help however they could.
She revealed to Ender that Han Fei-tzu and Si Wang-mu would help with the different projects, and Ender, aided by Miro, convinced Jane to ask for help on one additional project: saving her life. Jane refused at first, believing it was futile, but Ender and Miro convinced her of their need for her to remain in their lives.
Miro and Ender had discussed the meaning of life and developed a theory that all life began with philotes. If they could determine the original location of Jane’s original philote, they thought they could save her. Finding this mysterious point of origin was the fourth project for which Jane sought Fei-tzu and Wang-mu’s assistance. She still felt it was a waste of time, but consented because of her feelings for Ender and Miro.
Ender learned Jane’s true origin from the Hive Queen. The Formics had tried to make a philotic connection with Ender when he was in Battle School. They called upon the philotes, which existed outside of the space/time continuum awaiting an assignment to a biological body to inhabit as the spark of life, and sent it to Ender’s body. They were not able to establish a philotic connection to him, but saw his focus on the computer program called the Fantasy Game. This led them to cause a philotic connection to the program.
This philote in Ender connected with the philotes in the computer program and expanded beyond the connection. It grew and developed into sentience, surpassing the Hive Queen’s ability to sense it or track it philotically. It became Jane, centered within Ender, existing among the vast computer networks and ansibles of the Hundred Worlds.
With this understanding, Jane and Ender both realized why they were so closely tied to each other. Jane was, in effect, Ender’s daughter. Furthermore, they realized that though she could control the ansibles, Jane existed outside of them. Though her “body” was inside the computer networks, she was not really a part of them—she was a part of Ender. This news gave them hope that they could keep her alive even after the Starways Congress cut off the ansibles.
With this greater understanding of philotes, Grego and Olhado, two of Ender’s stepsons, developed a theory that would allow faster-than-light travel. If Jane and Ender could call on the philotes like the Hive Queen did, they could travel to their extradimensional home. Then, if they could imagine the location to which they wanted to travel, they could go there instantaneously. They would be, in effect, calling the philotes to that location again, as the Hive Queen did. The travelers would have to keep a definite picture in their mind of themselves, their ship, their cargo, etc., to prevent the philotes within those objects from dispersing. It required Jane to control the experiment, because she was the only one able to keep the specific philotic patterns in permanent memory.
The Hive Queen agreed to build a spaceship to test this theory, and Jane, Ender (since Jane was a part of Ender), Miro (since Miro and Jane had become so connected over their time together), and Ela (since she was going to use the philotic “wishes” to create the cures for the Descolada and the ge ne -tic manipulation of the godspoken on Path) traveled into space to test the theory.
Jane was able to manipulate the philotes and take the group to the inter-dimensional home of the philotes. There, they each created their “wish” by calling on philotes. Ela made the two antidotes she wanted, Miro shed his old body and created a new one for himself, and Ender accidentally created new versions of his sister Valentine and his brother Peter.
Upon their return to their home dimension, Jane told Ender that the process of traveling using the philotes took all of her focus and energy and was very difficult. It drained her to the point of exhaustion.
Ender swore he would never go to Outspace again, fearful of what else he might accidentally create from his mind. But, because Valentine II and Peter II came from Ender’s mind, they carried Jane’s essence within them. She could use them to travel to Outspace as she had used Ender before. A second spacecraft was created to allow Valentine II and Peter II to explore the universe for their own means. Valentine II and Miro would search for a planet the pequeninos and Formics could inhabit, while Peter II took the antivirus Ela had created to Path. From there, he set out to destroy the Starways Congress.
While the virus reversed the genetic manipulation on Path, Jane created a document exposing the truth of the godspoken and the Starways Congress. It was revolutionary for the planet and did not lead to the wars and deaths some thought it might have.
As Jane continued to work with Peter II and Valentine II, Miro II spoke with Ender. There Ender sarcastically said that Jane should take over Valentine II’s body. Miro II thought the idea was brilliant, and undertook bringing it to pass. Miro II approached the Hive Queen, hoping that her mastery of philotes would be an asset to him as he combined Jane and Valentine II into one person, preserving both of their lives.
Jane and Valentine II both said they didn’t want to be brought together, both playing a bit of a martyr. But, they both knew in their hearts that they desired to continue in their lives. Jane teased Miro II about this, seeming to mask her hope through laughter.
The Hive Queen turned to the pequenino fathertree named Human to help her figure out how to save Jane. They determined that if they could call Ender’s philote as he died, and store it in Valentine II, they might be able to place Jane in that body. They needed to use the parts of Jane that were originally from the Hive Queen herself—the parts that had been the bridge between the Formics and Ender—as well as the powerful philotic connection that united the fathertrees. It was possible, but they were uncertain it would work.
Jane didn’t know, either, and time was running out. She had taken Peter II and Si Wang-mu to Pacifica and helped Miro II and Valentine II find the home planet of the Descolada. But the order had been given, and she was slowly being terminated by the Starways Congress’s act of terminating the ansibles. She had just enough energy to take Miro II, Valentine II, Ela, and Quara back to the Descolada’s planet.
She was able to communicate with Miro and Peter II in their respective missions, but was losing memories and could feel her consciousness unraveling. She longed to speak with Ender, as he, too, wa
s dying. But the time had seemingly passed.
To make matters worse, Novinha and Wang-mu were both jealous of Jane.
Novinha still wanted her to go away from Ender, and Wang-mu had fallen in love with Peter II.
Jane’s home inside the computer networks was destroyed, and her philotic foundation, her “Auía,” escaped from the networks. A little lost, it instantly traveled throughout the galaxy, searching for a new body wherein to live. It tried living in Ender’s, Peter II’s, and Valentine II’s, but they were all full of competing Auía. She tried the Hive Queen and eventually settled on the pequenino mothertrees.
From inside the mothertrees, Jane helped the trees to create fruit. It was delicious fruit unlike anything the pequeninos had tasted before. But she was not meant to stay in that state. Once Ender died, relinquishing his Auía from within his body, removing Valentine II’s from her body, and joining both Ender’s and Valentine II’s with Peter II’s in his body, Jane was able to make the leap to Valentine II’s now-Auía-empty body. With the Hive Queen’s help, Jane entered Valentine II’s body.
Though her physical appearance was Valentine’s, the soul of the new person was Jane. She still had a shadow of Valentine II’s memories, but the consciousness that dwelled in the body was Jane.
She could communicate in her mind with the Hive Queen, since the Hive Queen had been responsible for bringing her philote from Outspace to begin with millennia earlier. But she was not able to speak mind to mind with Peter II or Miro II anymore. She was, for all intents and purposes, human. She thought she could still perhaps control faster-than-light travel, however.
In her new body, Jane was unable to fully control her human emotions. She often lashed out at Quara and cried until she was sick. Miro II comforted her and taught her about human emotion. Perhaps rashly, but nonetheless fully committed, Jane asked Miro to marry her. He agreed, wanting to keep their engagement secret from Quara.
Almost immediately after expressing her love to Miro, Jane fell into a comalike state. She had, before being driven from the computers, taught settlers on several different planets to connect their old government-ordered-discarded computers to create another network wherein she could exist. With help from the fathertrees, mothertrees (where Jane also still had a philotic connection and could store memories), and the Hive Queen, Jane was able to instantly spread her Auía among all these different homes. The comalike state was her human body’s reaction to her soul traveling from host to host.
Through this bouncing around from network to network, Jane was able to cause faster-than-light travel. She returned her ship to Lusitania. Physically exhausted from the travel, Jane got into a brief physical confrontation with Quara, but soundly won. Stepping from the ship, she experienced seeing Lusitania through human eyes for the first time. She thought it was beautiful.
As the Lusitania Fleet came closer to destroying the planet, Jane transported Miro and his sister back to the descoladore world. She used her ability to save the scientists from an attack by the descoladores by blinking them out of harm’s way.
She also used her faster-than-light abilities to move Peter II and Wang-mu, without a spaceship, to Lusitania. Again she used the power to pull the deadly Molecular Detachment Device from its course to annihilate Lusitania, replacing it back on the original ship.
She helped Peter II and Wang-mu convince the leaders of the fleet to obey their nonaggression orders, and then teleported them to the descoladore planet where Peter II and Wang-mu convinced Miro II and company not to annihilate the descoladore planet.
She returned to Lusitania for Ender’s funeral, and immediately following the service, went into the pequenino land where, under a mothertree to which she was also connected, she married Miro II. Peter II and Wang-mu were married at the same time. Following some congratulatory remarks from Valentine, Jane made the four newlyweds disappear, presumably for private honeymoons.
It was known that she would continue to facilitate faster-than-light travel. She’d helped evacuate many Formics, humans (including all of Ender’s loved ones), and pequeninos from Lusitania before the fleet arrived. And though she began a human life married to Miro II, she knew that she could potentially live forever.
Starways Congress reconnected the full computer network in which Jane had lived before. And with her connection to the mothertrees, there was ample space to place her Auía once she grew too old to live in Valentine II’s body.
That was years off, though. For the time being, she was more than content to live as Miro’s wife. She was Jane—a complex computer program that was beautifully, simplistically, human.
Japanese Professor (SP)
The Japanese professor was a patron at a restaurant in Damascus when the newly crowned Caliph, Alai, made his first public address. He spoke plainly to his fellow foreigners about the role of Caliph in the Muslim world, and argued with an Englishman who felt that a Caliph meant a return to the old ways of Muslim extremism.
Jaqueline (XN)
Jaqueline was married to Ender’s stepson Olhado on the planet Lusitania. She was a stereotypical mother, rushing her family through the morning routine. She was present when Valentine Wiggin visited Olhado for the first time and eavesdropped on their conversation from the kitchen. She embarrassingly joined them after Valentine commented on the eavesdropping.
Jiang-qing (XN)
Jiang-qing was a Chinese woman who lived on the planet Path, one of the Hundred Worlds settled by humans after Ender Wiggin’s victory over the Formics. She lived approximately three thousand years after the Formic War. She was married to Han Fei-tzu and was the mother of Qing-jao.
Jiang-qing’s dying wish was that her husband would help their daughter grow to be among the “godspoken,” as Jiang-qing had been, which meant the Gods spoke to her, guiding her life for their purposes. Han Fei-tzu promised he would, even if he didn’t truly believe in the godspoken idea.
Jolt (SD)
The jolt was a taserlike weapon carried by the constable of the city Milagre on the planet Lusitania.
Jonlei (See Hundred Worlds)
Ju Kung-mei (XN)
Ju Kung-mei was the guard of the Han family on the planet Path. Of Chinese descent, as were all who lived on Path, he was considered kind and respectful of all. His mistress, sixteen-year-old Han Qing-jao, trusted him.
Jung Calvin Colonies (See Hundred Worlds)
Kenji the Servant (CM)
Kenji was a loyal servant in the house of Japanese philosopher Aimaina Hikari on the planet Divine Wind.
Kike Force (EG)
“Kike Force” was a nickname given to Rat Army in tribute and mockery of Mazer Rackham’s Strike Force, which defeated the Formics in the second invasion.
Kissing doctors (SG)
The kissing doctors were two doctors who worked at a hospital where the Muslim Caliph Alai was catching a helicopter to take him to India. He noticed the doctors sneaking to the roof near the helipad to make love. As Caliph, Alai could not tolerate this and caught them in the early stages of the act. Embarrassed, they traveled with the Caliph as far as Beirut. They promised Alai they would wait for their impending marriage before engaging in such activities again.
Kitunen, Colonel Jarrko (EE)
Colonel Jarrko Kitunen was the passenger liaison officer on the colony ship that took Ender and Valentine to their first colony, Shakespeare. He taught lessons in Common, the language of the fleet, and was responsible for informing the passengers that the play reading they wanted to do had been canceled by Admiral Morgan.
Kolmogrov, Admiral/Governor Vitaly (GB, EE)
Admiral Vitaly Kolmogrov led a fleet of starships against the Formics. Once the aliens were destroyed by Ender Wiggin, Vitaly was assigned to be the governor of a colony that settled a former Formic world. For decades, while awaiting Ender Wiggin’s arrival as the new governor, Vitaly led his people. He also communicated with Ender while the boy was in transit. The two decided on a name for the colony: Shakespeare. As he grew older,
the Admiral/Governor turned the position over to his friend, the colony’s xenobiologist Sel Menach. Vitaly wanted to ensure a smooth transition of power for Ender and knew that Sel would provide that.
He was so popular a governor that a couple of years after his death, his face was put on the coinage created in the colony.
Lands, Admiral Bobby (CM)
Admiral Bobby Lands was assigned command of the fleet that was ordered to destroy the planet Lusitania. The order haunted him, as he knew that he would be held in as low favor as Ender Wiggin had after committing the First Xenocide. Yet, he also felt strongly that destroying the planet, with its deadly Descolada virus, was the best thing to do for humanity.
By the time he reached Lusitania, however, his superiors in both the government and the military ordered him not to destroy the planet but to quarantine it. Against orders, Lands fired the devastating Molecular Detachment Device against Lusitania. He was shocked to see moments later that it had returned to his cargo hold.
There he was confronted by Peter Wiggin II and had his fingers broken. Peter II gave Lands specific instructions on what to tell the congressional and military leaders about what had happened at Lusitania. Disgraced in front of his crew, Lands tried unsuccessfully to resign his commission and command.
Lands filed the report as instructed by Peter II, and returned to the Hundred Worlds, hoping to avoid criminal charges for doing what he thought was best for humanity, though he’d been proven wrong.
Lankowski, Ivan (SP, SG)
Ivan Lankowski was a Russian-born Muslim who was a close aide to the Caliph Alai. Ivan picked up Petra Arkanian Delphiki at the Damascus airport and took her underground to Alai. She was to be protected at all costs, as she was a friend of the Caliph’s. Ivan spoke little of the details of his orders, but treated Petra (forty years his ju nior) with kindness as she was thought to be carrying a baby.