最后一戰(zhàn)

By Orson Scott Card

The simulator（模擬器）field cleared. Ender waited for the game to appear. What will happen if I pass the test today？ Is there another school？ Another year or two of grueling（折磨人的）training， another year of isolation， another year of people pushing me this way and that way， another year without any control over my own life？

And as he waited for the game to appear， he wished he could simply lose it， lose the battle badly and completely so that they would remove him from training， like Bonzo， and let him go home. Bonzo had been assigned（指派）to Cartagena（卡塔赫納，哥倫比亞城市）. He wanted to see travel orders that said Greensboro（格林斯伯勒，美國城市）. Success meant it would go on. Failure meant he could go home.

No， that isnt true， he told himself. They need me， and if I fail， there might not be any home to return to.

But he did not believe it. In his conscious mind he knew it was true， but in other places， deeper places， he doubted that they needed him. Mazers urgency was just another trick. Just another way to make me do what they want me to do. Another way to keep me from resting. From doing nothing， for a long， long time.

Then the enemy formation（編隊）appeared， and Enders weariness（厭倦，消沉）turned to despair.

The enemy outnumbered（在數(shù)量上超過）him a thousand to one； the simulator glowed green with them.They were grouped in a dozen different formations， shifting positions， changing shapes， moving in seemingly random patterns through the simulator field. He could not find a path through them—a space that seemed open would close suddenly， and another appear， and a formation that seemed penetrable（可穿透的）would suddenly change and be forbidding（險惡的）. The planet was at the far edge of the field， and for all Ender knew there were just as many enemy ships beyond it， out of the simulators range（顯示區(qū)域）.

As for his own fleet（艦隊）， it consisted of twenty starships（星際飛船）， each with only four fighters. He knew the four-fighter starships—they were oldfashioned（老式的）， sluggish（行動緩慢的）， and the rage of their Little Doctors1 was half that of the newer ones. Eighty fighters， against at least five thousand， perhaps ten thousand enemy ships.

He heard his squadron（飛行中隊）leaders breathing heavily； he could also hear， from the observers behind him， a quiet curse. It was nice to know that one of the adults noticed that it wasnt a fair test. Not that it made any difference. Fairness wasnt a part of the game， that was plain. There was no attempt to give him even a remote chance（極小的可能性）at success. All that Ive been through， and they never meant to let me pass at all.

He saw in his mind Bonzo and his vicious（惡毒的）little knot of friends， confronting him， threatening him； he had been able to shame Bonzo into fighting him alone. That would hardly work here. And he could not surprise the enemy with his ability as he had done with the older boys in the battleroom. Mazer knew Enders abilities inside and out.

Like his last game in Battle School， when they put two armies against him.

And just as he remembered that game， apparently Bean remembered it， too， for his voice came over the headset， saying， “Remember， the enemys gate is down.”

In that final battle in Battle School， he had won by ignoring the enemy， ignoring his own losses； he had moved against the enemys gate.

And the enemys gate was down.

If I break this rule， theyll never let me be a commander. It would be too dangerous. Ill never have to play a game again. And that is victory.

He whispered quickly into the microphone. His commanders took their parts of the fleet and grouped themselves into a thick projectile（拋射體）， a cylinder（圓柱體）aimed at the nearest of the enemy formations. The enemy， far from trying to repel him， welcomed him in， so he could be thoroughly entrapped（使陷入圈套）before they destroy him. Mazer is at least taking into account the fact that by now they would have learned to respect me， thought Ender. And that does buy me time.

Ender dodged（躲閃）downward， north， east， and down again， not seeming to follow any plan， but always ending up a little closer to the enemy planet. Finally the enemy began to close in on him too tightly. Then， suddenly， Enders formation burst. His fleet seemed to melt into chaos（混亂）. The eighty fighters seemed to follow up no plan at all， firing at enemy ships at random， working their way into hopeless individual paths among the bugger（蟲族）craft（航天器）.

After a few minutes of battle， however， Ender whispered to his squadron leaders once more， and suddenly a dozen of the remaining fighters formed again into a formation. But now they were on the far side of one of the enemys most formidable（可怕的）groups； they had， with terrible losses， passed through—and now they had covered more than half the distance to the enemys planet.

The enemy sees now， thought Ender. Surely Mazer sees what Im doing.

Or perhaps Mazer cannot believe that I would do it. Well， so much the better for me.

Enders tiny fleet darted（急沖）this way and that， sending two or three fighters out as if to attack， then bringing them back. The enemy closed in， drawing in ships and formations that had been widely scattered（分散的）， bringing them in for the kill. The enemy was most concentrated beyond Ender， so he could not escape back into open space， closing him in. Excellent， thought Ender. Closer. Come closer.

Then he whispered a command and the ships dropped like rocks toward the planets surface. They were starships and fighters， completely unequipped to handle the heat of passage through an atmosphere. But Ender never intended them to reach the atmosphere. Almost from the moment they began to drop， they were focusing their Little Doctors on one thing only. The planet itself.

One， two， four， seven of his fighters were blown away. It was all a gamble（賭博）now， whether any of his ships would survive long enough to get in range（在射程內(nèi)）. It would not take long， once they could focus on the planets surface. Just a moment with Dr. Device， thats all I want. It occurred to Ender that perhaps the computer wasnt even equipped to show what would happen to a planet if the Little Doctor attacked it. What will I do then， shout Bang， youre dead？

Ender took his hands off the controls and leaned in to watch what happened. The perspective（景觀）was close to the enemy planet now， as the ship hurtled（猛沖）into its well of gravity. Surely its in range now， thought Ender. It must be in range and the computer cant handle it.

Then the surface of the planet， which filled half the simulator field now， began to bubble； there was a gout（一團）of explosion， hurling（猛投）debris（殘?。﹐ut toward Enders fighters. Ender tried to imagine what was happening inside the planet. The field growing and growing， the molecules（分子）bursting apart but finding nowhere for the separate atoms to go.

Within three seconds the entire planet burst apart， becoming a sphere（球體）of bright dust， hurtling outward. Enders fighters were among the first to go； their perspective suddenly vanished， and now the simulator could only display the perspective of the starships waiting beyond the edges of the battle. It was as close as Ender wanted to be. The sphere of the exploding planet grew outward faster than the enemy ships could avoid it. And it carried with it the Little Doctor， not so little anymore， the field taking apart every ship in its path， erupting each one into a dot of light before it went on.

Only at the very periphery（外圍）of the simulator did the M. D. field weaken. Two or three enemy ships were drifting away. Enders own starships did not explode. But where the vast enemy fleet had been， and the planet they protected， there was nothing meaningful. A lump（塊）of dirt was growing as gravity drew much of the debris downwards again. It was glowing hot and spinning visibly； it was also much smaller than the world had been before. Much of its mass was now a cloud still flowing outward.

Ender took off his headphones， filled with the cheers of his squadron leaders， and only then realized that there was just as much noise in the room with him. Men in uniform were hugging each other， laughing， shouting； others were weeping； some knelt or lay prostrate（俯臥的）， and Ender knew they were caught up in prayer. Ender didnt understand. It seemed all wrong. They were supposed to be angry.

Colonel Graff detached（使分離）himself from the others and came to Ender. Tears streamed down his face， but he was smiling. He bent over， reached out his arms， and to Enders surprise he embraced him， held him tightly， and whispered， “Thank you， thank you， Ender. Thank God for you， Ender.”

The crowd parted and Mazer Rackham walked through. He came straight to Ender and held out his hand.

“You made the hard choice， boy. All or nothing. End them or end us. But heaven knows there was no other way you could have done it. Congratulations. You beat them， and its all over.”

All over. Beat them. Ender didnt understand. “I beat you.”

Mazer laughed， a loud laugh that filled the room.“Ender， you never played me. You never played a game since I became your enemy.”

Ender didnt get the joke. He had played a great many game， at a terrible cost to himself. He began to get angry.

Mazer reached out and touched his shoulder. Ender shrugged him off. Mazer then grew serious and said，“Ender， for the past few months you have been the battle commander of our fleets. This was the Third Invasion2. There were no games， the battles were real， and the only enemy you fought was the buggers. You won every battle， and today you finally fought them at their home world， where the queen was， all the queens form all their colonies， they all were there and you destroyed them completely. Theyll never attack us again. You did it. You.”

Real. Not a game. Enders mind was too tired to cope with it all. They werent just points of light in the air， they were real ships that he had fought with and real ships he had destroyed. And a real world that he had blasted（炸毀）into oblivion（遺忘）. He walked through the crowd， dodging their congratulations， ignoring their hands， their words， their rejoicing（慶祝）. When he got to his own room he stripped（脫掉）off his clothes， climbed into bed， and slept.

1. Little Doctors： 是一種毀滅性的武器，可連續(xù)爆炸將敵軍殲滅。下文的Dr. Device 和M. D.都是指這一武器。

2. Third Invasion： 第三次入侵，和安德有一個“第三個”的聯(lián)系（安德為家里的第三個孩子，參見上期）。