The Hidden End [Ender's Game]

+ Chapter 01

What was different about this boy was the glimmer in his frosty eyes. The look he held on his face was intimidating. It wasn't a look of cruelty like the ones she's encountered throughout her school life. It was actually much deeper than that. He wasn't intimidating because of his intentions. Deep down underneath his outer shell, this boy was smart.

Morgan noticed something. All the exceptionally talented people she's met have had the same glint in their eyes. It wasn't something she could define properly, but it was true. People with a sharp mind looked experienced... older... and they gave off an air of superiority to everyone else. It was easy to figure out who was among those people and who wasn't, especially for Morgan. She knew she couldn't be wrong. She knew that her suspicions would turn out correct. She had an animal's instinct, and if she managed to convince herself to listen to it, things usually ended up the way she expected them to.

Whoever this boy was, he'd be a challenge. She didn't know how his mind worked, and she didn't know what he was capable of. All she knew is that he was definitely brainier than most of the other Launchies around. The question was, how far could his brain go?

People were quiet, and they gave the boy scrutinizing looks. He tried to appear uninterested, and took a seat next to Morgan.

"You're late," Bean said. Morgan bit her upper lip to stifle a laugh.

"Out of my control," the boy said. He then held out his hand. "I'm Ender."

Bean didn't shake it right away. He glanced at it and then back up at him. "Ender?" He let out a scoff and smirked, glancing at the guy beside him. "What kind of a name is that?"

Ender shrugged it off. "What's your name?" he asked, pushing his hand forward.

"Name's Bean." He took Ender's hand and shook it. Ender had the same look of disbelief that Bean had before.

"Bean?"

"Grew up on the streets. Not worth a bean?"

Morgan ran her left hand through her hair and appeared unmoved by the fact that Bean's life hadn't been so cheerful. She didn't necessarily care at this point. Maybe if they talked a little more, Morgan would grow to have some sympathy for him. But it was too early for her to determine the way she felt about anyone on that spaceship.

Ender smiled and turned in his seat. Morgan tied up her hair absentmindedly, while her brain was devising quick methods to render the boy beside her unable to go on with the training. Ender was about to say something to her when their chairs started to vibrate and rock. Ender was the last to buckle his belt, and almost every single kid in the room started to look horrified. Blast-off, Morgan thought. Internally, she was screaming. Externally, she was as calm as could be.

It was easy to sort out the people with strong stomachs from those with weak ones. Almost everyone in the room gripped onto their seats and winced. Two or three--Morgan included--didn't, however. She knew that this was the first test, whether the adults around her would admit it or not. She kept her eyes on the seat in front of her, her gaze never moving away from that one spot. Keep calm, don't lose focus. Morgan could feel her stomach tighten and practically flip over. Her chest constricted, and she struggled not to gasp for air loudly.

Morgan could feel herself getting pushed back into her seat, all the weight of the lift-off pressing down onto her body. The countdown on the speaker systems barely reached her ears, as she was too occupied visualizing herself not panicking in front of everyone. Before she knew it, they were up in the air, and she could feel the pressure changing. Her ears popped, and she had to open and close her mouth a couple of times to readjust her hearing.

Eventually, the pressure lifted off her chest. Literally. She felt herself lift up in her chair, her seatbelt being the only thing keeping her from moving up towards the ceiling. The other kids realized it too; they let their hands float up, smiling at the newly-discovered feeling. Morgan didn't let herself show any surprise. She had to appear calm about this.

The boy beside her began to heave. "I'm gonna be-"

Sick, Morgan finished silently. She sighed, knowing this was so terribly unfortunate. It was just her luck to be sitting next to an intellectual with an unusual name and a nauseous juvenile.

"A bag!" Bean exclaimed, grabbing a bag from the seat in front of him. "Give him a bag!" He passed it down to Ender, who passed it down to Morgan, who then passed it down to the boy who was about to vomit. He threw up into it as soon as he got it, and practically every kid in the room groaned in repulsion. Morgan simply looked at the boy, one eyebrow slightly more raised than the other.

A bit of vomit flew up from the bag, floating towards the ceiling of the spaceship. The girls straight below it looked really uncomfortable, fearing that it would somehow fall on them. It wouldn't, though. There was no gravity, so of course it wouldn't.

Colonel Graff maneuvered himself into the room. "Close the bag!" he shouted at the kid beside Morgan. He did as he was told, still looking sick. Morgan wanted to look at Graff, but she noticed Ender tilting his head to the left. "You alright?" Graff asked. The boy with the puke bag nodded, wiping his mouth. Graff's eyes settled on Ender, who was still looking at him with a dopey look on his face. Graff frowned. "What are you doing, Wiggin?"

Ender straightened up, wiping the goofy smile off his face. Morgan slightly began to doubt his high intellect, although she knew even the smartest of people had their moments of pure stupidity at some point. "Nothing, sir," Ender said. Morgan could see him fighting to keep the corners of his mouth down.

"Something funny?" Graff continued. Ender didn't reply right away. "I asked you a question, Launchie."

Ender licked his bottom lip tentatively. "Sir, the way you were floating... horizontal... I thought that was funny."

"Really? Why?"

"Because in zero gravity, there is no right side up. You may think you're vertical and we may be horizontal," the boy explained.

Graff looked around at all the Launchies' faces. "Is that funny?"

"Sir, no, sir!"

"Yes it is," he said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Morgan had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself from scoffing. "Alai, you know what he's talking about?" he asked the boy who had just finished puking.

"Yes, sir," Alai said, looking slightly confused.

"No, you don't," Graff decided. "There's only one kid on this launch with any brains at all so far, and that's Ender Wiggin." He pointed to the boy with the frosty blue eyes, who immediately turned pale. Everyone turned to look at him, some with more disgusted looks than others.

Morgan finally let out a sigh of discontent. She knew Graff's words weren't true; after all, she'd also figured out what Ender was talking about long before he even brought it up. Zero gravity wasn't so difficult to understand. But that wasn't the part that upset her. The part that ticked her off was that Graff had alienated Ender on the very first day. They weren't even at Battle School yet, and this boy had already been cut off from forming friendships any time soon.

And how was Morgan supposed to prove herself to be better than Ender when they each started off on a different field?