Ender game short story full text

It then occurred to Peter that the best way to get people to do what he wanted was to convince them that he cared about them and that he wanted to help them. He tried this out on his family and found that it worked.

As a result, he started doing it to other people as well. However, this chapter seems to be unrelated to the rest of the book and has been criticized for detracting from the rest of the story. Ender's Game Wiki Explore. Ender's Game Film. The Authorized Ender Companion. Sell your Screenplay ». Start writing now ». By Title.

In Scripts. By Writer. Ender's Game Synopsis: The Earth was ravaged by the Formics, an alien race seemingly determined to destroy humanity. Fifty years later, the people of Earth remain banded together to prevent their own annihilation from this technologically superior alien species.

Ender Wiggin, a quiet but brilliant boy, may become the savior of the human race. He is separated from his beloved sister and his terrifying brother and brought to battle school in orbit around earth. He will be tested and honed into an empathetic killer who begins to despise what he does as he learns to fight in hopes of saving Earth and his family.

Genre: Action , Fantasy , Sci-Fi. Director s : Gavin Hood. IMDB: 6. Next ». It's war in space the way it's really fought silent, flameless. When a ship is hit, there's a brief flash of light and debris sprays in all directions, but that's all. Earth's ships are blocky, a ragtag thrown- together jerry-built fleet that was assembled in a panic after the brutal first encounter. The aliens did not try to communicate one of their ships showed up and started scouring the surface of the Earth.

When it was finally brought down, the aliens were found to be about a meter in height, bodies antlike in structure, but covered in fur to retain body heat. The scientists called them "Formicines," the military calls them "Formics," and everybody else calls them "Woolly Ants" or "Ants" or "Woollies" or any number of other names in other languages. They all mean the same thing: The ones who want to kill us; the ones we have to kill. Officers scurry on urgent errands, most wearing headsets with heads-up displays and small one-handed computer keypads on their belts like drive-up-window workers at McDonald's.

The center of the room is the Simulator, a three-dimensional representation of all the ships that the computer is tracking. Earth ships are in bright green; Formic ships are in bright red. Missiles and lasers are represented in white dots and streaks. Then a small port in the "Waitangi" opens and a single missile fires. An AIDE punches something on his keyboard and responds in only a second.

Captain Mazer Rackham. He told me once that a soldier should obey, not the words, but the purpose of the order. There'll be no trial. He is to be executed as soon as he can be transferred to another ship. The single missile erupts into twenty, differently targeted. He used a multi-warhead! Why didn't he just put up a neon sign? We follow one, which goes for a while, then suddenly changes course and heads straight for a small, insignificant-looking Formic ship.

The Formic ship continues to fire toward the main Earth fleet, never responding in any way to the warhead coming up from behind. The warhead goes up the rocket nozzle. One moment it's there, the next it's just sparkling dust. All firing from all Formic ships stops immediately.

He holds up one hand to silence the buzz of conversation, and points at the display with the other. AIDE: They've stopped firing. Undefended now, several more Formic ships blow up. Cease firing! Several aides speak into their mouthpieces and punch keys.

All firing stops from the Earth fleet. I want a boarding party on one Formic ship. If it's a trap, be prepared to blow the thing up. When it's completely severed from the hull, the disc that was cut out flies up to attach to a magnet on the drill. The marines dive headfirst through the hole, weapons ready. A marine walks up to one sitting at a console and shakes him. Aides watch nervously, occasionally responding softly to chatter on their headsets. When she was killed, the whole hive died.

Imanujam, do you know when the hive queen was killed? Imanujam leads them to the Simulator display, then turns to an assistant, also in civilian clothes.

We replay Rackham's missile killing the Formic ship. An AIDE listens intently to headset. We have to know how he figured out which ship was the hive queen.

O'Casey follows, talks privately to him. What do you want to bet Mazer Rackham is in command when the Formics launch their next invasion? The commander of the human fleet in the next invasion probably hasn't been born yet. We drop down, see a city amid dense forest and patches of rolling farmland, a few high spires rising above transparent domes. We zoom close to a glass bubble projecting from the tallest spire.

We don't believe she could ever send men to die. But he's also impatient and ruthlessly ambitious. He would endanger the lives of his men. Beat If you sign in advance that we get him if he tests positive for us. She doesn't fight, she just sits up and turns her back on him.

He gives her another shove with his foot, then settles down to play with the toys she had been playing with. DeLoger pulls out various papers and puts them in front of the Wiggins to sign.

Ender is the youngest and smallest in the class by a couple of years. A tiny red-blinking machine, the monitor, sits under the hairline, just to the right of the spine. He unfolds it. Let me copy. Stilson looks as innocent as can be. Miss Pumphrey suddenly touches her ear, listens, and walks to Ender's desk, where she retrieves the note, looks at it. Pumphrey is about to lecture him, but something in her earpiece interrupts her.

Apparently, Mr. Wiggin, you're having a medical emergency. Ender gets up, leaves. What are you doing? Well, I have good news. It won't hurt a bit. For a few days, you'll have a feeling of something missing. But that feeling will quickly pass. He attaches the extractor, a machine as big as Ender's head, and flips it on. It whirrs as tiny metal arms and tentacles go out and probe under the skin, inside the bone.

Suddenly Ender's back arches, his mouth agape in agony. The monitor lady dives for a blackjack-like injector already waiting on the counter. The doctor whacks it against Ender's bare arm. The doctor affixes a bandaid to the back of his neck as Ender wakes. Are we all right? Ender sits, touches the bandaid at the back of his neck.

Everyone is taking a test at their desks. Stilson notices the bandaid, the lack of a monitor. But everyone else looks. Kids pour out of the door, Ender among them. O He'll be younger than the other students. He'll have a hard time adjusting.

Ender, carrying a nearly-empty backpack, trots along the sidewalk and up the front walk toward the door. Colonel Graff, it never works to advance a child ahead of schedule. Have you ever tried it with Ender Wiggin? Battle School has been functioning for more than forty years. You've been in command less than a month. Ender pauses at the corner of the house, peels the bandaid off his neck.

He walks along the side of the house to the door and goes inside. Do you know what orders I received when I was made commander? No, sir. PETER 15 drops from the treehouse, goes to the bandaid, picks it up, grins. Then he drops the bandaid to the ground again and grinds it savagely under the heel of his shoe. Ender comes in and dips a finger into the batter. Valentine slaps at his hand, but he gets a taste into his mouth.

Then he grimaces. Ender dips again, methodically, and this time makes a show of savoring the dough. She sees the back of his neck. She hugs him, delighted. Mom and Dad have been so worried, they were afraid they were going to lose you! So everybody guessed wrong about Ender. Peter enters, carrying a fearsome Formic mask. PETER cont. Now we can play together all the time! Ender tries to hide his dread of what's coming. Since you're never going to be an astronaut, you have to be the woolly ant!

Peter sweeps the mixing bowl from the counter, spilling the dough out onto the floor. He grabs Ender by the hair and puts the mask over his face. He's so scary! The monster! You got no angels watching over you now. Now he's out, a loser, just like me. Just like you. Peter bends down, scoops up a double handful of batter.

He smears it all over the front of Valentine's clothing. If he's not better than us, he's got no reason to exist. He turns to Ender, pulls him to his feet and drags him toward the stairs. Ender rips the mask off.

Put it on. Valentine appears in the doorway as Ender struggles to get free. Peter flips Ender onto his back, presses a knee into his belly. Ender gasps, struggles like a bug on a pin. Ender breathes in short little gasps that don't get enough air. The law is two children per family.

We never needed him. Ender's hand reaches a softball lying on the floor. I'll cry. He was laughing. It was part of the game. I would never hurt Ender. It's terrifying to Valentine how believable he is.

You wouldn't fight even to save your baby brother's life. He lets go of Ender's shoulders and catches her foot, twists her leg, knocks her off her feet. You are both so stupid! With his arms free, Ender punches Peter solidly in the groin. Peter swings at Ender; Ender dodges. As Peter writhes on the floor in pain, Ender grabs a baseball bat from the floor and prepares to hit Peter in the head.

It gives the other guy a chance to strike first. Valentine catches the end of the bat, stopping him. Beat me till my brains splash out! Ender tugs at the bat. In the boys' room! Peter speaks rapidly, softly. When you've forgotten all about this. There'll be an accident and we'll all cry, me loudest of all, and then at the grave you'll remember today, and you'll wonder for a minute, and then you'll say, No, not Peter!

He's not a murderer. Master chess players, assessing each other. Wiggin goes straight to Ender, kneels, scoops him into a vast embrace.

Wiggin lifts the hair on the back of Ender's neck, looks at the tiny mark. Ignoring it, the kids gather around Mrs. Wiggin, hugging each other. He pulls out of the hug and runs from the room.

Wiggin sit on the sofa with Ender between them. There are tears on her cheeks. Wiggin turns her face away, weeping silently. Wiggin, will you excuse us, please? It takes a moment to realize that he expects them to go. They rise and comfort each other out the door. GRAFF cont. I hope we have the greatest military commander the world has ever known, to outthink them, outfight them, destroy them before they scour humanity off the face of the Earth.

What can you become? What if you're the only hope? I tell them not to come. We take your childhood. You might never see your family again. But if you come to Battle School, maybe you'll have something to do with keeping them alive. Graff studies him a moment longer, then stands up. They face each other in silence.

Graff stands beside a limo at the curb, watching. After growing up in that family, how stable is he going to be? Graff talks softly into a tiny palm-held mouthpiece. The other half of the phone is worn like a hearing aid. Ender pulls away from his family, heads down the walk. Ender reaches out, at first like a child, to hold on; then like an adult, to shake hands.

Graff clasps Ender's hand when Valentine bursts from the family group and runs partway down the walk. Graff ushers Ender into the back seat of the car and closes the door.

As Graff walks around the car, Peter drops down from the treehouse and runs to the car window. The car pulls away. The ground opens up and spits out a hoverbus. A bridge appears in the air between the doors of both a force field you can stand on.

Children ages file across the bridge. Ender crosses early clearly the smallest of the children. Though some have accents, all the children speak fluent English. ALAI: Just like on television. ALAI: No, he's our instructor. They laugh. Their laughter rings in his ears. Graff points to his seat. Think of me as the principal, with the power to shoot deserters. Graff goes back to pointing out seats to students. Ender identifies which harness straps are his and fastens himself in.

Sebastian and Alai end up in the next row back. Our instructor! Ender winces, tries to duck away but the harness won't let him. Did you hear that? But Alai reaches out a hand as if to restrain Sebastian. The joke has gone on long enough. I'm only trying to get knowledge out of the head of our instructor!

At once the kids face Graff at the front of the shuttle. I thought you were told to enter the shuttle, take the seat you were given, and strap in. Why is it that only Ender Wiggin, the youngest of all, knows how to obey an order? Sebastian's face reddens, but he doesn't look away. You're in the I. All instructions are orders. All suggestions are orders. All hints and wishes and secret yearnings of a superior are orders!

But you can't take it. Guess who looks more like a soldier to me. Ender glances at Graff, then looks straight ahead, furious. Everyone is rocked backward as the shuttle starts to move. The engines are fired. A huge fuel tank section peels off the bottom of the shuttle. Small rockets maneuver the shuttle toward a high orbit. Some of the kids are nauseated by weightlessness. One starts vomiting. The moment Graff is behind them, Sebastian tries to smack Ender's head again.

The harness restrains him. He unfastens it, grips the back of Ender's seat, and raps the top of his head but hard this time, all his anger and humiliation in it. Ender recoils in real pain. Alai grabs at Sebastian's clothes as Sebastian makes a fist and prepares to hammer it into Ender's face. Ender reaches upward, grabs the hand that is holding Sebastian in place, and yanks forward and down. Propelled by Ender's pull and his own hammering motion, Sebastian at once spins upward, ass-over-teakettle, and yells in pain as he bounces off the "ceiling," breaking his arm.

Graff arrives quickly, snatches him deftly out of the air. Sebastian's only answer is to yell again in pain. Furthermore, you attacked an enemy without taking into account the possibility that he might defend himself. Do you know what we call commanders who do that? SHEN: Stupid!

On the monuments over their graves. Graff lifts Sebastian's writhing body up by the good arm like a captured toad being shown to a science class. Everybody on this shuttle qualified as one of the thirty or forty smartest kids on Earth, out of three hundred million kids your age. And who do you think tested highest of all? Could it be the one who's entering Battle School a year ahead of his age group?

Could it be the one that this bully decided to pick on? With his free hand, Graff is pointing at Ender. Everyone looks at Ender with varying degrees of loathing, resentment, jealousy, or awe. Ender has no friends in this launch group now, and he knows it. He looks away, lonely and afraid. When the shuttle spins in synch with the station, it is drawn inside. Graff stops at a door and the kids file in. Each bunk has a locker. A lot of the kids goof around or quarrel over who gets bottom.

Everyone ignores Ender, who has taken a bottom bunk near the door. Inside it is a "desq" a flat computer with a holographic display on its top surface. When Ender touches it, words appear in the air above it.

Again the computer echoes his name. Ender is then transferred out of Battle School to Command School. The authorities figured out Valentine and Peter's actions but have decided to leave them alone.

Valentine visits Ender while he is given a brief vacation, and it is clear that things have changed between them. Graff takes Ender to Eros, the planet that holds the International Fleet command, and there Ender is introduced to Mazer Rackham, the hero of the second bugger invasion, who saved mankind. Rackham runs Ender through a series of simulated battles, where he now commands an entire fleet.

Ender learns that the buggers are like highly evolved insects and they communicate instantaneously—their queen thinks for all of them. Ender begins having strange dreams about the buggers. He fights more and more difficult battles and one day fights a huge battle against impossible odds with many officers watching. Ender wins, at great cost, and it becomes apparent that it was a real battle, as were all of his supposedly simulated battles, and that he completely destroyed the buggers.

Ender was used, and he knows it, as do his teachers, but they explain that they needed him, a child, to have the compassion to understand the enemy. At the same time they needed him to think it was a game in order to be able to win with such great loss of life.

Peter has taken over control of the world and Valentine convinces Ender to set off with her on a colonization mission to populate the worlds left behind by the buggers.

Before he goes Ender learns that he did killed Bonzo as well as the bully back in school. On the new planet Ender finds an area that he realizes looks just like the mind game and he realizes that the buggers had prepared for his coming—they had looked into his mind and knew he would defeat them. He finds a queen pupa, left behind for him to find a place for the buggers to live again. Ender can think to the queen, and sees that the buggers did not truly wish to fight the humans and feels their sorrow for all that happens.

Ender decides to make it his mission to find a place for the buggers to live. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Characters Ender Valentine Peter. Themes, Motifs, Symbols. Mini Essays Suggested Essay Topics.