Part 10 (1/2)
”They throw darts darts,” said Grego.
”That was my own word for it,” said Quara. ”I didn't understand that it was speech speech.”
”Because it wasn't speech,” said Grego.
”That was five years ago,” said Ender. ”You said the darts they send out carry the needed genes and then all the viruses that receive the darts revise their own structure to include the new gene. That's hardly language.”
”But that isn't the only only time they send darts,” said Quara. ”Those messenger molecules are moving in and out all the time, and most of the time they aren't incorporated into the body at all. They get read by several parts of the descolada and then they're pa.s.sed on to another one.” time they send darts,” said Quara. ”Those messenger molecules are moving in and out all the time, and most of the time they aren't incorporated into the body at all. They get read by several parts of the descolada and then they're pa.s.sed on to another one.”
”This is language?” asked Grego.
”Not yet,” said Quara. ”But sometimes after a virus reads one of these darts, it makes a new dart and sends it out. Here's the part that tells me it's a language: The front part of the new dart always begins with a molecular sequence similar to the back tag of the dart that it's answering. It holds the thread of the conversation together.”
”Conversation,” said Grego scornfully.
”Be quiet or die,” said Ela. Even after all these years, Ender realized, Ela's voice still had the power to curb Grego's snottiness-- sometimes, at least.
”I've tracked some of these conversations for as many as a hundred statements and answers. Most of them die out much sooner than that. A few of them are incorporated into the main body of the virus. But here's the most interesting thing-- it's completely voluntary. Sometimes one virus will pick up that dart and keep it, while most of the others don't. Sometimes most of the viruses will keep a particular dart. But the area where they incorporate these message darts is exactly that area that has been hardest to map. It's hardest to map because it isn't part of their structure, it's their memory memory, and individuals are all different from each other. They also tend to weed out a few memory fragments when they've taken on too many darts.”
”This is all fascinating,” said Grego, ”but it isn't science. There are plenty of explanations for these darts and the random bonding and shedding--”
”Not random!” said Quara. random!” said Quara.
”None of this is language,” said Grego.
Ender ignored the argument, because Jane was whispering in his ear through the jewel-like transceiver he wore there. She spoke to him more rarely now than in years past. He listened carefully, taking nothing for granted. ”She's on to something,” Jane said. ”I've looked at her research and there's something going on here that doesn't happen with any other subcellular creature. I've run many different a.n.a.lyses on the data, and the more I simulate and test this particular behavior of the descolada, the less it looks like genetic coding and the more it looks like language. At the moment we can't rule out the possibility that it is is voluntary.” voluntary.”
When Ender turned his attention back to the argument, Grego was speaking. ”Why do we have to turn everything we haven't figured out yet into some kind of mystical experience?” Grego closed his eyes and intoned, ”I have found new life! I have found new life!”
”Stop it!” shouted Quara.
”This is getting out of hand,” said Novinha. ”Grego, try to keep this at the level of rational discussion.”
”It's hard to, when the whole thing is so irrational. Ate agora quem ja imaginou microbiologista que se torna namorada de uma molecula Ate agora quem ja imaginou microbiologista que se torna namorada de uma molecula?” Who ever heard of a microbiologist getting a crush on a molecule?
”Enough!” said Novinha sharply. ”Quara is as much a scientist as you are, and--”
”She was was,” muttered Grego.
”And-- if you'll kindly shut up long enough to hear me out-- she has a right to be heard.” Novinha was quite angry now, but, as usual, Grego seemed unimpressed. ”You should know by now, Grego, that it's often the ideas that sound most absurd and counterintuitive at first that later cause fundamental s.h.i.+fts in the way we see the world.”
”Do you really think this is one of those basic discoveries?” asked Grego, looking them in the eye, each in turn. ”A talking virus? Se Quara sabe tanto, porque ela nao diz o que e que aqueles b.i.+.c.hos dizem? Se Quara sabe tanto, porque ela nao diz o que e que aqueles b.i.+.c.hos dizem?” If she knows so much about it, why doesn't she tell us what these little beasts are saying? It was a sign that the discussion was getting out of hand, that he broke into Portuguese instead of speaking in Stark, the language of science-- and diplomacy.
”Does it matter?” asked Ender.
”Matter!” said Quara.
Ela looked at Ender with consternation. ”It's only the difference between curing a dangerous disease and destroying an entire sentient species. I think it matters.”
”I meant,” said Ender patiently, ”does it matter whether we know what they're saying.”
”No,” said Quara. ”We'll probably never understand their language, but that doesn't change the fact that they're sentient. What do viruses and human beings have to say to each other, anyway?”
”How about, 'Please stop trying to kill us'?” said Grego. ”If you can figure out how to say that in virus language, then this might be useful.”
”But Grego,” said Quara, with mock sweetness, ”do we say that to them, or do they say that to us us?”
”We don't have to decide today,” said Ender. ”We can afford to wait awhile.”
”How do you you know?” said Grego. ”How do you know that tomorrow afternoon we won't all wake up itching and hurting and puking and burning up with fever and finally dying because overnight the descolada virus figured out how to wipe us out once and for all? It's us or them.” know?” said Grego. ”How do you know that tomorrow afternoon we won't all wake up itching and hurting and puking and burning up with fever and finally dying because overnight the descolada virus figured out how to wipe us out once and for all? It's us or them.”
”I think Grego just showed us why we have have to wait,” said Ender. ”Did you hear how he talked about the descolada? It to wait,” said Ender. ”Did you hear how he talked about the descolada? It figures out figures out how to wipe us out. Even how to wipe us out. Even he he thinks the descolada has a will and makes decisions.” thinks the descolada has a will and makes decisions.”
”That's just a figure of speech,” said Grego.
”We've all been talking that way,” said Ender. ”And thinking that way, too. Because we all feel it-- that we're at war with the descolada. That it's more than just fighting off a disease-- it's like we have an intelligent, resourceful enemy who keeps countering all our moves. In all the history of medical research, no one has ever fought a disease that had so many ways to defeat the strategies used against it.”
”Only because n.o.body's been fighting a germ with such an oversized and complex genetic molecule,” said Grego.
”Exactly,” said Ender. ”This is a one-of-a-kind virus, and so it may have abilities we've never imagined in any species less structurally complex than a vertebrate.”
For a moment Ender's words hung in the air, answered by silence; for a moment, Ender imagined that he might have served a useful function in this meeting after all, that as a mere talker he might have won some kind of agreement.
Grego soon disabused him of this idea. ”Even if Quara's right, even if she's dead on and the descolada viruses all have doctorates of philosophy and keep publis.h.i.+ng dissertations on s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g-up-humans-till-they're-dead, what then? Do we all roll over and play dead because the virus that's trying to kill us all is so d.a.m.n smart?”
Novinha answered calmly. ”I think Quara needs to continue with her research-- and we need to give her more resources to do it-- while Ela continues with hers.”
It was Quara who objected this time. ”Why should I bother trying to understand them if the rest of you are still working on ways to kill them?”
”That's a good question, Quara,” said Novinha. ”On the other hand, why should you bother trying to understand them if they suddenly figure out a way to get past all our chemical barriers and kill us all?”
”Us or them,” muttered Grego.
Novinha had made a good decision, Ender knew-- keep both lines of research open, and decide later when they knew more. In the meantime, Quara and Grego were both missing the point, both a.s.suming that everything hinged on whether or not the descolada was sentient. ”Even if they're sentient,” said Ender, ”that doesn't mean they're sacrosanct. It all depends whether they're raman or varelse. If they're raman-- if we can understand them and they can understand us well enough to work out a way of living together-- then fine. We'll be safe, they'll be safe.”
”The great peacemaker plans to sign a treaty with a molecule?” asked Grego.
Ender ignored his mocking tone. ”On the other hand, if they're trying to destroy us, and we can't find a way to communicate with them, then they're varelse-- sentient aliens, but implacably hostile and dangerous. Varelse are aliens we can't live with. Varelse are aliens with whom we are naturally and permanently engaged in a war to the death, and at that time our only moral choice is to do all that's necessary to win.”
”Right,” said Grego.
Despite her brother's triumphant tone, Quara had listened to Ender's words, weighed them, and now gave a tentative nod. ”As long as we don't start from the a.s.sumption that they're varelse,” said Quara.
”And even then, maybe there's a middle way,” said Ender. ”Maybe Ela can find a way to replace all the descolada viruses without destroying this memory-and-language thing.”
”No!” said Quara, once again fervent. ”You can't-- you don't even have the right right to leave them their memories and take away their ability to adapt. That would be like to leave them their memories and take away their ability to adapt. That would be like them them giving all of giving all of us us frontal lobotomies. If it's war, then it's war. Kill them, but don't leave them their memories while stealing their will.” frontal lobotomies. If it's war, then it's war. Kill them, but don't leave them their memories while stealing their will.”