How It All Goes Down
Congenital Defect
- The epigraph is a transcript of Gusto and Cida talking about the Descolada virus, which they suspect may have a symbiotic relationship with the life forms on the planet. They know they won't get to follow up on the insight, though, because they're going to die.
- Back at the plot, Ender and Jane bicker—Jane says Ender loves Novinha, he says she's nasty but he loves her family.
- He lists a bunch of questions about Marcao to answer for his speaking, and the first one to answer is how Marcao died.
- Ender goes to Navio, the doctor, to ask about Marcao, but the doctor doesn't want to talk to him because of the Bishop's opposition.
- But Ender convinces him that if he doesn't cooperate, it will be religious persecution and Starways will make a huge mess in the colony.
- Navio tells him that Marcao had a congenital disease that should have made it impossible for him to have children, and yet there are children… but none of them have his defect.
- Navio assumes Novinha didn't know about the disease, or she wouldn't have married him since it would have meant they couldn't have children.
- Trusty Ender, though, figures out that Marcao was in fact sterile, and Novinha knew. She was sleeping with Libo, and all of her children are his.
- Ender says this is the reason that Marcao was so bitter and angry.
- We hop over to Libo who is going to see the piggies.
- Ouanda is teaching them to make butter, which is a big technological no-no as far as Starways is concerned.
- They chat with Mandachuva, who is old, but apparently not very important since he always has time to chat with them.
- Mandachuva calls the women macios, which is a worm that climbs on the bark of the trees. Miro isn't sure why they call them that.
- A piggie called Arrow comes along and says that Rooter, which is what they call the tree planted where Rooter was, has a request: He wants Miro to give them metal.
- Miro says he can't without getting in huge trouble though, and Arrow says okay.
- Then the piggie called Human brings out a copy of the Hive Queen book, which Miro gave them.
- Human says the Speaker for the Dead is the original Speaker—Miro thinks he's confused, but he's right of course. Silly Miro.
- Ouanda and Miro go back home and kiss and make out a little, and we learn that they're waiting to have sex till they're married in two years because Ouanda is a firm Catholic and Miro thinks it's bad for there to be premarital sex in such a small community. No matter the reason though, it's lucky for them since they're going to find out soon that they're half-siblings.
- Miro wants to bring the Speaker out to the piggies and Ouanda doesn't, so they argue. Miro says the Speaker is like Libo, and he wishes one or the other was his father rather than Marcao.
- We end with Ouanda saying she's glad Libo wasn't Miro's father because then they couldn't marry. That is called irony.