Children of the Mind (Ender's Saga 4)

"My father once told me

that there are no gods,

only the cruel manipulations

of evil people

who pretended that their power was good

and their exploitation was love.

But if there are no gods,

why are we so hungry to believe in them?

Just because evil liars

stand between us and the gods

and block our view of them

does not mean that the bright halo

that surrounds each liar

is not the outer edges of a god, waiting

for us to find our way around the lie."

from The God Whispers of Han Qing-jao

said the Hive Queen.

asked Human.

the strongest web we can. We have joined to you and to each other as never before, so that all of us tremble, all of us shake as if there were a shimmering wind dancing with us and making our leaves beautiful in sunlight, and the light is you and your daughters and all the love we have for our tiny mothers and our dear mute mothertrees is given to you, our queen, our sister, our mother, our truest wife. How can Jane not see the thing that we have made and want to be a part of it?>

said the Hive Queen.

said the Hive Queen.

said Human. But even in his noncomprehension, another message flowed to her underneath the conscious one: he was saying, and she heard:

she said.

said Human.

she answered.

said Human,

said the hive queen.

said Human.

said the Hive Queen.

said the Hive Queen.