Speaker for the Dead

Speaker for the Dead

By Orson Scott Card

PROLOGUE(-ˌläg,ˈprōˌlôg)

In the year 1830, after the formation of Starways Congress(ˈkäNGgrəs,ˈkän-), a robot scout(skout) ship sent a report by ansible: The planet(ˈplanit) it was investigating(inˈvestiˌgāt) was well within the parameters(pəˈramitər) for human life. The nearest(ni(ə)r) planet with any kind of population pressure(ˈpreSHər) was Baía; Starways Congress granted them the exploration license(ˈlīsəns).

So it was that the first humans to see the new world were Portuguese(ˈpôrCHəˌgēz) by language, Brazilian(brəˈzilyən) by culture(ˈkəlCHər), and Catholic(ˈkaTH(ə)lik) by creed(krēd). In the year 1886 they disembarked(ˌdisemˈbärk) from their shuttle(ˈSHətl), crossed themselves, and named the planet Lusitania(-nyə,ˌlo͞osəˈtānēə)—the ancient(ˈānCHənt) name of Portugal(ˈpôrCHəgəl). They set about cataloguing(-ˌäg,ˈkatlˌôg) the flora(ˈflôrə) and fauna(ˈfänə,ˈfônə). Five days later they realized(ˈrē(ə)ˌlīz) that the little forest(ˈfär-,ˈfôrəst)-dwelling(ˈdweliNG) animals that they had called porquinhos—piggies(ˈpigē)—were not animals at all.

For the first time since the Xenocide of the Buggers(ˈbo͝og-,ˈbəgər) by the monstrous(ˈmänstrəs) Ender, humans had found intelligent(inˈtelijənt) alien(ˈālyən,ˈālēən) life. The piggies were technologically primitive(ˈprimətiv), but they used tools and built houses and spoke a language. “It is another chance(CHans) God has given us,” declared Archcardinal Pio of Baía. “We can be redeemed(riˈdēm) for the destruction(diˈstrəkSHən) of the buggers.”

The members of Starways Congress worshipped(ˈwərSHəp) many gods, or none, but they agreed with the Archcardinal. Lusitania would be settled(ˈsetl) from Baía, and therefore(ˈT͟He(ə)rˌfôr) under Catholic License, as tradition(trəˈdiSHən) demanded(diˈmand). But the colony(ˈkälənē) could never spread(spred) beyond a limited area or exceed(ikˈsēd) a limited population. And it was bound, above all, by one law:

The piggies were not to be disturbed(disˈtərbd).