Ender's Hunger

"Crane, may I ask what exactly is going on here?"

The gamesmaster whirled around. "Ah! President Snow." Appearing to swallow a little, he straightened his tie and glanced around the room. "Nothing, Mr. President. Nothing of consequence."

"Really?" President Snow took a moment to study the nervous whispers and furtive looks from the various technicians in the game room. "That is good to hear. Then may I recall those Peacekeepers you requisitioned to search the Arena area? It seems a trifle wasteful, and I'd rather reserve our forces for more... urgent matters."

"Quite understandable, Mr. President. At the same time, however..." Seneca pulled at the cuffs of his suit. "...I would be most gratified if you held off recalling the Peacekeepers. For a few more moments, at least."

The elderly man raised his eyebrows. "Oh? And why is that?"

Seneca glanced away again, then, apparently coming to a decision, he faced the President. "We... may have a minor situation with one of the contestants."

"Who? Not the Everdeen girl, is it?"

"Hm? Oh, the one from District 12. No, no... she's still passed out from the hallucinogenic stings she received yesterday." Seneca shook his head. "No, this is the boy from District 10."

A somewhat skeptical look entered President Snow's eyes. "Delphiki? The pint-sized boy? I seem to recall he received the lowest possible rating, just below that Rue girl, in fact. You predicted he wouldn't make it past the first day."

"Yes, well... it seem we were mistaken in his character."

A soft snort escaped the President. "Indeed. And how does your mistake require my Peacekeepers? Surely there are simpler ways to find someone in the Arena."

"Oh, indeed sir, but that's part of the problem." Coughing lightly, the gamesmaster lowered his head. "It seems he... well, perhaps more correctly you could say he... actually he... " Seneca swallowed. "...to put it simply sir, he's disappeared. It's possible he escaped the Arena."

"What?" The President's eyes were wide and startled. "How? When?"

"We're not sure," admitted Seneca miserably. "He somehow found a blind spot in our network..."

"That's possible?"

Seneca shrugged. "Apparently. We didn't worry about it at first, because the tracker was still responding and there wasn't realistically a way for him to leave the blind spot without our noticing." Gesturing at the glowing map in the center of the room, he indicated the blinking dot. "But, sir, if you'll look..."

President Snow did. He studied the map for a few moments. "Crane, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be seeing. The map shows Delphiki to be surrounded by that little alliance that's been formed. I assume they're killing him."

"No, sir. They can't find him. He isn't there." Seneca tugged on his sleeves again. "That was the only indication we had that anything was wrong, when they walked right over the boy's tracker without finding the boy. The Peacekeepers confirmed it just ten minutes ago—he's not there. As best as we can tell, he somehow managed to bleed out his tracer."

"Again, that's possible?"

Shrugging miserably, Seneca responded, "We didn't think so..."