Page "Speaker for the Dead" Paragraph 4

At the age of thirteen, Novinha, a cold and distant girl, successfully petitions to be made the official biologist of the colony ( roughly the equivalent of a master's degree ); from then on, she contributes to the work of father-and-son xenologers ( alien anthropology ) Pipo and Libo, and for a short time there is family and camaraderie.

One day, however, she makes a discovery about the descolada — that it's in every native lifeform — and Pipo rushes out to talk to the piggies about the discovery without telling her or Libo why it's important.

They can't figure it out on their own, and never learn — a few hours later, Pipo is found vivisected in the grass ; his corpse does not even have the benefit of a tree ( The symbol of honor placed among all dead piggies ).

Novinha erases all the lab work, but cannot delete the information itself due to regulations ; Libo demands to see it, but even their love for each other will not make her let him see it — it appears to be a secret the piggies will kill to keep.

Now Novinha is determined to ensure they never marry, the way they always planned to: for if they do, Libo will have access to those locked files and, Novinha fears, will share the same fate as his father.

In anguish, Novinha calls for a Speaker for the Dead, hoping beyond hope that perhaps the original Speaker may arrive, to make sense of Pipo's death — and maybe of her life.