"The Investment Counselor" is a short story by Orson Scott Card. It tells the story of Andrew Wiggin arriving on the planet Sorelledolce and having to pay his taxes for the first time. It was first published in the May 1991 science fiction anthology Far Horizons: All New Tales from the Greatest Worlds of Science Fiction.[1]
In July 2002, it was republished in the hardcover short story anthology First Meetings: Three Stories from the Enderverse, alongside the 1977 Ender's Game short story, and the all-new short story "The Polish Boy". In 2003, it was republished again in First Meetings: In the Enderverse, now including "Teacher's Pest" for the first time. Finally, it was republished again in 2004 as a softcover First Meetings in Ender's Universe.[2][4]
In April 2021, "The Investment Counselor" was republished in the illustrated anthology Ender's Way.[3]
Story Details[]
The cover of "The Investment Counselor" in the first edition of First Meetings: Three Stories from the Enderverse.
Andrew Wiggin had been voyaging through space at near-lightspeed for nearly 400 years. When he arrived at the planet Sorelledolce, he had just turned twenty in relativistic time, so he must file his first tax return on the trust fund which had been given to him by the International Fleet at the end of the Third Invasion. He showed his list of investments to Benedetto, a tax collector in the starport, who immediately planned to steal some of it. Meanwhile, Andrew received an email offering him financial software, which has an interactive personality that called itself Jane.
While they were on Sorelledolce, Andrew's sister Valentine Wiggin took him to a "speaking" for a dead man. Andrew talked to the Speaker and learned how the profession was done.
Andrew decided to accept the assistance of the Jane program. She prepared his tax forms, showing him ways to minimize what he owes. The amount was much less than he had expected. When Andrew delivered the forms to Benedetto, the tax collector tried to blackmail him because he had discovered Andrew's identity as the hated Xenocide. But Benedetto found that his files had mysteriously disappeared. In an attempt to get revenge against Andrew, he tried to leak what data he still had to the media, but Jane appeared on his screen and gave him a choice: "Either say nothing, or tell the whole truth." Benedetto rejected the first option, but when the media received his story, it had been mysteriously integrated with a full confession of his embezzlements.
Benedetto was arrested, and while he was in prison he was killed. Andrew did a Speaking at Benedetto's funeral. He had thus inadvertently given himself a career, that of a "Speaker for the Dead."
Editions[]
