"The Gold Bug" is a story by Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...

 set in his Ender's Game universe

Ender's Game series

The Ender's Game series is a series of science fiction books by Orson Scott Card. The series started with the novelette "Ender's Game", which was later expanded into the novel Ender's Game. It currently consists of eleven novels and ten short stories...

. It tells the story of how Sel Menach steps aside as leader of a colony world to let Ender Wiggin take over as governor. It appears in Card's Webzine InterGalactic Medicine Show

Intergalactic Medicine Show

InterGalactic Medicine Show is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. It was founded by multiple award-winning author Orson Scott Card. An anthology also called Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show was published by Tor in August, 2008, featuring selected stories from...

.

Plot summary

"The Gold Bug" is the story of Sel Menach, a fighter pilot in the Formic war, xenobiologist, and eventually the governor

Governor

A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

 of one of the former Formics

Formics

The Formics, also known as Buggers, are a fictional insectoid alien species from the Ender's Game series of science fiction novels by Orson Scott Card.The term "Formic" is derived from formica, the Latin word for ant...

 worlds. When a colony ship from Earth arrives, carrying Ender Wiggin

Ender Wiggin

Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is a fictional character from Orson Scott Card's science fiction story Ender's Game and its sequels , as well as in the first part of the spin-off series, Ender's Shadow...

, the new soon-to-be governor, Sel decides to go on an expedition

Exploration

Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...

 into unexplored lands so that it will be easier for Ender to take over as governor. On the expedition, Sel discovers some caves with large golden bugs, which he believes to be a cross between the Formics and a parasite

Parasitism

Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. Traditionally parasite referred to organisms with lifestages that needed more than one host . These are now called macroparasites...

 native to the planet. He establishes some limited contact with the hybrid creatures and discovers they are hungry and want to be fed and while he brings that food, Ender shows up, arranges for the bugs to be fed, and takes Sel back to the colony and his work as a xenobiologist.

Relationship to "A Young Man with Prospects"

According to Card, while he was writing this story, he started to think about how Ender got to the colony and as a result, came up with a story involving a power struggle between Ender and the ship's captain. However, since Card didn't want the story to be only about Ender and the captain, he decided to put a mother and daughter on the ship and the story of the two women, originally meant as an opening for the story evolved into the short story "A Young Man with Prospects

A Young Man with Prospects (short story)

"A Young Man with Prospects" is a story by Orson Scott Card set in his Ender's Game universe. It tells the story of how Alessandra and Dorabella Toscano end up colonizing one of the former formic worlds. It appears in Card's Webzine InterGalactic Medicine Show.-Plot summary:"A Young Man with...

".

Publication

"The Gold Bug" was published in the July 2007 issue of Intergalactic Medicine Show. It was also adapted into an Ender comic and can be found as an added bonus in the Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

 hardcover edition of Red Prophet: The Tales Of Alvin Maker

Red Prophet: The Tales Of Alvin Maker

Red Prophet: The Tales of Alvin Maker is a twelve-issue comic book limited series by Orson Scott Card, based on The Tales of Alvin Maker series by author Orson Scott Card...

. Parts of this story occur in Chapters 14, 15, and 16 of Card's novel Ender in Exile.