Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (63 page)

"You
mean
you
think
we
can
convince
the
peoples
of
nine
worlds that
the
Exotics
and
the
Dorsai
are
planning
to
attack
them
?"

"We
can
make
it
look
even
worse
than
that,
just
by
adding
Old Earth
to
the
mix,"
Bleys
said.

"But
a
lot
of
people
on
the
Younger
Worlds
look
up
to
Old Earth,"
Dahno
said.

"True,"
Bleys
said.
"But
'looking
up'
to
the
mother
planet
doesn't
necessarily
equate
to
loving
her;
and
people
on
pedestals
make
the best
targets.
In
any
case,
we
don't
have
to
convince
everyone
on
the Younger
Worlds
...
only
enough
to
be
a
substantial—but
loud— minority.
In
practice,
a
loud
minority
usually
controls
a
society,
because
when
they
yell
loud
enough,
it
stampedes
others,
or
at
least makes
them
pause
before
going
into
open
opposition
.
.
.
that's
how it
always
works."

Dahno
shook
his
head,
as
if
denying
he
had
even
heard
Bleys' words.

"There
are
other
things
we
need
to
do,
too,"
Bleys
added
before his
brother
could
speak.

"After
all,
a
shooting
war
may
yet
develop—not
necessarily against
the
Dorsai—and
it'd
be
a
good
idea
to
be
prepared.
So
we need
to
take
control
of
those
Younger
Worlds
we
don't
yet
have,
as quickly
as
possible,
while
consolidating
our
positions
on
the
five we've
already
got.
If
you
think
about
it,
the
resources
of
nine
worlds, when
properly
mobilized,
will
give
us
a
large
and
powerful
military force,
which
I
suspect
the
Dorsai
would
rather
not
face."

He
paused
for
a
moment.

"Old
Earth
herself
probably
couldn't
resist
that.
With
nine worlds
under
our
control,
and
the
Exotics
and
the
Dorsai
neutralized,
the
mother
planet
would
be
alone
and
friendless."

"Old
Earth?"
Dahno
said.
"What
are
you
saying?"

"Just
thinking
ahead,"
Bleys
said.
He
looked
about.
"I'm
hun
gry."

CHAPTER
22

"I
think
we
can
get
the
rest
of
the
Younger
Worlds
into
our
camp fairly
quickly,"
Bleys
said
later;
he
was
dressed
now,
and
working his
way
through
an
omelet
and
a
stack
of
toast,
even
though
it
was mid
-
afternoon.
He
had
asked
Toni
to
prepare
the
meal,
rather
than having
it
sent
up
from
the
kitchens
lower
in
the
building;
she
had
a way
with
breakfasts.

"Our
people,"
he
went
on,
"have
been
working
to
gain
influence with
the
power
brokers
on
those
planets
for
years—something
those societies
are
particularly
vulnerable
to,
since
they're
all
decaying
societies
with
a
lot
of
internal
conflicts.
That's
the
kind
of
situation
in which
we
can
work
internally
without
appearing
to
be
nosing
into
local
affairs;
any
major
conflict
that
breaks
out
will
seem
to
be
totally
a local
phenomenon,
and
won't
raise
any
alarm
bells
in
other
places."

He
paused
to
take
another
forkful,
following
it
with
a
bite
of toast;
and
chewed
while
thinking.
No
one
interrupted
him.

"It's
all
there
in
history,"
he
went
on.
"Whenever
a
society
begins
to
deteriorate,
its
most
powerful
people
always
decide
they need
to
take
control.
Usually
they
start
by
telling
themselves
it's necessary
to
take
action
not
just
for
their
own
protection,
but
to
protect
the
society
itself;
because
they
always
believe
that
their
society's
only
working
if
it's
reflecting
their
own
beliefs
and
desires."

"Don't
I
remember
some
old
philosopher
saying
that
the
rich
always
seem
to
believe
they
got
that
way
because
they
were
morally better
than
the
poor?"
Toni
said.
"Of
course,
once
they
get
to
that attitude,
it's
only
a
small
step
to
deciding
they
have
a
moral
right
to control
everyone
else."

"We
never
did
get
rid
of
slavery,"
Dahno
said.
The
venom
in
his
voice
was
not
directed
at
his
brother,
and
his
gaze
seemed
to
be focused
inward.
While
Bleys
had
dressed,
Dahno
had
refused
Toni's offer
of
food,
but
had
accepted
a
drink,
and
then
another;
he
had seemed
calmer,
until
this
subject
came
up.

"We
just
got
better
at
disguising
it,"
he
finished.

"We've
never
been
fully
civilized,"
Bleys
said.
"That's
one
of
the reasons
I've
been
telling
you
the
race
needs
to
grow
up."

Dahno
subsided,
almost
sulking,
but
nodding
his
head
a
little. Toni
smiled
quietly,
and
Bleys
smiled
back
at
her
over
his
brother's head.

"You
were
talking
about
the
power-holders—I
guess
you'd
call them
that,"
she
said.

"So
I
was,"
Bleys
said.
"In
fact,
I
was
about
to
say
that
they're
usually
smart
enough
to
realize
they
can't
sell
a
program
like
the
one
I just
spoke
of
to
the
masses."
He
put
his
fork
down
absently.
"So
they work
in
secret,
using
their
money
and
power
to
buy
the
people
already
in
positions
of
influence,
while
using
propaganda
to
portray
the positions
they
favor
in
a
positive
light."

"Which
of
course
is
exactly
what
we've
been
doing,"
Dahno
said, a
sour
look
again
on
his
face.

"That's
what
I've
been
saying,"
Bleys
said.
"We'll
use
our
persuasive
powers
to
get
control
of
those
same
influence
brokers
on each
planet—the
systems
and
the
secrecy
are
already
in
place,
and we
only
have
to
insert
ourselves
into
the
picture
...
the
beauty
of
it is,
the
details
of
our
control
can
be
kept
secret,
because
the
lack
of openness
is
already
accepted
in
those
systems.

"It's
ideal
for
us!
We
can
be
philosophers
and
philanthropists
for public
consumption,
which
adds
to
our
political
clout—and
the
less attractive
things
we
have
to
do
can
remain
out
of
sight."

"All
right,"
Dahno
said,
sounding
rather
grumpy,
"you
make
it sound
like
just
more
of
what
we've
been
doing.
But
the
devil
is
in the
details—none
of
those
planets
is
going
to
just
fall
into
our
hands overnight."

"No,"
Bleys
said,
"but
we've
got
more
leverage
than
we've
ever had,
now
that
a
large
portion
of
Ceta's
power
is
aligned
with
us." "Ceta?"
Dahno
said.
"What
do
you
mean?"

"I'm
sorry,
brother,"
Bleys
said,
"I
forgot
we
haven't
spoken
since you
left
Ceta."