Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (72 page)

As
his
brother
remained
silent,
Bleys
spoke
again,
more
softly.

"War
is
coming,"
he
said.
"Under
the
surface,
it's
already
here.
It won't
necessarily
be
a
war
of
soldiers
and
ships;
but
it's
going
to
be
a
war
of
ideas.
It'll
be
a
war
between
Hal
Mayne
and
myself—and
the peoples
lined
up
with
each
of
us—and
it'll
be
a
war
for
the
minds
of every
other
human
being."

He
paused,
turning
to
look
briefly
at
Toni,
and
then
looked
back at
his
brother.

"I
know
you
don't
believe
it.
But
this
war
has
already
started,
and I
have
to
do
everything
I
can.
I
have
to
rush
my
side
into
getting ready.
Because
Hal
Mayne's
already
out
there
setting
up,
and
he's going
to
be
hard
enough
to
beat
without
giving
him
a
head
start. He's
going
to
be
a
very
dangerous
foe
once
he
builds
his
side
to
its full
strength."

Dahno
was
not
through
with
his
opposition
to
Bleys'
ideas,
but by
the
next
morning
he
seemed
to
change
his
stance;
and
he
agreed readily
to
Bleys'
proposal
for
another
convocation
of
the
senior
Others'
leadership.

"Firdos,
would
you
send
me
all
the
files
on
our
own
people?"
Bleys said.

"Do
you
want
just
the
files
on
the
people
who've
passed
through training
here?"
the
staffer
asked.
"Or
do
you
want
the
information on
the
other-planet
recruits,
too?"

"All
of
them,
I
think,"
Bleys
said.
"I
know
there'll
be
a
lot
of them,
but
I
need
to
find
particular
sorts
of
people."

"We
have
more
information
on
those
who
went
through
our training
course
here,
of
course,"
the
staffer
replied.
"And
that
includes
some
psychological
profiles—is
that
the
kind
of
thing
you're after?"

"It's
not
the
only
information
I
need,"
Bleys
said,
"but
it'd
be very
useful."

"We
won't
have
as
much
information
on
the
people
recruited
by the
off-planet
organizations,"
Firdos
pointed
out.
"But
we
could tell
them
to
send
more
information,
if
you'd
like."

"Yes,
would
you
do
that,
please?"

CHAPTER
24

The
holder
of
the
position
of
First
Elder
of
the
Government
of
the United
Sects
of
Harmony
and
Association,
like
his
superior,
the
Eldest,
had
his
own
official
offices
and
official
residences—to
be
exact,
one
on
each
of
the
two
planets.

In
the
political
life
of
the
Friendly
worlds,
more
often
than
not there
was
no
Eldest
to
rule
both
planets—that
political
phenomenon required
that
the
same
candidate
receive
a
majority
of
the
votes
cast on
each
of
the
two
planets.
In
those
periods
in
which
no
candidate received
such
a
double
majority,
the
two
planets
were
individually governed
by
the
candidate
who
had
received
the
plurality
of
the votes
cast
on
that
world,
and
matters
affecting
both
planets
were—in theory—handled
by
the
two
planetary
governments
working
as
a team.

Both
planets
had
a
capital
city,
along
with
official
residences
and government
office
buildings;
and
on
the
infrequent
occasions
when an
Eldest
ruled
both
worlds,
he
and
his
government
generally
moved back
and
forth
between
the
two
planets,
spreading
his
presence
to both
worlds
in
the
most
expedient
political
fashion.
There
were plenty
of
available
facilities,
since
residences
and
offices
on
each
world had
been
emptied
by
the
last
election
and
were
available
at
the
El
dest's
discretion.

Since
his
election
Eldest
Darrell
McKae
had
chosen
to
spend most
of
his
time
on
Harmony,
even
though
his
career
had
begun
on Association.
The
reason
for
this
was
unclear,
but
some
suggested that
the
Eldest,
feeling
Harmony
was
the
weak
point
in
his
electoral
base,
was
intent
on
strengthening
his
hand
on
that
planet.

Bley
s,
however,
suspected
McKae
was
avoiding
Association
both to
cut
down
on
encounters
with
his
original
supporters—since
his
election
the
Eldest
had
become
more
open
in
his
taste
for
wine— and
to
avoid
having
to
face
his
failure
to
curb
the
activities
of
the First
Elder
he
had
appointed.
And
Bleys
was
sure
McKae
preferred to
avoid
that
First
Elder,
Bleys
himself—who
was
more
often
on
Association
than
on
Harmony.

On
those
occasions
when
Bleys
came
to
Harmony
he
had
no need
to
find
either
accommodations
or
working
space,
since
each planet
had
a
complete
set
of
offices
for
both
the
Eldest
and
the
First Elder.
However,
there
were
things
Bleys
preferred
not
to
do
within the
confines
of
government-provided
facilities;
and
on
this
trip
he delayed
only
long
enough,
after
his
arrival
on
the
pad
in
Citadel,
for a
trip
to
the
Others'
Harmony
offices,
before
traveling
to
Healing Waters.

Healing
Waters
was
a
small
city
that
nestled
between
two
small rivers
at
the
point
where
they
nearly
joined
before
emptying
into Revelation
Bay,
a
shallow,
island-dotted
body
of
water
largely
useless
for
ordinary
commercial
purposes.
It
was
a
picturesque
warm-zone
city
given
over
to
vacationers—to
the
limited
extent
the Friendly
planets
had
citizens
wealthy
enough
to
afford
that
luxury. This
gave
Bleys
an
excuse
to
be
there—need
for
a
restful
vacation— as
well
as
the
insulating
effect
of
distance
from
the
capital
and
any who
might
be
interested
in
his
doings.

As
the
time
for
Amyth
Barbage's
appointment
neared,
Bleys
was sitting
under
an
awning
at
a
large
table
that
had
been
moved
to
the deck
of
the
penthouse
suite
of
the
city's
most
luxurious
hotel.
He had
chosen
this
hotel
because
he
expected
to
be
joined
by
the
senior
Others
he
had
secretly
invited
to
a
meeting
that
might
well
be critical
to
his
plans.

Being
on
the
hotel's
roof
minimized
the
risk
of
being
overheard in
his
dealings.
He
had
been
able
to
bring
only
one
of
the
security technicians
who
normally
scanned
any
room
he
stayed
in
for
listening
devices;
to
bring
a
larger
staff
on
a
supposedly
routine
and
restful
trip
might
have
attracted
Dahno's
notice.

In
the
past,
Bleys
had
always
been
able
to
persuade
his
fellow Others
to
go
along
with
his
ideas;
that
was,
in
fact,
the
base
on which
his
control
rested.
He
anticipated
no
difficulty
now
in
persuading
his
invitees
to
support
him
in
the
plan
he
intended
to present—to
the
select
group
here
and
now,
and
to
the
larger
group that
would
be
attending
the
meeting
that
was
to
start
next
week
on Association.

But
he
had
never
had
to
try
to
create
such
a
consensus
of
opinion in
the
face
of
active
opposition
from
his
half-brother.