Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (111 page)

How could he have changed so much, so fast?

"A
big
change
to
take
place
in
a
year,"
Bleys
said.
Sitting
on
the desk,
he
was
now
looking
upward
at
Hal.
The
angle
gave
him
a slightly
different
perspective
on
the
younger
man's
face,
bringing out
the
strength
of
the
chin
and
opening
the
caves
of
his
eyes,
under
the
heavy
brows,
to
better
view.

Without
a
word,
Hal
moved
back
past
him,
returning
to
his
chair and
forcing
Bleys
to
swivel.
Now
Bleys
was
looking
down
on
his
host, although
not
at
a
great
angle.

He doesn
't
care. He's beyond size games.

"The
biggest
change
took
place
in
that
Militia
cell
in
Ahruma,
in the
day
or
two
after
you
left
me,"
Hal
said,
responding
to
Bleys'
comment
of
a
moment
before.
"I
had
a
chance
to
sort
things
out
in
my mind."

"Under
an
unusual
set
of
conditions,"
Bleys
said.
He
had
to
look sideways,
from
where
he
sat,
to
see
Hal
fully.
"That
captain
deliberately
misinterpreted
what
I
told
him."

"Amyth
Barbage—have
you
forgotten
his
name?"
Hal
said.
For all
the
sharpness
of
the
words,
the
tone
in
which
they
were
uttered was
not
accusatory.
"What
did
you
do
to
him,
afterward?"

"Nothing,"
Bleys
said.
"It
was
his
nature
to
do
what
he
did.
Any blame
there
was,
was
mine,
for
not
understanding
that
nature,
as
I should
have.
I
don't
do
things
to
people,
in
any
case.
My
work
is with
events."

"You
don't
do
anything
to
people?
Even
to
those
like
Dahno?"

For
a
very
short
second
Bleys
was
startled
into
wondering
just how
much
Hal
knew
of
the
workings
of
the
Others'
organization; then
he
shook
his
head,
both
in
answer
to
Hal
and
in
denial
of
that concern.

"Even
to
those
like
Dahno,"
Bleys
answered.
"Dahno
may
have created
the
conditions
that
could
lead
to
his
destruction.
All
I
did was
give
the
Others
an
alternative
plan;
and
in
refusing
to
consider it,
Dahno
put
himself
in
other
hands
than
mine.
As
I
say,
I
work with
larger
matters
than
individual
people."

"Then
why
come
see
me?"
As
Hal
said
those
words,
Bleys
finally put
his
finger
on
something
else
that
had
been
bothering
him
about this
whole
meeting:
Hal
Mayne
was
being
entirely
too
still.

It
was
not,
Bleys
thought
now,
the
stillness
of
someone
trying
to be
motionless;
rather,
it
was
the
utter
stillness
one
sometimes
found in
the
very
old,
or
the
very
wise—a
stillness
of
simple
waiting.

"Because
you're
a
potential
problem,"
said
Bleys.
He
felt
almost removed
from
his
own
answer,
as
if
his
mind
were
trying
to
deal
with another
concern
and
letting
his
body
speak
on
its
own.
He
didn't
like that
image,
and
made
himself
smile,
trying
to
become
more
immediately
engaged.

"Because
I
hate
the
waste
of
a
good
mind—ask
my
fellow
Others if
I
don't—and
because
I
feel
an
obligation
to
you."

And
even
as
he
said
it,
he
knew
his
answer,
while
true,
was
not complete,
and
he
felt
a
small
twinge
of
shame.

CHAPTER
36

This
meeting
was
not
going
as
he
had
expected.
He
had
thought the
encounter
would
be
an
emotional
event,
one
he
would
be
able to
direct
with
his
superior
experience.
Almost
always,
in
the
past,
he had
been
able
to
find
the
things
that
really
motivated
people— things
hidden
deep
inside
them—and
use
those
needs
to
lead
those possessed
by
them.
But
in
the
face
of
Hal
Mayne's
imperturbability and
self-control,
he
had
so
far
been
unable
to
find
the
handle
that put
the
man
in
a
ready
frame
of
mind.

"And
because
you
have
no
one
else
to
talk
to,"
said
Hal,
responding
to
Bleys'
statement
of
a
moment
before.

For
a
bare
fraction
of
a
second
something
seemed
to
turn
over
in Bleys'
chest,
as
if
his
long-dead
hope
of
friendship
had
abruptly raised
its
head.

No, that could not be; not with our history.
Bleys
quashed
his
reaction
fiercely.
Was
Hal
being
clever,
trying
to
manipulate
Bleys'
own emotions—did
he
recognize
Bleys'
tactics,
and
seek
to
turn
them back
on
Bleys
himself?

Was
he
even
more
like
Bleys
than
Bleys
had
known?

Bleys
put
on
a
smile
that
denied
weakness.

"That's
very
perceptive
of
you,"
he
said.
He
kept
his
voice
soft, concealing
the
effect
of
Hal's
words.
"But
you
see,
I've
never
had anyone
to
talk
to;
and
so
I'm
afraid
I
wouldn't
know
what
I
was missing.
As
for
what
brings
me
here,
I'd
like
to
save
you
if
I
could. Unlike
Dahno,
you
can
be
of
reliable
use
to
the
race."

"I
intend
to,"
said
Hal.

"No."
Bleys'
control
almost
deserted
him
once
more—this
time out
of
fury.
Fury
that
this
man,
whose
similarity
to
Bleys
teased him,
should
be
at
the
same
time
so
persistent
in
his
wrongness.