Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (116 page)

"And
so
you
drew
her
into
a
trap,
then?"

"Indeed,"
Barbage
said.
"We
made
an
estimate
of
the
time
it
would
likely
have
taken
for
her
to
hear
the
news
and
come
to
the city;
and
then
we
made
a
sweep,
picking
up
all
the
dregs
who
mingle
in
the
population."
He
smiled,
coldly.

"Thanks
to
thy
foresight,
Great
Teacher,
for
the
first
time
there existed
a
unified
force
under
the
command
of
a
single
officer
of
sufficient
rank
to
have
his
orders
obeyed,
and
sufficient
numbers
to
block more
routes
than
in
the
past—and
with
diligence
and
alacrity
the mistakes
that
had
always
sabotaged
the
efforts
of
other
commanders were
avoided.
Thus,
we
arrested
hundreds
of
those
unfaithful
we
believed
to
be
in
sympathy
with
her.
And
with
the
forces
entrusted
to me,
we
were
able
to
close
down
all
the
city,
and
the
nearby
countryside
besides;
and
keep
them
closed
so
that
none
could
get
away.
Until
eventually,
one
of
those
we
had
arrested
broke,
and
gave
us
a location
in
which
we
could
seek
Tamani."

"I
congratulate
you,
Colonel,"
Bleys
said.
"But
tell
me
now:
have you
learned
anything
from
the
woman
about
Hal
Mayne?"

"Although
put
to
the
test,"
Barbage
said,
"the
woman
continues to
deny
knowing
anything
new
of
Hal
Mayne."

"Do
you
believe
her?"

"I
do,
Great
Teacher,"
Barbage
said.
"I
believe
she
is
one
of those
who,
if
she
knew
anything
about
Mayne,
would
merely
seek to
maintain
silence,
rather
than
tell
an
outright
lie.
Moreover,
a
lack of
knowledge
on
her
part
is
logical,
since
Mayne
hath
not
been
on the
planet
and
the
Commands
have
no
access
to
off-planet
communications."

"That
we
know
of,"
Bleys
corrected
him.

"It
is
so,
Great
Teacher,"
Barbage
acknowledged;
but
his
eyes burned.

"I
accept
your
opinion,"
Bleys
said.
"But
tell
me—what
about the
remainder
of
her
Command?"

"We
found
none,
Great
Teacher,"
Barbage
said.
"The
woman said
she
came
to
the
city
alone;
and
indeed,
all
those
found
near her
were
locals
long
suspected
of
being
sympathetic
to
the
disaffected."

"Still,
she
must
have
other
information
that
can
be
of
use,"
Bleys said.
"Names
of
collaborators,
methods
of
communication,
and
so on?"

"Undoubtedly,
Great
Teacher.
I
intend
to
return
to
Ahruma
at once
and
redouble
my
efforts
with
her."

"Very
good,
Colonel,"
Bleys
said.
"Please
keep
me
informed."

"Would
it
please
thee
to
see
her,
when
next
thou
comest
to
Harmony?"

The
question
brought
back
sharply
Bleys'
memory
of
the
slim, beautiful
woman
he
had
met
briefly
on
her
own
ground,
one
day
on Harmony.

"No,"
he
said.

Henry
MacLean
was
disturbed.
He
had
just
completed
an
hour-long
cross-country
obstacle
run,
and
his
time
had
been
beaten
by
a goodly
number
of
his
Soldiers.
Being
bested
did
not
bother
him;
he had
never
been
the
swiftest
of
any
group.
What
bothered
him
was that
he
was
almost
exhausted,
and
it
was
taking
him
longer
to
recover
than
he
expected
of
himself.

He
was
still
better
at
the
skills
that
required
calm
and
the
ability to
focus
oneself,
such
as
shooting
or
spotting
out-of-place
people
or items
in
an
environment.
But
he
was
concerned
that
he
was
losing muscle
tone.
It
was
now
more
than
two
years
since
he
had
left
the farm,
and
he
did
not
feel
the
workouts
he
took
part
in,
as
part
of
his Soldiers'
maintenance
program,
did
as
much
for
him
as
the
farm-work
had.

Perhaps
it
was
that
he
was
in
his
fifties
now;
his
body
must
age,
as did
everyone's.
But
he
wondered
if
he
might
be
losing
some
of
his ability
to
do
the
tasks
he
had
set
for
himself.

He
had
known,
when
he
came
to
Bleys,
that
he
was
deficient
in many
areas;
but
he
had
never
had
any
doubts
about
his
physical abilities.

Henry
had
never
had
the
sort
of
formal
martial
arts
training
Bley
s and
Toni
practiced,
but
he
had
picked
up
a
lot
of
tricks
and
techniques
in
his
youth,
as
a
Soldier
of
God;
and
those
were
in
turn
built on
the
foundation
of
skills
developed
in
the
country
wrestling
of
his youth.