Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (70 page)

"Tomorrow?"

"Brother
can
be
a
great
help
to
me,"
Bleys
explained—referring
to Dahno
as
brother
was
faster
than
going
through
the
laborious
spelling process.
"Has
been.
But
if
he
intends
to
oppose
me,
I
have
to
stop
him."

"How
can
you
decide
what
to
do
if
you
don'
t
know
what
he's
planning?"

"I
can't
afford
to
waste
much
time
and
energy
on
what
is,
essentially,
a sideshow.
I'll
have
to
simply
try
to
disrupt
whatever
his
plans
are.
And
I may
be
able
to
do
that
while
also
getting
some
use
out
of
his
talents."

"What
do
you
want
me
to
do?"

"Tomorrow
I'll
propose
calling
a
convocation
of
all
our
top
0titers, telling
you
to
call
them
in,
and
to
have
them
arrive
here
on
Association
in three
weeks.
Instead,
you
'11
tell
certain
ones
to
come
secretly
to
my
offices
on Harmony,
four
days
earlier
than
the
three
weeks."

"Which
to
Harmony?"

"Will
signal
names
during
tomorrow's
exercise." "Tell
me
what
you
're
planning?" "Too
long
and
complicated.
You
’ll
hear
most
tomorrow."
Soon
after
that
they
finished
with
their
workout.
On
his
way
to the
shower,
Bleys
turned
back,
as
if
a
thought
had
just
struck
him. "Have
you
located
Barbage
yet?"

"The
message
went
out,"
Toni
said.
"I
haven't
had
a
response yet."

"Send
an
amendment,"
Bleys
said.
"Tell
him
not
to
come
to
Association,
but
to
wait
for
me
to
leave
him
a
message
at
my
offices
on Harmony."

"You're
going
to
Harmony?"
she
asked,
giving
no
sign
of
their silent
conversation
...
he
had
been
sure
she
would
not
fumble
before
any
unseen
listeners.

"I
wasn't,"
he
said.
"I
just
decided
on
it
while
we
were
working out.
Harmony
is
where
Hal
Mayne
was,
until
the
Exotics
got
him away;
and
I
think
there's
some
follow-up
to
be
done
there."

"It
won't
hurt
to
look
in
on
McKae,
cither,"
she
said,
continuing their
charade.
"I
know
you
don't
like
the
kinds
of
things
First
Elders
have
to
do,
but
there's
much
to
be
gained
from
keeping
your hand
active
in
the
government."

"I
wish
I
could
consider
McKae
reliable,"
Bleys
said.
"His
personality
seems
to
have
been
deteriorating,
but
I
can't
discount
the chance
he'll
rebel
sometime."

"You
can
afford
a
certain
amount
of
protocol,"
she
said.
"It
reassures
him,
and
that
helps
you
get
our
people
into
all
levels
of
the government."

There
was
no
charade
in
that
statement.

"The
latest
reports
are
in
from
Ceta,"
Dahno
said,
stepping
off
the disk
of
the
float
elevator
later
that
day.
His
broad
face
shone
with cheerfulness
and
he
was
moving
quickly,
more
energetic
than
at any
time
since
his
injury.

"I've
had
them
scanned
in
so
you
can
look
them
over
on
your screen,"
he
added,
waving
a
hand
in
the
direction
of
Bleys'
desk.

"I
will,"
Bleys
said,
smiling
back
at
his
brother,
"but
why
don't you
summarize
it
for
me,
first?"

"The
Families
arc
sending
six
of
their
young
people
here
to
us for
training,"
Dahno
said,
grinning.
"They're
convinced
of
our
abilities
and
they
think
they
can
learn
them.
It'll
be
a
great
opportunity for
us
to
set
up
future
control
of
the
Families."

"It'll
be
interesting
to
meet
them,"
Bleys
said.
"I've
believed
for some
time
that
the
reason
the
Families
are
ruled
by
their
elderly members
is
because
the
younger
generations
don't
care
about
what happened
to
Prince
William.
We'll
make
good
use
of
them."

"Also,"
Dahno
continued,
"they've
given
Pallas
Salvador
the
chair of
the
Malik
Shipping
Line,
as
well
as
directorships
in
three
other major
companies;
and
they've
placed
more
of
our
Others
into
nine other
directorships
in
five
other
major
companies.
Pallas
Salvador says
it's
no
gesture
on
their
part:
she's
already
moved
Others
into
a number
of
key
positions
in
several
of
those
companies—enough
that we're
running
short
of
people."

"I
presume
Pallas
Salvador
is
carrying
out
our
end
of
our
bargain?"

"She
says
she's
already
given
orders
to
divert
three
shipments
of metals
intended
for
the
Dorsai—they'll
be
Most,'
officially,
and
the shipping
company's
records
will
only
show
that
the
cargoes
left Coby
on
Malik
vessels
and
haven't
been
heard
of
since.
Meanwhile, the
Dorsai's
escrow
will
be
frozen
until
the
matter
is
cleared
up— which
will
drag
out
for
a
very
long
time....
The
Families
are
very pleased;
it's
something
they
never
thought
of."

"How
did
she
manage
to
set
that
up
so
quickly?"
Toni
asked.

"Pallas
Salvador
is
neither
innovative
nor
particularly
persuasive,"
Bley
s
said,
"but
she
can
be
an
efficient
administrator,
once she's
given
the
outline
of
a
plan."

"She's
going
to
have
her
hands
full,"
Dahno
said.
"We'll
probably
need
to
put
someone
else
in
to
run
the
organization
there."