Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (33 page)

"A
lot
of
people
believe
plain
food
is
blessed
in
the
eyes
of
the Lord,"
she
said.

"It
was
all
the
farm
could
provide,"
he
said,
not
intending
any irony.

"It's
that
way
for
a
lot
of
people
on
Association,
even
today,"
she said.
"On
Harmony,
too.
And
these
arc
good
days,
compared
to those
early
years
after
the
planets
were
first
settled."

"On
some
of
the
other
Younger
Worlds,
too,"
he
said.
He
shook his
head.
"A
lot
of
people
have
already
suffered
because
of
the
decision
to
leave
Old
Earth."

He
was
conscious
of
her
eyes
on
him,
but
he
avoided
looking
directly
into
her
gaze,
and
bent
to
pick
up
the
cheese
he
had
dropped. She
got
a
treated
cleaning
cloth
and
wiped
the
floor
surface;
and then
watched
as,
after
starting
to
throw
the
fallen
cheese
away,
he turned
to
the
sink
to
rinse
it
off,
before
putting
it
on
his
plate.

"There
are
a
lot
of
people
who'd
love
to
have
that
cheese,"
he said.
"Even
dirty."

"Something
to
drink?"
she
asked.

Back
in
the
lounge
that
had
been
converted
into
an
office
for him,
he
put
his
plate
and
glass
on
his
desk
and
pulled
over
a
large, but
light,
float
chair
of
the
kind
Others'
ships
always
kept
available for
him.
His
finger
reached
out
for
the
control
that
would
give
him access
to
the
databanks,
but
then
hesitated.

He
was
sitting
in
the
same
position,
a
distant
frown
on
his
face, when
Toni
walked
into
the
room,
carrying
her
own
plate
and
glass. When
she
saw
his
face
she
walked
across
the
room
to
her
own
desk, and
put
her
plate
down;
and
began
to
eat
while
catching
up
on
the communications
that
had
come
in
overnight.

Some
minutes
later,
she
pressed
the
HUSH
control
on
her
console,
and
opened
an
interior
comm
channel.

"Bridge
here.
What
can
I
do
for
you,
Antonia
Lu?"

"Why,
Captain—I
didn't
expect
you\
I
thought
you
were
out
of the
ship?"

"I
came
aboard
last
night,"
the
deep
female
voice
replied.
"I couldn't
stand
it.
And
who
else
would
be
answering
your
call?
The ship's
nearly
empty,
since
it's
normal
procedure
for
most
of
the
crew to
go
ashore
when
repairs
are
in
progress,
which
is
the
story
we've given
out."

"I
know
that's
true,"
Toni
said,
"but
it
still
surprised
me
to
hear your
voice."

"Someone
has
to
do
it,
after
all,
and
the
First
Officer
is,
I
hope, sleeping—he
was
on
watch
for
nearly
twenty
hours,
since
the
few crew
members
left
on
board
are
working
on
the
repairs
and
remodeling."

"They're
actually
repairing
something?
I
thought
that
was
only
a story?"

"Well,
it
is,"
the
captain
said.
"But
the
story
won't
look
realistic
if this
ship
doesn't
send
out
discarded
materials
every
now
and
then. We
even
have
Cetan
personnel
coming
aboard
every
day
to
do
some of
the
work;
but
our
crew
is
responsible
for
keeping
them
away from
the
areas
where
you
and
the
First
Elder
might
be
seen.
Now what
can
I
do
for
you?"

"I'm
afraid
this
puts
me
in
an
awkward
position,
Captain.
I
was hoping
I
could
get
a
few
bodies
in
here
to
help
me
move
some
furniture."

"Move
furniture?"

"I'm
afraid
so.
It's
a
matter
of
putting
this
lounge
into
a—a
configuration
that
will
facilitate
our
work."
Toni
knew
it
would
be
easier
to
explain
what
she
wanted
when
she
could
simply
point
at things.

"Right
now?"
the
captain
asked.

"As
soon
as
possible,
at
any
rate,
if
it
can
be
arranged."

"Give
me
a
couple
of
minutes,
please."

After
the
captain
keyed
off,
Toni
set
the
lounge's
main
door
to
stay open.
In
a
few
minutes
the
tall,
stocky
form
of
Captain
Anita
Broadus appeared
in
the
doorway,
followed
by
three
crew
members—two men
and
a
woman;
two
of
them
appeared
rumpled,
as
if
they
had
just awakened,
and
one
of
the
men
was
trying
to
stifle
a
yawn.

Upon
seeing
Bleys
still
apparently
deep
in
thought,
the
captain turned
her
attention
to
Toni,
who
had
walked
across
to
meet
her.

"Are
we
going
to
disturb
the
First
Elder?"
the
captain
asked— she
was
trying
to
whisper,
Toni
realized,
but
she
was
a
large
woman with
a
personality
to
match,
and
one
used
to
command;
even
her whisper
came
out
with
a
booming
quality.