Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (35 page)

Toni
sat
at
her
desk,
keeping
an
eye
on
the
occasional
communication
being
silently
fed
to
her
screen.

The
silence
stretched
out,
punctuated
only
by
the
light
slap
of hand
on
bar.

As
noon
approached,
Toni
was
starting
to
contemplate
the
idea
of interrupting
Bleys
in
his
pacing.
She
had
had
to
do
so
in
the
past, and
she
hated
it—she
thought
of
his
walking
as
a
form
of
meditation,
and
believed
it
was
good
for
him.

On
this
occasion,
however,
the
word
meditation
did
not
really
seem to
fit
the
exercise;
there
was
something
more
driven,
more
keyed-up,
about
this
particular
session.

In
any
case,
Bleys
soon
broke
off
on
his
own
accord,
immediately after
making
one
of
his
turns
at
the
bar;
and
stopped,
looking
down the
length
of
the
lounge
at
her.

"How
long
have
I
been
at
this?"
he
asked
finally,
breaking
the
silence.

"Just
over
four
hours,"
she
said.
"Are
you
all
right?"

"I'm
all
right,"
he
said.
He
took
a
step
toward
her;
then
stopped. His
face
bore
a
strange
look—on
other
people,
she
thought,
it
might have
been
shame,
perhaps
mixed
with
chagrin.

"I
really
am
all
right,"
he
went
on.
"My
headache
is
gone
and
my head
feels
clear.
But
it
appears
my
physical
conditioning
has
suffered
since
we
came
to
this
planet."

"Hardly
unexpected,
considering
what
we've
been
through,"
she said.
She
surprised
herself
by
giving
out
a
sort
of
throaty
snort,
and grinned.
"I
was
going
to
suggest
we
get
back
to
our
exercises,
but thought
it
best
to
take
another
day
of
rest."

"You
were
right,"
he
said.
He
looked
around.
"Do
you
think
we could
work
out
in
this
space?"

"Easily,"
she
replied.
"Your
control
is
more
than
adequate
to keep
you
from
falling
over
the
furniture."
She
cocked
her
head slightly,
looking
at
him
sharply.

"What's
wrong?"
she
asked.

"I
think
I
gave
myself
blisters."

"That
shouldn't
have
happened,"
she
said,
frowning.
She
rose from
her
desk
and
walked
toward
him.
"What
are
you
doing
differently?"

"Nothing—that
I
know
of,"
he
said.

"No,
of
course
not,"
she
said.
"If
you
knew
what
you
were
doing wrong,
you
wouldn't
do
it.
Can
I
assume
you're
wearing
your
normal
footgear?"

"Yes."

"Sit
down
in
that
closest
chair,
and
I'll
call
Kaj
to
come
up."

"It's
not
that
bad—"
he
began,
but
she
interrupted
him.

"There's
no
point
in
trying
to
tough
it
out,"
she
said,
looking
stern. "Trying
to
do
that
will
cause
you
to
make
unconscious
adjustments, and
your
whole
body
will
end
up
out
of
balance.
You
know
that."

"I
know,"
he
said,
holding
up
a
hand
to
stop
her.
"I
know.
I meant
it's
not
necessary
to
call
Kaj
here—I
can
go
to
the
infirmary."

"It'd
be
best,"
she
said,
nodding.
"The
equipment
there
can take
care
of
your
feet
better
than
handheld
tools
down
here
...
are you
really
up
to
it?"

"It's
only
a
few
blisters,"
he
said.

"I
didn't
mean
it
that
way,"
she
said.
"What
I
meant
was,
are
you up
to
dealing
with
Kaj?
You've
been
pretty
short
with
him
from
the start,
but
..."
She
trailed
off.

"I
know,"
he
said.
"I
think
I'm
past
that
now."

She
looked
at
him
silently
for
a
moment.

"There's
more
going
on
here
than
I
realized,"
she
said
finally. "But
I
can't
believe
you
put
in
all
that
thought
on
your
relationship with
Kaj;
so
I
think
that's
only
a—a
side
effect."

"You're
right,"
he
said.
"But
let's
not
talk
about
it
now.
Call
Kaj and
see
if
he's
free
to
see
me."

"He
will
be,"
she
said.
"He
doesn't
let
anything
get
in
the
way
of his
vocation."

"I
know,"
Bleys
said.
"It's
one
of
the
things
I've
realized—that he's
more
like
me
than
I
knew."

She
returned
to
her
desk,
a
thoughtful
look
on
her
face,
and made
the
call.

CHAPTER
15

When
Bleys
got
back
to
the
lounge
an
hour
later,
Toni
was
all
business,
giving
him
details
on
the
results
of
the
search
for
researchers. The
list
of
candidates,
although
the
joint
project
of
the
Soldiers here
in
the
ship
and
the
staff
still
locked
up
in
the
consulate,
had, Bleys
knew,
been
led
and
guided
by
Toni.

There
was
speculation
in
her
expression
now,
as
she
looked
at him
across
the
space
between
their
desks,
but
he
was
sure
she would
not
try
to
probe
into
his
thinking
unless
she
believed
he needed
that,
somehow.

"No
one
has
made
an
approach
to
any
of
these
researchers,"
she said.
"So
it's
possible
some
of
them
can't,
or
won't,
take
on
whatever
project
you
have
in
mind.
But
we
can
pay
well."

"We
don't
want
to
offer
so
much
more
than
the
market
as
to
attract attention,"
he
warned.
"In
any
event,
we
won't
need
all
of
them,
so there's
plenty
of
leeway
for
refusals.
I'm
more
concerned
about
their locations—I
mean,
I
want
to
use
people
who
are
scattered
about
the planet,
rather
than
concentrated
in
one
place,
such
as
here
in
Ceta City."

"I
suppose
you
mean
if
they're
dispersed,
they're
less
likely
to gossip
with
each
other—people
in
a
specialized
field
often
know each
other,
after
all—and
perhaps
get
an
idea
of
the
extent
of
the project?"

"That,
yes,"
he
said.
"But
it
would
also
increase
the
chances
that each
will
have
access
to
peculiarly
local
information
not
available
in other
parts
of
the
planet."

He
saw
her
visibly
make
an
effort
to
stifle
her
questions
as
she returned
to
her
briefing.

"I
assume
you
have
no
intention
of
either
bringing
researchers