Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (40 page)

"It
sounds
like
the
opposite
of
war,"
he
admitted.

"You
said
yourself,
a
while
ago,
that
war
is
a
conflict
of
opposing forces,"
she
said.
"But
our
art
seeks
to
flow
with
an
opposing
force, rather
than
entering
into
open
conflict
with
it."

"That's
right,"
he
said.
"I
spoke
too
loosely.
Maybe
it
would
be more
accurate
to
say
that
although
the
historical
forces
don't
go
to
war
with
each
other—people
do.
War
is
always
a
subjective
phenomenon;
it's
only
accurately
used
when
it's
applied
to
the
way
the forces
work
themselves
out
in
human
lives." It
took
her
a
moment
to
reply.

"What
it
seems
to
come
down
to,
if
I
understand
you
correctly,
is that
the
historical
forces
themselves
are
largely
irrelevant
to
the
average
woman
or
man.
And
if
a
war
comes
out
of
those
forces—"

"I
suspect
all
wars
grow
out
of
those
forces,"
he
said.
"Sorry—I interrupted
you."

"Well,
if
a
war
comes,
it
doesn't
matter
to
the
average
person whether
it's
the
result
of
historical
forces,
or
not,"
she
said.

"For
the
average
person,
it
seldom
matters
what
causes
a
war,"
he said.
"It's
like
a
storm
that
blows
up
in
the
late
afternoon.
To
all
intents
and
purposes,
it's
just
something
that
happens,
that
the
person being
rained
on
didn't
cause,
didn't
ask
for,
and
didn't
want—but has
to
endure."

"And
you,
knowing
about
these
historical
forces—you
don't
feel like
you're
a
slave
to
them?"

"No,"
he
said.
"Maybe
an
ally.
All
I'm
really
trying
to
do
is
save the
human
race;
and
if
that
purpose
happens
to
facilitate
the
working
out
of
some
conflict
between
the
forces—so
be
it.
I'm
not
doing what
I'm
doing
for
the
sake
of
the
forces,
but
for
myself
and
for
the race."

"So
maybe
the
best
analogy
might
be
that
you're
trying
to
guide the
race
through
that
storm?" "I
like
that
one,"
he
said.

Again,
she
was
silent;
and
finally
he
spoke
again.

"It
is
sad
that
some
of
our
Others
have
been
killed,"
he
said. "I'd've
prevented
that
if
I'd
seen
it
coming.
But
in
the
course
of events,
many
more
are
certain
to
be
killed,
both
Others
and
ordinary
people,
before
the
race
is
placed
firmly
on
its
path
to
safety. Many
of
those
will
die
because
they
oppose
what
I'm
doing,
and some
will
die
to
support
it—and
the
only
difference
between
them may
be
that
the
latter
die
out
of
loyalty
to
a
better
cause
.
..
even though
many
on
both
sides
will
never
know
exactly
what
it
is
their struggles
and
deaths
are
supporting."

"You
said
it,
a
few
minutes
ago,"
Toni
said:
"The
Others
who've been
killed
here
on
Ceta
were
probably
killed
for
their
loyalty." "Yes."

"The
converse
of
that
idea
is
that
any
of
the
Others—or
the
staff, for
that
matter—who
are
still
alive
may
have
been
corrupted."

"It
may
be,"
he
said,
"although
I
find
it
highly
unlikely
that
so many
could
have
been
diverted
from
their
loyalties.
During
our
first meeting
here,
I
really
felt
I
was
seeing
people
genuinely
committed to
our
organization.
Those
Others
in
that
meeting
seemed
interested,
even
eager,
to
work
on
our
plan—and,
yes,
I
realize
I've
just done
exactly
what
you
did,
a
few
minutes
ago,
in
talking
about
your reaction
to
Sandra
Rossoy."

"They
may
not
all
be
corrupted
yet,"
she
said.
"On
the
other hand,
the
eagerness
you
saw
might
have
been
just
interest
in
getting
something
from
us."

"It's
not
necessarily
the
case
that
any
of
them
are,
as
you
say,
'corrupted,'"
Bleys
said.

"But
if
they're
not
cooperating
with
our
unknown
enemies,
then they're
dupes."

"In
any
case,
we're
still
facing
the
problem
of
what
to
do
about it,"
he
said.
"We
can
be
pretty
sure
of
the
identity
of
at
least
some of
the
infiltrators.
But
we
can't
have
them
arrested,
and
there's
no way
to
guarantee
they'd
tell
us
anything
if
we
confronted
them."

"We
could
grab
some
and
interrogate
them,"
she
said,
a
questioning
tone
in
her
voice.

"That
could
be
a
very
dangerous
move,"
Bleys
said.
"Remember,
we
still
don't
know
the
extent
of
their
power
and
influence here.
We
know
that
some
of
our
enemies
have
taken
positions
on the
Cetan
Others'
staffs,
but
we
also
know
they
have
confederates who
aren't
on
the
staffs—and
we
have
no
idea
who
those
people
are or
how
many
of
them
there
might
be."