Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (46 page)

He
smiled
at
her
again.

"You
weren't
in
charge
here
the
last
time
I
was
on
Ceta,"
he
went on,
"and
I
haven't
had
time
to
get
to
know
you
very
well.
But
I made
a
decision
to
trust
you
would
understand,
later....
I
thought I'd
be
able
to
count
on
your
agreeing—as
all
of
our
Others
have
always
agreed—to
put
yourself
at
the
disposal
of
our
movement."

"But
of
course!"
she
said.
"You
can't
doubt—"

"—and
I
didn't,"
he
interrupted
again.
"I
did
not
doubt
at
all; and
so
I
did
what
was
best
for
our
movement."
He
smiled
again, almost
shyly.

"In
short,"
he
went
on,
"I
used
you."

"'Used
me?"

"Used
you,"
he
said,
nodding.
"I
used
you
as
bait.
I
had
to
find out
who
was
behind
the
attack
on
me—I
had
to
know
if
it
was
part of
an
attack
on
our
movement.
So
I
set
our
people
to
observe whether
any
further
attacks
were
made—which
meant
they
had
to watch
you,
because
you
were
the
next
most
obvious
target,
if
the attacks
were
in
fact
aimed
at
our
Others."

"Yes,
I
see
that,"
she
said.
"But
why
didn't
you
tell
me?"

"I
had
several
reasons
for
that,"
he
said.
"For
one,
it
was
possible that
if
you
knew
our
people
were
watching,
you
might
change
your behavior—and
our
success
depended
on
you
continuing
to
follow your
usual
routines."

She
started
to
object,
but
he
interrupted
once
more.

"The
other
reason
was
perhaps
less
obvious,"
he
said,
"but
was more
fundamental:
we
had
no
safe
way
to
let
you
know
what
we thought
might
be
going
on."

"I
don't
understand!"

"Remember,
we
were
on
the
other
side
of
the
planet,"
he
said, "in
the
Friendly
consulate
in
Abbeyville."

She
nodded,
recalling
his
messages
from
that
location.

"At
that
point,"
Bleys
continued,
"we
were
unable
to
communicate
safely
with
you
anymore."

"
'Safely'?"
She
blinked.

"Yes,"
he
said.
"If
you
think
about
it,
you'll
realize
that
in
both attacks,
the
attackers
had
to
have
been
informed
of
our
exact
itinerary."
He
held
up
a
hand,
forestalling
her
exclamation.

"In
short,
we
believe
someone
is
able
to
intercept
our
communications
to
you,"
he
said.

"I
see!"
She
nearly
yelled
it.
Recovering
herself,
she
continued
in a
lower
tone:
"I
do
see
...
but
I
thought
our
communications
were secure—"
There
was
now
a
question
in
her
tone.

"So
did
we,"
he
said,
a
rueful
look
on
his
face.
"But
now
you'll
realize,
we
couldn't
safely
let
you
know
what
was
happening,
because whoever
was
reading
our
messages—"

"—would
know
we
were
on
to
them!"

He
smiled
at
her.

"So
we
trusted
you
would
understand
later,"
he
said.
"And
I
see you
do."

She
smiled
back.
It
seemed
so
clear
and
right,
the
way
he
explained
it.

"Oh,
yes,"
she
murmured.

For
a
few
moments
there
was
silence
in
the
lounge.

Eventually
Pallas
was
led
back
to
her
room.
She
was
sleepy,
but filled
with
a
kind
of
exhilaration.
She
felt
she
had
a
heightened
understanding
of
the
unity
of
the
Others—
her
Others—under
Bleys' leadership,
and
of
the
Tightness
of
their
work.
She
drifted
into
sleep on
a
slow,
smooth
tide
of
warm
feelings
that
she
hugged
to
herself, smiling.

Meanwhile,
Bleys
was
telling
Toni,
back
in
the
lounge,
that
he
was now
convinced
that
Pallas
Salvador
was
not
one
of
their
unknown
enemies.

"I
agree,"
Toni
said.
"That
doesn't
mean
she's
entirely
without fault
here."

"As
head
of
the
organization
on
this
planet,
she's
of
course
ultimately
responsible
for
everything,"
Bleys
said.
"Or
did
you
have something
more
specific
in
mind?"

"Put
that
way—no,"
she
said.
"I'm
the
one
who
said
being
deceived
is
no
crime.
But
maybe
being
the
leader
of
a
group
who
were deceived
so
badly
requires
a
certain—well,
penalty."

"As
a
kind
of
organizational
imperative?"
he
asked.
"I
mean,
as an
example?"

She
paused,
thinking.

"No,
I
guess
I
don't
mean
it
that
way,"
she
said
finally.
"It
might be
good
for
the
organization
to
impose
some
sort
of
punishment—
pour encourager les autres,
as
they
used
to
say;
but
any
major
sanction placed
on
her
would
be
disproportionate
to
her
actual
culpability."

"I
don't
understand
that
phrase
you
used,"
Bleys
said.
"What was
that,
Old
Earth
French?"

"Sorry,"
she
said.
"French,
yes—I
don't
speak
the
language,
but I
found
the
phrase
in
a
book
spool
that
my
Dorsai
grandmother owned,
when
I
was
small.
It
was
Cletus
Grahame's
Tactics of Mistake.
She
told
me
it
meant
something
like
as an incentive to everyone else.
I loved
the
liquid
sound
of
the
phrase
when
she
told
me
how
to
pronounce
it,
and
it
stuck
with
me."

"You're
concerned
about
the
fairness
of
punishing
Pallas
Salvador,"
Bleys
said.

"I
guess
I
am,
yes,"
she
replied,
"even
though
I
feel
there's
something
wrong
if
she
isn't
somehow
made
to
pay
for
what's
happened here—I
mean,
she
didn't
even
know
that
nine
of
her
people
had gone
missing!"

"We
don't
yet
know
the
full
details
of
what's
happened
here,"
he said,
"nor
the
extent
of
any
deficiencies
in
her
operation.
But
I'm beginning
to
believe
Pallas
Salvador
has
a
lot
left
to
give
to
our
organization.
Dahno
and
I,
just
on
the
basis
of
the
reports
we
saw
coming
from
Ceta
a
few
years
ago,
made
her
the
top
person
here
despite knowing
she
wasn't
the
most
adept
person
we
have,
as
far
as
the ability
to
persuade
and
convince
goes—because
she
was
showing
a lot
of
administrative
ability,
which
the
wide
dispersal
of
power
on this
planet
seemed
to
demand.
But
now,
with
this
example
in
the back
of
her
mind,
it's
possible
she'll
become
a
great
administrator and
organizer—in
the
particular
situation
of
this
planet
now,
coordination
may
be
as
necessary
as
persuasive
abilities."

"You
know
I
don't
see
the
reports
that
come
in
from
Ceta,"
Toni said,
"but
just
from
our
time
spent
in
her
offices,
and
conversing
with her
staff,
I'd
say
she's
been
walking
a
narrow
line
between
being
a productive
leader,
or
a
tyrant
who
could
alienate
her
people.
It
might be
better
if
she
were—well,
not
punished,
but
put
in
another,
less supervisory
position."

"Keep
in
mind
the
fragile
position
of
our
organization
on
this planet
right
now,"
Bleys
said.
"If
Pallas
Salvador
isn't
particularly
liable
for
having
been
deceived,
then
neither
are
her
subordinate Others
or
their
staffs.
But
I
think
that
when
they're
apprised
of
this plot,
those
Others—and
their
staffs—will
be
left
feeling
very
guilty, even
if
we
never
give
a
hint
we're
holding
anything
against
them."

"And
seeing
Pallas
Salvador
disciplined—no
matter
how
lightly— would
weigh
on
them,
and
affect
their
morale
and
performance," she
said.
"I
see."

"The
organization
here,
I
now
believe,
is
about
to
enter
a
period of
major
change,"
Bley
said.
"None
of
these
Others
seem
to
be
extraordinary
at
their
jobs,
but
I've
seen
things
that
suggest
that
many have
a
good
deal
of
ability.
And
for
us,
in
this
place
and
time,
quantity
may
be
more
important
than
quality."

"And
we
don't
have
enough
spare
personnel
to
step
in
if
we
removed
them,"
she
said,
thoughtfully.
"Not
right
now.
We
could
do it
over
time,
though."

"But
time
has
suddenly
become
very
important,
here,"
he
said.

"What
do
you
mean?"

"I
came
here
with
a
made-up
tale
that
we
were
about
to
take
major
action
to
seize
control
of
this
planet,"
he
said.
"It
was
only
intended
to
shock
the
local
organization,
giving
us
a
chance
to
watch their
reactions
and
learn
who
had
other
loyalties.
I
had
no
serious belief
we
could
do
much
more
than
fix
our
problem
and
continue silently
building
for
the
future.
But
now,
I'm
beginning
to
have other
ideas."

"What've
you
seen
that
tells
you
that?"

"I'd
rather
not
say,"
he
said.
"It's
not
much
more
than
a
feeling, at
this
point;
I
need
a
lot
more
information."

"Are
you
saying
a
patched-up
organization,
led
by
someone
who let
her
organization
be
hijacked,
can
carry
out
a
program
to
take control
of
this
planet?"