Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (62 page)

"Yes,"
Dahno
said,
his
voice
not
as
loud
as
a
moment
before,
but still
carrying
an
edge.
"I
even
talked
about
using
force
to
take
whatever
resources
the
Exotics
might
deny
us—but
I
was
talking
about some
time
well
in
the
future.
If
the
Dorsai
come
into
this
on
the Exotics'
side,
we
can't
ever
do
that,
and
might
very
well
lose
our control
of
the
planets
we've
already
got!"

"You
mean
it
might
scare
our
allies
into
deserting
us,"
Bleys
said.

"I'd
say
that's
a
certainty!"

"You're
no
military
expert,
brother,"
Bleys
said.
"Neither
am
I, for
that
matter.
But
everything
I've
ever
read
tells
me
that
no
military
force—even
the
Dorsai—can
just
pick
up
and
launch
an
attack without
a
certain
amount
of
preparation
time.
We've
got
time,
at
the very
least."

"Time
to
what?"

"Time
to
build
up
our
own
forces,"
Bleys
said.

"You
want
to
raise
an
army
to
oppose
the
Dorsai?"
Dahno
said, his
voice
incredulous.
"That's
insane!
How
many
people
would ever
join
us
to
do
that?"

"Oh,
it
would
be
a
mistake
to
tell
them,
ahead
of
time,
what we're
doing,"
Bleys
said.
"Nor
do
I
mean
we
just
raise
an
army
and space
force
and
nothing
more.
No."

He
leaned
back
in
his
chair,
looking
at
the
Mayne-map,
which also
doubled
as
a
map
of
the
whole
of
human
civilization.

"In
fact,
we're
merely
elaborating
on
our
original
plan,"
he
went on.
His
voice
was
still
quiet,
almost
detached.
"Even
if
the
entire population
of
the
Dorsai
came
out
in
force,
it
couldn't
really
stand up
to
the
combined
opposition
of,
say,
nine
worlds."

"Nine
worlds?"
Dahno
asked.
"You're
including—let's
see—Ceta, Freiland,
Sainte
Marie,
and,
um,
Coby?—with
the
five
worlds
we
already
control?"

"Right,"
Bleys
said.

"It
doesn't
matter!''''
Dahno
said,
his
voice,
recovered
from
his momentary
startlement,
again
loud,
and
edgy.
"Can't
you
see
that? Even
if
we
did
manage
to
get
control
of
nine
worlds,
and
even
if that
control
didn't
disintegrate
at
the
first
threat
of
a
war
with
the Dorsai—"
He
stopped
for
a
moment,
as
if
the
words
were
exploding out
of
his
mind
so
fast
that
he
had
lost
his
place
in
the
argument.
He took
a
deep
breath.

"Bleys,"
he
said—his
voice
was
lower
and
softer,
as
if
he
had
remembered
finally
to
employ
the
persuasiveness
that
had
been
surprised
out
of
him
earlier—"even
if
we
could
raise
enough
of
a
military force
to
beat
the
Dorsai,
it
would
ruin
us!"

"I'd
rather
not
get
into
a
shooting
war
with
anyone,"
Bleys
said. "And
I
really
believe
our
non
-
military
assets
will
assure
us
of
victory, and
an
overwhelming
one—to
the
point
where
realism
will
make our
opponents
lay
down
their
arms."

"The
Dorsai
don't
surrender,"
Dahno
said,
scowling.

"Even
if
that
were
true,"
Bleys
said,
"they've
never
had
to
fight a
war
in
which
they
didn't
have
a
place
to
stand."

He
swiveled
in
his
chair,
to
an
angle
from
which
he
could
look
at both
of
his
companions.
Toni
and
Dahno,
he
saw,
each
wore
a
puzzled
frown,
yet
he
perceived
a
vast
difference
in
the
unspoken
message
each
face
was
conveying.

"One
thing
the
Dorsai
have
never
adapted
to,"
Bleys
continued, "is
non
-
military
conflict.
We
aren't
armies
in
the
field,
trying
to
take and
hold
territory,
so
we
don't
present
a
military
target
along
the lines
of
anything
they've
had
to
deal
with
before.
Whatever
action they
take
will
have
to
be
outside
their
experience."

"What
kinds
of
actions
are
you
suggesting
they
might
try?"
Toni asked.

"Oh,
perhaps
precision
pre
-
emptive
attacks
on
military
bases
of the
planets
we
control,"
Bleys
said.
"But
that
would
alienate
the populations
of
those
worlds,
which
would
be
a
great
plus
for
us.
I think
they'll
realize
that—and
if
they
don't,
the
Exotics
certainly will."

"What
does
that
leave?"

"Not
much,"
Bleys
said.
"Underground
actions,
such
as
sabotage.
Or
even
assassination
campaigns."

"Are
you
serious?"
Dahno
yelled,
shaken.

"They
wouldn't
go
in
for
assassination,"
Toni
said
calmly.

"Perhaps.
Perhaps
not,"
Bleys
said.
"People
always
tend
to
throw their
principles
aside
when
they
feel
sufficiently
threatened.
But
it's not
going
to
be
a
real
danger
to
us
in
any
case,
because
we'll
be
well protected."

"By
who?"
Dahno
asked.

"By
the
peoples
of
the
worlds
we
control,"
Bleys
replied.
"We, and
all
of
our
Others,
can
have
so
many
bodyguards
it
would
take
a heavily
armed
military
unit
to
break
through
them.
And
any
attempt
to
try
that
would
be
dealing
us
a
winning
political
position."

Dahno
looked
sour.

"How
do
you
reach
that
conclusion?"
he
said.

"Think
about
it,"
Bleys
answered.
"They
can't
act
for
a
while
yet. In
the
meantime,
we'll
be
convincing
the
peoples
of
the
Younger Worlds
that
we're
peaceful
philosophers
seeking
only
the
good
of mankind—that's
what
I've
been
doing
on
my
speaking
tours
for years.
You
know
we
can
persuade
at
least
a
fair
portion
of
the
masses of
that
notion,
especially
if
we
tie
it
to
something
else
they
want,
like a
bigger
piece
of
their
planets'
economic
pies
or
to
stick
a
finger
in the
eye
of
Old
Earth."

"Oh,
we
can
do
that,
all
right,"
Dahno
said.
"Most
of
our
top
Others
already
have
major
establishments
and
sizable
personal
follow
ings
of
their
own
.
..
but
how
does
that
help
if
the
Dorsai
decide, say,
to
come
after
you—or
me,
or
any
of
our
top
people?"

"The
Dorsai
aren't
fools,"
Bleys
said.
"They
can't
afford
to
be seen
as
aggressors,
and
they'll
know
that
being
seen
attempting
to kill
us
would
energize
those
who
believe
in
us,
and
swing
a
lot
of those
on
the
fence
over
to
our
side.
And
if
the
Dorsai
have
any
doubts on
that
score,
the
Exotics
would
certainly
confirm
it
for
them— because,
after
all,
it's
true."
He
paused
as
a
new
thought
came
to
him.

"In
fact,"
he
continued,
"we
may
want
to
think
about
manufacturing
an
assassination
attempt
...
at
the
right
time,
of
course."

"Will
a
few
economic
incentives,
even
coupled
with
jealousy, work
on
enough
people?"
Dahno
asked,
ignoring
Bleys'
speculation.
"People
are
complex,
you
know
that;
and
many
of
them
have totally
differing
motivations."

"That's
certainly
true,"
said
Bleys.
"But
it
was
never
my
intention
we
would
stop
with
such
a
simplistic
program."

He
stood
up,
and
strode
over
to
the
Mayne-map,
looking
up
at
it from
its
left
side.

"There
are
all
these
worlds
full
of
people,"
he
said,
"and
it
seems like
a
huge
task
to
try
to
motivate
them
all,
I
know.
But
in
fact,
we don't
have
to
motivate
them
all
."

He
looked
sideways
as
Dahno
approached
the
other
side
of
the map.
Toni
kept
her
station
in
the
middle
of
the
room,
watching.

"There
are
all
sorts
of
keys
to
those
people,"
Bleys
said,
"and
we can
use
them
all,
trying
one
key
after
another
until
enough
of
them are
emotionally
aroused
and
intellectually
confused
to
follow
our lead—because
whether
they're
motivated
by
simple
greed,
or
religious
fanaticism,
or
jealousy,
all
of
it
comes
down
to
the
desire
to
believe
that
they're
better
than
the
people
on
the
other
side,
who
they want
to
believe
are
undeserving
of
their
luck,
or
crafty
conspirators, or
disbelievers...."
He
waved
a
hand
across
the
face
of
the
map.

"That's
not
the
only
weapon
we
can
create,"
he
went
on.
"We can
add
fear
to
the
mix
...
fear
that
the
peoples
they
already
hate will
come
and
take
what
little
they
already
have."