Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (7 page)

Having been met at the landing pad and recorded having his hand shaken by a variety of officials, Bleys was finally turned loose to be convoyed into the city; and he and some of his party, after quick greetings to the junior staff in the reception area of the Others' planetary head office, were led into the conference room some minutes after noon, local time. Many of the waiting Others' leadership— even those for whom this was the middle of the night—were visibly pleased to see Dahno, for whom they had all developed a great fondness during their time in the training program he had run them through on Association.

Bleys was quickly introduced to the more senior staff people, including some who had flown in with their particular bosses. Bleys was polite to each of them, but Dahno, he saw, was off to one side working his usual genial magic on all comers.

"And finally, Bleys Ahrens, this is Gelica Costanza, my top administrative assistant," Pallas Salvador said, as they at last reached the head table. Bleys found himself exchanging greetings with a short, blocky female figure with graying dark hair and a reddish complexion. Her gray-blue eyes, he saw, were sharp and alert.

"Are you from Ceta?" he asked her.

"I've spent much of my life here, Great Teacher," she said. "But I'm a crossbreed, too, born and raised on Mara."

Bleys knew she was too old to have gone through Dahno's training course, so she must have been a local hire, one result of Bleys' program to increase the size of the organization by reaching out to untrained Others. Apparently this one had worked out well.

On a sudden impulse, he turned to Pallas Salvador:

"How many of your senior leadership are here?" he asked. "Do we have any empty seats?"

"We called in forty-four," she said. "But only thirty-five have arrived so far."

"Nine are missing? Didn't they have enough time to get here?"

Standing behind Pallas Salvador and engaged in another conversation, Dahno turned his head. He said nothing as his eyes met Bleys'.

"They've all had at least seven hours' notice," Pallas Salvador said, embarrassed. "We've had no word from any of them, and their staff all say they don't know where their bosses are."

"Is it possible they're out on their routes?" Bleys asked. His question showed that he had been studiously reading the reports sent in from the Cetan Others: on this large planet, the small number of senior Others had developed a pattern of spreading their individual attention over a number of states, between which they moved like nomads tending their flocks.

"Their staff people would know where they were, in that case," Pallas pointed out. Then she grimaced, embarrassed at her own temerity, as Dahno moved over to stand beside Bleys, looking down at her.

"That seems strange," Dahno said, ignoring her discomfort. "Has anyone gone looking for them?" "There's been no time."

"Can you have someone follow up right away?" Bleys said. "Have someone call the various transportation facilities; and if the missing people aren't found, arrange for dependable people to catch the first flights out to each of those offices."

"I'll do it myself," Pallas Salvador said, starting to turn away; Bleys put a hand on her arm.

"Not you," he said.

"I can do that," Gelica said.

"Not you, either," Bleys said, suddenly aware that he had been overlooking something. He turned to Pallas again, as Dahno silently moved off once more, to be greeted by another group of his old trainees.

"I want to start the meeting right away, and I want you both there. Toni—" He turned to look, and found she was right at his side and had been listening. "Can you do this?" he asked her.

"Of course," she said, "if I can borrow some of the local staffers who won't be wanted in the meeting." She was looking at Pallas Salvador as she said that.

"Certainly," Pallas said. "Gelica, find Sandra for us, won't you?"

"Right away," Gelica said; and r
aised her wristpad to her face,
turning away slightly and activating the
HUSH
setting that kept her voice from being overheard as she spoke into the pad.

"Sandra used to hold Gelica's job," Pallas said, in a lower tone, to Bleys and Toni. "She left us when her husband was transferred to Azul, and has been working part-time in Janet Bovovo's office there. I suggest her for that job, Antonia Lu, because she has a lot of experience with our organization and will be obeyed by the junior staff, but is no longer considered senior staff, since she's just been working part-time.. . . Here she is now."

Toni left for the front office immediately, Sandra in tow, and Pallas and Gelica turned their attention back to Bleys. He was watching curiously as Toni and Sandra left.

"If she's only a part-timer in an outlying office, why is she even here?" he said as he turned to look at Pallas again.

"Janet—that's her boss—had to move fast to get here," Pallas said, "and she told me she just grabbed the nearest couple of staff people to accompany her." She leaned toward Bleys and continued in a confidential whisper: "The fact that Sandra's parents live here in
Ceta
City, and that her mother's been ill for some time, might have entered into the choice."

Bleys nodded. "I assume she's capable of the job?"

"Of course," Pallas said. "I depended on her, until she had to leave." She looked sideways at Gelica Costanza. "I didn't think I'd find someone able to replace her, but Gelica has been very good, too."

"That's good to know," Bleys said. "And since there are some open seats in the meeting, let's have some of the senior staff in there with us, too—but only," he raised one finger in emphasis, "Others, and only if you're sure they're absolutely dependable and committed to us."

A bit shocked, Pallas agreed; and between them, she and Gelica quickly winnowed through the list of senior staff on hand.

While he waited, Bleys rethought his idea of inviting some staff members to sit in. The idea had only just come to him, and he had had no time to think it through. If the notion was a good one, it had to be carried out quickly; and he had learned to trust the ideas that sometimes sprouted full-blown from the back of his mind.

His initial plan had been to use shock tactics on the Others' leaders attending the meeting, suspecting that one or more had been lazy, irresponsible or even corrupt; Pallas Salvador was the most likely candidate, in fact, given her top position here. But Gelica Costanza's presence, and her apparent importance, had suggested that local staff were more important in the Ceta operation than were staff on other worlds; so he decided to widen his range of inquiry to include them.

In less than ten minutes, almost everyone who was not invited to sit in had been shooed out, Toni making her way through them to come back into the room. The remaining chatter died swiftly as Bleys, who had remained standing, silenced Pallas Salvador's welcoming remarks with a gesture. He himself remained silent until one of his own staff signaled that the room was free of listening devices— and then that staffer, too, left. Now only Bleys, Dahno, Toni, the Association-trained Others and some of the senior Cetan staff were present.

"You may have heard," Bleys began, his voice soft enough that they almost—but not quite—had to strain to hear him, "that our people on New Earth, Newton and Cassida are now in strong position to influence the leaderships of those worlds."

Some in the audience nodded, and all their faces were intent. They had heard, in fact, that it was Bleys who had orchestrated a series of negotiations that resulted in those alliances—and they also knew that
influence
was not a strong enough word to describe the position the Others now occupied on those three planets.

"You've known," Bleys continued, "since soon after you joined this organization, that our ultimate goal has always been to become the ruling force on all the worlds." He paused, turning his head to look at Dahno, seated near him at the head table; he knew that the very drama in that pause would convey his message as effectively as any words he could speak.

Some had already caught on, he saw; and he looked about the room, making note of faces showing perception and eagerness.

"You are the ones who may find yourselves in at the very beginning of a new Ceta," he said, finally. Beside him, Dahno, playing his part, smiled broadly.

For the next few minutes Bleys eased his audience into the notion of taking control of the planet. It had to be done that way, he knew, because for all that they had been introduced to the idea of controlling the Worlds long ago, it was a very different thing to suddenly have the prospect looming up before them. Some of the faces in his audience showed fright, he thought; but even those also showed interest.

Which of them, if any, were the ones he was trying to smoke out—the ones who either had been working to conceal the true situation on this planet, or had been stunningly inept?

Does the fear mean they're more intelligent? he asked himself. Or just more timid? I'll have to know them better before I can answer that.

Within himself, he knew he was hardly likely to ever get the time to do that. He thought he understood now, a little better, why Dahno so strongly resisted the need to delegate responsibilities, even to his own, handpicked people.

Be careful,
Bleys told himself now.
You can't
afford to start believing every
thing you say. You 're not here to take Ceta, and you can'/ forget this is only a ruse.

But there was a rising tide of excitement in him, as if the deepest part of his mind sensed something approaching from beyond the horizon.

"The task we face is huge," Bleys continued, "and Dahno and I don't pretend to have a schematic to show you exactly how to do it. Ceta, as a large world comprised of a large number of independent states, presents a very different problem than did the monolithic planetary governments we dealt with on New Earth, Newton, Cassida—yes, and on Harmony and Association, too." He paused to sweep their faces with his eyes, one of his oldest attention-getting techniques.

"We are far too few to have any hope of really controlling the Worlds in detail," he went on. "Even after the recruiting efforts we've all been making for the past five years, our numbers remain minuscule in comparison to the populations of the Younger Worlds. And you know as well as I that many of the newly recruited Others will never receive the training some of you have gotten from Dahno and our organization—yes," he said, "if you haven't noticed, we're joined by some of your senior staff, who of course haven't had that training."

He paused for a moment, looking about the room.

"Our numbers long ago overran our ability to train people," he said. "While we will continue to train suitable candidates, more of the responsibility for training new recruits is going to have to fall on you people in the field—but Dahno will speak of that in more detail later."

Beside him, his brother nodded, now looking serious.

"You must never forget," Bleys went on, "that going through Dahno's training program is not what makes one an Other. You who are here from the staff are Others—you always have been—and neither you nor the trained Others who are your leaders can ever forget that."

There was a small stir in the room.

"There's hope," Bleys said. "I know you're all aware that one of the major keys to the success of our organization has been our unique ability to influence other people, to persuade them to trust us and follow our lead. But I tell you now, if you haven't realized it already: not all who get chosen for training displtiy the persuasive abilities that have allowed us to get this far."

There were troubled frowns among his audience now.

"That doesn't mean those people aren't Others," he said. "Never think that. Just as in the remainder of the human race, some have higher levels of talent than do others."

He paused, trying to refocus them by his brief silence.

"Dahno and I," he continued after a moment, "have been working to develop techniques that may help us multiply the effects of our powers; and before too long we'll all be talking about that. But none of you must ever forget those Others who haven't been able to receive our training—like the members of your senior staff; they've been loyal, and they, too, will share in our future."

Smiles broke out, not only on the faces of the staff people, but on those of some of the top Others.

"Now to the more specific matter of Ceta," Bleys said. Faces sobered.

"Dahno and I have been working among the Worlds," he continued. "We face different challenges out there than you do, here on your target world. But don't ever think we're unaware of your work. Your work is vital to our work; we know that
...
and our work
/s
your work, in the long run."

He paused, looking at them seriously; then leaned forward, bending over the table with his extended arms supporting his bowed shoulders while he tilted his head to look into their faces.

"At the same time, you must never forget," he said, his voice lower, more serious, less comradely, "that you were set up here for the purpose of carrying out the organization's mission. And that mission is not limited only to Ceta. The organization—the Others—
we
—" He raised himself from the table as he raised his voice again, sweeping his arms in great circles to include them all in his words. "—we have a larger mission, among all the Younger Worlds."

He could see them reacting positively to that message, smiling, bringing their heads up.

"You all live and work here," he went on softly. "That's your job. But Dahno and I are the ones who've been out among the Worlds. We're the ones who see the bigger picture."

He paused, looking from side to side. His next words were uttered so quietly they almost had to strain to hear him.

"That's how we've learned the things that tell us the time is now ripe for the next step," he said. "But we, Dahno and I, don't have the necessary expertise about Ceta—its situation, its needs and wants, even its idiosyncrasies.

"However—" He nodded, confidentially, at them. "—we know where to come to get that expertise: here!" Two of his audience actually laughed, as if afflicted by some spasm, before silencing themselves abruptly.

"Yes," Bleys said. "You, who have been here on the ground all these years—you're our experts. So we've come to consult with you."

The faces were smiling, the eyes gleaming.

"Of course, officially Dahno and I are here to visit the troops," he said, with an air of one letting them in on a secret. "But we've learned a lot in dealing with five other worlds, and now we think
we
—
a
n
0
f
us
—may be in a position to make something happen that will mean your work hasn't been wasted."

They spent the afternoon in collegial fashion, snacking from the extensive sideboards and discussing the prospects. Sometimes they all listened to individual comments following up on particular thoughts; at other times they separated into smaller groups, which formed, broke up, and were replaced by different combinations. There was discussion about whether to continue to work with the multitude of local governments, or whether it might in the long run be more effective to try to encourage the formation of a planetary government. A single planetary government could be more efficiently controlled by their relatively small numbers, they all clearly agreed; but they also agreed that creating such an entity within any reasonable period of time would be virtually impossible.

Bleys was pleased to hear that particular discussion; it set them up nicely for what he had planned for later.

As the afternoon drew to a close, he could see that fatigue was sapping their enthusiasm. He withdrew gracefully from the particular group he had been listening to, and made his way back to the head table, where he used his wrist control pad to play tones that got their attention.

Dahno, involved in another discussion, turned and started to move toward the head table; but after a few steps he stopped, simply listening from the crowd.

"We've had a big day," Bleys told his audience now, "and I'm going to suggest we adjourn, in a few moments, to sleep on it. But before we do, let me mention a lesson we've learned from our experiences on other worlds: the fastest route to being able to wield influence on a planetary scale, is to locate some organization already set up on that scale—and coopt it.

"For the most part, it hardly matters if that organization's ideas and purposes differ radically from ours," he went on. "If only someone has such an organization already in place, we can get them to hand it over to us, already staffed—and even to support us as we bend it to our will."