Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (76 page)

"And
with
a
couple
of
joint
meetings
out
of
the
way,"
Bleys
said, "I
could
have
individual
meetings—and
have
Ana's
first.
I'll
set
her up
with
some
plausible
story,
tell
her
she'll
be
contacted
further; and
then
send
her
back
to
New
Earth."

"Leaving
her
out
of
the
Association
meeting
altogether?" "Yes,"
Bleys
said.

"Won't
that
seem
strange
to
the
rest
of
the
leaders?"
Toni
asked. "And
suspicious
to
Dahno?"

"Can
you
think
of
an
alternative?"

"Well,
it's
possible,"
Toni
said,
looking
thoughtful,
"that
a
few days
of
special
treatment
here—particularly
some
special
attentions from
the
other
leaders—might
make
her
more
amenable
.
.
.
there's a
plausible
basis
for
a
plan
like
that
in
the
fact
that
she
was
invited here
at
all.
A
few
days
of
feeling
she's
part
of
the
elite
group
might work
wonders
on
her."

"That's
a
good
idea,"
Bleys
said.
"She's
always
been
able,
and
if we
can
just
get
around
her
attitude
problem,
she
could
continue
to be
useful.
But
that
kind
of
plan
would
require,
among
other
things, enlisting
the
other
leaders
in
our
little
act."
He
paused,
thinking.

"Come
to
think
of
it,
that
could
even
be
made
to
work
to
our advantage—once
they're
enlisted
in
working
together
on
one
objective,
they'll
be
more
amenable
to
working
together
on
other things."

"It'll
give
them
a
sense
of
having
gained
additional
power
already,"
Toni
said.
"That'll
make
them
more
supportive,
too."

"Yes,"
Bleys
said.
"The
more
they
feel
they
have
to
gain
by
going
along
with
me,
the
less
likely
it
becomes
they
can
be
persuaded otherwise
by
Dahno."

Two
days
later,
during
a
break
in
his
meeting
schedule,
Bleys
unobtrusively
left
the
hotel,
traveling
across
town
in
an
automated
cab
to a
small
restaurant.
He
got
out
of
the
cab
there,
but
did
not
enter
the restaurant;
rather,
he
signaled
for
another
such
cab;
and
by
the
time it
arrived,
the
woman
he
had
once
known
as
Gelica
Costanza
had emerged
from
the
restaurant
to
join
him.

"Thank
you
for
coming,
Deborah,"
Bley
s
said,
while
programming
the
cab
to
head
for
a
destination
on
the
other
side
of
the
city. Locked
in
a
small,
moving
room,
they
talked
without
fear
of
observation.

"Are
things
going
well
on
Ceta?"
Deborah
asked.

"Very
well,"
Bleys
said.
"You
played
your
part
to
perfection
at the
meeting
with
the
Families,
even
to
setting
yourself
up
for
a
reprimand.
I
can't
thank
you
enough."

"Believe
me,
it
was
my
pleasure,"
Deborah
said.
"Or
I
should say,
our
pleasure.
All
of
my
Others—sorry,
New
People
—were
happy to
have
a
chance
to
strike
back
at
the
Families;
and
your
deal
with them
allowed
us
to
finally
leave
the
planet,
and
with
enough
resources
to
be
able
to
set
up
comfortably
elsewhere."

"It
may
not
look
like
much
of
a
'strike'
at
the
Families,"
Bleys said.
"Anyone
looking
at
the
situation
would
say
we've
given
the Families
just
what
they
want."

"We
know
better,"
Deborah
said.
"We've
been
inside
your
organization;
we
know
we've
fed
the
Families
a
poison
pill."

"You
have
an
interesting
way
with
words,
Deborah,"
Bleys
said.

"I
doubt
I
hurt
your
feelings,"
she
said.
"Remember,
I've
seen close
up
how
logical
a
thinker
you
are.
You're
not
the
kind
to
let
an emotional
reaction
alter
your
plans."

"You
don't
have
very
much
experience
to
base
that
judgment on,"
Bleys
said.

"Oh,
I'm
not
calling
you
an
unemotional
machine,"
she
said. "But
I'm
confident
I've
seen
the
truth." "Are
you
interested
in
seeing
more?" She
smiled.

"I
figured
you
had
another
job
for
me,"
she
said.
"Tell
me
about it."

"Are
you
sure
you
want
to
hear
it?"
Bleys
said.
"The
last
time you
helped
us,
you
and
your
friends
ended
up
having
to
leave
Ceta, losing
your
careers
and
a
lot
of
your
assets."

"We'd
wanted
to
leave,
anyway,"
she
said.
"We
were
never
really at
home
there,
particularly
after
the
Families
began
leaning
on
us. No
more
than
we'd
ever
been
anywhere
else."

"I
know
you've
settled
on
New
Earth,
now,"
Bleys
said.
"Are
all of
your
New
People
comrades
there
with
you?"

"Almost
all
of
them,"
she
said.
"We've
been
family
for
a
long time,
and
we're
looking
for
a
way
to
keep
working
together—my generation,
anyway.
The
younger
ones
are
a
little
restless."

"No
retirement?"

"Not
us,"
she
said.
She
smiled.
"Are
you
going
to
give
us
that work?"

"Maybe,"
he
said.

He
was
still
explaining
what
he
had
in
mind
when
their
cab reached
its
programmed
destination,
so
he
reprogrammed
it
for
a
trip back
across
town.

They
talked
on,
through
trip
after
trip
across
the
small
city.