Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (88 page)

"The
power's
in
our
hands,"
Din
Su
said,
"until
we
voluntarily yield
it.
And
there
are
things
we
can
do."

"Illegal
things,"
the
disguised
voice
responded. "Illegality
is
what
we
say
it
is—"
she
said.

"That's
easy
for
you
to
say,
Gentleman!"
Half-Thunder's
voice
cut across
Din
Su's
words,
shrill
and
angry,
as
if
the
gates
of
a
dam
holding
back
his
anger
had
broken
open,
to
pour
it
all
into
their
midst. "You
never
have
to
stand
for
re
-
election,
and
no
one
even
knows
who you
are!
In
fact—"
He
produced
a
void
pistol,
smaller
than
the
usual run
of
such
weapons,
and
pointed
it
at
the
disguised
figure
he
had just
named.
"—in
fact,
I
think
we
have
no
further
need
of
you!"

Georges
Lemair
started
at
the
sight
of
the
pistol;
but
then
subsided,
saying
nothing.
Half-Thunder
raked
the
other
Council
members
with
his
gaze,
his
face
flushed.

"You
all
know
it!"
he
said
loudly.
"He
talked
us
into
an
alliance with
that
Bleys
Ahrens,
telling
us
without
it
we'd
lose
our
influence with
New
Earth—telling
us
it
was
necessary
for
us
to
stay
in
office, and
necessary
to
keep
Newton
on
top
of
the
rest
of
the
Younger Worlds—but
it
was
a
mistake!"

"Mister
President—"
Iban
began;
but
she
stopped
as
he
glared
at her,
his
pistol
swinging
wildly
in
her
direction
for
a
moment.

"What
kind
of
fools
have
we
become!"
he
said
loudly;
but
no
one took
the
words
as
a
question.
"We
were
set
to
be
the
supreme
voice in
the
Younger
Worlds,
until
we
let
this—this—"
He
stopped,
almost
incoherent
with
the
rage
he
had
seemed
to
stoke
with
his
own words,
and
waved
the
pistol
once
more
at
the
disguised
figure.

"Half-Thunder,"
Din
Su
said
softly.
The
President
subsided,
his glare
losing
focus,
as
if
he
were
looking
inward
to
wonder
at
his
anger.

"Half-Thunder,"
she
said
again,
more
firmly,"
control
yourself!"

His
face
reflected
an
effort
to
gather
himself,
and
his
eyes
refo
cused
on
her
face.

"You
know
we
never
got
rid
of
the
Gentleman
before
only
because
he
represents
elements
of
the
population
that
didn't
have
the vote
but
were
necessary
for
the
planet's
functioning,"
Din
Su
continued.
"Our
predecessors
chose
him
as
a
way
to
gain
the
necessary cooperation
of
those
elements."

She
smiled.

"Of
course,
now
that
we've
consolidated
power
in
our
own
hands, those
elements
need
no
longer
concern
us."
She
turned
to
look
at the
Gentleman.

"Kill
him,"
she
said
to
Half-Thunder,
watching
the
target
of
her command.

Her
eyes
were
still
on
the
Gentleman,
so
she
did
not
realize
that Half-Thunder
had
fallen
back
in
his
chair,
the
hand
that
had
been holding
the
pistol
now
on
his
lap,
and
sliding
from
it—until
gravity pulled
it
down
and
the
pistol
dropped
to
the
floor.

She
turned
at
the
sound
of
the
pistol
hitting
the
carpeted
surface, and
saw
Half-Thunder's
head
lolling
backward,
empty
gaze
directed at
the
ceiling.
Her
eyes
went
quickly
to
Iban,
now
holding
another small
pistol
pointed
at
Din
Su.

"So,"
Din
Su
said;
and
looked
away
from
Iban,
at
the
Gentleman. But
she
checked
her
next
words,
and
in
a
moment
turned
back
to look
at
Iban.

"Go
ahead
then,"
she
said.

Iban
did.

Despite
the
initial
delegation
of
many
administrative
responsibilities
to
members
of
the
Others'
top
leadership,
Bleys
had
found,
over the
year
that
followed
the
reorganization,
that
his
workload
was steadily
increasing.
With
Dahno
gone,
responsibility
for
the
program that
trained
newly
recruited
Others
had
been
taken
up
by
Bleys— largely
because
he
did
not
feel
he
could
trust
someone
else
with
it.

That
fact
finally
brought
home
to
him
a
realization
of
how
much the
entire
Others'
organization—and
therefore
his
whole
plan—was dependent
on
the
individual
Others'
loyalties
to
each
other,
and most
of
all
to
him.
Always,
when
the
idea
had
come
to
him
in
the past,
he
had
pushed
it
aside,
telling
himself
he
would
deal
with
it when
the
need
arose.
But
now
his
mind
was
telling
him
that
that time
was
almost
here.