Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (121 page)

"No,
thank
you,"
he
said.
"But
is
there
something
you'd
like?"

"There
may
be,"
Padma
said.
His
voice
was
hoarse
and
low,
the oldest
thing
about
him.
He
paused
to
clear
his
throat
lightly,
even
as a
glass
of
water
rose
out
of
the
bench's
arm.
Bleys
reached
back
for it
and
handed
it
to
the
older
Exotic.

"Would
you
like
to
sit?"
he
asked,
gesturing
behind
him
at
the bench.

"No,"
Padma
said,
after
taking
a
sip
of
the
water.
"Thank
you, but
I
think
we
won't
be
here
long."

"Then
we
should
get
to
whatever
you
wanted
to
ask
me,"
Bleys said.

"That
is
sensible,"
Padma
said,
a
smile
coming
to
his
face. "Would
you
be
willing
to
give
us
twelve
days
of
your
time?" "Twelve
days?"
Bleys
said,
startled.

"We
here
on
the
Exotics
have
spent
generations
in
the
study
of human
evolution,"
Chavis
explained.
"We'd
like
to
measure
you."

Bleys,
suddenly
conscious
of
how
he
towered
over
the
two
Exotics,
looked
down
at
Padma.

"You
want
data
on
me,"
he
said.
"And
on
my
abilities."

"That's
one
way
to
describe
it,"
Padma
said.
"We're
always
looking
for
signs
of
improvements
in
the
race."

"To
what
point?"
Bleys
said.
"There's
no
future
in
your
work— surely
you
all
know
that
by
now."

"It
may
be,"
Padma
said.
Again
he
smiled,
gently.
"But
one might
ask
whether
there
is
a
future
in
any
work."

"That's
the
kind
of
philosophical
speculation
I
prefer
to
avoid," Bleys
said.
"You
must
be
aware
of
the
futility
of
that
line
of thought."
He
paused;
and
after
a
brief
moment,
smiled.

"Unless,
of
course,
you're
already
testing
me."

"We
were
sure
you
would
not
agree,"
Padma
said.
"But
regardless
of
what
you
think
of
our
work,
we
believe
it
has
value.
And
that it
will
continue
to
have
value
in
the
future."

"If
there
is
a
future,"
Bleys
said.

Padma
smiled
again,
almost
shyly;
but
he
said
nothing.

Bleys,
looking
down
into
the
eyes
that
watched
him
so
alertly, realized
he
had
totally
forgotten
that
the
man
before
him
was
small and
old.
He
found
himself
wondering
if
there
might
be
some
way to
sit
with
this
man
and
discuss—and
at
that
moment,
a
chime sounded
softly
out
of
the
air.

"The
gathering
is
almost
in
place,"
Chavis
said,
"and
Hal
Mayne has
arrived.
Do
you
still
wish
to
address
us?"

"I
do,"
Bley
s
said.
He
had
not
had
a
chance
to
ask
what
the
subject
of
the
gathering
might
be,
he
realized;
but
he
shrugged,
mentally,
willing
to
deal
with
whatever
came.

"Then
come
with
us,"
Chavis
said.

Moving
slowly
out
of
deference
to
Padma's
age,
Chavis
led
them all
back
out
of
the
glade,
through
a
door
and
down
a
short
hall. When
they
came
to
a
set
of
double
doors
of
a
black
wood,
Sulaya stayed
behind
while
the
rest
of
them
passed
through.

Bleys
found
himself
standing
near
what
appeared
to
be
the
main stage
of
a
small
amphitheater,
but
he
had
no
time
to
look
about
as the
two
Exotics
led
him
up
onto
the
stage
and
across
it,
to
the
place at
its
center-front
where
light
seemed
to
focus
out
of
nowhere.
The light,
although
bright,
was
not
uncomfortable,
but
Bleys
found
himself
unable
to
focus
on
the
audience,
already
in
place
but
extraordinarily
quiet.
His
first
estimate
told
him
there
were
possibly
two hundred
faces
looking
up,
across,
and
down
at
him—and
yet,
when he
tried
to
pick
out
a
single
face
with
which
to
make
eye
contact, his
vision
seemed
to
blur,
and
he
felt
as
if
the
faces
on
each
side
of the
one
he
was
looking
into
became
dozens
of
faces,
hundreds
of faces,
looking
back
at
him
across
a
distance
that
was
impossible within
this
small
theater.

With
that
realization,
he
knew
he
was
in
the
middle
of
another piece
of
the
Exotics'
advanced
technology,
and
that
this
room
must be
large
enough
to
require
the
operation
of
some
sort
of
telescopic effect.
He
wondered
if
the
effect
worked
in
both
directions,
and
if his
audience
could
also
see
him
as
if
at
a
short
distance.

"Hal
Mayne
is
on
his
way,"
Padma
said.
His
voice,
still
hoarse, now
carried
a
weight
of
years,
and
there
was
no
smile
on
his
face. Chavis,
Bleys
saw,
had
vanished
somewhere.

"How
many
people
are
here?"
Bleys
asked.