Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (127 page)

"An
intelligence
mission,
First
Elder,"
he
said. "I
agree,"
Bleys
said,
nodding.
The
room
was
quiet
for
a
moment,
as
Bleys
thought.
Then
he
nodded. "Thank
you,
Marshal,"
he
said.

"I
wish
to
apologize,
First
Elder—"
the
Marshal
began;
but
Bleys cut
him
off.

"Accepted,
Marshal,"
he
said.
"I'm
sure
your
people
will
be
more alert
in
the
future." "You
may
count
on
it."

"I'll
review
your
data
later,"
Bleys
continued,
handing
the
chip to
Toni.
"For
the
moment,
shall
we
proceed
with
more
routine
matters?"

The
Marshal
agreed,
and
turned
as
if
about
to
summon
his
staff from
outside.

"Make
it
a
priority
to
keep
me
informed
of
any
further
developments,"
Bleys
added.
"Let
me
know
immediately
about
any
developments,
even
if
I'm
off-planet."

"I'll
have
courier
ships
standing
by
at
all
times,"
the
Marshal
said.

"I
have
an
idea,"
Bleys
said,
"that
may
allow
faster
communications
between
us."

"First
Elder?"

"We'll
go
through
the
details
when
your
staff
are
here,"
Bleys said.
"The
basic
idea
is
to
set
up
a
line
of
ships—a
sort
of
chain— that
will
maintain
station
at
points
between
New
Earth
and
Association,
each
with
a
pre
-
calculated
shift
already
set
up
to
take
it
to
the position
of
the
next
vessel
in
the
chain."

"I
believe
I
see,"
the
Marshal
said,
his
face
interested.
"Each ship
can
jump
and
pass
its
message
to
the
ship
waiting
at
its
arrival point—which
can
then
jump
as
soon
as
it
gets
the
message."
He paused,
thinking.
"It
could
get
a
report
from
me
to
you
in
a
day
or
l
ess.

"Yes,"
Bleys
said.
"It'll
take
a
lot
of
ships
and
men,
but
if
it
works it'll
be
worth
setting
up
similar
chains
between
all
the
worlds."

"This
could
revolutionize
everything,"
the
Marshal
said.
He
was smiling,
clearly
beyond
his
earlier
embarrassment.

"Shall
we
bring
your
staff
in,
then?"

The
Marshal
turned,
but
Toni
was
already
moving
to
the
door.

After
the
Marshal
left,
Bleys
and
Toni
returned
to
the
lounge, where
Bleys
activated
a
security
bubble.
Toni
watched
the
bubble expand
about
them
without
commenting.

"We'll
have
to
try
to
use
the
bubble
more,"
Bleys
said.
"I
should have
expected
an
intelligence-gathering
effort."

"You're
pretty
sure
it's
the
Dorsai,
aren't
you?"
Toni
said.
"You wanted
to
know
what
they
were
up
to,
and
this
may
be
it."

"Only
part
of
it,"
Bleys
said
thoughtfully.
"I
wonder
..."
His words
trailed
off
into
silence.

"What?"
she
said
at
last.

"There's
no
way
to
tell,"
he
said,
"but
I
can't
help
wondering
if Hal
Mayne
might
be
out
there."

"Mayne
himself?"
she
said.
"That
doesn't
seem
likely,
does
it? He's
not
a
Dorsai
and
doesn't
have
either
the
espionage
experience or
the
ship-handling
skills
the
Marshal
described—and
besides,
it's a
dangerous
job;
would
he
risk
his
loss
to
his
side,
that
way?"

"He's
not
averse
to
risk
if
the
reward
is
there,"
Bleys
said.
"He's important
to
his
side,
yes,
but
I'm
sure
he
believes
it
can
and
will continue
without
him.
And
you're
forgetting
he's
allied
with
the Dorsai—he
doesn't
have
to
be
the
one
doing
the
driving."

"That's
true,"
she
said.

"Forget
that
for
the
moment,"
Bleys
said.
"We
need
to
get
alarms off
right
away
to
all
our
people,
warning
them
to
expect
similar
espionage;
so
while
I
draft
the
messages,
would
you
please
line
up
ships to
carry
them?"

"I
already
started
that
while
we
were
in
the
meeting,"
she
said. "I'll
get
back
on
that
right
now."

"One
more
thing,"
he
said:
"we
need
to
send
a
message
to
Old Earth,
too—to
Dahno.
If
you're
willing,
I'd
like
it
to
be
a
note
directly
from
you."

"Are
you
asking
me
to
be
an
intermediary?"

"Yes,"
Bleys
said.
"He's
always
respected
you;
I'm
hoping
he'll be
open
enough
to
you
to
enter
into
regular
contact."

"What
do
you
want
me
to
say?"

"Let
me
explain
the
situation
as
I
see
it,
and
then
you
decide
how you'd
approach
it,"
Bleys
said.
"Whether
Mayne
himself
is
out
there, or
not,
we're
not
going
to
be
able
to
prevent
the
information
that we're
mobilizing
from
getting
back
to
the
Final
Encyclopedia.
That might
just
tip
Old
Earth
against
us.
So
I'd
like
you
to
find
a
way
to
tell Dahno
that
war
is
now
inevitable,
and
he
has
to
decide
which
side he's
on."

"You'll
have
to
have
a
meeting,
won't
you?" "I'd
prefer
the
idea
come
from
him."

"Maybe
I
can
plant
the
idea
somehow,"
she
said.
"But
then
he'll have
to
get
back
to
us
about
it,
won't
he?"

"Yes,"
Bleys
said,
"and
probably
more
than
once;
he
won't
come around
to
this
all
at
once.
What
I'm
going
to
suggest
is
that
you
go to
Cassida—it's
the
closest
of
the
Younger
Worlds
to
Old
Earth— and
stay
available
to
negotiate
with
him,
using
as
many
back-and-forth
ships
as
it
takes,
until
he
comes
around."

"Where
will
you
be?"

"Out
on
the
other
Worlds
again,"
he
said.
"There's
still
work
to be
done,
and
I
want
to
check
in
on
how
each
of
our
groups
reacts
to that
intelligence
ship—I
can't
let
the
mention
of
Dorsai
affect
their thinking."

"Where
do
you
want
to
meet
Dahno?"

"He'll
understand
I
won't
be
willing
to
come
to
Old
Earth,"
Bleys said,
"and
he'll
fall
into
a
comfortable
pattern
of
trying
to
find
a
compromise."

"He
won't
be
willing
to
come
back
to
the
Younger
Worlds,"
she said.

"That's
right,"
he
said.
"Mars
might
be
a
compromise
he
could
accept."

"Won't
he
be
suspicious
if
I
suggest
that?"

"That's
why
you
won't
suggest
it.
When
he
brings
up
the
idea
of a
meeting,
you
veto
Old
Earth
and
suggest
Holmstead." "On
Venus?"

"Yes,"
Bleys
said.
"No
one
in
their
right
mind
wants
to
spend time
there,
so
it's
sparsely
populated;
he'll
believe
I'm
interested
in it
as
a
place
we
can
be
relatively
unobserved."

"He
won't
want
to
go
there,
and
will
offer
an
alternative
location."

"I
think
so,"
Bleys
said.
"In
fact,
I'd
guess
he'll
suggest
Luna— Old
Earth's
moon—which
of
course
I'll
refuse;
and
so
we'll
settle on
Mars."
He
smiled
a
little.

"That
brings
up
another
thing
we
need
to
do,"
he
said.
"By
the time
you
start
negotiating
about
a
location
for
a
meeting,
he'll
already
have
decided
where
he
wants
to
go,
and
he'll
be
sending
people
in
ahead
of
time
to
set
up
his
security.
We
need
to
do
the
same, and
if
we
move
soon,
we'll
be
there
first."

"We
need
to
speak
with
Henry,
then,"
Toni
said.

"Yes,"
Bleys
said.
"In
fact,
I
think
I
want
him
to
lead
this
group personally."

"Will
he
be
willing
to
be
so
far
away
from
you?" "I
think
I
can
bring
him
around,"
Bleys
said.
"Particularly
when I
point
out
he'd
be
ensuring
my
safety."

"I
believe
I
understand,"
Henry
said.
The
three
of
them
were
huddled
within
the
security
bubble
again,
and
Bleys
had
laid
out
the
security
problems
a
meeting
with
Dahno
on
Mars
would
entail.

"I
suggest
you
take
only
Soldiers
who
are
new
to
our
service since
Dahno
left,"
Bleys
said.
"He
won't
recognize
them
if
he
happens
to
see
them."

"While
true,"
Henry
said,
"I
don't
think
that's
a
good
idea."

"Oh?"

"Will
he
not
find
it
suspicious
if
he
arrives
and
sees
no
Soldiers?" Henry
asked.
He
shook
his
head.
"It
might
well
scare
him
away.
I'll take
some
Soldiers
he'll
know,
along
with
some
he
won't
know.
The ones
he
knows
can
be
out
in
the
open,
while
the
others
will
remain in
the
deeper
background."

"Do
you
have
people
among
the
new
Soldiers
who
can
be trusted
with
a
mission
like
this?"

"With
time
to
prepare
them,
yes,"
Henry
said.
"On
the
whole
the newer
Soldiers
tend
to
be
younger
and
less
experienced,
and
often have
the
attitude
problems
of
youth,
but
we
weed
out
those
who don't
respect
their
elders.
We
can
do
much
if
we
get
them
to
Mars
enough
ahead
of
time
to
settle
them
into
their
surroundings
and their
tasks—and
I'll
be
there,
of
course."