Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (134 page)

CHAPTER
43

Mars
was
on
the
other
side
of
the
sun
from
Old
Earth,
which
meant that
Favored of God's
captain
vastly
preferred
to
make
their
journey back
to
Old
Earth
in
two
phase-shifts,
rather
than
one—the
first
at an
angle
that
took
them
well
to
the
side
of
Old
Earth's
star
and
out almost
to
the
orbit
of
Jupiter,
and
the
second
back
in
to
the
near-vicinity
of
Old
Earth,
again
at
an
angle
that
kept
Favored
well
away from
the
star.
The
trip,
Captain
Broadus
had
assured
Bleys
the
first time
they
made
it,
would
still
be
much
faster
than
trying
to
proceed around
the
star
by
conventional
drive.

"There's
no
hurry,
Captain,"
Bleys
told
her.
"I
have
a
lot
to
think about."

And
he
did.
He
had
spent
several
days
near
Mars
trying
to
follow the
events
precipitated
by
both
the
assassination
attempt
and
the erection
of
the
shield
around
Old
Earth.
There
had
been
much
to do,
but
he
had
felt
himself
possessed
by
an
almost
manic
energy, and
had
kept
his
staff
busy
shuttling
information
and
sending
out orders.
A
steady
stream
of
courier
vessels
had
been
moving
to
and from
the
Younger
Worlds,
and
three
were
currently
holding
station with
Favored,
awaiting
their
orders.

Dahno
remained
unconscious
in
the
ship's
infirmary,
but
Kaj
assured
Bleys
that
he
would
recover
well
enough,
given
time.
Bleys had
developed
a
plan
for
dealing
with
him,
and
it
was
already
in motion.

The
question
remained:
what
had
Dahno
been
up
to
on
Old
Earth? Bleys
still
thought
it
likely
that
some
of
the
senior
Others'
leaders were
somehow
involved;
but
it
was
unclear
whether
those
leaders
had been
plotting
with
Dahno,
or
against
him.
In
any
case,
Bleys
was
sure the
storm
of
recent
events
would
be
causing
those
leaders
to
rethink
their
loyalties.
He
would
have
that
to
deal
with
when
he
left
this system.

What am I going to do about Henry?
The
question
could
not
be ducked,
although
he
shrank
from
going
back
to
tell
Joshua.

Bleys
watched
the
screen
that
was
now
showing
him
the
orb of
Mars;
the
planet
had
been
getting
smaller,
slowly,
as
they
drew away,
but
they
must
now
be
far
enough
off
for
their
first
phase-shift. He
had
decided
it
was
time
to
get
back
to
Old
Earth
once
more;
he needed
to
have
that
talk
with
Hal
Mayne—

"Bleys,"
Toni
said,
from
her
desk
behind
him
and
to
his
left
side, "there's
a
message
coming
in."

"What
is
it?"
Bleys
said.

"It's
from
Many Colors,'"
she
said.

"Many Colors?'
Bleys
said.
"She's
the
end
of
the
chain
from
New-Earth,
isn't
she?"
Without
waiting
for
her
to
respond
to
what
had merely
been
a
rhetorical
question,
he
went
on:
"She
must
have news.
Tell
the
captain
to
wait."

"The
captain's
already
doing
that,"
Toni
said.

Decoded,
the
news
was
stunning—and
yet,
Bleys
told
Toni,
in hindsight
it
made
perfect
sense
that
the
Dorsai,
leaving
their planet,
would
come
to
Old
Earth.

"The
only
reason
we
had
to
think
that
the
Dorsai
were
going
to
go to
Mara,
to
set
up
a
defense
there,
was
because
the
Exotics
themselves
were
expecting
that,"
Bleys
said.
"We've
never
managed
to get
sources
on
the
Dorsai,
but
the
Exotics
have
always
been
so
open and
accommodating
that
intelligence-gathering
there
has
been
fairly easy."

"Perhaps
for
the
unimportant
information,"
Toni
said.
"Who
can say
whether
even
the
Exotics
might
be
able
to
keep
important secrets?"

"Well,
I
made
the
mistake
of
believing
they
were
being
consolidated
on
Mara."
He
shook
his
head.

"Mayne
caught
me
out
on
this
one,"
he
said.
"I
thought
it
was
a major
sacrifice
for
the
Exotics,
to
strip
Kultis
of
everything
valuable so
they
could
protect
Mara,
but
it
made
sense.
Who
could
believe the
Exotics
would
strip
both
their
planets
of
everything,
to
leave themselves
wide
open
for
us
to
walk
in
whenever
we
want?"

"You
mean
they
sent
all
of
their
assets
to
Old
Earth?"

"It
must
be,"
he
said.
"I
expect
we'll
see
both
Exotic
and
Dorsai ships—a
lot
of
them—entering
Old
Earth's
space
very
soon.
Where else
can
they
have
gone?"

"But
this
report
that
the
Dorsai
are
going
to
Old
Earth
isn't
based on
any
hard
information,"
Toni
objected.
"It
could
be
a
mistake,
or even
a
piece
of
misinformation."