Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (41 page)

"Could
you
try
to
use
your
persuasive
power
to
get
one
or
more of
the
ones
we
know
of,
to
cooperate?"

"I
could
try
it,"
he
said.
"There's
no
guarantee
it
would
work— remember,
there
are
people
who
seem
to
be
immune
to
that
particular
ability."

"All
right,
I
see
that,"
she
said.
"But
if
you're
right
about
them, what
are
you
going
to
do?"

"What
exactly
are
you
asking?"

"Well,
just
going
by
the
number
of
staff
people
over
forty
years
of age—even
though
we
don't
know
exactly
why
age
might
make
a difference—and
knowing
they
have
confederates
who
aren't
staff members,
it
seems
likely
we
face
a
large
number
of
enemies.
We can't
arrest
them
.
..
can
you
settle
for
just
firing them?"

"It
may
be
that
will
be
all
we
can
do,"
he
said.
"I'd
rather
find
another
way."

"Another
way
to
what?"
she
said.
"I
don't
think
you're
clear,
in your
own
mind,
as
to
what
you
want
to
do—I
mean,
not
just
as
to what
the
next
step
would
be,
after
you've
identified
those
people, but
what
you
want
to
happen
beyond
that.
Are
you?"

Her
voice
had
risen
in
tone
as
she
spoke,
speeding
up;
and
even before
he
could
answer
she
had
turned,
to
poke
him
on
the
chest with
a
finger.

"That's
why
you
got
those
blisters
when
you
were
walking!"
she said,
emphasizing
her
words
with
another
poke.
"You
know
it
from your
own
martial
arts
work—your
thinking
was
out
of
balance,
and that
affected
the
balance
of
your
body.
Mind
and
body
are
all
tied together,
you
know
that!"

He
looked
at
her,
stunned.

"I'm
sorry,"
she
said,
more
softly.
"I
didn't
mean
to
poke
you
so hard—"

"It's
not
that,"
he
said,
recovering
from
the
rush
of
thoughts
that had
briefly
immobilized
him.
"It's
just
that—well,
of
course
I've been
told
about
balance,
and
about
the
link
between
body
and mind,
but
it
never
came
home
to
me
until
now!"

He
put
his
hand
on
her
shoulder,
excited.

"Do
you
remember
Kaj
telling
me,
when
I
was
very
ill
from
the DNA
antagonist,
about
harnessing
my
creative
powers
to
heal
myself?"

"I
remember
something
about
that,
yes."

"He
was
talking
about
the
same
thing!"
Bleys
said.
"It
all
fits
together!"

He
laughed
aloud.

'it
does
all
fit
together—mind
and
body!"

"All
right,"
she
said,
"I
think
I
see:
you
got
the
blisters,
indirectly,
because
your
thinking
was
out
of
balance,
so
that
was
your mind
affecting
your
body."

"Maybe
it
would
be
more
accurate
to
say
it
was
the
body
mirroring
the
mind,"
he
said.
"I
wonder
if
anyone
has
ever
tried
to
study that
kind
of
mind-body
relationship?"

"Are
you
sure,
now,
that
you've
balanced
your
thinking?"

"You're
trying
to
remind
me
to
keep
my
eye
on
my
overall
mission,"
he
said.
"I
haven't
forgotten
it.
But
you're
right,
at
least
to
the extent
that
I've
been
concentrating
on
finding
out
who
the
enemy are,
and
not
thinking
about
what
comes
after
that."

"Sometimes
there
are
advantages
to
working
like
that,"
she
said. "I
can't
say
this
isn't
one
of
those
times
when
a
problem
works
itself out
if
you
just
let
it
run.
But
I've
been
wondering
what
would
happen
next,
and
I
thought
I'd
ask
what
you
thought
about
that
end
of it."

"I've
got
a
few
ideas,"
he
said.
"I
need
a
lot
more
information
before
I
can
act
on
any
of
them."

"So
we're
back
to
the
problem
of
obtaining
information,"
she said.
"Any
plan
we
make
might
blow
up
in
our
faces
if
we
can't
base it
on
concrete
information."

"Our
problem,
on
the
initial
level
at
least,
has
two
possible
answers,"
he
responded.
"On
the
one
hand,
the
simplest—or
at
least most
certain—way
to
handle
this
might
be
to
just
dump
the
entire organization
here
on
Ceta;
but
that
would
come
at
a
devastating cost
in
the
money
and
people
we've
put
into
this
organization,
as well
as
the
influence
we've
built
up
with
power-brokers
on
this planet."