Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (57 page)

"I
could
contest
your
implication
that
your
Families
'control' Ceta,"
Bleys
said,
"but
I
won't.
Because
it's
irrelevant
to
the
point of
this
discussion."

There
were
frowns
among
the
members
of
the
Families;
and
in the
silence
Camille
Porter
spoke
up
once
again.

"Then
what
is
that
point?"
she
said.
"Deborah,
in
acting
as
your emissary
to
suggest
this
meeting,
told
us
she
believed
you
had something
to
say
that
would
be
worth
the
hearing.
We
were
unable to
conceive
of
what
that
might
be,
but
Deborah
has
proven
intelligent
and
useful
in
the
past,
and
we
were
willing
to
explore
the
situation.
However,
thus
far
we've
seen
nothing
to
back
up
her
claims for
you."

"Deborah
was
proceeding
on
the
basis
of
the
things
I
told
her,
after
we
captured
her,"
Bleys
said.
"Moreover,
I'm
sure
she's
capable of
making
deductions
from
her
observations;
and
she
may
have
told you
some
of
that,
as
well."
He
smiled.

"But
can
you
possibly
believe
I
would
share,
either
with
her
or with
you,
everything
we
have?"

"Still
just
talk,"
Paul
Tombas
said.

"We
believed
Deborah,"
Camille
Porter
cut
in,
"when
she
told us
you
were
here
to
take
Ceta
away
from
us—it
fits
with
what you've
done
on
other
planets."

"She
told
you
just
what
I
told
her,
along
with
others,"
Bleys
said. "It
was
a
ruse,
designed
to
flush
out
whoever
had
prevented
the proper
functioning
of
our
organization
here."

"Are
you
saying
you
don't
want
to
take
control
of
Ceta?"
Camille Porter
asked.

"Of
course
we
did,"
Bleys
said.
"But
we
couldn't
see
any
feasible path
to
that
outcome,
and
so
we
weren't
very
serious
about
it.
In
any case,
we
had
no
idea
someone
else
was
already
in
charge
here
...
that
information
totally
altered
the
situation
as
we
had
analyzed
it."

"in
charge'
is
perhaps
not
an
accurate
description,"
Camille Porter
said.
"Nor
do
we
pretend
to
completely
rule
this
planet.
But our
forebears
gave
us
a
position
that
allowed
us
to
have
a
large,
but quiet,
influence
on
matters
here,
and
we
have
been
careful
to
maintain
that
heritage."

"It
was
that
'position'
of
yours
that
the
New
People
ran
afoul
of, when
they
orchestrated
their
scheme
to
defraud
some
Cetan
institutions,
then?"

"More
to
the
point,
it
was
our
experience
with
them
that
led
us to
place
a
watch
on
your
own
Others,"
Camille
Porter
said.

"By
that
time,
of
course,"
Bleys
said,
looking
thoughtful,
"the New
People
had
been
under
your
control
for
a
long
time."
He looked
across
at
her.
"Under
threat
of
exposure,
I
presume?"

"Among
other
things,"
she
said,
her
tone
carrying
a
dry
humor.

"So
although
Deborah
tried
to
convince
me
that
the
New
People infiltrated
our
Others
for
their
own
purposes,
she
and
her
people were
really
working
for
you?"

"There
may
have
been
a
certain
confluence
of
interests
in
the matter,"
Camille
Porter
said.
"Please
don't
get
the
notion
that
we enslaved
the
so-called
New
People.
We
treated
them
well,
and
allowed
them
to
keep
many
of
the
rewards
they
had
accumulated from
their
efforts."

"But
they
were
controlled."

"What
alternative
was
there?
Uncontrolled,
they
were
dangerous."

Bleys
looked
along
the
row
of
faces
flanking
Camille
Porter.

"Is
that
what
you
think
of
us,
too?"
he
asked.

"Do
you
take
us
for
complete
idiots?"
she
responded.

Bleys
put
a
wry
grin
on
his
face.

"Not
in
the
least,"
he
said.
"That's
why
I
asked
for
this
meeting."

"You're
still
offering
some
sort
of
deal,
then,"
Paul
Tombas
said. "Did
you
not
understand
that
we're
not
going
to
give
you
our
control
of
Ceta?"

"Oh,
I
understood
that,
all
right,"
Bleys
said.
"That's
not
what I'm
asking."

The
eight
faces
he
was
watching
showed
a
variety
of
reactions, ranging
from
puzzlement
to
irritation
to
interest.
He
let
them
think about
his
words
for
a
few
seconds
longer,
and
then
dropped
his bombshell.

"I
offer
you
our
help
in
destroying
the
Exotics
and
the
Dorsai," he
said
at
last.