Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (61 page)

"Why
can't
I
see
him?"
Dahno
barked.
"He
shouldn't
be
asleep. I
checked
to
see
if
your
flight
resulted
in
any
transit-lag,
and
none of
you
should
be
having
that
problem!
I’m
not
tired!"

She
refrained
from
commenting
on
his
logic.

"He's
got
one
of
those
headaches
he
gets
ever
since
he
was
damaged
by
the
Newtonians,"
she
said.
"They
nearly
blind
him
with pain,
but
he
won't
use
blocks."

"War!"
Dahno
jumped
as
the
door
behind
Toni
was
thrown
open, the
single
word
seeming
to
leap
out
at
them.
They
saw
Bleys
framed in
the
doorway,
draped
in
shadow;
behind
him
the
hallway
that
led to
his
bedroom
seemed
like
some
ancient
cave.

Clad
only
in
a
pair
of
the
shorts
he
habitually
slept
in,
Bleys stumbled
through
the
doorway
into
the
light
of
the
lounge,
eyes half-closed.
His
forehead
seemed
moist
and
creased,
and
his
jaw muscles
were
tightened.

"It's
going
to
be
war,"
he
said,
more
quietly.
"Would
you
close the
curtains
and
dial
down
the
lights,
please?"

While
Toni
did
what
he
asked,
Bleys
walked
across
the
room
to take
his
seat
in
front
of
the
Mayne-map.
His
movements
seemed stiff,
but
after
he
had
looked
up
at
the
map
for
a
few
moments,
his voice
was
calm
when
he
spoke.

"Dahno,
we've
spoken
in
the
past
about
using
military
force
to get
what
we
need
from
the
Exotics,"
he
said.
"But
we
haven't
gotten
around
to
really
thinking
about
building
up
forces
like
that."

"You
know
I'm
against
it,"
Dahno
said,
his
voice
louder
than
it needed
to
be.
"Why
should
we
bother?
We
can
get
more
than
we need
to
overawe
the
Exotics
from
the
armed
forces
of
the
planets we
control."

"Don't
you
sec,
that
won't
be
enough,"
Bleys
replied. "Why
not?
The
Exotics
have
no
military
of
their
own." "But
what
have
they
always
done
in
the
past,
when
they
were threatened?"

"They
hired
the
Dorsai,
of
course,"
Dahno
said.
"But
they haven't—"
He
broke
off
as
his
eyes,
following
Bleys'
gaze,
fastened on
the
new
line
on
the
Mayne-map.

"Yes,"
Bleys
said.
"I
thought
the
Exotics
probably
asked
the Dorsai
to
listen
to
Hal
Mayne,
but
I
was
a
little
slow
off
the
mark— in
fact,
they
probably
had
him
carry
a
message
asking
for
the
Dorsai's
help."

Dahno
stepped
over
to
look
down
at
his
brother.

"Are
you
sure?"
he
said.
His
voice
was
low
and
serious;
but
without
waiting
for
an
answer,
he
raised
it
in
protest:
"We
can't
fight that.
That's
not
our
game!"

"I
told
Toni,
earlier,
that
I
thought
Hal
Maync
went
to
the
Dorsai to
try
to
recruit
them,"
Bleys
said.
"But
I
didn't
really
believe
they would
respond
quickly—not
until
it
was
too
late;
and
so
I
didn't think
it
through
far
enough."

"What
do
you
mean?"
Toni
asked.

"You
yourself
told
me
the
Dorsai
are
—I
think
you
said
'hard-headed,'"
Bleys
said.
"I
assumed
that
while
they
might
well
listen to
Mayne,
they
wouldn't
take
any
sort
of
action
on
the
basis
of
his word
alone.
But
if
the
Exotics
have
made
some
sort
of
financial
offer
to
the
Dorsai—for
instance,
if
they've
agreed
to
underwrite some
action
Mayne
might
propose
to
them—then
it's
suddenly
a much
more
dangerous
situation
for
us."

"It
certainly
is!"
Dahno
said.
"War
is
nothing
I
ever
intended! And
particularly
not
war
with
the
Dorsai—no
one
can
beat
them!"

"Well,
let's
stop
and
look
the
situation
over,"
Bleys
said
mildly, looking
up
at
his
brother.
He
had
not
seen
Dahno
since
his
brother left
Favored
of
God
three
weeks
earlier,
and
what
he
saw—now
that he
took
a
moment
to
look
more
closely
into
his
brother's
face— startled
him.
But
Bleys
showed
no
reaction.

"What's
there
to
think
about?"
Dahno
said,
his
voice
rising.
"We can't
match
the
Dorsai!" "Why
not?"

Dahno
looked
at
his
brother,
silent,
as
if
unable
even
to
comprehend
the
question.

"Why
not?"
Bleys
repeated;
and
he
sat
up
straighter,
his
movements
more
fluid
and
all
signs
of
pain
erased
from
his
face
and posture.

"Brother,"
Bleys
said,
"we
knew
all
along
the
Exotics
and
the Dorsai
would
never
give
in
to
our
leadership,
even
in
the
face
of
the greatest
economic
and
political
pressures
we
could
muster.
But
our planning
was
based
on
the
assumption
we
could
neutralize
the
abilities
of
those
three
planets
to
oppose
us
on
the
other
Younger Worlds—in
other
words,
that
they
would
play
the
game
on
the
field we
chose—and
let
time
work
for
us."