Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (64 page)

"Something
happened
after
I
left?"

"Yes,"
Bleys
said.
"A
lot
happened."
He
went
on
to
outline
how he
had
located
the
unknown
force
on
Ceta
whose
existence
he
had deduced.

"So
I
bargained
with
them,"
he
continued.
"They
only
want
one thing,
and
I
promised
our
help
in
getting
their
revenge
on
the
Exotics
and
the
Dorsai."

"It
still
seems
impossible
that
they
could
have
been
so
powerful."

"Oh,
it
is,"
Bleys
said.
"But
they
got
lucky,
too:
what
they
wanted just
happened
to
move
in
the
same
direction
as
the
forces
of
history. Do
you
remember
that
huge
storm
we
saw
while
we
were
hiding
on that
mountain
on
New
Earth?"

"Oh,
I
remember,"
Dahno
said.
"What
does
that
have
to
do
with this?"

"I
think
you
understand
no
single
thing
can
create
a
storm
like that,"
Bleys
said.
"They
result
when
a
large
number
of
factors
all fall
out
in
the
exact
way
needed
...
and
that's
what
I'm
talking about:
over
the
last
sixty
years,
the
positions
of
the
Exotics
and
the Dorsai
got
weaker
while
the
rest
of
the
Younger
Worlds
became more
competitive—and
at
the
same
time
the
whole
system
became more
corrupt."

"You
still
haven't
said
what
we're
getting
back
for
helping
these Families,"
Dahno
said.

"Entry,"
Bleys
said.
"They're
using
their
influence
on
Ceta,
and a
few
other
planets,
both
to
help
our
people
get
access
to
more
of the
power
brokers,
and
to
facilitate
our
efforts
to
gain
control
of other
elements
on
Ceta."

"I
suppose
they
think
if
we
get
control
of
people
not
already
under
their
power,
that
will
help
them,'"
Dahno
said.
"Are
they
really that
blind?"

"They're
really
that
obsessed,"
Bleys
said.
"Their
parents
and grandparents
raised
them
on
the
belief
that
they
had
been
unjustly deprived
of
their
rightful
place;
it
warped
them.
They're
so
strongly focused
on
revenge
they
don't
worry
about
what
it
costs—"

"They've
never
had
to
worry
about
the
cost
of
anything
at
all,
in their
entire
lives,"
Toni
interrupted.

"Right,"
Bleys
said.
"They've
come
to
believe
they're
invincible
...
it's
a
little
like
an
economic
version
of
how
the
Elect
among the
Friendlies
feel
about
themselves."

"We've
never
been
able
to
make
any
headway
with
the
religious fanatics,"
Dahno
warned.

"True,"
Bleys
said.
"But
we've
managed
to
work
with
some
of them,
just
by
giving
them
what
they
want
in
return
for
getting
what we
want."

"If
true,
that
makes
them
good
candidates
for
our
people
to
work on,"
Dahno
said,
grudgingly.

"It's
even
better
than
that,"
Bleys
said.
"This
situation
is
made
to order,
because
when
we
get
quick
results—and
we
will—the
Families
will
become
even
more
open
to
listening
to
us—"

"—And
before
long
they'll
be
completely
in
our
hands,"
Dahno finished,
his
grouchiness
apparently
forgotten.
He
looked
interestedly
at
his
brother.

"You've
already
got
something
in
mind
to
give
them
those
'quick results,'
haven't
you?"

"I
told
them
that
if
they
get
us
access
to
top
power
holders
not
already
in
their
camp,
we
can
persuade
them
to
help
our
program
of taking
business
away
from
the
Exotics.
They
liked
that
idea:
our persuasion
doesn't
cost
them
as
much
as
the
money
they've
been spending
on
bribes."

"Well,
even
if
it
all
works,"
Dahno
said,
"how
docs
that
help
us get
the
remaining
Younger
Worlds
into
our
camp?"

"I
think
our
people
are
more
efficient
than
the
Families,
and more
organized.
We'll
soon
have
results,
using
just
the
tools
the Families
are
giving
us
access
to—results
that
will
make
it
even
more obvious
that
the
Exotics
are
getting
less
of
a
share
of
Ceta's
trade. Any
Cetan
groups
not
already
on
our
side
will
see
there's
something to
gain
in
going
along
with
our
program,
and
in
turn,
with
their
support,
we
can
guarantee
that
Exotic
ships
get
even
fewer
cargoes,
and even
fewer
Exotic
experts
are
hired."

"How
can
you
guarantee
something
like
that?"
Dahno
asked.

"With
the
help
of
the
worlds
we've
already
got
in
our
pockets,"

Bleys
said.
"Any
faction
on
Ceta
not
initially
willing
to
go
along with
us
will
likely
jump
at
the
chance
to
get
a
larger
share
of
trade with,
say,
Newton.
In
fact,
we
can
probably
encourage
the
growth
of a
planetary'
government
on
Ceta—which
would
make
our
control less
complicated—by
using
whole-planet
most-favored-nation
sorts of
incentives."

Dahno
looked
unconvinced.
"What
you're
saying,"
he
said,
"is going
to
cost
a
lot
of
money,
because
most
of
those
actions
will
be running
a
deficit."

"What
kind
of
deficit?"
Toni
asked.

"Those
kinds
of
trade
manipulations
have
always
been
carried
out only
by
governments
seeking
political
gains,"
Dahno
said.
"Which
is of
course
exactly
what
we'd
be
doing,
too.
But
that
kind
of
manipulation
almost
always
runs
counter
to
the
normal
workings
of
trade,
and results
in
making
everything
more
expensive
for
everybody.
What Bleys
is
suggesting
is
that
we
draw
on
the
resources
of
the
planets
we control
to
artificially
deprive
the
Exotics
and
the
Dorsai
of
wealth,
a kind
of
economic
warfare."

"I
think
what
you're
saying,"
Toni
said
thoughtfully,
"is
that we'd
be
using
the
capital
built
up
on
the
worlds
under
our
control
to change
the
normal
ebb
and
flow
of
trade—as
if
we
were
building
a breakwater
along
a
beach—"

"A
breakwater
made
of
bales
of
old-fashioned
money,"
Dahno said.

"Well,
I
can
see
how
that
will
take
trade
away
from
the
Exotics and
the
Dorsai,
and
hurt
them,"
Toni
said.
"But
how
does
that
help put
those
other
planets
into
our
camp?"

"On
every
planet
there
are
always
people
who
instantly
understand
that
a
program
like
that
means
the
goods
are
being
made
to
go elsewhere
only
because
government
money
is
pushing
them
about, and
they'll
want
a
piece
of
that
money,"
Dahno
replied.
He
seemed to
have
forgotten
his
earlier
skepticism,
and
to
be
wrapped
up
in contemplation
of
the
strategy
he
was
exploring.

"They'd
sell
their
souls
for
opportunities
like
that,"
he
went
on, "and
turning
their
planets
over
to
us,
to
get
those
opportunities, won't
worry
them
until
later,
if
at
all."