Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (89 page)

"What
if
one,
or
more,
of
the
top
Others'
leaders
rebelled?"
he said
to
Toni
one
night,
right
after
Favored
of
God
had
come
out
of
a phase-shift,
returning
to
Association
from
his
latest
inspection
trip.

Over
time,
technology
and
pharmacology
had
combined
to
make
the
experience
of
a
phase-shift
no
longer
the
sickening,
frightening, paralyzing
thing
it
had
been
as
recently
as
in
Donal
Graeme's
time. But
however
little
travelers
might
be
physically
affected
by
the
experience,
few
of
them
could
approach
a
shift
without
recalling
the small,
but
very
real,
chance
that
their
component
particles,
once scattered
throughout
the
universe,
might
never
be
reassembled.

Contemplation
of
that
reality
was
known
to
cause
people
to think
a
second
time
about
their
futures.
Bleys
sometimes
wondered how
professional
spacecrew
handled
that
particular
vision.
It
might be
that
crew
developed
the
happy-go-lucky
personalities
they
were known
for
in
self-defense—or
perhaps
the
spacegoing
life
rapidly sorted
out
and
drove
away
those
who
lacked
an
optimistic
outlook.

Toni
initially
had
nothing
to
say
in
response
to
Bleys'
question. She
had,
now
he
thought
of
it,
an
attitude
toward
life
that
was
completely
different
from
that
of
the
stereotypical
spacecrew
he
had just
been
contemplating;
and
yet
he
was
very
sure
she,
too,
could handle
the
prospect
of
a
lifetime
of
phase-shifts
without
being
affected
in
any
way.

So
could
he,
he
thought.
But
that
was
because
of
his
mission, which
was
so
important
it
dwarfed
all
dangers;
he
realized
now
that if
some
accident,
such
as
the
proverbial
shift
to
nothingness
that had
once
taken
Donal
Graeme,
should
kill
him,
it
would
also
kill
his mission,
and
with
it
hope
for
the
human
race—because
there
was no
one
else
with
the
strength
and
vision
to
carry
it
on.

"Hal
Mayne
could,"
he
told
himself.
"But
he
wouldn't.
He's blind
..."

"What?"
Toni
asked;
and
Bleys
realized
he
had
uttered
his
last thought
out
loud.

"Just
thinking,"
he
said.

Toni
was
something
else
entirely.
More
than
almost
anyone
he had
ever
known,
she
was
a
whole
person,
complete
within
herself. At
her
core
lay
a
confident
certainty,
a
sureness
about
herself,
that made
her
imperturbable—it
was,
he
suspected,
the
essence
of
her family's
heritage
of
training
in
the
martial
arts,
distilled
through generations.

He
wondered
if
she
might
not
be
more
Dorsai,
in
attitude
at least,
than
she
herself
realized.

Did
other
members
of
her
family
have
a
similar
core?
He
had never
met
any
of
them,
although
Toni
had
mentioned
once
that
a brother
had
gone
through
the
Others'
training
program.
Bleys
did not
remember
him,
so
that
must
have
been
before
he
himself
had become
actively
involved
with
Dahno's
organization.

Where
was
that
brother?
Toni
had
never
mentioned
him
again, although
she
had
spoken
about
her
father.
Now
that
he
thought
of it,
Bleys
realized
that
in
his
frequent
examinations
of
the
Others' personnel
files
and
reports,
he
had
never
noticed
someone
who could
be
that
brother.

"Why
would
any
of
them
rebel?"
Toni
spoke
up,
finally,
interrupting
his
train
of
thought—which,
Bley
s
realized,
he
had
managed
to
sidetrack.
"You've
given
them
all
they
ever
dreamed
of,
and more,
and
no
one
else
can
offer
them
anything
better—why
would they
want
to
replace
you?"

"Just
because
I'm
here,"
he
said,
pushing
himself
into
a
sitting position
with
his
back
against
the
wall
at
the
head
of
the
bed.
Still lying
down,
she
rolled
over
so
she
could
tilt
her
head
and
look
at him.

"Like
the
mountain,"
she
said
after
a
moment. "Mountain?"

"Some
people
have
to
climb
them—to
conquer
them—just
because
they're
there.
So
far,
you're
the
mountain
in
their
lives.
So
I suppose
it's
possible."

"More
than
possible,"
he
said.
"Over
the
long
run,
it's
certain, because
that's
the
way
people
are."

"Can't
you
use
your
persuasive
abilities
to
keep
them
loyal?"

"That's
what
I've
been
doing,"
he
said.
"Every
time
I
meet
with some
of
them,
I
do
everything
I
can
to
persuade
them
everything they
want
lies
with
me.
So
far
it's
worked:
they
seem
to
go
away
enthusiastic
for
the
vision
I
create
in
their
minds."