Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (28 page)

Dahno
will
be
able
to
move
about
with
very
little
constraint
within three
or
four
days,
and
will
be
completely
recovered
in
less
than
two weeks.
But—"

"No
'buts,'"
Toni
said
firmly,
taking
Kaj
by
an
elbow
and
rotating
him
so
he
could
follow
the
crewmembers
moving
Dahno
deeper into
the
ship.
"There's
an
emergency
situation
still
in
progress,
and we
have
things
we
have
to
get
done
right
away."
With
a
hand
in
the center
of
his
back,
she
pushed
him
gently
in
the
direction
he
was now
facing.

"Again?"
Kaj
said;
and
then
he
shrugged,
lengthening
his
stride and
moving
away
from
them
in
the
direction
of
the
ship's
infirmary.

"Contact
me
in
twenty
minutes!"
Toni
called
at
his
retreating back.

"I
should
have
specialized
in
trauma
.
.."
they
heard
his
voice trail
off
as
he
passed
through
the
hatch.

"Bleys,
this
is
the
first
officer,
John
Tindall,"
Toni
said
then,
turning
and
indicating
the
middle-aged
man
who
had
supervised
the
gentle
removal
of
Dahno
from
his
crate—no
small
feat,
given
Dahno's size—and
then
come
to
stand
silently
nearby
during
the
brief
argument
with
the
medician.

"I
know
we've
met
before,
Mr.
Tindall,"
Bleys
said,
offering
his hand.

"We
have,
Great
Teacher,"
the
first
officer
said.
"We've
had
the pleasure
of
your
company
on
board
Favored
of
God
on
a
number
of occasions,
although
at
those
times
we
were
usually
carrying
other passengers
as
well."

"The
pleasure
has
been
mine,"
Bleys
said.
"I
learned
long
ago I
could
feel
safe
and
comfortable
in
the
care
of
this
ship
and
her people."

As
the
first
officer
beamed,
Bleys
continued:
"How
is
Captain Broadus?
I
assume
she's
busy?"

"She
is
ashore,
sir,"
said
Tindall.
"Henry
MacLean
indicated
it was
imperative
that
this
ship
appear
to
be
on
other
business,
as
well as
virtually
deserted
during
repairs.
Since
repairs
are
customarily the
first
officer's
province,
the
captain
took
rooms
ashore—under
a false
name,
of
course."

"I
see,"
Bleys
nodded.
"No
one
would
think
anything
was
going
on
aboard
a
ship
whose
captain
was
apparently
taking
a
bit
of recreational
leave."

"Yes,
sir,"
said
the
first
officer.
"The
captain
is
unhappy
about
it, though."

"They
also
serve
who
only
stand
a
n
d
wait,
"
Bleys
murmured. "Yes,
sir."

"I
suspect,
now
we've
come
aboard,
she'll
find
some
reason
for her
own
return,"
Toni
said.
Then,
more
briskly:
"Mr.
Tindall,
can we
arrange
to
have
a
work
space
set
up
for
us?"

"Already
done,"
the
first
officer
said.
"Please
follow
me."

"I
need
to
know
more
about
what's
been
going
on,"
Bleys
said,
as he
and
Toni
entered
the
ship's
main
lounge
a
few
minutes
later. "We
still
haven't
figured
out
who
our
enemy
is."

"Henry
said
we'd
have
nearly
total
communications
available here—and
I
expect
that
would
be
you?"
Toni
said,
addressing
the question
to
two
figures
now
rising
from
desks
on
the
other
side
of the
lounge.

"Yes,"
one
of
them
said.
He
was
short
and
muscular,
with
hair
almost
the
same
medium
shade
of
brown
as
his
skin.

"You're
Walker
Freas,
I
think,"
Toni
said.
"And
you
would
be Sarah
Kochan,"
she
went
on,
turning
to
the
second
figure,
a
short, red-haired
woman
whose
face
carried
an
intense
display
of
freckles.

The
two
Soldiers
nodded.
Their
presence
indicated
they
were members
of
the
specialists
among
Henry's
Soldiers—some
of whom
were
technical
specialists
being
trained
in
the
skills
of
fighting,
and
the
rest
warriors
being
trained
in
technical
skills.
Bleys, when
Henry
had
brought
the
idea
of
the
dual
force
to
him,
had foreseen
friction
between
the
two
groups,
but
the
cross-training seemed
to
be
paying
off,
as
each
side
developed
more
respect
for the
other,
having
learned
something
of
what
the
others
had
to know.
.
..

"There
are
four
more
of
us,"
Walker
Freas
said,
"two
on
duty with
the
comms
consoles,
through
that
door
there—"
he
pointed, "—and
two
catching
some
sleep."

"Henry
gave
me
to
understand
you
have
landlines
set
up through
the
pad
facilities,
that
can't
be
traced,"
Toni
said.

"That's
right,"
Sarah
Kochan
said.
Her
face
lit
in
a
toothy
smile. "The
line
is
shielded
up
to
its
junction
with
the
public
system,
as
is required
by
the
interstellar
compacts
for
spaceports."

She
was
referring,
they
all
knew,
to
some
of
the
legal
niceties
that gave
all
ships
on
spaceport
pads
the
sovereignty
of
their
home
planets,
and
put
them
virtually
beyond
the
control
of
whatever
planet they
might
be
on.

"And
after
that
juncture,
it
becomes
virtually
anonymous
in
the midst
of
the
public
system,"
Sarah
was
continuing.
"It's
a
permanently
open
connection,
which
means
no
initialization
signals
to
attract
attention—going
to
a
safe
house
where
we
have
all
the
standard comm
security
gear
in
place,
as
well
as
a
nano-modulated—"

"What
you're
saying,
I
think,"
Toni
interrupted
what
was
clearly about
to
become
much
more
of
a
technological
lecture
than
Bleys wanted
just
now,
"is
that
even
if
anyone
traces
calls
to
the
safe house,
they
can't
trace
it
back
here."

"Oh,
it
could
be
done,
I
guess,"
Sarah
said.
"But
not
in
any
time frame
I've
been
given
to
understand
we
have
to
worry
⁷
about."

"Let's
speak
about
this
in
more
detail
a
little
later,"
Toni
said. "But
for
the
moment
we
need
to
talk
more
about
content
than
about systems."

"Do
you
want
to
ask
us
questions,
or
would
you
prefer
our
summary
first?"
Walker
Freas
asked.
The
unexpected
aptitude
the
onetime
mercenary
⁷
had
shown
for
intelligence
collection
activities
had been
very
pleasing
to
Henry,
Bleys
remembered.

"Summary
first,
I
think,"
Toni
said,
exchanging
a
glance
with Bleys,
who
had
already
moved
over
to
take
a
seat
at
one
of
the
vacated
desks,
where
he
found
already
up
and
running
a
screen
that accessed
the
ship's
information
storage.
He
entered
the
password needed
to
access
the
files
from
Others'
headquarters
that
had
been copied
into
the
ship's
computer
before
it
left
Association;
and
then looked
up
and
nodded
at
Toni.

"We
may
ask
questions
as
you
go,"
Toni
said
to
the
two
Soldiers.

"Of
course,"
Walker
Freas
said.
He
turned
and
nodded
to
Sarah, who
also
sat
down
at
a
screen.

"Following
your
instructions,"
Walker
Freas
said
now,
"those
of us
who
came
in
secretly
on
Favored
of
God
set
up
covert
surveillance on
the
Others'
headquarters
and
its
personnel,
and
two-person teams
went
out
to
surve
il
seven
of
the
Others
who
primarily
work elsewhere
on
the
planet."

"Did
you
have
information
of
some
sort
that
led
you
to
choose those
seven?"
Toni
asked.

"No,"
Freas
answered.
"With
nothing
to
go
on,
we
simply
chose seven
at
random."

"What
did
you
find?"

"Up
until
your
arrival,
nothing
untoward
happened—except
for one
thing
that
didn't
happen:
our
people
couldn't
locate
one
of
the outlying
seven
Others."

"Which
one?"
Bleys
asked.

"Stella
Tanalingam,"
Walker
Freas
replied.

"Could
she
have
been
out
on
her
route?"

"We
don't
think
so,"
Walker
said.
"We
had
information
on
all
the local
Others'
routes,
of
course,
and
our
team
followed
along
hers.
As
it happened,
four
of
the
other
six
outlying
Others
were
also
out
on
their routes,
and
the
teams
assigned
to
them
had
no
trouble
finding
them."

"Could
she
have
been
on
vacation,
or
ill,
for
instance?"
Toni asked.

"Perhaps,"
the
Soldier
said.
"But
we
don't
think
so,
because there
was
another
unexpected
variation
from
pattern:
her
route
was still
being
worked."

"Worked?
You
mean—"
Toni
began,
but
Bleys
interrupted
her.

"You
mean
someone
else
was
out
following
up
her
normal
contacts,
don't
you?"
he
said.

"Yes,"
Walker
nodded.
"Specifically,
one
of
her
staff
members."

"You
know
that
because
it
was
someone
listed
in
the
table
of
organization
you
were
given,"
Bleys
said.
"Which
one?"

"Lester
Parnell,"
Walker
said.
Bleys
immediately
called
up
the available
information
on
that
individual.
He
had
thoroughly
reviewed
all
such
material
already,
but
despite
his
retentive
memory he
took
time
to
scan
the
file
once
more,
while
waving
a
hand
for
the summary
to
continue.