Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 Read Online Free PDF

it?"
    "No," Dahno said, thoughtfully. "I suppose not." He raised an eyebrow as he looked closely at his brother. "So you have some reason for going to Ceta to try to unravel this?" he said.
    "Yes, of course," Bleys said. "Ceta seems to be where these attacks originated."
    "You can tell that somehow?"
    "Yes. Remember, among the Younger Worlds, Ceta was always the Exotics' main competition in commerce, after Old Earth."
    "So they had the greatest motive to try to undermine the Exotics," Dahno said. "Doesn't that come down to money and power, as I said earlier?"
    "True," Bleys said, "but I think there's something extra involved." "Why do you think that?"
    "Because there's been a strain of vindictiveness involved in all this," Bleys said. "Some of the things I've found in the records have no other good explanation."
    "Such as?"
    "Such as the Dorsai being charged more for some products than other worlds have been paying," Bleys said. "Such as collusion between companies—usually Cetan companies—competing against the Exotics, to undercut Exotic bids, even when it means the competitors must have been losing money."
    "A certain amount of that could simply be good—well, maybe sharp—business practice," Dahno said.
    "Now and again, yes," Bleys said. "But not when it's a pattern repeated frequently over decades."
    "So you're going to Ceta to try to uncover this," Dahno said. "Then what?"
    "Well, think about the other ramifications of this," Bleys answered. "If I'm right, why don't our Others, who've been working on Ceta for years, know about it?"
    "I see," Dahno said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "If our people don't know about whoever's doing all this—then we're being played."
    "Which means our own plans are being undermined," Bleys said. "Yes, I see that," Dahno said. He was suddenly tight-lipped, and Bleys knew his brother was concealing the effect of a severe blow.
    Dahno had always been almost obsessive about maintaining his personal independence—it was a reaction to the way he had been treated by their mother, as a kind of personal accessory—and Bleys could think of little that would shock his brother more than to find out he had been manipulated.
    CHAPTER 4
    "Uncle Henry, are you busy?" "Nothing that can't keep, Bleys."
    "I'd like to speak with you about preparations for another trip," Bleys said into his wristpad. "Off-planet, I mean; and soon. Continue with what you're doing, but I'd appreciate it if you'd come to see me when you're finished."
    "God has willed that it would be appropriate to do so," Henry MacLean said. "Carl and I have been comparing opinions on the new Soldiers we've brought in since Newton, and I wanted to speak with you about that when we are finished." Henry's voice and words often became more formal when the God he believed in was mentioned, but he had never used the antique-sounding speech affected by many of those who thought themselves unusually devout.
    "Good," said Bleys. "Come up when you're ready, then."
    "I will."
    When faced with a problem, Bleys often worked it out in his head while pacing relentlessly up and down the length of his private lounge, in the tall building that now housed the headquarters of the Others, in Ecumeny, the capital of Association. But not this time. This time, he felt scattered and unable to focus.
    That, he thought, as he tried to impose his usual discipline on his mind, was because there wasn't really a problem to focus on. The task he faced was simple; unfortunately, it was going to be difficult.
    His uncle Henry was going to be coming up to sec him soon. Henry MacLean was the organizer and leader of Bley s' Soldiers, the picked bodyguards Bleys had to surround himself with, these days.
    Henry had to be told, right away, to make the preparations necessary for the trip to Ceta.
    Faced with mentioning Ceta to his uncle, Bleys had found that, at some deep level, he was afraid. Because it was on Ceta that Henry's younger son, Will, had been killed, some years