The Last Mayor Box Set

by Michael John Grist

  "Anna," Witzgenstein prompted, showing a little impatience. Anna nodded, and began to speak.

  She told the story of what came next to Witzgenstein and the jury. The words poured out of her; she had told Amo where the ocean were, then listened to the clamor as he struck the camp, keeping the walkie channel open. Everyone ran for the RVs, she heard engines firing up, but Amo had kept on running. In a minute Masako's voice had followed, she was angry, and Alan's voice rose up in an argument, and Amo spoke too, followed by gunfire.

  It felt good to say it, sitting in the court letting out this one truth she could afford to share. Perhaps Amo had been right. When she was finished she looked out over the congregation, feeling lighter than before.

  "What did they argue about?" Witzgenstein asked. "Specifically."

  Anna went on. "I wasn't sure at first. I didn't have the context then; I didn't know about the vote, the split in the group. But Masako was obviously angry, she sounded frantic. She said Amo was a liar; about the demons, about Julio. She said Amo was trying to hurt her or take her family away. It sounded crazy. Amo said something about saving Lin's life, and that's when she hit him."

  Witzgenstein nodded. She steepled her fingers and considered for a moment. She looked down at some notes in front of her then back up at Anna, as if making a tough decision. "And how do you know she hit him? You were only listening through your radio, in your plane, isn't that correct? There must have been engine noise, other distractions, an imperfect signal. How do you know Masako hit Amo and not the other way around?"

  Anna frowned. Something unexpected had just changed, and she peered at Witzgenstein, but her face was a total blank, giving away nothing. This was supposed to be a show trial, to clear Amo's name of all the rumors swirling through the community, but this didn't sound like a show question. This sounded like a cross-examination.

  "Why are you asking me that, Janine?" Anna asked.

  Witzgenstein usually hated to be called Janine, but it didn't have any effect now. "I'm trying to establish the sequence of events." She took a breath. "Because I'm afraid I've heard different testimony."

  Anna sat up straight. Amo in the dock did so too. The jury of every person in New LA took a sharp breath.

  "What different testimony?" Anna asked.

  "From Alan, Masako's widower, and her son Lin. They were both there, in person, as you've confirmed. The differences in their testimony are quite consequential."

  Anna looked down at Alan and Lin, sat in the front row in starched gray suits, along with everyone in the hall. Alan was sweating freely, staining his white collar. Lin looked like he was about to throw up.

  Anna turned back at Witzgenstein. This wasn't the schedule. They'd already agreed Alan wouldn't give testimony. He was a Council member himself now, after inheriting Masako's seat, and he'd pleaded with them not to make him take the stand. He didn't want to relive the ordeal of losing his wife, or so he said.

  But now? Everything was changing so fast.

  "I think we need to hear that testimony," Witzgenstein said. "Before we go any further here. If there are no objections?" She looked to Anna.

  There were plenty of objections Anna wanted to raise, but none that seemed valid. Clamoring about agreements made by the Council now would sound churlish and even elitist. In this venue, Alan plainly had a right to speak, no matter what he'd said earlier. He'd been there and could offer an eyewitness account. It was his wife.

  Janine nodded, accepting Anna's silence as approval, then banged her gavel sharply. "I call Alan Keller to the stand. Anna, if you wouldn't mind?"

  Anna got down and walked past Amo, feeling slightly in shock. He didn't meet her eyes. She dropped into the open seat beside Ravi, who patted her arm tenderly and whispered something she didn't catch. At the same time Alan rose from nearby, a little unsteadily, and walked to her place in the pulpit. He was sweating and fiddling with his fingers as he took the stand. He avoided looking out at the audience.

  This was not going as planned.

  "Alan Keller," Witzgenstein prompted. "May I remind you that all testimony in this court is given under oath. Now, would you share your story, exactly as you told it to me last night."

  Anna could only watch as Alan nodded, and twisted his tie, and mopped his brow with the back of his hand. Last night?

  He began to speak haltingly. "It's about that night in Pittsburgh. Before the demons came, before we sang round the campfires. Amo came over to us. He talked to us." He fell silent for a moment.

  "And what did he say, Alan?" Witzgenstein urged gently. "It's all right."

  Alan shifted uncomfortably. He glanced fleetingly at Amo then away as if stung. "He told Masako she would be first. Her, then Lin and then me."

  Anna's frown deepened. First? This was new. This hadn't been mentioned at any of their Council meetings.

  "First to what?" Witzgenstein asked.

  Alan gulped, then spat it out. "First to die when the demons came."

  Several people in the congregation gasped. The air went abruptly still. Anna almost laughed, but Witzgenstein took it very seriously.

  "He told you this?" she asked tenderly. "Was there any chance it was a joke?"

  Alan shook his head, spraying droplets of sweat. "He had his hand on his pistol. It was no joke."

  Anna squeezed Ravi's hand so hard he gave a little yelp. "That's a lie," she called out abruptly, surprising even herself.

  Witzgenstein wasn't surprised. She looked at her almost lazily. "Anna, please. You've had your turn on the stand. Let's hear what Alan has to say."

  "Alan's lying," she answered, raising her voice to be heard around the hall. "I've never heard any of this before. Nobody has. It's a lie."

  Witzgenstein watched impassively. She looked at the audience then nodded. "Anna's right that we haven't heard this testimony before. Alan is changing his story. It is unexpected and it won't be comfortable, I know that, but shouldn't we at least hear what he has to say?"

  Anna stood up. "Not when it's all lies."

  "He has a right to his testimony," Witzgenstein said firmly. "You'll get your turn to brand him a liar later, Anna. For now, please sit down and let him speak. This is a court of law and there are rules of conduct."

  Anna noticed she'd taken a step forward, fists clenched. Amo in front had turned around and was looking at her.

  "It's all right," he said quietly. "Let them. Sit down, Anna, it'll be fine.."

  Now she was trembling too. Something was happening that she didn't understand, and she didn't like it, but Amo looked so peaceful, and she trusted him. Perhaps this was part of a plan he'd orchestrated, without her knowledge? She forced herself to sit.

  "Thank you," Witzgenstein said, and turned back to Alan. "Please, what happened next?"

  "Then we sang," Alan said, his voice cracking in the silence. "Everyone remembers. But I couldn't believe it. I was in shock. Here was Amo, singing. I've known him for years, I've never heard him threaten anyone, but around that brazier he threatened my wife. He threatened me. And he was singing." He dabbed at his forehead, and his voice sped up. "I wanted to tell someone or do something, but I didn't know what to do." He began to tremble. "I was afraid. Who would believe me, when Amo was a hero? How could I fight him, when he'd just killed a demon? He'd just been re-elected. I had to hope."

  Witzgenstein let that hang for a long moment. "What did you hope?"

  "I hoped the demons wouldn't come," Alan said. "I hoped perhaps it was a joke. But then the demons did come, and..."

  Witzgenstein nodded. "And then?"

  Alan took a deep breath. "I saw Amo, running from group to group. I knew he was looking for us. This was his chance. So we ran. Masako led us down from the highway and into the streets, but it wasn't fast enough. He found us still. We did argue then, just like Anna says, but it wasn't Masako who hit first, it was Amo. She tried to fight him off. She tried to run away with Lin while I just stood there." There were tears in his eyes now. "I didn't do anything, I wa
s so scared. She was always braver than me. And he shot her for it."

  Anna's jaw dropped and she leapt to her feet. "That's bullshit!"

  Witzgenstein banged the gavel hard and now there was steel in her eyes. "Sit down, Anna! You've been asked twice, need I have you removed? This is a court of law."

  Anna stabbed a finger at her. "You're doing this. You've made him change his testimony. Stop wrapping yourself up in the court! And you-" she pointed at Alan. "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

  The tears broke down his cheeks while Witzgenstein beat the gavel hard. "Order. The court will come to order."

  She was about to shout out more charges, but Amo was looking at her again, with his eyes so calm and centered. "Anna, let them," he mouthed.

  She wanted to shout out, 'Let them?' but she didn't. She stood a moment longer, feeling like the world was turning upside down beneath her. Where was solid footing now?

  "Last chance, Anna," Witzgenstein carried on. "Be seated or you will be removed."

  She looked around. Feargal was there, Ollie too. Would they? Yes, she realized, they would. Serious charges required a serious approach, and what good could she do outside the court?

  She slumped back down.

  It took a moment for the muttering of the crowd to silence again, then Witzgenstein turned their attention back to Alan.

  "I know it's hard, Alan, but please go on."

  He rubbed his eyes and his voice cracked, but he carried on. "He just shot her in the back. Then he grabbed Lin and he took my arm and he pulled us back to the RVs. I was too terrified to fight back. I thought he might shoot me too. I didn't know what to do."

  Witzgenstein nodded heavily. She gave him a moment to recover himself, as he wiped the tears away and tried to get the sobs under control. "And why did you keep this from us, Alan? It's OK. Tell the court just what you told me."

  Alan nodded. He pulled himself together. "Because he threatened me. He said I'd get what she got if I ever told anyone. He said he'd kill Lin." A sob escaped. "And I was afraid. I've been afraid ever since. But I thought, with the trial now, I can't live like this. I won't. If he wants to kill me, at least now everyone will know. They'll see who he really is."

  The courtroom went silent. Amo hung his head, as if he was guilty. Anna just stared, as the pit opened inside her. The charges were immense and damning. Amo was a murderer? Amo had threatened a child? Amo was the not the man they all thought he was, and worst of all, her own testimony couldn't disprove any of it.

  Witzgenstein had played her and the crowd perfectly. She began to feel sick at her role in it, right down to her outbursts. It was masterful, and while the hall was in shock, and Anna was in shock, the true reason behind it became clear.

  This was Witzgenstein's coups d'état.

  Witzgenstein banged the gavel. "I call for a recess. The Council needs to meet. We must discuss what happens next, and how the trial ought proceed."

  She rose. She took Alan protectively by the elbow and led him off the pulpit and past Amo before anyone else could object, to the congregation where they collected Lin and walked toward the elevator together.

  The hall erupted seconds later.

  * * *

  The Council met in Witzgenstein's RV, comprised of Witzgenstein, Alan in place of Masako, Anna in place of Ravi, Lara and Feargal. Five members in all.

  Anna was quiet, still trying to figure out this new landscape. She listened while Lara tried to lead the fight, though Lara was too weak to be effective. Every word came to her slowly, pushed out through a fog of exhaustion to form short, flimsy arguments about due process and false testimony and bias. She'd only come out of the coma five days ago and was struggling to follow a coherent line of thought.

  Get it over and done with, Witzgenstein had suggested in the Council meeting a week ago, while Lara was still in her coma. No need for lawyers, the hearings were a formality only. It had seemed a good idea at the time. Anna had had some dim understanding there were dark rumors spreading round the camp, but Witzgenstein promised the trial would forestall them.

  This was the result.

  Now she listened and kept trying to grasp her arms around the size of it. She watched Witzgenstein and tried to read her intent, and the more she thought, the more she kicked herself, because she should have seen it coming.

  It had been obvious, really, but she'd been so focused on the slaughter of eleven bunkers to come, and dealing with her confused feelings about Cerulean and the dead Maine three thousand, and Lara in her coma and the GPS tags to inject into the ocean, that she hadn't realized what was happening. She'd let the rumors swirl around her, thinking they'd simply pass by like they always had before.

  But things weren't like before. Cerulean was gone, Amo was crippled with guilt, and Lara was barely present. They weren't even in New LA, surrounded by all the familiar signs of Amo's long, peaceful rule. This was an in between place, this frozen hellhole where everyone and everything was in flux, and Witzgenstein was taking her opportunity. Masako's death was the perfect trigger, Alan was a perfect, weak-willed foil, and Witzgenstein wasn't shy to exploit them both.

  Anna studied her, trying to spot a crack in the façade, but she was so aloof, so impartial. She'd set it all up so she was far removed from any of the dirty work of making accusations and spreading rumors. Rather, she used her supporters for that. She used Alan. Anna watched and dug her nails into her palms instead of shouting out loud. All of this was a set-up, and already it seemed unstoppable. At best Amo would come out of it discredited and limping along until the next election. At worst he'd be impeached and his legacy in New LA destroyed.

  Anna didn't know how to stop it. It wasn't a demon or a madwoman on a raft; it couldn't be shot to kill it, because Witzgenstein had laid the ground well. The rumors had been swirling for weeks now; injected into the community in the aftermath of Pittsburgh, while Amo and Anna were up in Maine and Lara was in her coma.

  Amo had murdered Masako to remove a political rival, was one, but not one she'd done more than laugh at to date. He'd murdered others along the way, had spread the load and the burden of proof wider, expanding the rumors into the realm of conspiracy theory. Every death from the exodus was on his conscience, because the demons only ever wanted him and Lara- the mother and father of the apocalypse. That was a good one, and impossible to disprove, because it was built on conjecture already. But once it got into peoples' heads?

  Of course it was bullshit and lies, but the rumors had a power and they'd kept spreading, long and loud enough to bring the question to a trial. 'Just to clear the air,' Witzgenstein had said when she first tabled the motion in the Council, 'to clear the rumors and clear Amo's name.' Now the true purpose was clear, buoyed on a river of Alan's heartfelt tears.

  There was no counter-testimony Anna could offer. They'd already incorporated hers into their story. She had no doubt Witzgenstein had 'witnesses' lined up to go next, people whose consciences were pricked by Alan's story and who took that moment to come forward with their manufactured dirt on Amo.

  Stories of threats and coercion. Stories of murder and blackmail. None of it provable, but a heavy enough load to bring Amo crashing down, and change the course of New LA forever. Perhaps they'd even call Lin to the stand and make him lie too.

  Her mind churned. Amo had hung his head in the court, as if accepting the guilt. Ever since the bunker he'd been broken and morose. It would be in perfect character for him to take this guilt and wear it as his own like some kind of atonement. She wanted to be clean from the stain of Maine too, but like this?

  "I move the trial continues," Feargal said at last, surely exactly as Witzgenstein had hoped. The suggestion hadn't come from her or from Alan, but from a third party. "But not as before. We make it real, now. Real charges, real costs. A criminal court."

  "I second that, I'm afraid," Witzgenstein said. "We have to know the truth."

  Lara snorted. "I'm against. Completely against. You can't just co-opt this court, Jan
ine."

  Lara looked at Anna. Her fractured, miserable eyes were imploring. There was so much depth in them, such a desperate hunger, but Anna couldn't help. Not like that. They'd never sway Feargal, not with witness testimony on the table, and his was the third vote. Lara was too overwrought to see that, but Anna couldn't afford emotion now. She'd let grief and guilt cloud her thinking for too long, and it was time to get serious again or lose everything they'd built, and it had to be done right, in front of all the people. This infection had to be cut out root and branch, once and for all.

  Anna looked into Witzgenstein's eyes. "I third the motion."

  Lara gasped.

  "I'm sorry, Lara," Feargal followed on. "I have to agree."

  The motion passed four to one. The new court date was set for the very next day.

  INTERLUDE 2

  By the hidden lab entrance in corridor Blue two Lucas stopped and breathed hard. He'd seen two of them but there had to be more. His heart raced wildly.

  How many?

  He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus, spinning a map of the Habitat in his mind's eye. Five decks, with him here in a remote corner of two-minus. Farsan's room was on deck one off Willow one, which meant three flights of stairs up.

  Perhaps he'd slept through it all? He had to be tired after watching over Lucas as he came down. Perhaps he was still sleeping peacefully. If Lucas ran fast enough…

  He snatched open the hatchway door, kicked the heavy metal weight back through the inner door hard enough to break the hidden clasp, then scampered in like a wild dog. In the complete darkness beyond he ran by memory; through the maze and down the stairs, round the pallets, past the broken vending machines. A sliver of hissing light marked the bar/lab and he burst through into the wet, stinking space.