by Speer, Flora
“I would recall to you, honorable Members, that mind-draining is illegal. And now, Leader Tyre, if you have no other questions for me, I would suggest that we follow the original order of this trial and let Commander Tarik speak.”
Tyre would have risen, but a Member on each side of him caught his arms and held him in place. Except for a few whispers and the occasional sound of disgust or disbelief the Red Room was quiet.
“May I step down from the witness box, Admiral Halvo?” Narisa asked.
“You may. Well done, Narisa.” He actually patted her on the shoulder as she walked past him. The guard who had been standing by the box escorted her to a bench at one side of the room and stayed with her. She saw Tarik walk across the open space and enter the railed box she had just left.
Pointedly ignoring Tyre, Halvo urged Tarik to tell how he and Narisa had learned of the existence of Starthruster, and how they had successfully used it to return to the Capital. Tarik did so, praising Gaidar for his help, and pointing out that the recent Cetan attack had proven the veracity of the story originally brought before the Assembly by himself, Narisa and Gaidar.
“Leader Tyre, have you any questions for Commander Tarik?” Halvo asked when Tarik was finished.
“Lies!” Tyre shouted, struggling to his feet. “Telepaths! Traitors! A plot against me!” His nearest supporters pulled him down again, cautioning him to silence. Narisa noticed that many of the Members who had once clustered about Tyre, fawning over him and agreeing with everything he said, now were slipping out of their nearby seats and moving to stand as far away from Tyre as they could get. When the Leader’s broken cries had stopped, Halvo looked around at the Members.
“Since Leader Tyre has no questions, I will proceed to my final speech,” he said. “It has become plain during this trial that Gaidar of Ceta should never have been imprisoned at all, and that Lieutenant Narisa had sufficient reason to fear for his life to justify her rescue of him. Be assured, it was a rescue, not an escape. Gaidar is no criminal, and Lieutenant Narisa raDon should be excused of all charges against her.”
A man rose from among the Members. He was tall and very thin, and Narisa had seen him seated next to Almaric when she was in this room before. When she had asked Tarik about him later, he had told her the man was one of Almaric’s closest friends. His name was Kyran of Serania.
“I move,” Kyran said in a deep bass voice, “that the original charges against Lieutenant Narisa raDon be dropped. However, the serious question of consorting with telepaths must be addressed. It is against the law to do so.”
“That information,” Halvo responded, “was obtained by equally illegal mind-draining.”
“Because it was obtained by mind-draining, it is unquestionably true,” Kyran said. “Shall I withdraw my motion to drop the original charges, Admiral Halvo?”
“If you do, I shall make another motion.” A second Member had risen. “Let all charges against Lieutenant Narisa be dropped, and let this painful and embarrassing case be closed and never opened again.”
“Agreed. Agreed.” The Assembly burst into applause. After a moment’s hesitation, seeing the direction in which his fellows were going, Kyran joined them. In fact, only a very few Members did not register their approval. Tyre remained slumped in his chair, seeming totally unresponsive to what was happening. Narisa saw him pluck at the hem of his jacket with trembling fingers.
The secretary who had read the charges against Narisa now moved to the center of the floor and held up his hands.
“Unless there is any objection, it shall be recorded,” he intoned, “that Lieutenant Narisa raDon is cleared of all charges pending against her and is excused from this chamber.”
Narisa rose, holding her breath. There was no objection.
“You may go, Lieutenant Narisa,” the secretary said. “Admiral Halvo, Commander Tarik, you are also free to go. Your business with the Assembly is finished.”
Narisa let out a long, relieved breath. She saw Tarik coming toward her, grinning. She took one step in his direction.
“Not so fast!” Tyre had risen. He appeared to have regained both vigor and purpose. “There are other charges pending against these people, and I want them answered now. Admiral Halvo, take the witness box.”
A new buzzing began among the Members. Narisa and Tarik exchanged a puzzled glance. Halvo stood where he was. None of them knew of any other charges.
“I said, take the witness box!” Tyre pointed an imperious finger at Halvo. “I am your supreme commander, and that is an order.”
Halvo walked to the box and entered it.
“That’s better. You, Admiral Halvo, four days ago took it upon yourself to declare open war upon the Cetans without the required express permission of the Assembly. Jurisdiction law plainly states the Service is always to be under the authority of the Assembly and is not to make policy or war on its own. You and the officers who obeyed you, which includes these two standing here, are therefore guilty of outright insubordination. By Jurisdiction law, you must all be removed from your posts, court-martialed and sentenced to death. How say you to that, Admiral Halvo?” Tyre sat down, looking pleased with himself for having found a way to get at Almaric’s family after his first attempt had failed.
Tarik touched Narisa’s arm, directing her toward the witness box where they stood flanking Halvo. Halvo’s closer guard went with them, but Narisa saw the second guard, who had been nearer the door they had come in by, slip out that same door, leaving it ajar so anyone in the anteroom could easily hear what was being said. Tyre’s men in the Red Room were few, and all were intent upon the struggle taking place between Tyre and Halvo.
“Honorable Members,” Halvo said, “Leader Tyre has invited me to speak. I shall do so honestly. I accuse Leader Tyre of misleading this Assembly as to the seriousness of the Cetan threat, and of refusing to believe Commander Tarik’s warning out of personal animosity toward our father, Member Almaric. I accuse Leader Tyre of leaving the Races of the Jurisdiction open to total destruction by the Cetans. I further accuse him of plotting to murder Almaric’s entire family along with a Cetan prisoner who was legally entitled to the protection of Jurisdiction law until he had been tried and sentence had been passed on him.
“I deny the charge of insubordination. I, and my fellow officers, were simply carrying out our primary duty, which is to defend the Jurisdiction from its enemies. How difficult that was in this case is witnessed by the great destruction wrought upon the Capital itself. But we were successful, and the Cetans have sued for peace. They are now willing to make a treaty with us.
“Honorable Members, you are innocent of wrongdoing in all of this. You have been misguided by a bad Leader, who, in your honesty and good intentions, you have trusted implicitly. Tyre has betrayed your trust, betrayed all the Races of the Jurisdiction.
“In the name of honor and justice, to preserve the unblemished reputation of this Assembly, Leader Tyre must be deposed!”
What a fine orator Halvo was. His voice, clear and commanding, carried throughout the Red Room, thrilling Narisa as it must have thrilled the Members. Except for Tyre and his closest adherents, who must have been terrified. She also realized how clever Halvo’s tactics were. By accusing only Tyre, and emphasizing that the honest Members had been misled by him, Halvo had made it possible for his audience to accept what he was saying and blame Tyre for everything. She suspected many of them had been weary of Tyre’s rule long before this. Watching the faces of the Members as Halvo finished his speech and the applause burst forth, Narisa believed if he had been a Member, the Assembly would have made him its Leader by acclamation.
“My fellow Members!” Almaric’s tall friend Kyran was on his feet again, calling for silence, and then saying what most were thinking. `’I move that Leader Tyre be deposed and placed in protective confinement until he can be tried upon the charges Admiral Halvo has brought against him.”
At that another Member jumped to his feet, not to be outdone in imposin
g justice on malefactors. “I move that the following Members, all close associates of Leader Tyre, also be removed from their positions in the Assembly and held in custody.” He reeled off a list of ten Members to enthusiastic applause.
Narisa saw Tyre make a motion with one hand. His few personal guards positioned in the room began to close in on the little group at the witness box. Halvo and Tarik seemed oblivious to the danger. Before she could warn them, the door to the anteroom opened and Halvo’s men marched into the Red Room. Outnumbered, Tyre’s guards smiled sheepishly and retired to stand along the wall, until they were called upon a short time later to help Halvo’s men escort Tyre and his ten friends to the Assembly’s prison chambers. They came readily, knowing Tyre was finished and eager to prove their allegiance to the Assembly. When the doors had closed upon Tyre, Kyran was still standing.
“Honorable Members,” he called out, “we need a new Leader. It should be a person of unimpeachable honesty. I nominate Member Almaric Gibal.”
“This is highly irregular,” protested another Member.
“It is indeed,” replied Kyran. “Never before has a Leader been deposed. Never have so many Members been removed at one time. Each of them will have to be replaced by an appointment from a home planet. That will take time. Meanwhile, we who remain should show that we are united and firm in our purpose to serve the Jurisdiction. Our unanimous election of Almaric will prove our good intent. I move we vote at once.”
“Yes, yes,” came the cry.
“Honorable Members.” Halvo raised his voice. “Commander Tarik, Lieutenant Narisa and I will, with your permission, remove ourselves from this chamber, lest we seem to be influencing your votes in favor of Almaric.”
“Wait in the anteroom for our decision,” ordered Kyran. “We shall not keep you long.”
The anteroom was deserted except for three of Halvo’s guards, one of them the man who had brought in his men at the crucial moment.
Halvo went to speak with him.
“Eleven new Members,” Narisa said to Tarik.
“Not so many among nearly five hundred,” he replied. “Still, an infusion of new blood may lead to change. We can hope. I’m proud of you, Narisa. You said exactly the right thing in there.” He beamed at her, and she felt like throwing herself into his arms.
The doors to the Red Room were flung open. The secretary appeared, followed by Kyran and a surge of other Members.
“Come with us,” Kyran invited, “Halvo, walk beside me, please.”
They made their way to a series of levitators and crowded onto the platforms. The doors slammed shut, and within seconds they had been lifted to the uppermost level of the building that housed the Assembly chambers. There they stepped out onto the balcony from which all proclamations to the people were made. The bells had already been rung, and the communication system turned on. They would all be seen, and the words the secretary read would be heard all over the Capital planet. Within a few hours, every planet in the Jurisdiction would know of the change in Leaders.
The work of cleaning up and repairing the damaged Capital had stopped when the bells sounded, and far below them a crowd had begun to gather in Assembly Square and along the streets that radiated from it.
By custom, it was the secretary who made all public announcements for the Assembly. As he began to speak, Narisa listened with growing wonder at what she and Halvo and Tank had done. Crushed among Members and Halvo’s guards as they were, no one noticed when Tarik took her hand in his and held it tight. Narisa let her fingers curl around his.
“Almaric Gibal of Demaria, our new Leader,” the secretary read, and had to wait until the cheering had stopped. But it did not stop. It grew louder. It did not take Narisa long to see why. A transporter car of the type used between spaceport and the city had landed on the pad in the middle of Assembly Square. The door slid back. Two Service guards stepped out, hesitated when they saw the cheering crowd, then moved aside and Almaric appeared.
“So,” Halvo spoke over the roar, “Tyre had his men waiting at spaceport for my father. And there’s my mother, and Suria and Gaidar, too. We needn’t wonder what their fates would have been had Tyre still been in power when they arrived in the Assembly chambers.”
“I thank all the stars they are safe,” Kyran declared. “I was truly worried about them. I don’t know what we would have done if Almaric had not returned promptly.”
“But with my father’s usual inspired timing,” Tarik said, “he has returned to the Capital, all unknowing and therefore innocent of complicity in his sons’ plans, just after his election is publicly declared. Halvo, you had better send a few of your men down there to protect him from his admirers before they tear him apart with love.”
“It has been taken care of,” Kyran said. “See there - an honor guard of Service officers.”
By this time the secretary had recovered himself and after a hasty consultation with Kyran began to speak once more to the public.
“Leader Almaric will be formally presented to the Assembly tomorrow at mid morning. All citizens of the Capital are granted two days’ holiday beginning immediately.” The cheer that followed this announcement was so loud the secretary gave up trying to speak and moved aside to let the Members crowd against the balcony railing to wave to the people below.
“They’ve begun celebrating already,” Tarik said to Narisa, pointing to where several casks had been rolled into the square and were being tapped, while cups and pitchers had mysteriously appeared in many hands. “I wonder how the ordinary citizens always know what is going to happen? I had not fully realized how unpopular Leader Tyre was. It looks as though my parents will return to their house in a triumphal procession.”
“I think we should take them there in my personal transporter,” Halvo suggested. “It will be easier for them to go by air than through the streets.”
“I’ll go with you, if I may.” Kyran spoke quickly. “Almaric and I have much to discuss.”
“Come along then, before all the other Members have the same idea,” Halvo urged.
They were taken by levitator to where Halvo’s transporter had been left. Most of his guards rejoined him along the way.
“Do you really think,” Narisa asked Tarik as they waited for everyone to board, “that Almaric will be able to change some of the most unfair and outdated laws?”
“The Assembly works very slowly. He can’t do much about that, but he can use his prestige to influence some changes over time,” Tarik replied.
“Two that need to be repealed at once,” she declared, “are the Act of Banishment and the Reproduction law.”
“Hush, dear rebel, don’t even mention that yet.” Tarik regarded her with love and laughter in his eyes. “We will talk to my father later.”
“And talk to him about your plan, the one you won’t discuss with me?” She moved a little closer to him as Halvo’s guards crowded into the transporter.
“That, too.” He laughed at her, teasing. “Have patience, my love. You will know all in time.”
Chapter Fifteen
Unperturbed that their master and mistress had arrived unexpectedly, or that transportation of food supplies to the Capital had been interrupted by warfare, Almaric’s jubilant servants provided a surprisingly ample celebration feast for the new Leader and his family. Looking into the eating room, Narisa thought they must have used up most of the food put away in Kalina’s storage rooms. Platters and serving dishes piled high with food and pitchers brimming with wine covered the shining surface of the deep red stone table, leaving little space for individual plates and cups and eating utensils.
When Kalina, in one of her typically warmhearted gestures, decided to invite all of the attendant guards to eat, too, the meal was quickly turned into a buffet. Wandering diners carried their plates into the entrance hall or large reception room, or out to the walled garden, where they sat in small groups to eat. Almaric himself ate quickly and then retired to his private library with Kyran, Halvo a
nd Tarik.
It was in the garden that Narisa found Suria and Gaidar, both sitting on the grass. Gaidar held a bowl of vegetable stew topped with slices of meat in one hand, and a large chunk of bread in the other. He dipped the bread into the bowl, scooped out a pile of vegetables and took a huge bite.
Suria was eating more daintily from a smaller bowl of fruit and cheese. At her invitation, Narisa dropped to the ground beside them.
“I haven’t had a chance to speak with you since you returned. Where did you go when you left the Capital?” she asked them. “I worried about all of you. Were you able to avoid the Cetans?”
“Easily. We were far from the battle.” Gaidar laid his bread on one knee so he could use his fingers to pick a slice of meat out of his bowl. Narisa refrained from telling him he should eat with the proper implements as Jurisdiction citizens did. He would learn in time. He was too clever not to learn. He grinned his naughty-little-boy smile, and she forgave him his lack of social skills.
“Gaidar demonstrated Starthruster for us,” Suria said. “Almaric was most impressed, thanks to me.”
“To you?” Gaidar grumbled. “I was piloting the ship.”
“A little too enthusiastically, considering Starthruster’s potential speed. It’s a good thing for you I was your navigator. Without me, we would all be somewhere outside the galaxy, trying to find our way back.”
