The Channel's Exemption (sime-gen)

by Jacqueline Lichtenberg

  Cheryl put the ring on her finger. "It's been years sinceI've worn this. And I won't lie to you. I am a traitor to theTecton oath I took. But there is still a great deal of that oathI keep. I came here tonight to finish what Brian started, tohonor that part of my oath that I've never broken."

  Valyu burst out, "Honor! What do you know of Tecton honor!"

  "Between us," said Cheryl holding the Sime's gaze, "hedoesn't count Yone. This is between Firsts. You and me. I pledgeto you by our common oath to attend one another in times of need,that I will not take advantage of your weakness, and that I willuse nothing that would not be used in any Tecton Center.

  Eyeing her carefully, Yone said, "No Distect tricks?"

  "No Distect tricks. It's my life that's at stake here, Yone,not just yours. If you go under, we all go with you. Your oathwon't allow you to refuse my help, even if it means sacrificingyour own interests for the good of all of us. My word is good. You know that, and that's all you need to know."

  Yone nodded weakly. "Valyu, go and visit with your brother'sfamily until she tells you to come back. It will be all right."

  As the Gen left the tent, Yone wilted back onto his blankets andlay gasping, wracked with spasms that brought tears to his eyes. Livya found herself holding her breath, her heart pounding withapprehension at each seizure. Their channel, their only Sime,was deathly ill – and she suspected she was the cause.

  For almost an hour, Livya watched Cheryl battle to keep the Simebreathing. Between compresses, she mixed a broth of powders andcrushed tablets and made Yone drink it between seizures. "Whatdid you put in that?" he asked after one sip, leery of her.

  She told him, adding, "You'll feel great when it hits bottom." So he drank and after a bit the spasms relented. She massagedhis arms thoroughly from shoulder to wrist and the cramps weresoon gone leaving him looking wasted and withered against thesleeping bag.

  "There," said Cheryl finishing off, "that shouldteach you not to go tossing trees around the forest without somuch as a warm-up exercise!"

  "It wasn't all from that."

  "I know. And you ought to be ashamed about that, too, gettingyourself caught in a hyperbolic situation with that irresponsible... excuse me ... non-Donor and right on top of a protracted tenth-levelAugmentation, too! Honestly, you could get yourself fired fromthat nice cushy Astrogator's berth for that."

  "That's all right. Was my last run anyway. They were onlytransshipping me to a new Tecton Center. I'm a channel, not anAstrogator."

  She chuckled, moving to kneel at his head and knead his shouldershard with a rocking motion as if giving artificial respiration. "There. You feel a lot better now."

  "Great."

  "Could you ever teach that little creep Alamain anythinglike this?"

  "No. But don't expect me to praise your skills in public."

  "That's all right. You're the only one around who needsthem."

  He opened his eyes, tilting his head back on her knees to lookinto her eyes, upside down. "You were right, Cheryl. Itwould have been deadly serious if you hadn't come, I should havelet Brian finish the job this morning."

  "Your instincts were sound, though. Brian's not Tecton trained,he couldn't have done it this way. And if he'd done it our way,well, you wouldn't be Tecton any more. He knew you wouldn't letthat happen, so that's why he sent me."

  She smiled quickly then and bent down to kiss him. "Youknow, my first husband was a Tecton Farris channel. Do you thinkI'm qualified to finish this job?"

  He looked up at her for a long time before answering. "Itold Livya Jeter that I'm utterly against prostitution."

  "So am I. You know that. You know what I am."

  "A very extraordinary Donor."

  "No. Ordinary Distect."

  "I find the Distect philosophy disgusting."

  "I can't condemn you for an opinion founded on false information."

  "As I couldn't condemn Livya for her ignorance."

  "But I'm not ignorant. I used to be a Donor. I know whatI'm offering you and what it means. It is not a demeaning prostitutionfor me, not even by Distect custom, because I know myself andI know what you've chosen to be."

  "Tecton. Your enemy. That's what I am by choice."

  "Not my enemy. Myself operating on different postulates. I learned my error and changed; you would also. Knowing thatabout you, I can offer this without compromise, without any Distecttricks."

  She kissed him again and he kissed back. Then she moved downto lie beside him, "I promise we'll do this Tecton style. If you want the truth about us, you'll have to come and ask laterwhen you're stronger."

  She kissed him again and Livya blushed hotly but her eyes refusedto blink as she watched what Cheryl's free hand was doing. Justwhen Livya was about to turn away, embarrassed, Yone shudderedand rolled free.

  Cheryl propped herself up on one hand. "Yone. I said Tectonstyle. Don't you trust me?"

  "It's not that."

  "Yone, you have to do this. I've seen Coital Deprivationeating away at your efficiency. In this condition, the next timeyou try to charge a battery, the cramps will start up all overagain. I might not be able to stop them with what we've got onhand. Get it over with ... with me!"

  "I wish it were that simple," he said from his stancebefore the fire.

  Something in his tone drew Cheryl to her feet and across the littleopen space. "Yone? Oh, no! No! You couldn't have!"

  "She was the first woman near me after Valyu performed thatfirst donation on the hillside by the lifeboat. He didn't knowmuch about Imprintation and didn't take precautions."

  "Oh, that incompetent fool!"

  "It probably would have happened eventually anyway. It'sa permanent Imprintation."

  "Yone, she's no match for you! A non-Donor, a –"

  "The girl is not so bad, it's the mother. I'd lay odds Livyawould have been in here to donate two months ago if her motherwould have allowed it. But she's under age where she comes from,so it would be a violation of oath for me even to talk to herabout donating, let alone about ... this other problem. So youcan't help me, and there's nothing I can do about it either. You may as well go back and get some sleep before dawn. I'llcope with the battery-charging when and how I can."

  "Damn the Tecton and its unholy rules!"

  "Not in my hearing!"

  "I'm sorry. Yone, what if I talk to her?"

  Livya found her lips compressed, a frown scoring her smooth forehead,and her body tensed as if to jump in there and yell somethinglike, "You'll have to talk to me yourself, Mister Channel,if you want anything from me!" The protest roared so loudlyin her ears that she almost missed Yone's answer.

  "I can't let you do that. If there's any talking to be done,I'll do it myself. Understood?"

  "Yes, Hajene." Livya was sure she meant it. Cherylwas a woman who kept promises too, and that was so rare in Livya'ssheltered world she had learned to recognize the 'different ones.' She had walked and lived with these two for months not knowingthey existed. But now she felt a dawning kinship with them.

  "Look, Cheryl, you don't seem to realize that the Jetersare genuine Sime-phobes." He paced up and down before thefire, his silhouette rippling across the shiny surface of theporta-tent, "Sime-phobia is a disease, like some people areterrified of house cats, and some people can't stand heights. You can't blame a blind man for not being able to see – andyou can't blame a Sime-phobe for not donating."

  "Was Livya pathologically terrified when you had her in yourarms?" It was a rhetorical question.

  Yone took a piece of firewood from the pile in the corner andstruck it a few times against the boulder, then tossed it ontothe flames, dusting off his hands. He faced her squarely, "No. She was frightened, but it was the ordinary Gen's fear, not theall-consuming terror of a Sime-phobe. But it doesn't matter,don't you see? It's her mother that counts."

  "No, I don't see. It's not an inheritable disease, it'san acquired trait. Livya Jeter has lived with it, but not acquiredit. Doesn't that tell you something about her?"
>
  "Yes, it does, almost more than I can stand to know!" His jaw muscles bunched visibly as he gritted between clenchedteeth. "But she's a minor!"

  "By Sime tradition," said Cheryl, "she became anadult when her body started to produce selyn."

  Livya's breath caught in her throat. Yes. I am old enough!

  But Yone was shaking his head. "By the Tecton Principlesof Action to which I am bound by oath, I am forbidden to approachher because her mother is a Sime-phobe and she's a minor by thelaws of her planet of residence."

  "Channel's Exemption supersedes the Principles."

  "Ha!" He let out one burst of what might have beenlaughter. "You may be a great Donor, Cheryl, but you'reno lawyer. I can't use the Exemption because it would be in violationof a higher Principle."

  "Isn't that a contradiction within the Tecton's own rules?"

  "No!" But he said it far louder than necessary. "It'snot the letter of the law that prevents me, it's the intent. The Exemption was not devised to sanction rape – though it'sbeen used to do that – it was meant to protect consenting adultsfrom local laws that would interfere in their private affairs. She doesn't know me at all, so even if she were adult she'd haveno basis on which to consent. And I can't get to know her becauseof her mother."

  "Look," said Cheryl on a note of desperation. "BySime tradition, she can give responsible consent; by Tecton lawshe can't. By Sime tradition, as the sole channel here (likethe old Sectuib of a Householding), you have the right to takeher; by Tecton Principles, you can't. Yone Farris, you must pastjudgement on the Tecton Principles of Action. Do they serve thepurpose for which they were devised? Are they right? Do theyapply here? Will you be guilty of murder and suicide if you refuseto violate the letter of those laws? Is your interpretation ofthe intent of the law proper? Can rules of conduct which leadto such a dilemma be followed in the blissful certainty that theyare always right?"

  Yone turned from her, and for a moment faced the spot where Livyastood, but apparently lost in such deep thought he was unawareof her presence. After a heart-stopping moment, Livya figuredthat the selyn nager from Cheryl must be so strong as to obliterateher relatively low selyn field. She would have to leave whenCheryl did or risk being caught.

  Suddenly, the Sime turned on Cheryl, suspicion drawing his clean-linedface into a new and fearsome countenance. "You! You canrun back to your husband and tell him I won't let Distect seditionget to me!"

  "Not Distect sedition – common sense! I could tell youall the answers instead of asking questions. I could show youthe fundamental error in your assumptions, but I promised notto try and convert you just now. I haven't, have I?"

  He regarded her silently. "Yone, to what kind of governmentare questions seditious? To what kind of government are theydestructive? Is that what the Tecton is?"

  "No." His voice was quieter now, thoughtful but stilldesperate. He went to the door of the tent, looked out into thenight, and thought. She busied herself putting the pots awayand banking the fire as an excuse to outstay her welcome. Atlength, he sighed audibly and turned. "No. I would notassociate with such an organization."

  "I know. I wouldn't work for just any Tecton channel, Yone."

  "It may be," he said quietly, "that the Tectonis 'wrong' in this immediate situation, but what happens whenwe get back and Evelyn Jeter starts screaming rape or seduction? The basis of the Sime/Gen Union is trust; trust in the channelsand our absolute adherence to the Principles of Action. Maybe,just this once, it wouldn't matter. But suppose all the channels,everywhere, started interpreting the Principles for their ownconvenience? The Union would crumble, and we'd be back to theChaos again where Simes killed Gens for selyn and Gens tried toexterminate Simes."

  "I've heard all that before," she said, rising to facehim. "Tell me, Yone, how can right lead to evil? Is thatthe kind of universe you live in? A place where wrong leads togood and right leads to evil?"

  "No. The Principles lead to right action, and that resultsin good, in survival for the whole human race."

  "But I'm not the whole human race. And I want to survive. So do you. So does she. How long are you going to wait beforeyou do what you know is right, until these rules which you knoware wrong lead us all to disaster?"

  "The rules by which I guide myself are not wrong."

  She sighed. "OK, I promised not to prove the Tecton wrong. Look. This time you weren't paying attention and led us up undera falling tree. Next time you'll walk us off a cliff, or leadus into an ambush because you didn't notice a tribe of nativesgetting set to roll boulders down on us. Your condition is dangerousto the group, so by Tecton standards it's unethical for you toallow it to continue no matter what the price to any one individual."

  "The infringement of the sovereignty of any individual byany channel imperils a much larger group than this one. It maybe hard on us, but we must do it for all humanity."

  "Damn the ... ! No, all right, this way. You know the CD'sare no joke for a channel, especially a Farris. How long do youthink it's going to be before entran sets in, too? I've seenthose seizures actually break bones, and you know what that wouldmean out here! Entran and the CD's together! There's just somuch the human body can take before it starts to give up and whetheryou like it or not, you're only human and you can't carry thewhole human race on your back, at least not if you don't takecare of yourself!"

  There were tears on her cheeks glinting in the reflected firelight. "Shall I describe what a case of severe multiple deprivationlooks like? Yone, I used to work on the frontier – I've seenit, and I never want to see it again. It starts with a nigglinglittle infection, a kidney or bladder infection, nothing serious. Fever and chills, then pneumonia. Finally, the liver startsto give out, and from there it's straight downhill to the grave,a very messy grave, Yone Farris!"

  "It's only Coital Deprivation, nothing so bad as all that!"

  "I'm giving you my professional diagnosis. Acute multipledeprivation with an Imprintation complicating matters. If I haveto, I'll take you by the ear and march you over there and makeyou explain it to her sensibly!"

  "It's not that simple, I told you. She's a minor!"

  Cheryl sighed heavily, deflated but not defeated, weary but notvanquished. "It's almost dawn. This is getting us nowhere." She took off the Tecton ring and stowed it on the chain, tuckingit beneath her clothing. "You better get a few hours' sleep. Maybe your head will be clearer in the morning. I certainlyhope so, because if you don't do something for yourself soon,I'm going to do it for you."

  She paused at the tent flap, and Livya, recalling her resolveto slip away unnoticed, scurried around behind the boulder wherethe mass of rock would insulate Yone from her, As she moved, sheheard muttered goodnights from the tent, and then footsteps, afew words with a perimeter guard, and silence.

  She had wanted facts, and now she had them in blinding abundance. The Channel's Exemption was not, as her mother said, legalizedprostitution.

  If she was wrong, then she'd have to learn to live with it. Butwhatever happened. Yone Farris wasn't a man she could abandon.

  She started around the boulder toward the tent door.

  Half way there, Yone met her, and the graying dawn revealed hisgentle smile, peaceful at last. "Livya, I've got to talkto you."

  "I know. I was listening to you and Cheryl in there allnight."

  "Yes, I felt you leaving. I couldn't let you go."

  He considered her intently but didn't reach out toward her yet. She said, "What are you going to do?"

  "We are going to do a lot of things, Livya. But first, it'stime we had a little talk about what it means to be grown up enoughto love."

  END

  FB2 document info

  Document ID: 8c4f76c6-4cff-40af-bfe1-df4b0318f32b

  Document version: 2

  Document creation date: 2005-10-09

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