by Mark Henwick
She has Shohwa’s knowledge at the point she became Hwa, and she has absorbed some of Zara’s confidence, but, on the other hand, she knows she’s not even a year old, and she’s making mistakes. She’s just about to confront the Hajnal on their home ground, and the stakes for all humanity are too high to contemplate.
She wants someone else to take this over, but there isn’t anyone, so she concentrates on taking one reluctant step at a time. She mustn’t give any of them a hint about how nervous and scared she’s feeling.
Halfway across to the forbidding edifice of the Bureau of Justice, she sees that there are two people waiting for her on the steps to the entrance, in the shadow of the statue of Themis.
Ministro Loiola and Commissioner Taha.
“Delegate Hwa,” Taha calls out, as she approaches. “A moment of your time, if you would.”
“I greatly regret, but I have an appointment in court, gentlemen,” she responds, not stopping, not wanting to show that she’s trembling.
“Well, it’s that very thing,” Loiola says. His mouth smiles, but his eyes are dead.
“So much waste in time and effort can be spared,” Taha says. “To be at loggerheads with our greatest friends from the Hegemony, just at the moment we need them most... this is insanity.”
Taha has moved in front of her, forcing her to stop, and making her angry.
“I agree,” Hwa says, catching them both out. “But I believe you’re speaking of the people of Xian and Newyan, and not of the government of Newyan.”
“But that’s exactly what we are,” Loiola says. “The government of Newyan is, in a sense, the people of Newyan. They elect us to speak for them.”
He’s lying and he knows she knows it, too. This is just another tactic.
“Government by the people, for the people? Really?” Hwa turns to push past them. “How did that work out for the Names?”
“Minor sacrifices of position and privilege for the greater good! Ancient rights have no place—”
She knows what happened to the Aguirre family and she’s seen the videos that the rebels are sending in from the provincial cities now. Her fear is driven out by anger for a moment.
“You dare to say that?” she says. “Here, on the steps of the Bureau of Justice? There is a process for change. Wholesale murder and revolution by a cabal for their own benefit will not be allowed.”
“Delegate Hwa! This is unjustified!” Taha blusters.
It’s not unjustified, but she has gone too far, too fast. Despite all that knowledge from Shohwa, she’s still inexperienced and too influenced by her human emotions.
Across the plaza, the great bell of hours on the top of the temple sounds.
She hides her trembling hands inside her wide sleeves. “We are due in the Main Court, Commissioner Taha. I intend to be there before the peals fade. I trust you will be as well, and your Enquiry recording devices will be switched on.”
She walks up the steps, Alice skipping ahead to open the door, Raul close behind.
“Ouch,” he whispers with an amused snort, making her smile, despite her anxiety. It sounds as if he and Xing have become more stable. Good. One less thing to worry about.
Primer Ministro Eneko is in the courtroom, talking in hushed tones with Commissioner Ivakin, their heads bent together, surrounded by officials. They are really taking this seriously.
Their eyes come up to glare at her.
She tries to ignore them and takes her seat.
This is the principal court of Newyan. It is laid out with the presiding judge’s bench at the head, and the plaintiff and defendent benches to either side. The middle is dominated by a multi-channel holo-projector and the interface system for the Bureau of Justice’s reference and archive computer.
The clerks are closing the doors at the back, and very faintly, she can hear the last bell of the hour from the temple.
“The court will rise,” says another clerk at the front.
Sánchez sweeps in and takes the center seat at the head of the court.
“Please.” He gestures for them to sit. He looks haggard. Then again, everyone in the room looks more or less the same.
There’s a pause while the shuffling and coughing dies down before Sánchez makes the formal announcement. “I, Fabio Sánchez, Ministro of the Bureau of Justice, am personally presiding, due to the extraordinary nature of this case. I declare this court is in session for case AP136, brought by the Fortunate Stars Hong of the Xian Hegemony, represented here by Delegate Hwa, against the duly elected government of Newyan, represented here by Primer Ministro Eneko himself. The case concerns two incidents. Firstly, the damage and eventual destruction by a pirate, within the Newyan system, of the Xian Hegemony courier ship Xing Gerchu. Secondly, the attempt by the customs cutter Duhalde to damage or destroy a freighter, the Shohwa, belonging to the Fortunate Stars Hong, in the immediate time before transition to Chang space.”
So far, so good, but then Raul/Xing, who’s monitoring the InfoHub, whispers in Hwa’s ear: “The Presidential Guard is sealing off the whole Bureau of Justice. Zara won’t be able to get in!”
To make matters worse, Loiola rises to his feet.
“Ministro?” Sánchez says, raising his eyebrows. “You have something to add to the pro-forma opening declaration?”
“I demand that this entire proceeding be suspended,” Loiola says. “The proper investigation of these fabricated claims is within the jurisdiction of the Court of Enquiry, duly elected by the Terran Council, pursuant to the Accords, and which Enquiry takes precedence over this court.”
“The matter of precedence has been referred to the Terran Council,” Sánchez replies.
“Then the whole case should properly await the ruling of the Council,” Loiola says.
Sánchez makes an eloquent shrug. “It could have, but a decision was taken, in your presence, to proceed unless and until a ruling to the contrary is received.”
Raul/Xing: He’s actually remaining neutral.
Hwa: It could be he’s not as up-to-date as we are with the situation in other capitals. We can’t let them delay us even another hour. He’ll surely find out the threat of not delivering the food is gone by then. And then the case will be handed over to the Enquiry.
Loiola sits back down, but Eneko stands.
“You are aware, Ministro, I was not present at that decision, as I should have been, and I would have opposed it. Regardless, there was no possibility you would have taken the decision without the blackmail employed by the Xian delegation: that they would refuse to deliver the food to starving people unless we agreed to have this court case.” He turns to look at Hwa. “Are you aware, Ministro, that the blackmail can no longer be used? That the food is being distributed as we speak?”
Hwa gasps and then forces her face into blankness.
Sánchez merely shrugs again, and Eneko’s eyes narrow. He continues to speak. “That blackmail, and indeed the whole inflated appearance of being concerned with the plight of people on Newyan, reveals the true underlying plan. A scheme by the Xian Hegemony which I must bring to the attention of the Commissioners of the Enquiry here.”
Hwa is on her feet. “I protest this slander! This is a blatant attempt to further delay the case against the Newyan administration for deliberate, criminal acts on their part.”
Eneko refuses to give way. His words appear aimed at Hwa, but she knows they’re really intended for the Commissioners’ recording devices. “This court case is simply part of a conspiracy against the democratically elected government of a free and independent Newyan. A conspiracy to undo the democratic evolution of this planet, returning it to the corrupt rule of oligarchy from which we are still extracting ourselves. Under the pretense of this supposed relief effort, the Xian Hegemony has invaded Newyan! Invaded!” Eneko stabs the air, pointing at Hwa, making sweeping gestures at the commissioners, working himself up into his famous crowd-speech persona. “Under the very eyes of the Terran Enquiry, under the protection of the Te
rran Navy, Xian troops are flooding into our cities.
“Here in the heart of the Bureau of Justice, where cases come to be tested against the proper laws of this world, it is unbelievable that we should be hearing such malign falsehoods aimed against an elected administration while the very same perpetrators are engaged in an invasion of our cities.
“I demand that this court case and all such matters be immediately referred to the Enquiry, and that the Enquiry prove it is not complicit in this invasion by joining me in demanding that all off-world personnel and troops be returned to their ships and the administration of relief supplies returned to our control. That all material in whatever medium relating to Newyan be submitted to the determination of the Enquiry.
“If that request is not sufficient, then I demand the cooperation of the cruiser TSS Annan and Terran marines on board it to facilitate the removals and, if necessary, to enforce the sovereignty of Newyan.”
Chapter 65
Zara
The sewer tunnels have given way to a labyrinth maze of vents and shafts running underneath the city. Our route is made even more confusing because we’re heading for a place that doesn’t show on the map.
A place we may not even be able to get access to.
Noises echo through the vents and shafts: clanging, shouts, boots scraping on metal rungs and running along neo-crete pathways: the Presidential Guard, hunting for us under the city. It seems that Yarritu was unable to hold out under questioning. They know we’re down here somewhere.
I’m still grateful to Yarritu for what he’s done for us. Now it’s down to me, to take us the rest of the way.
More shouts and clangs echo through the tunnels.
“They sound like they’re right behind us,” Kat murmurs uneasily. I’m hoping she’s wrong, that it’s just a trick of the acoustics, but the Xian marines are alert, weapons ready.
A fight down here would be a bloodbath.
We come to the spot I was aiming for, and I consult once more with Morgen and the map. I have to be right. This is our one chance—maybe—to get to the courtroom in time, without being caught and stopped.
“This should be it,” I say.
Danny moves in with his light. Dimly, we can see the stonework is a different color where an opening has been sealed up. My heartrate picks up—that’s a good sign. If we can unseal it.
Danny is running his fingers over the wall. “Everybody needs to move about ten paces down the tunnel,” he says. “I’m going to have to blow it.”
And then I have to pray that my childhood memories—and my calculations from the maps—are correct. If they are, then the sealed-up opening leads to the one place everyone else seems to have forgotten about.
Right now, we’re directly underneath the Bureau of Justice on the Plaza Nagusia. It is a stone-for-stone copy of the old Auzitegi, the Court of Disputes in Berriaren, the building where I hid the data modules in the courtyard well.
There’s an identical well right in the middle of the main courtyard in the Bureau of Justice—long since dried up. When I was a child, before it was capped to prevent people from falling down, my father showed it to me. I remember him holding me up so I could look into its mysterious depths.
And I remember wanting to climb down the maintenance ladder that extended down into the darkness.
If the ladder is still there and not rusted away, if it extends to the bottom, if we we’re in the right place—so many ifs—then we will have bypassed all the guards and will come up smack in the middle of the Bureau of Justice itself, only metres from the door to the main courtroom.
Or we’ll be trapped down here like rats.
We’ve moved down the tunnel on either side, and now Danny joins us. “Cover your ears and close your eyes,” he says. “Fiifteen seconds to go.”
It seems like an eternity. On the stroke of fifteen, there’s a loud, sharp crack and a flare of bright light on my closed eyelids. A nose-prickling stench immediately fills the tunnel, followed by the sound of rubble falling.
When I open my eyes, there’s a dark hole in the stonework.
We scramble over the rubble and file into the opening, noses and mouths covered against the dust. The well-shaft is there, extending upwards into the dark, and the ladder is there too. It seems to be intact.
Our luck is holding.
We start climbing as fast as we can—Danny and a few marines in the lead, in case there are guards at the top. Then Talan, me, Kat, Morgen and Ruslan, with the rest of the marines following, ready to fight a rearguard action if the Presidential Guard figures out where the explosion came from.
The well-shaft seems to rise endlessly. My legs are like rubber, but I have to make it the rest of the way. We’re so close.
We come to the top, and a few well-placed slams with the butt of a plasma rifle destroy the bolts that hold the well-cap on. There’s a metal-on-metal scrape as the cap shifts, and then daylight floods in.
“Go,” Danny says.
The first Marines boil over the top, and I brace myself for the sound of weapons fire. The seconds stretch out endlessly until someone calls, “Clear.”
“Up quickly,” Danny says, clambering over the top of the well. Talan follows, and then it’s my turn.
After the explosion, the noises of the Guards relayed through the tunnels had stopped for a few minutes, and then re-started. Now there’s lots of echoes of shouting we can hear, but it all sounds very distant as soon as I’m out of the well. The courtyard is empty in the hot sunlight; no one seems to have noticed our arrival.
“Can we stop the Guards following us?” I ask Danny as we help the others out.
He grins crookedly, and as the last Xian marine clears the shaft, he pulls a small tube from a pouch on his backpack, twists the top and drops it down the hole.
“Just an irritant, but they’ll need gas masks to climb up through that,” he says. “Which I doubt they have.”
The marines replace the cap to keep the tear gas inside the shaft.
I look around to get my bearings. The courtyard looks different to the one in Berriaren, mainly because it’s full of planters, but I quickly work out from the position of the sun which way I’m facing and which door I need to get to the main courtroom.
I’m still looking up when I catch a glimpse of lights that flash in the pale morning sky, very high up.
I point and Danny peers.
“Now that could be anything,” he says, “but I’m betting that it’s ground assault skimmers just breaking atmosphere and heading this way. You better go before the Duke does something hasty.”
Talan and I run inside.
My legs still feel like jelly from all the climbing, so I hope the Presidential Guard are all outside the Bureau. There’s no way I’m in any fit state to fight my way into the courtroom. It’s going to be as much as I can do to deliver the precious data modules in my backpack.
And then get them accepted as evidence.
Chapter 66
Hwa
“Ignoring the litany of lies about the relief efforts, which fall outside the remit of this court case, I’ll address the point of jurisdiction,” Hwa interrupts Eneko’s speech. They’ve barely started and she’s sensing the flow of the case moving against her. She has to pull it back. She can’t let the Enquiry take it over and close it down. “The Enquiry has demonstrated a reluctance to proceed against the government of Newyan in this matter. It would be prejudicial to Xian to delegate the Newyan courts’ obligations to the Enquiry. I strongly move to proceed immediately with the preliminary presentation of evidence.”
“The implication of bias is insulting,” Ivakin says.
“Unless I pass this case to the Enquiry, Commissioner Ivakin, this is not a matter for you,” Sánchez says. “Your observations are noted but not considered pertinent to our progress.”
There’s a shocked silence from the other side at his stance, which gives Hwa an opportunity to press on.
“The evidence is direct, su
bstantial, explicit and damning,” she leaps in, on instinct, heart double-timing, stomach twisting. She has to strike now, even before Zara’s here, and she needs to find a delaying tactic. “In the presence of the Commissioners, I will show that these are not straightforward cases of damages for negligence on the part of the government or appropriate Bureau. These were not accidents, nor were they a case of insufficient training of government employees. The evidence will show there is a case against the government itself. That it gave the explicit orders for the Duhalde to fire on the Shohwa. That it ordered the destroyer Santoña off its patrol station, to allow a contracted mercenary ship to pose as a pirate and attack the Xing Gerchu.”
“This is outrageous!” Loiola shouts.
Sánchez bangs his gavel.
“This is a court of law. Not an ordinary court either, but the highest court in this star system. Both sides will need to respect that. Primary representatives, approach please.”
Hwa and Eneko go to the bench.
“Delegate, your accusations are the most serious you can make,” Sánchez says.
She can’t read him. All she can see on his face is his fatigue. He knows that she’s telling the truth; no Ministro could know it better, yet for all appearances, he is acting as an independent judge should. He also knows if she has proof, it will point to him as well as the others.
She expected to have to use the rules of his own judicial system to force him into this position, and yet he has opened the gate for her, if she can get past the traps being set by Eneko.
Or it’s all a trap. There must be something she’s missed.
What is it? Fear that it will all go wrong locks her jaw.
Raul/Xing: Don’t start doubting. Proceed as if he is what he appears to be. We’re trying to contact Shohwa and find out where Zara is, but transmissions from the Bureau are being jammed at the moment.
Hwa straightens her shoulders and stills the racing of her heart.
“The accusations are serious. I have substantial evidence against individual members of the government and administration, and against the government as a whole.”