Green World

by B. V. Larson

On the seventh day, a fateful call came in. I looked at my tapper and stared in disbelief.

  “What is it, James?” the Investigator asked me. That was a positive change, right there. He never called me James, always “McGill”. I guess we were growing closer after working on this project together.

  “It’s Galina Turov. She’s finally tracked me down.”

  We all exchanged glances. In the meantime, my arm kept buzzing and glowing red.

  “Let me talk to her,” the Investigator said.

  “Uh… all right. I’ve got nothing to lose. Floramel, go hide yourself or something.”

  After the lanky scientist had left the room, I finally answered the call. Instead of turning the screen up toward my ugly mug, I turned it toward the Investigator.

  “James, what the—oh,” Galina said, breaking off. “Who are you? How did you get McGill’s tapper?”

  “I’m the Investigator, madam,” he said. “McGill is assisting me in a critical experiment. How can I help you?”

  “What? James, are you there?”

  I poked my head into the scene and waved. “Hiya, Tribune! What can I do for you?”

  “Are you AWOL for a reason? Is that what I’m hearing, here?”

  “Yessir. Remember the original reason why I left Dominus in the first place? I’m still working on that one.”

  “Oh… right. I thought… never mind. I’m sorry, McGill, but you must return to Earth immediately.”

  “Uh… what? Why?”

  “Governor Nox is here—and she wants to talk to you.”

  “Aw jeez. Can’t that wait a bit? Give her a parade on Unity Square, or something.”

  Galina became stern. “Get your ass to the gateway posts and transmit yourself to Earth. I’ve already contacted the Hegemony garrison on Dust World. They’re out looking for you right now. If you don’t report very soon, you will be arrested and escorted home.”

  I thought about defying her. I really did. I could claim some kind of communications foul-up, then wrap my tapper in aluminum foil—I knew all the tricks.

  But I didn’t do it. After all, she was right. Etta was in for a long, long dunk in the tank, and I wasn’t mission-critical to the project. In fact, the other two would probably be happy I was out of their hair, not asking dumb questions all the time.

  “Okay. I’m on my way.”

  As I said my good-byes, Floramel stiffened and turned her face away when I went for a kiss. I guess she was feeling kind of cold after seeing and hearing Galina run me around.

  With a shrug and a hardy farewell, I hit the ground running. I didn’t even bother to take the few belongings I’d had with me in the catacombs. Everything was full of dust and nanites, anyway.

  The hogs caught up to me about halfway back to town. Fortunately it was daytime, and no one had any difficulty identifying the other.

  “Centurion McGill? We’re under orders to—”

  “I know, Hog. I know. Just try to keep up, because I’m running all the way to the gateway and back to Earth.”

  They looked surprised, and then they looked annoyed because I meant what I’d said. I was moving fast, and they felt obliged to keep up.

  Along the way, one of them huffed and read me various rights and charges—I ignored it all. You would think even a hog would know when to shut up. Here I was, racing to the exact spot they’d been ordered to drag me, and he still couldn’t let go of his regulations.

  After I plunged into the public bug-zapper that connected the planet to Mother Earth, I was greeted by a fresh pack of hogs on the other side. I gave them a run for their money as well, charging along passages and such. They would have stopped me and cuffed me, but their orders did say to bring me in ASAP, and even they realized a formal arrest process would just slow things down.

  At last I reached Drusus’ office and shook free of my dog pack of hogs. It was a serious relief.

  “Were they chasing you, or escorting you?” Drusus asked me as I trotted in, out of breath.

  “I suppose it was a little of both, sir.”

  He nodded and waved me to a single chair in the middle of a circle of chairs.

  “Uh…” I said. “Am I going to be burned at the stake, or something?”

  “Not this time. We’ve set up the room as Nox requested. You are to be independently located, placed physically distant from all other humans during this interrogation.”

  “Interrogation?”

  “What’s more,” Drusus went on, “she’s demanded that all communication devices on your person be disabled.”

  Here, Drusus signaled a burly hog who advanced toward my chair.

  “Ah…” I said, “she must be thinking I might use my tapper to cheat. Someone should tell Nox that I generally ignore messages and advice, even when it’s good advice, but I understand her reluctance to accept our assurances. Here, I’ll just shut it down and—hey!”

  I shouted and jerked my arm away from the hog, but it was too late. He’d grabbed my wrist and stabbed a combat knife into my arm. My tapper was wrecked, and the screen went blank.

  He turned his fat head toward Drusus. “The job is done, Praetor. If you—”

  We never heard the rest of it, because I’d stood up and helped him do a face-plant on the deck. He didn’t get up.

  “McGill…” Drusus complained.

  “I’m sorry sir. This man appears to have tripped or something.”

  “Sit back down, Centurion.”

  The hog that had rudely stabbed me was dragged away. I gave his buddies a grin and a wave, but they didn’t appreciate my brand of humor.

  Galina cleared her throat and took center stage between me and the holotank. “Listen up, there’s no more time for fooling around. Governor Nox has graciously agreed to talk to you, McGill.”

  Drusus leaned forward. His face was troubled and very serious. “McGill, don’t say anything damaging, please.”

  “I wouldn’t think of it, sir.”

  A moment later, the holotank lit up. There was a female Mogwa standing in the middle of it. She was just a projection, of course, but that didn’t make her look any less ugly.

  Mogwa are unpleasant to the eye under the best of circumstances. Nox was no exception. She had six limbs, each of which ended in a hand-foot thing that could be used to walk or eat with. Her central thorax was bulbous and shiny-black like the body of a fat spider. Hanging loosely from her gut area was a pouch—and it looked empty.

  “Animals,” she began, “your governess is here. It is time for adjudication.”

  I looked around at Drusus and Turov, kind of hoping they’d say something—but they didn’t. If anything, they turned up the spotlight on me and made sure the cameras were all centered on poor old McGill. I felt like a sacrificial goat on an altar.

  Swallowing hard, I decided that if they were going to ditch me and serve me up cold as the guilty party in every crime they could dream-up, I was damned-well going to talk for a bit.

  “Hello, Governess Nox! Welcome to Earth.”

  Nox eyed me coldly, but that didn’t mean squat. It was a rare thing for a Mogwa to eye a human in any other way.

  “Identify yourself, creature.”

  “I’m James McGill, sir. We’ve met before.”

  Nox stared. “You confess? You admit that you are the one and only McGill-creature?”

  “Uh… I guess so…”

  “Excellent. Your capture will expedite this process.”

  “Wait a second, your Highness… I’m not actually confessing to anything. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to have done.”

  Nox tilted her nasty head to one side. “An appeal to idiocy? Is that the nature of your defense? Nairbs, quote the law to this beast.”

  Promptly, a green blob of an alien with the general shape and behavior pattern of a trained seal slapped into the scene. He was prim, and he looked kind of excited. His pointy head was held high.

  “This is a fine day for my department. We’ve been waiting for decades f
or justice, and now we’re—”

  “Hurry up and read the charges,” Nox interrupted.

  “Yes, of course. McGill-creature, you are hereby found guilty of treason, subversion, sedition and unauthorized travel. How do you plead?”

  “How do I plead? You said I’ve been found guilty already.”

  The Nairb rippled a little. It was his version of a shrug. “Semantics. Under Galactic Law, the defendant is guilty as charged until he proves otherwise. In this instance, I find that outcome highly unlikely.”

  “Whatever. Tell me what evidence do you have against me, you snot-bag.”

  Excitedly, the Nairb worked his flippers. “Excellent. Verbal assault upon a public official has been added to the expansive list. Despite the illegal nature of your request, it will be granted.”

  While I stewed, he signaled for a video to be played. At first, I didn’t even recognize the dim-lit scene, but then I saw myself and Lenny walking between shipping containers.

  “Oh yeah, that’s a sailor named Lenny. I didn’t catch his last name.”

  “Silence, criminal. Operator, back the visual up five seconds.”

  The vid backed up and began to play again from the beginning. It was incomplete—it had clearly been edited. In this version, I appeared to walk up to a shipping container, mess with the device that stole things out of it, and then when two dozen sailors came storming down to stop me, I shot at them before using the device on myself and teleporting away.

  “Wait a frigging second, here,” I complained. “That’s not how it happened. Why don’t you call Lenny in here? He was an eye-witness.”

  In answer, Turov leaned forward. “That sailor was permed during this incident. All the others were also permed later, when the counter-invasion from Green World began.”

  I stared at her and gaped. She avoided my eye. Drusus looked uncomfortable as well.

  “So that’s the deal, huh?” I asked. “Sure, let’s ship old McGill down the river. Paste every crime on top of his head, and—”

  “McGill-creature,” Nox said. Her voice was loud, like the voice of a goddess. “Did you, or did you not transport yourself into Skay space without authorization?”

  “I was inspecting those crates, that was my mission. Those sailors were stealing stuff. I didn’t know where it was going. It was my job to find out.”

  “Irrelevant,” the Nairb chimed in. “Immaterial. Intent is meaningless. The facts are clear. This creature invaded Skay space on its own initiative, sparking a border incident between two Galactic species.”

  “That much seems to be clear,” Nox agreed. “After this initial reckless act, the entire situation spun out of control. Both sides are now armed and ready for war.”

  I had the gall to interrupt, and I ignored their shocked irritation. “That’s not true, sirs. The Skay minions were plotting to invade Earth from the beginning. All I did was stumble onto the scheme and uncover it.”

  Nox waved for her Nairb lawyer to take over.

  He worked his flippers a bit then looked up at me. “What evidence do you have to support your absurd claims, human?”

  “There are plenty more vids. They’re all on my tapper, right here… oh…” I looked down, aghast. My tapper had been destroyed just moments ago. It was a bloody mess.

  My next thought was to look into the cloud backups—but I didn’t bother. Nothing would be there. I knew that already. This was a setup, and the stony silence from all the other humans in the room testified to that simple fact.

  “All right,” I said, “if I’m guilty of starting this conflict, then who else is going down with me?” I gave Turov and Drusus hard stares. They looked at the deck. “I was sent to that ship. I was ordered to inspect it. I was—”

  The Nairb interrupted my tirade. “Your attempts to shift blame are as predictable as they are pointless, criminal. Still, the prosecution agrees. The guilt should be expanded to include the entire species. That is standard Galactic policy in these cases.”

  Nox made a chopping motion with one of her numerous limbs. “We’ve looked into all of that. Normally, a situation like this might well escalate to an extinction result—but Earth has become too important in local terms. As much as I’m embarrassed to admit it, we need local governance here on the frontier. It’s much cheaper and decouples Trantor from this kind of incident.”

  That sounded like typical Mogwa justice. There was the law—which was unfair to begin with—but then there was also reality. When these two came into conflict, the elite always won the coin-toss. Always.

  “What’s the punishment, then? Am I to be permed? Good luck with that.”

  “No. You are to be delivered as a living prisoner to the offended party. The Skay will decide your ultimate fate.”

  That statement gave me a chill, I don’t mind telling you. The Skay made the Mogwa look all squishy and cuddly. They were smart machines—and machines have never known for their compassion.

  There was a lot of prattling after that. Declarations, big lawyer-words and whatnot. I stopped listening, as Drusus and Turov agreed to sign me over to the Skay to do God-knew-what to my sorry body.

  I used that time to think. To think hard. At last, I came up with an angle. It was slim—but it was all I had.

  “Hold on! Hold on, sirs!”

  “The accused shall be muzzled,” the Nairb ordered. “It’s input is no longer required.”

  A couple of hogs produced a hood with mouth-clamps in it, but I squirmed. “Nox! Governor Nox! I know where your baby is right now!”

  The hogs rushed in and a wrestling match began. Three broken fingers and one broken nose later, they managed to get the bag over my head. My hands were now gravity-cuffed behind me, and I was stood up like a sack of potatoes.

  There were eye-holes in the bag, so I could see and hear some of what was going on. The bastard Nairb was demanding more restraints and talking about how dangerous I was. The officers who’d sold me out were standing and fidgeting with their caps and jackets. I could tell they wanted to put this whole thing behind them and walk away. Maybe they’d tip back a shot of whiskey in memory of crazy old McGill tonight—but overall, I’d say they looked relieved.

  Twisting my head around, I peered up at the hologram of Nox. She alone didn’t seem agitated or anxious to leave. She was staring right back at me. I could only get one eye to the eyehole, but I pressed it up there, craning my neck and staring. They dragged me toward the exit, and doubtlessly toward Gray Deck where I would be shipped off to parts unknown—but the whole time, I maintained eye-contact with Nox.

  She shifted on her throne, shuffling her limbs around uncomfortably. Several of them tried to flatten the floppy pouch that was on her belly—but they failed. Having given birth only a year or so earlier, her body hadn’t tightened up yet, I guess.

  “Stop,” she said.

  That single word changed everything. Everyone present ceased fussing. The humans looked up at her with a fresh jolt of fear. The Nairb looked annoyed.

  But me? I looked hopeful.

  “You will send the prisoner to my ship,” she said. “I will transmit him to the Skay when I see fit.”

  “Governess?” the Nairb complained. “That’s not—”

  “My will has been stated. Are you going to comply or not?”

  The Nairb shrank down a bit. “Compliance is mandatory. I simply—”

  “And I’m not interested in your opinions. Follow my command.”

  That was that. I had time to see Drusus and Turov exchange confused glances. They shrugged, and then I was dragged out the door.

  A few minutes later, still wearing my manacles and that hot, irritating hood, I was teleported to the Governess’ flagship.

  -59-

  When I got to the queen spider’s lair I was nervous, I don’t mind telling you. I knew I was on shaky ground. The Mogwa weren’t known for their compassion and generosity—quite the opposite. It might well be Nox had decided to dip me in tar and feathers before she deliver
ed me to the Skay for outright dissection.

  With my hands still clamped together, and my hood slipping around on my sweaty head, I wasn’t escorted or anything. I just appeared in an empty chamber with orangey-yellow arrows lighting up the floor.

  Following the arrows, I grumbled. It was just like the Mogwa to expect a man to meekly take himself to the gallows. I didn’t even take off the hood by scraping it against a wall or anything. After all, I didn’t want to upset anyone any further—or to warn them of what I might be able to do.

  When the arrows ended at a door, I politely knocked. Nothing happened, so I messed with the door. There was no knob, nothing. I hammered on it, and at last, it swished open.

  Two Mogwa marines in power armor greeted me. I’d tangled with these boys a few times in the past, and an unarmed guy in chains didn’t have much of a chance. I let them take me into a side alcove where I was rudely pushed down onto my knees.

  Squatting like a dog under a couch, I waited until Nox called for me. She was fussing with something on her smart-desk, so it took her a while. The whole time I was heating up, both physically and mentally. This kind of treatment of a guest was just plain wrong.

  At last, Nox ordered her marines to haul me out of my hole. I stood up tall, and I was glad to note I was bigger than all of them—even her armored marines.

  Nox looked me over. “The McGill creature… We meet again. This time, it is without pleasure.”

  I mumbled and groaned. I was still wearing the mask the hogs had put on me down at Central.

  She had her marines remove the hood and the mask—but not the chains. I stood proudly anyway.

  “Good to see you again, kind Lady Nox.”

  “I’m neither kind nor a lady,” she said. “If my interpreter has correctly deciphered your foul gruntings. Now, before you are dispatched for your crimes, you will solve a puzzle for me.”

  “Anything I can do to help, sir.”

  “What did you mean by your final statement?”

  “Uh… when I said I wasn’t guilty?”

  “No, imbecile! The… other matter.”

  “About your kid?”

  She stared at me sternly. I couldn’t read Mogwa emotions well, but I knew she looked pissed.