by Kate MacLeod
“All good,” Tom Tom said, but there was a gleam in his eye, and the way he wouldn’t quite meet her own eyes really made her wonder what Tucker had said.
“So when were you last down there?” Scout asked. “Do you know how Joelle and Reggie are doing? Is Malcolm all right?”
“It’s been a while,” Tom Tom admitted. “Things have been getting hot, a lot more ships moving around in orbit than usual. I haven’t had a clear path to get down without being seen. What would be wrong with Malcolm?”
“You’re seriously asking me that?” Scout all but snapped.
“What?” He blinked at her, appearing genuinely confused.
“The Months have been nurturing his dependency on some drug,” Scout said.
“I don’t know anything about that,” Tom Tom said, holding up his hands as if he were afraid Scout was about to hit him.
“You made deliveries to Tucker,” Scout said. “Tucker was giving the drugs to Malcolm.”
“That doesn’t sound like Tucker,” he started to say, but he flinched away from her and Scout forced herself to take a deep breath. Her eyes must be shooting daggers to make him react like that. Still, it wasn’t like she could do anything with a dog in her arms. What stories had Tucker been telling him? “My deliveries were all intel. Current communication codes, other things we couldn’t just broadcast down. No drugs, I swear.”
Scout let the last of her anger go and gave him a tight nod.
Come to think of it, Tucker had gotten the drugs for Malcolm from Farlane McFarlane. It still ultimately led back to the Months, but apparently not through Tom Tom.
“Sorry if I got a little heated,” Scout said. “I’m just worried about Joelle and the others.”
“If you want, I can try to get a message down,” Tom Tom said.
“To Tucker? No thanks,” Scout said.
“Scout,” Sparrow said, looking at a narrow band around her own wrist. It didn’t look like the wrist comms Scout had seen before, just an ordinary red plastic bangle, but still it seemed to be communicating something to Sparrow. “We have to get back to the audience chamber. The Months need you.”
“I’m guessing there’s no refusing a Months’ request,” Scout sighed. “Let’s go then.”
“Hope to see you again,” Tom Tom said, and as much as his attention seemed to have returned fully to his game, he sounded sincere.
Sparrow and Scout got the dogs out of the crowd and back into the center of the street, and Scout set Shadow back down on the ground. Gert came over to nose him, her tail wagging like she really hoped he had noticed how very chill she had been in that crowd of strangers.
“There you are!”
Scout looked up to see Caleb coming their way, looking very grateful to have found them not terribly far from the hospital.
“We’re on our way,” Scout said. “Audience chamber, right?”
“Yes, that is correct,” Caleb said, falling into step beside them.
“What’s this all about, do you know?”
“There has been a wrinkle in the bureaucracy. Nothing disastrous, no worries, but your presence is specifically required.”
“By the Months,” Scout said.
“No, by the tribunal enforcers,” Caleb corrected her. “Your consent is required on a small legal matter. But I will let the tribunal enforcers explain.”
When they reached the massive double doors to the audience chamber, Caleb turned to Sparrow. “Thank you for showing our guest around, Miss Sparrow. Perhaps I can take the dog from here?”
Scout wasn’t sure that was a good idea. Gert had never liked Viola, but then Viola had radiated hate towards Gert on account of Gert having caught Viola’s cat, crushing its pelvis with her heavily muscled jaw. But Caleb held Gert no ill will, and Gert didn’t seem to mind Caleb either, walking over to his side the moment the leash changed hands, tail wagging as she waited for this new person to pet her head. Caleb did so with careful deliberation.
“I’ll see you,” Sparrow said.
“I hope so,” Scout said. Who knew what was about to happen? Her life kept taking drastic turns in the blink of an eye and Scout was all too aware that she could count on nothing, not even being in the same place for more than a heartbeat.
Caleb opened the doors, and Scout saw the Months on their dais, Mai seated and Jun once more pacing. At the end of the carpet were Geeta and Emilie. Geeta looked none too pleased to be there, scowling up at the dais out of the corner of her eye as she stood facing mostly away from them. Emilie gave Scout a little wave.
Scout raised a hand to return the gesture but didn’t quite complete the motion. Her attention was caught by six figures who emerged from the back of the room and circled the base of the dais, three of them on each side. They stopped without quite meeting in the middle and looked up to the Months.
Tribunal enforcers, like she had seen when Liam had been taken away, with bald heads and long blue robes. Probably not exactly the same individuals, although it would have been very difficult for Scout to say one way or another about that. There was a variety of skin tones, but with the completely shaved heads and the body-hiding bulk of the robes, they were very hard to distinguish from one another. Scout wasn’t even sure what gender any of them were, or if they even had a gender.
“Good to see you again, Scout Shannon,” Mai said as Scout approached. She stopped next to Geeta and Emilie, setting Shadow down on the ground. Emilie took Gert’s leash from Caleb, and he gave the Months a bow before retreating from the room, closing the doors behind him.
“What’s going on?” Scout whispered to the other two. Emilie shrugged. Geeta said nothing, but she fumed with anger.
“The tribunal enforcers called this meeting,” Mai said. “There has been a wrinkle in our traversing the barricade, but once it’s sorted out, we can continue on our way. Of course, we’re all anxious to do that, right? Our court case and your sister’s recovery both await our arrival in galactic central.”
“Caleb said something about consent?” Scout prompted. That bit about Seeta’s recovery felt too much like a veiled threat to her.
“Indeed,” Mai said, smiling down on Scout. “The tribunal enforcers will be asking which side you are pledging with.”
“Which side of what?” Scout asked, looking from Mai to Jun. Jun stopped pacing to lean against the back of her sister’s chair. The two of them looked as unified as ever.
“Which side of the Tajaki trade dynasty,” Mai said. “I understand your confusion. My sister and I are a little confused ourselves. We were quite certain we were the only members of the dynasty inside the barricade, but it turns out there is another.”
She rested her chin on her hand and directed a sharp glare at the enforcers below her. If Scout had to guess, she would say the enforcers had been aware all along that both sides of the Tajaki dynasty had crossed the barricade.
“On what grounds are we supposed to make this decision?” Emilie demanded.
“Exactly,” Mai said, beaming at Emilie. “That’s the wrinkle.”
“And the solution?” Emilie asked.
“My sister and I are going to play host once more,” Mai said. “My cousin of a sort is about to join us. You will be given an opportunity to get to know him, just as you still have the opportunity to get to know us. Only when you are ready will you announce your decision. I’m not sure how much you know about tribunal enforcers, but you should understand that there is no way for either Jun and I or our cousin to coerce you in any way. The choice is entirely yours.”
Scout knew that wasn’t exactly true, not with Seeta hostage inside the hospital, but she said nothing.
A soft chime sounded, and Jun rushed to take her seat before the double doors started to open.
“Emilie Tonnelier, Geeta Malini, Scout Shannon,” Mai said as she rose to her feet. “Allow me to present my third cousin, Bo Tajaki.”
14
The man who swept into the room bore a strong family resemblance to the Tajaki s
isters. He had the same brown eyes, facial features a bit more like Mai than Jun, the same long black hair hanging loose nearly to his knees. His clothing style was softer than the Months’, nothing leather, all soft fabrics. His loose-fitting black leggings gathered a bit at the ankles, bunching up over his black slipper-like shoes. He wore an ivory-colored tunic with wide sleeves that extended past his knees, although it was slit at both sides up to his hips. As he walked closer, his own phalanx of six tribunal enforcers in formation behind him, Scout could see that the tunic, which had appeared plain from a distance, was actually intricately patterned with a thread the same color as the fabric, a subtle effect she found quite interesting.
His dark eyes glanced her way when he noticed her watching him, and Scout dropped her gaze, focusing on the dogs at her feet. She had a hold of both leashes just in case, but neither of them was having strong feelings about the man walking towards them.
The man was alone save for the tribunal enforcers. There was no sign of the woman in black or anyone else wearing black clothes that fell just short of being a uniform.
“That’s far enough, I should think,” Mai said when Bo was as near to the three girls as the Months were. “You can speak from there.”
“Indeed I can,” Bo said. He had a deep, warm voice that had the barest hint of a lilt, as if he were trying to be serious but was having trouble because he found everything so amusing.
“Just out of curiosity, how long have you been lurking in these parts?” Mai asked. Jun leaned forward in her chair, elbows on knees and hands to her chin, eagerly awaiting his answer.
“About as long as you,” Bo said.
“And you think that is how long?”
“Don’t play. We both know exactly how long it’s been,” Bo said.
Mai sat back in her chair and looked towards her sister, not so much to confer with her as to dismiss Bo from her attention. The smile was gone from her face, though, and Scout would bet anything that whether or not Bo was being honest about always knowing the whereabouts of the Months, the Months had known nothing of his.
Emilie dug her elbow into Scout’s side and, once she had her attention, looked pointedly in the direction of the tribunal enforcers. Scout had been so engrossed by the dialogue between the Months and their cousin she hadn’t been looking at the strange robed figures at all. But they were the ones actually in power here.
None of them had said a word, and yet now that Scout was looking at them, she realized they had been communicating with each other the entire time.
But it was a strange sort of communication. They never took their hands from where they kept them tucked inside their own sleeves, and they scarcely even turned to face each other. And yet, now that she was looking, she could see things passing over their faces: subtle little quirks to the lips and eyebrows, widening or narrowing of the eyes, flaring of the nostrils.
“Can they be talking?” Scout asked Emilie in a low whisper.
“They must be,” Emilie said. “The real question is, can anyone else understand them?”
“I don’t think so,” Scout said after a moment’s thought.
“The Months seem like the sort to play things close to the chest,” Emilie said. “They aren’t going to let you know all they know or all they are capable of.”
“True,” Scout said. “But if they could interpret what these people are saying to each other, I think they’d be watching them carefully, not talking over them.”
Emilie looked up at Mai still looking towards Jun and Jun staring fixedly at Bo. Bo didn’t seem to be looking at anything in particular. If anything, he was evaluating the room’s decor. He wrinkled his nose, not finding some element of it to his taste.
“They know they’re missing something,” Emilie said, even more quietly than before, close to Scout’s ear. Her eyes were still on the Months. “They don’t like it. Any of them.”
“Agreed,” Scout said. Her cheeks felt hot, and she looked up to find Bo looking her over carefully. Scout fought the urge to try to smooth her chaotic hair down. He could wrinkle his nose at her too, for all she cared.
But her cheeks still felt warm and tingly, and she looked up again. Bo was no longer looking at her, but one of the tribunal enforcers was. The other five behind Bo were actively communicating with each other, as well as with the tribunal enforcers across the room on the Months’ side of the three girls, but this one just looked at Scout.
This one appeared younger than the others, although that was hard to define since they were all hairless with soft features. Their face remained still as a pond on a windless day, but there was something in their eyes. Scout felt like she was supposed to do something or say something, but she had no clue what.
“That one seems to like you,” Emilie said, noticing the silent one herself.
“Yeah,” Scout said. It was unsettling, being trapped under that intense regard.
Then, all at once, the tribunal enforcers all stopped “talking,” dropping their eyes and bowing their heads, even the one who had been watching Scout.
“I guess they’ve sorted it then,” Bo said dryly.
“Give it a minute,” Mai said, her chin on her fist, still not looking at him.
The entrance chimed again, and another group of six people walked in, three men and three women. They were dressed in leggings and tunics like Bo’s, if a bit less elegant. They all wore royal-blue tops and bottoms down to their shoes, and they walked with excessive speed in a squad formation.
Then there was a hiss of another door opening behind the dais, and six more people poured out to approach the sisters. These were the first people Scout had seen aboard the ship who weren’t dressed like pirates, excepting Caleb. They wore long robes like the sisters, but the clothes beneath looked quite a bit more comfortable than the bodices the sisters wore.
Scout didn’t know how it was possible to breathe in those.
The next few minutes were maddening for the three girls in the middle as each side huddled into a tight circle and whispered together while the tribunal enforcers studiously focused on the ground.
Scout didn’t like feeling like her fate was being decided right there in front of her, without anyone conferring with her or even informing her of the details under discussion.
Emilie had dropped to one knee to scratch at the dogs’ ears. Geeta just stood with her arms folded, the dark scowl never leaving her face.
“Permission to advance,” said one of the men on Bo’s side, his voice echoing through the hall.
“To the girls? Dream on,” Mai said.
“I need to confer with my counterpart on your team,” the lawyer said, unperturbed. “Where would you like me to do it?”
“Step over here,” one of the sisters’ lawyers said, waving for the man to follow her to the side of the room. The other lawyers watched them go, a few sharing whispering exchanges but most just waiting in silence.
The two lawyers leaned against the wall of the room and had a furious conversation, still all in whispers.
“Come on,” Scout complained. Bo looked her way and gave her a small smile, just a quirk of one side of his mouth. It reminded her of Gertrude Bauer.
She didn’t want him to remind her of Gertrude Bauer.
The hissing conversation between the two lawyers slowed down to a few parting shots, then the pair of them crossed the room to stand before the three girls.
“Just give us the shortest version,” Emilie said the moment the first one opened their mouth.
“That’s not optimal,” the woman said.
“None of this is optimal,” the man shot back. “Optimal would be a neutral third territory.”
“No,” the woman said.
“You’re being needlessly belligerent,” he snapped.
“Didn’t you finish all this arguing before you walked over here?” Emilie asked.
“The two ships will be joined,” the woman said, shooting a barbed look at the other lawyer to warn him against interrupting
her. “Constant maintenance of the airlock between. You will be free to cross from one ship to the other any time you choose. This will be maintained for three days. At the end of the third day, you will have to announce your alliance.”
“What does that mean?” Scout asked.
“The two sides of the Tajaki trade dynasty have been granted equal access to you,” she said.
“Hardly equal since they came here first,” the man grumbled, not remotely under his breath.
“You both violated the barricade,” Emilie said. “How are you not facing sanctions for that?”
“All requisite fines have been paid,” the woman said, and Emilie rolled her eyes.
“What does allegiance mean?” Scout asked.
“The two sides of the Tajaki trade dynasty have for all intents and purposes equal rights to this property,” the woman said. “The planet, the moon, and all orbiting structures.”
“It’s our home,” Scout said darkly. Emilie gave a fierce nod.
The woman summoned up a fake cheery smile. “Of course. That’s why your input is so very valuable. The court will take into account which of the two sides of the family has the support of the employees of the colonization division. What you say in the courtroom could well determine who gains control of this property.”
Scout bristled again at that word. The woman flashed the smile again.
“How are we supposed to choose that?” Emilie asked.
“You have three days to travel between the two ships and ask any and all questions you wish.”
“And they have to answer?” Emilie asked, something like hunger in her eyes.
“Well, no. But a lack of answer is often answer enough, don’t you think? By the end of the third day, you will choose whose ship you will remain on, and then we will all cross the barricade together and make our separate ways back to galactic central.”
Scout felt like the woman was carefully holding back a lot of adjectives to describe the place she longed to leave behind—“the property”—and all she thought of it.
“And this is what the tribunal enforcers decided? When they were talking just now?” Scout asked.