"It's freedom I want, and I'll believe in that when I walk out of here," he replied with a cynical expression. He was almost afraid to hope for that. Mother of Life, I don't want to be locked in here! Sometimes I feel the walls closing in on me with the echoes of my own heartbeats pounding in my ears. I can see your face, but I can't touch you or hold you . . . And you know how I want to hold you.
"I know," she empathized, caressing his mind with tenderness. He was soothed by her mental touch. "Do you want to sleep now? It's getting pretty late."
"I don't think I can sleep. This place gives me the creeps. I just want to look at your face until they shut off the com." Then I'll see your face in my mind and not think about the walls holding me here. It's so hard to sleep alone.
Soon, you won't have to---very soon. Her eyes mirrored the promise of her thought. "Very soon," she murmured softly.
The Council of Seven conducted Truth hearings on the top level of the circular Law Enforcement tower. The large round chamber took most of that floor. Blue and white panels dominated the walls. The three-meter black and gold seal of Aledus was mounted on the wall behind the long curved table where the Council would sit. A large blue circle on the floor in front of the table proclaimed itself the Circle of Truth in glowing red letters. A mechanism within could determine with extreme accuracy whether a human standing on it spoke true or false. There was a small gallery for observers in the back of the room.
Hankura, Chelle, and Theron were led into the chamber. They stood waiting behind the Circle of Truth while the Council of Seven entered from a side door and sat down behind the curved table. They were dressed in regal robes of pastel silks and silver fabric. An aging woman sat at the center, heading the Council of four men and three women. Three men sat on her right with two women and one man on her left.
Elena, the chairwoman, studied each of the three. Several moments passed before she finally addressed them:
"Physician Hankura, you have been charged by Theron with unprovoked assault and attempted murder. Given the petition filed by six Normals, we have granted you a Test of Truth. Step forward and stand in the Circle of Truth to state your pleas."
Glancing at the floor, Hankura stepped onto the blue circle. He faced the Council, wrists bound in front of him as a common criminal. He looked at each member and nodded politely to Elena. "I submit that Theron's charge is false as he stated it. While I did willfully use force against my accuser, it was only to stop his attack on my wife."
"Why did he attack her?"
Hankura's mouth tightened, and a muscle in his jaw twitched. He tried to suppress the violence simmering within him as he recalled the incident. "He was trying to rape her after she refused sex with him. He had already hit her and was tearing at her clothes when I stopped him. He was hurting her, and I was angry---afraid for her. I was only trying to protect her."
The council was aware of the anger that still churned beneath the surface of his outwardly calm demeanor. Yet, the sensors didn't miss the truth in his words. Hankura and Chelle were both anxious to know what was going through the Council's minds, but scanning them was forbidden. The sensors would also pick up any fluctuation in the psionic force around them, a serious offense.
"Very well," Elena indicated, dismissing him with a curt nod. "We will hear Chelle's statement now.
Hankura stepped back from the Circle and returned to his place beside Theron, holding Chelle's gaze for a moment before she stepped into the circle.
"Do you agree with your husband's statement?" Elena asked.
"Yes." Chelle gave an eloquent nod.
"Is there any reason that Theron should have believed you would accept his attentions?"
"Absolutely not. I told him plainly on numerous occasions that I was not interested. I am pledged to my husband through the ancient ritual of Arall. On the day of the attack, I asked to be released as Theron's lab partner, and Instructor Marcus granted the request. When I told Theron to leave and resisted his advances, he became violent." Chelle went on to describe the attack in detail.
"I see," Elena murmured. A number of the other council members nodded silently and pressed buttons on their monitors to indicate their opinions in the matter. "You may step from the Circle, Chelle. We will now hear Theron."
With his jaw set in defiance, Theron glared at Hankura and Chelle each in turn before he stepped into the Circle of Truth.
"Theron, do you honestly refute the statements of the defendant Hankura and his wife, Chelle?" Elena demanded.
Theron squirmed uncomfortably. There was no mistaking Elena's manner. He knew it would be best to tell the exact truth. Suddenly trembling, he sucked in his breath sharply. "I cannot."
"Have you any further explanation?"
"No."
"Then you will step from the circle, and we will give our judgment."
The Council sat in silence for two or three minutes, working their fingers over the keypads in front of them. Hankura, Chelle and Theron stood surrounded by Security Enforcers waiting anxiously for them to finish.
Finally, Elena spoke to them again. "Physician Hankura, in light of the truth, the charges of unprovoked assault and attempted murder are dropped. You will be released from confinement immediately. You have acted with excessive violence against the Normal, Theron, however, and The Council retains your fine of two-hundred thousand credits, and your Aledan Urban privileges are revoked for one standard year starting today. Enforcers will escort you publicly from the city to South Salla Hoverport. There they will relieve you of your psi-patch. If you return to any Aledan city during this exile period, you will be jailed for the remainder of your sentence. Is that clear?"
"Completely," Hankura replied, his eyes glittering with outrage.
Elena then addressed Theron. "You have lied without duress to the Council of Seven, obviously to have this Psion jailed unjustly. For your false accusation, you are hereby fined ten thousand credits. Any future criminal charges made by you will be made under the Test of Truth before action is taken. The next time you lie, you will be jailed for fifteen days. This case is concluded."
"Ha!" Theron sneered as he turned to leave. "You were lucky this time, minder. I didn't know there were so many psi-lovers on Aledus to help you. Ah well, what's ten thousand credits? It was worth it to watch you squirm." He laughed derisively and sauntered from the Council Chambers.
"Bleeping rectal probe!" Hankura muttered under his breath.
"At least you're out of jail," Chelle said quietly. "But, your career is ruined here. I'm sorry."
"That's justice on Aledus," he muttered.
Before he could say anything else, four Enforcers stepped forward. They ushered them out of the tower to the pedestrian beltway. The Enforcers escorted them in public view across the city to the hoverport for Hankura's exile. In the ten minutes it took them to traverse the city, Hankura and Chelle became objects of curiosity and ridicule by the small groups of Normals they passed. This was exactly the intention of the biased Council of Seven.
Gray was one of the Enforcers waiting at the hoverport. "I am sorry, Hankura," he told him as he came up and ripped the psi-patch from his left sleeve then unshackled his wrists. "At least now you're free to leave as you planned." Gray smiled faintly. "We'll see you on the Searching Star.
Hankura nodded and gave him a tight smile. "Thank you, my friend. We look forward to serving with you."
As he turned to Chelle, he heard one of the other Enforcers mutters, "Well, that's one less Psion in Salla."
"And that is Salla's loss," Gray admonished. "He's my friend, and I'm proud to call him a friend."
"Then you're a fool." the other Enforcer jeered.
"You're right. I've been a fool to think I can make a difference with people like you."
As they moved away, Chelle and Hankura climbed into their hovercraft. When they were inside, she looked at him uncertainly. He was so filled with anger and outrage that he was trembling. Some of his anger was still directed at Chelle, and h
e hated himself for feeling that way. How could he blame her for his own stupidity in shoving her into the middle of all this just to satisfy his own needs?
"Will you ever forgive me?" Chelle asked softly.
He shook his head as if to deny his anger and pulled her close. My she-ell. We must forgive each other. If there's any blame, we must share it equally. You did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong, yet I've been punished, anyway. ...Goddess, it's so good to feel you in my arms---to see the sun in the sky. I was slowly going mad in that cell.
I know. I got you out as soon as I could, the only way I knew.
And you saved my sanity. With that thought, he kissed her deeply. "Let's go back to the complex and get ready to leave for Belderon tomorrow. We have no home on Aledus, especially now."
"When will you tell Ludren and Natar?"
"As soon as we get there. I want to be done with it tonight and start fresh tomorrow. There's no reason to wait any longer."
CHAPTER TWENTY
"Trevin is coming over," Hankura said and sat down beside Chelle on the sofa in their lounge. He put his arm around her. "I want him to stay with you while I talk to Mother and Father."
"What's wrong, Hankura? You're uneasy---I can feel it---and you're trying to block it out."
"I know that Mother is not going to take this well, and I dread telling her. I'll make her understand. Trust me."
"I do." She looked at him dubiously. It was not him that she didn't trust. She didn't like his sending for Trevin to keep her there. She knew he was even contemplating sending her to Tharn, but he knew she would refuse.
Hankura got up as Trevin strode in through the open tunnel doorway. "I'll be back in a little while. There's a mug of jern on the autocart if you want it." Trevin nodded. Then, Hankura gave his wife a tight smile as he turned and walked into the tunnel. Chelle stared after him, feeling oddly unsettled by his secretive manner.
Upon entering the main dome, Hankura knew his mother sensed that he had something serious on his mind. But Natar refrained from probing him because she knew he would resent her intrusion.
Hankura looked from his mother to his father, trying to decide how to begin telling them what he knew they didn't want to hear.
"You know everything that's happened to Chelle and me since we came to Aledus to be part of this family." he began. "We love you all, but we're not happy here. Chelle and I are leaving for Belderon tomorrow," he blurted out. "After we visit Casir on Belderon, we are leaving on the exploration ship Searching Star. We have already printed contracts. We love you all, but that's not enough. We never should have come back."
"You can't be serious." Natar's eyes flashed with anger.
"Now, Natar---you knew he would leave some day." Ludren tried to soothe her with a note of warning in his voice. "There's nothing wrong with the Explorations. It's honorable work. Tell us about your position, son."
"I'm going to be Chief Medical Officer. Chelle is going as a Tech Three. Captain Beras is a psion, too. He understands what we have been through. It'll be nice to be treated as an intelligent human being for a change. The captain has assured us that the prejudices are only minor in the ship's crew. And we are looking forward to being in space again."
"I hope this isn't too much trouble for you, Trev," Chelle murmured as he took a seat in a padded chair across from her and took the last mug of jern from the autocart. "It was Hankura's idea."
Trevin shrugged carelessly with a grin, flicking his hazel eyes over her face. "I don't mind spending time with you. I'm not meeting Floria for another hour. It's too bad you'll be leaving tomorrow. I'd hoped to introduce you to her."
"I would have liked that," Chelle told him somewhat absently. She was still unsettled by Hankura's earlier mood.
"How is my brother now?" Trevin honestly wanted to know.
"He's a little depressed and a little annoyed with me for what happened---though he keeps trying to hide it. Right now, I think getting away will be the best thing for us, and it will be good for him to see Casir again. We both need to put this behind us. It's been rough."
"As rough on you as him," Trevin pointed out.
"He knows that. That's partly why there is so much conflict within him now. He's angry with me for letting Theron put me at a disadvantage, and with himself because he brought me here in the first place. I should have expected Theron's attack. I am a psion, Trevin. I should have known."
"He had no right, Chelle! Don't blame yourself."
Chelle smiled faintly. "Thanks. I don't know how I would have gotten through this without your help."
"Oh, hell. You'd have figured out something." He grinned.
It was her turn to shrug at his backhanded praise. "I just wish I knew what Hankura is hiding from me."
"What could he possibly hide from you? You are psi-mates after all, as you are so fond of reminding me," he said with a touch of irony.
"Oh, Hankura is good at keeping things from me when he concentrates. He has years of training that I lack. But---he can never completely hide the fact that he is keeping something from me. Usually, I can coax him to share it---except this time . . .."
"You're probably worrying too much. He only went to speak to Mother and Father. What could be wrong?"
"I don't know. I--" Chelle suddenly fell silent and went pale. "Mother of Life!"
"What the hell?" Trevin demanded as Chelle's eyes widened and she clamped her hands against her temples in great pain.
Natar stared at her son for a few moments before she found her voice. "No, Hankura! You can't leave. You're my son. I won't lose you again!"
"I am your son, Mother, but I'm also my own person. Chelle and I have to go. Try to understand." He braced himself mentally for the anger he sensed rising within her.
"No! NO!" she shrieked. YOU WILL STAY! I WILL YOU TO STAY.
Hankura flinched and jerked his head to the side at the staggering force of her telepathy. I WILL NOT! He defied her, clenching his fists against his temples with his eyes squeezed closed in supreme concentration.
"No! Stop it!" he cried out as her probes kept exploding inside his mind, battering his mental shield. I WILL MY OWN MIND . . .MY OWN MIND . . . I WILL GO . . . MY OWN MIND. . .. MINE! MINE! MINE! CHELLE, HELP ME . . ..
Chelle has made you do this, but we can stop her. She sent you to jail, and she wants to take you from me. I hate her, and I wish she would die. She must not take you from me. WE WILL STOP HER! WE WILL BREAK THE BOND, MY SON, AND SHE WILL DIE.
Natar's probe was far stronger than any he had faced during his evaluation. It was meant to kill Chelle. His only way to defend her was to attack Natar. This made Hankura's mother aim her attack at him.
Then Chelle attacked Natar to undermine her concentration and confuse her.
Hankura and Chelle took turns attacking and counter attacking for several minutes. Each hoped to protect the other from the killing force of Natar's psionic probes. With each mental assault, Natar became more and more confused. She blocked their attacks and concentrated on gathering psionic energy to deal Hankura's mate a fatal blow. Only in her confusion, she attacked Hankura instead. Hankura welcomed Chelle's help to mentally block out Natar's deadly psionic probe. But it wasn't enough.
"Nooo!" Hankura screamed as his mental shield collapsed. He sank to the floor as a blinding flash of light exploded behind his eyes. He felt the plush carpet against his face. Then he knew, quiet, black oblivion.
Ludren watched in horror as blood trickled from Hankura's nose onto the beige carpet. There had been nothing he could do to stop the silent battle between the two people he loved most in the world.
"Natar! How could you do this? Why?" He grabbed her upper arms and shook her as she stared vacantly in shock. Then he forced her to look down at Hankura's crumpled form. "Will you do that to me if I don't please you? I know you have the power. You could destroy me with a single thought. Is that how my life will end? Would you kill Capra and Trevin as well?"
He shook her again. She met h
is gaze with a dazed look. "Look at him! Look at what you did to our son. Is that how you want to keep him here--barely alive, all but mindless?"
"No, oh, no! Not you, my son--her. You should have let me kill her."
"Sweet Goddess!" Ludren cried.
Natar tried to bend and touch Hankura, but Ludren shoved her roughly toward the sofa. "Don't touch him. You've done enough. You think you could have made him stay by killing Chelle? My Goddess, Natar. My Goddess."
Ludren knelt down and turned Hankura, feeling for a pulse in his neck to be sure that the subtle rise and fall of his back had not been an illusion. Then, Ludren cradled him in his arms and shuddered as blood seeped from his ears as well. His son was alive. To what degree, he didn't know. Tears filled Ludren's eyes. He had never felt more helpless in his life.
Chelle and Trevin found them like that moments later when they burst into the room.
"I couldn't stop her," Ludren said brokenly to Chelle. "Tell me his mind isn't wiped. Please don't let him be lost to us."
Chelle knelt before Ludren and put her hand on Hankura's damp brow. Reaching into his mind was like entering a deep, dark tunnel, calling for someone she knew was there but who would not answer. There was damage on every path she tried, but she sensed his essence was there, deep within the blackness retreating from her approach. Only her own thoughts echoed back through that darkness.
She could heal the damage to his brain, but she couldn't make him whole again without his help. Chelle closed her eyes and enveloped them in her healing aura as Trevin watched in awe.
At last Chelle opened her eyes and looked from Ludren to Trevin and back at Ludren. "He isn't mind-wiped, but he's in deep psychic shock. We need a psychiatrist to be sure of anything."
"But Chelle, you know what they will do to Natar," Ludren objected. "What she did was wrong, but what they would do to her is no better. She is ill, and she needs treatment. I have been trying to deny it for months now. I never believed she would go this far." Two tears slid down his face.
The Aledan PSION: The Aledan Series Book 1 Page 21