The Rainbow Cadenza: A Novel in Vistata Form

by J. Neil Schulman

  She spent that evening with her younger brothers back at home. Delaney wanted to know if the man she was marrying was the same Burke Filcher they'd told him about in school, who had negotiated the Rainbow Compact in Brooklyn, and in whose honor the name had been changed to Rainborough. Joan told her brother that it was.

  The next day, Jack Malcolm visited Joan. He began by delivering to her the package that had arrived for her at the Malcolm Insititute. Joan thanked him, but put it aside upopened; she wouldn't be needing that transponder, now.

  "So, Jack said. "Another Darris bites the dust--pardon me: Vera is a Delaney."

  "I'm not giving up the laser, Jack."

  "No? That's sure what it looks like."

  "Appearances can be deceiving," Joan said. "As a matter of fact, I've already started making some sketches for a Mass. It's going to take some time, though--I don't want to rush this. I promised someone that this would be very special. I'll send you a draft a year from now."

  "I sent your Helix Vistata to the St. Clive Competition," Jack said. "You've been accepted."

  "Jack, I can't possibly tell you at the moment how much that means to me."

  "I don't see why," Malcolm said. "You're not going."

  "There's more than one way to skin a cat, Jack--though why anyone would want a skinned cat is beyond me. Don't write off my career yet."

  Jack cleared his throat. "If you say so." He paused for a second. "Joan, why Filcher? He doesn't seem to be your type."

  "Jack! Are you jealous?"

  "Well, maybe a little. I always thought you'd marry a lasegrapher, at least."

  "Burke is only my first husband," Joan said. "And I expect he'll be getting tired of me much more quickly than he imagines. You never can tell. Maybe about sixteen years from now you'll find me marrying again--the next time, a lasegrapher."

  "Is it true you're engaged to Wolfgang Jaeger?"

  "Jack," Joan said reproachfully. "Is that something it's proper to ask me a few days before I marry someone else?"

  One more package arrived at Helix Vista addressed to Joan, but this was one she was sending to herself, containing her flying belt and Marnie hunting medallion. That evening, she was going on a family hunt with her father, Vera, Mark and the twins.

  Stanton expressed surprise that Joan was joining them, because of her remarks after the custody hearing about people who hunted Touchables. "Dad," Joan said, "if I've learned anything in the last few weeks, it's that there's a very easy answer why people hunt Touchables--and I'm certainly not going to pretend that some Touchables don't deserve it. If I'm going to be happy on this planet, I might as well get used to the core of its cultural heritage right away."

  The family hunting strategy, however, was wrecked when Nicque and Vicque cluttered up the air with a squabble as to which one of them would get first dibs on any boy they caught. While they were arguing, Mark was prevented from hearing a signal being picked up on his wristscanner, and by the time he could hear it, it was too weak to triangulate on. Everyone but Joan was chilly to the twins for the entire skymobile trip back to Helix Vista.

  The weekend before the wedding, Joan decided to take her brother Zack, who had just turned fifteen, on a weekend jaunt to Hawaii with her. She felt it was her only chance to thank him for his kindness in sending her lasegraphic instruments to her while she was in the Corps. They spent Saturday the 23rd touring around Honolulu, and she took him to Molokai to the gambling casinos that evening. Zack seemed to be a whiz at velletrom, walking out with several hundred more auragrams than he'd come in with.

  They stopped off at The Teapot Dome in Los Angeles on the way back, to pay her respects to Roland and Estelle, who were running the mocha house in Hill's absence. She explained to them everything she knew about Hill's status, and what his hopes were. Zack was surprised at what Joan told them, but he promised not to say anything. Before they left, Roland gave Joan the wedding present he had told her he was holding for her. When she saw it -- and could hold it in her hands--she thought it was the nicest present anyone could have given her.

  Estelle told Joan, before she left, that they would see her in Newer York the next day, for Hill's trial.

  Vera had decided that she would sit on the case herself.

  "Do you have anything to say before sentence is passed?"

  It was a drama that had been played out in courtrooms throughout history. The prisoner in this case, a handsome, determined-looking Touchable man with red hair peeking out from his red-hooded cloak, stood in the dock. His attorney--a public defender appointed by the court--wore a lavender cloak. The prosecutrix, in her pink cloak, sat at the prosecution table at the left of the chamber. The jury of eight women and four andromen were in a box on the right side with a court recorder, a robot, just in front of them. The court clerk, in his lavender cloak, sat at a desk just below the judge's bench, watching an array of video monitors and wearing a headset that permitted the judge to speak to him privately.

  The visitor's gallery was large and filled, as usual, with witnesses, spectators, and holovision technicians: several cameras were suspended at discreet--but strategic--points around the courtroom. Two burly-looking bailiffs, both in blue, stood in opposite aisles of the visitors' gallery, each with his legs planted apart and his arms folded across his chest, looking like eunuchs guarding a harem.

  Her Honor Vera Collier Delaney sat at her bench, raised higher than anyone else in this chamber, the Legos, Ltd., corporate logo with its motto "Lex Scripta, Lex Terrae" prominently displayed on the seal in front of her. She wore a black cloak. An enormous holovision monitor above her showed, at the moment, a close-up of Hill Bromley.

  The image on the screen cut to Vera. She looked nervous waiting for the prisoner's reply to her question. For the entire trial, which had lasted all day, Hill Bromley had stood mute, refusing to offer any defense whatsoever to the charge of rape brought against him. The image on the screen cut back to Hill Bromley once again.

  Hill looked at the jury, looked at the prosecutrix, looked up at the huge monitor--now showing an encompassing view of the gallery that allowed him to see Joan, Estelle, Roland, and several disguised Touchables from his parish--then lowered his eyes to meet Vera's.

  He did not say anything.

  Vera wondered why the prisoner looked so calm, and why she was the one who was sweating.

  Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "I'm told you're a Christian priest," she said. "Aren't you even going to forgive me?"

  Bromley smiled. "It is my job to forgive sins after they are committed, not during."

  "You say that aloud," Vera said, "but inwardly, you're asking your God to damn me, aren't you?"

  "God doesn't damn anyone," Hill said. "It's just that sometimes He can't prevent them from damning themselves."

  "Can't? I thought He was supposed to be All-Powerful."

  "He can do All Things that can be done. This does not include denying the laws of logic, to which even He is subject. Once He decided that we would have the free choice to do good or evil. He was stuck with it. If you are to be damned, it will be because you have erected your own barrier against His Good, and He will not trespass your boundaries. I suggest you stock up, though. It looks as if it's going to be a long winter."

  "How can you moralize this way when you are guilty of violating your own standards?"

  "Have you seen me offer a defense? What happens to me happens to me. I thought we were talking about saving your soul."

  "You seem to forget that I'm the judge here, and you're the prisoner."

  "If you think you're free to judge me, then do it. Your turn in the dock will come soon enough."

  Vera saw the holovision director signaling her to speed things up; they were going to be behind for the promo.

  Vera pressed a panel on her bench. "Court clerk will read the sentence."

  The text appeared on the clerk's monitor board. He pressed a panel on his desk, swiveling it around to face the gallery, then in a professional-soundin
g baritone began reading from his monitor. "Thank you, Your Honor. Touchable Number 809-8PC-101 will be taken for a last shuttle ride on PanCord Skylines to the Federation Execution Facility at Detroit, Ontario. There he'll be given a sumptuous last meal courtesy of Chez Bernie's Restaurants. Then, at midnight Sunday, the thirty-first of January, he'll be taken into the fabulous Radarmatic Microwave Oven for his personal execution."

  Hill stood absolutely still, and Vera wondered why she felt it was she who had just been sentenced.

  "We're running a little late, today, so we won't have time to mention all our fine sponsors. Back to you, Your Honor."

  Both bailiffs turned to face the gallery, uncrossed their arms, and began applauding wildly.

  No one else in the gallery applauded.

  After a few seconds of embarrassing silence, the director ordered the control room to cut in a prerecorded applause track and get the shot off the gallery immediately.

  When the applause track was muted down again, the holy zoomed in on Vera, who said, "So Mote It Be!"

  She banged her gavel.

  The director ordered the control room to restart the applause track and cut to the promo. But it didn't happen. Instead, in the silence that followed the banging of the gavel, the holy zoomed in on Hill Bromley again.

  Nobody knew why the control-room technician, a young comman named Richard Dover, ignored his director's order. It cost him his job. But transmitted live to the satellite, and from there to millions of homes on Earth, there was a holy shot of Hill Bromley as he looked straight into the camera and said to them all, "Forgive them, Father, though they know exactly what they do."

  Chapter 34

  THE QUESTION most likely to be asked of a guest who arrived at Helix Vista for the wedding was not whether he was on the bride or groom's side of the family, but on which side of the aisle he sat in the House. Just about half the political notables from the Lower Manor had decided to show up. The bridegroom thought it unlikely that a quorum could be managed unless the session was called for right here.

  The politicos at the estate, the morning of January 27, were outnumbered only by the sky marshals trying to assist the ushers in seating those with reserved places on the terrace, and keeping those of lesser privilege off. They were not entirely successful: a large contingent chose to stand near the back--out toward the edge of the terrace, actually--rather than take their seats on the lawn and watch on the holoscreen.

  Several floors down, Joan was being assisted by Vera and their Aunt Melentha in putting final touches on her attire. She was wearing both her grandmother's white dress and the wig of her own red hair. At a quarter to eleven--fifteen minutes before the wedding was scheduled to take place--Joan asked if she could be alone with Vera for a few minutes. Melentha said it was perfectly all right, and left.

  When they were alone together, Joan took out a box and opened it. It was the two brooches, laden with her grandfather's fire gems, that had been made up for her and Vera. One of them--the one Joan was to wear--had the fire gems set into the pattern of the Darris family emblem, and ascending helix. Joan asked Vera to pin it on her, and she did.

  Then Joan took the other brooch, with fire gems set into the Delaney emblem, a half-moon. As Joan pinned it on Vera, she said, "Let this be a symbol of my true feelings for you. You know the Craft much better than I do, but I've left a part of myself in here for you."

  "As a hostage?" Vera asked.

  "As a simple reminder," Joan said. "Just keep it close to your heart whenever you're thinking of me."

  "That's very sweet, Joan. I'll wear it always." She leaned over and kissed Joan.

  "I was hoping you'd feel that way, Joan said. She kissed Vera in return.

  "Ready?" Vera asked Joan.

  "Go on ahead," Joan said. "I'll be out in a minute."

  As soon as Vera left, Joan took out a small bottle of oil and anointed herself for what was to follow.

  But the oil she used to anoint herself was not Lovers' Oil, which was traditional for a wedding. Joan anointed herself with Rosemary. It was used for protection in battle.

  The terrace of the roof at Helix Vista was arranged in concentric circles of chairs around the altar, which was set up-- according to tradition--with a white-cloth-covered table on which stood a statue of Diana the Huntress, a censer of incense, a caldron and chalice, and four candles: two white ones, a Red Yoni, and a Golden Phallus. In front of this table were three circles joined together. Kate Seymour, in her green priestess robes, stood in the top circle, which had a pentagram inside. Burke Filcher stood in the left circle, with his best man--the Prime Minister of the Federation--just outside the circle to his left. Joan stood in the right circle, with her Maid of Honor, Vera, just outside the circle to her right.

  "All join hands!" Kate Seymour ordered. All on the terrace did so.

  She began by casting the circle, using--this time--not a black althame, but a wand of mistletoe. Then the flour girls cast barley flour around the couple, followed by Kate Seymour consecrating the ground within the circle with incense, water, and salt--representing fire, air, water, and earth. Kate Seymour then said to the couple, blessing each of them with her wand, "I purify you from all anxiety, all fears, in the name of Diana."

  It was time for the priestess to close the circle and make her invocations:

  "Hail to thee, Powers of the East! Come and be witness as we perform the ancient rites!

  "Hail to thee, Powers of the South! Come and be witness as we perform the ancient laws!

  "Hail to thee, Powers of the Waters! Come and guard our circle!

  "Hail to thee, corner of all powers! Great Demeter, Persephone, Kore, Ceres! Earth Mothers and Fates! Great sea of glass! Guard our circle and bear witness as we perform our rites according to your heritage!"

  The wedding proceeded, methodically and slowly, with Kate Seymour spreading blessings with Love Incense from the censer in front of the statue of Diana. She bound the couple together with cord. She drew hot spiced wine from the caldron and ladled it into the chalice. The couple both drank from it.

  Finally, it was time for the vows. Vera handed Joan the ring for Burke, and the Prime Minister handed Burke the ring for Joan.

  "Will you, Burke Filcher, according to the Will of the Goddess and the laws of Hudson Parish, take this woman to be your wife?"

  "I will," said Burke Filcher.

  "And will you, Joan, according to the Will of the Goddess and the laws of Hudson Parish, take this man to be your husband?"

  "As I have been done by, I will."

  There was a murmur in the crowd; Joan had rewritten her vows unexpectedly.

  Kate Seymour looked even more startled, but it was not because of what Joan had said. She was closest to the censer of incense, and she smelled it first.

  The incense smell had changed, somehow, from Love Incense to Dragon's Blood.

  She tried to ignore an omen that should not have been ignored. There were just too many people here to stop now.

  "Then in the Name of the Mother of all Mothers and the World Federation--"

  Nobody ever heard the rest of that sentence, if indeed she ever finished it. At the precise instant that Kate Seymour said the word "Federation," a deep roaring commenced, drowning out even the High Priestess's amplified voice.

  The sound was enormously loud, and so low that all those present could feel the subsonics shaking them. Then, as it continued, the sound began to get louder and louder and louder as the vibrations found the natural harmonic of the house, and began to use it as a gigantic amplifier.

  The entire house began to rumble, as if before an earthquake.

  Kate Seymour was a trouper. She managed to shout above the roar and ordered, "Don't you dare panic! There is safe evacuation for everyone here if you do exactly as I say!"

  She spoke into her wristphone and ordered Helix Vista's domestic computer to engage the emergency escape chutes from the terrace roof to the lawn, seven stories below.

  It took almo
st ten minutes for everyone on the terrace and inside the house to slide down the chutes to the lawn, while the rumbling of the house became louder and louder and louder; but-- many said that it was because of the protection of the Goddess-- everyone was evacuated from the house, and standing well clear of it, when the vibrations and sympathetic harmony finally completed their work, and Helix Vista collapsed into rubble.

  As the house collapsed, the amplifier effect cut off and it bacame possible to track down where the sound had been coming from.

  A robot was standing in what was left of the Tiger Pit in the former location of the lawn dome. It was holding a bass fortissimo aimed at the house.

  Nobody ever was able to find out much more than that the robot said it had been following orders it had received from Helix Vista's domestic computer. But nobody could ask the domestic computer if that was true, since it had been destroyed with the house and was now buried in the rubble.

  Burke Filcher was a determined man. He wasn't going to allow a little thing like a house collapsing to halt his wedding. He asked Kate Seymour to complete the ceremony on the lawn, with everyone standing around in a single large circle; then he said to the assembled guests that he knew they wouldn't mind if he and his new bride didn't hang around, since there couldn't be a reception anyway. He and Joan got into his limousine and, escorted by a contingent of flying-belted sky marshals, flew off to Soleri Skyport, where they caught a privately chartered Federation shuttle back to Charlotte Amalie. His plans included spending their first night as man and wife at his estate before they took a private yacht--lent to him as a wedding present by his best man--to Ad Astra for a two-week honeymoon.

  They spent the rest of the day at Villa Olga on their private beach; then he took Joan out for a romantic dinner and dancing at a club on the other side of Isle of Persephone.

  The returned to his estate at 10 P.M.

  Burke once again put on the silk pajamas that Joan had given him for Yule, and Joan put on a black lace nightgown that Kate Seymour had given her for the occasion. Joan spent half an hour in the bathroom, freshening herself up; then Burke went in and cleaned his teeth before coming out to meet Joan.