This went on; both Sesha and Shni were tapped for all the information there was. Strikes against kept lining up against Sesha and her computer companion, each one given the addition of what boiled down to the simple abbreviation of “E.C., CM.”
The third day of Sesha’s trial the Humans were called, starting with Beulah. But the night before, Sesha had explained the chair to the adults so they had no fear. One by one the adults told their story of dreams raised, hopes dashed and survival becoming standard until Sesha arrived. Things began to change and with each telling, either the first charge was repeated or a new one added.
“E.C., Council, E.C.” it started to become a chant from the crowd, upon seeing the A Quad Being rise.
After the testimony was over, the “Holy Word” was examined and determined to be flesh taken from two humans while they still lived; that the ink was indeed human blood and that Sesha’s Wrist-Gem still had the recording of the DNA in her vagina that carried enough similarity to be related to those humans – most likely the one who’d fathered several of the children in the group, since they held similar DNA traces.
Then each of the other Bibles were compared to Allway’s version word for word to discover just what he had omitted or changed. No matter how it was going, the humans stood firm behind Sesha all the way. This part took 2 weeks alone, and soon every human had had a turn helping the Council go through the Bibles. Even the children, down to age 5, knew many of the verses their parents had taught them. They were not old enough to have received Allway’s teaching yet as their training in how to behave in the Church had barely begun. So when asked to quote certain verses, the Council was amazed to see such tiny tots pipe out the verses word perfect.
When the books were all read through and compared, it was judged that Allway’s version was indeed changed – and not for the better. Then there was a break after that judgement.
“This is most likely the last day,” Melena woke Sesha herself. “Here… put this on,” she laid a package in Sesha’s lap and the woman opened it.
“You’re kidding… this? Why?”
“Harnan’s not happy that you’ve learned how to keep your physical feelings from Shni and he’s not happy either. So you wear this, at least till everything is settled. You can adjust it to any style you choose as well… so get it on, girl, or do you need help?”
“Just give her help anyway,” Shni’s voice sounded almost petulant. “She’s not letting me do anything anymore,”
“I’m sorry, Shni… I don’t want you to have any more trouble than you’re already in, because of me.”
“E.C.,” both Shni and Melena said simultaneously. Sesha was a bit slow changing so Melena did help, not saying anything about the slow tears running down Sesha’s face. Despite her confident mannerisms to everyone else, Sesha was feeling lower than at any time in her life. So down that thoughts of a mindwipe would improve her mood!
“This is the final session,” First Council Member rose. “Thus your presences will be required only for us to ask: is there anything more to be considered?”
They had been prepped that this was coming; Nicodemus would take point and answer “no, Esteemed Council Members.” But before anything could happen, Benjamin and Ezra bolted out of the area forgoing any screens and ran hard to the bottom, out onto the vast floor area. Everyone, literally, had been startled at this and fell silent, watching.
The pair stopped in the middle and Ben’s voice rose. “We do! We got stuff to say!”
“You are not adults yet, even by your race’s standards.”
“Mebbe not age wise,” Ezra interrupted, “but we was treated as grown-up. Hadda work as long and hard as they did, hadda memorize the sermons, we was gonna get beaten just like a lot of th’ other men have! I’d say that makes us enough adult.”
Eighth Council member arose. “Tell us then… what do you understand of what has been happening?”
Ben spoke first. “You all have laws that ‘er like th’ Mos’ Holy Lord Rev’rnd’s,” that caused gasps. “Ya want ‘em to be ‘zacting, ne’er change fer enny reason. Not enny.”
Ezra interrupted, which was actually planned by the two. “Sesha’s in trouble cuz she broke yer laws, lots of them. Ya got th’ whole picture but ya don’ wanna look at th’ whole thing as it is cuz if’n ya did, she would be okay.”
Eighth interrupted him. “Lads, all the laws Sesha broke will not make it them suddenly right, letting her… do what she did.”
“Ya ain’t thinkin’ straight,” Ezra powered back, boldly. All around were gasps and expressions of incredulity. Darren and Nicodemus rose to fetch the boys back, make them stop but the Phenjam Princess shook her head no, a gentle smile on her face. She knew what was being done, for she had helped the boys prepare for this. Sesha might not be one of her kind physically but she was one of her kind in heart.
“We gotta saying too… two wrongs don’t make a right. Like yer sayin,” Ezra acknowledged the nods everyone gave. “That means like, if Ben hits me for no good reason, my hittin’ him back for revenge ain’t gonna make it right. Ya see, yer puttin’ the wrong turn on it.”
Straight-faced, Ben said “If ya make three left turns it’s back to right again,” and the crowds – and Council – broke up some, which gave the boys time to get on two discs quietly sent to them and ride to the platform everyone had testified on. From there, though, they walked in their bare feet across the connecting railing to the long U-shaped table they sat at, crossed the top of it to the middle where they sat, legs crossed, face-to-face with all the Council members.
“I, um…” The First started, unsure of what to do.
“We wanted ta be close to allov you so’s we could make sure ya really understand what we’re sayin,” Still the members looked at each other, unsure. “What,” Ben asked, “is this a wrong thing to do?”
“Perchance a left turn,” Fifth Council Member smiled. “Go ahead with your explanation.”
“See, ever’thing that’s happened is cuz of the ship breakdown, right?” nods all around. “If’n Sesha had done nothin’, would that have been breakin’ a law too?”
This was an unasked question. Simply no Being had thought of it until now.
“Why… yes,” the Third Member, same species as Shni, nodded, keeping a smile down. “She would have. We have laws stating you must do all you can to help other Beings in danger, just not to the point where the person in that position becomes injured or dies. But it is a Law, written in the books of all planets in the Alliance.”
“This law…” Ezra chewed on his lip, “does it say ‘zactly who you gotta help? The ones in danger, I mean.”
There was a stir while the Council looked for the exact wording of the law and found it.
Seventh Council Member ßïnaca from Nestram read it aloud.
If it so happens that accident arises, or terrorist act or any other occurrence that places the life/lives of any Being in danger of injury or loss of life, any Being who is close and able to render aid shall give every effort, short of injury or death to self, to do everything possible until Beings trained in such efforts shall arrive. If any Being does not give assistance, they shall be
charged with aiding and abetting the harm or death of the
Endangered.
“So if Sesha hadn’t done ennythin’ then she’d get into trouble ennyway, right?” Ben asked. There were nods all around.
“So her only decision was ta’ not do a thin’ and die soon herself ‘er do what she could until someone better trained could come,” Ezra summarized it. “An’ if she were alive when someone else came to th’ rescue, then she’d be in trouble that way.”
“You are correct, young man,” Tenth, Flo’drex of Beharin, said. The boys were wise for their years in most societies!
“Is there more to th’ law?” Ben asked.
“Yes. It further states any Being which renders any type of assistance in good faith shall be provided with immunity from Civil or Governmental liabilit
y despite the outcome. But lads… there’s more. Said immunity shall be Null and Void if the Being becomes an Active Participant in any type of Criminal Act. Thus arrest, prosecution and punishment shall be performed despite the motivation of the Being. You see, we have to prosecute Sesha.”
“So she’s between the Devil an’ the Deep Blue Sea then,”
“Eh?” Sesha’s idiosyncrasy had passed on as the Alliance absorbed the English language, plus Sesha’s twists on it.
Now the boys pounded the Council with idioms practiced for several days, ones to make the Beings access the language banks and think about it.
“Sesha be between a rock and a hard place,”
“As a result o’ what went b’fore, she had to avail herself of anything at hand,”
“For trying to go by the book was tried, an’ failed. She did beg to differ with herself an’ was at cross-purposes,”
“But several, her shipmates were at risk. At stake, firstly, were lives of crew, animals an’ goods, an’ she was forced to work by hook or by crook.”
“She began to see the light upon discovering us; what she would try to do rightly was changed as a result of ever’thing that came b’fore. Thus Sesha be at the end of her rope,”
“Put herself at risk, an’ gave an all-out-effort to rescue all who needed, at all costs.” Ben managed to cram that in, for the Members were making gestures for them to stop.
“You are passionate in your pleas, Ben and Ezra. We shall take into consideration ever’thing – everything you have added to this, which is a valid point, several, in fact. We will adjourn now; all will be recalled 4 hours before the meeting will begin.” Sixth Member, Yeel’naru of Phenjam assured them. The Council rose and bowed to the boys who bowed back.
Five days. Five days of waiting. The Refugees – they still considered themselves that until the verdict on Sesha would come – talked among themselves and gathered all their possessions together, the animals in stalls for care but ready. Beulah went to see Sesha privately as she was seeing no one, her decision. But Shni sent the unlock code and Beulah sat on the side of the bed, looking at the girl who had so changed the course of their lives.
“I’m awake,” Sesha said quietly when Beulah bent and kissed her cheek to wake her. “Can’t sleep unless Shni calls Harnan, who makes me. So I’m just laying here in the quiet for another hour.”
“What be then?” Beulah was concerned, having never seen this wonderful girl in such a state.
“Taking a shuttle-bug, that’s a small one, to the ship and collect all my things. Everyone else is already done and they nicely put mine in the room I slept in, where my closet and footlocker are. All I have to do is put them on a pallet and float them to the shuttle.”
“May I come?” Beulah figured the alone time would do them good.
“Don’t see why not… come on then, if the shuttle-bug is back already we can go.”
As they walked the deserted halls, Beulah forced Sesha to slow down by holding her arm firmly in hers. Sesha was a polite enough Being to not pull away, especially since she cared for Beulah so deeply. She would not use rudeness to further hurt a friend who’d lost almost everything already.
“Here it all is,” she steered the floating metal pallet to the side and put the tiny antigrav unit on her footlocker first.
Beulah pulled Sesha away and sat her on the open bed. “Have you even let out any kind of emotion since this all began?” the question, to the point, was the last bit of pressure applied to the wall Sesha had set up, which was cracking, ready to shatter.
“Have to be strong,” Sesha blinked hard, tears trying to erupt. “Can’t let any of my friends see me in a bad way over this. Especially the boys, the young people… anyway, once this is over and done, there’ll be no reason for me to emote.”
“You believe the verdict will be against you.”
“Yes. The rules are absolute. I deliberately broke Alliance Laws to save the crew, ship and all of you. When you break laws, you’re punished for it. That’s the way it is here.”
“Then there should be many more being punished,” Beulah pointed out. “Those who built the ships without the correct… items, those who were supposed to deliver the wafers for the brains, all those others who cared for the ships when in Port-Of-Call and did not tell of the error,”
“I’m not sure they actually broke laws,” Sesha shrugged. “They’ll have to pay for all the changes or rebuilds; I think they’ll have to pay for the lost cargo… no, that’ll be me. I deliberately broke into the cargo to get something to eat so that’s stealing. My… money, you call it, will be taken to help pay for some of it but I don’t have nearly enough to cover all of it.”
“Child,” Beulah laid a hand on Sesha’s shoulder, “Everyone wanted me to tell you that if you are found guilty, we will not stay but make a request to go back to Earth. We will have them place us in an unoccupied area and have enough supplies and knowledge of our land to survive until reaching civilization. If your memory of us is gone, we do not wish to stay. Perhaps… we could ask for you to come with us? Retain what memories you desire, be medically fixed so you do not die of our diseases?”
“Either way I’ll lose Shni,” she sighed, “and – everything’s – gone,” Sesha finally started to cry. She didn’t realize that Beulah easily shifted her to laying down, her head nestled on Beulah’s lap, face pressed against her breast while she sobbed.
The tears kept coming; Shni held off all her calls and kept any on the ship from entering and accidentally disturbing them. This was needed, for the young woman had stopped eating and sleeping through all this for holding her emotions inside. The release was healthy.
“Everything be not gone,” a new voice sounded, a familiar touch made her lift her head up to see Florence kneeling in front of Beulah’s legs, stroking her hair! “I’m just the solid hologram,” had to be said and here came some more tears. “There, there, child… I miss you so much too. Beulah sent me a message shortly after waking and learning more, this is my response to it, and for you too.” She waited while Beulah helped Sesha roll over to fully see her. Her manner of dress was quite a bit different!
“Styles have updated since we were gone,” she smiled. “Much less bulk, far more comfortable as I refuse to wear corsets or hoops as others do. It’s considered scandalous and to make matters worse I’ve fixed the sleeves so they can be tied up short. I’ve even gone to a tailor and had them make pants that look like a skirt if I desire. But enough on fashion… I was fairly sure you’d see the dark side of this whole thing so I wanted to tell you.”
“What?” Sesha’s word was a bit muffled as Beulah was mopping her face gently.
“Have sent my testimony to the Alliance Council. Even before all of you had awakened, I had it recorded, along with several others telling of incidents, hand on the opal so the Gem could record truth or lie. As soon as Beulah’s message came that she was awake I sent mine. The computer guaranteed it would arrive e’en a bit before time, and is taken in with all other speaking. I also told them if they find against you to return all Humans and you – and Shni – to this planet. Here you would live out a natural life, not be space-faring any more so no more laws would be broken.”
“Heard anything?”
“Yes,” her figure smiled. “this message was sent specially at high speed. Did get mine, all things shall be taken into consideration. And is being set up now that I am in seclusion, saying I am unwell and have what I need to care for myself. The link is a bit slow but I shall at least see and hear what is happening and send my responses back. So in a way I will be with you as well, my sweet.”
“If you set your computer right,” Beulah smiled, “you can be in touch too. Harnan helped me set mine, to set yours just connect ours.” She went through the motions of how to connect them, knowing that Florence would get the instructions and message in 2 or 3 days.
“So sweet child, know that not all is lost, is just changing and suddenly. Not just for you but for
so many others as well! No shopping trips, I wager?”
“All the ships have to be fixed first,”
“Yes, so no shopper, you nor any others, will be shipping out. Are there those stuck on foreign worlds? Cannot get home?”
“Yes, half the ships are. But Shoppers are well-liked and well-treated anywhere they are.”
“But tis not home, dear. Not around family or closer friends. Is different for them as well. You are not alone in the changing, Sesha.”
“Just the one with the most to lose.”
“Sadly, yes,” a new voice broke in and there stood Darren and Nicodemus in the door, Sarah wedging between them. Sarah made it in and the hologram rose; the women embraced carefully. Darren and Nic got their turns next, then Darren lifted up Sesha and sat with her on his lap. “Have already lost much, child. No more trips, shopping, seeing different peoples, but have you considered what you have gained?”
Sesha could only shake her head no.
“Hast gained love, respect, admiration, a set of parents, many who care for you deeply and friends from everywhere, besides us. No matter how it goes you will be surrounded by that, at least. Will it be enough for you?”
There was no time for her to answer; all Wrist Gems sent a message. Meet in four hours for final statements and verdict.
“I’d… like a few moments alone,” Sesha leaned her head on Darren’s shoulder a moment, then rose and slipped into the Functions room.
There she threw up, several heaves before everything was out and she could catch her breath. Despite the action being bad for health, she did feel better. Next she washed her face and rinsed her mouth, then took off her outer clothes and folded them. She’d worn the suit when it had been given, but kept ordinary clothing over it. Now it was time for The Look Princess T’ri had talked with her about. A floor-length cape covered her from neck to feet; that too was necessary, the 99,999th grandchild of a God couple decreed. Sesha was thankful there were no questions or demands to see what was under; doubly thankful that Darren scooped her off her feet and cradled her close while the others came along with her pallet of personal things.
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