Chewing Rocks

by Alan Black

  Sno wasn’t sure very many people heard the final ‘please’. The noise level increased when Doctor Brown rushed into the room and over to Ben. The noise increased again as Wallace backed through the lobby and into the street dragging Chrystal with him.

  She wasn’t sure how she found enough will power to get her feet in motion, but she managed to move forward. Instead of having to step over people and half collapsed folding chairs, people cleared a path for her. The path closed in behind her as people rose to their feet and followed her into the street.

  Chapter 28.0

  Sno found herself about twenty-five paces away from Wallace. The man had chosen a place to stand where the street came to a T. He had his back to a windowless wall, but only a step or two from a slim alley between two buildings. He had obviously chosen the spot so that no one would be able to come up behind him and the alley gave him a last minute bolt-hole.

  Chrystal looked at Sno. She wasn’t pleading for help. Instead she had a look of complete distain for the whole situation.

  Chrystal said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. “Wow, this is a fun way to spend my free time. Listening to dry arbitration hearings and then getting pawed by some old geezer. Thanks a lot, Sno. Could you hurry it up a bit?”

  Sno recognized the tone of voice. She had used it often as a teenager and still did occasionally. She decided it was no wonder that so many people thought she was some kind of little snot. She also wondered if Chrystal was really being that brave or just had a typical teenager’s belief in her own immortality.

  Sno smiled, “It’ll be just a minute, Chrystal. I am dying here as fast as I can.”

  She looked at Wallace. “Okay. Three things before we start.”

  Wallace replied, “Yes, Miss Whyte. I will grant you three. All you have to grant me in return is that Evelyn Queene walks out of here and leaves for Earth when we are done, whatever the outcome.”

  Sno smiled soberly, “Thank you, sir. First: please disengage the dead-man’s switch on your pipe bombs.”

  Wallace nodded. “I will do so gladly, but only with the assurance that everyone keeps their hands away from their guns.”

  Sno held up her own hands to show that they were empty. “You have my word.”

  Wallace nodded, but hesitated for a moment, watching some people still coming out of the Community Center. People spread to both sides of the street, crossing behind Sno, but no one paused in the street.

  Wallace noticed the woman who had been holding the shotgun earlier. The woman was sliding along the street just ahead of a small knot of people. She was almost behind the man’s peripheral vision. He spun Chrystal around, still pointing his gun at the teenager’s eye, but also pointing in the woman’s direction. The bullet would go through Chrystal’s head and still have enough power to kill the woman if he had the right ammunition in his gun.

  She held up her hands showing that they were both empty. The dress she was wearing was very skimpy and very tight. Still holding her hands away from her body she slowly turned, showing that she wasn’t hiding any weapons. She reached out an arm and grabbed Evelyn Queene by the collar and pulled Queene toward her. She gave the man a questioning look, gesturing from Queene to Wallace and back.

  Wallace nodded and turned back toward Sno, spinning Chrystal as he went.

  Chrystal shrieked in irritation, “Crapsicle on a frozen butt what are you doing? Quit dragging me around, geezer. These shoes cost me two month’s allowance and I don’t want them scuffed up.”

  Wallace ignored her. “Unfortunately, Miss Whyte, I can’t disconnect the dead-man’s switch while I am holding this genteel young lady in one hand and this pistol in the other. I am sure you can see my dilemma.”

  Sno nodded, “I can. You could just shoot her.” Chrystal cried out and almost wrenched loose from Wallace. “No. I think that would only make matters worse. Besides, she is my number two request. You shouldn’t need Chrystal as a shield since everyone has their weapons put away,”

  Wallace flexed his hand and opened his fingers. It took Chrystal a moment to realize she was free. She bolted into the crowd to be reclaimed by her friends. He slowly opened the brown coat with his newly free hand, exposing a row of pipes and wires strapped across his torso. Centered over his belly button was a small toggle box with a red blinking light. Wallace looked up at Sno.

  Sno nodded back. That was all the assurance she could give him.

  Wallace flipped the toggle and the red light went out. He reached into his shirt. There was a small medical node taped to his chest. He pulled it free and let it dangle. He smiled. “It was a real dead-man’s switch. It was rigged to explode when my heart stopped beating.”

  Sno replied, “Neat trick. That is two of the three things we needed to do before we start. The third is your choice of weapons. The choice of weapons is yours since I challenged you and set the terms as winner take all.”

  Wallace almost smiled, “Really? I find that quite surprising. I appreciate the gesture, Miss Whyte. I have seen you with a knife. I am very sure I could kill you with a blade, but it is such a messy way to die, don’t you think? I had assumed we would continue to use our handguns. I prefer to just continue with mine.” He slid the gun into his waist band. “What would be your preference? Would you prefer a fast draw or would you prefer to stand back-to-back and shoot at ten paces?”

  The woman escorting Queene had slid behind Wallace’s line of vision. Without warning she pulled a handful of metal pieces from what appeared to be mid air snapping them together into a shotgun. She took one step into the street and put one shot into the back of Wallace’s head. He man dropped to the deck without a sound.

  The woman walked up to Wallace’s corpse and stepped around the puddle where the head would have been. She leaned down and said, “I would prefer that you just die. That is for putting a bullet in my nephew Ben.”

  Queene cried, “You liars! You promised a fair duel.” She pointed at Sno. “You! You gave your word.”

  The woman with the shotgun walked back to Queene.

  Queene, seeing the look in the woman’s eyes, clamped her mouth shut and backed up until she hit a wall.

  The woman whipped the shotgun up and pushed the barrel to within an inch of Queene’s face. She said in a cold voice, “You could be next. Do you want to test me, Queene?”

  Sno watched Sheriff Bob step out of the crowd and up to the two women. He slid an open hand palm out between the shotgun and Queene’s face. Sno was amazed at his bravery or his gall. She felt her father come up behind her and slide an arm around her waist. She put a hand across his arm and squeezed. She leaned back against her father. She also felt Vittie’s hand grab her left hand and squeeze. She squeezed back, but was still unable to take her eyes off Sheriff Bob and the two women.

  Sheriff Bob said, “Miss Abramsohn, thank you for what you have done so far. But shooting this woman now would be one step too far. Maybe you can shoot her later, okay?”

  The only impact Sheriff Bob’s hand would have if Miss Abramsohn pulled the trigger would be to add his bone and flesh fragments driving into Queene’s brain along with whatever type of shotgun pellets the woman had loaded. Sheriff Bob slowly laid the palm of his hand on the barrel of the shotgun and gently pressed upward moving the barrel away from Queene’s face.

  Miss Abramsohn said coldly, “Promises given to criminals under duress aren’t worth the air it takes to form the words.” She snapped the shotgun’s barrel upward toward the dome. “Sheriff Bob, get this creature out of my sight before I lose my temper and do something that I might regret.”

  Sno hadn’t moved from the center of the street. Miss Abramsohn walked over to her and extended her right hand. As Sno shook her hand she realized Miss Abramsohn was wearing flesh colored gloves over what felt like cold metal. Sno couldn’t help but glance down and then back up at the woman’s face.

  Miss Abramsohn smiled. She flicked her right arm sideways and a long thin door flipped open. With a few quick twists she disas
sembled the shotgun and stored the pieces in the chamber of her prosthetic arm. “Neat trick, huh?”

  Sno grinned back. “Neat indeed, although I am not sure I want one like it, but it sure seems to come in handy if you pardon the pun.”

  Miss Abramsohn groaned, “Yeah, like I never heard that one before. In case you missed it, I am one of the Abramsohns of Abramsohn and Sons.”

  Sno smiled, “How does the family allow a daughter into Abramsohn and Sons? I haven’t met Abramson, but I met the son and the son of the son and I heard about Ben’s son as the son of a son of the son. How do you fit?”

  Miss Abramsohn replied without smiling, “I am the worst of the bunch. Over Mother’s objections Dad named me Sonja or Sonnie for short. That stopped hurting about my thirty-fifth birthday.”

  Sno choked back a laugh. “Oh, I am sorry. I thought I had it bad.”

  Sonnie said, “Bad? Why Sno is a good name as far as weather conditions go.”

  Sno said, “Sno is good. But my first name is Chastity.”

  Sonnie laughed, “Yeah, That’s right, I should have remembered. What’s the matter with Chastity? Don’t you feel chaste.”

  “I’ve been chased often enough, but it still doesn’t feel right enough to get caught.”

  Sonnie grinned, “It will feel right when it feels right.” She pointed to the front door of the Community Center. They were carrying Ben out on a stretcher. He waved weakly in their direction. “Well, it looks like both Ben and Wallace are in the hands of the experts.”

  Sno looked over at where Wallace’s body lay. One of Sheriff Bob’s deputies and Ernie from United Mechanical were discussing whether to remove the pipe bombs in the street and then move the body or move the body to a safe location and then try to remove the pipe bombs.

  Sno knew Ernie was a good blast man. Most people used him if they were tunneling or wanted to expand a room down farther into the planet. Living under a dome meant it was easier to dig down than to try to build upward.

  Carl Wyckoff shouted into the street over the voices of the knots of people. “Miss Cleasemount said everyone has had enough of a break. She said, and this was her words not mine, ‘shut up and sit down.’ ” He looked at Sno and continued, “Miss Whyte, she wants you down front now. I have known Therese Cleasemount for a long time and I have never seen her so angry.”

  Chapter 29.0

  “I have had enough.” Therese Cleasemount shouted. “We have been at this a lot longer than I anticipated. So, the next person who talks without being officially recognized by me gets tossed out of the room.”

  Cleasemount looked at her desk reader and began reading through documents stored there. She still kept the vid screen blanked so no one could see what she was reviewing. She kept her face down. The room was quiet. Even though every seat was taken and the walls were lined with people standing against them, there wasn’t even the sound of feet shuffling.

  After a few minutes, Sno watched Sheriff Bob raise a hand to get Cleasemount’s attention. He was ignored. She saw three or four others attempt to get the arbiter’s attention, but they were also ignored.

  After a half an hour someone in the back coughed. Cleasemount’s head snapped up. Sno was startled to see tear tracks on her cheeks. Wyckoff handed Cleasemount a pack of tissues, but he did not appear to even glance in her direction.

  Sno raised her hand to get Cleasemount’s attention. She stood slowly when the arbiter did not speak. She said, “I apologize for the interruption, Miss Cleasemount. I suggest that since this has been a long and trying time for everyone, that we take a break and come back tomorrow.”

  Cleasemount looked at Sno as if seeing her for the first time in a long time. “Thank you Miss Whyte, that is a very thoughtful suggestion. But, no.” Cleasemount seemed to study Sno for a minute. “You know, Miss Whyte. I do understand what my nephew sees in you. You have become a beautiful young woman, although a bit headstrong for my taste, but that is probably just the pot calling the kettle black.”

  Sno smiled, “Thank you, Miss Cleasemount. I do want to apologize for ordering you about earlier, that was more than rude.”

  Cleasemount shook her head. “Apology accepted but only on the condition that you accept my apology.”

  Sno frowned in confusion. “Apology? For what?”

  Cleasemount frowned and shook her head again. “My opinion of you has colored my whole judgment during this hearing. I apologize because when I first saw you standing here before me all I could see was the snotty little girl who came between her father and me. I did not see you for who you have become and it would have affected my judgment.”

  Sno asked, “Would have? But not now?”

  Cleasemount shook her head and wiped her eyes, “No, Miss Whyte. Not now. Although, there is a chance anyone involved here today could claim that I was prejudiced one way or another, I am not going to allow any objections on my objectivity. Since we covered those objections when we started I am not going to go back and re-hash old arguments. I wasn’t completely objective before now, but I haven’t had anyone try to kill me with a bomb before.”

  Sno started to say something, but Cleasemount held up her hand.

  Cleasemount said, “You know, I don’t think I have ever had anyone strap on a pipe bomb in a second grade classroom. That was a new experience for me and I have to admit I didn’t like it. I apologize to everyone in this room. I don’t seem to have handled the prospect of blowing up very well.”

  Cleasemount continued, “Miss Whyte and Miss Abramsohn, you have my deepest thanks for the way you handled that situation.”

  Queene jumped to her feet, “Handled it? They murdered Wallace. They shot him down in the street without giving him a chance!”

  Cleasemount looked at the woman, “No, Miss Queene. He was given a lot of chances and he made his choices. However, by our system, if you wish to file a warrant against anyone, you may do so.”

  Queene gave a shrill laugh. “And have you arbitrate another farce? I don’t think so.”

  Cleasemount said, “I would absolutely not be the arbitrator. So if that is your only reason for not filing a warrant then I can guarantee I would not arbitrate that hearing.”

  Queene gave a small smile of victory, “Then I do want to file a warrant. Wallace was a valuable employee of Queene Mines and he was murdered in the street.”

  A collectively stifled gasp fluttered around the room, but silence quickly prevailed as Cleasemount turned watery eyes on the crowd. She dabbed her eyes and gave a small shiver.

  “Miss Queene, I am sure Sheriff Gutierrez will assist you in filing that warrant, however said warrant is not at issue in this hearing. What is at issue are the remaining warrants already filed and pre-empted by me. I will admit I now regret the decision to bundle these warrants for an expeditious resolution; being threatened with death can have a clarifying affect on one’s life.”

  Sno nodded, “Ain’t that the truth! Oops, sorry Miss Cleasemount, I spoke without thinking. I guess I gotta start watching that bad habit.”

  Cleasemount nodded, “I understand, Miss Whyte. Adults far older than you have had that problem and never been able to resolve it. All we can do is keep trying.”

  Sno sat down, resolving to keep her mouth shut.”

  Cleasemount continued. “Now, as to the matters at hand, I have reviewed every unresolved warrant I so foolishly preempted. Every warrant still unresolved has at its base someone who is now dead, whether they were the complainant or the respondent. Therefore, I am rejecting arbitration on these warrants and marking them null and void and I am doing so with prejudice. Anyone wishing to re-file any warrant, against, or on behalf of the dead, is free to do so. Those warrants will not be a part of this hearing as further warrants must assuredly include the circumstances of those deaths.”

  Cleasemount glanced around the room and looked at Queene until the other woman nodded her understanding.

  “Good,” Cleasemount said, “Judgment begins now. Sheriff Gutierrez, please st
and. Your warrants against Miss Whyte are invalid. You illegally filed warrants you had no right to issue. Those warrants you did legally sign are not backed with sufficient evidence to award you any, and I mean any, judgment.

  “Second, Miss Whyte’s warrants against Sheriff Gutierrez are valid. He was abusing his authority for personal reasons. I can and I am ready to render judgment against Sheriff Gutierrez, but I would ask Miss Whyte to use restraint.”

  Sno stood slowly. “Miss Cleasemount. I don’t want to hold grudges against the sheriff. If Bob is willing to apologize then I am willing to forget the whole thing. What do you say, Sheriff Bob? I am sorry for how I have been acting lately. How about you?”

  Cleasemount looked over at Sheriff Bob, “That is a very reasonable and adult attitude, and Bob, it sounds like the best deal you are going to get today.”

  Sheriff Bob was still standing and he nodded slowly, “I apologize, Sno. I guess I have been a bit of a fool lately. Sorry, it won’t happen again.”

  Cleasemount burst out with a laugh, “Oh, Bob, you are going to act like a fool again at some time. Everyone knows that, but we love you anyway.”

  She motioned the two to sit down. She looked around and said, “I need the members of the Wooden Ship Mining Consortium to stand please.”

  Sno looked around. She did not recognize the name and was surprised to see it was as the seven Earth miners from the Winkin and Blinkin stood.

  Cleasemount asked, “Miss Queene, would you stand please? Thank you. Now, I find that Queene Mines, either Miss Queene herself or her employees, Wallace, Cooper, Franklin and McNally, all now deceased, did conspire and act to deprive the Wooden Ship Mining Consortium of a mining ship, to hold these seven miners in false imprisonment, and had rescue not been effected by Captain Chalmers, all seven miners might well have been murdered. I do not find Mister Hunter culpable in these actions.”