"Is it really as bad as the reports say?" Roger asked. He was with Adrian and Dianna in his temporary quarters on a boat heading to dock with what the locals called base eighty-seven.
"For us, it's not bad,— most of what the explosion took out were quarters for locals and non-vital storage. Anything truly important, at least by local standards, is kept in the center of the base. But several hundred locals were killed."
After a few more bumps, the boat was almost docked, he asked, "How did the locals take it?"
"We don't think they are blaming us, but it's hard to be sure. A few are disappointed their food ration has not increased now that there are fewer mouths to feed."
"That would set a bad precedent," Dianna replied from Roger's right.
"That was my thought, yes."
The view of the base was turning on the screen and Roger could see the impact more clearly; it was a large crater with some spikes stone that looks like it was made molten than hardened while still attached.
Looking into Adrian's eyes, Roger asked, "Adrian, tell me the truth, do you think we can really get our people back?" as he looked Adrian in the eyes.
Adrian paused and, sighed, then said, "Roger, I don't lie about things like that. I meant what I told Nadica. I think we can, but there are no guarantees."
---
"I feel like I need a wig," Roger quipped.
"I doubt we have time to get you one now, but I can have one brought on the next boat if we are here long enough," Dianna said seriously as she straitened Roger's suit.
"That was a joke, but thanks anyway."
"Who speaks first? Defense or prosecution?"
"Defense, they also speak after the opening arguments of the prosecution. If I don't know this stuff now, I don't think quizzing me half an hour before the trial will help. And in any case, you will be there."
"It would be best if you don't ask me questions during the trial if you can help it, a judge should be seen as both wise and knowledgeable."
While standing right next to him and looking him in eyes for once, Dianna said, "Would you like to have sex? Your vows were not specific on whether your marriage is open or not. Even if it is not, I believe that Kat would understand. Most men function better when they have sex regularly." She placed a hand on Roger's cheek another on Roger's waist as she nudged herself up higher into the air, so their eyes were level. She was not quite hugging him, but it was close.
Roger stood in shock for several moment. Dianna just waited, looking at him with those large and earnest eyes.
"I can't, Dianna, I'm sorry. We honestly never talked about having an open marriage, and I'm going to wait on her."
She quickly turned away, and said, "When she does come back, I suggest you do bring it up with her. My offer would be open, with you or with both of you. It is highly unlikely I would emotionally bond with you.
"We should get going, we do wish to show that we consider the trial to be important," She said, apparently without a second thought.
---
"All rise for the honorable Councilor Powell," Diana said loudly, projecting as Roger mag-walked in. The cargo bay was large enough for more than twenty local observers, as well as ten marines in the back and two in front. The locals did not look like they knew what was going on.
"That means stop talking, and stand at attention. The good councilor has traveled a long way and is a very important man," Dianna said louder. That time, it looked like it worked; everyone stopped talking as Roger walked behind the podium.
He waited a solid thirty seconds and said, "Mr. William, does your client have a plea to put into the record?"
"Guilty, Councilor, on all charges."
Somewhat surprised, Roger said, "John, do you understand what that means? You're admitting you killed at least two guards, and set off the explosive that killed more than a hundred people. "
He leaned forward and said, "I do," as he looking both ways nervously.
"I was told to ask for leniency, that if I helped you, you would help me."
Looking him in the eyes, Roger waved over William.
"Does he really understand? They don't exactly have a legal system like ours."
"He does, I told him we were not going to kill him, but I don't think he believes me. He thinks that he's as good as dead."
After he was back next to John, Roger clearly asked, "Do you have an opening statement?"
"Yes, Councilor.
"John does not deny his actions. They were however solicited by the local leader, he was told there would be support. That marines would be attacking and the only way he would survive would be to help provide a distraction. It was little different than being forced to do it with a gun to his head."
He waited a few seconds, and when John nodded, he said, "That is all, your honor."
Steward Logan stood up, "John is guilty, that does not seem to be in dispute. However, if any doubt remains, I will present evidence that should remove it."
---
"And finally, this is the security footage of the explosion, as you can see, it starts exactly where John placed the satchel."
Roger could see that he was right; it was a very damning case. It almost made Roger glad that he was not called upon to judge a case that was more difficult.
"What sentence are you calling for?"
"With full cooperation, I recommend confiscation of all property, and exile to another base or station. There he should be given the most menial and low paying job there is."
"Mr. William, does your client agree?"
They talked for about fifteen minutes before John said, "I accept, I will provide all contact information you want.
"I will work hard for you, and never fight again."
"Then I find you guilty on all charges. Your property to be distributed to those here who..." Roger paused as he realized that they would not care about families, "..... have to work more hours.
"Marines, please secure him."
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"You are important, you know," Bruce told her quietly about a mile from the compound. It was night and Kat had not slept well.
"Without you, Commander Corwin's sacrifice would have been wasted. You have held us together. Your husband certainly thinks you're worth dying for."
He looked at her, soulfully put his hands on her shoulders, and said, "You need to believe that you deserve to live. I am not going to tell Roger that you gave up and died."
She had no idea what to say as she handed him her rifle and the rest of her clips and walked the rest of the way by herself.
Stepping over another of those weird dodecahedrons that were everywhere, she walked just inside the lights that bordered the compound.
She swiped the translator to max output volume and said, "I wish to talk to your leader. I have a proposition."
Half a dozen of them pointed their guns at her while the rest spread out and kept a watch on the rest of their perimeter.
The strange thing was that she was not afraid. It was one of the most dangerous things she had ever done but she hardly felt it.
A few moments later, A man stepped forward, almost to the lights. He was tall, and she could only see a vague outline with the bright lights behind him.
"What business could you possibly have?" It was entirely monotone through the translator.
She really wished the translator was good enough to handle inflections.
She slowly lowered her hood and said, "I'm sorry to wake you, but my friends and I can offer you things no one else on the planet can. All we ask is for protection in your walls."
He paused for a few seconds then disappeared.
The gate then opened and he walked out with guards on either side. One of them carried a large piece of equipment that looked like a radio knocked together from a hundred pieces of scrap metal.
He folded his arms and said, "Strip. I don't want to see a piece of metal or a stitch of thread or I will leave you out here naked to fend for yourself."
---
Butt ass naked she was frog-marched inside. There was a half-dozen buildings of various sizes. She was quickly shoved into a small building the size of a shed that was set flush to the outer wall.
The two guards who shoved her inside stood behind her. She was sitting in one chair facing an empty one.
Just as she was starting to have doubts, a man with the limp walked in. He calmly handed her the translator and sat down then put it on. He stared at her, calmly waiting.
She decided that if he was going to use such a cheap tactic, she was okay with waiting for a while.
Ten minutes later, the two guards were still looming over her and the man with a limp was still staring at her.
Kat decided she had made her point. Looking him directly in the eyes she said, "We mean you no harm."
"You could bring us great harm anyway. If you're found here, many of us will die. Whether you mean us harm or not does not matter."
"We're not sociopath's." The translator beeped to let her know it could not translate, "We're adult children like you. We just want somewhere to stay. We have knowledge no one else on this planet has. We have computers that are more powerful than anything your people can build."
The man with the cane just stared at her, so she told him about what they had done for Tyra; what they had built.
"We can do more for you, build radio's that can't be tracked, and any number of things to give you an edge," She said quickly.
He just listened, then said, "I have to confer with my people." He briskly walked away, taking the guards with him.
She was alone in the room; she did not hear the door lock but thought it best not to test it.
---
She consciously decided not to resist as she was pushed out of the room, and was marched across the compound to a new building.
They entered a new building and walked down several deserted hallways. All the doors were closed. She heard screams echoing through as they approached an open door.
She slowed, but the two goons grabbed her shoulders and forced her forward.
Her pulse rose as they turned, and she could see into the door. There was a man strapped to a table with cuts all over his body. It even looked like someone had stuck a knife in him and left it.
She was horrified but could not take her eyes off him.
They turned her around and forced her into a chair facing the door, away from the man on the rack. She snapped out of it and struggled, but it was too late. Her arms, neck, and legs were bound.
Then she noticed the tools on a table in front of her, knives, jars of a blue liquid, a bucket of water, and a large battery.
She was going to die.
She was never going to see Roger again.
---
He stopped in front of her, with a knife in one hand, looking down on her with a look of utter contempt. "We have decided that dealing with you is not worth the risk. Now, where are your friends? We don't have all day and you don't look like you have a high pain tolerance. If you lie, I will let my friend over there have some fun with you before we sell you."
He almost didn't sound real, the words had no emotion to them.
They were no less terrifying.
The man behind her screamed just after she heard a loud snap. He then sobbed.
She started to shake.
She could tell him. They were going to die anyway. At least that way they would be in a factory and not found by some random group and killed.
She was about to tell him when she remembered something Roger had said a year and a half ago:
---
She had been in bed, feeling worse than she ever had. She failed the Snowball, and almost gotten all of them killed. Everyone said that it was not her fault, but she was there. She was in the cockpit and had the responsibility for their safety. Nothing she would ever do would make them any less dead, or her any less responsible.
Roger had been holding her in her bed. She realized how hard it was for him; to hold her like that took more bravery then she would ever have. But she needed him, so he stayed.
It was the low point of her life.
"Why'd you do it?" she asked him.
"Do what?"
"Save us, save me. You had no obligation. No one would have known if you had just sat there and done nothing. For all you knew, what you were trying wasn't possible, and you would have died for nothing."
"Because I had faith and I had hope. Because I would rather die trying to set the world right than wake up knowing I could have tried but didn't. You will fail, that can't be helped. All anyone can ever do is try.
"The universe is full of horrible evil that only exists because people refuse to try and fix it. They give up hope. But there's always hope; there is always a chance. If the best you can do is a long shot, then that's what you do. If living up to my principles requires that I die, then I will die. We all die, Kat. It's what you do before that matters.
"As my father used to say, 'A man who won't die for anything has nothing to live for.''."
---
She looked at the knife again. She found it hard to look away, in fact. After taking a long breath, she said, "You can go to hell. I would rather die." The translator beeped but for once, she ignored it.
Kat took a deep breath, and slowly said, "They will find a way home without me." The man behind her screamed.
The local stood up straight and reached for her with his knife and a huge grin on his face.
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