Heart of the Nebula (22 page)

The room fell instantly silent. James
stiffened as all eyes turned on him.

“
Commander,” said the
patrician, “is that true?”

“
It is, sir.”

He nodded, his expression grim. “In that
case, I move that we begin charging the station jump drive
immediately. That way, we have an emergency escape option if we
need it.”

“
Are you sure that’s wise?”
asked the woman dressed in a sharp business suit. “If word leaks
out that energy is being diverted to some undisclosed
project—”

“
We’ll be able to bury it,”
said the CEO of the Colony’s main energy company. “The numbers
aren’t too difficult to obscure.”

James frowned.
Are they talking about outright fraud?
Colony law mandated that the production and
distribution data for all companies be shared publicly. Advocacy
groups and think tanks regularly scoured the data for suspicious
anomalies. If the shadow government could evade even them, then
transparency was just a farce.

“
As long as the station
jump drive is as primed as you can manage,” said the patrician.
“And don’t fudge the data too much. As soon as we go public, half
the advocacy groups on this station will be looking for a way to
turn the people against us.”

“
We should launch the PR
campaign now, then,” said the businesswoman. “My firm will start
with an exploratory study at once.”

“
And how long should that
take?”

“
A week, maybe two. But
once we have a good grasp of the public sentiment, we’ll be able to
turn public opinion for us much more quickly.”

“
As long as you can do it
quickly,” said the patrician. “Our next major convoy isn’t due to
leave for another month, so we should be able to keep the civilian
fleet docked.”

“
But who’s responsible for
making the decision to jump out if it comes to that?” James
blurted.

“
The patrician, of course,”
said the intelligence contractor across the table from him. “It’s
entirely his prerogative, and not the scope of this
council.”

James frowned.
Since when does one man have prerogative over the
lives of everyone on this station?
But
then he remembered how, as a gunship pilot, he often took that
prerogative himself. When it was just him and Sterling between a
band of armed pirates and a lifesaving supply convoy, there wasn’t
any time to put things to a vote. The same was true
here.

He glanced around the table, reading the
faces of those present. Were they wolves or sheepdogs? From the
power they wielded, it was pretty clear that they weren’t sheep.
And yet even though he didn’t like their methods, he had to admit
that the work they were doing was necessary—especially now.

“
Commander McCoy,” said the
patrician. “Since you are more familiar with the Hameji than any of
us, can I depend on you to organize a guard to keep watch in case
they attack us?”

James sat up straight in his chair. “Yes,
sir.”

“
Excellent. Sara will
connect you with our people operating the station jump drive.
You’ll have all the resources of your position in the Defense Corps
at your disposal, but remember, discretion is key. We don’t want
our plans to leak to the public until everything is
ready.”

“
Of course, sir,” said
James, cringing a little as he considered what Lars would think of
this. Lives were on the line, though. He knew his duty.

* * * * *

Kyla sat on the hard metal slab that served
as her cot and hugged her knees against her chest. A harsh white
light shone down on her through a plastiglass-covered light in the
ceiling, next to a small black camera that no doubt kept watch.
Other than that, she was alone in the tiny windowless cell.

James had been right about one thing, at
least: the guards hadn’t mistreated her. Not yet. Was that because
the cameras that watched her also watched what they did to her? It
didn’t matter.

Being in custody gave her a lot of time to
think about things. Was James really going to get her out of this
place? He had promised, yes, but promises were often empty, and
she’d long ago learned not to trust them. With James, though, she
almost expected him to keep it.

Even if he did, though, it wouldn’t make
anything better.

Kyla hated to be in anyone’s debt. Debt was
leverage that people had over her, a way of taking away her
control. Her mother’s debt had led to the eviction that had forced
them down to the lower decks, where they could barely eke out a
living. The pimps that kept so many other young girls trapped
always made them feel as if they owed more than they could pay. And
even though James seemed sincere enough, Kyla still hated the idea
of owing him anything. It made her skin crawl, as if spiders were
running down her back. And if he really did all that he said he
would, how could she possibly repay him?

As these thoughts churned through her head,
the wall to her right flickered. It flashed red with large black
letters, each as large as her arm, that read: ATTENTION:
ARRAIGNMENT HEARING IN 5:00 MINUTES. As she watched, the clock
began to count down.

What’s going to
happen?
she wondered. Sweat formed on the
back of her neck, and her palms began to feel clammy. If James
didn’t come for her, she would probably be sent off to child
services. As much as she hated being in his debt, she feared that
outcome even more.

She watched the clock without saying a word
until it read 0:00. The screen went blank, then flashed on again,
this time with a man’s face filling most of the frame. He was old,
with graying hair and a salt-and-pepper beard. He had a deep,
jowled frown and a bony chin, with a cybernetic eye enhancement.
The screen was so large that Kyla could clearly see every wrinkle
on his forehead. She shuddered as he looked right at her.

“
Prisoner
10642: Kyla Jeppson,” he said. His voice boomed in the tiny prison
cell. “You are hereby arraigned before this court on charges of
trespassing on a privately owned starship, the
Freedom Star.
Present at
this court are Judge Metcalf, myself; Citizen Lars Stewart; and
Commander James McCoy of the Civil Defense Corps.”

Kyla’s heart leaped in spite of herself as
the judge mentioned James’s name. Sure enough, two smaller boxes
appeared on the far right side of the screen, one showing Lars’s
face, the other showing James. He was dressed in his military dress
uniform, the same one he’d worn when he’d discovered her.

“
Hello,” he said, smiling
as he waved to her. “How are you holding up?”

“
The commander will please
refrain from speaking out of turn,” the judge said, his expression
utterly impassive. “The prisoner has a right to legal counsel,
which will be provided for her if she cannot afford counsel for
herself. Citizen Stewart has indicated that he is legally trained
and qualified to represent the prisoner. Do you accept his offer of
counsel?”

Kyla stared at the screen in silence. In the
corner, Lars nodded to her.

“
Will the honorable judge
permit me to talk with the prisoner privately?” he
asked.

The judge nodded. “Very well. You are
permitted to confer on a private channel.”

His face flashed out, and was replaced by
Lars’s. Compared to the judge, his lopsided smile and twinkling
eyes made him seem positively welcoming. Kyla relaxed a little.

“
James, are you there?” he
said. The box in the corner with James’s face flashed out, then
back on.

“
Here, Lars. Kyla, how are
you doing?”

“
All right,” she said, her
voice a little hoarse. She coughed and cleared her
throat.

“
Don’t be afraid—I’m here
to get you out, and Lars is here to help us. If you do as he says,
everything will be just fine.”

“
That’s right,” said Lars.
“We’ll have to plead guilty on the charges, of course, but they’re
light enough that you shouldn’t have to be incarcerated for
them—especially considering your age.”

“
What about child
services?” she asked, hugging her knees to her chest.

“
That’s a little more
complicated,” Lars said. “And frankly, that’s why we needed to hold
this private meeting. James has applied for legal guardianship, but
we need your consent in order to move forward with that process.
Until we do, the judge is technically required to send you into the
system once he lets you go. If James completes the application
before he issues the conviction, however, we can request a
stay.”

“
Basically, all we need is
a thumbprint,” James said. “Is there a datapad device in that cell
somewhere?”

Kyla looked around, her heart thumping.
There was a small slot on the corner of the wall screen. She stood
up and pressed it, and a keypad slid out along with a tiny access
pad. The keys were worn smooth, and the pad itself was cracked, but
judging from the green lights on the sides it seemed to be
working.

“
Yeah,” she said. “Got
it.”

“
Good. Now, I’m going to
send you the document. After you scroll to the bottom of it, I need
you to press your thumb against the datapad to indicate that you
agree. Can you do that?”

“
Yeah.”

Lars’s face minimized to a box in the corner
directly below James, and the main screen flashed white with a
long, wordy document. Kyla squinted as she tried to read, but
beyond the first sentence or two, she couldn’t make any sense of
it.

“
Do you understand what it
says?” James asked. “It’s important that you understand before you
sign.”

“
I-I don’t
know.”

He sighed. “All right. Lars, what should we
do?”

“
Not a problem,” said Lars.
“If Kyla accepts me as legal counsel, I can explain the particulars
of the application to her, and she can indicate her acceptance of
them based on that.”

“
Very well. Kyla, do you
accept Lars as your legal counsel?”

“
I-I guess,” Kyla
stammered. Things were moving so fast, it was hard to keep up with
it all, especially after spending the last twenty-four hours
sitting alone with her thoughts.

“
For the record, we need a
clear ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”

“
Then yes.”

“
All right,” said Lars,
bringing his hands beneath his chin. “Legal guardianship means that
James will be responsible for the protection of your personal and
property rights, as well as providing for your basic material
needs. Since you are sixteen, though, you’re old enough to find
gainful employment, vote in the General Assembly, and manage your
own property. You are also able to enter into your own contracts,
provided that James cosigns. So really, guardianship is more of a
legal formality than anything.”

“
Will I get out of child
services if I agree?”

“
Of course. That’s the main
reason James is doing this for you. And you’ll still have a basic
level of independence until you turn eighteen, at which point
you’ll have full independence.”

“
What about housing? Where
will I live?”

“
My parents have some spare
room in their apartment,” said James. “I’ve talked with them, and
they’re willing to let you stay there. After you turn eighteen,
there’s a subsidy program that can help you find housing on your
own.”

Kyla nodded and took a deep breath. She
lifted her thumb to the cracked datapad, but hesitated before
following through.

“
Why are you doing this?”
she asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

“
Because I swore an oath to
serve and protect the people of the colony, and that includes you,”
James answered.

“
You told us that you
wanted a chance to start over,” Lars added. “We’re in a position to
help you get that chance.”

All right,
Kyla thought to herself.
But how can I possibly repay this?

Her arms and legs numb, she pressed her
thumb against the datapad and rolled it slightly to get a firm
print. The lights on the panel blinked red, then green, and the
document disappeared. Lars’s face returned to the main screen.

“
Very good,” he said.
“James, did you receive her imprint?”

“
I did. Submitting the
documents now.”

“
Excellent. Let’s return to
the court then, shall we?”

Before Kyla could answer, Lars’s face
minimized again, and the main screen flashed back to the judge. He
imposing face completely filled the screen, making Kyla jump.

“
This court is now in
session,” he said. “Does the prisoner understand her
rights?”

He peered right at her, making her skin
crawl.

“
I, uh—”

“
Besides the basic rights
of life, liberty, and equal opportunity ensured by our
constitution, and your civil and political rights granted by your
citizenship, you have the right to a speedy trial by a jury of your
peers, the right to protection against self-incrimination, and the
right to competent legal counsel. Do you understand these rights as
explained to you?”

Kyla swallowed. “Yes.”

“
Very well. On the charges
of trespassing on a privately owned starship, how does the prisoner
plead?”