Venus of Shadows (36 page)

Kolya whispered something in Russian; it sounded like a curse. Chimene thought of how her father and Kolya never spoke of their time in the camp, and how grim they both looked the few times she had tried to ask them about it.

"Alexei can make a life here," Malik continued, "if he's allowed to make amends for his mistake, and maybe his friends can, too. Give him a chance to overcome what the camp and the Guardians and the waiting did to him. He'll suffer the shame of his deed all his life, even if he's too proud to say that. Give him a chance to make up for what he did. Let him become what I know he can be."

"Fine words," a man near Chimene murmured. "Wonder what the Guide and Nora's household think of them. If the Council's too gentle with them now, nobody's safe. We have to scare anyone else who'd try the same thing."

"I wonder how they'll do it," a woman replied. "We have no weapons — it could be messy."

"Is that the end of the statement?" Risa asked. Chimene had heard that scornful tone in her mother's voice before, usually just before her parents retired to their room to argue. She hated it when their door closed and she knew they were fighting; it made her want to run into the room and beg them to stop.

"This concludes Yekaterina's statement." Malik lowered his screen. "But I have a statement of my own to make. For those of you watching who don't know who I am, my name is Malik Haddad. I teach the children in Oberg's west dome. I knew Alexei Osipov in the camp outside Tashkent when I was waiting for passage. We wouldn't call ourselves friends by any means, but he's a young man who spent years in a place that might have broken some of you. I was fortunate. I waited for only a couple of months, and even that was enough to make me despair at times."

"You were a Linker once," someone shouted from the crowd. "Anything would have seemed hard to you."

"I came here after three years in a camp," a woman called out. "I was grateful for the chance to start again. I didn't go around stealing or trying to hide a murder."

"Your virtue is praiseworthy," Malik said, "but not everyone can be so strong. This is a place where you claim people can start afresh. These men have committed a terrible crime, but don't commit one against them that will poison what you have. You might consider Earth's history — it's a subject I know something about. Acts of violence and revenge only lead to other such acts. I'm not asking that these men be set free, only that any judgment allow them the chance to repent and change."

"Nora Toland didn't get a chance!" a voice shouted.

"You've made your plea," Risa said, "but you've offered few facts in their defense."

"I'm not just pleading for them," Malik said more softly. "I'm pleading for you and this settlement not to —"

"We have very few choices," Risa interrupted. "If we expel them, Earth might take them back, but they'd also exact a price. Do you want to see Guardians in these domes?"

"No!" several people answered.

"We could turn them over to the Administrators, which would be admitting that we're incapable of making our own decisions. Shall we disband the Councils we ourselves elect and turn over all authority to others?"

"No!"

"Shall we allow them to stay among us and affront all who loved Nora Toland with their presence? Will our children be forced to look at every new arrival with suspicion and fear?"

"No!"

"I told you," Patrick whispered to Chimene. "They're going to die."

"Let me speak!" Chimene looked up at the sound of that familiar voice; Kolya was getting to his feet. "My friend Malik means well, but he insults every one of us who came here from the camps. Those men aren't like us, and I won't have it said that any of us might have done what they did in rage and fear. They deserve —" More shouting from the crowd drowned out the rest of his words.

Risa lifted her arms. "Be silent!" She waited, then moved toward Malik. "Have you finished?"

"This isn't a hearing," Malik said. "It's a spectacle for a mob." He pulled off his microphone, threw it at Risa, and descended the steps to the sound of jeers.

Chimene felt torn. Malik was always kind; his students said that he would often give them a second chance before issuing reprimands about their work. She could go to him whenever Risa was being unfair. He had probably only agreed to read that woman's statement out of kindness, because he felt sorry for her. Chimene could understand that, but her friends were sure to wonder why he had defended these three men.

Anyway, the men wouldn't die, whatever Patrick said. Her mother couldn't do anything like that; she'd make another judgment, and the Council would go along with it People always talked about how clever Risa was, how she could settle disputes when no one else could figure out what to do.

Malik sat down, shaking. Chimene was afraid to touch him. Risa would settle this, and then she and Malik would make up with each other, as they always did, at least for a while. Maybe someday, their making up would last and they wouldn't fight at all anymore.

"Does anyone else wish to speak?" Risa was staring at the part of the crowd to her left. Chimene looked in that direction; her mother was gazing almost directly at Kichi Timsen, Ishtar's Guide, and the people sitting with her.

A dark-skinned man was climbing the steps to the platform. He wore a gray coverall; as he came to Risa, she started a little, then picked up the microphone Malik had dropped. "This isn't a matter that concerns your people," she said.

The man pinned the microphone to his collar. "Even so, I request an opportunity to speak. What happens among you, especially a matter this grave, concerns us." He turned toward the crowd; Chimene now saw the pin of silver circles on his shirt. Habbers never attended hearings; she had never heard of one making any kind of statement or recording any complaint that might lead to a hearing.

"My name is Lluthu," the Habber said. "I have worked with the people of Oberg for nearly five years. I have discussed this incident with my own people. I do not wish to make a statement, only to offer a suggestion."

Chimene leaned forward. She had seen Habbers only at a distance and had kept away from the small residence in the west dome where a few of them lived. Risa always said that there was no point in associating with Habbers unless one had to work with them. In this case, Chimene was content to obey her mother; she had heard about how Risa's brother had betrayed the Project by joining them. Chimene did not want anyone to think that she was like her uncle.

"You must decide the fate of these men," Lluthu continued. "I am free to tell you that, if you wish, you may give them to us and we will convey them to our nearest Habitat. You would no longer have them in your midst, and we would have a chance to make observations that may prove interesting."

The accused men gaped at the Habber; the Chinese man was shaking his head. They seemed more frightened of this Habber than of any sentence the Council might give.

"And how will they be punished there?" Risa asked.

"Punishment? I'm not speaking of punishment, exactly, but of exile, a time for reflection, a way for them to know what they've done, face it, know what they are and then to transcend what they are. They would come to learn exactly what they are, and if they are unable to deal with that part of their nature, that may be punishment enough."

"Some punishment!" a man cried out. "Giving them a Habber's long life and letting them get away. What kind of sentence would that be?"

"Nora was a sister in Ishtar!" A woman near the Guide was speaking now. "The Habbers affront the Spirit by imagining that they can dwell apart from planets and the living spirits with whom planet-dwellers will converge. Will you give these men to such people? Will you deny Nora any justice at all?"

"That's your suggestion?" Risa said. The Habber nodded. "Surely you see the impossibility of such a judgment. Some might say that living among Habbers is a punishment in itself, but you would probably also exact a price for accepting these men. Maybe you think your people should participate in the deliberations of our Councils. We'll make our decision without your advice."

"Poor Risa," Tina murmured to Grazie. "This crowd won't accept any sentence but one. I hope the Council can pronounce it — if they don't, people will try to take those men anyway, and then where will we be?"

"This hearing showed what they are," Kolya muttered. "They don't deserve much mercy."

"The Council," Risa announced, "will begin its deliberations now."

The Council members retreated to the back of the platform. Chimene felt her father's hand on her shoulder; his fingers were gripping her so tightly that it hurt. "Malik," she whispered.

"Be quiet, Chimene." His voice frightened her. "Your mother has a very important decision to make — pay attention."

The Councilors spoke for only a few moments before they stood up. Chimene was surprised; they usually took longer to make their decisions at the hearings she had seen.

Risa stepped to the front of the platform. "The others have asked me to pronounce the sentence, with which we are all in agreement. Allow me to say a few words first. We live here without police and without all those functionaries of Earth — the Counselors who think only of controlling under the guise of helping, the Guardians allowed to keep order in whatever way they see fit. Consider how precious that freedom is and how fragile. What we have rests on trust, but it must also rest on our willingness to mete out the most severe penalties to those who abuse that trust. If we show that willingness now, our trust is not likely to be abused in the future."

The Habber who had spoken was standing at the bottom of the steps, looking up at Risa with a curious smile. Chimene almost thought he was amused, but he couldn't be; this hearing was too serious for that.

"These men believed they could abuse our trust," Risa continued. "They saw that we do not use officially sanctioned violence, that we have no police, that we attempt to settle our problems through private negotiations or hearings in which all sides are heard, and that we try to be fair to all concerned. They saw we had a freedom here, and they took that as license to do whatever they wished. They saw us as weak people they could prey upon, who had no power against them. If we allow such people among us, we'll destroy what we have. If we act now, we'll preserve it."

The crowd was silent.

"All of these men are guilty of Nora Toland's death and of concealing evidence of their deed. I pronounce their judgment now."

Chimene held her breath; Patrick stopped fidgeting. Risa turned to face the accused; Chimene noticed that her mother's hands were trembling a little.

"Ciceron Davan, Alexei Osipov, and Chang Ho, you will be taken to the airship bay." Risa's voice sounded uncertain. "There, you will be left by the airship cradles while the roof above you is opened. You will have no memorial on our pillars. Venus will have your lives in place of the one you took."

"No!" Chang Ho shouted. "You don't have the right — we don't deserve —"

Part of the crowd was already moving forward. Risa hurried down the steps and stopped in front of Chimene, then held out her hand. "Come with me."

Malik stood up as Risa pulled Chimene to her feet. "Where are you taking her?" he asked.

"The judgment must be carried out. I want my daughter with me."

Malik grabbed at Chimene; Risa began to drag her away. "No!" Malik shouted. Chimene looked back; her father was caught in a knot of people, unable to reach her. The three condemned men were already being led down the steps; the Chinese man was sobbing.

*  *  *

Risa held Chimene's hand tightly as they followed the stream of people toward the bay. Kolya and Emilia were at Risa's side; Chimene caught a glimpse of Patrick and Paul.

The men were going to die. Chimene recalled what she had learned about the bay. The thick wall that separated the cradles from the rest of the bay would have to be lowered before the roof above the cradles was opened. The air pressure would increase to match the atmospheric pressure outside, so the men would already be dead from that by the time the roof was being opened. She tried to imagine what that would feel like and felt an invisible weight against her own chest; the thought terrified her.

"I wonder if the Administrators will allow this," someone near her said.

"They can't stop it now — it's gone too far."

Chimene thought of the Administrator named Sigurd, the one who sometimes spoke to Risa. Maybe he would try to stop it somehow. Suddenly, she was sure he would; maybe Risa was waiting for that. Chimene thought of the times when her friend Lena tried to dare her into doing something foolish, and how relieved she always was when another friend intervened and told Lena how silly she was. Maybe Risa only wanted to scare the men so that they would never do anything like this again, in the way that she sometimes threatened Chimene with dire punishments that were not carried out.

The bay door was opening wider; the Council members walked through the entrance, trailed by part of the crowd. They passed the gantries and machines that lined the bay on both sides. Chang Ho stumbled as he walked, sagging against one of the men who held him.

Chimene soon saw the cradles. The crowd came to a halt. Alain moved toward the three men, who were being held tightly by others. The tall man and the Russian seemed pale and oddly calm; the Chinese man was still weeping.

"Do you have any last words?" Alain asked.

"Only this," the tall man said. "I didn't plan what I did. Call it what you like, but it wasn't murder. This is murder — what you're doing to us."

Was it? Chimene asked herself. She was suddenly confused. Were her mother and the Council being just as bad as the men? But Risa was on the Council; that meant this wasn't the same, didn't it? Some people could decide such things, and others could not.

The two other men said nothing. "Do you want any rites," Alain asked, "or time to say prayers?"

"Prayers won't help us," the blond Russian said.

"You'll be given an injection," Alain said. "It will make things easier for you." Another man approached with a silver wand and pressed it against the tall man's arm.