On Trial

If a man is in a minority of one, we lock him up—Oliver Wendell Holms—

Aver Zormna Clendar stood before the Patrol Council in the small half-circle room, all set up so that the Council would sit in their semicircle of benches and glare at the accused. The light in the room was always kept dim with the spotlight on the accused. It made them sweat. It also drew out a sense of smallness in the accused which the Council members reveled in. Arras did not play the game of innocent until proven guilty. You were always assumed to be guilty and you had to prove your innocence. Zormna always felt it was unjust, but it was the system she had grown up with and there was nothing she could do about it.

Alea Tenngar’s oration had been going on for nearly an hour about how she had endangered the lives of her fellow officers, finding eager ears as the Council members nodded in agreement that Zormna was a bad seed. Their eyes bore down on her though Zormna lifted her chest up confidently, her head at military height, her dark green eyes solid, refusing to cower under them. But then, it hadn’t been her first time in front of them. She knew what to expect.

The Kevin (supreme leader of the Surface Patrol of Arras) stood off to the side, pressing his lips together as he listened to the evidence, frowning deeper as the judges from High Class and Social Working Class were already deciding against her. They hated her in general. They hated all Surface Patrol orphan upstarts—which they considered her to be one of the worst though she had hardly ever done anything of any real criminal nature. Just a few pranks which had annoyed a few of her superior officers. But these people did not have a sense of humor. Unfortunately, the Kevin was not there to defend her—not in this court. He was there to listen, then pass judgment himself. He would be listening for flaws in Tenngar’s argument of course, but he would also be waiting for her testimony. There were no lawyers within this system. You could gather and submit evidence, bring witnesses, and council with those who understood the law well—but there were no professional advocates for your behalf allowed within the Council chambers. If you could not defend yourself, they believed, it was proof you were guilty.

When Alea Tenngar had finally finished his oration, he turned, giving Zormna a sharp smug nod as his icy eyes raked over her. “So you see, this Aver was not only perpetuating her already-set pattern of irresponsibility by showing off, but also risking her comrades-in-arms lives

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 27.02.2018
ISBN: 978-3-7554-7879-9

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