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arrived after Ken and the other ten colonists had struggled through an
unbelievably long and cold winter to build homes for their families when the
ship arrived in the springtime. Eleven men, placed alone on a supposedly
uninhabited planet, had to make all the decisions of socialization and
civilization that would frame a new world. They courageously faced physical
hazards and the incredible moral obligation.
When Ken had discovered the Hrruban village, they had been ready to leave in
obedience to the prohibitions which had been hammered into their heads almost
from birth: cohabitation with another species could only result in the
destruction of the other species. But the Hrrubans were no gentle,
vulnerable, sensitive ephemerals.
Circumstances had swept the Terrans along at a furious pace, and they had
found themselves cohabiting, with no way to adhere to their decision to leave
Doona. Todd grinned, wishing he had been more aware when his father had lost
his temper at the various bureaucrats who had blamed the colonists for the
untenable situation. Once the mutual benefits of this trial cohabitation had
been understood, Alreldep, with Admiral Sumitral, and Codep had accepted with
fair grace. But Landreau, the Spacedep representative, never forgot and
showed no hint of forgiveness.
Todd took a break from the computer and got up to stretch. He raised his arms
over his head and heard the crack as muscles protested being forced to remain
too long in the same position. At some point, his mother had quietly left a
pitcher of juice, some buttered bread, and the final wedge of the dinner pie
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on a tray on the worktop.
Gratefully he poured a glass of juice and, with the pie in one hand, walked to
the window. He was thankful every day for the abundance of real and tasty
food.
He still remembered the metallic taste of childhood meals, the sameness of
each supposedly nutritous meal. He had always felt hungry.
He pushed open the window and leaned his elbows on the frame. The sun was
starting to drop behind the trees over the river at the bottom of the pasture.
He wished he could be out and doing, back at his job, able to visit his
friends. Even when he was a small boy, he had hated confinement. Never mind
that his prison was the many acres of his father's ranch: his freedom of
movement had been severely curtailed and he was unused to that. It was,
however, better than a genuine incarceration in a four-by-four-meter cell.
The only times he had been allowed to leave the ranch over the last two weeks
had been to appear on
Treaty Island, for more questioning. Each time, he had hoped for a glimpse of
Hrriss, but their visits didn't coincide.
The prosecutors were being careful to keep them strictly apart.
The incriminating evidence of illegal artifacts found on the Albatross was
quite enough to convict them of criminal activities inconsonant with the
positions of trust both he and Hrriss had held.
With Landreau and Rogitel briefingtheir attorneys, this could call into
question the success of the Doona Experiment of Cohabitation.
That would be a rather farfetched allegation, since one Hayuman and one
Finliban were involved, not two members of the same species working against
the interests of the other.
Their defense attorney was Hrruvula, a brilliant Hrruban advocate of the same
Stripe as First Speaker but young enough to be light-furred, a shade that the
horseman in Todd named buckskin.
His stripe, while still narrow, was a dark accent to his fine hide. His
Standard was as fluent as a nativeborn Terran and indeed he had assiduously
studied both the language and the legal systems of Earth as well as those of
his home planet. He had one assistant, the physical opposite of his tall
muscular self, a diminutive dark-haired, dark-complected Terran named Sue
Bailey, a name Todd thought inordinately appropriate for a legal clerk.
During all the sessions
Todd had attended, she said little, rarely glancing up from the square
portable over which her fingers flew in taking down their conversations.
Hrruvula made no bones about the fact that the evidence-tape and objects, and
most especially the Byzanian Glow Stone-damned Todd and
Hrriss. Todd suggested that Poldep had not investigated any of the anomalies
or made any attempt to question other suspects.
"When they have you and Hrriss, with your fingers in the till as it were,'
Hrruvula said, revealing a fine understanding of old Terran metaphors that
would delight Kelly, "they have no motivation to look for anyone else. But
you two have no motive that I have been able to discover.
You both have the reputation of indisputable honor and dedicated
responsibility. You both have a splendid future on Doona, and only fools,
which neither of you are, would jeopardize such a future so near to its real
inauguration: the renegotiation of the Treaty of Doona."
"Have you discovered anyone else with such motive?" Hrruvula lifted his
shoulders. "As you suggested, Admiral Landreau's public animosity toward
Doona as well as his frequent assertions that he would "get the
Reeves" have been verified. Documentation has been providcd by many eminent
personages. But there is no proof.
"There has to be . . ." Todd had interrupted.
Hrruvula held up his first digit, claw tip showing.
His jaw had dropped slightly and his eyes sparkled.
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"Yet." Then Hrruvula had asked if they had any more information about the
hides.
The Treaty Council members sat looking austere and troubled, facing
Commander Landreau over the Council table. The head of Spacedep was flanked
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