"I see," Jack said. Thonsifi's voice was steady and professional enough, but he could sense contempt lurking beneath the words. From some of the other neighbor-conflict cases he'd heard that afternoon he gathered that accusing someone of assault was a very serious charge among the Golvins. Doing so without proof was apparently even more so. "Can you name these assailants?" he asked.
"I cannot," Foeinatw said, his voice low.
Jack pursed his lips. Without proof of the assault, his logical legal course would be to assume Foeinatw was lying and come up with some punishment for sleeping in the shuttle and some compensation for damaging it.
But on the other hand, maybe this was exactly the right time for a little creativity. "Step forward," he ordered the Golvin.
Foeinatw hesitated, then shuffled a few steps closer. Jack leaned forward, peering closely at him. "Did these assailants strike you or merely lock your arms?" he asked.
"They struck me." Gingerly, Foeinatw touched his neck. "Here."
"Yes, I see." Jack leaned back again in his chair. "I will make inquiries among the Many," he said. "You are released for the moment without punishment."
Thonsifi turned to Jack, her skin wrinkling in surprise. "Jupa?"
"Clearly, he's been hit," Jack said, pointing out the bruise. "If he was assaulted and others did the damage to the flying transport, he cannot be held accountable."
"No, of course not," Thonsifi murmured. "Foeinatw, you may go."
"I thank the Jupa," Foeinatw said, his face as wrinkled with surprise as Thonsifi's. But along with the surprise, Jack could see a hint of puzzlement as well.
Small wonder. The Golvin had probably concluded that his attacker was Jack himself, or someone in league with him, and that his trial would thus be a complete sham.
Except that the Jupa had not only accepted his explanation, but had even let him off.
He would, Jack suspected, be doing a lot of rethinking tonight.
"That is the last case for the day," Thonsifi said, closing down her notebook as Foeinatw headed for the door. "It has been an honor to serve with you, Jupa Jack. I look forward to doing so again tomorrow."
"As do I," Jack said, standing up and stretching his shoulders. "How badly was the flying transport damaged, by the way?"
"Not badly," Thonsifi assured him. "Merely some torn cloth. It has been taken to the Fabric-Makers' shop for repair."
"Ah," Jack said. And as long as it was there, presumably, it wouldn't be available for Foeinatw to borrow again, which was good.
Unfortunately, it also wouldn't be available for Jack and Draycos to borrow should the need arise. That wasn't so good. "I trust it will be repaired soon," he added.
"Sooner than we will find Foeinatw's assailants, I expect," Thonsifi said, a hint of her earlier disapproval coloring her voice.
"I take it you don't think much of him?" Jack suggested.
Thonsifi's ears stretched out briefly. A shrug? "He is not one of the uprights," she said. "Far from it. I will say no more."
"I suppose every place has a few scoundrels," Jack said, a part of him noting the irony. A few months earlier, he would have qualified as one of the scoundrels himself. "If they didn't, we wouldn't need Judge-Paladins."
Thonsifi bowed her head to him. "And we are most grateful for your service and wisdom."
"You're welcome," Jack said, suppressing his automatic impulse to downplay his so-called wisdom. "Speaking of service, how many cases did we serve today?"
"Forty-one," Thonsifi said. "An excellent start."
"How many cases are left?"
She consulted her notebook. "Seven hundred ninety-two."
Jack suppressed a groan. Great. "I guess we won't be running out of work anytime soon, then," he said as cheerfully as he could manage. "Good night, Thonsifi. Good night, One Among Many," he added, looking at the One.
"Good evening to you, Jupa Jack," the One said gravely. "Your evening food is waiting in your apartment."
"Thank you," Jack said. He was, he suddenly realized, ravenously hungry. And he would bet that Draycos was even more so.
"Sleep well and peacefully," the One added. "I will see you tomorrow."
CHAPTER 9
Taneem had changed a great deal in the past couple of weeks, in many ways, as if having awakened from a long dream. Her former life on Rho Scorvi was like a vague and distant memory. There had been little to do back there beneath the edges of the great forest except hunt for berries and grubs and small animals, or to perform the little dances the Erassvas had taught them, or to sleep against her host's large, soft body.
Sometimes there had been a little more excitement. A small predator might arrive and need to be driven off, or a low-flying bird could be snatched from midair and eaten. But for the most part, life there had been slow and lazy, comfortable and rather boring.
Still, she was quite sure it hadn't been nearly as boring as this.
Alison wouldn't let her get very far away, for one thing. That was reasonable, Taneem supposed, since they didn't know when any of the bad people aboard might decide to come into their room. But it meant she had to either rest on Alison's skin or else follow the girl around like a baby linzling.
Alison didn't talk to her very much either. Partly, again, that was because she didn't want anyone suddenly opening the door to hear her talking to a room that was supposed to be empty. Taneem could understand that, too. But mostly it was because Alison was spending most of her time with her pack of tools and with the pieces of paper from the bag she'd brought from the safe on Semaline.
Sometimes Taneem tried looking over Alison's shoulder as she studied the papers. But most of the written ones were in a type of writing Draycos hadn't yet taught her, while the pictures were of places and people of which she had no knowledge.
It didn't seem as if Alison understood much of it, either. All she ever did was scowl at the notes and pictures or lay them out on different parts of the room's low table. Sometimes she gathered them all together again and sorted them out into a different order.
It was on the fifth night of their journey when the routine suddenly changed.
Alison had been asleep for nearly two hours, and Taneem was dozing lightly against her skin, when across the room the door quietly slid open.
Instantly Taneem went still, as Draycos and Jack and Alison had all warned her to do whenever others were around. The blankets were pulled up around Alison's chin, blocking any chance for Taneem to see what was happening.
But she could hear just fine . . . and as Alison's slow breathing continued unchanged she heard two of the bad people go across the room to the table. There was a soft shuffling of papers, and then they went back to the door again. It closed behind them, and they were gone.
Taneem counted slowly to twenty the way Draycos had taught her. Then, she eased herself off Alison's skin and slid out from beneath the blankets onto the floor at the side of the bed.
The bad people were gone. So were all the papers Alison had been studying.
Taneem's first impulse was to wake the girl and tell her the bad news. But she knew that wouldn't do any good. Early on in the trip Alison had discovered that the room's door was locked from the outside, and now that the bad people were gone there was no way for her to chase after them.
She should have awakened Alison as soon as they had come in, she realized glumly. Now, the papers were gone, with no way to get them back.
At least, no way for Alison to do it.
Taneem tilted her long neck to look up. Along the wall just below the ceiling was a rectangular grille covering an opening through which cool, fresh air flowed into the room. Alison had said the opening was part of a whole series of passages called ducts. Once, a couple of days ago, Taneem had jumped up and hooked her front claws in the grille, hanging there looking in until Alison had noticed and told her to get off.