Gravity Dreams

A single woman wearing a deep black robe sat behind a white oak desk in the center of the dais.

'She's the adjudicator,' whispered Cerrelle as she guided me into one of the empty chairs on the right side of the center aisle.

On the right side of the dais was a single wooden armchair. In it was slumped a blond man in a dark blue tunic and trousers.

'Are you Lartrel?' asked the black-haired woman in the adjudicator's robe. The man in the low chair nodded slowly.

'Do you live in the dwelling you have called Remarque, below the Kangamon Slopes?'

'Yes.'

'Do you have a daughter named Aberla?' Yes.'

I glanced at Cerrelle, but she didn't look at me. So I watched the questioning.

'Please tell the panel what happened on the afternoon of five Decern.'

'We were walking up the old log trail toward the quarry. We were below the upper ledge. I stopped to frame the scene. Beside being a tech, I also paint. Aberla kept walking. I told her to stop because there's a drop-off.' Lartrel's voice slowed.

'Then what happened?' prompted the adjudicator.

'She didn't stop.' He looked at the floor tiles. 'She didn't listen to me.'

'How old is Aberla?'

'She's four.' Lartrel swallowed. 'I told her to stop. I even yelled. She didn't listen.'

'That isn't the question of this hearing. Did you willfully neglect your daughter's safety?'

'I didn't know she was that close to the edge.'

'How close was she?'

'I had no idea that ...' The man's face contorted, then smoothed. 'She was about four meters - I think it was closer to three - from the drop-off when I called to her.' Tears began to roll down his cheeks. 'I ran. I ran as fast as I could. I didn't think. I... hoped that everything would be all right. I called the med-techs.' He looked up at the adjudicator through reddened eyes. 'They say she'll recover. They say that she'll be all right.'

'Lartrel. Did you willfully neglect your daughter's safety?'

His eyes went to the panel, then to us. 'I love my daughter. It's not as though I hurt her.'

'Did you willfully neglect your daughter's safety?' The panicked look intensified, and he looked down. 'Answer the question.'

'Yes.' The words were barely audible. 'Is this the first time you have let your own considerations jeopardize her?'

'I'm sorry?'

'Is this the first time you have neglected her safety?' The panicked look reappeared, even more intensely, the look of a trapped animal with no way out. Finally, the answer came. 'No.'

The adjudicator turned toward the panel. 'Do members of the panel have any additional questions?'

The brown-haired man with a headset gestured, and the adjudicator nodded.

'Would you clarify why you are the primary caregiver?' asked the man.

'Her mother is a third officer on Web runs. My studio is at home.' Lartrel did not look at either the questioner or the adjudicator.

'Another hearing is pending the mother's return,' the adjudicator added. 'Any other questions?'

'No.'

'No.'

Silence filled the room, and I waited along with the others. Perhaps five minutes passed before the adjudicator's eyes refocused and she turned to the blond man.

'Lartrel, you have been found lacking in supervisory care for your daughter. You will be adjusted, to ensure her safety, immediately following the conclusion of this hearing.'

The blond man looked at the dais, then at the polished stone floor.

Two men in plain dark gray uniforms stepped through a door behind the adjudicator and walked toward the artist.

The lower sleeves of the uniforms were black. The artist stood slowly. The two escorted him out. 'What... ?'

'Search your own data,' whispered Cerrelle.

Adjudication adjustment? How was it carried out? I mentally scrolled through the volumes of data I'd received. That was the way it felt. Then I nodded. Each individual for whom adjustment was deemed necessary received a set of nanites programmed with an expanded code of behavior covering every eventuality. The same nanites administered a neural shock at any time the individual's actions violated the code.

I shivered.

Cerrelle said nothing.

I looked up as two more gray-uniformed figures - a man and a woman - escorted a blond woman to the chair. She glanced around the adjudication room.

'Please take the seat,' ordered the adjudicator.

'No. It isn't right!' The blonde turned and started to walk off the dais and toward the door through which we had entered. Then she froze and slowly toppled to the stone floor.

I winced.

The man and woman in the black-sleeved singlesuits reappeared and picked up her form and carried her back to the chair, where they held her upright.

After a moment, the woman staggered, but the two officials caught her arms and eased her into the chair.

'You don't have any right...'

'This is an adjudication hearing, and under the laws of Rykasha we have every right to determine whether you require adjustment.' The adjudicator leaned forward. 'Do you wish to be released to the customs and laws of the nearest non-Rykashan nation? That would be Dorcha.'

'That's a death sentence.'

'Do you wish to be released to the customs and laws of the nearest non-Rykashan nation?'

'No.'

The blonde's voice was suddenly resigned. 'Are you Laranai?'

'Yes.'

'You have been charged with corrupting an individual into violence through a repeated series of actions.'

'He struck me! I didn't do a thing.'

'Veyt faces adjudication under another adjudicator. Your actions are the issue of this hearing.'

'I'm innocent! I didn't do anything.' Laranai's eyes went to the three individuals with the headsets and then to Cerrelle. 'You! This isn't right. I didn't do anything. Tell them I didn't do anything.'

Cerrelle said nothing.

'Please recount what happened on the afternoon of eight Decern,' ordered the adjudicator, ignoring the blonde's outburst.

Laranai's face smoothed. 'Veyt wanted to make love, and I said no. He insisted, and I told him I wasn't in the mood. He said I was never in the mood, and then he tore off my clothes and forced himself on me.'

'Why do you think he did that?'

'I don't know.'

'Please answer the question.'

The blonde's face twisted. After a silence, she answered. 'He thought I would be in the mood.'

'Why would he think that?'

'I'd told him I would be.'

'When was that?'

'Earlier in the day. I was trying to get the house cleaned up. I told him I'd be more in the mood when things were cleaner.'

'And what was his reaction to your statement?'

'He helped clean things up.'

And then he took off your clothes and forced you? Right after the house was clean?'

'No. We had something to eat, and he had two glasses of wine. I had one. It was after that.'

The adjudicator looked toward the three with the headsets. Any questions?'

'Had this sort of behavior happened before?' asked the red-headed woman.

'It happened a week before. It was at night. We'd come back from the concert.'

'What concert?'

'There was a string quartet - the Pollai Force.'

'And he wanted to have sex?'

'Yes.'

'Did he strike you?' Yes.'

'Did he tell you why he was angry?'

The blonde, surprisingly, looked at the floor, and I got the strong impression that there was more, far more, to the questioning than was being vocalized.

'What did he say?'

After a long moment, Laranai finally answered. 'He said I promised.'

'Was that correct? Did you make some sort of promise?' There was another silence.

'Yes.'