Gravity Dreams

'What did you promise?'

Laranai looked toward the adjudicator, then toward Cerrelle. 'He hit me. He kept hitting me. What does it matter what I said?'

'What did you promise?' asked the adjudicator again. 'I told him - I'd told him earlier - that I'd be more in the mood after the concert.'

The man with the headset spoke. 'Did you say or suggest that you would be more receptive to his advances if he took you to the concert?'

'I don't know. I might have.'

'Did you make such a suggestion?' asked the adjudicator. I had the feeling that the black-robed woman was having difficulty keeping her voice impartial. 'Maybe I did.'

'Did you make such a suggestion?'

'Yes.' The word was almost mumbled.

'What happened after you had sexual contact?' asked the adjudicator. 'How did Veyt react?'

'He cried. He promised he wouldn't do it again. Then ... he did it again the very next week. And he hit me again.'

'How long has this been happening?' asked the adjudicator.

'Since the beginning of summer.' The blonde sniffed.

Beside me, Cerrelle snorted quietly.

'How much has Veyt contributed toward your household, either in effort, or food, or capital goods?' asked the redhead with the headset.

'I'm sorry. I don't understand... he's been hitting me more and more.'

'Please answer the question,' said the adjudicator tiredly. 'What sort of things or help has Veyt given you?'

'Well... he's good with his hands. He built a console for Sylena, and he refmished the fresher walls ...'

'He takes you places?' prompted the man.

'Sometimes.'

'What do you do for him?' asked the redhead. The blonde glanced at the floor. 'Please answer the question.'

'I... try to be nice to him ...'

'In what way?'

Laranai glanced down at the floor again. 'Do you offer him sexual favors?' More silence. 'Do you?'

'Yes.' The word was almost choked out. 'Do the monitors have any additional questions?' asked the adjudicator.

'No, Adjudicator.'

'No.'

'No.'

There was distaste in all four voices.

You will wait while we review the record and your responses,' the adjudicator announced.

This time, the wait was considerably less. The adjudicator's eyes focused on the blonde woman.

'Laranai, you have been found lacking in personal responsibility, as well as engaging in antisocial and deceptive behavior. You will be adjusted immediately following the conclusion of this hearing.'

'No! You're all against me. Veyt hurt me! Don't you see!' Laranai lurched to her feet, then froze.

The two men in the gray-and-black uniforms stepped through a door behind the adjudicator and walked toward the frozen figure, easily lifting her and carrying her out.

'Today's hearings are complete,' announced the adjudicator. She adjusted her robe and stood, and the three monitors followed her through the door on the dais, leaving Cerrelle and me alone in the empty chamber.

'I don't understand,' I whispered to Cerrelle, fearing that I did. 'She never did anything.'

'But she did. She promised sexual favors in return for certain actions. Then she didn't offer those favors after he carried out his end of the bargain. That's deception and a form of theft. His violence isn't excusable, but that's a separate question, and he'll be adjusted as well.'

I frowned. In a way it made sense, but it also turned sex into ... into what? Another item of commerce?

'Why not? All actions between humans are transactions. Why should fraud between individuals - especially fraud that leads to violence - be less a concern than a public fraud?'

It made sense, but it bothered me.

'We don't make an artificial distinction between those who create violence and those who carry it out. That woman was evil,' snapped Cerrelle. 'She was pretending to trade on sex, and being totally dishonest about it.'

I swallowed. 'Would it have bothered you if she had ... paid off?' I stumbled through the sentence.

'No. We all provide services for others. What services are an individual choice. I wouldn't offer sex. I try to help ex-mites like you.'

At that point, I felt very much like a mite. 'What will happen to her? And to the man?'

'They'll be rehabilitated.' Cerrelle shrugged. 'You know that. Each will receive a set of nanites programmed with an expanded code of behavior covering every eventuality we can think of. It's not perfect. There's some loss of higher reasoning and discrimination, but they'll be able to go on with their functions, and most people won't even notice.'

'So ... why ... don't you do that with me? Wouldn't it be easier than your having to spend all this time with me?' I could hear the bitterness in my voice.

'You don't have a very high opinion of yourself, do you?'

'What does that have to do with ... all this?'

'You have a well-trained mind. You're in good physical condition. You could offer a great deal to Rykasha and benefit personally as well. We're trying to keep those choices open for you. That's one reason why I brought you here.' Cerrelle offered a slight smile, not exactly open, as she stood.

I wanted to shiver. Just what did the demons have in mind? Something even worse than what I had just seen?

'No. We can't coerce you into a positive action, and we wouldn't want to.' Cerrelle stood and motioned toward the door through which we had earlier entered.

We can't coerce you ... But what were they doing if not coercing by showing me the adjudication? Or was it that it just didn't matter to me?

'You thought a Dzin master would change his mind?' I asked after a time of silence as we stood in the empty chamber.

'I thought you had some potential for intelligence. True intelligence changes as it learns.' The words were mild, but the piercing eyes were not.

'Why is it that you demons think that intelligence equates automatically to your point of view? Or that I would change to accept that?'

You're a demon, too,' she pointed out.

'It wasn't my choice.'

You chose to live. You didn't stay in Dorcha to be starved to death in one of your mite deathtraps. You ran to Rykasha.'

Because of Foerga ... I couldn't waste that sacrifice. I just looked at the redhead for a time, not avoiding the piercing green eyes. For the first time, I realized that Cerrelle looked at me, and at the world, in the same way Foerga had. I hated it. She had no right to be alive while Foerga, who had hurt no one, was dead.

'I didn't kill Foerga. Your friends the mites did,' Cerrelle said quietly. 'Maybe you should have weighted yourself with stones and drowned yourself in that damned Deep Lake of yours.'

Maybe I should have.

You don't need that lake. You're still carrying around enough self-pity to drown everyone in Lyncol.'

'If I have so much self-pity ... if I'm so worthless ... why do you bother?'

'You could contribute a great deal. You could be worth more than you know, but you're still as stubborn as ever. You'd rather bathe in self-pity than face the hard and the unfamiliar.'

There was more than anger in her words. Pity, perhaps, and I didn't need that. 'I didn't ask for you to look after me. I didn't ask that of anyone.'

'I know that. You wouldn't. You're a Dzin master, self-contained. You have all the answers.' Although the words were harsh, her voice was almost soft.

'I don't have all the answers. You don't, either.'

'None of us have ever said we did. You keep insisting that we do. That's because you don't like our answers, and you can't come up with any that comfort you. You're looking for old-fashioned truths of the sort that Dzin masters pounded into you, and they don't exist in the real universe. Not once you've left those ancient stone walls that hold a history that has taught you nothing.'