To The Stars

“Of course. No lynch parties this time. She learns by her mistakes. This time by the book, by the rule of law and order. Visitors allowed, why of course. Final verdict, guilty, of course.

“There has to be a chance. You will fight?”

“Don’t I always?” He forced himself to smile, for her sake, and was answered by the slightest smile in return. “There is really no case. You witnessed the attack, were struck yourself, the other Proctors will have to agree with that under oath. They had all the clubs, I fought back when you were struck down. Ritterspach’s death was accidental — they’ll have to admit that. I’ll defend myself, but there is one thing you can do to help me.”

“Anything!”

“Get me a copy of the legal tapes that I can play on the TV here. I want to bone up on the niceties of the Book of the Law. Build a strong case.

“I’ll bring them as soon as I can. They said I could bring you food; I’ll cook something special. And another thing,” she looked sideways out of the corners of her eyes, then lowered her voice. “You have friends. They want to help you. If you were out of here…”

“No! Tell them no as emphatically as you can. I don’t want to escape. I’m enjoying the rest. Not only is there no place to hide on this planet, but I want to do this the right way. Defeat that woman by law. It is the only way.”

He did not tell Alzbeta that undoubtedly every word they spoke through the communicator was being recorded. He did not want anyone getting into trouble on his account. And basically what he said was true. This had to be done the legal way now. If he had to communicate, there were ways. The cell was clear, there were no visual bugs. She could read a note if he held it up to the observation window. He would save that for any emergencies.

They talked more but there was little to say. The ache of being close to her without touching her was becoming unbearable and he was relieved when the guard told her it was time to go.

His second visitor was Ryzo Santos. The communications officer was undoubtedly well aware that their talk would be listened to and kept their conversation on neutral grounds.

“Alzbeta tells me you are enjoying your rest, Jan.”

“I have little choice, do I?”

“Make the most of the quiet, you’ll be back in action soon enough. I brought that copy of the Book of the Law that you asked about. I guess the guard will give it to you.

“My thanks. I’ll want to study it closely.”

“Very closely, if I were you.” Ryzo’s scowl deepened. “There have been some meetings of Family Heads. Only rumors of course, but there was an announcement this morning, and the rumors are true. Ivan Semenov is no longer Read of his family.”

“They can’t do that!”

“They can, and they did. You’ll find the process described in your copy of the Book of the Law. He broke the law when he officiated at Alzbeta’s marriage without The Hradil’s permission. Poor Semenov is stripped of all rank and title. He’s working as a cook’s helper.”

“The marriage is still valid, isn’t it?” Jan asked worriedly.

“Absolutely. Nothing can touch that. A marriage bond is a marriage bond and completely unbreakable as you know. But, the judges have been chosen for the trial

Sudden realization shook Jan. “Of course. Re’s no longer a Family Head so Semenov won’t be there. It will be The Hradil and four more of her kind.”

“I’m afraid so. But justice will be seen to be done. No matter how prejudiced they are they can’t go against the law in open court. You have a lot of people on your side.”

“And a lot more who are looking forward to me getting it in the neck, too.”

“You’ve said it yourself. You can’t change people overnight. Even though there are changes going on, the people don’t like it. This is a conservative world and people, for the most part, are troubled by change. That’s on your side now. This trial will be a legal one and you will have to get off.”

“I wish I shared your enthusiasm.”

“You will as soon as you have eaten some of the chicken and dumpling stew Alzbeta sent with the tape. That is if the jailers leave you any of it after it is searched for weapons.

All according to law. No doubts about it. Then why was he so worried? There were less than seven days left to the trial and Jan busied himself with a study of the Book of the Law which, admittedly, he had never looked at very closely before. It proved to be a simplified version of Earth Commonwealth law. A great deal had been pruned away — there was certainly no need to go into the details of illegal counterfeiting on a world without money. Or space barratry. But ironclad additions had been written into it that gave the Family Heads the power of absolute rule. What little bits of personal freedom had been in the original were totally missing here.