Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) (2 page)

Mom and Dad kept harassing me about doing something with my life and hinting that it would soon be time for me to leave home. I didn't care. I didn't spend much time at home, it was just a place for me to eat and sleep. I thought they were very unreasonable at the time, but looking back on it I can see that I must have been a terrific pain in the butt for them. People who were not productive could be labeled parasites and that would be a major disgrace for my mom and dad. Mom was an artist and Dad was a tech. They were productive people. And their son was a parasite. I knew the score; I knew everything, as they taught us everything in school. But, again, I never quite made the connection between what they were teaching, and me. I didn’t want my paradise to end.

Δ

"I heard you hit on DeeAnn yesterday at the playground and you were rolling around on the grass with her, sucking on her face. Right?" Jailbait was clearly unhappy. We were behind the Commissary building, propped up against the outside wall. It was a hot moist day, and little beads of sweat were forming on her lovely brow. Jailbait was a tempting little blonde angel. Her real name was Rosa but I had named her Jailbait.

"Nah, that's crazy," I replied. "Where'd you hear that?"

"I'm grounded for one day and you jump on DeeAnn right away. I thought I was your girl. You said I was. You don’t care, right?" She was gazing at me with those lovely, haunting green eyes. I couldn't resist her.

"You're my girl, Jailbait. Nobody else." I took her hand. I knew what she wanted. She just wanted to be my girl – that's all. I was ashamed of myself. I treated her so badly. But DeeAnn was hard to resist.

"You're using me – to get your thrills," Jailbait said. I mumbled a halfhearted denial and casually shook my long hair back to get it out of my eyes. I knew she'd love that. I had practiced it a lot, in the mirror.

"I talked with DeeAnn," she continued.

"And what did she say?" Damn! How was I going to get out of this one?

"She admitted rolling around on the grass with you, but said there was nothing to it."

"And there isn't! You're my girl – not DeeAnn."

"You're so cruel." She sounded very sad but didn't pull her hand away.

"Come on," I said. "We're late. Kittykat will be waiting for us inside the Commissary." We were supposed to pick out a farewell gift for Bob. He was Kittykat's boyfriend, and Mark's best friend. Mark was my best friend. The visit to the commissary should have been a happy occasion.

Δ

The commissary was always fun. It was bright and cool and sparkling clean and they had pretty much everything for sale. ConFree was the galaxy's economic powerhouse. All I could remember from Econ class was the Invisible Hand, but my teacher assured me that's all I really had to know. I never understood that, but it was enough that the concept worked.

Jailbait and Kittykat and I wandered through the commo section, looking for a handset with maximum features and a minimum price tag. Kittykat was a petite little doll with a pixie haircut, extra long legs and very short shorts. I was nuts about her but she manipulated me like an evil sorceress. Bob was her boyfriend and he was signing up for Fleetcom Academy. That meant he was likely never coming back. I admired him. He was making decisions about his life – unlike me. I couldn’t say much for his girl, though. She had already asked me if I would help her forget Bob after he left. I knew she didn't care a whit about me; she just wanted to make Jailbait jealous. That was the way she was.

A female sales clerk approached us – an adult. She had ruddy hair and hazel eyes – nice looking.

"May I help you, darlings?" Adults in Windwood tended to be friendly and casual, despite Eugarat's galactic reputation. Personally, I thought adults were space aliens. I couldn't stand them. We called them dinos or dino doo. I guess that means I was still immature.

"Tell you what, if we need your help we'll ask you, all right? Bye bye," I said. It was considered witty in teen circles to be rude to adults, and I guess I was showing off for the girls. I had done it before without problems. I could tell by her expression that I had hurt the lady's feelings, and I felt a little bad about it but I had already said it and it was too late to change it.

"What's your name, boy?" A young man in civvies stood before me, his face expressing a kind of vague concern. Dino doo, I instantly categorized him. He certainly didn't scare me.

"My name? That's none of your damned business! Who do you think you–"

Δ

When the world edged into focus, I was conscious of a burning pain that seemed to be centered around my face. As I slowly took in my surroundings, I realized that I was lying on an airbed surrounded by hospital instruments and readout screens. Silky curtains hung from the ceiling, blocking my view. My face was bandaged and my nose and mouth hurt like hell. An electronic beeping summoned a nurse in white who appeared before me just like an angel. She was young and pretty. She turned off the device and spoke.

"You're awake! Good." She scanned the instruments by my bedside. "Welcome back. I'm Lisa. How do you feel, Richard?"

"Terrible. What happened?" I said, hoarsely. It was a complete mystery to me.

"What happened? You don’t know?"

"No. I don't know. Why am I here?" I gingerly touched my nose and found that it was encased in some kind of bandaging. My teeth felt like I had been kicked in the mouth by a horse and more bandaging around my lips made it difficult to talk.

"Well, let's see," she said, reading a d-screen. "Concussion, broken nose, split lip, three front teeth knocked out. My! What did you do?"

"That's what I'm asking you."

"You really don’t remember? All right, it says here you insulted someone and he knocked you unconscious. It was in the commissary."

"The commissary?" Oh no! The dino doo! He must have been a psycho or something. You can't just go around hitting people, even I knew that. I was amazed. I could hardly believe it.

Δ

Mom and Dad visited me in the hospital. They both seemed to be very concerned. Mom was crying, and Dad was angry. I tried to reassure them. I was all right; the split lip was mending, they were going to fit me for three new teeth, and my broken nose had been reset with gro-gel and would be fine. But there were other issues, they said. Serious issues. They wouldn't even discuss them with me. Get well, they said. Then we'll talk.

Δ

I began to realize I was in serious trouble when the local constabulary dropped in for a chat. Since there was very little crime in Windwood, they had plenty of time for me. There were two of them, one male, one female, clad in neat khaki uniforms, settling into the camp chairs by my bed. The male looked like a vid hero with curly black hair and blinding white teeth – Officer Kelto. The female was a sultry temptress with smouldering red hair – Officer Sarah.

"So, tell us, Rich," Officer Kelto said. "Why did you insult those people?"

"I didn’t mean to insult anyone," I replied. "I may have been a little brisk with the sales clerk, but–"

"Oh come on, Richard," Officer Sarah said. "We've brainscanned you. We know exactly what you said. Brisk? Bye bye, you said. That was insulting! She was trying to help you and you shooed her away. Where did you study?"

"Windwood Middle," I responded.

"Don't they teach manners there? Don’t they familiarize you with the outside world? It is illegal to insult anyone. We are an armed society, and we are polite – all of us! Except for you."

"How about the gentleman?" Kelto broke in. "He politely asked your name and you shouted at him and asked who he thought he was. He was an adult, that's who. And you are a minor. Minors should use the term 'sir' when responding to adult males and 'ma'am' when responding to adult females. That's not just custom, boy, it's law. You did neither."

"I'm sorry. He surprised me, asking for my name. I didn't know who he was, I didn't see why I should–"

"You're lucky. He would have been perfectly justified in shooting you with a vac gun. ConFree will not tolerate rudeness. You must be polite at all times, no matter what."

"It wasn't polite of him to hit me. He gave me all these serious injuries. What’s going to happen to him?"

Sarah smiled. "The only thing that's going to happen to him is that you are going to apologize to him for insulting him. Just like you're going to apologize to the sales clerk for insulting her."

"You mean I'm the bad guy? He attacks me and puts me in the hospital and that's all right?"

"That's perfectly all right," the female said. "ConFree citizens do not have to accept insults from anyone. That's the law. Impolite or insulting words may be countered with reasonable physical force."

"Reasonable? I don’t feel like there was anything reasonable that happened to me."

"You were lucky. He could have vacced you," Kelto said, again. "The guy that decked you was a Legion vet and those people don't take any crap from spoiled, wise-ass punks like you."

"You really look terrible, Richard," Sarah laughed, as if amused. Then she turned serious. "You are now under arrest. When you are released from the hospital, we will accompany you to District Court where you will be tried and sentenced."

"Sentenced? For what?" I was stunned.

"Insults leading to violence. It’s a felony. Very serious."

"But I didn’t do any violence! I was the victim of violence!"

"Oh no. You caused it. It's all on you."

"But…but…what's going to happen to me? What is the penalty?"

"The light begins to dawn," Kelto said, with a big smile. "I do believe he now realizes that he did something wrong."

"The penalty…well. Let's see." Sarah pulled a palm screen from a pocket and consulted it. "Multiple offenses against public order. Vandalism against a school building. Fighting on an airbus. Disturbance at a food court. And, oh, look here. Insulting a teacher. Well, there's more. Nothing too serious, most charges were dropped with a warning, 'cause you were just a brainless kid. But I'm afraid we're past that. You're seventeen now, time to become an adult. Time to accept responsibility. And with a record like yours…well, you'll likely be banished from Windwood. Maybe even shipped offworld. We don’t need people like you on Eugarat. Yes, that's what you're facing – banishment. What a shame. You could have made something of yourself, with a little more discipline. But we don't have time for failures, crybabies, or self-centered parasites. Don't try to leave the hospital until you have clearance to do so. We'll be watching you. Goodbye, Richard."

And they got up and left.

Δ

Northmark District Court can best be described as austere, although if you are sitting there in the dock in a fluorescent orange jump suit in wrist irons, with your head recently shaved, like I was, it might strike you as scary, cold and brutal. I was seated by myself behind a table facing a row of six judges behind an elevated counter. They were clad in black uniforms. The walls were a bluish metal, bare except for a threatening representation of Deadman and a giant Legion Cross. My new teeth had been installed and I still had a bandage on my nose. The swelling on my lips was going down. A policeman in khaki was posted next to my table. The spectators were behind me. There were a lot of people there, including my mom and dad. None of the kids were there, because it was a school day. At least my buddies – and the girls – were not going to witness my humiliation. I knew this was a terrible day for my mom and dad. I guess I deserved it; that was sure.

I figured the haircut and chains meant my fate had already been determined. The judges had all been talking among themselves, going over my file. The truth was not in question. All that was in question was my fate. The search was for justice. Justice, real justice, was scary. I knew that.

"He's had plenty of chances," a blonde female judge said. "And blew them all. He's a slow learner. He keeps repeating himself."

"He's not a slow learner, not really," a male judge said. "Look at the IQ. All his teachers say he has great potential." It was kind of strange watching these judges coming to a decision on my future, because, of course, they were all immortal. Immortals don't age, so they looked like a gang of middle school kids, calmly ruling on my fate. That was scary, too.

"Great potential, which he refuses to apply," the blonde continued. She was not bad looking, I reflected. "If he's not interested in a subject, he refuses to study. If he's interested, he can get A's. "

"That's not a crime. You're off the subject," another male cut in.

"He was counseled on all his misdeeds and it made no difference. He's hopeless. He doesn't deserve further consideration," somebody else said.

"We need to clean the streets," a seemingly young male said. "We need to focus on what these kids are taught. There're too many complaints about teens wising off to adults. I want that to end. This isn't the System. We need respect, and discipline."

"Right, let's give him the death sentence," a raven-haired female said. "That should motivate everybody."

"That's enough!" the lead judge snapped. "There will be no levity in my court!" I was pleased that he had decided against the death sentence – some good news at least. "We're determining this young man's future and we're going to make the right decision," he continued. "What sort of person is he? I mean, aside from his arrogant attitude? Does he have any friends?"