“I accept this arena as my friend. The conditions here are my conditions but Prosecution has defiled the sacred traditions of this place. Does the court give me leave to slay her outright?”
There was an exclamation behind him, the sound of running, the sudden flopping of a body onto the arena's matted floor. Ceylang could not address the court before this obeisance and she knew it. She and the others now also knew
something else just as importantâthat McKie was ready to slay her despite the threat of Wreave vendetta.
In a breathless voice, Ceylang called out her acceptance of the arena's conditions, then:
“I protest this trick by Defense Legum!”
McKie saw the stirring of Gowachin in the audience. A trick? Didn't Ceylang know yet how the Gowachin dearly loved legal tricks?
The members of the judicial panel had been thoroughly briefed on the surface demands of the Gowachin forms, though it was doubtful that Bildoon understood sufficiently what went on beneath those forms. The PanSpechi confirmed this now by leaning forward to speak.
“Why does the senior attendant of this court enter ahead of the Legums?”
McKie detected a fleeting smile on Broey's face, glanced back to see Darak standing apart from the prosecution throng, alone and trembling.
McKie took one step forward.
“Will the court direct Darak to the witness pen? He is here because of a formal demand by the Prosecutor.”
“This is the senior attendant of your court,” Ceylang argued. “He guards the door to ⦔
“Prosecution made formal protest to a matter which occurred in the presence of this attendant,” McKie said. “As an attendant, Darak stands outside the conflicting interests. He is the only reliable witness.”
Broey stirred, looked at Ceylang, and McKie realized how strange the Wreave must appear to a Dosadi. This did not deter Broey, however.
“Did you protest?”
It was a direct question from the bench. Ceylang was required to answer. She looked to Bildoon for help but he remained silent. Parando also refused to help her. She glanced at Darak. The terrified attendant could not take his attention from the instruments of pain. Perhaps he knew something specific about their presence in the arena.
Ceylang tried to explain.
“When Defense Legum suggested an illegal ⦔
“Did you protest?”
“But the ⦔
“This court decides on all matters of legality. Did you protest?”
“I did.”
It was forced out of her. A fit of trembling passed over the slender Wreave form.
Broey waved Darak to the witness pen, had to add a vocal order when the frightened attendant failed to understand. Darak almost ran to the shelter of the pen.
Silence pervaded the arena. The silence of the audience was an explosive thing,. They sat poised in the watching ovals, all of those species and factions with their special fears. By now, they'd heard many stories and rumors. Jumpdoors had spread the Dosadi emigres all across the ConSentiency. Media representatives had been excluded from Dosadi and this court on the Gowachin argument that they were “prey to uninformed subjective reactions,” but they would be watching here through the transmitter eyes at the ceiling.
McKie looked around at nothing in particular but taking in every detail. There were more than three judges in this arena and Ceylang certainly must realize that. Gowachin Law turned upon itself, existing “only to be changed.” But that watching multitude was quite another matter. Ceylang must be made to understand that she was a sacrifice of the arena. ConSentient opinion stood over her like a heavy sledge ready to smash down.
It was Parando's turn.
“Will opposing Legums make their opening arguments now?”
“We can't proceed while a formal protest is undecided,” McKie said.
Parando understood. He glanced at the audience, at the ceiling. His actions were a direct signal: Parando knew which
judges
really decided here. To emphasize it, he ran a hand from the front of his neck down his chest, the unique Rim
Raider's salute from Dosadi signifying “Death before surrender.” Subtle hints in the movement gave McKie another datum: Parando was a Gowachin in a Human body. They'd dared put two Gowachin on that panel!
With Dosadi insight, McKie saw why they did this. They were prepared to produce the Caleban contract here. They were telling McKie that
they
would expose the body-exchange secret if he forced them to it. All would see that loophole in the Caleban contract which confined the Dosadi-born, but released outsiders in Dosadi flesh.
They think I'm really Jedrik in this flesh!
Parando revealed even more. His people intended to find the Jedrik body and kill it, leaving this
McKie
flesh forever in doubt. He could protest his McKie identity all he wanted. They had but to demand that he prove it. Without the other person ⦠What had their God Wall Caleban told them?
“He is McKie, she is McKie. He is Jedrik, she is Jedrik.”
His mind in turmoil, McKie wondered if he dared risk an immediate mind contact with Jedrik. Together, they'd already recognized this danger. Jedrik had hidden herself on McKie's hideaway, a floating island on Tutalsee. She was there with a special Taprisiot contract prohibiting unwanted calls which might inadvertently reveal her location.
The judges, led by Parando, were acting, however, moving for an immediate examination of Darak. McKie forced himself to perform as a Legum.
His career in ruins, the attendant answered like an automaton. In the end, McKie restored most of his witnesses. There were two notable exceptions: Grinik (that flawed thread which might have led to The Mrreg) and Stiggy. McKie was not certain why they wanted to exclude the Dosadi weapons genius who'd transformed a BuSab wallet's contents into instruments of victory. Was it that Stiggy had broken an
unbreakable
code? That made sense only if Prosecution intended to play down the inherent Dosadi superiority.
Still uncertain, McKie prepared to retire and seek a way to avoid Parando's gambit, but Ceylang addressed the bench.
“The issue of witnesses having been introduced by Defense,”
she said, “Prosecution wishes to explore this issue. We note many witnesses from Dosadi called by Defense. There is a noteworthy omission whose name has not yet been introduced here. I refer to a Human by the name of Jedrik. Prosecution wishes to call Keila Jedrik as ⦔
“One moment!”
McKie searched his mind for the forms of an acceptable escape. He knew that his blurted protest had revealed more than he wanted. But they were moving faster than he'd expected. Prosecution did not really want Jedrik as a witness, not in a Gowachin Courtarena where the roles were never quite what they appeared to non-Gowachin. This was a plain message to McKie.
“
We're going to find her and kill her
.”
With Bildoon and Parando concurring, a jumpdoor was summoned and Ceylang played her trump.
“Defense knows the whereabouts of witness Keila Jedrik.”
They were forcing the question, aware of the emotional bond between McKie and Jedrik. He had a choice: argue that a personal relationship with the witness excluded her. But Prosecution and all the judges had to concur. They obviously would not do thisânot yet. A harsh lock on his emotions, McKie gave the jumpdoor instructions.
Presently, Jedrik stepped onto the arena floor, faced the judges. She'd been into the wardrobe at his bower cottage and wore a yellow and orange sarong which emphasized her height and grace. Open brown sandals protected her feet. There was a flame red blossom at her left ear. She managed to look exotic and fragile.
Broey spoke for the judges.
“Do you have knowledge of the issues at trial here?”
“What issues are at trial?”
She asked it with a childlike innocence which did not even fool Bildoon. They were forced to explain, however, because of those other
judges
to whom every nuance here was vital. She heard them out in silence.
“An alleged experiment on a sentient population confined to a planet called Dosadi ⦠lack of informed consent by subject
population charged ⦠accusations of conspiracy against certain Gowachin and others not yet named ⦔
Two fingers pressed to his eyes in the guise of intense listening, McKie made contact with Jedrik, suggesting, conferring. They had to find a way out of this trap! When he looked up, he saw the suspicions in Parando's face:
Which body, which ego? McKie? Jedrik?
In the end, Ceylang hammered home the private message, demanding whether Jedrik had “any personal relationship with Defense Legum?”
Jedrik answered in a decidedly un-Dosadi fashion.
“Why ⦠yes. We are lovers.”
In itself, this was not enough to exclude her from the arena unless Prosecution and the entire judicial panel agreed. Ceylang proposed the exclusion. Bildoon and Parando were predictable in their agreement. McKie waited for Broey.
“Agreed.”
Broey had a private compact with the shadow forces then. Jedrik and McKie had expected this, but had not anticipated the form confirmation would take.
McKie asked for a recess until the following morning.
With the most benign face on it, this was granted. Broey announced the decision, smiling down at Jedrik. It was a measure of McKie's Dosadi conditioning that he could not find it in himself to blame Broey for wanting personal victory over the person who had beaten him on Dosadi.
Back in his quarters, Jedrik put a hand on McKie's chest, spoke with eyes lowered.
“Don't blame yourself, McKie. This was inevitable. Those judges, none of them, would've allowed any protest from you before seeing me in person on that arena floor.”
“I know.”
She looked up at him, smiling.
“Yes ⦠of course. How like one person we are.”
For a time after that, they reviewed the assessment of the aides chosen for Broey. Shared memories etched away at minutiae. Could any choice be improved? Not one person was changedâHuman or Gowachin. All of those advisors and
aides were Dosadi-born. They could be depended upon to be loyal to their origins, to their conditioning, to themselves individually. For the task assigned to them, they were the best available.
McKie brought it to a close.
“I can't leave the immediate area of the arena until the trial's over.”
She knew that, but it needed saying.
There was a small cell adjoining his office, a bedog there, communications instruments, Human toilet facilities. They delayed going into the bedroom, turned to a low-key argument over the advisability of a body exchange. It was procrastination on both sides, outcome known in advance. Familiar flesh was familiar flesh, less distracting. It gave each of them an edge which they dared not sacrifice. McKie could play Jedrik and Jedrik could play McKie, but that would be dangerous play now.
When they retired, it was to make love, the most tender experience either had known. There was no submission, only a giving, sharing, an open exchange which tightened McKie's throat with joy and fear, sent Jedrik into a fit of un-Dosadi sobbing.
When she'd recovered, she turned to him on the bed, touched his right cheek with a finger.
“McKie.”
“Yes?”
“I've never had to say this to another person, but ⦔ She silenced his attempted interruption by punching his shoulder, leaning up on an elbow to look down at him. It reminded McKie of their first night together, and he saw that she had gone back into her Dosadi shell ⦠but there was something else, a difference in the eyes.
“What is it?”
“Just that I love you. It's a very interesting feeling, especially when you can admit it openly. How odd.”
“Stay here with me.”
“We both know I can't. There's no safe place here for either of us, but the one who ⦔
“Then let's ⦔
“We've already decided against an exchange.”
“Where will you go?”
“Best you don't know.”
“If ⦔
“No! I wouldn't be safe as a witness; I'm not even safe at your side. We both ⦔
“Don't go back to Dosadi.”
“Where is Dosadi? It's the only place where I could ever feel at home, but Dosadi no longer exists.”
“I meant ⦔
“I know.”
She sat up, hugged her knees, revealing the sinewy muscles of her shoulders and back. McKie studied her, trying to fathom what it was she hid in that Dosadi shell. Despite the intimacy of their shared memories, something about her eluded him. It was as though he didn't want to learn this thing. She would flee and hide, of course, but ⦠He listened carefully as she began to speak in a faraway voice.