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  About two hours into the debate, one of the tangerine figures near the back was recognized by Cark. Mike had figured out that it was possible to transfer your place of privilege as speaker to anyone you wished, although that usually turned out to be someone in the same color tunic.

  “Who’s that?” Mike asked.

  Kenton and Joe shrugged.

  The new person said, “The true question today should not be about weapons and fear. The true questions should be about the taboo they have broken. While tampering with aliens is a crime and the punishments are clear and distinct, an intergalactic romance offends the highest sensibilities of our kind. The intermingling of species is a scandal. The intermingling of the same gender is an abomination. They must pay for this. They must die.”

  No pandemonium this time. Dead silence. The speaker paused and gazed around the room then continued, “I therefore propose their immediate execution. I call on the use of rule four eighty-eight.”

  Numerous people drew in their breath.

  Joe and Mike looked at Kenton who said, “I heard rumors about this.”

  “What’s rule four eighty-eight?” Mike asked.

  “A point of privilege,” Kenton said. “A call for an immediate vote based on the security of the state. It closes all debate and asks for only one conclusion. I’ve never heard of a member invoking it.”

  Mike began to ask another question. Kenton shook his head at him in a signal for silence. They all listened.

  Xam said, “Such a proposal has not been made in this Senate in thousands of years.”

  The speaker was continuing, “Such an attack upon who we are as a species, on our very existence, has not been made in thousands of years.”

  “Do you really feel threatened by what they did?” Xam asked.

  “Are you not outraged by the thought of their alien fleshes intermingling?”

  “I try not to think about what I’m not doing, or have no interest in doing, or don’t care about.”

  “How can you not care?”

  “I look into myself and do not find a need to control others. I’m not having a problem with their behavior.”

  Mulk rose and the others subsided. “The privilege of rule four eighty-eight has been invoked. The rules are ancient and clear. All debate must stop. We must vote.”

  “On what?” someone from the back called. Mike thought it was a black robed figure.

  Mulk looked at the tangerine figure. “Would Zash state his question for a vote?”

  “That Earthling named Mike Carlson and the ex-police officer, Police Detective Joe from the Seventh Directorate of Violence control, sub-category twenty-six, unmated, reared in concept house 152-86, implanted with series G through R anti-crime, series A to XX intelligence. That according to law and custom, they be immediately executed.”

  Mulk said, “And so we shall vote. You have your pads on the seats next to you. Key in your personal identity codes and select your position and record your wishes.”

  Mike said, “They could decide if I’m going to die within the next five minutes?”

  “Probably in less time than that.”

  Screens at the end of the arms of each of each of the chairs flicked to life. Mike saw hands moving and fingers tapping. Some continued for nearly a minute.

  Joe explained, “It isn’t a simple yes or no vote. They get to express their wishes individually. Theoretically there could be one thousand different votes.”

  After several minutes Mulk checked his screen. Into the silence he read the results. “For immediate execution - three hundred ninety-eight, for no execution at all - one hundred seventy, for continued debate with all possibilities open - one hundred thirty-four, not voting - one hundred thirty-three, for condemning the delegate who made the suggestions - ninety-eight, for tabling the motion and wiping out Earth immediately - fifty-seven.” He continued to read the results of those options that got less than fifty-seven votes.

  “Wipe out Earth?” Mike was outraged. “You guys would do that, could do that?”

  “There are always extremists,” Joe said. “It is probably theoretically possible to blast your planet to smithereens but not likely.”

  “Not much of a comfort,” Mike said. “Are we going to die?”

  “The motion got a plurality,” Kenton said. “My understanding of such a motion is that it must receive fifty percent plus one of the total number of delegates, not just of those present and voting, although I believe all the delegates are here today.”

  “Are there always this many choices?” Mike asked.

  “They may vote any way they please. Few things in life are really yes or no questions. There are always nuances. It is the ability to gather five hundred and one votes that is the key. There are some items that don’t require such a rigid standard of voting. Life and death always require it.”

  “I was worried before,” Mike said, “now I’m more worried, if that’s possible.”

  “Me too,” Joe added.

  After Mulk finished his vote report, he said, “The motion needs five hundred one votes. That number not being reached, the original question is still before the floor and privilege may no longer be invoked by a member on this issue.”

  “That sort of backfired,” Mike said.

  Kenton shook his head. “Maybe they didn’t care if they lost. Maybe they were simply trying to find out who stood where. Maybe a lot of things. That they didn’t condemn you to die is good. That a huge block voted for execution is bad. I would take no comfort in their loss. They don’t need a privileged motion to execute you. It was just the most expedient one.”

  Xam, the leader of the beige faction, rose again. “The unseemly haste that we just saw disturbs me. No matter how frightened some would like us to be, there is no immediate threat. We have one Earthling who has posed a dilemma for us. The cosmos has not altered. I would hate for us to lose all perspective. There is much to talk about.”

  The debate continued. Mike wasn’t sure which side was winning or losing. Some people of the same color disagreed with their similarly clad brethren. The debate ranged from the meaning of historic events he had no reference to understand, to the nature of space exploration, to the needs of power and security, and on and on.

  Three hours after the session began, Mike said, “I need a break. I need to go to the washroom. I need to stretch. I need to run and scream and carry on like a very frightened Earthling. Don’t these people ever stop?”

  The delegates below remained intent on their discussion. Mike saw a few step off the floor at random intervals. Most remained in place.

  Surrounded by Kenton and their guards, Mike and Joe walked out. There was a ripple among the delegates as they left.

  “Do we have to stay?” Mike asked.

  “No,” Kenton said.

  “How long are they going to take?” Joe asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “How long could they take?” Mike asked.

  “As long as they wish.”

  “Minutes, hours, days, months, years, an eternity? There’s got to be some kind of parameters.”

  “Actually, there aren’t. They will finish when they finish. I think it is likely to be days.”

  Mike and Joe entered the washroom. There was no other exit or entrance. With more than fifty guards armed and ready outside, they didn’t think there was much of a chance to escape.

  Joe and Mike hugged each other.

  “How bad has it been?” Mike asked.

  “I think the worst of the interrogation is over. I’m a cop without implants. At least they haven’t started taking parts of my brain. In prison I would be tortured for years by the inmates. The police are hated universally as well.”

  “I don’t hate you.” Mike held him tight. The tingling began instantly. Their lips met. Mike sighed into his husband’s arms, felt the closeness and excitement that he loved. As their tongues swirled, he put his hands on the back of Joe’s head. He wished love and passion were enough t
o protect them.

  They let the embrace linger. Neither Kenton nor the guards entered the room or tried to hurry them along, but the flame of their love and urgency waned in the face of the terror of the trial that was going on. They took a moment for deep breaths. Mike and Joe remained standing with their arms around each other’s waists as they talked. Mike asked, “Is there really no way out of this place? I could make a royal holy mess and take a lot of these people with me.”

  “As far as I know, we have no friends, nowhere to go. I presume anyone I knew before has been told about what I did. I broke the law, two in fact. The interspecies thing with a non-member of the star system is bad enough. With someone of my own gender puts me in the running for the biggest sinner of all time.”

  “So we could say you committed an original sin? I’ve always wanted to do that.”

  “Past friends would be unlikely to have anything to do with me. Helping me would be a serious crime. I would not want to put the pressure on people I knew to choose between me and breaking the law, and even if we did find someone who would take the risk to help, I don’t know how we would get a ship for us to leave this planet. I don’t know where we could go to hide. The search for us would be the greatest manhunt in history. There isn’t the slightest chance of us getting out of here.”

  “Up shit creek,” Mike said.

  “In a very galactic way, yes,” Joe said.

  They resumed their embrace, their arms and legs entwined, their breathing became ragged, but their time together did not last.

  Kas, the scientist, entered the room. “Follow me, now,” he said. “Don’t ask questions. Do as I tell you.”

  Mike’s innate sense of not doing something unless he had a clear idea of what he was doing rose to the fore.

  Joe said, “No debates or questions, Mike. Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  The hallway outside the washroom was filled with guards and people in more subdued hues of tunics than the ones the delegates wore. Mike realized that all the tunics of the senators had colors that shone bright and fresh. Many of these looked as if they’d been worn for years and laundered often in harsh detergent.

  Kas marched up to Kenton, “The guards are to bring the prisoner. The scientists have not been allowed to examine him directly, only the military. They just voted for us to have a chance to examine him.”

  “I heard no such vote,” said the captain of the guard said.

  “I will wait for you to check with your superiors.”

  The guard tapped his communicator and read the information that was given there. He said, “It seems your information is correct. Where are we to take him?”

  “To an examination center.”

  “You realize he is to be guarded at all times?”

  “Of course.”

  Mike said, “So we’re just going for more tests, this isn’t a dramatic escape? I’m not sure I’m willing to cooperate with any tests.”

  Kas lowered his voice. “No, it’s a dramatic escape all right. I just had to make sure the false information I inserted into his com link with his superiors was working. It did.”

  “You can tamper with other people’s communicators?” Joe asked.

  “I am a great scientist, all knowing, all wise, and I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve that those military morons haven’t dreamt of yet.”

  “Why are you helping us?” Mike asked.

  They were proceeding on foot. The guards kept up. A large contingent spread out around them.

  “I am helping you because I don’t believe the decision the Senate is going to make is the one that should be made.”

  “Aren’t you going to get in a lot of trouble?” Mike asked.

  “Not necessarily. As one of the richest men in this part of the galaxy and the top scientist, I can do many things.”

  Mike said, “The rich can break the law with impunity?”

  “Yes and no,” Kas said. “We have a social contract with the state which is difficult to violate.”

  “You want power for yourself,” Mike said.

  “I want to make sure those who I don’t want to have the power don’t get it.”

  Mike guessed. “Or you want the power for yourself.”

  “Or both. I wouldn’t be the first. I won’t be the last.”

  “Won’t the two of us get in all kinds of trouble?” Joe asked. “More so than you? We’re the ones taking a risk here, not you. I’m not sure we should go with you. Why should we trust you?” He stopped, and the whole contingent stopped. “Why aren’t they listening to our conversations? They can get into my mind any time they want. They would know what I was doing.”

  Kas led them a few feet apart from the others and whispered. “Whoever you think ‘they’ are, they must have access to the links in the communicators. I’ve got that covered.”

  Mike said, “If we don’t want to go with you, do we become your prisoners? Are you going to take us anyway?”

  “No,” Kas said. “You may stay here and await your fate.”

  “Where would you take us?” Mike asked.

  “To my world.”

  “Where we would be just as much a captive,” Mike said. “I’m not interested in being somebody’s science-fair project. I want as much freedom of movement as I had on Earth.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Kas said, “At some point you must begin accepting the reality of what has happened to you.”

  “Who the hell are you to declare what I must or must not accept? This whole thing is crazy. It’s the wildest adventure anyone from my planet has ever been on. Acceptance? Are you nuts? I still sometimes think this whole thing must be a dream.”

  “It is most definitely not a dream. It is most definitely reality. I can only imagine your feelings. You didn’t have unlimited choices on Earth. There are always rules. There are always limits. I’m afraid the sooner you accept the limitations on your current choices, the better.”

  “I’m not going with you,” Mike said.

  “You’re what?” Kas gaped at him in disbelief.

  “No,” Mike said. “Those people back there perceive me as a threat already. I’m not going to give the opposition more ammunition.”

  Kenton said, “You wouldn’t get very far anyway. These guards have very specific instructions. If you come within the vicinity of any kind of vehicle at all, they are to cripple it immediately.”

  “We don’t even have to get in?” Mike asked.

  “Not even.”

  Joe pointed to Kenton and said, “Which leaves aside any actions you might take.”

  Kas said, “Kenton is one of us. He would not break faith with his faction.”

  Kenton nodded.

  “We’re going back,” Mike said.

  “You’re only minutes away from safety,” Kas said.

  “I’m several zillion light years away from safety,” Mike retorted.

  Joe said, “Mike is right. We have no guarantees from any of you people. As a cop in this system, I know how the politics works.”

  “Pah,” Kas dismissed him. “You were a third-rate detective in a provincial city. You don’t have anywhere near the knowledge or experience to deal with this.”

  “I was a goddamn good detective.”

  Kas said, “Be silent. I know your history. This is no longer your decision. Frankly, I don’t know why you’re still part of this case except as an inducement to force information from the Earthling. I believe we should threaten your life to get the Earthling to cooperate. You can be killed. You can be harmed. You can be tortured. Everything you are can be destroyed. I wouldn’t mind doing that if I thought it would get us the knowledge in this Earthling’s head.”

  “Then you don’t give a royal holy shit about me or my safety,” Mike said. “As a wise and clever drag queen of my acquaintance often says at moments like this, ‘Fuck yourself with a broomstick, you witch’.”

  Joe raised an eyebrow. “I never heard him say that.”


  “Special occasions only.” Mike glared at Kas.

  “You will be sorry you turned us down,” Kas said.

  “Sorry is not my problem at the moment,” Mike said. “Keeping myself alive in the middle of vast uncertainty is. I may not have many choices to make, but within those choices I’m going to act as best I can for the health of my husband and myself. Going with you doesn’t seem like a good idea.”