Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79603 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Judge Thoughtgood frowned at Imani.
“Regardless of why or how it was done, that was still a vid of male penetration of a female, Councilor—which we Yonnites find wrong and repugnant.”
“I understand that, your Honor, but you must make some allowances for different cultures,” Imani said, keeping her voice calm and her face impassive. “In my culture, males regularly penetrate females—it is part of a normal relationship between them.”
Judge Thoughtgood raised her eyebrows.
“So you don’t believe that you were wronged in any way and you don’t wish your client to be executed?”
“No, I don’t,” Imani said firmly.
“Yes, she does!” J’are shot up from his chair. “I should be executed for what I did!” he said, staring at the judge. “I should be skinned alive and eviscerated—I would welcome the pain.”
“J’are—stop!” Imani grabbed for his arm and tried to pull him back down. “It wasn’t your fault—you weren’t in your right mind!” she exclaimed.
“You see? Do you see?” Lady Bittlebum crowed. “Even the Nightwalker knows he deserves to be put to death!”
“No, he doesn’t!” Imani insisted.
Watching the vid of herself with J’are had given her a strange feeling—and a new understanding of the events that had transpired between them. She was still upset with him but she had seen the way he fought with himself, seen how he had tried to hold back the change.
“Sit down!” she sent through their mental link. “I mean it, J’are! I didn’t expose Mistress Bittlebum just so you could throw yourself on the mercy of the court and get killed for your trouble!”
“I forced you and ruined your life—I should die for it,” he sent back.
“No, you shouldn’t! Now SIT DOWN!”
Imani sent her last words with the force of a mental shout. At last the big Nightwalker sank back into his seat, though he still looked upset and she could feel the waves of self-recrimination coming from him.
“Are we going to continue now, Councilor?” Judge Thoughtgood raised an eyebrow at her.
“Yes.” Imani cleared her throat.
“Really, your Honor, after that outburst—what more do you need to hear?” Mistress Bittlebum interrupted.
“Mistress Bittlebum—when I want to hear from you, I’ll ask,” the judge said sharply. She waited until the other Mistress sank back into her seat, red-faced and fuming at the rebuke, before turning back to Imani. “All right, go on Councilor Williams. Please tell me why I shouldn’t have your client executed for committing such a vile offence as penetration?”
“Because it’s not against the law in his culture—or in mine,” Imani said quickly. “Here on Yonnie Six, allowing yourself to be penetrated by a male is the worst thing a Mistress can do. Though I know for a fact, that some of them do it anyway—in the privacy of their own bedrooms,” she added.
“Well…” Judge Thoughtgood cleared her throat. “There have been…rumors from time to time. Proceed.”
“On Earth, where I come from, male penetration of a female is the norm,” Imani said. She turned to look at Lady Bittlebum. “Mistress Bittlebum made a critical mistake—she thought she could shut me up by shaming me. And while, I admit, it’s not pleasant to have a courtroom full of people watch me having sex, I refuse to allow any shame or fear to stand in the way of telling what I know.“ She pointed a finger directly at the yellow-haired Mistress. “Which is that Mistress Bittlebum murdered Lady Zangelo!”
“Lies! All lies!” Mistress Bittlebum shouted, her face getting redder and redder. “She and that brute of a Nightwalker should both be summarily executed!”
“Once again, Mistress Bittlebum, I will determine who—if anyone—is sentenced to execution. This is my courtroom!” Judge Thoughtgood exclaimed. She turned back to Imani, two spots of angry color burning in her cheeks. “Now then, Councilor, if you’re going to make such dramatic accusations, I certainly hope you have some evidence to back them up.”
“As a matter of fact, your Honor, I do,” Imani said coolly. From an inner pocket of her dress, she withdrew the opalescent ring she’d found on Mistress Bittlebum’s dressing table the night before.
“Oh—my ring! Your Honor, that’s my ring!” Mistress Bittlebum exclaimed. “I must insist that she return it to me at once—she stole that from my room last night!”
“Yes, I did,” Imani said calmly. “But I think before I give it back, Judge Thoughtgood needs to see what it recorded.”
She stroked the round, marble-shaped jewel set in the center of the ring and it opened and let the spy fly out. It buzzed out into the center of the room and, when Imani stroked the ring again, it began projecting a 3-D image of the lemon-haired Mistress from the night before.
“Oh, you’ll be leaving, all right. But not with that cloak,” she said, brandishing her blaster at Imani and J’are.
“Your Honor, I must protest!” Lady Bittlebum exclaimed, starting up from her seat again.
“Silence, Mistress!” Judge Thoughtgood snapped, glaring at her. “You were allowed to show embarrassing and incriminating evidence involving Councilor Williams. Now, it seems, it is your turn.”