13'Sao-La
13'Sao-La heeded the eyes of his zhuhndí accuser.
They revealed. The skin around them tightened. The tears underlying them welled into a shiny
coat. The brows above them lowered. And within these changes, because of them and beyond them,
13'Sao-La saw, was fury ... and heartbreak.
"Wei Loon Jingsheng," said the prosecutor. "Can you identify this man?"
"That's him." The woman walked forward, out of the shade of the witness stand, across a swatch of
packed earth that served this temporary courtroom, and toward 13'Sao-La, in the shade of the
defendant's stand. Her eyes never left his. "This one killed Chi Unesugi." The words were not
modulated by anger, but by sadness.
"It was a good day to die," 13'Sao-La responded, his lips twisting irony into the words.
The woman stoicked. Her tears drained away, leaving her eyes and cheeks dry. They locked hard on
his. She dropped her chin in a short nod. She said, "And today is a good day to let go ... and
grieve." She retreated to the witness stand.
The prosecutor spoke from his tall desk, "The prosecution rests."
Nobody spoke for 13'Sao-La. He had rejected the barrister the Voiceless had offered him. So, the
trial automaton said in its pretend Authority, "The accused has waived his right to a defense." It
spoke through a piece of infraware beside the Beobachtung that both recorded the trial and conveyed
it to the Voiceless jury scattered across Ganj Dareh. "End presentation of evidence and
witnesses. Begin closing arguments. Prosecutor?"
Without a step, a gesture, or drama, this agent of the Voiceless said, "Ladies and gentlemen of the
jury, I have shown you ample evidence that proves this man murdered anshin-in-training Chi Unesugi
Hara. You have watched that scene unfold brutally as recorded by Beobachtung. You have watched in
real-time as Chi Unesugi's partner confronted the man zhuhndí and name him as Chi Unesugi's
murderer.
"Time does not permit me, considering the number of trials we face here, to prove that this man
violated this pattern, and more, at other times, though I have that data as well. Nor does our
Pattern Language require such redundancy. A single conviction here exiles this criminal from our
society. Thank you."
The automaton said, "Accused, do you wish to say anything?"
13'Sao-La stoicked. He had abandoned the rules of the Voiceless, useless to him, long ago. The
Rules that he had loved — and the Governors who set them — had abandoned him not so long ago. He
obeyed no rules now, so played according to none.
After a silent moment, the automation said, "End closing arguments. Begin jury deliberation. We
have a verdict. The jury finds Ben Abrams Bodreaux guilty of violating the Pattern: Protect Your
Life-Expectancy — and That of Others. Is there any mitigation in sentencing, Prosecutor?"
"No."
"Accused?"
13'Sao-La stoicked. The Voiceless booned him nothing. He had booned them nothing but the New
Order, and that had disappeared into bottomless yesterday.
"No mitigation offered," continued the automaton. "The Direvnya of Ganj Dareh, accepting the
Pattern Language of Yeibichai, requires a sentence of Exile, effective immediately. Court
dismissed."
The Islands of Exile, then. What will their rules be?
