Looking around the gathered people, I saw several faces turned my way. The old man had outed me, and rumor spread fast in the small community. It was time for me to leave, before the troopers got wind of who I was. I shook my head and walked away, back to the village’s food distribution square. The bamboo hut was closed up tightly, and only a small smear of gray blood was left to tell of what had happened.

I pulled up my BuyMort menus and ordered a portal back to Terna’s World. When the pod-on-a-stand painted the ground with my portal, I stepped through its light and emerged back in my safe house on the world ship.

Terna was there, seated on the couch, apparently waiting for me. Her gray brow was furrowed and she stood as soon as I arrived.

“Good, you’re back. The announcement went out, have you seen it?” Terna asked.

I nodded and moved past her to sit down on the couch.

“Okay, that’s good too. We need to prepare you for the trial. It won’t be like the justice system you knew before BuyMort,” she said.

“I understand that, yeah,” I added. “Seems like it's more of an academic exercise?”

“Yes, combined with the court of public opinion,” Terna explained. “There will be a council of Knowle academics, from the Knowle Institute of History. They will each treat the trial as a fact-finding mission.”

“Okay, well that works in our favor, right?” I asked.

“It should. You are guilty of some of the proposed crimes, but the majority of them can be excused away as defense of self or defense of others, as we planned. I also managed to secure a guarantee, through the Knowle academics council, that we will be given all unedited footage. This is to ensure propaganda or lies are not the core of the defense or the prosecution,” Terna said.

“So not just to help us, then,” I said.

“No,” Terna replied. “The academic council is operating on its own rules, independent of affiliate leadership. They favor neither side in this dispute and seek only facts to enter into the historic record. You will be interviewed extensively, as will any witnesses that can be found.”

“Still, the court of public opinion aspect should turn in our favor rapidly, once the truth starts getting out,” I added.

“That is very likely, yes. The public will react to each statement of fact that the council provides, once each matter is decided upon. It is unlikely you will be imprisoned by this trial, whatever its outcome. We fully intend to use it for your upcoming campaign,” she replied.

“You didn’t see Axle’s face, Terna,” I said. “He really seemed to want me in a deep hole so he could forget about me again.”

The hobb woman sighed at that and walked to the bar. She started pouring a drink, and I nodded when she offered me the first glass.

“That is entirely possible,” she said. “But the Knowle Institute of History has a long record of avoiding affiliate interference. Especially when it is this public.”

“How’d you pull that off anyway?” I asked.

Terna shrugged. “Not hard, our press is voracious, always looking for sensational stories. I just offered it to the right group, made sure it went public before it was reported to Silken Sands leadership.”

“Ahh yes, weaponized press. An old favorite of mine,” I said, before taking a sip of the drink Terna made for me.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

It was strong, fruity, and burned like hell going down, but I didn’t complain. The hobb knew her alcohol.

“All right,” I said, before taking a deep breath. “Let’s get prepared for trial.”

Terna nodded and swallowed her drink. “I have your counsel on standby. Anytime you’re ready, we can meet with her.”

I gulped the rest of the drink Terna had made me and stood. “Now is as good a time as any.”

Terna opened the sliding door to my safehouse and I followed her out into the world ship’s underbelly. I followed the hobb woman through rafters, utility tunnels, and finally out into the open in a very strange hab unit.

The unit was considerably smaller than those I had seen before and contained the most elaborate buildings Terna’s World had to offer. I walked on clean, well-maintained streets toward a large building marked by carved marble pillars on its front, and an elaborately decorated domed roof.

On one side of it rested a BlueCleave fortress, and on the other a series of mansions nestled into a gated community. Everyone I saw on the streets wore business chic, most of them in Silken Sands colors. They also gaped as I walked by. Terna rested her hand on a pistol at her belt, and stared down the building’s guards as they noticed our approach.

Both armed and uniformed hobbs hurriedly shouldered their weapons but backed down at an angry bark from Terna. “The warlord is in custody already, stand down! You have no jurisdiction over a Terna’s World prisoner. Your only duty is to protect the Hall of Academics!”

They glared unhappily but backed away. Both hobbs kept their weapons trained on me as I slowly ascended the marble steps. Each pillar featured a different Knowle, holding up a symbol of knowledge. One had books, another held a compass. The pillar I walked beneath held scales and a scroll, and held its eyes averted from both.

“Cheery place,” I grumbled, feeling very much like I was walking into my own execution. The crowd gathering behind me didn’t help, nor did the many BlueCleave soldiers filing out to see me for themselves.

“Ignore it,” Terna commanded. “Eyes forward, walk with purpose. We’re here to do what’s right, never forget that.”

“Yeah, I just don’t like being stared at,” I replied.

“Best get used to it,” Terna said with a shrug. “That’s not likely to change anytime soon.”

We walked up the steps of the grandiose building and entered an oversized lobby. Security screening was just beyond the entrance doors, and I was required to submit to a full body scan. At the end of it, a hobb guard approached holding a miniaturized pulse ion cannon.

Terna touched my arm and we turned aside. “This is standard procedure, I apologize for the lack of warning. It slipped my mind in the rest of the preparations. They will require you to drain all your starfish suit’s charge and refrain from recharging it while in this building.”

“Every time, I imagine,” I whispered back.

“Yes,” she answered.

I stood and raised my arms, stepping away from Terna so the guard could shoot me. After the momentary discomfort it caused, I was allowed through the security gates. The guard with the cannon followed me as I proceeded through the entrance hall, toward a Knowle woman wearing an expensive looking suit.

She smiled broadly from beneath her round-lensed glasses and extended one paw to me as I approached. As we shook, she said “welcome, Mr. Dawes, I am so pleased to meet you. My name is Tazha Wulf, I’ll be your representative during your trial, and will be helping you prepare beforehand.”

Tazha gestured with one paw. “Please, this way.”

Terna and I followed her down an ornate hallway to her office. Tazha’s name was emblazoned on a bronze plaque beside the door and identified her as an arbitrator. The hallway I stood in had several offices with similar plaques.

Once inside, Tazha gestured to large, comfortable-looking chairs. She circled around an oak desk and sat behind it while Terna and I sat in front.

“Well,” Tazha said. “Let’s get right into it. Your trial is going to be focused around three incidents, which will lead the council to make a decision on the issue of your threat to Silken Sands.”

I nodded. “Which three incidents?”

Tazha opened a folder on her desk and looked down, using one claw to keep her place as she read. “First, you are accused of damaging a BlueCleave ship while mounting an escape. Second, you are accused of causing damage and disruption to the gravity sling’s normal traffic. This is the most serious of the accusations we will need to explore. And third, you are accused of destroying a planetary monument, your own statue in Central Plaza, Prescott.”

I nodded again. “Okay.”

“To start, I would like to go over your personal accounting of these events,” Tazha said. “Then, when the council provides us the official list of accusations, we will go over those. Your preparation is likely to take most of the week we have before the trial itself. Do you have any questions so far?”

I sighed and shook my head. “Let’s get started,” I said.