"Well that worked. Bored them stiff with barely a word."
"What did they ask?"
Jillian waved a hand. "Wanted to know about employee benefits and crap like that. So I started talking about uniform design and it was snoozeville in no time." She sighed and rubbed her aching neck. "I'd kill for a smoke about now." She rolled her head and then smiled at Christophe. "I don't suppose there's a private alcove anywhere in this whole city we can hid out in for five minutes, is there?"
"No."
She waved a hand. "I thought it was going to be a lot worse than it was. Not one question about Jake or Ralph."
"Guess I better get ready," said Ralph, straightening his sash. "If they got bored with fashion that fast, just wait till they hear the old doc get rolling. I bet he's back within two minutes."
Jillian gave a laugh. "Are we betting credits?"
"Sure thing."
"Then I'm in. Five says he makes them listen to him for ten minutes before he'll allow anyone enough time to dismiss him!"
Ralph laughed. "You're on! Reggie, you want in on this action?"
Reginald didn't get to answer. The doors opened and Dr. Karl was being all but dragged in, still giving his testimony.
"Dr. Dresche! Your testimony is over and we thank you once again for your service!" The man was clearly sick of his assignment for the day. The doctor stopped talking and snorted, highly offended.
"Please do not hesitate to convey my utter disappointment to that contingent of buffoons you call a council! I have never in my life met a body of alleged professionals who acted so..."
"Sit!" the man barked.
To his credit, Dr. Karl gave the man the most haughty look, as if it were he who was dismissing the other man, before he turned regally and took his seat with the utmost of authority.
"The arbiter would like to speak with Sergeant Ralph Buttrick." I almost felt bad for the man. He looked much smaller and older than he had when he first called Lynette into the room.
Ralph stood, gave a salute to Christophe and Reginald, gave a wink to me, then strode forward, marching like a soldier.
"They did not even want to hear my summation of the primary results of the implications of long term low gravity on the frontal..."
"It's okay, Doc," said Jillian, patting the old man's arm. "They didn't want to hear anything I had to say, either."
"Yes, dear," he said. He was a scientist, a true one. He did not mean to be condescending, he truly didn't. "But that's just petty clothing. This is important to humanity."
Jillian sighed and stood. "Forget I bothered." She walked to one of the tinted windows and stood, as if she could actually see out of it.
He didn't mean to be offensive. Just like Mother never had.
"They just can't understand it," I said to both of them. "They can't wrap their minds around either the sociological or scientific sides of what StarTech does. They don't mean to offend you, they're just dumb."
Reginald laughed. "From the mouths of babes."
"Yes," sniffed the doctor. "Well, they still could have pretended to care."
We all fell silent. The minutes ticked on, stretched out. There was a large clock above the small door and I kept looking. I watched as five minutes passed. Then ten. Then a half hour. Somewhere around an hour, Lynette put her hand on my knee. I hadn't realized I was tapping my foot until she did that.
"Sorry," I said quickly.
"Don't be nervous. Ralph will do fine."
I nodded. Sure. Sure he would. He was Ralph. He could handle anything. I'd never seen him unable to handle anything in my whole life. He was always in control, in that seemingly lazy, calm way of his. He was impossible to ruffle. But after an hour and a half, I almost couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't stand waiting for him, and couldn't stand the thought that any moment he'd come out and that would leave me to go in. I wanted him to be done and to take forever, all at the same time.
I stood and began pacing. After a few restless passes, I took up a spot at the tinted window that Jillian had pretended to look out and did the same until I couldn't take it.
"What the hell are they asking him?"
"He's one of the big fish, Jake. They're asking him everything."
I sighed and sat back down. Lynette took my hand. I blatantly ignored Marlon's scowl and held her hand right back. I watched the clock again. With every minute that passed, I felt myself unravel a little more. My nerves frayed one by one. I went to chew on my nail, but Lynette held my hand firm. It hit the two hour mark. Christophe and Reginald were whispering. I think they were really starting to worry, too.
Finally the door opened and Ralph marched in, his face red and his jaw clenched tight. He gave me a little nod for encouragement and sat, looking straight ahead. He was okay. Angry, but okay.
"Jacob Cosworth."
I felt a flood of panic. Lynette squeezed my hand and kissed my cheek. "Go," she whispered. I stood before the courage of her kiss faded. I didn't even glance back. If I had, I would have seen the door leading outside and would have let myself give in to the temptation to run. I followed the man with as much calm as I could and hardly jumped at all when the door slammed behind me.
"You will now listen to the rules and regulations of the hearing." He was waiting for some type of response, so I gave a nod. "You will stand in the witness box. You will answer any question put to you to the best of your ability. You will answer swiftly and honestly. As this is an official inquiry, any knowingly false answer will result in legal charges of perjury. You will only speak after you have permission and you will stop speaking as soon as it is requested of you. Do you understand the rules and regulations as I have explained them?"
He spoke as if he was tired of saying these words over and over. "Yes."
He nodded and opened another door. "The court presents Jacob Cosworth, aged 16, for testimony before the honorable Arbiter Lancaster," he announced loudly.
The door had opened into a tiny little space in the corner of an enormous room. A quarantine booth, for sure. From my position behind the man and surrounded by guards, it was difficult to make anything out but lots of people. That's all I could see. A big, silent crowd. From somewhere came a voice.
"The Arbiter Lancaster accepts the court's presentation. Please swear in the confessor."
The man turned to me and told me to raise my right hand. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"
"Uh, yes."
He stepped back and motioned for me to enter the witness box. I walked forward and the door shut behind me. I was an experiment. I knew it, but in that moment, I truly felt it. I was in a box, a sample, someone's exhibit. I tried to ignore the anger, and took a look around. Lynette had said it was press people in the audience and she wasn't kidding. There were hundreds. Every news source had to be represented. I looked straight in front of me. Up on a raised platform were a couple dozen people sitting in fancy chairs behind fancy podiums wearing fancy clothes, the most fancy being right in the middle. I knew it must be the IOC, and the man in the middle must be the arbiter. He did not look like a nice man. In fact, he did not look like he even knew any nice men. His stare was cold and mean, as if he wanted to slice me right through just by looking at me. I knew a moment of pure panic.
And then it hit me. He looked like Morhal. When she was angry, I mean. When you could look at her and know she was going to kill someone. And suddenly, I was comforted. Something familiar, even a bad thing.
"State your name."
It seemed silly. They had just said my name. "Uh, Jacob Earnest Cosworth."
"Age."
I easily could have answered the question simply. However, I decided that they didn't deserve a simple answer. I didn't want to stir up trouble, but I wasn't the son of two scientists for nothing. "Unknown," I said with a straight face.