"So we've got them every day?"
T'ai Cho shook his head. "No. It's not necessary just for the Casting Shop. But we're going somewhere special this afternoon, Kim. There's something I want to show you. To set the record straight, if you like."
"I don't understand you."
"I know. But you will. At least, much better after this."
They went up another twelve decks—a full one hundred and twenty levels—until they were in the heart of the Mids, at Level 181. Stepping out of the elevator Kim noticed at once how different things were from the level where the Casting Shop was. It was cleaner here, tidier, less crowded; even the pace at which people moved seemed more sedate, more orderly.
They waited at a Security barrier while a guard checked their permits, then went inside. An official greeted them and took them along a corridor, then up a narrow flight of stairs into a viewing gallery, its front sealed off from the hall below by a pane of transparent glass.
In the hall below five desks were set out in a loose semicircle.
In front of them were a number of chairs, grouped in a seemingly random fashion. Five gray-haired Han sat behind the desks, a small comset—or portable computer—in front of each.
"What is this?" Kim asked quietly.
T'ai Cho smiled and indicated two seats at the front of the gallery. When they were sitting, he turned to Kim and explained. "This is a deck tribunal, Kim. They have them once a week throughout the levels. It is the Han way of justice."
"Ah. . . ." Kim knew the theory that lay behind Han justice, but he had never seen it in action.
T'ai Cho leaned forward. "Note how informal it all is, Kim. How relaxed."
"A family affair," Kim said, rather too patly.
"Yes," T'ai Cho said at once. "It is exactly that."
They watched as the hall filled up, until not a chair was free and latecomers had to squat or sit on the floor. Then, without anyone calling anything to order, it began. One of the elders leaned forward across his desk and began to speak, his voice rising above the background murmur. The other voices dropped away until the Elder's voice sounded alone.
He was reading out the circumstances of the first case. Two cousins had been fighting. The noise had awakened neighbors who had complained to Deck Security. The Elder looked up, his eyes seeking out the two Han youths. They stood at once.
"Well? What have you to say for yourselves?"
Beside them an old man, gray-haired like the elders, his long beard plaited, stood and addressed the Elder.
"Forgive me, Hsien Judge Hong, but might I speak? I am Yung Pi-Chu, head of the Yung family."
"The tribunal waits to hear from you, Shih Yung."
The old man bowed his thanks, then brought his two great-nephews out into the space in front of the desks and had them strip off their tops. Their backs were striped from recent punishment. He made the two youths turn, showing the elders first and then the gathered audience. Then, bidding them return to their seats, he faced the elders.
"As you see, respected elders, my great-nephews have been punished for their thoughtlessness. But the matter of my neighbors' inconvenience remains. In that regard I propose to offer compensation of six hundred yuan, to be shared equally among the complainants."
Hsien Judge Hong bowed, pleased, then looked out past the old man. "Would the complainants stand."
Three men got to their feet and identified themselves.
"Are you willing to accept Shih Yung's generous compensation?"
All three nodded. Two hundred yuan was a generous figure.
"Good. Then the matter is settled. You will pay the clerk, SWhYung."
Without preamble, and before the old man had returned to his seat, another of the elders began reading out the circumstances of the second case. Again it involved two young men, but this time they had been charged with unsocial behavior. They had vandalized a row of magnolia trees while drunk.
At the Elder's request the two men stood. They were Hung Mao, their dress neat, respectable, their hair cut in the Han style.
"Well?" the Elder asked. "What have you to say for yourselves?"
The two men hung their heads. One looked momentarily at the other, who swallowed, then looked up, acting as spokesman for the two.
"Respected elders, we make no excuses for our behavior and are deeply ashamed of what we did. We accept full responsibility for our actions and would fully understand if the respected elders should punish us to the full severity for what we did. However, we ask you to consider our past exemplary record and would humbly submit the testimony of our employers as to our conduct. We propose to pay for the damage in full and, in respect of the damage to the harmony of the community, we ask that we should be given a month's community service."
The Elder looked briefly at his fellows, who all nodded, then faced the two youths again.
"We have read the submissions of your employers and take into account your past exemplary conduct. Your shame is clear and your repentance obvious. In the circumstances, therefore, we accept your proposals, your term of public service to commence in two weeks' time. However, should you come before this tribunal a second time on a similar charge, it will result in immediate demotion. You understand?"
Both men bowed deeply and looked at each other briefly.
Two more cases followed. The first was an accusation of theft. Two men claimed that another had robbed them, but a Security film showed they had falsely accused the man. The two men, protesting violently, found themselves held by Security guards and sentenced. They were to be demoted five decks. Amid wailing from the two men and their families and rejoicing from the falsely accused man and his, the permits of the two were taken from them and they were led away.
The fourth case involved a charge of violent assault by a middle-aged man on his wife's father. Both families were in court, and for the first time there was real tension in the air. The matter was in dispute and it seemed there was no way to resolve it. Both men were deeply respected members of the community. Both swore their version of events was the truth. There was no Security film to solve the matter this time and no impartial witnesses.
The elders conferred a moment, then Hsien Judge Hong called the two men forward. He addressed the older of them first.
"What began this dispute?"
The old man bristled and pointed contemptuously at the younger. "He insulted my family."
Judge Hong was patient. It was, after all, a matter efface. For the next half hour he slowly, cleverly, drew the threads of circumstance out into the daylight. At the core of it all lay a trivial remark—an offhand comment that the younger man's wife was like her mother, idle. It had been said heatedly, carelessly, in the course of a disagreement about something entirely different, but the old woman had taken great offense and had called upon her husband to defend her honor.
"Do you not both think that things have got out of hand? You, S/iih T'eng," he looked at the younger man, "do you really believe your mother-in-law an idler? Do you really have so little respect for your wife's mother?"
Shih T'eng lowered his head, then shook it. "No, Elder Hong. She is a good, virtuous woman. What I said, I said heatedly. It was not meant. I"— he hesitated, then looked at his father-in-law—"I unreservedly apologize for the hurt I caused his family. I assure him, it was not intended."
Judge Hong looked at the old man and saw at once, from his bearing, that he was satisfied. Their dispute was at a close. But the Elder had not finished with the two men. He leaned forward angrily.
"I am appalled that two such good, upright men should have come before me with such a—a petty squabble. Both of you should feel deeply shamed that you let things come to this."
Both men lowered their heads, chastened. The hall was deathly silent as Judge Hong continued.