Battlefield Earth

About five hours later they did call him again and he collected Rogodeter and guided him out to the launchcraft. But before he gave him back the filter faceplate, he had Chief Chong-won smear the inside of the launchcraft dome with black water ink. Whether Rogodeter complained or not that he would have to wipe holes in it somehow to find his orbiting ship was unknown to Jo

Jo

So Jo

When the launchcraft was gone, Jo

And still not a whisper from Stormalong. And not a bit of sense from Luxembourg.

No word of Chrissie. No word of his village people. No word of his friends.

It was a horrible two days.

Inaction, he was finding, was a far, far heavier load than the whirlwind existence to which he was accustomed. He was nearing a breaking point of apprehension for the people and planet he had fought so long to save.

At eight that night, it didn't make things any better to be stopped by Lord Voraz who offered him a job at fifty thousand credits a year to come to the Gredides System and make teleportation consoles for the bank for the rest of his life. Jo

A very horrible two days!

Chapter 2

Things began to change the following day.

Jo

"In two hours,” said Lord Dom, “the trial findings will be read and voted upon.”

"I’m not a member of the government,” said Jo

“We know that,” said Lord Dom. “But you are personally concerned and should be present. Reparations will also be a

Ah, reparations. A sudden surge of hope. Would they be enough to cover this debt to the Galactic Bank? Or at least enough to make arrangements or first payments or something?

Ti

Mr. Tsung was wearing a little round black-satin pillbox cap with a blue button on the top of it and had not ceased gri

Then Mr. Tsung picked up a little thin box on a silk neck cord and put it on and whispered at it, and Jo

In response to Jo

Mr. Tsung explained that His Excellency had found the language “court Mandarin Chinese” in his library on the ship and had done the necessary microcopy of it and– you see this little switch here? That's Mandarin to English in the up position, Mandarin to Psychlo in the middle position, and English to Psychlo in the down position. And didn't it sound fu

But that was not all: it was a vocoreader. See this little light on the end? You passed that over Mandarin characters and it read them aloud in English or Psychlo. And it also read Psychlo and English in Mandarin. So now he couldn't be fooled or led into mistakes by wrongly worded speeches.

It ran on body heat so it didn't need any batteries and now he could talk straight to Jo

He was glad Mr. Tsung could now talk to him without a Coordinator, but all the same, it made Jo

Mr. Tsung put it to work right away. “I am told you are going in to hear the

sentence and that it somehow includes you. Now since you don't know whether you are going to be found guilty or not, you just sit respectfully and listen, and if they ask you anything, you just bow– you don't answer. Just bow. That is how you open the way to demand a new trial.”

It was good advice, but it did not do much to calm Jo

Chief Chong-won said the radio was quiet. No, no news of Stormalong, nor Edinburgh nor Russia.

The lords were all assembled. They had rearranged the room. They had a high desk on the platform and Lord Fowljopan was sitting at it. The lords themselves were in orderly rows facing it. Down the side of the room was a line of chairs. Schleim was lying on a mine cart, totally wrapped up in hoist chains, with only his face showing above the links. They had him between the desk and the audience.

Lord Dom indicated that Jo

“They have already discussed all this,” whispered Lord Voraz to Jo

“But they have to review and vote on each finding. It 's really more of a treaty than a trial. I’m surprised the Earth emissary isn't here. But they can proceed without him right up to the signing.”

Lord Fowljopan signaled Lord Browl to call the session to order, which he did.

“We have already agreed upon and committed to treaty form,” said Fowljopan, “the redefinition of the word 'pirate.' I wish to call to your attention, however, that the redefinition can have no bearing on the present findings for it was passed upon after the incident under trial. Is that correct, my lords?”

They signified that it was.

“Therefore,” said Fowljopan, “we are basing this trial on existing findings and clauses. Testimony of Captain Rogodeter Snowl has been heard and duly entered in the record to the effect that he was ordred to disregard the sanctity of the conference area by the Tolnep then-emissary Schleim. I believe it is the desire of this conference to accept the testimony and evidences of the said Snowl, particularly in the light of the fact that he considered he was bound to protect the Tolnep emissary. This absolves Snowl. Do you so vote?”

The lords so voted.

“Therefore,” said Fowljopan, “it is considered established by this conference that the said Tolnep emissary, by name Lord Schleim, did willfully and maliciously order the military forces of Tolnep to attack the conference area. Do you so find?”

They voted unanimously that they so found and Schleim in his chains hissed and spat.

“It was further witnessed and established,” continued Fowljopan, “that the said Tolnep emissary did seek to paralyze, shoot, and otherwise injure other emissaries engaged in their lawful and time-honored duties, contrary to specific clauses numbered here but too numerous to read. Is that your finding?”