Mars the Divine (Empire of Time Series) by John Argo

Page 7.

Chapter 4. Temple Court

I was interrogated secretly by a group that included the Blue and Brown security chiefs, as well as two or three Council members. They did not use physical torture, thank Fire, but they did deprive me of sleep and had men shouting at me deep in the solitary confinement hole where they kept me. I managed to keep my wits and play dumb.

Chief Brown (Albin Wisser) of the Temple police sat across the table from me. He was a pale, ascetic man with sunken cheeks and burning eyes. His faith, as the saying goes, burned within him. His hands moved in rapid, unsteady darting motions when he moved them. It was as if his hands hurt from the flame burning inside him. It was a dangerous type of man to face in court, because he would stop at nothing to ensure that the Gods were not offended by anything or anyone. It was all in the name of religious purity and the greater common good in saving the Dome from divine wrath.

Chief Blue (Robel Tancher), who wore a dark blue jumpsuit and black leathers with cuffs, gun, and sap, was a blunter, rounder man. His heavy fists were overgrown with tiny black hairs as he alternately rubbed his chest or scratched his head or shuffled the plastic translifts before him with their digital reports from the main Dome database.

Scariest among those on the Court was a person wearing an e-mask of an unnatural pewter tone that made the features look barely human. I assumed it was a man, but you can't be sure. I'll refer to the person as 'he.' He was of medium build, wore a dark green suit and cloak, and had the telltale silver band around his neck that signals the person has masked his features with a close-fitting false face. This e-mask moves with the facial muscles, and lets the mouth talk and the eyes blink as they will. It's even possible for an e-masked person to display overlays for the teeth and eyes, so that a blue-eyed person can disguise himself or herself as a brown-eyed one. The e-masked person sat quietly, never commented, and only stayed one full day. I have reason now to think it was either Balesso or Voreill, but I have no proof.

It was Chief Blue's turn to grill me, and we'd been there hours already. "Brother Farr, you say you had no knowledge of the Heretic's presence beforetime?"

"No, Chief."

"The door timer in the utility plaza indicates that an hour and ten minutes passed between the time you entered to climb into the turret and the time the kitchen women saw you with the Heretic. How long were you with the Heretic?"

"It must have been ten minutes at most."

"Then what were you doing the other hour?"

"Securing the view plates high up. Meditating."

Chief Brown snored derisively. It was clear he'd already voted inwardly to condemn me. Chief Blue probed: "You were meditating while you bolted the plates? Is that permitted?"

"No, Chief, I bolted the plates while speaking the Directions out loud to make sure I did it right and did not endanger the Dome. Then, and then only, did I take time out to meditate."

"That is bunkum," interrupted Chief Brown. "If you were looking out through the glass, you had not yet bolted the plates tight. Why don't you try to get your story straight, Brother?"

"I misspoke," I said. Sweat broke out under my collar, not for the first time, and not for the last. It was a prickly, burning sweat that made me wish for a glass of water, but they tormented me about that.

Seeing me lick my lips out of thirst, Chief Brown gave that mocking smile again and his eyes twinkled with contempt. He saw it as an admission of guilt, a sign of my weaselry.

"The women say they saw you reaching up and touching his face," Chief Blue said. "What possible explanation for that could you have?"

"I told you a hundred times already, he was a childhood friend. I recognized him at that moment."

Chief Blue looked puzzled as he read his reports. "At that moment you were in the tower already over an hour. You say you were speaking with the Heretic for about fifteen minutes. But you say you only recognized him at the end of that time. What were you doing talking to a Triber when you should have run down or pulled an alarm?"

"I was afraid." No sense lying. I had to tell some of the truth now.

"Afraid of what?" Chief Brown said with a guffaw. "Go on, we're waiting."

"Afraid to be seen with him."

Chief Blue raised an eyebrow. "Afraid to be seen with him. Why would you be afraid unless you had something to hide?"

"I had nothing to hide. I was afraid someone like those stupid women would see us and misinterpret everything."

"What was there to misinterpret?" Chief Brown pressed.

"I had no idea who he was or where he came from, or what he wanted."

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