They went back to the Hilarity, locking the doors and keeping watch in case the dragoons still in the base came out to investigate the fate their comrades had met. Everyone was tired from the digging, and those who had been in the tunnel when it exploded were quiet, remembering the fear and the noise and the stillness.
Ruth and her friends gathered in a room upstairs. Tom and Agnes were half asleep. "Are you ok?" Ruth asked Patrick. She could tell that there was something wrong with him. For a minute she thought he was going to protest that he was fine, but then he gave in, and told her what had happened between him and Mondeo earlier.
At first Ruth and the others were inclined to laugh. But as the story went on, and he told them what she had said about the law, their mood became serious.
"Did she say what the penalty was for breaking this law?" Tom said. Patrick shook his head. "I just wanted to get away from her, and ran- and that's when I saw the dragoons."
"But surely they can't prosecute," Adam said. "It's not as if you could have known the law. And she was the one who offered you the cup."
"She must have been trying to trap you," Agnes said.
"It worked," Patrick said glumly.
"But surely no prosecution would stand up in court?" Tom said.
"Who knows what sort of justice they have here?" Ruth replied. She looked across at Patrick, who was sat there looking tense and nervous. "But it's ok," she added, "We'll sort it out."
There was a knock, and Will opened the door. "Can you come downstairs?" he said. "There's...a problem."
"Is it the dragoons?" Tom asked, getting up. Will shook his head, and glanced over at Patrick. "Come on."
The others followed Will down into the auditorium. Commander Douglas was standing on the stage, with some of the other senior officers of the base grouped around her, and nearby stood Mondeo. Sitting around the auditorium, watching half-awake or sleeping on the cushioned benches were most of those who had escaped from the base. The rest of the travellers from Earth and Zoe were sat in a group near the stage, watching anxiously.
Will led them down to the stage. Commander Douglas looked up and beckoned to Patrick as they came near. He went over to her, the others joining the group watching.
"I understand that there has been some...difficulty between you and Mondeo here," she said. "She is suing you under the ancient custom of this planet, that where a man and a woman have drunk from the same cup, they should be regarded as engaged, and required by law to marry. It's an old law, and I have to say it's not usually taken seriously these days, but it is still law." She looked from Patrick to Mondeo and back again.
"Excuse me," said Agnes, "but can I ask what the penalty might be, if he's found guilty?"
"The penalties for breaking the ancient laws are quite severe," Commander Douglas said. "Especially where they can be proven to show a man deliberately deceiving someone, and then trying to avoid their responsibilities."
"But I never intended to give Mondeo the impression...I was just being friendly...I didn't mean..." Patrick said, beginning to panic. "And I knew nothing about that law, or I would never have drunk from that cup."
"I'm afraid that's not the point," Commander Douglas replied. "It's the law. There's nothing about not knowing, or not intending to give the impression. Perhaps there should be, but there isn't. I'll try and get it revised- next session. But I'm afraid that for the time being it is the law, and you will have to face trial. As commander of the base I act as magistrate, with full powers to enforce the law." She looked around at the travellers. "Even capital punishment, if I deem it necessary."
Ruth and the others could see that Patrick was panicking, unsurprisingly. They were shocked too. Commander Douglas called on Mondeo to tell her side of the story, and then called some of the others who had been digging the tunnel to corroborate her statement that Patrick had accepted the cup and shared it with her. Then she asked Patrick for his version of events. Stumblingly, he told the story.
"Then you don't deny that you drank from the cup?" Commander Douglas asked as he finished.
"I drank from it," he said, "but if I had known about the law I wouldn't have."
"The point is that the law has been broken," the commander said. "Either you marry Mondeo- if she will have you- or I will have to inflict a suitable penalty on you." Patrick flinched, and looked from her to Mondeo, who was smiling nastily, knowing that she had won. Then he looked over at his friends, pleading with them to help him. They looked at one another, and some whispering went on. Then Ernest stood up and climbed onto the stage. He had been training to be a lawyer, back on earth, although it didn't seem as if that would help him much here.
"The law may have been broken," he said, "but you're forgetting one thing. She offered him the cup. She knew that he didn't know the law, but she still tried to get him to drink without telling him. That suggests to me that she was trying to trick him."
The girl's smile disappeared and was replaced by a look of hatred that was eloquence itself. Commander Douglas looked thoughtful. Ruth thought that Ernest might have gone some way towards convincing her.
"I loved him," Mondeo broke out suddenly. "Lots of men had made suggestions to me in the past, had tried to chat me up- virtually the whole base here has tried it at one time or another. But I never loved them. He was different- he was nice. And I loved him- but he betrayed me. I want justice!"
The story continues...
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