The Many Deaths of Hang Jebat The Many Deaths of Hang Jebat
Fighting was hard, but dying was easy. When the Taming Sari went into Jebat's side he did not even feel pain, just shock that it was finally happening.
Somehow there seemed to be a lot of time to while away between getting killed and dying. Without his input, Jebat's brain began to present for his consideration scenes of his life up to the fatal blow.
His mother: "If you don't stop getting into fights I'm going to whack you so hard your children will have bruises!"
His father: "At least with fishing you are only at the mercy of God. If you want to work at the palace, watch out. Men are more slippery than fish."
More recent images, racing past his mind's eye: the cicak running across the floor the day they'd told him Tuah was dead — the river bobbing with corpses — the shapely behinds of the dayang-dayang, and his hand rising up to touch them —
A thought began to emerge in Jebat's mind, like a crocodile bobbing out of murky water.
Was it possible that his conduct had not been entirely correct?
Could it be, in fact, that he had been kind of a jerk?
There was only one person whose counsel he could trust in every situation.
"Tuah," he slurred. "Are you there?"
Tuah's concerned face appeared out of the encroaching darkness.
"Tuah," Jebat repeated.
Forgive me, he wanted to say. It's just occurred to me that I might have made some mistakes.
Tuah put his arms around him with wonderful gentleness. "I'm going to take you away from all this."
He understood! This was why they were comrades — no, brothers. This was why they always made it up even if one of them did something obnoxious like wrecking the palace or murdering the other —
"You're getting blood on the Sultan's floor," said Tuah tenderly.
hugestjeb is online.
hugestjeb: hey bro
tman: Hey, Jebat. I was just emailing you.
hugestjeb: did u see i got d scepter of righteousness
hugestjeb: damn power man
tman: Jebat, I don't know how to say this …
tman: Sultanofawesome wants to kick you out of the Guild.
hugestjeb: fuck him
hugestjeb: eh why dun we take over d guild
hugestjeb: show sultan hes not d only one who can pwn dragons
tman: I agree with Sultan.
hugestjeb: wat do u mean
tman: After what happened at paintball last week, I don't think you can be trusted.
tman: In the game or IRL.
hugestjeb: wtf man
hugestjeb: just bc i paintballed sultan? i did it for u!
hugestjeb: he let you go out there n get slaughtered!
tman: That was part of the plan, Jebat!
tman: It was a sacrifice I was willing to make for the team!
tman: You don't get the importance of teamwork.
hugestjeb: wat r u talking about, im like d biggest team player out there
tman: More like player full stop! How could you hit on Sultan's girlfriend at the LARP session?
hugestjeb: wat to do, d girls cant resist this giant jeb
tman: That's another thing, we're all sick of you using "Jeb" to mean "penis".
tman: It was funny when we were 16. Not now we're 30.
hugestjeb: big words from a man who spends his nites pretending to be a goblin
tman: At least I'm a goblin with a Guild.
hugestjeb: i know wat this is about
hugestjeb: u luuuuuv sultan
hugestjeb: ur trying to impress him~
tman: Whatever, man.
hugestjeb: watever u homo
tman: You shouldn't use words like "homo", it's homophobic.
hugestjeb: ur homophobic
hugestjeb: ur mom is homophobic
tman: Well, she is, actually.
hugestjeb: i bet she is
hugestjeb: i bet u n her are homophobic every nite
hugestjeb: IN BED
tman: I'm gonna block you now, man.
You will no longer receive messages from hugestjeb.
"I tried to avoid this," said Tuah.
Jebat couldn't get the notice to make sense no matter how many times he read it. He and Tuah had set it up so they couldn't get fired, even after Mansur had bought his 30% shareholding. There was no way Mansur could force Jebat to resign — unless Tuah had been in on it.
"We built this company together," said Jebat.
Tuah shook his head. "You shouldn't have pakat with Siam Berhad. What were you thinking, trying to force a hostile takeover?"
"I did it so we don't need to take hand-outs from Mansur!"
"Mansur was the one who believed in us in the first place," said Tuah. "If not for his investment we'd still be selling rusty keris in Amcorp Mall."
"He untung what," said Jebat. "He's a rich man now! And after all you did for him he still has the nerve to reprimand you because some useless fella went gossiping to him. What kind of guy is he?"
"He's the boss," said Tuah. But he wasn't there for a discussion. The decision was made. He stood up, already looking at his BlackBerry. "We'll keep paying your salary for the next three months, but Mansur wants you to clear out your office today."
He paused.
"I'm sorry," he said.
This was our dream — but Jebat didn't need to say it. They'd been friends since they were kids. Tuah knew, and that made it worse.
The fight choreographer had taught them how to fall, but Jebat could never get the hang of it. This time in dying he hurt his shoulder and yelped, ruining the take.
"Can we take a break?" said Tuah.
He helped Jebat up, no trace of reproach in his smile. Tuah was perfectly cast: the frank gaze and dimples that had helped him win Idola translated beautifully to Zaman Kegemilangan Melaka. His personality lived up to the face. In every respect he was the perfect Malay male.
Keep it clean, Jebat. Jebat's sexuality was an open secret in the industry, but every once in a while he thought he'd like to host a cooking show or try being a pop star, so he could never quite make up his mind to come out. As long as he had plausible deniability he could keep having dinner with his parents every evening.
"Sorry," said Jebat.
"We're all tired already," said Tuah.
That smile again! Who wanted to be a celebrity chef anyway? There were other things to do. Other countries to live in, where men could hold hands, get married, adopt tiny little children —
"Bro!"
Tuah's face brightened. "Eh, Mansur! Thought you're not working today?"
"Arsenal playing Man U today, remember? We all going mamak." Mansur jerked his asshole head at his asshole Porsche. "Belum habis ke?"
Tuah's shoulders slumped. "Still shooting lah, bro." He looked like a little boy who's been told he can't go to the zoo.
Mansur looked at Jebat as if he suspected it was his fault. "Call me when you're done lah."
Tuah watched, all shiny-eyed, while Mansur drove off.
"Those two bromance betul," remarked a dayang-dayang.
"Who asked you?" snapped Jebat.
Nobody'd really believed Tuah would shoot. A stunned silence descended when the glow of his phaser faded.
"How can?" Lekiu burst out abruptly.
Jebat's body lay limp on the floor. Kasturi dropped to his knees beside him.
"You agreed to be part of the execution force what," said Tuah, in a toneless voice. He powered his phaser off and holstered it.
"The sentence was wrong!" said Lekir. "You know Captain bribed the judge. Jebat was just trying to protect this planet."
"Jebat killed people," said Tuah. "That's a breach of the Intergalactic Code. He's not the guy we knew in starship academy anymore."
"Even a criminal deserves due process," said Lekir. "What more our friend."
"The Tuah we knew in starship academy wouldn't have killed Jebat," said Lekiu.
"He didn't," said Kasturi.
Lekiu and Lekir shut up. Kasturi looked up, his eyes round.
"There's no pulse," he said. "But my med-scanner's registering brain activity."
Tuah looked alarmed for the first time. "Shit, really? I put him in slow-time! Damn the fella, even at a time like this must be difficult. Why can't he just go down easy for once?"
"If he's really in slow-time, brain activity should be fading out soon," said Kasturi. "Sometimes it takes a while — ah."
The jagged line on his med-scanner went flat.
Tuah blew out a sigh of relief.
"OK, settle," he said. He looked at his colleagues — friends, comrades whose faces he still remembered round with baby fat.
"You all are right. The trial was rigged. But Jebat did wrong too. It doesn't matter if he killed those officers to protect this planet. Mutiny is a crime. Murder is a crime."
He bent over his oldest friend. Jebat's face was already going grey in slow-time, a state so similar to death it required cutting-edge technology to tell the difference. Technology they didn't have anywhere on the planet, or even anywhere in the solar system.
"Why couldn't you just go to the press like all the other activists," Tuah muttered. He straightened up. "But he deserves a fair trial. Not to be shot down like a dog. There's no way he'd survive in this political climate. But if he can wait it out 10, 20 years, we can make sure he's judged fairly then."
"You got slow-time pod to keep him in?" said Lekir.
Only the fabulously wealthy could afford the luxury of life extension. A slow-time pod cost as much as a starship. Without it a person put into slow-time would die within a few days.
"I sold Captain's antique keris collection," said Tuah.
Awe fell on the assembled group.
"You're definitely not the Tuah we knew," said Lekiu.
Tuah grinned. "Eh, even Tuah can change, OK."