The atmosphere at the breakfast table was strained. Vima looked as if she hadn’t slept. Wilfred was cranky, picking up on his mother’s mood. James held him and watched his wife with pity in his eyes.
None of us said much and we chose to walk to the court. Wilfred went to sleep in the pram.
The courtroom had none of the drama of the day before. None of the accused was present; instead, they were televised from the New Plymouth court. The elite group who’d escaped on the boat were brought in one by one. The charges for each were the same: torture, murder, rape, manufacturing and distributing disease pathogens, kidnap, enslavement, theft, misuse of scarce resources and misuse of the internet. None of them would speak. None of them would give their names. Guards led them out of the court.
Callie relaxed when she no longer had to look at them.
The work group who’d captured me were next. They were all accused of aiding and abetting their leader to do harm to the population of Aotearoa by means of creating and releasing virulent pathogens. Unlike their leaders, they were keen to talk. And all of them pleaded not guilty.
One by one, the men and women gave their account of the cruelty of those who wielded power over them. They told of the retribution brought down on them if they rebelled in the slightest way. ‘We were lowly slaves,’ said a man with half an ear gone. ‘We had no right to take the law into our own hands.’
‘Were any of the women punished?’ Judge Maliano asked.
The oldest woman said, ‘My name is Chiquita Sanchez. We women were very careful. We made sure we did exactly what they ordered us to. We knew what they did to women who broke the slightest rule.’
A silence fell over both courts. None of the five judges looked as if they wanted to hear more. Then Judge Maliano sighed. ‘They would be raped?’
Chiquita Sanchez bowed her head. ‘Yes. It was bad. Public. Humiliating. I do not want to speak of it. The woman it happened to killed herself. She jumped into the river the next day as we crossed it to get to the work fields. We were glad she was free.’ She looked around for me. ‘We were horrified when Juno arrived. We feared for her. We knew what Secondus intended. We knew the elite were looking forward to what would happen.’ She gave a little laugh. ‘None of it went as we’d expected. Juno fought them. She saved herself, she saved her sister and she saved us.’
I felt sick, and deeply glad I hadn’t known any of this.
The court adjourned for lunch. I walked shakily over to my Taris friends, and we made our way to the waterfront to eat. I still felt sick.
Shallym pushed a sandwich into my hand. ‘Eat it. You’re safe.’
‘Think of those you saved,’ said Zill, Sina’s mother.
Vima put Wilfred on my lap. ‘Hold him with one hand and eat with the other.’
When Wilfred made a grab for my hair, I couldn’t help but laugh. I started eating too.
Shallym held out her arms. ‘Can I hold Jovan, Sina?’ She took him and kissed his head. ‘Hello, gorgeous boy.’
The babies were a perfect distraction. Vima and Jov were sitting as far away from each other as they could. The rest of us tried to act as though the air wasn’t singing with tension as we discussed the trial.
James said, ‘Have you guys joined the dots yet?’
Jidda gave a dramatic shiver. ‘I’m trying not to.’
Biddo stretched out on a bench. ‘Not going to think about that till the trial’s over.’
Jov said, ‘You’re talking about Taris? About how that Children of the Coming Dawn set-up could have been us?’
Vima nodded, looking towards him but not at him. ‘I want to know who the five were who wouldn’t let Bradwell Zagan be the supreme leader. Were they our five Governance Companions, or was it a different five altogether?’
All of us looked at Camnoon. He was his usual serene self, but his eyes smiled at us. ‘I thought you would want to know. Sooner or later. Two of them were me and Sofia Preston, whom of course you all knew as Fisa.’
Fisa, my genetic mother.
‘And,’ Camnoon went on, ‘a young man called Benedict Nixon, whom you knew as Nixie. The other two were people you don’t know. Ellory O’Fee, an older man who was an expert atmospheric technician. The final one was a young man called Abraham Lucas.’
I jumped as if the name had stung me. ‘My genetic father? That Abraham Lucas?’
Camnoon smiled at me. ‘Yes. Your genetic father. He and Sofia – Fisa – argued fiercely about everything except the leadership of Taris. They didn’t like each other. Sofia joked that she’d stayed on Taris simply because he didn’t want to.’ He watched me for a moment as I tried to get my head around this new shock. ‘He was a good man, Juno. Very bright. Very determined and opinionated. It looks as though he’s mellowed now.’
‘You mean he’s still alive?’ Shallym demanded. I couldn’t have got a single word out.
‘I believe so,’ Camnoon said. ‘I saw a publication of his online, dated a week ago. He writes these days about how to teach mathematics, as well as about the universe. Very interesting.’
That afternoon I found it difficult to keep my mind on the trial, not that my lack of concentration mattered. Nothing else was revealed that shocked or surprised us.
The judges called an adjournment mid-afternoon, and after a short break they delivered their verdicts.
Callie and the workers were exonerated and free to go. All those in the elite group, none of whom would talk or give their names, were convicted and imprisoned.
The trial was over, much sooner that anyone had expected.
‘That’s what happens if the accused keep silent and you’ve got no idea who they are,’ the D.I. said as she came to say goodbye. ‘Enjoy a few days’ holiday, Juno. You’ve earned it.’
‘What’s the betting people are going to start flooding the police website, naming the people who wouldn’t speak,’ Vima said.
‘Did that happen with those who were arrested after the bomb blast?’ Shallym asked. ‘They weren’t even on telly except when they got arrested, but they all had their faces covered.’
Jov smiled at her. ‘The pandemic broke out right after that. Their trial wasn’t even reported in the news media. Quarantine regs and all that.’
Media people waited outside the court, jostling each other out of the way as they rushed towards us, shouting out questions. ‘Who … Are you … What do …?’
James stepped in front of me, fending them off. ‘Give the girl a chance.’ When they’d quietened, he said, ‘You want to say anything, Juno?’
I just said I was relieved it was all over.
Camnoon had the final word, his dignity putting paid to further questions. ‘We of Taris believe that now we can live in peace in Aotearoa. It is the wish of all 500 of us to be good citizens and to ensure that the sacrifices made to bring us here were justified.’
They let us go.
We took our favourite route through the city, along the waterfront. I stretched out my arms to the wind, letting the tensions of the past few days blow away.
Camnoon called us to a halt. ‘One moment, my people.’ He waited as we huddled closer to catch his words before they were snatched by the wind. He looked at Vima, then at Jov, and said with great compassion, ‘My children, this idea of throwing you together is hard on you, and it is hard on your partners.’
This wasn’t what we’d expected. I dreaded to hear what he’d say next. But he was speaking to Vima and Jov, not to the rest of us.
‘I believe it is the right thing to do. The difficult things often are. Do this with all your energy.’ He gave them the glimmer of a smile. ‘Right now, you are both enduring, wishing this part of your lives to pass. Do the work, my children, and reap what harvest may come.’
James put his arm around his wife, who stood rooted to the spot. ‘He’s right, Vima,’ James said. ‘How about you and Jov take the babies. We’ll go on ahead. We’ll see you at the Centre when you’re ready.’
Sina handed her son to his father. She was crying and she seemed to be bracing herself for an ordeal to come.
I kept my eyes on the ground. I’d imagined a gradual process – regular picnics or some sort of gathering on neutral ground where they could work out how to be at ease with each other. I hoped Camnoon knew what he was about. As far as we knew, he had never married. What did a monk know about love?
James touched my arm. ‘Shall we go?’
I started walking. Jov would be able to hold Wilfred, see him properly for the first time. And Vima would have to hold her son’s half-brother. ‘That was cruel and kind,’ I said, half to myself.
But James heard. ‘She was killing herself slowly. The whole thing’s been eating away at Sina too. All six of us need a resolution, whatever it turns out to be.’
Have you heard? After they listened to the charges, Sheen and Zanin couldn’t believe Juno and Hera hadn’t been harmed. Oban told them he was certain they hadn’t been.
Have you heard? Trebe says if Bradwell Zagan had stayed on Taris, it wouldn’t have survived after the crisis because he wouldn’t let his slaves be educated.
Have you seen? The police website’s already got dozens of responses identifying those people.