Act II

Scene I

"Tell me, Mr. Brady, what do you think of the Emperor himself watching the trial?" Arvis is in full reporter mode.

"Truth be told, I don't think about it too much," says Brady. "I work directly under him, so I see him quite a bit. Still have to be reverent, of course, but it doesn't affect my work. When you're as loyal to the Emperor as I am, you worship him in everything you do, and it makes your work better instead of worse."

"Do you expect it to have any effect on the outcome of the case?"

"Heavens, no. It's open and shut in favor of the prosecution anyway, so there's no room for improvement." Brady chuckles grimly. "Though it's a nice, visible warning to my legal opponent and the jury in case anyone has too much sympathy for the defendant."

"What do you mean by that?"

"June Cole is a traitor. We all knew that from before we even got here. With Emperor Gestahl watching us, we'll all be reminded constantly that helping a traitor, or voting a traitor innocent, is itself a capital crime."

"Should we presume the guilt of the defendant before it is established? What about the law? What about due process?"

"The Emperor is the law. His word is due process."

Arvis blinks before he writes this last bit down.

"I see."

"And when this trial is over, the whole world will see just how important the Emperor's holy word is. You, as a newsman, will make sure of this."

"Oh, I shall. Don't worry about that."

"Good. Well, then, I'm off to meet with Reverend Gillis. There's a prayer meeting dedicated to me over in the park."

"I'll come, too. I'm here on a press pass, and I don't intend to miss any part of the show."

XXX

Gillis's face is flushed.

"Back in those days, the entire cosmos was dark and formless. There was nothing, until Emperor Gestahl spake the universe into existence. The clouds gathered, the waters congregated, the mountains shook, and the universe took form, like the corpse of a dragon. Verily, I say unto you, he who believeth not in the holy origins of our universe, wrought by the mighty right hand of Gestahl Almighty, shall be cast into the pit."

Locke and Rachel stand with Arvis, watching the preacher, half expecting foam to drip from his mouth. Arvis scribbles some notes. Locke angrily tosses a pebble into the trees.

"Locke!" Rachel caresses his hand. "Don't do something you'll regret."

"Listen to him. The maniac. Arvis, are you writing this all down?"

"I'm getting it. I don't know how much will make it into my final column, but there should be enough to make things interesting. Yesterday's certainly caused a stir."

"Wow," says Rachel. "Those carrier pigeons are getting faster all the time."

"I didn't send it out by carrier pigeon this time."

Rachel blew back a strand of her dark hair. "I know you didn't use a ship."

"Nope, I sent my draft to Figaro by telegraph."

"Telegraph?"

"New technology. Should make pigeons obsolete within a few years, if it catches on. Then all they'll be good for is eating."

"Eww." Rachel's face tells the other two that she doesn't catch the joke.

Arvis motions for her to let him listen to Gillis some more, so she obliges.

Gillis continues ranting and raving. "And let those who are traitors, and those who harbor traitors, and those who support traitors, and those who have sympathy for traitors and heathens and sinners be forever cast out of the presence of our holy Emperor. For it is decreed that they suffer the pain of a thousand deaths. All praise be to our Emperor, who is holy and just!"

"Amen!" say various people in the crowd.

"Do we revere our Emperor?" says Gillis.

"We do!" says the crowd.

"Do we worship him even unto death?"

"We do!"

"Do we condemn this traitor, even as our Emperor wills us to condemn her?"

"We do!"

"Do we wish the same torment of a thousand deaths on all foolish enough to disagree with the holy Emperor's divine will?"

"We do! Amen!"

"Amen, indeed, bretheren. And the Emperor is pleased with our loyalty. He shall bless us with his infinite kindness. May death come swiftly to his enemies!"

"May death come swiftly to his enemies!"

Locke hacks and spits at the ground.

XXX

Back in the courthouse, Clarence Drummond is having a few words with June Cole.

"Mr. Drummond, do we have any chance?"

"With the Emperor here, you mean?"

"Yes, that's what I mean. Did you see him? Who's going to vote me innocent with that demon staring on the whole time?"

"I'm going to do the best I can. If this trial is fair, I should be able to get you off."

"But I did technically violate the law."

"It's a law that was just made up. It probably conflicts with other laws. Maybe we can make a case that you were just following those earlier laws."

"Maybe. I don't really know the nitty gritty of it that well."

"It's our best shot. And it's a stupid law. Shouldn't be on the books at all."

"You don't revere the Emperor at all, do you?"

"That old coot? Of course not. He's not a god. Gestahl only presents himself as a god so he can justify raising taxes."

"Yes, the taxes have been going up, but nobody dares complain."

"You complained."

"I always taught my students there were two sides to every story. Gestahl's version of how the world began is not the only one. My pupils have the right to believe something more sensible than the Emperor's fairy tales."

"Did you know that all the educated people at the universities agree with you? Everyone who has studied biology believes in Evolution. I've talked to quite a few of them myself. They reject the fairy tales, but Gestahl has them too frightened to say anything in public anymore."

"That's horrible."

"How old is the textbook you're using?"

"Textbook?"

"The biology book. The one you're using to teach your kids Evolution."

"Thirty years, I think."

"Back then, people were still allowed to speak their minds. Scientific advances were allowed for people not involved with Gestahl's military. Someone had to write the book, right?"

"Of course."

"Thirty years ago was before Gestahl became drunk with power."

"Now I can't even teach what's in my textbooks for fear of committing a thought crime."

"He can't have the kids growing up learning how to think critically, can he? If they are anything other than mindless drones, they might question his rule."

"I shudder to think what the world would be like if everyone in it were just like Reverend Gillis."

"What a pathetic man. He's dedicated himself to a fiction. An elaborate one, true, but all he cares about is keeping it alive, and he gets angry at anyone who doesn't share in his fiction."

"He doesn't think my son is good enough for his daughter, but I think he's got to be a good influence on her, compulsive treasure hunter or not."

"From what I've heard about your son, he's likely to become a great man. He doesn't let Gestahl tell him how to think, and that means he's doing his part to make the future better than the present."

"Those words are very kind and comforting to me."

"I haven't even told you how brave you are, have I? You're perhaps the only one willing to think in public. Even when thinking is a crime, you don't let it stop you."

"I'm very flattered, Mr. Drummond."

"I'm not quite sure yet, but I think you could be even more influential than any of us here can guess now. Your arrest could mark the beginning of the end for Gestahl."

"How?"

"I don't know. I really don't. But I think it's something worth hoping for."

"What I'm hoping for is to go free."

"And what I'm hoping for is a world in which you can."

End Scene I

Scene II

The trial is as much a spectacle as anyone could have expected. Hundreds of people more than the fire code permits crowd the courthouse, including the lawyers, witnesses, dignitaries, and interested political figures. Some enterprising Kohlingenian youths have printed out programs identifying the major players in the trial; most of these end up being used as fans for sweltering spectators.

The sights are impressive, but the sounds don't quite match up. For all the people gathered, everything is eerily quiet and has been since the Emperor took his seat alongside his generals. Every child in the area has been warned by both parents not to do or say anything out of line for fear of the wrath of God, who has stopped by to take in the event. Only the very youngest children don't get the message, and they're not in attendance. Everyone else has had fear of the Emperor drilled into their heads from such a young age that they find nothing easier than sitting still and being quiet while he's watching.

Even Arvis is on his best bahavior, as far as anyone else can tell. He restricts his conversations with those parties he finds interesting to what he can pass on scrap paper notes, and he's very careful even with these. In order not to cause a stir or risk having a message intercepted, he is sitting in the general audience, rather than with the other newsmen. He seems nearly as engrossed in what his neighbor, Edgar Roni Figaro, has to say as he is in the trial. It is not immediately obvious whether he is more impressed by the content of Edgar's notes or by the fact that Edgar is writing them with a mechanical pen.

Locke sits with Ward and Rachel, looking worried yet secretly running the tip of his finger along the blade of a knife he has strapped to the inside of his jacket. Rachel's arm is around him in a vain attempt to calm him down. Ward has been giving the evil eye to just about everyone he sees.

Doctor Banon sits with the other witnesses, waiting to be called. His mind is on Clarence Drummond and the things is has prepared to say. Waiting for the trial to start is like sitting in a raft about to run through the rapids on the Lete River. He has only a vague idea of what to expect, but he knows ever word that will be spoken that day will be vitally important. In the back of his mind, he dreads his turn at the stand, when he is certain his career will take a hit. All for freedom, he reminds himself.

William J. Brady is quite possibly the happiest person in the room. He idly drums his fingers on his table as he waits for everything to begin, supremely confident that he will win. His biggest worry is what food should be served at the victory party, whether he will look good for his admirers when he marches out of the room after the verdict is delivered, and whether or not Gestahl will give him a bonus. The possibility of losing has not even crossed his mind.

Drummond is sweating, and not just because of the heat. He can almost feel the responsibility of being a voice for liberty crushing his back. That and the uncomfortable wooden chair he has been given are enough of a distraction that he almost forgets what he is there for. The urge to quit and go home is strong but not strong enough. Sitting beside him is a good, kind woman whose only crime is thinking for herself, and he owes it to her to do his best whether he feels in perfect health or not. And he is working not just for her, but also for any number of people who might be inspired by June Cole's courage. He sifts through his notes one last time.

XXX

Brady prowls the front of the courtroom. Benny, at the witness stand, more cowers than sits as he endures Brady's line of questioning.

"Tell us, young Master Benny, what exactly did Mrs. Cole teach you in biology class?"

"Lots of things."

"What did she teach you about Evolution?"

"She taught us what scientists learned. We is related to the apes, and they used to be other kinds of animals, and if you go back millions of years, everything lived in the ocean as bacteramums. Bacteriums."

"And what did you learn in church?"

"Reverend Brown told us that God created everything a thousand years ago."

"Did Mrs. Cole ever mention God when she told you where you came from?"

"No, sir, just monkeys."

"You hear that? All this talk of 'Evil-ution' and not hide nor hair of a mention of God, our glorious Emperor! I'm sure everyone here who can hear the sound of this young boy's voice is moved by the tragedy of his confusion. He has been taught that he came up from the muck as a disgusting little bug. He has been stripped of his dignity as a servant of our glorious Emperor. He has been poisoned, and oh, what a poison! Whether in bottles or in books, we must label our poisons. I tell you, if June Cole is not found guilty, this boy could grow up to be part of a degenerate next generation, immoral, based, and debauched, and reared only on godless science. But if the full penalty of the law is meted out to Mrs. Cole, then the faithful the world over, who are carefully following this trial, will call this courtroom blessed!"

The room erupts into applause. The Emperor's vassal has delivered a crushing blow already, and everyone knows it. Only a select few in the audience remain unmoved, among them Locke and the Emperor's entourage.

"Your witness, sir." Brady winks at Drummond, who rises from his seat and lurches toward the stand.

"Benny, I heard you say lots of interesting things about the origin of species. Where did Mrs. Cole reference all this? Where did she get the ideas?"

"From a book," Benny says.

"Which book?"

"I suppose one Mr. Darwin wrote."

"And how do you feel about what Darwin said? Do you think it's right or wrong?"

"Objection!" Brady jumps up. "You're asking a mere boy a question of morality. How is he supposed to know about such things?"

"I am trying to establish that this boy, or Mrs. Cole, or Darwin, or you yourself, or anyone here, has the right to think!"

"The right to think is not on trial here," says Judge Lovett.

"With all due respect to the bench, the right to think is at the very core of this case. It's in danger. I'd go so far as to say it's on trial."

"A woman is on trial today,"corrects Lovett.

"A thinking woman. And she is threatened with death – death! -- because she dares speak what she thinks."

"Please rephrase your question, then."

"Fine. Benny, has any of this information about Evolution harmed you any?"

"Beg pardon, sir?"

"Has Evolution hurt you any? Do you still feel healthy? Your pitching arm still okay?" Drummond pokes Benny's right arm.

"No, sir, though I'm a southpaw."

"Indeed. Still honor your father and mother?"

"I do, sir."

"Steal anything today? Murder anybody?"

"Objection!" says Dennis Martel.

"Sustained," says Judge Lovett.

Drummond shrugs.

"Why don't you ask him if his faith in the holy word of the Emperor has been shaken?" Brady smirks.

"When I need your invaluable help, Mr. Brady, I shall ask you for it. In the meantime, Benny, do you believe everything you heard from Mrs. Cole?"

"I don't know yet," says Benny. "I have to think it over."

"Good for you," says Drummond. "That will be all."

"The witness is excused," says Lovett. "Next witness, please."

"Will Miss Lilly Wiess please come to the witness stand?" says Dennis Martel.

A girl who looks to be somewhere in her mid twenties marches out from the crowd. Locke recognizes her as a teacher at the elementary school.

"Miss Wiess," says Brady, "can you say you know the defendant well enough to give us a fair account of her character?"

"I've seen her often enough at the school that I would think I ought to be able to."

"And would you say she is very devoted to our divine Emperor?"

"No more so than anyone else, I don't believe."

"Have you ever heard her say anything that could indicate she is anything less than perfectly loyal?"

"I have, sir."

"Please tell this court what you heard."

"I heard her telling some of the other faculty in the teacher's lounge that she thought the Emperor had too much power."

Murmurs ripple through the crowd at this revelation. Drummond groans.

Brady sneers. "Sounds like something a traitor would say. What, exactly, did she say?"

"She told a joke so blasphemous that I am afraid to repeat it."

"Your Honor, I request special dispensation for the witness to repeat the joke."

"Granted," says Lovett.

"Okay, then," says Brady.

Wiess sighs. "She said that some policy or other was..." The teacher coughs. "She said it was another example of the Emperor having no clothes on."

No one laughs. A few brave souls dare to look up at Gestahl's seat to see if he has any sort of reaction and are relieved to see that he remains expressionless.

"Your Honor," says Brady, "this woman is clearly a traitor. She has a history of being a traitor, and she is bringing up a generation of blasphemous young scamps who will overturn the peace when they are old enough to become violent revolutionaries. This must be stopped."

The audience cheers again. June Cole sinks low in her seat.

XXX

"I never said that," June whispers to Drummond. "I never told that joke. She's lying."

"I should have known," says Drummond. "Paid off, maybe? Or does she just not like you?"

"Paid, I'll bet. I hardly know her."

"I have an idea. Bear with me. We might win this yet."

XXX

Judge Lovett speaks. "Would the defense like to cross examine the witness?"

"Certainly, Your Honor," says Drummond. He straightens his necktie and approaches the stand.

"Miss Wiess, you say you know the defendant, Mrs. Cole, quite well. Do you stand by your statement?"

"Of course I do."

"You know Mrs. Cole from school?"

"I see her every day. I have lunch with her on occasion. I can say with conviction that I know her very well."

"So you know Mrs. Cole that well, eh? Please help me out. I just met her recently, and I seem to have forgotten her first name. What was it, again?"

Lilly Wiess's face tightens up, as if she's just been slapped. "I, uh... It's, uh..."

"This court doesn't have all day, Miss Wiess. If you know Mrs. Cole that well, you ought to know her name. Perhaps you know her only as 'Mrs. Cole'because you have no personal relationship with her at all. Perhaps you are not in a position to say anything about her character."

"I – I, uh, it's, uh..."

"Do you not know her name?"

Drummond makes a mistake. He stares intently at the witness without paying any attention to the prosecution's table, where Brady is scrawling a name onto a slip of paper and holding it up for Lilly Wiess to see.

"It's June. Sorry, my mind went blank for a moment. These trials, they're so stressful."

A look of disappointment falls over Drummond's face.

"Are you sure about that? It took you a while to get her name. How do we know you're not playing games with us?"

"I swear I'm not."

"Perjury is a crime, you know."

"I know."

"So you remember the defendant. You remember this joke she allegedly told you."

"I remember it like it was yesterday."

"Which policy was it?"

"Excuse me?"

"Which Imperial policy was Mrs. Cole – June – criticizing?"

"It was..."

"Do you even remember?"

"Yes, I said I remembered like it was yesterday."

"Then what was it?"

"Last year's tax hike."

"You swear it was?"

"Yes, I swear."

"And what was your reaction to Mrs. Cole's statement?"

"I told her she was wrong to doubt our glorious Emperor, and she had best not speak blasphemies again."

"What was the context of the remark, again?"

"We were gathered around the paper, reading about the news and discussing it. When we began reading about the tax increase, Mrs. Cole expressed a lack of faith in the Emperor for raising our taxes."

"Are you aware, Miss Wiess, that perjury is a crime?" Drummond says it with a bit more vinegar in his voice this time. Lilly Wiess turns pale.

"I am aware."

"Are you aware that last year's tax hike was authorized by the local government, as the newspaper you claim to have been reading would have reported? Are you aware that, seeing as how the Emperor had no involvement with this particular issue, Mrs. Cole would not have criticized him. Not even the worst of traitors could have!"

"I swear she said just what I said she said!"

"As a teacher, you should know the old children's story about the emperor, completely unrelated to Emperor Gestahl, who was tricked by deceitful tailors pandering to his vanity into cavorting around his kingdom stark naked. I submit that if Mrs. Cole did indeed utter the phrase you claim she uttered, and your lack of credibility throws even that into doubt, then she was clearly referring to the fairy tale and not Emperor Gestahl. Your charges of treason ring hollow. How much were you paid to testify against my client?"

Lilly Wiess turns pale. Most of the audience seems to be talking over the latest developments. Brady chomps down hard on the end of his quill pen.

"That's all we need from the witness," says Drummond.

"You are dismissed," says Lovett. "Next witness."

"Your Honor," says Drummond, "the defense would like to call to the stand Doctor Glenn Banon."

"I object," says Brady.

"On what grounds?" says Lovett.

"I wish to know what possible relevance the testimony of a doctor can have in this trial."

Drummond fires back, "What relevance couldn't it have? This woman is on trial for teaching a theory, so testimony about that theory ought to be admissible. After all, how can you rule on something you know nothing about?"

"The doctor's knowledge has nothing to do with the law," says Brady.

"If this were a case of someone shot, I'm certain you would have no problem with a ballistics expert coming in to talk to us about bullets."

"But I won't allow you to parade a bunch of heathen scientists in front of this court to put their blasphemies on display. The very act of having them testify goes against the spirit of the law and acts to corrupt our youth."

"So you feel perfectly comfortable talking about something you know nothing about?"

"I do, when I know that it is evil already."

"You politicians. All the same."

"Order," says the judge. "I rule the testimony of Doctor Banon inadmissible. Next witness, please."

"Okay, then. Professor Igor Stanovich of the Zoology department at Figaro University."

"Objection," says Brady.

"Sustained."

"Then how about Professor Ziegfried Kohl?"

"Objection."

"Sustained."

"So all these world class scientists, whom I have brought here at great expense and inconvenience, and who know the subject better than any of us, cannot even be heard by those hammering out whether a line of thought ought to be legal?"

"You've heard the explanation," says Lovett. "Pipe down. Any more witnesses?"

"I – request a fifteen minute recess, Your Honor."

"Granted."

Fifteen minutes to make or break the case. To June Cole, they are the longest fifteen minutes the world has ever seen.

XXX

"Your Honor," says Drummond, "since you will not permit testimony from those who are experts on Evolution on account of it supposedly corrupting our youth, would you admit testimony from an expert on the Imperial Bible? Surely that cannot be said to be corrupting at all."

"I would permit that," says Lovett.

"All right, then," says Drummond. "I call to the stand a man who, at least in his own mind, is one of the leading authorities on the Bible and on the Emperor, Mr. William J. Brady!"

The crowd is dead silent, almost as if it has been grabbed from behind by a mugger and is in the process of being choked to death.

"This is preposterous!" says Dennis Martel. "Unheard of!"

Lovett looks confused. "This is, I say, unorthodox. I do not believe I have ever heard of the prosecuting attorney being called as a witness."

"If the interests of justice can be served though my testimony, then I have no objects," says Brady.

"If you do not wish to testify for your opponent," says Lovett, "then I do not require it."

"I wish to."

Drummond's confidence level rises. "Mr. Brady, would you say you are an expert on the Bible?"

"I think it not boastful to say that I have studied the Bible as much as any layman, and I make every effort to live according to the divine precepts of Emperor Gestahl."

"Bully for you. Now, would you say you could quote chapter and verse from the official Imperial version?"

"I have committed much of the Holy Scriptures to memory."

"Can you quote to me from Darwin's Origin of Species?"

"I have no desire either to read or memorize any of that heathen trash."

"Then why in perdition do you have the gall to drum up a holy war against it? You haven't even read it! You assume it's evil. You assume everyone who believes it is evil. You assume everything, and you don't know anything."

"Would you please rephrase the question? I'm not sure I get your meaning."

Drummond pulls out a copy of Darwin's book. "It says here on page thirty that..."

"Objection! You're just using another route to get this heathen filth into our courtroom."

Lovett scolds Drummond. "Keep your questions to matters of the Bible."

"Fine, then. Mr. Brady, tell us, do you believe each and every word of the Imperial Bible?"

"To the letter, I do."

"Then how do you explain the creation passage? The one you want to be the only thing taught in schools. It says there that in the beginning, everything was formless, but it also says that there were rivers and mountains. How do you reconcile those two things?"

"Faith, Drummond, which you seem to lack."

"Thinking, which you seem to lack, rules out accepting a literal reading of two contradictory passages. What about where it says the entire world was flooded? Did that happen?"

"The Holy Imperial Bible says so, so I accept it."

"Funny how all those meat eating critters didn't starve within a couple meals of everything else in the world dying. Funny how not an educated person in the world can accept a recent worldwide flood as accounting for the very uneven distribution of species throughout the world."

"You lack faith."

"I think. I want to be free to think. Isn't that what separates us from all other animals? The behemoth is stronger. The chocobo is faster. The moogle dances better. Even the cactrot is more durable. What other merit do we have? Or does a cactrot think?"

"I don't know. I'm a man, not a cactrot."

"Do you think a cactrot thinks?"

"If the Emperor wishes a cactrot to think, it thinks."

"Does a man or a woman have the same privileges that a cactrot has?"

"Of course."

Drummond is on a roll now. "This woman on trial here wishes to be afford the same privileges as a cactrot. She wishes to think!"

The crowd rumbles. Drummond fishes for something in his pocket.

"Mr. Brady, do you see this rock here?"

"I see it."

"Dr. Richardson of Thamasa University assures me this rock is at least ten million years old."

"You managed to sneak in some of that expert scientific testimony, I see, but I care little about the ages of rocks."

"Look inside. You will see the remains of a prehistoric marine creature."

"Your professor has his dates mixed up. The creature came in the flood, but that was no more than five hundred years ago."

"That's no more than an opinion. On what do you base it?"

"Bishop Usher calculated the beginning of time using the Imperial Bible."

"Tracing back the dates given, I expect?"

"Yes."

"Why do you accept his opinion as gospel?"

"He researched it well."

"But what about the first day? How long was that?"

"A day, I suppose."

"But the creation story has several days go by before the sun is even around. How are we to assume it is of any length? Could it not have been twenty five hours long instead of twenty four?"

"It could, I suppose."

"Aha!" Drummond is on fire. "If we cannot establish how long the first day was, then who is to say it wasn't thirty hours long? Forty? A hundred? A million years? Bishop Usher seems pretty well refuted to me."

"Faith, Drummond. How dare you attack the Imperial Bible?"

"Mr. Brady, the Imperial Bible is not the only book ever written."

"It's the word of God."

"Written by men."

"God spake to them and delivered his word unto them."

"How do you know God didn't spake to Darwin?"

"I know because God tells me to oppose the evil teachings of that man."

"You know? What, does God speak directly to you? If you worship them Emperor, then maybe, but are we all now to accept whatever the Emperor says regardless of whether it is true or not? Is something true just because he says it's true? Today, he says that the works of our great scientists are forbidden. Tomorrow, he may say that the sky is pink, and who will oppose him? Who will stand up for truth? Mrs. Cole's biology textbook was not illegal thirty years ago when it was written. What changed since then? Did the Emperor decide that he must have lived a thousand years ago, and oh, he also happened to create everything? We're losing truth. Next we'll lose beauty, and then we'll lose our lives. The Emperor calls himself divine, but to him, nothing is sacred. He's set himself up as a god to control everyone. You all know it, too. I'm not the only one who thinks so. So I ask you, why don't we return to a time when people were free? Why don't we return to the days when thinking was not yet outlawed? Why don't we return to a time when a person couldn't be put on trial and hanged just for speaking his or her mind? We used to have that. You see all the nice technology we have these days? Look at Figaro. We have that because of people who were allowed to think. If we give up the right to think, we'll be headed for another Dark Ages, like what followed the War of the Magi."

These words split the room like a bolt of lightning. Not a person there is not at least slightly taken aback by Drummond's speech. Only the Imperial dignitaries manage not to react visibly. Everyone else either shouts or hides or hisses or races for the exits. Arvis and the other newsmen scribble up a storm on their notepads. It's up to Judge Lovett to stop the chaos.

"Order in the court, please. Order!" His gavel goes off like a gunshot.

XXX

"We, the jury, find the defendant guilty as charged."

Lovett stirs. "I shall commence with the sentencing."

"Wait, is it not customary for the defendant to make a statement before the sentencing?" Drummond wants one last shot.

"It is," says Lovett. "Mrs. Cole, have you anything to say?"

"Just that I think I did what is right, and, well, I'm not used to speaking under so much pressure. Please, remember that I have a family. A son who needs me. But he needs me to set a good example for him. I want him to stand up for what is right."

"Is that all?"

"That is all."

"I sentence you to death. Your execution will be in three days. This court is adjourned."

June Cole begins to cry.

XXX

"I have a statement from Emperor Gestahl himself," says Judge Lovett. "Will everyone please quiet down so I can read it?"

No one has left, except for those who fled in terror after Drummond's rant.

"Good, good. Our most holy Emperor Gestahl has written in this note, handed to me by none other than the honorable General Celes Chere, 'In light of the events that occurred in this courtroom today, I am forced to declare that Clarence Drummond, counsel for the defense, is, regretably, as much a traitor and a heretic as June Cole. I hand this down as my personal judgement on the matter, which is unquestionable. Clarence Drummond is to be executed alongside June Cole in three days.' That is all."

"They'll call him a martyr someday," thinks Banon as several Imperial soldiers carry out their duties and make the arrest.

XXX

"Locke," says Arvis, "we need you more than ever."

"Who needs me?" Locke wipes his eyes with his sleeve.

"Your mother for one. Drummond for another. Several others present, as well. Doctor Banon. King Edgar Figaro. The rest of the people I have scouted. We lost the verdict, but the war is just beginning. Remember all about scouting for others who do not wish to live under all this oppression?"

"I remember."

"Drummond accomplished just what he set out to do. Reports are coming in from all over of people moved by this trial. By Drummond, and by your mother. We think we're even strong enough to rescue them from prison before the execution."

Locke perks up at this. "Rescue them?"

"Yes, rescue them. We have the manpower, and Doctor Banon is a tactical mastermind. Your skills could come in handy, as well."

"My... treasure hunting skills?"

"Your thievery skills, yes."

"I'm a treasure hunter."

"Bah. Semantics."

"There's a huge difference."

"Regardless, we need you. Some of us, like King Edgar Figaro, can't go public, and you'll probably be one of those. You'll be hiding out here and at Figaro castle, but you'll be a great asset to us. Those whose lives and careers are threatened by our fight for freedom will have to go underground. The scientists who came to the trial, for instance."

"Maybe the caves at Narshe?"

"We have a place in mind, which I'll tell you about later. I'll tell you everthing about our movement to return to the days of liberty and progress. I'll tell you everything about... The Returners."

"And I'll listen." Locke bows his head.

End of Act II

I'd like to thank my beautiful girlfriend Mona for her undying love and support throughout this project, both in its conception and execution stages. Without her, there would be no story. She's got a bunch of good stuff posted at so look her up. I'd also like to take the time to plug my standard user handle, NetOwl. LemonSmoothie is the name we use when we work together on pieces. When we work separately, we use NetOwl and Mona.

I hope you enjoyed this story. A sequel (written by Mona) is coming soon.