she said. “They look a little like Earth dogs. But why do you call the other one Ty?”
“Actually, Doug has nothing to do with the word dog ,” I said. “It’s the mask sort of things they have around their eyes. They remind me of an old character from Earth literature named Zorro. Doug and Ty come from Douglas Fairbanks and Tyrone Power, the actors who played the character in the first two dit-rec adventure adaptations of the stories.”
“Oh,” Bayta said. “I don’t think you’ve ever showed me those.”
“I’ll put them on the list,” I promised. “Right after The Hound of the Baskervilles .”
“The what?”
“Never mind,” I told her, climbing off the bed. “Get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
FIVE
The couch was too short for me to stretch out comfortably, but I was able to take off the cushions and lay them out on the floor instead. That, along with the extension provided by the pillow I’d taken from the bed, made my pallet long enough to serve as a tolerable sleeping platform.
It was colder on the floor than I’d expected, and even wrapping myself up in my blanket like a burrito left me on the cool side of comfortable. Fortunately, a few minutes after I got settled Doug seemed to realize I was in for the night and padded over to lie down beside me. He wasn’t exactly cuddly, certainly not in the way a real dog would be, but the radiated heat was welcome. Besides, I could hardly feel his hard pineapple hide through the blanket.
Emikai and a pair of Jumpsuits arrived precisely at nine o’clock the next morning. Bayta and I were ready, and together we headed off through the station’s labyrinth of corridors, glideways, elevators, and bullet trains. I tried to keep track of the twists and turns, but within the first ten minutes I was thoroughly lost. If for some reason Emikai refused to guide us back home, we would likely be sleeping in somebody’s doorway tonight.
I’d seen dozens of courtrooms over the years, and the Proteus version was right up there with the best of them. Tall double doors led into a chamber that was large and imposing, with a high and long judge’s bench at the far end and only marginally less grand places for the prosecution and defense. Unlike the usual high-class wood-paneled Human courtroom, though, this one was done completely in dressed stone, from floor to ceiling, extending even to the seats and tables. Fortunately, the seats had been furnished with cushions and back rests.
Hchchu was waiting, seated at the prosecutor’s table with no fewer than four readers spread out on the table in front of him. Either he was planning to refer to four separate versions of Filly law or else he didn’t trust bookmarks for retrieving the relevant pages. Minnario was also there, peering at his reader as he hovered in his chair at one end of the defense table.
More interestingly, at least to me, the judges also were already seated, a marked departure from the Human custom in these matters. There were four of them, each dressed in an identical outfit of layered gray and dark blue with elaborate shoulder points and collar and sleeve tucks, the whole ensemble topped by a floppy hat. I’d never seen such garb on Fillies before, not even in pictures, and as Emikai ushered Bayta and me to the defense table I wondered if the clothing was something out of the Slisst Protocols. Something I might want to ask about later.
“You will sit with your attorney,” Emikai murmured to me as I started forward. “But your assistant must wait back here with us.”
I looked at Bayta. “I’ll be all right,” she assured me. “Go on.”
I nodded to her and crossed the expanse of stone toward my seat. Way too much empty space, I knew, for the kind of economy of scale demanded by anything built in space. The open area probably served as a visitors’ gallery during high-profile cases.
[You’re late,] Minnario chided quietly as I sat down on the stone bench beside
“Actually, Doug has nothing to do with the word dog ,” I said. “It’s the mask sort of things they have around their eyes. They remind me of an old character from Earth literature named Zorro. Doug and Ty come from Douglas Fairbanks and Tyrone Power, the actors who played the character in the first two dit-rec adventure adaptations of the stories.”
“Oh,” Bayta said. “I don’t think you’ve ever showed me those.”
“I’ll put them on the list,” I promised. “Right after The Hound of the Baskervilles .”
“The what?”
“Never mind,” I told her, climbing off the bed. “Get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
FIVE
The couch was too short for me to stretch out comfortably, but I was able to take off the cushions and lay them out on the floor instead. That, along with the extension provided by the pillow I’d taken from the bed, made my pallet long enough to serve as a tolerable sleeping platform.
It was colder on the floor than I’d expected, and even wrapping myself up in my blanket like a burrito left me on the cool side of comfortable. Fortunately, a few minutes after I got settled Doug seemed to realize I was in for the night and padded over to lie down beside me. He wasn’t exactly cuddly, certainly not in the way a real dog would be, but the radiated heat was welcome. Besides, I could hardly feel his hard pineapple hide through the blanket.
Emikai and a pair of Jumpsuits arrived precisely at nine o’clock the next morning. Bayta and I were ready, and together we headed off through the station’s labyrinth of corridors, glideways, elevators, and bullet trains. I tried to keep track of the twists and turns, but within the first ten minutes I was thoroughly lost. If for some reason Emikai refused to guide us back home, we would likely be sleeping in somebody’s doorway tonight.
I’d seen dozens of courtrooms over the years, and the Proteus version was right up there with the best of them. Tall double doors led into a chamber that was large and imposing, with a high and long judge’s bench at the far end and only marginally less grand places for the prosecution and defense. Unlike the usual high-class wood-paneled Human courtroom, though, this one was done completely in dressed stone, from floor to ceiling, extending even to the seats and tables. Fortunately, the seats had been furnished with cushions and back rests.
Hchchu was waiting, seated at the prosecutor’s table with no fewer than four readers spread out on the table in front of him. Either he was planning to refer to four separate versions of Filly law or else he didn’t trust bookmarks for retrieving the relevant pages. Minnario was also there, peering at his reader as he hovered in his chair at one end of the defense table.
More interestingly, at least to me, the judges also were already seated, a marked departure from the Human custom in these matters. There were four of them, each dressed in an identical outfit of layered gray and dark blue with elaborate shoulder points and collar and sleeve tucks, the whole ensemble topped by a floppy hat. I’d never seen such garb on Fillies before, not even in pictures, and as Emikai ushered Bayta and me to the defense table I wondered if the clothing was something out of the Slisst Protocols. Something I might want to ask about later.
“You will sit with your attorney,” Emikai murmured to me as I started forward. “But your assistant must wait back here with us.”
I looked at Bayta. “I’ll be all right,” she assured me. “Go on.”
I nodded to her and crossed the expanse of stone toward my seat. Way too much empty space, I knew, for the kind of economy of scale demanded by anything built in space. The open area probably served as a visitors’ gallery during high-profile cases.
[You’re late,] Minnario chided quietly as I sat down on the stone bench beside
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