At Council by Julie Steimle (books to read in your 20s female txt) 📕

If a man is in a minority of one, we lock him up—Oliver Wendell Holms—

Aver Zormna Clendar stood before the Patrol Council in the small half-circle room, all set up so that the Council would sit in their semicircle of benches and glare at the accused. The light in the room was always kept dim with the spotlight on the accused. It made them sweat. It also drew out a sense of smallness in the accused which the Council members reveled in. Arras did not play the game of innocent until proven guilty. You were always assumed to be guilty and you had to prove your innocence. Zormna always felt it was unjust, but it was the system she had grown up with and there was nothing she could do about it.

Alea Tenngar’s oration had been going on for nearly an hour about how she had endangered the lives of her fellow officers, finding eager ears as the Council members nodded in agreement that Zormna was a bad seed. Their eyes bore down on her though Zormna lifted her chest up confidently, her head at military height, her dark green eyes solid, refusing to cower under them. But then, it hadn’t been her first time in front of them. She knew what to expect.

The Kevin (supreme leader of the Surface Patrol of Arras) stood off to the side, pressing his lips together as he listened to the evidence, frowning deeper as the judges from High Class and Social Working Class were already deciding against her. They hated her in general. They hated all Surface Patrol orphan upstarts—which they considered her to be one of the worst though she had hardly ever done anything of any real criminal nature. Just a few pranks which had annoyed a few of her superior officers. But these people did not have a sense of humor. Unfortunately, the Kevin was not there to defend her—not in this court. He was there to listen, then pass judgment himself. He would be listening for flaws in Tenngar’s argument of course, but he would also be waiting for her testimony. There were no lawyers within this system. You could gather and submit evidence, bring witnesses, and council with those who understood the law well—but there were no professional advocates for your behalf allowed within the Council chambers. If you could not defend yourself, they believed, it was proof you were guilty.

When Alea Tenngar had finally finished his oration, he turned, giving Zormna a sharp smug nod as his icy eyes raked over her. “So you see, this Aver was not only perpetuating her already-set pattern of irresponsibility by showing off, but also risking her comrades-in-arms lives with her ego and pride, giving no thought to their safety. And above all, she disobeyed the direct orders of her commanding officer—myself.”

Zormna huffed under her breath and rolled her eyes to the side, until she saw the quick disapproving stare of the Kevin. She immediately winced and straightened up properly. She had to present herself well. The Council was not unbiased and they frequently judged on outward appearance. They considered lack of stoicism a sign of guilt also.

“What do you say to that, Aver?” the head of the Council asked her with a sneer down his long nose, almost smirking.

Zormna did not like his look. He always looked at her like that, sneering. Yet, without letting his attitude cow her, she took a step towards the stand. “I refute all that he said. In fact, I say he was talking about himself when he mentioned ego and pride and risking the lives of comrades-in-arms.”

Alea Tenngar bristled, yet maintained his stiff militaristic façade. His neck grew stiff.

Walking up to the Council recorder, Zormna handed the man a data card. “I have here bona fide evidence from my vehicle’s flight recorder that Alea Tenngar deliberately led us into a dangerous wind tunnel in the canyons in the attempt to knock his newly recruited Avers off our flight scooters to…” she paused, taking care with her words so that they could be precise toward his motive, “to humble us, to discourage and dishearten us with the intent to maintain his superiority—where there was no need.”

“I object!” Alea Tenngar nearly shouted. His cheeks were barely colored.

The Council Head quietly turned to listen. “State your objection.”

Zormna looked up at the head of the Council. He did not even bother to glance at the data she had presented to him, which bothered her. He held the card gingerly in his hands as if he would toss it out with the trash if he could. That was a bad sign.

Alea Tenngar said briskly, “Aver Zormna must have falsified her data if she thinks it can prove her innocence. My flight recorder recorded everything as you have seen. Her card can have no proof different from my own.”

“Indeed?” the Council Head said, considering this with a peek at Zormna.

“We all know this Aver has refined skill in computer data manipulation, which she has been previously taken to council for,” Alea Tenngar said.

Zormna paled. “I did no such thing!”

“I would submit,” the Alea said coolly, “That any digital data from her should be inadmissible as evidence.”

“That is not right! My evidence can be easily verified,” Aver Zormna snapped, fully aware of what he was doing. “There are always time signatures on—”

“Objection noted,” the Council Head replied. “I will confer with my colleagues.” He turned toward the rest of the Council, whispering.

Zormna shook her head, knowing where this was going. She was being railroaded. This was not right. “Councilman, I must be heard. I have the right according to code sixty-eight to present my case uninterrupted.”

Casting her a dirty look, Alea Tenngar ignored her, despite how well she knew the court codes as well as the Patrol laws. “Does the council concede that her data evidence inadmissible?”

Zormna blanched, looking from one deliberating face to another. “No. I must be heard. I have that right!”

The head of the Council peered down at her with a decided grin, one that she really did not like. She had seen it too many times. “The Council has decided to discard the Aver’s falsified evidence and allow that her testimony stand without it.”

“No!” Zormna hopped up to the recorder as if to snatch the card back, but did not reach out for it. “It is not falsified! It is all the truth, the facts. I have the right to be heard! You have no proof it was falsified except by Alea Tenngar’s word and his word is a piece of scr—”

“There will be no slandering in this court,” one of the councilmen snapped.

Zormna stood back. Her hands were shaking. This was all wrong. It wasn’t fair. And she wasn’t just whining about it either. His was a misappropriation of justice.

Closing her eyes, she started again. “You can’t base your judgments without hearing me out and looking at all data. You can have the data card tested for tampering.”

Another councilman laughed. “Why should we hear any more of this drivel? We know your record. You aren’t honest.” Then picking up a vis-screen pad, he read off the information on it with particular enjoyment. “You have nearly thirty instances where you have faced the Council. The first time for reckless flying, the second time for a prank involving the water system, the third time for sneaking into the computer system.”

“Those cases have no bearing—” she attempted to explain, but was cut off.

“It says here that you have twelve instances where you were caught meddling in the computers—twelve! And four more instances where you reordered wiring in the mechanical settings of the environmental systems and service machines for a prank.”

“They were just pranks. I was just a kid. They weren’t malicious,” Zormna squeaked out, staring now below their eye level, feeling entirely stupid for being so naughty before. “And everything got set to right anyway, by me.”

“And the last one…” he continued.

Zormna glanced up defensively, coloring. That last time before Council still burned within her. That court case had also been unfairly stacked against her and the true culprit got away. She had been innocent—but no one had believed her then and they probably still didn’t. The lousy cockroach Cadet Lenn had seen to that. She knew what was coming.

“The last infraction was a scam in which you conned several cadets out of their hard earned creds.” He finished.

She could see the Kevin shake his head with a tighter fold of his arms. He was pale with private grief. Though she had been an exceptional cadet, her poor record due to pranks had been worrying for him. He had warned her repeatedly that her pranking would damage her future in the Patrol. And she had stop pranking. She seriously had. But even he had believed that she had committed that one con. It was unfair.

Zormna found her voice, though it cracked. “And I still affirm that I didn’t do it.” Her eyes rested on the Kevin who frowned.

The councilman continued, however. “But this proves that you are incorrigibly reckless and untrustworthy.”

“It proves nothing! I was a child during all those cases.” Zormna clenched her fists, resting the childish urge to stomp her foot. “Those previous cases have nothing to do with the current, pertinent events. Read the data. Check my card for tampering. It is all in there!”

The Council Head snapped the data card in half. Zormna watched in shock as the pieces fell on to the desk, opening her mouth as her body trembled more. She felt sick in her stomach. It was all the evidence she had. She didn’t have time to make a backup.

The Kevin stepped forward, just as appalled at the Council Head’s actions. “What did you do that for? I wanted to see that data. It was evidence!”

Turning, Zormna looked to him, leaving in her heart some hope to believe in.

The head of the Council smiled plainly with pitying eyes for the Kevin whom he was socially equal to, but did not particularly like. “I’m sorry, but falsified evidence is falsified evidence.”

Alea Tenngar smiled with comfortable justification.

Shooting him a look the Kevin said, “That hasn’t been proven.”

“It is our decision.”

The Kevin shook his head. “It is not protocol. I must verify the evidence.”  

“Her record stands against her,” the Council