Titan's Plague: The Trial by Tom Briggs (story reading .txt) đź“•
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- Author: Tom Briggs
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Pati liked the sound of that, and it made her happy she talked to Connie first. Once Connie got the word out, the whole solar system would know they were not alone, and it wouldn’t be up to Pati to deal with it. Primarily because she’d be on a cruise back to Earth. “I’m glad I came here,” Pati said.
Connie nodded. “So, can we go over what happened on the mining ship?” she asked.
Pati didn’t think in words, she thought in feelings, and the feelings were positive. “Sure, here’s what happened.”
* * *
Pati had a great breakfast at the plaza. It contrasted with the trouble she had sleeping the night before. After spilling her guts to Connie Pearson, she walked home and locked the doors behind her. She set alarms to let her know if the oxygen in the apartment got too low, or if the power went out, or if an air contaminant or radiation invaded her space.
No alarms went off that night. However, any noise out of the ordinary had her jumping out of bed, ready to face whatever might try to harm her. The paranoia robbed her of a half night’s sleep.
She did get to sleep, and then slept in a little longer, telling the alarms to wait until the last minute. There was only enough time to dress and take the trolley down to the Grand Center. She’d overcome her fear of the trolley, except she wouldn’t stand on the edge of the platform when waiting to board.
After breakfast, she strode to Nancy’s office. They had more work to prepare for the settlement conference with Jack Reagan, and Pati felt ready to get to it. Everything was going according to Nancy’s plan, if not always smooth.
Soon, she was outside Nancy’s office door. She knocked, unlike what Joe Tate did yesterday.
“Come in,” Nancy said through the intercom. Pati noticed her voice seemed harsh. However, Pati did as Nancy invited and walked through the door.
Nancy’s expression looked even harsher than her voice had been. Pati approached her desk and stood by the chair she usually sat in. “What’s wrong?” Pati asked.
“Well, for starters,” Nancy said, “the Titan News Network is reporting you had a visit from extraterrestrials.”
* * *
Pati decided she’d wait till later to kick Connie Pearson’s ass. Nancy fumed, and right now, she was the most important person in Pati’s life. She sat down in the chair. “Nancy, I’m sorry, I didn’t expect this to get out.”
“At least there’s that. But, Pati, how can I say this best,” she stopped to take a breath. Nancy looked to the side and took another breath, and then stared right back at Pati. “This is serious, woman!”
“I, I, uh, Nancy.”
“What do you want from me? I’m busting my ass for you, and this is war. I had the enemy beaten, and you just gave him more ammo to keep fighting. Don’t you understand, we have to have the discipline to win this, and that includes not talking to reporters about anything that doesn’t help our case?”
“Okay, Nancy, so what do we do?”
“You know, Pati, these people here on Titan have kept capital punishment as a sentence option. Since you’ve killed four people, which Jack Reagan will point out is three more than anyone else ever in the Saturnian system, we have to consider that as a possible outcome. And the only way you get home then is if your family pays to transport your body. You get that?”
Pati looked up, exhaled. “Oh shit,” she said in her next breath.
“Yes, your existence is on the line. How-bad-do-you-want-to-live? That needs to be your thought process. There is nothing so important that you should let it threaten your life.”
“It’s all true, though,” Pati said.
“Maybe, maybe not. Unfortunately, the news report is an admissible statement that has no basis in verifiable facts. You might be right, but there’s nothing you can hand me that supports what you said to the reporter.”
Nancy sat back, and her expression softened. “Okay, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let me tell you what I thought about after deciding how I’d bitch you out for what you did.”
“Please,” Pati said.
“Like I said before, I think we settle with Jack Reagan this afternoon. Despite the hammering your credibility took with the media report, we’ll still carry the day if he wants to get in front of the JJ. I’ve written up a final argument that negates anything he’s brought forward so far. If he wants to bring in anything new, he needs to have already forwarded us that information.”
Pati only nodded.
“Did you get a good night’s rest?”
“No, didn’t you hear, I got pushed onto the tracks at the Grand Center station?”
“I heard you came out okay.”
“Yeah, but someone tried to kill me.”
“Ah, that would be hard to do since you’re Earth-born.”
“It still could have happened if I didn’t jump out of the way.”
“Yeah, but.” Nancy took a breath. “Okay, I see what you mean. I will not say you’re seeing shadows, just for now, keep quiet about it. Watching your back is never a bad idea, anyway.”
“I don’t like it.”
“We need you to keep your head low until after we settle. Or, the latest, on Thursday after we beat Jack Reagan in court.”
Pati shook her head.
“Pati, you’ll be fine.”
Nancy seemed confident. Pati normally would feel fine with that look. Too many odd accidents had happened, though, and her paranoia ebbed and flowed with her mood. If she was logical about it, she’d assume these accidents were random chance, except there was something personal about each one. And seeing those apparitions didn’t help.
“You want to stay here till we go see Jack Reagan?”
“Don’t we have to finish preparing anyway?” Pati asked.
“No, not really, I’ve got all I need. We can work on it some more if that will make you feel better.”
“I don’t think that’ll help.” She stood up. “I’ll go home and change clothes for the settlement conference.”
“It’s not till this afternoon.”
“I’ll walk. It’s harder for accidents to happen that way.”
“If you think that’s best.” Nancy got up and escorted her to the door. Pati walked into the hallway, and Nancy shut the door behind her.
* * *
Pati stood outside the conference room door in a brilliantly lit hallway with brown walls, darker-brown doors, and no windows. These negotiations would be both confidential and recorded, so they wouldn’t use the rooms they’d already used. She hoped it would be the last conference room she saw on Titan. Just like she hoped she’d never step foot into the courts building ever again, and just like she hoped she’d never see Titan again in a few months.
The walk back to her apartment did nothing to dissuade her from leaving as soon as possible. Where before, it was just a few people who stared and turned away as she looked back. After the news report from last night, she took the center of attention no matter where she walked. She tried to take the train, just to hurry the process, and teenagers on the platform taunted the “alien-lady.” The thought made Pati clutch her fists, so she took a deep breath. She had to calm down and focus on the task ahead.
Pati straightened out the black business suit Nancy had picked out for her. Everything else to this point was preliminary. Now it was crunch time. Nancy wanted Pati to dress for the occasion because a lack of respect for the prosecutors would weigh against a defendant, and dressing professionally was a defense against that.
Pati heard Nancy’s voice down the hall, and soon she approached, wearing her brown business suit and carrying
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