Close Obsession (The Krinar Chronicles 2)

Today there were fewer greetings and preliminaries. After the accused and the Protector appeared in the arena, the audience went completely silent, watching with tremendous interest as the proceedings unfolded.

Like the last time, Loris was dressed in all black. The expression on his face was pinched and strained, and the look he threw in Korum’s direction was filled with so much rage and bitterness that Mia involuntarily shivered. After a few seconds, he seemed to get himself under control, and his features smoothed out, his face becoming expressionless.

Stepping forward, he addressed the spectators in a loud, ringing voice. “Dear Earth inhabitants and fellow citizens of Krina! You have been shown evidence of a terrible crime – a crime so horrifying that it is almost beyond belief. And if you were to believe the recordings shown to you yesterday, you would obviously judge these people – and my son among them – to be guilty.

“But you have to ask yourself, is this plausible? How can seven young people with no history of social deviancy all of a sudden conspire to forcibly deport fifty thousand Krinar from Earth, endangering all of our lives in the process? Endangering my life in the process? How can they hatch this elaborate plot, arming humans with Krinar weapons and technology? And for what? A chance to help the humans? Does that make sense to any of you?”

The crowd was deathly silent. Mia held her breath, unable to tear her eyes away from the black-clad figure standing so imposingly in the arena.

“Well, it didn’t make sense to me. I know my son, and he has his faults – but would-be mass murderer is not among them. And that’s why I had to step forward and take on the role of the Protector – because this trial is a farce. It’s a very real attack on these young people, and I have no choice but to defend them –”

Turning around for a quick second, Mia peeked at Korum, trying to see his reaction to all of this. There was a look of calm amusement on his face, and he seemed to be watching the proceedings with polite attentiveness.

“I have spoken with Rafor and each of his friends extensively, and none of their stories match,” Loris continued. “In fact, they are downright confused. So confused that they don’t recall doing anything along the lines of what they have been accused of – so confused that they can barely remember many of the key events of the past year . . .

“Now I know what many of you are thinking. Obviously, if they were guilty, pretending not to remember would be a good way to stall the proceedings, to cast some doubt on the validity of these accusat

ions. And that was my initial thought as well . . . which is why I commissioned a memory scan to be done by the leading mind experts based here on Earth. Four different mind laboratories have performed their examinations – laboratories based in Arizona, Thailand, Fiji, and Hawaii – and the results are indisputable.

“All seven of the accused have had their memories tampered with.”

A shocked murmur ran through the crowd, and Mia could see the surprised looks on the Councilors’ faces. Sneaking another look behind her, she could see that there was now a very slight, almost imperceptible frown on Korum’s face. He seemed puzzled.

“Now many of you know that there aren’t many people capable of doing something like that. In fact, I believe that there are fewer than thirty individuals on this planet who have anything to do with mind manipulation. However, one esteemed member of the Council does comes to mind –”

Another murmur ran through the crowd at the last sentence, and Saret slowly rose from behind the podium. “Are you accusing me of something?” he asked in a tone of utter disbelief.

“Yes, Saret,” Loris said, and Mia could hear the barely suppressed rage in his voice again. “I am accusing you and your friend Korum of tampering with the memories of my son and the others. I am accusing you of violating their minds with the goal of advancing your own political agenda. I am accusing Korum of staging the whole sequence of events, right down to the attack on the colonies, with the sole purpose of destroying me and upsetting the balance of power on this Council to satisfy his own insatiable ambition. And I am accusing you of helping him cover his tracks by mind-raping my son and the other young people standing in front of you here today!”

The crowd broke out into a cacophony of arguments and shocked exclamations, and Mia turned around again to look at Korum. She had no idea how to react to Loris’s words. Could there be any truth to them?

Korum was sitting there outwardly calm, his expression completely unreadable. Only the faint yellow striations around his pupils gave away any hint of the emotion inside. Getting up slowly, he approached the center of the arena where the Protector was standing.

“Very nicely done, Loris,” Korum said, his tone light and mocking. “That was quite creative. I have to say, I wouldn’t have expected you to go in this direction at all – though I can see why you would. Kill two birds with one stone and all that . . . Of course, there are still all the recordings, not to mention all the witnesses, that clearly show your son and his cohorts acting quite rationally, with no trace of mental confusion whatsoever –”

“Those recordings are worthless,” interrupted Loris, his face taut with barely controlled anger. “As we all know, someone of your technological prowess can fake anything along those lines –”

“I will gladly submit the recordings for examination by the experts,” Korum said, shrugging nonchalantly. “You can even choose some of these experts – as long as they stake their reputation on the veracity of the results. And of course, other Councilors have already interrogated the witnesses. Councilors, was there anything in anyone’s story to contradict the recordings?”

Arus rose in response. Swallowing nervously, Mia watched as yet another one of Korum’s opponents walked toward the center of the arena. What if he sided with Loris? Would Korum be in trouble then? She couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to him as a result of these accusations.

“I will speak on behalf of the Council,” Arus said in a deep, calm voice. Once again, there was something about the open, straightforward look on his face that made Mia want to trust him, to like him. A very useful trait for a politician to have, she realized – especially for an ambassador.

“As much as I’d like to support Loris’s quest to protect his son,” he said, “there is no doubt that all the witnesses interviewed thus far – from human Resistance members to the guardians involved in the operation – told a very similar story. And unfortunately, Loris, the story substantiates the recordings.” There seemed to be genuine regret in Arus’s voice as he was saying this.

“Witnesses can be bribed –”

Arus shook his head. “Not so many. We have gathered over fifty testimonies from completely different individuals, both human and Krinar. I’m sorry, Loris, but there are simply too many of them.”

“Then how do you explain the memory loss?” Loris asked bitterly, staring at Arus with resentment.

“I can’t explain that,” Arus admitted. “The Council will have to investigate the matter –”

“I can perhaps venture a guess,” Korum said, and Mia could practically feel the buzz of anticipation in the crowd. “There is a human trial defense strategy that’s frequently utilized in developed countries. It involves trying to prove that the accused is insane, mentally incapable of standing trial. Because, you see, if they are judged to be mentally ill, then they can’t be held responsible for their actions – and instead of getting punished, they are sent for treatment.

“Now the Protector is fully aware that the evidence points to the guilt of the accused. Of course, he can’t claim that his son is insane and therefore didn’t know what he was doing. No, he can’t claim that at all – but he can say that his son’s mind has been tampered with, that he’s had his memories forcibly erased. Of course, the fact of the matter is there is only one person who would benefit from Rafor and the other traitors losing their memories – and that’s neither me nor Saret.”

“Are you accusing me of violating my own son’s mind?” Loris asked incredulously, and Mia could see his hands clenching into fists.