19: Brutus
Before my drive with Brutus, I had not assumed anything out of the ordinary about the prosecution's very successful eating away at any chance of convincing the Judges that our client was something resembling innocent. The only thing I saw was that I was being humiliated because of the evidence, or lack of, that I could get for Dyka, whom was pretty much the real intelligence of the defense, I will admit.
But a crucial piece of evidence not actually existing - an event that was a cornerstone having not ever actually happened - that simply shocked me into almost complete silence all the way back to Mehsheh. And the more I heard from Brutus, the more I could not believe it. Yet, at the same time, it made sense.
-Since you seem unable to form an actual legitimate thought on your own, Brutus growled to me in his prison guard manner, like I was a newcomer being shown the ropes. -You've been pretty badly indoctrinated by these fine newspapers these sailors make up. With all these fake stories about 'ass-mort', and this whole valor thing with pirate fighters. Hah. Your prosecutor friend Kepe isn't such a darling. You know that 'report' you got from your friend Dyka? You know, the required reading? I looked at it too. Kepe wrote that, you know. She left out a couple of really big details.
-......Oh? By that time, I was just numb. -...Like....
-Usagi's arrest. I could see Brutus' hold on the drive tighten. -Bitch. That's what I call her. All my years in law enforcing, and if people knew just the circumstances of Usagi's arrest, they'd be bombing Asgerd's buildings down. That's a crime in itself!
I haven't the heart to go into the complete, most graphic detail, which Brutus gave me - for he had managed to see the arrest history. He had to, being her guard after she was transferred from Veldanis to the Bysey care. He worked at Veldanis and Bysey, as well as other planetary prisons - being a guard at only one place does not pay well. But I digress.
It all happened something like this. After the interrogations - which, now, supposedly never happened - Kepe and five or six of her allies came into a tubaknee* which was inside a toe-keey-oar** and attacked it. (If there are any humans who can help me with this strange saying, I would love that.)*** She was found, defending the people from the mysterious soldiers who suddenly attacked out of nowhere. The battle was fought to a draw, but Kepe supposedly went to Tsukinousagi's house in the night and looked for her. She was not found there, instead being with a lover at his house.
This in itself was a serious violation. Had Kepe pursued Tsukinousagi when she was in sailor form as Moon, this would have been acceptable, since they were engaged in battle. But in her civilian form, this is strictly forbidden since she was not fighting. In fact, she was in bed with her lover, supposedly the -male earth sailor-. They had been....fooping****.
The result, therefore, was that Tsukinousagi was sent to prison with nothing on, and her lover was sent to a hospital, having been violently beaten by Kepe's followers. What was worse, they were prepared to arrest him at the hospital, but Kepe drew the line. He had not committed a real crime, she had been reported as saying.
Except for one.
I had thought that Usagi's violent acts of sickness several weeks ago had been a mere act to not have to show up in court. But I was set straight by Brutus; there had been other reasons for Usagi's violent abuse at the hands of several guards and other prisoners.
-You don't pay any attention to anything. Brutus was annoyed with me. -You're too busy in your own pathetic, non-existant misery to know Usagi's. I heard it come right from one of the guards - that the very idea that she was gestating was a joke to civilized people, and if he found the father he'd make a good example out of him too. That was before he tried to kick her in her stomach. I got him off of her before she was hurt.
-WHAT. If my mouth could have dropped lower, I am assured that it would have. -WHEN.....
-Not for some time, seema-ship. There was a tone of sadness, suddenly. -But I can tell. I have my own kids, with a wife, so I know when someone is to have a child. I see her outside of that disgusting, oversized dress you people gave her. And I've never had to see someone in that way be as miserable as her.
-I...
-I'm the only one that actually takes care of her. I'm the only one that actually gives any real feelings about her. He turned away from me. -Not that your kind would ever understand about what she's going through.
There was something in his voice, that seemed so lonely all of a sudden, devoid of compassion for my personal plight, only with concern of another. It seemed to be a tone of sorrow that I only had a faint grasp of. Or if I had had a grasp of it, I did not remember it very well until then.
-People like you....you sailors....will never understand.
-
When Brutus said that, many things came back to me, things I had almost forgotten. I'm afraid to write them. I don't want to suddenly seem weak, and digress terribly. Yet I feel I must.
When he spoke, I felt something within me well up from a distant past I had almost completely forgotten in the lifestyle of the battle and the privileges I had been given. I felt pain. But it was not a physical pain. It was again the strange feeling of emptiness that had come within me so suddenly those past few days.
If what Brutus said about not understanding what it was life to give life and be miserable was true, than the other way was true of him. To not be able to give life, but still be miserable, that he could not understand.
In our anatomy, Themisians have thirteen appendages by birth. Twelve are used for normal, practical usage - walking, grabbing something, swimming, slithering. One is used for...other purposes.
My nickname in the soldier school was Triple T. It meant Twelve Tentacle Twit. Everyone called me as such, not by my real name. It was because I missed that one appendage during school. But I had had all of them before I had been sent away.
My parents...I do not have much memory of them. The people that had taken me away had told me to forget them. For them to take what they had away from me...because they told me I was not good enough. I was very small compared to my brothers, and my father didn't want tiny grandchildren and said small Themisians were prone to be strays by virtue of their size on the corners....so.....he.....simply......rectified me. That is what he called it. I would never be a stray. I'd always be obedient and good and quiet.
My parents, then my schools, then even as a soldier....I was a good person.
-
I shut my eyes, stung, and almost felt as if my father had returned from the furthest corners of my memory to cut off another one of my tentacles. But then I opened my eyes, and the pain was gone. It had really been phantom.
-I'm sorry.
I looked at Brutus. He had stopped the transport. He was currently staring at me from the front seat, and actually looked worried.
-....Heh.....you called me daddy. He sighed. -If I scared you, I didn't mean to. I'm just an angry grunt, that's all.
He tried to have me laugh by forcing out some chuckles himself. I realized he was trying to cheer me up on the way home for offending me, and gave a chuckle in return to appease him.
But I could not get everything out of my head. It was not possible. Tsukinousagi arrested in violations of proper procedure. The Veldanis interrogations not being real. It seemed not right.
Then a very dreadful thought came to me: What if it really never happened? What if someone knew this? There would be much at stake, if the interrogations were found to be fake, for everyone involved with the prosecution. Even Kepe could be given banishment to Apollyon if found out and if the evidence showed a severe enough violation. Why would someone - anyone - risk it?
By this time, we were back on Mehsheh. We were parked in front of our facility, still slightly stained from last night.I didn't know how it got like that, and I still don't know.
-Wait. I stopped him. I gulped. -How....
-How what?
-......How do I know to trust your word on this....whole thing? I dreaded to ask, but I knew I had to. I was really in too deep not to. -That Yomokei and Kepe and...and others....with power....are really out to get Usagi?
He turned to me. His eyes stared into me, though they were not as cold as they had been before. They still seemed worried, even with a hint of fright. But he spoke still.
-Lots of reasons, but for starters?.....because I'm primary interrogator at Veldanis. He paused. -If they educated you right, you'd know that one of the laws that govern interrogating sailor soldiers in a prison setting is that the primary interrogator of the prison must be inolved and record all proceedings. That's how I know. And look. He gave a harsh laugh. -You don't see anyone putting me up there, huh?
With another harsh laugh, he got out of the transport and threw the door open for me.
I didn't realize it until later for several reasons, but it took Brainless Brutus to make me see what I had done. And once I saw it, there was really no turning back. I had to start truly caring for Tsukinousagi, whether I knew it or not.
And so I did.
*"Tubaknee" is a bad corruption of "Juuban".
**"Toe-keey-oar" is a corruption of "Tokyo".
***Themis did not understand the concept of the Japanese district/ward system of neighborhoods and burroughs within the Japanese city called "ku". Technically, Juuban is a district in Minatoku, which is one of several of the main boroughs in the Tokyo-Yokohama supercity. Note that "Minatoku" or "Minato Ward" is not mentioned; chances are that this particular information was not known. This is somewhat important since there is no evidence of this kind of subdivisioning in cities in other galaxies, hence Themis' mistaking the whole thing for some kind of saying.
****"Fooping" is a VERY bad corruption of an even worse word. There is little need for more explanation.
