Melissa Scott - Heaven 01 - Five-Twelths Of Heaven

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MELISSA SCOTT

Five-Twelfths of Heaven

Chapter 1

The court complex was crowded as it always was, jammed with

contentious Secasian natives babbling away in the local variant of

the Hegemony's official coine. Silence Leigh edged her way through

the crowd toward the entrance of the Probate Court hall, trying

not to draw too much attention to herself. For all that she was

decorously veiled, the stark mourning cloth drawn so tight across

her face that she could barely stand to breathe the stifling air

of the corridors, she had neither man nor homunculus to escort

her, and an unaccompanied woman was fair game at any time. Almost

as if conjured by the thought, a bearded man jostled against her,

trying to see her face beneath the veil. Silence turned slightly,

so they met shoulder to shoulder, refusing to let herself, be

pushed aside. The man grinned down at her, then was lost in the

crowd. Silence felt a surge of pure, screaming fury. In the three

weeks since her grandfather had died, stranding her on Secasia

until his affairs could be settled, she had had to put up with

that sort of harassment almost daily.

Then her anger was drowned by the numb misery that seemed to

follow any thought of her grandfather's death. It had been so

unexpected, had given her no time to spot the warnings of ill

health or sheer old age, no time to prepare herself for the

unthinkable. There had been only the call from the planetary

police, then the chill, sterile hall where she had identified the

body, and finally the search for her uncle, the third member of

the crew, whose signature was required before the police could

release the body. She still could not fully understand what had

happened. Bodua Leigh had been an old man, true enough, but not

that old. Certainly he himself had felt no warnings of impending

doom: he had left his business in its usual state of inspired

confusion. Silence shook her head. Her grandfather had been a

brilliant businessman in his way--it had been his talent for

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MELISSA SCOTT

profitable improvisation that had made him the chief man of

business for the richest oligarch on Cap Bel. But that had been

ten years before, before the Hegemony had conquered the Rusadir

worlds, and in passing ruined the oligarchs of Cap Bel. Bodua

Leigh's methods were less suited for managing the affairs of a

single starship, trading along the fringes of the Hegemony. But he

had refused to change, and now she was paying the price of his

stubbornness.

Two men were waiting at the door of the Probate Court, both in the

dark red livery of the court's staff. The older of the two held

out a hand to bar her from entering.

"This is the Probate Court, miss. Women's Court is two floors

down."

"Yes, I know," Silence answered.

"You're a litigant, then?" The guard's expression made it quite

clear that he found that hard to believe but, given the Hegemony's

laws, there was no other plausible explanation.

"Yes, I am."

This time, the off-world cadence of her speech betrayed her, and

the two guards exchanged glances. The older said, "This way, miss.

You're familiar with Hegemonic law? You know you need a guardian--

a male guardian--to speak for you in court."

"Yes," Silence said, and was unable to keep the bitterness out of

her voice. "I'm meeting him here."

"I see, miss." The guard's expression showed only too clearly what

he thought of a guardian who would allow a woman to travel alone

to the court complex, but he said nothing. He escorted her to the

benches reserved for the litigants, handed her to a seat, and then

returned to his post. Silence loosened her veil slightly, letting

in some of the cooler air of the courtroom, then glanced nervously

around the long hall. The Probate Court was even more crowded than

the corridors, the benches on the floor of the hall filled to

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capacity with both local notables and off-worlders who thought

they might have an interest in one of the many wills to be proved

today. The gallery was equally crowded, filled with idlers from

the port come to see the show. They were in a holiday mood, she

thought sourly, and why not? There was a special attraction today:

it was not often that an off-worlder died so magnificently

intestate, or with a woman as his sole heir. She scanned the hall

again, looking for the pudgy figure of her maternal uncle. There

was no sign of him in the sea of unfamiliar faces. Where are you,

Uncle Otto? she thought desperately. I can't do anything without

you to sanction it.

Then her lips thinned slightly. She could guess where her uncle

had gone. There were only two choices. Either he was drugged in

one of the many smokehouses around the port, or he was being

swindled by a dealer in curiosities, feeding his obsession with

lost Earth. No, she corrected herself, it hardly qualified as an

obsession. The explorers and magi who sought Earth simply because

the true roads had been lost during the Millennial Wars, or for

the lost knowledge, or because Earth was mankind's proper home

were obsessed. Otto Razil was interested only in the profits

involved. The last time he had tried to persuade her grandfather

to make a search, Razil had quoted a possible profit of over five

million Delian pounds. The old man had laughed at him, and Razil

had stalked out, muttering something about going where he would be

appreciated. Silence's eyes filled with tears she could not

afford.

The group talking softly in front of the judge's high bench broke

apart, and the clerk-of-court consulted his sheaf of printouts.

"The case of Bodua Kesar Leigh," he announced, his voice carried

to the corridors and waiting rooms by the microphones embedded in

the heavy torque of his office. "Will the interested parties come

before the face of justice?"

Silence hesitated, hoping against hope to see her uncle's stocky

figure appear at one of the doors. There was movement at the

farthest door, someone shoving his way into the hall, and she

sighed her relief. Then the figure came clear, and a merchant in

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long robes shifted sideways along a rear bench to make room for

his colleague. Silence whispered a curse.

"The case of Bodua Kesar Leigh," the clerk announced again, and

Silence shook herself. She gathered her full, ankle-length coat

around her, and edged her way out into the open space before the

judge's bench. The old man peered down at her, his wrinkled brown

face not unfriendly.

"Is there no one else?" he asked the clerk, who shrugged. "Call

again."

The clerk repeated his call, but there was no response except for

an appreciative chuckling from the gallery.

"No one at all?" the judge repeated, frowning. "Young woman, come

here."

Silence did as she was told, staring up through the narrow slit in

her veil.

"Now, what's this all about, girl?" the judge asked. "Surely you

know the Hegemony's laws."

"Yes, your Honor," Silence said carefully. "I've been told that I

cannot speak for myself, but must be represented by a male

guardian, and I had made arrangements for my uncle to be here. But

he isn't, and I'm from Cap Bel, in the Rusadir. I don't know

anyone else who'd be able to speak for me."

"Your uncle's name?" the judge asked.

"Otto Razil."

The judge gestured to the clerk. "Call Otto Razil."

The clerk nodded, and adjusted his transmitters to reach every

area of the court complex. "Otto Razil! On pain of fine and

forfeit, answer to the Court of Probate. Otto Razil!"

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Silence held her breath, but refused to look at the open doors of

the hall. Razil wasn't coming, that much seemed clear; he was as

useless as he'd always been, and she was stuck with the

consequences yet again....

The judge cleared his throat and leaned forward. "We can't wait

all day, girl. You can either hire an advocate--" One withered

hand swept out, indicating a bench of shaven-headed lawyers toward

the front of the hall. "--or the court will appoint a guardian for

you. Which will it be?"

"My money is tied up in my grandfather's estate," Silence said,

forcing herself to think constructively. "Unless I can draw on

that, the court will have to appoint a guardian."

"Since it is the court's responsibility to decide the rightful

owner of the estate," the judge said dryly, "you could hardly be

permitted access. The court will appoint a guardian. Your name?"

"Silence Leigh."

The judge raised an eyebrow at the old-fashioned name. "And your

relation to--" he glanced at his printout "--Bodua Kesar Leigh?"

"My grandfather," Silence answered, then corrected herself,

remembering the Hegemony's laws. "My father's father."

The judge nodded. "The uncle you mentioned, he's not of agnate

kindred?"

Silence hesitated. "He's my mother's brother."

"Not the agnate line," the judge murmured, noting that on his

printout, then signaled to the clerk. "There's quite a bit of

property involved, young lady."

The clerk rose to his feet. "Is there any free man, citizen of

Secasia or other world of the Asterion Hegemony, who will, under

the provisions of the Tabiran Laws and the decree of the Hegemon,

act as guardian for this woman, Silence Leigh, granddaughter and

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摘要：

MELISSASCOTTMELISSASCOTTFive-TwelfthsofHeavenChapter1Thecourtcomplexwascrowdedasitalwayswas,jammedwithcontentiousSecasiannativesbabblingawayinthelocalvariantoftheHegemony'sofficialcoine.SilenceLeighedgedherwaythroughthecrowdtowardtheentranceoftheProbateCourthall,tryingnottodrawtoomuchattentiontohers...

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Melissa Scott - Heaven 01 - Five-Twelths Of Heaven

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