Back In Action

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

12/29/95:

I threw my book onto my bed and sighed. It had been a long
week. I had spent the last five days expecting a visit from
a Council member, and none of them had shown up yet.
Needless to say, it was frazzling my nerves.

I fell onto my bed, and stared up at the ceiling. It was
early Friday night. I considered doing some work on my color
class, now that I understood graphics to some extent, but I
decided against it.

So, I just closed my eyes, and tuned out the universe.

A light touch on my shoulder brought me back around. I
opened my eyes, and looked into a familiar face. "Rathal!" I
said.

Rathal smiled down to me, his silver hair falling into his
eyes. "Hi, Fox, time to wake up."

I sat up, grinning wide at the sight of my old friend. "It's
great to see you again, Thal. How goes everything?"

"Not bad," the elf said, brushing his bangs from his eyes.
"I've been moved to the Council."

I patted him knowingly on the back as I slid to my feet. "I
see. So they sent you to talk to me about my little stunt
Monday night."

He blinked. "Little stunt? No. I'm here with some, at least
partly, good news."

I raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

Thal pulled out a small portal controller. "Follow, and you
shall see." He then pressed his finger down on one of the
larger buttons, and in a few seconds a portal opened.

He put the controller away, "Come on, then," he said, and
stepped through.

I shook my head, and grinned to myself. "The bloody elf
hasn't changed a bit," I muttered, and walked through as
well.

As I crossed the threshold I felt my body wrench in fifteen
separate directions at once, then come back together again.
Then I felt like I was being flung to the side at about 3Gs,
and finally, there was a sudden drop and I was standing in
Marble Hall.

I must have looked a bit green because Rathal teased,
"You're out of practice."

I nodded, keeping down some bile. "Being exiled for a year
has a tendency to do that to you."

Thal nodded, and grinned. He had been the same way when I
first ran into him, after opening my first portal about
three years ago.

I swallowed again, feeling a bit better. "Now where to?"

"The Council chambers," he said. Then, as he started down
the hall, his clothing blurred and was replaced by an ornate
green and silver robe. His hair had a silver clasp holding
it back into a ponytail, and the points of his ears had some
golden-looking caps on them.

I blinked at this. During my exile, I had forgotten how
subtle some magic could be. I shook my head, readjusting,
and followed him.

A few minutes later we reached a large waiting room. "Take a
seat," he said. "This is going to take a few minutes."

I nodded and sat down. I was pretty sure now that this was
NOT about my little stunt. If it was, I would have been in a
cell now instead of a hard plastic chair... not that there's
much difference.

I relaxed a bit, less frightened now, and wide awake after
that trip through the portal. Normally I don't have a
problem with them, but I was _way_ out of practice.

I picked up one of the magazines from the table next to me,
and blinked at the cover. It only took a few seconds to see
what was wrong. The text was in a different language, Prid
Standard by the look of it.

Normally this wouldn't be a problem, as my translator would
flip it to English, but when I was exiled the translator
chip was removed.

I felt a light tap on my shoulder. Next to me was a young
lady of the feline persuasion, more accurately, a panther.
She held out a small earpiece in her hand, and what looked
to be a small contact lens case.

I looked at the earpiece, then back to her. She waved her
other paw at the magazine, then at me.

I nodded, understanding, then picked up the earpiece and
slipped it into my left ear.

"I hope it's adjusted right. I had to guess at what settings
you would need."

"Right on, as far as I can tell. Thanks."

She nodded, smiled, and handed me the small case. "These are
contacts. They work with the writing."

I grinned and, pulling my glasses off, said, "Thank you
kindly, my dear. This is exactly what I needed."

She chuckled, and walked over to the desk by the wall. I
inserted the contacts, which didn't affect my normal
eyesight, and put my glasses back on, blinking back the few
tears that the contacts made.

I spent some time flipping through the magazine, which was,
as usual, three months out of date (but hey... it was about
nine months more recent than I'd had). After about half an
hour, I heard someone say, "Mr. Cutter."

I looked up, and standing by the inside door was a young
human, dressed in the normal page's clothing for the
Council.

I walked over to him. "Yes?"

"You have been called for by the Council. Please come with
me." He then turned, and walked back through the door.

Naturally I followed. We walked through some twisting halls
until he stopped at a pair of huge oaken doors.

He motioned for me to enter. I nodded, having done this a
few times before. Opening one of the doors a few feet, I
stepped into the Council room.

The room wasn't huge, just imposing. I was standing on the
floor proper, and in front of me was a large dais with three
levels. On the top level sat the High Council, who were the
three leaders of the Council.

The second level was the second rank members, twenty-five in
all. The third was the low members, numbering forty. Rathal
was on the left side of the second level.

Interesting thing about this place... it always reminded me
of the way the U.S. Congress was set up.

I stood in the center of the room as one of the low members
stood and spoke. "Foxeris Ryoga Cutter, you are here this
day to be present as we re-evaluate your exile status. This
was brought about at the insistence of Councilor Rathal
Decarn."

A middle level member stood. "I would like to mention at
this time that this re-evaluation has had some strenuous
objections made against it by many of my fellow Council
Members."

Another middle level stood. "I would like to also point out
that former objections are not the issue right now.
Potentially we have exiled an innocent, and if we have, then
we must make all attempts to rectify that situation."

The first member stood again. "What the issue _is_, is that
we need to follow our own laws, even if a few innocents get
jailed."

A low-ranked member stood. "What my associate is trying to
say..." and the rest quickly devolved into the blur of
political double-talk. As usual.

After a surprisingly few minutes, the noise of the
Councilors' near-yelling "discussion" was broken by a single
soft voice, clearing her throat.

Everyone instantaneously stopped talking, sat down, and
looked at the High Council, for it was the center member,
the Head of the Council, who was standing.

She was a middle aged vulpine. However, unlike all her other
companions, she was not in formal dress. She was in a shirt
and slacks.

She started speaking in her near-whisper voice, "The simple
point here is that I decided that we needed this
re-evaluation. This one fact takes precedence over all other
arguments. Now, please may we continue with this as the
focus of our discussion." Then she sat back down.

Rathal stood and addressed me. "The primary reason for this
re-evaluation is to decide, with new evidence that we have
gathered over the past year, whether the actions of you and
your partner directly caused the catastrophe on Catarn, or
whether you merely landed in the wrong place during the
worst of possible times."

He then picked up a file folder, leafed through the
contents. "In front of all of you is a copy of this file.
Inside of it you will find detailed accounts of the events
that occurred starting on December 18, 1994 Terra dating, to
December 22, 1994 also Terra dating."

There was a rustle of paper as the different members opened
their files.

"For the official records of these proceedings, I will read
aloud the brief summery of the events that occurred during
that time."

After flipping a few pages, Rathal started, "On December 18,
1994 Foxeris Ryoga Cutter, and his partner, Rebecca Jennifer
Sanders, went through a portal onto the world of Catarn.
Once there they were separated, and Rebecca was entangled in
the revolution that was occurring at the time."

He flipped a page. "While this was occurring Foxeris was
captured and jailed by the current rulers of the said world.
Rebecca convinced the rebels to retrieve him, which they
did, but in the process killed the second in command of the
government."

"The next two days after this, the record of events become
blurred, many different reports conflict. But most of the
reports all state the plain fact that Foxeris activated a
level thirty bomb, while Rebecca defended the door."

Rathal closed his folder, "For those of you who do have no
experience in the ranking of bombs, I will explain. A level
thirty bomb is a combination of nuclear, biological, and
viral. The end result being that the surface of the world it
is detonated on is totally culled of life of any kind. Not
only making this a crime of planetary destruction, but in
the case of the Catarn, attempted genocide." And with the
final comment out of the way Rathal slammed his folder down
on the desk in front of him.

Instantly there was a low murmur from most of the members,
which after a few seconds was stopped by Rathal speaking
again. "Fortunately, new evidence has come to light,
pointing to the possibility that many of the accounts were
changed, either inside the computer, or when taken."

He picked up the folder again, and opened it to the last
sheet of paper, "Also, many of the reports from members of
the rebels, and the underground, speak of a network of labs
under the surface of the planet. Each of the labs was
working on a separate, but connected project. What their
final goal was has yet to be determined."

He set the folder down, this time with less flare, "This
brings us to our present juncture, to determine with this
new evidence if Foxeris Ryoga Cutter's and Rebecca Jennifer
Sanders' exile status should be removed."

The middle ranked member, farther to my left, stood
immediately, "I object to this! If we are to re-evaluate the
status both of them, why isn't Ms. Sanders present!"

This brought another murmur from the Council as a whole.

"We have been unable to locate Ms. Sanders at the present
time, and have---" Rathal started.

"She's dead." I said, in a low voice.

Suddenly every single sound in the room stopped, and all
eyes focused on me. "Please explain, Mr. Cutter," One of the
lower members said.

I gulped, thankfully not to have to fight back the tears
that I could not cry. "She was killed on October first,
clipped by a car. She was living in England at the time, I'm
not sure of the location."

There was a stunned silence for a few seconds, the a lower
member stood. "I would like to put in front of this Council
a motion for a full pardon of Ms. Sanders, to be given
posthumously."

A mid-ranked member stood, "I second that motion," she said.

There was another pause, then the Council Head stood, "All
in favor signify this by a raise of hand." Instantly a
number of hands, paws, and a tentacle raised.

"All against."

More hands and paws raised, with only 4 abstaining.

There was a pregnant pause as the votes were totaled. The
Council Head stood again. "the vote is forty-four votes for,
and forty-four against."

"Would any members wish to change their votes?" she asked.

The silence in the room was deafening. "Then I shall cast my
vote, which is for. Let the records show that Rebecca
Jennifer Sanders was been pardoned for all crimes against
this Council of which she was accused." She then lowered
herself back into her chair.

A mid-level stood, "Now to continue with the topic at
paw...," she started, and thus it went on, and on.

* * *

Three hours later, once again I was waiting for the tally of
a vote that could change my life. After all the debate, and
the political playing, the decision was about to be made.

The Council Head stood, looking about as bored with the
proceedings as I was. "The decision of the Council has been
made. Foxeris Ryoga Cutter, in anonymous balloting this
Council has decided that you shall remain in exile."

Suddenly, what little resolve I had started to give way. My
knees turned to water, and began to buckle under me when a
young low-level stood. "Wait! There is something else we
need to take into account here."

Every eye in the room turned to him, "Mr. Cutter, here, is
one of maybe 200 people in over 20 trillion, trillion that
can open portals naturally. Now, what we heard about his
trip here suggests that he is starting to stagnate. If we
let this continue until we have made a decision on this
matter, this special ability of his could be lost to him,
and us, forever."

The Council Head nodded, "I agree. Does any member have any
reason why Mr. Cutter can not be allowed access to the
multi-verse, with a court approved chaperon?"

A few hands were raised, but quickly dropped. "It is so done
then. Foxeris Ryoga Cutter, your exile status has been
partially lifted. You will remain with Counselor Rathal,
until you can find a different chaperon that I approve of
personally."

She paused for a second, taking a sip of her water, "This
Council session is adjourned." She then turned and walked
out the door that was behind her.

I was flabbergasted. I was barely holding myself up by
grabbing on to the table that was next to me. I was sure
that if I let go I would fall on my face.

A few minutes slowly passed, though it seemed like an
eternity. Eventually I felt a hand on my shoulder. Glancing
up I saw Rathal, who was back in the clothing he had been
dressed in when he showed up on my world.

"Hi," I said weakly.

Thal put his arm under mine, and helped me stand. "How are
you feeling?"

I licked my lips, which had dried out. "Amazed, really."

Thal nodded, and helped me out of the nearly empty Council
chamber. "You up to getting a new translator implanted?"

"Ya," I said, then grinned. I slowly got back into walking
without aid, then said with glee, "Watch out universes! The
Fox is back in the saddle again!"

Then I tripped over my own feet, and fell flat on my face.

-----

This story is (c) 1999 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.