Species Traitor: A Science Fiction Dystopian Novel by Kate Mary (universal ebook reader .TXT) 📗

A lot, I thought. Especially if she made it illegal to fraternize with Veilorians and the District was searched. Even if I wanted to run, I had nowhere to go. My mom would never take me back, and neither would anyone else in my family. I was a pariah now, just like Ione.

I’d suspected Mayor Waters had no intention of giving Arch a fair trial even before I watched him being dragged from the District, but I hadn’t expected her to move so quickly. The next morning, before Finn and I had even gotten out of bed, someone was pounding on the door.

I twisted to face him as he pulled his long body out from under the covers. “Expecting company?”

“No.” Finn was wearing thin undershorts but nothing else when he grabbed a shirt, turning to look at me as he pulled it over his head. “Especially not this early.”

He paused before leaving the room, and his gaze moved over me, making me flush. Like him, I wore very little—underwear and a thin tank top—and he seemed to appreciate the view. We’d kissed and explored one another as much as we dared the night before, but I wasn’t a fool. Our restraint couldn’t last. Eventually, we would give in. Consequences be damned.

A second pounding came from the other room.

“You should get some clothes on,” Finn said before grabbing his pants.

He’d barely pulled them on when he was dashing from the room.

I crawled from the warm bed to retrieve my clothes, and by the time I’d made it to the living room, Finn already had the viewing screen on. Ione and Rye were here, her leaning against him, her eyes filled with tears.

“This can’t be happening,” she said, her gaze glued to the image in front of her.

I moved so I was standing beside them, knowing what I was going to see but dreading it. Mayor Waters was on the steps of the government building already addressing the viewers, and behind her, Arch stood between two soldiers.

“I hold the utmost respect for our laws,” she was saying, “which is why I spent most of the night reviewing them, and I have come to one conclusion. I could find absolutely nothing that tells me how I should proceed when dealing with uninvited alien criminals. For twenty-two years they have lived on this planet, and yet no one has ever thought to pass any real laws concerning how or where they should live, or even how they should be punished if they commit a crime. It is unfathomable, I know, and yet it’s true.

“After much discussion with my advisors, I have conceded to their suggestions. My hands, you see, are tied in this matter. The city cannot afford to hold a prisoner for the weeks or months it will take to revise these laws. We don’t have the funds, and we don’t have facilities to accommodate aliens. What is more, there has never been a doubt in my mind that this boy is guilty. Why else would he have left the safety of his home if not to commit this vile act?” She paused when a round of applause and cheers rose up, looking back at Arch, her expression dark. “And I cannot in good conscience go forward without first making sure justice has been served. Taking all these things into consideration, there is only one possible solution. Justice must be swift, and it must be severe if we are to make sure something like this never happens again.”

More cheers rose from the crowd, and again Mayor Waters turned to look at Arch. This time, however, it was to motion to the guards.

They moved, dragging the boy forward until he was beside the mayor. The onlookers were going crazy now, booing as well as cheering, screaming insults and calling for his death. The mayor let it go on for a couple minutes before finally lifting her hand, motioning for the people to quiet down. It was slow, the noise fading away like an echo until finally there was nothing but silence.

“Arch Bastillion of the Veilorians, I, Veronica Waters, Mayor of Polis, find you guilty of assault, rape, and first-degree murder, and hereby sentence you to death.”

She took a step back as another man moved forward. He had a thin strip of black cloth in his hand, which he tied around Arch’s head, covering his eyes. The boy was then forced to his knees. He was shaking with fear or sobs, I wasn’t sure which, and his lips were moving, but not a single sound was audible.

“May your corpse rot in the wastelands for eternity,” Mayor Waters said.

Another guard stepped forward holding a pulse rifle and pressed the barrel against Arch’s head. I looked away before he pulled the trigger, but not being able to see it didn’t lessen the blow when the energy pulse boomed from the viewing screen, and my entire body jerked at the sound.

“Oh, my God,” Ione cried.

Finn swore and turned away from the screen, while Rye tried to comfort his wife, who was openly sobbing now. The mayor was speaking again, but I couldn’t concentrate on her words. A buzzing filled my head, almost as if the energy pulse had burst my eardrums, and I couldn’t get my mind to focus or accept what had just happened. I looked from Finn, who was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed, to Ione and Rye, who were holding each other, then back to the screen. The mayor was still talking, and behind her, Arch’s body lay where it had fallen, a pool of blue collecting beneath his head.

He was dead. A boy who had done nothing wrong, who’d had no chance for a trial or even to try to prove his innocence, had just been shot in front of the crowd. It had been telecast live for everyone to see. The entire human population as well as