It's second post of the week, and I'm going with another installment of Chelsea the (bad) social worker. Again, I'm putting a full set of links at the end.
Two weeks later, Chelsea saw Shad for the first time since the trial. She was surprised to see him clean-shaven and looking happy. Their counselor was Kloe. “I completed training as a Physical Therapeutics Instructor,” he said when asked about his activities. “It will be a while longer before I’m fully certified. For now, they have me fast-tracked for instructional materials. Frank, John and Tilly are in, too. We’ve got things that will blow the lid off… Well. I’m doing okay. It helps, just to know it means I can see you.”
“It certainly helps to
have a goal,” Kloe said. “What about you, Chelsea?”
“I’m keeping busy,” Chelsea said in a neutral tone. “They stopped giving me new cases so I could focus on counseling. I’m still working on my existing cases. There’s a girl I’m working with that I think I’m connecting with well.” She turned her head. “Are you recording this?”
Percy sat to one side. “Technically, I’m never not recording,” he said. “Everything you say will go into encryption. Nobody will access it, including me, without orders from a judge or a Counsel member. Trust me, it’s more awkward for me than for you.”
“Now, something I’d like
to go back to,” Kloe said. “You showed me, during our session at your
residence, a work room you both called `the neutral zone’…”
“Oh, I moved out of there
a week ago,” Shad said. “The new place is way better. I’m in Aster Plaza now.”
Chelsea looked at him in
surprise. “But you loved the work room,” she said. “I mean,, I didn’t think
you’d want to leave. Just getting everything organized again…”
Shad shrugged. “It was nice,” he said, “but now I have a whole workshop. I can lay out sets…”
“Excuse me,” Kloe said.
“What I need to know is why you felt the need to have a space where, as you put
it, there would be `no therapy, period’. In fact, where you agreed not to enter
without his invitation.”
Chelsea laughed. “Well,
we like to try different places,” she said. “The workroom is… was, I guess…
Shad’s space. It’s a place to do his work.”
“But both of you have
told me, you disrupted his work many times,” Kloe said.
“That wasn’t disruption, just… extra spice,” Chelsea said, laughing again. She looked at Shad, and paused. “I mean, when you told me you really needed something done, I left you alone. The rest of the time, it was just having fun either way. Right?”
Kloe looked to Shad. So did Percy. “Sure,” he said. “The thing, the thing is… It’s not fun when you’re already mad. And you don’t listen when you get excited. And you keep saying you’ll leave me alone if I take care of you, but I keep telling you it never works.” His speech sped up as his tone grew agitated. “I can offer to give her everything, but she’ll still tell me just to touch her, only then she wants to touch me, and she never stops.” He stopped, audibly panting.
Chelsea started to muster
a smile, then let it drop. “I thought you like it that way,” she said. “Anyway,
we only did that… okay, two or three times. And I always asked, well, I let you
say yes or no...”
“Yeah, when you were holding my-!!” He stopped again. He finally turned to Kloe. “You know, you were right. She’s just bossy, and she’s not even that good at it.”
“Hold on,” Kloe said. ““I worked with both of you. You’re both observant and intelligent, so leave that alone. You are both diagnosed with obsessive and repetitive tendencies. Which can be good, if you’re really trying to improve. We’re making progress here. What’s important, you talk about what you both want when you can be calm. Now, Chelsea, do you disagree with anything Shad said?”
“No,” she said. “I
understand what you’re saying. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, I accept your
apology,” Shad said. “But I’ve told you the same things, and you’ve said the
same things.”
“There’s one more thing I
want to discuss,” Kloe said. “Have you talked together about your faith, or any
faith?”
“A little,” Chelsea said. “I know it’s important to Shad; I’ve offered to go with him.”
“Then I suggest you
attend a religious assembly together,” Kloe said. She turned to Percy. “Will
the terms of the order allow that?”
“It might,” Percy said. “There’s
an event I was planning to attend already.”
“Then I suggest you go,
all of you,” Kloe said. “There’s nothing more worthwhile to do today. You can
call me if you need assistance.”
Percy picked up Chelsea and Shad in his own van, a reproduction of a vehicle called a Borgward Goliath, characterized by a grill that looked like a smiling face. His partner Hector, species Zaglossus sapien, rode with him. Shad smiled at Chelsea as she climbed in. She sat down in a seat that faced him. When she spoke, it was to Percy. “So, how does this work for you?” she asked in bemusement. “Is religion in your programming?”
“My core directives include respect for all religions,” he said. “Basically, I can’t do anything that would damage or desecrate a place of worship, a holy book, or other religious artifacts, unless there’s an overriding threat to sentient life. Beyond that, you could say I’m curious. Hector here introduced me to the Church of the Logos. It suits me.”
Chelsea looked back to Shad. “What’s their real deal, anyway?” she asked. “You never acted like you felt guilty about anything you did. And him, he doesn’t seem like the type to worry about what some book from 3000 years ago says.”
“We follow the teachings of Master Diogenes,” Shad said. “He lived during the time of the first Invasion. He compiled a book of what he called Universal Ethics, based on the teachings of all the major religious traditions. The First Principle is to do no harm, or the least harm for the greatest good. The Second is that all things done in love are permissible, if they do no harm.”
“That’s about right,” Percy said. “I heard him a few times, picked him up once. He wasn’t a big deal till later. Back then, the people who knew him mostly said it was a joke. Anytime someone asked, he just said he taught only what was true.”
They arrived at the City’s Arts District, in the immediate vicinity of the twin towers of Aster Plaza. Since the Church avoided dedicated places of worship, its major functions were held here, in theaters, stadiums and more esoteric structures. The largest of these was a vaguely nautical ovoid building widely called the Trilobite, with several lesser structures connected by footbridges. Their destination was the next largest, a boxy structure often called the Lozenge. As they arrived, a crowd was streaming in, many of them in the uniforms of police and other Arcostate employees. “Here goes nothing,” Percy said.
They ended up seated in what as nominally a handicapped seating area at the midline of an athletic field. For the present function, it had been filled with benches that could support the body shapes of a range of non-humanoids. At the north end of the field, a stage had been set up where a choir sang and chanted to the throbbing chords of an oversized electronic organ. The repeated chorus was, “In the beginning was the Logos… And the Logos was with God… And the Logos was God…”
As they took their seats, the bench creaked under Hector’s body, which resembled a 2 meter root vegetable with quills and claws. Chelsea and Shad sat between him and Percy. She noticed unfavorable glances from the crowd, but the presence of the lawmen and Percy in particular seemed to dissipate any resentment. She started at the sight of Deve, seated with only 4 arms visible. Shad mutely offered his hand, and she took it, with a sidelong glance at Percy. He gave an unmistakable smile. Already, a Master was taking the stage. She had to shoot upright to stay with Shad as the crowd rose for a new chant: “Life, Light, Law, LOGOS!”
The Master promptly went into a sermon that was really a somewhat rambling lecture. Chelsea was intrigued and amused by references to the most famed discourses of Diogenes, the Sermon From The Back of A Citroen HY, apparently delivered as 2 in the morning. The repeated theme was duty and loyalty, artfully interconnected between the Arcostate, family, friends and their idea of the God of all the multiverse. After a while, there was another chant, this time unapologetically a cheer. The crowd stomped and clapped as they repeated, “Life, Light, Law! Life, Light, Law!” Chelsea gaped as an oviraptorasaur leaped 3 meters in the air, hanging briefly from the mesh barrier before dropping back down. She was more startled to see Percy already participating energetically. She realized in the process that a sound she had taken as stomping was really the whip-like crack of his open palms slapping together.
They sat down again, and
there was a hymn before the service continued. She was already tuning it out
when she recognized the call: “If you are here with your domestic partner, or
you are seeking a partnership, you may rise to participate in a religious
ceremony!”
She turned to Percy. “You metal bastard… Thank you.”
As best Chelsea could tell, perhaps two in every 20 people rose to join in. Most were attended by deacons where they were seated. She and Shad were among a more select group summoned onto the field. She blushed but did not pause as they went through a gate onto the pseudoturf, at least until someone else passed by. She said involuntarily, “Diane?”
Her best friend looked over her shoulder. Only then did Chelsea recognize her companion, Shad’s friend/ boss Frank. “It’s complicated,” Diane said. Then they were separated in the greater throng.
The ceremony proved to be a short oath, followed by signatures on a small slip of paper. She signed hastily. Only after that did she survey the scene. There were perhaps 200 couples on the field. A number of them were clearly elderly and evidently wealthy, presumably renewing their vows. She looked up apprehensively as a light fancraft passed overhead, carrying a camera and operator. Shad squeezed her hand. She looked to the right, and confirmed that there were notaries at a table just out of view from most angles. Chief among them was Deve, now with eight arms deployed, stamping four at a time. She would have sworn their eyes met, though the only sign of recognition was a slight curl of his lip.
“Okay,” Percy said as
they left, “that could get you in trouble, but it’s still within the terms of
the order. Just understand, you’re not getting a sanctioned honeymoon night.”
“That’s fine,” Shad said.
He still held Chelsea’s hand tightly. “This is romantic enough. Right?”
“Oh yeah,” Chelsea said.
“Just so it’s understood, I’m going to be thinking of you tonight.”
“Maybe I’ll call,” Shad
said. “That’s allowed, isn’t it?”
“Sure, but don’t push it,” Percy said.
They dropped off Shad
first, and Hector got off at the same place. As Chelsea took the shotgun seat,
Percy said, “I saw you made a complaint of intimidation against the Feaghan
family.”
“You bet I did,” she
said. “They sent someone to threaten me. He said if I tried to stay with Shad,
he would stop me.”
“They said they assigned a security contractor to monitor if you complied with the protective order,” Percy said.
“He wasn’t talking about
the order,” Chelsea said firmly.
Percy drummed his
fingers. “Did he have a really goofy accent?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Chelsea said.
“Except, it wasn’t even really like an accent… You know who he is, don’t you?
And it’s bad, isn’t it?”
There was a long silence
from Percy. “No,” he said. “Don’t worry about him.”
Later that night, Chelsea
squirmed in half-sleep. Still, she smiled at the buzz of her wrist organizer.
“Hey,” she said. “Thinking of me… or were you already done.”
“Hey, Blue Bell,” Shad
said. She immediately sat up.
“Shad,” she said, “they’re recording this. You know that. Even if they weren’t, I’d have to report if you said… if.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Shad
said, almost dreamily. “I just want to tell you, I love you. And… it’s not your
fault. They know that.”
She went through the
questions in her mind, and asked the only one that mattered. “Why now?”
“Because I would have
gotten rid of… everything,” he said.
“Not because of tonight, because I was sure I could go on, even without you.”
“Shad,” she said, “I love
you.” But the line was already dead.
It was a month before she
learned anything, when she appeared in court. Shad wasn’t there, only the
doctor. “The Party Shad Feaghan was found with materials he could use to harm
himself or others,” he said. “He remains with the family for his own
protection.”
“We can still fight
this,” she said.
“Perhaps,” Deve said.
Then he cleaved an apple with a blade that sprouted abruptly from his knuckles.
Table of contents
Part II: The parking violation!
Part III: Capsule hotel destruction!
Part IV: The Kelsiraptor, and Harryhausen monster bureaucrat!
Part V: The restraining order!
Part VII: The trial, part 2, with the King Kong Moral Contraband film!
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