And Eternity (10 page)

It was also interesting! Certainly Luna knew where Vita was, for she had sent the two of them to her. But what connection did Vita have to Luna, and why was it so important to get the girl straightened out?

I sure don’t know!
Vita thought irritably.
And care less. Ask him if he’s got any H
.

So the mystery remained, unless this was merely a convenient case, to keep Jolie occupied and Orlene from sinking to Hell. Well, it certainly was doing that!

“I had a bad experience at home,” Jolie said, speaking for Vita. Internally, she asked:
May I tell him?

Go ahead, I don’t care. But I won’t go home.

“This is often the case,” the man agreed. “In past times runaway children were routinely returned to their homes. Then it was discovered what they were running from, and policy changed. Abuse?”

“Perhaps,” Jolie said cautiously.

“Would you like information on what constitutes abuse, legally? We want to understand your situation, and to have you understand it yourself.”

Jolie glanced at the matron who had brought her here, and who remained standing at the door. That might be for her protection, or the man’s. “Are you trying to get me to incriminate myself? I’m willing to do that; I did throw garbage at the police carpet, so they would arrest me.”

“So that you could win clear of the youth gang that was closing in on you,” he agreed. “I understand, and so did the arresting officers. But there are other aspects of this case that cause us to be reluctant simply to turn you loose again.”

“I don’t want to be turned loose!” Jolie said, alarmed. She knew that this host would be far better off in custody than on the street.

“We have little choice, as you have committed no significant crime and you can not be classed as a runaway. But we are willing to help in whatever way seems appropriate.”

“This doesn’t sound like a police interrogation!” Jolie exclaimed. “Who are you? What do you really want of me?”

The man smiled. “I apologize for neglecting to introduce myself. I am Judge Scott, and this is a preliminary hearing before our formal meeting in court. I prefer to know something about those who come before me, so that my ignorance does not lead to bad decisions.”

Jolie was amazed. “I thought you were just a functionary! Someone to take evidence to use against me.”

He smiled again. “That, too, perhaps. But the roots of my involvement are curiosity and a desire to do what is right, which is not always merely what is legal.”

Jolie realized that her encounter with this man could be a stroke of luck-or perhaps had somehow been anticipated by Luna. She decided to put her cards, not merely Vita’s on the table.  ”May I speak privately with you. Judge Scott?’’

“The matron is here to ensure that I take no unseemly advantage of you,” he reminded her. “This is standard policy with juvenile females.”

“I understand that. But what I have to say is private and I think not at all what you expect.”

“There is also a recording of this interview being made, for my protection as well as yours, so I can not guarantee you privacy.”

“That recording can be sealed as proprietary material.” The Judge raised an eyebrow. “You sound uncommonly knowledgeable for your years.”

“I am. Please let me talk to you alone.” He nodded to the matron, who quietly retired. “I am not merely a runaway fifteen-year-old girl, H addict and prostitute,” Jolie said. “I am a more mature woman who is animating her body as a temporary host and a still more mature woman who is operating during the incapacity of the other one. Can you grasp this?”

“Certainly this is possible, if the host consents. What would be the purpose in such a grouping?”

“The host is important to another person, who does not wish to interfere directly. The other ghost is important to me, so I brought her to this host in order to prevent her soul from sinking to Hell, where it does not belong.”

The Judge gazed at a spot on the ceiling. “Allow me to remind you that the charge against you is limited to abuse of an officer of the law, in the circumstances a misdemeanor. You have not been charged with substance abuse or with prostitution, and may not wish to volunteer such information to the court.” That’s for sure! Vita put in. It seemed she was monitoring this dialogue.

“Oh, but I do,” Jolie said. “In fact, I am prepared to turn state’s evidence in exchange for treatment and witness protection.”

You’re crazy!
Vita protested.
The pimp was bad, but not as bad as prison. You know what happens to girl prisoners? I wear a null-prig, null-VD charm to keep me clean, but in prison they get mean, and the charm won’t help.

Startled, Jolie glanced at the girl’s wrist. There was the magic band, matching her light brown skin, which she hadn’t noticed before.

“I am not certain you understand what such action would entail,” the Judge said. “You would have to remain in protective custody, and with our present limited facilities, that means an adult prison. I believe I would prefer to return you to the street.”

Jolie smiled. “My host would prefer to return to the street too. But I am proceeding on the assumption that she would only become fully addicted to Spelled H. would be mercilessly exploited and abused by her pimp, and would come to a sad end. I also believe that there was reason that we were sent to her, and that she must be restored to her family.”

No way!
Vita snapped.
My band’s no good against that either.

“To which she does not wish to be restored,” the Judge said. “I would suspect that she has been abused there, perhaps sexually molested. But prison is not the answer.”

“Neither is the street,” Jolie pointed out.

His eyes came down to focus on her face. “Tell me more about yourself. Not the host; I mean you the ghost. When did you live, and why did you not go to Heaven?”

“I don’t think that’s relevant.”

“It is if you are in control of the body. It is your responsibility that will determine the host’s overt actions, and this will help me make a decision.”

Jolie nodded. “Stop me when you’ve heard enough. My name is Jolie. I was born in southern France in the year 1191 A.D. of common peasant stock. In 1205, when I was fourteen, I was summoned to the house of the local sorcerer, a young man a year my senior but of infinitely greater experience and education and power. He fed me and talked to me and said he wanted my love, and in due course he had it, and I married him. I was killed by a crusader in 1208, but there was enough evil in my situation to put my soul in balance, and I remained with my husband as a ghost. He became a friar, but when he was of middle age, I animated a living woman and tempted him into sin, and thereafter he was prey to a demoness sent by Lucifer, and I could not approach him.”

“Lucifer?”

“Satan’s predecessor. When my husband died, he replaced Lucifer and became Satan. Today I keep company with Gaea instead of with Satan, but I still love him and visit him when I can. Now I am trying to help Gaea’s daughter, and-”

What?

Jolie bit her lip. “Oh, I said too much! She didn’t know, and it wasn’t yet time to tell her. I got carried away by what I was telling you-”

“Some might suppose a person who told such a story was either inventive or crazy,” Judge Scott remarked.

Jolie nodded. “So I might as well finish it while you’re still listening. Gaea sent me to Luna, and Luna sent me to help this host. I do not know what her interest in this host is, but I do know the girl needs help, so I am trying to help her. Most immediately, I am trying to get her off the street and off H, and this is where I beseech your help.”

The Judge seemed undisturbed. “Since you are a long-term ghost, you will have mastered the tricks of the trade, as it were. You will be able not only to animate a willing host, but to manifest directly to those who are interested enough to perceive you.”

“Yes. Do you wish me to?”

“Yes, please.”

Jolie drew herself out of the host and floated in the air beside her. Then she intensified her image until she manifested in her natural living guise: a seventeen-year-old French villain girl. Even so, few could have seen her.

The Judge looked directly at her and nodded. “Can you speak also?”

“If you can hear me.”

“I can hear you. Who remains in charge of the host?”

There was a pause. Then Orlene spoke. “I suppose that’s me. I wanted to sink down to Hell, but now I am uncertain. This girl does need help, and it may be my penance to bring her out of her slough.”

“And you are?” the Judge inquired.

“Orlene. My baby died, and I committed suicide and am trying to reach him in the Afterlife. But the Incarnation of Night played a cruel trick on me, and I can not forgive myself for what it brought me to.”

“Will you, also, vacate the host?” the Judge asked.

“But she’ll sink to Hell!” Jolie protested.

“Perhaps not, now,” he replied. “She cannot be condemned to Hell for evil inflicted on her by another.”

“But she doesn’t believe that!”

“I am coming to believe it,” Orlene said. “Certainly I understand now that others have problems as bad as mine, and it behooves me to do what I can to help them, instead of merely giving up.” She moved out of the body and floated.

“Who remains in charge of the host?” the Judge asked again.

Vita looked around craftily. “Look, Judge, this is all a big mistake. If you’ll just let me go-”

“You would be back on the street in a moment, looking for H,” the Judge concluded.

“I didn’t say that!” She glanced at him appraisingly. “I can pay, if you like young flesh.” She shaped her hair with her hands and inhaled, trying to enhance her figure in the plain prison dress. “Anything you want, just don’t put me in prison or ship me home.”

The Judge nodded again. “Point made. Return to your host, ghosts, and we shall discuss ways and means.”

“But they won’t let me have-” Vita protested. Then Orlene approached her from the left and Jolie from the right. She tried to bat them away, but her will was not in it: she knew that only Jolie was competent to deal with the Judge at this stage. So after token resistance, she allowed them to reenter her and resume control.

The Judge considered for a moment. “I want your commitment, Jolie, that you as the dominant personality will remain with this host until her situation has been clarified.”

“Well, that depends on Orlene, and on Luna. If Luna asked me to leave-”

“You are referring to Senator Kaftan?” he asked sharply.

“Luna Kaftan, yes. But I wouldn’t want her name brought into this until I know more about her interest in this person.”

The Judge touched a panel on the arm of his chair.

‘‘Senator Kaftan, please.’’

In a moment the air between them flickered and a holo picture of a young man appeared. “Senator Kaftan’s office,” he said. “Oh, hello. Judge Scott! She’s in conference at the moment, but I’ll have her call you back.”

“No need, Joe,” the Judge said. “Merely inform her that I propose to assume jurisdiction over one of her clients, with her permission.”

Joe’s eyes moved around until they spied Vita. “No problem. Judge; her permission is noted.”

“Thank you.” The image faded.

“What’s going on?” Jolie asked, amazed.

“When you mentioned Luna Kaftan, I knew this was no ordinary case. So I verified that you are what you claim to be, and that this girl, your host, is indeed a concern of Luna’s. She wants the matter handled discreetly, so I am assuming personal jurisdiction. But I am not about to take an errant juvenile girl into my home unsupervised. I must have your commitment to remain with her until this matter has been resolved.”

“Your home?” Jolie still was struggling over the Judge’s evidently close acquaintance with Luna.

“There are no appropriate facilities for such a project. My housekeeper will see to your comfort. I will release you on your own recognizance, and you will report to my residence immediately. There you will be able to tend to your host’s needs without harassment. Will you make that commitment, Jolie?”

If Luna knew this man and trusted him, Jolie realized she could do no less. “Yes.”

“Very well. You will be conducted back to your cell. This afternoon you will appear before me formally. Thereafter you will go to this address.” He gave her a card. “I will provide a carpet, as the girl’s pimp may be on watch for her release. Avoid him.”

“Thank you,” Jolie said faintly. What was she caught up in here? The Judge seemed so direct and understanding but taking an underage prostitute into his home? If it wasn’t for Luna’s involvement, she would distrust this overwhelmingly; as it was, she distrusted it only significantly.

The matron returned. The interview was over, and what an interview it had been!

So he does want young flesh!
Vita thought.

Jolie, you can’t put her into his power!
Orlene thought.
You know the sexual imperative of the male!

Who cares? Vita retorted.
He can’t be as bad as the pimp was. If I do good, maybe he’ll let me have some H.

No sex! Orlene thought.

No H!
Jolie thought at the same time.

We’ll see
, the girl responded smugly.

If your father molested you,
Orlene asked,
why are you so eager for sex with strangers?

I’m not eager, in fact I don’t like it. But it’s not incest, and if anyone finds out, it won’t put my father in prison and break up my family and break my mother’s heart. It’s the only currency I’ve got now, so I might as well make it count. The H makes it okay, and it can really make a man jump. Sex is power.

They reached the cell. “Here is your headache pill,” the matron said, proffering a capsule.

“Headache?” Jolie asked, surprised. Then she realized that the Judge must have ordered it, so she accepted it.

“Thank you.”

They were alone.
Is that H?
Vita asked eagerly.
I’m near dying for a sniff.

“You aren’t dying,” Jolie said. “I can feel your body, now, remember. It’s only a moderate withdrawal discomfort; you really aren’t addicted yet, and you aren’t going to be. This pill is to ease even that symptom.” She put it in her mouth, and it dissolved immediately into sweet juice, which she swallowed.