Sarsaparilla: Not what she wanted, but nobody bothered asking her. Sarsaparilla, still stuck to Adalace's side, could tell that Adalace was also getting nervous, she was now gripping Sarsaparilla's hand and beginning to crush it. Yet again. That girl doesn't know her own strength. "Ah, Adalace..." "Sorry." She looked around the room. There were five people, four men and a woman, standing in a row, at the far side, looking back at them. In between the two groups was a long table, obviously used for meetings, since it had five computer screens on it, each with its own old style keyboard. Oh. That must be them. There was a subtle change in the lighting around them, which Sarsaparilla realised was Shane removing the shield from her group, and putting it around the five strangers. In silence, the two groups surveyed each other. They're old. Even older than Teylon. In fact, that bloke on the left has perfectly white hair. Sarsaparilla and the rest had spread themselves out in a rough line, so as to allow a better look at the five. They all waited while Teylon composed himself to say something. "Ah, good morning. I guess you all know who we are, but, of course, we don't know you." said Teylon. He was going to say something more, when- Juniper shuddered, let go of Devina and pointed to the bloke on the left. "That's him! That's the white haired man! No, no, I don't want to go in the bedroom with you!" She spun around and dashed back to the door, slammed it open and scrambled out. A fraction of a second later, Devina screamed out "Juniper!". Hands reached out, desperately trying to grab Juniper, Devina lunged forward, stumbled slightly when she failed to catch Juniper, then chased after her. They both disappeared through the door. There was the sound of gun fire. Seconds too late, Shane must have realised what was going on. The sound of gunshots became muffled as he hastily extended the shield from the five committee members, and put it around everyone, including anybody outside in the corridor. There being no more motion, the automatic gunfire stopped. Everybody else also stopped. They all stared at the now empty doorway. "Oh shit." said Francesca, the first to recover her wits, "Shane! Is it safe to go out there?" "Y-yeah. I've extended it through the door and down the corridor; but my shield derived senses are no longer detecting any movement..." Without further hesitation, she was out of the door, closely followed by Teylon. The guns started again. Thirty seconds later, she came back. She was carrying Devina in her arms. Who was limp and unmoving. There was a lot of blood, dripping down and leaving little splash marks on the floor. And also on Francesca's nice neat slacks. By some chance Devina's face was unmarked. Her last expression, of horror as she tried to reach Juniper, was still visible. Francesca's expression could be described as anger. Murderous anger. She stopped in front of the table, facing the unknown five. The others spread apart to make room for her. Behind her came Teylon. As he came through the door, the guns stopped firing. He had Juniper in his arms. Her blood was all over her dress, and all over the front of Teylon's clothes. Her face was also undamaged, her expression was one of horror and revulsion. Teylon's expression was - bad. He went past Francesca and halted at the table. At this point, they all realised that on the table at the end closest to the door was a large tray, containing several plates of scones, a jug of cream and several small bowls containing jams of various colours, a stack of white porcelain plates, plus some cutlery. Teylon placed Juniper's legs on the table, and with his free arm swept the tray of the table. It flew of the table, hit Shane's shield, which at that point was just in front of the wall, and the tray and its contents ended up in a jumbled and broken mess on the floor. Teylon continued with gently laying Juniper's body on the table. Without saying a word, Francesca followed by laying Devina's next to her. There was a ghastly, brittle, stretched out silence. Teylon and Francesca stared at the five committee members, who were still inside Shane's shield with them. The others, all in shock, kept looking from the two bodies to the committee and back again. By now, Shane as in a foetal position on the floor, blubbering. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. Two more dead girls. I'm sorry." Teylon looked at him. "Shane, could you stop crying. Please. This wasn't your fault. After all, I did tell you to put the shield around those people." Shane managed to stop making a noise. Teylon looked back up. At the white haired man. The white haired man looked back. He was beginning to sweat. "Was that really you?" said Teylon. The other four committee members noticeably moved away from him. Now he was really sweating. "Well, ah, once those girls had their memories wiped, ah, it didn't make any difference which man it was, did it? And, of course, Ajaeren sort of corrupted us all. At least to some extent. Ah..." Teylon, with a trembling hand, reached out and held Juniper's closest hand in his. Her hand was limp and unresponsive in his. He looked up, at the white haired man. That man stopped talking, took a breath, then made an effort to stand up straight. "Sorry..." There was a little silence, before Teylon turned slightly and looked at Francesca. "Get him!" A small pink fireball flashed into existence half a metre from Francesca, zapped its way across the room, through the chest of the white haired man, hit the bit of Shane's shield that was behind him, and dissipated with a faint crackling pop. Sarsaparilla had been observing all of this without any conscious thoughts at all. She just could not take in what had happened. So, when the man's body dropped to the floor, but he continued to stand there, looking around in puzzlement, she was not the least bit surprised. When it came to her emotions, she was not the least bit anything at this moment. The man stood there, looking down at his body. Then looked up as he realised that there was a previously unknown lady standing next to him. "Oh, you must be that Angel of Death, Esmeralda." "That's right." She took him by the wrist and began to drag him away. "And now we need to have a very serious talk about your life and the choices you have made, Mr Lenny." They faded from view. Sarsaparilla managed to get a few thoughts going. She noted that only she and Teylon were looking up, at where Lenny and Esmeralda had been. Everyone else was still looking down at his body. Argh, so that counts as a Judgement, does it? She looked back at Juniper and Devina lying on the table. And returned to shocked mode. Everyone who was left alive gave their utmost attention to Teylon. Eyes burning, he stood over Juniper, still holding her hand. "Esmeralda. You're a bitch. I don't care if you are an Angel of Death, you're still a total bitch." His voice started out low and even and slowly got louder and harsher. "You set me up. You made me love Juniper, to commit myself to her. Damn you. You even got me looking after Devina, of all people! The one who was perpetually full of hatred towards men. Towards me." There were now tears in his eyes. "You fed me this story about getting rid of the evil at the heart of Mars society. Bullshit! The teenagers could have done it all by themselves. I was nothing but a bystander to their actions. The only action I took under my own agency ended up with them saving my life. All of this was about getting me to acknowledge my past, wasn't it? Own up to myself about how I treated Emilia. About how I avoided commitments all of my life. Exposing my self deceptions about the consequences of my con jobs. You made me care, really care, for the first time in my adult life, for somebody else's life. For Juniper. And Devina. And the teenagers. Even for the rest of the Girls in Pink." He as crying now, but kept on talking. He did not look at anyone else, just looked down at the two dead people lying on the table. "I remember now. The death of my mother and my older sister. Dying in front of my eyes in some stupid gunfight between two rival gangs. Totally meaningless deaths. Yeah, I had suppressed it all of those decades. Why shouldn't I? What was there to remember apart from all of that pain and grief? There was no hope, no joy, nothing uplifting about their deaths. Just a shell shocked little boy left behind, with a smashed leg, watching the last breaths of the only two people he loved." There was no other sound in the room, apart from the slow dripping of blood off the table onto the floor. "You made me remember, you made me love someone again. And then you take it all away! What did Juniper do to deserve this? For that matter, what did Devina do to deserve her hell? Why? Why couldn't you have done something to save them before the horrible things happened to them? And, then, getting me to save them. Or, rather, partially save them. I never really did all that much to actually save them, did I? Juniper still had big holes in her memory, she was still haunted by her abuses. And Devina? How was she suppose to live a life with the scars, physical and emotional, she had?" He was sobbing now. "Evil at the heart of Mars? Evil? This is the evil! Juniper and Devina, dead, they were barely managing to cope with their new lives. Barely managing to have some hope for their future. And now they're dead." There was a chair nearby. He grabbed it with his free hand and dragged it over, and sat down. Still holding Juniper's hand. He reached over her body, and grasped Devina's hand also. He looked up at Sarsaparilla. "You can take over now." "Esmeralda, just take me now, please. I don't want to live any longer with this horrible shit." He slumped forward, head and shoulders hitting the table. He came to rest, head facing Juniper, still holding their hands. He did not move anymore. The room was quiet. Shane's shield muffled the air-conditioning sounds, the people still standing were still as statues. Shane, still kneeling on the floor, was silent as well. Then all heads turned towards Sarsaparilla. Oh. What? I didn't see Teylon's soul meeting with Esmeralda. Perhaps because his death wasn't considered to be part of a Judgement? Teylon's dead. And Juniper. And Devina. Shit. The people kept on staring at her. Am I supposed to do something? Why me? Oh, that's right. I also have Judgement powers. She realised that she was crying, tears running down her own face. She took out her hanky and wiped them off. Then had a look at it. Ah, this is the same handkerchief that Esmeralda gave me. Right. I think that's a hint. She looked to her side and slightly up. Yeah, Adalace is also crying. She looked around. So is practically everyone else. Leroy and Kaydence were hugging each other, as was Erasyl and Maggie. All openly crying. Sarawatch had red eyes. Shane looked as if he was barely managing to stop himself from falling into a pit of despair and self-loathing. Tamara was clenching her fists as she looked at Devina, while Francesca had given up on the anger and was looking sad instead. And what about the remaining committee? Three men and one woman, in their sixties or seventies, but all looking reasonably fit and healthy. And, right now, all looking at Sarsaparilla with intense, burning, interest. What did we come here for, again? Oh yeah. To ask questions. And, err, what was it? Something about telling the whole of Mars what was happening here. That's right. Where do I begin? Fortunately, the woman saved Sarsaparilla from making a decision by starting first. "What - what does this mean? I mean, weren't you here to take over? Or join us. Or something? But now both our leader and yours are dead. How does that work out?" Sarsaparilla looked at the others. Who all looked back at her. Ah. Looks like I really am the one in charge. For the time being. So, how will this disaster all work out? How do I answer her question...? And what do I ask in return... "How does all of this work out?" Sarsaparilla said, "I don't know. We don't know. We think it's time to open up this esp business to society at large, let them decide." "Let them decide? We are the ones that have spent thirty years developing it. We have the most knowledge about it!" "Yeah, and you are the ones who have let all of these evil things occur. Like Kaydence and Juniper getting brainwashed!" Sarsaparilla's voice was getting louder as she started to express all the anger and fear she had accumulated. "I spent years being lonely because you took away Kaydence! And she almost ended up dead because of you! If that's the best you can do, then it's time for someone else to have a go." she said. Teresa was also beginning to lose her cool. "Do you think you could have done better? That esp Artifact is designed with malicious intent, you know. No matter what, people would have suffered and died. Our first esp test was one of us, and she died. Our second was me. I risked my life straight after Lucy died! And I got a brain damaged baby in return. We have paid in blood for all of this!" "Well, so have we! You almost killed half of us! You have stuffed up our lives, manipulated them to your own twisted advantages. And now Teylon and Juniper and Devina are dead!" "Those three are dead because you barged in without an invitation! If you had kept to your own business, none of this would have happened!" "It was our business! Saving Kaydence and Juniper made it our business. Having Chantell and Mirabella die made it our business!" There as a pause in the shouting match, while both got their breaths, and their thoughts, back. Shit, why am I having a screaming match in front of everyone? Oh, bloody hell, I have an Angel of Death on hand, how about asking her for some soul readings. After all, I'm sure she has some extremely particular ideas about what I should know. Without any further ado, she got a crash course in how the committee had run Mars for the last thirty years. Wow, that was a lot of information, all at once. She looked around, everyone was still as they were, intently waiting for some sort of reply from her. While simultaneously not taking any notice of her right at this very moment. Apparently it didn't take all that long in the real world. Sarsaparilla made a face of disgust. Ugh, Most of them didn't start out all that nice, and they got worse the longer they went for. Although Ajaeren certainly accelerated that trend something real bad. But, still, even taking into account Ajaeren, they still have a lot to answer for. She looked around. Everyone was still sort of ignoring her. OK, I have time to think. Are they evil enough to Judge with a capital J? Well, Lenny and Arnold certainly are. Although, both actually were committed to developing Mars... But they both, in the end, ended up choosing the bad, rather than the good, to do so. Prakash? I suppose if Lucy had lived, he could have turned out a lot better. But, she didn't. Does that excuse him? In fact, what does excuse doing evil? How would I know? I suppose, if Esmeralda has put me in this position, then I can only assume that I can Judge someone purely by what I know they have done in their lives up to now. I suppose, it is not up to me to work out why they have acted they way they did. Geez, this is hard. Ah, right. Prakash had no hesitation in voting to turn Kaydence into a brainwashed clone, and to eventually send her off to die. Right. And Terrence? He is sort of decent. But, he's also a bit wishy-washy. Just went along with the flow. Always labouring under his inferiority complex. Never taking a strong, independent, stance on anything. To hell with him. And Teresa. The most decent one of the lot. She acted to tone down some of the committee's more exorbitant excesses. But still, she didn't really try hard enough, did she? Even taking into account that horrible Ajaeren and his mind raping, she still didn't try hard enough. Maybe if her son Keltain had been born undamaged, she might have been better. Maybe if she hadn't been dumped by that man, she would have aimed higher. Maybe, maybe. I can only go by what she actually did. And, of course, what Esmeralda has shown me about what she actually did. She voted against killing Adalace by using those psychopathic monsters... But that's all she did. Vote against the motion. Knowing full well that her vote would be out numbered. This is what I get for wishing for a super power. Yeah, I've got one. A really really powerful one. I mean, who else has an Angel of Death talking to them. Well, apart from that unknown other person who must also have Judgement powers, whoever he or she is. The trouble with having a super power, I have just realised, is that it requires super responsibility. If I Judge these people, the moral consequences are on my soul. And if I don't, the consequences of them living is also on my soul. She thought about it. If they were allowed to live - they would just naturally affect how the esp Artifact was used in the future. The rest of society wouldn't be able to help themselves from asking them for advice. Even if they were locked up and kept away from the controls - even so, they would influence the course of action. And their course of action lead to Kaydence being turned into a brainwashed clone, willing to die. Damn them all to hell. She took a breath. Everyone noticed this. The committee, all of them, straightened themselves, as if to say they were not going to grovel or in any way diminish their dignity. They also tried to step backwards, only to be brought up short by Shane's shield. The others took an expectant breath and waited. "Judgement" Four bodies dropped to the floor. Four souls stood there, and then they saw Esmeralda, waiting. "Come with me, we have much to discuss." They faded out of sight, leaving behind four lifeless bodies. Sarsaparilla scanned the room. As before, everyone was looking down. So, none of them saw Esmeralda meeting them. Then, they all looked at her. "I'm pretty sure that Teylon would have spared Teresa. And, maybe, even Terrence. But, I'm not as nice as Teylon was." Silence. "Sure, that's fine then." said Francesca. At this, Sarsaparilla sagged, and half sat, half collapsed, onto the floor. Adalace followed suit, and they ended up embracing each other. "This is so not what I wanted." said Sarsaparilla. But she got it anyway.