Back In Action

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

12/29/95:

I threw my book onto my bed, and sighed. It had been a long
day. I had spent the last 5 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 saw a familiar face. "Rathal!" I said.

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

I sat up, grinning. "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. "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 15 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 basically 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 around 3
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. I had forgotten how subtle some magic
could be, during my exile. 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,
Standard, by the looks 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 ear-piece 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 ear piece 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, obviously. 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, 3 months out of date (but hey... it was about 9
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 go in. 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
3 leaders of the Council.

The second level was the second rank members, 25 in all. The
third was the low members, numbering 40. 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 Counselor 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 point out that
former objections are not the issue right now. We have the
potential to 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 try 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
Counselors' 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. all other arguments are behind this one
simple fact. now, let's get on with it." Then she sat back
down.

Rathal stood. "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 file detailed accounts of the events
that occurred starting on December 18, 1994 Terran dating,
to December 22, 1994 also Terran dating."

There was a rustle of paper as the different members opened
there 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 where 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 30 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
30 bomb is a combination of nuclear, biological, and viral.
The end result being the surface of the world it is
detonated on is total 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 where
changed, either inside the computer, of 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, which the
final goal was have yet to determined."

He set the folder down, this time with less flare, "This
brings us to are present juncture, to determined 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 re-evaluate both
of there status, 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 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 where totaled. The
Council head stood again. "the vote is 44 for votes, and 44
against."

"would any members wish to change there 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 she was accused of." 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 when 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 head of the Council stood, looking about as board 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 shale remain in exile."

Suddenly what little resolve I had started to give. My knees
turned to water, and started 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 one of
maybe 200 people in over 20 trillion, trillion that can open
portals naturally. Now from what we heard about his trip
here suggests 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 an
objection as to why mr. cutter can not be allowed access to
the multi-verse, with a court approve chaperon?"

A few hands where raised, but quickly dropped. "it is so
done then. foxeris ryoga cutter, your exile status as be
lifted. you will keep with counselor rathal, until you can
find a different one 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 myself was flabbergasted. I was barley holding myself up
by grabbing on to the table that was next to me. I was sure
if I let go I would fall on my face.

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

"Hi." I said weakly.

Thal put his arm under mind, and helped be 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 on translator implanted?"

"Ya" I said, then grinned. I slowly got back into walking
with out 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.