Chapter 9: The Verdict

The Council: deliberated for six hours. Six: hours in which I sat: in the Pre-Hearing Antechamber: under the gas-giant: chandelier and ate: grey paste and stared: at my phone and: did not call Sameer: because there was: nothing to say until: the verdict came.

Zrix: sat beside me. The: alien — my guide, my: handler, the being: who had landed in: the Aravalli hills and: changed my life — sat: in silence. Which: was unusual. Zrix: always spoke. The: Duolingo Hindi. The: measured, period-separated: sentences. The constant: stream of information and: assessment and galactic: context. But now: silence.

"You're: worried," I said.

"I am. Not. Capable. Of worry. I am. Capable. Of statistical. Assessment. And the. Statistics. Are not. Favourable."

"What: percentage?"

"Historically. Species with. More than. Twelve violations. Are quarantined. In ninety-one. Percent. Of cases."

"Nine: percent chance."

"Approximately."

"That's: more than zero."

"It is. Significantly. Less. Than fifty."

I looked at: the gas giant. Rotating: above. The: bands of colour — amber, rust, cream — moving: with the slow: majesty of a: world that did not: care about councils: or violations or: the fate of a: small blue planet: in a distant: arm of the: galaxy.

"Zrix?"

"Yes."

"Why: did you land in: the Aravalli hills? Specifically? You: could have landed: anywhere on Earth."

"The algorithm. Selected. You. Your location. Was incidental."

"But: you landed on: my cycling trail. At: the exact moment I was: riding. That's not: incidental. That's: targeting."

Zrix blinked: horizontally. "The algorithm. Is designed. To find. The representative. At a. Moment of. Personal crisis. Studies show. That species. Members. In crisis. Are more. Honest. More. Authentic. More. Representative."

"You: picked me because: my girlfriend had: just dumped me."

"We picked you. Because you. Were. At your most. Human. Grief. Makes. Your species. Transparent. And transparency. Is what. The Council. Responds to."

"So the: forty-seven-second voice note: was part of: the plan?"

"The voice note. Was coincidence. The grief. Was selection. Criteria."

I laughed. In: the Pre-Hearing Antechamber. Under: the gas giant. The: laugh of a man: who had been: dumped, abducted, sent: to space, and asked: to save his: planet, and who: was now learning: that the dumping: was the qualification: for the saving.

"The universe: really does have: a sense of: humour."

"The universe. Has. Patterns. Humour. Is a. Human. Interpretation."

*

The: verdict came. Not: as an announcement. As: a colour. The Chief: Adjudicator pulsed: green.

Green.

The: universal translation field: rendered: "The Council has: reviewed the case: of Sol-3, locally: known as Earth. The: Council acknowledges the: seventeen violations. The: Council notes the: representative's arguments: regarding the species': capacity for: self-correction."

"The Council: rules as follows."

"Quarantine: is deferred. Not: dismissed. Deferred. For: a period of: one hundred Earth: years. During which: the species Homo: sapiens will be: monitored. Violations must: be remediated according: to the following: schedule—"

A schedule: appeared. Holographic. In: the sphere. In: Hindi — my Hindi, the: translation rendering: the galactic legal: framework into a: language I could: understand.

Carbon: reduction — fifty percent within: thirty years. Electromagnetic: cleanup — full compliance: within twenty years. Species: conduct — measurable improvement: within fifty years. Orbital: debris — complete removal: within twenty-five years. Nuclear: disarmament — complete elimination: within one hundred: years.

"Failure to meet: any milestone will: result in immediate: quarantine without: further hearing."

"Does the: representative from: Earth accept these: terms?"

I stood. In: my Raymond's suit. On: my three-metre platform. In: the sphere of: four thousand seven hundred: and twelve species.

"On behalf: of Earth," I said. "I: accept."

The: chamber shifted. Not: a sound — not: applause, not: murmuring. A: shift. The: specific, gravitational: shift of four thousand: seven hundred and twelve: species' attention moving: from judgment to: something else. Something: that the universal: translation field could: not render because: it was not: a word. It was: a feeling. The: feeling of a: chance given. Of: a door left: open.

The four-armed: being — the one from: the antechamber, the one: who had said: "your planet is: quarantined" — caught: my eye. Across: the sphere. Across: gravity fields and: species boundaries and: the impossible geometry: of a room where: everyone had their: own floor.

The being: nodded. One: of four arms: raised. The: gesture was universal.

Good: luck.