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"Exactly. But we're monitoring all available wavebands across the
comm-net and there's nothing going on out there. Not a single pirate
signal or attack program in sight."
Foster shrugged. "Maybe you scared them off."
J'aele shook his head. "I think not, Judge Foster. The jackals do not stay
in their den when a meal is within their reach. Moon-U are simply
choosing not to disrupt this broadcast."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"No. Mark my words, Foster, they're planning something. I have a very
bad feeling about this."
Tex knew that the crowd were hooked now and while he was sure that
there were plenty of folks out there who hated what he stood for, he knew
that they were at least listening to him. "Luna-1 is a proud city. We're a
nation-state of folks from all over the Earth and just as much as we're part
of our home planet, we're also independent. We're Selenites, Lunarians,
whatever name you choose, many of us Moon-born and Moon-bred. Some
folks out there are sayin' we ain't free, that the Judges are keeping you
prisoner. Well, that there is a lie and I'm here tonight to tell you that
Luna-1 is the freest damn city off Earth!"
A soft murmur of agreement moved through the crowd and Tex smiled
a little to hear it. Any disquiet that Che's earlier comments might have
brought up in him faded as he watched the strength of his words
influencing the citizens. "There's folks out there who are screamin' for free
elections, but we already got those. My name's been on that ballot time
after time and you good people have always voted me back in to office, 'cos
you know I'll do right by you. Now these same folks think I'm a tired old
cowboy, long in the tooth and slow in the brain, but let me tell you this -
I'm sharp enough to know that Luna-1 ain't gonna rip itself apart on the
say-so of some cartoon goofball!"
Tex flashed a grin as a ripple of laughter crossed the plaza, before his
expression hardened, "I'm gonna keep this city safe. It's my life's work.
And no amount of rumours and half-truths are gonna get in the way of
that." He tapped his badge. "This here means Marshal and that means I'm
the law-"
At that moment, something high on the upper floors of the Luna
Academy building glittered brightly and caught Tex's attention. The Chief
Judge had a fraction of a second to register the vibrant crimson flash
before a high-energy collimated laser beam lanced through his chest, the
crack of superheated oxygen breaking the night air a moment later. The
powerful bolt of coherent light melted through the middle of his badge
and tore through skin and bone to flash burn his heart into cinders.
Judge-Marshal Tex tumbled away from the podium, trailing a thin pink
stream of vaporised blood. He was dead before he hit the lunacrete steps.
Shock and terror broke through the crowd like a wave and the panicked
citizens surged in all directions, the line of Judges distending under their
weight. Che was the first to the body and the sight of the ruined corpse of
his old friend and commander made his guts knot with anger and sorrow.
"Seal off the plaza!" he bellowed. "Now!"
In the media centre there was a stunned silence until J'aele snapped
out an order to one of the camera operators. "The Academy - the shot
came from the Academy! Get a hovercam up there!"
Several of the views that had been trained on Tex now swooped giddily
around and flickered over the crowd, catching blink-fast images of
fighting, screaming, hysterical people. Then the Justice Department's
training facility filled the sub-screens as the flying camera drones closed in
on it.
Foster spotted the gunman first. "There! Unit six, upper quadrant!
Send men over there right now!"
The hovercam could see little; it was unlit on the office level where the
sniper had fired from and the drone's low-light lenses were insufficient to
show anything but gross shapes and shadows. The figure, clad in a dark
outfit with bulky shoulder padding, was sprinting for a null-grav drop
tube and it turned as the hovercam closed in. Foster got the impression of
a pistol in the killer's hand and then with a flash, the drone's live feed
became a rain of static.
"Replay!" J'aele barked. "Freeze that last frame!"
One of the other Tek-Judges did as he was asked, halting the video feed
at the exact instant before the assassin destroyed the drone. The picture
was blurry and dim, but the clothing the gunman wore was distinct, even
in the gloom.
It was the uniform of a Mega-City One Judge.
In the hours after Tex's murder, the panic at Justice Plaza turned into a
crisis that soon expanded far beyond the death of one man. Che's orders
and a poorly considered command given later by a watch commander led
to the use of neutralising stumm gas and riot foam on the people who had
gathered to hear the Judge-Marshal speak. Under the glare of all Luna-1's
media, a few Judges were injured and dozens of citizens were killed in the
deadly crush of bodies; every bloody incident and moment captured and
broadcast across the city.
As the solar shutters across the dome interiors began to fan open to
announce the lunar dawn, the last of the bodies trapped in the hardened
foam were being cut free. Parked medi-flyers and emergency porta-domes
were serving as field hospitals for those people too badly crushed to be
moved and Judges of every stripe were everywhere, combing the plaza
with serious and careful intent.
Tex's body had been one of the first things to be removed, but the
brown smear of his blood, heat-dried by the laser bolt, was still there, a
dark streak across the centre of the Grand Hall's stairs. Che stood to one
side of the podium, which had miraculously survived the events of the
night untouched. The Mex-City Judge was fixated on the upper floors of
the Law Academy, watching the L-Wagon floating outside the room where
the gunman had hid.
Foster and J'aele approached, gingerly giving the bloodstain the widest
possible berth. "Reporting as ordered," the Brit-Cit officer announced.
Che nodded. "Quick thinking with the camera drone." His voice was flat
and toneless. "Good work. What's the word from the other sector houses?"
The two men hesitated.
"Spit it out!" Che snapped. "I gave you an order!"
"It is bad, sir," J'aele began. "Multiple demonstrations across the city
were taking place during the speech and the majority of them lit off into
full scale riots the moment Tex was killed. Pro-justice and
anti-government activists clashed. There have been a lot of deaths."
Che closed his eyes, as if the words were causing him physical pain.
"Containment?"
"Ongoing," added Foster. "Riot units are in deployment in all nine
territories and a curfew is in effect in most sectors. Manta prowl tanks
and pat-wagons have been mobilised." The Judge paused. "The& the
Moon-U broadcasts have begun again, city-wide."
Che gave J'aele a withering look. "Your division's performance has been
pathetic, J'aele! Can you do nothing to block these chattering fools?"
The Simba City Judge looked uncomfortable. "They are not common
hackers, sir. The Moon-U signals are using military-grade encryption
technology& It is far beyond the capacity of the equipment possessed by
the Luna Justice Department."
The Deputy Judge-Marshal made a spitting sound. "Our systems are so
out of date it's a wonder we can still keep air in here!" He thumped one
fist against the podium. "Damn them!"
"The pirate transmissions are inciting disorder in a dozen places.
They're claiming that Tex's killer was Judge Dredd, sir and they're
denouncing you as the instigator."
Neither Foster nor J'aele had any grasp of Che's native language and so
they were spared the full impact of the string of invective he let out in
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