Chapter
Forty-Eight
Morn returned to his office where his young Aide
Bright Serpent, had laid out his correspondence to be signed. Morn went
through the letters quickly, signing them, but noticed the young Aide
still held some papers. "What are those?" he asked.
2 "These three, My Lord," the Aide told him, "are death warrants, sent
to you for a final appeal. I have checked each case, and the facts on
the attached sheets are accurate."
3 Morn took the warrants. They were non-political crimes, three
murders, all well witnessed, no doubt of guilt in any of them. They
were the first to reach Morn's desk. There had been other death
sentences, but the convicted had not bothered to appeal.
4 Even under the fairness of The New Law Morn did not like death
warrants, but they were part of his duty. He quickly signed them and
set them on his desk. "What else," he asked.
5 ''I have three letters," the young Aide continued, "that I do not
know how to answer. They are requests for healings. Apparently, some
people have spread the stories of how The Old First Speakers used to
cure the sick!"
6 Morn sat down his pencil and leaned back. "That's a new one!" he
laughed. "No one has ever asked me to cure their sicknesses before!
Read me the letters!"
7 The young Aide opened the first one. "Most beloved and Renowned First
Speaker," it began, "we write to you in behalf of our son who has been
valiantly fighting in your Service. Some time ago, he lost his right
leg defending The Republic. Two times they have grown him a new one,
put it on, only to have it die.
8 The Doctors are at a loss. As far as they can tell, the legs they
produced were perfect, and they followed procedures exactly. Shortly
they will try again, but they warn us they are running out of time. If
they fail