Free This Star Shall Abide by Sylvia Engdahl

me. After that there was little point in caution, for though she was kept home by illness yesterday, she would surely have denounced me as soon as she was able to.”
    Talyra turned away from him, her suffering obvious to all. “The girl’s piety is indeed well known,” one of the councilmen said. “It is plain that in betrothing herself to this scoundrel, she was the innocent victim of his deceit. I see no need to subject her to questioning, since he has already admitted his crime. I see no need to question anyone else at all. The case is clear-cut.”
    The Chief of Council nodded. “That’s quite true. However, the boy himself must be examined further. Not only did he say blasphemous and heretical things, but he said them to Technicians! It is fortunate for him, and for all of us, that the High Law toward which he shows such disrespect does not in itself forbid the voicing of wicked ideas, and that its enforcement is left to us in any case; otherwise he would have been instantly struck down by those Technicians’ wrath. We would not have them think us tolerant of whatever other heresies he may be harboring.”
    There was a murmur of agreement. “We of this village,” the man continued, “are respectable, reverent people, ever mindful of the High Law’s demands. We must concede that although we may forbid heresy in our own laws, it is not ours to chastise; yet should we fail to root out this boy’s errors and censure him severely for them, our name would be forever tarnished.”
    Noren waited with newly-revived confidence. He had anticipated this and in fact had hoped for it; only under cross-examination would he be permitted to argue for his beliefs. He was fighting not for his freedom, which could not be won in any case, but to be heard; if this was to be his only chance, he was going to make the most of it.
    All six of the councilmen glared at him reproachfully. “The Book of the Prophecy,” one of them began, “tells us that at the time of the Founding, the Scholars in their wisdom made the High Law, and that although its mysteries will not be made plain to us until the Mother Star appears, we are nevertheless bound to follow it. It is possible that you are ignorant of the reason for this?”
    “I am not ignorant of the reason that’s given,” said Noren. “It’s claimed that without the High Law, people could not survive. But why should we assume that to be the real reason?”
    “Because the book says so,” declared the man, as if to a very stupid child.
    Noren laughed. “That doesn’t prove anything. When the Scholars wrote the book, they naturally put in a reason that sounded good.”
    “Have you no respect for anything sacred?” cried another judge indignantly.
    “I respect truth,” Noren said soberly. “I respect it too much to believe anything merely because some book or some person tells me I should. I want to really know! Maybe you’d rather accept stories that make you feel comfortable about the way things are, but I care more for truth than for comfort.”
    For a moment the councilman seemed incapable of reply. “I shall pass over the enormity of your arrogance,” he told Noren after an ominous pause, “and simply point out to you that it is self-evident that we could not survive without the High Law. We live only by the grace of the Scholars. If they did not send us water, we would die of thirst. If they did not send Machines to quicken the land, no grain would sprout; and if they did not cause rain, the sprouts would die. For that matter, if the Scholars blessed no seed there would be no grain in the first place, nor would there be fowl if they had not favored our ancestors with the gift of fertile eggs. We would all starve.”
    “I too will pass over much,” said Noren slowly, realizing that he could not possibly present the details of his thoughts about all these topics. “I will concede that we are dependent on the Scholars’ knowledge and on the use of Machines. But