paused for a moment and took a deep breath and sighed as a pleasant aroma filled his nostrils. “Are those biscuits?”
“Yes, they are,” Mags said with a smile.
Roderick smiled back. “Can I grab a few and take them to the hearings?”
“Of course you can, Ben.” Mags said as she went back to grab a few fresh biscuits for him. She tossed them into a paper bag and rolled the top of the bag up so the steam wouldn’t escape, before happily handing them over to the commander.
“Thanks Mags.” Roderick said, taking the bag from her. For a moment he felt like a small kid that was being handed his lunch before taking off for school. He left the saloon and started to stroll down the street towards the courthouse where he would preside over local disputes that couldn’t be resolved by the local magistrate. The Rocket Patrol agreed to do this as the people trusted them to be an honest, unbiased judge on the matters. While Roderick found the process to be boring, he understood it was necessary process to keep the piece in this small but very productive off world colony. While walking towards the courthouse, Roderick almost bumped into someone who was running out from around the corner. It was Emma, the little girl he had saved from the Sabre Lion the night before.
“Whoa there, little one,” Roderick said, grabbing her arm, “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah,” Emma replied, “I’m just going to a friends place to play.”
“Alright,” Roderick said, as he looked down at her. Seeing her in direct daylight, Emma looked different than she had the previous night. She looked undernourished. He held up the small bag that Mags gave her. “Biscuit? Mags just made’em.”
Emma looked in the bag and grabbed a biscuit. As she took a deep bite, Roderick could see the stream rising from it.
“Thank you.” She said to him, after finishing the first bite.
Roderick shook the bag again, “Take one for your friend too.”
He watched as she happily took another. He knew they would both be eaten before she even got to her friend’s house if she was going there at all.
“I’ll be at the courthouse all day and after that I’ll be at Jethro’s Saloon.” he told her, “Drop by if you need anything, okay?”
“Yes sir.” Emma answered before finally running off.
When Roderick finally arrived to the courthouse, he could tell it was going to be a long day as there were close to a hundred people standing outside. They were lined up and ready to plead their case. Roderick was well aware that not everyone was going to like the decisions he was going to make that day, but his goal was to be fair and consistent. His goal was to make unbiased decisions to keep the peace and settle disputes, never showing favorites and recusing himself whenever there was a conflicts of interests. He made it clear to Mags to never bring up a case because he would never hear it so she was not to ever put him in that position. She had no problem respecting that request. There was no way Roderick was going to be able to hear everyone’s case today, but he would try to do as many as possible. It usually took three or four days to hear everyone’s case, which is why his visits usually lasted a week. Today’s crowd looked a little bigger than usual, but people were eager to be first. Usually the line would shorten when people realized they wouldn’t he heard today or if one case lasted a while and took up a good chunk of Roderick’s time.
Whenever Roderick felt an urge to say something witty or harsh, he silenced himself by taking a small bit out of Mag’s biscuits. He kept his cool and breezed through the first several cases with ease, and then things got sticky. The Millers came in with another complaint about cattle grazing on their land. Turns out their neighbours, the Jones family, didn’t keep their cows fenced in on their own property, letting them graze into the Miller’s yard, eating their grass and leaving spots of manure everywhere. The last time Roderick heard this case, he had ordered the Jones family to build a new fence and keep their cows on their own land but it turns out that never happened. After listening to the two men scream at one another, Roderick finally stepped in.
“All right, settle down people.” he called out, “From what I gather, that fence I asked wasn’t made yet?”
“No Sir.” Mr. Miller replied.
“Mr. Jones,” Roderick started, “From what I was told, your crops and meat crops were so good last year that you didn’t have enough room to store it all. Is that true?”
“Yes Sir.” Mr. Jones answered.
“And how are they looking season?” Roderick asked.
“Just as good, maybe better.” Mr. Jones answered.
“Now be honest with me,” Roderick inquired, “You like it when the cows graze into the Miller’s yard. From what I gathered, he takes good care of his property and the cows enjoy eating there.”
Jones paused for a moment. “Yes Sir.”
“And because Mr. Miller doesn’t use any chemicals,” Roderick continued, “When you slaughter your cattle the meat is of a higher quality… are it not?”
“Yes Sir.” Mr. Jones replied.
“So would it seem unreasonable to compensate Mr. Miller for helping you create a product of higher quality?” Roderick asked.
“No Sir.” Mr. Jones answered.
“What percent of your crops do you think would be fair?” Roderick asked. “This would also save you from having to give away overstock at discounted prices. Give us a number.”
Jones paused for a moment as he pondered the request. “Five percent.”
“Mr. Miller,” Roderick said, turning to face the other man. “Mr. Jones is offering you what I think is reasonable compensation for allowing his cows to graze on your property. Do you think five percent is reasonable?”
“I believe so.” Mr. Miller answered.
Roderick sighed as it looked like this matter would finally be resolved. “Mr. Jones, failure to abide by the terms we just agreed to will result in a fine and possible jail time at a lunar prison facility. Is that understood?”
“Yes Sir.” Mr. Jones said as he nodded.
“Excellent,” Roderick said as he signed off on a ledger and softly pounded a small gavel onto the table before him. “I consider this matter to be resolved.”
Roderick was about to hear the next matter when suddenly a voice went off in his head. “Commander, we have a situation.”
Roderick stood up. “I require a recess. I’ll be back in 30 minutes.” He pounded the gavel into the table again and walked out of the room and into the bathroom, pretending he wanted to pee. Once in the stall, he locked the door. “Report.”
“An unmarked vessel has landed two miles south of the town.”
“How many life forms?”
“Sensors detect two life forms but there could be more inside their vessel. They are walking towards town.”
“Are they armed?”
“Affirmative.”
“Dammit.” Roderick said as he walked out of the bathroom and left the courthouse. Located next to the courthouse was the Sheriff’s office, which was convenient if he need the Sheriff’s help to break apart a fight should one break out during the hearings. “Sheriff, we need to talk.”
“What’s up Ben?” the Sheriff asked.
“We have two armed me coming walking towards town from the south.” Roderick answered.
“How do you know this?” the sheriff asked.
No one was aware of the implant Roderick had that allowed him to stay in constant contact with his vessel. “I just do. We need to meet these men and disarm them before they come into town.”
“Why?” the sheriff asked. “My deputies can handle them.”
“No, they can’t,” Roderick responded, “They’re off worlders.”
The Sheriff sat up and grabbed the gun off his desk. “Let’s go.”
Roderick and the Sheriff walked towards the part of town where his ship informed him the two intruders would enter. It was easy to notice the two men as they approached the town, as their high tech designer clothes and th
e space pistols by their sides were dead giveaways.
“How do you want to handle this, Jerry?” Roderick called out to the Sheriff as they approached the two men.
“I’ll lead on this one,” Jerry answered, “I appreciate the back up.”
“That’s not a problem.” Roderick answered, standing by his friend’s side.
Jerry was a good Sheriff, but one who was well aware of the kind of trouble that came to town whenever someone off world strolled in unannounced. The town didn’t like people introducing new technology to the town folk as they preferred to use a little as possible and many swindlers tried to prey on the people with new gadgets in an attempt to temp them into giving them a good profit for items that are dirt cheap to produce. They had no idea what the two men were coming to town for, but Roderick had a feeling it wasn’t for anything legal.
When they were within twenty feet of the two men, Jerry was the first to speak up. “Put you your hands, no guns in town.”
“I’m not giving up anything.” The taller of the two called back. “What gives you the right to ask for anything?”
“This township is tech free.” The Sheriff called out. “No walking in with phasers, disruptors or blasters of any kind.”
“We’re not here for any trouble.” The second man called out.
“Your unmarked vessel would suggest otherwise.” Roderick snapped back at him.
“And who the hell are you?” the second man then asked.
Roderick grinned. He forgot that most people were not used to seeing him in his dress uniform, which was