None of us at our tables say a word as we watch the gameshow’s absurdity play during the next hour. Alex edges out a victory during the first trivia stage. Mavin’s youth and agility help him dominate the obstacle course filled with pools of green slime and dripping buckets of chocolate syrup. Ruth, after finishing a close second to Alex and Mavin, so dominates the gameshow’s song-matching segment with her fine ear that she accumulates the points required to be crowned the week’s victory with no need of an exciting tie-breaking round. The crowd cheers. Jackson Hardcase bows. Hannah looks more sultry than ever as she slinks to embrace Ruth in a congratulatory hug.
We watch another round of commercials selling denture cream and ice cream sandwiches, and the stage has turned dark by the time the camera returns to the gameshow. The studio audience is silent. Hannah has exchanged her sequined dress for a mockery of one of our executioner’s uniforms several sizes too tight for her curves. Jackson Hardcase holds Mrs. Baxter’s hand as a giant television rises from the floor.
“Are you ready to meet your condemned prisoner, Mrs. Baxter?” Jackson whispers into the microphone.
Mrs. Baxter takes a brief breath. She swallows and nods.
“Mrs. Baxter. Folks. I give you Carmen Williams!” Jackson Hardcase waves his microphone like a maestro, and the audience answers with synchronized jeers.
The television upon the gameshow’s stage shows Carmen Williams. The camera floats overhead the prisoner shivering in one of our penitentiary’s cells, and the lens focusses upon the black sun tattooed upon that condemned man’s bald head. One of Jackson Hardcase’s producers buzzes an alarm in the prisoner’s cell, and Carmen Williams peeks upward into the camera, wincing as bright light floods his confines. The studio audience hisses in hate.
“What do you think, Mrs. Baxter? Will you not enjoy traveling to Ganymede to watch that prisoner suffer the execution you’ll grant to him?”
Mrs. Baxter’s face glows in glee. “Oh, I can’t wait, Mr. Hardcase.”
Jackson Hardcase winks. “So tell us, Mrs. Baxter, have you thought about the method of execution you will deliver to that terrible cultist?”
“I have. It’s all me and the ladies have talked about during the free lunches we throw each Thursday at church. We’ve really banged our heads together trying to think of something new to entertain everybody. And we think we’ve come up with something different. We’d like to see that terrible man killed by the guillotine.”
Jackson Hardcase jumps in excitement. “Wonderful!”
The crowd erupts in merriment. The gameshow’s horns blare. Confetti falls from the ceiling. Alex and Mavin return to the stage to accept their consolation prices of car wax and home board game editions of Mr. Jackson’s gameshow. Hannah drifts through the audience, kissing children and smiling at the camera each time it glimpses at her.
We’ve seen enough back on Ganymede. I’m not going to make anyone at the tables suffer any longer. We know what we need to know without having to watch Jackson Hardcase present the keys to Mrs. Baxter’s new sports car. We know the method for Carmen Williams’ execution. We know the civilian the gameshow will send to witness his death.
Rachel buries her head in her hands for a moment. “Thank god that boy didn’t win. I couldn’t stand it if they sent that child to us.”
“Yes, you could’ve,” I answer, “and you would’ve gotten through it all the same.”
Rachel sighs. She turns a paper placement on the table over and removes a pen from a uniform pocket. Her hands quickly begin tracing lines and shapes. It will not take Rachel very long to design the guillotine mechanism our penitentiary’s going to require in order to give Mrs. Baxter the execution she deserves.