Authors note:
Yada yada Thanks to Dr Mark as always Yada Yada rate and comment. Yada.
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Caleb 51 - Revelation
They took Zachariah away. He shuffled out looking every day of his one hundred and eighty years old.
I sighed sadly. I'd thought it would feel good to finally get my revenge, to put that old man in his place, but it didn't. I just felt like a bully in the playground. I'd picked on someone far weaker than me, and they had had no defence.
"Thank you everyone," said Judge Roder. "If you would all please wait outside..."
I turned to leave.
"Mr. Stott." It was the judge. "I'd like a moment of your time please."
I looked at Maggie, eyebrow raised, but she shrugged.
Dean gave me a reassuring pat on my shoulder.
"I'll wait outside," he said.
It took a few moments to clear the room. When the door closed behind the last person to leave, I was left standing in front of the judge's desk. Melissa, I noticed, was still at her post.
"Please sit," The judge said indicating the seat that Zachariah had previously occupied. I sat.
"You don't seem satisfied with the outcome," she said after a moment. I grimaced.
"I'm not," I said, "but not for the reason you might think."
She raised an eyebrow.
"I feel..." I began not knowing how to put it into words. "I don't know. He was dangerous, sure, and it needed to be done. I get all that. So then why do I feel so guilty about having done it?"
"Because you're a good man," Melissa had spoken. "And good men don't like hurting others, no matter how justified it is, and no matter how much they may deserve it."
I looked at the judge.
"She's right," said the judge. "I've been watching you, Caleb. I've seen all the reports of pretty much everything you have done since discovering your power. You've made mistakes but let he who is without sin and all that."
"You have proven time and time again that, when it matters, you make the right choices. Yes, you may have bought a few beers underage using your power..."
My eyes widened and she smiled.
"The Eversons did watch you pretty closely," she said, "but each time you were really tested, you chose right. You did the right thing. Even today. What you did was the right thing, and the fact that doing it disturbs you makes me even more confident in your ability to make those choices.
"There were others," she said, "in the room in whom I do not have the same confidence. Some of whom are or may, in the future, be in positions of authority over you. I want you to know that if you are ever in a position where you question an order you receive, or where you don't believe that what you are being ordered to do is the
right
thing, you can call me.
"Too many times the 'I was just obeying orders!' defence is offered in trials of the military and of law enforcement, and it is rarely successful. We aren't recruiting robots into our organizations. We want people with the capacity and capability to think for themselves. Remember, also, that the oath is not to the bureau or to your commander, not even to POTUS himself; you have sworn an oath, and will be swearing it again, to the constitution. If ever you feel an order you have been given is not lawful, or more fundamentally violates your oath, then use your judgement and call me."
She picked a card from a holder on her desk and handed it to me.
"You do realize I will tell both Dianna and Maggie about this?" I asked. She grinned at me.
"As I said," she maintained, "you make the right choices. Both of them will immediately think I was referring to them. It will keep them on their toes, and honest."
"It's nice to have uses," I said, almost sarcastically but with an air of bitterness.
She regarded me impassively for a moment.
"You need to grow up, Caleb," she said to me, not unkindly. "We are all tools for someone. You think that any boss cares individually for all their employees, for all the employees of their suppliers, or all the employees of their distribution network? Do they care about the welfare of their mailman, the cable guy, or the guy that cuts their lawn?
"We are all parts of a machine. We are tools for someone else to use. That is your professional life, and that's what you get paid for. And before you say you're not 'in' the bureau yet, ask yourself 'who is putting three thousand dollars a month into your account?'
"If we were to be personally involved then that would be different. I'm sure that your fiancรฉes see you in a completely different light. But to me, everyone that works for me, and by several degrees of separation that includes you, is a tool for me to use and those tools allow me to do my job.
"Personally, I like to look after my tools, and I try and treat them well and with respect. I try not to shove the fact that I'm only using them down their throat at every opportunity but sometimes, like now, it has to be pointed out to them.
"Don't confuse personal and professional relationships. Your problem with Maggie and Dianna is that they are both family too. So, the lines blur. Separate out the two in your mind. Don't think of ADD Forbes as Maggie, or as Grandma; think of her as, and address her as, ADD Forbes or Ma'am. Same with Dianna. She's Special Agent Everson or Ma'am.
"Then, when you clock out, Maggie and Dianna can truly be your family without all of the workplace formality and encumbrances. They are different people, Caleb. They need to be to do their jobs. They need it too. At some point they are probably going to have to order you into harms way. How much more difficult is that going to be for them if you are Caleb the grandson and not Agent Stott?
"Separate it out."
I looked at Melissa. She wasn't looking at me, but at her hands which were resting in her lap.
"Her too," said the Judge.