The seneschal composed his face and returned a salute of submission. At your orders, sir. And, after a long pause, the watch officer did also.

The valet said, “Relieve the watch officer of command. Take his wand and tap me on both shoulders with it.”

Vigil understood this as well. The ranking officer had authority to appoint the watch during emergencies in the name of the master of the ship. In order for the real Officer of the Watch to overrule him, the doors to the Chamber would have to be opened. Vigil waved at the two watchmen holding the valet back, and, when they did not respond, he indicated them to stumble backward with a mudra of authority.

Vigil struck the valet on the shoulder. “Do you solemnly swear and remember to discharge the duties and—”

“Pox, yes,” snapped the valet. He plucked the peace wand out of Vigil’s surprised hand, extended it, and struck the seneschal near the ankle of his tall and unsteady shoes with the wand butt, triggering some mudra whose shape Vigil did not recognize. The seneschal fell down on the marble floor.

Vigil played the scene back in his memory, but he was unable to get a fix on the position of the wand, so he could not tell whether the seneschal fell because of the mudra discharge or because of the blow to his foot. Another possibility was that the mudra had been set to release the valet from the imposition on his nervous system and allow him to complete a violent motion of striking the seneschal in the foot.

The valet, now the chief watch officer, said, “I place you under arrest for being drunk and disorderly while on post! For thinking impure thoughts on steamboat landings, and for mopery with intent to creep!”

The seneschal on the floor looked up, swatting at the eager hat which kept trying to jump back on top of his head. “I am not drunk! Nor do I mope! I call upon the doors to witness! I fell due to the criminal assault and battery of that lunatic!”

A voice from the door spoke in an ancient language, which Vigil understood. “Falling to the deck while on duty is an unusual behavior and forms sufficient cause to suspect intoxication.”

Vigil understood. The position and motion of the wand had not been recorded into the environment memory. The doors had not seen the cause of the fall. Whether this weapon-blindness was a legal courtesy extended to bailiffs, or was a product of the mudra the wand had issued, or was a Fox-trick the valet had accomplished, Vigil did not know.

The ancient voice continued, “Both parties are under arrest, pending investigation, as no disorder during emergency condition, radiation leak, or hull breach is permitted.”

His ex-valet, who was now his Chief Officer of the Watch, must have understood the ancient language as well, for he said to Vigil, “Commute my sentence to time served and order the record expunged, so that I can serve in public office. Appoint me bailiff. Say these words to dropsy drunkboat there: You are relieved of rank and duty and confined to quarters pending further investigation.”

Vigil did all these things, speaking clearly and loudly so that both animate and inanimate creatures could hear him. This time, he unclipped his scabbard, and stuck the sword, scabbard and all, through the tall man’s belt.

The seneschal climbed to his feet, trembling with outrage. “You would not dare! I will countersue! My cousins are men of ancient and established lineage! Besides—the appointment as watch officer was unlawful, as the forms of the words were not completed! And his so-called term would have ended when he was placed under arrest, since he serves at the pleasure of the ranking officer during good behavior! Ha!”

The two armed watchmen, seeing all this, jumped forward roughly to grab the wild valet. One of them ordered the peace wand to leave his hand. The wand emitted a mudra that twisted the man’s arm so that his hissed with pain, forcing the hand open, and so the wand sprang away and stood upright on the floor a yard away.

But the ex–Watch Officer, now the bailiff, spoke in a low, dangerous monotone to the two watchmen holding him. “Let the hell go of me. Take his keys and his gloves as evidence to be held against the further investigations of the crime here, and hand them to me. I am the bailiff. Obey your lawful orders, jerks, or the Lord Hermeticist will call down his vengeance.”

The two watchmen looked at each other and looked toward the third man, who had been their commanding officer a moment ago. He was unarmed and yet was strangely unwilling to pick up the wand that stood next to him. He stood with his helmet open, and they both saw the uncertainty in his eyes, and they saw the red lights of recording lamps twinkling in the doorframe.

Coming to a decision, the two released the tall man who was now bailiff and seized the short man who was no longer seneschal.

The two turned the ex-seneschal’s keys, which were stored in the stone of a finger ring, and his gloves which contained his biometric information, over to the new bailiff.

The bailiff drew on one glove, put on the ring, and made the correct hand gesture toward the door to indicate that it must open.

The doors hesitated, puzzled.

The seneschal said, “Your scheming is vain! Only I can open the valves of that door once the Table is in session! You are too late! The Lord Hermeticist is barred from the Chamber, barred for being tardy! The regulations you are trying to dance around have snared you and tripped you into a pit!”

The bailiff said, “Your mouth is a pit. Shut it. When you are not in the antechamber, any law officer, including a bailiff, can perform needed functions in an emergency.”

“But I am in the antechamber!”

The bailiff must have been smiling under his mask, because there was a snide note in his voice. “I know that, and you know that, but in the eyes of the law, you left the antechamber the moment you were confined to quarters, because that is where you legally are supposed to be. Unless you want to be absent without leave during general quarters? The penalty for that is death, followed by resurrection and more death. What do you say?”

And he drew the sword, and put the point at the man’s throat, and the blade issued a mudra which prevented anyone from interfering or preventing whatever might happen next.

Apparently bailiffs during general quarters had more extensive authority than Vigil would have supposed, because the mudra forced Vigil back one step and two, and the two armed watchmen likewise.

Vigil was not sure if the faction opposing him was embarked on a quest for some cause they thought worthy of any sacrifice, or just attempting a political fraud to maintain their own seats of power and situation. This was the test. Because some men are born willing to die for their causes or their comrades, but no one is willing to die for a fraud.

“I am in my quarters and not in this room,” the chubby little seneschal said sadly.

So, either the seneschal was not such a man, or the attempt was a fraud rather than a sincere crusade. Vigil wished he knew more and hoped he would learn what he needed to know in time.

“Declare the emergency over,” said the bailiff, “and relieve me of duty, hire me as your counsel and advisor, so I can walk into the room with you at your elbow and talk with you on a private channel. I figure you might need more help. And while you are at it, appoint those three fellows as your honor guard.”

So saying, he went again to the vestry and donned the red robe, long wig, and black cap of a professional solicitor but did not remove the insectlike air mask and goggles.

“I cannot enter armed, but you can and must.” And he returned the sword and scabbard to Vigil with a bow.

There was a roar of trumpets as the great doors swung open.