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            After almost half a solar day of this, a small but unusual group takes to the arena floor to bear witness against Cassad; children.
            Small, very meek looking and dressed practically in rags. they enter the bright light for all the known to see. Gasps and cries come from the arena stands at the sight. These kids could be from practically any world in the known…they could be Arcadian.
            The First Equal addresses them without the overbearing tenor which he’s been using all day. “You are the Nerum of the moon Gaspara?”
            The children all nod.
            “First Equal, with all due respect, we have already heard from the Gaspara representatives.” Eboro points out. Did we? I can’t remember.
            “With no respect, Advocate Eboro, I tell you that we have not heard from the Nerum people. They are a separate group, self-governing on the moon of Gaspara before the Cassad imposed their wicked law. They deserve to be heard now.”
            “Are we going to subject children to the stress of a trial, First Equal?”
            Galvin turns, fixes Eboro with that “I’m going to cut your head off” gaze and says; “Unfortunately, due to the Cassad, these children are all that’s left of the Nerum.”
            Hmm…yea…Cassad is dead.
            The First Equal addresses the children again. “Children of the Nerum, please state your charges against the Cassad.”
            The children huddle together, their eyes wide with fear. The First Equal finally puts that sword away.
            “Please, children, don’t be afraid to speak for your people. You are safe here from the Cassad, safe under the protection of the New Regime.”

            The first child to speak is a small brown skinned girl, her hair tied with bright red barrettes in twin braids one on each side of her small head. Her eyes are big, wide and crescent, like dawn on a new world but sad. She can’t be more than four Arcadian cycles old. So small is her voice that the amplifier doesn’t pick it up. Another child, a taller boy, whispers to her and she tries again.
            “My mommy is dead” she says. The crowd cries their sympathy. The First Equal bows his head. Even Eboro has her hands clasped over her heart.
            “Your name, child?” Galvin asks her.
            Her tiny lips barely part as she speaks. “Ceri.”
            Another child, an even smaller lumpy haired boy, steps forward and speaks up in soft voice. “We…we don’t have any food.”
            Ok…even I want to kill Cassad now. The arena cries again, this time there are several pledges to take the children in.
            “Children…” the First Equal is looking back at Cassad. “Even children were not to be spared under your rule. How many? On how many worlds?”
            He turns back to the kids. “It is my understanding that your parents, the last Nerum tribe, sacrificed themselves so that you could live.”
            The children all nod. The girl in braids speaks again. “My mommy said she had to go away. For us to be ok.”
            “Your mother,” Galvin says, “must have loved you very much.”
            “She said the Ca-shah…” she mispronounces Cassad and looks back to the other children. “they made our food bad.”
            I sneak a sidelong look at Cassad, but with the collar on it’s hard to tell if he’s affected by this.
            “and made the our rain bad…” tears fall from her wide eyes.

            There is open sobbing in the stands now. Eboro drops her hands and addresses Onted.
            “First Equal, surely this is not…”
            “Have you no sense of compassion woman? Let these children speak!”
            After a pause the little girl goes on. “She said they had to go away to make us better…so that we…would be better…” the other children were wiping tears now.
            “Yes, child, they sacrificed themselves for you. And it was not in vain, I promise you.” The First Equal looks truly moved.
            “And the Ca-shahs have to go away now” her little lips curl in a horribly sad pout.
            “This,” The First Equal points to Cassad. “is the last of the Cassads child. And he will go away…forever.”
            The children’s heads all snap in our direction so suddenly that it’s a little unnerving. “He’s got to go away now,” the girl says and the other children nod and… all stop crying.
            “I’ve got to stop this.” Eboro mutters, marches off the pad and heads across the arena floor in the direction of the Council. She won’t have any luck; this is the show they all wanted.
            The Advocates movement is noticed by the First Equal but he continues with the children none the less. “He will child. Cassad will pay for what was done to your parents. I will see to it… personally.”
            “Now” she insists.
            “Yea,” says another of the children. “now!”
            There’s actually a soft kindness in the First Equals eyes now. “He is not going anywhere, children. The Cassads have taken away many mothers just like yours across all the worlds known. We all have a right to…”
            “Now!” the little girl finds her boldness and the others back her up.
            “They must go away now!”
            “Now!”
            A little caught off guard the First Equal tries to quell them. “Children, please, do not…”
            But the little girl begins marching across the sand toward Cassad. “He must go away!”
            The First Equal, arms outstretched to stop her, moves to block her path. “No child, this is not the way…”
            “NOW!!” whoa…her voice gets suddenly deep. Her mouth opens wide…too wide; her jaw descends far enough to fit a gourd in!
            There’s the disgusting sound of flesh ripping and suddenly the girl expands. It looks at first like she exploded on the inside but she’s still moving…and changing! Her chest pops right out of the ragged shirt she has on, a nasty bulge of muscle and a riot of ribcage that grow impossibly fast. Then her legs swell with more muscle and her feet elongate until she is standing on her toes.
            And her arms balloon as well, with ugly bone protrusions ripping up out of her skin at her elbows and shoulders. One immense arm swings and catches the First Equal, surprised and off guard, under his chin. He’s sent flying across the arena floor and lands in a splash of black sand.
            The other children are transforming as well. Each changing from a small timid little innocent into a hulking three meter tall beast.
            And they all have eyes on Cassad.
            “NARRRGH!” they bellow and charge us.