Werewolf Parallel by Roy Gill

you may continue.”
    “With pleasure, my Lord Justice.” Grey smirked and gestured, his sagging arm spilling from his robe. “The case that has been brought before you by my client, the learned Dr Black, is no mere quibble over tenancy. No! There are wider issues at stake – issues that concern the well-being of us all.”
    What’s the old puffball up to now
? Cameron leant forward, trying to ignore the corresponding lurch in the opposite direction from the cradle that held him.
    “Three centuries ago – when the mages Mitchell and Astredo engineered their Split to separate the Daemon World from its Human twin – the humans were, for the most part, an uncomplicated folk, basic in understanding and ability.” Grey paused, and affected an innocent expression. “Some might say the defence’s lamentable ignorance of Latin demonstrates little has changed…”
    There were a series of sniggers from the jury box, which jiggled lightly on its ropes.
    “Oh come on!” said Cameron. “That was a cheap shot!”
    “I’m inclined to agree,” said the judge. “You will confine yourself to the facts, Mr Grey.”
    “I humbly
beg
the Court’s forgiveness,” Grey bowed his head, “but my feeble attempt at wit masks graver concerns. The humans have not remained in this primitive state, much as it might amuse us to think so…” He swivelled to address the jury. “We all understand, do we not, that every creature requires a predator?”
    There were murmurs of assent. The typewriter beetle chattered, and the Weaver Daemon vibrated on its flag.
    “Cut off from the, ah,
moderating
influence of Daemon World,” Grey gave a sickly smile, “the humans have multiplied unchecked. Their minds have grown in sophistication and cunning. Their science has advanced at a mighty rate. They may now send images through the ether, travel at great speed, overrun and destroy their environment. Their technologies are almost indistinguishable from our magics –”
    “Oy! Excuse me, but why the history lesson? What’s this got to do with
anything
?” Cameron waved his hands. “We’re here because of my shop – my daft little business – not all this stuff.”
    The judge’s talons tapped. “Another fair observation, if somewhat emotionally put. Well, Mr Grey? How does this concern us?”
    “I bow to Your Honour’s wisdom, of course,” Grey grovelled, his wobbly chin touching the top of the prosecution box, “but is the Court of the Parallel’s concern not uniquely about how the worlds of Humans and Daemons clash and intersect?”
    “You have my attention, Grey. For now.” The Judge’s talons tapped, slower still. “Do not squander it. The Court’s patience is not infinite.”
    “My point is this, Your Honour. The humans’ questfor knowledge has so far been contained. Their focus has been on their own world, and the limits of space their crude projectiles can reach. But how long will it remain so? How long before their destructive appetite looks inward? How long before the Parallel –
before the Daemon World itself
– becomes a target for investigation and acquisition?”
    “I will solve it!” In his cradle, Dr Black sat upright, muttering furiously under his breath. “Understand the worlds, and I solve the problem. Understand the worlds, and –”
    Grey’s milky eyes bulged, and Black slumped.
    What was that all about?
Cameron wondered, but Grey was already addressing the jury again.
    “The business known as ‘Scott & Forceworthy’s Musical Bazaar’ functions as a site of inter-world trade: shifting goods between the Human and Daemon realms, via the Parallel. I would ask you, my fellow citizens, is that an enterprise we should permit? When
every daemon artefact
that reaches the human world increases our chance of detection, should this so-called ‘daft little business’ be allowed to continue – especially under the control of one ignorant human boy?”
    The jury burst into an uproar of cheers, jeers, yells,