by Random, Alex
Then he heard approaching footsteps, and a moment later the door was unlocked. Two guards stood in the corridor, and Alston was called out. He left the cell and paused.
“Straight on!” he was ordered, and the guards followed him closely as he went towards the end of the corridor.
He was taken into a bare room, and Carmel was sitting on a bench by a desk. Graham was behind the desk, and standing against the right hand wall were the two starship crew members Alston had spoken to in the Cradle of Stars. The girl appeared to have been crying, and the man glared at Alston as soon as he appeared.
“He’s the man who was asking for Allie,” the crewman said sharply.
Alston halted and looked at Graham. He didn’t let his gaze touch Carmel, although his eyes flickered as he fought down the temptation.
“They are the two I spoke to in the Cradle of Stars,” Alston said. “What does that prove or disprove, Captain?”
“You were looking for Allie,” the stewardess said in jerky tones. She looked as if she were ready to start crying again. “You killed her!”
“What happened to the policeman you saw Allie leave with about fifteen minutes before I showed up asking for her?” Alston demanded.
“Allie was at our table,” the girl went on, turning her gaze to Graham. “This man came up and asked if I were Allie Carpenter. When Allie told him who she was he said a friend of hers had given her name because she might be of some help. Allie left with this man and that’s the last I saw of her. The next thing I knew, Allie was dead!
Alston smiled thinly. He nodded slowly. “It figures,” he said softly. “So I’m being stuck with a murder now.”
“There will be a full investigation into all aspects of this case,” Graham said harshly.
The door opened at that moment and a guard entered quickly. “The Governor is here,” he announced quickly, and the next instant Ogden Paine came striding into the room.
The Governor paused in the doorway, and his face was showing grave displeasure. Carmel jumped to her feet and hurried to his side.
“Daddy, I’m so glad you’ve come,” she said. “Captain Graham has been keeping me and my friend here for no reason at all.”
Alston smiled inwardly at that! He watched the Governor’s face, and when their eyes met he saw Paine frown. But Graham was getting to his feet. He saluted before coming around the desk to stand before the Governor.
“I assure you, Governor, it was necessary to inconvenience your daughter. There has been a murder and this man, who is a friend of your daughter’s, is somehow implicated.”
“If I am then I wish you would explain how and where I’m involved,” Alston said.
The Governor stared at him, his eyes filled with a calculating expression. Then he nodded slowly.
“You’re the exile who was before me this morning for review of sentence,” he said at length. He looked at his daughter. “Is this man one of your associates?” he demanded.
“One of my associates?” Carmel echoed. She was frowning as she looked at her father. Then she glanced at Alston, who shrugged slightly. “He’s the man I’m in love with, Father! I won’t have you calling him an associate. He might be an exile, but he is still a human being, and I think he’s innocent of any crime, anyway. He was a starship captain, and they don’t come any better than that!”
There was a hard silence after the girl’s words, and Ogden Paine stared at her for a moment. Then he looked at Alston, and his face was set in harsh lines, his grey eyes filled with a hard glitter. He seemed about to speak to Alston but changed his mind and looked instead at Graham.
“Have you finished with my daughter for now, Captain?” he demanded.
“Yes, sir!” Graham nodded. “I’ve taken a statement from her. I’ll let you know if I’ll need to talk to her again.”
“Very well! Come along then, Carmel! I was dragged away from a very important conference to look into this. You’ll hear more about it when I have the time.”
“I’m not leaving here until I know what is going to happen to Rex,” the girl said, and Alston felt a pang of sympathy for her. He knew he was being set up again, and he could do nothing about it. But he didn’t want her getting involved. She had been a good friend to him in the past and she was genuinely in love with him.
“You run along with your father, Carmel,” he said stiffly. “I’ll be all right.”
“You go down to my hovercar,” the Governor said. “I want to say a few words to the Captain.”
Carmel shook her head stubbornly, and her eyes glinted as she stared at her father. Paine watched her face for a moment then turned to the guard who had announced him.
“Take her down to my vehicle,” he commanded, and there was a sharp tussle between Carmel and the guard until she was overpowered and led out of the room. Paine waited until the sound of her angry voice had faded along the corridor. Then he glanced at the crewmember and the stewardess. “Who are these people?” he demanded.
“Lying witnesses,” Alston said before Graham could speak.
Graham tightened his lips, then motioned to a second guard.
“Take them out,” he commanded. “I’ll talk to them later.”
The two were escorted out, and Paine looked at Alston then. Graham stood stiffly beside the desk, not looking at anyone. To Alston it seemed that the captain was uneasy.
“What is this all about?” the Governor demanded.
“This man is suspected of murder, sir!” Graham said woodenly.
“Nonsense!” Alston spoke louder than he intended, and his voice echoed across the room. “Since I attended your office this morning for a review of sentence, Governor, I’ve been victimised by the police!”
“This is the man we discussed this morning!” Paine said, and Alston pricked up his ears. “What has happened to the police agent you were using against Alston?”
“He died this morning, sir, before he could make contact with Alston.” Graham looked uncomfortable, and refused to meet Alston’s gaze. “I don’t think we should discuss this matter in front of Alston, sir!”
“Of course not!” Alston said sharply. “I’m merely an exile. I have no rights.”
Paine looked at Alston, and his large face was set in harsh lines.
“Exile or not, I won’t have any man treated with injustice. Just what has been done against Alston, Captain?”
“I told you this morning, sir, that I calculated Alston could help against the smugglers. That’s why we decided to set the trap for him. But the agent made a fool of himself for some obscure reason and was killed by a Tyrannusman in the Play Complex where Alston works.”
“And you are charging Alston with the murder of that man?” There was impatience in the Governor’s tones, and Alston felt a pang of hope.
“No, sir! A woman was murdered tonight and Alston had a motive for killing her.”
“I had a motive for keeping her alive!” Alston said harshly. “I wanted to talk to her, to find out what I could about the man supposed to have come from Earth to talk to me about the smugglers. Killing her was the last thing I would attempt.”
“Have you any proof of his guilt?” the Governor demanded.
“None at all yet, sir! The investigation has just got under way! But I must hold Alston until we can prove or disprove the case against him.”
“Those two witnesses,” Alston said. “They lied to me! Or they’re lying to you now! They told me Allie Carpenter left the bar with a policeman. I never saw her tonight. I didn’t even know her! I never met her!”
“I want a full report of this business on my desk first thing in the morning, Captain,” the governor said. He stared into Alston’s face for a moment, obviously thinking hard. “Release this man into my custody, if you have no further questions to ask him now! If you do need to see him before morning then come to my residence. He’ll be there.”
Alston’s face showed his surprise, and it carried an expression that was mirrored by Graham’s face.
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“Of course, sir!” the Captain said. “Alston is free to leave with you.”
“Come along then, Alston, and if you’re not the fool the captain takes you for then you’ll not give me any trouble. I suspect there is some personal business I need to take up with you. But we’ll try and settle it in a civilised manner. And before I leave, Captain, let me warn you once again about the methods you are using in your search for evidence. Recently I have had several complaints about your tactics. You have a responsibility to maintain. See to it that you do not exceed your authority.”
They departed, and Alston grinned fleetingly at the expression on Graham’s face as the captain stared after them. But there was no humour in Alston. He was aware that this business was far from over, and he seemed to be in deep trouble. He walked behind the Governor out to the park, and Ogden Paine motioned for him to get into the back seat of the craft, where Carmel sat silent and angry, a watchful guard standing nearby. But the girl’s expression changed when she saw Alston, and as her father got into the craft at the controls she leaned forward and touched his shoulder.
“What are you going to do with Rex, Father?” she demanded.
“From the statement you made in the captain’s office I deduced that a crisis is fast approaching in my life,” the Governor retorted. “I know you sufficiently well to be aware that any fight developing between us would find me on the losing side, and although I am usually preoccupied with State business, I have to make the effort now and again to attend to my personal affairs. You are all I have left in the world, Carmel, and if we fall out over something as trivial as a man you may be in love with then I may say and do things I may forever regret.”
“And Rex?” the girl pursued, glancing at Alston, slipping a hand into one of his.
“I must confess that after reading his record I had doubts about him. I talked to Graham about him this morning after I had seen him to turn down his review of sentence, and Graham expressed doubts in Alston’s guilt. That is why we were attempting to prove or disprove the charges.”
Alston leaned forward. He was interested in this. “I swear I never knew a thing about the contraband or the smugglers, sir,” he said.
“You’ve repeated that a great many times, but there is no proof that you are telling the truth.” Paine set the controls and the craft lifted into the night sky.
Alston took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then sighed heavily. “I would have thought my record before this charge came up spoke for itself, sir!” There was a trace of bitterness in his tones.
“It was because of that record you were treated so leniently. You were fortunate not to have been sent to Jurinne!” The Governor turned and looked into Alston’s eyes. “Even now you are standing in the shadow of expulsion from Cyra! There are no more grades beneath you now, Alston. The next step down is a penal star, where life expectancy runs to about six months.”
“You wouldn’t let them send him to Jurinne, Father!” Carmel said worriedly.
“Let us first talk about you and Alston,” Paine said. “Are you in love with him, Carmel?”
“I said so, didn’t I?” the girl countered. “I think you know more about my affair with Rex than you would admit, Father! You’ve had me under observation for years now.”
The Governor chuckled harshly. “That is true! You were such a self-willed girl that someone had to watch your excesses. I will say this much for you, Alston. Since Carmel has been seeing you she has lived a more normal life, with fewer upsets and less fast living. You’ve had a good influence on her.” He paused, and Alston would make no comment. “But tell me! Are you in love with my daughter?”
“No, sir!” Alston glanced at the girl, and her hand in his tensed a little. “I’ve told her often enough that I don’t have any emotional attachments with anyone. I lived for my life as a starship captain, and there was never any time for women in my life. I have a lot of feeling for Carmel, but it stops short of love, and I wouldn’t lie about that even to have her enlist your sympathies in my case.”
“That should prove something, Father!” the girl said stiffly. “I’ve offered Rex a dozen times to whisper in your ear about him, but he has always refused. He’s always lived under the naive impression than one day his innocence would be proved.”
Alston smiled bitterly and shook his head. “That day will never come,” he said. “I took tests which proved I was not lying when I professed my innocence, but the results of those tests were conveniently overlooked at my court martial! I served the Spacefleet faithfully and well during my service. I was one of the most decorated captains on record. But none of it counted when the crunch came.”
“What am I to do about you, Alston?” the governor demanded. “I could make a strong recommendation in your case, but if you left here and it was later found you were guilty and actively involved with the smugglers I would be in trouble myself.”
“I’ve already been found guilty of smuggling, sir!” Alston pointed out.
A silence ensued which lasted until the hovercar landed in the park at the Governor’s Palace. They alighted, and Carmel took Alston’s arm.
“Come inside,” Paine said. “We’ll have a chat in my office, Alston. Perhaps there is a way I can help you. I’m doing it for my daughter’s sake, I assure you! But if you are innocent then you deserve a chance to prove it.” Alston dared not hope that his ears were not deceiving him, and he glanced at Carmel as the girl squeezed his hand. They followed the Governor across to the house, where a policeman was standing by the main entrance on duty.
“I told you Father was a sympathetic man!” the girl said in an undertone, and Alston nodded slowly.
“I don’t think my luck will hold,” he retorted.
“It will, with my help!” She looked into his face as the light from a nearby window fell upon them. “I don’t want you to feel under any obligation to love me because I’m helping you, Rex. I wouldn’t want you under those circumstances. I love you, and that’s why I’m doing this, with no strings attached.”
He nodded. “Don’t think that I’m not grateful, but I wouldn’t love you for what you’re doing. I’m just not the type to fall in love, I guess. But I’ll tell you this much, Carmel. If I ever fell in love, it would be with you.”
“I’m prepared to wait, to see if the pressures that will be removed from your life when you are no longer an exile will give you a normal attitude to those around you and release your emotions from restriction. I think that’s what is wrong with you, Rex! Your exile has blotted out your emotions.”
“That could be. But before the Court Martial I was too filled with my job to have any time for leisure and the pursuit of personal happiness.”
“Then I’ll enjoy trying to teach you to live normally,” she retorted.
They entered the house and Carmel excused herself and went up the winding staircase to her room. Ogden Paine was standing by the door to his office, where Alston had seen him that morning, and the Governor motioned for Alston to join him. They entered the room and sat down. Alston glanced around, recalling his dread and frustration when he had stood in here earlier. Now life seemed to be offering him an opportunity again, and he was going to grasp it no matter the cost.
“I must confess that I have felt uneasy about your case for some time, Alston,” the Governor said. “Your record was exemplary while you were in the Starfleet, and although it does happen that a man can go wrong, you and others like you are so thoroughly tested and computed that any flaws in your character that would cause you to go off the rails would have been detected before they had the chance to operate.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell everyone for years now,” Alston said. “I even took truth detector tests which proved I was not lying, but their results were conveniently overlooked in the desire of the Authorities to make an example of me.”
“Let me go over your file once again. I have it here on the desk.” Paine took up the thick blue folder and opened it. There w
as silence while he scanned through the contents, and from time to time he nodded or grunted unintelligibly. Finally he closed the folder and lifted his pale gaze to Alston’s taut face. “No matter how one tries, it is impossible to read an exile’s record without retaining some knowledge that the man under review is guilty,” he said slowly. “But I’ve just read through these papers with the imagined thought that you are probably innocent, and I must admit that there seems to be room for reasonable doubt. But before you start proclaiming your innocence all over again — I’m sure you must be utterly weary of doing so by this time — let us just put our heads together and decide what we can do to prove it. Have you any suggestions?”
Alston shook his head slowly. For years he had been trying to get someone in Authority to listen to his pleas. Now he had the ear of the Governor, and he didn’t know what to say. He suppressed a sigh.
“I guess there’s no way of proving it, sir,” he said. “If it were possible then I would have tried it years ago. If I knew any of the smugglers, that would have helped. But I don’t even know who planted that contraband on my starship. I can only think that it was done with the intention of having me removed from command of the ship, and if that was the reason then it succeeded completely.”
“That brings us to enemies you must have had!” Paine said.
Alston smiled thinly. “I’ve racked my brains for names, but I haven’t come up with a single man. I didn’t knowingly make enemies. I did my duty to the best of my ability, and never gave cause for complaint.”
“What about men who were jealous of you? There must have been some. You shot to the top in a few years. You must have climbed over the heads of men superior to you in service if not in deed and duty.”
“There were a number of them,” Alston admitted slowly. “But most of them kept their feelings to themselves. I couldn’t name any of them.”
“Most of them?” Paine pursued. “Do you know of any?”