Unt hadn’t seen the venerable Croker but now recognised his voice from somewhere behind the Councillors. So they didunearth the old guys for more than just the Fall. As he read out the letter once again, Unt winced inwardly. What was that saying about a lie oft repeated? How did that work with the truth?
“Now,” said Erk, “Having heard the accusation, do you agree with its description of events?”
“I don’t.”
“Oh? How so?”
“The letter says Unt persuaded us to lie. That’s not true. I couldn’t lie because I was unconscious when the rescue took place. I don’t know what happened.”
“But Mrs Olissa, you gave a witness statement saying what happened, a statement that turns out to be false. How did you end up giving such an account?”
Olissa shrugged. “They told me what happened. I just repeated it.”
“And who does ‘they’ refer to?”
“The people who were there; Mélie, Bulton and Unt.”
“Who specifically told you what to say?”
“Nobody told me what to say. They told me what happened.”
“Which person told you?”
“All of them. No-one in particular.”
“Did you sense any deception when they were telling you this?”
“Obviously not. I wasn’t exactly taking notes.”
“I take your point. But did you not think it was wrong to give a statement based on second-hand reports?”
“It wasn’t a trial then. Somebody fell in a river and that was it.”
“Ok. Could you tell the court what you yourself remember of that day?”
“We were grouped together for Work Experience and it was our fortnight with the Labourers. That day, we were assigned to a jetty on the south bend of the river. There’d been a heavy rainfall a few days earlier and some of the support poles had been damaged. We’d been told to install some new ones and take out the old.
“Our supervisor was away with another group so we were working on our own. Me and Mélie were working on one side and Unt and Bulton were working on the other. Mélie was leaning over to remove a net but leant too far. She lost balance and fell in and because I was holding the net, I got dragged in too.
“What I was told was that we both got tangled in the net. That stopped us from getting washed away but it made it hard to rescue us. I don’t know because I was knocked out. I’m not sure if I hit the jetty or it was the impact with the water but the next thing I know, someone was pushing on my chest, pushing water out.”
“And that person was?”
“I don’t remember. It was a blur.”
“Thank you, Mrs Olissa. That’s all from me. I’ll hand you over to Councillor Lasper.”
Lasper rose minutely. “Once again, I’ll be brief. Mrs Olissa, you have no memory of the rescue itself?”
“No.”
“Well, as that’s the bit we’re interested in, I don’t think we have much use for you as a witness.” He leaned back in his seat.
“I think,” said Erk, “that means she’s your witness, Councillor Pello.”
Pello beamed at Olissa. “Good morning to you, dear. I trust you are well?”
“Well?”
Pello waved an expansive hand. “This must be quite a shock to you. This time yesterday, you were probably expecting that today would be just another day at work.”
“Is that a question?”
“Oh no, dear, just rambling, I suppose. Although it does lead me to a question: when did you find out about the deception?”
“Yesterday. When I got home.”
“I guess it was hard for you to believe.”
“I suppose so.”
“And so you’ve had an evening to mull things over. As have I. I wonder if we’ve arrived at the same conclusions. Tell me, Olissa, do you think Unt gained as a result of this deception?”
“He got the top job going and the girl all the boys were chasing.”
“And what of the other people involved? Did Mr Bulton benefit?”
“Yes. He got the career he wanted.”
“Mrs Mélie?”
“If she gained, it was indirect.”
“So who gained the most?”
“Bull, I suppose. Maybe Unt.”
“And what about yourself?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Did you gain from the conspiracy?”
“As I’ve already said, I didn’t take part in-”
“Yes, you were an unwitting participant. But did you gain?”
“No.”
“Do you think that you lost out?”
Olissa hesitated. “Yes.”
“In what way were you disappointed? In your profession or your partner?”
“Both.” Olissa seemed suddenly as small as Pello.
“Thank you, Olissa, I know that was an uncomfortable question to answer. Now I must ask you, as someone who’s lost out, do you harbour any resentment toward Unt?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know if you feel resentment?”
Olissa frowned, trying to form the words. “I do feel resentment but I don’t know if he deserves it. I didn’t get what I wanted but who’s to say what would have happened otherwise? Besides, he did save my life.”
“This confusion is at the heart of my concern,” Pello was speaking to the room now, not just Olissa. “We live in a society where we let Fate be our guiding hand but we can’t define what Fate is. The Fall has undoubtedly been altered by this lie. There are some more satisfied with their lot and some who are less so but that is the nature of every Fall, with or without this influence.
“We let Aptitude Modifiers guide our hand in the Fall but random chance has the deciding call. From the angle the dice are thrown, to the material they’re made of, to the order in which candidates make their roll, there are a hundred variables that all influence the result. We could make the argument that this is just another variable.
“Just look at the outcomes for these people we call the conspirators. Mrs Olissa certainly didn’t benefit, Mrs Mélie got a similar result to what she expected and Mr Unt, whom Olissa believes gained from this, wanted to be a Farmer, not a Councillor. The only person who gained directly from this is Mr Bulton and I think the only pertinent question for this court is, did Unt deliberately help him?”
“Councillor Pello”, said Erk, “did you have a question for the witness?”
“No, no questions.”
“Then I believe it is Mr Hodd’s turn to question the witness.”
Hodd didn’t bother to thank the chairman and cut straight to the chase. “Who do you think wrote the letter?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who would you guess?”
“I wouldn’t.”
“Come on, Olissa. Mr Pollock has already told us the writer was a member of your group of four. Unless Mr Unt chose to incriminate himself and given your claim of amnesia, that leaves only two possible suspects. Surely you can take a guess out of two.”
“I don’t claim to have amnesia. I was unconscious. And as for taking a guess, that’s all it would be so I don’t see the point, do you?”
“Then you refuse to answer.”
“I have no answer. I could toss a coin for you?”
“Thank you, but that won’t be necessary. I’m done, Mr Chairman.”
“Mr Taylor, then.”
“You know what?” Taylor said. “I have my own idea why you won’t take a guess. It’s because you know neither of those other two wrote the letter and that’s because it was you.”
“I refute that.”
“I’m sure you do but I think you’re putting a lot of faith in this shield of unconsciousness. You weren’t part of the conspiracy because you’d been knocked out and you couldn’t sell out the conspiracy because you didn’t know there was one.
“Well, I find it hard to take the word of someone who’s admitted to making a false testimony. Mr Pello’s little summ
ary of your group’s Fall shows you as the clear loser. You’re the one who lost out and that makes you the one with the strongest motive.”
“That you know of,” said Olissa tartly.
Taylor curled his lip like a hunter who’s spotted a choice prey. “Are you saying you know a motive that I’m not aware of?”
“No. I’m saying that just because you can’t see a motive, it doesn’t mean there isn’t one.”
”And I’m saying you seem to be very good at ducking out of the way of things. Just look at this court: we have a conspiracy of four but for some reason, only one of those people’s on trial.”
Erk interjected. “Councillor, I don’t think this is the time or place to discuss this. You certainly can’t expect the witness to be able to answer that.”
“She doesn’t seem answerable to a lot of things. Maybe she’ll answer the Defender instead.”
“Are you saying you’re through with the witness?” asked Erk.
“I’m through with her.”
“Then take your turn, Mr Ostin.”
Ostin rose and approached the stand. He smiled in a way that was probably supposed to be reassuring or charming but looked more like a lecherous leer. “Olissa, my apologies. These gentlemen have given you quite a grilling, haven’t they?”
“It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“He, he. I’m sure you’re right. Well, you don’t need to worry, I’ll be a lot more gentle with you.”
Olissa gave him a withering look and held it until he continued. “I just want to revisit the statement you gave to Councillor Erk. Who did you say told you what happened?”
“Someone. Everyone. No-one on particular.”
“It wasn’t just Unt who told you what happened?”
“No.”
“He didn’t tell you what to say?”
“No.”
“It was a group effort?”
“You could say that.”
“Did anyone give you an alternative description of events?”
“No.”
“Then there was an accord?”
“That would follow, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, I suppose it would. Thank you, Olissa, you’ve been most helpful.”
“Ok then,” said Erk, turning to his colleagues, “Has anyone anything further to ask?”
“I have an observation to make, if I may,” said Lasper.
Erk frowned. “Very well then, Councillor.”
“I think it’s obvious the point Defender Ostin is making,” said Lasper, “He’s hitting upon Councillor Taylor’s argument that there’s blame to share. Nobody refuted the lie you were told, Olissa, therefore Mr Unt is no more culpable than your other companions.
“But I’m afraid it doesn’t work like that. Mr Unt has already admitted he got others to lie: how well he had others singing that false lullaby is neither here nor there. I agree that the other conspirators should stand trial but this trial is concerned only with Mr Unt.”
After that, Erk asked if any other Councillors wanted to speak. None did so he gave the floor back to Ostin. Ostin gave a rebuttal saying that Lasper was trying to paint Unt as a criminal mastermind but no-one was really listening. Olissa was already old news and they were thinking ahead to the next witness.
13. Bull
Olissa left and when Erk called the next witness, it was Bull. Bull swaggered into the court in his finest clothes, looking like he meant to own the place but Unt could see through the display. He knew his man and he could see that Bull was nervous as hell. He nodded and winked to someone in the balcony, gave the same to Unt and then took the stand.
“Mr Bulton,” said Erk. “I saw you nod to someone when you came into these chambers. To whom were you nodding?”
Bull was puzzled by the question. “That’d be my wife.”
“Your wife is an Educator?”
“Yeah.”
“An Order one away from your own?”
“Yep.”
“You ended up together because you had similar careers?”
“Er, that would be correct.”
“But you shouldn’t have that career, should you?” Erk leaned toward him. “You’d have had an aptitude for the Labourers if it wasn’t for a certain rescue.”
“Hey, I’m a good Medic,” Bull objected.
“Not particularly good, according to your Work Experience assessment,” said Erk.
“Well, I’m trying hard and getting good at it,” said Bull.
“That’s not really the point, is it?” said Erk. “The fact is you were falsely credited with a rescue that pushed you into a career path which you wanted but weren’t suited to. There was a conspiracy in which you were the only clear benefactor but it’s your fellow conspirator who’s in the dock here. Now, why should he be up there instead of you?”
Bull looked like he’d run into a door. He’d come in expecting to defend Unt and instead he was being asked to accuse him.
“Look,” he said, “Unt didn’t do anything.”
Erk almost sighed. “But he’s already admitted that he did.”
“But he didn’t mean nothing wrong,” said Bull.
“Perhaps you can explain then, in your own words, what happened that day.”
Bull’s torso trembled with nervous energy. Unt could picture his great lumpen foot tapping away out of view. “Look, it’s like this, right. We were all working away on the jetty, the girls on one side and me and Unt on the other. Suddenly, there’s this shout and we look up and they’ve both gone in the water.
“Unt’s a better swimmer than me so he dives in the water and gets hold of them one at a time, then pulls them to the jetty. Once they’re in arm’s reach, I hauled ‘em up and then we gave them first aid.”
“We?” asked Erk.
“Me and Unt.”
“And what did you do?”
“Well, we rescued them.”
“No, I mean you personally.”
Bull looked uncomfortable. “I guided Unt through what he needed to do.
“You didn’t do this yourself?”
“Er, no.”
“And why not, if you had the skills?”
“I don’t know, it just kind of happened. He did the physical bit but I was, like, directing.”
Erk looked up and down the line of Councillors. “A sort of managerial role?” There was some laughter.
“You could put it like that.”
“Or, I could put it that Mr Unt already knew what to do, that he had been trained two years earlier in the procedure for victims of drowning and had been certified as competent by an examiner,” said Erk. “I could put it that your assistance amounted to little more than a cheering squad.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“No. What you said, in your sworn witness statement, was that you dived in, rescued the girls and stopped them from drowning.”
“It was all a blur right then.”
“You seemed pretty clear when you spoke just now.”
“Well, I’ve had time to think about it.”
“And you hadn’t when you made your statement?”
“No. We were all caught up in the moment.”
“But between the rescue and the statement, you did have time to get it clear, did you not, when Mr Unt suggested that you take the credit?”
“Unt didn’t say anything.”
“He’s already admitted that he did.”
“Well, that’s not my recollection.”
“Indeed. Your recollection seems to vary from moment to moment.”
Bull didn’t give any answer to that.
“Councillor Hodd, it’s now your turn to ask questions.”
“I don’t think I can begin with the question I was going to,” said Hodd. “In the midst of all those fudged answers, Councillor Erk can be forgiven for missing that you never answered his earlier question: why should Unt be in the dock and not you?”
He held up a hand to stop Bull from responding. “I’ll
suggest an answer, if I may. The reason that you’re not up there with him is that you’re too much of an imbecile to orchestrate such a plot.”
Wisely, Bull didn’t answer this either. There was nothing he could say that wouldn’t make him look more foolish.
“Did you write the letter?” asked Hodd.
“No.”
“Why should we believe that?”
“Because Unt is my friend and I stand by him to the end,” said Bull. “Because if I wanted to attack someone, I wouldn’t hide behind some sneaky letter.”
“In those two things at least, I believe you,” said Hodd.
After that, Hodd gave up and Pello took over the questions.
“Mr Bulton, you’re a young man,” said Pello, kindly, “And young men are prone to mistakes. I don’t think you’re deliberately lying to us. I think you’re loyal to your friend and want to protect him so you’re shaping your memories to fit what you want them to be.
“What I would suggest to you is that the best way to protect your friend is to be open with us. Unt has admitted the deed but denied intent and every further untruth weighs against his favour.
“Now, I want you to answer this as honestly as you are able: how did everyone come to decide you were going to falsify your accounts of the accident?”
Bulton paused. “I think I said something to Unt along the lines that he’d get an award for the rescue. He got edgy at that and said he didn’t want that and I asked why. I don't remember what he said but he was sure he didn’t want it. That was when we decided that I would take the credit.”
“Whose idea was it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t know or won’t say?”
“We just kind of stumbled into it.”
“Did you discuss the benefit that this would bring to you?”
“We did but it wasn’t, you know, the main thing.”
“You mean it was incidental?”
“Yeah, that’s the word. It was just something good that came out of it.”
“Who was in this conversation?”
“Just me and Unt.”
“So you then took this proposal to Mélie?”
“To both of ‘em.”
“To Olissa too?”
“That’s right.”
“Are you aware this contradicts her version of events?”
“I don’t know about that but I know she was there.”
The Fall of Chance Page 23