Star Trek - Blish, James - 02

by 02(lit)

  "What about an attitude generated in his subconscious mind?"

  "I object!" Sam Cogley said. "Counsel is leading the witness into making unprovable subjective speculations."

  "On the contrary, your honor," Areel said. "I am ask-ing a known expert in psychology for an expert psychological opinion."

  "Objection overruled," Stone said. "You may pro-ceed."

  "Captain Kirk, then," Areel said relentlessly, "could have become prejudiced against Officer Finney without having been aware of it-prejudiced in such a way that his judgment became warped. Is that theoretically possible, doctor?"

  "Yes," McCoy said, "it's possible. But highly unlikely."

  "Thank you. Your witness, Mr. Cogley."

  "No questions."

  "Then I call James T. Kirk."

  When Kirk's identity disc was placed in the recorder, the machine said: "Kirk, SC-937-0176-CEC. Service rank: captain. Position: starship command. Current assignment: USS Enterprise. Commendations: Palm leaf of Axanar peace mission. Grankite order of tactics, class of excellence. Pentares ribbon of commendation, classes first and second..."

  "May it please the court," Areel Shaw said. The record-er attendant shut off the machine. "The prosecution concedes the inestimable record of Captain Kirk, and asks consent that it be entered as if read."

  "Mr. Cogley," Stone said, "do you so consent?"

  Cogley smiled disarmingly, stretched a bit in his chair, and rose. "Well, sir," he said, "I wouldn't want to be the one to slow the wheels of progress. On the other hand, I wouldn't want those wheels to run over my client in their unbridled haste. May I point out, sir, that this is a man we are examining, so perhaps a little longer look would not be amiss. The court's convenience is important, but his rights are paramount."

  "Continue," Stone told the recorder attendant. The machine said:

  "Awards of valor: Medal of Honor, silver palm with cluster. Three times wounded, honor roll. Galactic cita-tion for conspicuous gallantry. Karagite Order of Hero-ism..."

  It took quite a long time, during which Areel Shaw looked at the floor. Kirk could not tell whether she was fuming at having been outmaneuvered, or was simply ashamed of the transparency of her trick. Doubtless she did not want the court to be able to tell, either.

  "Now, Captain. Despite the record, you continue to maintain that there was a double-red alert before you jettisoned the pod?"

  "Yes, ma'am. There was."

  "And you cannot explain why the computer record shows otherwise."

  "No, I cannot."

  "And in fact you'd do it again under the same circum-stances."

  "Objection!" Cogley said. "Counsel is now asking the witness to convict himself in advance of something he hasn't done yet and, we maintain, didn't do in the past!"

  "It's all right, Sam," Kirk said. "I'm willing to answer. Lieutenant Shaw, I have been trained to command. The training doesn't sharpen a man's verbal skills. But it does sharpen his sense of duty-and confidence in himself to discharge that duty."

  "May it please the court," Areel Shaw said, "I submit that the witness is not being responsive."

  "He's answering the question," Stone said, "and he has a right to explain his answers. Proceed, Captain Kirk."

  "Thank you, sir. We were in the worst kind of ion storm. And I was in command. I made a judgment-a command judgment. And because it was necessary to make that judgment, a man died. But the lives of my entire crew and my ship were in danger, and not to have made that judgment, to wait, to have been indecisive when it was time to act, would in my mind have been criminal. I did not act out of panic, or malice. I did what I was duty-bound to do. And of course, Lieutenant Shaw, I would do it again; that is the responsibility of command."

  There was a brief hush. Areel Shaw broke it at last, turning to Stone.

  "Your honor, the prosecution does not wish to dishon-or this man. But I must invite the court's attention now to the visual playback of the log extract of the Enterprise's computer."

  "It is so ordered."

  The main viewing screen lit up. When it was over, Areel Shaw said, almost sadly, "If the court will notice the scene upon which we froze, the screen plainly shows the defendant's ringer pressing the jettison button. The condition signal reads RED-ALERT. Not double red- but simply red. When the pod containing Officer Finney was jettisoned, the emergency did not as yet exist.

  "The prosecution rests."

  Thunderstruck, Kirk stared at the screen. He had just seen the impossible.

  During the recess, Sam Cogley calmly leafed through legal books in the room assigned to them, while Kirk paced the floor in anger and frustration.

  "I know what I did!" Kirk said. "That computer report is an outright impossibility."

  "Computers don't lie," Cogley said.

  "Sam, are you suggesting I did?"

  "I'm suggesting that maybe you did have a lapse. It's possible, with the strain you were under. Jim, there's still time to change our plea. I could get you off."

  "Two days ago, I would have staked my life on my judgment."

  "You did. Your professional life."

  "I know what I did," Kirk said, spacing each word. "But if you want to pull out..."

  "There's nowhere to go," Cogley said. "Except back into court in half an hour. The verdict's a foregone conclusion, unless we change our plea."

  Kirk's communicator beeped and he took it out. "Kirk here."

  "Captain," Spock's voice said, "I have run a full survey on the computer."

  "I'll tell you what you found," Kirk said. "Nothing."

  "You sound bitter."

  "Yes, Mr. Spock. I am. But not so bitter as to fail to thank you for your efforts."

  "My duty, Captain. Further instructions?" There ac-tually seemed to be emotion in Spock's voice, but if he felt any such stirring, he was unable to formulate it.

  "No. I'm afraid you'll have to find yourself a new chess partner, Mr. Spock. Over and out."

  Cogley gathered up an armful of books and started for the door. "I've got to go to a conference in chambers with Stone and Shaw."

  "Look," Kirk said. "What I said before-I was a little worked up. You did the best you could."

  Cogley nodded and opened the door. Behind it, her arm raised to knock, was Jame Finney.

  "Jame!" Kirk said. "Sam, this is Officer Finney's daughter."

  "A pleasure," Cogley said.

  "Mr. Cogley," she said, "you have to stop this. Make him change his plea. Or something. Anything. I'll help if I can."

  Sam Cogley looked slightly perplexed, but he said only, "I've tried."

  "It's too late for anything like that, Jame," Kirk said. "But I appreciate your concern."

  "It can't be too late. Mr. Cogley, my father's dead. Ruining Jim won't bring him back."

  "That's a commendable attitude, Miss Finney," Cogley said. "But a little unusual, isn't it? After all, Captain Kirk is accused of causing your father's death."

  "I was..." Jame said, and stopped. She seemed sud-denly nervous. "I was just thinking of Jim."

  "Thank you, Jame," Kirk said. "But I'm afraid we've had it. You'd better go."

  When the door closed, Cogley put his books down. "How well do you know that girl?" he said.

  "Since she was a child."

  "Hmm. I suppose that might explain her attitude. Cu-rious, though. Children don't usually take such a dispassionate view of the death of a parent."

  "Oh, she didn't at first. She was out for my blood. Al-most hysterical. Charged into Stone's office calling me a murderer."

  "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

  "Why," Kirk said, "the subject never came up. Is it im-portant?"

  "I don't know," Cogley said thoughtfully. "It's-a false note, that's all. I don't see what use we could put it to now."

  Stone rang the court to order. He had hardly done so when Spock and McCoy materialized squarely in the midst of the room-a hair-raisingly precise piece of trans-porter work. They moved directly to Kirk and Cog
ley; the latter stood and Spock whispered to him urgently.

  "Mr. Cogley," Stone said harshly, "what's the meaning of this display?"

  "May it please the court," Mr. Cogley said, "we mean no disrespect, but these officers have unearthed new evidence, and they could conceive of no way to get it to the court in time but by this method."

  "The counsel for the defense," Areel Shaw said, "has already rested his case. Mr. Cogley is well-known for his theatrics..."

  "Is saving an innocent man's life a theatric?" He turned to Stone. "Sir, my client has been deprived of one of his most important rights in this trial-the right to be confronted by the witnesses against him. All the witnesses, your honor. And the most devastating witness against my client is not a human being, but an informa-tion system-a machine."

  "The excerpt from the computer log has been shown."

  "Your honor, a log excerpt is not the same as the ma-chine that produced it. I ask that this court adjourn and reconvene on board the Enterprise itself."

  "I object, your honor," Areel Shaw said. "He's trying to turn this into a circus."

  "Yes!" Cogley said. "A circus! Do you know what the first circus was, Lieutenant Shaw? An arena, where men met danger face to face, and lived or died. This is indeed a circus. In this arena, Captain Kirk will live or die, for if you take away his command he will be a dead man. But he has not met his danger face to face. He has the right to confront his accuser, and it matters nothing that his accuser is a machine. If you do not grant him that right, you have not only placed us on a level with the machine -you have elevated the machine above us! Unless I am to move for a mistrial, I ask that my motion be granted. But more than that, gentlemen: In the name of humanity fading in the shadow of the machine, I demand it. I demand it!"

  The members of the board put their heads together. At last Stone said: "Granted."

  "Mr. Spock," Cogley said. "How many chess games did you play with the computer during recess?"

  "Five."

  "And the outcome?"

  "I won them all."

  "May that be considered unusual, Mr. Spock, and if so, why?"

  "Because I myself programed the computer to play chess. It knows my game; and as has been observed be-fore, it cannot make an error. Hence, even if I myself never make an error, the best I can hope to achieve against it is a stalemate. I have been able to win against Captain Kirk now and then, but against the computer, never-until now. It therefore follows that someone has adjusted either the chess programing or the memory banks. The latter would be the easier task."

  "I put it to you, Mr. Spock, that even the latter would be beyond the capacity of most men, isn't that so? Well, then, what men, aboard ship, would it not be beyond?"

  "The captain, myself-and the Records Officer."

  "Thank you, you may step down. I now call Captain Kirk. Captain, describe what steps you took to find Officer Finney after the storm."

  "When he did not respond to my call," Kirk said, "I ordered a phase-one search for him. Such a search as-sumes that its object is injured and unable to respond to the search party."

  "It also presupposes that the man wishes to be found?"

  "Of course, Sam."

  "Quite. Now, with the court's permission, although Mr. Spock is now in charge of this ship, I am going to ask Captain Kirk to describe what Mr. Spock has done, to save time, which you will see in a moment is a vital con-sideration. May I proceed?"

  "Well...All right."

  "Captain?"

  "Mr. Spock has ordered everybody but the members of this court and the command crew to leave the ship. This includes the engine crew. Our impulse engines have been shut down and we are maintaining an orbit by momen-tum alone."

  "And when the orbit begins to decay?" Stone said.

  "We hope to be finished before that," Cogley said. "But that is the vital time element I mentioned. Captain, is there any other step Mr. Spock has taken?"

  "Yes, he has rigged an auditory sensor to the log com-puter. In effect, it will now be able to hear-as will we- every sound occurring on this ship."

  "Thank you. Dr. McCoy to the stand, please. Doctor, I see you have a small device with you. What is it, please?"

  "It is a white-noise generator."

  "I see. All right, Mr. Spock."

  At the console, Spock turned a switch. The bridge at once shuddered to an intermittent pounding, like many drums being beaten.

  "Could you reduce the volume a little?" Cogley said. "Thank you. Your honor, that sound is caused by the heartbeats of all the people in this room. With your per-mission, I am going to ask Dr. McCoy to take each person's pulse, and then use the white-noise device to mask those pulsebeats out, so they will be eliminated from the noise we are hearing."

  "What is the purpose of this rigmarole, your honor?" Areel Shaw demanded.

  "I think you suspect that as well as I do, Lieutenant," Stone said. "Proceed, Dr. McCoy."

  As Bones moved from person to person, the eerie mul-tiple thumping became simpler, softer.

  "That's all," McCoy said.

  No one breathed. Faintly, somewhere, one beat still sounded.

  "May it please the court," Cogley said quietly, "the re-maining pulse you hear, I think we will shortly find, is that of Officer Finney. Mr. Spock, can you localize it?"

  "B deck, between sections 18Y and 27D. I have al-ready sealed off that section."

  Kirk hesitated, then came to a decision. "Captain Stone," he said, "this is my problem. I would appreciate it if no one would leave the bridge."

  As he turned to leave, Spock handed him a phaser. "The weapons room is within those quadrants, sir," he said quietly. "He may be armed. This is already set on stun."

  "Thank you, Mr. Spock."

  He moved cautiously down the corridor in the sealed section, calling at intervals:

  "All right, Ben. It's all over. Ben! Officer Finney!"

  For a while there was no answer. Then, suddenly, a figure stepped out of a shadow, phaser leveled.

  "Hello, Captain," Officer Finney said.

  Kirk found that he could not answer. Though he had been sure that this was the solution, the emotional impact of actually being face to face with the "dead" man was unexpectedly powerful. Finney smiled a hard smile.

  "Nothing to say, Captain?"

  "Yes," Kirk said. "I'm glad to see you alive."

  "You mean you're relieved because your precious career is saved. Well, you're wrong. You've just made things worse for everyone."

  "Put the phaser down, Ben. Why go on with it?"

  "You wouldn't leave it alone," Finney said. "You've taken away my choices. Officers and gentlemen, commanders all... except for Finney and his one mistake.

  A long time ago, but they don't forget. No, they never forget."

  "Ben, I logged that mistake of yours. Blame me, not them."

  "But they're to blame," Finney said. "All of them. I was a good officer. I really was. I loved the service like no man ever did."

  Slowly, Kirk began to move in on him.

  "Stand back, Captain. No more-I warn you-"

  "You're sick, Ben. We can help you-"

  "One more step-"

  Suddenly, Jame's voice cried down the corridor, "Father! Father!"

  Finney's head jerked around. With a quick lunge, Kirk knocked the phaser from his hand. At the same moment, Jame appeared, rushing straight into the distraught man's arms.

  "Jame!"

  "It's all right, father," she said, moving her hand over the tortured officer's brow. "It's all right."

  "Don't, Jame," he said. "You've got to understand. I had to do it... after what they did to me..."

  "Excuse me," Kirk said. "But if we don't get this ship back under power, we'll all be dead."

  "Mr. Cogley," Stone said, "while this trial is obviously not over yet, I think we must congratulate you and Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy for a truly classical piece of detective work. Would you tell us, please, how the idea that Officer Finney was still alive eve
n entered your head?"

  "I began to suspect that, your honor, when Captain Kirk told me about the change of heart Officer Finney's daughter had had about the captain. If she knew he wasn't dead, she had no reason to blame the Captain for anything."