by Ian Miller
"Well!" Lucilla said. She frowned. This was not the Ulsian she had met before.
"What! Where'd you come from?"
"We got lost," Antonia offered sweetly. "We don't know."
"So, where're these logs?" Lucilla asked.
"First, the palm prints on this reader."
"You go first," Antonia nodded to Lucilla. 'That way,' the thought continued, 'I shall arrange for the prints to be erased from memory unless I give a countermanding signal, which I shall when we get the ship's logs.'
So Lucilla pressed her palm print, then Vipsania's was recorded.
'I have also modified them both,' Antonia said. 'They will work sufficiently well for the prescribed purpose, because I have also had the false prints logged into the supply computer. You will not need additional supplies, so there's no need to worry on that score.'
"Good. Now, go down that alley," the Ulsian said, as he folded his equipment and placed it in his pocket. "and go through the door at the end." With that he began to turn away.
"You're not coming?" Lucilla asked.
"Er, no. The Captain wants his identity kept secret." With that he strode away, with almost indecent haste.
'Then how'd you get to know about him?' Lucilla thought to herself.
'Excellent comment!' Antonia offered.
'What's going on?' Lucilla thought.
'It's unclear,' Antonia replied, 'nevertheless, we must do something. I shall do what is required. You should watch from the alleyway we came down. If I need you, I'll call.'
'But . . .'
'I appreciate your concern, however I assure you I am more capable of defending myself than you are. Something that would smash your skull would barely make an impression on me. Please, you are the fragile one, so look after yourself.'
Reluctantly, Lucilla agreed. She retreated to the alleyway, and watched Antonia walk down the other alley. Antonia reached the door, and appeared to wait a moment, as if listening. She looked over towards Lucilla, and through her thoughts, confirmed that Lucilla should get further away. Something was not right. She looked around again, then entered the door, and there was a silence. Suddenly, inside her head, Lucilla had a feeling of great urgency, and the message, 'Trap! Run for your life!'
Lucilla stared at the door. There was a blinding flash, the wall of the building disintegrated, and the body of Antonia came flying out, covered with flame, then suddenly a further flash connected with Antonia, and her companion simply disintegrated. Metal parts were spattered everywhere, showing conclusively, if it mattered, that Vipsania had not been there.
Lucilla felt a surge of anger, but then as she realised there was nothing she could do, she turned and ran. As best she could, she followed the path she had come by, until finally she found a tube. She entered it, keyed in her address, closed the door, and slumped back onto the seat. She began shaking, partly from the adrenalin surge of her escape, and partly out of anger. Her companion had been killed. Someone would pay for that!
But who? What had happened? Had Gerenthe found out? Was he trying to destroy the logs? Were there any logs there at all? She had no idea what had actually happened, other than that Antonia had entered the room and been destroyed. The capsule stopped. Without thinking, she opened the door and stepped out. She paused, then heard the door of the tube close behind her. Something was wrong! Yes, this exit was a mirror image of hers. This wasn't her building! Then she saw in front of her four armed members of the Ulsian security forces. A strange feeling of dread washed over her. Whoever executed this trap was still in control.
The Ulsian police stopped in front of her and politely told her she was under arrest for the murder of two Ulsians at a named building, and the attempted murder of Space Marshall Gerenthe.
"That's ridiculous!" she cried out. "I was . . ."
"I must advise you that you should keep quiet!" one of the Ulsians stopped her. "What you say could be held against you."
"You mean to say that my saying I'm innocent can be held against me?" she protested.
"No, that is held for you," the Ulsian said. "Your claim of innocence has been noted, and registered. However, I now most strongly advise you to say no more until you have advice. Now, if you accompany us to your cell voluntarily, things will go much better for you."
After a moment's thought she conceded. Since she had been brought there without her knowledge, and since she could not even get out of this tube exit, escape was clearly impossible. Not that she had anywhere to go. Without a companion, not even a space ship. It was not as if she could blend into Ulsian life.
The cell, as it turned out, was quite reasonable. It was almost as big as her own room, and within two hours all her belongings that had not been taken by Vipsania to her ship had been brought to her.
It did not help. A sudden wave of despair struck her. She was an alien on this planet, and the people of the planet were turning on her. She began to weep, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
* * *
The following morning she had her first visitor, a young Ulsian who stated that he was her lawyer, if she would have him.
"How many cases have you represented?" she frowned.
"None!" came the bright reply. "However," he added when Lucilla began to protest, "I topped my legal class." He paused and added for Lucilla's benefit, "On Ulse, the prize for the top of the class is a high profile 'open and shut' case, to get the reputation going. I have won the right to your case."
"This 'open and shut' case," Lucilla prodded. "Is it open or shut?"
"Oh, do not worry! I shall win!"
"Do you mind telling me how?"
The Ulsian gave a big nod, indicating 'yes', then held up a sign saying, 'This room will be under surveillance.' "Haven't a clue," he continued with a big Ulsian grin, and pointed again to the sign.
"You mean . . ?"
The Ulsian put his hand across his mouth, to stop her.
"Until you appoint me," he said, "I can't get started. Please, do appoint me."
Lucilla thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "I guess you're my only option, anyway."
"That is true," he said in a flat tone, as he grinned widely.
"So, do you want to know what happened?"
"Nope!" he said, and pointed vigorously at his sign, and held his hand across his mouth to stop her speaking. "At this stage, all I shall do is follow procedure."
"Um . . ." Lucilla questioned. "Isn't that dangerous?"
"Definitely not!" he said, and began to look around for microphones. "What I propose is this. I shall file for an immediate hearing, which must be held no later than one week. If I do this, that must be granted or you must be released, in which case you can board your ship and go to Plotk. Assume the hearing proceeds, which I have no doubt will happen. In the ordinary course of events, the evidence against you is then presented, critical analysis of that evidence is presented, the evidence for you is presented, then we make an assessment of what next. If it is critical, you may give your evidence, and I shall be granted a recess to hear it first, and decide how or if it should be presented. For the moment you must remain silent."
"But won't my refusal to say anything count against me?" Lucilla asked. "Doesn't it look as if I must be guilty?"
"Most definitely not!" the Ulsian beamed. "Perception may be most important in this case. Added to which, I have one more request for you."
"What's that?" a perplexed Lucilla asked.
"You must file to rely on machine evidence. The machine evidence is truthful, and your taking that position shows that you have full confidence that your innocence must be proved. The only logical reason for relying solely on machine evidence, therefore, is that you know you're innocent."
"But suppose there's no machine evidence?" Lucilla asked.
"If you request machine evidence," the Ulsian nodded, "and the opposition cannot produce adequate machine evidence to prove your guilt, you walk free."
"That means I cannot give evidence," Lucilla frowned. "
I cannot . . ."
"Yes and no!" the Ulsian said triumphantly. "Most importantly, neither can they. They cannot produce various liars to make all sorts of accusations against you, and they cannot produce so-called experts to work out what must have happened. They must resort to machine evidence of what did happen."
"But I have no machine evidence."
"There's bound to be plenty," the Ulsian said. "There was an explosion. If you rely on machine evidence they must analyse the explosive, prove you could have made it, and prove you could have taken it there. Thus if it weighed, say, twenty kilos, any surveillance evidence showing you had no visible case within a reasonable time of the blast would lead to the conclusion you were innocent."
"But suppose someone fabricates machine evidence?"
"I believe that will be impossible, but if you know a machine is lying, then you must request the personal interview with me and we decide what to do then. Now, I must go," he said as he stood up, and pointed to the walls and shook his head. "Say absolutely nothing about this case to anyone."
She sat back to think. This went against all her beliefs, but then again her beliefs did belong to a far more primitive civilization. Perhaps this was part of the plot against her, but if it were, what could she do?
All she could do was request to see Gaius. At the very least, she should say goodbye to her brother.
* * *
Gaius was a little surprised to find he had a guest for breakfast. Marcellus had invited Klendor, and Gaius was quite pleased to have company, although he was a little disturbed to find that Klendor seemed preoccupied. Gaius became concerned. He thought one of his top officers was becoming nervous, and that he could not tolerate. He had just completed breakfast, and was wondering how to probe Klendor, when Marcellus interrupted to tell him of Lucilla's plight.
"When did this happen?" Gaius asked angrily.
"Last night," Marcellus replied. "By the time I was told, you were asleep, so I thought it better to let you sleep. The departure for Plotk means we have a big day today."
"Departure! Oh no we don't! I'm not leaving Lucilla to −"
"I thought you'd say that," Marcellus said, "and that's why I invited Klendor up here to try and change your mind."
Gaius stared at Klendor, and understood. Klendor was nervous all right, but not of the enemy.
"I'm sorry for what happened," Klendor said. "I want you to know, though, I'm totally on your side, and I'm here to help."
"Then you'll help me get Lucilla's freedom?"
"I shall do whatever I can to help Lucilla get free," Klendor said simply, "but it won't involve you."
"What?" Gaius said angrily.
"You cannot help on Ulse," Klendor said simply. "You have no evidence to give, and in any case, Lucilla's lawyer has filed for the case to rely solely on machine evidence, so you cannot be present at the trial."
"Machine evidence?" Gaius said in an exasperated tone. "Where's she going to get that?"
"The real question," Klendor said, "is if she didn't rely on that, where is she going to get any other sort of evidence?"
"There could be witnesses who saw her . . ."
"Witnesses could lie," Klendor pointed out. "As she claims to be innocent, and she is probably unaware of the identity of any Ulsian that she can absolutely rely on who saw anything relevant, she is much better to rely on the surveillance data. That will show she did not do it."
"There may not be any data at all?" Gaius frowned. "And if there isn't, then there's the uncontested statements from her accusers −"
"Not unless they're machines, which is somewhat unlikely," Klendor said.
"Say that again?"
"The accusers can only provide machine evidence," Klendor said simply. "Failure to prove she did it through machine evidence leads to immediate release. I am quite convinced this is her best approach."
"I can still be here to support her, though," Gaius said flatly.
"That's why I'm here to talk to you," Klendor said firmly. "You give her far more support by leaving."
"And exactly how do you work that out?" Gaius said angrily.
"If you leave, she is the sister of a Space Marshall, a hero who is risking all for Ulse. That gives her a status that means she is protected against any form of trickery. If you stay, she is the sister of an alien who refused to accept responsibility, and who turned his back on Ulse in its time of need. Believe me, Ulse will turn its back on you, and nobody will give a hoot what happens to Lucilla."
"Some justice!" Gaius muttered bitterly.
"There is one further point that Klendor doesn't realize," Marcellus added. "If you refuse to go to Plotk, you lose this ship, and me." There was a pause in which Gaius said nothing, but he was clearly not impressed. "Additionally," Marcellus continued, "Lucilla may lose her best machine witness, because she will not have the rank to call it."
"What are you getting at?" Gaius asked curiously.
"I am forbidden to tell you," Marcellus said. He looked at Gaius and said firmly, "Please, trust me. The probability that Lucilla does not follow about a week or so later is about one in two hundred and thirty-two million, provided that this is played properly."
"What do you mean, played properly?"
"Strategy," Marcellus said simply. "Lucilla has been set up." There was a pause, then Marcellus turned to stare at Gaius and asked, "Oh, master strategist, what is the next question?"
"You're teasing me?" Gaius said in surprise.
"Trying to lift you into a state of reasoning," Marcellus countered. "Answer the question!"
"I suppose, why?" Gaius said.
"Wrong question," Marcellus answered. "The question is, by whom?"
"That's not a question at all," Gaius retorted. "The answer's too easy. Why is a better question, and the only Ulsian with any motive's Gerenthe. She was, after all, trying to discredit him, so it seems he's discrediting her first."
"Oh! Very good!" Marcellus taunted again. "Now, having got that far, why don't you want to leave for Plotk right now?"
"And why would I want to do that?" Gaius said, a little irritably. "It means I'm almost conceding Gerenthe's plan is going to work."
"Klendor! Please put your friend right!" Marcellus shook his head.
"The instant you leave for Plotk," Klendor pointed out, "Gerenthe has to leave too. If he's behind Lucilla's problem, he can't ensure that the plot will hold together."
"More to the point," Marcellus said, "he can't correct mistakes. The only way Lucilla can be in trouble is, in my analysis, if Gerenthe's still around long enough to work out what's wrong with his plan, and he has enough time to do something about it."
"Even if there's something wrong with Gerenthe's plan," Gaius said, "it doesn't follow that it will come out unless someone's here to push it."
"Wrong!" Marcellus said, "and even if it were right, so what? You're no help. You don't even know what it is, and if you stay, there won't be anything."
"Why not?"
"Because Gerenthe has the power to stop it happening," Marcellus said. "In principle you have equal rank, but you don't have equal Ulsian contacts. If you're away defending Ulse, however, some of the most powerful will feel obliged to look after your interests. If you're here, you do it yourself. It's a bit like your own past. You always got more from Little Boots by not being in Rome."
"So I've got to leave without even seeing Lucilla?" Gaius shook his head bitterly.
"Of course not," Marcellus said. "What you should do is make an immediate announcement that you will lead your force to Plotk in eight hours. Any Ulsian ready to fight should be ready to depart. You would find the pressure on all other Ulsian vessels would be such that they will all leave then. You then send a message to Gerenthe saying you will be saying farewell to your sister for the rest of the day, and will thus be unavailable. He has no choice but to depart with you."
"Suppose Gerenthe decided not to come straight away?" Gaius said. "That would leave this manoeuvre in tatters."
Gaius paused, then said, "All right. I guess I have to trust you. You can arrange for the messages, and the transport to see Lucilla?"
"Of course," Marcellus said. "You should also order a security escort on Ulse, and totally forbid all access to all of Lucilla's ship and associated property to anybody."
"Can I do that?"
"You're a Space Marshall," Klendor said simply. "You can't influence the judicial process, but you can totally protect Lucilla's freedom to join you when she's found innocent."
Gaius looked a little stunned, then said, "Do it."
"I've already done it," Marcellus smiled. "I have been monitoring Lucilla's ship since the event, and I have put the ship on a grade 1 defence status. It will automatically destroy anybody attempting to board it until Lucilla's trial is over."
"Gerenthe could over-ride that."
"No, he cannot, because it has your authority. Only you can over-ride it, and I assume you won't."
"You assume correctly," Gaius said firmly.
* * *
Gaius arrived at Lucilla's rooms just as Vipsania was leaving, and as he watched the two women hug, he saw on each face the question, 'Was this the last time?'
Gaius sat down at the table, and showed Lucilla a sign saying he was forbidden to talk about the case, and Lucilla nodded to indicate she was too. So they sat there, looking at each other, forbidden to discuss the only topic that was overwhelming each of them. Lucilla was desperately trying to seem brave and at the same time, confident. Gaius was desperately trying to seem confident and cheerful. Both merely achieved looking strained.