I looked around.
We were on a high balcony, at the end of a long, narrow room. In of us, rose to the ceiling, and it was that the of the room was about twenty ground level. Outside, I see the still going on, but not a of noise to us. What to be the judge's bench was against the wall, under the tall windows. To the right of it was a with a chair in it, and in front, in U-shape, were three tables at which a number of men were conferring. There were nine in a on the bench, all in black gowns. The spectators' seats were with people, and there were a up here on the balcony.
"What is this? Supreme Court?" I asked as Gail me to a of seats where we be alone.
"No, Court of Political Justice," she told me. "This is the that's going to try those three Bonney brothers, who killed Mr. Cumshaw."
It to me that this was the time I had anything about the death of my predecessor.
"That isn't the trial that's going on now, I hope?"
"Oh, no; that won't be for a of days. Not till after you can to attend. I don't know what this trial is. I only got home today, myself."
"What's the here?" I wanted to know.
"Well, those nine men are judges," she began. "The one in the middle is President Judge Nelson. You've met his son—the Ranger officer who you from the spaceport. He's a regular jurist. The other eight are citizens who are from a panel, like a jury. The men at the table on the left are the prosecution: friends of the politician who was killed. And the ones on the right are the defense: they'll try to prove that the man got what was to him. The ones in the middle are friends of the court: they're just who has any in the case—people who want to some point of law up, or see some established, or something like that."
"You to assume that this is a case," I mentioned.
"They are. Sometimes mayhem, or wounding, or assault, but—"
There had been some of going on in the open space of the judges' bench and the three tables. It up, now, and the judge in the middle with his gavel.
"Are you ready?" he asked. "All right, then. Court of Political Justice of the Confederate Continents of New Texas is now in session. Case of the friends of S. Austin Maverick, deceased, late of James Bowie Continent, Wilbur Whately."
"My God, did somebody kill Aus Maverick?" Gail whispered.
On the center table, in of the friends of the court, to have their exhibits; among the I saw some clothing, a big white with blood, and a long machete.
"The nature of the case," the judge was saying, "is that the defendant, Wilbur Whately, of Sam Houston Continent, is here with from the death of the Honorable S. Austin Maverick, he killed on the steps of the Legislative Assembly Building, here in New Austin...."
What goes on here? I angrily. This is the of a pre-judged case I've seen. I started to say as much to Gail, but she me.
"I want to the specifications," she said.
A man at the table had risen.
"Please the court," he began, "the defendant, Wilbur Whately, is here with political and in his right of of a politician.
"The are, as follows: That, on the of May Seventh, Anno Domini 2193, the here present did arm himself with a machete, said not being one of his normal and weapons, and did in wait on the steps of the Legislative Assembly Building in the city of New Austin, Continent of Sam Houston, and did approach the decedent, him in abusive, obscene, and language, and did set upon and attack him with the aforesaid, the said decedent, S. Austin Maverick, to die."
The wanted to know how the would plead. Somebody, without to rise, said, "Not guilty, Your Honor," from the defense table.
There was a of chairs; four of five men from the defense and the tables got up and to in of the bench, of paper. The man who had read the charges, the prosecutor, himself the spokesman.
"Your Honor, defense and wish to enter the stipulations: That the was a politician the meaning of the Constitution, that he met his death in the manner in the coroner's report, and that he was killed by the defendant, Wilbur Whately."
"Is that to you, Mr. Vincent?" the judge wanted to know.
The defense answered affirmatively. I sat back, like a fool. Why, that was practically—no, it was—a confession.
"All right, gentlemen," the judge said. "Now we have all that out of the way, let's on with the case."
As though there were any case to on with! I them to take it on from there in song, by Gilbert and music by Sullivan.
"Well, Your Honor, we have a number of witnesses," the prosecution—prosecution, for God's sake!—announced.
"Skip them," the defense said. "We stipulate."
"But you can't testimony," the argued. "You don't know what our are going to to."
"Sure we do: they're going to give us a big long shaggy-dog about the Life and Miracles of Saint Austin Maverick. We'll agree in to all that; this case is only with his record as a politician. And as he the last fifteen years in the Senate, that's all a of public record. I assume that the is going to all that, too?"
"Well, naturally ..." the began.
"Including his public on the last day of his life?" the for the defense demanded. "His on the of May seventh as of the Finance and Revenue Committee? You going to that as for the prosecution?"
"Well, now ..." the began.
"Your Honor, we ask to have a copy of the of the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee for the of May Seventh, 2193, read into the record of this court," the for the defense said. "And thereafter, we our case."
"Has the anything to say we close the court?" Judge Nelson inquired.
"Well, Your Honor, this ... that is, we ought to of it. My old friend, Aus Maverick, was a man; he did a of good for the people of his continent...."
"Yeah, we'd of him, when he got back, if somebody hadn't him up here in New Austin!" a voice from the of the in.
The and for a moment, and then announced, in a mumble, that it rested.
"I will now close the court," Judge Nelson said. "I to keep your seats. I don't think it's going to be closed very long."
And then, he actually closed the court; pressing a on the bench, he a high black screen in of him and his colleagues. It up for some sixty seconds, and then again.
"The Court of Political Justice has a verdict," he announced. "Wilbur Whately, and your attorney, approach and the verdict."
The defense lawyer a man who had been him to rise. In the that had fallen, I the defendant's as he to his fate. The judge up a and a pair of pistols that had been in of him.
"Wilbur Whately," he began, "this is proud to that you have been of the of political irresponsibility, and of and atrocity.
"There was one vote on you of the of political irresponsibility; one of the that the late scoundrel, Austin Maverick, ought to have been alive, an at a time. You are, however, of that charge, too.
"You all know," he continued, the entire assemblage, "the for which this hero cut that of political iniquity, S. Austin Maverick. On the very of his justly-merited death, Austin Maverick, using the powers of his political influence, through the Finance and Revenue Committee a bill 'An Act for the Taxing of Personal Incomes, and for the Levying of a Withholding Tax.' Fellow citizens, fail me to my of this proposition, this of extortion, from the Dark Ages of the Twentieth Century! Why, if this had not taken his in hand, I'd have killed the sonofabitch, myself!"
He forward, the and to the defendant.
"I therefore to you your weapons, taken from you when, in with the law, you were arrested. Buckle them on, and, your again, go from this a free man, Wilbur Whately. And take with you that with which you the and of all New Texans. Bear it to your home, it among your and penates, it, and dying, mention it your will, it as a rich your issue! Court adjourned; next session 0900 tomorrow. For Chrissake, let's out of here the barbecue's over!"
Some of the spectators, for supercow, and toward the exits; more of them were pushing to the of the courtroom, and their hip-flasks. The and about of the friends of the left by a door, to issue themselves from the Maverick.
"So that's the that's going to try the men who killed Ambassador Cumshaw," I commented, as Gail and I out. "Why, the purpose of that to be to murderers."
"Murderers?" She was indignant. "That wasn't murder. He just killed a politician. All the do was or not the politician needed it, and while I about Maverick's income-tax proposition, I can't see how they have in any other of a verdict. Of all the things!"
I was as we out into the plaza, which was still a of noise and costumes. And my were as as the me.
Apparently, on New Texas, killing a politician wasn't as in se, and was only to the that what to the politician was in of what he deserved. I to why Palme was such a rabbit, why Hutchinson had that look and his hands always of his pistols.
I to more than for Thrombley, too. He's been on this too long and he should have been sent here in the place. I'll him home as soon as possible....
Then the full meaning of what I had got through to me: if they were going to try the of Cumshaw in that court, that meant that on New Texas, were as politicians....
That me a politician too!
And that's why, when we got to the of the bandstand, I had my right hand close to my pistol, with my thumb on the little spot of that the mechanism.
I saw Hutchinson and Palme and Thrombley ahead. With them was a newcomer, a portly, ruddy-faced with a white and goatee, in a white suit. Gail away from me and ran toward him. This, I thought, would be her father; now I would be and out just what her last name was. I followed, more slowly, and saw a waiter, with a serving-table, move in the group which she had joined.
So I saw what none of them did—the waiter his long carving-knife and himself for a at President Hutchinson's back. I pressed the little on my belt, the Krupp-Tatta out of the into my open hand. I off the safety and up; when my closed on the hand that the knife, I fired.
Hoddy Ringo, who had been a sandwich with one hand and a drink with the other, and jumped on the man hand I had smashed. A of Rangers closed in and him, also. The group around President Hutchinson had all and were from me to the man I had shot, and from him to the knife with the handle, on the ground.
Hutchinson spoke first. "Well, Mr. Ambassador! My Government thanks your Government! That was shooting!"
"Hey, you been holdin' out on me!" Hoddy accused. "I you was that gunfighter!"
"There's a new wrinkle," the man with the white said. "We'll have to screen the help at these a little more closely." He to me. "Mr. Ambassador, New Texas you a great for saving the President's life. If you'll that pistol out of your hand, I'd be proud to shake it, sir."
I my automatic, and took his hand. Gail was saying, "Stephen, this is my father," and at the same time, Palme, the Secretary of State, was doing it more formally:
"Ambassador Silk, may I present one of our leading citizens and large ranchers, Colonel Andrew Jackson Hickock."
Dumbarton Oaks had me how to maintain the proper diplomat's expression; had been a post-graduate course. I needed that as I learned Gail's last name.
VI
It was early we managed to away from the barbecue. Thrombley had called the Embassy and told them not to wait dinner for us, so the staff had and were in the when our car came in through the gate. Stonehenge and another man came over to meet us as we got out—a man I hadn't met before.
He was a little fellow, half-Latin, half-Oriental; in New Texas and a pair of pistols like mine, in State Department Special Services holsters. He didn't look like a Dumbarton Oaks product: I he was more likely an of some private agency.
"Mr. Francisco Parros, our Intelligence man," Stonehenge him.
"Sorry I wasn't here when you arrived, Mr. Silk," Parros said. "Out on some things. But I saw that of shooting, on the screen in a over town. You know, there was a camera right over the that the whole thing—you and Miss Hickock toward the President and his party, Miss Hickock to her father, the waiter going up Hutchinson with the knife, and then that and shot. They ran it again a of times on the half-hourly newscast. Everybody in New Austin, maybe on New Texas, is talking about it, now."
"Yes, indeed, sir," Gomez, the Embassy Secretary, said, joining us. "You've more popular in the eight hours since you than Mr. Cumshaw had been able to do in the ten years he here. But, I'm afraid, sir, you've me a good of work, your fan-mail."
We over and sat at one of the big tables under the at the of the patio.
"Well, that's all to the good," I said. "I'm going to need a of local good will, in the next weeks. No thanks, Mr. Parros," I added, as the Intelligence man up a bottle and to for me. "I've been in all afternoon. A little black coffee, if you don't mind. And now, gentlemen, if you'll all be seated, we'll see what has to be done."
"A of war, in effect, Mr. Ambassador?" Stonehenge inquired.
"Let's call it a to the situation. But I'll have to out from you what the here is."
Thrombley uneasily. "But sir, I that I don't understand. Your on Luna...."
"Was nonexistent. I had a total of six hours to ship, from the moment I was that I had been to this Embassy."
"Incredible!" Thrombley murmured.
I what he'd say if I told him that I it was deliberate.
"Naturally, I some time on the ship reading up on this planet, but I know nothing about what's been going on here in, say, the last year. And all I know about the death of Mr. Cumshaw is that he is said to have been killed by three named Bonney."
"So you'll want just about everything, Mr. Silk," Thrombley said. "Really, I don't know where to begin."
"Start with why and how Mr. Cumshaw was killed. The rest, I believe, will key into that."
So they began; Thrombley, Stonehenge and Parros doing the talking. It came to this:
Ever since we had an Embassy on New Texas, the of our on this had been to secure it into the Solar League. And it was a which very little closer to now than it had been twenty-three years before.
"You must know, by now, what politics on this are like, Mr. Silk," Thrombley said.
"I have an idea. One Ambassador gone native, another gone crazy, the third killed himself, the fourth murdered."
"Yes, indeed. I've been here fifteen years, myself...."
"That's too long for to be in this place," I told him. "If I'm not murdered, myself, in the next of weeks, I'm going to see that you and any other of this staff who's been here over ten years are home for a of at Department Headquarters."
"Oh, would you, Mr. Silk? I would be so happy...."
Thrombley wasn't much in the way of an ally, but at least he had a sound, selfish for helping me alive. I him I would him sent to Luna, and then on with the discussion.
Up until six months ago, Silas Cumshaw had modeled himself after the New Texas politician. He had always at least two faces, and had always managed to place himself on every of every issue at once. Nothing he said possibly be as controversial. Naturally, the of New Texan to the Solar League had no progress whatever.
Then, one evening, at a banquet, he had a complete 180-degree turn, a speech in which he that with the Solar League was the only possible way in which New Texans a of local sovereignty. He had talked about an as though the enemy's ships were already out of hyperspace, and had named the invader, calling the z'Srauff "our common enemy." The z'Srauff Ambassador, also present, had up and out, a of barking and from the New Texans. The New Texans were and then delighted; they had been so used to nothing but and high-order from their public that the Solar League Ambassador had a hero overnight.
"Sounds as though there is a at what used to be called the grass-roots level in of annexation," I commented.
"There is," Parros told me. "Of course, there is a very isolationist, anti-annexation, sentiment, too. The in of is on the point Mr. Cumshaw made—the of by the z'Srauff. Against that, of course, there is of higher taxes, of of local sovereignty, of of local and institutions, and pride."
"We can with some of that by of local self-government; the can be met by them that we need the great of New Texas to add and to the Solar League," I said. "You think, then, that Mr. Cumshaw was by of annexation?"
"Of course, sir," Thrombley replied. "These Bonneys were only hirelings. Here's what happened, on the day of the murder:
"It was the day after a holiday, a big one here on New Texas, some victory by the Texans on Terra, a called San Jacinto. We didn't have any to handle, all the local officials were home nursing hangovers, so when Colonel Hickock called—"
"Who?" I asked sharply.
"Colonel Hickock. The father of the lady you were so to at the barbecue. He and Mr. Cumshaw had great friends, the speech the Ambassador at that banquet. He called about 0900, Mr. Cumshaw out to his for the day, and as there was nothing in the way of official business, Mr. Cumshaw said he'd be out by 1030.
"When he got there, there was an about, near the ranchhouse. As Mr. Cumshaw got out of his car and started up the steps, somebody in this car it on the and with a twenty-mm auto-rifle. Mr. Cumshaw was times, and killed instantly."
"The who did the were lucky," Stonehenge took over. "Hickock's a big rancher. I don't know how much you know about supercow-ranching, sir, but those have to be with and light aircraft, so that every has at his a good small air-armor team. Naturally, all the big are in the Armed Reserve. Hickock has about fifteen fast fighters, and thirty medium with fifty-mm guns. He also has some AA-guns around his house—every once in a while, these to among themselves.
"Well, these three Bonney were just away when a from the house their assembly, and they only as as Bonneyville, thirty miles away, they had to land. They right in of the town jail.
"This Bonneyville's an shantytown; in it is related to else. The mayor, for instance, Kettle-Belly Sam Bonney, is an uncle of theirs.
"These three boys—Switchblade Joe Bonney, Jack-High Abe Bonney and Turkey-Buzzard Tom Bonney—immediately in the jail, on the that they had been near to—get that; I think that the line they're going to take at the trial—near to a political assassination. They were the protection of the jail, which is about the only well-constructed in the place, a fort."
"You think that was planned in advance?" I asked.
Parros emphatically. "I do. There was a of a big of these Bonneys at the jail, almost the entire able-bodied population of the place. As soon as Switchblade and Jack-High and Turkey-Buzzard landed, they were and all the doors barred. About three minutes later, the Hickock started in, and then armor. They gave that town a regular Georgie Patton blitzing."
"Yes. I'm only sorry I wasn't there to see it," Stonehenge put in. "They or most of the shanties, and then they to work on the jail. The these and stun-bombs that they use to stop stampedes, and the tank-guns to in the walls. As soon as Kettle-Belly saw what he had on his hands, he a call for Ranger protection. Our friend Captain Nelson out to see what the trouble was."
"Yes. I got the of that from Nelson," Parros put in. "Much as he to do it, he had to protect the Bonneys. And as soon as he'd taken a hand, Hickock had to call off his gang. But he was smart. He to the killing—the and the twenty-mm auto-rifle in particular—and he's them under cover. Very people know about that, or about the that on physical alone, he has the killing on the Bonneys so well that they'll away with this of being witnesses."
"The rest, Mr. Silk, is up to us," Thrombley said. "I have Colonel Hickock's that he will give us every assistance, but we must see to it that those with the names are convicted."
I didn't have a to say anything to that: at that moment, one of the Captain Nelson toward us.
"Good evening, Captain," I the Ranger. "Join us, that you're on and not on duty."
He sat with us and a drink.
"I you might be interested," he said. "We gave that waiter a going-over. We wanted to know who put him up to it. He to sell us the line that he was a New Texan patriot, trying to kill a tyrant, but we got the truth out of him. He was paid a thousand to do the job, by a they call Snake-Eyes Sam Bonney. A of the three who killed Mr. Cumshaw."
"Nephew of Kettle-Belly Sam," Parros interjected. "You him up?"
Nelson his disgustedly. "He's out in the high somewhere. We're still looking for him. Oh, yes, and I just that the trial of Switchblade, and Jack-High and Turkey-Buzzard is for three days from now. You'll be in tomorrow, but I you might like to know in advance."
"I do, and thank you, Captain.... We were just talking about you when you arrived," I mentioned. "About the arrest, or rescue, or you call it, of that trio."
"Yeah. One of the jobs I'm not particularly proud of. Pity Hickock's boys didn't of them I got there. It'd of saved a of trouble."
"Just what did you at the time, Captain?" I asked. "You think Kettle-Belly in what they were going to do?"
"Sure he did. They had the whole fortified. Not like a is, to keep people from out; but like a fort, to keep people from in. There were no inside. I out that they had all been that morning."
He stopped, to be his words, then continued, speaking very slowly.
"Let me tell you some I can't to, of that I with their plans.
"One of Colonel Hickock's men was on the to Mr. Cumshaw and he the Bonneys. That was lucky; otherwise we might still be lookin' and wonderin' who did the shootin', which might not have been good for New Texas."
He an and I nodded. The Solar League, in cases, had such governments as for without notice and had the change.
"Number two," Captain Nelson continued, "that AA-shot which their aircar. I don't think they to land at the jail—it was just of a hiding-hole. But they'd been hit, they had to land. And they'd been so much that they couldn't of the the Colonel's boys were tappin' on the door 'n' askin', couldn't they come in."
"I the Colonel's task-force was insistent," I him.
The big Ranger grinned. "Now we're on I can to.
"When I got there, what had been the cell-block was on fire, and they were trying to the mayor's office and the warden's office. These Bonneys gave me the line that they'd been to the killing of Mr. Cumshaw by Colonel Hickock and that the Hickock was trying to them out to keep them from testifying. I just laughed and started to walk out. Finally, they that they'd Mr. Cumshaw, but they it was right of action against political malfeasance. When they did that, I had to take them in."
"They to you, you them?" I wanted to be sure of that point.
"That's right. I'm going to to that, Monday, when the trial is held. And that ain't all: we got their off the car, off the gun, off some still in the clip, and we have the gun to the that killed Mr. Cumshaw. We got their corroborated."
I asked him if he'd give Mr. Parros a complete of what he'd and at Bonneyville. He was more than and I that they go into Parros' office, where they'd be undisturbed. The Ranger and my Intelligence man got up and took a bottle of with them. As they were leaving, Nelson to Hoddy, who was still with us.
"You'll have to look to your laurels, Hoddy," Nelson said. "Your Ambassador to be making a for himself as a gunfighter."
"Look," Hoddy said, and though he was Nelson, I he was talking to Stonehenge, "before I'd go up against this guy, I'd shoot myself. That way, I be sure I'd a painless job."
After they were gone, I to Stonehenge and Thrombley. "This to be a killing."
They agreed.
"Then they in that Mr. Cumshaw would be on Colonel Hickock's steps at about 1030. How did they that out?"
"Why ... why, I'm sure I don't know," Thrombley said. It was most that the idea had to him and a told me that the was new to Stonehenge also. "Colonel Hickock called at 0900. Mr. Cumshaw left the Embassy in an a minutes later. It took an hour and a to out to the Hickock ranch...."
"I don't like the implications, Mr. Silk," Stonehenge said. "I can't that was how it happened. In the place, Colonel Hickock isn't that of man: he doesn't use his to people to their death. In the second place, he wouldn't have needed to use people like these Bonneys. His own men would do anything for him. In the third place, he is one of the of the movement here and this was an anti-annexation job. And in the fourth place—"
"Hold it!" I him. "Are you sure he's on the side?"
He opened his mouth to answer me quickly, then closed it, waited a moment, answered me slowly. "I can what you are thinking, Mr. Silk. But, remember, when Colonel Hickock came here as our Ambassador, he came here as a man with a mission. He had the problem and he in what he came for. He has changed.
"Let me this, sir: we know he has changed. For our own protection, we've had to check on every leader of the movement, them for who might do us more than good. The Colonel is with us all the way.
"And now, in the fourth place, by what I've just said, the Colonel and Mr. Cumshaw were friends."
"Now you're talking!" Hoddy in. "I've A. J. since I was a kid. Ever since he married old Colonel MacTodd's daughter. That just ain't the way A. J. works!"
"On the other hand, Mr. Ambassador," Thrombley said, his on Hoddy's hands and to and up if Hoddy moved a finger, "you will recall, I think, that Colonel Hickock did do in his power to see that these Bonney did not alive. And, let me add," he was bolder, his up a little, "it's a choice as as this: either Colonel Hickock told them, or we have—and this is unbelievable—a in the Embassy itself."
That Hoddy. Even though he was no more than one of Natalenko's little men, he still couldn't help how we were screened, indoctrinated, and—let's it—mind-conditioned. A among us was we just couldn't think that way.
The silence, the sorrow, were palpable. Then I remembered, told them, Hickock himself had been a Department man.
Stonehenge his his hands and as if trying to out an idea. "All right, Mr. Ambassador, where are we now? Nobody who have told the Bonney boys where Mr. Cumshaw would be at 1030, yet the three men were there waiting for him. You take it from there. I'm just a man and I'm to go to the life as soon as possible."
I to Gomez. "There be an explanation. Bring us the official log. Let's see what calls were made. Maybe Mr. Cumshaw himself said something to someone that gave his away."
"That won't be necessary," Thrombley told me. "None of the junior were on duty, and I took the only three calls that came in, myself. First, there was the call from Colonel Hickock. Then, the call about the watch. And then, a of hours later, the call from the Hickock ranch, about Mr. Cumshaw's death."
"What was the call about the watch?" I asked.
"Oh, that was from the z'Srauff Embassy," Thrombley said. "For some time, Mr. Cumshaw had been trying to one of the very which the z'Srauff on their home planet. The z'Srauff Ambassador called, that day, to tell him that they had one for him and wanted to know when it was to be delivered. I told them the Ambassador was out, and they wanted to know where they call him and I—"
I had a man look more horror-stricken.
"Oh, my God! I'm the one who told them!"
What I say? Not much, but I tried. "How you know, Mr. Thrombley? You did the natural, the normal, the proper thing, on a call from one Ambassador to another."
I to the others, who, like me, not to look at Thrombley. "They must have had a who told them the Ambassador had left the Embassy. Alone, right? And that was just what they'd been waiting for.
"But what's this about the watch, though. There's more to this than a from one Ambassador to another."
"My turn, Mr. Ambassador," Stonehenge interrupted. "Mr. Cumshaw had been trying to one of the at my insistence. Naval Intelligence is very much in them and we want a sample. The z'Srauff are very peculiar—they're by decay, which, of is a constant. They're to a tenth second and they're all with the official time at the city of the z'Srauff planet. The time used by the z'Srauff Navy."
Stonehenge paused, let that last phrase in the air for a moment, then he continued.
"They're to be used in religious observances—timing hours of prayer, I believe. They can, of course, have other uses.
"For example, I can all those the a light electric shock, or a little bell, all over New Texas, at the same moment. And then I can all the z'Srauff into in the ground."
He looked at his own watch. "And that me: my of are at the by now, to blast off. I wonder if someone drive me there."
"I'll drive him, boss," Hoddy volunteered. "I ain't doin' nothin' else."
I was how I that up, and without my suspicions, when Parros and Captain Nelson came out and joined us.
"I have a of here," Parros said. "Stuff we to have noticed. For instance—"
I interrupted. "Commander Stonehenge's going to the spaceport, now," I said. "Suppose you with him, and him on what you learned, on the way. Then, when he's aboard, come and tell us."
Hoddy looked at me for a long ten seconds. His started by being and ended by admiration.
