Illegal Alien

Dale Rice and Michiko Katayama were consulting at the defense table.

Frank leaned in from the row behind them. Journalists were furiously making notes.

'Which part of the Fifth Amendment are you referring to?' asked Ziegler.

' ‘No person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.’ '

'How does that possibly apply here?' asked Ziegler.

Dale rose. 'Objection, Your Honor! The witness has asserted the privilege.'

'Counsel, approach,' said Pringle.

Dale, Ziegler, and their second chairs came to sidebar. 'What’s going on, Ms. Ziegler?' asked Pringle impatiently.

'I have no idea, Your Honor.'

'Does Stant have legal counsel?'

'I’m willing to serve,' said Dale.

'I hardly think that’s appropriate,' said Pringle. 'Is there any reason to think he doesn’t understand the Fifth Amendment?'

'Of course he understands it,' said Dale. 'It’s obvious. Ms. Ziegler wants to introduce the concept that Tosok blood can be genetically fingerprinted. By taking the Fifth, Stant is clearly saying no, it cannot — and therefore what you’ve taken as evidence against Hask could also be evidence against him.'

'Or else,' said Michiko, 'there’s another possibility. 'He’s saying that because Hask is his half brother, they have the same Tosok blood type, and that the evidence would incriminate Stant as well as Hask.'

Judge Pringle pursed her lips. 'I wish this hadn’t come up before the jury. All right, stand back.'

The lawyers moved away from the bench.

'Ms. Ziegler,' said Judge Pringle. 'You may proceed if you have questions in areas other than the one in which Mr. Stant has asserted his constitutional right not to answer.'

Ziegler looked at Stant, then shrugged. 'No further questions.'

'Mr. Rice?'

Dale hadn’t yet made it back to his seat. He turned around. 'Mr. Stant, are there circumstances under which a Tosok can lose scales that are unrelated to the shedding of skin?'

'Certainly.'

'Such as?'

'Abrasions.'

'You mean if you bumped into something, some scales might flake off.'

'It would take a big bump, but, yes, that can happen.'

'Could one deliberately pry off one’s own scales?'

’’It would hurt, but it could be done.'

'You mentioned a chemical that can induce shedding.'

'Yes. It’s called despodalk.'

'This despodalk — you said it’s something normally kept in your ship’s stores?'

'Correct.'

'For medicinal purposes?'

'That is right.'

'Presumably you have an inventory of what supplies are aboard your ship.'

'Yes.'

'And did you check that inventory to see if any despodalk was missing?'

'At the request of Detective Perez, yes, I did that.'

'And was any?'

'Not according to the inventory, but—'

'Thank you. Now—'

'No, wait—'

'I control the asking of questions at this phase, Mr. Stant. You can’t interrupt me.'

'But you made me swear — invoking God as I did so — to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and—'

'I’d like to move on,' said Dale.

Stant turned to the judge. 'My answer is not complete.'

Pringle nodded. 'I will allow Mr. Stant to complete his answer.'

'Thank you,' said Stant. 'The quantity of despodalk aboard our ship matched the quantity specified in the inventory. But the inventory is kept in what you would call an open computer file; if anyone wished to modify it, they could. It would be an easy matter to take a container of the chemical and to alter the inventory to make it appear that none had been removed. I have no personal knowledge of the quantity of despodalk we had when we left our world, and so no way of knowing whether the current inventory is depleted from its original amount.'

'Your Honor,' said Dale, 'I move that the last be stricken from the record.'

'Your Honor,' said Ziegler, 'I’ll simply reintroduce the same material on redirect.'

'The comment will stand,' said Judge Pringle. 'Let’s move along.'

'Once bitten, Your Honor,' said Dale. 'No further questions.'

'Redirect?' said Pringle.

Ziegler rose. 'Just a few points, Your Honor. Mr. Stant, this chemical agent that can induce shedding—'

'Despodalk.'

'I assume each of your landing craft contains a first-aid kit, no?'

'Yes.'

'And would such kits contain despodalk?'

'No.'

'So the only way some of it would be available here on Earth is if someone had thought in advance to bring some down from your mothership, correct?'

Ziegler was clearly making the case for premeditation.

'That is right.'

'Thank you. Now, Mr. Stant, you said you were the defendant’s half brother—'

It hit Dale in a flash — just as it had doubtless occurred to Ziegler just after she’d completed her direct examination. If Stant and Hask were half brothers, and if they’d been born nearly simultaneously, and if sheddings occurred on a regular schedule, then their natural shedding of skin should have been synchronized. But Stant hadn’t shed his skin since arriving on Earth, whereas Hask’s had been shed almost four months ago — strongly suggesting that Hask’s shedding must have been deliberately induced, presumably to enable him to dispose of his blood-covered hide. Dale was immediately on his feet. 'Objection! Improper redirect! The question of Stant’s relationship to Hask came up during direct, and should have been dealt with then.'

'Your Honor, I simply want to clear up some points about Tosok family relationships.'

'No way, Linda,' said Dale.

'Mr. Rice—' said Pringle.

'Sorry, Your Honor,' said Dale, turning now to face the judge. 'But family relationships were covered in Ms. Ziegler’s direct; her redirect can only cover material I touched on in my cross.'

'Sustained,' said Pringle. 'You know the rules, Ms. Ziegler.'

'Very well. Stant, you’ll recall that Mr. Rice did talk to you about the shedding of skin during his cross-examination. Now, you said that this event naturally occurs on a fixed, predictable schedule, correct?'

'Correct.'

'And would that schedule be synchronized with—'

'Objection!'

'Freeze right there, Ms. Ziegler.'

'But, Your Honor—'

'Freeze.'

'Yes, Your Honor.'

'If you have proper redirect, you may continue. Otherwise, take your seat now.'

Ziegler considered for several seconds. Finally, she shrugged and sat back down. 'No further questions, Your Honor.'

Dale looked over at the jury. Some of the faces were perplexed, but several others were nodding slowly. They’d come to the same realization as Ziegler and Dale had, and would doubtless share it with the others after today’s session, the admonition not to discuss the case notwithstanding.

The damage had been done.

*21*

'The People call Kelkad,' said Linda Ziegler.

The alien captain was sworn in.

Ziegler stepped up to the lectern. This time, she chose her words carefully.

'Kelkad, what is your working relationship to the defendant?'