Forbidden sanctuary, p.18
Forbidden Sanctuary, page 18
part #2 of Star Lawyers Series
“Is it your testimony Lox Aspi fell off the roof?”
“No, Senior Advocate. He was deliberately pushed by Mr. Solorio.”
“Yet he survived?”
“Thanks to the quick movements of Yumiko Matsuda, who leaped from the roof after him. I recognized the footwear she was wearing as anti-gravity shoes, which apparently allowed her to grab Lox and land safely.”
“And you saw this whole incident from what location?”
“The bar, where I had ordered a glass of rice wine. While waiting for my drink, I turned and faced the dancefloor. The dark corner of the roof was to my left, less than ten meters away.”
“Do you have anything else to add to your testimony?”
Kichirou took a deep breath. “I am sorry my fellow human was so violent and discourteous to Suryadivan religion.”
“My questions conclude.” Halek took his seat.
“Mr. Matthews, you may ask questions,” Meister Vorak said.
“Thank you, Reverend Lord.”
J.B. nodded toward the Judgment Circle. “He’s all yours, Ty.”
Tyler walked toward the Ring of Truth slowly, like a wolf circling its prey. At the defense table, J.B. made a little boxing-jab movement with one hand and Rosalie drew a finger across her throat. Mr. Blue smiled and gave Tyler the finger.
He avoided eye contact with Kichirou’s holo-image. As he circled his old friend, memories flooded his mind. A photo gallery of blue sky afternoons, walking along country roads thickly flanked by cherry blossoms with Mount Fuji towering over them. Playing football on Kichi-san’s private pitch with composite teams of aliens and humans, laughing and struggling to drive a white ball into the net. When Tyler graduated from the University of Missouri Law School, Kichirou sat in the audience between Rosalie and J.B. And there was that night on Mindorius, when Tyler and Kichi-san drank local wines and sang bar songs and went home with two of the sweetest hookers money could rent.
Father, forgive me, for I have sinned. Not with the wine and women, but when I trusted my best friend. Tyler closed his eyes and centered himself on the task at hand. He turned to the witness.
“Señor Tsuchiya, what business brought you to Suryadivan Prime?”
I remember how much you hated being called “Mr. Tsuchiya” instead of “Tsuchiya-san.” The prosecutor addressed you as Señor, and you tactfully didn’t object. Now, I’ll slap your ass with it like a Kabuki punishment.
Kichirou showed no emotion. “My father asked me to check on the progress of your trans-galactic project.”
“You mean the portal my family is building to Andromeda, by way of Jump Gate Omega?”
“Yes.”
“And, Señor Tsuchiya, did you have a message to deliver to me?”
“That is a private matter.”
“This is a court of law, sir. It’s only private if the learned Meister Vorak says it is private.”
Vorak nodded. “Answer the question.”
“I carried an informal reminder from my father, urging Matthews Corp to complete its project.”
“What did you threaten if we failed to deliver?”
“I made no threats.”
“What did you say would happen if we did not open a Jump Gate to Andromeda?”
Halek rose. “Reverend Lord, how does this line of questioning relate to Esteban Solorio’s criminal actions?”
Tyler spun to the bench. “Judge, if I can’t object, he can’t object—right?”
Vorak’s head fin rippled a little. “He asks a clarifying question. You did the same. Please explain why this line of questioning is relevant.”
Tyler glanced at opposing counsel. “If the Tsuchiya clan has exhibited hostile intent toward my Family’s business activities, that is a motive for Señor Tsuchiya to pressure us by convicting my cousin with false testimony.”
“Pressure your family to do what?” the Judge said.
“Take extreme measures to secure Esteban’s release, which we do not wish to do.”
“How does that help his father’s corporation?” Vorak said.
“It would give the Suryadivan Protectorate just cause to eject Matthews Corp from its territory, at which time Tsuchiya Galactic could negotiate a better deal with your government and take possession of our Jump Gate.”
“A convoluted motive, but I’ll allow it,” Vorak said. “Answer truthfully, Señor Tsuchiya.”
“I harbor no ill will toward the Matthews-Solorio family.” He looked directly at Tyler. “My farther is a trusted friend and major business partner with your father, Noah Matthews.”
Tyler strode toward the defense table, feeling bolstered by the presence of his co-counsels and the Family dispatcher. Their eyes urged him onward.
“Your honor, I am not completely clear where the boundaries of cross-examination and evidence are in Suryadivan law. For example, in Terran juris prudence, counselors are not permitted to provide information to witnesses during their interrogations. It is called ‘leading the witness’.”
“If the questions have virtuous content and proceed in a decorous manner, you may ask anything you want,” Meister Vorak said. “All evidence is admissible here.”
“Sneaky,” J.B. whispered. “Everything is admissible.”
Tyler smiled wickedly. Lead on, O King Eternal. He switched back to his courtroom face, and confronted Kichirou at the Ring of Truth.
“Earlier that evening at the Mardi Gras, what did you tell me your Corporation might do if M-Double-I failed to activate the Jump Gate to Andromeda?”
“I believe we discussed possible legal action.”
“You did. And what else?”
“I never suggested anything else.”
Tyler sighed. “Señor Tsuchiya, do I need to produce my recordings of our conversation?” He held up his arm and pointed to the wristband communicator.
Kichirou’s nostrils flared. “You had no permission to record—”
“This isn’t Terra. All evidence is admissible here. Answer the damn question.”
“I told you we might sue for recovery, or things could become more unpleasant—”
“Your exact words were, ‘Or worse.’ What is worse than crippling legal action, Señor Tsuchiya?”
“You mentioned a shooting war. I did not.”
“And you expect this court to believe your little insinuation, that things could get worse if we fail to perform, did not mean Tsuchiya Galactic might declare war on the Matthews-Solorio conglomerate?”
Kichirou raised his chin like a Samurai facing the enemy. “I would not be so impolite to—”
“Didn’t you suggest we could still be friends, even if our ships were shooting at each other?”
“Not in those exact words.”
“Why do you want Esteban Solorio sentenced to death? Do you want the Matthews-Solorio naval forces to lay siege to this planet?”
The audience gasped, and Tyler knew what they were thinking. Unknown pirates had just crushed the Suryadivan navy. How could they survive a second battle with the most powerful corporate alliance in the awesome Terran Commonwealth?
Kichirou never flinched. “I have spoken the simple truth.”
“From your stool at the rooftop bar, were you really able to see the alleged altercation?”
“Yes.”
“How is that possible, since you were on the dancefloor when Lox Aspi fell from the roof?”
“No, I was at the bar.”
“Shall I call your dance partner, my sister Rosalie, to establish your location at the crucial moment?”
Kichirou’s eyes darted to Rosalie, who glared back. “Our dance ended. I returned to the bar.”
“And if I call the bartender, will he corroborate your story?”
“He may be a false witness, someone you paid to lie.”
“Jazmir Raud—son of Supreme High Pontiff Elach Raud?” Tyler turned to the Judge. “Reverend Lord, this man is a traitor to his friends, an agent of a corporate power targeting my family, and a conspirator against the Suryadivan people. Can we take his testimony seriously?”
Meister Vorak shook his fin. “Very disturbing. Advocate Halek, do you stand by this witness?”
Halek rose and tipped his head fin toward the bench. “I do, Reverend Lord.”
“Very disturbing. The witness is dismissed.” The Judge waved a hand.
Kichirou’s image began to fade. “Tyler-san, Suzie wanted to send greetings, but her message faded beneath the icecap of a frozen world.”
Seventeen
J.B. and Rosalie abandoned their seats and pulled Tyler back to the defense table. Rosalie kept her arm around Tyler.
“Night Storm will find him,” Rosalie whispered in Terran.
Tyler replied through gritted teeth. “I won’t need Naca Jen.”
“Let us attempt to regain our piety and proceed in a virtuous manner.” Meister Vorak ordered the People’s Advocate to call his next witness.
Mr. Blue leaned toward his colleagues. “When is lunch?”
J.B. shook his head. “Tell me again, Ty—why did you hire him?”
“Optics,” Tyler said. But he was actually glad Indigo had pulled another act of discontinuity. Anything to get his mind off the betrayal of a lifelong friend. And his missing girlfriend.
Halek bowed to the bench. “The Protectorate calls Deputy Ambassador Tanis Zervos.”
“You were right, Ty.” J.B. leaned back in his chair. “Hiding in the capital.”
“Blue, this will be your cross,” Tyler said. “Are you ready?”
“I am perfectly.” He scratched his stomach. “I only wish—”
Tyler shook a no-no finger. “Lunch after acquittal.”
J.B. frowned. “Are you sure he can handle this?”
“I told Indigo to research Tanis Zervos in case she surfaced.” Tyler shrugged. “Never figured she would, but here we go.”
After the former Deputy Ambassador entered the Ring of Truth, Senior Advocate Halek went through his usual laudatory oration about the solemnity of these proceedings and the need for piety, humility, and complete candor when responding to the interrogation of the Senior Advocate. This time, he droned on at least twenty minutes. By the time Halek finished, the audience had fallen into various states of mental truancy.
“Therefore, Deputy Ambassador Tanis, I entreat you in the most solemn tone,” Halek said. “Did you, on the night of the human festival of Mardi Gras, observe Esteban Solorio push Greeter Lox Aspi from the roof wall of the Matthews Trade Embassy?”
“I did.”
“You are absolutely certain?”
“I am.”
Halek turned to the bench. “I am complete.”
Judge Vorak gestured toward the defense table. Mr. Blue gathered a fat stack of paper notes and waddled to the Ring of Truth.
“You may cross-examine in Terran, Attorney Blue, with an interpreter to convey court instructions to you. We shall provide translation subtitles for the courtroom,” Meister Vorak said.
Large, oval viewscreens lowered behind and to the left of Meister Vorak. Rosalie went to the Ring of Truth and patted the blue attorney’s shoulder.
“I’ve got your back.”
“Yet you tap my arm? Such a strange language,” Blue muttered. He turned to the Judge. “Thank you, Reverend Lord. Terran is not my native tongue. Please forgive any cultural disconnections.”
“Would you rather speak Pharmaadoodil?” Rosalie said. “I can handle lower and upper caste dialects.”
Blue smiled. “No, thank you. Terran is very expressive.”
The Judge slipped a hearing clip onto his auditory head fin. “Proceed when ready.”
Blue waved at the prosecutor. “First, I say thank you to friend Halek. I feel very refreshed after a nice nap during your very soothing lecture.”
The audience laughed heartily. Even Meister Vorak chuckled along without stifling the onlookers. When the hall was quiet, Blue went to work.
“Disgraced Deputy Ambassador Penis Zervos, were you not attempting, at the Mardi Gras, to become the bitch of Tyler Matthews?”
The defense table erupted in laughter. J.B. gave Tyler a thumbs-up. The Suryadivan onlookers made no sound. Subtitles, Tyler thought.
Tanis addressed the Judge in Suryadivan. “Can he insult me like that?”
“Insult?” Vorak said. “It was a simple request for information about your relationship to Mr. Matthews.”
“Not in Terran!”
The Meister flapped at the witness with a webbed hand. “Continue, Attorney Blue.”
“Deputy Penis—”
“Tanis!”
“Shall I repeat the question about your goal of bitch-hood?”
“I danced with him. A virtuous and decorous moving of bodies to music.”
“Pressing your warm flesh against his body?”
“My God—I did what hundreds of other party-goers were doing.”
“So, you admit, you wanted to do it with Tyler Matthews?”
“No!”
“But you said you did it, just like all humans do it. Groaning and sweating…while missing that lovely buffet table.”
“Dance! Just dance.”
“Not the rumpy pumpy, suckee-fuckee?”
“No! You can’t understand, because you’re an alien.”
Blue’s jaw dropped, and a long, leaf green tongue flopped out. He retracted it. “Deputy, are you saying I am deficient, because I am not human?”
“That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m saying—”
“Do you feel the Suryadivan people are deficient because they are not human?”
“Of course not!”
“Are you, in fact, human?”
“I am Segerian. Our ancestors came from Terra.”
“But are you human, Deputy Ambassador?”
“Yes, but I consider myself Segerian, not Terran.”
“And what is the connection between the Segerian Republic and the pirate syndicates?”
“The Republic constantly suffers from pirate attacks on our shipping.”
Mr. Blue moved closer. “Please tell the Court what species are prominently represented in organized piracy.”
“Well, let’s see—Durijest, Mindorian, Nak, and Dengathi.”
“Who else?”
She shrugged, her dark eyebrows rising. “Many races have renegades. Terrans included.”
“Even Segerian humans?”
“We have a few, yes.”
“A few?” With Rosalie providing nearly instant translation, Blue turned to the Judge and held up his stack of papers. “Reverend Lord, please consult the extensive files I have sent to the Court—translated into Suryadivan—which show heavy involvement in piracy by rogue Segerians.”
Vorak scanned his data pad. “Your documentation seems well researched.”
Blue confronted the witness. “The Segerian government is fighting a pirate insurgency that threatens to turn its peaceful civilization into a league of bandits. They have licensed hundreds of privateers to combat the threat. Did you know this?”
“Yes, of course.”
“And you insist only ‘a few’ Segerians engage in piracy?”
Vorak raised a webbed hand. “Attorney Blue, how does the existence of Segerian pirates bear on the case at hand?”
“We contend the Deputy is an employee of a Segerian pirate syndicate. That she has been spying on Ambassador Adelaide LeBlanc. Furthermore, that she participated in a plot to have Mr. J.B. Matthews murdered by pirates.”
Advocate Halek sprang to the Ring of Truth like an ambush predator. “Speculative nonsense! Do you have any proof to support these wild charges?”
“Yes.” Blue glanced at his opposite counsel and wiggled his large nose. Suddenly, he switched gears to the Suryadivan language. “Friend Halek, you smell peculiar. The lubricant of deceit hangs about you.”
“How dare you address a Second Order priest with such contempt!”
Blue sniffed the air. “Priests certify their office by faithful service. You need to switch lubricants.”
“Blue heathen!”
“Gentle-beings! Quit trading insults in my court. You are servants of the people.” Judge Vorak leaned forward on his arm joints. “Attorney Blue, do you have any evidence to support your claims?”
“Oh, yes, Reverend Lord, but it will twitch your head bones. Regrettably, the evidence indicates corruption at the highest levels of Suryadivan society.” He broke into a smile. “Where, I understand, they serve the finest cakes.”
Tyler leapt to his feet. “Objection!”
Judge Vorak flapped his hearing fin. “You can’t object. He is one of your attorneys.”
“I’m not objecting to Blue.”
“Whom are you objecting to?”
“Halek’s objection. Not permitted in Suryadivan criminal law.”
“This isn’t criminal law, it’s religious court. Your objection is—” He looked to his clerk. “What is the word off-worlders use?”
The mottle-finned female checked her data pad. “Sustained says yes, overruled says no.”
“Fine, fine. But who am I sustaining or overruling—Halek the first objector, or Tyler Matthews the objector to the objection?”
“Don’t ask me.” The clerk flipped her head fin. “I’m just taking notes.”
“Everyone is overruled!” Vorak took a deep breath, fluttered his cheek gills, and gestured to the blue counselor at the Ring of Truth. “Proceed in a virtuous manner, pray conclude before noonday feeding.”
“Oh, yes! First Lunch is my fourth most favorite meal of the day.” Blue flapped his big, azure ears and returned to Terran. “Traitorous Deputy Penis—do you mind if I call you Penis?”
“Yes! I am not a traitor, and I don’t have a penis.” She closed her dark eyes and took two slow breaths. Thin lips returned to their typical slight smile. “You may call me Deputy Zervos.”
“Where did you allegedly stand when you allegedly saw Esteban Solorio allegedly throw Greeter Lox Aspi off the alleged roof?”
J.B. slapped Tyler’s arm. “I love that crazy blue glutton.”
Tanis stood erect, head high. “I was beside Kichirou-san at the bar.”
