Welcome Aboard Air Marineris

We met the next morning. I had passed a restless night, clinging to Dini for dear life. I don’t think Bee did any better. They weren’t going to ship us away just yet, but we were still at risk. The knowledge we had gained about our prosecutor in the interval was not encouraging. Boris looked up Theobald Bennet, and he was an illustrious member of an illustrious international legal firm on Earth. He was a barrister famous for pulling rabbits out of hats. Mainly as a criminal defense attorney for corrupt oligarchs, and there were plenty of those on Earth. There were a lot of famous cases where he had taken impossible positions, for wealthy people accused of outrageous crimes, and had exonerated them.

It remained a real possibility that he would find a way to convince Klara that she had to convict us two on the criminal conspiracy charge that was still left to be tried on Mars after Klara had demolished the extradition case. We actually had been guilty of contemplation of the test even though we had taken no action toward it. I had been surprised to find that we could be convicted of a crime we had not taken any steps to commit. I thought a test was the only way we were going to prove that the line was dangerous as we were building it. It was certainly inevitable in my mind that we would damage property. Ironically, Starward’s case made the same assumption I had been advocating. The test would have done no damage if Weltmann was right. But such is the wonder of legal logic. You can charge someone with something you have declared impossible. The argument that it was not would just be a peripheral issue.

The fact that Klara had advertised that the neatest package of evidence about our intentions would be inadmissible did not mean that there were no other sources of evidence for a concern that I had widely voiced.A mere adjournment, which Klara would easily grant under the new circumstances, would give them plenty of time to collect such evidence. Our friends’ reluctance to provide such evidence would not protect them from being compelled to do so under oath. They would add that to the testimony of Weltmann himself, who had talked to me directly. They would not have trouble in demonstrating my intention. Whether I thought that my action was unavoidable would be the subject of retrospective analysis by people who were unconcerned with my opinion. Hindsight is truly impartial.

So, Theobald Bennet might still have convicted us. I was well aware of that. As I sat there waiting for our trial to start, the sun seemed much chillier than it had seemed in the nervous anticipation of the previous day. The steel wire tiebacks from the canyon wall, usually assembling themselves in my mind into beautiful lacy networks of filigree, seemed more like hangman’s ropes, and I imagined myself suspended from them, my eyes dimming in my final moments. Cheerful, huh? I certainly understood a bit more of what Bee had felt when he had sat waiting for the signal to exit Lock One without a suit. He had been convicted of murdering Khloe. They say the mind clarifies wondrously in the prospect of personal oblivion. It distills life down to the essentials.

When I turned around, I noted that Dini had left the medical office that was her real home to sit in our front row. The previous day, she had stayed only until she had seen how it would be going and had then left for urgent work, apologizing to me with her eyes when I chanced to look back at her. Those dark eyes were brimming then, and when I looked at her, she started sobbing. She has always been more emotional than me; except at work, of course. This morning I would have been happier if she were a little less so. Her love and concern were shaking me. I needed to stay strong.

Bee sat beside me. His face was impassive. He looked a bit haggard, but he was unfazed. His life had been at risk many times in the previous years, he had just wished his family a final goodbye after seeing them safe. I suppose he was at peace in a way I was not. I was deadly afraid I would not be able to do my work. I had invested a lot of my being in that line. I desperately wanted to take it as far as my remaining years would allow. I might be deprived of that.

Everyone was finally in their chairs. Klara came in at the last moment, again clicking her heels like a martinet, and we all stood to indicate our respect for her function. At the same moment the magic radio on the prosecution bench went on. Bennet came on standing up. He had a jovial look on a face I had only seen in various iterations of grave before. He was beaming, his cornsilk hair wafting in far-off ventilator breezes. Either this was the look the matador has before the kill, or he was relieved somehow. Under the circumstances, the latter possibility didn’t seem the likelier of the two.

Linh, cued by a look from Klara, rose to start reading the specifics of the charges against Boris and me. Well, for better or worse, it was at least a resolution of some sort. Even if it meant we were done.

Bennet turned toward Klara. His watery blue eyes sparkled, he had cute crinkles about his eyes. His frame was well padded in his expensive suit. He had doffed his gown, and he was wearing a dark serge jacket and striped pants. He looked to me like a murderous teddy bear.

“Madame Director, I don’t think there is any need to trouble Ms. Phan to read the charges. I was summoned to a meeting last night to receive new instructions. My clients listened with interest to your sincere address after you delivered your order, and they have had a change of heart. You will understand their quandary if you have any memory of the history of empire you may have learned in your youth.

“They had received information of revolutionary intent of Mars from a trusted officer of Starward, and they were told that the danger was imminent. They were even offered evidence that an act of sabotage was planned. You must understand as well that the story fit into their expectations very neatly. When you believe others threaten the resources you need for survival, it is easy to slip into suspicion. I was instructed to contain the threat by any legal means I could muster because there was no prospect that it could be dealt with by direct means. It is well, now, that they did not try direct means.

“We have now made further inquiries based on the representations that Ms. Chapita made about the practicality of proceeding in accordance with Professor Doctor Weltmann’s recommendations. It does not now pain them to admit that the evidence shows that Ms. Chapita was right. The information was submitted by Dr. Weltmann with representations of great urgency, and the matter was referred initially to a junior colleague of mine in the Starward legal department. He will likely remain a junior because he overlooked several essential legal conditions for the taking of the action the good doctor demanded and charged on heedless of them.

“The extradition case had no necessary connection to Earth, and the criminal charge had no provable element of the crime. When it was foisted on me, it appeared that our only chances of success rested on the unquestioning loyalty of you, Ma’am, and forgive me, Mr. Levski, the lack of competent legal representation in an isolated colony. Both chances proved to be faint hope. You, Ma’am appeared to be devoted to your charges, and you, Mr. Levski, proved to be insufficiently incompetent. While I pride myself on being a capable lawyer, maybe even more than that, I do not consider myself to be a miracle worker.

“Going ahead with the prosecution of the case then became, to my mind, problematic. We were destined to lose, or, at best, to achieve a Pyrrhic victory. You must understand that powerful men do not like to be shown to be wrong, even if they are misled. It is, therefore, fortunate for all concerned, save one, that blame can be, perhaps conveniently and precisely, attached to a single man. You will not be troubled with the Professor Doctor anymore. For form’s sake, Ms. Chapita will continue to report to him. She will not receive any replies. I hope his lack of response does not disappoint her.

“The next step was clear to me. As a barrister, and one who finds himself in the prosecutorial role as often as in the defense, I rely on the knowledge I have gained over the years. I have learned from my predilection for gaming as well as from my practice. I am said to be a dab hand at poker. It has taught me, Madame, of the wisdom of discarding a bad hand. My clients agreed.

“I have then to advise you that I have been instructed to withdraw the prosecution for this unfortunate affair and to ask you to accept our apologies for all the trouble. At the same time, I do draw your attention to the danger that if you act like you have secrets, you may not escape blame if others conclude your ruse is real.

“I would not be speaking out of class if I were to advise you that your Manager, Ms. Chapita, will shortly receive a request to withdraw her resignation from the head office of Starward. It will also request that she resume her duties in full forthwith.

“I hope you will find this to be a satisfactory resolution to this situation. I must tell you, Madame, that this has been a highly educational experience for all of us. It has reassured us. You may have concluded earlier that we had not ascribed appropriate importance to the dedication and skills of you and your staff. I will not lie to you, there was some of that. No more. Congratulations Ma’am. and keep up the good work. I wish you goodbye and good luck.”

He gave one more smile and then the radio went dark. Neither radio gave even a flicker.Both magic radios were no more than ornaments then. We consigned them to a soundproof box at the farthest end of a back warehouse. They might, then, still be able to broadcast, but they couldn’t hear anything.

Klara turned her attention to me.

“The congratulations is due to you Mo. You finally got through to them. I am very proud of us all. You won’t need to fix anything after all. Just fill in what you couldn’t do. It can’t be all that many klicks to redo. You are planning that, aren’t you?

“No point in a premature stress test now. We don’t need to prove anything. We’ll need to run tests, of course, for commissioning the line, but we know already the design is sufficient. We may have some defective materials, but that’s another matter. I think we should just get back to work. I don’t even think that we should celebrate, except maybe for coffee. If they are listening somehow from down there, it might curdle the temporary good will they expressed. I’d just as well keep that, thank you.”

Bee put in his word, as usual.

“So let’s go have coffee, boss. You saved my butt the same time you saved yours. I’ve had enough run-ins with the law for one life. I don’t mind fading into the background for my remaining time.

Bee looked happier, but not exuberant. I think maybe he had had greater hopes for that day than I did. And I thought I was the optimist. He is farther along than I am. Maybe he thinks he has had his good life. He has told me many times he is delighted with what he has been able to do. He had thought to live a quiet life until his wife died. He said he never would have left Earth if he had not lost her. Funny the way events change some people’s lives spontaneously and the ripples those changes make.

In the months that followed, we heard nothing more about the alien radios. We had hoped for an offer of them. We had hopes they would ease communication problems for us. Repeated inquiries to Starward offices were rerouted to officials ignorant of our experience. They sent us tactfully derisive replies that implied we were delusional even to imagine such gadgets. Didn’t we know that such things were impossible? Because our own examples of the radios were stubbornly dead and silent, we had no proof that they ever worked beyond our bare words. Even Linh’s recordings only proved that the transmissions had been made, not how. Without the radios, one was only left with speculation on how pre-recordings could have performed such a magic trick. We were at a dead end.

We might have inspired a small conversion of attitude in our partners on Earth towards us, but it had not altered their long-term goal of keeping the putative alien lore secret from the rest of humanity. One could speculate that such a thing was bound to come out eventually, but we were living in the short-term present. We gave up asking. The original was on the Moon. Perhaps we would be able to come upon it in the future.