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idiot child who has to be hushed in front of company and coming back to
Mallorysport they had ignored him completely. He drank quickly, and then there
was too much ice in the glass again. Victor Grego had told him he d better
take a vacation till the trial was over, and put Mallin in charge of the
division. Said he oughtn t to be in charge while the division was working on
defense evidence. Well, maybe; it looked like the first step toward shoving
him completely out of the Company.
He dropped into a chair and lit a cigarette. It tasted badly, and after a few
puffs he crushed it out. Well, what else could he have done? After they d
found that little grave, he had to make Gerd understand what it would mean to
the Company. Juan and Ruth had been all right, but Gerd Thethings Gerd had
called him; the things he d said about the Company. And then that call from
Holloway, and the humiliation of being ordered out like a tramp.
And then that disgusting little beast had come pulling at his clothes, and he
had pushed it away well, kicked it maybe and it had struck at him with the
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little spear it was carrying. Nobody but a lunatic would give a thing like
that to an animal anyhow. And he had kicked it again, and it had screamed& .
The communication screen in the next room was buzzing. Maybe that was Victor.
He gulped the brandy left in the glass and hurried to it.
It was Leslie Coombes, his face remotely expressionless.
Oh, hello, Leslie.
Good afternoon, Dr. Kellogg. The formality of address was studiously
rebuking. The Chief Prosecutor just called me; Judge Pendarvis has denied
thenolle prosequi he entered in your case and in Mr. Holloway s, and ordered
both cases to trial.
You mean they re actually taking this seriously?
It is serious. If you re convicted, the Company s charter will be almost
automatically voided. And, although this is important only to you personally,
you might, very probably, be sentenced to be shot. He shrugged that off, and
continued: Now, I ll want to talk to you about your defense, for which I am
responsible. Say ten-thirty tomorrow, at my office. I should, by that time,
know what sort of evidence is going to be used against you. I will be
expecting you, Dr. Kellogg.
He must have said more than that, but that was all that registered. Leonard
wasn t really conscious of going back to the other room, until he realized
that he was sitting in his relaxer chair, filling the glass with brandy. There
was only a little ice in it, but he didn t care.
They were going to try him for murder for killing that little animal, and Ham
O Brien had said they wouldn t, he d promised he d keep the case from trial
and he hadn t, they were going to try him anyhow and if they convicted him
they would take him out and shoot him for just killing a silly little animal
he had killed it he d kicked it and jumped on it he could still hear it
screaming and feel the horrible soft crunching under his feet& .
He gulped what was left in the glass and poured and gulped more. Then he
staggered to his feet and stumbled over to the couch and threw himself onto
it, face down, among the cushions.
Leslie Coombes found Nick Emmert with Victor Grego in the latter s office
when he entered. They both rose to greet him, and Grego said You ve heard?
Yes. O Brien called me immediately. I called my client my client of record,
that is and told him. I m afraid it was rather a shock to him.
It wasn t any shock to me, Grego said as they sat down. When Ham O Brien s
as positive about anything as he was about that, I always expect the worst.
Pendarvis is going to try the case himself, Emmert said. I always thought
he was a reasonable man, but what s he trying to do now? Cut the Company s
throat?
He isn t anti-Company. He isn t pro-Company either. He s just pro-law. The
law says that a planet with native sapient inhabitants is a Class-IV planet,
and has to have a Class-IV colonial government. If Zarathustra is a Class-IV
planet, he wants it established, and the proper laws applied. If it s a
Class-IV planet, the Zarathustra Company is illegally chartered. It s his job
to put a stop to illegality. Frederic Pendarvis religion is the law, and he
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is its priest. You never get anywhere by arguing religion with a priest.
They were both silent for a while after he had finished. Grego was looking at
the globe, and he realized, now, that while he was proud of it, his pride was
the pride in a paste jewel that stands for a real one in a bank vault. Now he
was afraid that the real jewel was going to be stolen from him. Nick Emmert
was just afraid.
You were right yesterday, Victor. I wish Holloway d killed that son of a
Khooghra. Maybe it s not too late
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