"Just because you can go somewhere doesn't mean you have to go there. And just because you can know something doesn't mean you have to know it."

"Doctor," Chancellor Flavia interrupted. "Please restrict your comments to the facts of this case; to the actions you directly observed."

The Doctor didn't respond, so after a few moments Andred resumed his questioning. "How DID you find Romanadvoratrelundar?"

"The defendant's mother stopped by for a visit and gave me the near coordinates for where she'd found Romana."

"How did she know?"

"She didn't tell me, and I'd be outside the limits of my testimony here to guess."

"How did she know where to find you?"

"She didn't tell me, and I'd be outside the limits of my testimony here to guess."

Andred sensed he needed to move on and wait to establish certain facts from the testimony of others. "Did the defendant's mother request some information from you?"

"She wanted to know where the defendant was."

"Did you tell her?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I was quite certain she'd try to visit him. I had him engaged in a task that required the absence of the time distortion a TARDIS would leave behind." The Doctor flipped one end of his scarf to the other side of his casually raised knee.

"Was there a particular reason you had assigned him to that task?"

"He had agreed to help with our investigation. I believed there were more people like Vorlene on the planet, but they weren't making any appearances. I decided to break the investigative team up to increase the chances of encoutering someone."

"Were there any other reasons you had for..."

"Objection!" Pollet's response was quick and forceful.

"I withdraw the question," Andred responded as quickly, if not as forcefully. "Only a few hours later you yourself ended Cordar's isolation and arrived in your TARDIS, ruining the time trail vacuum you had previously tried to preserve, did you not?"

"I finally determined how Cordar had accomplished his kidnapping and I feared that he would do more and possibly greater damage if I allowed him to continue to control the equipment I had mistakenly allowed him to keep with him."

"You are speaking of the equipment he had personally modified..."

"Objection!!" Pollet nearly leaped from his seat, given his physical strength. "The prosecution is relying on hearsay evidence in assuming that the equipment had been modified at all, and would have to rely on even more hearsay evidence to establish who had performed the alleged modifications."

"The prosecution will present evidence firmly establishing that the equipment had, in fact, been modified, and several of our witnesses, including the current witness, are prepared to testify that Cordar himself claimed to have made those modifications."

"Your Honor," Pollet interjected several times during Andred's defense of his question. "That would still be hearsay evidence," he added when Andred finally finished.

"When the defendants own claims are at issue the testimony of those who heard them is NOT hearsay evidence." Andred clearly had a firm grasp of legal principles.

"I concur," Flavia finally concluded. "Objection overruled. You may answer the question, Doctor."

"Yes, I did," the Doctor said.

"How, specifically, did you come to this conclusion?" Andred asked.

"Romana had discussed with me a conversation she had with Cordar before he sent her away." The Doctor saw, out of the corner of his eye, twitches in Pollet's body that indicated he planned to object. "You'll have to ask her what she told me," he winked. Pollet glowered back.

Andred went on to elicit the Doctor's testimony regarding the recovery of the primitive time travellers. Flavia refused to allow the Doctor to call them time nomads in court. Strangely, during this testimony Pollet sat silent and raised no objections.

"And you believe these primite time travellers were 'contained' in the cube?" Andred asked routinely.

"I know they were in the cube," the Doctor asserted calmly.

"Your witness," Andred submitted abruptly.

Pollet made a great show of his infirmity as he moved toward the witness stand. He began his first question before he reached his destination. "Did you examine the defendant's equipment yourself?"

"No I did not."

"Didn't you have it in your possession for a period of time after you took it from him?"

"I didn't take any of the defendant's personal possessions from him," the Doctor asserted. "I only took the equipment he borrowed from me. That was enough to prevent him using the capabilities he had used to kidnap Romana."

"Must you use the term 'kidnapped,' Doctor?" Pollet interrupted. "Weren't Romanadvoratrelundar and Cordar old friends from school days?" Pollet stumbled a little on the full name of the Doctor's companion.

"I didn't know Romana until after she graduated and was assigned to me," the Doctor evaded authoritatively. "As to her current relationship with Cordar you might best ask her when you cross-examine her later. I use the term 'kidnapped' because that's the term Romana used when she told me what had happened."

"But you don't know that from your own observation, do you?"

"No, literally speaking I don't," the Doctor admitted.

"Returning to the issue at hand," Pollet prodded, "you say you did NOT examine the equipment Cordar brought with him?"

"No, I did not."

"So you cannot offer any expert or authoritative opinion on whether the equipment he had could do what it is alleged Cordar did."

"I can testify as an expert that the things he is alleged to have done are possible with certain modifications to existing Gallifreyan technology." The Doctor tilted his head and smiled innocently.

"But since you didn't examine Cordar's equipment you cannot say that it had been appropriately modified."

"True enough."

"Moving on," Pollet continued. "Can you demonstrate convincingly that this alleged cube contained members of a primitive, time-travelling race?"

"I believe I covered that in my previous testimony," the Doctor patted his fedora against his shin as if dusting off an intruding insect.

"Do I take it, then, that you are expecting this court to believe that since the sudden appearance of a group of people, who, according to your own testimony, are capable of unassisted time travel, occurred at the approximate time you succeeded in making the patently fantastic cube you described disapppear that these two events are thereby demonstrably related?"

The Doctor stared at an imaginary spot above the heads of the Coucillors as he worked his way through Pollet's semantic minefield. "Given the unexpected absence of all but one member of this group for the time period of the cube's known existence, given the lone remaining member's unfounded assumptions about that absence, given the reports of the group that did appear at that time as compared to the reports of the one member of the group we had had previous contact with, I would say unreservedly, yes!"

"Sounds to me like a rather intricate web of assumptions, Doctor."

"Whenever someone attempts to hide what they are doing, the only way to figure it out is to take all the pieces of information you do have and find the only way they fit together and make sense."

"And you're asking this august assembly to accept that your explanation makes sense?" Pollet asked sarcastically.

"Oh," the Doctor waved vaguely, "I'm sure you have an explanation you think this court will find more plausible." He grinned again, which so aggravated Pollet that he blurted his next words most discourteously.

"I have no further questons for this witness," Pollet growled.

"Redirect?" Flavia questioned Andred.

"No, your honor."

A quick appearance at Diblun garnered Frantec an audience for her explanation. It was accepted gruffly, but the Smarlonians revealed that they hadn't installed technology on their spaceships that would allow communication while they were travelling at warp speeds. The planet's chief executive gave her permission to attempt to communicate with them, but warned that she might be considered hostile, and he refused to grant her any sign of his authorization.

Frantec had encountered some data about Smarlonian warships in her month-long search for that world's interplanetary communication complex. The real trick, however, lay in finding one that was hurtling through space at several times light speed. Since she used senses humans (and Gallifreyans) don't have and a strange sort of intuition in the place of mathematical calculations, materializing at a safe point inside one took a lot of concentration and just a little bit of luck.

Fortunately, once she got inside the spacecraft she was able to orient herself to its motion, making further short trips much simpler and far more accurate. She appeared briefly in the galley and may have been the cause of an excessivley seasoned dish served at the next meal. She did manage to appear on the command deck at a place where she could overhear what was being said. That turned out to be most helpful.

A man Frantec assumed had to be captain, or whatever the Smarlonians called the person with the highest level of responsibility for the mission, bent intensely over a spherical display unit. "Can't your scanners pick up anything else?" he barked so unexpectedly that someone at a corner of the deck dropped an instrument.

"Sir," a woman nearby who was gazing at a similar spherical display responded, "At this range it's hard to pick up any more detail. I have found several locations that appear to be antique ruins, with no signs of life at any of them."

"So we're stuck with only two targets," he complained to no one in particular.

"If that's all there is," the woman ventured, "we should be able to deliver a blow that will completely wipe these vermin from the universe!"

"I don't like it," the leader said, slapping at the display. "A society that small couldn't possibly have developed the technology necessary for interplanetary communication." He stared at another occupant of the room who apparently had a task that devoured his full attention and therefore didn't notice the stare. "Something has to be wrong here!"

Frantec took that as her cue, stepped out into view, and said, "The mistake is that this is all based on a simple misunderstanding." She was about to explain the misunderstanding when a fearsome looking creature of indeterminate gender pointed at her and shouted.

"She's from Darmellon!"

In the near panic that ensued Frantec cast herself several seconds into the future and several feet away three or four times. She looked at herself hoping to determine what gave her away. That's when she saw the royal medallion that had given her unhindered access on Darmellon. Someone had apparently recognized the images on the medallion.

The vessel's captain hadn't gotten his position through stupidity and lame thinking (though some might have argued that) and he quickly worked out that the creature that kept appearing in and disappearing from his control deck couldn't be harmed or captured. The next time Frantec appeared he barked a command at double his usual decibel level. "Everyone freeze!"

It worked. Frantec didn't vanish again so long as no one threatened to capture or harm her. She and the captain engaged in a brief staredown which was broken by the woman at the other monitor. "Do all Darmellonians have your capabilities?" she asked.

Both Frantec and the captain broke their stares to look at the interrupter. Frantec took advantage of the opportunity to remove barricades and answered the woman who, it turned out, was second in command. "None of the Darmellonians have my capabilities," she answered honestly.

"That's good news," the captain sneered.

Frantec heard the lack of sincerity in his tone and quickly switched strategies, deciding the less these people knew about Darmellon from her the better.

"So they've hired alien mercenaries?" Despite his intelligence, the captain didn't seem to have grasped the simple fact that with her capabilities an armed and hostile Frantec could have cleared out his vessel of living beings and he would have been powerless to stop her.

Frantec refused to answer this, and she and the captain resumed their staredown. The captain tried a question of his own. "Are the Darmellonians truly as limited in number as our scans indicate?"

Frantec went on the conversational offensive. "Don't you want to hear about the misunderstanding?"

"There was no misunderstanding," the captain argued. "I've watched a recording of the insult many times. There could be no mistake."

"But there was!" Frantec insisted. "There was an unintentional glitch in the translation software that generated an insult that was not spoken on the Darmellonian end."

When nobody challenged her after a few seconds, Frantec continued. "The girl said..." and she repeated the quotation using the correct Smarlonian first person plural inclusive pronoun. "What you heard was..." And she repeated it with the exclusive version of the pronoun. Her quotations proved that she was familiar with the incident that generated the hostilities.

"Lieutenant Tortellin, Major Emboden, come with me." The captain gestured toward his second-in-command and a younger, slightly-built female posted near the wall. "You," he addressed Frantec, "take her seat and wait for us."

Knowing what you and I know, you might wonder how the captain expected to enforce his commands to Frantec, but Frantec decided her compliance might help her convince the captain to turn back.

"The defense has, in previous testimony, brought up your relationship with the defendant during school days," Andred continued. "Did such a relationship exist?"

"We did a few things together," Romana replied sparsely.

"Would you say you dated?"

"He did ask me out once," she admitted.

"Did you accept?"

"No."

"Why not?" Andred persisted.

"Objection," Pollet inserted. "The prosecution is attempting to elicit character testimony."

"Sustained," Flavia concurred. "Any testimony as to the defendant's character should be withheld until the sentencing portion of these proceedings, should they go that far."

"Did you believe the relationship continued after school?" Andred resumed.

"It didn't last through school."

"Objection," Pollet repeated.

"Counsel cannot be expected to control his witnesses' answers," Flavia noted. "You'll have the opportunity to establish it as the witness's personal opinion during cross-examination." Flavia said this knowing full well that Pollet probably wouldn't want to rehash this issue.

"I'm finished with this line of questioning," Andred yielded. He turned to Romana. "Did the subject of the so-called cube come up?"

"It was the reason for our mission," Romana said.

"Did the two of you talk about it?"

"Yes."

"What did he say?"

"He was very evasive, but he did say that if the Doctor ever figured out what the cube was he'd know that he couldn't do anything about it without endangering many lives."

"He used the words 'many lives'?"

"Yes."

"You're absolutely certain?" Andred prodded.

"I am."

"No futher questions," Andred directed half toward Flavia, half toward Pollet.

Pollet didn't even bother to attempt to stand. "When you appeared in my client's work room, Romanadvoratrelundar, what was your physical condition?"

"I had fallen in some sort of hole and twisted my foot. I had been unable to get my foot free. It was sore and swollen."

"In fact, your foot was set free when my client tranported you to his workshop, right?"

"Yes," Romana yawned.

"Were you in any danger while your foot was trapped?"

"I thought so at first, but it turned out I was in no danger."

"You thought so," Pollet repeated meaningfully. "There were aspects of your situation that a reasonable person might construe as dangerous?"

"Maybe."

"In fact, might a reasonable person unaquainted with the local wildlife have had reason to believe your life was in imminent danger?"

"They might, if they had any reason to see my situation."

"When you arrived in my client's workshop, did he not offer to treat your foot?" Pollet queried.

"He offered; I didn't accept. And as I've already testified..."

"In fact," Pollet interrupted sharply, "My client, Cordar, rescued you from entrapment, offered to help but was rebuffed, and gave you rest and respite from the pain of your twisted foot. Isn't that true?!"

"You've got the right facts, not the right intentions," Romana charged.

Pollet looked away, not focusing on the council, the defense, even the crowd. "Facts," he mused. "Facts, not people's interpretations of them is what this court must deal in," he philosophized.

"When you woke up from your rest," he stood in illustration, "where did you find yourself?"

"I was in an arid landscape half a planet away from the TARDIS."

"An arid landscape, meaning no forest to hide wild animals. Anything else about the place?"

"There was a creek nearby," Romana admitted.

"Providing water," Pollet clarified. "What would you estimate the temperature was?"

"Between 20 and 25 degrees during the limited time I stayed there."

"Not too hot, not too cold."

"Arid lands are known for temperature extremes," Romana challenged.

"But you have no experience to know how extreme they were in this particular location."

"I guess not."

"Did you not, later that day, refuse an offer to transport you away from this 'prison'?" Pollet continued.

"The offer was from your client's mother," Romana accused.

"And you refused it, did you not?"

"I did."

"No futher questions," Pollet said, abruptly sitting down.

"Alright, Tortellin, what's your take on these recent developments?" the captain barked.

"The Darmellonians may or may not have this woman's capabilities, but it seems likely they have some sort of capability or technology we don't. Just before this woman appeared I had identified three more surface constructions that appear to have active inhabitants. Either they have managed great advancement with a small population or there's something else strange going on."

The lieutenant paused, giving the lower officer in the room a chance to state her opinion. "We have over a million fighters with enough pilots to man each twice," she stated needlessly. "I think we have the numbers to defeat them, even if it turns out there are a lot more people on the planet than it looks like."

"I agree," Tortellin said. "This is no time to run from a fight. If we are outpowered and defeated we will die honorably."

"We will be denied the opportunity for a surprise attack," the captain reminded. "There is no way we could hold this woman, even if we could capture her, and I seriously doubt we could even kill her."

"Maybe we should try," Emboden suggested.

"How?" the captain questioned.

"We go onto the command deck and tell her we're ready to head back to Smarlon," the major explained.

"Then you give some commands to the helmsmen -- commands in the wrong sequence so they'll know you're bluffing. They make some meaningless maneuvers." Tortellin was embellishing the major's ideas. "Emboden and I will get close enough that one of us can shoot her from behind while the other distracts her."

"And if you fail?" the captain challenged.

"Then we lose the advantage of surprise," Tortellin admitted. "We still might seriously overpower them!"

"You two work out the details of your plan to kill the woman," the captain ordered. "When you're done, report to my quarters." He briskly left the room. The two officers huddled for less than two minutes before they also departed.

After three days of testimony all participants had clearly grown weary. Andred's examination of his witnesses had grown pedantic and Kellner occasionally called him over to remind him of important facts he needed to extract from a given witness. Flavia had ceased being angry with Pollet's frequent objections and had occasionally overrulled him without hearing what he had actually claimed as the basis for his objection. Even Pollet had missed several ripe opportunities for objections and was twice caught napping.

Worst had been the testimony of the technicians who had examined Cordar's equipment and papers. The contents of his computer had been particularly damaging, and even Pollet seemed deflated when a technician demonstrated the identity between the virus detailed on Cordar's computer and the remnants of viral DNA extracted from Monatim's blood. Finally, Andred had called the Castellan himself.

Over Pollet's objections Kelner revealed that Cordar had taken him to the primitives' planet of origin where he showed them where Vorlene was being held captive. Even without the evidence that he had created the cube, this was enough to establish the charge of cultural interference. Andred had been ordered by Borusa not to go into Vorlene's experiences once in the citadel, and Andred had explained to the High Council that she was not brought in as a witness specifically to avoid increasing the amount of contamination wrought by the events leading up to her arrival on Gallifrey.

When Pollet had finished a rather half-hearted cross examination of Kellner, Chancellor Flavia stood, causing the audience to also stand. "All participants in this proceeding are weary," she announced. "I declare a two-day recess. All participants are ordered to return here in two days' time so that the defense might present its case." With that she returned to her seat in the High Council. Borusa stood and formally dismissed the audience and the council.

"You may go now, Doctor," Borusa intoned as he approached his erstwhile student. "And you too, Romana," he added, using the Doctor's shortened version of her name. "Pollet knows that calling either of you back to the stand would only further damage his case."

"Thank you," the Doctor replied, with uncharacteristic genuine gratitude. "But I think we'll stay as observers, probably only PRV observers until we see this case through."

"That's your privilege," the new Lord President conceded. "I hear Tanalin is developing a very revealing documentary which will include details not permitted in court. Under proper supervision, of course," he added, clearing his throat.

The Doctor refrained from making any snide comments, a fact that impressed Romana.

Tiring of the monotony of command deck activities, Frantec quietly vanished, using her senses to find the mission's commander. She appeared inside a closet of his personal chamber. She heard the two female crew members enter the main room.

"We won't need to hide from her," she heard the major report. "We've modified the pointer on this handheld computer to have enough energy to stun, if not to kill."

Frantec thought fast. She could immediately leave the spacecraft, but she hoped to learn enough about the Smarlonians' plans to give her hosts a useful means of defense, now that it was clear her attempt to head off the invasion had failed. Instead she returned, virtually unnoticed, to the major's seat on the command deck.

The three returned as planned. Frantec hadn't heard the plan, but she kept a sharp eye out for one of the two women holding a device in her hand. Both of them held something. She looked at them with what she hoped was steely resolve while the captain issued his fake commands. Major Emboden then spoke directly to Frantec.

"Perhaps you'd like to see the retreat path we've planned," she said.

"Sure," Frantec replied, as she vanished.

Her time in the Doctor's TARDIS had given her an opportunity to explore the world of space distortion. It was a part of her genetic heritage that neither she nor her tribe had experimented with. Now, she thought it would be useful if she could master it. She traveled to a warehouse room where she practiced until she could travel to a "location" where she was as small as a grain of rice. This took her several days, but the storeroom she had chosen was far enough away from the command deck that she could return to the deck a few moments after her most recent disappearance.

She found a hollow place inside the arm of the captain's seat. She listened to every command and every discussion until the captain retired for the night. She learned the approximate time of their arrival, she learned their basic plan of attack, and she heard some data on the strength of the force.

She had nearly decided to return to Regent Fergus' council chamber when a strange doubt made an unexpected appearance. Instead she travelled straight to the meadow of her home planet. Nobody was there. "Out scouting for a new home," she concluded. Sure enough, several hours later they returned. She sought out the tribe's leader and requested a private conference. The two traveled to a spot not far from the desert Romana had spent the night. Here they might speak in confidence and comfort.

The leader, Palton, broke the silence after several minutes. "You are troubled by what you've seen?" Hadrian tells me you've gotten involved in the affairs of another tribe."

Hearing her activities described in that way added to Frantec's doubts, and she thought furiously before replying. "I have become a spy," she confessed. "It appears our powers are quite unique, possibly in the entire universe."

"We have few traditions regarding such activities, since we have managed to contain conflict within our race -- probably due to our small numbers." He paused and stared off into the sky, thinking rather vigorously himself. "I sense potential for great good and great evil."

"How am I to know that the people I started with are right and the others are wrong?" Frantec blurted.

"Hadrian told me very little," Palton informed. "Tell me what you know so far."

Frantec took the next fifteen minutes filling the old man in on all the events; the interplanetary exchange, the misunderstanding, the unwilligness of the Smarlonians to back off. "If I tell the Darmellonians everything I know I may well give them the means to completely destroy the attacking force," she worried.

"It does appear, on the face of things, that the Darmellonians are the innocent party here. But if they already have the capability to destroy an attacking fleet they may not be as innocent as it appears."

"I think that's what bothers me," Frantec nodded. "I thought I was doing my hosts a favor when this started. But everything's gotten so muddled."

"Maybe that's the basis for the restrictions the Doctor's tribe has placed on their relations with others," Palton considered. "Here's an idea -- one that will get you home and out of this mess very quickly."

"Could I interview you for my documentary?" Tanalin asked the Doctor. Tanalin had replaced Runcible at PRV, and she had received Lady Byneff's call the day Vorlene first came to Gallifrey.

"Anything to help," the Doctor answered with characteristic charm.

"I have this neat idea," Tanalin enthused. "Your old office is still available, with the lead on the walls. I think it would make a great background for the interview."

"Won't Borusa take that room over?" the Doctor wondered.

"It is next to his fomer office as Cardinal, but he does have a number of choices and he hasn't yet made a claim on that office."

"If Borusa permits I'll agree to be interviewed in that room, then."

"Tomorrow afternoon?" Tanalin asked. "That will give me time to get a crew set up and ready."

The Doctor merely nodded his agreement.

Frantec appeared about a meter behind Fergus only moments after she had left, days earlier by her time, to attempt to inform the Smarlonians about the misunderstanding. She stepped up beside him and waited to be recognized. The defense commissioner provided that opening.

"Did you have any success?" George asked.

"I was able to convince the planet's leader that there had, in fact, been a misunderstanding. He claimed, however, that he had no way to issue commands to his ships in flight."

Everyone at the table stared at Frantec waiting for more. Frantec waited for a question. This time Fergus did the prodding.

"Did you make any effort to contact the fleet?"

"I did," Frantec reported honestly.

Fergus waited a much shorter period this time before continuing.

"With what results?"

"With the result that they attempted to kill me by making me think they were planning to turn back."

Whatley again took over the debriefing. "What can you tell us about their vessels, their strategy, their numbers, their technology...."

He had a lot more to add to his list, but Frantec had taken this as her cue and had vanished. She went to the room assigned to her, removed her Darmellonian clothes and put on the garments from the TARDIS wardrobe. Then she simply went home.

Pandemonium broke out in the council chamber. Whatley groused about needing this information for a reliable defense. Others charged that Frantec's disappearance was an act of treason. Finally Fergus, actingout of character, slammed his staff on the table and shouted at thechildish coucillors. "Listen to me," he boomed.

"Frantec is not a citizen of Darmellon," he reminded them. "She was under no obligation to help us. As it is we know now that we must rely on our military defenses. Borders, I want you to immediately activate our plans to move our civilians as far as possible toward the center of the planet. Based on the seriousness of the situation I authorize you to engage in as much core cooling as is technically feasible between now and the attack.

"Whatley, mobilize your forces and have them ready to deploy. Be sure you monitor as far as possible in all directions so we'll have as much warning as possible, just in case they seek to regain an element of surprise by coming from an unexpected direction."

The regent continued to give instructions to his councillors, waving each off as he completed their instructions.

The High Council convened as instructed two days later to hear the defense presentation of Cordar's trial. The same makeshift arrangements for witness testimony held their places. The same introductory formalities were observed. The same parties sat at the defense and prosecution tables.

Once Chancellor Flavia had taken her seat to preside, she looked in Pollet's direction and opened the day's proceedings. "Are you prepared to present a competent defense on your client's behalf?"

"I am, your honor," he agreed, having not taken his seat when everyone else in the room had done so.

"Then you may call your first witness."

"The defense calls science wing director Fostil."

"Your honor," Andred called out, jumping to his feet. "The prosecution objects to the appearance of this witness. His only value would be as a character witness, and you have specifically restricted such testimony for presentation if this proceeding reaches a penalty phase."

"Since Fostil might conceivably have some information about the allegation that Cordar deliberately infected his partner, I'm going to allow his testimony," Flavia informed. "However," she directed her next comments to the defense counsel, "you will not be allowed to elicit testiomny which goes to character only."

"Understood," Pollet said with a lack of conviction.

Fostil had been in the audience for the entire proceeding so far, and it took little time for him to walk to the center of attention and respond appropriately to the Lord President's truth charge.

Pollet started out getting his witness to answer standard questions about his name, affiliations, education, position and a few honors he'd garnered over nine regenerations. Then he got into moderately meaningful testimony.

"The prosecution has established that Cordar worked under your supervision in the science wing for several years," Pollet recalled in order to refresh the memory of anyone who might think to object. "Exactly when did his association with you begin?"

"When he was still in school, at the age of 165," Fostil recalled.

"So he had three two-year levels to complete his basic schooling at that time?"

"That's correct."

"Clearly this association was not in a full-time capacity," Pollett prompted.

"No."

"Exactly what was this association?"

"Cordar had become fascinated with RF communications," the science wing director reported. "He had found some schematics for primitive motion picture transmission using mid-range electromagnetic waves. I helped him fabricate the parts necessary to make a working replica of the equipment. He continued an involvement in similar legacy projects until he completed his basic levels and obtained a position in the science wing."

"Legacy projects," Pollet repeated meaningfully. "What level of competence did my client show for state of the art technology?"

"Objection!" Andred shouted, leaping from his seat. "For whatever reason, I was prohibited from asking questions of my witnesses about this very subject," he continued angrily.

"I'm merely raising doubt that my client had the technological capability to do what it is alleged he did." Pollet offered with false meekness. "I do not need to point the finger of suspicion to anyone else, merely raise doubt that Cordar was capable of doing these things." This indicated he was clearly aware of the restrictions both sides in the case were under.

"Overruled," Flavia ordered carelessly. "Continue, Jurist Pollet."

"Did Cordar show any aptitude for contemporary technology?"

"No," Fostil answered confidently.

"Could you elaborate?"

"Cordar was an intense individual of average intelligence. But he was not a creative person. He would gain enough skill with a technology to be able to use it, but he never actually mastered any technological domain."

"Not creative?" Pollet prompted.

"He could take someone else's idea and build it, with a little help. But it seemed to me he didn't have the aptitude to come up with any ideas of his own."

Pollet suddenly changed the subject. "What was my client's assignment in your crew?"

"He was a grade 'D' technician," Fostil replied.

"The lowest level of non-intern service in your group, is it not?"

"Yes."

Kellner poked at Andred and the two began a whispered conference.

"Remind us what his particular chores were," Pollet pressed ahead.

"He was assigned with a grade 'C' technician to perform the routine scans that were part of the comprehensive planetary survey."

"What were the technical requirements for this task?"

"Quite rudimentary, actually. Our scientists had developed the scans and tests to be run, and our upper-level technicians prepared the hardware and software needed to gather the data. 'C' and 'D' technicians performed the actual tests. They were assigned in pairs so that both would certify the results of each scan."

"How would you describe Cordar's performance of his duties?"

Fostil adjusted his posture before answering. "Competent; when he had someone around to keep him on task."

"Was he in danger of losing his position?"

"No, but it seemed unlikely he would ever advance to grade 'C'."

"Didn't he take additional course work with the hope of getting a promotion?" Pollet's questions were designed to take the steam out of any prosecution cross-examination.

"He did," Fostil confirmed. "His performance on session-end exams made it unlikely he'd ever get such a promotion."

Pollet shuffled back to the defense table, where he picked up a portable data terminal. "The defense would like to enter into evidence this record of my client's scores on the last seven courses he took," he informed Flavia as he carried it toward the table that held other physical articles of evidence.

"As someone who supervises a number of scientists and technicians," Pollet said as he returned slowly to a position in front of the defense table, "is it your opinion that Cordar had the ability to write the computer code presented, or to fabricate a virus, or to invent modifications for his equipment?"

"As I said before, Cordar is a moderately competent technician, but he is not creative or inventive."

"Thank you. I have nothing more for this witness."

Andred stood to begin his cross-examination. But he turned back and held an additional whispered conference with the Castellan before he stepped to the witness stand. "You are a competent and diligent supervisor, are you not?" he began.

"I do my best," Fostil replied with polite humility.

"You keep track of your subordinates and their activities?"

"Of course."

"Do you carefully monitor any visitors to your wing?"

"Visitors must sign in before they have access to the scientific wing at any time. Employees are only allowed in during their workshifts."

Andred asked each question almost before the previous answer was completed. "What about transfer of equipment? Are employees allowed to take equipment home or to bring personal equipment to work with them?"

"That is strictly forbidden. Equipment that belongs to the scientific wing remains on site unless removed for a specific, project-related purpose."

"The equipment that Cordar took with him when he was assigned to assist the Doctor was from the scientific wing, was it not?"

"It was," Fostil affirmed. "I authorized it myself."

"So the modifications that were made to the equipment had to have been made while it was in your wing."

Fostil didn't respond to Andred's statement, providing the first lull in the cross-examination.

"Would it have been possible for someone to have modified the equipment the Castellan recovered from Cordar while it was not in the science wing?"

"No, it would not."

Andred stepped back toward the prosecution table and took a portable data unit Kellner held out for him. "You do periodic checks of all wing equipment assigned to your various work groups, don't you?"

"I personally check all equipment at least once every six months."

"Do you keep records of such checks?"

"Such records are kept and can be accessed through the Matrix," Fostil asserted.

"In fact, your last check of the equipment in Cordar's lab was made just two days before his partner, Monatim, fell ill, wasn't it?"

"You have the data access unit. Whatever data I submitted to the Matrix is accurate."

"What condition did you find the equipment in during that check?" Andred asked.

"I have not found anything out of the ordinary in these checks in several years."

"So the modifications the technicians testified to earlier would have been made after your last check."

"I would certainly have noticed the modifications they mentioned," Fostil stated firmly, almost angrily.

"Now, let's focus on the two weeks between Monatim's illness and the Doctor's request for someone to assist him. What is your usual procedure when a member of your group cannot come in?"

"Whenever there is an attendance anomoly I personally asses the situation. I then take whatever action I deem appropriate."

"What action did you take regarding Monatim's illness?" Andred queried. Flavia looked toward Pollet to see if he had fallen asleep, it had been so long since he'd objected. The defense counsel was paying intense attention to Fostil's testimony.

"Monatim and Cordar were just starting an analysis of the data obtained from scanning another planet. The two had performed the scans and only data interpretation remained to be done. That is time-consuming, but it does not require two persons as the actual scanning does. So I decided I could let Cordar work on the analysis on his own and have Monatim review that work after he returned."

"So you took no action."

"I took no action," Fostil agreed.

"During the following two weeks, did Cordar receive any visitors?"

"May I see the data unit?"

Andred handed it over, and Fostil started scanning science wing records. "No, he did not receive any visitors during those two weeks," he concluded, looking up from the data unit.

"What about visits from other members of your unit?" Andred prodded.

"He may have had a few short visits, as I recall. But my main recollection is that he was unusually quiet and spent an uncustomary percentage of his time in his lab with the door shut."

"Precluding significant assistance from someone else," Andred observed, mostly for the council and the audience.

Flavia expected Pollet to object to such a statement of opinion from the prosecutor. But the jurist remained silent.

"I'm finished with this witness," Andred announced.

"Re-examine?" Flavia asked, looking toward Pollet.

"No, your honor," the defender answered.