IN DUE course the date for Skinner’s trial was set, and Michael and Rachel both received subpoenas as witnesses. On the appointed day they duly presented themselves, smartly dressed, at the ancient Courthouse. It was an imposing building, fronted by a row of stone columns. They were ushered into a lobby and told to sit and wait: at present the jury were being selected, then the trial would begin, counsels for prosecution and defence would make their opening statements, and in due course they would be called in, separately, to give evidence.

After a long wait Michael was called first. As he entered the court­room he took in the scene: the Judge in his imposing black robes, the attorneys seated facing him, the jury of seven men and three women, above all the prisoner in the dock, whom Michael eyed cautiously. Simon Skinner looked shrunken as he stood there flanked by two heavily-built officers: gone was the pony-tail: his yellow hair had been cropped short. Michael briefly surveyed the other Court officials and then looked up. He was surprised to see Laura in the public gallery: this gave him some comfort. He wondered whether Luke Skinner might be anywhere near, but he was nowhere in sight. Possibly he too would be called as a witness. He also noticed the gun which Skinner had used lying on a table before the Judge.

Michael laid his hand on the Bible offered to him and was sworn in. The prosecuting attorney’s questioning was straightforward. He asked Michael if he recognised the prisoner, and he replied that he did, although he seemed to have had a haircut! A titter went through the court at that, which the Judge silenced with his gavel. On further questioning, Michael explained that when he last saw Skinner, he’d been adorned with a long pony-tail. The attorney then confirmed to the jury that this was indeed the case: his hair had been cut while he was in police custody.

Michael was then asked to describe Skinner’s behaviour on previous occasions. He related their first meeting at Sally’s farm, but without naming the farm nor Sally: he merely said he was searching for a lost friend. He described Skinner’s abrupt manner. He then went on to describe how Skinner and his companions had been pursuing them, at the flat in Kentak, and beyond.

“Do you know of any reason why they might have been chasing you?” asked the attorney.

Michael had prepared himself for this awkward question, and he’d decided to be truthful—up to a point.

“I think they had some suspicion that my wife and I might be Mutants. I heard them saying so when they came to the door in Kentak.”

“Do you know of any reason why they might think so?”

“Possibly they had seen me in the company of others who were under suspicion. Other than that I don’t know.”

“Thank you,” said the attorney. “Now, can you recall any other instances of the prisoner’s actions?”

Michael began to relate the story which Luke had told them, about Skinner assaulting the old lady at Kipalup, but at this point the defence attorney stood up.

“Objection, your Honour. This is hearsay evidence and we have not yet heard testimony from the person named.”

The judge upheld the objection, and explained to Michael that he must only give testimony of events that he had witnessed at first hand. He also instructed the jury to ignore Michael’s last statement.

The prosecution continued. “So, now we come to the date of the murder and attempted murder. You and Rachel were about to board ship, were you not?”

“Yes.”

“For what reason? You had a good well-paid job in Rigo, I under­stand, and your wife was already expecting a baby.”

“We did not know that Rachel was pregnant at the time, and I think she was feeling uncomfortable with city life. She’s been born and bred a country girl all her life: I at least had the advantage of living in Kentak for several years. But the main reason was that we were still fearful of pursuit by Skinner; we’d been told about his violent conduct and wanted to be well clear of him. We were advised by Bill Morgan to make for Newf as a safer place to live.”

“Thank you. Now please describe in your own words, exactly what you can recall happening as you attempted to board ship.”

Michael thought for a while, trying to recall the exact sequence of events on that terrible day. “Well, as you know, the three of us, Bill, Rachel and myself, had booked passage to Lark. We were going up the gangplank in single file. Rachel first, then me carrying the luggage, and Bill in the rear. As I recall, we’d all stepped on board and were meeting the captain—Bill and I were. Rachel was behind us. That was when I heard the gunshot, and wheeling round I saw Rachel collapse to the deck. I think I was about to crouch beside her when I felt myself shoved to one side. At that moment there was a second shot, and this time it was Bill who collapsed. I think Bill saved my life.” Michael was close to tears now.

“That’s fine: take your time,” said the attorney. “Do you remember what happened next?”

“I got up and saw people bunched together on the quayside in a scuffle. They were wrestling to the ground a man holding a gun, and they managed to take it off him. Then some Mounties turned up.”

“And do you see the man who had the gun in the courtroom now?”

“Yes,” said Michael, indicating the prisoner in the dock. “And then another Mountie came and tended to Rachel, and she was put on a cart and taken to hospital. I followed—”

“That will be all, thank you,” said the attorney, interrupting. “I don’t need to question you any further.”

At this point the defence attorney stood up and began to cross-examine Michael. “You mentioned that you and your wife were being pursued by Mr Skinner and his companions, and that they followed you all the way to Rigo. You also suggested a reason for their pursuit. Can you explain in more detail?”

“I believe I said that they suspected us of being Mutants. Further than that—”

“Yes, I recall, you said ‘I don’t know’. But perhaps—perhaps you do know: perhaps there is something about your wife and yourself which you haven’t disclosed to the court?”

Michael turned to the Judge. “Must I answer that question?”

“I’m afraid you must,” replied the Judge. “Anything that is pertinent to the case being tried, you must tell the court.”

Michael was silent, thinking about what he dared to say. “You have to answer the question,” the Judge reminded him, after a pause.

Michael took a deep breath. “Rachel and I are—er—we are telepaths. We can communicate with each other by thought over a certain distance.”

A murmur swelled around the courtroom, growing in intensity. It took quite a while to die down, despite repeated strokes of the gavel from the Judge and calls of ‘Silence!’. At length order was restored. The defence attorney turned to the Judge.

“Your Honour, I am making the point that this witness, who was clearly the intended victim of Mr Skinner, may be classed as a Mutant, and hence not a human in the True Image. Killing a Mutant is not defined as murder.”

In his turn, the prosecuting attorney at once stood up and addressed the Judge.

“Objection, your Honour. Firstly, the Defence has in no way proved that my witness was the intended victim. Secondly, legislat­ion is going through the Chamber which will establish that telepaths are indeed True Images of the human form, albeit with additional abilities not shared by other humans.”

Now the defence attorney in his turn raised another objection. “That legislation, proposed by the Governor, has not yet passed into Law, and was certainly not—”

The Judge interrupted him. “Please may I be allowed to give my ruling on the previously raised objections. The first objection, that the Defence have not proved who was the intended victim, I shall uphold. The second is a difficult matter, upon which I am not yet decided. But I remind Counsel and the Jury that the witness is not on trial. I shall order an adjournment until tomorrow, and I expect both attorneys to provide more detail to substantiate their claims.” He struck his gavel. “Court adjourned.”

The prosecuting attorney signed to Michael to follow him out of the courtroom, where Rachel was still waiting, rather surprised that everyone seemed to be leaving, although it was still only mid-morning and before she’d even been called. “What’s happened?” she asked.

Michael could not bring himself to explain, but it was the attorney who answered. “The trial is halted on a technical matter, and will re-convene tomorrow. But I need both of you to come with me. I should explain, Rachel, that the matter of your and Michael’s telepathic abilities has been disclosed in court.”

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Rachel turned pale and turned to Michael. “Was it you, Michael?” she said, panic-stricken. “Was it you who told them? What on earth were you thinking!”

“Rachel, please understand,” said Michael. “Firstly, if I’d denied it, I could have been guilty of perjury. I don’t know whether I’d have been allowed simply to not answer the question—the Judge was most insistent. But anyway, this is not Waknuk. Surely we’re not about to face torture and murder like Sally and Katherine? I have some faith in Rigo being a civilised part of the world.”

Rachel was doubtful about this. At length she conceded “Well, what’s done is done. And at least we know that the Governor knows…”

“If I may interrupt at this point,” interceded the attorney, “I want you both to come with me to the Rigo Inspector of Deviations—the most senior Inspector in Labrador, who has all the other Inspectors reporting to him. The Judge has approved my request. We shall ask him to verify that you are both True Images and to issue you with freshly endorsed Normalcy certificates. Since he is a personal friend of the Governor and was extensively consulted about the proposals to Normalise telepaths, I’m quite sure he will agree to this. That should put a spike in the Defence’s claim that you are Mutants and non-human.”

Rachel and Michael could only agree to this proposal, whatever their misgivings. They felt uneasy as they walked into the Rigo Inspectorate of Deviations—a far larger affair than the simple Inspector’s office in Waknuk, with a staff numbering in the tens. However, when the attorney showed the Judge’s note, they were immediately ushered into the senior Inspector’s office, where the attorney explained the situation in a few words. The Inspector, a very businesslike middle-aged man wearing glasses, nodded, and questioned Michael and Rachel for a few minutes. Then he asked his visitors to follow him. As they passed another office he asked one of the staff to fetch the most senior female Inspector. Then he led them into a room equipped with examination tables and screens.

He explained that the young couple would undergo a physical examination: “Purely a formality, of course, since I’m sure you were correctly certified as Norms at birth—but we have to perform our own tests.” As he spoke, another, slightly younger woman with short hair entered the room.

“Ah, we’ll do the young lady first. You others, come back to my office.”

Once the men had left, the woman Inspector first of all asked Rachel how the baby was doing, to put her at her ease. She then asked Rachel to go behind a screen and undress completely. Next, Rachel lay down on an examination couch, and the Inspector went over her very thoroughly, making notes all the while. She also listened to Rachel’s ‘bump’ through a stethoscope, and confirmed that there was a fine healthy baby in there.

Finally she asked her to dress and took her back to the senior Inspector, to whom she nodded. Then the senior Inspector took Michael and went through a similar procedure.

The two Inspectors stepped outside and consulted for a while, then they returned. “As far as your physical appearance is concerned,” began the senior Inspector, “no problems, of course. The difficulty now is whether we are to accept telepaths as True Images. We have no precedent for this, whatever may have happened in the far West beyond Kentak (yes I know about that). We have never certified or uncertified a person known to be a telepath. I am aware, of course, of the Governor’s views on this matter, but I am not answerable to the Governor alone—only to the Law as it stands.

“However, in the circumstances, and especially in the light of Rachel’s pregnancy and Michael’s steady job, I am prepared to give both these young people the benefit of the doubt. Accordingly I shall issue Normalcy certificates dated and signed today, with a footnote touching on their telepathic abilities.”

How different, thought Rachel, from the treatment that had been meted out to Sally and Katherine! She could not help bursting into tears as she took in this announcement. Michael too was overcome with emotion—although he kept his composure.

The following day the Court re-convened, and the first thing the prosecuting attorney did was to pass the two new certificates to the Judge. He read them carefully, then called the defence attorney and asked him to read them too. The judge asked that the certificates be laid on the exhibit table alongside the rifle.

Michael was summoned to the witness stand once more, and his cross-examination resumed. “The Court has established that you are not a Mutant, and I accept that decision,” began the defence attorney. “Nevertheless, can you think of any reason the the prisoner may have believed you to be a Mutant?”

“In the district where I come from, several of my friends who possess the same ability as my wife and I do, were declared to be Deviational; they were outlawed; two of them were murdered and the others were chased to the Fringes.” Michael’s anger rose as he made this statement. “I believe that the prisoner would have embraced that belief fanatically. Also, his father had taken part in the pursuit and was killed. That gave him a grievance.”

“Very interesting. This indeed tallies with what my client has told me. If he firmly believed you to be Deviational, he would have known that he was not committing a murder when he opened fire on you.”

The prosecuting attorney at once stood up. “Objection, your Honour. May I remind the court that the prisoner is on trial for the murder of William Morgan—not the witness on the stand. And there is no question of any doubt as to Morgan’s normalcy.”

“Over-ruled,” said the Judge. “It is now clear from the evidence that the prisoner’s intention was to kill the witness and his wife.”

“In that case,” continued the attorney, “I have made the case that my client was not intent on committing murder at the time of his crime. That is all. No further questions.”

Michael was led out of the courtroom, and Rachel was summoned as the next witness. The judge, noticing her condition, asked if she would like to be seated. Upon her nodding gratefully, a chair was brought into the witness box for her.

Rachel could contribute little to the testimony already given by Michael. She explained that she could not truthfully claim to recognise the prisoner, never having set eyes on him up to the moment she was shot—and that after that she remembered nothing until she woke up in hospital. But she did mention that the prisoner bore a strong resemblance to his brother Luke, whom she had met several times. She was not asked any awkward questions, merely asked about the pursuit by Skinner and his gang, whereupon her evidence closely matched what Michael had said.

The Defence attorney declined to cross-examine Rachel, so she was allowed to stand down after only a matter of minutes. When she re-joined Michael outside the courtroom, the usher explained to them that they would be allowed back in once other witness evidence had been taken, to hear the summing-up and the verdict.

As they waited, they wondered whether Luke would be summoned as a witness, since he obviously had a key role to play in the case. They waited and waited, but no Luke turned up. An usher appeared and called for him, without result. A light lunch was provided for them. Eventually, late in the day, the court held a short recess and the prosecuting attorney appeared.

“As I’m sure you’ve guessed, I had summoned Luke Skinner, the prisoner’s brother—who I understand you know—as a prosecution witness. But when I first approached him, he said he would refuse to testify against his brother—which he has a perfect right to do, under Law. Nevertheless I subpoena’d him, but he has failed to appear and has apparently disappeared. So we shall have to do without his testimony. But his non-appearance does no harm to the prosecution—in fact I believe it may strengthen it.

“Anyway, all the witness testimony has now been heard. When the court re-convenes in a few minutes, you can come in. You’ll hear my final statement and that of the Defence, then the Judge’s summing-up, then the Jury will be asked to consider their verdict.”

All went as the attorney had predicted. The Judge in his summary was deliberately equivocal, pointing out that the Jury had to consider whether the prisoner had honestly believed that he was firing at non-humans, and whether this absolved him from the charge of murder. He also reminded them that Rigo was a civilised region of Labrador, unlike the more lawless frontier areas out west from where both the prisoner and his intended victims had come. Michael felt rather belittled by this pronouncement, but it was all for the best, he hoped. The summary went on for quite some time; then the Jury were finally dismissed.

The court waited for about half an hour. Then an usher brought a message from the Jury, saying that they were still deep in discussion and were unlikely to reach a verdict any time soon. So the Judge ordered an adjournment until the next day. The attorney told Michael and Rachel to return home: they would be summoned if there was any news.

For most of the next day Michael and Rachel waited anxiously at home; as the day wore on they became ever more worried and perplexed at the length of time the jury were taking. Was it not a straightforward decision? And if the verdict was Not Guilty, how would that affect their status, certificate or no certificate? Would they have to flee once more?

At length, as the afternoon was well advanced, they got the message to return to the Courthouse. Soon after they had taken their seats the Jury were led in. The Judge asked the foreman if they had reached verdicts upon which they were all agreed; he replied “yes”. Then the Judge asked him to deliver the verdicts:

“On the charge of attempted murder, Guilty or Not Guilty?”

“Guilty!”

“On the charge of murder, Guilty or Not Guilty?”

“Guilty!”

There were shouts of approval and some applause, along with a few boos and whistles, from around the courtroom, which the Judge speedily silenced. Then he turned and asked the prisoner whether he had anything to say before sentence was pronounced.

Simon Skinner remained silent, staring impassively straight ahead of him and showing no emotion. So the Judge put on a pair of black gloves. Michael, who had learnt something of Court procedures at school, knew what was coming next—but Rachel was ignorant.

“Simon Skinner, you have been found guilty both of attempted murder and of murder, and have shown no remorse for your actions. It is my solemn duty to pronounce upon you the most severe penalty that this Court can impose: that you be taken from here to a lawful prison, and thence to a place of execution, where you are to be hanged by the neck until dead—and may God—”

He was interrupted by a commotion and a shriek of “No!” followed by Rachel standing up but then collapsing into Michael’s arms apparently in a faint. The ushers rushed to her assistance, but she came round quickly and weakly assured them that she was all right. The Judge resumed:

“—and may God have mercy on your soul. Take him down.”

Having satisfied himself that Rachel was all right, Michael stood up and apologised to the court, explaining that Rachel was distressed because of an unpleasant incident earlier in her life. Then he care­fully supported Rachel as she walked out rather unsteadily. Once outside the courthouse, they summoned a cab to take them home.

“Oh, I didn’t want him to die!” she wailed. “I didn’t want him to die on my account! Not even on Bill’s—even if Bill can’t answer for himself. I know he wouldn’t have wanted it either.”

“I quite understand,” said Michael. “Nothing we can do—it’s in the Governor’s hands now. We can only wait.”