THAT SHE would stand trial for murder as soon as she set foot back on Earth, came as an unexpected shock to Vikki.
Of course she should have seen it coming. Alex had strongly urged her to get herself a good lawyer, even before the Valentina docked at the space station ISS4 and the crew transferred to the ground-to-orbit shuttle for the descent to Earth. Vikki had disregarded the warning. “Me! Guilty of anything? You’re kidding!” was her only response to Alex’s admonition. And now it was too late. She had only just come out of quarantine and barely acclimatised herself to Earth’s gravity, when two security guards materialised at her sides, took her by each arm, and gently but firmly conducted her to a locked room.
Vikki could do no more than wait patiently. What was all this about? At last, after an hour or two, her brother and her parents were allowed in. There was a tearful reunion.
“We’d all been told you were dead!” her mother exclaimed, through her tears. It took a moment for Vikki to register—then she remembered that during her fourteen-day ‘disappearance’ Alex had relayed the sad news to Earth.
If only there hadn’t been any other ‘sad news’ to report!
“Do you know why I’m being locked up here?” Vikki asked, fearing the worst.
“We haven’t been told,” her brother replied. “Don’t worry, we’re sure it’s just some sort of formality.” Evidently the news of Murielle’s death had not been circulated at large.
Vikki was left alone again. After some hours she was taken elsewhere, before an imposing official she assumed was the chief prosecutor or investigating magistrate or whatever he was called—and she was formally charged with the murder of Dr Murielle D’Anterre, on the moon Enceladus, on or around such-and-such a date. Vikki half-listened to all this, in a daze. She was duly cautioned, whereupon she burst out with pleas of her absolute innocence, citing the utter impossibility of her having committed the alleged crime.
She was allowed access to a phone, and she made a panic-stricken call to Alex, begging her assistance. Alex duly obliged, and within a few hours a middle-aged, smartly-turned-out woman with long black hair was admitted to Vikki’s cell. She introduced herself as Ms Vihansh Kumar, and explained that she was the attorney tasked with representing Vikki in the forthcoming trial. She urged her to tell her everything she could recall about her experiences.
“I hardly know how to begin,” said Vikki. “I guess—the first thing to ask you is, has anyone mentioned anything about intelligent extraterrestrials?”
“No,” replied Vihansh.
“I’m not really surprised at that,” was Vikki’s response. “I doubt if even SSSA have been told everything. Probably Alex—it was Alex who sent you wasn’t it? I’m very grateful—probably Alex is keeping the whole story under wraps for now. Too sensational. If we told the whole world we’d just be branded as crackpots.”
“You can tell me,” urged Vihansh. “I keep an open mind about such matters. That’s my job. And I have heard something. Something vague—about a snowdrift?”
“That’s part of it. Alex issued a guarded warning to the folks on Rhea and Ceres, and they must have passed it on. But she held back on the truth. What I’m about to tell you: you too will probably agree that it has to be kept secret for the time being.” And with that, Vikki launched into a full account of all her experiences—keeping back only the intimate details of her relationship with Hal...
Vihansh was staring at her, open-mouthed.
“Well, well!” she exclaimed at last. “Your story holds together: I can see that. I can tell you’re not making this up. Whether a jury will believe a word of it: that’s a different matter. And whether we’ll even be allowed to mention all this in a public court—whether it’ll be deemed to be Top Secret—that’s another question we’ll need the answer to.”
“Could Alex—and Gustave Quincy, my crewmate—could they come and join us? Gustave, at least, will corroborate my story.”
“I’m sorry, Vikki: you’re not allowed to meet with potential witnesses. But I shall certainly go and consult with both those people, and with Dr Ye Wu-Jia. And Harold McManus too—I understand you were friendly with him—more than friendly, in fact.”
“Who told you that?” retorted Vikki, a bit peeved. “Ah—I suppose it was Alex. Yes, all right: we were dating during the trip. He was lonely, and I was lonely. If that’s relevant.”
“Everything’s relevant, Vikki, when you’re on trial for murder. You must understand this. Hold nothing back from me. I’ll decide what has to be said in Court—if it comes to Court.”
“ ‘If’? You’re saying, ‘if’? Do you mean I may not come to trial after all?”
“It’s possible, given the sensitivity of the circumstances, and the potential impact on global security. I shall have to consult with others. Please don’t worry too much at present.” And with that Vihansh took her leave, promising to report any developments.
So Vikki was alone in her cell once again. At least she was well-treated. She had a separate tiny bathroom, a holoTV, a computer, and a phone (though the numbers she was allowed to call, and websites she was able to access, were limited). The food was adequate if uninspiring: at least it was better than some of the rations aboard Valentina. She was allowed out into a garden at times. The main handicap was that she wasn’t allowed any visitors, apart from Vihansh, the prison officers, and a doctor.
Would there be a trial? Had her incredible story now been circulated among SSSA’s senior directorate? Among top brass at the World Government? What would they make of it? Would she be consigned to the loony bin?
Vikki waited. Altogether, it was a comfortable existence, although she felt stifled. What would the others of her erstwhile crewmates be up to? Had any of them blabbed to the world at large? And how about the little ‘copepods’ that Dr Ye had so carefully nurtured during the long journey to Earth? The last she heard, only five of them were left alive at the end of the voyage. Had they been kept alive, since then—and had any specimens of the ‘Archaea’ survived too? As the sole representatives of extraterrestrial life from the Solar System (nothing had been discovered on Europa, yet), surely they must be the focus of intense study. They would not have been kept secret—at least, not from the scientific community. What had humanity learnt about alien biology by studying such minute creatures?
Too many unanswered questions. She could only wait.
---§§§---
At length Vihansh reappeared. “Well, Vikki, there is going to be a trial after all. SSSA were insistent. But it’ll be in camera. The Press will be barred. There will be a judge, Counsel for the Prosecution, myself, the Court officials, and a jury consisting of eight positively-vetted humans and four AIs. You will not be allowed to object to any of the jurors—but I don’t suppose you would think of doing so anyway: they have been carefully chosen. Don’t worry: I think it’s all for the best.”
On the due date Vikki was led into the courtroom. It was far less imposing, less impersonal, than she had imagined. She was given a comfortable chair to sit on, facing a table, with Vihansh at her side. Prosecuting Counsel, introduced to her as Balázs Szekeres, was at a separate table, and the Judge, named Andrew Hough, sat at a larger table facing them, flanked by two officials. And the jury sat at a long table over to one side: two men, six women, and four AIs represented by holo-monitors. At present the holo-monitors were blank.
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As the introductions were made, Vikki found it hard to suppress a giggle. The prosecutor’s first name, Hungarian-sounding ‘Balázs’, sounded very much like ‘Bala’ to her ears, and set her wondering: what had become of her late interlocutor? Was it still on Enceladus?
The prosecutor’s statement was brief. He stated that Dr Murielle D’Anterre’s body—or rather, her skeleton, was found exposed on the Enceladean surface, and that Dr Viktoriya Rozhkova was the last person known to have been in her company. The cause of Dr D’Anterre’s death was almost certainly space exposure, but the exact circumstances—including the removal of soft tissue from her body—remained a mystery.
He called no witnesses. It seemed that he was not fighting particularly hard to win his case.
Then Vihansh stood up. She explained that, incredible though it must seem, the Enceladus expedition had indeed met up with an intelligent alien creature, improbably shaped like a huge snowdrift or whale. There was a small probability that it might be a robot instead of a living being, but most of the crew had now discounted that theory. It was clearly not of Enceladus, not even of the Solar System. It had somehow learnt our language and conversed—in a manner of speaking—with two of the crew. She would now call upon cosmonaut Gustave Quincy who also witnessed at first hand the alien, which they had provisionally named the ‘Bala’ .
Gustave gave his account without a hitch, and then it was then Balázs Szekeres’s turn to cross-examine him.
“Mr Quincy: you are well acquainted with and good friends with the defendant, are you not?”
“Yes I am.”
“Would it be correct to say, she regards you as some sort of father-figure? Someone to turn to for advice and counsel?”
“Yes: I suppose that would be a fair assessment.”
“So is it possible, then, that you may have—er—slanted the testimony you have just given, so as to place the defendant in a more favourable light?”
“Why should I want to do that?” replied Gustave, testily. “I have merely told the court exactly what I saw and experienced.”
“Mr Quincy, please answer the question: yes or no.”
“In that case: no.”
“Very well. No further questions.”
Dr Ye was then called. He gave only a cursory and non-committal account of his impression of the alien, and then, in reply to further questioning, stated that he had examined the skeleton found on the ice and could confirm that it was the remains of Dr D’Anterre. He was not cross-examined.
Alex was summoned. She gave Vikki a good character reference, and testified that she had been a good and industrious member of the crew. Nothing about insubordination, much to Vikki’s relief. Alex too was not cross-examined.
Now it was Vikki’s turn. In response to Vihansh’s careful questioning, she gave a full account of all her experiences with the Bala, including that final dreadful moment when it had attacked and killed Murielle; then she gave an account of her discovery of the skeleton after the Bala’s disappearance. When she had finished, Vihansh requested an adjournment—but both the prosecutor and the judge refused her request. So it was the turn of Balázs Szekeres to cross-examine her.
“Dr Rozhkova: on the outward voyage to Enceladus, you shared a cabin with Dr D’Anterre, did you not?”
“Yes I did.”
“What was your relationship with her during that time?”
“Just like it would be with any crew member I might share with.”
“Was there any strain in the relationship?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean exactly what I said. Were your relations at all strained?”
“Well, I suppose—”
“Dr Rozhkova: Dr D’Anterre’s grasp of English was not good, was it?”
“You could say that, I suppose.”
“Please answer the question.”
“No. I mean, yes: her English was rather poor.”
“So she spoke much of the time in French, her native tongue?”
“Yes.”
“And do you speak French, Dr Rozhkova?”
“Not very well. School French, mostly. I understand quite a few words.”
“So if you had to converse with Dr D’Anterre, it was not easy?”
“No—sometimes it wasn’t.”
“Did you bear a grudge against Dr D’Anterre because of that?”
Vikki paused for a long time. She recalled the words she’d spoken to Gustave, so long ago it seemed now. ‘I loathe her’. She couldn’t possibly admit to that in court!
The judge intervened. “Please answer the question, Dr Rozhkova.”
“I suppose, I have to admit, I didn’t like her very much. But not enough to want to kill her! Honestly, how can anyone suppose I’d want to kill anyone!?”
“Very well. Dr Rozhkova, were you aware that Dr D’Anterre was carrying a sharp knife amongst her equipment?”
“A scalpel, you mean. No. Not until she brought it out. It took me by surprise.”
“And you do not carry such a knife yourself whilst on EVA, Dr Rozhkova?”
“No, I do not. I carry a small geological hammer and some chisels. Part of my work as a geologist. Nothing with a cutting edge. There’s always the risk of puncturing one’s space-suit.”
“So Dr D’Anterre’s action of cutting a slice out of the ‘alien’—that came as a surprise to you?”
“It certainly did.”
“Did you try to stop her?”
“I already said it before: yes I did.”
“Just checking. So is there a possibility that you might have grabbed her scalpel and used it to slash her space-suit? An extreme measure, but necessary to prevent her from harming the alien?”
“No—NO! I would never have done that. Never. NEVER!!” Vikki was almost screaming at this point. Vihansh leaned across and whispered to her, reassuringly.
Balázs Szekeres gave Vikki time to calm down before continuing.
“So how do you suppose the space-suit did indeed get slashed, and the helmet broken—as other witnesses have testified?”
“I’ve already said: I don’t know. But the alien—the Bala—some of its tentacles were equipped with sharp claws. It could have done all those things. I didn’t stay to watch.”
“Thank you, Dr Rozhkova. No further questions.”
Vikki gave an audible sigh. But Vihansh winked at her.
Seeing that there were no further witnesses to be summoned, the judge directed the prosecutor to summarise. But even as he was standing up, the four AIs in the jury intervened. They spoke in unison:
“We see no reason why this trial should continue. In our view, the prosecution has presented no evidence to prove the defendant’s guilt. We ask the human members of the jury whether they agree.”
The judge addressed the jury. “Do you wish to retire and consider the matter?”
There was some quiet nodding and muttering amongst the jurors. Then one of them stood up. “We all agree: we concur with the AIs’ assessment. The defendant has no case to answer.”
“Very well—though you should have advised me earlier. Case dismissed.” The judge sounded his gavel.
Both Vihansh Kumar and Balázs Szekeres shook hands with Vikki. Her ordeal was at an end!