Текст книги "Fuzzy Nation"

Автор книги: John Scalzi

Соавторы: John Scalzi
сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 15 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

Chapter Twenty-four

“That’s it,” Soltan said. “Mr. Holloway. Approach the bench. Now.”

Holloway approached. Janice Meyer, making a unilateral decision, approached as well.

“You’re in contempt, Holloway,” Soltan said, spitting out the words.

“For calling a witness, Your Honor?” Holloway asked.

“For trying to make a fool out of me,” Soltan said.

“I am not trying to make a fool out of you,” Holloway said.

“Really,” Soltan said. “Because from where I’m sitting, that’s exactly what you seem to be doing. Otherwise you wouldn’t have been inserting these animals into the hearing at every opportunity.”

“They’re not animals,” Holloway began.

“Don’t start that with me now, Mr. Holloway,” Soltan warned. “I am really not in the mood.”

“Nor have I been insertingthem into the hearing,” Holloway continued, risking Soltan’s additional wrath. “The video of the attack and the corpse of the attacked fuzzy had material bearing on the charges.”

“But you haven’t exactly been shy about using the creatures as an attempt to play off our emotions, have you,” Meyer said.

“I don’t particularly care about your emotions, Meyer,” Holloway said.

“And I don’t particularly care for you attempting to play off of mine,” Soltan said, to Holloway. “We’re here to look at the facts of the case, Mr. Holloway. I’ve given you slack on your rope because I thought you were getting to these facts, but this”—Soltan nodded her head dismissively in the direction of Papa Fuzzy, who by now had reached the well of the courtroom and was watching the three of them curiously—“makes it clear that you’re not here to present those facts, you’re here to do something else entirely. It’s bad enough you brought a dead one of these creatures into this courtroom to showboat. I’m not going to allow you to bring in a live one to make a fool out of me. You’ve taken that rope I gave you and hanged yourself on it.”

“This creature is a witness, Your Honor,” Holloway said, grimly. “If you want the facts as you say you do, then you will let me call it to testify.”

“And how are you going to do that?” Meyer said. “Have you suddenly become an expert on their communication, Holloway? Or are you planning to call Dr. Chen to translate? Because calling in a xenolinguist who has an entire career to gain by asserting these animals have language isn’t going to be problematic at all.”

“I find it interesting the concern you have for my potential witnesses, considering how ZaraCorp’s gone out of its way to try to make sure I didn’t have any to call,” Holloway said.

“He’s not calling Dr. Chen, Ms. Meyer,” Soltan said. “He’s not calling anyone. I reiterate, Mr. Holloway: You are in contempt of court. Recess is called until such time as you find new legal representation for the remainder of your case. When we resume, you will be allowed into the courtroom and you will be allowed to communicate with your new legal representative, but that’s it. When the preliminary hearing is through, you’ll be taken into custody.”

“You’re going to place me into the loving hands of ZaraCorp’s Security force?” Holloway said. “You really aretrying to get me hanged.”

“That is enough,Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said, and stood.

“I have a witnesss, Your Honor,” Holloway said, loudly. “You need to let my witness talk.”

“Stop wasting my time, Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said. “The answer is no.”

“So I will not talk?” Papa Fuzzy asked, in a high, thin but distinct voice. “I have come to talk. I have come to tell my story. Will I not talk now?”

*

Holloway counted in his head the seconds before anyone else spoke. He got to nine.

“Tell me I just heard what I think I heard,” Judge Soltan said, still standing.

“This is what I’ve been trying to tell you, Your Honor,” Holloway said, quickly. “I have a witness. It is ready to testify.” He turned to Meyer. “And it doesn’t need a translator.” He looked at Papa, who was eyeing him curiously. “Please say hello to Judge Soltan,” he said.

The fuzzy turned and looked back at the judge. “Hello, Judge Soltan,” said the fuzzy, slowly.

Judge Soltan sat.

“So he’s taught the thing to recite a phrase,” Meyer said, scrambling to regain ground. “That proves it’s as smart as a parrot.”

“Mr. Holloway,” Soltan began.

“ Talkto it, Your Honor,” Holloway said. “If you think I’m trying to trick you, talk to this fuzzy here. Ask it a question. Any question. But if I may suggest, keep your words simple. Its vocabulary is not extensive.”

“This is ridiculous, Your Honor,” Meyer said.

“Your Honor, I may showboat, but I’m not stupid,” Holloway said. “Do you honestly think I’d bring this creature in front of you if all I could get it to do is recite spoon-fed words and phrases? How long would that trick work? One round of questions, maybe two, before everything went off the script. There’s no possible way I could account for every comment or question you would have to ask it. And then what? What good would it do me and my case against Mr. DeLise to attempt to con you?”

Holloway pointed a finger at DeLise. “All I would get out of it is time in a security holding cell with hisbuddies watching over me,” he said. “So, no. It’s not a trick. Ask it whatever you like, for as long as you like, until you’re convinced.”

“That doesn’t prove a thing,” Meyer said. “A transmitter could feed the thing lines.”

“Examine it however you want,” Holloway said, to Meyer. “Run any sort of scanner you have over its body. You’ll be wasting your time, but if that’s what it takes, be my guest.”

“Your Honor, this mockery needs to stop now,” Meyer said, to Soltan.

“Quiet, Ms. Meyer,” Soltan snapped. Meyer quieted, and shot a poisonous look at Holloway. Holloway kept his face blank. Soltan sat silently at her desk, chewing over recent events.

“Your Honor,” Holloway prompted, after a minute. “You need to tell us what we’re doing now. And I need to know if I’m still under contempt.”

Soltan looked over at Holloway. “Mr. Holloway, if I find a single bit of evidence that this witness is anything but what you say it is, contempt charges are going to be the least of your problems.”

“Fair enough,” Holloway said. “But at least try to talk to the fuzzy first.” He and Meyer returned to their tables.

Soltan glanced down at the fuzzy, who still stood there, staring impassively at her. Soltan opened her mouth to speak, closed it, and got a look on her face that said, I can’t believe I’m doing this. She looked up again at Holloway.

“Does it have a name, Mr. Holloway?” Soltan asked.

“Why don’t you ask the fuzzy,” Holloway said.

Soltan looked back to the fuzzy. “Do you have a name?” she asked slowly.

“Yes,” the fuzzy said.

There was a pause after this before Soltan figured out that she might have to be more literal. “Please tell me your name,” she said.

“My name is,” and here there was a pause. “Jack Holloway calls me ‘Papa’ but that is not my name. My name is.”

Soltan looked up, confused. “I didn’t catch the name,” she said.

“You couldn’t,” Holloway said. “Fuzzy speech is spoken above the range of our hearing, remember. When it’s speaking to you in English, it’s talking at the absolute bottom of its vocal range.”

Soltan nodded. “May I call you Papa?” she asked the fuzzy.

“Jack Holloway calls me ‘Papa.’ You can call me ‘Papa,’” Papa said.

“How do you feel, Papa?” Soltan asked.

“I feel with my hands,” Papa said.

“You might want to try more direct questions,” Holloway said.

“All right,” Soltan said. “Papa, how do you speak our language?”

“With my mouth,” Papa said, and gave Soltan a look, as if wondering how she didn’t know either this, or how to feel.

“No,” Soltan said. “Who taughtyou to speak our language? Did Jack Holloway teach you to speak?”

“I knew your language before I met Jack Holloway,” the fuzzy said. “No man taught me to speak your language. Andy Alpaca taught us to speak your language. Andy Alpaca taught us from inside the flat talking rock.”

“That makes no sense,” Meyer said. “That makes no sense at all.”

“What is a flat talking rock?” Soltan said.

Papa turned and pointed to Holloway’s infopanel. “This is a flat talking rock,” it said. “You use other words for it.”

“That’s an infopanel,” Soltan said.

“Yes,” Papa said. “The man and the monkey fell out of the sky and the man was killed by the” pause, as Papa used a fuzzy word. “We went into the skimmer to see what we could see and found the flat talking rock. It taught us your language.”

Soltan looked at Holloway. “Translate,” she said.

“There was a surveyor named Sam Hamilton,” Holloway said. “He had a pet monkey. His skimmer went down. He was killed by zararaptors. The fuzzys checked out the skimmer wreckage and found his infopanel. Sam was nearly illiterate, so he was using kids’ reading software to learn how to read. The software was adaptive, so it took into consideration the user’s comprehension level and scaled from there.”

“You’re seriously suggesting these things learned to read and speak a human language from an advanced piece of technology,” Meyer said.

“Yes, just like human toddlers,” Holloway said. “Amazing, that.”

“Unlike these things, toddlers are surrounded by other humans talking to them all the time,” Meyer said.

“And unlike toddlers, the fuzzys who found this were adults, and smart enough to figure out what the infopanel was displaying to them,” Holloway said. “You’re still working under the impression these things are animals. They’re not. They’re as smart as you or I.”

“Why didn’t you mention any of this before?” Soltan asked. “You were in here last week arguing these fuzzys had language. If you had one come in and speak English, it would have made your case a lot better.”

Holloway nodded toward the fuzzy. “That’s a question for Papa,” he said.

Soltan looked at the fuzzy. “You knew our language before you met Jack Holloway,” she said.

“Yes,” said Papa.

“You did not speak to Jack Holloway in our language when you met him,” Soltan said.

“No,” said Papa.

“Why?” asked Soltan.

“I did not want Jack Holloway to know,” Papa said. “We did not know if Jack Holloway was a good man or a bad man. You have many bad men. Bad men take our homes and food from us and make us move away from other” pause. “We did not know if there are any good men. All the men we saw were bad. When we moved, we found where Jack Holloway lived. I wanted to see and went to see it. Jack Holloway and Carl came and I was scared. But Jack Holloway was good and gave me food. I went back to my people and said I had found a good man.”

There was a snort from Janice Meyer at this.

“I wanted to go back but my people were scared,” Papa said. “I told them about Carl and how Carl was like the monkey who follows us. An animal who was not smart but who men liked. I said I would go and be quiet, to learn more about Jack Holloway and men. I would not speak your language. I would not let Jack Holloway know I could speak your language. I would see how Jack Holloway was with me quiet before I would see how Jack Holloway was with me smart. If Jack Holloway was a good man, then we could show who we are and that we are smart. If Jack Holloway was a bad man, we would hide and move, as we did before.”

Holloway listened to Papa explain to Soltan and was amazed again by the creature. Papa’s words were simple—even at its highest setting the particular software Sam had on his infopanel was not meant for complex adult concepts or reading levels, and Papa’s language would be hampered by that—but the fuzzy spoke them confidently and fluently. It didn’t know much of the English language, but the little part it knew, it knew pretty well. Well enough for this.

Papa turned to Holloway. “My throat hurts,” the fuzzy said.

“Of course it does,” Holloway said. “You’ve been orating in a very low voice.”

Soltan looked at Holloway. “He’s saying he was a spy,” Soltan said. “Acting like a pet.”

“Yes,” Holloway said. “Although not entirely like a pet. It was clear Papa was smart, it just wasn’t clear he was smart on the level of a sentient creature. Also, he’s not really a he, he’s an it.”

Soltan frowned. “You call him ‘Papa,’” she said.

“Biology mistake,” Holloway said. “Patriarchal assumptions. What are you going to do.”

“Well, whatever,” Soltan said, and turned her attention back to Papa. “Do all of your people speak our language?” she asked.

“No,” Papa said. “I do. Some others do. Not many. It is hard to learn. Only I did from those who came to be with Jack Holloway.”

“Why did you want to learn our language?” Soltan asked.

“We want to know why you do what you do,” Papa said. “When we found the flat talking rock we knew that it could help us learn to talk with men. We learn and we look for a man to talk to. We did not find good men. We found bad men.”

“Who are the bad men?” Soltan said. “You said we had many of them.”

“Yes,” Papa said. “They have machines and tear the ground and trees and make the air stink. The trees are where we live and where our food is. When they come we do not stay. They do not see us because we see how they kill animals who come close. We go and we hide.”

Soltan glanced up at Holloway at this. “I presume you haven’t told your friend here what you do for a living, Mr. Holloway.”

Holloway looked embarrassed at this. “It hasn’t come up, no,” he said.

“There are levels of irony to that,” Soltan said.

“Granted,” Holloway said. “But given who they are and how they live, it’s easy to see why they see the surveyors and workers they come across as bad men. It also explains how they came to find me. Sam Hamilton’s old territory was next to mine. Not too long ago, the new surveyor there found copper along the border of our territories, and ZaraCorp came in and tore up a good chunk of it. Papa’s tribe of fuzzys must have gotten displaced. They’ve been moving through the trees ever since, looking for a new home. And if you want to hear something both funny and sad, ask Papa why it thought living with me might be a good idea.”

Soltan looked at Papa. “Why did you want to live with Jack Holloway?” she asked.

“I do not think men will tear the ground and trees where they live,” Papa said.

“Think about that, Your Honor,” Holloway said. “Aside from the irony inherent in the statement, that’s a fair feat of cognitive modeling. This fuzzy took what it knew about humans and guessed at what our behavior would be toward each other, and how it could work that to its own advantage and to the advantage of its own people.”

“If that’s true, then the thing’s been using you all this time, Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said.

“Another argument for their sentience, Your Honor,” Holloway said.

“It doesn’t bother you,” Soltan said.

“Not really, Your Honor,” Holloway said.

“Mr. Holloway, that doesn’t surprise me in the least,” Soltan said.

“Yes, Your Honor,” Holloway said. “And now may I remind you that as enlightening as this has been for all of us, I brought Papa here for a specific reason, which is to testify for this preliminary hearing. If Your Honor is sufficiently convinced that Papa is neither a trick nor a parrot, I would like to put it on the stand.”

“Your Honor, I have to strenuously object,” Meyer said. “This creature has not yet been proven sentient. Any testimony it gives would be inadmissible in any court in the Colonial Authority or on Earth. If you allow the testimony, you’re giving in to the sideshow you said you were hoping to avoid.”

Soltan blinked at Meyer. “Ms. Meyer, have you been in the same courtroom I have been in for the last several minutes?” she asked. “I’ve just had a longer and more cogent discussion with this creature than I suspect you have ever had with your client. The question to me no longer is whether these creatures are sentient or not. That particular question was answered to my satisfaction several minutes ago. The only question now is whether or not this creature in particular is a credible witness. So I’m going to hear its testimony, Ms. Meyer, and make my decision after I hear what it has to say.”

“Then I’d like to request a thirty-minute recess to prepare,” Meyer said.

“Another recess,” Soltan said. “Why not.” She headed for her chambers.

Meyer was up like a shot and out the door of the courtroom. DeLise watched her go, openmouthed. He caught Holloway looking at him and glared.

“Looks like you’re not your lawyer’s main concern anymore, Joe,” Holloway said. “I’d be worried if I were you.”

DeLise crossed his arms, stared forward, and ignored Holloway.

Chapter Twenty-five

Zara Twenty-three’s entire flotilla of ZaraCorp lawyers, along with Brad Landon and Wheaton Aubrey VII, was waiting for Judge Soltan when she emerged from her chambers.

“Well, I can’t say this is a total surprise,” Soltan said, as she took her seat.

Meyer approached the bench without asking and placed a folder in front of Soltan. “A request for the suspension of this preliminary hearing,” she said. She dropped a second folder on the desk. “Request for change of venue for the preliminary hearing.” A third folder. “Request for suspension and review of your previous determination for more study concerning the so-called ‘fuzzys.’” A fourth folder. “A request to have you removed for legal malfeasance.” Soltan looked at the folders and then up at Meyer. “Someone’s had a productive half hour,” she said.

“Your Honor, it’s become abundantly clear that your legal standards are dangerously and prejudicially lax,” Meyer began.

“You’re too late, Ms. Meyer,” Soltan said, interrupting her.

“Excuse me, Your Honor?” Meyer said.

“I said, you’re too late,” Soltan said. “Because I am not actually stupid, Counselor, while you were off drafting this raft of legal chaff, I was in my chamber amending my determination for more study of the fuzzys. It’s been amended to require ZaraCorp to file a Suspected Sapience Report, and not just in two weeks, Ms. Meyer, but immediately. You can pick one of your people here to write it up while we’re listening to testimony, and file it with one of my clerks by the close of business today. So this”—Soltan lifted up the third folder—“is now outdated and irrelevant.

“As for the rest of these,” Soltan said, motioning to the rest of the folders, “your request for the suspension of the preliminary hearing is denied, your request for change of venue is denied, and as for your request to have me removed, by all means file it with my clerk, who will send it along with every other request at end of the business day. Which means until then we continue on as planned.” “I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Meyer said.

“I beg your pardon, Ms. Meyer,” Soltan said.

“I cannot in good conscience as a lawyer continue with these proceedings,” Meyer said. “I feel it’s impossible for my client to get a fair hearing from you.” “And which client would that be, Ms. Meyer?” Soltan asked. “Mr. DeLise over here, or ZaraCorp?” “Either,” Meyer said. “Both. I refuse to continue with this preliminary hearing, and I will not direct my staff to file the SSR. I believe you are not competent to continue with the first, or to require the second.” “I admire your willingness to throw a wrench into the wheels of jurisprudence on behalf of your employer, Ms. Meyer, but I’ve given you my decisions,” Soltan said.

“You have given them,” Meyer said. “I suppose now you’ll have to enforce them.” “A pretty sentiment, Ms. Meyer,” Soltan said. “Unfortunately for you, this isn’t the United States Supreme Court or the 1830s, and you are definitely not Andrew Jackson. And as for enforcing my orders, I ask you to note the security cameras on the wall above my head.” “What about them?” Meyer said.

“Those security cameras don’t just feed into the security office here on planet,” Soltan said. “They also have a secure, encrypted wireless feed that goes directly to the Colonial Authority communication satellite and then into the databanks of the nearest Colonial Authority Circuit Court, in this case the Seventh CACC. The feed is mostly there to watch the judges, because judges on Explore and Exploit–chartered planets are historically prone to corruption and bribery. It’s a nice reminder to us to stay poor, impartial, and on our toes.

“However, they also have another purpose,” Soltan continued. “If and when a judge feels that an E and E corporation is trying to bigfoot its way around the courtroom, or if, say, a local general counsel gets it into her head to illegally override the orders of the court, or something even worse occurs, the judge can press a button, and the feed is ported, live, to the chambers of one of the sitting circuit court judges. It’s just our little way of making sure that corporate executives on backwater worlds remember they are not actually above the law. I pressed that little button just before I came back into this courtroom.

“So, Ms. Meyer, you have a choice. You can continue with this preliminary hearing on behalf of your client Mr. DeLise, or I can have the Circuit Court order down some Colonial Marshals to haul you away for contempt of court and obstructing a judicial proceeding. You’ll very likely be disbarred, serve jail time, and as you are an officer of the Zarathustra Corporation, a very heavy fine will be levied against the company.

“Likewise, if an SSR filing is not handed over to my clerk by the end of the business day, the Seventh Circuit will order the impounding of Zarathustra Corporation assets equivalent to the last ten years of gross revenues from this planet. As you are making this little power play of yours in front of the future Chairman and CEO of the company, who could stop you if he chose, there’s little doubt you are carrying out a company order, so ZaraCorp will be on the hook for all sorts of penalties, up to and including jail time for you, for Mr. Aubrey over there, and for every single ZaraCorp lawyer in this chamber with the exception of Mr. Sullivan, who, as his good fortune would have it, no longer works for your department.

“So, Ms. Meyer. Smile for the camera, and tell me what it will be.” “She is excellent,” Holloway whispered to Papa Fuzzy. Papa Fuzzy watched everything with curiosity. It might not understand the details, but Holloway suspected it got the emotional gist of what was going on.

“I’ll comply for now,” Meyer said, tightly, after a moment. “Your clerk will still be getting my request for your removal.” “At this point I’d be disappointed otherwise,” Soltan said. “In the meantime, Ms. Meyer, back off my podium and get back to work.” Meyer backed off, glancing at the cameras while she did so.

“Now that today’s insurrection has been quashed,” Soltan said, briskly, “I believe we have a witness to hear from. Mr. Holloway?” *

“Your name, please,” Soltan asked Papa Fuzzy.

“You know my name,” Papa said. He was at the witness stand, standing rather than sitting.

“Please say it again,” Soltan said.

“I am” pause “who Jack Holloway and other men call Papa,” Papa said.

“Your witness,” Soltan said, to Holloway.

“Papa, you know the day Baby and Pinto were killed,” Holloway said.

“Yes,” Papa said.

“Who?” Soltan said.

“The two fuzzys who were killed,” Holloway said. “I called them Baby and Pinto. Baby was the one that was stomped. Pinto was the one who was shot.” “Continue,” Soltan said.

“Who were Baby and Pinto to you,” Holloway said.

“The one you call Baby was my child,” Papa said. “The one you call Pinto was to be the mate of my child in time.” “Tell us what happened that day,” Holloway said.

“Your Honor, we have already seen what happened on video a number of times,” Meyer said. “We can stipulate the events we’ve already seen.” “Your Honor, there’s not much point in witness testimony if the witness isn’t allowed to describe the events,” Holloway said.

“Agreed,” Soltan said. “But let’s not dwell on details, Mr. Holloway.” “Yes, Your Honor,” Holloway said. He looked back to Papa. “Tell us what happened that day,” he said.

“You were gone,” Papa said. “When you are gone, we leave your home and go to our people to talk and be with them. Baby heard the noise of a skimmer going to your home. Baby went to see. Baby wanted to see Carl. Pinto went with Baby. I was near but I was in the tree, eating. I did not go with them.

“I heard Pinto call to me to say that the man was not you, but some other man. Then I heard my child cry and then stop. Then I heard Pinto yell. Then the man yelled. Then Pinto called for help.

“I came from the trees and heard a very big noise. Then I came to the tree by your house and saw the man step on my child. I saw the man kill my child. I saw the man hold my child and put my child in your house. Your house was on fire. And then I heard the man speak.” “Tell us what the man said,” Holloway said.

“I did not know some of the words,” Papa said.

“Try,” Holloway said.

“The man said ‘jesiscris migodam face,’” Papa said.

“He said ‘Jesus Christ, my goddamn face,’” Holloway said.”

“Yes,” Papa said. “Those are the words the man said. The man was very loud.” “Did you see his face?” Holloway said.

“I did not see the face of the man,” Papa said. “I did not need to see a face. I knew the voice.” “How did you know his voice?” Holloway asked.

“The man had come to your house before,” Papa said.

“When had he come to my house before?” Holloway asked.

“The man came with three other men,” Papa said. “You let the three other men go to your house. You did not let this man go to your house. You did not let the man get out of the skimmer.” “How do you know it was the same voice?” Holloway asked.

“The man was very loud in the skimmer,” Papa said. “Pinto went to look at the man and the man did not like that. I was in the tree and I heard the man yell.” “Did you see the man’s face that time?” Holloway asked.

“Yes,” Papa said, and pointed at DeLise. “This is the man.” Holloway glanced over at Meyer and then at Aubrey and Landon, who sat in the audience seats with their flotilla of lawyers. He smiled at each of them and picked up his infopanel.

“This is the day Papa is referring to,” Holloway said, and loaded up the video of DeLise pitching a fit in the skimmer while Pinto rubbed his bottom against the glass. “Unfortunately there’s no sound with the video, but I think it’s pretty obvious that Mr. DeLise is being quite vocal.” “Mr. Holloway, you didn’t mention that Mr. DeLise had been to your home before,” Soltan said.

“It must have slipped my mind,” Holloway said. “Probably because he didn’t actually get into my house, he was stuck out in the skimmer. As you can see.” “Why was he there in the first place?” Soltan asked.

“Because he was allegedly Wheaton Aubrey’s security detail,” Holloway said.

“And what was Mr. Aubrey doing at your place?” Soltan asked.

“I’m not sure it’s entirely relevant to the matter at hand,” Holloway said.

“Let me be the judge of that,” Soltan said.

“All right,” Holloway said, and then looked over at Aubrey and Landon. “They were there to bribe me into throwing the hearing to determine the fuzzy’s sapience. Offered me the entire northwest continent, they did.” “‘They,’” Soltan said.

“Yes. Aubrey and his assistant, Brad Landon,” Holloway said. “Chad Bourne was there too, but I’m pretty sure he was just their cover for sneaking out to my place in the guise of one of Chad’s official contract rep meetings. You could ask him. I’m sure at this point he’d be happy to talk.” “This is all allegation, Your Honor,” Meyer said. “And for once, Mr. Holloway is right. This isn’t the right venue for this line of questioning.” “I agree,” Holloway said. “Although now that I think of it, it does offer an explanation for how DeLise got access to the skimmer. All that time alone in the skimmer would be a perfect time to duplicate the data off the key fob. That is, when DeLise wasn’t busy yelling at fuzzys.” “There’s no proof of that,” Meyer said.

“Oh, he’s definitely yelling at the fuzzy,” Holloway said, intentionally misreading Meyer’s comment. “It’s the same fuzzy he shot later, in fact.” “That’s enough, Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said.

“This is a complete farce, Your Honor,” Meyer said. “It’s bad enough you just allowed Holloway to slander Mr. Aubrey and Mr. Landon, but entertaining testimony from this creature is beyond ridiculous. The creature can’t make the visual connection between Mr. DeLise and the man in a ski mask. Instead we’re asked to believe instead that this thing can recognize a voice it’s allegedly heard only once, days after the initial encounter. This is a sham, Your Honor. Pure and simple.” “While I wouldn’t call this a ‘sham,’ Ms. Meyer has a point, Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said. “There’s a reason they’re called ‘eyewitnesses,’ not ‘earwitnesses.’” “Your Honor, do me a favor and order Mr. DeLise not to speak,” Holloway said.

“Excuse me?” Soltan said.

“Please, Your Honor,” Holloway said.

Soltan looked at Holloway strangely. “Mr. DeLise,” she said. “You are not allowed to speak again until I tell you to. You can nod your understanding.” DeLise nodded.

“You have your silent defendant, Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said.

“Thank you, but it’s worth noting he had been silent before,” Holloway said. “In fact, Mr. DeLise has been silent the entire time Papa Fuzzy has been in the courtroom. So I propose a little challenge. Ms. Meyer says it’s impossible that Papa could have recognized a voice it heard only once before. Fine. Let’s do a lineup.” Holloway waved at the small army of lawyers. “This courtroom is full of men. Pick as many of them as you want and put Mr. DeLise with them. Then turn Papa around so it can’t see any of them. Have them speak the same sentence. If Papa picks the wrong one or can’t identify the voice, throw out the testimony.” Soltan turned to Meyer, who looked about to object. “You were the one who objected to earwitnesses,” Soltan said, shutting her down. “Pick four. Mr. Holloway, pick four as well. Gentlemen, if you are picked, go to the far wall of the courtroom, but don’t line up yet. Mr. DeLise, you go back there as well.” Holloway and Meyer made their picks; DeLise shuffled back to the far wall. “I also have a pick,” Soltan said. “Mr. Aubrey, walk to the wall, please.” “Your Honor, this is outrageous,” said Brad Landon.

“Don’t you start, Mr. Landon,” Soltan said. “Your boss goes to the wall or he goes to a holding cell on a contempt charge. One or the other. I don’t have all day.” Aubrey walked to the wall.