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to take the pressure off, the whole place is going to blow up one of these
days." The little bell rang as someone entered the shop.
Henry Stenson tidied up the sheaf of papers. "Yes, I can build one of these
for you, Father. The contact plate will have to be a breadboard rig, but it
will sense out all the data you want. Otherwise, it will work just like any
Ballard Reader in the best hospital on Terra."
Judge Frederic Pendarvis laid down the sheaf of papers, moved the ashtray a
few inches to the right, and took a slender cigar out of the silver box on his
desk. After he had lighted it, he leaned back in his chair and blew a smoke
ring at the ceiling. Then he turned his attention to the bearded giant and the
small, bristly-looking man who sat across the desk from him. "I see nothing
wrong with this at all. Your assessment is quite correct, Gus. For my part, I
agree that we are on solid ground with respect to the Federation Constitution
and the body of colonial case law.
"Colonial Investigations Bureau," the Chief Justice said reflectively. He
flicked a quarter-inch of ash from his panetella and smiled. "I must
congratulate you both on putting this together. The very idea of getting all
those different cops to pull together on something like this is nothing short
of astounding. I've been dealing with all of the law enforcement agencies on
the planet for the past fifteen years, and, I can tell you, they can be the
damnedest bunch of fools-squabbling like fishwives over jurisdiction, proof of
claim, interrogation priority, previous wants and warrants, perquisites and
privilege-you name it. There isn't a one of them I haven't wanted to take a
horsewhip to over the years, usually for clogging up the courts while they
prove to one and all that their uniform is more righteous than the next
guy's." Ben Rainsford frowned and looked at the floor. "Only one thing I'm
unhappy about," he said.
"What's that, Ben?" Judge Pendarvis asked. "That young fella, Khadra. I wanted
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him to head up the CIB. Why'd he have to go and get married and run off to
Beta?"
"I strongly suspect it's because he was in love," Pendarvis remarked drily.
Rainsford waved his hand impatiently and began fishing for his pipe in the
pocket of his bush jacket.
The way he throws that pipe in and out of his jacket, Pendarvis thought, I'll
bet the inside of that pocket looks as black as a Hathor wolfram-miner's
lungs.
"Will this help any," Rainsford said around his pipestem as he touched flame
to the bowl, "to slow up the congestion in your criminal courts docket?"
"No," Pendarvis sighed. "It will only make it more orderly."
"Well, I can't give you the extra judgeships you asked for in either
department," Rainsford said, almost defensively. "There's just no money for
it. The fact of the matter is that the CZC is financing this government at the
moment-until we can get a constitution out of those lame-brained delegates ,
elect a proper legislature, and levy taxes. And the CZC is going to expect its
money back one of these days. It's a hell of a way to start out a
government-in debt-but it can't be helped, I suppose. Is there anything you
and Gus can come up with to reduce the load on the criminal side?" Rainsford
looked anxiously at both of them in turn. "I'll go along with anything that
makes sense."
Pendarvis' eyes narrowed slightly. "Not much, unless you want to do it at the
expense of fair and equal justice under the law," he said evenly.
Gus knew that Rainsford had hit a sensitive spot. "I could encourage my
prosecutors to be a little more open to plea-bargaining," he offered. "A lot
of these criminal cases are pretty cut and dried, but they stagger on through
the system with a long trial-often because the defense attorney loves to hear
the pure, spellbinding eloquence of his own courtroom oratory."
"And just as often is practicing his planned future political speeches on the
jury," Pendarvis added. "I would have no objection to that, Gus-as long as we
veridicate the accused in open court regarding any pressure than might have
been brought on him to plead guilty to a lesser charge."
"What will that get us in terms of man-days saved?" Rainsford asked, "-or
whatever measure of increased efficiency is applicable."
"Not much," Pendarvis said, "but being able to get one more preliminary
hearing a day on each judge's docket will do more than it sounds like."
"The civil side isn't going to get any better, though," Gus said, "and there's
nothing I can do about that-out of my jurisdiction."
"Yes," Pendarvis said, almost wistfully. "There's the real rub. We have more
criminal cases, but they are simpler than before. Our civil cases-which we
also have a great deal more of-are getting more complex."
Rainsford jabbed his pipestem at the air. "It's that Ingermann s.o.b.," he
said. "He's behind this caseload problem that's starting to clog up the
courts. Overloading the legal system is a fine first step toward bringing down
the government. It helps frustrate people. Frustration generates lack of
inclination to depend on the legal systems of redress, and that generates more
and more lawlessness."
"If that's his purpose," Pendarvis said, "I can see how what you suggest would
suit his purpose admirably. But I question that the soi disant geopolitician
Hugo Ingermann has an organization that is quite so efficient."
"Oh, I think he does," Gus said. "I've been studying Mr. Ingermann's operation
quite closely as I remain alert for ways to rid the planet of him. As I've
said, Ingermann is Out to Get Us in capital letters. The more I learn about
him, the more I agree with your notion-hare-brained though it seemed at
first-"
Rainsford glared at him.
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Gus grinned and went on. ". . . that he's fastened himself on getting control
of Zarathustra. And he's smart enough to have several scams working in that
direction-on the theory that any one of them will be more apt to pay off in an
atmosphere of general disruption and confusion."
A small bell chimed somewhere in Pendarvis' office, discreetly indicating that [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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