Again, Bill nodded. They had all seemed more self-assured and knowledgeable. Even in his field of geographic information systems, the locals were more prepared. He felt as if he was playing catch-up for most of the specialized training and even some of the regular training, such as survival training.
“A lot of these multiverse Probies are probably going to be a lot like you, Bill. They’ll be strong on some subjects, but weak on others. I know we’ve got you planned for an exploration, but since the Gaia Firsters did a number on us, we need all hands to help out.”
Bill thought about it for a second. Yeah, those Gaia Firsters sure did do a number on us. I still haven’t heard how many they killed. Hadn’t been for them, Ben and Thep would still be alive.
“I’m in,” he said, his face turning hard. He saw Meri nod as he said it.
“Hey, this salmon almost done?” David asked, breaking the tension.
53
Bill gazed at the passing scenery as the maglev train took them over Snoqualmie Pass. Every time he went over the mountain pass in the Central Cascades, he was reminded of how different things were on Hayek compared to Earth. Unlike Earth, the Snoqualmie Pass here didn’t have an eight-lane freeway crossing it. Instead, there was only the maglev train track and a gravel road. The ski resort was also a lot smaller.
Not as many people to fit onto the slopes, he thought as the small resort whizzed by.
In the forest, there was little evidence of logging. Clear cutting wasn’t permitted on the otherwise loosely regulated planet. The final touch was the lack of a man-made lake on the eastern side of the pass. No dam existed here at the headwaters of the Cle Elum River.
The trip across the pass didn’t take long, and soon the train was pulling into Milton, the capital of Hayek.
Bill remembered the first time he saw Milton, almost two years ago. He had just passed through the gate from Earth with a Southern good old boy, Matt Green, future roommate, friend, and fellow Probie. The two of them just gawked at the differences overlain with the similarities of being on a parallel Earth. The physical geography was the same, but that was about all that was.
“Hey, wake up,” he heard from across the space separating him from the chair facing his.
“I’m awake,” he said, looking over at his wife. “Just remembering the first time I saw Milton.”
“I can imagine it was a lot different.”
“You have no idea,” he replied. “How’s Jack doing?”
Meri looked down at the infant in her lap. “Still sleeping.”
As she looked down, her red bangs covered her bright blue eyes briefly. Bill thought about the first time they met. She was having breakfast by herself in the base’s cafeteria the weekend before Explorer training started. He invited himself to her table, and she invited herself fly fishing with him that afternoon. Little Jack came along later.
Looking down at their son, he thought, Man, I still can’t believe we survived.
Meri looked back up at him, and it seemed to him that she was mirroring his thoughts.
“When do you think they’ll call us?” she asked, referring to the upcoming trial.
“Beats me. I’ve never been in a trial. You?”
Meri shook her head.
The train pulled into the station. As soon as it stopped, Bill and Meri gathered up their rifles, luggage, and Jack.
They still had another transit ride before getting to Sacagawea Base, but fortunately, the maglev train station had a link to the skytrain station. A brief walk and they were aboard the skytrain for another fifteen-minute ride.
Even though Bill and Meri still had fifteen days of leave left, they had been called back to Milton for the trial involving the Gaia Liberation Force members that were still alive after their attack on the Corps’ gates.
Meri had already arranged housing, so when they arrived at the base entrance, they were greeted by one of the Explorers who was serving as support for the Corps. Like many of the support personnel, the young man was a trained Explorer who had run afoul of nature and been injured badly enough to make him unfit for survey duty. As he limped along, using a cane, he told the couple that his injuries were healing (caused by a broken leg on a ground survey) and he was expecting to be back in the field soon.
“Anyhow, this gives me a different perspective on how things are done on base,” he concluded.
The cabin they were shown was smaller than the one Bill had lived in when he first moved to Hayek. Of course, he had shared that cabin with three other men, each with their own room. This one had two bedrooms and came with some basic furniture.
After making sure the biometric lock worked for them, the young man told them to call if they needed any help moving their effects in.
“We’ll manage,” Bill said. Jordan and Matt had already offered to help the Clarks move their limited household effects from the “Missing in Action” storage facility. The facility was set up to keep the belongings of those missing on surveys until they were either found (dead or alive), showed up, or five years passed. All too often it was the latter, and the effects were either transferred to the last known living relative or sold at auction, with the proceeds going to fund the base’s K-12 school, Discovery School. In Bill and Meri’s case, they had been listed as MIA for the better part of a year as they trekked across Planet 42 from the Eurasian Alps, across the Atlantic Ocean, and then over most of North America, almost to the Rocky Mountains. It didn’t matter which timeline they were on, Bill mostly thought of places from the timeline of his birth and where he grew up.
After the Explorer left, Bill looked around and said, “Home, sweet home.”
Meri punched him in the bicep, a habit she had started on basically day one of their relationship. It wasn’t a love tap, but an actual punch, which usually left Bill rubbing his arm.
“Yeah, but it’s our home. Unless you want to spend a year’s salary on a place in Milton.”
“Not like we can’t afford it,” he replied. Between the two of them, they had accrued quite a bit of money from their salaries over the past year. Being stranded on an unexplored planet didn’t leave one with many opportunities to spend their wages, and they hadn’t spent much since they were rescued. Mostly, they had spent time relaxing and recovering at Lewis Landing with occasional forays into Tahoma. Bill had been surprised to learn that they received additional pay if they were on a trek, half again as much as their normal pay. Between them, they had the equivalent of three years’ salary: more than enough to buy a house in town, especially since there was no taxation on Hayek. Bill had stopped paying income tax once he left Earth, and he didn’t miss it.
“No sense spending money we don’t need to. Besides, being on base will be great for Jack. Lots more Corps support here than in town.”
Once again, Bill couldn’t argue with her logic.
“So, when are the guys going to be able to help move?”
“Jordan told me to call once we got settled in, so I reckon now would be good.”
54
Having never testified in court before, Bill was surprised to find that he was nervous. Hell, I’ve never even had to go to court over a parking ticket, let alone over charges of murder and terrorism, he thought, and Lord knows, I’ve faced down more dangerous things than this.
Yet, here he was, sitting in the witness stand, testifying under oath in probably the biggest terrorist case in Hayek court history.
“Mr. Clark,” the prosecutor said, “please tell the court exactly what happened to cause your survey flight to crash on Planet 42.”
Swallowing to try and clear his dry throat, Bill said, “Well, uh, we were conducting an initial survey, passing over the eastern edge of Eurasia, where the Alps come down to the western Eurasian plain, when we experienced a sudden loss of electrical power. Ben Weaver, the pilot, had to make an emergency landing in an alpine lake, dead sticking it all the way in. Luckily, we made it.”.
“Was this loss of electrical power natural?” the
prosecutor asked.
“Objection!” yelled the defense.
“What’s the objection based on?” asked the judge.
“Your honor, prosecution is implying the witness is knowledgeable about natural phenomena he may know nothing about.”
Looking at Bill, the judge asked, “Care to elaborate?”
“Your honor, I’m a geographer,” Bill said, looking at the judge, a gray-haired lady with fine wrinkles along either side of her eyes, which he took to mean laugh lines. “Specifically, an Aerial Survey Specialist with the Corps of Discovery. I’m also a qualified co-pilot on the S-1 Monarch and CL-415, and a qualified pilot on the DHC-4 Caribou. I’m further qualified as an instrument-rated pilot on Earth. As such, I’m quite aware of the many natural phenomena that would cause loss of electrical power on an airborne platform.”
“Sounds like he knows what he’s talking about to me,” the judge said. “Objection overruled.”
Bill couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable from the prosecutor’s inquisition, despite the fact that they were, de facto, on the same side, and had actually practiced this line of inquiry the day before. He was trying to remain cool, calm, and collected, but it just wasn’t working. He could feel his temperature rising, and was sure it was showing on his red, sweating face. Bill didn’t care. Too many of his friends were dead at the hands of the Gaia Liberation Force, and this trial might, just might, set things a little bit right.
Both the prosecutor and the defense attorney knew where Bill’s testimony was going. And, despite numerous objections by the defense, the story got out.
“Were you able to identify a natural cause of the electric failure?” the prosecutor asked.
“No,” Bill answered.
“Then, how do you know it wasn’t natural?”
“Two things. First, there were no natural phenomena that would have created the failure. Sprites, high altitude lighting, were spotted but were too far off to affect us. There was no evidence of any solar flare or coronal mass ejection, as they would have been visible with auroras that night or the following night. Finally, shortly after we landed, my wife, Meri Lewis Clark, the co-pilot, found an EMP bomb in one of our plane’s lockers.”
“Objection!” yelled the defense.
“What now?” asked the judge.
“The witness is speculating,” said the attorney. “How does he know what his wife found? Is he now a bomb expert?”
The judge looked at Bill.
“Well?” she asked.
“That’s what my wife called it,” he said, shrugging. “I presume she’s more knowledgeable about that stuff than I am.”
“Objection sustained,” ruled the judge.
The inquiry went on for what seemed like hours, and then it was the defense’s turn. Naturally, the defense attorney tried to trip up, confuse, and just plain confound Bill at every opportunity. Thanks to some great coaching by the prosecutor and Commandant Lewis, Bill held his ground. The hardest part was explaining how he managed to maintain a chain of custody on bombs that had been left on a Class III planet, unattended, for almost a year.
Eventually, the court decided to accept the evidence, despite the strenuous objections of the defense attorney.
“So, to sum it up, you did not witness any actions against anyone by my clients?” the defense attorney said, wrapping up Bill’s time on the witness stand.
Bill shook his head.
“Please speak up,” the attorney said. “Yes or no.”
“No,” Bill said.
“That is all,” the attorney said, turning away. Even at the angle the attorney faced, Bill could see the smirk on his face.
Bill had been on the stand for several hours and was finally released in time for lunch.
Yeah, well wait until the forensics team talks, he thought, as he left the witness stand.
After lunch, it was Meri’s turn.
When the defense attorney tried to get her testimony regarding the EMP bomb thrown out, he wasn’t quite as successful as he had hoped. It turned out that Meri had taken an elective in college on improvised munitions, and the construction and use of EMP bombs was part of the curriculum. Bill was constantly amazed at the depth of his wife’s knowledge, and at the curriculum that was covered in Hayek’s small universities.
The time came when the prosecutor brought forth the various scientist who had evaluated the physical evidence. The two main scientists were the DNA expert and the fingerprint expert.
It became clear during their testimony that Brenda Lightfoot, a former Explorer, was not only involved in the sabotage, but in just about every act of sabotage that took place on Sacagawea Base or on any surveys. It turned out she was also involved in an act of sabotage that almost got Bill killed during training, and had decapitated the pilot who was training him.
Bill remembered Lightfoot from his first week on Hayek, how she had a natural competition with him based on her having gone to Washington State University while he had attended the University of Washington. The rivalry between the two schools was well known within the state. Bill didn’t interact with Lightfoot much during or after training, but he knew that Jordan wanted her dead, after her actions caused the death of their former roommate, and Jordan’s best friend, Thep. Thepakorn Daeng was a tropical botonist killed during the terrorist attacks.
While Lightfoot had wiped the exteriors of many of the bombs, she forgot to do so on the interior components. Furthermore, the one bomb Bill recovered that had been protected from the elements was one she didn’t have time, energy, or the diligence to wipe clean. Luckily, she was also a shedder, so there were several pieces of her hair trapped in some of the evidence, particularly in the cut parachutes.
Bill sat in rapt attention, listening to how the scientists explained their findings based on the various forms of analysis.
The defense attorney tried to get the forensic evidence dismissed, to no avail.
During the trial, Brenda Lightfoot and her four cohorts sat silently at the defense’s table. There were five of them in custody. Bill didn’t recognize any of the other four.
Washington State is about all I’ve got in common with that bitch! he thought, staring at the back of her head from the wooden benches in the spectators’ gallery behind the attorneys’ tables. The prosecutor had told him not to glare, so he hadn’t. But I sure as hell want to. I want to burn holes in that bitch until she’s as dead as Ben and Thep.
As far as Bill was concerned, the best outcome for the trial would be to see her hang. But that wasn’t to be. Meri had explained to him that the state wasn’t allowed to put people to death on Hayek. “It’s up to the victim or the victim’s family to decide the outcome once the trial’s up,” she explained. “And death isn’t one of the outcomes allowed.”
Now Bill, Meri, and a roomful of other Explorers sat patiently, waiting for the jury to file back in from the deliberation room. The entire trial had been broadcast live on Hayek’s internet, with considerable viewership: the most watched trial in Hayek’s history. But that was also partly because there was little crime on Hayek, and most of it local. The attack by the Gaia Liberation Front was one that impacted most of Hayek, hitting the Corps hardest.
Bill and Meri were sitting in the front row of the spectators’ gallery, along with Jack Lewis and a number of other Explorers. Bill had figured, correctly, that his and Meri’s presence in the front row was due to their trekker experience, and basic hero status among the Corps. The jury had been in discussions for more than a day, but in the past hour, word had gotten around that they had reached a decision, so, once again, the courtroom filled up with spectators. Many of them, like Bill and Meri, were also victims of the GLF’s nefarious actions.
The bailiff entered the room and announced that the jury had made its decision. Immediately thereafter, the jury entered the courtroom and took their places in the jury box. One older man, the foreman, stood and said to the judge, “You’re honor, we’ve reached a decision.”
&n
bsp; Looking at him, the judge asked, “And your decision?”
“We find the defendants guilty as charged on all counts.”
A collective gasp went up from the assembled crowd, broken only by the sudden sobbing of one of the defendants.
Lightfoot’s face remained passive. Probably doesn’t give a shit how many she killed, or even what happens to her, Bill thought.
The judge looked at the defense attorney and said, “Counselor, I’m remanding your clients to the court until a decision is made on their sentence.” She then turned to the bailiff and said, “Bailiff, take the prisoners into custody.”
As the bailiff, accompanied by several other court officers, approached the defendants’ table, Lightfoot jumped up, grabbed the pistol at the defense attorney’s waist, and made a dash for the exit. As she did, Meri practically leaped over Bill and punched the outlaw square in the jaw, knocking her across the aisle and into the adjacent spectators’ bench, yelling, “Like hell, you bitch!”
Bill, who had been about to do the same thing, was surprised at the vehemence and violence displayed by his wife. That didn’t stop him from jumping across the aisle and planting a knee on the back of Lightfoot’s neck and wrenching the pistol from her hand, though.
Shoving the pistol into the back of her head, he heard himself say, “Just give me a reason. Any fucking reason. I’ll blow your fucking head clean off.”
As Lightfoot tried to struggle, Bill raised the pistol and, using it as a club, knocked her senseless. She immediately went limp.
Bill could hear his wife mutter, “Should’ve blown her fucking brains out.”Weaker sex, my ass, he thought.
Getting off the limp terrorist’s body, Bill saw the bailiff come through the gate separating the spectators’ gallery from the courtroom, and quickly handcuff the supine figure.
“Sorry about that,” he said as he finished cuffing Lightfoot, and bodily lifting her unconscious form.
Turning back toward his wife, Bill saw the look of pure animal lust on her face, the type of kill lust he had seen on Smilodons during their trek.
The Corps of Discovery Trilogy Box Set: Books 1-3: A multiverse series of alternate history Page 58
