Letter of the Law

by Alan Edward Nourse

witness's feet. The witnessplaced a huge, hairy paw on the cairn, and the prosecutor said, "Do youswear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, sohelp you--" he paused to squint at the paper in his hand, and finishedon a puzzled note, "--Goddess?"

  The witness removed the paw from the rock pile long enough to scratchhis ear. Then he replaced it, and replied, "Of course," in an injuredtone.

  "Then tell this court what you have seen of the activities of thisabominable wretch."

  The witness settled back into the chair, fixing one eye on Zeckler'sface, another on the prosecutor, and closing the third as if inmeditation. "I think it happened on the fourth night of the seventhcrossing of Altair II (may the Goddess cast a drought upon it)--or wasit the seventh night of the fourth crossing?--" he grinnedapologetically at the judge--"when I was making my way back through towntoward my blessed land-plot, minding my own business, Your Honor, afterweeks of bargaining for the crop I was harvesting. Suddenly from theshadow of the building, this creature--" he waved a paw atZeckler--"stopped me in my tracks with a vicious cry. He had a weaponI'd never seen before, and before I could find my voice he forced meback against the wall. I could see by the cruel glint in his eyes thatthere was no warmth, no sympathy in his heart, that I was--"

  "Objection!" Zeckler squealed plaintively, jumping to his feet. "Thiswitness can't even remember what night he's talking about!"

  The judge looked startled. Then he pawed feverishly through his bundleof notes. "Overruled," he said abruptly. "Continue, please."

  The witness glowered at Zeckler. "As I was saying before this loutishinterruption," he muttered, "I could see that I was face to face withthe most desperate of criminal types, even for Terrans. Note the shapeof his head, the flabbiness of his ears. I was petrified with fear. Andthen, helpless as I was, this two-legged abomination began to shower mewith threats of evil to my blessed home, dark threats of poisoning myland unless I would tell him where he could find the resting place ofour blessed Goddess--"

  "I never saw him before in my life," Zeckler moaned to Meyerhoff."Listen to him! Why should I care where their Goddess--"

  Meyerhoff gave him a stony look. "The Goddess runs things around here.She makes it rain. If it doesn't rain, somebody's insulted her. It'svery simple."

  "But how can I fight testimony like that?"

  "I doubt if you _can_ fight it."

  "But they can't prove a word of it--" He looked at the jury, who werelistening enraptured to the second witness on the stand. This one wastestifying regarding the butcherous slaughter of eighteen (or was ittwenty-three? Oh, yes, twenty-three) women and children in the suburbanvillage of Karzan. The pogrom, it seemed, had been accomplished by anenergy weapon which ate great, gaping holes in the sides of buildings. Athird witness took the stand, continuing the drone as the room grewhotter and muggier. Zeckler grew paler and paler, his eyes turningglassy as the testimony piled up. "But it's not _true_," he whispered toMeyerhoff.

  "Of course it isn't! Can't you understand? _These people have no regardfor truth._ It's stupid, to them, silly, a mark of low intelligence. Theonly thing in the world they have any respect for is a liar bigger andmore skillful than they are."

  Zeckler jerked around abruptly as he heard his name bellowed out. "Doesthe defendant have anything to say before the jury delivers theverdict?"

  "Do I have--" Zeckler was across the room in a flash, his pale cheekssuddenly taking on a feverish glow. He sat down gingerly on the witnesschair, facing the judge, his eyes bright with fear and excitement."Your--Your Honor, I--I have a statement to make which will have a mostimportant bearing on this case. You must listen with the greatest care."He glanced quickly at Meyerhoff, and back to the judge. "Your Honor," hesaid in a hushed voice. "You are in gravest of danger. All of you. Yourlives--your very land is at stake."

  The judge blinked, and shuffled through his notes hurriedly as a murmurarose in the court. "Our land?"

  "Your lives, your land, everything you hold dear," Zeckler said quickly,licking his lips nervously. "You must try to understand me--" he glancedapprehensively over his shoulder "now, because I may not live longenough to repeat what I am about to tell you--"

  The murmur quieted down, all ears straining in their headsets to hearhis words. "These charges," he continued, "all of them--they'reperfectly true. At least, they _seem_ to be perfectly true. But in everyinstance, I was working with heart and soul, risking my life, for thewelfare of your beautiful planet."

  There was a loud hiss from the back of the court. Zeckler frowned andrubbed his hands together. "It was my misfortune," he said, "to go tothe wrong planet when I first came to Altair from my homeland on Terra.I--I landed on Altair II, a grave mistake, but as it turned out, a veryfortunate error. Because in attempting to arrange trading in thatfrightful place, I made certain contacts." His voice trembled, and sanklower. "I learned the horrible thing which is about to happen to thisplanet, at the hands of those barbarians. The conspiracy is theirs, notmine. They have bribed your Goddess, flattered her and lied to her,coerced her all-powerful goodness to their own evil interests, preparingfor the day when they could persuade her to cast your land into thefiery furnace of a ten-year-drought--"

  Somebody in the middle of the court burst out laughing. One by one thenatives nudged one another, and booed, and guffawed, until the risingtide of racket drowned out Zeckler's words. "The defendant is obviouslylying," roared the prosecutor over the pandemonium. "Any fool knows thatthe Goddess can't be bribed. How could she be a Goddess if she could?"

  Zeckler grew paler. "But--perhaps they were very clever--"

  "And how could they flatter her, when she knows, beyond doubt, that sheis the most exquisitely radiant creature in all the Universe? And _you_dare to insult her, drag her name in the dirt."

  The hisses grew louder, more belligerent. Cries of "Butcher him!" and"Scald his bowels!" rose from the courtroom. The judge banged forsilence, his eyes angry.

  "Unless the defendant wishes to take up more of our precious time withthese ridiculous lies, the jury--"

  "Wait! Your Honor, I request a short recess before I present my finalplea."

  "Recess?"

  "A few moments to collect my thoughts, to arrange my case."

  The judge settled back with a disgusted snarl. "Do I have to?" he askedMeyerhoff.

  Meyerhoff nodded. The judge shrugged, pointing over his shoulder to theanteroom. "You can go in there," he said.

  Somehow, Zeckler managed to stumble from the witness stand, amid riotousboos and hisses, and tottered into the anteroom.

  * * * * *

  Zeckler puffed hungrily on a cigarette, and looked up at Meyerhoff withhaunted eyes. "It--it doesn't look so good," he muttered.

  Meyerhoff's eyes were worried, too. For some reason, he felt a surge ofpity and admiration for the haggard con-man. "It's worse than I'danticipated," he admitted glumly. "That was a good try, but you justdon't know enough about them and their Goddess." He sat down wearily. "Idon't see what you can do. They want your blood, and they're going tohave it. They just won't believe you, no matter _how_ big a lie youtell."

  Zeckler sat in silence for a moment. "This lying business," he saidfinally, "exactly how does it work?"

  "The biggest, most convincing liar wins. It's as simple as that. Itdoesn't matter how outlandish a whopper you tell. Unless, of course,they've made up their minds that you just naturally aren't as big a liaras they are. And it looks like that's just what they've done. Itwouldn't make any difference to them _what_ you say--unless, somehow,you could _make_ them believe it."

  Zeckler frowned. "And how do they regard the--the biggest liar? I mean,how do they feel toward him?"

  Meyerhoff shifted uneasily. "It's hard to say. It's been my experiencethat they respect him highly--maybe even fear him a little. After all,the most convincing liar always wins in any transaction, so he gets moreland, more food, more power. Yes, I think the biggest liar could gowhere he pleased without any interfe
rence."

  Zeckler was on his feet, his eyes suddenly bright with excitement. "Waita minute," he said tensely. "To tell them a lie that they'd have tobelieve--a lie they simply couldn't _help_ but believe--" He turned onMeyerhoff, his hands trembling. "Do they _think_ the way we do? I mean,with logic, cause and effect, examining evidence and drawingconclusions? Given certain evidence, would they have to draw the sameconclusions that we have