A Spider Sat Beside Her

by K E Lanning

  Lowry looked down at the floor but then lifted her eyes to Ms. Chavez. “If I don’t tell the truth as I know it, I just couldn’t live with myself.”

  Ms. Chavez pushed a strand of Lowry’s hair back in place. “Okay. Try to relax. You’ll be called in a bit. You have time to freshen up; the bathroom is just down the hall to the left.” She patted her shoulder. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  Lowry walked into the bathroom and washed her face. She smoothed her hair back with her wet hands and straightened her suit in front of the mirror. A piece of glass from the broken car window slipped from her clothes and pinged on the floor. Staring down at the chip of shattered glass, she felt woozy and leaned onto the counter. Images of the angry faces at the camp swirled in her mind. Her body trembled, and tears streamed down her face, falling onto the floor beside the translucent chip.

  Kneeling down, she exhaled and breathed in slowly to clear her head. Lowry picked up the window fragment and rolled it between her fingers, feeling the rough edges. Holding it up to the light, she peered into the hazy glass as if it were a crystal ball. What would be her future if Halder aimed his malice at her?

  She stood up and gazed into the mirror at her ashen face; did she have the courage to testify? Her mother’s voice came into her head: “Lowry, be who you are, and don’t be afraid of anyone—except God.” Closing her eyes, she murmured, “Momma, please help me be courageous today.”

  Sighing, Lowry dropped the glass fragment into her pocket and wiped her tears away. On unsteady legs, she returned to the waiting area and sat down on the hard wooden chair. She sipped some water and leaned back, rubbing her temples. Lowry flinched as the door opened abruptly and the bailiff appeared.

  “Ms. Walker?”

  “Yes.”

  He motioned her to follow. They crossed the hallway and entered the packed courtroom.

  CHAPTER 22

  All eyes were on Lowry as she walked toward the witness stand, but she only had eyes for the defendant. He was a defiant young Inuit dressed in an ill-fitting suit. She felt sorry for him, sitting bolt upright behind the defense table. Lowry could see the anxiety in his pinched face.

  Chavez motioned for Lowry to proceed to the front of the courtroom, and then she turned and spoke to the judge. “The defense would like to bring our next witness, Lowry Walker, to the stand, Your Honor.”

  Lowry moved to the witness stand and was sworn in.

  Chavez came toward her. “Good morning, Ms. Walker.”

  Lowry nodded, breathing deeply to calm her staccato heartbeat.

  “Now, Ms. Walker, let’s recap your background. You have an undergraduate degree in geophysics from the University of Texas?”

  Lowry replied, “Yes.”

  “You are currently a graduate student working on your doctorate in geophysics, and this satellite imaging project on the space station is a part of the data collection for your dissertation; is that correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you actually lived on Antarctica as a child. Is that correct?”

  “I spent my early years in the States, and then I moved to Antarctica when I was twelve years old.”

  Chavez turned to face the jury as she asked Lowry, “Are you are aware of any evidence that my client, Mr. Kimalu, had anything whatsoever to do with the laser message you received, which supposedly shut down power briefly on the space station?”

  “No, as far as I know, there is no connection between the message I received through the satellite onto my computer and any group in the Arctic region.”

  Chavez turned to the jury. “As a matter of fact, my client has an alibi that confirms he was nowhere near Antarctica when this event happened.”

  She turned back to the witness stand. “Ms. Walker, do you have any idea who might have sent this message and why?”

  Gerwin jumped up and shouted, “OBJECTION! Counsel is leading the witness into a line of questioning that is superfluous to this case!”

  The judge said, “Overruled. Counsel can ask the witness her belief as to other possible suspects in pursuit of justice for her client.” She nodded to Chavez. “Please continue with your line of questioning.”

  Chavez nodded to Lowry. “Please answer the question.”

  Lowry faced her with an odd mix of relief and fear. She glanced at the prosecution table—Halder’s head was tilted back, his calculating eyes shifting from the witness stand to the jury—and then at Gerwin, who was hunched forward like a bulldog, glowering at her from under his heavy eyebrows. She was asked the question and could answer truthfully. If she ended up in a shantytown, perhaps she might be dirty on the outside, but she’d be clean on the inside. And who knows? With proper cooking, seagull might be delicious.

  Lowry focused on Chavez’s face, and a strange calm settled over her. She took a deep breath. “My uncle is a volunteer police officer at the mining station and searched the area from where the signal emanated. He found a campfire with a dart buried in the coals, which, by the way it was constructed, appeared to be from a Colombian tribe.”

  Gerwin tilted his head back with a slight angle toward the jury box and snickered. Lowry knew he was attempting to show, for the jury’s sake, the prosecution’s contempt of the idea that a South American tribe could hatch this scheme.

  The judge reprimanded him. “Please, quiet in the courtroom.”

  “Yes, Your Honor,” he said, smoothing his mustache over his sardonic grin.

  Lowry continued. “My uncle also found evidence that this Colombian tribe is objecting to a power plant being proposed within their lands. They’ve had a history of public protests, and the shutdown of the space station may have been a way to make their point.”

  Chavez nodded. “And what was the other instance of protests?”

  Gerwin jumped up from his chair. “Objection!”

  “Is this relevant, Ms. Chavez?” asked the judge.

  “If there is evidence of Colombians perpetrating this shutdown along with a history of protests from a specific Colombian tribe, then I believe it is relevant, Your Honor.”

  Arching her brow, the judge said, “I’ll let you finish this line of questioning, but we need to move on.” She turned to Gerwin. “Overruled.”

  With a nod from Chavez, Lowry resumed her testimony. “This particular Colombian tribe threatened mass suicide in 1998 when a petroleum company wanted to drill for oil within the tribal lands. They successfully stopped the intrusion onto their domain.” Lowry stared at Chavez. “The number 1998 flashed on my screen just before the power went out.”

  Mr. Gerwin’s face soured at the murmuring voices in the courtroom.

  Thank you, Ms. Walker,” Chavez said, and then she turned to the judge. “I have no more questions for this witness, Your Honor.”

  Lowry glanced at Jean-Luc, whose eyes studied her with curiosity.

  Gerwin smiled at the judge. “May I cross-examine this witness, please?”

  The judge nodded. “Yes.”

  Lowry’s beloved Mr. Gerwin wiped the sweat from his face as he reviewed his notes. His chair squeaked as he rose, and then he approached the front of the courtroom, nodding to the judge as he passed the bench. His nose twitched as he paused in front of witness stand, staring grimly at Lowry.

  Lowry bit the inside of her lip but kept her face expressionless under his glare. Her left hand tingled as she clutched the arm of the seat. With her right hand, she reached into her pocket, pressing her fingers against the sharp edges of the glass fragment, a token of her fear—and the path beyond it.

  With a smirk on his face, Gerwin sighed disdainfully. “Now, Ms. Walker, let’s start at the beginning. You stated that you were the ‘accidental’ recipient of the message, which supposedly was sent to shut down the space station; is that true?”

  “Yes, that’s true.”

  “And you have stated that, in your opinion, this was due to the fact that you were acquiring satellite imagery of the surface of Antarctica at that exact time and place an
d that the perpetrators had advance notice in order to plan this attack on the station.”

  “Yes.”

  “And this was from a remote portion of Antarctica?”

  “Well, all of Antarctica is remote, but the signal came from an area away from the main station, yes.”

  Grinning, he faced the jury. “Thank you for clarifying.”

  Then his smile faded as he swung back to her. “Ms. Walker, there is no real way to confirm that the message even came from Antarctica, is there?”

  “I had a narrow, high-definition receiver band on.”

  “But there is no way to totally corroborate that the signal didn’t come from, say, the Arctic instead of the Antarctic.”

  “It would be pleasant to think God might send me a personal message, but I don’t believe that either. No, sir, the message came from Antarctica. There are no other physical possibilities. Light waves bounce only certain ways.”

  Gerwin tapped his lip with his finger. “Ms. Walker, assuming what you say is true, is it possible that this Eskimo group sent a drone to Antarctica to send the laser message that knocked the power out to the space station, in order to hide their involvement?”

  “That I cannot say, but if a group wanted to take credit for it, I’m not sure why they would try to go to that extreme to hide their involvement.”

  “Just answer the question, Ms. Walker; do not speculate on reasons why they may or may not do it.”

  The judge nodded and said, “Yes, please keep your answers brief and specific.”

  Lowry shrugged. “I can’t say one way or another about a drone being the conveyance of the OPALS message.”

  He pointed his finger at her. “Following up on the question of claiming responsibility for the attack, in order to further some political statement, don’t you think it odd that the Colombian tribe didn’t take credit, if indeed they were the perpetrators?”

  Lowry pursued her lips. “No group has officially claimed responsibility.”

  With his finger on his chin, Gerwin paced toward the jury box and then pivoted back to the witness stand. “Let’s try another line of questioning.” Gerwin faced her with a twitch to his mustache. “Your Uncle Nick had trained with the Eskimos prior to his going to Antarctica, didn’t he?”

  Lowry blinked in shock. She looked at Edward sitting behind the prosecution table. He glanced at her briefly but then dropped his head as if reading his tablet. Obviously, he had passed the information gathered during his bedroom interrogation to Halder.

  Chalk up another betrayal for Edward.

  “Ms. Walker?”

  She turned back to face Gerwin. “Yes, it is true that he had some brief training with an Eskimo tribe in Alaska as a part of the required instruction the mining company provided before he shipped out to Antarctica, but that was years ago.”

  “Let the record state that Mr. Walker has maintained those contacts over the years.”

  “For God’s sake, Christmas and birthday cards don’t constitute a conspiracy!”

  The judge shook her head at Lowry. “Ms. Walker, please keep your comments to yourself—this is a court of law.”

  Sitting back in the chair, Lowry chewed the inside of her cheek. Your Honor, that’s the real question—is this a court of law?

  Gerwin spun slowly around as he continued his assault. “Let’s move on to the ‘possibility’ of another group being the perpetrators in the attack on the space station,” he said with an incredulous look on his face. “Now, Ms. Walker, you’re telling us that you think some Colombian bush people traveled through the Amazonian jungle, crossed the entire continent of South America, navigated to Antarctica in a dugout canoe, set up a laser signaling device, sent up a signal to the space station, and then calmly blow-darted a bird, had lunch, and moseyed on home?” He glanced toward the witness stand, raising his eyebrows.

  Laughter erupted from the courtroom, and Lowry glanced at the jurors’ smiling faces.

  With lips pinched, she gazed into Gerwin’s mocking eyes but was determined to not rise to his bait. She replied calmly, “I know it sounds crazy, except that one of the miners at the station was from Colombia. He fled right after the event but left a newspaper article, seemingly for the authorities to find.” She shook her head. “It just seems too coincidental to not have legs to it.”

  Gerwin chuckled. “Well, at least you acknowledge that it sounds crazy.” With a sympathetic nod, he said softly, “Perhaps you might consider some R&R. You’ve had a tough few months with your divorce and all.” He turned to the judge. “No more questions for this witness.”

  Lowry clenched the arm of the witness chair, watching Gerwin move back to the prosecution table. Where is a bolt of lightning when you need one?

  Chavez shook her head as the judge looked over to her.

  The judge called out, “Witness dismissed.”

  Stewing, Lowry moved out of the witness stand toward the gallery. She stared daggers at Gerwin as she passed the prosecution table. He sneered back at her, but Halder focused on his tablet, disregarding her completely.

  Lowry made her way to the gallery, ignoring the looks tossed her way from the spectators—some sympathetic, some amused, but all salivating for the main event. Seeing an empty seat near the prosecution table, she squeezed past an older couple and plopped down. With trembling hands, she gulped down some water and exhaled as she leaned back in the seat. But the show was just beginning. Lowry’s rattled nerves flinched when Chavez called out, “I would like to call my next witness, the defendant, Jean-Luc Kimalu, to the stand.”

  The gallery buzzed as he approached the witness stand.

  The judge pounded the gavel. “Silence in the courtroom!”

  Jean-Luc was sworn in and sat in the chair, perusing the court with fierce brown eyes. He had a square face with high cheekbones and a wide mouth, topped with an unruly shock of black hair. He held his head high, but Lowry bit her lip at the sight of him gripping the arms of the witness chair just as she had done.

  Chavez walked in front of the stand. “Mr. Kimalu, can you tell the court a little about yourself?”

  “I’m half-Inuit and half French-Canadian. I was raised in my village but then went to the university at Quebec, where I received a law degree. Then I returned to the Inuit tribes to help them with the overwhelming legal issues caused by the invasion of the squatters.”

  Chavez turned to him and asked sharply, “Mr. Kimalu, were you involved in the transmission which disrupted power to the space station on the date in question?”

  “No, absolutely not,” he said, flashing an insolent look at the prosecution.

  “Can you tell the court where you were when this shutdown of the space station occurred?”

  “I was at a meeting of the Inuit council discussing the latest political maneuver of the United States to disenfranchise my people of their land. I have statements of the tribe elders to back me up.”

  “Yes, and we have filed those statements with the authorities.”

  She turned on her heel. “Mr. Kimalu, do you know Nick Walker, or have you heard of him?”

  “No, I do not know him, and I had not heard of him prior to this case. I’m aware there is an Aleut tribe who has a training facility for companies and governments to help people prepare for harsh expeditions into cold climates, but the Inuits do not conduct that type of instruction. Therefore, there would be no reason for him to have contacted our tribe to do any advance training for Antarctica.”

  Chavez faced the jury. “It sounds as if there is no evidence that connects you with the power shutdown of the space station at all.”

  “OBJECTION!” screamed Halder, pointing at the judge.

  Chatter in the gallery rose to a crescendo until the judge banged the gravel.

  “Sustained. Please focus your remarks on the testimony being given and not your opinions, counselor.”

  “Yes, Your Honor. My client would like to make a statement in his defense.”

  The judge nodded to Je
an-Luc. “You may proceed.”

  Jean-Luc exhaled and turned to the jury. “I want you to know that I am not guilty of this crime. All I have done is help my people keep the rights to their land. This land is our heritage, and the Inuit tribes have lived on the land for thousands of years. It is only recently, when land in the south was engulfed in water and ours warmed, that it became desirable to you. And the government does nothing to protect us and our rights. They just turn a blind eye to what is happening with the invaders from the south.”

  Angrily, he waved toward the prosecution table. “The truth is that the United States of Amerada wants to steal our territory. They are using this incident with the space station to paint us black in order to justify their illicit acts. Some say they are encouraging the squatters to take our land so the displaced people can have property and the government can collect more taxes.”

  He paused and then reached out to the jury with his hand. “Taking our land is paramount to taking our lives. We appeal to your humanity. Don’t let this mockery of charges brought by the Ameradan government succeed.” Jean-Luc finished speaking and leaned back in the chair.

  The courtroom was silent as Chavez spoke to the judge. “No further questions, your honor.”

  Halder twisted his cufflinks as he reviewed his notes. He focused his eyes on Jean-Luc and rose abruptly, the legs of his chair shrieking against the floor. He buttoned his coat, and with his lips bared into a grin, he approached the witness stand.

  He nodded to Jean-Luc, acknowledging him in a smooth voice. “Good morning, Mr. Kimalu.” He pivoted away from Jean-Luc and took a few steps toward the jury box. “I am submitting several pieces of evidence, which alone seem circumstantial but together show motive and a reasonable connection to the attack on the ISS.”

  He paced in front of the jury, gesturing with his hand. “I’m very glad that Ms. Walker stated that the fingerprint on the virus sent through the satellite was the year 1998.” He pivoted and grabbed the railing in front of the jury. “Obviously, this was a very active year for indigenous peoples.” A smile crossed his face. “We have discovered that in 1998, the Canadian government ‘apologized’ to one-point-three million of the Eskimo peoples for abuses against them, but many factions of the tribes were never satisfied.” He gestured with his index finger. “Now the treaties with the tribes are being renegotiated, and the leaders throw that agreement up as a part of their protest against the United States government.” A smile grazed his face. “In 2098, it’s a perfect occasion to use the hundredth-year anniversary to launch a protest.” He turned to the judge. “I’d like to submit a copy of a New York Times article to the court.”