Robert Sawyer - Illegal Alien

“Very well,” said Pringle. “I’ll allow it.”

“Thank you, Your Honor. Now, about my motion that the other Tosoks be barred from the courtroom during Dr. Hernandez’s testimony—”

“I can see barring the Tosoks on the witness list, if what Hernandez is going to say might influence their testimony, but that only applies to Kelkad, Stant, Ged, and Dodnaskak.”

“As you can see in my brief,” said Dale, “I may wish to expand the witness list, as a direct result of Dr. Hernandez’s testimony.”

“All right,” said Pringle. “I’ll order all of them out of the room, and I’ll ask them to avoid the media coverage of Hernandez’s testimony.”

“Thank you, Your Honor. Now, to my other request—that the lawyers and the jury be allowed to tour the Tosok mothership.”

Linda Ziegler spread her arms in an appeal for basic common sense. “The People strenuously object to this bit of theater, Your Honor. The murder took place on Earth. Now, if Mr. Rice felt there was a need for the jury to tour the crime scene at the University of Southern California, the People might indeed support him in such a motion. But the only reason for wanting the jury to see the alien ship is so that they can be awed by it.”

“The Court is inclined to agree,” said Pringle. “Mr. Rice, I see nothing in your brief that makes me want to grant your request. Besides, you had your chance during the discovery phase to request any evidence you thought was necessary.”

“Your Honor,” said Dale, “the defense believes that Dr. Hernandez’s testimony will suggest a further line of inquiry that can only be accommodated aboard the mothership.” He turned to Ziegler. “The police should have searched the accused’s home, as a matter of course. That no search was done is surely the People’s fault, and we should be entitled to a wide-ranging remedy for that oversight.”

Ziegler spread her arms again. “Your Honor, for Pete’s sake, the Tosok mothership is hardly located within the jurisdiction of the LAPD. It’s not in a nyone’s jurisdiction. No one can issue a valid search warrant for it.”

“But if Captain Kelkad agrees to let the jury—”

“No,” said Judge Pringle, shaking her head. “No, even if he agrees, it doesn’t matter. There are all kinds of liability issues here. If one of the jurors were to be injured, the lawsuits would be incredible.”

“We could ask the jurors to sign waivers,” said Dale.

“And if even one of them chooses not to?” said Pringle. “Then we’re looking at a mistrial.”

“There are alternates—”

“I’m not going to manufacture a situation in which we have to dip into the alternate pool again. No, Mr. Rice, if you think there’s evidence aboard the mothership, find a way to present it in my courtroom. Now let’s get the jury in here, and get back to work.”

Dale glanced at the double row of empty Tosok chairs, then turned back to face the judge’s bench. “The defense calls Dr. Carla Hernandez,” he said.

The woman was sworn in and took her place in the witness box.

“Dr. Hernandez,” said Dale, “what’s your job title?”

“I’m chief of surgery at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center.”

“And in that capacity, did you have an opportunity to assist in surgery on a Tosok patient?”

“I did.”

“Please describe the circumstances of that.”

“The defendant Hask was shot on May eighteenth. He required immediate surgery to remove a bullet still lodged in his chest. Another Tosok named Stant performed the surgery, and it was my privilege to provide assistance to Stant while this was being done.”

“When surgery is performed on a human, is the human normally fully clothed?”

Hernandez smiled. “No.”

“In fact, the area in which the surgery is being performed is usually naked, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Were Hask’s clothes removed before the surgery was performed on him?”

“I removed his tunic, yes, then covered most of the torso with sterile sheets so that only the entrance wound was exposed.”

“Did you do this before or after Stant entered the operating theater?”

“Before. Stant was receiving hurried instruction on using our operating instruments in the adjacent, identical theater.”

“So only you saw Hask’s naked torso in its entirety that day.”

“No, three nurses also saw it.”

“But Stant never actually saw it?”

“That’s correct. Stant had me close the wound once the bullet was removed. Stant had left the operating theater by the time the sheets were taken off Hask’s body.”

“When you saw Hask’s naked torso, did you notice anything unusual?”

“Well, everything about Tosok anatomy is unusual. As a doctor, I was fascinated by every aspect of it.”

“Of course, of course,” said Dale. “What I meant was this: was the bullet entrance wound the only sign of recent injury to Hask’s torso?”

“No.”

“What other signs were there?”

“I saw three raised, dark-purple lines on his torso.”

“Did these lines remind you of anything you’d seen before?”

“Yes.”

“And what would that be?”

“Well, except for the color, they looked like recent scars.”

“What kind of scars?”

“Well, normally I’d say they were untreated injury scars, but—”

“What do you mean by ‘normally’?”

“Well, a surgical scar will usually be flanked left and right by small dots of scar tissue, caused by the sutures used to seal the wound.”

“So these weren’t surgical scars?”

“On the contrary, I think they were indeed. Stant told me that his people don’t use suture—at least not anymore—to close wounds. But a wound has to be closed somehow; otherwise, it simply gapes open. These were very neat, very precise lines—the kind one gets with a scalpel. And they clearly had been closed somehow.”

Dale reached into a bag on his desk and pulled out a Tosok doll; Mattel had rushed them to market shortly after the aliens had arrived on Earth. “Dr. Hernandez, using this doll, would you indicate where you recollect the scars being?”

“Certainly.” She started to leave the box, but Dale motioned for her to stay there. He walked through the well and handed her the doll and a purple Magic Marker.

“The first one was here,” she said, drawing a line vertically between the front arm and the left leg near the bottom of the torso.

“The second was here,” she said, drawing a horizontal line well below the left-front breathing orifice.

“And the third was here,” she said, making a diagonal line behind and just to the left of the front arm. “There could have been other scars, as well; I never saw Hask’s back.”

“Now, Dr. Hernandez,” said Dale, “you are the only human ever to assist in a surgical procedure on a Tosok, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And have you followed the revelations that have been made during this trial and elsewhere about Tosok anatomy?”

“Yes. As you know, the Tosoks are not at all forthcoming about such matters, but there’s an Internet newsgroup devoted to what we’ve been able to glean about Tosok physiology; I’ve been on that from the day it started.”

“If these scars were left behind from surgical incisions, what areas of Tosok anatomy would the surgery likely have concentrated on?”

“One of the four Tosok hearts, one of the four Tosok lungs, and one of the four organs that we’ve gathered serves a combined function similar to what our separate kidneys and spleen perform.”

“Thank you, Dr. Hernandez. Your witness, counselor.”

Ziegler rose warily. She clearly had no idea what Dale was getting at. Still, her natural instinct was to discredit anything the defense tried to enter into evidence. “Dr. Hernandez, have you examined Hask since you closed the bullet entrance wound on him?”