Dean Koontz - Anti-Man

That day, my lawyer, Leonard Fenner, came to visit me in my cell. Using pressure in the right places, he managed to bring Harry with him. We sat and talked for more than two hours, about inconsequentialities at first, then, increasingly about my predicament. It would not be so bad, Leonard asserted; if they could only charge me with kidnapping Him. First of all, the android was not considered a citizen, and, therefore, was a piece of property belonging to the State. Kidnapping could not be upheld in court; it was only a matter of grand larceny. But I had not just stolen Him. I had assaulted the WA representative who had recognized us that night in the Cantwell Port lot. I had killed game on a government preserve. I had assaulted a police officer in Anchorage at that recharging station. I had illegally converted a taxi from auto-to-manual and then had stolen it I had stolen a police car belonging to the Alaskan state patrol. And, most serious of all, I shot North American Supreme Court Justice Charles Parnel in the leg. The WA was charging me with intent to kill.

"Intent to kill?" Harry screeche'd. "Why, that's absurd! This boy couldn't kill anyone if — "

"Harry," I said, "let Leonard spell the story out. No matter what we would like, we have to face things as they're going to be."

"It's ridiculous!" Harry huffed, but he kept quiet.

I was not so certain that the charge was ridiculous. What had I been trying to do when I grabbed that rifle and whirled? I had fired into the light. I must have known there would be someone behind it I must also have known that the bullet would hurt or kill whoever was there. Couldn't that be termed intent to kill? Even if it was a gut reaction, something I had done without thinking.

"Here's what we aren't worried about," Leonard said. "One, they will never be able to uphold a charge of grand larceny. First of all, they were going to destroy the android anyway. It is not as if you stole something precious. And they will not dare tell in public what the android did to get itself condemned."

"You know?" I asked, surprised.

"I told him," Harry said. "He ought to know all the circumstances if he's to do his best for you. To hell with security."

"Go on," I said to Fenner.

"Anyway," he went on, "grand larceny will fall through. Maybe petty or nuisance theft, but that usually only requires a double reimbursement to the victim by the victimizer. Used to be punishable by a prison sentence, but not under WA law. Next, they will charge you with assaulting the WA rep in the taxi lot at Cantwell. Tell me the situation."

I told him.

"He did not draw first?" my crafty little attorney queried.

"No."

"Think. Did he go for a gun?"

"Yes, but I shot him before — "

"Then he went for a gun?"

"Yes."

Fenner chuckled. "Did he start for it before you pulled your own?"

"I can't remember," I said.

"You're right," he said. "Of course he drew first. And you had no way of knowing it was not a contraband weapon held by a non-WA Citizen. So much for that charge. Now, killing game on a government preserve only allows for a fine. Hellishly stiff. But maybe we can get it reduced since we can prove you didn't eat any of it. You didn't, did you?"

"No. But how did you — "

"My guess," Harry said. "If the android was continuing to evolve, I thought He might find it essential to have large quantities of energy foods. I knew you weren't the type to kill for the fun of it."

"Thanks," I said.

"Hell's bells, men," Fenner said, "will you let your shyster lawyer lay out his news and views?"

"Go ahead, Leo," Harry said.

"Gee, thanks," Leonard said. He continued pacing across the floor to the toilet, then back to the bunk where we sat. He punctuated all his words with his hands, waving them, slamming them together, slapping them against his hips. "Next, we have the problem of the stolen cars. You are going to admit to stealing both of them. There is no way around it, no way to disguise what you did. But we can argue that, since both vehicles were government property, you should be dealt with less severely than you would be for stealing private property. The case of Halderbon vs. World Authority sets a precedent for such an argument, whether it will get us anywhere or not."

"Now we're to the bad part," I said.

"You've got it right," Leonard said, pacing faster, slapping both hands into both hips in time to his step. "In the case of the Anchorage cop, you're still a little in the clear. We can easily prove you did not initiate the assault with intent to kill. After all, you tied him up, left the heat on so he would not freeze. That's simple assault, and we can handle that. But the big problem comes with Justice Parnel — who you so unkindly shot in the leg. What in good hell were you doing, boy?"

I recounted the experience, went over it time and again from the moment Parnel had turned the light on me, until I had left him in the arms of the ranger at the main ranger station.

"You did see that he got medical attention," Leonard said. "We can argue that this proves you did not intend to kill. But they are going to fight like hell to keep the bigger charge, 'cause it's their only way to strike back at you for all you've done. I'm going to talk to Parnel tomorrow. I'll try to talk him into dropping the charges to simple assault. He, being the victim, can do that whether WA likes it or not."

Then they went, leaving me alone in the cell that night, the next day, the next night, and all of the following morning. But at noon on my third day in prison, as I was trying to concentrate on the melodic intricacies of a Lennon-extrapolated symphony that was playing in my wall stereo, Fenner returned with my bail papers, ushered me out to the desk where I signed another set of yellow sheets. From there, a WA clerk led us out of the prison complex, onto the roof of the building to the same landing pad that I had been brought in on, days earlier.

"Wait a minute," I said, grabbing Fenner by the arm and towing him to the wall at the edge of the roof, away from the landing pad where there was a busy rush of arriving and departing officers. "What the devil is going on? I thought I was in serious straits. They don't issue bail to people in the maximum security cells."

"You were put into maximum security only because the WA wanted to make a big issue of your apprehension. All of your crimes are bailable except assault with intent to kill. But I have talked with Justice Parnel."

"And he reduced the charge?"

"Not only that. He withdrew his complaint altogether."

"What?"

"He dropped the charges."

"I shoot a man, send him to the hospital for a week or two, and he drops the charges?" I shook my head. "What was his price?"

"You don't buy the Justice Parnel!" Fenner said.

"Then who is your mutual relationship?"

"You insinuate that I deal illegally to get my clients lighter sentences?" His tone of voice had changed. It bordered on anger now, was tainted with a sour, ugly streak.

"Okay," I said. "It was done honestly. But, Leonard, how in hell did you do it?"

He smiled and was his old, jovial self again. "I had a long talk with the Justice. I know his political leanings. I researched him well before I went to see him. I convinced him, without directly perjuring myself, that you had the same leanings and that your stealing the android that had been condemned to destruction was a manifestation of your political beliefs. I told him that I could not reveal all the circumstances behind the decision to destroy the android and behind your decision to rescue Him, but Justice Parnel was speaking warmly of you when I departed. He understood your ideals behind the theft, understood you thought he was a WA trooper about to shoot you when you returned fire. It was enough, I guess." He shrugged his shoulders.