“Please explain to the court about these pheremones?”
“I do not know much, only what I have been told. All succubae know that we make those around us friendly and agreeable. We always thought it was magic, we called it miasma, and never questioned how it happened. Then humans came and asked questions. How and why. They found that our bodies emit pheremones that change the emotions of those around us. So, they say, do humans, although their pheremones are not as effective as ours.”
“I see, so your pheremones are just a developed version of something all humans have. Can they make people do things against their will.”
Luga hesitated. “No, if somebody really doesn’t want to do something, the pheremones won’t make them. For that we must use trickery.”
“And, for five hours, the defendant refused to speak although she must have known doing so would please you. Did that surprise you?”
“Not really. I said, if somebody is determined not to do something, my miasma won’t make them. But, the government asked me to help protect itself from the defendant and who am I to refuse aid to the country that gave me refuge?”
“Your honor, please let the record state that Miss Sharmanaska has been of great assistance in the war effort, often at considerable personal risk and has suffered severely during her efforts. Her loyalty is not subject to doubt.” We don’t doubt that she has no loyalty at all to anybody but herself. The Federal attorney was very careful not to give a hint of the thought. “You said trickery Miss Sharmanaska. How?”
“Before humans started to wear your silver hats, we could create images in your mind. I could make myself look like a wife so a faithful husband would lay with me not knowing who or what I was. The Incubi, our male equivalents could make themselves look like a faithful wife’s husband for the same reason. Or I could project an image of empty space so that people would not see me at all.”
“And you could project this image to multiple persons at one.”
“Only if they were not wearing silver hats, yes. We used to do it all the time.”
“What if they are wearing silver hats?”
“Then unless I was very close and concentrated on a single mind, I cannot entangle that mind. Even under ideal situations, penetrating a silver cap is exhausting.”
Judge Candlass tapped his gavel. “I want to see this. Miss Sharmanaska, can you change your appearance please?”
“If you take your hat off. Who would you like me to look like.”
The judge remembered his favorite poster from the 1980s. “Farrah Fawcett.”
The Court recorder called the famous poster up on his computer and showed Luga the picture. She nodded and the judge took off his tinfoil cap. Even doing so made him feel uneasy and his head felt naked without its protection. It was no wonder that going around without a tinfoil cap was a sign of madness. Then he looked at the witness stand and saw Farrah Fawcett standing there in the trademark red swimsuit. He gasped, put on his cap and, once more, he saw the succubus in her real form.
“Miss Sharmanaska, you must be the most dangerous person I have ever seen in this courtroom.”
“Thank you, your Honor.” Lugasharmanaska sounded pleased.
“Miss Sharmanaska, do you have any legal training?” The Federal Attorney returned to the case,
“No, only the studies of the Constitution required for me to become a Citizen.”
“So your comment about not being able to use the information gained in court was your own, unqualified opinion?”
“In a way, although I thought the information we gained would be secret and not revealed to anybody. That is what I meant.
“Ah, I see.” Well done Luga. That throws a spanner in the defense. “No further questions.”
The Defense attorney rose to his feet. “Miss Sharmanaska, do you eat human meat?”
“Not now, no.”
“Have you ever?”
“Objection your Honor. Relevence?”
“Goes to credibility of the alleged threat.”
“Overruled. Witness will answer.”
“Once, yes. But that was before I joined humans.”
“Did you project an image of you eating my client’s breasts.”
“Not her breasts, no.” Luga smiled to herself. She’d noted how lawyers played with words.
“Oh.” The attorney was confused. “So what did you project an image of?”
“I haven’t said that I did.”
“Well did you?”
“Yes.”
“What of.”
“Eating one breast. Singular. Not both of them.” A ripple of laughter ran around the courtroom. That made Luga feel a lot easier in her mind, her pheremones were having their usual effect.
“Your Honor, there we have it. A hideous, coercive threat of permanent mutilation.”
“Not permanent. It would grow back.”
“Not on Earth it won’t.”
“Oh. I forgot that.” Luga had honestly forgotten that bodies didn’t regenerate on Earth.
“Irrelevent. Your Honor, I maintain that the statements we have heard today are enough to support the claim that my client’s constitutional rights were trampled underfoot, that she was drugged and terrified into making her confession. In fact, I would go as far to say she was tortured mentally until she confessed. She was threatened with dreadful physical harm by a creature she had been brought up to regard as the epitome of evil. I mean no disrespect to Miss Sharmanaska, her record of valued service to the human cause is well known and her television program is loved by millions. She was doing what she believed was helping her adopted country as best she could. We should respect that. But she is a daemon and what she did was wrong. As such, her confession and all that stems from it should be ruled inadmissible and stricken from the record.”
“Prosecution?”
“Your Honor. We have already disproved the charge that the defendant was denied her legal rights. The accusation that she was drugged also falls since the defense has admitted she spent five hours under interrogation without the pheremones having any effect on her. In fact, the interrogation was on the point of being ended as a failure, showing that the alleged drugging did not take place. As to the threat, the courts have always been prepared to accept that the law enforcement community has a degree of latitude in such things. It is commplace, for example, to tell an alleged murdered that if he does not confess, the prosecution will seek the death penalty. The horrors of going to an American prison are also described in an attempt to produce a confession. Who amongst us has not heard going to prison being described as ‘starting a new career as a bad man’s girlfriend?’ How often do we see the deal being offered ‘five to ten if you confess, 25 to life if you do not?” Such threats and intimidation may not be a happy part of the law enforcement system but they are an accepted one that does not invalidate a confession. All that happened here was that the same such threats were made in a slightly more vivid and persuasive form that usual. There was no real danger of the defendant suffering physical harm. The law enforcement officers would not have permitted it and I feel sure that Miss Sharmanaska, with her pride in her American Citizenship would not have carried out her threat. And, I must point out that the information gained as a result of this interrogation will greatly benefit every citizen of the world. Remember, Uriel is still out there. We still face unknown dangers from Heaven. Can we afford to tolerate traitors in our midst. Your Honor, I implore you not to rule this information inadmissible.”
Judge Candlass looked across the court, making up his mind. “This is a hard case and breaks new ground. The society we face today is unimaginable two years ago. Creatures we once thought were mythical have proved to be all to real and they have powers that our laws do not even begin to cover. Until new laws are written, and writing law is not the role of the Judiciary, we must do the best we can by applying existing law to these new circumstances. Working on that principle, it is this Court’s ruling that……”
Chapter Thirty One