While shipsmind dogged the hatch firmly shut, the officer unloaded the sled by himself. It wasn't much work, and there was no injury beneath the bandage. Besides, the largest item unloaded itself.
Chapter 59
Hearing Board
Within the Wyzhnyny Admiralty, it had been customary, over the centuries, to convene a fitness board following a major command failure. Often these cleared the accused of malfeasance, but sometimes they uncovered previously unrecognized malfeasance, and found other contributive or ameliorative factors. Sometimes procedural changes were recommended.
But never before had so drastic a failure been addressed.
On the stand, Grand Admiral Quanshuk wore his finest red velvet military vest, with every Imperial decoration he owned. Most prestigious were the High Emperor's Medal of Service, the Medal of Military Accomplishment, and two Outstanding Cadet Medals. None were for valor in combat; there had been no combat for more than three centuries. Nor the rare Kochasska, which protected the bearer from legal actions of any sort, civil or military. None of those had been awarded for nearly two millennia.
The presiding officer was Captain Kruts. As the ship's captain it was his job. The inquisitor was Rear Admiral Tualurog. The fitness board consisted of six admirals, senior wing commanders. There were also the grand admiral's counselor and several officers of the court. The witnesses numbered eleven, including senior and junior officers, enlisted personnel, and two humans. The remaining seats were occupied by other senior officers, as mandatory spectators.
Just now, Tualurog was walking back and forth in front of the grand admiral, trying to upset him. It wasn't working. Instead of following the inquisitor's pacing, Quanshuk gazed calmly at the fitness board.
"Tell me, Grand Admiral," Tualurog said, "how many ships did you lose in the recent confrontation with the humans?"
"Objection, Lord President!" Quanshuk's counsel was a commander, a member of Quanshuk's own clan. "The inquisitor is implying that the grand admiral was responsible for the losses. Responsibility is for the hearing to decide."
"Sustained. Rephrase your question in a neutral manner, Inquisitor."
"Of course, Your Honor. I apologize to the court." He looked around. "Grand Admiral Quanshuk, how many ships were lost in the recent battle with the humans?"
"You know the number as well as I do, Lord Tualurog."
"I am asking you, Lord Admiral."
Quanshuk listed them by classes.
"Wouldn't you say that is a shockingly large number?"
"I would use the term sobering, Lord Tualurog."
"You weren't shocked by it?"
"Your Honor!" counsel cried.
"Inquisitor, restrict your questions to matters of evidence."
"I stand admonished, Your Honor. Grand Admiral Quanshuk, who was responsible for the decisions made in this war?"
"They have been my decisions."
"And the battle strategies?"
"In conjunction with shipsmind, I was."
" `In conjunction with shipsmind.' But shipsmind is an artificial intelligence. Are artificial intelligences responsible, legally or otherwise, for decisions?"
"Artificial intelligences bear no responsibility for anything, Inquisitor. They are a tool. As you well know."
Tualurog looked at Kruts, expecting him to admonish Quanshuk for his added comment. Kruts, however, gazed coldly back at him, saying nothing. I will remember that, Captain, Tualurog thought, when I rule the armada.
"A tool indeed, Grand Admiral," Tualurog said, "a tool indeed. And what do you propose we do next, to destroy these humans?"
"Objection, Your Honor!"
"Sustained. Admiral Tualurog, I am aware that you have never before acted as inquisitor. But let me make this clear: If you do not restrict your questions to inquisitorial protocol, I will have to replace you. Understood?"
Tualurog avoided eye contact with Kruts. He could easily blow up at the miserable gut picker, and ruin this whole case. "Indeed, Your Honor. I appreciate your forbearance." He delivered the line smoothly. "Let me try to rephrase my question, because… Your Honor, it opens up another, very important part of the investigation."
He looked again at Quanshuk. Having put it as he had, Kruts was obliged to give him greater leeway in questioning, at least so long as he was making apparent progress. "Grand Admiral," Tualurog said, "please give this hearing your best estimate of the volume of space occupied by the human empire when we first encountered it."
Quanshuk knew exactly what Tualurog was getting at. His answer was an estimate made by shipsmind on the day before, expressed as a probability range.
"And what percentage of that space have we swept?"
Quanshuk's estimate was relatively precise, but it was the sheer vastness of the first answer that made the spectators' hearts sink. They'd all known of course, in a general sense, but to have it laid before them like this…
Tualurog looked knowingly at the board, then back at Quanshuk. "And how many planets have we colonized here?"
"Forty-seven."
"Forty-seven. With how many tribes?"
"Fifty-six."
"How many tribes do we have left?"
"Sixty-four."
Quanshuk's counsel had been tapping notes on his neckpad. In his own questioning, he would have the grand admiral explain his decisions. They were convincing enough. Even compelling.
"Sixty-four tribes left," Tualurog echoed, making the number sound every bit as bad as it was. "And our warfleet now numbers?"
"Two thousand seven hundred and twelve fighting ships. The reduction has been due largely to leaving defense forces in the colonized systems, but losses to enemy action have also been substantial."
Tualurog looked meaningfully at the hearing board, then turned to Kruts. "Your Honor, I would like to leave that train of questioning for now, and open a new train, which I am confident will change the complexion of this hearing. I respectfully request your indulgence."
Kruts eyed him mistrustingly. "Proceed, Inquisitor."
Tualurog drew nearer to Quanshuk now, and his tone became almost confidential. "I have not seen your chief scholar for several days. Is he ill?"
"Your Honor!" counsel complained. "I seriously object!"
"Denied for now. Proceed, Inquisitor. But this had better lead somewhere."
"It will, Your Honor. I have witnesses. Lord Admiral, your answer please."
Quanshuk had known this was coming since he'd seen the two humans in the witness section. And there was no way to explain it except with the truth. It seemed to him he'd botched the whole affair-everything since they'd arrived in this galaxy-and there was no way in the universe to fix it. He would tell it as he knew it, and take whatever came.
"Lord Inquisitor," he said, "Chief Scholar Qonits is not ill, so far as I know. I have sent him on a mission."
"Sent him?"
"In a long-range scout."
If the courtroom had been quiet before, it was now quiet cubed. "With the human known as David?" Tualurog asked.
"With the human known as David."
Now Tualurog feigned reluctance. He'd guessed the answer as soon as Qonits' absence had taken his attention. With that, uncovering witnesses had been easy. Then he'd requested a fitness board, proposing himself as inquisitor.
"And what, Grand Admiral, is that mission?" he asked slowly.
"I greatly underestimated the size of the human empire, Lord Inquisitor. As a result we are dangerously overextended, especially given the potency of the enemy fleets. However, our limited knowledge of humans suggests that while fierce, they are a life-form that can be-negotiated with."