“Good,” Sohelia said. She pulled her comm and a sheaf of paper out of her briefcase. “If you’re ready, we should discuss the hearing.”
“Go ahead,” Juna said. She would have preferred to have a good night’s sleep before this discussion, but there wasn’t time. The hearing would start tomorrow afternoon.
“You’ve gotten Judge Matthesen,” Sohelia told her. “She’s tough, but fair. I’d say our chances were decent.”
“Only decent?” Juna asked worriedly.
“It’s a difficult case, Juna. In this situation, decent is the best we can hope for. Usually both parents get permanently sterilized or transported to Mars. We’ll have to convince the judge that this was an accident, then hope for the best. Judge Matthesen has been kind to other women with extenuating circumstances. Hopefully, she’ll be kind to you.”
“I see,” Juna said. She placed one hand on her stomach, and closed her eyes. She had refused to think about the possibility of losing the baby. But now she could no longer ignore it.
“I was planning on calling Ukatonen as a witness. Do you think he’ll have a problem with that?”
Juna took a deep breath and opened her eyes. “You’ll have to ask Ukatonen.”
“Ask me about what?” Ukatonen said, emerging from the bathroom, still wet, his kilt stained with moisture. He laid a towel over an upholstered chair and sat down on it.
“We would like you to testify on Juna’s behalf.”
Ukatonen listened intently as Sohelia explained what that involved.
“Yes, I can do that. I will render a formal judgment that what I say will be the truth.”
“A-all right, en. Thank you.”
“It will be easy to tell the truth here,” Ukatonen said. “The facts are plain.”
“The difficulty will be in being believed,” Sohelia said. She lifted a hand to forestall his protest. “Humans do not know or understand you yet, Ukatonen. And almost all the information that we have about the Tendu comes from Juna. It will necessarily be suspect. I will be calling a few other witnesses to testify to your abilities.”
“Excuse me,” Analin broke in, “but will the case be open to the press?”
“Usually these hearings are closed. If criminal culpability is determined, then the subsequent trial is open to the press.”
“Good.” Analin said. “Most of the research reports on the Tendu are still classified. If word of what they can do gets out, then the press will be all over Ukatonen and Moki. I’ve also encouraged the hospital to keep a tight lid on the Tendu’s work.”
Sohelia made a note on her comm. “I’ll request that the judge enjoin all witnesses to silence on this.”
“Thank you,” Juna said. “I appreciate that. Sometimes I feel as if I’m living in a goldfish bowl.”
“It is hard,” her lawyer agreed. “Now, let’s go over the details of your testimony.”
Juna sat in the courtroom with Sohelia, waiting for the hearing to begin. Security Chief Martin had arranged for them to go through the service tunnels to the courthouse, avoiding the mob of reporters waiting outside. Analin was out there now, issuing a statement. Juna looked at Ukatonen and smiled nervously. Moki reached forward from his seat just behind the defendant’s table, and brushed her shoulders with his knuckles. Juna glanced back at him. “Thanks,” she whispered.
He turned a clear, reassuring shade of blue and nodded at her.
At that moment, the clerk came in from the judge’s chambers. “All rise,” he said as the judge, a severe-looking woman with greying hair and long black robes, came in and sat down. She convened the court, and the prosecutor, a plump, deceptively friendly-looking man named Parker, got up to make his opening remarks.
“Your Honor, the defendant is illegally pregnant. She plans to burden our solar system with another mouth to feed, another set of lungs that will need air. This illegal pregnancy has been on the top screens of all the news nets. If she is allowed to keep this child without punishment, then others will be encouraged to follow her example and flout the laws that humanity has created to save itself from itself. Each new child adds to the burden our solar system must support, during a time when we can ill afford it. I strongly suggest the maximum punishment for this high-profile case.”
The prosecutor returned to his seat. Sohelia rose gracefully from her seat.
“Your Honor, if, as my esteemed colleague implies, my client intentionally flouted the population laws, then I agree that she should be sentenced accordingly. Dr. Juna Saari is pregnant without approval from the Population Control Board, but there is compelling evidence that this pregnancy was accidental. Dr. Saari underwent a harrowing physical transformation when she was marooned on the planet Tiangi. The alien responsible for this transformation also undid her contraception, without fully understanding the consequences of his action. When my client was rescued, the Interstellar Survey failed to check her contraceptive status. My client assumed that her contraception was still intact. She had the misfortune to sleep with a man who had never been given a contraceptive shot. Dr. Saari’s accidental pregnancy was due to an incredible series of circumstances. The odds of its happening again are astronomical. Punishing my client as an example to others is completely pointless.
“I further state that my client has made great sacrifices, and endured much hardship in order to further humanity’s scientific and diplomatic goals. Penalizing her for an accidental pregnancy that occurred as a result of her discoveries would be a shameful thing to do. The remarkable circumstances of Dr. Saari’s pregnancy must be taken into account when deciding this case. Thank you, Your Honor.”
There were a great many witnesses called to establish the facts of the case. Perhaps the most telling was Dr. Engle. Sohelia quizzed him about how long he had known Juna, and the particulars of her contraceptive shot. Then she asked him about the pregnancy test.
“Dr. Saari complained of symptoms that were very characteristic of pregnancy. So I decided to test her to rule that out.”
“Did you consider it a likely possibility, Dr. Engle?”
“Objection!” called the prosecutor. “Counsel is asking for opinion rather than fact.”
“Counselor Gheisar?” the judge inquired.
“I have already established that the witness has known the defendant since her childhood. Further questions will reveal a factual basis to this line of inquiry.”
“Objection overruled,” the judge said. “Please answer Counselor Gheisar’s question, Doctor.”
“No, I did not.”
“While you were giving her the test, did anything happen to support your opinion that this was not an illegal pregnancy?”
“Yes, indeed.”
“Please tell us, Dr. Engle, what that was.”
“I asked Juna if she was planning on starting a family. She told me that she was considering selling her child-rights, since it looked like she wasn’t going to be using them.”
“And did she know that you were doing a pregnancy test at the time?”
“No. In cases where there is no pregnancy permit, I do not inform the patient of the nature of the test. Juna didn’t know that I was performing a pregnancy test until I told her the results. Actually, I was so surprised, I performed the test a second time.”
“And how did Dr. Saari react?”
“She was extremely surprised. She told me several times that it was impossible. She told me that she had been on a Survey ship for the last six months, and before that on another planet. Then she realized what had happened. I saw her face. I believe that her astonishment was completely genuine.”
“What did she say then?”
“She told me that the Tendu must have reversed her contraception shot.”
“I see. And what did you think of this?”