“Of course, one could argue that God never intended us to watch TV all night long, or to read so much, or to sit in front of computers, or to do delicate work with our hands. But poor eyesight is not just a modern ailment. The ancient Indians of North America used to have their own eye tests. The second-last star in the handle of the Big Dipper is actually a double star. On a clear night, a person with normal vision should be able to easily see a second, fainter star very close to the main one; that’s the test the Indians used.
“And the ancient Greeks used the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus the Bull as an eye test—could you see all seven? Well, today, even with normal vision, only six are clearly visible—one of the Pleiades stars has dimmed over the millennia. But the fact that ancient peoples had eye tests proves that poor vision is hardly something new.”
Dale glanced at the jury, then looked back at the Canadian scientist. “Still, Dr. Smathers, surely the question of focus is a minor one. Surely, in its overall design, the perfection of the eye demonstrates the existence of a divine creator?”
“No, it does not,” said Smathers. “The eye, in fact, is incompetently designed. No engineer would ever do it that way. Remember I mentioned three fundamental components—the lens, the retina, and the optic nerve? Well, a sensible design would have the retina connected to the optic nerve at the back—so that the optic nerve doesn’t obscure the light coming from the lens to the retina.
“But our eye is wired up ass-backward—forgive me, Your Honor—with the optic nerve connecting to the retina in the front. Our vision would be sharper if the light coming through the lens didn’t have to pass through layers of neural tissue before reaching the retina. It’s degraded further by the fact that there’s also a network of blood vessels on top of the retina to service that neural tissue.
“And, if all that weren’t bad enough, the nerve tissue has to make a channel through the retina to come out at the back of the eye and head on to the brain. That channel causes a blind spot in each eye. We’re not normally aware of it, because our brain fills in the missing visual information with an extrapolated picture, but I’m sure many people in this court have done the easy experiments that let you demonstrate that you do have a blind spot in your vision. The loss of image quality I mentioned earlier and the blind spot simply would not be necessary if our eyes had been designed logically, with the neural wiring behind, rather than in front, of the retina.”
Ziegler rose again. “Really, Your Honor, I must renew my objection. Where is all this going?”
“The Court is baffled, Mr. Rice,” said Pringle.
“I need but a moment more to finish with this witness, Your Honor.”
“Very well, Mr. Rice. But no more than that.”
“Thank you.” Dale looked at Smathers. “You were talking about the loss of image quality due to the backward wiring of the human eye. But surely, Professor, what you’re really saying is simply that you haven’t perceived the wisdom of God’s design. We can’t build an artificial eye yet, after all. Perhaps there’s something fundamental that we’re unaware of that requires the apparently incompetent design you’ve mentioned.”
“No, there’s not. It’s true that we can’t build eyes yet, but nature builds them all the time. And because nature operates by trial and error through evolution, sometimes she gets it wrong, as in our eyes, but other times she gets it right. It’s often said that octopuses and squids have eyes very similar to human eyes, and they do. But theirs evolved independently of ours, and are wired properly, with all the neural tissue behind the retina. Neither an octopus nor a squid has blood vessels or neural tissue diffusing the light falling on its retina, and neither of them has blind spots. Far from being proof of divine creation, Mr. Rice, the human eye is one of the best proofs of the fact of evolution.”
*32*
“On the record now, in California v. Hask. The jury is not present. All right, Mr. Rice, you may proceed.”
“Your Honor, I’d like to speak in support of the two defense motions Ms. Katayama filed yesterday.”
“Go ahead.”
“First, on the matter of our new witness—”
“I don’t like new witnesses this late in the game, counselor,” said Pringle.
“Nor do I. But this is a special instance. The witness is Dr. Carla Hernandez, who assisted in the surgery on Hask. Obviously, she had no involvement with Hask until he was shot, so there was no way she could have been deposed earlier.”
“Your Honor,” said Linda Ziegler, “this case is about the murder of Cletus Calhoun. Anything that might have happened after that murder is irrelevant to the proceedings at hand.”
“Dr. Hernandez’s testimony does relate to matters that occurred before the murder,” said Dale.
“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 anyone’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.”