“What flaws?” said Frank.
“Your throats, for instance. Food can block your own air passageway, and—”
“And—my God!” said Frank, heart pounding. “My God! And our eyes—our eyes are wired backward. And our guts contain an appendix that does nothing useful at all. When Hask dissected Calhoun, he was looking for design flaws, for things that would prove we had not been created from an intelligently designed blueprint.”
“In fact,” said Kelkad, “I suspect he was looking for the opposite—for proof that you were divine, that we had found God’s true children in our own backyard. His disappointment must have been profound at discovering that you, too, had evolved inefficiently through trial and error.”
“Wait a minute,” said Frank. “If Hask thought we were God’s children, what would move him to kill one of us in the first place? Surely he must have thought that God would frown on murdering one of his creations?”
“Hask did not intend to kill Calhoun.”
“Oh, come on! I don’t care where it evolved, no lifeform could have survived that kind of dissection.”
“The dissection was done after Calhoun was dead, of course.”
“But to sever a limb!”
“Hask cut off Calhoun’s leg,” the alien captain said in agreement. “Doubtless to Hask’s astonishment, Calhoun bled to death.”
“A clean cut like that, right through the femoral artery? Of course he bled to death!”
“That was likely Hask’s first clue that the human design was inefficient.”
“Well, what the hell would happen if I cut off your leg?”
“I would be unable to walk, until the leg regenerated or was reattached.”
“What about blood loss? We’ve seen Tosoks bleed.”
“A small amount of blood would escape, but valves in our arteries would close, preventing any significant loss.”
“We don’t have valves in our arteries,” said Frank.
“Imagine Hask’s shock when he discovered that.”
“Christ,” said Frank. “Jesus Christ.” He closed his eyes. Humans do have valves in their veins—which carry used blood back to the heart—but not in their arteries, which carry freshly oxygenated blood away from the heart.
When venous valves fail to function properly, the result is varicose veins.
“Dammit, dammit, dammit,” said Frank, getting it. “The human heart is located near the top of the body; fresh blood going down into the legs needs no help—gravity causes it to flow down anyway. It’s only blood coming back up, climbing four, five, or even six feet from our feet to our heart that’s in danger of slipping backward; that’s why we have valves that close when it does so. But the four Tosok hearts—Stant testified in court that they’re located near the bottom of the torso. So, in you, blood going from the heart up to the head is also prone to slipping back. Of course you’d have valves in both your arteries and in your veins.” He shook his head, angry with himself for not having seen it earlier. “But why would Hask cut off Clete’s leg in the first place?”
“Leg amputation is a standard method of prisoner restraint on our world.”
“Prisoner!” said Frank.
“Yes. Clearly Hask needed to keep Calhoun from getting away while he went to do something—presumably summoning me, his commanding officer. He had no bonding equipment with him, but he did have his monofilament cutting tool.”
“But why would he need to restrain Calhoun?”
“Of that,” said Kelkad, “I have no idea.”
*35*
As soon as Frank returned to Earth, Hask demanded a chance to consult privately with him and Dale Rice. The two of them drove out to Valcour Hall at the University of Southern California, and met with Hask in his room.
“I wish to change my plea,” said Hask.
Dale kept his face impassive. “Do you, now?”
“That is my option, no? I wish to change to a plea of guilty.”
Dale looked over at Frank, whose eyebrows were high on his forehead. “You realize,” said Dale, looking back at Hask, “that if you plead guilty, the presentation of evidence will end, and Judge Pringle will charge the jury with sentencing you.”
“Yes.”
“And,” said Dale, “the sentence they will likely call for is execution. Often, the death penalty is not invoked even when applicable to the crime if there’s still a shadow of a doubt. A jury might feel comfortable sentencing you to life imprisonment, but generally will want to be convinced to a higher degree before calling for execution. But if you admit your guilt, any remaining doubt in the jury’s mind is eliminated.”
“I am prepared for the consequences.”
Dale shrugged. “It is, as you say, your prerogative. As your lawyer, I should inform you that a better option would be for you to simply dispatch me to Linda Ziegler’s office and tell her that we might be receptive to a deal. We could plea-bargain this down from murder one to manslaughter—you’ll certainly not be executed, and probably get off with five years or so.”
“Whatever,” said Hask. “Just so long as the presentation of evidence ends.”
“All right,” said Dale. “But, look, I’ve gone to a lot of trouble preparing my summation and argument. You really owe me a chance to present it—at least to you and Frank.”
Hask’s tuft waved in confusion. “I hardly see the point of that.”
“Humor me,” said Dale.
“There is no reason to—”
“I think there is,” said Dale. “Please.”
Hask made a very human-sounding sigh. “Very well.”
“Thank you,” said Dale, standing up in the small dorm room. He hooked his thumbs into his suspenders and turned to face a nonexistent jury. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I’d like to thank you for your attention during this very difficult trial. It’s been a case like no other, with issues that range far beyond this courthouse—” He paused, interrupting himself. “That’s where Linda would jump up and object,” he said, smiling. “Can’t urge the jury to take anything into account other than the facts of the case, as presented during the trial.” He switched back into courtroom mode. “Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, let us review the evidence.
“We’ve heard from Captain Kelkad that his crew originally consisted of eight Tosoks, including himself. We heard, too, that one of those Tosoks, named Seltar, died during the flight to Earth, and the defendant, Hask, performed a harvesting of her organs, which was the normal, proper procedure should someone die during the mission.
“Now, the People would have you believe that this unforeseen event—the need to carve up a corpse—turned out to be unexpectedly titillating to Hask, so much so that he found himself overcome by an irresistible urge to have a similar experience again. And, when the opportunity presented itself, according to the People, Hask did indeed repeat the experience, killing and brutally dissecting the body of Cletus Robert Calhoun.
“We also heard that Tosok blood was found at the crime scene—but no evidence has been presented conclusively linking that blood to Hask. Also at the scene was a bloody mark that might be a Tosok footprint, but, again, the People utterly failed to demonstrate that this footprint belonged to Hask.
“Now, it is true that my client did indeed shed his skin at approximately the same time that Cletus Calhoun was killed. The People have stressed this fact, suggesting that Hask induced this shedding because he had ended up covered in Dr. Calhoun’s blood.
“Apparently corroborating that the shedding was induced was the testimony of Stant, another Tosok—who turned out to be Hask’s half brother. And it was revealed that, as was required by the peculiarities of Tosok biology, Hask and Stant must have been born within days of each other, and that their shedding schedules should have been closely synchronized. But, as we all saw in this courtroom”—Dale winked here, acknowledging to Hask and Frank that he wasn’t completely caught up in this fantasy closing argument—“Stant himself shed his skin without any apparent inducement some five months after Hask did.