I certainly don’t doubt it, George thought.
‘For nearly half a century, peace reigned in Western Europe. Why? NATO’s theater nuclear forces. During those same decades, the planet suffered no global-scale wars. Why? America’s strategic nuclear forces. This is an astonishing record. Indeed, it is fair to say that, between the Second and Third World Wars, these weapons saved more human lives than penicillin.’
Before hurling out his final sentences, Bonenfant rose to full height. To George, the advocate had never looked more mature.
‘And so I ask – who among your Honors, who among the prosecutors, who among the spectators in this courtroom would have dared renounce such a sturdy doctrine, leaping into the awesome uncertainties of a non-nuclear world? Who here would have dared do that? Who?’
As Bonenfant settled behind the defense table, Parkman gave him cocoa capped by two marshmallows. He took a long, leisurely swallow.
Delighted chatter floated through the glass booth. Overwhite remarked that Bonenfant knew his stuff. Wengernook noted that the cancer metaphor was ‘unexpectedly rich.’ Sparrow complained that the advocate had ‘said nothing about their atheism.’ Brat asserted that they had ‘won the opening round, hands down.’ His friends’ happiness gave George a satisfaction he had not known since Mrs Covington had unveiled his forthcoming family.
He studied the bench. The faces of Justices Yoshinobu and Gioberti had lost the dark flush of unadmitted blood. Eyes shut, mouth drooping, Justice Wojciechowski looked like a man praying to a god in whom he did not believe.
‘The tribunal will recess until nine o’clock tomorrow morning,’ said Shawna Queen Jefferson in a hoarse and troubled voice.
‘Fellas,’ said Randstable, ‘I think we’ve got ourselves a game.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Like white paper stalagmites, stacks of documents grew from every flat surface in the courtroom. The documents flowed down the aisles and splashed across the judge’s bench. Day after day, each passing with the speed of a snail navigating glue, Aquinas’s staff read aloud articles from Strategic Doctrine Quarterly by Brat Tarmac. Grim-lipped stenographers scribbled down arms control agreements negotiated by Brian Overwhite. Weary translators repeated descriptions of blueprints bearing William Randstable’s name. The tribunal heard speeches by Robert Wengernook, entire bestselling books by Reverend Sparrow, and a scopas suit sales contract signed by George Paxton. Memoranda, monographs, reports, resolutions, directives, letters, field manuals, and Republican Party platforms gradually entered the record.
‘The judges are growing restive,’ observed Randstable.
‘Bored out of their trees,’ said Brat.
‘Mr Aquinas,’ said Justice Jefferson, pushing documents aside with a windshield-wiper sweep of her arm, ‘the court believes it is time you examined your first witness.’
Aquinas pulled a deposition from his scopas suit and smoothed it out on the prosecution table.
‘In the McMurdo Sound Agreement,’ he said, rising, ‘a date is written, a date so notorious that few of us are willing to speak its name. On this date the Third World War began. According to another calendar, however – the calendar by which we would all have been admitted – something else happened, would have happened, on this date. On this date certain American citizens would have begun to see a way out of the nuclear miasma. Subsequent days would have found them talking among themselves, and then to their children. The children would have grown up… The prosecution calls Brigadier General Quentin Flood, United States Army.’
The witness entered the courtroom at the head of an invisible parade. Assuming the stand, he exuded an aura that George was inclined to call gallantry. He seemed chipped from the Tarmac stone – sturdy, handsome, flamboyant. His scopas suit displayed a mass of ribbons and medals.
‘Who could this jerk be?’ said Wengernook.
‘Leave it to the Army to give the world another asshole,’ said Brat.
The rabbity little court usher scurried over, pulled a Bible from his unzipped suit, and asked the witness whether he intended to speak the pure truth. ‘I do,’ said Flood.
‘At what age did you gain the continent?’ asked Aquinas.
‘Forty-two.’
‘According to your memories, would you have founded an organization called Generals Against Nuclear Arms?’
‘Correct.’
‘Forty-two. That’s young for a brigadier general.’
‘Mine was a new breed.’ Flood had a melodious southern drawl. ‘Spoilers, they called us.’
‘What did you spoil?’
‘Nuclear strategy.’
‘As defined by Secretary Wengernook and General Tarmac?’
Bats leave hell more slowly than Bonenfant got up. ‘Objection!’
‘Try another question, Mr Aquinas,’ said Justice Jefferson.
The chief prosecutor grimaced and asked, ‘Where did you first encounter traditional nuclear strategy?’
‘In articles from Strategic Doctrine Quarterly,’ answered Flood. ‘One was “After Deterrence: Options for the Infra-War Period” by Secretary Wengernook over there. Another was “Our Achilles Leg: Triad Theory and Land-Based Defenses” by Major General Roger Tarmac.’
‘What was the philosophy of Generals Against Nuclear Arms?’
‘That weapons having absolutely no military utility are unfit to be the centerpiece of a great democracy’s defensive posture.’
‘It must have been hard converting your elders in the Pentagon to this view.’
‘Ever try stuffing a melted marshmallow up a wildcat’s ass? It can be done, but you have to like your job.’
Strolling over to the prosecution table, Aquinas snatched up the witness’s deposition. ‘A famous and influential book you would have written – Weapons for What? – would have ended with the statement, quote, “Thus do our nuclear forces corrupt us. They debase and dispirit the ancient and honorable profession of soldiering. They are unpatriotic. We must try to—”’
‘Objection!’ Bonenfant rose fumingly. ‘Your Honors, the defense does not find these glib opinions and unsubstantiated assertions very instructive.’
‘Yes – might we hear more of the witness’s actual experiences?’ Justice Jefferson asked of Aquinas.
‘He has no actual experiences.’ The chief prosecutor turned toward the bench. ‘He’s one of—’
‘You know what I mean,’ admonished Justice Jefferson.
Aquinas made an awkward about-face, grabbing the stand for support. ‘I see from your deposition that your group endorsed the Einstein VI Treaty. Generals do not normally sponsor arms control agreements.’
Flood said, ‘We had concluded that strategic nuclear weapons, particularly the first-strike arsenals favored by Wengernook and Tarmac, make a nation weaker, not stronger.’
‘Because they continually pressure the other side to preempt?’
‘Right. The guy who goes first goes best – you can’t escape that terrible truth.’
‘The guy who goes first goes best,’ Aquinas repeated slowly. ‘Thank you, General. The witness is yours, Mr Bonenfant.’
As Aquinas returned to his team, the chief counsel ambled forward and offered Flood a good-natured grin.
‘Let’s get a little blood on the floor, Bonenfant,’ said Wengernook.
‘You can’t play nice with the Army,’ said Brat.
‘Yeah,’ said George.
Bonenfant pointed to the witness’s chest. ‘Handsome medals you’ve got there.’