"Henry Kuttner (as Lewis Padgett) - Time Locker UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kuttner Henry)
УNaturally you donТt, not even on a closed beam. But itТs tacit. However, the gagТs moth-eaten, and my clients wonТt play ball with you. TheyТre going to prosecute.Ф
УYou called me up just to tell me that?Ф
УNo, I want to settle the jury question. Will you agree to let Сem use scop on the panel?Ф
У0. K.,Ф Vanning said. He wasnТt depending on a fixed jury tomorrow. His battle would be based on legal technicalities. With
scop-tested talesmen, the odds would be even. And such an arrangement would save days or weeks of argument and challenge.
УGood,Ф Hatton grunted. УYouТre going to get your pants licked off.Ф
Vanning replied with a mild obscenity and broke the connection. Reminded of the pending court fight, he forced the matter of the fourth-dimensional locker out of his mind and left the office. LaterЧ Later would be time enough to investigate the possibilities of the
remarkable cabinet more thoroughly. Just now, he didnТt want his brain cluttered with nonessentials. He went to his apartment, had the servant mix him a short highball, and dropped into bed.
And, the next day, Vanning won his case. He based it on complicated technicalities and obscure legal precedents. The crux of the matter was that the bonds had not been converted into government credits. Abstruse economic charts proved that point for Vanning. Conversion of even five thousand credits would have caused a fluctuation in the graph line, and no such break existed. VanningТs experts went into monstrous detail.
In order to prove guilt, it would have been necessary to show, either actually or by inference, that the bonds had been in existence since last December 20th, the date of their most recent check-and-recording. The case of Donovan vs. Jones stood as a precedent.
Hatton jumped to his feet. УJones later confessed to his defalcation, your honor!Ф
УWhich does not affect the original decision,Ф Vanning said smoothly. УRetroaction is not admissible here. The verdict was not proven.Ф
УCounsel for the defense will continue.Ф
Counsel for the defense continued, building up a beautifully intricate edifice of casuistic logic.
Hatton writhed. УYour honor! IЧФ
УIf my learned opponent can produce one bondЧjust one of the bonds in questionЧI will concede the case.Ф
The presiding judge looked sardonic. УIndeed! If such a piece of evidence could be produced, the defendant would be jailed as fast as I could pronounce sentence. You know that very well, Mr. Vanfling. Proceed.Ф
УVery well. My contention, then, is that the bonds never existed. They were the result of a clerical error in notation.Ф
УA clerical error in a Pederson Calculator?Ф
УSuch errors have occurred, as I shall prove. If I may call my next witnessЧФ
Unchallenged,. the witness, a math technician, explained how a Pederson Calculator can go haywire. He cited cases.
Hatton caught him up on one point. УI protest this proof. Rhodesia, as everyone knows, is the location of a certain important experimental industry. Witness has refrained from stating the nature of the work performed in this particular Rhodesian factory. Is it not a fact that the Henderson United Company deals largely in radioactive ores?Ф
У\Vitness will answer.Ф
УI canТt. My records donТt include that information.Ф
Vanning stood up. УMay I ask if those offices have been fumigated lately?Ф
УThey have. It is legally required.Ф
УA type of chlorine gas was used.Ф
УYes.Ф
УI wish to call my next witness.Ф
The next witness, a physicist and official in the Ultra Radium Institute, explained that gamma radiations affect chlorine strongly, causing ionization. Living organisms could assimilate by-products of radium and transmit them in turn. Certain clients of Dugan & Sons had been in contact with radioactivityЧ УThis is ridiculous, your honor! Pure theorizationЧФ
Vanning looked hurt. УI cite the case of Dangerfield vs. Austro Products, California, 1963. Ruling states that the uncertainy factor is prime admissible evidence. My point is simply that the Pederson Calculator which recorded the bonds could have been in error. If this be true, there were no bonds, and my client is guiltless.Ф
УCounsel will continue,Ф said the judge, wishing he were Jeffries so he could send the whole damned bunch to the scaffold. Jurisprudence should be founded on justice, and not be a three-dimensional chess game. But, of course, it was the natural development of the complicated political and economic factors of modern civilization. It was already evident that Vanning would win his case.
And he did. The jury was directed to find for the defendant. On a last, desperate hope, Hatton raised a point cirorder and demanded
scop, but his petition was denied. Vanning winked at his opponent and closed his brief case.
That was that.
Vanning returned to his office. At four-thirty that afternoon trouble started to break. The secretary announced a Mr. Macllson, and was pushed aside by a thin, dark, middle-aged man lugging a gigantic suedette suitcase.
УVanning! IТve got to see youЧФ
The attorneyТs eye hooded. He rose from behind his desk, dismissing the secretary with a jerk of his head. As the door closed, Vanning said brusquely, УWhat are you doing here? I told you to stay away from me. WhatТs in that bag?Ф
УThe bonds,Ф Macllson explained, his voice unsteady. УSomethingТs gone wrongЧФ
УYou crazy fool! Bringing the bonds hereЧФ With a leap Vanning was at the door, locking it. УDonТt you realize that if Hatton gets his hands on that paper, youТll be yanked back to jail? And IТll be disbarred! Get Сem out of here.Ф
УListen a minute, will you? I took the bonds to Finance Unity, as you told me, but . . . but there was an officer there, waiting for me. I saw him just in time. If heТd caught meЧФ
Vanning took a deep breath. УYou were supposed to leave the bonds in that subway locker for two months.Ф
Macllson pulled a news sheet from his pocket. УBut the governmentТs declared a freeze on ore stocks and bonds. ItТll go into effect in a week. I couldnТt waitЧthe money would have been tied up indefinitely.Ф
УLetТs see that paper.Ф Vanning examined it and cursed softly. УWhereТd you get this?Ф
УBought it from a boy outside the jail. I wanted to check the current ore quotations.Ф
УUh-huh. I see. Did it occur to you that this sheet might be faked?Ф
MacllsonТs jaw dropped. УFake?Ф
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