"Murray Leinster - The Pirates of Zan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leinster Murray)

killed only him instead of everybody"
"Everybod'i!" Hoddan stared.
"No more talk!" snapped the nearest cop. His teeth were chattering. "Keep quiet or else!"
Hoddan shut up. His clothing was inspected and then handed to him. He -dressed while the cops completed the
examination of his room. They were insanely thorough, though Hoddan hadn't the least idea what they might be
looking for. When they began to rip up the floor and pull down the walls, the other cops led him outside.
There was a fleet of police trucks in the shaded street. They piled him in one, and four cops climbed after him,
keeping stun-pistols trained on him during the maneuver. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Derec climbing into
another truck. The entire fleet sped away. The whole affair had been taken with enormous seriousness by the police.
Traffic was detoured from their route. When they swung up on an elevated expressway, there was no other vehicle in
sight. They raced on downtown.
They rolled off the expressway, then down a cleared avenue. Hoddan recognized the Detention Building. Its gate
swung wide. The truck he rode in went inside. The gate closed. The other trucks went away, rapidly. Hoddan alighted
and saw that the grim, gray wall of the courtyard had a surprising number of guards mustered to sweep the open
space with gunfire if anybody made a suspicious movement.
He shook his head. Nobody had mentioned Zan, so this simply didn't make sense. His conscience was wholly clear
except about his native planet. This was insanity! He went curiously into the building and into the hearing-room. His
guards surrendered him to courtroom guards and went away with almost hysterical haste. Nobody wanted to be near
him.
Hoddan stared about. The courtroom was highly informal. The justice sat at an ordinary desk. There were
comfortable chairs. The air was clean. The atmosphere was that of a conference room in which reasonable men could
discuss differences of opinion in calm leisure. Only on a world like Walden would a police prisoner be dealt with in
such surroundings.
Derec came in by another door, with him a man Hoddan recognized as the attorney who'd represented Nedda's
father in certain past interviews. There'd been no mention of Nedda at these meetings; it had been strictly business.
Nedda's
father was chairman of the Power Board, a director of the Planetary Association of Manufacturers, a committeeman of
the Bankers' League, and he held other important posts. Hoddan had been thrown out of his offices several times. He
now scowled ungraciously at the lawyer who had ordered him thrown out. He saw Derec wringing his hands.
An agitated man in court uniform came to his side.
"I'm the citizen's representative," he said uneasily. "I'm to look after your interests. Do you want a personal
lawyer?"
"Why?" asked Hoddan. He felt splendidly confident.
"The charges . . . Do you wish a psychiatric examination, claiming no responsibility?" asked the representative
anx-iously. "It mightтАФit might really be best."
"I'm not crazy," said Hoddan.
The citizen's representative spoke to the justice.
"Sir, the accused waives psychiatric examination, without prejudice to a later claim of no responsibility."
Nedda's father's attorney watched with bland eyes. Hoddan said impatiently:
"Let's get started so this will make some sense! I know what I've done. Now, what monstrous crime am I charged
with?"
"The charges against you," said the justice politely, "are that on the night of three, twenty-seven last, you, Bron
Hoddan, entered the fenced-in grounds surrounding the Mid-Continent power receptor station. It is charged that you
passed two no-admittance signs. You arrived at a door marked 'Authorized Personnel Only.' You broke the lock of that
door. Inside, you smashed the power receptor. This power receptor converts broadcast power for industrial units by
which two hundred thousand men are employed. You smashed the receptor, imperiling their employment." The justice
paused. "Do you wish to challenge any of these charges as contrary to fact?"
The citizen's representative said hurriedly:
"You have the right to deny any of them, of course."
"Why should I?" asked Hoddan. "I did them! But what's this about my killing somebody? Why'd they tear my