Free John Maddox Roberts - Spacer: Window of Mind by John Maddox Roberts Page A

Lafayette seemed sullen, for some reason. She suspected that he had seen Huerta kissing her hand the night before. Well, what business was it of his, anyway?
    Achmed called a halt, and the three men drew cups of the inevitable, horrid coffee from a wall dispenser.
    "How could we find out about Izquierda's trial?" Kiril asked, doggedly sticking to her earlier train of thought. Achmed and Lafayette stared at her in puzzlement, then looked at Torwald for elucidation.
    "She started in a while back on courts-martial and Izquierda's case. She wants to know all about it. Thinks it's important."
    "She could be right," said Achmed. He turned to Kiril again. "Do you want to know how the trial went?"
    "Of course not," Kiril said impatiently. How could these people be so dense? "We know how the trial went. What I want to know is what happened to the board members since the trial. And what about the witnesses who testified against Izquierda? Don't you people have any sense of self-preservation at all?"
    "I think she's got something," said Lafayette reluctantly. "Where can we find that information?"
    "The full Archives of the Confederation are contained in the computer banks of every capita! ship of the navy," said Achmed.
    "That's the place to look, then," said Kiril.
    "You don't just walk into the computer room of a navy ship and sit down at the console," Lafayette said. "They're loaded with classified information."
    "It's out of the question," added Torwald. "They'd never let one of us close to that computer. Even if they did, Izquierda's people would get wind of it and see what we were inquiring about. No, it's a good idea, but it won't work."
    "I'll bet they'd let Homer in," she said sweetly. She took deep satisfaction in the way they looked at her with new respect.
    The crew, grouped around the mess table, waited for Homer to begin. Kiril smiled smugly as she sat next to Homer, taking a quiet satisfaction in her coup. Even the skipper had to admit that Kiril had spotted a possibility they had all missed. Homer made a throat-clearing sound. He didn't need to, since he had no throat to clear. He knew, however, that humans were more comfortable, for some reason, if these sounds were made prior to a lengthy speech.
    "I was granted access to the computer," he began, "on the pretext that I was studying some seventeenth-century commentaries written in Flemish on Dante. Of course, I actually was making such inquiries, I simply did not explain what other studies I was making."
    "Sure, Homer," said the skipper. "Now, what did you find about the court-martial board?"
    "There were nine officers on the board," said Homer. "Of these, four later died in action during the Confed-Trium War. Their names were—"
    "Forget 'em,' said Ham. "Those were probably legitimate deaths in action, and if they weren't, we'd have a time proving it. What about the others?"
    "President of the court was Rear Admiral Chi'Ching Fu. He retired after the War and lived on a small space yacht. It was lost on a routine trip from Earth to Luna. Of the other four, Rear Admiral Ian Donleavy, on Reserve status, was testing a new impulse engine for the Navy Mark Thirty-five Moray when the engine detonated. Cause of detonation was never determined."
    "Bar Kochba, Inc. made that ship," said the skipper. "They're a good firm."
    "Who made those experimental engines?" asked Bert.
    "Reith Power Systems," said Homer.
    "A wholly-owned subsidiary of Satsuma-MacKintosh Heavy Industries," added Ham.
    "And the rest?" asked Michelle.
    "Captain Richard Probert left the service after the War and founded Probert Aerospace Service, a small freighting line. It ran into peculiar difficulties from the start: ships pirated, asteroid collisions, disappearances, and the like. Captain Probert eventually committed suicide.
    "Captain Suleiman Ramjan and Commander Sebastien
    romero Ortega, both on the board of the court-martial, went into partnership after the War, forming a company to exploit the mineral