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

wealth of Senmut, a planet both had served on during
    the War. There was friction between the two, and one morning both were found dead in a park near one of their factories. The finding of the investigative committee was death mutually inflicted in an unauthorized duel."
    ' 'That takes care of the court," said Torwald. The rest had crown more quiet with each recitation of misadventure.
    What about the witnesses?" asked Kiril.
    "To make the story brief," say.! Homer, "in all, some forty witnesses were called to testify, after the original denunciation by then-Captain Gertrude HaLevy. Of these, twenty-seven died later in the War, most in the Li Po action. Of the thirteen others, two died of natural causes and the rest in circumstances of violence or misadventure never subsequently solved by police."
    "Except for one," said Ham.
    "Precisely," said Homer. "The sole survivor of that court is one Gertrude HaLevy, now Skipper of Space Angel."
    "What about the prosecutor?" asked Lafayette.
    "Captain Dingaan AmaZulu died of an unknown virus on Cetewayo shortly after the War. It was a lingering and extremely painful death."
    "And the defense attorney?" asked the skipper. "I've forgotten his name."
    "Mr. Wesley Stoddard was a civilian attorney when hired to represent Commodore Izquierda. The case was lost, but Mr. Stoddard was successful on appeal. He is now a director of the Satsuma Line, and head of the legal department."
    "Nice to know somebody came out of this alive and successful," said the skipper. The quip rang hollow. They were thinking the same thing; Fifty-two people involved with that court, of those, all dead but two, one of them a director of Satsuma, the other the skipper of Space Angel.
    "So what's our next move?" asked Ham.
    "Simple," said K'Stin. "Kill Izquierda." The Viver's suggestion was eminently predictable.
    "There are laws against persona! vengeance, K'Stin," said the skipper, "and it didn't escape me that you tried to set him up at the banquet."
    "It is your life," K'Stin said. "He will try to kill you sooner or later, and that endangers us all."
    "K'Stin's right about that part of it," Torwald said. "Murder is out, but so is suicide. We can't take any chances. We're not dealing with an ordinary criminal; this man is almost supernatural."
    "We have a great deal of damning information here," Michelle said. "We have officials of the government and the military right here on this expedition. Why don't we take this to them and expose him?"
    "Expose what?" asked Bert. "We have no proof that he engineered all those deaths. Most of those involved were spacers in high-risk fields. It's not inconceivable that they all could die in the space of a few years. Unlikely, certainly, but not beyond the bounds of reason. We'll need more evidence than this to denounce him."
    "What's it matter?" Kiril said. "We already know that this man committed one of the biggest atrocities of the War and got off with a kiss on the cheek. And he's lots richer and more powerful and influential than he was back then. You think he's gonna do a day of hard time just for knocking off seventeen or eighteen people? Forget it. Your Confed government is just Civis Astra on a big scale, and he's the biggest K'ang leader around."
    "I'm afraid you're right," said the skipper. "It's going to come down to him or me, and right now we havfc to let him make the next move. I wish I knew why he saved me for last."
    "And why he picked this mission to carry out whatever he has in mind," added Torwald.
    The planet, now designated Eingma, floated above their heads in the observation bubble. This was the compartment opening off Finn's navigation chamber, where Kiril had seen Nancy playing her instrument. It was rarely used, since navigators these days never bothered with eyeball sighting for their calculations, and the instruments had long since been ripped out, but it was the only place on the ship from which the outside could be seen.
    There wasn't much to see. The