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stunner could not inflict lethal injuries the defendant did not violate the
Imperial Judicial Code for the reason that his actions did not constitute the
use of a deadly weapon and were designed to protect rather than endanger
Imperial personnel.
Court of Inquiry Findings of Fact:
(1) Historical, practical, and legal considerations all define a military
issue stunner as a deadly weapon.
(2) No actual violence nor injury occurred to Imperial personnel until after
the defendant attacked non-Imperial citizenry with the stunner.
(3) The defendant and three other Imperial personnel suffered injuries of
various degrees requiring extended medical treatment.
(4) In the outbreak of violence that followed the discharge of the stunner by
the defendant, between five and fifteen non-Imperial citizens were injured.
Summary of Appeal of Verdict:
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With regard to both counts, the defendant claimed that procedures were
irregular in Court of
Inquiry findings of fact; that procedures were irregular in the assignment of
personnel to the
Court Martial; that the disregard of seniority in base assignments and duties
deprived the defendant of due process; that the standard definition of a
deadly weapon should not be applied to unique and primitive circumstances; and
that the behavioral pattern of the particular non-Imperial citizenry is
uniquely prone to violence, thereby requiring an earlier reaction than in the
case of normal self-defense tests.
Summary of Appeal Tribunal Findings:
The verdict on both counts is upheld; the appeals are denied.
The local commandant acted within the scope of both the Imperial Judicial Code
and the
Regulations of the Interstellar Survey Service.
(3) The finding of mitigation and suspension of sentence upon receipt of the
defendant's resignation from the I.S.S. is within the scope of the code and
the service regulations.
(4) No further appeals need be heard.
Chapter LXII
The greenish-blue tint of the wall imparted a restfulness to the small room
with the empty console and the two standard padded chairs. Three tattered
faxtab flimsies lay upon the single table. The flextile floors were the
standard dark gray of Imperial outposts everywhere. The portal to the main
corridor was open, but the interior archway to the rooms behind was closed.
Three lights on the console blinked, then shifted from green to amber as the
messages were recorded and stacked for replay. After a time, a thin-faced
technician wearing a pale blue coverall and the insignia of the Medical Corps
walked through the open portal from the corridor and took the small swivel
chair behind the console. She shook her hands as if to relieve the stiffness
in her fingers and forearms and pulled herself up before the twin screens.
Carelessly pushing a wisp of short black hair back over her right ear, she
touched the studs on the keyboard and began to scan the incoming messages that
had been held for review.
She did not look up at the hum of voices that approached as the archway opened
from the consulting rooms in the rear.
Through the archway stepped a short and stocky, though not heavy, woman with
strawberry blond hair, blue eyes, and a peaches and cream freckled complexion.
Her coverall was the dark brown of the reclamation technical support staff. On
her shoulder patch were the twisted spears of fire and water, above the twin
linked spheres of barren wasteland and green forests- the insignia of the
file:///F|/rah/L.%20E.%20Modesitt/Modesitt,%2...01%20-%20Dawn%20For%20A%20Dist
ant%20Earth.txt (120 of 144) [5/22/03 12:14:52 AM]
file:///F|/rah/L.%20E.%20Modesitt/Modesitt,%20L%20E%20-%20Forever%20Hero%2001%
20-%20Dawn%20For%20A%20Distant%20Earth.txt landbuilders, whose dozers
systematically scoured the poisons from the land and prepared the way for the
replantings and reforestings.
The second woman, of medium height with natural silver hair marking her as
from Scandia, wore not only the coverall of the Medical Corps, but the linked
gold bars of an officer on one collar and the twined serpents and staff on the
other.
"You're sure?" asked the blonde in a tone that indicated she was repeating a
question in hopes of getting another answer.
"That's what all the tests show."
The blond woman, her eyes still bright with tears unshed, looked down at the
dark gray of the floor tiles, then at the blank wall to her right. "I don't
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know. I just don't know."
"Decanting wouldn't hurt you, not at all," pressed the doctor.
"Can I let you know tomorrow? I need to think." "Take as much time as you
need. Don't push it.
If you're sure tomorrow, that's fine. Another few days wouldn't matter one way
or another. But make sure you think it through." The doctor's voice dropped a
note as she saw the technician at the screens.
"Thank you." The support tech squared her shoulders, turned, and walked out
through the still-
open portal.
The medical tech at the console looked up at the doctor to catch her eye. Then
she waited until the footsteps had faded down the corridor outside.
"Another one. Captain Lysendra?"
"Oh . . . Madrigel, I'm sorry. What did you ask?"
"Another one?"
"Yes. Another one. I just don't understand it. They don't want to carry the
children, and yet somehow none of them can remember taking the contraceptive
antidotes."
"And the problem?"
"They don't want to carry the children, but they want them to live."
"I wondered why you mentioned' decanting. Can we actually do that here on
base?"
"If it doesn't turn into an epidemic. Of course, the children will have to be
fostered or sent to the Academy home. Under the regs, if they chose a Service
career, they'll owe two tours here."
"Will she," and the technician gestured at the open portal, "opt for
decanting?"
"So far, four have. One decided to carry the child to term."
"Five? Out of how many?"
"Five."
"That's a lot for this base."
"Or not enough, depending on your viewpoint," mused the docctor, as she turned
and headed back to her small private Cubicle to think.
"Not enough?" wondered the technician.
Her fingers traversed the keyboard. A series of items appeared on the
left-hand screen.
With a coding she was not supposed to know, the woman entered an
authentication and another inquiry. The response to that second inquiry
replaced the other material on the screen. Her mouth formed a slight "O," and
her eyes widened as she read the lines as they formed on the screen. So the
would-be fathers were from the captain's reclamation finds, the devilkid
pilots and dozer drivers that tackled the hotspots and fought the landspouts.
"I wonder ..." She tried another inquiry, but the screen only printed:
"Unauthorized information. Restricted by regulation R/C 230(b) and standing
order I.S.S. 435."
Two lights on the incoming lines blinked green, and the technician erased the
left hand screen, while taking the first call on the right.
"Medical Services, Technician Hru-Sien. May I help you?" Standing Order 435?
There was no
Standing Order 435. She could not shake her head, not while routing the call,
but smiled instead, mechanically, and she directed the call to Dr. Lysendra.
Standing Order 435 indeed.
Chapter LXII
The commander glanced down at the plastone tiles of the corridor flooring,
absently noting the swirled smoothness of the surface. One way to tell the
older or more heavily traveled sections of the Administration bunker was by
the flooring. The clear sections were new or total replacements.
The swirled sections were those that had been remelted and refinished, the
colors washed together in abstract but regular patterns.
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