Scaevola's Triumph (Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy Book 3) (55 page)

"But won't my refusal to say anything count against me?" Lucilla asked. "Doesn't it look as if I must be guilty?"

"Most definitely not!" the Ulsian beamed. "Perception may be most important in this case. Added to which, I have one more request for you."

"What's that?" a perplexed Lucilla asked.

"You must file to rely on machine evidence. The machine evidence is truthful, and your taking that position shows that you have full confidence that your innocence must be proved. The only logical reason for relying solely on machine evidence, therefore, is that you know you're innocent."

"But suppose there's no machine evidence?" Lucilla asked.

"If you request machine evidence," the Ulsian nodded, "and the opposition cannot produce adequate machine evidence to prove your guilt, you walk free."

"That means I cannot give evidence," Lucilla frowned. "I cannot . . ."

"Yes and no!" the Ulsian said triumphantly. "Most importantly, neither can they. They cannot produce various liars to make all sorts of accusations against you, and they cannot produce so-called experts to work out what must have happened. They must resort to machine evidence of what did happen."

"But I have no machine evidence."

"There's bound to be plenty," the Ulsian said. "There was an explosion. If you rely on machine evidence they must analyse the explosive, prove you could have made it, and prove you could have taken it there. Thus if it weighed, say, twenty kilos, any surveillance evidence showing you had no visible case within a reasonable time of the blast would lead to the conclusion you were innocent."

"But suppose someone fabricates machine evidence?"

"I believe that will be impossible, but if you know a machine is lying, then you must request the personal interview with me and we decide what to do then. Now, I must go," he said as he stood up, and pointed to the walls and shook his head. "Say absolutely nothing about this case to anyone."

She sat back to think. This went against all her beliefs, but then again her beliefs did belong to a far more primitive civilization. Perhaps this was part of the plot against her, but if it were, what could she do?

All she could do was request to see Gaius. At the very least, she should say goodbye to her brother.

* * *

Gaius was a little surprised to find he had a guest for breakfast. Marcellus had invited Klendor, and Gaius was quite pleased to have company, although he was a little disturbed to find that Klendor seemed preoccupied. Gaius became concerned. He thought one of his top officers was becoming nervous, and that he could not tolerate. He had just completed breakfast, and was wondering how to probe Klendor, when Marcellus interrupted to tell him of Lucilla's plight.

"When did this happen?" Gaius asked angrily.

"Last night," Marcellus replied. "By the time I was told, you were asleep, so I thought it better to let you sleep. The departure for Plotk means we have a big day today."

"Departure! Oh no we don't! I'm not leaving Lucilla to −"

"I thought you'd say that," Marcellus said, "and that's why I invited Klendor up here to try and change your mind."

Gaius stared at Klendor, and understood. Klendor was nervous all right, but not of the enemy.

"I'm sorry for what happened," Klendor said. "I want you to know, though, I'm totally on your side, and I'm here to help."

"Then you'll help me get Lucilla's freedom?"

"I shall do whatever I can to help Lucilla get free," Klendor said simply, "but it won't involve you."

"What?" Gaius said angrily.

"You cannot help on Ulse," Klendor said simply. "You have no evidence to give, and in any case, Lucilla's lawyer has filed for the case to rely solely on machine evidence, so you cannot be present at the trial."

"Machine evidence?" Gaius said in an exasperated tone. "Where's she going to get that?"

"The real question," Klendor said, "is if she didn't rely on that, where is she going to get any other sort of evidence?"

"There could be witnesses who saw her . . ."

"Witnesses could lie," Klendor pointed out. "As she claims to be innocent, and she is probably unaware of the identity of any Ulsian that she can absolutely rely on who saw anything relevant, she is much better to rely on the surveillance data. That will show she did not do it."

"There may not be any data at all?" Gaius frowned. "And if there isn't, then there's the uncontested statements from her accusers −"

"Not unless they're machines, which is somewhat unlikely," Klendor said.

"Say that again?"

"The accusers can only provide machine evidence," Klendor said simply. "Failure to prove she did it through machine evidence leads to immediate release. I am quite convinced this is her best approach."

"I can still be here to support her, though," Gaius said flatly.

"That's why I'm here to talk to you," Klendor said firmly. "You give her far more support by leaving."

"And exactly how do you work that out?" Gaius said angrily.

"If you leave, she is the sister of a Space Marshall, a hero who is risking all for Ulse. That gives her a status that means she is protected against any form of trickery. If you stay, she is the sister of an alien who refused to accept responsibility, and who turned his back on Ulse in its time of need. Believe me, Ulse will turn its back on you, and nobody will give a hoot what happens to Lucilla."

"Some justice!" Gaius muttered bitterly.

"There is one further point that Klendor doesn't realize," Marcellus added. "If you refuse to go to Plotk, you lose this ship, and me." There was a pause in which Gaius said nothing, but he was clearly not impressed. "Additionally," Marcellus continued, "Lucilla may lose her best machine witness, because she will not have the rank to call it."

"What are you getting at?" Gaius asked curiously.

"I am forbidden to tell you," Marcellus said. He looked at Gaius and said firmly, "Please, trust me. The probability that Lucilla does not follow about a week or so later is about one in two hundred and thirty-two million, provided that this is played properly."

"What do you mean, played properly?"

"Strategy," Marcellus said simply. "Lucilla has been set up." There was a pause, then Marcellus turned to stare at Gaius and asked, "Oh, master strategist, what is the next question?"

"You're teasing me?" Gaius said in surprise.

"Trying to lift you into a state of reasoning," Marcellus countered. "Answer the question!"

"I suppose, why?" Gaius said.

"Wrong question," Marcellus answered. "The question is, by whom?"

"That's not a question at all," Gaius retorted. "The answer's too easy. Why is a better question, and the only Ulsian with any motive's Gerenthe. She was, after all, trying to discredit him, so it seems he's discrediting her first."

"Oh! Very good!" Marcellus taunted again. "Now, having got that far, why don't you want to leave for Plotk right now?"

"And why would I want to do that?" Gaius said, a little irritably. "It means I'm almost conceding Gerenthe's plan is going to work."

"Klendor! Please put your friend right!" Marcellus shook his head.

"The instant you leave for Plotk," Klendor pointed out, "Gerenthe has to leave too. If he's behind Lucilla's problem, he can't ensure that the plot will hold together."

"More to the point," Marcellus said, "he can't correct mistakes. The only way Lucilla can be in trouble is, in my analysis, if Gerenthe's still around long enough to work out what's wrong with his plan, and he has enough time to do something about it."

"Even if there's something wrong with Gerenthe's plan," Gaius said, "it doesn't follow that it will come out unless someone's here to push it."

"Wrong!" Marcellus said, "and even if it were right, so what? You're no help. You don't even know what it is, and if you stay, there won't be anything."

"Why not?"

"Because Gerenthe has the power to stop it happening," Marcellus said. "In principle you have equal rank, but you don't have equal Ulsian contacts. If you're away defending Ulse, however, some of the most powerful will feel obliged to look after your interests. If you're here, you do it yourself. It's a bit like your own past. You always got more from Little Boots by not being in Rome."

"So I've got to leave without even seeing Lucilla?" Gaius shook his head bitterly.

"Of course not," Marcellus said. "What you should do is make an immediate announcement that you will lead your force to Plotk in eight hours. Any Ulsian ready to fight should be ready to depart. You would find the pressure on all other Ulsian vessels would be such that they will all leave then. You then send a message to Gerenthe saying you will be saying farewell to your sister for the rest of the day, and will thus be unavailable. He has no choice but to depart with you."

"Suppose Gerenthe decided not to come straight away?" Gaius said. "That would leave this manoeuvre in tatters."

"Ho ho ho!" Marcellus said. "In order to stop Lucilla from discrediting him, he immediately publicly discredits himself by refusing to lead his force. An absolutely stupid move, but unlikely. If he did, the Ulsian fleets would be ordered to go, under your sole command. Gerenthe would be stripped of his rank, and barred from being anywhere near Lucilla's case, any Ulsian seen supporting him would lose all rank, and every associate would dissociate from him as quickly as possible. No show!"

Gaius paused, then said, "All right. I guess I have to trust you. You can arrange for the messages, and the transport to see Lucilla?"

"Of course," Marcellus said. "You should also order a security escort on Ulse, and totally forbid all access to all of Lucilla's ship and associated property to anybody."

"Can I do that?"

"You're a Space Marshall," Klendor said simply. "You can't influence the judicial process, but you can totally protect Lucilla's freedom to join you when she's found innocent."

Gaius looked a little stunned, then said, "Do it."

"I've already done it," Marcellus smiled. "I have been monitoring Lucilla's ship since the event, and I have put the ship on a grade 1 defence status. It will automatically destroy anybody attempting to board it until Lucilla's trial is over."

"Gerenthe could over-ride that."

"No, he cannot, because it has your authority. Only you can over-ride it, and I assume you won't."

"You assume correctly," Gaius said firmly.

* * *

Gaius arrived at Lucilla's rooms just as Vipsania was leaving, and as he watched the two women hug, he saw on each face the question, 'Was this the last time?'

Gaius sat down at the table, and showed Lucilla a sign saying he was forbidden to talk about the case, and Lucilla nodded to indicate she was too. So they sat there, looking at each other, forbidden to discuss the only topic that was overwhelming each of them. Lucilla was desperately trying to seem brave and at the same time, confident. Gaius was desperately trying to seem confident and cheerful. Both merely achieved looking strained.

Gaius made an effort by raising the issue of the Romulus. Was there anything Lucilla wanted from it, or taken to it, or done to it? Lucilla nodded in the negative. As she said, with the death of Antonia, she could not even use the ship. Gaius assured her, rather stiffly, that the Ulsian government had promised him that if Lucilla were found not guilty, a companion would be available.

"Not like Antonia," Lucilla said. It had only occurred to her after Antonia's demise how much she meant to her. The fact that she was the direct cause of Antonia's death also did not help her spirits.

Gaius squeezed her hand. It hurt him as much as anything that here, on possibly the last time he would see his sister, that conversation was so difficult. With the future uncertain, the present forbidden, all they could talk about was the past. But neither really wanted to talk about Rome. They would speculate what Claudius might have achieved, or how long it had taken to conquer Britain, but inevitably the conversation would drift back to people they knew. The conversation then was either artificially cheerful, or it rapidly became depressing.

Eventually it was time for Gaius to leave. He gave Lucilla a brotherly kiss, told her to be brave, then said he would see her in a few weeks, at least of their time. He informed her that the
Romulus
would remain in departure mode, and it would be ready when Lucilla was freed. In the meantime, the ship would destroy anybody else attempting to board. Lucilla nodded, and said she would leave immediately. She meant this. She had no intention of remaining on Ulse a second longer than she had to.

Gaius was in a bleak mood as he returned to the
Actium
, a mood that quickly got bleaker.

"You have a visitor," Marcellus informed him evenly. "Space Marshall Gerenthe wishes to know why you are leaving."

Gaius turned around to see Marshall Gerenthe seated in a chair, drinking some Ulsian beverage that Marcellus had provided.

"I am leaving because orders say, 'leave today'," Gaius explained.

"If we both made a special plea," Gerenthe said, "we could delay until after the trial."

"And lose any chance to be the first to arrive," Gaius snorted, "which means, lose any chance to take advantage of any strategic feature."

"They'll be there first," Gerenthe said, perhaps a little impulsively.

"What makes you say that?" Gaius asked curiously.

"Well, I don't know," Gerenthe said hurriedly, "but they've had to come further, so they'll have got off to a better start, because the Plotkynn would need to know the M'starn agreed before making us the offer." He paused, and added, "Otherwise the Ranhynn could be committed to a war on the side they don't seem to want to be on."

"How do you know that?"

"If they wanted to be on our side," Gerenthe snorted, "they could have joined anytime. They haven't, but I guess this's because they don't want to be on the losing side either."