Chapter 18

Day 1:

When Doug finally woke up at the ranch, the morning started out with breakfast. Bashira, who had a long day yesterday, slept through breakfast. After thanking Betty for a wonderful breakfast, Doug called Secretary of State Charles Boyd.

“Good morning, Doug. I let the President’s Chief of Staff Aaron McCaul know about what happened yesterday, and he said he would inform the President. Aaron and I decided you would be busy so we should wait until you contacted us to see if you needed any help.”

“That’s good to hear, Charlie. Amir called yesterday to find out if everything was okay, and he sent Bashira to help me with anything that may come up. I met with my staff yesterday and we came up with a plan for handling this situation. The first thing we want to do is clarify any jurisdictional questions. What I want to do is hold a press conference with representatives of the Federal, State, and County governments confirming that the Multiverse has jurisdiction over the attackers.

“Based on your reply yesterday, it seems that you want me to handle the matter. Perhaps you could have Ken attend our press conference as your representative the day after tomorrow at eight in the morning, our time.”

“I agree with all you said, Doug. I’ll have Ken on a plane tonight or early tomorrow morning, and I will certainly have him confirm that you have jurisdiction. What happens next?”

“We think that our prisoners will want to be represented by lawyers. They don’t know that a prisoner must present his own defense in a Multiverse court, but he can have a lawyer to advise him on how to formulate and present a defense. There are many other differences that they will need to be aware of, so after the press conference we will give them and their lawyers a seminar on the Multiverse legal and penal systems. Then three days later we will conduct the trial.”

“That seems awfully fast to me, Doug. Are you sure you can get it all done in a week?”

“Yes, it shouldn’t be a problem, Charlie. We have all of the witnesses and evidence necessary, so our Crier could begin the trial tomorrow. The main reason for the delay is to give the public time to learn about how we do things in the Multiverse.”

“What about the defendants having time to prepare a defense?”

“Charlie, our courtroom procedures are very different from those used in Earth courts. The Crier is our version of your Prosecutor. He presents the evidence and our video equipment captured the entire attack on tape. We have what you would call a lie detector system that is used in our courts. It is very accurate, so the equipment will detect any lies that the Crier, a witness, or the defendant may make in court. That is why the defendant must present his own defense. If he lies, the Judge will know it.

“Once the Crier presents the evidence that proves that a crime was committed and the defendant committed the crime, the Judge asks the defendant how he pleas. If he claims he is innocent, the Judge has the defendant state that he is innocent of the crime, while the Judge watches the reading on the veracity equipment. If the veracity equipment indicates the defendant is guilty, the defendant has the opportunity to introduce evidence that supports his innocence before the Judge passes judgement on the defendant. We are planning on televising the trial, so if you want to watch the trial you can do so here or in Washington.”

“What if your veracity equipment was to indicate the defendant was innocent?”

“I sincerely doubt that would happen in this case. However, it has happened in a few cases in the past. In those cases, the Judge considered all of the evidence and asked a series of questions of the defendant and the Crier. He then made his decision.”

Before we said our goodbyes, Charlie said he would pass on everything I said to Aaron, so he could brief the President. My next call was to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.

“Good morning, this is Ambassador Doug Smith. I would like to speak with the Attorney General if he or his representative is available.”

“Yes sir, Mister Ambassador. If you will please hold, I’ll let Missus Compton know you wish to speak with her.”

While I was waiting, I saw Bashira enter the portable, so I called to him inviting him to join me in my office and take a seat.

“Good morning, Ambassador Smith. I am Missus Harriet Compton and I am Colorado’s Attorney General. What can my office do to assist you today?”

“Yesterday my Embassy was invaded and attacked by around fifty, armed US citizens who fired their weapons at my security personnel. I am not sure if you are aware of it, but the treaty between the US and Multiverse Governments grants my Embassy with jurisdiction over all criminal acts that occur on Embassy property.

“Since this attack took place on Embassy property, it is my intent to prosecute the attackers as specified by the treaty. What I would like to know is, does the State of Colorado believe that it has jurisdiction over this crime?”

“I will need to check with my advisors, Ambassador Smith, but I am aware there is a treaty and I’ve heard that it gives you jurisdiction. I need to confirm what I have heard, but I suspect that my official position will be to recognize your jurisdiction in this case. Personally, I feel the State of Colorado or Weld County should have jurisdiction.”

“I see. The second reason for me calling, Missus Compton, is to invite you, or your designee, to a press conference at eight in the morning on the day after tomorrow. At that time, I would like the representatives of the State Department and Weld County District Attorney’s office to confirm that my Embassy has jurisdiction over this case. If you choose to attend or send someone in your place, will they agree with that assessment or will the State contend that it has jurisdiction?”

“I am based in Denver, Mister Ambassador. I would like to attend and I will do so if I am able. Regardless of who represents my office, the Attorney General’s Office will agree that your Embassy has jurisdiction assuming that what I’ve heard about your treaty is accurate. Should I learn something that causes me to change my mind, I will let you know before the press conference.”

“Thank you, Missus Compton, and I generally go by Doug. My PR Officer will be in touch with your office to give you the details of where and when the press conference will be held.”

“Thank you, Doug, and I usually go by Harriet. Do you have any idea when the actual trial will begin?”

“Yes, we have it currently scheduled for six days from now. Would you be interested in attending?”

“Yes, I’ll be there if I can afford the time. How long do you think the trial will take?”

“Well we are only bringing about thirty defendants to trial this time for the others are too severely injured to stand trial, so we expect the trial to take a full day.”

“I will definitely have to be there, Doug. I want to see how the Multiverse can try thirty defendants on a charge like this and complete the trial in one day.”

“Harriet, we will be glad to see you there. The secret to being able to do this is the Multiverse has very accurate veracity equipment that is used in our courts. You would call it a lie detector, but it works on a totally different principle than Earth’s lie detectors. We expect that it will cut through all the bullshit that Earth defense lawyers use to get their clients a not guilty verdict.

“I’d love to talk with you further, Harriet, but I have some business that needs to be attended to immediately. Bye for now.”

“Bye, Doug.”

After hanging up the phone, I took a couple of moments to speak with Bashira and decide what to address next. I agreed to Bashira being with me in case there is something he could do to assist me. I needed to confer with Matt and Kim, and I also needed to sit down and work with Bill. When I checked Matt’s office, he was out, but Kim was in her office.

“How is everything going, Kim? Do you need any help?”

“Everything is fine at the moment, Doug. In fact, I think I am a little ahead at the moment.”

“That’s good to hear, Kim. You remember Ken Smythe. You met him when we were in Washington and he went to the Multiverse with us for the wedding. Charlie is going to send him to represent the State Department at the press conference. You need to let him know where and when it will be held, and assist him with any arrangements that may be necessary.

“I just got off the phone with Colorado’s Attorney General, Harriet Compton. Send that information to her office in Denver also, so she or her representative will know when and where the press conference is to be held.”

“I haven’t talked with the District Attorney yet, but send the information to his office too. If you get overwhelmed, let someone know if Sandy isn’t available, so you can get some help. Do you happen to know where Matt is at?”

“I’ll be sure to ask if I need help, and I heard that Matt was planning to work on editing the tape of the attack this morning so he may be at the Security Office.”

“Thanks, Kim, I’ll see you later.”

In the Security Office, I found Matt and Bill talking about the best way to edit the tapes.

“How is the editing going, Matt?”

“We just got started, Doug. We have been thinking about the run-time of the edited tape versus its credibility if we cut out any of the video.”

“Matt, how long do you think it will take you to present all of your evidence?”

“My opening remarks should take about five minutes. The video presentation should take less than thirty minutes and the witnesses will take about an hour. My closing remarks should take another five minutes, so let’s call it about two hours. Why?”

“In my opinion, the better job you do, then the less the defense will have to work with and the shorter their presentation. If you need to present multiple views of the attack do it and don’t worry about run-time. I have no problem with the trial taking more than a day. Just do a good job of proving each and every one of the attackers were there, and if possible, what they did during the attack.

“When I spoke about editing the tapes, I was thinking of putting them end-to-end. Everything happened very fast, so if you have to repeat portions of the tapes in slow motion for clarity do so. If you need to add automatic stop commands to the tape so you can describe what is going on before restarting the tape, do so. Just make sure that that tape proves each of them guilty beyond any doubt. I want no one to have any doubts about us having the wrong people or our conclusions about their involvement being wrong.

“On second thought, the first part of the trial will be to prove a crime took place. Prepare a video segment using all the tapes to show an overview of what happened from the start of the attack through our taking the attackers into custody and giving the injured medical treatment. The second part of the trial is about allowing the defendant to plead guilty or not guilty and if the plea is not guilty, to present their defense. So produce separate segments of video for each defendant that shows the movement and actions of each gang member from the time they entered our property until the time they were incapacitated, and the close-up recording of the person that we made as we took them into custody. We want to ensure there is no case of mistaken identity.

“You and I know they were there and are guilty, but we are proving it to the rest of the world. That will be conclusive proof that each of our defendants participated in the attack. If you want, some of that footage can be speeded up for the main thing is to show they were there, they participated, and we apprehended them at the scene.”

“Thanks, Doug. That will make my job of creating the presentation tape easier. I was worried about leaving something out that may be needed.”

“Bill, do you need to continue working with Matt, or do you want to put together a plan for interrogating the prisoners?”

“Matt, if you and Oscar can handle the video, then Doug and I can talk about the interrogation?”

Matt said he would be fine with just Oscar, so Bill and I went back to his office.

“How do you think this interrogation should be handled, Doug?”

“To start with, I think we need to put them off balance. First, tell them that the interview is being recorded and monitored by veracity equipment. I suspect these people believe that we have been holding them illegally and that they will be prosecuted in a US court. So the second thing we need to do is let them know the Multiverse has jurisdiction and they will be tried and sentenced according to the laws and customs of the Multiverse.

“The third thing we need to do is let them know that it is the custom of Multiverse courts for the defendant to defend themselves in court, but they do have the right to have legal counsel present to advise them.

“Once they stop screaming about the unfairness of the way we are treating them, we tell them about the veracity equipment being used in the trial to ensure that everyone is telling the truth. It might be a good idea to let them know that it has been used in Multiverse courts for over a thousand years, and there has never been a case of it producing a false indication.”

Bill said, “I’m thinking that that would be a good place for me to show them our recording of the attack, and the segment where we are taking some of the defendants into custody. Once I make sure they know all of the defendants being taken into custody were recorded, I’ll offer the defendants the opportunity to confess their guilt in exchange for some type of consideration. My problem is that I don’t know what I can offer that will make it worthwhile for them to sign a confession.”

“Hum ... yes, that is a bit of a problem. According to the law, we will be sentencing these people to a penal world for life. There is not much that we can offer with that type of sentence, and I don’t want to reduce the sentence, even if I could.

“A couple of things just occurred to me, Bill. When I was hopping to unknown planets, I learned that some parts of a planet are better places for survival than other parts. If you were to get with Sereine, she may know of locations that would improve their chances of survival; after all, she surveyed the planet.

“We normally send a convicted defendant to a penal planet for violent criminals with a minimal amount of supplies and no weapons. I would have no problem with offering the defendants that cooperate with us the opportunity to be dropped at a choice location, and to provide them with more than the normal amount of supplies. I can also see letting them have weapons such as knives, a long knife or sword, and a bow and arrows. But, no firearms.

“Of course that would mean that we have to make it clear to them that if they don’t cooperate, they will be dropped at a random location with no additional supplies and no weapons. It might be a good idea to let them know that the normal allotment of supplies is only one week of food and water. You should also talk with Sereine so you can describe the local predators they will need to deal with.”

“That seems like a very strange interrogation to me, Doug. What do you have in mind?”

“Nothing, Bill, other than allowing you to feel comfortable with the evidence you are going to give Matt to use in the prosecution of the attackers. After all, we have indisputable proof that the crime was committed, and indisputable proof that our defendants committed the crime. I don’t see what else we need to find them guilty. I suppose that my friend Slim would say that a confession is just the cherry on top of the ice cream dessert.

“One other thing, Bill. Since we aren’t trying to learn anything from these people, it isn’t what you would call a real interrogation, so it may be easier on you to interrogate several of them at once.”

“Thanks, Doug. I’ll take all of that under advisement. The only thing I can think of that we might get out of this interrogation is information on why those two men were driving so fast when they hit Sue.”

“True, but if we do get anything like that from them, it may not be admissible in an Earth court. Besides, I don’t hold out too much hope for Sue to receive justice in an Earth court. Perhaps it might be better to say, I will be surprised if the Judge does more than slap their hands for their offenses and tell them to not do it again.”

“I hate to admit it, Doug, but I think you’re right. The only thing I can hope for is, what will happen to them when they get into the Multiverse courtroom.

“I best let you get on with what you need to do, Doug. I need to put together an interrogation room and an outline of what I’m going to say in the interrogation. More than one at a time is going to seem strange to me, and me not caring if they confess or not will seem strange to them.”

“All right, if you need anything else just let me know. I have to talk with Greeley’s DA.”

On the way back to the office, I realized I was hungry and stopped off at the house to get lunch. After a sandwich, a slice of pie, and a kiss from Carol, I headed back to the office. I should have called the local DA this morning, but I wanted to make sure everyone was making good progress on what they needed to do.

My conversation with Weld County’s District Attorney Mike Morrison went the same way as the one I had with Harriet. No he didn’t want jurisdiction. Yes, he would be at the press conference, and yes, he would like to attend the trial.

The phone rang and when I answered it, it was William.

“Hi, Doug. I am going to meet with the construction manager and do a walk though of the construction to make sure all is going well. I thought you might like to go with me.”

“Sure, William, I’d like that. It would be a good break from my current tasks. When are you planning to meet with Jack?”

“I can imagine you are busy, Doug, I heard a piece on the news about your being attacked by a couple of the local gangs, and survived without injuries.”

“Yes, we were, but things are under control. We still have a number of injured gang members in our clinic and the rest are in our temporary jail.”

“Well, good luck with that. I am planning to show up around nine tomorrow morning, and we should be done by noon.”

“Okay, stop by my office when you get here and I’ll go over to the construction site with you.”

As I hung up the phone, Sue and Abby came storming into my office. I could tell that they were beyond reasonable anger by the way Sue shut my office door. She slammed it shut so hard that it bounced open before it could latch shut.

Sue began to say something to me but her anger made her speechless; all I heard were several unintelligible screeches. Abby was able to speak in a more coherent fashion, and all she said was, “Oh Frizzle! Frizzle! Frizzle!” When they calmed down a bit, I learned that Senator John Belton had just been interviewed by a television reporter.

Abby’s use of Frizzle instead of a swear word always amused me, but at the mention of Belton’s name I lost my sense of humor. Somehow, he managed to avoid criminal charges, and only received a reprimand from the Senate Select Ethics Committee. Since then, he made minor efforts like the Blood Diamonds issue to cause me problems. His efforts were pathetic; I just ignored them for the people involved knew why he was doing it. This was different for he had gone on national TV to attack me.

Abby continued, “He announced that the Multiverse should not have been allowed to have jurisdiction over the people that attacked us for the so-called treaty was invalid. He claimed that we are not capable of administering justice to the people of Earth and the attackers should be turned over to the proper authorities.

“He stated that the Sheriff did not do his job properly, and should be replaced by someone that knows right from wrong. He also accused the President and Secretary of State of being in collusion with the aliens from the Multiverse, and that he will call for a Congressional Investigation of this secret cabal.”

“Shit, we really did not need this happening in the middle of everything else.

“My initial reaction is that we need to refute his comments, but for some reason, I suspect that is exactly what he wants us to do. Sue, do you remember him saying anything else?”

Sue had calmed down to the point where she could at least speak. “No, but later the Pure Earth Society released a statement supporting the Senator.”

Abby said, “I think that is everything he accused us of doing. Isn’t that enough?”

“Actually, it is far more than we need to deal with right now. Abby, would you put each of his claims up on the white board so we can prepare a response for the press conference.”

While Abby was writing the individual items on the board, I was preparing a list of people that I would need to contact about his statement. I also asked Cindy to join us so she could prepare a written response to his accusations. During the next thirty minutes, the four of us discussed how I should respond to each of his accusations. Cindy and Abby would clean up our response to form a statement that I would read at the press conference.

“One more thing ladies, start thinking about how we can eliminate Senator Belton. I would like a plan that removes him from public office. Cindy, add an action item to our list of things to do on Earth for taking action against Senator Belton.

When Abby and Sue left my office, they both had a big smile on their faces. The Senator’s accusation made them angry, very angry to be accurate, and knowledge of how our response might affect the Senator made them smile.

Day 2:

Bill walked into the room and sat down at the table across from a half dozen members of the Halcónes. They looked at him and shut their mouths. He looked at them, leaned back in his chair, let out a relaxed sigh, and smiled.

Leaning forward and placing his forearms on the table, Bill said, “Gentlemen, Ambassador Smith expected that at some time our Embassy would be attacked. Therefore he installed an extensive detection and defensive system.

“We learned of your plan to attack us, so we made plans to defend ourselves in the event you decided to execute your plan. To put it bluntly, we were ready for you and we filmed the entire attack. After you were all down, we filmed our people taking each of you into custody with a very good close-up of your faces so there would be no possibility of you claiming mistaken identity.”

The apparent leader of the four men said, “Man, that is entrapment. We want to see our lawyer. This interrogation is illegal for we haven’t been read our rights.”

As he leaned back crossing his arms, he met Bill’s smile with one of his own.

Bill’s smile got even larger before he replied, “There are a few things that you apparently don’t know. When you and your friends attacked us, you were on the grounds of the Multiverse Embassy. There is a treaty between the US and the Multiverse that gives the Multiverse jurisdiction over people who commit crimes on Embassy property.

“You were arrested on Multiverse property by Multiverse Embassy personnel. You will be charged and are being held in accordance with the laws and customs of the Multiverse, and in a few days, you will be tried by a Multiverse Court.

“Miranda rights are not observed by the Multiverse, and we do not have to provide you with an attorney. According to the Multiverse’s customs, you are required to defend yourselves, but you may retain a lawyer to advise you in how you should defend yourselves. Unfortunately for you, there are no Earth lawyers familiar with the Multiverse legal code. Fortunately for you, we realize that you are ignorant of the Multiverse’s laws and customs, so the day after tomorrow, we will provide you, and your attorneys, with a seminar that addresses the relevant laws and customs.

“You are also mistaken in that I am not here to interrogate you. There is no need for an interrogation. We have all the evidence that we need to obtain a conviction. The case is open and shut with no chance of you obtaining a Not Guilty verdict. My purpose here today is to tell you and your fellow gang members what will happen to you during the coming week.

“Tomorrow, we will hold a news conference to announce that the Multiverse has jurisdiction in this case. At that conference, representatives of the State Department, State of Colorado, and the County DA’s office will acknowledge that the Multiverse has jurisdiction. Since this is the first time a legal case is prosecuted on Earth according to the laws and customs of the Multiverse, there is intense interest in how the Multiverse dispenses justice.

“The next step is for you and your attorneys, if you employ one, to attend a short course on the Multiverse’s legal system as it pertains to your case, and the customs and procedures to be followed in a Multiverse court.

“Did you know that over a thousand years ago, the Multiverse scientists developed a veracity detector, which we call a lie detector here on Earth, and it is one hundred percent accurate? The Multiverse court uses this lie detector to determine the truth of all statements made in court. Oh yes, one other thing, the Judge makes the determination of guilt or innocence in a criminal case, not a jury, and the Judge relies primarily on the lie detector to make his ruling.

“What this means for you is, when you say something in court, the lie detector will inform the Judge if your statement is true or false. A Multiverse court is a place for truth, and lies will upset the Judge. If you tell any lies, the lie detector will let the Judge know you are lying and the Judge will not look on you with favor. As I said this is an open and shut case. The film shows the truth and the lie detector will indicate whether your statements about your actions are true or false.

“The standard sentence for this type of crime is a life sentence on a penal planet for violent criminals. What that means is, the Judge will sentence you to be incarcerated on our penal planet, the police D-Hopper will transport you to the penal planet, and you will be left there for the rest of your life. Do you have any questions about what will happen to you in the next few days?”

The six men were rather rattled.

“No man, you can’t do this to us. It ain’t right. It ain’t legal.

“It doesn’t matter what you think, friend. It is legal in the Multiverse, and what will happen to you is typical of Multiverse justice. However, due to the extreme public interest of this case, I have been instructed by the Ambassador to offer you a deal. Personally, I hope you turn it down, for that woman your people hurt is my wife!

“The deal is that the Ambassador wants this case to go smoothly. He is willing to give you some consideration if you cooperate by making no inappropriate outbursts in court and by providing us with a written document concerning your actions during the attack and your subsequent treatment by our people. He hopes that you will acknowledge your guilt in court, but he knows that Earth criminals are accustomed to lying in court, so he feels that would be too much to ask of you.”

One of the younger men said, “What kind of consideration?”

“A penal planet is an undeveloped world, so it has both good and bad areas. Under normal circumstances, the D-Hopper picks a place at random and just leaves the convicted criminal there. Where the criminal is left on the planet’s surface has a lot to do with their ability to survive. When the criminal is left on the planet, they are provided with one week of food and water, and a small utility knife, but no weapons. If the Ambassador believes you made a sincere effort to cooperate, he will instruct the D-Hopper to pick a good drop off place for you. He will authorize you a month of food, and in addition to the utility knife, each of you will be provided with extra food and water, a second knife or short sword suitable for use in defending yourself, and you will each be given a bow and two dozen hunting arrows.”

The leader said, “Hey, man, this is bullshit, what sort of place are you sending us to?”

“As I said, it is an undeveloped planet. There are no buildings or other facilities like the ones you would find on a civilized world. Most of the plants and animals are edible. Of course, that world’s carnivores will consider you edible, also. Your utility knife will only have a six-inch blade, and it is not a great defensive weapon. A knife with a longer blade, a machete, or a short sword would be more suitable for defending yourself. If it were me, I would want a gun, but guns are not allowed, so you will really need the bow and arrows for they will be even better than handheld weapons.”

“You’re bluffing, man. This is all a put-on. There is no way you would be allowed to do anything like this.”

“What you think doesn’t matter to me, friend. Remember, it was my wife your two friends hurt. I am not happy with you assholes. You were trying to rescue the men that put my wife in the hospital. When you are left on that planet, you are going to realize that everything I’ve said is true. Then you can remember what I said and what the Ambassador offered. Personally, I hope all of you act up and only get the basic survival package.