Stranger in a Strange Land

«No matter. The fact that Ben retained Cavendish shows how serious he was; you don't hunt rabbits with elephant guns. They were taken to see the “Man from Mars” — »

Gillian gasped, then said, «That's impossible!»

«Jill, you're disputing a Fair Witness … and not just any Fair Witness. If Cavendish says it, it's gospel.»

«I don't care if he's the Twelve Apostles! He wasn't on my floor last Thursday morning!»

«You didn't listen. I didn't say that they were taken to see Mike — I said they were taken to the “Man from Mars.” The phony one, obviously — that fellow they stereovised.»

«Oh. Of course. And Ben caught them!»

Jubal looked pained. «Little girl, Ben did not catch them. Even Cavendish did not — at least he won't say so. You know how Fair Witnesses behave.»

«Well … no, I don't. I've never met one.»

«So?Anne!»

Anne was on the springboard; she turned her head. Jubal called out, «That house on the hilltop — can you see what color they've painted it?»

Anne looked, then answered, «It's white on this side.»

Jubal went on to Jill, «You see? It doesn't occur to Anne to infer that the other side is white, too. All the King's horses couldn't force her to commit herself … unless she went there and looked — and even then she wouldn't assume that it stayed white after she left.»

«Anneis a Fair Witness?»

«Graduate, unlimited license, admitted to testify before the High Court. Sometime ask her why she gave up public practice. But don't plan anything else that day — the wench will recite the whole truth and nothing but the truth, which takes time. Back to Mr. Cavendish — Ben retained him for open witnessing, full disclosure, without enjoining privacy. So when Cavendish was questioned, he answered, in boring detail. The interesting part is what he does not say. He never states that the man they saw was not the Man from Mars … but not one word indicates that Cavendish accepted the exhibit as being the Man from Mars. If you knew Cavendish, this would be conclusive. If Cavendish had seen Mike, he would have reported with such exactness that you and I would know that he had seen Mike. For example, Cavendish reports the shape of this exhibit's ears … and it does not match Mike's ears. Q.E.D.; they were shown a phony. Cavendish knows it, though he is professionally restrained from giving opinions.»

«I told you. They never came near my floor.»

«But it tells us more. This occurred hours before you pulled your jail break; Cavendish sets their arrival in the presence of the phony at 9:14 Thursday morning. So the government had Mike under their thumb at that moment; they could have exhibited Mike. Yet they risked offering a phony to the most noted Fair Witness in the country. Why?»

Jill answered, «You're asking me? I don't know. Ben told me that he intended to ask Mike if he wanted to leave the hospital — and help him if he said, “Yes”.»

«Which Ben did try, with the phony.»

«So? But, Jubal, they couldn't have known that Ben intended to … and, anyhow, Mike wouldn't have left with Ben.»

«Later he left with you.»

«Yes — but I was his “water brother”, just as you are now. He has this crazy idea that he can trust anyone with whom he has shared a drink of water. With a “water brother” he is docile … with anybody else he is stubborn as a mule. Ben couldn't have budged him.» She added, «At least that is the way he was last week — he's changing awfully fast.»

«So he is. Too fast, maybe. I've never seen muscle tissue develop so rapidly. Never mind, back to Ben — Cavendish reports that Ben dropped him and the lawyer, a chap named Frisby, at nine thirty-one, and Ben kept the cab. An hour later he — or somebody who said he was Ben — phoned that message to Paoli Flat.»

«You don't think it was Ben?»

«I do not. Cavendish reported the number of the cab and my scouts tried to get a look at its daily trip tape. If Ben used his credit card, his charge number should be on the tape — but even if he fed coins into the meter the tape should show where the cab had been.»

«Well?»

Harshaw shrugged. «The records show that cab in for repairs and never in use Thursday morning. So either a Fair Witness misremembered a cab's number or somebody tampered with the record.» He added, «Maybe a jury would decide that even a Fair Witness could misread a number, especially if he had not been asked to remember it — but I don't believe it — not when the Witness is James Oliver Cavendish. He would either be certain — or his report would never mention it.»

Harshaw scowled. «Jill, you're forcing me to rub my nose in it — and I don't like it! Granted that Ben could have sent that message, it is most unlikely that he could tamper with the record of that cab … and still less believable that he had reason to. Ben went somewhere — and somebody who could get at the records of a public carrier went to a lot of trouble to conceal where he went… and sent a phony message to keep anyone from realizing that he had disappeared.»

«“Disappeared!” Kidnapped, you mean!»