“Number two,” Soltan said, after a minute. The man spoke his line. Papa said nothing. It did the same with number three.

“Jesus Christ, my goddamn face,” said Aubrey.

“I know this voice,” said Papa. “It is one of the other men who came to the house of Jack Holloway. It is not the man who killed my child.” Soltan looked at Aubrey with a face that said got you. Aubrey did not seem particularly concerned.

“Number five,” Soltan said.

The man said his line. Nothing from Papa. Man six, nothing. Man seven, nothing.

“Jesus Christ, my goddamn face,” said DeLise.

Papa took in a sharp breath, held it, and let it out. “I know this voice,” the fuzzy said. “It is the voice of the man who killed my child. It is the voice of the man who killed the mate of my child.” “Are you sure?” Soltan said.

“I know this voice,” Papa said, and its voice was surprisingly forceful. Papa looked up at Soltan. “Do you not have a child? If a man killed your child, you would know about that man. You would know the face of the man. You would know the hands of the man. You would know the smell of the man. You would know the voice of the man. This is the voice of the man who killed my child. My child who I cannot see. Who I cannot hold. Who is gone. My child is gone. This man killed my child. I know this voice.” Papa fell to its knees in the witness stand and keened, silently, as far as the humans could hear.

The courtroom was absolutely still.

“Your Honor,” Holloway said, quietly, after several moments.

“The testimony stands,” Soltan said, also quietly. “Everyone, sit down again.”

Chapter Twenty-six

“Your Honor,” Holloway said, after everyone had sat. “If Papa’s testimony stands, we have another issue to address.”

“And what issue is that, Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said. She seemed drained.

“We have reasonably established Mr. DeLise at the scene of the arson,” Holloway said. “Ms. Meyer may still attempt to call forward her list of so-called witnesses testifying to Mr. DeLise’s whereabouts, but we have DNA evidence and a credible witness, and we have excluded other potential arsonists. I doubt any of Meyer’s witnesses will stack up to the evidence I’ve presented to you today. And on top of that, we have more than reasonably established that the fuzzys are sentient. By accepting Papa’s testimony, you have effectively declared its species so.”

“I’m still waiting to hear about this other issue, Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said.

“Quite obviously, I’m talking about murder,” Holloway said.

“What?” DeLise roared. After glowering through the entire preliminary hearing, he was suddenly engaged.

“Murder,” Holloway repeated, turning to look at DeLise. “You murdered those fuzzys, Joe.”

“This is bullshit,” DeLise said, standing up.

“No, not bullshit, Joe,” Holloway said. He stalked over to DeLise. “Not this time. It’s deep shit this time. Because you walked right up to a tiny sentient being, lifted up your boot, and stomped the life right out of it. And when its mate tried to defend it, you killed it too. That’s two counts of murder, fair and square, pure and simple.”

“Your Honor.” Meyer looked around DeLise and Holloway to Soltan, to get her to stop the two men.

“Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said.

“How do you think this is going to look, Joe?” Holloway said, ignoring the judge. “We discover a new sentient species, only the third one we’ve ever found besides ourselves, and the first thing you do is stomp one of them to death. How do you think that’s going to play, Joe?”

“Get out of my face, Jack,” DeLise said. “I’m warning you.”

“Because you know what, Joe, murder’s not the only thing they’re going to throw at you. They’re probably going to hit you with hate crimes against xenosentients, too. There’s not much doubt you targeted that first little fuzzy because of what it was, is there? You came, you saw, you crushed it to death.”

“Your Honor!” Meyer practically screamed.

“If it was just murder, maybe you’d get off with life in prison, Joe,” Holloway said. “But it’s not. With a xenosentient’s hate crime rider, that’s the death penalty. Two counts. You’re going to die, Joe, because you stomped that little creature just for the fun of it.”

DeLise howled and launched himself over the defense table at Holloway. Holloway took the tackle and went down without resistance. Sullivan was up over the audience railing and pulling DeLise off Holloway, but not before DeLise landed heavy blows to Holloway’s face and head. Holloway didn’t bother to block them. Sullivan was followed by a rush of ZaraCorp lawyers, who finally managed to pull DeLise up and off his quarry.

Holloway picked himself up and wiped some of the blood off his face with his jacket sleeve. He faced Soltan, who looked frankly appalled.

“As I was saying, Your Honor, two counts of murder,” he said. He wiped off his eyebrow, from which the blood was drizzling into his eye. “And a side order of assault and battery while you’re at it.”

“This is bullshit!” DeLise said from behind a pile of lawyers. “I want to make a deal, Your Honor.”

“What are you talking about, Mr. DeLise?” Soltan said.

“Shut up, Joe,” Meyer said, to DeLise.

“Shut up yourself, Meyer,” DeLise said. “No way I’m dying for your boys back there. And if I am dying, they’re coming with me.”

“Mr. DeLise!” Soltan said. DeLise shut up. “I repeat: What are you talking about?”

“I was at Holloway’s under orders,” DeLise said. “I was there to booby-trap Holloway’s place and to kill any of those things I could find.”

“Whose orders?” Soltan said.

“Oh, I think you can guess, Your Honor,” DeLise said. “But I’m not saying a damn thing else until I get a deal.”

Soltan stared at DeLise, and then at Meyer. “Your client wants to make a deal, Ms. Meyer.”

“I must request to withdraw as Mr. DeLise’s attorney at this time,” Meyer said.

“I suspected as much,” Soltan said. She looked around in the courtroom until she found who she was looking for. “Mr. Sullivan,” she said. “You are by all accounts currently unaffiliated.”

“That would be accurate, Your Honor,” Sullivan said. “I quit the employ of Zarathustra Corporation roughly forty seconds ago.”

“How wonderful,” Soltan said. “Will you please represent Mr. DeLise, then, at least for the short term. I can offer you standard Colonial Authority public defender rates.”

“Happy to oblige,” Sullivan said.

Soltan turned to Papa Fuzzy, who was still in the witness stand, watching everything unfold with a sort of quiet fascination. “Papa Fuzzy,” she said. “You are someone who speaks for your people.”

“Yes,” Papa said.

“Soon my people will need to speak to your people,” she said. “It would help if you choose a man to help your people speak to my people. A man you like who is good to you and good to your people.”

“I choose Jack Holloway,” Papa Fuzzy said.

“Are you sure?” Soltan asked.

“I am sure,” Papa said. “I do not know all the things your people know. But I am smart. I see what Jack Holloway has done here now. Jack Holloway has helped you see bad men have hurt my people and killed my child. Jack Holloway is a good man. I choose Jack Holloway.”

“Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said. “You understand the job you’ve just been nominated for.”

“Defender general of the fuzzy nation, it seems like,” Holloway said.

“Do you accept the job?” Soltan said.

“I do,” Holloway said.

“Then congratulations,” Soltan said. “Because as of this moment, you’re effectively in charge of this entire planet.”

“Wait a minute,” said Wheaton Aubrey VII. “You can’t do that. The Zarathustra Corporation has an E and E franchise with the Colonial Authority. A judge at your level can’t just decide it doesn’t apply. And you certainly can’t hand over responsibility to a contract surveyor.”