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.In the middle of the confusion, Leon Karst leaned over to her.“That’s the way you do it, if you’re Deirdre Walsh.” He spoke in a low voice, but he could have shouted without drawing attention.“You see, it doesn’t matter what Grenville says now.He has the sympathy of everyone in the courtroom, even the tribunal members.They’ll try to be objective, but they’re human, too.Bang goes our case.”His eyes were gleaming—with admiration, not emotion.(Sally remembered what she had been told when she first came to work.“Leon leaves his emotions outside the courtroom.He has a guiding principle there: ‘What counts in legal practice is honesty, decency, and sincerity.As soon as you learn to fake those, you have it made.’”)“What can we do, Leon?”He shrugged.“Lie low.Listen, watch, think.But we may be dead in the water.Unless something new comes up, I’m not a big enough fool to cross-examine Grenville.”Sally realized just how carefully Grenville’s appearance and testimony were being managed when order was finally restored and it was time to swear in the witness.Deirdre Walsh turned to the judge and said simply, “Your Honor, Captain Grenville has never told anything other than the truth.I hope that is enough.” She left it to the audience (and the tribunal) to realize that the usual practice of the witness raising his right hand for swearing-in was here impossible.Russell Grenville held his torso upright on the cushions.If what had happened to him had affected his mind, it was impossible to tell that from his face.“Captain Grenville.” Deirdre Walsh began quietly, speaking so softly that the courtroom stilled to hear her.“Let me first ask you to confirm certain details of your personal history.”She began to list his accomplishments, the same ones that Sally had read two nights before.It took many minutes.Russell Grenville said no more than “That’s right,” or “That is so,” as he was asked for confirmation of an event or an award.But at the end, there was not even a whisper in the courtroom.“Very well,” said Deirdre Walsh at last.“Now I would like to ask you certain questions about your most recent expedition.Would you agree, Captain Grenville, that this was not supposed to be a particularly dangerous mission? That perhaps the participants of that mission were rather more worried about possible boredom than about catastrophe?”“Solar System exploration always has an element of danger.” Grenville’s voice was calm and rational, and yet its utterance from deep within his chest somehow made the listener more aware of the truncated body around it.“However, I would agree that I did not see peril as the major element of the mission.”“And for the reason, you permitted a group of Schimmerhann chimpanzees to be included in your ship’s crew?”“I did.”“But it would be fair to say, would it not, that you objected to their presence?”(“She’s leading him!” whispered Sally.“She sure is,” replied Leon Karst, just as softly.“But there’s times you object, and there’s times you don’t.For the moment, we keep quiet.”)“I objected very much.Orally, and in writing.” For the first time, there was an element of feeling in Grenville’s voice.“Would you mind explaining to the court the basis for your objections?”“I would not mind at all.The ship that I was commanding, the Poseidon of the Hecuba series, calls for eight crew members and a central command computer.That is ample to permit efficient operation of the vessel.There is plenty of space, but ideally that should be reserved for cargo.I was asked to add to the usual complement of crew six Schimmerhann chimpanzees, and to evaluate their possible use in the space environment.I stated, orally and in writing, that it was my task to undertake a serious mission, with serious objectives.I had no interest in managing a spaceborne zoo, whether of Shimmies or anything else.”While the courtroom buzzed with excited reaction, Leon Karst turned to Sally and shook his head.“I know,” he said softly
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