Gunfight on the Alpha Centauri Express by John Bowers

Author:John Bowers [Bowers, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: FTL Press
Published: 2015-09-01T06:00:00+00:00

Thursday, May 18, 0445 (CC)

71st Floor, Federation Building – Lucaston, Alpha Centauri 2

Over the next couple of days, Brian Godney called other witnesses to the stand. Few did his case any good. In spite of his desperate need to get incriminating testimony into the record, Godney largely struck out, but Victoria Cross added points to the defense. Willard Kline and Roy Blake, of Kline Corners on Sirius 1, had only good things to say, as did Monica Maynard and Russ Murray of Ceres, and Drusilla Downing of Alpha 2.

Turd Murdoch of Ceres and Antiochus Groening of Alpha 2 testified that Nick was abusive and overbearing, using excessive force, but on cross, Victoria established that both were convicted felons whom Nick had arrested, and therefore had personal scores to settle with him.

At some point Godney apparently realized he was only helping the defense, and decided not to call the rest of the names on his witness list.

Because the rules excluded the defendant from fraternizing with opposing witnesses, Nick never got to speak to most of those Godney had called to testify against him. Just before Kline and Blake boarded a starship to return to Sirius, Nick had the opportunity to shake hands with them, but that was all.

On Thursday, a minor media event took place outside the courtroom when an unexpected celebrity showed up. Reporters and holo-cams swarmed a man in his late fifties who said he had come all the way from Terra to support Nick Walker. In spite of the deep weather lines in his face, he was still recognizable to his billions of fans on five planets. His name was Rodney Manchester, a Hollywood actor better known as the legendary western hero, Yancy West.

The reporters, mostly young and female, seemed dazzled at his presence.

“Mr. Manchester, are you going to testify for the defense?”

Manchester, calm and collected with an easy grin and a deep Midwestern drawl, shook his head.

“I haven’t been called to testify, as much as I would love to. The fact is that I’ve never met Marshal Walker, so nothing I might say could be used as evidence—but I’ve certainly heard of him.”

“Do you think Marshal Walker is being railroaded?”

“I don’t want to impute motives to the prosecution, but I find it really troublesome that a man who has dedicated his life to the pursuit of justice, and has been so successful at it, should find himself in Marshal Walker’s position. I think it says something about the society we live in, that something like this could happen. From everything I’ve heard, the Federation has no evidence of wrongdoing; if they had, charges would have already been filed.” Manchester shook his head grimly. “No, this looks like a fishing trip to me, but again, I have no first-hand knowledge either way.”

Manchester was still there when Nick and Victoria Cross emerged from the courtroom. Nick was stunned to see his vid hero standing there in person, and as the holocams closed in to capture the moment, felt suddenly overwhelmed, like a young boy meeting a famous sports star for the first time.

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