Starship Armstrong - Season 2

Part 72 - The Trial Of Dr. Kang (VIII)

The first witness was a nervous looking man in a suit at least a size too small for him. He looked like he hadn't worn the thing since he was a teenager.

The man sat in the witness box, and Gibson stood in front addressing him.

"Could you please state your name for the record, sir?" Gibson asked.

"Prospero Zhao," said the witness.

"And what is your profession?"

"I'm a computer engineer with Standard Tachyon."

"Could you describe your job duties briefly?"

"I maintain the consumer-facing computer equipment for the Mars T-Net infrastructure," said Mr. Zhao.

Gibson began to dramatically walk towards the table on the right side of the courtroom to retrieve his exhibit, only to find Diamond smiling warmly back at him. He suppressed the desire to snarl up his face at the opposing lawyer and turned around to walk to his own table on the left.

He would have to remember that. Left. Left.

Gibson snatched a pad from the top of a pile of them and walked back over to the witness box.

"Mr. Zhao, this document is Prosecution Exhibit 1. Could you please identify it for the court?"

"It's the incoming logs for Ursule Po's T-Net node on September 3rd of '14."

"Your honor I move that Prosecution Exhibit 1 be introduced into evidence," said Gibson, taking the pad from Mr. Zhao and handing it to the Judge.

"Mr. Diamond, any objections?" asked the Judge.

"Not at this time, your honor," said Diamond, briefly rising.

"Go ahead, Mr. Gibson," said the Judge.

"This is really boring," Mitnzer whispered to Littlecrow "Are they going to all this stuff every time they want to introduce a piece of evidence?"

"Ssh!" said Littlecrow, putting her finger to her mouth.

Mitzner was really starting to regret not having that popcorn.

"Mr. Zhao, how would you describe your level of familiarity with logs of this kind?"

"I work with them every day," said Mr. Zhao "Most elements of my job involve interacting with node logs at some point."

"Could you please play back for the court the last incoming call on that log?"

"Certainly," said Zhao and he pressed a few inputs on the pad.

A recording began to play. It was Dr. Kang's voice.

"You're going to be killed!" said the recorded voice, and then there was the sound of a connection being terminated.

"That is grossly out of context!" shouted Dr. Kang, slamming his hands on the table "Play the rest!"

Mr. Diamond shushed him, and gave him an angry look.

"Mr. Diamond please control your client," said the Judge.

"It won't happen again, your honor," said Diamond, rising.

"I have no further questions, your honor," said Gibson, smugly. This time he made absolutely sure he returned to the correct table so as not to spoil the gravitas.

"Mr. Diamond," said the Judge "Your witness."

Diamond stood up and walked over to the witness box.

"Mr Zhao, you know a lot about node logs. Is it physically possible to edit them? To add or remove data?"

"This log isn't doctored, I'd know," said Mr. Zhao.

"That's not what I asked. It's a yes or no question," said Diamond.

"Anything is possible," said Mr. Zhao.

"Does anything include the possibility of files on your system being altered, yes or no?"

"Yes," admitted Mr. Zhao.

"No further questions, your honor," said Diamond, who returned to his table.

"That's it? That's all?" demanded Kang, in a barely restrained whisper, when is lawyer returned.

"That recording proves nothing," whispered Diamond "It's small potatoes. Their whole case revolves around their star witness and I'm going to blow that one right out of the water. Trust me, before he finishes the Prosecutor's case is going to be in shambles. My deconstruction of him might be so thorough that I rest without presenting a defence. That's a real pimp maneuver if you can pull it off."

"I'm not paying you to look like a pimp!" hissed Kang.

"I know," whispered Diamond "I throw that service in for free."