surrender, and L ieu ten an t Kyle w ould never have done th a t.’’

  “ Yes, he w as.”

  “ But I co u ld n ’t think of it that way w hile he was alive.” 2900

  looked at him thoughtfully. “ You know , you have som ething,

  2910. A spark. S om ething the rest of us lack.” For a m om ent he

  fingered his chin w ith one huge hand. “T h a t’s why I m ade you a

  squad leader; that and to get you out of some work, because

  som etimes you co u ld n ’t seem to keep up. B ut y o u ’ve that spark,

  som ehow .”

  2910 said, “ I know. H ow is it ou t there?”

  “ We’re still holding. H ow do you feel?”

  “ Dizzy. T h e re ’s a sort of black stuff all aro u n d the sides w hen I see.

  Listen, w ill you tell me som ething, if you can, before you go?”

  “ Of course.”

  “ If a h u m a n ’s leg is broken very badly, w hat I believe they call a

  com pound spiral fracture, is it possible for the h u m an doctors to

  take ou t a section of the bone an d replace it w ith a m etal substitute?”

  “I d o n ’t know ,” 2900 answered. “W hat does it m atter?”

  Vaguely 2910 said, “ I th in k I knew of a football player once they

  did that to. At least, I seem now to rem em ber i t . .. I had forgotten for

  a m o m en t.”

  O utside the bugles were blow ing again.

  N ear him the dying H O R A R m oaned.

  An Am erican news m agazine som etimes carries, ju st inside its front

  cover am ong the advertisem ents, a colum n devoted to news of its

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  Planfejt Engineering

  ow n people. Tw o weeks after a correspondent nam ed T h o m as filed

  the last article of a series w hich had attracted n ational and even

  intern atio n al attention, the follow ing item appeared there:

  T h e death of a staffer in w ar is no u n iq u e

  occurrence in the history of this publication,

  but there is a p artic u la r poignancy abo u t that

  of the young m an w hose stories, p arad o x ically, to conceal his num ber have been signed

  only w ith his nam e (see PRESS). T h e airborne

  relief force, w hich arrived too late to save the

  cam p at w hich he had resigned his h um anity

  to work and fight, reports that he apparently

  died assisting the assigned SBS specialist in

  caring for the creatures whose lot he had, as

  nearly as a h u m an can, m ade his own. Both

  he and the specialist were bayonetted w hen the

  cam p w'as overrun.

  106

  Two days before Easter Sunday, at eleven forty-three PM, Stephen

  B rodie’s ap artm en t door was broken dow n by a m ixed force,

  com prised of elem ents from the New York and P h ila d elp h ia police

  departm ents, the Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation,

  the Bureau of Narcotics, CBS, ABC, and the Washington Post.

  B rodie’s trial began approxim ately six m onths later, on November

  seventh.

  Perhaps because his was the first arrest to have been carried live on

  nation-w ide television, public interest from the very beg in n in g far

  exceeded an y th in g know n before. O n the fifth, a late show host

  m entioned a rum or to the effect that the trial w ould begin in secret a

  day earlier than had been originally announced. A lthough he had

  quoted the report only to ridicule it, w hat he said proved sufficient

  to fill the street outside the C rim inal C ourts B uilding w ith a mob

  estim ated by the police to contain eighty-four th o u san d persons,

  in clu d in g m any wom en and children.

  O n the seventeenth, the selection of the ju ry began. Both the

  P rosecutor’s Office and B rodie’s attorneys were to have u p to three

  hun d red dism issals w ith o u t cause, and an u n lim ited num ber of

  dism issals for cause. T h e jury — twelve jurors and fifteen alternates —

  w ould be chosen from a panel of five thousand persons. Since the

  nam es of all these were know n to the p ublic well in advance, it was

  inevitable that certain favorites should emerge, based up o n previous

  fam iliarity, re latio n sh ip to already w ell-know n persons, appearance,

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  Planfejt Engineering

  or m em bership in a p o p u la r or notorious g roup. T im e and

  Newsweek published their ideal rolls of twenty-seven as early as June,

  and the NBC com puter, fresh from a triu m p h in the p rediction of a

  presidential election, presented its ow n list of the fifty “ most

  likely” — a list that in the event proved surprisingly inaccurate.

  T h e seventeenth was a M onday, and selection co n tin u ed u n til the

  follow ing T hursday w ith o u t a ju ro r being accepted, and, indeed,

  w ith o u t any p o p u la r favorite com ing under consideration. At

  three-fourteen tension was m o u n tin g — H. P iper Davis, a b u ild in g

  contractor whose rem ark that “G u ilt or whatever w ould have to be

  determ ined by the law ,” made some four m onths previously, had

  caught the atten tio n of the m edia, was a mere two nam es off. At this

  m om ent, the selection of Em m a M unson, a previously u nnoticed

  black B aptist m other’s helper, struck the courtroom like a meteor.

  “ No objection,” stated K. B. Parker, the assistant prosecutor. W hen

  W ill (Scooter) Clark, the defense attorney, said — in place of the

  universally anticipated “objection for cause” — "N o ob jectio n ,”

  only the P ublic B roadcasting System was no t caught flatfooted. T h e

  fortunate three hundred th o u san d (continental U.S.) w atch in g their

  coverage were treated to an in stan t replay w ith no m ore th an a

  scarcely perceptible pause for tape editing.

  After M u n so n ’s ap p o in tm en t, the re m a in in g tw enty-six ju ro rs were

  decided u p o n relatively rapidly. Many observers felt, however, that

  this q uick process represented a covert agreem ent between counsel to

  avoid insofar as possible further dem onstrations like the Jan u a ry

  twelfth (th ro u g h twenty-seventh) riots in San Francisco. T h e

  ap p o in tm en t of Charles H op Sing as the th ird regular ju ro r was

  widely considered to have been an unacknow ledged surrender to

  dem ands of the m ale-grocer-oriental-A m erican com m unity; and

  renewed violence am ong the G arm ent Workers, c u lm in a tin g in the

  T h ird Avenue brassiere m arch of February eleventh, helped fan a

  feeling of n atio n al urgency.

  By M arch sixteenth, the selection of the jury was com plete; the

  presiding justice, Frederick K. C. M cGrail, ordered a week’s recess

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  A Criminal Proceeding

  d u rin g w hich the dom ed Bronco Stadium C om plex was to be

  eq u ip p ed w ith additional television cameras, dressing rooms,

  perm an en t Mace d istrib u tio n pip in g , a revolving stage, provision for

  the in tro d u ctio n of horses and (if necessary) elephants, m eans of

  flooding the center section to Row AAC, arm ored m echanical police

  (controlled from the gondola that also housed the transm itters

  required for a pano ram ic view of the court, and operated by a

  com m ittee in clu d in g representatives of the five m ajor networks, the

  Senate of the U nited States, and the U niversity of C hicago), a sm all

  dirigible to supplem ent the gondola, an aviary for carrier pigeons,

  three IBM 380 com puters, recording equipm ent, cooking facilities to

  su pplem ent the seven restaurants that formed a perm an en t part of the

  sports com plex, a weather station, and black artificial grass

  su rro u n d in g a stauros.

  O n May third of the follow ing year, the arena was prepared, and the trial proper began. D uring the intervening thirteen m onths, however, com petition for the fuchsia and gold passes that

  w ould adm it the bearer had become alm ost u n endurably intense.

  Tw enty-four th ousand seven hu n d red h ad been distributed to

  Broncos stockholders in full paym ent for the use of the stadium for

  as long as required. A nother three hundred com pensated the players

  themselves (both platoons) for up to six missed seasons. A llow ing

  am ple space for the jury, witnesses, attorneys, and press, left another

  three h undred and thirty-six thousand, seven h undred and eighty-one

  seats. U pon the P resident’s request, thirteen th o u san d of these were

  aw arded to the W hite H ouse staff, both Houses of Congress, the

  current g ra d u atin g classes of the four service academies, and the

  legislature of the C om m onw ealth of D elaware (her native state).

  T h e com petition for the rem ain in g passes was alm ost beyond

  com prehension; counterfeiting was u nquestionably responsible for a

  substantial part of the difficulties that were to plague adm issions

  policies th ro u g h o u t the case.

  C ourt was to convene at eleven, but the seating riots and the

  counter-violence espoused by the New Venue Rangers, a catch-as-

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  Plan[e]t Engineering

  catch-can’t coalition of Broncos fans, private security force officials,

  and M others’ Clubs, delayed the first rap of the gavel u n til one

  fifty-eight.

  T h e o p en in g m otion was m ade by B rodie’s attorney, w ho

  requested a new trial, alleg in g certain irregularities in the selection of

  the jury. C ourt was recessed to consider the m otion, reconvening on

  May thirty-first, w hen Justice H opkins denied it “at this tim e.”

  Follow ing the luncheon recess, Deputy Prosecutor Eli Braincreek

  began the governm ent’s case. Many seasoned critics noted th at d u rin g

  the entire presentation, w hich continued u n til Ju n e tw enty-fifth, the

  ABC cam era was fastened unw averingly u p o n the countenance of

  Stephen Brodie, the defendant. E ditorials in the Toledo Blade and the

  H ouston Post speculated that this fixed regard was a strategy

  com pounded w ith the netw ork by B rodie’s lawyers. (Brodie was

  reputed to have been a steadfast p artisan of certain ABC presentations

  w hen free, notably the “ M onday N ight M ovie.” ) An aging bu t still

  boyish com m entator q u ip p ed th at ABC had suffered a jam m ed

  swivel (on Ju n e thirteenth, NBC’s only reference to the affair), and

  another rival pointed out that since CBS’s cameras provided two

  views of Brodie (full face an d three-quarter) CBS’s viewers actually

  saw more of him than ABC’s did. (T h is em ploym ent of the word

  more was challenged by the jo u rn alism review of the same nam e.)

  W hether ABC’s concentrated coverage was justified or not, it m ade

  apparent, as no other scrutiny did, the increasing tension to w hich

  Brodie was subjected. W hen B raincreek referred for the first tim e to

  the private yacht chartered by A ntropopos and arm ed by him w ith

  heat-seeking underw ater projectiles, Brodie was observed to wince

  visibly; and by the tw entieth of Ju n e, w hen Ethel B. Saltzlust devoted

  four hours to the broken a q u a riu m u p o n w hich Brodie was alleged

  to have cut his foot w hile skydiving, some thirty m illio n persons

  observed the hesitating and even trem ulous m anner in w hich he

  extended his hand tow ard Ella M oneypenny-H ubert, the pu rp o rted

  m other of his seven adopted Viet N am w ar-orphan heirs.

  D uring September, atten tio n left the trial to center on the

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  A Criminal Proceeding

  C ongressional debate over the P erkins-O ’Farrell Act, a bill that,

  w hen passed (as it was the follow ing m onth), w ould require a

  retroactive m andatory death penalty for Charges T hirteen , Fifteen,

  Tw enty-O ne, and Twenty-seven in the indictm ent. It was widely

  believed that the President w ould veto this bill; but late in the

  afternoon of O ctober thirty-first she signed it at her seat in

  the stadium , the seventeen sim ulacra of herself im ported from

  D isneyw orld-H avana to deceive snipers acting in concert. T h a t n ig h t

  Brodie attem pted suicide in his cell, k n o ttin g a strip torn from his

  sh irt aro u n d his neck and the bars in his door, and ju m p in g from

  his bunk after slashing his wrists w ith fragm ents of his artificial eye

  (injuries eerily rem iniscent of those inflicted three years previously

  w hen he had been attacked by a dem onic model aircraft —a Second

  W orld War B-17—allegedly under the control of Hess DeLobel).

  Over a qu arter of a m illio n persons volunteered to give blood, most,

  apparently, under the illusion that the d o nation w ould involve an

  artery-to-artery m eeting w ith Brodie. (T he actual transfusions came

  from a turnkey, R aym ond R. Swain; Swain was assassinated the

  follow ing year.)

  Two weeks before C hristm as, A rnone H arper, acting for the

  prosecution, called to the stand the first of the persons alleged to have

  been em ployed for illicit purposes by Brodie and others. T h e witness,

  M elinda Bettis, know n professionally as “Fayette City R ed,’’ m ade a

  strong im pression on the spectators. Her appearance was followed

  by those of W anda Wood, JoA nne Blake, Eve Smythe (“ Nova

  D em ure” ), Everett H. W hite (“ Carol C lark ” ), and Sonya P lum

  Blossom; Ms. P lu m Blossom testified that both the Secretary of

  Defense and the Secretary-General of the U nited N ations had been

  present at the party given on board the guided-m issile carrier

  Mayaguez Incident d u rin g the special elections. (Later confirm ed by

  the G eneral Assembly, th o u g h denied by the Security C ouncil.)

  Several witnesses stated that Brodie and others had hoped to gain

  w orld-w ide control, both m onetary and m ilitary, on or before the

  occasion of the USSA debacle; and Elizabeth Cushy, a witness

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  Plan[e]t Engineering

  whose shapely legs, slender waist, and volu p tu o u s decolletage earned

  her the highest ratings achieved to that date by any prosecution

  presentation, stated under oath that Brodie had told her in confidence

  that had the judge not intervened, he had p lan n ed (it being the

  previous year) to pack the courtroom w ith persons attached by oath,

  as well as by bonds of gratitude, to him self and to Giznik.

  Follow ing this testim ony, Justice Russell ordered the court cleared.

  T h is required a ten-day recess, d u rin g w hich seventeen thousand

  persons (N ew Yorker estimate) were injured, an d a m ausoleum

  belonging to Scholia was ap p ro p riated by a thief w ho used its

  flam ethrow ers to clear a p a th th ro u g h the Seventh M arines and

  dow n Pennsylvania Avenue. T h e m ausoleum was to have been the

  p rosecution’s E xhibit C.

  O n Jan u ary twenty-fifth the trial reopened, but it closed again

  alm ost at once w hen a bom b exploded u n d er the press gallery d u rin g

  the mid-day recess. A different kind of bom bshell struck the court on

  February fourteenth, w hen Caleb C ohen III, acting for Brodie,

  announced that his client was entering a G u ilty plea to Charges

  Eight, Sixteen, Seventeen, and Forty-Seven, an d alterin g his plea of

  N ot G uilty — insofar as it ap p lied to Tw enty-O ne, Tw enty-N ine,

  T hirty, and Forty-Two — to N ot G uilty by R eason of Insanity. All

  these changes of plea were refused " in the p u b lic interest,” and on

  February tenth, Brodie attem pted suicide a second time.

  By m id-M arch the p rosecution’s case was practically com plete.

  T h e chiefs of state of the U nited States and five foreign governm ents

  (East G erm any, West G erm any, Iran, Sweden, an d Morocco) had

  appeared to testify against Brodie; so had eighteen w ell-know n

  television personalities. Over three hun d red hours of tape had been

  played. T h e fam ous “sly spy film s” had been show n to the ju ry twice

  and supplem ented w ith stills show ing Brodie lo o k in g tow ard the

  stars (Cassiopeia); Brodie w ith his rig h t arm aro u n d the shoulders

  of his (then) wife, A ngella Brodie Yuppe; Brodie m arch in g to protest

  the p o llu tio n of the W indw ard Passage; Brodie p lay in g chess in a

  store w indow w ith an old m an (Stanislas H enryk C hvojka, black,

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  A Criminal Proceeding

  w on in tw enty-eight moves); and Brodie p icking apples in a “ pick

  your ow n for three dollars a bushel” deal at A p p le City.

  T h e p ro secution’s su m m in g -u p lasted less th an a week, an d on

  M arch tw enty-fourth Brodie took the stand in his ow n defense and,

  in a surprise move, left it alm ost at once to thru st his arm in to the

 

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