inly have existed in this case,
because had I seen this writ I would never have signed it." He turned to
the now fidgeting Chief Prosecutor. "Mr. O'Brien," he said, "one simply
does not impound sapient beings as evidence, as, say, one impounds a
veldbeest calf in a brand-alteration case. The fact that the sapience of
these Fuzzies is still _sub judice_ includes the presumption of its
possibility. Now you know perfectly well that the courts may take no
action in the face of the possibility that some innocent person may suffer
wrong."

"And, your Honor," Brannhard leaped into the breach, "it cannot be denied
that these Fuzzies have suffered a most outrageous wrong! Picture
them--no, picture innocent and artless children, for that is what these
Fuzzies are, happy trusting little children, who, until then, had known
only kindness and affection--rudely kidnapped, stuffed into sacks by
brutal and callous men--"

"Your Honor!" O'Brien's face turned even blacker than the hot sun of Agni
had made it. "I cannot hear officers of the court so characterized without
raising my voice in protest!"

"Mr. O'Brien seems to forget that he is speaking in the presence of two
eye witnesses to this brutal abduction."

"If the officers of the court need defense, Mr. O'Brien, the court will
defend them. I believe that you should presently consider a defense of
your own actions."

"Your Honor, I insist that I only acted as I felt to be my duty," O'Brien
said. "These Fuzzies are a key exhibit in the case of _People_ versus
_Kellogg_, since only by demonstration of their sapience can any
prosecution against the defendant be maintained."

"Then why," Brannhard demanded, "did you endanger them in this criminally
reckless manner?"

"Endanger them?" O'Brien was horrified. "Your Honor, I acted only to
insure their safety and appearance in court."

"So you took them away from the only man on this planet who knows anything
about their proper care, a man who loves them as he would his own human
children, and you subjected them to abuse, which, for all you knew, might
have been fatal to them."

Judge Pendarvis nodded. "I don't believe, Mr. Brannhard, that you have
overstated the case. Mr. O'Brien, I take a very unfavorable view of your
action in this matter. You had no right to have what are at least
putatively sapient beings treated in this way, and even viewing them as
mere physical evidence I must agree with Mr. Brannhard's characterization
o