have given the petty officer a quick briefing on courtroom
phraseology. He stood up, holding Baby Fuzzy, while the three judges filed
in and took their seats. As soon as they sat down, the Chief Justice
rapped briskly with his gavel.

"In order to forestall a spate of objections, I want to say that these
present arrangements are temporary, and so will be the procedures which
will be followed. We are not, at the moment, trying Jack Holloway or
Leonard Kellogg. For the rest of this day, and, I fear, for a good many
days to come, we will be concerned exclusively with determining the level
of mentation of _Fuzzy fuzzy holloway zarathustra_.

"For this purpose, we are temporarily abandoning some of the traditional
trial procedures. We will call witnesses; statements of purported fact
will be made under veridication as usual. We will also have a general
discussion, in which all of you at these tables will be free to
participate. I and my associates will preside; as we can't have everybody
shouting disputations at once, anyone wishing to speak will have to be
recognized. At least, I hope we will be able to conduct the discussion in
this manner.

"You will all have noticed the presence of a number of officers from
Xerxes Naval Base, and I suppose you have all heard that Commodore Napier
has assumed control of the civil government. Captain Greibenfeld, will you
please rise and be seen? He is here participating as _amicus curiae_, and
I have given him the right to question witnesses and to delegate that
right to any of his officers he may deem proper. Mr. Coombes and Mr.
Brannhard may also delegate that right as they see fit."

Coombes was on his feet at once. "Your Honors, if we are now to discuss
the sapience question, I would suggest that the first item on our order of
business be the presentation of some acceptable definition of sapience. I
should, for my part, very much like to know what it is that the Kellogg
prosecution and the Holloway defense mean when they use that term."

That's it. They want us to define it. Gerd van Riebeek was looking
chagrined; Ernst Mallin was smirking. Gus Brannhard, however, was pleased.

"Jack, they haven't any more damn definition than we do," he whispered.

Captain Greibenfeld, who had seated himself after rising at the request of
the court, was on his feet again.

"Your Honors, during the past month we at Xerxes Naval Base have been
working on exactly that problem. We have a very cons