Hiding

[Courtroom]

STONE: 

Court is now in session. 

The board will entertain motions before delivering its verdict. 

Counsel for the prosecution? 

SHAW: 

Sir, the prosecution rests. 

STONE: Counsel for the defence? 

COGLEY: Sir, the defence rests. 

(McCoy and Spock run in and whisper to Kirk and Cogley) 

STONE: Mister Cogley. Mister Cogley! 

COGLEY: Sir, some new evidence has just been brought to my attention. I'd like to ask the court to 

SHAW: Objection! Counsel for the defence has rested his case. 

STONE: Of what nature is this evidence? 

COGLEY: I can't tell you, I'll have to show you. 

SHAW: Mister Cogley is well-known for his theatrics. 

COGLEY: Is saving an innocent man's career a theatric? i

STONE: Counsels will kindly direct their remarks to the bench. 

COGLEY: I'd be delighted to, sir, now that I've got something human to talk about. Rights, sir, human rights. The Bible, the Code of Hammurabi and of Justinian, Magna Carta, the Constitution of the United States, Fundamental Declarations of the Martian colonies, the Statutes of Alpha Three. Gentlemen, these documents all speak of rights. Rights of the accused to a trial by his peers, to be represented by counsel, the rights of cross-examination, but most importantly, the right to be confronted by the witnesses against him, a right to which my client has been denied. 

SHAW: Your Honour, that is ridiculous. We produced the witnesses in court. My learned opponent had the opportunity to see them, cross-examine them. 

COGLEY: All but one. The most devastating witness against my client is not a human being. It's a machine, an information system. The computer log of the Enterprise. Can ask this court adjourn and reconvene aboard that vessel. 

SHAW: I protest, Your Honour. 

COGLEY: And I repeat, I speak of rights. A machine has none. A man must. My client has the right to face his accuser, and if you do not grant him that right, you have brought us down to the level of the machine. Indeed, you have elevated that machine above us. I ask that my motion be granted, and more than that, gentlemen. In the name of humanity, fading in the shadow of the machine, I demand it. I demand it!

Captain's Log, Stardate 2950.1. After due consideration, the general court-martial has reconvened on board the Enterprise.

[Briefing room]

COGLEY: How many games of chess did you win from the computer, Mister Spock? 

SPOCK: Five in all. 

COGLEY: May that be considered unusual? 

SPOCK: Affirmative. 

COGLEY: Why? 

SPOCK: I personally programmed the computer for chess months ago. I gave the machine an understanding of the game equal to my own. The computer cannot make an error and assuming that I do not either, the best that could normally be hoped for would be stalemate after stalemate, and yet I beat the machine five times. Someone, either accidentally or deliberately, adjusted the programming and therefore the memory banks of that computer. 

COGLEY: Could that have had an effect on the visual playback we saw? 

SHAW: Object! The witness would be making a conclusion. 

STONE: Sustained. 

COGLEY: Hypothetically, Mister Spock. Hypothetically, Miss Shaw. If what you suggest had been done, it would be beyond the capabilities of most men. Is that true? 

SPOCK: Affirmative. 

COGLEY: What man aboard ship would it not be beyond? 

SPOCK: The Captain, myself, and the records officer. 

COGLEY: And at the moment, you have no records officer. 

SPOCK: Affirmative. Until he was lost, our records officer was Lieutenant Commander Finney. 

COGLEY: 

Captain Kirk, will you tell the steps you took to find Mister Finney after the storm? 

KIRK: 

I instituted a phase one search. 

COGLEY: 

Describe a phase one search. 

KIRK: 

It's a painstaking, thorough attempt 

in and around The Ship 

to find a man who's presumably injured and unable to respond. 

COGLEY:

It presupposes, does it not, that A Man wishes to be found? 

KIRK: 

I beg your pardon..? 

COGLEY: 

If you start a search for A Man, 

you assume, don't you, 

that he wants to be found? 

He's not hiding? 

KIRK: 

Yes. 

COGLEY: 

On a ship of this size, 

could a man evade such a search? 

KIRK: 

Possibly. 

COGLEY: 

Gentlemen, I submit to you that 

Lieutenant Commander 

Ben Finney is not dead.