Illegal Alien

Surely if it were a human being, Hask would simply tell us who it was — what an irony that would have been for our UFO-nut friends! Aliens come to Earth, and humans take out their organs, instead of the other way around! But that is not what happened here. No, clearly Hask was operated on by another Tosok — the fact that the incisions were closed with something other than suture proves that. But why? And which of the remaining six members of the starship’s crew did it?

"Well, of course, we’ve seen that Stant is also highly skilled in surgical matters — it was he, after all, who removed the bullet from Hask at the LAC-USC Medical Center. And indeed Stant invoked the Fifth Amendment over the question of whether an individual Tosok’s blood could be identified by chemical analysis."

Dale lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Linda would object strongly here, too — I’m really not allowed to touch on the motive of a witness for taking the Fifth." He hooked his thumbs in his suspenders again, readopting his courtroom persona. "The obvious initial conclusion, of course, is that Stant believed his own half brother, Hask, to be guilty, but knew that, as close relatives, their blood types would be similar, and that any blood evidence that tended to convict Hask would also serve as evidence against Stant.

"A more direct interpretation is that the Tosok blood found at the crime scene was Stant’s own — which, of course, is why he wouldn’t want to testify that it could be identified as such. But I favor the first interpretation, that Stant feels Hask is guilty, but knew the blood evidence could as easily point to Stant himself as to Hask. Yes, I’m sure Stant believes Hask did it — but, ladies and gentlemen, I myself do not believe this.

"I do not believe that Hask killed Cletus Calhoun, and I do not believe that the shedding of his skin was induced. Rather, I believe Hask shed his skin at precisely the natural time for it to be shed. It happened five months prior to his half brother’s shedding because Hask was out of hibernation not for the few days that dealing with the impact in our solar system’s Kuiper belt would have required — but rather because he was out of hibernation for almost half a year!"

Frank Nobilio sat up straight in his chair. "God!"

"And why," continued Dale, "would he have stayed out of hibernation so much longer than he had claimed? The answer is simple: so that organs surgically removed from his body could regenerate internally.

"We have heard, ladies and gentlemen, that a Tosok can live for extended periods with only two hearts, instead of four, and only two lungs, instead of four — and the scars Dr. Hernandez noticed on Hask’s left side indicate that his original two left hearts and his two left lungs had indeed been surgically removed, along with his left-side gebarda organs.

"Now, Dr. Nobilio found in the Tosok sickbay four Tosok hearts, four Tosok lungs, and four Tosok gebardas — but none of the organs of which Tosoks have only one apiece. And, I have no doubt, ladies and gentlemen, that if genetic tests were performed on the right hearts and right lungs found there, they would indeed be proven to be those of Seltar. But I submit to you that the left lungs and left hearts are not Seltar’s, but Hask’s own.

"The truth of the matter, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is that Seltar did not die during the Kuiper-belt accident, but, in collusion with Hask, her death was faked. He removed two of her hearts, two of her lungs, and two of her gebardas, and she removed two each of his. Then she and he stayed out of hibernation, letting replacements grow within them. A cursory check would have shown roughly enough body parts to corroborate Hask’s story that Seltar was dead, but in fact she is not. She hid aboard the Tosok mothership, and while Hask came to Earth with great fanfare, streaking across the skies of the world and ostentatiously splashing down in the Atlantic, Seltar made a more stealthful landing somewhere else, using the landing craft that Hask told us and his ship-mates had been lost during the collision. It is she who killed Cletus Robert Calhoun, and, for reasons of his own, Hask has chosen to cover for her.

"I urge you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, to find the only just verdict possible: acquit Hask of this crime that he most assuredly did not commit, and let us now begin a search for the real murderer — wherever she may be."

*36*

Dale heaved his massive bulk back into a chair in Hask’s dorm room.

"Well?" he said.

"God," said Frank, again. "God. Hask, is it true?"

Hask’s tuft was moving in ways Dale had never seen before.

"Hask," said Frank again, "is it true? Is Seltar still alive?"

"There are issues here," said Hask slowly, "of which neither of you are aware. Do not mention your speculation anywhere else, Dale."

"This is the trial of the century," said Dale. "I’m not going to lose it."