trip ropes so I could cut her loose without getting inside of reach of that nose of hers. Then I ran lines back to the first set of ring bolts, so I could drag her back, weightless, without any trouble. Beulah looked a little unhappy, but didn’t make any fuss about it all. I started to take spin off, giving the orders to the angle jets through the computer right down in the cargo compartment, so the old girl wouldn’t worry about where I was.
“Beulah didn’t squall as her weight came off this time. She just reached down and tripped loose the chains around her ankles. Did I tell you that she was mighty clever?”
I nodded.
“Well, she started around that spin deck after me. I punched into the computer the maximum order for spin reduction, and started around the spin deck to keep away from her. Beulah grabbed hold of the computer with her nose—for support, I guess—when she got over there. She yanked the whole thing clear off the deck, breaking its cable. Crucislurched once.
“And I ended up in the compost heap.
“With Beulah way off center, and with that last wild burst from the jets before they cut off, the ship was gyrating in a way that made my stomach uneasy. It didn’t seem to bother Beulah, though. She just wanted to be near me. I got out of there fast, and went up onto the bridge.
“The main computer was out, of course. I couldn’t interrogate the auxiliary computer remotely, so I had to fly that wobbling ship to a stop by the seat of my pants. I did it, too.
“Then I went back to the cargo compartment and hauled Beulah into the center. She didn’t make any more trouble—she was sorry for what she had done.
“The coordinates the Prinkip had given me looked almighty close to a big pond that I didn’t recall having seen before, but I was too busy making a landing with minimum fuel to ask him about it. I finally fought her down safely with one leg of my tripod actually in the pond, and clouds of steam rising up around Delta Crucis. I call it a pond. But on a normal-size planet it would be a good big lake.
“Anyway, I had made it safely to Penguin, and my elephant was alive and healthy. I congratulated Beulah when I untied her, and then I took her outside to meet the Prinkip. I think I was a little proud of myself, and of Beulah, and of Delta Crucis, too.”
I was so stirred by hearing about this successful conclusion of Captain Hannah’s mission that I shook his hand warmly and ordered a round of drinks for everyone in the room. Fortunately, it was not very crowded at the time.
“That’s not quite the end of the story,” said the skipper. “You see, the Prinkip had built the pond to keep Beulah in. He had somehow gotten the idea that I was bringing him a whale.”
I looked blank.
“An Earth mammal. It lives in the oceans, and runs to maybe seventy or eighty tons.”
I sat down slowly, and then made a sudden dive for my contract for the use of the Delta Crucis.
The skipper nodded. “I had a contingent contract with the Prinkip, too,” he said, “and I hadn’t delivered. I still haven’t figured out how to make delivery of a whale, but I will some day.
“And if you’re looking for that part of our contract where you agree to store any residual cargo I may be carrying, it’s all legal and binding. Until I get back from hauling your Gasha root, you’ll have to care for one adult female African elephant. But I’m sure you’ll get to like Beulah as much as I have. She’s a mighty clever elephant.”
I called the waiter over and ordered a beaker of rhial.
“But you’re lucky at that,” said Hannah. “Check subparagraph f of paragraph 74 of our contract: Incidental accrual. When Beulah has her baby, the little tyke will be all yours.”
Now I know why Captain Hannah drinks rhial in the morning.
So do I.
License to Steal, by Louis Newman
The history of man becomes fearfully and wonderfully confusing with the advent of interstellar travel. Of special interest to the legally inclined student is the famous Skrrgck Affair, which began before the Galactic Tribunal with the case of Citizens vs. Skrrgck.
The case, and the opinion of the Court, may be summarized as follows:
Skrrgck, a native of Sknnbt (Altair IV), where theft is honorable, sanctioned by law and custom, immigrated to Earth (Sol III) where theft is contrary to both law and custom.
While residing in Chicago, a city in a political subdivision known as the State of Illinois, part of the United States of America, one of the ancient nation-states of Earth, he overheard his landlady use the phrase “A license to steal,” a common colloquialism in the area, which refers to any special privilege.
Skrrgck, relying on said document, committed theft, was apprehended, tried and convicted. On direct appeal allowed to the Galactic Tribunal, the Court held:
(1) All persons are required to know and obey the law of the jurisdiction in which they reside.
(2) Public officials must refrain from misrepresenting to strangers the law of the jurisdiction.
(3) Where, as here, a public official is guilty of such misrepresentation, the requirement of knowledge no longer applies.
(4) Where, as here, it is shown by uncontradicted evidence that a defendant is law-abiding and willing to comply with the standards of his place of residence, misrepresentation of law by public officials may amount to entrapment.
(5) The Doctrine of Entrapment bars the State of Illinois from prosecuting this defendant.
(6) The magnitude of the crime is unimportant compared with the principle involved, and the fact that the defendant’s unusual training on Sknnbt enabled him to steal a large building in Chicago, known as the Merchandise Mart, is of no significance.
(7) The defendant, however, was civilly liable for the return of the building, and its occupants, or their value, even if he had to steal to get it, provided, however, that he stole only on and from a planet where theft was legal.
The Skrrgck case was by no means concluded by the decision of the Galactic Tribunal, but continued to reverberate down the years, a field day for lawyers, and “a lesson to all in the complexities of modern intergalactic law and society,” said Winston, Harold C, Herman Prof, of Legal History, Harvard.
Though freed on the criminal charge of theft, Skrrgck still faced some 20,000 charges of kidnapping, plus the civil liability imposed upon him by the ruling of the Court.
The kidnapping charges were temporarily held in abeyance. Not that the abductions were not considered outrageous, but it was quickly realized by all concerned that if Skrrgck were constantly involved in lengthy and expensive defenses to criminal prosecutions, there would be no chance at all of obtaining any restitution from him. First things first, and with Terrans that rarely means justice.
Skrrgck offered to pay over the money he had received for the building and its occupants, but that was unacceptable to the Terrans, for what they really wanted, with that exaggerated fervor typical of them, provided it agrees with their financial interests, was the return of the original articles. Not only were the people wanted back, but the building itself had a special
