The court discussed the idea of contempt briefly. When die Martian understood that he was about to be forced to remain in a travel tank for thirty days he came down off his high horse and agreed to tell the truth as adequately as was possible; he was accepted as a witness.
“Are you a man?” demanded Pomfrey.
“Under your laws and by your standards I am a man.
“By what theory? Your body is unlike ours; you cannot even live in our air. You do not speak our language; your ideas are alien to us. How can you be a man?’
The Martian answered carefully: “I quote from the Terra-Martian Treaty, which you must accept as supreme law. ‘All members of the Great Race, while sojourning on the Third Planet shall have all the rights and prerogatives of the native dominant race of the Third Planet.’ This clause has been interpreted by the Bi-Planet Tribunal to mean that members of the Great Race are ‘men’ whatever that may be.”
“Why do you refer to your sort as the ‘Great Race’?”
“Because of our superior intelligence.”
“Superior to men?”
“We are men.”
“Superior to the intelligence of earth men?”
“That is self-evident.”
“Just as we are superior in intelligence to this poor creature Jerry?”
“That is not self-evident.”
“Finished with the witness,” announced Pomfrey. The opposition counsels should have left bad enough alone; instead they tried to get B’na Kreeth to define the difference in intelligence between humans and worker-anthropoids. Master B’na explained meticulously that cultural differences masked the intrinsic differences, if any, and that, in any case, both anthropoids and men made so little use of their respective potential intelligences that it was really too early to tell which race would turn out to be the superior race in the Third Planet.
He had just begun to discuss how a truly superior race could be bred by combining the best features of anthropoids and men when he was hastily asked to “stand down.”
“May it please the Court,” said Pomfrey, “we have not advanced the theory; we have merely disposed of respondent’s contention that a particular shape and a particular degree of intelligence are necessary to manhood. I now ask that the petitioner be recalled to the stand that the court may determine whether he is, in truth, human.”
“If the learned court please — ” The battery of lawyers had been in a huddle ever since B’na Kreeth’s travel tank had been removed from the room; the chief counsel now spoke.
“The object of the petition appears to be to protect the life of this chattel.
There is no need to draw out these proceedings; respondent stipulates that this chattel will be allowed to die a natural death in the hands of its present custodian and moves that the action be dismissed.”
“What do you say to that?” the Court asked Pomfrey.
Pomfrey visibly gathered his toga about him. “We ask not for cold charity from this corporation, but for the justice of the court. We ask that Jerry’s humanity be established as a matter of law. Not for him to vote, nor to hold property, nor to be relieved of special police regulations appropriate to his group — but we do ask that he be adjudged at least as human as that aquarium monstrosity just removed from this court room!”
The judge turned to Jerry. “Is that what you want, Jerry?”
Jerry looked uneasily at Pomfrey, then said, “Okay, Boss.”
“Come up to the chair.”
“One moment — ” The opposition chief counsel seemed flurried. “I ask the Court to consider that a ruling in this matter may affect a long established commercial practice necessary to the economic life of — ”
“Objection!” Pomfrey was on his feet, bristling. “Never have I heard a more outrageous attempt to prejudice a decision. My esteemed colleague might as well ask the Court to decide a murder case from political considerations. I protest — ”
“Never mind,” said the court. “The suggestion will be ignored. Proceed with your witness.”
Pomfrey bowed. “We are exploring the meaning of this strange thing called ‘manhood.’ We have seen (hat it is not a matter of shape, nor race, nor planet of birth, nor of acuteness of mind. Truly, it cannot be defined, yet it may be experienced. It can reach from heart to heart, from spirit to spirit.” He turned to Jerry. “Jerry-will you sing your new song for the judge?”