Greenberg frowned. “True. Let me see if we can arrive at it another way. From what young Stuart tells me I am certain that this ease is not one calling for intervention under the Federation’s xenic policies, even though the center of interest is extra-terrestrial and therefore a legal cause for intervention if needed. Although the department has the power, that power is exercised only when necessary to avoid trouble with governments of other planets. Earth has hundreds of’ thousands of e.-t. animals; it has better than thirty thousand non-human xenians, either residents or-visitors, having legal status under treaties as ‘human’ even though they are obviously non-human. Xenophobia being what it is, particularly in our cultural backwaters. . . no, I wasn’t referring to Westville! Human nature-being what it is, each of those foreigners is a potential source of trouble in our foreign relations.
“Forgive me for saying what you already know; it is a necessary foundation. The department can’t go around wiping the noses of all our xenic visitors – even those that have noses. We haven’t the personnel and certainly not the inclination. If one of them gets into trouble, it is usually sufficient to advise the local magistrate of our treaty obligations to the xenian’s home planet. In rare cases the department intervenes. This, in my opinion, is not such a case. In the first place it seems that our friend Lummox here is an ‘animal under the law and. . .”
“Was there doubt?” the judge asked in astonishment. “‘There might have been. That’s why I am here. But, despite his limited ability to talk, his other limitations would keep such a breed from rising to a level where we could accept it as civilized; therefore he is an animal. Therefore he has only the usual rights of animals under our humane laws. Therefore the department need not concern itself.”
“I see. Well, no one is going to be cruel to him, not in my court.”
“Certainly. But for another quite sufficient reason the department is not interested. Let us suppose that this creature is ‘human’ in the sense that law and custom and treaty have attached to that word since we first made contact with the Great Race of Mars. He is not, but suppose it.”
“Stipulated.” agreed Judge O’Farrell.
“We stipulate it. Nevertheless he cannot be a concern of the department because. . . Judge, do you know the history of the Trail Blazer?”
“Vaguely, from grammar school days. I’m not a student of spatial exploration. Our own Earth is confusing enough.”
“Isn’t it, though? Well, the Trail Blazer made three of the first interspatial transition flights, when such flights were as reckless as the voyage Columbus attempted. They did not know where they were going and they had only hazy notions about how to get back in fact the Trail Blazer never came back from her third trip.”
“Yes, yes. I remember.”
“The point is, young Stuart-I can’t call him by his full name; it doesn’t seem right-Stuart tells me that this loutish creature with the silly smile is a souvenir of the Trail Blazer’s second cruise. That’s all I need to know. We have no treaties with any of the planets she visited, no trade, no intercourse of any sort. Legally they don’t exist. Therefore the only laws that apply to Lummox are our own domestic laws; therefore the department should not intervene-and even if it did, a special master such as myself would be obliged to rule entirely by domestic law. Which you are better qualified to do than I.”
Judge O’Farrell nodded. “Well, I have no objection to resuming jurisdiction. Shall we go in?”
“Just a moment. I suggested a delay because this case has curious features. I wanted to refer back to the department to make sure that my theory is correct and that I have not missed some important precedent or law. But I am willing to withdraw at once if you can assure me of one thing. This creature. . . I understand that, despite its mild appearance, it turned out to be destructive, even dangerous?”
O’Farrell nodded. “So I understand. . . unofficially of course.”
“Well, has there been any demand that it be destroyed?”