PART VI:

Kellogg's Suicide

The night after Mallin's testimony, Leonard Kellogg committed suicide in his cell. Using the zipper track of his shirt as a crude saw, he severed his jugular vein. He bled to death under his blankets before guards discovered what had happened.

Kellogg's suicide could be interpreted various ways. From the Company's perspective, it was the tragic act of a man who had been persecuted for defending himself against an animal attack, who had been unjustly charged with murder, and who had been subjected to a show trial that had become a media circus. The psychological pressure had simply become too much for him to bear.

Others interpreted it differently. They suggested that Kellogg, confronted with overwhelming evidence of Fuzzy sapience, had finally accepted that he had indeed murdered a sapient being. Unable to face the moral weight of that realization and the legal consequences that would follow, he had chosen death.

Whatever the true motivation, Kellogg's death eliminated the defendant in one of the two cases. However, Chief Justice Pendarvis ruled that the trial would continue. Jack Holloway, who was very much alive, deserved vindication if he was innocent. The court would rule on the sapience question.

The Verdict

The court's decision was unanimous and unequivocal. After hearing testimony from naval scientists, psychologists, linguists, and other experts, and after observing the Fuzzies directly—watching them use tools, communicate with each other, solve problems, and interact meaningfully with humans—the three-judge panel issued their ruling.

The species known as Fuzzy fuzzy holloway zarathustra was declared to be a race of sapient beings, entitled to all the rights and protections accorded to sapient life under Federation law.

The legal consequences were immediate and devastating to the Company. Zarathustra was reclassified as a Class-IV inhabited planet. The Zarathustra Company's charter was automatically voided. The Company retained ownership of infrastructure it had built and could continue to operate as a business entity, but its exclusive rights to the planet's resources were terminated. The vast tracts of land the Company had claimed were now public domain.

Jack Holloway was acquitted of all charges. His killing of Kurt Borch was ruled justifiable homicide, as Borch had been attempting to kill Holloway while Holloway was lawfully defending a sapient being from attack.