4. The Second Stage Begins.

Promptly at eight o'clock on Sunday morning, Maryk and Keith returned to room 518 in the Prism. Neuhow welcomed them with a smile.

Maryk recognized immediately that the room was different. The suitcases that had previously been lined up against a wall were now open and distributed around the room. The typewriter on the table had been packed away. In its place lay a tray of doughnuts, along with slices of buttered toast, a selection of jams and jellies, and a supply of coffee with cream and milk and sugar.

Maryk and Keith made for the food. As they helped themselves to doughnuts and coffee, Maryk and Keith wondered how things were supposed to proceed in this second stage.

"That's largely up to you," Neuhow responded. "But first, gentlemen, why don't you tell each other how you would assess your experiences with the first stage?"

Maryk answered first. "Longer than I expected, but exactly as advertised."

Keith laughed. "I would say exactly the same thing!"

Maryk sipped his steaming coffee. "I have to tell you, Mark, that I was really amazed by how fast you can write, and record what was said exactly. That is quite a skill to have."

"It is a dying skill, I'm afraid," Neuhow sighed. "The trend now is to use machines to take shorthand. At your trial, Steve, the court reporter used a machine instead of taking notes by hand."

"I remember. I thought his machine was juat a little typewriter, but it wasn't. At least, it wasn't like any typewriter I ever saw before."

Neuhow chuckled. "The court reporter in your case told me a funny story. At the first official proceeding he recorded, his machine almost got him killed. He was setting up the metal stand used to support his machine in preparation for the hearing, and one of the guards suddenly pointed a sidearm at him and told him to stop." Neuhow took a moment to look at the astonishment on the faces of Maryk and Keith, then continued. "The guard, apparently, had never seen one of these machines before, either; and he thought the court reporter was setting up a stand for a machine gun!"

Everyone enjoyed a laugh.

"So... you talked to the stenographer who recorded my trial?" Maryk asked Newhow.

"Yes, I did. He helped me with some questions about the trial transcript."

"Mark," Keith interjected, "I have to tell you: yesterday I toured New York City but I cannot remember most of what I did. My mind was occupied with trying to guess who you'd talked to before you spoke to us.. So let me tell you who I think you talked to, and you tell me if I'm right."

"Okay, go ahead."

"You talked to Captain De Vriess; of that I'm certain. You prompted me to talk about some conversations that only Steve and I and De Vriess knew about. Because I know you didn't get the story from Steve, you must have gotten it from De Vriess. So you must have talked to De Vriess, right?"

"Yes."

"And I'm pretty sure you talked to Harding and Paynter. And Stillwell."

"Right."

"Rabbit?"

"Yes."

"And unless I miss my guess, you also talked to Meatball."

"I did. Also Horrible, Animal, Ash, Puke, Red, Jockey. An interesting bunch of men."

"You talked to the mess boys, too," Maryk added. "I know you did."

"I spoke with all of the mess stewards, yes."

"How about Challee?" Maryk wondered whether the man who prosecuted him, and lost the case, would be willing to talk about it.

"Yes, but not for very long. We visited for only about a couple of hours or so. I tried to get him to tell his story, but he was pretty tight-lipped and was obviously still pretty sore about what happened. I asked him to talk about various things and he kept referring me to the trial transcript. About the only thing he told me that he got really worked up about and that wasn't in the trial transcript was that he expected Captain Queeg to be a stronger witness."

"And you talked to Barney Greenwald, of course."

"Yes."

"I'd heard Barney stayed in the service after the War ended, to handle some difficult cases."

"That's right, he did."

"One of those cases involved some admiral's kid, I'd heard."

"That's true. Barney finished his work on that case just a day before we met."

"And how is Barney?" Keith asked, as he stirred some cream into his coffee. "Is he still in San Francisco?"

"Yeah," Maryk chimed in, "how is Barney doing?"

"I'll tell you what, Willie, Steve: get your breakfast and your coffee, and let's sit down and talk."