January 15, 2:34 P.M. District Court, Courtroom No. 4

Anthony Savarro sighed, "And-a now, the prosecution calls George Shutick to the stand."

The officer took the stand and was sworn in by the bailiff. He asked, "Mr. Shutick, what is your occupation?"

Shutick replied, "I am an FBI officer. I examined the bomb used in the bombing of the Dorchester Pharmacy."

The judge ordered, "Mr. Shutick, please inform the court of what you noticed about this bomb."

Shutick said, "The bomb itself was vaporized by the explosion, as was the pharmacy. Thus, I developed a replica of the explosive from the FBI's records. It determined that a rifle shot a uranium "bullet" into a "target" of uranium, which was housed at the end of a PVC pipe. The bomb was very inefficient, but it worked."

The whole jury burst out in amazement. The court filled with noise until the judge managed to return order to the court.

She continued, "Mr. Wright, Cross-Examine the witness, if you would."

Shutick repeated, "Thus, I developed a replica of the explosive from the FBI's records."

Phoenix yelled, "Hold it right there!"

"Mr. Shutick, if the bomb was vaporized in the explosion, how did you know if the bomb was of the same design as the one in the records?"

The officer shook his head and replied, "My colleagues said that the design was the same!"

Phoenix screamed, "Objection! I believe that hearsay is not admissible in this court. I demand an answer to the question!"

Savarro interrupted, "Ob-a-jeckshun, Your Honor! Argumentative!"

The judge answered, "Objection sustained. Mr. Wright, the witness does not need to answer the question at hand."

The attorney thought, "Dammit! What now? I had him right there!"

Maya tapped on his shoulder. "Nick! I recommend to present your points in such a way that you aren't arguing with him! He's an expert! Ask him a question that shows that he's unreliable!"

Phoenix sighed, "Okay."

"Mr. Shutick, are you sure that this bomb was made using radioactive material?"

He answered, "Quite possibly show. A rather large amount of debris was found at the explosion site, which appeared to be fallout."

Phoenix slammed his hands on the desk.

"Mr. Shutick, there were tests run on the debris, and the "fallout" you speak of was found not to contain any radiation! How can there be fallout if the bomb wasn't atomic to begin with?"

He sweated and replied, "Well, sometimes atomic bombs are so small that they don't produce any radiation!"

Phoenix sighed, "I do admit that it could be possible, but I would need a little more information in order to prove your statement as true. Could I get a little more information on fallout?"

Shutick said, "Of course. After a nuclear explosion, dust is sucked up into the mushroom cloud. The radiation from the cloud mixes with the dust, and the dust then "falls out" of the mushroom cloud, sometimes as precipitation."

Maya gasped, "I knew it! There was fallout produced by the explosion! We just need to measure the amount present near the hypocenter!"

Phoenix shrugged, "Yeah. But how?"

She slammed her hands down on the desk. "Your Honor!"

The judge asked, "Yes, counsel?"

Maya gasped, "Were there any measurements made of the amount of radiation present at the explosion site?"

Anthony Savarro interrupted, "There were, and the average amount of radiation present was 50 Röntgens."

Maya asked, "What exactly is a Röntgen?"

Phoenix yelled, "If that was so, then nobody could have been fatally poisoned! 50 Röntgens is enough radiation to kill a shrew!"

Shutick sweated, "Now, could I present the gun used in this bomb? After all, look at this. It is fed by an ammunition belt, just like a machine gun. But instead of using a rectangular belt, it uses one shaped like a Möbius strip."

Pearl jumped up and asked, "What's a Moe-bee-us strip?"

Maya screamed, "Pearl! What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be in here!"

Pearl grumbled, "I know! But what is a Moe-bee-us strip?"

Phoenix explained, "A Möbius strip is a special shape with only one side."

A picture of the ammunition belt was displayed on the wall.

Phoenix asked, "Who uses these guns?"

"Various government agencies."

The lawyer thought, "What if we traced the gun to whoever built the bomb?"

He said, "Do you have serial numbers on file for these firearms?"

Shutick answered, "Yes. In fact, one gun was missing on the day of the explosion."

The judge groaned, "Get that serial number and get in here!"

Shutick pulled up some data on his pocket computer, and handed it to the judge.

"Thank you, witness."

The courtroom fell silent. "The gun was registered to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It belonged to... Anthony Savarro."

The prosecutor leaped into the air and screamed, "Che cazzo?!"

Phoenix thought, "Yes! If only we could get this guy on the stand! That would be my chance to bring the hammer of justice down on this freak!"