Chapter 19 Brilliance
As Jeffrey and Councilor Brindle stared intently at each other, Phineas thought he could feel the hostile vibrations in the air.
"Hey," he said to break the tension.
"We'll retire now to deliberate," Garth said and tapped the gavel. The hearing is adjourned Councilor," his words were addressed to Mary Brindle, who pulled her gaze away from the boy, as he glanced toward Bogg.
As the Tribunal members left the courtroom, Jeff concentrated on his arguments, mentally noting where he could've done better. If Bogg was demoted, it would be his fault for missing those points, though he didn't feel any were key. Finally he moved toward Phineas and smiled.
"You were great!" Phineas whispered as Jeff hugged him. He put his left arm around the kid, "thanks."
"They haven't ruled yet," Jeff said.
"Are you kidding? With you on my team there's no way they'll convict me! Come on, the first thing you did was get Brindle kicked out and replaced with Trevor. It was brilliant."
Jeff finally smiled, "yeah, that was a pretty good idea, wasn't it? Even Susan didn't think of that."
Phineas sighed and put his left arm over the sling on his right. He felt his energy level dropping now that the testimony was over.
Jeff eyed him with concern, "why don't we go back to the room to wait."
So they walked slowly back to the hospital wing. As they approached the area close to their room, Phineas stopped and sat down heavily on one of the benches that lined the corridor.
Jeff sat beside him. "You okay?"
"Yeah, just thinking that I didn't want to collapse before we got back to the room."
"Bogg!" Jeff stood up quickly.
"Just kidding," Phineas said quickly. "Actually, I didn't want to look so beat if I happened to see Jill."
"Jill?"
"One of the nurses."
"Blonde?"
"Yep."
"I met her too, she's nice," Jeff said, relieved to hear Bogg talking like himself.
"And beautiful."
Jeff rolled his eyes, "don't you care that she's nice?"
"All nurses are nice, that goes without saying kid."
Jeff shook his head in amazement. A few minutes later Bogg stood up, and Jeff walked him the rest of the way to their room. As soon as they reached it, Phineas lay down with a groan and it wasn't long before he'd dozed off.
ooOoo
The members of the Tribunal sat down at the conference table. Each opened their folder and they began to read. After a half-hour, Garth put down his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He was surprised that Kane was the first to speak.
"This is a brilliant summary of the situation. Of course we are at fault. I think we both suspected it when Mary first brought us the charges."
"I agree," Garth replied.
"He may have the greatest legal mind of the age."
"And wisdom too," Garth added.
"Wouldn't it make more sense to have him here, learning our laws, instead of traveling through the cosmos? We know he's supposed to have a great future. I know he's supposed to be with Bogg in the beginning, but we never found out for how long. Maybe he is supposed to stay at headquarters now. Maybe his legal training will lead him to greatness," Kane said.
"Somehow I don't see that happening," Trevor answered immediately. He had been listening to their comments, and agreed that Bogg was innocent.
"What makes you say that?"
"I doubt Phineas will agree to a separation, and since he's a Field Worker and needs to voyage, he'll keep Jeff close by.
"But Jeffrey is 13 years old now. In some cultures, he'd be considered a man. He might decide to stay."
Trevor shrugged, "he really seems to like voyaging."
"He hasn't seen what he'd be missing if he stayed here."
"Well, if we're through, I'd like to sign off on this and get back to Omni Control."
After he left, Kane spoke, "you know it's true, he is brilliant."
"Agreed."
"So shouldn't he have the choice?" Kane argued.
"Giving him the choice sounds reasonable," Garth answered.