Little Fuzzy/Heartwarming
- Jack Holloway's Fuzzies were taken away from him by a court order given to the Company by a corrupt prosecutor, and when he and his attorney convinced the judge to reverse that decision the Fuzzies had escaped from the Company lab before he and the Marshals Service could get there to retrieve them. Circumstantial evidence later on makes it apparent that the Company has murdered them, and Jack is heartbroken. Even the trial proving the Fuzzies' sentience (and Jack's own innocence of murder charges) doesn't lift his spirits, until the Federation Navy's scientific witness asks permission to bring in several more exhibits.
This time, an ensign went out and came back with a crowd of enlisted men, who had six Fuzzies with them. They set them down in the open space between the bench and the arc of tables and backed away. The Fuzzies drew together into a clump and stared around them, and he stared, unbelievingly, at them. They couldn’t be; they didn’t exist any more. But they were Little Fuzzy and Mamma Fuzzy and Mike and Mitzi and Ko-Ko and Cinderella. Baby whooped something and leaped from the table, and Mamma came stumbling to meet him, clasping him in her arms. Then they all saw him and began clamoring: “Pa-pee Jaaak! Pa-pee Jaaak! “
He wasn’t aware of rising and leaving the table; the next thing he realized, he was sitting on the floor, his family mobbing him and hugging him, gabbling with joy.
- It's also a minor note of heartwarming that rather than cite Jack Holloway for contempt of court (as he just left the audience area and disrupted proceedings during a criminal trial in the planetary supreme court), Chief Justice Pendarvis instead 'coincidentally' chooses that exact moment to declare a recess.
- Dr. Ruth Ortheris, a child development psychologist for the Company, was the fiancee of Dr. Gerd van Riebeek (one of the protagonist's allies) and nominally on their side until the Company betrayed Jack Holloway and kidnapped and apparently murdered his Fuzzies in captivity, with Dr. Ortheris an uncomplaining member of the Company science team throughout. Heartbroken, Gerd swears off all acquaintance with her and all of her friends are devastated by her behavior and uncomprehending of how she could have let them down. Until the day of the trial, when Jack's Fuzzies are revealed to have been alive and their disappearance is because very shortly after their escape from the Company lab, they were taken into protective custody by the Federation Navy.
Chief Justice Pendarvis: Well, Captain Greibenfeld, I assume you mean to introduce further testimony about the observations and studies made by your people on Xerxes. For the record, we’d like to have it established that they were actually taken there, and when, and how.
Captain Griebenfield: Yes, your Honor. If you will call the fourth name on the list I gave you, and allow me to do the questioning, we can establish that.
Chief Justice Pendarvis: Lieutenant j.g. Ruth Ortheris, TFN Reserve.
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