″Milochka,’ he replied, ‘you and Petka will probably have to live without me now.″
″What’s the matter? ″
″The fact is that many years ago I didn’t give my son to the Committee for the Protection of Children’s Rights. In the time I missed, a quite big fine ran up. I can’t pay this fine. Even if I sell my flat, there won’t be enough money. The flat, however, will have to be sold anyway! I don’t know where you and Petya will live. Perhaps it is better for you to go to Frosya.″
″What about you, Uncle Pavel?” ″
″And I’m going to go to jail and work for the rest of the fine. Tomorrow there will be a trial.″
″Petya and I can come to court to listen.″
″If you want, you can, but you can’t do anything about it.″
The next day, we were in court. Everything went so quickly. Ten minutes later he got a verdict. Uncle Pavel had to pay off the debt to the state in the amount of two million galaxies (this is such a common alien currency). If he can’t pay, he will have to spend a year of forced labor for every thousand galaxies. We came home very sad.
″Uncle, is there anything else you can do? ″
″What can I do now, girl? Can I appeal to the city court? But they will only confirm the result of the district court.″
″No matter, Uncle, just do it, maybe we shall invent something else…″
″Well, if you advise I will, I’ll appeal tomorrow,” my uncle hopelessly snuggled to me and went to his room.″
″What are we going to do now? ″ Petka asked.
″We’re going to have to work this night! ″ I answered. ″We must save your father! ″
Chapter 9. Court
Together with Petka we made our way to the ravine where our dryads settled down. Comfortably spread out on wicker seats, we joined hands and tried to call Gilk. Alas, for the first time nothing happened. Maybe the signal strength is not enough? Mentally, I turned to Terra for help. Terra did not answer, but energy suddenly surged. I felt Petya and both dryads stiffen, letting through the power unusual for them. Gilk answered this time, and I outlined the situation to him.
“It is not so hopeless,” he answered, “first of all, do your opponents have a receipt confirming the notification obtainment of the child transfer to the committee for the protection of his right.”
“No, I am sure that Pavel did not receive any written notifications and did not sign receipts, however, I’ll ask him tomorrow. The order was given to him verbally, and he admitted it.”
“To impose such a large fine an oral statement is not enough, a written document is needed. To file an appeal, and then we’ll see what we should do.”
“Thanks, Gilk, we will do it.”
“Mila, are you still refusing money? After all, paying this fine is not so difficult.”
“Money will put an end to the whole mission that I was bequeathed. I have to refuse taking money!”
“Well, good luck! Talk to you tomorrow at the same time.”
“Be good!”
Petka and I arrived home when it was already after midnight, he asked in a puzzled way:
“Can you really pay dad’s fine?”
“This can be done through Gilk,” I replied, “but only in case if we lose. But we should not lose.”
In the morning, I asked Uncle Pavel if he had given a receipt confirming the notification obtainment of the child transfer to the committee. Uncle Pavel assured me that he did not sign any receipts and did not receive any written notice. After that, I explained to him that the appeal in his case was not useless since, without any written document, officials did not have the right to impose such a heavy fine on him.
“But what about my confession that I knew about such an order.”
“Verbal confession is not taken into account here. Firstly, you are not obliged to testify against yourself, and secondly, the human memory is unreliable: you could have been mistaken.”
“Well, girl,” Pavel said in surprise, “you should be a lawyer! I did not expect this from you!”
He gratefully and tightly hugged me:
“Today I’ll file the appeal.”
Uncle Pavel appealed, and we were waiting for three weeks, then we were invited to court again. This time the court was in the center of the city, in a large beautiful building. Uncle Pavel set forth all his arguments in court. The judge pondered for a while, then ordered the assistants to search for the files in the folder and, to our surprise, found there a receipt signed by Uncle Pavel. Uncle Pavel asked to look at the receipt and said with confidence:
“This is not my signature! I demand a handwriting examination!”
“All this is superfluous,” the judge issued the verdict, “no one here would have faked your signature. I think that on formal grounds you want to avoid punishment because you confessed at the last hearing that you were aware of the notification.”
“I could be wrong,” Uncle Pavel tried to fix the matter.
“I uphold the verdict of the court and add to the amount of the fine the costs of conducting the court of appeal.”
This was the end of the case. Pavel was given a week to arrange his affairs and was released on his own recognizance.
“Well,” he told me in a murdered voice on his way back, “it’s all useless. I shouldn’t have to start this additional trial…”
“No,” I replied, “now you can appeal to the single supreme court of our planet. The main thing is to take the official text of the verdict tomorrow!”
Pavel grinned:
“That’s what I like about you, girl! You will never admit your loss! Well, I have nothing to lose; tomorrow I will take my verdict and appeal to the supreme court of the planet, although I know that this is also useless. What do you think, how long will I have to wait until there is time for me among the many planetary cases in the Supreme Court? People have been waiting for such cases to be considered for years!”
The next day, Uncle Pavel brought home the text of the sentence and a receipt confirming that he filed an appeal with the supreme court of the planet.
“Taking my papers,” my uncle said, “the official simply burst out laughing: “Do you know for how long the papers go through the Supreme Court? You will grow old at this time! In addition, while the decision of the city court is in force, would you please execute it! In six days you should be here with your staff. So arrange your financial affairs and don’t particularly hope for help from the central authorities of the planet!”
That evening, we contacted Gilk again and described the situation in detail. In response, he promised to send experts to solve our case.
“It seems that there are obvious abuses of the judiciary,” he said, “my specialists will quickly deal with this. And when you win the case, you can demand compensation for moral damage – at least a thousand galaxies at the expense of the judges.” I didn’t reassure Uncle Pavel but asked him not to sell the apartment as of yet. After all, Petya and I can sell it later, and now we all need to live somewhere. Uncle Pavel agreed.
Two days later, on several flying saucers, a judicial commission from the center arrived in the city. Apparently, Gilk did not break his promise. Uncle Paul was summoned to court again. He was gone for three days. Petka and I were worried,