deal of time had gone by and he had been
getting edgy with all the questions aimed at him by concerned faculty.
It was great to have some positive results. Even though he couldn't
broadcast them, he could give his inquisitors a knowing look and
indicate that it was in the bag.

"This makes the fourth. The bastards take forever to make up their
minds. They say they are busy with other analyses, but you'd think
with all we're paying them that...." Henry shook his head in disgust.

"And they all said the same thing. They didn't like to make a positive
match using copies of the standards we sent?" Frank Anuse asked.

"That's it. They all wanted originals."

"The guy that has them now though, called and said essentially the same
thing at first, except he thought if he could have a lot more
standards, he could make a decision even if they were copies."

"And...."

"And, I sent off copies of everything in her personnel file."

"You mean forms and such like? Don't they have other people's writing
on them besides Trenchant's?"

"Oh, yes, but that doesn't matter. The main thing is we got
confirmation. The guy will testify to that and then those damn
lady-professors are going to toe the line, or else."

"You've already sent Trenchant the copies and notice of the next
hearing?"

"Yup. Did it this morning. Same mail as I sent it to the rest of the
committee."

"Seems as though it would have been simpler just to have her write
something in front of witnesses and use those originals instead of
farting around all this time with copies," Anuse suggested. "This
process has taken nearly a year already."

"There's reasons. Not something you and I have to know about, but
there's reasons. Anyway, here's your copy. Enjoy."

Chapter 30

A registered package arrived for Diana. It contained copies of the
'suspect' SmurFFs and copies of the standards that she had seen before
at the hearing. Also enclosed were many other documents, apparently
copied from microfiche files. These copies were atrocious, all spotty
with black dots and lines. Most of the letters were blurred and some
parts were unreadable.

The package also contained a report from another document examiner.
This one agreed that Diana had written six of the eight documents sent
to them for analysis, but was not sure of two of them. Just like the
previous examiners--except it wasn't the same two they indicated.

Nevertheless, the cover let