e in her
throat were trying to join together and drag the rest of her down into
a black, empty tunnel of fear. Resisting the pull, she looked around
the hearing room and met the eyes of the stenographer who smiled at her
encouragingly.

Janet Parks had attended many hearings. Her job was to faithfully
record every spoken word on her transcription machine. Most of the
time, she plied her trade in the courts but occasionally she was called
out into the private sector. She had seen a lot of people on trial and
her observant eyes took in every detail.

The configuration of the hearing room had not been lost on her so when
she met the eyes of the accused, Diana Trenchant, she felt a tug of
sympathy. She noted Diana's pale, drawn features and erect bearing.
Here was a woman, thought Janet, who would never use makeup or any
other cover up. She has such a direct, honest look it's hard to
believe that she is the one in trouble here. As Diana's eyes returned
to her notes, Janet looked at her more closely. Not terribly well
groomed, she thought, noting the slacks with casual blouse and jacket.
Janet recalled that Diana was wearing jogging shoes when she walked in.
Obviously, she wore her cloths for comfort, not for adornment. Janet
continued her inventory: mousy brown hair--no style, blue eyes. Tired
blue eyes. Lots of wrinkles, those badges that life awarded to
survivors. Must be pushing along into the sixties. Wonder what she
sounds like. Hope she's not one of those squeaky kind. Oh, oh, the
head cheese is about to start--get ready.

Henry Tarbuck consulting his notes then stated that the dean had
accused Diana Trenchant of creating and submitting fictitious student
feedback forms.

"Responding to the dean's charge, this committee was formed and I will
now introduce them. On the end is Mr. Frank Anuse, director of the
Informational Studies Unit."

The Vee looked fondly at Frank who nodded his bald head in
acknowledgement. A tall gangling bean-pole of a man. His head, devoid
of any sort of demarcation between face and pate, appeared to float
above his body like some sort of alien spacecraft.

They had gotten together over drinks the day before and decided that
they would play good cop, bad cop at the hearing. He, as chair, would
affect neutrality while Frank could go after Diana and her witnesses
hammer and tongs.

If anyone on this hearing panel was more anxious than himself to smash
this woman, it