"The case," he said, "is now immaterial, but there was a witness... a witness... a man called... called Prak. A strange and difficult man. They were eventually forced to administer a drug to make him tell the truth, a truth drug."

His eyes rolled helplessly in his head.

"They gave him too much," he said in a tiny whimper, "they gave him much too much." He started to cry. "I think the robots must have jogged the surgeon's arm."

He shook his head loosely from side to side, helplessly, sadly, his eyes screwed up in pain.

"And when the trial continued," he said in a weeping whisper," they asked Prak a most unfortunate thing. They asked him" --he paused and shivered-- "to tell the Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth. Only, don't you see?"

He suddenly hoisted himself up onto his elbows again and shouted at them.

"They'd given him much too much of the drug!"

He collapsed again, moaning quietly. "Much too much too much too much too..."

"Oh, he told it all right," said the man savagely, "for all I know he's still telling it now. Strange, terrible things... terrible terrible!" he screamed.

"Terrible things, incomprehensible things," he shouted, "things that would drive a man mad!"

Chatting with prak