I added a disclaimer at the bottom of the site, cuz well, narcissists are real! ty, DD
By David C. Daoust
Sheriff Montgomery Dunn, aka Monty, stood off to the side as the small holopad device he’d just finished setting up, suddenly began to flicker with light as it quickly wove together a hologram. This hologram, seemingly, changed their environments from the small room on the upper floors of the Starport, which he was using as a makeshift Sheriff’s office, to a rather spacious courtroom, which, in reality, was located somewhere in the Core.
The courtroom was complete with Judge, a courtroom recorder to the Judge’s right, and a bailiff who just called ‘Ratchet Haul’ from the docket. The boy stood, mouth clamped shut, as the Bailiff read the list of charges that had been levied against him. (Vandalism, ‘attempt’, conspiracy)
Sheriff Dunn was not sure how this was going to go. Normally he had a pretty good idea, especially with such a young individual being put before a judge, but the sad fact was, with the current state of the moon, the judge was likely to use Red Faction procedures, rather than the more ‘Consortium inspired’ procedures of Grady.
The presence of the rather tall, shapely woman, in the tight scarlet military uniform, told Monty the Red Faction was definitely going to weigh in. She actually appeared to his right, her hologram having formed seconds after the courtroom’s arrival, this told Monty she was projected from a whole separate location; he could only guess where.
Both Sheriff Dunn and the uniformed woman were there for the prosecution.
Ratchet’s clamped shut mouth, was about all the defense the boy had brought.
The Courts of the Second Sun were largely influenced by the traditions of the Ark Age. The Judges of the Ark Age were more than just impartial referees between Defense and Prosecution, they were investigating Judges; Inquisitors. They investigated evidence and questioned witnesses submitted by both prosecution and defense; How deeply they investigated was at their own discretion. The adversarial systems of past civilizations had been all but forgotten during the trek from Sol to the Second Sun, and the inquisitorial system was largely ‘the way’ for all those centuries.
Many standing governments had reinstated the adversarial system since, yet the Ark Age had left its mark.
The population was so compact on the Ark Ships, that judges would use anonymity as protection against those that may be displeased with their verdicts. Thus, the judges wore a smooth blank mask over their face, with a heavy dark mesh headpiece that flowed from the top of their head, to well past their shoulders. The black robe, that draped the rest of them, obscured all form. This dress, and the anonymity it created, survived only thanks to traditions that carried over from age to age.
This judge was no exception. The rather rough voice, however, informed he was likely a male.
“Do you understand the charges as they have been read to you?” The judge droned out behind the blank face-plate. He sounded bored to Monty. There was no telling how many cases the Judge had heard at this point. The ability of the courts to sort through cases, from afar, meant all of the Onion could be queued up at any given moment. Not only that, but just because it was early morning here, did not mean it was not late in the day for this judge. All of which could affect the outcome.
Ratchet’s lower lip stiffened, nothing but silence followed.
“You realize, by refusing to answer, you are impeding this court,” The Judge informed grimly.
Ratchet answered with more silence.
“The Red Faction requests ‘Full Inquiry’,” the uniformed woman to his right suddenly spoke up, as if on cue.
“Surely, he has a Right to Silence?” Monty interjected, without thought, at what he felt was an absurd request.
The judge’s blank face-plate turned in Monty’s direction and then cocked slightly to the right. Monty had to assume this was to show surprise. Considering Monty was standing on the prosecutor’s side of the room, the surprise between the two men ended there.
The Judge glanced down at the small screen in front of him, then asked, “Sheriff Dunn of Grady?”
“Yes, Your Honor.” Monty answered, then the sheriff turned to address the Red Faction Official, “’Full Inquiry’ without a guilty verdict -prior to the action- has not been performed since the Ark Age.”
“It is Red Faction Jurisdiction- we have no qualms with this action,” the uniformed woman did not miss a beat, she continued to speak directly to the judge, “Would it not be in the courts best interest to move these things along- Why not, then, just take what information we need…?”
“His silence should be taken as a ‘Not Guilty’ plea,” Monty insisted.
“Yet- do we not know his guilt?” the woman argued, “He has declared it, for all the System to see…”
“Has he?” Monty asked.
“I’m merely suggesting that there are faster ways to get to the truth… truly, the Red Faction is more interested in what the boy knows of the Conspiracy, that triggered the drone raid, than these Vandalism charges- or even the ‘Attempt’ applied by Grady, ” the uniformed woman argued, “And, I’m sorry but, Red Faction’s interests should far supersede these… these, Separatists.”
“Separatists?” the Judge sounded amused, almost haughty in his derision for the idea.
The woman reached down and oddly clicked at buttons that were not in her hologram, the real world door could be heard sliding open behind the holographic wall of the courtroom, and a rather large spherical machine hovered into the room. Monty was surprised. This device was no hologram. It was there, with them in the room. But where had it come from before that?
“Very well,” the Judge seemed pleased (and possibly relieved) at the arrival of the unusual device, “The Red Faction will have their way.”
No sooner had the judge agreed, than a strong beam of light, from the center of the spherical device, engulfed Ratchet where he stood.
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Monty argued, he could not believe what he was seeing and grasped at anything, “He’s a minor.”
“All the more reason,” the woman whispered to him, a clear look of triumph showed on her face as she reassured, “Trust me- This is for the best, all the way around.”
Seconds later, and equally as abrupt, the light beam vanished. The boy was completely unharmed and unaffected, beyond maybe, the look of total confusion apparent on his face.
After a few moments, a second lens replaced the first from within the center of the spherical device, this projected yet another hologram into the holographic courtroom. Slowly it wove together an image of the boy; a copy. A copy that stood maybe two feet away from the real world version, whose mouth finally dropped open in protest.
Uploading one’s mind, all thoughts and memories, into a digital copy was simple enough. Though contrary to the popular fiction of Monty’s youth, the actual personality did not carry over. There was no spark, no soul, no character- Just data. The spherical device now held a perfect clone of Ratchet’s mind within its very core. It knew everything Ratchet knew, though without any loyalty, rebelliousness, or any sense of the word ‘secret’ that came with a real mind.
“How do you plead to the charge of Conspiracy?” the Judge finally asked.
“Guilty,” the hologram of Ratchet pled.
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