by Gary Starta
“Don’t worry, we’ll both feel bad if Peter has been injured,” Linda retorted.
The trio had to endure another two hours before a signal went off indicating the analysis was completed.
Finally, the androids began to rise from their beds one at a time. Peter was the last to move, prolonging Linda’s torture.
“Well it looks like everyone is fine,” Matt observed.
Ruby the bug appeared to agree as he hopped about the basement.
Chapter 7: Walk a Mile in My Shoes
“I know swearing an oath to any one particular God has been abolished for several centuries, but I do swear as the mayor of Reliance Point, to this court, that the tests conducted on the androids were done in a fair and unbiased manner.”
Steve Carlisle addressed the holographic judge from the back of the courtroom where he stood next to Daryl White. White still believed it was necessary to stand guard at the courtroom’s doors as the trial reconvened.
Seated at the defense table were Linda and Matt Dougherty along with the accused, Mikola Petrovsky.
Seated at the prosecutor’s table was Jon Sanderson and Marisa Perez. Everybody else was seated on benches which stood along the side of the courtroom to the left of the judge. Ruby the bug was contained in a cage on a windowsill on the opposite side of the benches.
“I hereby declare that court is back in session,” the judge ordered from his bench. “I trust everybody had a good rest. Thanks to this room’s holo emitters—I myself remained powered up during the recess. I took this opportunity to scan a judicial data base and can declare that these proceedings are unprecedented. No AI’s have ever been tried before. Therefore, I remind everybody—human and android alike—that they remain under oath to tell the truth according to the ethical and moral codes of Earth’s federation of governments and this new republic of Ceres. I would first call upon Mr. Peter Ciprelli to enlighten the court with his findings.”
Ciprelli took a seat in the witness box next to the judge. “Thank you your honor. I will now provide the court with an account of my research. I swear I bear no favoritism to either human or automaton regarding this report.”
The holo judge thought he could hear a faint grumble coming from the direction of Jon Sanderson, however he chose to ignore it.
“My research finds that all the androids present in this room— myself included—are now free of any human engrams.”
Ciprelli explained to the judge that the holo transmitter technology invented by Petrovsky detected no seratonin traces. “There is no question we are now one hundred percent automatons,” Peter stated emphatically. He then displayed the x-ray like pictures taken from the holo transmitter on the court’s ceiling. “These holographic projections confirm no organic signatures exist. I have essentially used the holo transmitters to take a picture of all the android’s brains where we can see only electronically-generated imprints. I will now show the court a picture from a transmitter which was used to infect Joyce Starkman prior to our deactivation. This image was cast on the transmitter’s matrix,” Peter noted pointing to the ceiling. “You can see a grainy, shadow like substance here. This represents a biological trace of her human engrams.”
“And these engrams no longer exist inside the automatons,” the judge said repeating Peter’s findings.
“That is correct, judge. I believe the organic material converted to waste when we were shut down. Our bodies disposed of this substance like a human digestion system. Anything which is no longer of use to us or deemed to be of a foreign nature, would be discharged from our internal system upon deactivation. I believe Dr. McElroy designed the deactivation process as a way for us to cleanse our system of any viruses.”
“Mr. Ciprelli, can you tell the court what infected Joyce Starkman?”
“I would like to request a five minute recess with you on that matter,” Peter asked the judge.
“I thank the prosecution team and the rest of the court in advance for their patience,” the judge announced. He then gave Peter a nod indicating he would allow the private conference in his holographic chamber.
“Judge, can you tell me about your operating system?”
“My what…?” the judge asked Ciprelli with trepidation.
“I need to know if your software is compatible with my hardware. If it is, I can provide you with visual evidence of what Joyce Starkman saw when she approached the fairgrounds. The evidence contained in my memory bands clearly indicates she was infected from a program transmitted to her through holographic technology. The rogue programming was able to override the commands of her artificial nervous system thus making her an unwilling participant to what I can best describe as induced hypnotism.”
“But Peter, if this induced programming was effectively shut down during your deactivation period—how can you still possess a memory band from it? You told me yourself that your body is designed to discharge any foreign material which is no longer of use.”
“Did you see the bug in the cage on the windowsill?”
“How does this relate Mr. Ciprelli? My patience is growing thin and your five minutes is running out.”
“The bug helped Joyce’s operating system to break its link with Petrovsky’s programming. As it did, Ruby’s mind was able to record— or more aptly—absorb an image. I still don’t understand how the bug was able to accomplish this as it appears to be an organic being. Nevertheless, the memory is now in my files.”
“Am I supposed to call a bug to the witness stand, Mr. Ciprelli?”
“No, judge. You just need to read my memory. You will then able to witness the evidence first hand.”
The astonished judge then took a deep breath of holographic air.
The judge consented to link himself with Peter Ciprelli. For a moment, Peter thought he saw the judge’s hands shake. Although Steven’s holographic game was not capable of producing sentient like beings, it was clearly visible that the judge was afraid for his existence. Beads of sweat appeared on the hologram’s brow as he approached the courtroom from his chambers.
“Just what the hell is going on here?” Jon Sanderson demanded.
“You will be removed from this trial Mr. Sanderson if I hear you speaking out of turn again,” the judge reprimanded. The judge took his seat and folded his hands to conceal his emotion.
“It is in the best interests of this court that I examine all available evidence. Therefore, I will allow a link to be made between myself and the automaton known as Peter Ciprelli. Mr. Ciprelli assures me he has visual evidence documenting the bizarre influence Mikola Petrovsky exerted on at least one of the androids. My holographic matrix will be loaded into the android’s operating system. In the event of a technical malfunction, I would recommend that Mayor Carlisle fashion another judge from his Holo-Voyage program.”
Ciprelli nodded to the judge and began preparations to create the link. Removing a small panel from the base of his spine, Peter hooked what he called an inter-generational feeder into an available port. Dr. McElroy had clearly provided the androids with the capability to interact with other AI’s through this access socket. The peripheral feeder ran directly to the judge’s bench where it linked with his holographic emitter array.
The court room was as silent as a library as both androids and humans wore the same astonished look upon their faces. A faint whizzing noise began to signal the transference process was nearly complete. Within seconds, the feeder and emitter array linked together. A quick flash lit up the room as the Holo-Voyage character disappeared into thin air.
The judge was now inside Peter’s head. A code of numbers flashed in front of the hologram’s face as Peter’s operating system began to open up the appropriate memory band.
The judge was surprised to find he could not detect any dramatic physical differences in his body even though it had shrunk in size from two meters to just under half a centimeter. A mix of fascination and fear streamed into his mind. “So this is how micro-bots operate” he wondered. “W
ell at least I don’t feel as half as claustrophobic as I feared.”
Just then the judge’s comfort level dipped into the red zone, as a a three dimensional view of a meadow surrounded his virtual body.
The judge could no longer tell the difference between his former reality and this new surrounding. The meadow appeared just as real as the courtroom. Pollen released from the grass underneath his feet and began to tickle the inside of his nose. He noticed his gait had become very even and mechanical. He was almost stomping upon the ground like a monster. He also noticed his robe had been replaced by a green khaki uniform.
The judge told himself he was only seeing through Joyce Starkman’s eyes. However, his processors were not entirely convinced as a three large beings came into his field of vision. Their appearance was bizarre; but shockingly realistic. In the background, a band played an inappropriately happy song as the entities marched towards his location.
The beings were nearly four meters in height. One stood where Marisa Perez would have been during the shootings. Its head was massive and contained only one large eye which made it resemble a mythical being called a cyclops. This being swaggered as it walked revealing scissor-like hands which swayed in unison with its gait.
The judge found another alien being was approaching him on his far left. This blue-colored being had a long horn protruding from its forehead which was reminiscent of a rhinoceros. It made a grumbling guttural sound from its throat. It appeared to be purring like a cat, however its tone of voice was anything but complacent. On the judge’s far right, a red-colored hairy beast approached. It slithered on the ground like a snake while its mane of hair made terrible swooping sounds as it cut through the long grass.
The intentions of these beings was anything but benevolent, the judge reasoned. He looked down at his hand which carried a weapon. He didn’t want to wait for them to get close enough for a handshake. The judge propped the rifle upon his shoulder but found little comfort in the weapon. He realized he had no clue as to how it worked. “Well, there’s no one here to give me lessons. How hard can it be to fire a gun anyway?” he thought.
The judge felt his heart thump heavily in his chest and his hands suddenly became moist as he fumbled to find the rifle’s trigger. He pressed a button on the barrel of the rifle but nothing happened. The beings were ambling slowly towards him but still narrowing their distance. Just then a view screen popped out of the rifle’s side. He clearly had the cyclops being in range . He felt a wave of relief that he could now scan the weapon’s barrel for a trigger while keeping the aliens in his sight.
His hand slid along the barrel until it came to rest upon a green button. “Well here goes everything,” he told himself. The discharge of the gun sent him reeling backwards. The shot which looked like it would have easily torn the head off of the cyclops sailed wildly and harmlessly over the alien beasts. He desperately pushed the button again and this time the volley struck a building far off in the distance. “Great, now I’ve made them even madder,” he scolded himself.
Out of the corner of his left eye, another being popped up. This entity occupied the spot where Mikola Petrovsky had been hiding. A quick perusal of this being revealed it was not alien. It had a body of a man which rivaled the Greek god Addonais. In one of its hands was a golden horn. The man spoke into the horn which made its voice boom across the meadow. “Send these devils back into the hell they came from,” it yelled. This god-like being then shot a glance at the judge as if to acknowledge that its orders must be followed. In the same instant, the entire meadow blinked like an eye. The judge could now only see a field of white. Deep in his subconscious, the judge thought: “Is this when the bug interrupted the transmission?”
Just as quickly, the meadow winked into existence again. The judge’s body mechanically responded to the visual and auditory senses it was being fed. The body did not want to heed the warnings from its mind which revealed this as nothing more than a bad dream. Again the meadow disappeared into a field of white. And once again the meadow and the ghastly beings reappeared. He fired another another shot which tore up some grass.
The judge then found himself aiming the weapon at his foot. He let out a loud scream as a projectile painted his boot the color of crimson.
At this same instant, Peter Ciprelli terminated his peripheral connection with the judge’s holo emitter. An outline of the judge began to fill his seat in the courtroom. In another second, the hologram was completely back in the Ceres courtroom letting out the last part of a shriek.
The judge’s face turned bright red as he realized he was no longer viewing a memory band in Peter Ciprelli’s head.
Clearing his throat, the judge announced court was now back in session. “In the interest of protecting the court’s sanity, I will not go into full detail regarding the horrific images I just witnessed. Suffice to say, I can tell the court that Joyce Starkman’s artificial mind was infected with a virus when she fired upon the colonists. I have no doubt this virus was generated by the late engineer, Mikola Petrovsky.”
“So in the eyes of the court, does this prove the innocence of the android?” Linda Dougherty asked.
“A vote by the colonists can only decide the automaton’s fate,” the judge replied. “However, any harm caused by the android was unintentional in my opinion. I found that I was being totally controlled by this program. I can imagine the horror Joyce must have felt. I could not see the colonists as they really were. All I could see was a threat in the form of some very ugly aliens.”
“Excuse me judge,” Jon Sanderson intervened. “Even if your testimony finds the android innocent, I must remind the court of federation law. The manufacture of sentient beings in human form is illegal. These eight androids must be stripped of their sentient programming along with their physical enhancements—no questions asked.”
“In fairness, I will allow the prosecution to question the accused on this matter.” The judge then asked the android known as Mikola Petrovsky to take the stand.
“Excuse me, but I would like to handle the line of questioning,” Marisa said to Jon.
“By all means,” the plastic surgeon acquiesced.
Marisa walked up to the accused android with a look of righteous anger. Linda thought to herself that this made Perez appear to be taller than she really was. She then nudged her husband Matt and whispered into his ear.“Don’t you think I should be the one up on that stand?” “What do you mean?” Matt replied.
“I was the one who ordered all the androids to be deactivated which resulted in the termination of the human engrams.”
“Linda, we don’t know if engrams separated from the body can still be viewed as being alive. You saved Marisa’s life and possibly all of us. That’s the bottom line. You are not on trial.”
“Well, I just hope Marisa will eventually realize the android wasn’t in control of his actions. She has a look on her face like she’s out for blood.”
“Dear, androids really don’t have blood,” Matt countered in an effort to ease her nerves.
Marisa then began questioning Petrovsky. “Are you the same Mikola Petrovsky who abducted me?” “No,” the android answered.
“Are you the same Mikola Petrovsky who disabled me with an electrical charge and then proceeded to leap upon my back and put a stranglehold on me until I could no longer breathe?”
Again the android replied, “No.”
“I would like to ask the court, how in the name of the stars can this android sit here and proclaim his innocence?”
Sanderson smiled like the Cheshire cat in approval of Marisa’s questioning. “You go get him, girl,” the plastic surgeon thought to himself. “No fury like a woman scorned, I say…”
Marisa continued after a short pause. “I know my last question was rhetorical. However, I will try my best to answer it.”
Linda grabbed onto Matt’s arm to absorb some of the shock she knew Marisa was about to unload on Petrovsky.
“Well, here is my answer,”
Marisa declared with the determination of a politician seeking re-election.
“I believe this android is refuting my charges because he did not commit these heinous acts. This automaton seated on this stand can not be asked to plead guilty for the acts of another. We know from the judge’s testimony that Joyce Starkman was clearly being manipulated by an outside force during the festival. As much as I hate to admit it, this being also cannot be held accountable for actions he had no control over. The only difference between the two is that Joyce was able to free herself of the control before she hurt anybody.”
Marisa then stepped closer to the android until she was no more than a few centimeters away from his face. “I don’t think you really are the engineer, Mikola Petrovsky,” Marisa stated suspiciously. “You just happen to look like him.
And the court knows we cannot convict someone based upon looks.” She paused to find that the judge was nodding in approval.
“I don’t think this court has met the real you—or for that matter— any of the other androids who have been identified as the Ceres scientists.”
Jon Sanderson then spoke with an air of disbelief. “Marisa, what are you doing?”
“I’m trying to get at the truth, Jon. Whether that truth serves a personal vendetta for me or for you is another matter.” She then turned away from Sanderson to resume her conversation with the android.
“Sir, I am no longer going to refer to you as Mikola Petrovsky. I would now like to ask you to provide a description of yourself for the court. In other words—what are you made of?”
The android paused a few seconds to ponder the question and then answered like he was reading the ingredient label from a can of soup. “I am made of many circuits and processors. I have synthetic organs which were designed to perform all of the functions of the human nervous system. I have an epidermal layer of artificial skin tissue made to resemble human flesh. I am programmed to make positive contributions to society.”