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It’s not the trial yet. This is called the inquisitorial period, where all
of the primary evidence is laid out before the court. There are no
witnesses, there are no testimonies. The state, in this case, the owner of
Castlebourne, has provided them with what they claim is the proof of Talus’
guilt. Truthfully, Ronan doesn’t doubt it. Talus hasn’t been right since
he’s been old enough to make his own decisions again. He doesn’t understand
why Talus would try to kill his little brother, but there’s almost no way
that Castlebourne has this wrong. They have this whole world wired up. You
can only keep your secrets as long as they don’t hurt anyone. Once they do,
it ends up out in the open. You know that going into a simulation, and Ronan
and Mayumi had no problem with it. They still don’t. Especially if it’s true
that Talus did hurt Yumo with malicious intent, they need to know what
happened.
At first, the footage is all right. It’s certainly weird, but out of
context, it’s totally fine. Maybe Talus was gathering dirt and leaves to
make a new pigment. Maybe he wanted to study them, or build a terrarium. It
is easily explainable, or rather would be if they didn’t know what they
knew. The next part is far more damning. Talus takes all the stuff he picked
up from the forest floor, and rubs it into little Yumo’s bellybutton. His
eyes. That’s the hardest part. They’re so...detached. He’s not angry or sad.
This is just a task he has to complete, and he has no strong feelings about
it. Ronan has to look away. It’s horrific. He did it with such intent. He
doesn’t know if it’s because the original Talus would be smart enough to
understand the mechanism, or if the new one teased it out. Or if it was some
sick combination of both.
“That’s enough,” Judge What’s-Her-Name says. “We don’t need to see the whole
thing. Is that it for the state’s evidence?”
“It is, Your Honor,” a lawyer named Jericho Hagen replies.
“Does the defense have evidence to provide the court at this time?”
Talus has an attorney of his own. His name is Kyle K. Stanley. “We do not,
Your Honor. We accept the state’s evidence as a matter of existence without
acknowledging any particular interpretations of it. We are anxious to
prepare our defense.”
“Very well,” the judge says. “If there are no objections, this inquisition
hearing will come to a close, and we will break for two days while the
advocates prepare to call witnesses, and make their cases.”
“I plead guilty,” Talus says.
“Son, that’s not how it works. There will come a time for that—” the judge
begins.
“I plead guilty now, I plead guilty now!” Talus insists. “I did it. I tried
to kill him, and I would do it again! He was never supposed to exist! He’s
not real! It’s just a simulation! He’s an NPC! He’s not real!” As they’re
dragging him out while under contempt, he keeps yelling that. “He’s not
real! He’s not real!”
“What does this mean?” Ronan asks Stanley. As the father, Ronan doesn’t have
any legal authority in this court. He doesn’t have the right to know
something simply because he raised Talus for the last eight years. Still,
it’s okay for him to ask.
“If the judge accepts the plea, we will move on to the sentencing portion of
the proceedings. That was always going to be the more grueling component of
the process. Honestly, he is guilty, and we all know it. What we need
to determine now is how to handle him. That’s what I was really brought in
for, and I will protect him as much as possible.”
Maybe he shouldn’t.
