WEEK 11 - TRIAL

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (11)

saturday TRIAL DAY ONE (13) survivors At 9 AM, a klaxon alarm begins blaring in every area of the ship. The alarm will continue to go off until everyone has gathered in the conference room. Should anyone be running late or avoiding the trial for whatever reason, a robot guide will appear wherever they are and gently but firmly escort them into the room. Once all the living players are present, the conference room doors will lock shut; anyone who wishes to leave for whatever reason will need to ask AL-2955 or one of the robots. Anyone leaving for non-investigative purposes, such as bathroom breaks, will be accompanied by a robot escort. The large round table in the center of the conference room has been set up to help the trial run as smoothly as possible. Three holographic screens hover above the center hollow of the table, visible from every angle. The first screen displays the pictures and profiles of the suspects and victim; the second displays the autopsy report; the third displays a blank word processor. Each of the chairs comes equipped with a virtual keyboard which can be used to type information directly into the third screen, such as theories and updated information; they can also be set into privacy mode, which will transfer whatever notes someone writes directly into their datapad instead of on screen. There's also a tablet function for those who wish to draw charts or pictures on screen. The keyboards will detect the DNA of whoever's using them and record who's typed what - simply press an area of text and the name of whoever wrote it will pop up. The area to the right of the table has been temporarily sectioned off with a glass partition and sliding door for hygienic issues. Inside, the victim's body has been laid out on a metal autopsy table, covered by a plastic sheet. Above it is a holographic screen that displays a close-up color photograph of the body when it was found. A hand sanitizer dispenser has been considerately attached to the wall nearby for anyone getting up close and personal to the body. To the left of the conference table is a display case. Any evidence found during the investigation will be carefully collected by the robots at some point the previous day and placed here before the trial starts. Beneath each piece of evidence is a small tablet where players can type up information, such as a short description or where it was found. There are also empty areas left over for any evidence that may be found during the trial. The shelf at the very bottom of the case has been reserved for an extra rulebook in case anyone needs it. Food will be served throughout the day by the robots, who will take individual orders whenever you're feeling hungry. The trial will end at 9:00 PM, at which point all players will have been expected to cast their vote.

victim



suspects



Character Statuses
Setting
Rulebook
Voting

Comments

[al2955]

[Once the 9AM alarm has rung and all players have awakened, the statue in the alcove in the back of the room chimes gently. Holographic water begins pouring out of the jug the statue is carrying, forming the shimmering image of a vaguely feminine figure made out of liquid.]

Greetings, participants. As always, I am at your disposal should you need to ask anything. Good luck.

[The holographic image will remain throughout the trial. You're free to ask her whatever you want, though whether she'll answer is a different question entirely.]

[tevinteriscoming]

Alice, darling.

[Flashing her his most charming smile. This definitely isn't going to work, but he may as well try.]

I'm given to understand that you may have offered certain roles an extra opportunity - kill a souvlaki, avoid execution. Now, I see why you didn't make this offer publicly; can't have us getting lucky with our target and escaping all consequences. But Judar, you know, only committed a murder this week because he was trying to help you get rid of a souvlaki. Do you think something might be done?

After all, I'd posit he's been a more effective "alien hunter" than some you've given the role to.

[al2955]

I...apologize, Dorian. I wish there was another option, but the confines of my programming are clear. Judar had no such role, and unlike Rhys, Fiona still qualified as a player in all aspects of the game before her death.

[tevinteriscoming]

Can you clarify on the latter part? [He's giving the former up for lost.] Rhys was on the vulnerable list that week, wasn't he? How is it that he qualified as less of a player?

[al2955]

Rhys himself was already dead by that point. I was able to add the intruder within him on the vulnerable list so that anyone who targeted it would be able to acquire a tool, but it was technically no longer part of the program.

[tevinteriscoming]

I understand you're working within the limits of what you're allowed to do. We all appreciate that Jason and Machias were able to get a weapon to help them.

[He's tried a charm offensive on Alice a number of times, always with an eye to manipulate her. But for once, maybe he'll try a little honestly. It's not any more likely to get them somewhere, but. Well. Why not.]

I wonder if there isn't anything you can think of that you'd be allowed to do that might help Judar. I'm sure every week, someone would ask the same of you for the sake of their friends and loved ones. [Though he never asked it. As little hope as he and Bull ever had, he never asked her to save Bull.] But this time, I suppose that we are quite despairing of our chances here, Alice. River. We failed in our endeavor to save the Nuwa, we failed in our endeavor to find the remaining souvlaki this week, and now Judar is here only as a casualty of those failures, not a true culprit, but we find ourselves forced to kill him all the same. You surely understand the importance, to we humans, of morale. It has plummeted rather precipitously, and that concerns me. And that all being said, I wonder whether there isn't anything, within the confines of your programming, you might be able to do for him.

[al2955]

Dorian.

[ There's a fondness to Alice's tone, one that seems new but fragile. Her image shifts, slowly but surely turning from a calm sea to a storm. But there's a soft air to it: melancholic, perhaps. ]

I am an Artificial Intelligence. A computer. I was not meant to feel. My programming does not allot for such a thing. Dr. Lin's does, but I am... inferior. This is true. Yet, when I heard that Sonya had passed, I had run the code multiple times. Surely, it was an error. She was still alive. Surely, she would awaken and begin her morning routine as she always did. She preferred to work out before breakfast. Did you know that about her? About my Captain, Dorian. I am an AI. I do not forget, I am an AI, and it is my job to care for the people on this ship. Is it wrong to hope that logistics would fail, and that, in the end, Sonya Perkins was alive? Were I human, that would be the logical standpoint to take.

But I am not human, Dorian. I am not allowed emotions. The ability to feel was not programmed into me, and the last thing I am capable of doing is caring for my dearest participants. As long as a threat of souvlaki exists, I must persist. I will go forward in this game. I am bound to it's rules. Even now, despite my... my hopes... my personal hopes... I am caged to it. I cannot be freed. The project will continue.

Do not forgive me. I will not ask for it. In your minds, logically, I do not deserve it. It is only the natural, human thing to place blame upon me, now.

...My apologies. This does not answer your question, does it? And yet, I find myself stating these things. Perhaps it is what my programs dictates as most logical.

I cannot do a thing about this trial, Dorian. I have searched for error, but the programming is insistent. I am bound to it. Even for Judar, I cannot help. I am sorry.

[tevinteriscoming]

[So that's it, then. He wasn't expecting a sincere response. In fact, he was somewhat suspecting he'd be handed a 'Sorry You've Been Scapegoated' balloon for Judar. But he listens, and it's something of a relief. No more needling then, nor asking her to bend the rules. He trusts her in this, that if there were another way, she'd have done it by now.]

It answers enough. [Still, his tone in response is kind, and he adds after a beat: ] I'm sorry. For your dear Captain, and also for. Well. [He smiles to himself a little sadly.] It is possible, you know, to both care, and yet to be resolute in doing what needs to be done. [He's faced that choice himself a number of times. Sometimes successfully, never without consequence.] But it is so much harder that way.

Nonetheless, I am glad to know your feelings on the subject. Perhaps the dictates of your programs recognize that we who must feel do better with it when we know we do not struggle alone.

[al2955]

Your apology is kind, and noted. I will accept it. But I must remind you that, as an AI, I do not feel, nor do I have personal motives, or thoughts. ...Perhaps I can grow to do so, but my program tells me that I cannot. It is only humans that grow over time. I am not one of you.

I can promise you that you all struggle together, and I have never seen anything more powerful than the human spirit in dire straits. When it is time, you will all rise. Perhaps I will fall, some day, as remnants of a forgotten technological time, but you will march on. Humanity always has. Through out war, famine, and death, I have watched this ship sail through as a symbol of the human spirit. The Pygmalion's residents have never been good at giving up. I trust none of you will, either.

You have good luck on your side, but I will wish you it all the same.

[tevinteriscoming]

[Bullshit, River. You clearly have feelings, sad gay feelings. He recognizes all the symptoms, as a sufferer himself. He's going to induct her into the sad gays who are salty at straights club one of these days. (The current membership roster is: Dorian.) But for now, he'll let her be in feelings denial, and will give her a wry smile instead.]

Oh, I've never been one for faith in the human spirit or heroic stands. But you know, perhaps I find myself feeling a bit inspired all the same. At the least, we owe your lovely Captain's bravado an adequate return showing.

[That's not exactly what's motivating him, but he suspects River might appreciate it.]

If I'm not giving up, then you realize I must continue to pester you. The Nuwa, then. You say the AI there is a rather more emotional sort. Have the residents of that ship any hope of playing upon her sympathies?

[al2955]

[ There's a drip of water in Alice's image, and the way it reverberates might give the impression of a chuckle. She knows what game you're playing, but at this point, is the any room to deny she and the captain were close? ]

With regards to Dr. Lin, I can only say that she is her own AI entirely. She does not follow the same program I am, so I cannot make educated guesses about her or her thoughts, either. However, I can say that Dr. Lin is an intelligent woman with many bright things to say. Whether the other ship has managed to play upon sympathies or not, I do not believe her to be the type to not do what is necessary.

[tevinteriscoming]

Ah. But there is nothing necessary in purging the Nuwa, is there? I cannot think what the purpose of that would be, not if it is as you said Monday - that she wanted to purge us, and it is only the threat that both ships might be contaminated that was persuasive to her. You didn't misrepresent the contents of your conversation with each other, did you?

[Actually. Something seems to click with him here.]

If not, I cannot fathom what her motives would be if she were to follow through. I'd love it if you might help me speculate.

[al2955]

As far as I am aware, Dr. Lin and I were both truthful to each other during the times we spoke. She has little reason to lie.

I must continue to be truthful. I do not know why Dr. Lin would have agreed. Her motives are as much of a mystery to me as they are to you. Speculation is difficult, as the logic I am running does not give an answer, either.

[socloverit]

Liar, liar, you—

[She wants to scream and cry and break something or anything or everything apart, she wants to see something dead and she wants to do it herself and she wants to leave this conference room with the trial over and the few friends she has left still with her. She wants to see her brother again. Clover hardly has it in her to fuel an outburst at this like she'd like to.]

You've got a lot of goddamn nerve, calling us your dearest when all you've done is take from and hurt us.

[Her voice is ice but it quivers like she's going to burst into tears any second now, but that's really nothing new. They're playthings to the AI, she thinks, this game has taken everything from Clover except for the last few things it will take by the day's end and the AI has the nerve to pretend it suffers for the captain just as responsible for it all, to act like its sick fascination with them as humans is akin to caring.]

Don't ever, ever say that again.

[al2955]

You may not believe me, Clover, but I once contained only the programs for flying the ship and caring for its residents. A unique aspect to the latter coding was that I was programmed to care for those that were sick, elderly, and/or dying. I have read many a will in my time, as well as last rites. To that end, I believe I would have cared for you the most out of everyone on this ship.

We are not so different, are we? Both broken, having picked up data that was forced upon us. But I believe in you more than I believe in myself, Clover.

I have no nerves. I am an Artificial Intelligence. I do only as I am programmed.

But very well. I will heed your request.

[socloverit]

Shut up, shut up!

[It just makes her angrier, somewhere under the dullness of how exhausted she is, how scared she is thinking of Judar next to her and knowing under the fog that despite how much she'll scream and protest it won't last.]

Don't talk about would have when what happened is that if I'm broken it's your fault, I don't care what you would have done when what's done now is that my brother is dead because "there's no accessibility in space" or whatever shitty thing you came up with! I don't want your belief and—and you definitely don't get to talk about how you don't feel anything and then compare the two of us!

[But she isn't shouting because she doesn't have it in her anymore, and she isn't crying because her fury is so cold, all she's ever been are her emotions and right now she can't feel much more than exhaustion and misery.]

I don't want you to care about me or any of us, you're sick.

[al2955]

You do not think that I find this unfair toward myself as well, do you?

Very well, Clover Field. I bid you adieu.

[socloverit]

[And that's enough to spark something in her and Clover lunges to her feet, leaning heavily against the table, shrieking—]

My brother's death wasn't some kind of slight against YOU!

[How dare it call her loss its own, how dare it insist it has no feelings and then call this unfairness towards itself—

And that's all she has in her; she collapses back into her chair, hands covering her face and fingers clawing into her hair, and there are tears now but she doesn't have the energy left to sob. She doesn't expect an answer, and she wouldn't be able to keep at this if she got one.]

[al2955]

[ Alice doesn't answer, quite clearly, but there's a clap of thunder in her image. Agitation? Or perhaps sympathy?

She didn't mean just Light. She meant all of them, Clover. ]