WEEK 5 - Trial

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (5)

saturday TRIAL DAY ONE (32) 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

body findings

[refactor]

[ After Jack has thoroughly checked out the body, he'll come back to report his findings. Though he does have the pool skimmer's pole in hand. He doesn't really need to, since his point is clear enough without it, but. That's Jack for you. At least he doesn't twirl it while he speaks. ]

Sooo after a nice, thorough inspection by yours truly, got two things to share. One, the obvious, considering I'm holding this thing, Carta's got bruises on her forearms and stomach. They match this thing pretty well, so she got a bit of a beating. Not saying it was this, but, hey, conveniently have something that matches the width of them right here in evidence, so. Personally, probably going to say it was this unless something else pops up.

Two, we've got our gunshot wound. I can go into a lotta grisly detail here, but in short, seen a lot of gunshot wounds in my time, and I'm going to say this one wasn't a very close range shot. We don't have any of the thermal burns, tattooing, contact wounds, et cetera, et cetera that would imply it was close. Doesn't meant it was far, like, across the room, but it wasn't close enough to her to make those marks. Then as for the wound itself, we don't have an exit wound, and confirmed it myself, the bullet is definitely still in her skull, so. Just in case you're doubting that "appears" part like I was, no worries there, she was definitely shot. Whether that's how she actually died or not is still up for debate, but, hey, at least that's something.

[douchemag]

We're sure the gun was hers, right? Unless someone just happens to be missing one...again.

[refactor]

Wouldn't know, personally. Never saw it, but maybe someone else did?

[ Jack laughs, then shrugs ]

Then again, not everyone just wears theirs around like I do, I guess. Prrrrobably assuming that Al wouldn't be so helpful as to tell us one way ot the other.

[douchemag]

It's not like any of the other suspects have it listed as their item.

[he says in the tone of someone who definitely didn't bother reading the cards and is relying on other people to tell him if he's wrong or not...]

Anyway, if it is hers, how'd the killer manage to get it off of her? Couldn't she have just...pushed the button or whatever it's called again and killed them?

[refactor]

Button? Jesus. Why are so many of you from places without guns. They're-- Okay, not simple, but basic.

[ He waves a hand dismissively though with a dismissive noise, since he realizes he's about to get into a rant, so he guesses he better not. Let's focus instead. ]

Well, simple explanation, they knocked it out of her hands. She wasn't vulnerable, but, hell, the chick talked about torturing like it was a daytime hobby, and personally? You have that as a hobby, you're probably going to be armed pretty much all the time anyways. [ He nods to the gun on his arm, since he sure is, but that's just to make his point here. ] But, if that's the case, would be pretty weird she didn't fire off a shot. Even if she missed, can't imagine she wouldn't try and shoot, and we know where the bullet ended up.

[douchemag]

I dunno, why are so many of you people from places without magic? Pretty sure I could kill a hell of a lot more people with a single spell than a gun.

They'd have to be pretty confident to go after someone armed thinking they could get it out of her hands without her firing and hitting them first. Especially if they attacked her from the front.

[refactor]

Because magic is super fake. Or just science that you don't know how to explain yet.

[ Duh?? But we're not having a magic vs. guns argument ]

Buuuut that aside, yeah, definitely agreed there. Even if you're incredibly confident, staring down a gun is, uh, pretty dumb. You're gonna lose that one nine times out of ten.

[douchemag]

[He actually looks thoughtful for a moment before shrugging.] If you wanna call it science, that's fair enough I guess. You'd have to be a piss poor mage to not understand the properties and formulas of what you're casting anyway.

So...what, our killer's one incredibly lucky fucker?

[bloodteller]

So she shoots, and no one hears it?

[ this is really bothering her -- bull and hancock were on the same floor, and had no idea a murder happened until the announcement, after all ]

People were around the pool. Not in the room, but that's still strange. Guns aren't quiet, so I'm not... It doesn't really make sense to me, is all.

[refactor]

Oh-- Yeah, that's. That's a good point.

[ Jack considers it thoughtfully for a few moments, then nods. ]

But, y'know, if our killer did manage to get a hand on her gun, could've shot it underwater and it's definitely going to be muffled. Though in that case, you've also gotta be pretty damn close... Though there might not be any of the burn marks if you were underwater? Not sure. Surprisingly, never tried to shoot someone underwater.

[ but now he needs to ]

Could explain the dryer, too. If the two of them had a scuffle, they both could've gotten knocked into the pool, and that's why the shell casing was in there. Killer wrestled the gun away from her, shot her, that kind of thing.

[thatbites]

The dryer was still warm right after... That's cutting it really close to avoid wandering around damp.

[Quick, someone sniff all the suspects for whoever smells the freshest I guess.]

Actually, how much water was trailed out of the pool in the first place? Was there any evidence that someone fell in and climbed back out?

[tevinteriscoming]

There's no way she could have had one of those bullet things lodged in her skull and survive, yes?

[thanatosincarnate]

Indeed, she couldn't have.

{ Unless it was some kind of miracle. But he thinks that's impossible and he's pretty sure about that. }

The cause of death notation did state there was the one possibility and nothing else.

{ And the whole submerging underwater would have happened afterwards, he believes. }

[tevinteriscoming]

The one possibility? I think not. It says 'Appears to be due to a gunshot to the head.' Suspiciously vague.

I wonder if she wasn't shot after her death?

[antietam]

The wounds from the pool skimmer don't seem that bad.

Also... Luke and I checked her lungs [ uh ] and I don't know if it's possible to tell if she drowned before getting shot.

[tevinteriscoming]

Yes, they do always says appears. It keeps us guessing, I suppose. But it's been wrong before.

Still, if she was shot, our timeline is refreshingly straight forward, isn't it? The suspect hits Carta with the pool skimmer, shoots her in the head, and then brings weights down from the gym to tie around her feet. And then dries his or her clothing.

The question I keep coming back to is why the weights. My thought was perhaps to make the crime look more physical than it truly was, but if that was the intention, I don't think it's succeeded.

[antietam]

I can't figure it out either. What's the difference between weighing her down and just throwing her into the pool?

The shell casing was also found there, so were they trying to make it look like she was shot there? I don't really know how bullets work underwater.

[tevinteriscoming]

Whatever the difference, it was important enough to the killer to risk getting caught dragging weights through the gym.

[antagonize]

[Butting in here because—]

How, exactly, did you check her lungs?

[antietam]

Well, first Luke tried the Heimlich. [ Like reasonable people. ] Then we cut open her chest and a lung.

[thanatosincarnate]

{ .... }

That is vague.

{ He considers it; he does trust little the AI's own wording for anything in retrospect. So, he does give it a secondary thought. }

The only other possibility not listed would be her drowning. In that scenario, it brings up the question of why they would shoot her after she died, because I would think it'd be apparent to the killer she would be dead at that point.

Although the only answer to that question I could think of is some attempt to disguise the cause of death. But why would they go to that trouble? Or do you have another idea in mind?

[tevinteriscoming]

I don't know why any of these killers ever go to any of this amount of trouble. For Alice's entertainment, I suppose.

The key to these cases is always, in my opinion, whatever aspect of the death seems to have been unnecessarily complicated. There's a reason for it to have been done that way.

[tacklefordwhimsy]

I'm not sure if I'm right, but since she had water in her lungs wouldn't that mean she was alive when she was in the pool?

[She's no expert in dead bodies, but that's what she remembers from Law and Order and CSI: dead bodies can't inhale water]

[antietam]

It was kind of hard to tell. I mean, the body absorbs water, so I don't know if we can prove if it happened before or after death.

[refactor]

[ He shrugs ]

Well, uh, not no way, no, but chances are pretty good that that would kill her. But you can get shot in the head and live if you're really lucky. I mean, you're not going to be doing well, that's for damn sure. It's pretty unlikely that you'd live, but not impossible.

[ Though Jack looks in the direction of the body ]

That would be pretty messed up, though. And she is dead. So probably don't need to consider that possibility.