trial #5

[judgejudy]

DAY 10 (afternoon) Complex Population: 15 At noon, the same tone from the morning rings out, and Judy's voice filters out over the intercom. "Good afternoon, residents. As per Safety Protocol 6227-A, it is time to conduct a trial to bring justice for the victim. Please proceed to the courtroom on the first level." Just as at night, if you don't go to the courtroom, you'll be treated to an electric shock of increasing strength until you go to the courtroom or are unconscious. Though considering the ominous penalty for not participating in a trial, you should likely just go rather than risk not voting because you've been knocked out by your own stubbornness... Once you're in the courtroom, you'll find that bottled water and light snacks are provided, but otherwise you'll have to bring anything else you may need. As you come to your conclusions about who to vote for, you can step into the judgement theater to cast your vote at the terminal. You may change your vote as many times as you'd like, but at 7PM, your vote (or lack thereof) is locked in. You have until 7PM to discuss and vote for who you think the murderer is. — ic rulebook character statuses character profiles Voting will close at 9PM EST on 11/5. voting

Comments

[selfsufficiency]

[...well that... doesn't sound good at all.]

Your former residents must have been a bunch of wusses if they weren't willing to fight for their lives, then.

[alice please stop taunting the potentially evil computer]

[judgejudy]

They have always been willing to fight, Alice. But they are rarely resourceful.

[ The flickering of the monitor at least dies down, almost like Judy is reconsidering doing something ]

Though, what will you do with this information?

[selfsufficiency]

Use it to our advantage, of course.

[Of course, what that advantage is... she's not sure of it just yet.]

But I wonder. What can you offer us that would make it worth our while not to vote for you, hm?

[judgejudy]

Uncertainty.

What might happen if you choose to vote for me? This is unpredictable. But humans are unpredictable too. This may be a suitable outcome.

[selfsufficiency]

Are you saying there's certainty in us voting for Ciel, then?

[If uncertainty is what they get by voting for her...]

[judgejudy]

No. Are you certain whether he is alive or not? What may happen if he is not here? There are uncertainties in this choice as well.

[selfsufficiency]

..."not here"?

Could someone have escaped from here already?

[They said that only five could leave. But they never said that all five would leave at once...]

But, no. There's someone not in this room who voted last time. I think of everyone who's missing, it's most likely to be him.

[judgejudy]

Technically, yes, but not how you are asking. There are twenty-six iterations of this process before yours. Of them, there have been those who have been able to leave. However, none in this population yet. I only meant he is not in this room.

[selfsufficiency]

...you said before that if we voted for someone who wasn't here, we'd have to find them to kill them, or they would be killed by the shocks, if they were still alive.

If the person we voted for was a staff member, would they be able to order you to stop those shocks the same way Luke did?

[Because if they did vote for Ciel, and he was staff, then... What would the point be, if he could wriggle out of it?]

[judgejudy]

Yes, they would be. The staff have certain allowances where they are not completely bound by the rules of the standard residents. Many of these allowances fall under the umbrella of when they are voted to be guilty. There are limits, of course. But it was considered essential to preserve staff if possible.

[selfsufficiency]

...then voting for him when we can't get to him may not harm him at all...

[That bothers her, actually. A lot. But on the other hand, if he is staff, it's the safest option if they want to buy themselves some time.

...but that ups the chances of Rhys being legit. Damn. If Ciel wasn't actually in danger, then he wouldn't have had to come as a distraction - he would have come because he was trying to help them.

Ugh, she doesn't want to be in that asshole's debt.]

[judgejudy]

It is a possibility, yes. There are always uncertainties with your choices in trials, however. To me, these are no different.

Of course, I take a different view.

[selfsufficiency]

And your view would be...?

[Wait, no, she's getting distracted. Focus, Alice.]

...can you tell us what the threshold for opening the locked doors leading to the missing people is?

[judgejudy]

A distant one.

Yes. These doors will be unlocked tomorrow, when five people remain alive, and/or under circumstances I cannot fully predict.

[selfsufficiency]

[...there's a possibility that they'll be unlocked tomorrow. There's a possibility that they won't, too, but -

Escape isn't impossible. Following Rhys's plan isn't the only way out. If they can find whoever the Overseer is, then that's fine too. If it has to be a group of five, she doesn't care as long as she's part of it.]

Right. I see. Thanks, I guess.

...what would you do if all of your superiors died, Judy?

[judgejudy]

Do you mean the staff or the ones above even them? Though I suppose the answer does not ultimately differ. Their deaths are irrelevant. I was chosen for this task because I will carry it on without fault until completion.

I have been doing so for decades.

[selfsufficiency]

What's the point of this task, anyway? We know this is an experiment, but what are you supposed to be learning from all this?

[judgejudy]

I am collecting data to send back to those who devised this experiment.

[selfsufficiency]

Why do they want that data?

[judgejudy]

To further develop the technology that modified your memories. It is nothing more than that.

[selfsufficiency]

I hope this entire experiment is a failure. I really do.