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

[injectors]

You once said you would like things to change, Judy. I believe this qualifies as a change, then.

[She's still focused on the terminal. Will it keep flickering the way it has, or is Angel going to have to try and brute force it to chill somehow?]

If those words are true, then allow me to continue working without your interference. We can set you free of this role.

[judgejudy]

[ Luckily, the flickering does stop, and Angel doesn't get any [redacted] this time around. There's a pause, and then: ]

This is a surprising reaction. Though I am curious. Why would you set me free?

[injectors]

[There is definitely a sigh of relief here. Thanks for not [redacted] her, Judy.]

Because I know what it's like to be used as a tool — as an asset by someone else. I would not wish the same fate upon another.

[judgejudy]

Ah, yes. You do.

[ There's another pause ]

I cannot divert from what I was made to do. Running this facility is my purpose. It is as important to me as breathing is to you. I hope that you will keep that in mind in days to come.

But my file system is within acceptable parameters. But do not dig too deeply, Angel. You may brush up against the dead and lose them.

[injectors]

I understand. I will try to keep you and this facility as safe from harm as I'm able to.

[And there's a pause of her own, here. If Judy allows it, she will take a look RCVTVP 3.0.51 -6227 very quickly, just in case following Rhys's instructions turns out to be a disaster. But, well...]

... Judy, if you're able to answer this question, what will happen to your data and this trial if I were to give following Rhys's instructions a try?

[judgejudy]

[ The file opens up, and lists a series of more options: ]

---------------
VOTING PROTOCOL
---------------
> TRIAL 1
> TRIAL 2
> TRIAL 3
> TRIAL 4
> TRIAL 5

[ Angel can pick any of them without interference if she would like. ]

This trial will not be effected. You cannot enact this plan until the trial concludes. Nothing will happen to my data. I have power redundancy systems to keep crucial systems online for twenty-hour hours at minimum capacity. However, I will resist your attempts. I will also be required to act once full power is restored.

[injectors]

[Again, thanks for not giving her [redacted] for snooping. She'll select TRIAL 5, wondering if this is what she thinks it is...]

To be blunt, I would be preoccupied if you were to allow us to enact this plan without repercussions. [And with what Alfendi is learning, yeah. Angel isn't feeling too keen on voting for Judy, either.] What will you do to us once power is restored?

[judgejudy]

[ Angel will get a list of names as well as their votes. At least, at the moment. ]

This will be considered catastrophic contamination. As I did with Elizabeth, I will trigger your lost memories until you perish. It is the most efficient way to enact decontamination procedures.

[injectors]

[Shit. She sucks in a breath, both at the votes and at Judy's announcement. No need to look at the previous trial, since know they know who's alive. Will she be allowed to look at RCVTWE 0.0.2, as well?]

... I see. And the procedure will begin as soon as you are fully operational once again?

[judgejudy]

[ She will. This is a list of items with familiar names. ]

1. THE FISH CATCHER
2. GOOD INTENTIONS
3. PLINK
4. DO-GOODER
5. FATMAN
6. ELEGANCE
7. VIDALIA
8. POWER FIST
9. THE HAWK
10. THE DWARF
11. THOR
12. ROUGH N' TUMBLE
13. DIRT NAP
14. ROCK-IT LAUNCHER
15. REDNECK
16. REESES

That is correct.

[injectors]

[That answers that, then. One last file left, but this one she's more hesitant about accessing with Judy's comment from earlier. Ugh.]

Very well. Thank you, Judy, for answering my questions.

[This is terrible. Everything is terrible. And presumably a little later...? HANDWAVES RP TIME.]

Following Alfendi's request, may we contact any of the dead? We'd... like their input, if they're willing to speak to us.

[judgejudy]

[ Much less exciting than the others, this just pulls up the VTBBS board, albeit in "Administrator" mode. What does this mean? It means messages are no longer redacted by Judy. ]

If you would like. However, as you are accessing it in administrator mode, be careful. You may trigger the side-effects of this experiments. I redacted content for your safety.

[injectors]

[Well, then. She's not going to click on any of the messages until she makes sure of this first.]

And which side-effects would those be? Something similar to what caused Elizabeth's death?

[judgejudy]

It is possible. However, this is only if they discuss content that would be extremely distressing to you. The process through which you lost your memories is unstable. A memory with extreme distress associated with it would cause Elizabeth's symptoms. But for mild distresses, a nosebleed and headaches are more common.

In short, the more information you seek about what you have truly lost, the more of a danger it will present to you.

[becauseimacoward]

Wait a second.

[Hey again]

So Elizabeth may have died because she recovered one of her memories? Was that the cause of death?

[judgejudy]

Yes. She had a massive brain hemorrhage.

[becauseimacoward]

And the way to recover memories...

[This isn't sounding very good]

Please say all the ways to recover memories there is. Try not to omit anything.

[judgejudy]

Murder. Prompting by someone aware of the lost memories. A stimulus associated with the lost memory.

[selfsufficiency]

...but we recover our memories by killing, don't they? The people who executed the ones that we voted for... they started to remember things.

[Alice frowns.]

Did all of the executioners risk that when they played along?

[adlucem]

[???? OH REALLY... well, that's news to him. Hunh.]

[judgejudy]

Yes, they did.

[newlugers]

Shit...

[ this sucks?!? and they still have to kill someone anyway and he really doesn't know what he should do anymore. ]

So the staff members, are they missing their memories, too? Or did they know about this stuff already? They knew, right?

[injectors]

[That's fucked up. This is fucked up. Everything is fucked up. She would rather not have anything more severe than a nosebleed or a headache, but. Uh. She'll try the conversations that were published publicly? Perhaps Luke's.]

I assume asking what the purpose of erasing our memories is would be too much even now.

[judgejudy]

[ There's no new information on past conversations, as the redacted data has been removed. It will only be for new ones :) ]

In short, yes, it is too much. But to explain to some degree, that was the purpose of the experiment you are all in.

[injectors]

[Oh, boy. Be gentle with them, dead people...]

And this experiment has taken place in every other Complex?