From: gdg019@cck.coventry.ac.uk (N Ridley McIntyre)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: STORY: TRIAL
Keywords: Rat 3.0
Date: 15 Apr 92 13:27:14 GMT
Organization: ICG, Coventry, UK

This story kinda follows up MONKEYTRICK and should lead into the next one,
which will hit your screens maybe after Easter. I don't really know, but the
old workload's getting bigger here. If you have any comments, e-mail me,
and I should be able to reply to it in about a week or so. And, as a special
message to Mary Kuhner, please tell me if this story looks like I'm learning
or if I'm just stuck in a rut. Thanks... Ridley.

      THE TRIAL OF THE CAMDEN TOWN BOY - by N Ridley McIntyre

Dex is sitting in a brown suede office chair. His electronic fingertips
brush the suede back and forth in casual stroking motions. Trying to hide
his nerves, he looks around the room.

 The room is split into two colours: this shit brown colour of the suede chair
and a sort of pale sycamore-leaf green. The brown side of the room circles
behind him, adorned with life-size holopics of the personas of famous DI's.
He recognizes maybe two or three of them, but finds it hard to work out who
the others could be. Dex finally concludes they must be Disney TV stars.

 Dex remembers making a run in the Ether once and finding out that half the 
actors and newsreaders he idolised from TV were just computer generated. He
remembers how sick he felt afterwards, and how easy it is spot the fakes
from the real thing now - especially on a colour high-definition screen - it's
not the images, but the lack of shadows that's the key.

 The other side of the room, the green side, is a calm platform of wisdom, 
even without the cool presence of the others. There is a central seat to the
platform, and two smaller seats on either side of it. Dex fidgets, finding 
the sweat on his legs is making his red baggy jeans uncomfortable.

 Then they come in through the green door by the far corner of the room, and
Dex's heart jumps, compelling him to stand in reverence. Theia takes the lead, 
Federal Government's Digital Intelligence responsible for the Federal Network, 
Fednet. His black robes billow around him as he enters the two-tone room. The 
other two DI's he can only assume are Metis and Phoebe: Metis is attached to 
the Federal Department of Intelligence and Phoebe is the chief Digital Court 
responsible for Federal Law. Phoebe holds her head high, deigning not to look 
upon Dex, the new arrival in her world. Metis silently walks the dog with a 
yo-yo. With practised grace, they take their seats; Theia in the center with 
Phobe to his right, and Metis to his left. Metis casually motions Dex to sit, 
and the young Digital Intelligence's face smiles at him. Dex is under no 
illusions from now on as to who is on his side and who isn't.

 Taking a swift glance up, Dex sees an artificial sun glint through a crystal
latticed skylight. The brown of his side of the room kills the spectrum that
he expects to fall across his lap.

 Theia's dull and tired eyes watch Dex from behind what looks like quartered
walnuts. Dex tries to look further into the wrinkles on the old DI's face,
and shudders when he sees the dancing helixes of Mandelbrot Sets inside the
shadows. It shocks him to a notion of reality.

 "Nothing is real, anymore," he mutters under his breath. "Not even me."

 Theia waves a thick, smoke-yellowed finger at Dex. "You've been a naughty
boy, Mister Eastman," he says in a wizard's voice.

 Metis chokes his laughter, prompting a taught look from Phoebe, who had thus 
far refrained from looking at anything other than her case notes.

 Theia ignores him, obviously used to this sort of impudence from young DI's.
"What have you got to say for yourself?"

 Dex thinks hard for a reply. His wit instantly responds with a lie, but he
represses it. There's no getting out of this. When your entire mind can be
wiped or checked by Theia at any time, there's no room for lies. He tells the
truth.

 "I was employed by Vijayanta FC to find Iapetus, Sir. When I entered the
Ether, I found that he had escaped through a witch hole that he had somehow
created, and when I foolishly attempted to follow him, I became trapped in
his node."

 Phoebe stands and nods to her superior. Her long legs are obscured by the
black robes of office, but Dex imagines the shape of them. Phoebe senses the
thought and finds herself moving to stand behind her chair. Metis, who also
sensed the thought, breaks into his childish grin again.

 "And what did you experience while you were trapped within the Iapetus node,
Mister Eastman?" Her voice is harsh and deep, mind-tearing with venomous
sarcasm. Dex can't help but fall in love with it.

 "I found myself in a construct of a girl called Kashenjunga Praphubhai. She
was in the Smallpox Hospital, which is run by the Sikhs in the Outzone there.
Apparently, Iapetus managed to copy his persona into her brain through the
EEG electrodes she had wired to her head. And he copied her into one of his
subfiles. She was a friend of mine during my childhood."

 "Do you still have feelings for her? I mean, is she still your friend?" Metis 
says, rising to his feet.

 Dex shrugs in honesty. "I don't know if I *have* feelings anymore. So I can't
answer that."

 Phoebe sighs. "To return to *my* question, Mister Eastman. What happened
after you entered the construct of this friend."

 "We talked a while. She told me the secret information that Iapetus had
stored inside him. Information that only Iapetus, Shelley - the head of
security at Vijayanta, and a biochemist by the name of James Hix had access
to. And then I was called up by Shelley into his holoconference room. I haven't
been able to access that construct completely since then. I think she's 
blocking me out now."

 Theia sits forward, his jowls hanging heavy from his large head. "What was
the information that the construct passed on, Mister Eastman?"

 "Vijayanta have just developed a new biochemical called Lace. It's very nice
stuff, so I've been told. It was being developed under the direction of
Martial Government who found that their troops were developing resistances
to certain amphetamine-based combat drugs, and it was harming their performance
in the field. Anyway, Lace is this stuff that can keep someone on a rush for
three days solid without sleep or need to eat or anything. After that, the
soldiers would need to eat a super high calorie meal and sleep for two days
solid before they could start again. It supposedly had no other side-effects
than the burn-out of energy. However, it's also highly hallucinogenic. 
Vijayanta were about to sell the prototype to Martial Government regardless
when Iapetus escaped with the complete formula, including the catalyst, which
Shelley had entered into Iapetus for security reasons. No one else knew the
complete formula except Iapetus, Shelley, and James Hix."

 Phoebe checks her case notes. Dex senses that she knows all this already. 
"Since then, Shelley shot the body that Iapetus was inside and then committed 
suicide. And James Hix is under Vijayanta protection. Do you understand what
part you played in all this?" 

 Dex raises his eyebrows and spreads his arm across the arm of the brown suede
chair in an irritated fashion. He senses her lie about the order of events. In 
fact it was Sarah who shot them both. The suicide was a cover up that he
engineered himself. But if she knows it's a lie then why is she going along 
with it? "I know I was set up."

 "I think the business term for it is a Monkeytrick, Mister Eastman. I think
it would be safe to assume that Shelley had to find Iapetus before he decided
to let loose the information about the side-effects of Lace. You were to act
as bait, to lure him out of his hiding place. However, it would seem that
Iapetus' main goal was to make it to the physical world in order to make
some sort of profit from his information. Perhaps making the drug and selling
it on the streets. There have been reports of burglaries from Vijayanta and
East India chemical warehouses in Rio. So that could possibly corroborate
that theory."

 Dex licks salt from his dry lips. "You're saying that Kayjay... Kashenjunga,
the body that Iapetus occupies, is still alive?"

 Metis nods his head. "Very much so, Mister Eastman."

 Theia turns to face Pheobe. "If we could return to the subject of this 
heraing, please." The old DI looks at a confused Dex. "You are here, Mister
Eastman, because you have managed to place yourself in the node of an
Artificial Intelligence which belongs to Vijayanta FC. You are not meant to
be in this world. Now the question that we must judge is this: Are we to
allow to your persona to exist within the realms of the Federal Network? Now
your case so far proves that you are here through no fault of your own, and
that this Shelley-person is entirely to blame for your predicament. We already
know that your corporeal body has been burned, so you cannot return. But your
past record works against you. You were a hackerjack. You abused this place
in order to break Federal laws. What is there to stop you from continuing this
heinous practice if you were to be given full Digital Intelligence status?"

 Dex squirms in his seat. If he loses this case, then he knows that that's it.
They nod their heads and he's wiped from the system. Completely dead. All the
replicator software that he wrote to copy himself into other systems if the
system crashed have been found and erased. He has no way out. He opens his 
mouth to defend himself.

 Metis stands to interrupt the first word of Dex's argument. "Sir. I believe
that it is for that exact reason that Mister Eastman should be given DI 
status." Dex just catches the slightest hint of a wink in his direction from
the young DI and Dex sits back. "After all," he continues, "if he is restrained
in his actions, then he becomes a Federal agent. This was the Camden Town Boy, 
not just a normal hackerjack, but one of the best; and I think you'll find
he's also one of the most principled. His profile includes the reasons why he
left Thames Midland, and why he deserted from the Martial Government Air
Force in NAM Prefecture. If you would like to look again."

 Theia takes a copy of the profile from the young DI's case notes. "Left Thames
Midland during the roughrider wars in the London Outzone. Despite the fact
that you were working for the Sodha roughrider gang, you couldn't take sides
against Kistna. Why's that?"

 Dex sits forward in the chair. "It was a pointless war, Sir. The whole thing
was primarily engineered by Disney FC for television, and Dev Lung was
forcing me to make more and more dangerous runs. In the end I cut and run." 
It's the honest truth, but he looks at the way the artificial sun refracts
through the crystal lattice above his head with no rainbow and he realizes
that without a rainbow there's no pot of gold. Like there being no heaven. Just
eternal nothing.

 Theia looks over to Metis, who is still grinning. "I don't see how this
betters his position."

 Metis folds his arms. "Mister Eastman, would you say you were wholly against
the tactics of the Federal Companies?"

 "Yes," replies Dex.

 "Voila," Metis says to the old DI. "And then when he shot an Air Force plane 
out of the air because it fired a missile into a Joker family bus, he was up
for court martial. So he deserted. You see, his adverse reactions to certain
situations run against the grain, Sir. He doesn't act out of greed or spite,
but from principle. As long as you keep your word, Sir, he'll keep his."

 Theia motions Phoebe to him, and he whispers something into her ear. Dex
senses that Theia has decided to let Metis get his own way.

 "What did you have in mind for him?" asks the old DI with suspicion in his
croaky voice.

 "Well, Sir, with the permission of the council, I would much like to take his
talents into my department."

 Phoebe registers surprise on her face. She turns to Theia, who knows what
Metis has planned for Dex already. "Can I have a full report on the outcome
of this endeavour, Sir? Just out of interest."

 Theia nods. "Metis you have my permission for Eastman to be transferred to 
your department temporarily. I'm giving him thirty days realtime DI status, 
and if his work proves satisfactory to you, then his status will be granted
indefinitely. Hearing dismissed."

 Pheobe follows Theia out through the green door near the corner.

 "You can breathe now, Dex, it's over." Metis unravels the string of his yo-yo.

 Dex stands up. "I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth, but why do you
want me?" 

 Metis grins again. "You've got thirty days. Reckon you can get your own back
on Iapetus in thirty days?"

 Dex snorts a laugh. "If he's in Rio, sure. I know some guys down in Rio who
owe me a favour."

 "Then welcome to the team, Dex." Metis slaps Dex on the back and the two 
walk to the door.

 At the door, Dex stops. "One condition."

 Metis chokes a laugh. "Woah. I don't think you're in much of position to
make conditions."

 "This one you'll like." Dex winks at him. "Kayjay wants her body back."

 Metis thinks about it and then nods his head. "Okay." He pushes the door open
and steps through. 

 Dex quickly glances back into the room. The artificial sun has moved now and
glints through the crystal lattice skylight at a strange angle. When his eyes
follow the path of its rays, he sees where the crystal has refracted the light
all that time, and the rainbow lands on the last seat, the one on the left
of where Theia was sat.

 Smiling, Dex follows Metis out of the room.

(c) N RIDLEY MCINTYRE 1992

-- 
N Ridley McIntyre - Ronin Ironpig - gdg019@cck.cov.ac.uk  | The one and only
"It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it"     | |)
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