Chapter Nine: Trials
Morning light shone into Iris Cainson's private home office as she tapped on the screen of her teleconsole. The scads of windows shown in the monitor obediently cascaded to show the title bar of each one. Names like "SecCam23-roof.mpg," "exhibit3a.jpg," and "day1brief.doc" typified the young woman's arsenal of documents.
She stood up from her desk and slid the TC into its carrying case. The embroidered hem of her dazzling white dress danced about her ankles as she descended the stairs. A bright blue sash accented the young woman's finely made gown at the waist, and she slipped on a pair of elbow-length gloves as she entered the front hall. A sparkling necklace, with her amber house emblem and matching set of topaz gems, materialized around Iris' pale neck as she reached the door. Her tightly braided hair encircling her head like a crown, the young woman put her hand on the latch and set it to autolock behind her.
In the next moment she emerged from House Cainson into the waiting crowds.
"Miss Cainson, why did you insist on a trial so soon? Do you really feel ready for this?"
"Miss Cainson, what do you have to say about your brother's imprisonment?"
"Miss Cainson, is it true you're intimate with the primary defendant?"
"Are you afraid someone will come after you next?"
"Miss Cainson, is it true Zero Doppler killed another student at Hurricane Force University?"
"How much do you know about the Doppler household?"
"Miss Cainson, do you suspect the Cult of Sigma to have played a role in Mr. Doppler's arrest and detainment?"
"Was Malon Haolin previously involved with the defendant?"
"How did you spend the bounty from the capture of the river bandits?"
"Miss Cainson, the river bandits are at large again. How do you respond?"
Iris bowed. "With respect to the reporters' many questions, I must make my way to the courthouse. Please allow me through."
Several telejournalists stepped back before they realized they had done so, and the young woman quickly strode through them to her car. She got behind the wheel as a new flurry of questions burst from the telejournalists. Several warriors wearing armor overlaid in dark green capes and golden badges cleared a path through the dense, buzzing crowds that lay outside the ring of reporters. Moving at a tenth the car's cruising speed and navigating through heavy traffic, Iris reached the courthouse after an hour's drive.
She got out from the car into a new crowd with the same old questions, as well as a few more of the personal ones.
"Miss Cainson, is it true you threw the defendant out of your home?"
"Miss Cainson, tell us about the accident that killed your parents. How did Mr. Flash Cainson survive?"
"How many people has your brother killed, Miss Cainson?"
"Miss Cainson, what makes you so certain you can provide legal counsel for the defendants?"
Iris eventually reached the door of the courthouse, where more green-caped policemen allowed her entry and kept the telejournalists and onlookers at bay. One of the warriors, a tall, scarred, muscular specimen with several medals fixed to his dense silversteel plate mail, accompanied her through the lobby of the building. A spear rattled slightly in its sheath on the officer's back. His badge declared him to be Yamato Nagasaki and no less than captain of the 71st Elite Brigade.
"This way, Miss Cainson." He glanced towards the brilliantly dressed, beautiful young woman and did a double take. She smiled back at him as they walked.
Nagasaki turned to face forward again. He frowned. "Forgive me, Miss. I didn't think you'd be so young."
"Thank you, sir." Iris cocked her head as she noticed an insignia tattooed on a corner of the policeman's forehead. "I see you're happily married."
"Yes, nearly thirty years."
"Do you have any children, Captain?"
He looked back at her. "Two. A son and a daughter. She's…about a year your senior."
The young woman put a white-gloved hand on the police warrior's shoulder. "Then can I count on you to protect me in there, sir? As you would your daughter?"
He grunted. "I'm only supposed to see you to the room."
"Please." She bowed to him, and as she rose her dark amber eyes focused solemnly on his gold ones.
He grunted again. "I'll see what I can do."
They reached the courtroom, and after a moment's conference with the guards on duty at the door, the two walked into the room. Iris looked around as they entered.
Deep brown wood and reddish brown leather furnishings lent the room a solemn atmosphere, accented by the collage of blacks, dark colors, and whites of the clothes of its inhabitants. The judge, a small man with a saggy, toadlike face, sat in his black gown at a desk raised above the floor on a two foot pedestal. His elbows rested on the desk as his eyes followed Iris across the room.
Two city lawyers in dark suits, occupying the prosecutors' seats, rose to their feet as the young woman passed. The people in the audience seating followed suit, some more reluctantly than others. Several of those slower to rise, dressed in armor and dark cloaks but carrying no weapons, leered at the white-clad woman as she strode to the area set aside for the defendants and their legal counsel. Others, members of the Wind server's many news networks, trained their video feeders on Iris' poised, graceful form. Footage of the young woman's entry into the courtroom beamed to teleconsoles throughout Stormy Hill and lands beyond.
Captain Nagasaki pulled out her chair, and the young woman parked herself daintily on the edge of the seat. The lawyers and the audience settled down again, many of them still whispering and staring at Iris' tall, regal figure. Argosal and Christina Haolin, Malon's parents, perched tensely on their bench. Argosal kept his arm around his wife. Captain Nagasaki remained standing to one side of his beautiful young charge.
Clearing his throat noisily, the judge tapped his gavel on the massive desk. The nameplate on his desk read "Justice Garfunkle Mendleson."
Justice Mendleson spoke in a lazy drawl. "This pretrial hearing is not set to begin for another fifteen minutes. However, since all the interested parties have arrived, I will call in the defendants from holding." His Honor tapped a few keys on the large-screen TC on one side of his desk, and a set of doors off to his right opened to admit Zero and Flash.
Murmurs multiplied through the audience as a pair of police warriors rolled in Zero's restrictive wheelchair. Manacles and clamps locked the crimson warrior to the heavy silversteel apparatus in a dozen places; he could not so much as tap his feet on the floor. A purple device on his forehead thwarted both incoming and outgoing private messages.
Zero's eyes swept over the audience and locked onto Iris. His mouth twitched slightly, but otherwise he held a decent poker face.
Flash stumbled in after the warrior, accompanied by a sturdy female in a red and white nurse's gown. His tool belt, cargo pants, and even his radiant tunic were gone, replaced by a drab hospital gown. He walked mechanically, his features slack, as the nurse led him into to his seat by the arm. Flash stared at his feet and stayed where he was put. Iris reached under the table and grasped his hand, but he gave no response.
Justice Mendleson tapped his gavel on the desk again. "The proceedings will now begin." He paused as the telejournalists in the audience resettled slightly, propping their video feeders to get various angles on the courtroom. Zero Doppler and Flash Cainson's trial beamed live to every news network in the city of Stormy Hill.
"Hrhrmph. Well then. Bailiff, read the charges."
"Yes, your honor." A female warrior with fiery red hair stood and held up a small TC.
"Against Zero Doppler, the primary defendant, the People of the Wind server make the following charges.
"Multiple counts of trespassing." A few members of the audience chuckled.
"Multiple counts of reckless endangerment." Less humor there. The whispers started.
"One count of murder in the first degree." Dark murmurs replaced the laughter.
"One count of abduction." Zero blinked. Captain Nagasaki stared at the crimson warrior, looked over to Iris, and stared again at Zero, his expression wooden.
"Two counts of attempted rape."
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Elsewhere in the city, in Malon's cramped hospital room, the young woman lay on the bed with Matt's teleconsole. Kai leaned against the wall by the door, scowling at the nothing. The younger warrior wept with his sister.
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Every voice in the courtroom died.
The bailiff tapped another window on her TC. "Against Flash Cainson, the second defendant, the People of the Wind server make the following charges."
"Multiple counts of illegal surveillance.
"Multiple counts of unauthorized use of a programming teleconsole.
"Multiple counts of unauthorized access to the system registry.
"Multiple counts of accessory to murder.
"Two counts of murder in the first degree." The redhead nodded to the judge and sat down once more, laying the TC on a little table.
Justice Mendleson directed his gaze down at Iris, who had not so much as batted an eyelash at the accusations. "I understand that you will be serving as the counsel for the defense, Miss Cainson. Please take a moment to speak with them and tell us how they will plead."
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Watching from his teleconsole in Windy Fountains, Elder Programmer Gau shook his silver maned head.
"I cannot countenance such a travesty. She has not even been allowed to communicate with her clients before speaking for them."
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Iris stood. "They plead not guilty, Your Honor." Zero blinked, the corners of his lips turning upwards for a brief moment.
The judge peered at her for a long moment and cocked an eyebrow. "You're very sure of yourself, Miss Cainson."
Iris smiled, and every video feeder zoomed in on her face. "Many thanks, Your Honor. It is a pleasure to be able to represent these men, who have been so very noble and valiant in the defense of those they love. Having heard of your wisdom, Justice Mendleson, I am confident we will come to resolve the question of their innocence in short order."
"Yes. Well." The judge retained his scowl a moment longer, but his mouth tugged itself into a toadlike smirk. "This is only a pretrial hearing, you understand. Once we have covered some preliminary ground, we can get to the real business."
"I look forward to that time." Iris' smile faded. "Your Honor, may I raise a point?"
He frowned. "It is slightly irregular. But proceed."
"My thanks to you. Your Honor, my client Flash cannot take part in the proceedings with the alterations made to his system. Please consider returning his core processor to protect the integrity of the trial."
The judge shook his head. "Absolutely not. He could kill us all in a moment if he chose."
"Please, Justice Mendleson. He is my brother, and we are very close. It hurts me to see him like this." Her eyes watered and emotion choked her voice, but the tears did not quite fall. "I can vouch for his behavior if he is given back his free will."
The judge leaned back in his chair and deliberated, his eyes flicking first to the telejournalists in the audience, then to the dark-cloaked warriors sitting among them, and finally to the devastatingly beautiful Iris Cainson, amateur defense attorney.
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His eyes red and puffy from crying, Matt Haolin frowned and sniffed as Justice Mendleson droned on through Matt's TC. "Iris got Flash is out on bail. Two hundred kilogil, that's a year's pay for an artist like our dad."
Malon's face pinched up at the price. "Oh, if it's like that she'll never get Zero out now! She hasn't got that kind of money!"
Kai turned away, his scowl deepening. Malon and Matt huddled on the hospital bed around the teleconsole, waiting to see the fate of the warrior whom the brothers had unwittingly consigned to the tender care of the Stormy Hill Maximum Security Prison.
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A few hours and thousands of complicated legal words later, court had been adjourned for the day, though the media frenzy continued without a rest. With several backward glances, Cpt. Nagasaki left Iris and a pair of guards in a large interview room with the telejournalists.
The scarred old policeman strode towards a little conference room down the hall. As he entered, the small conversations in the room stopped, and every eye fastened on him. Five police warriors and three spotters straightened at their desks and waited for their captain to speak.
Nagasaki stopped at the front of the room, behind a small podium that controlled the large, blank teleconsole screen hung on the wall. The policeman swept his golden eyes over his men. His voice came out in a rich bass.
"71st Elite Brigade. We have a special mission today. You've all seen the reports on this man, and what he's capable of. Lt. Sorores, your squad knows better than any other what I'm talking about."
Alia Sorores, a lightly armored police spotter, nodded. Her honey blond hair fell to an inch above her collarbone. Her subordinates, programmer Joel Zemorah and spotter Jeri Cato, sat at desks in front of her. None of the three carried anything more than a standard-issue pistol, but they kept their TC's close at hand. "Flash Cainson is the fastest hacker I've ever heard of, Captain. None of us could stop him if he started a flame war."
Nagasaki grunted. "He doesn't seem likely to do that, but I still need at least one of you three watching that madman at all times. Lt. Cramer, you'll shadow him. If necessary, you'll disable him as well."
Conan Cramer, dressed in a white ninja suit, shrugged. "So long as he doesn't neutralize me first, sir."
Nagasaki ignored his subordinate's dismal tone. "You'll also be his bodyguard, Lieutenant. Officers, there's a second mission here." The scarred old policeman took a tiny data chip out of his pocket and slotted it into the control panel on the podium. A detailed floor plan of House Cainson appeared on both the podium's screen and the blank board on the wall visible to the brigade. "These plans were personally entrusted to me by Miss Iris Cainson. With Doppler in prison, Miss Cainson's house is vulnerable to a determined assault. You all know the situation in this city, and it shouldn't surprise you to hear that she's worried."
The policemen settled slightly in their chairs. Cramer spoke up. "If she thinks she's made enemies, the lady is right, sir. Those hackers Cainson killed were homegrown Sigma cultists, and Doppler's victim Clawbeast was an import direct from the Sigma-controlled Lenin server."
Alia picked up Cramer's line. "It's true that we've been getting more encrypted chatter between the local nutters, sir. Cato and I haven't been able to decipher much, but something is definitely going on."
Nagasaki's frown deepened. "Then things are worse than I thought. Unless anyone else has anything to add, it's time I told you all the plan." His golden stare bored through the floor plan displayed on the podium. "By the time we're done, House Cainson will be a fortress."
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Later, Officer Katarina Casselini preceded Iris into her bedroom. As the policewoman closed the door behind her, Iris flopped onto her bed and her gown and finery evaporated, leaving her clad in a lacy white slip. Facedown on the covers, she reached into the air and her diary, complete as always with stylus, appeared in her hand. The young woman rolled over and wrote a few coded sentences:
"Media circus in full swing. Judge eating out of my hand. Well underway."
"Flash free on bail. House secure, trustworthy police presence."
"Best to clear them quick. Media won't stick to me long if the case drags."
She paused, and jotted down one last sentence. "Zero rebooted, no permanent damage. I'll get him out soon."
Iris tossed the book into the air, and it disappeared. The brunette sighed and dug her face into her pillows. "Officer, would you mind if I dimmed the light? I prefer it to be dark when I sleep."
Casselini, a petite but well-endowed officer with cat ears, a long, twitching tail, and beige chain mail and hair (fur in the case of the tail and ears), shrugged. "I have good night vision, Miss Cainson. Whatever works for you."
"Many thanks."
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The dark shape of Captain Yamato Nagasaki stood with spear in hand on the sloping roof of the Cainson household. His weapon's eighteen inch silversteel head shone in the glare of the city lights. When sheathed on the officer's back, the spear stood only four feet tall; in his hands, the ironwood haft extended to ten feet and looked like a ray of darkness in the night.
The green-caped warrior's gaze swept over the city nightscape. Don't worry, my precious ones, he beamed to his sleeping family. I'll be back soon.
Even with the three spotters and all half dozen warriors of the 71st Elites guarding the house, Captain Nagasaki never saw the enemy coming. Somewhere in the dark of Stormy Hill, a laser rifle fired with pinpoint accuracy.
As Nagasaki's silhouette crashed lifelessly to the sloped rooftop, the explosive assault on House Cainson began in earnest.