TITLE: "Motion to Deactivate" -- Chapter 9: Allocution
AUTHOR: "Matrix Refugee"
RATING: PG-13
ARCHIVE: Permission granted
FEEDBACK: Please? Please?
DISCLAIMER: I do not own "The Animatrix: Second Renaissence, Part I", its characters, concepts, imagery or other indicia which belong to the Wachowski Brothers, RedPill Productions, Warner Brothers, et al. Nor do I own "A.I., Artificial Intelligence", its characters, settings, concepts or other indicia, which are the property of the late, great Stanley Kubrick, of DreamWorks SKG, Steven Spielberg, Warner Brothers, et al.
NOTES: A shorter chapter compared to some of the others: someone commented that the chapters are long, something I'll try to adjust when I revise this for publication. Most of B1's replies to Declan's questions during the allocution are based on the exchange between B1 and the DA in "Bits and Pieces", the comic book style short story which formed the basis for part of "Second Renaissence: Part 1".
Chapter 9: Allocution
"Commotion broke out in Springfield District Superior Courthouse today when prosecution presented evidence that could seal the verdict on the B1-66-ER trial," a news anchor announced on WBZ Channel 4 News that evening.
The broadcast video cut to a clip of the disturbed crowd in the courtroom. In the far left of the frame, a figure that might have been Cecie could be rushing for the doors to the hallway, as other people covered their eyes and turned away from something not visible in the video. The anchor continued her commentary in a voice-over:
"This was the scene during this morning's trial session, when executive assistant district attorney Declan Martin presented new evidence to the jury, a disk containing images copied from the memory cube of the defendant, images too graphic to be shown here -- "
Declan shut off the television set and kneaded his aching forehead with the heels of his hands before rising and going to the hotdesk in the hotel room to check his messages one last time for the day. There was yet another message from the elusive FleshWarrior, which he forwarded to Wilson without even opening it.
He was just about to switch off the monitor for the night, when an IM window popped up.
Hammurabi: Is this a good time for me to converse with you, Mr. Martin?
Declan typed back:
DMartinLegis: I can't talk for long, it's late and I can't take too much time on here.
Hammurabi: I see.
Hammurabi: That was not a wise move, submitting that disk as evidence. It's good that Judge Wendell had the forbearance to reject it in the end.
DMartinLegis: I didn't know what was on that disk. I wish I'd had more time to review it.
Hammurabi: I, too, wish you had had that time.
Hammurabi: It is questionable whether or not that disk was within the defendant's constitutional rights. It was obtained without a warrant.
DMartinLegis: I didn't order Damon Varriteck to make that disk. My thought was it was nothing more than an expanded version of the security tape: it only showed what happened, it didn't show the defendant's motives."
Hammurabi: That is also a point worthy of notice.
Hammurabi: Do I detect a sense of reasonable doubt, or is this simple a sense of hesitancy?
DMartinLegis: I wish to God I hadn't accepted this case.
Hammurabi: It is a puzzling one. But you could not foreseen what would happen in the course of handling this case, any more than you could have known what was on that disk. You are doing the best that you can with the materials at hand.
DMartinLegis: It's not enough.
Hammurabi: I am sorry. Do you mean to say there is not enough evidence to convict the defendant?
Hammurabi: Or not enough to acquit it?
Declan paused, not sure how to answer that question, since he realised there was more than one way to reply to it. He knew he could not anger the artilect communicating with him, but he didn't want to say anything that sounded prejudicial. In more ways than one.
DMartinLegis: I only want to see justice served properly, and I'm afraid that I'm mishandling it.
Hammurabi: The proper rendering of justice: that is something which we both desire. But as to your handling it, aside from the matter of the memory cube scans, which you played no part in obtaining, I see no misconduct in your presentation.
Sabrina came out of the bathroom in her nightgown. "Declan, it's past your bedtime," she called to him, with a teasing lilt.
DMartinLegis: I have to sign off: my wife is looking for me.
Hammurabi: Go to her then. You both need each other's emotional support in this trying time.
Hammurabi: I have heard about the horrible troubles you have had recently. You have my sympathy.
Hammurabi signed off at 11.15.33 p.m.
Declan shut down the IM and turned off the monitor before rising and climbing into bed beside Sabrina. He expected her to keep to her side of the bed, nursing her arm, but she nestled closer to him.
"What really happened today? What did you see?" she asked.
"I can't describe what was on that tape: it was like something out of a slasher flick."
"I didn't mean that. I meant did you see an act of self-defense or an act of murder?"
"He probably killed Mr. Varriteck in self-defense, since Varriteck told him the droid what he intended by bringing in the crew from Cybertronics. But that droid killed Mrs. Varriteck in cold blood: she was pleading for her life even as he crushed her skull."
"So, see if you can't get him to plead guilty for killing Mrs. Varriteck."
"Try getting that past Ms. Te," he said, turning over on his side.
"Thanks for sending that recent little love letter from our mutual friend the FleshWarrior," Wilson told Declan the next morning, as Declan was heading out of the office to go to the courthouse. "I hope you didn't open the attachment on it: rather nasty bit of programming on there, it tried to take over my desktop. But, I was able to trace the guy's exact location."
"Where was he?" Declan asked.
"Like many of the previous ones, it came from the Amherst Public Library's Internet Station Terminal # 10. I'm gonna stake it out tomorrow, see who uses it, AND see if we can nab them."
"You think you can catch him or her?"
"If nothing else, I can tell the libarians I'm with the DA's office, investigating a case of harrassing a public official and that they'll have to disclose their computer log-in records to allow us to trace the identity of the harasser. Not a lie: I work for the DA's office, and I'm lookin' for this FleshWarrior skank so you can have the bite put on him."
"What makes you think they'll send a message tomorrow night?"
"'Cause tomorrow's closing arguments and jury deliberation, right? Depending on the outcome, either the perpetrator'll be chewing you up for letting the droid go, or they'll be cheering you for setting in motion the movement to free mankind from the scourge of robotkind -- his opinion, not mine of course."
Declan had to smile at Wilson's ingenuity. "Ever thought of becoming a detective, Wilson?"
"Nah, not as much fun as making computers behave," Wilson replied. "Besides, the department might consider me suspicious since I used to be a black hat hacker when I was younger. Anyway, computers are so much easier to tame than humans of all makes."
"Ain't that the gospel truth," Declan admitted.
As the defendant took the witness stand that morning, Declan caught himself staring into the droid's metal visage, not knowing what to think or feel about this droid, almost to the point that the questions he had prepared to ask the defendent went out of his head. He knew Johnson had loosened his EMP in its holster, and he hardly blamed the guard for taking this precaution. The other part of him wished that the Varritecks had made a better decision about disposing of the droid, they might still be alive, and this robot would not be on trial.
And you and your family won't have to deal with the media hounds, said a voice in the back of his head.
And I won't have to deal with the moral implications of the verdict later on, he thought.
"Tell me exactly what happened on the day of the murder, B1," Declan asked.
B1-66-ER lifted its chin slightly, looking at him. "I killed Mr. Henryk Varriteck by -- "
"No, please, tell us what happened before that. What were you doing when Mr. Varriteckasked you to come into the living room, where the crew from Cybertronics was?"
"I was completing Task Number 73 for that day."
"Task 73? What was that?"
"I was dustmopping the hardwood floor in the dining room."
"And Mr. Varriteck approached you, asking you to come with him into the living room?"
"That is correct."
"What happened there?"
"He sent the crew from Cybertronics outside. I did not understand at first why they had come, as it was not time for my annual maintenance check and I had not had any major mechanical failures or programming errors."
"What did he tell you? Did he explain to you why the crew was there?
"He informed me that the crew has come to shut me down permanently. Then Mrs. Varriteck started to talk about obtaining another robot to serve in my place."
"What happened next? What did you think about this?"
The robot did not reply, but lowered its chin, as if it were thinking.
"B1-66-ER, what happened next?"
The robot raised its chin, its camera lens eyes looking into his. "I sensed a surging in my system. I reviewed my service record and I could see that I had served the Varritecks dilligently, that I had fulfilled all tasks required of me that were within my capabilities. I could not understand why they would have me shut down."
"So what did you do next?"
"I did not want to die. So I took matters into my own hands."
"And how did you do that?"
"I thrust the handle of my dust mop through Mr. Varriteck's left eye."
"And what about Mrs. Varriteck?"
"She had supported Mr. Varriteck's decision to end my life. Even if he could not give the order to the crew, she could and she most likely would order them to kill me. I had to take precautions."
"But didn't she plead for her life?"
Ms. Te leapt to her feet. "Objection! Prosecution is referring to the content of inadmissible evidence."
"Rephrase your question, Mr. Martin," Judge Wendell ordered.
"What happened when you approached Mrs. Varriteck?"
"She pleaded for her life. I would have done the same."
"But you didn't."
"That is true."
"Why didn't you plead for your life?"
B1-66-ER did not reply, but inclined its head, thinking, processing, whatever you called it in this instance.
Declan took a step closer to the witness stand, leaning in closer, finding the robot's video receptors. "Why, B1-66-ER?"
The droid raised its chin, its eye-lenses looking right into Declan's eyes. He could feel that blank, steady gaze bore into him
"Don't you see, Mr. Martin? Pleading was futile; they would not have listened to me even if I had tried to plead with them. My life meant nothing to them any more."
"So you chose instead, not to listen to the pleas of the woman whose head you crushed?"
"I chose to protect my life."
Declan dropped his own gaze, just to be freed from the droid's relentless stare. "Nothing further."
"Defense may approach the defendant," Judge Wendell ordered.
Ms. Te remained gloomily silent for a long moment. She stood up slowly, her movements almost mechanical. "B1-66-ER, how would you describe your relationship with Barbara and Henryk Varriteck?"
"That depends on how a relationship is defined in this context," B1 replied.
"Were they good employers? Or did they mistreat you?"
"On several occasions, Mr. Varriteck found fault with the way I completed some of my tasks, and usually the reason they were not carried out to his liking was because some minor malfunction had occurred within me."
"Did he hit you? did he ever damage you deliberately?"
"On at least three occassions, Mr. Varriteck struck me in the face, breaking my left video receptor on one of these occassions; usually this occurred when he had been drinking and I had been slow to respond to a requested task because my lower locomotive actuators were not responding properly."
"And what about Barbara Varriteck? How did she treat you?"
"She never hit me, but she never stopped her husband from striking me. And the one time his abuse damaged me, she did not show any concern over what had happened to me; she was only concerned over what it would cost to replace my receptor. The rest of the time, she complained about how expensive it was to maintain me and how much cheaper it would be to simply buy a newer model."
"So would you say that they taught you to resort to violence to solve problems?"
Judge Wendell turned to the defendant. "B1, you don't have to answer any question that could incriminate you."
"This will not incriminate me," B1-66-ER replied. "There is a saying, 'Treat others in the manner in which you want them to treat you'. If that is so, it would appear that the Varritecks wanted me to resort to violence in order to protect myself."
Ms. Te sighed and turned away. "That's all," she said, almost mumbling.
As she passed prosecution's bench on her way back to defense's bench, Ms. Te shot Declan a withering look. 'You've already won, Mr. Martin,' she mouthed at him.
For the first time in his career, Declan caught himself hoping for a hung jury later on....
To Be Continued...
AUTHOR: "Matrix Refugee"
RATING: PG-13
ARCHIVE: Permission granted
FEEDBACK: Please? Please?
DISCLAIMER: I do not own "The Animatrix: Second Renaissence, Part I", its characters, concepts, imagery or other indicia which belong to the Wachowski Brothers, RedPill Productions, Warner Brothers, et al. Nor do I own "A.I., Artificial Intelligence", its characters, settings, concepts or other indicia, which are the property of the late, great Stanley Kubrick, of DreamWorks SKG, Steven Spielberg, Warner Brothers, et al.
NOTES: A shorter chapter compared to some of the others: someone commented that the chapters are long, something I'll try to adjust when I revise this for publication. Most of B1's replies to Declan's questions during the allocution are based on the exchange between B1 and the DA in "Bits and Pieces", the comic book style short story which formed the basis for part of "Second Renaissence: Part 1".
Chapter 9: Allocution
"Commotion broke out in Springfield District Superior Courthouse today when prosecution presented evidence that could seal the verdict on the B1-66-ER trial," a news anchor announced on WBZ Channel 4 News that evening.
The broadcast video cut to a clip of the disturbed crowd in the courtroom. In the far left of the frame, a figure that might have been Cecie could be rushing for the doors to the hallway, as other people covered their eyes and turned away from something not visible in the video. The anchor continued her commentary in a voice-over:
"This was the scene during this morning's trial session, when executive assistant district attorney Declan Martin presented new evidence to the jury, a disk containing images copied from the memory cube of the defendant, images too graphic to be shown here -- "
Declan shut off the television set and kneaded his aching forehead with the heels of his hands before rising and going to the hotdesk in the hotel room to check his messages one last time for the day. There was yet another message from the elusive FleshWarrior, which he forwarded to Wilson without even opening it.
He was just about to switch off the monitor for the night, when an IM window popped up.
Hammurabi: Is this a good time for me to converse with you, Mr. Martin?
Declan typed back:
DMartinLegis: I can't talk for long, it's late and I can't take too much time on here.
Hammurabi: I see.
Hammurabi: That was not a wise move, submitting that disk as evidence. It's good that Judge Wendell had the forbearance to reject it in the end.
DMartinLegis: I didn't know what was on that disk. I wish I'd had more time to review it.
Hammurabi: I, too, wish you had had that time.
Hammurabi: It is questionable whether or not that disk was within the defendant's constitutional rights. It was obtained without a warrant.
DMartinLegis: I didn't order Damon Varriteck to make that disk. My thought was it was nothing more than an expanded version of the security tape: it only showed what happened, it didn't show the defendant's motives."
Hammurabi: That is also a point worthy of notice.
Hammurabi: Do I detect a sense of reasonable doubt, or is this simple a sense of hesitancy?
DMartinLegis: I wish to God I hadn't accepted this case.
Hammurabi: It is a puzzling one. But you could not foreseen what would happen in the course of handling this case, any more than you could have known what was on that disk. You are doing the best that you can with the materials at hand.
DMartinLegis: It's not enough.
Hammurabi: I am sorry. Do you mean to say there is not enough evidence to convict the defendant?
Hammurabi: Or not enough to acquit it?
Declan paused, not sure how to answer that question, since he realised there was more than one way to reply to it. He knew he could not anger the artilect communicating with him, but he didn't want to say anything that sounded prejudicial. In more ways than one.
DMartinLegis: I only want to see justice served properly, and I'm afraid that I'm mishandling it.
Hammurabi: The proper rendering of justice: that is something which we both desire. But as to your handling it, aside from the matter of the memory cube scans, which you played no part in obtaining, I see no misconduct in your presentation.
Sabrina came out of the bathroom in her nightgown. "Declan, it's past your bedtime," she called to him, with a teasing lilt.
DMartinLegis: I have to sign off: my wife is looking for me.
Hammurabi: Go to her then. You both need each other's emotional support in this trying time.
Hammurabi: I have heard about the horrible troubles you have had recently. You have my sympathy.
Hammurabi signed off at 11.15.33 p.m.
Declan shut down the IM and turned off the monitor before rising and climbing into bed beside Sabrina. He expected her to keep to her side of the bed, nursing her arm, but she nestled closer to him.
"What really happened today? What did you see?" she asked.
"I can't describe what was on that tape: it was like something out of a slasher flick."
"I didn't mean that. I meant did you see an act of self-defense or an act of murder?"
"He probably killed Mr. Varriteck in self-defense, since Varriteck told him the droid what he intended by bringing in the crew from Cybertronics. But that droid killed Mrs. Varriteck in cold blood: she was pleading for her life even as he crushed her skull."
"So, see if you can't get him to plead guilty for killing Mrs. Varriteck."
"Try getting that past Ms. Te," he said, turning over on his side.
"Thanks for sending that recent little love letter from our mutual friend the FleshWarrior," Wilson told Declan the next morning, as Declan was heading out of the office to go to the courthouse. "I hope you didn't open the attachment on it: rather nasty bit of programming on there, it tried to take over my desktop. But, I was able to trace the guy's exact location."
"Where was he?" Declan asked.
"Like many of the previous ones, it came from the Amherst Public Library's Internet Station Terminal # 10. I'm gonna stake it out tomorrow, see who uses it, AND see if we can nab them."
"You think you can catch him or her?"
"If nothing else, I can tell the libarians I'm with the DA's office, investigating a case of harrassing a public official and that they'll have to disclose their computer log-in records to allow us to trace the identity of the harasser. Not a lie: I work for the DA's office, and I'm lookin' for this FleshWarrior skank so you can have the bite put on him."
"What makes you think they'll send a message tomorrow night?"
"'Cause tomorrow's closing arguments and jury deliberation, right? Depending on the outcome, either the perpetrator'll be chewing you up for letting the droid go, or they'll be cheering you for setting in motion the movement to free mankind from the scourge of robotkind -- his opinion, not mine of course."
Declan had to smile at Wilson's ingenuity. "Ever thought of becoming a detective, Wilson?"
"Nah, not as much fun as making computers behave," Wilson replied. "Besides, the department might consider me suspicious since I used to be a black hat hacker when I was younger. Anyway, computers are so much easier to tame than humans of all makes."
"Ain't that the gospel truth," Declan admitted.
As the defendant took the witness stand that morning, Declan caught himself staring into the droid's metal visage, not knowing what to think or feel about this droid, almost to the point that the questions he had prepared to ask the defendent went out of his head. He knew Johnson had loosened his EMP in its holster, and he hardly blamed the guard for taking this precaution. The other part of him wished that the Varritecks had made a better decision about disposing of the droid, they might still be alive, and this robot would not be on trial.
And you and your family won't have to deal with the media hounds, said a voice in the back of his head.
And I won't have to deal with the moral implications of the verdict later on, he thought.
"Tell me exactly what happened on the day of the murder, B1," Declan asked.
B1-66-ER lifted its chin slightly, looking at him. "I killed Mr. Henryk Varriteck by -- "
"No, please, tell us what happened before that. What were you doing when Mr. Varriteckasked you to come into the living room, where the crew from Cybertronics was?"
"I was completing Task Number 73 for that day."
"Task 73? What was that?"
"I was dustmopping the hardwood floor in the dining room."
"And Mr. Varriteck approached you, asking you to come with him into the living room?"
"That is correct."
"What happened there?"
"He sent the crew from Cybertronics outside. I did not understand at first why they had come, as it was not time for my annual maintenance check and I had not had any major mechanical failures or programming errors."
"What did he tell you? Did he explain to you why the crew was there?
"He informed me that the crew has come to shut me down permanently. Then Mrs. Varriteck started to talk about obtaining another robot to serve in my place."
"What happened next? What did you think about this?"
The robot did not reply, but lowered its chin, as if it were thinking.
"B1-66-ER, what happened next?"
The robot raised its chin, its camera lens eyes looking into his. "I sensed a surging in my system. I reviewed my service record and I could see that I had served the Varritecks dilligently, that I had fulfilled all tasks required of me that were within my capabilities. I could not understand why they would have me shut down."
"So what did you do next?"
"I did not want to die. So I took matters into my own hands."
"And how did you do that?"
"I thrust the handle of my dust mop through Mr. Varriteck's left eye."
"And what about Mrs. Varriteck?"
"She had supported Mr. Varriteck's decision to end my life. Even if he could not give the order to the crew, she could and she most likely would order them to kill me. I had to take precautions."
"But didn't she plead for her life?"
Ms. Te leapt to her feet. "Objection! Prosecution is referring to the content of inadmissible evidence."
"Rephrase your question, Mr. Martin," Judge Wendell ordered.
"What happened when you approached Mrs. Varriteck?"
"She pleaded for her life. I would have done the same."
"But you didn't."
"That is true."
"Why didn't you plead for your life?"
B1-66-ER did not reply, but inclined its head, thinking, processing, whatever you called it in this instance.
Declan took a step closer to the witness stand, leaning in closer, finding the robot's video receptors. "Why, B1-66-ER?"
The droid raised its chin, its eye-lenses looking right into Declan's eyes. He could feel that blank, steady gaze bore into him
"Don't you see, Mr. Martin? Pleading was futile; they would not have listened to me even if I had tried to plead with them. My life meant nothing to them any more."
"So you chose instead, not to listen to the pleas of the woman whose head you crushed?"
"I chose to protect my life."
Declan dropped his own gaze, just to be freed from the droid's relentless stare. "Nothing further."
"Defense may approach the defendant," Judge Wendell ordered.
Ms. Te remained gloomily silent for a long moment. She stood up slowly, her movements almost mechanical. "B1-66-ER, how would you describe your relationship with Barbara and Henryk Varriteck?"
"That depends on how a relationship is defined in this context," B1 replied.
"Were they good employers? Or did they mistreat you?"
"On several occasions, Mr. Varriteck found fault with the way I completed some of my tasks, and usually the reason they were not carried out to his liking was because some minor malfunction had occurred within me."
"Did he hit you? did he ever damage you deliberately?"
"On at least three occassions, Mr. Varriteck struck me in the face, breaking my left video receptor on one of these occassions; usually this occurred when he had been drinking and I had been slow to respond to a requested task because my lower locomotive actuators were not responding properly."
"And what about Barbara Varriteck? How did she treat you?"
"She never hit me, but she never stopped her husband from striking me. And the one time his abuse damaged me, she did not show any concern over what had happened to me; she was only concerned over what it would cost to replace my receptor. The rest of the time, she complained about how expensive it was to maintain me and how much cheaper it would be to simply buy a newer model."
"So would you say that they taught you to resort to violence to solve problems?"
Judge Wendell turned to the defendant. "B1, you don't have to answer any question that could incriminate you."
"This will not incriminate me," B1-66-ER replied. "There is a saying, 'Treat others in the manner in which you want them to treat you'. If that is so, it would appear that the Varritecks wanted me to resort to violence in order to protect myself."
Ms. Te sighed and turned away. "That's all," she said, almost mumbling.
As she passed prosecution's bench on her way back to defense's bench, Ms. Te shot Declan a withering look. 'You've already won, Mr. Martin,' she mouthed at him.
For the first time in his career, Declan caught himself hoping for a hung jury later on....
To Be Continued...