Chapter 3: Keen on Trial
"Pilot Eleria of the Eighth Light Air Cluster," a voice rang out over the green-haired guard's ear, "...we are in orbit above Daria, and have linked up with Adjudicator Ibiresien's Hall of Judgement. Has the Grand Intellect made any attempt to escape?"
"Negative, captain," Eleria spoke, "but I refuse to believe that he isn't trying to send out a distress signal to the Shikadi. He claims to be playing a game, but nobody in their right mind would try to use that excuse to hide their crimes."
"That will be a matter for the Adjudicator to decide. We have orders to bring our prisoner to her Hall to stand trial. Take him to the Teleporter Bays."
"Understood," she finished, before turning to Commander Keen. "Get up."
"Where are we going? And what will happen with the trial?" Keen asked. This trial didn't sound good.
"It is quite simple: You will face justice for all the lives you and your Shikadi bedfellows have ruined."
"I'm enemies with the Shikadi!"
"I'm getting sick of hearing your denials. We are almost at the Bays."
"I'm not denying anything!"
"Careful, now. If I have to hear one more excuse like that, there is going to be an accident involving you alone in a malfunctioning teleport pod."
"How would that be an accident? Wouldn't you have all your pods or whatever undamaged?"
"Ugh, for someone who is supposedly a genius, you are pathetic at getting hints. To put it into words you'll understand, I'll personally send you home."
"Really?"
"...in a body bag."
"Yikes!" Keen gasped, noting the venom in her voice. He was ushered into a room with a large number of big, golden spheres, and an equally large number of bigger golden vertical tubes. Keen saw large, vertical mechanical arms grabbing and taking spheres out of the room, and also offloading spheres into the room into sets of four curved metal bars that held each one in much the same way a human would hold a wine glass. Adjoining every such area was a staircase which ascended to half the sphere's vertical diameter, where a small cavity was present.
Five women walked up one such staircase and into the sphere docked in a stand, and when they were all in, the cavity on that sphere sealed shut. A tube opened up from its middle, retracting into the floor and ceiling, and another large mechanical arm emerged out of the wall behind an open tube, extending in a straight line before touching the sphere with a silver prong. The stand withdrew into the ground, leaving the arm holding the sphere up by the silver prong, and the arm began retracting into the wall, pulling the sphere with it. When that sphere was inside the diameter of the open tube, a stream of electricity hit it from both ends, leaving it hovering as the arm continued retracting. The tube began extending its retracted halves, closing over the sphere, and through one window Keen could see the electricity crackling. Another crew member at the opposite wall, this time a man from the looks of things, pulled a lever, and the tube with the sphere gave a large rumble as well as created a light so bright that nobody could see what was happening. A few seconds afterwards, the light vanished, and the tube opened once again to reveal that it was empty.
"Ah, Pilot Eleria. The Adjudicator's Hall is sending a pod to us to use for the prisoner transport. Should we have guards posted on it?" another male operator asked Keen's green-haired captor.
"No thanks, Transporter. I will personally oversee the security arrangements regarding the Grand Intellect," Eleria informed.
"With all due respect, a pilot usually shouldn't be in charge of a prisoner transport. I know you have a personal stake in this, but I implore you to-"
"At ease. I can handle myself. I know this murderer will try and attempt escape, and I won't risk it happening on my watch. This is something I must do."
"As you wish. The pod is arriving in Bay 4."
The highlighted bay, Keen noticed, had an open tube that was closing. A bright flash of light suddenly burst from the one transparent window on the tube, and when it ceased, that tube opened to reveal another golden sphere, hovering in the middle, with streams of electricity hitting it at the bottom and the top. Again, a mechanical arm extended to press a silver prong to it before pushing it forward, with the electric streams stopping. The arm extended until it reached the staircase, where a stand rose up and anchored the golden shape in place. The golden door opened to reveal the cavity.
"Sphere locked into position. You are clear to board," the operator announced.
"Let's go, Grand Intellect!" Eleria declared, pushing Keen towards the staircase and ushering him up the stairs. He was the first to enter the sphere, walking through a small passage before entering an area with eleven seats (all with handgrips on both armrests) arranged in a circle around a long spire in the centre. His two guards followed him in and pushed him into a seat before sitting on either side of him.
"What exactly is going to happen?" Keen asked. He was used to teleporting, having used such devices on Mars, Vorticon VI and the Bloog homeworld of Fribbulus Xax, but this was too weird.
"Our teleporters are different to yours," the yellow-haired, ponytailed guard informed. "Using these things for the first time can be unsettling, so you may want to grab on to those."
"You mean these grips? What do they do?" Keen questioned.
"Just something to hang onto if you find yourself uneasy."
"We are ready," Eleria declared. "Activating seals."
A large, thick door on another mechanical arm started descending from the area above the entrance, eventually plugging up the passage. "Don't you have that outside door to close the capsule?" Keen asked again.
"The pods have outer and inner seals to protect the occupants. I had half a mind to disable the seals and just leave you in here alone."
"But that would kill him, and he can't face judgement if he's dead," the yellow-haired guard protested.
"Wait, how would it kill me?" Keen blurted out in shock.
"Our teleporters aren't compatible with transporting organic matter; we always get a pile of dust at the other end. We are, however, able to transport such matter in these pods, as they are especially built to keep the interior completely insulated while still ensuring that the matter is transported. If the seals were damaged or not there, the electricity would flood into the pod and disintegrate you."
"Quiet, partner," Eleria boomed, as the room began shaking. They must have been being pulled to the tube, and a short time later, Keen felt that the room was swaying and probably a bit unstable. He could also hear a lot of crackling and popping. "We're in position."
"Well, brace yourselves. This is going to be a bumpy ride."
Suddenly, there was a loud, thunderous BOOM, causing the whole room to shake violently, and Keen gripped the handlebars on the chair for dear life. A few seconds later, the rumbling ceased, replaced by the unsteady swaying, and then a slight shaking before coming to a complete stop. The inside door opened, and Keen was dragged out of the chair by Eleria and her partner. Stepping out of the golden sphere, he found himself in something not too dissimilar to the retractable walkways found in Earth's airports. From there, he was taken through many corridors before being ushered into what must have been a massive hall.
For at least five storeys, there were walls on either side of him. He could hear voices coming from above them, and he realized: they were the stands occupied by some observers. At the end of the hall, he could see more people seated, but there was a balcony below which housed a a woman with orange hair tied into a bun. He was led further down the hall to a chair, and once he sat down, his guards activated clasps which bound his hands to the armrests and his feet to the floor. The chair promptly began rising until it was level with the orange-haired woman.
"Attention," she declared, with the entire hallway falling silent.. "This Hall of Judgement is brought to order! We are gathered here today for the trial of the malevolent warlord known as the Grand Intellect. The primary interrogators will be me, Adjudicator Ibiresien, and Captain Oneassa of the ship Brightfire, in contact via radio communications. State your full birth name and birth planet, Grand Intellect."
"I am Commander Keen, from Earth," he responded, unsure of whether to give them his secret identity.
"You stand accused of the following crimes, which have been compressed to nine main charges. First: of consorting with the Shikadi to attack our colonies and murder our people. Second, of waging war against the people of Daria. Third; of enslaving an entire species, the Vorticons. Fourth, of attempting to destroy a planet. Fifth, of attempting to destroy the known galaxy with a weapon of mass destruction known as the Omegamatic Space Station. Sixth, of enslaving the natives of the planet Fribbulus Xax. Seventh, of stealing the Stupendous Sandwich of Chungella IV. Eighth; of abduction of many aliens from their home worlds. Finally; of illegal experimentation on living organisms. How do you plead?"
"Not guilty on all charges." Right then, the crowd began shouting, and Keen even heard a yell of 'LIAR!" from Eleria below.
"Silence! On what grounds do you plead innocence?"
"You've got the wrong guy! You are the ones who are guilty of abduction-"
"I would watch your tone, 'POW' Keen. Disrespect will not be tolerated. You may continue. How have we got the wrong individual?"
"I've fought with the Grand Intellect before. Last I was aware, he was killed when I destroyed his Mangling Machine on Vorticon VI and freed the Vorticons. However, I have since come to suspect that he is alive due to a... an acquaintance telling me of his role in an abduction."
"I will consider what you have said regarding this. However, this does not change the perception of you as the Grand Intellect and a collaborator with the Shikadi. Do you have a response to that?"
"I first became aware of the Shikadi threat when the Council Members of the Oracle of Gnosticus IV were taken hostage by them. I managed to rescue them, and they used the Oracle to pinpoint the location of the Shikadi Omegamatic near Korath III. I sneaked aboard, and disabled the station- wait, there was a letter I found there! I took it home with me, but I never got around to translating it!"
"Thank you. That is all for now." A large holographic monitor appeared above Keen, but he couldn't see who was speaking. "The Adjudicator recognises Captain Oneassa of the ship Brightfire. I have reports that the ground teams sent to capture the Grand Intellect stumbled across a letter during their raid."
"That is correct, Adjudicator," the Captain's harsh voice declared. "The letter is addressed to a 'Billy', and it appears to be a form of... mockery. It is taunting him about how he fell for an android duplicate trick in the Mangling Machine, and him falling for 'it' yet again."
"What else is said in the letter?"
"Yes, Adjudicator, it says- no, the threat is much more serious than we were led to believe. This letter states an intention to destroy the whole universe, not merely our galaxy, and that the Shikadi station was merely a diversionary tactic. It is signed by a 'Mortimer'... and there is a post-script with further mockery, where he is self-identifying as the Grand Intellect."
"So we were led on a wild Dopefish chase? This is getting very problematic. This trial is going to be temporarily adjourned. Captain, by my authority as an Adjudicator, I need you to return to the planet Earth and retrieve any records about this 'Mortimer' person, and of this 'Billy' to whom the letter is addressed. Also, send emissaries to the Vorticons and the Gnosticines. In the meantime, the defendant will be held in custody in the Iron Gardens until we reconvene."
Keen's spire began lowering until he and the chair he was in were at ground level. This... Adjudicator, or whatever she was, appeared to be more understanding of his plight than the rest of her civilisation, but when the descent stopped, he could see a furious glare in the eyes of Eleria. She and the other guard began undoing the restraints, but she managed to whisper in his ear "You may have Ibiresien fooled, but your lies don't have me convinced!"
"I've been telling the truth this whole time!"
"You really will be telling the truth by the time I'm done with you. And I know just the cell in the Iron Gardens to throw you in to make that happen..."