One hour, 12 minutes and 30 seconds after letting the cat out of the bag the first unexpected change arrives.

A strong and sudden pull on spatial fabric is very similar to the portals I felt that headed to other instances or the netherworld. I try to grab an ethereal anchor or anything of the sort, but like when the system pulls me back from the netherworld and returns me to the instance, I don’t have the leverage, the attachment points I would need, even if I have some of the muscle control and familiarity to try and resist the drag.

Letting go of the deep seated need for control, I take a deep breath and just try to experience and learn as much as I can about the process.

As the instance fades and I’m pulled into the void, I realize what must have happened and paying close attention to the edges and control of whoever is doing this, I can tell they are skilled, almost a machine, but not quite to the same level as the perfection I had come to expect of the system.

What the system did was so smooth I could stare at it forever with an electron microscope and not notice the slightest variation, now as long as I pay attention to it for a few seconds the slightest of ripples do pop in and out.

The trip lasts just a minute, barely an effort to keep myself aware inside the void. That might have changed as the hours and days passed, but this was barely an exertion of my will. A moment later something just forward as the drag changes and I don’t just drift but am actively slowed.

Bright lights and a nearly overwhelming sensation invade even the millimeter wide perception field I limit myself to whenever working around spatial distortions or similar places.

Turning it off and trying to get used to the space I try again to open my eyes. In front of me the automaton comes into focus standing at attention. A moment later the surroundings sink in, this is a courtroom. I should have expected.

And it is pretty much the identical copy of a typical courtroom back on Earth. Two opposing sides for the parties, the judge's bench, and an empty gallery.

The only major thing missing are the jury seats, though those wouldn't be in every courtroom.

Even the bailiff slash court attendant is sitting in his little corner.

After my quick glance around, the automaton calls my attention.

“Nash, this is serious, just answer everything the judge asks and show him proper respect. You don’t need to volunteer information, but don’t lie, the punishment for that is worse than anything for what you may, possibly, have allegedly done. By the way, this will be over in a jiff.”

Right at that instant, other people arrive and I look over after the slight pop in the air turned in our direction. The tallest and likely their leader looks at me and says:

“What is this? Collusion between an administrator and a native?” he says “And why are we in this adapted court instead of the standard affair?”

He turns around to look at the rest of the room and as he sees the judge sitting behind his bench wearing the familiar black robes his face goes pale.

He gives a deep bow at the same time as his two companions notice who is behind them.

“My profusest apo...”

The judge opens his eyes and interrupts him. “Save it. You were not aware of my presence, but don’t test me. I have decided how things are to be under the circumstances to give a fair hearing for all parties involved. I won’t be so lenient if you disrespect me again. And I have not seen any collusion, but let the Automaton take his place and relate what he just did for the record.”

With a flick of his fingers and with not a smidge of mana or anything else I can detect, the left table is split into two smaller ones.

The automaton guides me and we both take our places turning the simple adversarial relationship into something a little more complex with one extra party involved. Afterward, he gives a shallow but meaningful bow and then starts while standing.

“Your honor. Thank you for allowing me to explain and properly put things on the record. I am here in my capacity as the integration administrator to provide the context in your investigation and judgment of what happened in the last couple of hours in relation to the alleged data breach.”

“Get on with it.”

“Given the chosen venue and unique circumstances, I felt prudent to introduce the integrant Nash to the most basic of rules and customs in a courtroom of this level.”

“And what specifically did you tell him… for the record.”

“The answer verbatim is: “Nash, this is serious, just answer everything the judge asks and show him proper respect. You don’t need to volunteer information, but don’t lie, the punishment for that is worse than anything for what you may possibly have allegedly done. By the way, this will be over in a jiff.”

The judge looks at the trio focusing on their boss and asks:

“Does this satisfy your fears?”

I think about extending my perception field but instead, I rely only on my other senses for now. Their boss, for that is the only thing that makes sense to me, hesitates for an instant. It’s almost like he wants to ask for a more thorough explanation, but decides to let it go.

Could it be for strategic reasons?

“No your honor, that is more than sufficient.” He says in a meek tone.

“Good, now we can get on with the main part of the fact finding and trial.”

Turning to me he speaks in a less imperious tone as I try to grip with the changes around. “This is new for you and given the unique circumstances, I will allow a little leeway, especially as you have not been given any chance to learn the rules of the system and how proceedings like these work. You are being investigated and charged with unauthorized access and distribution of information acquired from the Information Bureau. Do you understand that?”

I simply nod and he continues:

“You had not been subjected to any of the restrictions in the books you did distribute, but the information was not yours in any stretch of the imagination, and the way in which you went about distributing it, especially with your speech just before shows you believe that action would be taken against you. What do you have to say for yourself?”

At these words, I recall the automaton’s advice, I don’t need to volunteer information, but this is not any great secret and it may help me buy a little goodwill.

“I’m just trying to survive, to help others make it through the system’s trials and tribulations. To learn and let others learn where they would not have been able to before, especially considering the absurd prices asked by the bureau.”

“The Bureau and the prices they charge are irrelevant in this specific matter.” He says though I feel as if that is a test somehow.

“Not if they stop us from acquiring information from any other source. THAT is very much relevant. The system may be powerful, but it can’t properly balance the needs of sentient beings by itself. I don’t know a lot of what caused this distorted reality to develop, but I will try to make the world fairer where I can.”

“The sentiment is appreciated, and I will take that into account in my considerations, but good intentions don’t make your actions right.” He looks at me, and I can almost feel the gears turning in his head as he replays what must be surveillance from me in the instance.

“How?” he asks suddenly after almost a minute. “You stopped by the bookshop for less than 2 minutes, you couldn't have read and typed everything in that instant.

I look to the Bureau’s people and hesitate, but he continues seeing my actions.

“Ohh, don’t worry about them, they won't be able to say anything about it for the duration of the integration and most information will still be locked after your integration in the system proper. They will only be able to talk about the final judgment, everything else is confidential.”

I look at him and tentatively decide to trust his words.

“Watch what I was doing before I entered.”

“Uhhm, looking at the other business?”

“Before that,” I repeat.

“Sitting… Ohh, the system tagged that as …. Never mind… Shouldn’t have trusted its judgment when it selected the relevant parts to watch. Still, I can only see you typing out the books, how are you reading the closed books from dozens of meters away without the system detecting it?”

I extend my skill based perception field out to encompass the entire courtroom.

“I’m familiar with your class, rare, but nothing exceptional. The system should have detected any such fields entering the bookshop and snooping.” With a hint of a smile, I turn it off and settle both my Aether and Mana to make sure obvious they have nothing to do with my next actions.

I extend the natural perception field out through the tip of my finger to a small and controllable space. Barely a cubic centimeter and that is enough to feel the clean and sanitized version of the environment that the system overlay is presenting me simply being stripped away.

A wrongness that is deeper than anything I ever experienced before as the very surroundings are no longer measured in just 3 spatial dimensions. I let the pinprick-sized sphere extend from my fingers as the judge teleport from his bench and he puts his nose nearly touching the tip of my finger.

“Interesting, interesting. You can turn it off.”

I do so, grateful that my sense of balance and direction stops being all wonky and watch as he teleports back to this seat. He holds in his face a pensive look as someting builds just under the surface.

“Tell me about your second ‘perception field’, how did you modify the system skill?”

“I didn’t.”

Everyone in the court gasps and even the court attendant grimaces while typing away every word we let out.

But as a second send pass, everyone realize that no thunder struck me down and they came to a twin realision.

I didn't lie.

I was telling the truth.

Everyone’s shocked faces turn to me as I share the joke with the judge who watches amusedly.

“Explain, to get things in proper order.”

“I developed the perception field and then I acquired the skill.”

The others stare at me incredulously, including the automaton. Did he think my natural Perception field was a lesser version? He was aware I had it, I think.

“I assume you can wield Aether?”

“Yes.”

“And you put the information in your particular variety of spatial storage, Inner World I believe.”

“Yes.”

He nods and looks to the Bureau's people:

“Just so there is no confusion, I will seal the whole court proceedings in the highest level this court has available, so don’t even think about leaking his information beyond what you are explicitly allowed, otherwise the penalties on yourselves and the Information Bureau will be so high, that they will throw you to the wolves and sever this galaxy from their control rather than to pay in full.”

The judge looks at the automaton and asks.

“Why didn’t you stop the spread of information before and brought him immediately to me and instead taking your sweet time?”

The Automatons gulps, even without the same internal organs as humans, and says:

“There is no expectation of me helping protect the Bureus property and in the end, unless this court’s decision was to kill him, there is no chance the information would be contained.”

“Why do you say that?” The judge asks offhandedly.

“He read every single one of the books and actually typed them. Given what I witnessed from him he would be able to recall most if not all of the relevant information. That and the noob protections he has guaranteed the death penalty is not even on the table, not even for much more serious actions. It’s not like what he did cost thousands of system users’s lives.”

“You still should have shown more respect, especially knowing you would be coming here, so I’m tacking 3 more years to your administrator stint for that and a few other details. Do you wish to appeal the decision?”

The automaton shakes his head, and I can almost feel the relief wafting off him. He got off relatively lightly if I don’t miss my guess.

“Do you have anything about Nash’s actions to add or be revised considering contextual information?,” he asks the Info Breus’s people.

“If you would allow us access to the surveillance the system provided I’m sure...”

“Yeah, not gonna happen. I’m also sure, that even in slightly different circumstances this tribunal would not even have called and the acquisition of your intellectual property not reported. But this is how the system rules are written. If he had just waited to come back to Earth before spreading the information none of us would be here, but he doesn’t know the rules and so here are we all. If you do not know any more than what I told you that means you either didn’t do your job, or the system stopped you, either way, I’m neither inclined nor required to provide anything more than what the system already did. Nor did you give me any compelling reason to do so.”

They all nod and I wait anxiously as the mood changes.

He considers me one last time and then starts speaking again:

“After a lot of deliberation, I have come to the conclusion you did not deliberately create circumstances or other devices to circumvent the system’s protections, but you did use the ones in your toolset for effectively the same end result. I cannot return the information already spread to the rightful owners and that leaves me in a legal bind.

“You will not shirk your duties, and it is this court decision that you will restitute them the full, though admittedly overpriced, value of their information which comes to the total of over 8021 mithril pieces. Given your distribution of information, that will be multiplied by 100 like most people pay to aquire the copy and distribution license they provide. That adds a total of 802,109 mithril.”

He looks to the side and the bailiff raises a calculator with the exact value in hand as he gives a nod.

The Bureau’s people give a triumphant nod as queasiness builds deep within myself. Crap…

I don’t have that much.

I may never have that much.

The only thing that grounds me a little is the slightly concerned look from the Automation instead of a pitting look.

I reach out to Aspen and try to make sense of reality.

What am I going to do?