HT432047 escorted Tajlon to another area of the ship, less clinical than the lab where the prison capsule was stored. They entered a formal conference the room, Widhbo was off to one side, looking very subdued. An energy field surrounded his body and greatly restricted any movement. There were several magitons seated at a long table, headed by the one known as Admiral Bethon. They were all in human form which was their default setting according to Widhbo.

"What's the meaning of this?" Tajlon demanded.

"It appears you may be on trial as well," Widhbo said. "They don't believe you either."

"Thank you for offering to join us," Bethon said, ignoring Widhbo’s comments. He portrayed the visage of a rather handsome man in his early forties with a trim beard and some grey peppering his hair. "Before we proceed, I must ask why your father imprisoned you."

Bethon stood up to better take charge of the room. "I will be ignoring the murder charges for now. After speaking with Widhbo, the circumstances surrounding it are arguable and video records support a self-defense plea. The prison file also states you were charged with insubordination, direct disobedience of orders, and mutiny. Is that true?"

"I voiced my concerns regarding his behavior and questioned his fitness to command the Sora. My father wasn’t well. As his mental state continued to deteriorate, it greatly impaired his leadership. We couldn’t trust him to keep us safe anymore and the crew lost confidence in him. There was too much at risk, so I took what I deemed to be the appropriate action."

"Yet your ship arrived here safely."

"You see what he did. I hardly call that a safe landing."

"We have no proof of what he did or didn't do. I am more interested in your actions at this moment. What else have you to say in your defense?"

"Regarding the first mutiny, my companions and I left the Sora to stay on Beldora in our mortal form. At least we had a chance there. We knew we could all die on a journey into deep space. We belonged on our home planet. We should have been allowed to choose freely."

"But, you did disobey his direct orders and abandon the ship?"

"Yes. He was always welcome to come with us to the planet. We uploaded our personas as planned. My father was in full command of the ship and our digital personas were not rebelling. Surely you realize that our physical bodies were not suited for prolonged space travel even under ideal circumstances. He made the decision to change star systems in haste with insufficient provisions."

"You don't know that. He could have planned to grow nourishment on board and replenish the food stores."

"He didn’t share any such plan with me or our bio-engineers. He wouldn't listen to reason, so we acted in our best interest. No harm would have come to him or his long-term plans for the Sora."

"Why didn't Widhbo stay on your planet?"

"He wasn't needed there. Widhbo had the necessary skills and knowledge to survive in space. He served us better there."

"Serve who exactly?"

"All of Beldora. We wanted to find another habitable planet somewhere."

"And Widhbo wanted to find a way to return to his dimension?"

"Of course, who wouldn't want to go home?"

Bethon paused while the magitons conferred among themselves for a short time in their own language. Tajlon pulled out a chair and seated himself without invitation.

"Strange that a such an accomplished scientist and perfectly rational man such as Jejliard would go insane unless something was affecting his mind,” Bethon said. There was a murmur of consensus around the conference table.

Tajlon paused before answering, "I suppose it's possible that facing his own doom, alone in space, could drive him to this extreme. From the behavior I witnessed, he was unbalanced long before we planned to go into hibernation. He was acted as though he was possessed, be it an evil presence or a demon if you will.”

"Ridiculous. We have determined this creature, known by the name Widhbo, has been directly involved with a great deal of hardship and death since his arrival on your planet. In fact, he has been directly responsible for the death of the crew and passengers on the Sora."

"No disrespect, but my friends were there, and they tell a different story."

"I don't doubt there was a tragedy on board your ship, but Widhbo is capable of mind tampering. He could easily have inserted false memories in your companions. He could even be the reason for the captain’s disorientation.”

“That’s pure speculation, Admiral,” Tajlon responded.

“Widhbo admits to draining the ship's energy supply, making it impossible for any life form to survive. He effectively murdered everyone."

"They were demented and deformed creatures, their minds were gone,” Widhbo pleaded. "I did them all a favor."

"Whatever their condition, they were alive until you stole all the power. Greyla, or Etaine as she pretends to be, is deformed and demented as well, yet very much alive," Bethon said.

Widhbo lapsed back into silence.

"My father, or more accurately the evil possessing him, is the one who caused this. He's the one who should be held accountable," Tajlon stated.

"Listen closely, young Tajlon. I will explain in detail our view of these events," Bethon said.

"Jejliard, your father, the demon, the devourer, whoever he may be, is dead along with his ship. He is no more," Bethon said. "When we scrubbed the empath and discovered your history, her files provided us with detailed and useful information. Widhbo brought the ship here, its origin is unknown but unlikely from another dimension as he claims. He gave advanced technology to your primitive civilization before it was mature enough to handle such destructive power, and allegedly did this for selfish purposes. He prompted the discovery of the sunken spaceship. If he knew it might be contaminated, the ship should have been quarantined, but Widhbo did nothing to prevent your father from coming into contact with it.

Tajlon stood and interrupted Bethon’s summation. “If you had known my father, you would know how difficult it would be for anyone to stop him from exploring a spectacular find such as the ship. Widhbo couldn’t have stopped him.”

“I disagree. Widhbo is a superior being and capable of stopping any human he chooses at any time. In conclusion, it's true Widhbo helped you escape Beldora when nuclear war broke out, once again to serve his own purposes. He is indirectly responsible for the nuclear winter and death of the entire population on the planet Beldora."

There was a disturbance at the door, and everyone turned to see Etaine flow through the solid metal, pouring her body through it and reforming inside the room. The magitons appeared as startled by her performance as Taljon.

"How did she get in here?" Bethon asked HT423047.

"I don't know, Sir. She was sleeping when we left their quarters."

"Greyla is ssleeping. Etaine doesn't need to ssleep," Etaine hissed. Her body was a pale translucent green. Shiny scales began to pop out of her skin, pricking her flesh. As she moved, they cut into her, causing dark blood to seep down between them. Her face vacillated between human, serpent, and her ghoulish mask.

"Don't mind me. I only want to lissten,” Etaine moved to Bethon’s side of the table. “For the record, I jusst pretended to go through a closed door, Admiral. I'm only pretending to be here.”

"Please excuse her. She's not well. I'll take care of her when we've finished,” Taljon said.

Bethon waved Etaine off to one corner and continued his presentation. "Whatever was happening to the passengers on the Sora, Widhbo ran away and hid outside the ship. When he intercepted our rescue signal, he drained her power supply at the expense of everyone on board. The moment he had a lock on our position, he teleported across the orbital plane to the Moz Lidule leaving Hal and Greyla in a small pod which would run out of energy within a quarter orbit.”

“I’d like to correct the record to read Hal and Etaine were left alone in the pod,” Etaine said. “Greyla was nowhere to be found.”

Bethon ignored her. “Widhbo had more than sufficient energy stored to to retrieve you, Tajlon, but chose to leave you behind instead. He left you stranded, knowing you were locked away with what was ultimately a finite power supply. A cold death awaited."

"It sounds like you’ve made up your mind already. You didn’t bring me here for my testimony, but to explain why you are correct in coming to your conclusions. So what's the punishment, Admiral?" Tajlon asked.

"We are still debating your fate. It would be better if we could send Widbho back to face his superiors, but since he has given us this wild story about another dimension, a fantasy location, we must confine him here indefinitely until we can find his planet of origin.”

Etaine erupted in sardonic laughter then spoke in a raspy voice. “I didn’t give you permission to look at my files. You stole them. And if I am so broken, how are my files to be accepted as irrefutable evidence. You’re convicting Widhbo on the files of a mad woman? Stealing, lying. Pretending to have a fair trial?” She glided over near Bethon’s seat at the table. “You should all be embarrassed by this mockery of justice. I can sense your treachery Admiral, your duplicity. If only I could read your mind... you would be the one on trial today.”

“Remove this personage at once,” Bethon demanded, motioning to HT432047. The hologram tried to steer Etaine back to the door, but she slipped through his grasp and ducked under the table, giggling. Bethon swiped at her as she went by, coming up with a fist full of thin air.

“Etaine!” Tajlon scolded. “Stop it. You’re not helping us.”

She crossed under the table and went back to her corner. “You know I have a forked tongue now. I can tell a truth and a lie at the same time.” Etaine flicked out her tongue and twisted the tips in different directions. “One cancels the other, saying nothing. Sssshhh!”

Bethon regained his composure and turned his attention back to Tajlon.“I closely examined your dossier prior to releasing you and I must say that you had an admirable record up until your imprisonment. Your family has been severely affected by Widhbo's behavior and we will now listen to anything you wish to say in his or your behalf.

"I know nothing of Widbho’s recent actions on the Sora as I wasn't present at the time. He has always been somewhat self-absorbed, but I am certain his behavior is not intentionally harmful. He was a great help to us on Beldora. I consider him a friend and would trust my very life to him,” Tajlon said. He took a long look at Widhbo. “For myself, I have nothing more to say. I would do it all again in similar circumstances.”

Widhbo had wrapped up in his cocoon again, a glowing ball of light.

“I appreciate your candor, Tajlon," Bethon said. "You may return to your quarters.”

Having dismissed Tajlon, Bethon looked about the room to locate Etaine who had floated up high above their heads. She was drifting about the room leaving a trail of blood wherever she scraped the ceiling. She stared back at Bethon, caught some drops of blood on her fingers and licked them clean in a sensual display.

“Do something about her, or I will.”