Chapter 7

Kangaroo Court

“The honorable Judge Rantner presiding.” The Bailiff says, but no sooner is he done speaking than some asshole cuts him off with an angry shout.

“Oh FUCK NO!” Within a second, I realize that asshole is me. But I don’t let it faze me.

My eyes have already scanned the room and I see the item that I want to recognize. There at the heart of the room is the truth stone, a device that picks up on mental harmonics and amplifies them in a way that is easily identifiable. When the stone, which is more of a crystalline shape glow green it is truthful, yellow a sort of lie, and red a flat out lie. Normally such stones are only turned on during the procedures. Their switches that states if they are on, is located on the side of the power supplier. By focusing power to the different runes around the stone, their nature is easy to use. With a mental motion, I flip the charging switch on and give my impromptu speech.

“I refuse to be judged by this child molesting psycho.”

Bright Green Glow.

A hush goes over the crowd as they see there is truth in my statements. Using this I continue my momentum. Using the knowledge of the different futures, along with my actual status as a precog; I play this up, not only to the crowd, but also the cops and officers who are watching.

The Judge tries to do something, but I continue shouting.

“I am a precog, and I have knowledge of the future.” Still green. “I have seen images of what this man does to little children, he keeps them locked away in his sex dungeon.”

All green.

“That is a lie!” The judge shouts.

Bright red.

“Turn that thing off.” The judge demands. He is clearly flustered, but he is the only one who is even remotely interested in stopping me.

“This man is sick. He abducts your kids, locks them away in his secret cellar. Then he goes to your vigils that you hold for the missing kids. I bet he even holds a candle in their honor, while watching parents weep tears of pain.”

All green.

This is true, as I read the reports. He went to ten different vigils for kids he kidnapped. Many of these kids were still alive at the time of the vigils. A sick wave of revulsion takes over me, as I want to crush this man. The more I remember about his crimes, the more I seethe with rage and anger. He is the worst kind of villainy, one without a soul or remorse.

“If you go now, I bet you will find one kid locked up in his secret basement under the stairs. There is a secret latch on the right-hand side that you pull down to unlock the seals.” I say, the more I speak the more the vile details of this monster come to the forefront of my memory.

All green.

“That’s not true.”

Yellow.

A partial truth. Does he not have a kid in there? Then it dawns on me, how he might be only telling a partial truth. Either I am wrong about the location, which I am not. Or the number of children is off. Knowing the future, I know the facts about the dungeon. Then with sickening realization, the truth dawns on me. Everyone is watching me, and all I can feel is bile rising in my throat as I think about the implications. My head spins from the sudden realization as I mentally see not one, but two kids chained to beds.

“You have two? You sick fuck.”

Bright green.

He is silent.

Everyone stares at him, then back to me. As for me, I am actually experiencing it, a true vision of the present. I feel sick, I turn to the officers who escorted me. Tears filling my eyes as I feel the pain of the kids, “can you please check. Look if I’m wrong, then nothing happened. We exonerate an innocent man, and I am proven to be mad. But if I am right, then two families will get their missing kids back.”

All green.

“No, you can’t go.”

All green, though he technically didn’t have anything to lie about.

The bailiff turns to the judge, eyes burning with righteous fury. “Tell me the truth are there kids right now in your basement.”

“No.”

Yellow.

We all look at the stone and ponder. It takes me a second to realize. “It’s the wording, likely the word basement. Keep it generic, is he aware of two kids that are locked away.”

By now there is a nervous tension in the chamber. As the crowd who had been all set on stringing me up when I entered here five minutes ago, now seems ready to lynch the judge. This is good, as even the bailiff looks ready to kill the bastard.

Hearing my words, the bailiff nods in understanding. Don’t give the monster any room for doubt or ambiguity. “I will rephrase. Are you aware of two kids that are locked away somewhere?”

Silence.

It is clear that the judge is guilty as he has already taken two steps back. Fortunately guards who were on staff likely to protect the judge from angry defendants like me, now box the judge in.

“12841 Brooke Lane.” I speak.

Green.

I feel bile rising. “Please go save them, I think I’m going to be sick otherwise.”

Yellow.

A half truth. I am already clearly nauseous from the visions I am being subjected to.

"Correction, more sick." I answer as I begin grabbing hold of my stomach.

Green.

The bright light is enough to set off my gag reflex, as I inadvertently see an image of the two kids again. I try not to focus on them, their image is just too terrible. I remember reading about how terrible this monster was, but being in the same room with him while mentally seeing his actions are two different things.

Suddenly the world is spinning, and I am vomiting on the floor. They say it is like this for your first full precognitive vision.

“Ohhh!” The crowd who is watching shouts at my sudden projectile vomit.

Unfortunately for me I am just vomiting up blood red colored chicken waffle parts everywhere. Not the best scene.

“He’s having a vision.” One of the medics exclaims as they rush to aid me. Before I know it, strong delicate hands are holding me and helping to guide me to the ground..

I am trembling as I keep seeing the vision of what is happening, to those children. My eyes burn and suddenly tears are pouring down my face. “He’s a monster.” I manage.

Green.

Suddenly I am sobbing, uncontrollably sobbing.

I have seen entire fleets of friends and fellow soldiers get wiped out. I have lived through countless extinction events, all to be reincarnated. I did it all knowing that the harder I tried, the better I would make life for others. The better I would protect the very institution that allowed a monster like Judge Rantner to exist and flourish. He was a monster, but one that was useful to the cause of the government, so they would let his appetites go uncontested. So long as he ruled in a desired favor, they let him do as he pleased. It was a sham. The whole thing was a sham.

Honestly, I didn’t care what happened, not to me. One way or other I would kill this judge in this life and every future life. I made that a promise, one I would keep from now until eternity. I don’t know how long I stayed there on the floor, quite a long time from the sound of things. By the time I came to, I had an IV with saline solution hooked up to my arm. I looked around and the world spun as I saw two visions of the world. One was a vision of the court room, and a second one showing an overview of the room holding the kids.

I try to sit up but am wobbly. A firm but steady hand holds me still. I turn and glare hatefully at the judge.

Just when I am ready to enact my plan of vigilante justice, the medic who is attending me speaks out.

“Easy there. Don’t worry we are investigating this now.”

Just then a speaker breaks out. As the cops change the feed of the cameras and display screens that are around the court room. The scene shifts from a view of inside the courtroom with me in the center of a pool of blood red vomit, to show a live view of officers moving with abandonment to the Judge’s house.

“No, they cannot. I do not give them permission for this.” Judge Ratner says defiantly. Fortunately, there is enough animosity between everyone else in the court and the judge that his words only get met with scornful glares. He tries to leave, but is held in place by two guards, who are already subduing him.

On screen the cops enter the house as we have a live feed of their breaching the door. A woman is there dressed in night clothes, demanding they get out.

“There the stairs, under the stairs.” I shout out loud.

Green.

An officer who had been escorting me speaks over a radio and we can see everyone’s head move in unison as they all get the orders. Then as one they all turn to the spot under the stairs. They look and see signs of wear on the floor, as a door has been sliding across the floors often.

“We have signs of a door groove of some kind.” The lead inspector says, documenting their findings verbally.

“Stop you can’t go in there.” The wife screams and assaults an officer, but she is quickly taken off camera, likely being subdued.

“We see signs of a door, but do not see an opening mechanism.” The lead inspector says. He stands up and I am seeing everything he is. I am trying to remember the article, but it was so long ago. I look, and am about to panic. Then I see a mental image of the monster, judge Rantner, first pushing a red strip of molding in at the bottom, before pulling the piece down.

I relay what I am seeing. I can’t see the court room anymore, as I am just caught in a loop of the past.

“We have entry and are going in now.” The officer says.

“We found them. Two children, approximately eight and seven years old. We are freeing them now.”

Tears are forming in my eyes as I feel a wave of relief wash over me. I let out a breath, as I let the image in my mind fade away.

“WAHOO!”

“YEAH!”

People are screaming in excitement around me. I force my eyes away from the scenes of the chained children and look to the people who are joyous. Off from the front of the courtroom I hear a statement that was used on me not too long ago.

“You have the right to remain silent…”

Seeing that justice is being done, I sink back down in relief.

Plop.

Only after I sit down, do I realize they never cleaned up the pool of vomit I created. As for why I wasn’t given a chair, I was still standing to be arraigned for my trumped-up charges.

I look at the judge. Looking at him, I remember just taking a passive interest in the story of his monstrous career as he was the one who stole my soul bound blaster from the trials, in a previous life. I knew the future, but I had always been so caught up in my own doings that I missed the bigger picture. I looked up to the screen that showed two kids being carried away, wrapped in blankets, tears of joy on their faces. The wife too was being arrested. In all it was a great moment.

I was allowed a chance to change.

This time I wore the more appropriate orange jumpsuit that makes everyone look like a pumpkin. Somehow, I still managed to appear intimidating in such a getup, as people who locked eyes with me began to look away immediately. Perhaps it was guilt gnawing away at them. I doubt it. Most of the people here probably thought they were upholding justice in some way.

Still after a short recess, I was taken back to a different court room. A courtroom where vomit was not on the floor. Apparently my vomit was being used as evidence in the conviction of Judge Rantner. A seer’s vomit is often admissible in court as it has chemical agents that indicate it is different than standard vomit. I had heard about and read about the science before. The act of using vomit from a vision to prove a seer had a vision and was not just making up a story. Apparently the stronger the vision the more vomit that is available. I apparently had a big vision, or just had a lot to eat, because my vomit went everywhere.

Even the prosecutor seemed to get a bit of vomit on his pants leg. We locked eyes, and I could almost see a budging shred of respect coming from his eyes.

As we entered, the prosecutor spoke to me. “Whatever happens, know I am truly sorry.” He said, in what had to be the first sign of a lawyer trying to get their soul back. It was almost endearing if it didn’t mean that this trial was also a sham.

As soon as the bailiff came in and spoke “The honorable Judge Ulrich presiding.”

The moment I saw the judge enter, a smirk came to my face.

The judge moved forward to sit at his chair and locked eyes with me. I smiled wider, as I knew something that shouldn’t be known, at least not yet. Not until the entire circuit of judges presiding here have been gutted. A process that only happens years in the future when Judge Rantner steals a child belonging to a marine recon soldier. That was the first time he was found to be a monster, after that an investigation occurred into all the judges who had apparently all been covering for one another. Many made plea deals where they gave up dirt on other judges. In the end only Rantner was made to take the blame for all, as he was given the death penalty. In all fifteen of the twenty or so judges for this circuit were caught up in some type of corruption scandal or another. And this judge, judge Ulrich was one of the most corrupted of the remaining judges.

“Can I have pen and paper?” I ask the guard next to me.

Being as I am my own legal counsel; I am allotted a few things. The most basic are stationary. For now, my wrist communicator has been confiscated. But I am allowed to write down notes from the law reference books that I will also be granted limited access to. Still, I don’t need the reference materials.

“You stand accused of…”

While they go over the list of trumped-up charges, I continue to write the finer details of what I remember from this judge’s past. While not as sensational as a sex dungeon, he too had illicit dealings, many of which were with foreign nations. Suffice it to say, the man had an Endar fetish, and space elves were both rare and their services were costly. At first, he managed to pay for the services with money, but when he started running out of money, he began racketeering and allowing illegal gambling operations to operate on the base and the surrounding communities.

As for me, I just wrote down a few names, a few locations, a few key items like tipoff service. Then I listed the names of his favorite space elves to parlay with. I then folded up the paper and placed my pen down like I was done filling out my answers for a public test.

“… How do you plead?”

“Your honor. If it pleases you, I would like to present to you personally my defense.” I say, holding up the folded sheet of paper.

The judge looked confused for a moment, but then gestured for me to move forward. As I walked forward, I turned on the truth crystal for this court room, you know for insurance purposes.

No one seemed to notice the activation, primarily because I used Telekinesis to do so.

I handed over the note with all the incriminating details of his operations with the Endar. Then at the bottom it had the simple warning.

Recuse yourself from this trial or I tell everyone.

I wait until he reads the note. Then we lock eyes. He trembles slightly, as he allegedly had anti-vision detection charms. They were expensive, but were needed if he was going to be doing illicit work right under the noses of truth tellers and seers. But somehow, I was powerful enough to see through his charms and protections.

His lips trembled for a second. I smiled viciously. I don’t know if it was the hair, or my eerie glowing purple eyes that finished it, but he nodded.

“I regret to inform the court that I will need to recuse myself from this trial.”

Bang, bang.

Judge Ulrich banged his gavel twice and with that quickly left the stage. I noted that he took my sheet of evidence with him. Oh well.

I kept the smile on my face as I made my way back behind the railing while we waited for the next judge to appear. On my way back I turned off the truth stone. No purpose for it now. I had it on as an insurance policy, but that fortunately is no longer the case.

I looked over at the prosecutor who just stared at me with amazement. “What did you show him?” He finally asks, curiosity getting the better of him.

I just smile, “come now, blackmail only works if you keep it a secret.” I shoot back.

“Did you just admit to blackmailing a judge?”

“Me? No. I simply made a non sequitur that you took as truth.” I responded. Fortunately for me, I remembered to turn the truth stone off.

“All rise. The honorable Judge Blackstone residing.” A woman with dark hair and skin came through the doors. She had a rushed look to her, like she didn’t expect to be here.

As we were allowed to relax, the judge went straight to work, going over the details of the case.

“So let me get this straight, you were part of the group that was awakened yesterday, is that correct?” This judge asks, completely missing the part of this being a kangaroo court.

“Yes.”

Green.

Apparently, someone turned the stone back on now for the proceedings.

“Since that time, you were attacked by an instructor, which you managed to not only stop but then redirect to a safe location. You then withstood the interrogation methods of a Tier four Inquisitor. Then you managed to take on a full spec ops team by yourself, in addition to sealing away their powers. From there, you came here causing all types of trouble. Had a vision of a judge who would preside over you as being a monster. Where you got him arrested for his crimes, a fact that I am personally thankful for, mind you. Then you proceed to hand over evidence to the second judge who immediately recused their position as judge for this trial. Have I got that all, correct?”

I pause, then realize she missed the part about the five thugs at the diner but decide to leave that part out for now.

“Mostly.”

Green.

“I will warn you that you will find I am not like my colleagues.” She says meaning her fellow judges who were to preside over this case.

Green.

“I know. You I have nothing but my undying respect for. I see nothing but great things from you, in the future. You will be a beacon of hope. Honestly, I am proud to have gotten the chance to meet you in action.” I state for the record.

Green.

It is true, it is all true. Judge Blackstone is a pillar of the community and helps regain the community’s trust in their judiciary system.

The judge nods to herself. “I take it the hair and eye colors were also part of your Awakening process?”

I nod. “Yes, they were, ma’am.”

“Any particular significance?” She asks.

“Yes.”

Green.

“Care to share?”

“No.”

Green.

“By law you are protected from actions you took while in the Awakening Trials, you know that right?”

“Yes.”

Green.

She nods to herself, then ponders for a second. “Seems like you’ve had one hell of a day. They have several crimes listed here against you. I believe it looks like you were supposed to take some type of plea deal.”

Green.

I nod. I kind of figured this was coming. “I will not plead guilty. Though I would accept the officer candidacy position.” I admit.

She pauses, placing her hands over top of each other as she looks at me. “Young man, when I look at you, I see a person of pride and integrity. One of the pillars that could be molded into a great soldier. So then tell me why you originally chose to turn down your officer candidacy status?”

Hearing the words, I nod. Then I decide to go with the truth that would be used to obfuscate the reality of my situation. “My times in the trials were not like others. When I first entered the Trial, I had streams of memories of what could have been defined as possible futures. In those visions I remembered always going to the military and always dying horribly. At the time I thought that joining the military would be a bad thing, that I would only be destined to live out the horrible deaths I witnessed.”

Green.

Phew. I was glad that went off without a hitch. There were a few times when I skirted the truth just enough. With that part out, I continued. “That is why I tried to leave, to return to my old life and start again fresh. I knew what not to do, but I really didn’t know what to do, in order to avoid the horrific fates that I know are in store for me. Thus, I panicked and left, thinking I could do better on the outside than in. I have since come to realize my mistake.”

Green.

“Mistake?”

I nod and let a soulful sorrow fill my gaze. “I now know that I am too powerful to be let loose. That I likely need a stronger support structure that can help support me, while I adapt to my new power levels.”

This last part is only true only because of the stupid silver hair that makes me incredibly more potent than I ever was in a previous life.

“What would you do if you went into the military?”

“Fighter Pilot, Field Combat operative, exfiltration specialist, Recon pilot, Mechanic, and Combat Medic.”

Green.

“You think you can do all those?” She asks a little bit of skepticism in her voice.

“I know I can.”

Green.

She watched the glowing green stone for a moment as she pondered. “At least you don’t seem to lack for conviction. Tell me do you promise to do what is always right, to the best of your ability? To promote democracy and enact lawful orders given to you by your superiors?”

“I do.”

Green.

Seeing that she nods to herself. “Very well then. I see no reason to keep this spectacle going any further. In light of your recent heroics of cleaning up one corrupt judge from this circuit, I will hereby conditionally throw out all of these charges on one condition. That you sign up and defend this government as a Military Officer. What do you say?”

“I will.”

Green.

With that she nods. “Good, case dismissed.”

Wham. Wham.

The gavel dropped twice, then she gestured for the career counselor to come over and talk. Told you that had been part of their plan all along. Though I did like the idea of not being strong armed into the service, this way it was was still my choice.

“Also, Mr. Goldman. I want to say, know that I will be watching your career closely. I expect great things from you.”

Green.

I smile back and respond honestly. “Same with you. Please do the things I know you are capable of.”

Green.

She paused to stare me in the eyes. “Boy I would love to know what you saw in that Awakening trial.”

“No. No, you wouldn’t. You really wouldn’t.” I say as I remember all the horrors and betrayals that are destined to happen.

Green.

She looked at the stone, then nodded again to herself. “Perhaps you are right. Still don’t let me see you in my courtroom again. Next time I won’t be this lenient.”

Red.

I smile as she didn’t even believe herself on that one.

“Turn that thing off. We are costing taxpayer dollars.” She shoots back to the bailiff. As he goes to turn off the truth stone, she looks back at me. A smile fills her face as she leaves. As for me, I am left filling out a mountain of paperwork that makes me a fully registered Officer Candidate for the United Alliance Space Force.