TRIAL 04

[thecomputer]

Attention, Citizens! You have ten minutes to proceed to the Loyalty Chamber. Anyone who is late to the Loyalty Chamber, or who brings any weapons into the Loyalty Chamber, will be immediately executed.

[Once you arrive, you will find a large chamber, with twenty podiums spaced around the room in a circle. On the ceiling, a massive screen showing the digital eye of The Computer, turning to look at whoever is talking.]

You have one hour to come to a consensus about who to eliminate. Ties will be broken randomly.

[The floor of the chamber begins to split apart, eventually only leaving the twenty podiums as safe places to stand, above a seemingly bottomless abyss. Each podium lights up with a touch screen showing twenty user IDs (the dead are grayed out), plus the word “ABSTAIN”. However, ABSTAIN has now been grayed out as well. The trial begins now!]

[[Vote here]]

Comments

[staunton]

[ clears throat. ]

I'm sure you all already know that Yomiel outed himself as the Loyalty Officer and indicted Robin Newman as a Communist earlier, but maybe we should follow the Detective's suggestion from yesterday's trial and save the known threat for tomorrow while going after a probable suspect today? I don't think it's a bad idea.

Oh, and Newman's probably going to start shouting about how Yomiel's a liar. Show of hands, how many of you believe that noisy runt?

[fullonbraced]

Actually... I don't have to shout, if that's a problem, Mister Knightley?

[wow that brace sure is gone.

And wow, that sure is a girl that's standing at Robin's podium-Oh, wait.]

[angry_jerk]

Well, less believe the brat and more thinking that conehead is too idiotic and murder happy not to screw this up.

[staunton]

[ okay, he sure did not expect that. ]

...You're not a guy!

[fullonbraced]

Haha! [She does a little spin, making an ":D" face at the end.] Yup! I'm actually a girl, and smarter than you think. Which is why I'll be defending myself with a theory that I think makes some sense!

[schrodingers_man]

...

[ Huuuuuuh. Not expected! ]

No yelling is fine by me.

[fullonbraced]

Are you sure? It does start to hurt my throat sometimes.

[staunton]

Go on, then! Don't keep me waiting, share that theory of yours.

[angry_jerk]

[Well. If Dan had water, he'd do a spit take. And yet, he does it anyway.]

The fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...

[fullonbraced]

[A young... woman stands at a podium. She's wearing all red, and missing a certain brace that should have been on her, since it almost always seems to be.

But, this was what Robin Newman really was. Not some hotheaded boy - although that was a part of it - but a girl.

And it looks as though the gloves have been taken off. It was time to see what eighteen years of training would do.]

I know I've been apparently outed as a communist by the loyalty officer, who mister Yomiel claims to be. But, I believe that's not true. And, I've been working on a theory all afternoon to try and prove my innocence.

[And that's where this comes in. Robin swings her arm out, pointing a finger at the ghost detective.] Mister Yomiel. I accuse you of being a communist as well, and building a deep network of trust to protect yourself!

[fullonbraced]

[And she does!]

[fullonbraced]

Tee hee! Yup! I'm a girl, body and soul!

[standbyrival]

. . .

. . .

...............................

[who the fuck is this??????]

[schrodingers_man]

I can imagine. [ He's done more than his fair share of yelling these past few days and he's not pretending to be a guy when he's not. ] But I don't need to count on you losing your voice to win this debate.

[fullonbraced]

[...oh hey. you.

....

Waves!!]

I came up with an argument! Like you said!

[fullonbraced]

Hmm, why are you so sure, mister Yomiel? Are you really exempt from suspicion?

[staunton]

Oh, so you're starting with your pawn.

Tell me, little girl, why the hell would Yomiel send three fellow Communists to their death? You should know that the smaller their faction is, the longer they have to play -- after all, they need an equal number of Citizens and Communists to win!

[standbyrival]

. . .

[like he said?? goes through his head trying to remember who he even talked to--oh]

[OH]

[.......................squints at her]

. . .

Did you die and come back in a different body?

[fullonbraced]

Of course I do, man! But, it's all part of a strategy!

Think about it, he knows who the other communists are because he is one. And then, he goes after a few of them to gain everyone's trust in his judgement. By the end, there's only a few communists left, and everyone listens to whatever he says.

[She waves a finger in the air.] It's like when you give up a few pawns, or checkers to make sure the queen gets away.

[fullonbraced]

Tee hee! Do you think so? Do I really look that different?

[she smirks. why thank you, paul.]

No, truth be told, I was a girl all along. THAT BRACE WAS KEEPING THE GOODS DOWN MAN!

[standbyrival]

Do you have another probable suspect in mind?

[in_plain_sight]

Even if he were willing to kill half his teammates and the citizens who trusted him most already just for an alibi--how would he convince the real loyalty officer to let him get away with lying?

[standbyrival]

[it takes a lot of effort for him to recognize people okay THIS IS JARRING]

Please don't talk about your goods ever again.

[schrodingers_man]

I'm sure because I've got the truth on my side. But accusing me's a pretty bad strategy on your part. Win or lose here, I'm a dead man tonight and everybody knows it. And once I'm dead, everybody's going to know I was telling the truth. All this is buying you is one more day, at best.

If anybody even believes you to begin with.

[fullonbraced]

It's easy. The loyalty officer wants to be protected, right? If the loyalty officer was someone that trusted Yomiel enough, he'd totally let Yomiel openly call himself that.

And think about it. Why is mister Yomiel the only person to say that he's the loyalty officer? And why now?