Sons of Abraham: J-17's Trial (19 page)

David frowned, not liking where this was going. Norman Voss NEVER admitted a mistake in all the years he’d known the prosecutor.

“It seems that J-17 did NOT commit murder,” he continued. “In fact, I dare say that MA Joseph could be considered a helpless victim in this case.”

“Where is he going with this?” Joseph whispered to the Major.

“I’m not sure,” he replied.

“This case represents a monumental moment in our history,” Norman continued, looking to the crowd rather than the jury. “For the first time, someone has gained access to a Cyber and managed to overwrite their primary protocols. Imagine, if you can, someone pulling your strings, forcing you to do things you would never dream of doing, even in your worst nightmares. What if this puppet master decided you should kill your wife, or your children? How could you live with yourself, even though you had no control over your actions?”

More murmurs fell over the crowd. The judge ignored it, waiting for the prosecutor to continue with his statement.

“I can tell by the many whispers in this room that you CAN imagine such a horror. We are at a turning point in our culture. As a collective nation, we must decide whether or not we are at ease being protected by those whom have little, if no control over their own actions. The Cybers have served their purpose, Ladies and Gentlemen. I call for an immediate removal for all Cybers employed by our government, and it’s military. These Cybers are a danger to us all, as well as to our allies. Had the evidence not been found, or had the killing occurred on a different planet, the Earth could find itself at war today. Why should we risk our future, when we can prevent such a war from ever occurring? Thank you.”

The room erupted, too loud for the judge’s gavel to silence. Many were cheering for the prosecutor, acknowledging that it was time for the Cybers to be dismantled. Others tried to argue with those who cheered, stating that the Cybers were the only controlled form of military presence they possessed.

David Ballistar leaned back, uncertain of what to say. He had prepared to give a speech of how commended MA Joseph had been throughout his entire career, how many lives he’d saved or aided along the way. Now, it seemed that the problem had stretched well past this courtroom, the very future and existence of the third gen Cybers lying on the line. He had no right to pick up this torch, but someone had to do it. At that moment, there could be no other. He stood from his chair as the ground slowly drew quiet, the guards having recently broken up a fight behind Agent Calloway. The two bloodied men were drug from the room, the large doors opening and closing when needed.

He needed time to prepare, but time was a luxury that he did not possess at the moment. The trial needed his closing statement, and he had no intentions of leaving their fate to chance.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” he started, his voice cracking. “I’ll be the first to state that I am not qualified to speak on the behalf of the entire Cyber population. However, it seems that I have but little choice. I beg you to look back to our history. In the 2500’s, mankind realized that they were incapable of saving the people from their eminent doom. The resources of this world were horribly depleted, the cities were overpopulated, and the food was quickly becoming a luxury that the poor could simply not afford.”

David cleared his throat, looking to the Cybers amongst the jury, and the one he left at his table.

“Our ancestors turned to the greatest minds that science had to offer, but no solution could be found. Our computers had the capability to calculate the means for our survival, but they lacked the creativity to discover new horizons to which to look. Realizing that a solution rested before them, a small group of volunteers stood up and took it upon themselves to sacrifice their lives, to give up everyone and everything they’d ever known, just to breathe one last bit of hope into the lungs of mankind. As we fought and murdered one another in the streets over the last cans of tuna, these volunteers underwent an enormous metamorphosis, becoming the first generation of cybernetically enhanced human beings. They’re families wept as little remained of their fathers, their brothers, and their sons. These Cybers, however, went on to solve the problems that threatened our very existence. The combination of man and computer found the solutions that our species so desperately needed. We reached for the stars and found our salvation waiting for us.”

He took a deep breath, the words forming in his head faster than he could say them. He tried to recall some powerful speech given by powerful men, but none came to mind. It would be up to his own mind to find the words. Perhaps the last words men like MA Joseph would ever hear. He had to make them count.

“Two hundred years later,” he continued. “We reached out and colonized other worlds, having terraformed them to sustain human life. For a while, there was peace and prosperity. Peace, however, was not kept amongst the planets. Wars broke out as the planets turned on one another, fighting for their rights to govern themselves as well as establish their own laws and customs. Nuclear arms were raised once more, the first having been dropped upon Washington D.C., the former capital of the former United States. That blast, in one fell swoop, wiped 850,000 people from the face of this world. We retaliated, taking twice those numbers on every planet we suspected to have fired upon us. We needed a solution, a means to make decisions that were not based on revenge, but rather calm calculations and intelligence. The second generation of Cybers was born. Through diplomacy, they managed to bring an end to the destruction we were bringing amongst ourselves. It seems the Cybers saved our species yet again.”

“Many centuries later,” he continued. “As we allowed each planet to adopt their own laws and customs, peace was found once more. There was peace, but it would not last for long. Once more, we found issues with having our people spread throughout the galaxy. Crimes were taking place on planets, the criminals fleeing to the stars as a means to escape justice. The worlds threatened to war with one another again, all over such issues as jurisdiction. This time, the council, consisting of delegates from every planet of over one million citizens, decided that the time had come to turn to our Cyber brethren once more. War was averted as the third generation of Cybers swept across the galaxy, keeping the peace amongst the stars. They attempted to find a balance between the varying laws of every planet, finding a compromise at every turn. Yet here we are, yelling out once more for the Cybers to go away. Has our history taught us nothing? Have we yet to learn that, as a species, we are incapable of acting rationally? No Ladies and Gentlemen, we do not need to dismantle the current generation of Cybers. What we need to do is give them their freedom, to allow for them to choose their paths, rather than to choose it for them. I move that the wireless access to the processors of the Cybers be removed, preventing future incidents such as those on Parasus.”

The crowd erupted once more. Pushing and shoving broke out amongst them as people fell from their chairs. The guards stepped forward, attempting to prevent a riot from occurring.

“Then we’d have no control!” a man yelled from the back of the room.

“They’d kill us all!” a woman screamed.

From his perch across the city, Jones listened and watched the madness on his data pad. He always suspected that the day would come when the humans would play their hand. It was time for the Cybers to raise the stakes. He submitted the final order from the data pad, turning it off and sliding it into his jacket. It was time for the next phase.

“Order! Order I say!” Judge Mathis screamed at the top of his lungs.

New orders received…..

“Guards, remove them from the courtroom, immediately,” he continued to yell.

Calloway felt, rather than saw, the rifle lift to his left side. Like many others in his line of work, he’d developed an instinct when it came to a shootout. He pulled at the woman next to him, dragging her down to the floor as the first shot rang out. More shots fired as Calloway climbed over the screaming woman.

“Just stay down!” he yelled, swearing for not being allowed his firearm in the courtroom.

Agent Nathan Calloway rolled to one side, just enough for him to catch a glance at what was happening. The line of guards, all on the left side of the courtroom, had drawn their weapons. Nathan shifted, looking to the right side, but could see none of the guards. He stuck his head under the seat in front of him, straining to see past the feet and bodies that shifted between his position and where he knew the other guards to be. A clearing formed, though only for a moment. The gap showed him what he’d suspected, seeing two guards lying motionless upon the ground. The gap closed once more as a man fell dead on the far side of the room.

Nathan shifted over once more, looking to the back of the room. The doors had yet to open as a cluster of terrified people clawed and slammed their fist into it. It made no sense to him. The alarms should have sounded after the first gunshot. The doors should have opened automatically. The evidence, however, proved otherwise as the crowd surged towards the exit. A long burst of shots rang out, silencing their screams.

Calloway could think of nothing more to do except for drag a fallen man over his shoulder, feigning his own death. He felt the heavy boots stomping through each row, muffled whispers being silenced with the sound of gunfire. The shots were coming fewer and further between, meanings that the guards were nearing the end of their slaughter spree.

A heavy footfall stopped inches short from where Calloway lay. He felt the body being pushed from behind him, guessing that the guards were checking the bodies. He felt the man being pulled off him, exposing him to the guard. A feeling of dread swept over him as his mind asked him if the guard was a human or a Cyber. If he was a Cyber, he could easily scan Calloway for vital signs.

“Stand up Agent Calloway,” a voice ordered him.

Cyber. Nathan swore beneath his breath as he pressed himself from the floor. He looked at the massacre around him, noting that only a few people had been saved from the carnage. He let out a sigh of relief, noting that Major Ballistar was one of them, as he sat at his table with his hands in the air. A trickle of blood streamed down his face from his forehead, but otherwise, he seemed unharmed. MA Joseph was nowhere to be seen. Many of the remaining guards could be seen at the back corner of the courtroom, exiting through the door to the judge’s chambers. The judge himself lies next to the podium, motionless.

“What the fuck just happened?!” Nathan yelled, looking at the bodies spread over the floor and the heap piled in front of the exit. “You god damn monsters butchered everyone!”

“Not everyone,” the Cyber calmly stated his gun still aimed at the Agent. “Go have a seat or you can join them.”

Only two of the guards remained behind, but none of the survivors seemed to be any hurry to rush them. Cybers were known for their quickness, as they had just proven on the live stream. He could hear fist pounding on the doors, growing louder and louder with each blow. Somewhere, far behind the judge’s podium, more gunshots could be heard. The missing guards must have left to sweep the halls.

The Cyber paused for a moment, then lowered his rifle and stormed to the back of the courtroom. Nathan watched him and the remaining guard leave the room before he leapt from his seat, hurdled the glass barrier, and lifted one of the fallen guard’s rifle. David Ballistar had followed his lead, as had the young technician from earlier. David wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he was pleased to see the young man uninjured.

“Why do you suppose they spared us?” Jason Jay asked, picking up one of the rifles. “What makes us so special from everyone else?”

Nathan looked around at the sea of bodies, noting two red silk robes lying over top of one another. It seemed that either Terrance Mathis had fallen upon the young dignitary, or his last act was in bravery as he tried to protect her. Given that he was clearly dead, Nathan chose to think the latter of him. No sense in continuing to hate a dead man.

“Because we all tried to help Joseph,” David Ballistar replied, checking the weapon for bullets. He bent down and checked the fallen guard, looking for another clip in his pouches. He came back with two, sticking them in his right hip pocket. Nathan followed his lead, grabbing more ammo for himself.

“You stay here,” Nathan ordered to Jason. “You weren’t trained for this.”

“In all fairness, Agent Calloway, neither are you,” Jason claimed, pulling the clip from the rifle and checking it for rounds. “They ever train you to fight Cybers?”

Nathan looked to David, admitting that the young man had a point. At no time in all his training had he been required to take down a Cyber. He knew they moved at blinding speeds, as far as their reaction times and decision-making. Their bodies were no different from his own, but a split second was the difference between living or dead when it came to a gunfight. This would not end well for them.

Calloway shook his head before jogging to the back of the courtroom. David Ballistar followed closely behind with Jason Jay taking the rear. Nathan checked the door, noting that no guards were present. A few bodies were scattered along the hallway. Two women in short skirts, and another person in a red silk robe. The Agent knew beyond a doubt that King Isom had escaped, his guards likely having sacrificed themselves for their King. The three men stalked down the long corridor, their guns sweeping each doorway as they passed.