Lixy
In Denial That I Have an Internet Addiction
JURY SUMMONS
Saieria City, Moonine County.
SERVICE DATE: 04 NOVEMBER, 2066
By order of the SUPREME COURT you are hereby summoned to appear for jury duty before the honourable Judge MOROSE V at 9:57a.m., on the date mentioned above, room 12.05, floor 12 of the SPIKE in the Governmental Complex.
THE JUDGE WILL NOT BE HEARING EXCUSES.
Saieria City, Moonine County.
SERVICE DATE: 04 NOVEMBER, 2066
By order of the SUPREME COURT you are hereby summoned to appear for jury duty before the honourable Judge MOROSE V at 9:57a.m., on the date mentioned above, room 12.05, floor 12 of the SPIKE in the Governmental Complex.
THE JUDGE WILL NOT BE HEARING EXCUSES.
DRESS APPROPRIATELY
NO anti-facial-recognition hair, make-up, clothing, accessories, or otherwise, including tattoos.
NO personal ride-along devices that include any sort of brain-link.
NO weaponry of any kind.
NO sandals.
NO body armour.
SHIRTS MUST BE WORN AT ALL TIMES.
A FULL DRESS CODE is included attached.
BE PUNCTUAL.
Jurors who do not arrive in a timely manner WILL NOT BE COMPENSATED FOR THE DURATION OF THE TRIAL. You will STILL BE EXPECTED TO PERFORM YOUR DUTIES, and will be APPREHENDED IF NECESSARY.
CONFIDENTIALITY IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE.
Do NOT, under any circumstances, share ANY information about the trail to ANYONE. This includes your family, friends, significant others, robots, androids or appliances with artificial personalities.
DURING THE TRIAL, YOU WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO LEAVE.
DURING THE TRIAL, YOU WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO LEAVE.
DURING THE TRIAL, YOU WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO LEAVE.
THESE RULES ARE ENFORCEABLE ON THE PAIN OF DEATH.
...
The year is 2066, somewhere just outside the Ring of Fire, Oceana. On one of the artificial islands that populate the ocean is the city of Saieria, a highly contentious place. Though the island of Moonine is small, it is the most populous, and densely populated, of all the surrounding islands. Sometimes nicknamed "Urchin Island" both due to its spike-like appearance from a distance, and because of the high petty crime rate in its cramped locale. Almost the entire island is comprised of tall, tapering buildings made to withstand the constantly shifting winds of the ocean.
One of the few green spaces resides inside the Governmental Complex, a ring of the tallest buildings on the island, surrounding a hothouse dome growing an array of beautiful and rare flowers. Growing anything on the miserable and wet island is expensive and exclusive, requiring large amounts of power, time and commitment. When the hothouse first went up, many protested it, citing it as a misuse of tax-payers' money, however it was quickly revealed to have been a generous donation from one of the city's wealthier residents, though that citizen's exact identity has never been confirmed nor denied.
The only other oddity in the Governmental Complex was the shortest tower of the complex, the courthouse tower, the Spike. Named not for its shape, which was rather boxy in nature, but for the idiom of heads on spikes. It was unusual in that it had no windows, no ornanment, no flare. Where the other towers around the complex twisted and tapered and glittered against the ocean, the Spike was an ugly, squashed, ominous block of dark concrete. The only change in its shape was the thick tunnel that jutted from its side straight into a private port. The port that took the guilty straight to an offshore prison. The Spike was often a one-way journey.
There was no appeals, no news coverage, no oversight. The trial process was a mystery only seen by those NDA-bound jurors who came out the other side. And another trial was about to begin.
