Psykogeddon (12 page)

The computer was in fact an ArViD, which stood for Artificial Virally-Induced Destabilisation - a means of producing cheap, disposable Artificial Intelligences by way of pseudo-viral spores eating through a block of biogel to produce the equivalent of synapses.

The combination of a short life span and of basically being a diseased lump of mechanically-reclaimed quasi-meat tended to make these Artificial Intelligences somewhat unstable at the best of times. Drago San's computer was currently suffering from a variety of schizophrenic dementia.

This was useful in that one of its split personalities was sufficiently rabid as to serve as a Commentator out in the Killing Zone, while others were suitable for administration.

When it spoke, its voice was as mild and clipped as any major domo:

"Gambling revenues remain constant, sir," it said, "though extrapolated viewing figures are slightly down. That always happens towards the end of a cycle."

"Ah, yes," said Efil Drago San. "The Little Old Lady Factor."

"I beg your pardon, sir?" the computer asked politely.

"People tend to pick favourites," Efil Drago San explained. "The little old lady demographic in particular. The old biddies pick a fighter to follow, and when he dies they simply tune out. That isn't offset by an actual sense of
occasion
when the cycle ends - the last fighter standing, in the Killing Zone, is just the last one left alive. And then we shoot him."

He became thoughtful. "I should tweak things a little, possibly."

"Make the end of the cycle an occasion?" The ARViD-processes might have given the computer a short shelf-life and made it effectively insane, but they also allowed it to push the envelope so far as intuitive thinking was concerned. It could make actual suggestions, which was a big deal in terms of computer technology. "Have the last survivor actually win something?"

Drago San grinned. "I was thinking more along the lines of something to wipe out the whole little old lady demographic entirely," he said. "Much more fun. In any case, when this current cycle of the Killing Zone ends, when will we be ready to initiate the new?"

"Almost immediately," the computer said. "The new crop of fighters is implanted and prepped and ready to go. We had some pretty good material to work with this time - thanks to that windfall we had, courtesy of the Justice Department."

A week before, a squad of Judges from the Undercover Division,commonly known as the Wally Squad, had targeted the Killing Zone and attempted to infiltrate Drago San's lair.

They were currently being... modified, in preparation for a closer look at the Killing Zone than anyone with an attachment to their sanity, and not to mention their limbs, could wish.

"One can always rely on the Judges," said Efil Drago San happily. "And speaking of which, how are their investigations proceeding now? Any new offensive that might be of concern?"

"It's all over the Mega-City newscasts," said the computer. "You really should keep up with the news, sir."

"I never watch the news, computer," said Efil Drago San. "I prefer to make it. So what are the Mega-City newscasts saying?"

"That Judge Dredd has been assigned to the case," the computer said. "Arrests, detentions and all kinds of Judicial mayhem are expected momentarily."

"The notorious Judge Dredd, eh?" Drago San exclaimed with delight. "My word, that opens up some distinct possibilities."

He sat for a moment, considering the distinct possibilities. Then: "Computer?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Hold back on starting a new cycle when the current one ends," said Drago San. "Clear the boards and ready the heavy-customisation skeining-vats. I have in mind the setting up of a very special event."

EIGHT

"
Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
"

-
The Mikado

"The Defence has attempted to contend," said SJS-Judge Slithe, "that there is no evidence, other than pure hearsay, linking Efil Drago San to the sickening and utterly deplorable slaughter that was broadcast city-wide from the Killing Zone. As you can see in this reclaimed footage, however, Drago San is culpable in every respect..."

"Objection!" cried Barnstable Wheems.

"Oh, Grud, what is it now?" said Chief Judge Hershey.

"Veracity of this so-called evidence," said Wheems, rising to his feet and glaring about himself in an attempt to be imposing.

"As I understand it," he continued, "the complex which housed this so-called 'Killing Zone' was completely destroyed, along with all its records, when several million tonnes of raw sewerage was blown through it, as a result of a completely unrelated accident in the Sector Nine Resyk facility, which necessitated what I believe is called an emergency core-dump."

Wheems smirked a little, in anticipation of some coming and supposedly humorous comment. "Am I to understand that a number of Judges are slightly more... fragrant than before in reclaiming this so-called footage?"

The humorous comment, of course, went down like a lead dirigible.

"The footage was reclaimed," said SJS-Judge Slithe, "from material imprinted on the synaptic network of one Psi-Judge Janus, who was forced to psionically interface with the transputer-based control system of the Killing Zone before it was destroyed. This material and more was imprinted on her living brain by the psychic backlash."

"Then Defence contends," said Barnstable Wheems, "that all of this is still merely hearsay. Some delusional hallucination resulting from that action - if it ever happened in the first place - or actively and maliciously made up."

"Give it a rest, Wheems," said Hershey. "You're the only guy in the world, it seems, who even wants to question the fact that he actually did it. For one thing, we have surviving and unimpeachable witnesses - Dredd, Janus and an Undercover Operations Judge whose actual name has no bearing on this hearing.

"For another thing, we have Drago San's sworn statement, which roughly boils down to, 'Did it? Course I bleeding did it. What are you going to do about it?" You're on a hiding to nothing here, Wheems, if the main thrust of your argument is that he didn't do it."

"Of course," said Wheems. "I am merely serving the best interests of my, uh, client, and bringing up that first possibility as a matter of form. The purpose of this hearing, however, is to decide other issues than the point of simple culpability."

"Hey, I'm Danny Consart, this is
Mega-City News
- a fistful of fun every fifteen minutes! Coming up, environmentalists - should they just get the drokk over themselves or what? We went through hell, after all, to pretty much make sure there's no environment left so's they'd stop banging on about it. That's a special report, with Hartley Whipple, coming up.

"Also coming up, N'Synthetic sole-survivor and solo pop sensation Manda T talks about her new daughter, Pixie Astroflash. She's a right little star, says Manda, as you'll see when she uses the holo-vid footage of the birth in her stonking new data-wafer. Way to squeeze one out for the guys, Manda!

"And we'll be talking to hot-rockin' Xeno-porn director Jason Kane about his upcoming and utterly original holo-sim,
Xenomorphic Bondage Slaves XXXVII
. I can hardly wait! Jason appears courtesy of Dead Dog in the Water PreProductions, and wishes it to be known by any Justice Department forces who might be watching that any similarity between him and the notorious Cursed Earth brigand 'Captain' Jack Harkness is a purely unfortunate coincidence. He's had a bit of trouble in that area, apparently.

"All that, coming up soon. But first, our Public Service remit under the Laws and Statutes of Mega-City One require that we inform you of, ahem, a very important event happening as we speak in the Hall of Justice. The Justice Department of Mega-City One itself, it seems, is on trial, as they hold an extradition hearing for Efil Drago San, the Brit-Cit criminal Overlord who entertained... I mean, shocked and appalled us a few years back with the shocking, sickening and utterly appalling slaughter known as the Killing Zone.

"You might get to see some old Zone footage, for what it's worth, but it mostly just sounds like a bunch of talking heads arguing the toss, quite frankly. You can't even vote on who gets evicted from the city-state. If you really feel the need, set your interactive blip to channel 4,971.

I'm Danni Consart, this is
Mega-City News
. Up next, Manda T, right after these truly and sincerely important messages."

The public chamber of the Chief Judge had been chosen as the venue for the hearing, more or less on the basis that the space was big enough, and the fact that the imposingly looming statue of an Eagle, the symbol of Mega-City One Justice, was suitably impressive.

Hershey sat before it on what was basically a throne - an arrangement she hated at the best of times, calling to mind as it did images of kings and tyrants and despots, sitting in front of people in their audience chambers throughout history.

On the other hand, in the current circumstances, it did lend a certain sense of authority to one who was serving as the final arbiter for this hearing.

The rest of the chamber had been hastily remodelled as needed. A public gallery of bleachers had been thrown up, since it was a requisite, apparently, that justice be done in front of anyone who might like to turn up and watch the people doing so. First come, first served.

Since no Mega-City citizen in their right mind would walk into the Halls of Justice voluntarily, the bleachers were only occupied by a smattering of Mega-City journalists, supplementing the floating microcams that were relaying the proceedings to the various news services of Mega-City One and Brit-Cit.

The only other occupant was a single, old and possibly senile woman, who sat muttering to herself and knitting. Nobody quite knew how she'd got there, but then again, nobody ever quite got around to caring enough to ask.

A reinforced Plexiglas cabinet had been set up before the Chief Judge to house the defendant, Drago San, and then replaced with a number of immobilising field emitters when it was realised how ridiculous Drago San looked in it. Rather like a Plexiglas box half-filled with dough. Sitting beside him was Barnstable Wheems, who, as we've seen, was acting as Counsel for the Defence.

Also sitting before Chief Judge Hershey were Dredd - the arresting officer and the single most visible and identifiable symbol of Mega-City Justice - and SJS-Judge Slithe, who was handling the procedural bulk of the actual prosecution.

The Special Judicial Service was commonly regarded as a bunch of conniving twisters, every bit as bad as the lawyers of the judicial system the Justice Department had replaced. So it was good, in some small sense, that someone had finally found a use for them.

The chamber also contained a number of technicians, to operate the various consoles that might be required to display evidence, and a guard under the command of the Master at Arms, Brit-Cit Detective Judge Treasure Steel, comprised of Street Judges from both the Mega-City and Brit-Cit, to keep order should any crowd of observers actually turn up. This was the basic setup for the first procedural trial the Mega-City had experienced in a century. The problem was, by this time, nobody really had a clue as to what the drokk they were actually doing.

The old process of laying out the case for the prosecution, laying out the case for the defence and then summing up a (a process that, apparently, had taken months at a time) had seemed just too tedious for words, so the hearing had devolved into one of point and counterpoint, in the hope that, under the guidance of the Arbiter, one point of view would eventually prevail.

If the presence of the Chief Judge of Mega-City One might have been seen as skewing the process in a certain way, however, that would be to forget about the final collection of people in the chamber, who we have thus far failed to mention.

The individuals in the process that it had proved hardest, in the end, for the Justice Department of Mega-City One to get its collective judicial head around.

The jury.

In Mega-City One there was no such thing as an old Judge, at least, not in any active sense. There were various personnel from the ancillary services, like Med or Tek-Division, of such an age and degree of experience that they were kept around as an invaluable resource, but there were no old Judges out there on the streets.

Rejuve-treatments might keep a Street Judge physically healthy and extend the active life of his body, but the mind in that body was a different matter. When a Judge reached a sufficient age that his Judgement, as it were, started to go, the punishment of the streets was merciless and lethal, nine times out of ten.

And for that one in ten who might survive, watching the disastrous results of his Judgement failing him, the only alternative was the Long Walk - out into the badlands of the Cursed Earth beyond the Mega-City walls, there to bring the Law to the most lawless place on Planet Earth.

Many a gang-razed settlement in the Cursed Earth, in short, now rang to the terrifying, righteous cry of, "Hold it right there, you scum! Prepare to face the leaden wrath of - aw, drokk, I've fallen off my Zimmer frame."