This World

by Lee, TD

  Total annihilation? Are they going to destroy Earth?

  “I see, the Sefirots are now entering into a state of demise with their numbers hitting close to extinction. I see no fault in the Sefirot’s wishes against Earth as Earthlings are the one to cause the Sefirots to reach these numbers to the mass amounts of violence against the Sefirots,” the Judge says, strangely agreeing with what the Prosecution has to say. “Does the Defense have anything to say about the matter?”

  “With most of the opening statement, most definitely,” the Prospector says

  “Then please, entertain me, Defense,” the Judge says, unamused.

  “Very well!” the Prospector exclaims confidently. The Prospector takes several steps forward and when I thought he was going to fall off the platform, he actually is continues walking on what looks like thin air. The Prospector begins to explain, "The Sefirot attack on Earth violates the third highest degree of intergalactic law. Last I checked, there was a defined ordinance that declares that there shall be no interplanetary colonization of undeveloped planets. The Sefirots invaded Earth and attempted colonization which clearly violates intergalactic law. Therefore, Earth shall not suffer any repercussions due to the failed morals of the Sefirots.”

  The Judge questions, "You're claiming the Sefirots were trying to colonize Earth as it is an undeveloped planet?"

  Undeveloped?

  "Because Earth is undeveloped, it is the perfect target, wouldn't you agree your highest honor? Think of it, just for a second. Such a newborn planet with little defense compared to the Sefirots would be a prime target for a predator. We all know that the Sefirots have technology millennia beyond Earth’s, just because Earth successfully defended does not mean they are murdered. They are simply protecting themselves in self-defense. There is no issue with that.”

  The Judge says, “But the Sefirots are entering a state of extinction, is that not because of Earth?”

  "That’s the Sefirot’s fault. They persisted in their attacks, it was not just one attack, it was several over and over. The Sefirot’s invaded by force, never by peace. The Sefirots forced their way into Earth and attempted colonization through violence. There was no peaceful communication, just bloodshed,” the Prospector argues passionately. His eyes are filled with vigor, his voice filled with determination. He looks towards Adele and she nods.

  Adele opens her briefcase and pulls out a couple of photos. The pushes them onto a floating screen in front of her and the photos are displayed all over the room. These are pictures of the Sefirots destroying cities and killing people. There’s one in particular that shows the Sefirots come down from the clouds, just like I’ve seen so many times before.

  “As you can tell by these photographs, the Sefirots were invading with violence, there’s no instance that Earth was indiscriminately killing Sefirots out of brutality. This shows self-defense,” the Prospector says.

  The Judge questions, "Even with all of this evidence, why does Earth not just reach out to any other intergalactic ally?"

  "Well, they lack the communications to do such. I reiterate, Earth is an undeveloped planet. They do not have the technological means to communicate for help. While there are several earthborn civilians that travel across space, they are not respected by any intergalactic species. So, even if Earthlings were to communicate for assistance, no one would come to their aid. And if you say that your species would’ve helped them, you’re a liar."

  "How dare you!" some of the watching aliens say, clearly offended by what the Prospector. An uproar has started as people are angrily yelling at the Prospector.

  The Judge slams his gavel once which echoes loudly throughout the room. “Order!” he booms. Every silences and the Judge continues, “The Defense makes a strong claim for Earth’s innocence. While the Defense is quite the irritable man, he does have a powerful case against Earth’s annihilation.”

  Wow, the Prospector is really good. Not that he had to use any false facts or underhanded techniques to get the Judge to sway to his side, he’s using truth and it worked. This isn’t a hard case, just one that sounds like there’s a lot of false information.

  “Your Honor, I would like to call upon a speaker,” Kapros says calmly even though it seems like he’s about to lose this case.

  “A speaker? And who would this speaker be?” the Judge asks.

  “Yes, I would like to call upon the lord of the Sefirots, Lord Lux Ventiti.” Kapros announces.

  Lord of the Sefirots? This can’t be good.

  On cue, the door opens loudly. The figure walking in is someone who looks almost human. They’re humanly sized, maybe a bit taller than me. Their hair is pure white and just glowing. They’re dressed in a white robe with red accents and symbols. Their face has several red markings that remind me of several of the Alpha Sefirots. As this figure walks, I swear I can hear a little bit of a chorus line. Accompanying this supposed Lord are a couple of bodyguards armed with large guns and weaponry. This supposed Lord floats up without any platform and stops right in front of the Judge.

  “Lord Lux, thank you for appearing before the court today,” Kapros says with a bow.

  Lux speaks with a solemn voice, that’s scarily calm and scarily serious, “No thank you required, I am simply here to speak on behalf of my citizens.” How is this guy the Lord of the Sefirots? He looks so human.

  “Lord Lux, can you speak on behalf of the Sefirots about the situation against Earth?” the Judge asks.

  Lux nods slowly. He says, “If I speak frankly, yes the Sefirot planet was attempting to be a part of Earth. However, I was looking into a much more peaceful way of co-existence. The violent means to it, however, were not at my discretion. I would have much preferred a more peaceful way of handling the matter, but many of my highest ranking officials acted without my permission. To say that they have been dealt reasonable punishment by Earth’s citizens is enough. These officials went against my orders and attempted to colonize Earth to appease me, as you can tell, I am not appeased.”

  “Wh-what!?” Kapros exclaims angrily. He’s clearly hearing things he doesn’t want to hear. “Lord Lux, please consider what it is that you’re trying to say.”

  Lux quickly replies back, “If I recall, you were the one that reached out to me and wanted to make a case against Earth, Sir Kapros Andomedus.

  “Wh-what!?” Kapros repeats himself with more anger.

  “Your childish grudge is yours and yours alone, do not drag the Sefirot planet through the mud that your species so desires to bathe in,” Lux says with the most ruling voice I have ever heard. This is the power of a Lord huh?

  Wow. How does it feel to be burned by a Lord? Not very good I would assume.

  “L-Lord Lux,” Kapros murmurs to himself.

  The spectators in the room are all mumbling. All of them are probably talking about Lux’ statement against Kapros.

  The gavel strikes again and silence immediately follows. The Judge nods slowly. “I see that your speaker has not helped your case Kapros. This is a striking blow to your reputation as well. We will speak after this case. Thank you Lord Lux Ventiti, you may graciously leave this courtroom.”

  “Of course your Honor, if I could bring clarification to the situation, then I will gladly do so. Please, everyone have a nice day,” Lux says as he descends from the air and exits through the doors.

  “As I see it, Earth was clearly acting in self-defense, therefore the total annihilation plea will not follow through. Earth is innocent, are there any objections?”

  A brief silence falls on the court. I look over at the Prospector, Adele, and Grania and they’re all smiling proudly. I even catch myself smiling a bit too.

  “If there are no objections then I declare that this-”

  “Hold it!” Kapros’ voice echoes throughout the room, “Please your Honor, please call a recess. I believe there is evidence that does not support Lord Lux as well as will prove that the Defense is just feigning Earth’s innocence.”

  “A
recess?” the Judge questions.

  “Yes, fifteen minutes is all I need, please your Honor,” Kapros begs.

  “He’s desperate,” I hear Adele whisper. Her eyes squint at Kapros, almost as if she’s analyzing him. “What’s he planning?”

  “It is Kapros, he’s probably the most underhanded prosecutor in the whole galaxy,” the Prospector says, maintaining his grin.

  The Judge sighs audibly. “Kapros, I will give you a fifteen-minute recess and no more. If you come back without any evidence or a speaker, then you will face serious consequences.”

  “Yes, thank you your Honor!” Kapros says, smiling a bit.

  The Judge raises his gavel and announces, “This court will go into a fifteen-minute recess!”

  Chapter 20

  We all leave the courtroom when the Judge calls for recess. Somehow we were able to find a café in this giant courthouse. None of us got anything to drink or eat though, considering we only have fifteen minutes.

  “Kapros is scheming something, but what?” Adele murmurs to herself. Her fingers rub her chin as she’s in deep thought.

  “It’s definitely an act of desperation and anger, I was able to hear it,” Grania says, fidgeting with the pendant around her neck, “but the Prospector has this case in the bag! We’ll be fine.”

  “Oh Grania you flatter me too much,” the Prospector smiles, “keep going.”

  Grania chuckles quietly and says, “I have to use the bathroom, I’ll be right back.” She gets up and leaves.

  “So what do you think of this planet Ridley?” the Prospector asks looking deep into my eyes.

  I don’t know what to say. It’s not like I was able to walk around and sightsee before this. “It’s, interesting,” I slowly say. It is, considering there’s creatures of all sorts of shapes and sizes here. Definitely different from Earth where people are either super people or not.

  The Prospector loudly interjects, “Interesting? That’s it? Oh come on, you have much more to say don’t you? Giants, tentacles, anthropomorphic animals! This planet is a treasury of an assortment of interplanetary beings! Of course Veritas is a neutral planet so it’s common for all sorts of planetary beings to be here. Veritas is also quite the huge port planet as well, where interplanetary trades happen. It’s quite fascinating to know the history of Veritas as it was simply an isolated planet and…”

  There he goes again. Talking about something that I don’t really care about. Honestly, I don’t care about this planet’s history or anything like that. I doubt I’ll ever be back.

  “Ah and let me tell you about Veritas’ specialty dish, the Veritan soufflé! Despite it sounding like a dessert, it is actually very savory. Their trick is that they use something very similar to-”

  “I’m going to go use the bathroom too, I’ll be right back,” I say, standing.

  “Oh! Please hurry on back, not only do I have much to tell you about this planet, but the trial will resume soon,” the Prospector suggests.

  “Um, yeah, sure,” I say, quickly walking away.

  I wander a bit, not really needing to use the bathroom. Being around the Prospector can be kind of overwhelming. He’s just so talkative that it makes me wonder if there’s a reason for it. Adele and Grania really like him though, I don’t see it, but whatever floats their boat.

  Hiro would freak out if he ever found out that I went to an alien planet. This is right up his alley with the superhero stuff. He loves anything that’s just extraordinary. Maybe he could’ve flew to this planet in Lancelot. Then again, I don’t know how far away this place is to Earth. Regardless, Hiro would have a blast here. He’d be checking everything out, buy some souvenirs too probably. Dammit Hiro, why’d you have to die so soon? You just became a popular hero and those stupid Sephirots had to get to you. You could’ve done so much.

  Lost in thought, I bump into someone. “Sorry,” I quickly say, looking up to see who it was that I bumped.

  It’s Lord Lux? Wow, he’s a lot taller than I thought now that he’s right in front of me. Weird, you’d think I would’ve noticed him since he has such a strong presence. He has a very straight face on, emotionless even. Instead of him saying something, one of his guards yells at me, “You have some nerve to bump into Lord Lux! Watch where you’re stepping!”

  “I’m sorry,” I say, moving to the side. Lord Lux continues to walk with his guards near him without saying a single word to me.

  A deep sigh escapes my throat. That could’ve been bad.

  I continue walking and I find myself in a dead end hallway. There’s a couple of large chairs sitting outside of the bathrooms. On the side are a bunch of doors that lead into some rooms. One of the doors are wide open for some reason. I don’t know how long I’ve been walking for, but I should probably get back to Adele and the Prospector. There’s a piercing scream that echoes in the hallway. I look up and find a bunch of people running past me. What’s going on?

  Looking around, there’s not much happening, yet everyone looks like they’re in panic. Do I smell, smoke?

  As I turn to backtrack where I came from, I hear a familiar voice scream, “R-Ridley!”

  I look back to find Grania being held by several guards. I quickly move over to her and ask, “Grania? What’s happening?”

  “They’re arresting me! Go get the Prospector!” she tells me, fighting back the tears that are gathering in her eyes. I’m stunned, I don’t know what to do. She’s being arrested? “Ridley, go! Please!”

  Right, go get the Prospector. I can do that. My feet pick up and I start running.

  I run all the way back to the café. Adele and the Prospector are where I last left them. In the middle of them laughing, I interrupt with a frantic voice, “P-Prospector!”

  “Ah, welcome back Ridley!” the Prospector greets me with that smile of his, “You’re back before Grania, I wonder what’s taking her so long. I hope she didn’t fall in!”

  Before either Adele or the Prospector can laugh, I slam my hands on the table and try to make out the words, “N-no! Sh-she, G-Grania, she!” I’m out of breath.

  “What’s wrong Ridley?” Adele asks.

  A rushed guard comes running up to us, firearm in hand. They ask loudly, “Are you the supposed Prospector?”

  “Supposed? I am the Prospector,” the Prospector answers back.

  “Come with me!” the guard says, immediately turning back and walking off. All three of us get out of our seats and we follow.

  “May I ask, what does this concern?” the Prospector asks, walking side-by-side with the guard.

  The guard continues to walk, escorting us all down a series of halls. He speaks, “You have a companion that is in questioning for a murder.”

  “Murder!?” the Prospector exclaims, “what? When? Where? Why?”

  “Save your questions for your companion,” the guard says.

  The guard opens a door that leads into a small room with a large glass-like screen in the middle to divide the room into two. On the other side is Grania who is in a large, glowing, transparent red ball. Once she hears us enter the room, her face lights up a bit.

  “Prospector!” she says happily. She presses up against the ball, but she gets shocked and jumps back. “Ow!”

  “Grania what happened?” the Prospector asks.

  “Prospector! I-I didn’t do it!” Grania says, tears in her eyes. The pendant that she normally plays with isn’t with her now.

  “I know you didn’t Grania, I know. Tell me what happened,” the Prospector says in the calmest voice that he could muster. Even though he’s trying to maintain himself with some deep breaths, he’s shaking from either anger or sadness.

  Grania takes a couple of deep breaths herself. “When I left the bathroom, there was this weird device thing on the floor. I picked it up and was trying to find the person who owned it, but then a bunch of security came up to me and arrested, saying I committed a murder. They arrested me on the spot without letting me defend myself at all. It wasn’t until th
ey put me in this cage that they let say anything.”

  “What device did you pick up?” Adele asks, her eyes are completely focused.

  “Security kept calling it a weapon, so I guess it was the murder weapon, all I can remember was that it was an off white thing,” Grania replies.

  “Grania, where’s your pendant?” the Prospector asks.

  “They took it as soon as they arrested me. I don’t know why,” Grania answers.

  Guards barge into Grania’s side of the room. Both of the guards are holding some sort of metal device and they stand at both sides of Grania. The metal devices whir loudly. One of the guards announce, “Time to take you into court little miss.” Grania’s cage starts moving, probably due to the metal devices.

  “Officers, please, let us continue the questioning,” the Prospector pleads.

  “No more questioning, the case is about to start. If you fail to arrive by the designated time, then you will automatically lose the case.,” one of the guards says in a lowly voice.

  “We haven’t had enough time!” the Prospector says.

  “You’re the defense for Earth aren’t you? Well, lucky you, this lady’s case is now linked to that one. Good luck on winning both cases,” the guard snickers as he and his partner takes Grania out of the room.

  “They’ve linked the cases?” the Prospector mumbles.

  “What does that mean?” I ask.

  Adele answers, “It means that both cases are now related and if the Prospector cannot prove Grania is innocence, then he will also lose Earth. It is a fatal flaw in the system, but they have proceeded this way for years. There is nothing we can do about the linked cases.” Adele takes a deep sigh and turns to the Prospector. “The trial resumes in two minutes, what do you propose we do Prospector?” Adele asks as soon as we exit the holding room.

  The Prospector sighs deeply, but has a smile on his face when he looks at Adele. “Adele, I’m going to ask you for something that you might not like, but it’s what I need you to do.”

  “What is it?” Adele questions.