“Given the witnesses’ current condition, are the parties willing to excuse the witness?” The Judge asked.
“I think I’ve asked most of what I wanted,” Troy’s lawyer, Christian Saviour, said before the prosecutor quickly agreed.
The Bailiff, a rather rotund middle-aged man, approached the witness stand and picked up a small white hen, whose eyes were squinted shut. Apparently, she was trying to lay an egg. The jury appeared weirded out by this turn of events.
“Thank you.” The chicken said, exasperated, just before the mental link was cut off.
The bailiff carried her over to a special box, opposite the jury box, that had been specially constructed to house the animal witnesses after they’d testified. Apparently, witnesses couldn’t be in the courtroom before they’re excused from further testimony. It might taint their testimony. But after they’d testified, they could still be in the courtroom.
Some of the animals in the box were easy to see – the lion was notably visible sitting in the back of the box. Then there was an alligator whose long, scaly snout was poking up over the front railing. Too big to sit in one of the chairs, it was clearly had trouble lifting its heavy belly high enough off the floor to see out.
Some of the other animals were much less noticeable. So far, the prosecution had put two dogs on the witness stand and, while they couldn’t be seen, the muffled sound of two bodies rubbing against the box’s wooden railing made it obvious that they were down there, fucking.
A side effect of being turned into an animal, they had all explained, was that they were now subject to their bodies’ uncontrollable cycles of heat and rut. Troy’s lawyer had tried to object but the judge had felt that, under the circumstances, those dogs had a right to be in the room, even if they couldn’t control themselves.
Then there were some of the animals that were visible in more ways than one. Sitting by itself on one of the chairs in the back left corner of the box was the skunk. The empty audience and animal witness box seats surrounding it spoke of how bad its stench was.
“The next witness is Mr. Clyde Winters. Troy Green’s landlord.” The prosecutor announced, bringing a badger up to the stand.
“Allegedly.” Christian said.
Mind used Mass Telepathy again. The badger began to speak. Troy concealed a smile. His lawyer, Christian shared it with him.
“You said you didn’t transform this one?” Christian asked.
His lawyer knew all the details. Christian was aware that Troy had transformed all these people, but he’d decided it was a career changer to participate in the trial. Troy was annoyed at the disbelieving look his lawyer was giving to him.
“No!” Troy whispered fiercely. “I know for a fact that I never changed him. So how…” Troy trailed off, sudden realization coming to him. “He’s a ringer!”
“You think they brought in a real badger?” Troy’s lawyer was starting to grin as well. “So how is he talking?”
“Mind. Maybe he thinks they can’t get me, so he used his Book to pretend now.”
“How do we beat it?” Christian asked. “That’s an easy dismissal if we can prove it.”
Troy shook his head as the prosecutor asked the badger questions. Even the voice wasn’t quite right, like it was a half-remembered version of Mr. Winters’ voice. Which it likely was. The badger itself wasn’t gesticulating like the other animals had. It was just sitting perfectly still, making grunting noises.
“I don’t think we can, but he’s an easy witness to dismantle.” Troy said, listening as the badger basically filled out all the holes in the other animals’ testimony. The things it was saying were mostly true, but Mr. Winters wouldn’t have known any of that. He never came by the apartments in the two years Troy had lived there. “Go for personal questions, make him improvise and catch him when he stumbles.”
“Discredit, then.” Christian nodded as the prosecution finished their questioning. “We’ll see if we can find the real Winters and bring him in.”
“Good luck with that.” Troy said.
In truth, he was lying to his lawyer. Troy HAD, in fact, changed the fat nosy fuck into a badger. But he’d found a squirrel outside his prison cell and transformed it into a very confused, amnesiac version of Mr. Winters. Now a few calls and the ‘real’ Mr. Winters would come here to testify. And his lack of memories could be explained by Mind abusing his powers. Mistrial coming right up!
Christian stood and began to pace in front of the stand.
"You stated earlier that you've been living in the zoo ever since the alleged incident. Why? You stated earlier that you don't have a family, so you could have gone back to your apartment. Why the zoo?" Christian asked.
"I'm so small, I can't even open the door to my house!" The badger replied.
"So you went to live in the badger exhibit in the zoo? You don't mind living with wild animals despite supposedly having spent most of your life as a human?"
"Where else was I supposed to go?" the badger says in a resigned tone
"What, you don't have friends?"
“...” The badger hung his head.
“Real people have friends, Mr. Badger. It can’t be a huge burden to care for a badger. A salad a day, backyard access…”
“I don’t have friends, okay?” Mr. Winters replied hotly.
“Okay. Let’s assume that’s true. Do you like the zoo?”
“Yes, they treat me well.”
“Good for them! “ Christian grinned. "Or, perhaps you don't mind living in the zoo because you've always lived in the zoo, because you've always been a badger and this is just some elaborate..."
“Objection, badgering the witness!” The Prosecutor said.
“Sustained.” The judge said.
“No further questions, your honor.” Christian said smugly.
“Bailiff, take the jury from the room.” The judge asked.
The bailiff nodded and took the jury into a back room where they could wait. This was done, apparently, to keep conversations the judge didn’t want the jury to hear-negotiations, statements that the defense and prosecution didn’t want anyone to hear or say in court, that kind of thing. Right now was another of those times.
“May I approach the bench, your Honor?” Christian asked.
He and the Prosecutor talked to the judge for a few minutes before walking back to their seats, both trying to conceal their own smiles.
“We found him.” Mr. Saviour leaned over and nudged Troy’s ribs. “They’re bringing him here now.”
Troy hid a grin. “You still have ‘Mr. Winters’ on our witness list, right?”
“Troy, I’m not an amateur. Of course I did my due diligence. Added him when the jury was dismissed. Prosecution didn’t object.” Christian smiled.
As Troy finished chatting with his lawyer, he looked back up at the judge who was clearly eager to get started again.
“Mr. Green,” The judge looked at Troy. “You have a constitutional right not to testify in this case. The burden is on the prosecutor to prove that you committed the alleged crimes, if they fail to meet that burden then the jury must acquit you. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Knowing that, do you wish to testify in your defense?”
“Yes.” Troy replied.
“Okay, Bailiff, please bring the jury back into the room.” The judge said.
The jury was brought in as Troy got up to the witness standing, brushing fur off the seat. When he was properly seated, he noticed an Arabic-looking man sitting by himself in the middle of the empty audience seats near the skunk.
That was odd, Troy realized. That section of the room had empties out rather quickly after the skunk took its seat, and it had remained that way for good reason. Troy swallowed, something was off about that new man. Troy hoped he wasn’t another Book user. But if he were, would he be so brazen as to seat himself in the open?
“Have you ever seen this Book before, Mr. Troy?” Christian asked, picking up the fake Book off the table holding it up so the jury could see.
“Yes.” Troy paused for a beat, making sure he ended his sentence properly, then continued. “I saw it when the FBI showed it to me, when they told me I was using it to turn people into animals.”
“And were you using this book to turn people into animals?”
“No.” Troy said firmly, pausing again.
He knew that Mind was using his powers to ascertain the truth of his statements. It was an easy spell, though he hadn’t heard him cast it. As long as he was careful with his answers and his lawyer was careful in the phrasing of his questions, he’d be fine.
“Can you tell us about what happened when you were arrested?”
“They said they thought I was using magic-MAGIC! To change people. This is all crazy, I haven’t even seen Mr. Winters since the day I moved in two years ago!”
“That’s true. Your Honor, I’d like to bring someone into the courtroom now. Mr. Winters?” Christian turned to the door.
A large, heavy set man walked nervously into the courtroom. There were gasps from the audience. He waddled to an empty seat.
“Mr. Winters, could you come here a moment?” Christian asked.
“Objection!” The Prosecutor rose from his seat. “Permission to approach the bench!”
“Granted.” The Judge growled, rubbing his temples. “Bailiff escort the jury out again.”
The jury left. Troy watched Mr. Winters stood near the judge as his lawyer and the prosecutor argued. He smiled.
“We have no idea this is the Mr. Winters he claims to be and further, Your Honor, he isn’t on any evidence or witness list!” The Prosecutor argued.
“Your honor, he’s on the prosecutions list,” Christian said before pointing at a name on the list in front of the judge, “right there, Clyde Winters.”
“You didn’t say you were going to call him as a witness!” the prosecutor objected.
“And he’s not the real Clyde Winters, that badger is!” he said, motioning towards the witness box.
“Your honor, this is the real Clyde Winters, he’s on the list, and I’m using him to rebut that badger’s assertions. I know it’s a bit unusual, but so is everything about this trial.”
“Oh dear lord…” The judge rubbed his temples some more. “Go back to your seats. I rule Mr. Winters-BOTH Mr. Winters-have their testimony stricken. This is close to a Mistrial.”
They sat back down. Christian wasn’t smiling.
“I’d like to move to Dismiss, Your Honor.” Christian said.
“Denied. I want to let the jury decide. That’s their job.” The judge growled. “Lord knows I wouldn't hand this case off to anyone else. We are not dismissing or mistrialling this case. Any more surprises, Mr. Saviour?”
Troy’s heart sank. What? The judge was a freakin’ idiot! Juries were incredibly unreliable! There had been way too many animal lovers in that jury selection pool! Troy couldn’t help but fume to himself as the jury was brought in and Troy resumed testifying on the stand.
He saw the Arabic-looking man taking his seat again. A few audience members were missing, now. Which was strange. The audience was usually full, save for a distance of fifteen feet from the skunk. He’d have to keep an eye on the guy. Possible Book user.
“So you don’t believe in magic, Mr. Green?” Christian resumed his questioning.
“No.”
“What do you think of the Book?”
“It’s fake.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Why doesn’t the Book work for anyone if it’s real?” Troy said. “That’s how it’s supposed to work. And if magic is as real as they claim, then, obviously, that book is a fake. And if it’s a fake, where’s the real one? I wouldn’t be sitting in the witness stand if I did have that power, would I?”
“The Federal agent next to you can Dispel magic.”
“Which is very convenient, isn’t it? I can’t use powers because some guy can cancel them?” Troy scoffed. “Worse, if the Books ARE real, doesn’t that mean he’s made this courtroom a target for the 8 OTHER purported Book users?”
“Objection!” The Prosecutor slammed his hand on the table. “Non-responsive and cuts close to violating our pre-trial stipulations!”
“Sustained. Strike that comment from the record. I would advise Mr. Green to not speculate.” The judge sighed. “Though I’m starting to speculate too.”
“No further questions Your Honor.” Christian said.
Troy steeled himself. He knew what was coming and it wouldn’t be pleasant. They had gone over the things the Prosecutor was allowed to bring up. They were…relatively damning, right now. This was why he was hoping for a quick mistrial before the Prosecutor ever got his teeth in him.
The Prosecutor stood and pulled out a TV that was next to Mind.
“Your Honor, the Prosecution admits the pictures marked as Exhibits 32-54.”
The TV flicked on with an image containing an internet search history. Troy’s stomach sank, knowing it was his. So they were coming in guns blazing right off the bat. Straight butt fucking, no lube or foreplay.
“Is this your search history, Troy?”
“Yes.”
“And it’s well, I suppose I would call it pornography that’s related to turning people into anthropomorphic animals.”
“Yes, but those are anthros, not-”
“Objection, non-responsiveness, your Honor.”
“Sustained.” The Judge said. “Mr. Troy, please only respond directly to the questions that are asked of you.”
“So is it fair to say, Mr. Troy, that you wish you could turn people into animals?”
“No.” Troy smirked.
“No. Understandable, you like muscly tiger-men.” The Prosecutor smiled and brought up the next set of comics. “Can you explain these pictures you have saved on your computer?”
They were transformation comics. Humans to ferals. Most of them using magic. The Prosecutor scrolled through a few of them.
“What’s this a picture of, Mr. Green?” The Prosecutor asked, pointing at the screen.
“A man being transformed into a lion." Troy said, feeling dread build inside of him.
“And this one?"
"A man getting transformed into a skunk"
"You favorited them, correct?"
"Yes." Troy said, face turning red.
“And is there a skunk and a lion in the animal box?”
“Yes.”
“Do you still stand by your statement that you do not wish you could turn people into animals?” The Prosecutor smiled.
“Objection Your Honor,” Christian stood, “Look, I wish I could fuck like a rabbit, but that doesn’t mean I go around having sex with every person I find!”