ACT II

Standing in the middle of the room made me feel so incredibly small. The ceilings were taller than I could see, fading into darkness. The floor was designed like a circle, with glowing rings like cracks revealing light from below. Five pedestals stood at the far end of the circle, wrapping almost to the middle on each side. They were quite large in diameter and as tall as a two-story house.

There were no windows, and the only light in the room so far came from the open door.

Just as the door closed, a loud, distorted sound burst from the middle pedestal, and a bright blue projection ignited into a person. The holographic man was taller than even the statues outside were, and he looked down at me as the other four pedestals turned their projections on, too, making the same noises as they came on.

The room was suddenly bright, with the holograms emitting light from their floors. As they set themselves up, a flood of people started to come in from two doors along the wall behind the pedestals. They sat down in three rows of chairs that curved along the wall, wrapping around the whole room. It was probably the jury. They had on black robes, ranging in age.

Eito came closer to Mom as he saw the five holograms looming over us. The hum of the projectors was like that of a lightsaber; low and unstable, pulsing without rhythm loudly as the circular shape of the room reverberated their sound. However, unlike a lightsaber, the hum was punchier, with spikes of distortion every so often as they flickered. Were they flickering because of poor design? Or were they meant to flicker a little because that's how we always saw holograms when we thought of them?

Either way, they were the coolest thing I'd ever seen. The people themselves, however, were not so cool.

"Hiroko, Katsumi, and Eito Morita. Those are your names, yes?" the man in the middle asked. He was wearing what looked like armor, shaped to fit his body. I couldn't make out the material, as the whole image of him was blue and translucent.

"Where the hell have you taken us?!" Mom yelled. I turned quickly to stop her, as arguing might only make things worse.

"Mom, let me talk, ok?" I said. She reluctantly nodded, stepping back with Eito.

"Hi, I am Katsumi, yes. We are all of those people, but we've never been here before," I said.

"You've never been here before? Funny, I've never heard that excuse," the woman on the far right laughed.

"I'm not joking. We're from 2019, not whichever year this is, I think 2209," I explained.

"Yes, we understand you weren't born here, but you most certainly were here, and you did leave with an Aether ship illegally, killing two police officers in the process."

"That charge wasn't mentioned when we were abducted," I pointed out.

"Which charge?" he asked.

"Murder. Booker mentioned forcefully leaving and a time agreement thing but nothing about killing anyone," I said.

"Oh?" the man asked.

"Sir, we didn't bring up the charge as the murder wasn't planned, nor was it deliberate," Booker said.

"Right, right, yes, the charge has been dropped, so just the forceful planetary escape and the breaking of the international time travel agreement remain," he said. "Now, do you deny said charges?"

"Well, considering we have absolutely no knowledge of anything you've mentioned here, I'm going to have to say we do deny all of the charges," I said.

"How interesting... we've never had a case quite so unusual. Most criminals confess right away, but to go so far as to deny something so serious with so much evidence is simply unheard of."

"I'm not lying. You can put me through a lie detector or something, honestly. You must have developed something to get the truth out of anyone, right?" I asked.

"Of course. If the accused would like to subject themselves to the truth test to back up such an absurd claim, then by all means, we'll set it up right here," the armored man said with a touch of smartness.

"Well, good..." I said, stepping back as Booker and Yasha turned to walk back to the door. Once they got to it, they turned to the wall on the side of the door, opening up a panel that had somehow sat flush with the wall up until then. I couldn't see what was inside, but they pulled out a small box. Yasha brought it forward, all the way over to me. Opening it, he revealed five small, white pills. I looked back up to his face; he gave a soft smile, expecting me to take one without hesitation.

"Well, go on, take one," the armored man said. He seemed so sure of himself.

"What is it?" I asked, holding one up. The five laughed, each with varying intensities.

"It's the thing that'll get the truth out of you," the woman on the far right said with a smile she couldn't control.

I wasn't so mentally reassured by this....

Opening my mouth, I took the pill. In an instant, it dissolved, vanishing. The feeling of cold, the same one I'd felt the buildings had in the rain, swept through my body like an icy metal blade. As I looked back up at the pedestals, I noticed my vision had blurred a little. How powerful was this drug, and why did it have these effects?

"Katsumi, can you hear me," the armored man said. I most certainly could hear him, but my sight had been completely compromised, like the lights had gone out.

"I can," I said.

"Good, now, tell me, what is your name?"

"Morita Katsumi," I said, the answer felt as though it came out forcefully.

"Excellent, now, do you plead guilty to forceful planetary escape and the breaking of the international time travel agreement?" he asked as if it would be a given that I'd just say yes.

"No, I don't," I said. His face dropped, his smile vanished.

"I—I don't understand. It didn't work?" the man asked, looking to the others for answers.

"The truth pill has never failed us before," the man to the left of the armored man pointed out.

"It didn't fail you this time, either. I'm telling the truth. I've never committed any crimes, nor have I ever been to this planet," I explained.

"Getthese three to the Tokyo P.D., immediately," the armored man said. His voicefilled with confusion, acting on a logical next step in an situation without aknown protocol.