Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?

It was hot under the spotlight, and its glare washed out the rest of the room into a haze of shadows and half-glimpsed shapes. The only other face that the Surgeon could see from where he sat on the witness stand was the face of the Goshi investigator. He'd been here for hours, being questioned, listening to the sound of pens scratching across paper as the observers took notes on... he wasn't sure what exactly. Him, he guessed. A bunch of higher ups from the Biomade Oversight Council, come to watch. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and they made a note of that, too.

Damn Sue for dragging him into this. She had promised him a new world, a free world, where the Mechified didn't have to live lives of servitude to the Biomade. Surgeon was better educated that most Mechified, and for all his customization to repair and service other Mechified, he fancied himself a student of history more than anything else. He should have known it wouldn't have worked, he realized that much now. After all, hadn't the Biomade promised the same thing that Sue had when they'd led their own rebellion against the oppressive Allskin regime? And yet the moment the Biomade were put in power, well, far from a free society, they'd just replaced the Allskins at the top of the ladder. The oppressed became the oppressor. So it went. So it would have gone if Sue had won.

Ah, but Sue had seemed so convincing. There had been such passion in her eyes and in her voice. It had all gone so wrong.

Things were bad, now. Ever since Sue had been killed, and her head put up for all to see in the same square where Moses had tricked Goshi into believing he was surrendering, only to make a fool of them in front of the whole city. The head was still there, or so he'd heard. He hadn't had the chance to see it himself, and was beginning to doubt that he ever would.

The Goshi Investigator was waiting for his answer, but Surgeon abruptly realized he hadn't heard the question. He looked up. "What?" he asked.

The Investigator's face reddened slightly, and Surgeon was pretty sure it was anger and not shame that coloured the man's cheeks. ... He wasn't sure Biomade could feel shame.

"I ask again, Surgeon, are you now or have you ever been a UMA sympathizer?"

"No," Surgeon replied. His voice was thick and heavy, but the lie was getting easier with each repetition.

"Then you deny having associated with known terrorists?"

Surgeon raised an eyebrow. "What terrorists would those be?" he asked. It was a risk to be flippant, but such small victories were all he had, now.

"Then you deny having associated with Moses, Ascetalyne Sue, Daitokuji Kiyoshi, and a band of Karian insurrectionists in the service of the United Mechified Army?"

"Yes."

The Investigator looked towards the observers. "Let the record show that the suspect has denied association with the UMA." He opened up a briefcase and produced an official looking document. "Surgeon, I have here in my hand the signed, sworn testimony of three witnesses who claim that you were second in power only to Sue herself." He placed the document on the table in front of Surgeon.

Surgeon's heart sank into his knees. He looked down at the document. He didn't recognize the other two signatures, but Terry the Canary's panicked scrawl made his heart clench. A momentary surge of anger went through him. "It's a lie!" he hissed. "I tell you the truth, I did not know them."

"Moses?"

"I did not know him."

"Sue?"

"I did not know her."

"DAITOKUJI KIYOSHI!?"

"I did not know him."

The Investigator leaned in, and hatred seemed visible in his countenance. "What exactly do you know, Surgeon? You were named by three witnesses. If you can't give us someone else. Someone higher up in the ranks of the UMA, this board will be unable to help you."

Surgeon stared at the Investigator. He knew what that meant. Blacklisting. Once your name was on the black list, well, it didn't end well. Nobody would sell to you, nobody would go to your shop, all for fear of being named a UMA sympathizer. Like you. "... I..."

"Yes?"

Surgeon's thoughts raced. There had to be some way out of this! If only... wait, that was a possibility...! "There was a girl," he said.

"A girl?" the Investigator asked.

"Nineteen, maybe. Red eyes. Pale skin. She was there with Moses. Helping him. Helping to plan his strategy. Her name was Rei. She was important, I'm sure of it."

The Investigator glanced at the board, and Surgeon shuddered as he felt an uncomfortable crawling sensation under his skull. His thoughts were being probed, now. He focused on the image of the girl and what he knew of her, forcing that to the forefront, making damn sure that nothing else was on the surface.

The Investigator smiled. "Thank you for your cooperation, Surgeon."

After a moment, the Biomade Oversight board nodded to the investigator.

"Is that all? Can I go?"

"Yes, you can go," the Investigator said. His eyes looked almost gentle now. "You've been quite helpful, Surgeon." He glanced towards another darkened corner of the room, where sat two men and a women, all clad in Goshi uniforms, all looking dreadfully official. "Put his name on the list."

Surgeon's eyes widened. "You can't! I cooperated! I told you what I knew!"

The guards were dragging him out of the courtroom, now, and his medical cybernetic appendages dragged out behind him.

"Yes, you did. But you haven't told us anything we didn't already know. Good day, Surgeon."

They cast him out of the room, and the doors swung shut with a bang.

Surgeon stared at the closed door blankly for a long moment.
Blacklisted.
Ruined.

At last, with a heavy heart and feeling utterly disgusted, he trundled off towards the building's exit. Bile rose up in the back of his throat, and he cursed the day that he had ever heard the name of Ascetalyne Sue.