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The trial was never going to go your way. It didn't matter how much your public defender argued that you technically weren't even a legal entity, or how many expert witnesses he put on the stand to testify that you had about as much choice in your actions as your gun did on whether you'd pull its trigger. Too many people - rich people, important people - had died. The footage leaked to the media was too gruesome, the trial too public.
They did decide to treat you as an autonomous sapient specifically so that you could stand trial, actually. You even had some woman from a sapient rights organization visit you in the detention center. Acting all bubbly about the value of the legal precedent this would set for the recognition - and eventual liberation - of designermates as true sapients.
You didn't really pay attention to her. Or to the entire trial, for that matter. You were busy coming to grips with this idea of "free will". Of being responsible for your decisions. Because even though they disabled the obedience chip buried inside your brain, it had still been active for the better part of a decade. Shaping neural connections. Deciding the course your thoughts were allowed to take.
And though you knew your m... <span class="mu-i">he</span> was dead, every night that you fell asleep in your cell, you did so with some part of you hoping that when you woke, <span class="mu-i">he</span> would be there. That <span class="mu-i">he</span> would put his hand on your head and say words that would cause the world to make sense again.
Once the day of your sentencing did come, the only surprise was that it wasn't the death penalty. But, as your lawyer explained later, this would have placed you on death's row. Dragged the process out. Gave you a chance to appeal.
And at this point, the tide against you in the media was turning. A few other non-profits have been getting in touch with you, trying to turn you into a figurehead for their causes. Their PR departments were working full time to turn you into a sympathetic figure.
And that simply wouldn't do. There were too many people who wanted you punished. Who wanted you <span class="mu-i">gone</span>.
They did decide to treat you as an autonomous sapient specifically so that you could stand trial, actually. You even had some woman from a sapient rights organization visit you in the detention center. Acting all bubbly about the value of the legal precedent this would set for the recognition - and eventual liberation - of designermates as true sapients.
You didn't really pay attention to her. Or to the entire trial, for that matter. You were busy coming to grips with this idea of "free will". Of being responsible for your decisions. Because even though they disabled the obedience chip buried inside your brain, it had still been active for the better part of a decade. Shaping neural connections. Deciding the course your thoughts were allowed to take.
And though you knew your m... <span class="mu-i">he</span> was dead, every night that you fell asleep in your cell, you did so with some part of you hoping that when you woke, <span class="mu-i">he</span> would be there. That <span class="mu-i">he</span> would put his hand on your head and say words that would cause the world to make sense again.
Once the day of your sentencing did come, the only surprise was that it wasn't the death penalty. But, as your lawyer explained later, this would have placed you on death's row. Dragged the process out. Gave you a chance to appeal.
And at this point, the tide against you in the media was turning. A few other non-profits have been getting in touch with you, trying to turn you into a figurehead for their causes. Their PR departments were working full time to turn you into a sympathetic figure.
And that simply wouldn't do. There were too many people who wanted you punished. Who wanted you <span class="mu-i">gone</span>.
