Troublesome

"All rise for the honorable Donald J. Bone" said the bailiff.  A large mustachioed man with shoulder length black hair and a robe walked into the courtroom.  A black saucer about four inches thick and a foot wide floated just within his arm's reach.  Donald (the judge) took his seat and advised everyone else to do the same.  A few dozen saucers dropped along with the people they were following.

"I hope everyone enjoyed their recess.  I believe that the prosecution now has the floor, Ms. Linus." Donald said.

Constance Linus stood up, her blue saucer rising with her, and said "the prosecution calls Richard Hardy to the stand."

Richard made his way to the very front of the courtroom with little hesitation.  He was prepared for this.  He finally had the opportunity to tell his story.  He had done nothing wrong and it was time everyone knew it.  He was nervous, of course.  There are no guarantees in a trial, but at least he could speak for himself for once.  He looked at his saucer and a photo appeared, he took a deep breath and faced the bailiff standing in front of him as the photo faded away.

After Richard was sworn in Constance approached him and abruptly asked "Mr. Hardy, did you or did you not use the "G" word."

"Not with any malicious intention," Richard said.

"Did you or did you not use the "G" word, Mr. Hardy" Constance said.

"Objection," said Richard's lawyer Cordelia Hunt.

"Overruled," the judge said.

"Did you or did you not use the "G" word?" Constance said.

"The context is really important here, I think..."

"Did you or did you not say 'googy,'" Constance interrupted Richard, and all the air was sucked from the room.  The next second seemed to last for years but when it was over it might as well have never happened.

"Yes," said Richard.  "I said it, but I didn't know it meant anything.  I never would have said it if I knew it was troublesome.  I didn't want to hurt the Detrens.  I just thought it was a fun word."

"Fun.  You thought it was fun,"  Constance said.  "Well, let's see how much fun you were having."  Her right ring finger twitched and her saucer projected an image onto the wall behind Judge Bone.  The DiskUs didn't require any physical actions to follow mental commands, her finger twitch was just an old tick she couldn't get rid of, which was one of the most bothersome plagues on her self-esteem.

The video on the wall showed Richard in the car with his wife, Victoria, and their son, Victor.  The speakers were playing a vintage playlist, not usually their taste but they thought it was fitting for their wholesome family outing to the beach.  Their saucers were seated snugly in their compartments in the front two and back right corners.  Richard's was recording everything, so only Victor's was visible and Victoria's was just off screen.  Little Vicky swung his feet to the "Uptown Funk" and said "I like this song."

"Me too" said Victoria.

"It has a good boogie," said Victor.

"You think the boogie is good?" asked Richard.

"Yeah,"  said Victor.

"Would you say it's googy?' asked Richard.  The video stopped.

"What made you think that would be an appropriate thing to say in front of a child?" said Constance.

"Objection, that's irrelevant" said Cordelia.

"Sustained," said Donald.

"What were you thinking when you said that?" asked Constance.

"I just thought I was goofing around with my son,"  said Richard.

"Really?  You say it again now, Mr. Hardy?"

"No!  I said goofing."  Richard spelled out the word, "G-O-O-F.  Not... not the other one."

"Oh.  Well, you should enunciate next time.  I would just avoid saying anything that sounds like it.  So, you say you were just..."

"Playing,"  the judge offered.

"You were just playing with your son.  That's what you were thinking.  What do you think the Detrens who were watching you were thinking?"

"I don't know.  I don't know why anyone would be watching us," Richard said.

"Because you're son is adorable and your wife is a megababe," said Constance.  "When you have the option of observing every second of anyone's life you're going to choose a beautiful person or a cute kid."

"Yeah , that checks out.  I don't see anything wrong with what you just said," said Richard.

"Well, now that we know why we can get to how the Detrens were feeling."  Constance's finger twitched and videos appeared on all four walls, each one showing a different fleshy face surrounded by blue scales.  They were all smiling, staring into their DiskUses.

Richard's voice said "would you say it's googy?"  All the smiles disappeared.  Two of the Detrens turned away.  One covered her face with her scaly hands.  The other just stared with shock.  The one on the left who had turned away turned back with tears streaming down his face.

"I think we've seen enough," said Cordelia.

"Yes, I think we have," said Constance.  "This isn't a death trial Mr. Hardy.  These people just want an apology.  They just want you to understand their pain."

"That's enough," the judge said.

"It's not a lot to ask."  The videos fell from the walls at Constance's mental command.  "The prosecution rests," she said.

"Your witness, Ms. Hunt," said Judge Bone.

"Thank you, your honor.  Mr. Hardy, where were you when the Detrens arrived?" said Cordelia.

"I was at home with my family.  My son's birthday party was earlier that day."

"What age did he turn?"

"Three."

"And what age is he now?"

"Five, he'll be six in a few months."

"When did you receive your DiskUs?"

"About a week after the Detrens arrived."

"When you first received your DiskUs, that generous gift from our new friends the Detrens, did you watch the educational video about the Detrens' culture?"

"Yes."

"All seven hours?"

"Yes."

"Did you watch the part of the video that said the "G" word is highly offensive to Detrens?"

"I guess so," Richard said hesitantly, "I don't remember every second."

"And do you receive updates from your DiskUs about any changes to Detrenian culture that you should know about?"

"Yes."

"Did you receive an update on April 4th two years ago reminding you that the "G" word is not to be said at any time?"

"Not that I recall."

"What about the one three months later?"

"I don't remember.  I don't know where you're going with this.  You're supposed to be on my side."

"Do you remember any of the thirteen updates concerning the "G" word over the past three years?"

"Well, now that I think about it, it must have been in my subconscious, and that's why I thought to combine the words 'boogie' and 'good.'"

"Of course.  It was in the back of your mind.  You can't be expected to consciously remember every single thing that might be troublesome to a Detren."

Richard's nerves were starting to bother him again.  He looked at his saucer so he could see a calming image but nothing appeared.  "I think there's something wrong with my DiskUs," he said, looking at Cordelia then the judge.

Judge Donald Bone shrugged and looked at Cordelia.  "Of course there's something wrong with it," she said.  "Did you think you could retain control of this wonderful gift after you offended the people who gave it to you?"

Constance's finger twitched.  Her saucer did nothing.  Cordelia turned to her.  "What's wrong Connie?  Thought it would be okay to say the "G" word for dramatic effect even though you couldn't say it accidentally in a playful manner?  Well, you can't."

A beam shot from Richard's saucer.  He collapsed.  The bailiff moved to Cordelia.  "How hard is it to say the right thing all the time?" she said.

Constance collapsed.  Her wig fell off.  The bailiff hit the off switch on Cordelia's saucer a second too late.  "That's a shame.  Who knew she had such beautiful scales?"  Cordelia said as the bailiff carried her away.