Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
[Fiction] An Unwelcome Visitor
 
#26
I've got two ideas for how this fight ends. At this point, both appeal to me, so I think I'm gonna leave it up to the Quarter of Doom when I get to the moment (Quarter of Doom, for all your chance decision needs!)

And yeah, I know the Friez are mass-cloning, but I was looking at it more from their point of view.
Reply
 
#27
I had a scene coming up with Lisa actually JFerio, mind if I start it out with that snippet of yours?
Reply
 
#28
looks like someone might need to hand them all in for a bounty. and i ain't exactly feeling merciful
 
Reply
 
#29
Some have asked why we rescued him from the Boskone, or why those involved were given a medal for the operation. Honestly, can you imagine if we'd left the bugger with the Boskone?
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Reply
 
#30
Y'know, I think I get what has been bugging me about how things have developed.

At the very least, the SMOF KNOW that the Professor gets crazier the longer he's been awake. I'd say it was reasonably well known to the admins of Fen ports. So why have they not instituted a 'you're not allowed to dock if you've not slept in exty hours' policy? (where exty is up to the faction/port concerned)

Did the controller in charge assume (due to the Professor's rep) that the Professor was smart enough to KNOW when he'd be allowed to dock and wouldn't bother to request permission if outside those limits?

Then I realised this was rather moot as the Professor would quote SCIENCE!

Then I realised the SMOF would KNOW he'd quote SCIENCE! and make sure they asked and deny docking if not answered.

No matter HOW crazy the Professor is, he'd pick up that screwing with the port authority means he doesn't get supplies. No supplies means no SCIENCE!

At the very least, Catty knows who the Professor respects (The Jason, Ben Rhodes, A.C. Peters), and THAT lot will be in contact snappily (once they hear of it, in that order as A.C. will at least do the background checks to work out WHY) to ask What The Hoeck, Son?
Reply
 
#31
Matrix Dragon Wrote:So, this has escalated well beyond what I was originally planning. A little context on where this story came from.

Two weeks back, while stuck over the middle of the Pacific ocean, I was filling time by rereading Legend of Galactic Girls. (Because I had internet access on an international flight. I love technology sometimes) And I got to the part where the Professor shows up. And all I could think was 'wow. What an unlikable asshole. Wasn't he supposed to be a somewhat harmless mad where the main problem was either people overreacting to his presence, or him not realizing the consequences of his science?'

I went and looked at his bio, and maybe it's just changes in opinion since I last looked at it years ago, but I couldn't help but side with the French.

And then I got to the Julian Friez entry. And I thought about it. And then I realized that, to me at least, that machine is right up there with the Catgirling Machine in terms of horror. Every use of the Julian Friez machine is essentially the forced biomodding of an innocent individual, ripping them from their own place and time, trapping them in a world they can never be comfortable or happy in, unable to go home. Their very identity is stolen, replaced with being A Julian Friez. Really disturbing.

... The shit you think about when it's dark, the world is shaking, and you've got another 12 hours in a sealed metal tin before seeing light again.

I thought I was writing Noah &co as "overreacting to his presence" in LoGG - obviously, YMMV.

(I really need to get back to LoGG - we aren't stuck in "war story" mode any more, so it won't reinforce any misconceptions if I finish it.)

And I was on the same page as Mal; I also thought the Julien Friez Machine was a "make a person out of raw materials" device. That didn't stop me from mentioning a rumor on the FenWiki about an unholy fusion of the Julien Friez Machine and the Catgirling Machine that acted the way you imagined the JFM does, of course.

Oh, yes - OMAKE, not for the main story:

"No, you aren't going after him."

"Give me one good reason why not."

"I'll give you three. First, you surrendered your Troubleshooter badge three months ago and he isn't anywhere near any StellviaCorp holdings, so you have no legal reason to go after him. Second, you and I can't get to Ganymede before he's long gone. Third, you and Leda have a daughter now and she needs her father."

Noah glared at Yayoi for a moment. "Can I at least offer a bounty on the Professor?"

"It won't do any good. There's already a set of recognized bounties on his head."

"... Fine. We do nothing, then. As much as I hate it."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Reply
 
#32
Oh, like I said, I was talking about the Friez machine from the perspective of the people it's created, who remember their originals life, but have had it taken away from them and trapped them in a world they'll never really manage to become a part of. As time moves on from when the 'template' was made, he's 'born' into a time period where even if he could go back to Earth, he'd find it alien.

As for the dislike of the Professor, part of that is Chris's character. He lives on Earth still, and is somewhat Fendane in his opinions. He's also dealt with Jullians before, and seen what the Professors experiments have done to them. He considers the Professor as being just this side of Grey. The other part? Well, I used the wiki bio as a guide, where he robbed several labs, caused massive property damage, and then stole a NUCLEAR WEAPON. I'm sorry, but that's supervillain bullshit right there.

I should also note that, had the lightning gun hit Chris in the chest or face, he'd have been at risk of serious injury, and a very small chance of death. It was Miyu, the 'reluctant homocidal robot' that went for lethal force early on and stayed there... and is now realising that she made a very big mistake...
Reply
 
#33
Cobalt Greywalker Wrote:Y'know, I think I get what has been bugging me about how things have developed.

At the very least, the SMOF KNOW that the Professor gets crazier the longer he's been awake. I'd say it was reasonably well known to the admins of Fen ports. So why have they not instituted a 'you're not allowed to dock if you've not slept in exty hours' policy? (where exty is up to the faction/port concerned)

"He is a great fellow Scientist! Of course he is allowed to dock!"
Reply
 
#34
Submitted, for, and as, Comment.

Posted by: TheLegalEagle
In: r/SpaceLaw
Subj: Mads and the Insanity Defense

This one comes up every now and then, especially after the recent incident. Are Mads having a Blue Hair Day legally responsible for their actions?

Now, dear readers, the Insanity defense has existed in some form at least as far back as the early Code of Hammurabi. Most jurisdictions on some level will recognise that individuals who are subject to, and under the influence of a mental illness, psychosis or similar can, under certain circumstances, not lawfully be responsible for their actions. These individuals should then be compassionately treated for their condition, rather than incarcerated for 23 hours in solitary confinement howling at concrete walls like wolves because they system is set up more to be seen to punish than to actually deal justice.

Ahm... Excuse me. I do tend to go on a little bit.

The basic standpipe for the insanity defence is that, at the time of their acteus reus, the accused was not in such a mental position that they were capable of being aware their actions were wrong. They lacked what is called the Mens Rea. It is a little more complicated than that, taking into account such factors as intoxication and the defendant's culpabilitiy in their own psychosis (e.g, did they intentionally stop taking an anti-psychotic prior to their episode, knowing such an episode was possible). All of these factor into the verdict delivered by the judiciary, what punishment is required (if any), or what treatment is required (if any).

It is also perfectly legitimate for a person who, through no fault of their own, is gripped by a temporary psychosis or panic, to be freely released as they were demonstrably not aware of their actions, the consequences of their actions or where otherwise insensate. This has been tested in precent by several advocates in multiple arbitration proceedures in the denoument of the recent conflict. In one recent case, an active-duty member of the Panzer Kunst Gruppe was arraigned on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and murder through use of an airlock. The individual was found under technical examination to have suffered a malfunction in one of their core neural implants which caused symptoms equivelant to an intense schizophrenic episode, leading to a violent attack on two bystanders. The malfunctioning implant was repaired, removing the cause of the psychosis.

Rightfully, this individual was found innocent by reason of temporary insanity and as the cause of this insanity had been corrected, was justly released into the custody of the Gruppe. Legal responsibility in this case ultimately fell upon the manufacturer of the sensor interface, who was required to pay compensation to the victim's family.

This is also a matter somewhat close to my heart. Since my modification I have become, as some would describe, something of a 'legal' mad, if such a thing were be be considered possible

Now, how does this apply to Madness, you might ask? Is Madness a mental illness?

There is a quote I have always held close to me, arguably from one of the original Mad Scientists.
"When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and argue about what to do about it only after you've had your technical success. "

These words were spoken by Oppenheimer, after the atomic bomb. I believe, they sum up the attitude of the majority of Mad Scientists on some natural level. In a Blue Hair episode, nothing matters except that technical success. Only after the fact, do they realise just what they have achieved and the consequences of their works. While most Fen may understand that such and such a project may ultimately lead to disastrous consequence, a Mad lacks this awareness. They lack this fundamental warning. All a Mad understands is the goal, the end-point, the result of the experiment.

Ultimately, Madness is the single minded pursuit of an idea, of a solution, of an answer - to the exclusion of all else. A Mad in the depths of an episode may forgo sleep, food or even water until they have the answer their mind demands. They are physically incapable of thinking of anything else beyond the end, beyond the experiment, beyond the problem. There is a reason few 'sane' Mads will live in highly populated places. And almost all Mads will have a retinue of trusted friends, created androids or other form of carers who will see to their psychological and physical needs while they are in the throes of an episode. One of the duties of these carers is often to ensure that the afflicted Mad does not unintentionally harm an innocent (or otherwise) individual.

I would, in good conscience, make the argument before an advocate that Madness, therefore, constitutes a form of psychosis and is therefore eligible for the insanity defense. Finding a psychologist willing to provide expert testimony to this regard is a matter of checking the local directories. In the majority of cases I would expect to have a good chance of achieving a succesful outcome for my client. Depending on the settlement, this can mean anything from a release, to a ship actually being present on the other side of the airlock when they are kicked out.

As for how Madness should be treated.

Multiple factions will have different methods. SHIELD has the highly effective Armsmaster Protocol, while the Crystal Millenium has multiple minor settlements in the archipelago to provide private, quiet places where a Mad can practice in peace. Ultimately, treatment continues for the life of the afflicted Mad, either to the point where their condition normalises or their obsessions are turned towards a harmless or more constructive cause. It is not unusual for a Mad to be taken into the legal custody of a close friend or aquaintance, who will be responsible for their actions in their stead.

I would expect in this case that the most likely legal outcome is that the crew of the Sol Bianca will be, at the very least, required to take legal custody of the Professor. In Which case they can be held financially and legally responsible for his actions.

Should a civilised mundane jurisdiction succeed in arresting him, it is likely that he would suceed in the insanity defense in most nations. In this case, he would likely be institutionalised for his own, and for the public's, safety. To what end this institutionalisation would be succesful in treating him is a matter for a psychiatrist.

In this incident, it may depend on the quality of the advocate The Professor can afford, and whether the attacked individual lives, lives with the assistance of a biomod, or dies of their injury. The culpability of the one who struck the mortal blow may depend upon your opinion on Superior Orders, along with the ability of an android to resist their creator, as well as what her understanding of the situation was.

We shall see, but I expect this case shall only be useful as precedent up until the next Convention.

--------
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Reply
 
#35
Oh, very nice Dartz.
Reply
 
#36
Quote:Matrix Dragon wrote:
I had a scene coming up with Lisa actually JFerio, mind if I start it out with that snippet of yours?
It is what it's there for, actually. Smile
--

"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor
Reply
 
#37
I don't know how other countries work, but pleading "insanity" in Canada means you're asking for your trial to be postponed until such time that you are no longer insane. It isn't a "get out of jail free" card, it's a "get treatment so you can plead your case coherently and rationally" card. (And it's only allowed if you are not mentally competent at the time of making the plea, IIRC.)

Fenspace might be different - the setting does run on a lot of tropes that bear only a passing resemblance to reality, after all.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Reply
 
#38
The UK has a "guilty but insane" verdict that juries can hand out, but it has to be backed up by the testimony of an expert witness. I think the US and most European states have something similar.
Reply
 
#39
Her perception of reality, her entire universe, had vanished. Right now, all that Kitbash could think about were the two broken and bleeding forms on the video. T7-01, warbling in pain as he tried to stand up despite his missing leg, his droidspeak so scrambled it was impossible to translate.

And her father, lying on his back, staring up at the roof as the pool of blood around him continued to grow. His chest moved up and down slowly, the precise nature of her code insisting on timing each breath, and she tried to convince herself that what she was seeing wasn't his dying moments.

But how would she know? She wasn't flesh and blood, her understanding of such things was limited. Desperate, she tore part of her awareness away from her family, reaching out to find something that could help them. Biology data, another AI, a Doctor...

Reality froze on the image of the Professor and Glear, walking away from Chris and towards the doors. Kitbash could see both their faces, Glear angry but oddly regretful, the Professor seemingly already forgetting the entire incident and moving on to his next experiment. White-hot rage raced through her processors, surpassing anything she'd ever experienced, and she reached out to her weapon systems. One shot from her coilguns, that's all it would take. That door wouldn't protect them, they'd die screaming like they deserved-

Another conciousness slammed into her own, holding her tight. Reality shifted, and she was standing in the Void Eagles cockpit, Athena holding her wrist in a painfully tight grip. "That's not happening," she said, her voice level.

"Let me go," the younger AI growled.

"Not until you start thinking again," she replied calmly. "If you fire your coilguns in here, you wouldn't just kill them. Your father would die as well." The words cut through her rage, and she backed up. "They're still alive Kitbash," Athena said gently, using her nickname for the first time. "We haven't lost yet."

The girl looked up at her. "Then what do I do?"

"You get the Friez's out of here like he asked you to." Athena released the girls arm, her expression calm, but furious. "I have a medical team on the way, right behind the security team, and I promise you, after what just happened, their authorisation for excessive force is inbound. Those two are not leaving in peace, not now."

***

"Lisa, that man has disrupted life in Serenity Valley... and one of his insanity-enabling minions may have just killed somebody." Jeph was cool over the video link, glacially so, a level of intensity which scared Lisa Hayes more than any other time she'd seen the JMC owner-master angry. And strangely, back to male after the excitement had tripped his biomod, which was probably an even worse sign. That, and not even bothering with any of the polite fictions of 'I'm not a mover or shaker here, really.' "Remove him and his people by any means necessary. Preferably they leave in irons or a bucket, but I'll accept them leaving on their own ship with a Great Justice flotilla chasing them."

Despite her own terror, she gave the screen a bitterly amused smile. "You know, I think I can live with that," she replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." Ending the call, she turned back to the people. "Athena, keep that door locked. I don't want him getting in there."

"Already done," said the AI instantly, although she sounded slightly strained. "However, I suspect that he will be able to break in regardless of any action I take.

Pausing, she gave the camera a cautious look. "Another problem?"

"Captain Wood's daughter is the AI of the Void Eagle," Athena explained. "I am currently preventing her from taking control of her coilguns and doing something ill-advised."

Lisa considered that for a moment, then winced. "Just... do what you can. Ensign," she continued, turning to one of her men. "Contact Sergeant Collins, and inform him that if the Professor or his minion resist arrest, lethal force is approved." The man nodded and turned to his console, even as another alarm sounded. "Now what?!"

"It's the Sol Bianca," reported the man monitoring air traffic. "They've started undocking, and their engines are powering up."

Teeth grinding together in rage, Lisa snatched up a headset. "The hell they are. Defense grid status?"

"All set."

"Open a channel, Sol Bianca, this is Commander Lisa Hayes, Browncoat Militia. Power down your engines and return to the docking port," she growled. "You have twenty seconds to comply, or I swear by whatever Gods are listening, I will turn your ship to scrap metal."

"Commander Hayes, this is Catty Nebulart," came the immediate reply. "Our intentions are to move to docking bay eighty-nine and retrieve our crewmates. The Professor is clearly having an episode far worse than anyone could have expected. RIght now, the best option is to move him somewhere safe and familiar, to allow him to get this out of his system-"

"The Professor is not your concern right now," Lisa interrupted. "He and his 'carer' are going to be placed in detention where they can't hurt anyone else, and then we'll see if she needs to be charged with murder. Ten seconds." Muting the headset, she glanced over at one of her assistants. "Send the stage one signal."

Outside the docking ring, a squadron of VF-1 Valkyries blasted out of an armored hanger, coming around and aiming themselves at the Sol Bianca. Other vehicles, less consistent but still clearly military modified, followed close behind, taking up positions around the larger ship. One of them, a '63 Volkswagen Beetle, dove in even closer, parking itself directly in front of the bridge and giving the crew a good look at the 40mm grenade launcher mounted on the side.

Unmuting the headset, Lisa spoke again, her voice low and dangerous. "Five seconds. Four. Three."

Glancing over from his terminal, the air traffic technician nodded. "They just cut power," he called out in triumph.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Lisa let out a breath. "Well done Sol Bianca. Now, return to the docking ring. For the moment..." she considered the situation, then continued, "for the moment, you will remain on your ship, under outside guard. Any attempt to power up your engines, or let off passengers or crew without authorisation, will be met by lethal force. Am I understood?"

"Understood Commander," Catty replied quietly.

Ending the call, Lisa pulled off her headset. "Keep an eye on them, make sure they don't do anything stupid," she ordered. "Athena, what's the situation inside?"

When Athena replied, she sounded slightly less strained than before. "The Professor has attempted to open the door only once. When that failed, he turned his attention to the device in his hands. So far I have been unable to determine its purpose."

***

Giving the panel one last check, Jules nodded to herself. "Done!" she yelled out. "Kitbash, we're good to go!" When the girl didn't reply immediately, she frowned and looked around. "Kitbash?"

"I'm here," the girl replied via the Void Eagles external speakers. "Staring powerup now. Leave your gear and just get on board. As soon as those doors open, I'm getting you out of here."

Dropping the spanner, Julian paused. "Wait, just us?" he asked, suddenly wary. "What about the others?"

"They're... staying behind," Kitbash said. Both Friez looked at each other in horror, and the girl quickly went on. "They're alive, I can see that from here," she reassured them. "But they're both hurt bad. They have to stay here. There's no choice on that now. They'll be fine, they will, but we have to get you out of here. Now move!" she ordered, the engines above their heads beginning to hum.

Before the two plumbers could move however, the doors leading to the cargo bay made a disturbing creaking noise. The pair turned towards it, then stumbled back in shock as the doors shattered, metal fragments the size of dinner plates bouncing across the decking. And in the nearly circular hole left behind stood a figure out of their nightmares, regarding the device in his hands with profound satisfaction. "Kinetic force collected and reapplied exactly as intended!" he declared. "I love it when an invention behaves!"

"Oh no... no no no..." Jules whispered, backing away in terror. Next to her, Julian grabbed at one of the ships landing struts for support as his legs nearly gave way beneath him.

Looking up, the Professor caught sight of the catgirl, and his eyes gleamed behind his glasses. "Julianne Friez!" he declared, jumping through the ruined door. "At long last! My dear, we have so much Science to do!"

"Stay away from me!" she screamed, backing up any further. "Please, just stay back!"

Frowning, he gave her an offended look. "Now Julianne, that's no way to talk. Why, you should be happy! With your help, we're going to finally complete an experiment that has been lingering incomplete for years!"

***
Reply
 
#40
There's a difference between competency to stand trial, and being 'insane' at the time the crime is commited. You can be competent, but still insane. And vice versa. And ultimately, being insane at the time the crime is being commited means you don't hae the mindset necessary to actually be a criminal. Because, for most crimes, to actually commit an offence you need a particular state of mind, and to have actually committed the offence while in that state of mind.

Anyway, my opinion of Mad science has always been a little twinged by the sidebox I stuck on Mackie's page. Sometimes, you just can't control where it takes you, even if it isn't where you want to go. Like, how to turn cool-cuke cores into nuclear weapons...
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Reply
 
#41
I Am Not A Lawyer... but my understanding is that in the US, for most people who invoke the insanity defense it is very, very far from being a Walk Away Free card. Instead it is a, Congratulations You Get Involuntary Psychological Treatment Until Cured card. With an emphasis on the word until. IIRC I recall reading that on average such terms lasted about twice as long as the resulting jail time from a criminal conviction. Sure it's time in a mental facility rather than prison, but you are still there involuntarily and not allowed to leave. 

And the insanity plea is separate from determining competency to stand trial. Which can also potentially result in your being committed to an institution and treatment aimed at bringing you back to competence (whereupon you get to go on trial).

According to A Case of Insanity US States have started adding Guilty But Mentally Ill as a verdict option, where you are committed to an institution for treatment - and should you ever be deemed sane you then serve out the sentence for the crime. A short of Insanity Plea-Lite where the jury decodes that yes you are mentally ill, but not to such a degree as to absolve you of guilt. 
-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.
Reply
 
#42
I'm already thinking ahead...

Transcript of the Submission to the 2015 Convention ("BubbleCon") Panel Discussing The Professor, submitted by Noah Scott, President of Stellvia Corporation (an independent element of the Fenspace Convention).

(Note: Because of audio issues at the time of the presentation, this transcript was created with the aid of a supplied copy of prepared notes and thus may vary in minor particulars from the actual submission.)

Assembled sophonts, we are discussing the future of one of the most prolific minds of the Fenspace Convention. I find myself with mixed emotions regarding this matter.

First, I understand the drive to create, and to help guide one's creations toward a better future. I am on record as having created the largest known number of autonomous Beta- and Alpha-level cybernetic intelligences in the Convention (although I often wonder how many people are not listed in the records as creating CIs), and I have been personally involved in the maturation and independence of roughly 80% of those intelligences. I also understand the need to step back and allow one's self-aware creations to develop without interference if that is what they want, even if doing so leads to undesired and undesirable results. The Professor does not appear to me to understand the desirability, or even the necessity, of stepping back and allowing one's self-aware creations to develop without interference.

Second, The Professor is responsible for the creation of a large number of useful devices that can be found in refined form throughout the Fenspace Convention. Many autonomous cybernetic intelligences are based on his designs for Ms. Asakura, Glear, and Nebulart, and it is a rare aerospace-traffic-control communications system that does not incorporate a version of the real-time translation device that was originally created by The Professor, to name two obvious examples. However, The Professor is also responsible for creating dangerous items such as the man-portable electrolaser, the plans for which he has published in many periodicals that can be accessed by Boskonian elements.

Third, there is the matter of the Julian Friez Machine, the creation of which is a contributing reason that this panel needed to be called. We have all met one or more Julian Friez; we know the psychological scars that were inflicted on them during their creation. The Professor is on record as treating these scars as elements of an experiment. Other presenters have already discussed the ramifications of the Julian Friez Machine to the various Julian Friez, so I will not belabor the point at this time.

Why do we accept the actions of such a person? He is a physically imposing presence at six-foot-three; some people tend to be passive when confronted by so tall a person. His mind is recognized as one of the brightest and most prolific in space, and he has a commanding personality and a personal vision; all of these are highly-regarded traits within the Convention. In short, people defer to The Professor for reasons that they believe to be good and sufficient.

I submit to this panel that we must ignore the accomplishments of The Professor, and consider only his actions. Various witnesses to those actions have already spoken, so I will not detail those actions yet again. Instead, I will ask this: Is this the sort of person who the Fenspace Convention wants as one of our well-known members in the 'Danelaw, or does the Convention wish to distance ourselves from these actions no matter who is responsible for committing them?

At this time, we are all respected First Fen here - the closest that The Professor has to a jury of peers. I use the term with consideration; we are deciding the fate of another human being, and we must not rush into judgment. The fact that he is not present to defend himself makes this duty doubly important.

(question from Mr. Nikodemus Riddle on the panel: Mr. Scott, your submission makes no mention of the actions of Ms. Glear. Why is this?)

Ms. Glear's case, while important, is ultimately a side-issue to the main issue of the Convention's reaction to The Professor. Based on my admittedly sparse knowledge of her, I see no reason why she and her two sisters would not wish to share whatever fate that the Convention decides to give to The Professor. We should keep this in mind when making our decisions.

(question from Ms. Shuko on the panel: Mr. Scott, what remedy would you suggest in this matter?)

The man claims to be a professor. Let us treat him as a professor: have him present his proposals for experiments to a board that reviews them for adherence to ethical standards before he begins, allow only ethical experiments to proceed, monitor his work to ensure it remains within the scope of the submitted experiments, and have him submit his findings for peer review before they are published in the general media.

(question from Ms. Shuko on the panel: Is that all?)

For someone who has Blue Hair Days as often as The Professor does, having to stick to an approved line of research and have his work examined would be a punishment.


(Meta: It's already been established that The Professor encourages people to examine his work. It's also already been established that Noah isn't as smart as he thinks he is.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Reply
 
#43
This is giving me some ideas on what to edit slightly when I go back for a finished version. The next installment might be a little delayed. In Seattle for a day or two. Today's chapter was done while on the road.
Reply
 
#44
Quote:LilFluff wrote:
I Am Not A Lawyer... but my understanding is that in the US, for most people who invoke the insanity defense it is very, very far from being a Walk Away Free card. Instead it is a, Congratulations You Get Involuntary Psychological Treatment Until Cured card. With an emphasis on the word until. IIRC I recall reading that on average such terms lasted about twice as long as the resulting jail time from a criminal conviction. Sure it's time in a mental facility rather than prison, but you are still there involuntarily and not allowed to leave. 

And the insanity plea is separate from determining competency to stand trial. Which can also potentially result in your being committed to an institution and treatment aimed at bringing you back to competence (whereupon you get to go on trial).

According to A Case of Insanity US States have started adding Guilty But Mentally Ill as a verdict option, where you are committed to an institution for treatment - and should you ever be deemed sane you then serve out the sentence for the crime. A short of Insanity Plea-Lite where the jury decodes that yes you are mentally ill, but not to such a degree as to absolve you of guilt. 
Odds are pretty good The Professor would easily fall under the third. He only gets this way when he puts off going to sleep... "going off his meds", so to speak. Surrounding himself with "enablers", as Jeph put it, in other words, people who don't seem to do anything to try to get him to "take his meds" like he should, only compounds the issue. Treatment would probably be teaching him the habit of going the hell to sleep every day, without fail, and eliminating things like caffeine, while at the same time trying to get him to work on recognizing when he's sliding into the Blue Hair space, and to take appropriate measures to keep himself from harming others. Ideally, he gets others to help him recognize this and assist with the appropriate measures.
(As an aside, Real Life Myk and I have discussed the problem of recidivism
among criminals because of the problem that they can wind up hanging
around the same people who enabled the behavior in the first place.)
In the Handwavium Safety Course, Myk will point out The Professor as a... highly undesirable type of biomod. He lists getting any range of obvious physical mods (fur, greatly reduced height, oddball skin colors, glowing black light eyes, etc.) to be infinitely preferable to the "can stay awake for days without noticing, but progressively nuttier and possibly going to commit crimes against humanity" biomod. Although he will generally only pull it out if he recognizes that someone in the class is going to cavalier on the level of an episode of Jackass, specifically to frighten them into paying attention to procedure.
Quote:Cobalt Greywalker wrote:
At the very least, the SMOF KNOW that the
Professor gets crazier the longer he's been awake. I'd say it was
reasonably well known to the admins of Fen ports. So why have they not
instituted a 'you're not allowed to dock if you've not slept in exty
hours' policy? (where exty is up to the faction/port concerned)

Did the controller in charge assume (due to the Professor's rep) that
the Professor was smart enough to KNOW when he'd be allowed to dock and
wouldn't bother to request permission if outside those limits?
Recognizing that he gets crazier as he lacks sleep is one thing... but regarding the enablers in his midst, and that he's probably more than willing to understate how long he's been awake for (or worse, is literally unable to track how long it's been since he last hit the pillow past, say, five minutes), would make such difficult to do unless there is insistence that he debarks from the ship, right into a sleeping berth, with the door locked until he's actually slept for at least eight hours.
The controller in charge probably won't lose their job over it (few people realize how bad these sorts of things really are until they're slapped in the face by them)... but they're probably not going to be the lead at the console for a while.
--

"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor
Reply
 
#45
There's a few good points there I've been meaning to address, both here and in the rewrite pass I'll do when I'm finished. I'm putting that rewrite off to some extent though. I'm on holiday at the moment, visiting friends over in the US, so I've been mashing out the installments of the story as it hits me. And given I've had horrible writer's block going on two years now, the fact I'm writing so much is a victory in it's own right.

Regarding the Professor's Blue Hair Day issues, Chris isn't really in a position to consider it in-story at the moment. Once things calm down, he might have a little more sympathy for the guy. The problem here isn't entirely with the Professor. It's with his Lovely Assistants. Earlier in the story, I had Miyu go 'wait, when did he sleep last?'. As one of his carers, and being well aware he's more unstable the longer he goes without sleep, that's the sort of thing she should have already been keeping track of and dealt with before letting him off the Sol Bianca, not when he's gone charging across Serenity Valley and has someone willing to use force to keep him away from his goal right in front of him. The girls have gotten careless. Maybe it's because he's spent too long out at Hades and beyond, where there are no innocent bystanders to endanger with his experiments, maybe it's their own issues (Miyu is the 'reluctant homicidal assassin robot' after all), but the end result is that they've gotten careless. Hell, the incident in France is a demonstration of the fact that they might have always been a little careless, or at least limited in seeing the consequences of not taking precautions. Frankly, they're lucky it happened on the edge of a station with only a small amount of bystanders at risk, and not somewhere like Marsbase Sera.

As for letting him onto the station in the first place? This is one of the things I'm going to expand on in the rewrite, but it's an unfortunate side effect of the Professors popularity among Fen, and the fact that when he's shown up in the past, the worst he's done in the minds of many is disturbing the peace. While some people were worried he'd cause trouble, most figured that at worst, there'd be a case of Weird Science somewhere, or he'd find whatever he was looking for and run off again. They let him in because they figured he'd try and get in anyway if something had his attention, and at least this way they could track him.

I suspect the next Con, as Rob's already started with, will have a lot of attention on Mads and their behavior, and the risk they pose to others. And amusingly, given the fame he's going to get from this incident, Chris is going to be leading the charge in support of Mads and helping them when they need it, as opposed to just locking them up in Azkabans mad science wing.
Reply
 
#46
I'm going to throw this thought out here: whatever happens next with the Professor and his entourage isn't a Convention-scale issue. I know we like to say "oh, there'll be a Convention over this" for just about every damn thing under the sun but honestly? This whole mess is a local dustup between the Professor and the Browncoat sheriffs. However that shakes out I don't see it as being a Thing that needs to be speechified and legislated over on the scale of all Fenspace. People who like to hear themselves talk (*coughcough*Noah*cough*) will no doubt say many grand and eloquent things about What Must Be Done etc. but the Convention as a whole (or even represented by SMOFcon) will not decide "the future of one of the most prolific minds of the Fenspace Convention" as Rob put it. Assuming it gets that far that is the duty of a tribunal or jury in Serenity Valley, not the Convention.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
Reply
 
#47
Oh, that's a fair point, even if you have Noah or someone stepping up to do it. I was thinking more a panel or two at the already scheduled Con on discussing more viable methods of ensuring Mads don't harm anyone with their blue-hair days. Tips and discussions among their assistants/carers, Fen/Dane methods and their benefits/drawbacks, that sort of thing. And that Chris, after getting a lot of notice for this incident, would be the one talking about more restrained, reasonable behaviour.
Reply
 
#48
I'll keep this part brief as I'm on a mobile device but some of this you already know and some of it will come out after this incident.

1. I don't usually talk to hear myself pontificate. Not IRL and not as a character. I'm a do-er not a talker but this would be something i would be talking about.
2. Unfortunately i would be speaking in counterpoint to Rob saying that the fact that neither he nor his crew could not be counted on to ensure he got sufficient sleep to keep these incidents from occurring shows that none of them are competent for the job.
3. As of one week after this incident a notice will go out informing Fenspace that not only was the Professor banned from Solaris 7 space but that all Friezes could claim station resident status and protection.
 
Reply
 
#49
Quote:Rajvik wrote:
I'll keep this part brief as I'm on a mobile device but some of this you already know and some of it will come out after this incident.

1. I don't usually talk to hear myself pontificate. Not IRL and not as a character. I'm a do-er not a talker but this would be something i would be talking about.
Quote:2. Unfortunately i would be speaking in counterpoint to Rob saying that the fact that neither he nor his crew could not be counted on to ensure he got sufficient sleep to keep these incidents from occurring shows that none of them are competent for the job.
This would be pretty clear. Miyu, in particular, chose to defend The Professor against someone who had at first denied him entry into the particular docking slip (which, as a note, in Serenity Valley, if you rent it, it's yours for that period. As long as you're not doing specifically Boskonian things in that slip like slaving, they don't care overmuch what it is, you get to do it as long as you're renting it). That she escalated to lethal force in the process means she is NOT qualified, and never will be qualified, to be one of The Professor's caretakers.
In fact, Miyu will probably be the one in the absolute worst amount of trouble, attempted manslaughter and definitely assault with a deadly weapon on (at least) two individuals given the particular contexts of the situation. The Professor would mostly just be in trouble for effectively starting the fight when he should have stood down and left the Friez and Chris to their business. Although it also depends on his further actions.
Under the particular circumstances, Ryoko and Catty would be considered simply incompetent by negligence, minor accessories to the main crimes at worst. They might qualify to be caretakers, if they can get past their love of The Professor and realize he's got an illness that must actually be managed rather than simply channeled.
Odds are pretty damned good, though, that The Professor, as part of any parole (assuming he doesn't just get sent to Azkaban), would be assigned an "independent" caretaker to get him into managing his Blue Hair Lifestyle.
Quote:3. As of one week after this incident a notice will go out informing Fenspace that not only was the Professor banned from Solaris 7 space but that all Friezes could claim station resident status and protection.
The ink on the paperwork declaring The Professor and his entourage banned from Serenity Valley (after serving whatever sentence they receive) will be delivered, ink not even dry yet, moments after the trial and sentencing concludes, if not actually part of the sentence.
Quote:M Fnord wrote:
I'm going to throw this thought out here: whatever happens next with the
Professor and his entourage isn't a Convention-scale issue. I know we
like to say "oh, there'll be a Convention over this" for just
about every damn thing under the sun but honestly? This whole mess is a
local dustup between the Professor and the Browncoat sheriffs. However
that shakes out I don't see it as being a Thing that needs to be
speechified and legislated over on the scale of all Fenspace. People who
like to hear themselves talk (*coughcough*Noah*cough*) will no doubt
say many grand and eloquent things about What Must Be Done etc. but the
Convention as a whole (or even represented by SMOFcon) will not decide
"the future of one of the most prolific minds of the Fenspace
Convention" as Rob put it. Assuming it gets that far that is the duty of a tribunal or jury in Serenity Valley, not the Convention.
Very much, if anything past the local constabulary happens, it would be things like, "Hey, Great Justice, can you please dump this man down a very deep hole and pull up the ladder? Thanks."
For the Browncoats, this is very much not "deciding the future of one of the most prolific minds of the Fenspace Convention." He's already proven himself to be not worth all of that to them.
BTW, to sum up Jeph's reaction: This is the second time the place he calls home has been seriously disrupted. The first time was the Battle of Serenity Valley during the Boskonian Wars. This time he's taken it a little more personally; the Boskonian attack, it was a threat to pretty much everyone, so it was harder to take that way. He was once an independent freighter captain himself. That, and let's just say that Nene and Geo were both watching when the blood was actually splattered across the decking. Neither one took that sight particularly well. Have you ever heard an astromech actually doing the dry heaves? You don't want to.
--

"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor
Reply
 
#50
Oh, that reminds me of one detail I need to do for the rewrite. Come 2015, Chris has started expanding Void Shipping somewhat. Nothing on the scale of JMC, but three or four XS freighters built under licence from Lucasfilm/Disney are in space by the time of this story. Kitbash was accidentally awakened during an upgrade of the Void Eagles computer and accounting system.

The files on T7 and the Void Eagle are half done. I'll try and work on them at some point.
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 4 Guest(s)