Transcript of Court Session: Bliss City Council Records B116 22 Trial (short story)

Transcript of Court Session: Bliss City Council Records B116/22/Trial served as an over-arching story for the anthology True Stories.

Court Transcript 1
In Bliss City, Benny is charged with breaking and entering by going through an open door, tampering with Bliss City Council property by pressing a button and attempting to destroy the government. She is hooked up to the Jury Computer and told to tell three true stories and three false stories in order to calibrate it, after which the Judge Computer will ask her to plead guilty or unguilty. The jury will then decide whether she is telling the truth. She begins.

Court Transcript 2
After Benny finishes telling her six stories, the Jury Computer remarks that the stories were unusual, overlong and had different narrative voices. Benny tells the Judge Computer that everything that she has said has been a lie, but her attempt to use the liar's paradox is unsuccessful and the judge asks her to plead. She refuses and tells the King to unplug the computers before tasking him with working out what to do with his sleeping people. When the King asks her to clarify which of her stories were true, she reveals that they were all true.

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * The King
 * Judge Computer
 * Jury Computer
 * Clerk Computer

Continuity

 * Benny is on trial for entering the Singing Starlet of the Seven Isles' house. (PROSE: Bliss)
 * The King knows of the Thubs. (PROSE: Stockholm From Home)
 * The King mentions Bright Violet and Benny travelling back in time. (PROSE: Never the Way)
 * The King mentions Benny's story about multiple people being attracted to her. (PROSE: Fast Contact)
 * The King mentions Benny's story about travelling forwards in time to the end of HP79. (PROSE: Futureproof)