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I didn't let out an audible curse so much as let one seep through me as I read the notice – jury duty. My terminal had been flagged, and I had just under sixty minutes to put my affairs in order before the state issued taxi-bot would show up outside the cafe.
I did the responsible things first, emailed my wife and work, and told them that wouldn't be showing up for who knows how long. I was almost positive that whatever server had issued me the summons would have also sent one to my currently registered employer, I was unsure if the bureaucracy would get it to my boss in any sort of timely manner. I tried to think of what else I should do before getting isolated in my own little individual juror cell. I briefly toyed with scanning all the headlines from one of the news outlets, just so that I'd be automatically disqualified from anything that might be connected to a recent story... but I knew it was risky. If the judge found that he didn't have enough jurors he might look-up why the computer had rejected some after the summons, and then I'd be cooling my heels on a contempt of court charge. So instead I replied to the summons and told the taxi-bot to pick me up at the Green Earth bistro -- if I was going to be fed state sponsored food for who knows how many days, I was at least going to have something tasty before being locked up. I ended up dining on a simple beans and greens salad as there wasn't anything on the menu that leapt out at me. The salad was good; but I kept myself busy cursing that I hadn't been select for one of the new fast-vote sessions. With the pace that the world was changing the politicians finally realized they needed to be able to pass citizen approved measures in a matter of hours -- and thus was born the fast-vote system. Just ask the social security system to pick a hundred in-state residents at random, and then have the police round them up for a quick vote. The police use the same system as the courts did to bring the jurors in -- send a taxibot to collect them, and if that doesn't work, track 'em down by their ident signature and frog-march them into the capital auditorium. The idea was that one hundred citizens, supposedly collected at random, were meant to represent any fair slice of society. It was clearly derived from the whole twelve jurors who are supposed to be representative of your peers. Unfortunately, where I was in store for a highly polished media presentation crafted by each side to present its case, the hundred would be simply watching trained orators at their craft. For me, the two presentations would be selections of each lawyer's speech, presented by hand selected actors, framing sound bites from the various witnesses in the case. I understand in the past the jury would have had to endure endless interruptions, and being told (can you imagine?) to disregard various outbursts of one sort or another. Fortunately that's all in the past, and I was sure the presentation would be quick and polished. Well, unless the defendant was being covered by a public defense troop... in which case I had better brace myself for some serious overacting. The hundred, though, they'd at least get to watch a little profession to-and-fro with orators covering each others verbal thrusts and parries -- I've heard it's quite entertaining, if you're into that sort of thing. Of course, after the debate the hundred would just vote, and be done. The measure would pass or not, and they'd be sent back home. Not me, no, not so lucky. I'd be tucked away in my little solitary cell and first force fed the prosecution's tape, and then the defense's tape, and then the prosecution's counter and closing, and then the defense's counter-counter and closing... then I'd have to compose a list of questions and statements for my fellow jurors to ponder. Then I'd get to wait, and wait, and wait for the judge, the prosecution and the defense to filter all the jury's questions using whatever bizarre legal machinations such questions are filtered by. Then I'd have to answer them. Then wait, and wait, and wait for all the jurors to finish answering the questions. Then I'd get to read my peer's responses, and then vote guilty or innocent... the first time. Then I'd get to re-ask questions, and re-answer questions, and re-vote... until such time as we get a consensus, or the judge declared it a hung jury. Whoopie. Stupid social security computer, it should have chosen me for a fast vote. |