"But do not get me wrong, nor mistaken me"
"He, God, could very well take into consideration His own omni powers to charge my client of hypocrisy, if He wishes too"
"Hypocrisy is not the only charge arising from Panteku's opening argument"
"A charge regarding untruthfulness towards Him could also be at play here"
"The truthfulness to an omniscient being from a mortal should not be judged blindly nor put on the same pedestal"
"To break it down"
"In order for an individual to be truthful he must by all means tell his story like it is, that is to the knowledge of what he knows and what he has seen"
"Thus, sticking to Panteku's analogy"
"If my client was indeed a time traveller, who could travel to his own future, come back to the present and promise God to act differently tomorrow, but when tomorrow comes he makes no effort for change"
"Only then will your scepticism of hypocrisy be permissible", the advocate had argued.
"And hypocrisy for this time traveller would only make rational sense, if the future he sees of himself is a reversible one through the act of choices", it added.
"If the time traveller is dealing with fate. The irreversibility of fate will exempt him from any charge in the context of hypocrisy"
"None of these traits is true of my client, so nothing the prosecutor has said proves guilt"
"Please refrain from making any claims", handler cautioned.
"Pardon me", Ansi said, "I rephrase"
"Any judgement or criteria thereof passed down by this court"
"Should always level with the limits of its accused, those being the capabilities of a mortal"
"If unable to do so, under the scope of fairness, such an assessment would lose value, judgement itself becomes unjust"
"A mortal being is not a time traveller", Panteku repeated, "yes that is true. But, Ansi…"
"Did your client have free will or not?", asked the prosecutor.
"I'd like to refrain from the topic for now", Ansi admitted, yet again retreated to note taking.
"Members of this court", Panteku said almost pleading.
"Perhaps my argument has it's loopholes, even though Ansi did a poor job of pointing them out"
"Did I?"
"But whatever"
"I constructed it in the way that I had so we can get to this part", it claimed.
"Your honour, please allow me to bring into this court my cart of tricks"
"For what reasons?"
"Uh…Visual aid…"
Handler let out a passive sigh, before granting the request.
"Thank you", said Panteku and wasted no time in magically taking out a cart from its side of the wall. And slowly but excitedly wheeled it across the floor to the court's centre.
The item had only three things in it. A spoon, a puppy, and a Wolf.
"I have here with me, a spoon", it announced once reaching centre court, it put the silver cutlery on display for all members to see as if none had never seen one.
"Where should we send this spoon?"
"Heaven or Hell?", it teased.
"A spoon is a non-living thing wielded by the hands of a living being, so it does not matter where it goes"
"But if you were to ask me"
"Hell does not have enough spoons, only forks…", it quipped, "so, I should take this one back with me"
"By involving a non-living item into this, we have just now established that having bared life, is a necessary condition for any form of judgement"
"Which was blatantly obvious, of course"
"But it does help with the next part", the prosecutor said, and returned the spoon this time taking out the puppy.
And again put it on display for all to see.
"Homeless Gregor", it called, causing the mortal to look up, "you recognize this animal?"
"I do", Homeless Gregor said faintly smiling for the first time, "That's my dog, Carrot"
"Carrot?"
"Yes"
"I named him Carrot because he had a weird love for the vegetable"
"He had a different name at the dog shelter, though I do not remember it right now"
"It was only after I took him in did I realise he had a neck for spotting, smelling, and eating any carrots he could find", he almost chuckled at the memory.
"Also", he went on, "if you notice, he has brown fur and depending on the lighting of the room or the rays of sunlight, I would often get the impression that he is orange, – just like a carrot", Homeless Gregor said, smiling, while reminiscing the moments he shared with his puppy.
"Wow", Panteku nodded in fascination, "enjoy this moment while it last, because you won't be experiencing such ever again"
"Panteku", handler sternly reminded.
"Oh, sorry. Pardon me, your honour"
"I will do my best to give him false hope"
"Let's proceed", it affirmed, "Carrot was once a living being, so it falls under the most obvious criteria of judgement"
"Thus which of the two homes is your former puppy deserving of?"
Homeless Gregor, was hesitant, not because he did not know what to say, but given how his trial has commenced, he was aware that the Panteku fishes for words only to use them against him.
His silence was just him trying to be cautious.
Carrot on the other hand held steady, his little tail wagging in the presence of a once upon a time master. Whom he tried to reach, with an attempt of patting his forehead with his tiny paws. An unattainable action.
"Don't worry", Panteku reassured.
"Nothing you say nor do right now will be counted in your trial"
"If that was the case than many would repent in this court and be on their way up, and I would have been unemployed…and quite depressed"
"So…please feel free to answer my questions, however you like"
Ansi did not look like it intended to intervene, and the Homeless man took it as a form of approval.
"It has to be heaven", he finally answered, "If anything Carrot deserves it"
"And is that logic speaking or your emotions?"
"Both…I think"
"Hmm"
Panteku hummed while placing Carrot on the ground, right next to the Homeless man, "Members of the court", it said straightening back to height, "here are two living creatures, obviously fundamentally different from a spoon", it said of Carrot and the Homeless man.
"Both are equipped with the five senses"
"I'm assuming Carrot was a well-mannered pet"
"So…it's not enough to make my point, so I'll continue setting up the stage"
And out of its cart, the Panteku took out a wolf, about five times the size of Carrot. And placed her next to the Homeless man. So there they were, three animals, from left to right, the puppy Carrot, the mortal Homeless Gregor, and a nameless wolf, at centre court.
"Don't worry", it calmed, "touch between creatures is impossible in this court"
"We now have three different creatures that all bore life at some point, but do they all meet judgement criteria?"
"Homeless Gregor, I start with you"
"If you ever walked into a wolves' territory and you became its' prey"
"Who is to blame for the incident? Yourself, or the wolf?"
"Mmh…myself", he mumbled.
"But suppose", continued Panteku, "you were going about your day, and a man walks into your home and slaps you across the face. Who is to blame for the incident, you, or him?"
"Him", he replied with less doubt than prior.
"Sticking to the same scenario, but this time it is a wolf that runs into you when you are in the comfort of your home, on a random day, and attacks you"
"Assuming your home was never within proximity of wolf territory, who is at fault?", inquired Panteku, "you or the wolf?"
Homeless Gregor mused for a while, "I'd say the wolf", he finally replied.
"Of course it is", Panteku said, gracing the softness of his skin, "I thus rephrase my question"
"Can you blame a mountain wolf for attacking you in your own home?"
"No?", he half-heartedly replied.
"Can you hold a mountain wolf on the same level of accountability as the man that attacks you unprovoked in the comfort of your own home?"
"No", he dryly affirmed.
"Of course not"
"Of course not, because it makes no sense", getting into it now, Panteku was beginning to use more hand gestures, instead of merely standing there like a plank of wood.
"If back in your days of breath, you were to sue a wolf for biting you, the courts of your world would not take it seriously and many of your kind would consider you a fool"
"You become the subject of a laughable story at their dinner tables", the prosecutor claimed.
"Why? Because there is an underlying expectation for such behaviour from a wolf, but not a mortal that looks and talks like you"
"Yes? And why is that?"
"Reason", the prosecutor specialises in answering its own rhetoric.
"Reason is the reason why things play out the way they do"
"Animals are capable of reason too, yes, yes, they are"
"They are capable of forming bonds with people", it said while referring to Carrot, "yes, yes, they can"
"But there's a difference in reasoning ability"
"If a wolf is hungry it sees you as a meal, if not hungry, it sees you as a threat"
"So it is within her nature to attack you at first sight regardless of your strength"
"Expectation of decency is the only reason why you blamed the man that slaps you"
"First and foremost you expected him to stay out of your house"
"And the indecency that comes with slapping someone for no reason, is something you presumed he was not capable of"
"Correct my Homeless friend?"
"…Yes…"
"Very good", Panteku smiled, "we are getting somewhere", and shifted focus to Cretone.
"Eye of Deeds, run through recorded time and give me a number", it ordered, "How many times did Gregor say out loud that God is omnipotent?"
Cretone blinked once, and the previous clip was erased, before intensely paging through again.
"A total of twelve times", Panteku announced in relation to the amount of still images Cretone had put on display.
"Your honour, and members of this court", it said, "allow me to return to my hypocrisy argument"
"Just as the Homeless man, agreed in my demonstration, a stranger is to blame for slapping him in his own home"
"Because unlike the mountain wolf, said stranger has enough knowledge on how the rules work, that he or she should be able to act according to the rules, hence it makes more sense to hold a stranger accountable for that deed, than some mountain animal that is too accustomed to the wild"
"Twelve is our point of reference"
"It may be small, but nonetheless it is cogent evidence that this mortal was aware and at least believed in the prowess of the mighty one"
"I had also asked a certain lawyer a question it ran away from, did Homeless Gregor have free-will or not?"
"We do not have to go deeply into the matter because there isn't much to say about it"
"Freewill is the freedom of choice. And choice arises from knowledge"
"So where there is knowledge there is choice, and where there is ignorance, there is redundancy, and from redundancy determinism is produced"
"A wild animal, such as a wolf, has no knowledge of consequences of action, thus then its will of choice is redundant to its physiology of hunger and survival, thus they have deterministic behaviour irrespective of free-will", the prosecutor argued.
"A mortal on the other hand has knowledge, through understanding consequences in the environment in which they are born and bred"
"His understanding of omniscience is his revelation of belief, if he did believe God was omniscient why did he act differently to His powers?", questioned Panteku.
"Unless Ansi here, can prove that his admission of omniscience was misunderstood, can I leave him free of a charge on hypocrisy"
"But that would only change the angle of my prosecution, as it would imply he was blindly following the scriptures, and what blind do any of us know that is able to see the light? Let alone live within it?"
"None"
"Telling God you believe in His omni powers, and then turn around and act without accordance of that ability, is to slap Him across the face in His own Home", it argued.
"I had also thrown out the question – can you ever tell a mind reader the truth?"
"Yes, you can", answered Panteku.
"Only when your words are your thoughts, and your thoughts become your words"
"I also pose can you ever tell a time traveller the truth?"
"If the being you are dealing with is solely a time traveller, then you have never told the time traveller the truth, and you never lie to him either, for a time traveller is indifferent to truth"
"In their eyes every outcome is but a fate waiting to happen"
"However, the same cannot be said, if the being you are interacting with has been blessed with both abilities"
"In which case in order to be truthful and non-hypocritical"
"Two conditions must be fulfilled"
"First words spoken are in line with thoughts, and second actions too are in line with what has been said"
"Members of the cosmic court"
"Is my argument becoming any clearer now!? Or do I need to dive deeper into it?", the Prosecutor paused.
"The accused is not just guilty of hypocrisy, but is too guilty of mockery, assault of belief, for I am of the position he has never been truthful to his Lord throughout his existence"
The fact that Panteku did not commence this trial in its classical way of listing the sins of an accused, it became clear to both handler and Ansi that the prosecutor had chosen the hardest route to possible victory, just for the sake of its' own fun.
"That' will be all for now", it concluded, "Floor is all yours, Ansi"
Panteku walked back to its side of the court. Leaving a dismayed, and anxious Gregor at the centre. His eyes racing away from his prosecutor to his lawyer. In search of a demeanour, a stride of confidence, a padlock of certainy, he could use to reassure himself that his life would survive the prosecution of Panteku.
Is there any way around this? The poor lad kept questioning himself, Or did Panteku so easily win the opening arguments of my trial?
Writing a few things in a notebook was all that Ansi had occupied itself with, and again continued to provide no form of reassurance.
"Have you forgotten about Carrot?", Ansi said while walking to centre court.