… solipsubmissive …

This is a continuation.  You might want to begin here:  one

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”

***

 ”I can’t defend you on this one, Olivia.”  Sera’s face was sober.

“What do you mean?”

The junior Life Defense Counselor sighed.  “I’ve told you before that this one is difficult.  People lie.  Out loud, by omission, often without even realizing they’re lying.  You humans even lie to yourselves.”  She shook her head and repeated.  “It is difficult.”

Olivia’s brow furrowed.  “But that will mean my fourth guilty verdict if we plead.”

Sera nodded.  “Five and seven were unexpected.”

The decision to plead guilty on five had been her own, a sacrifice to save Jason from what would surely have been his fifth negative verdict.  And seven had fallen due to a couple factors:  Sera’s inexperience and lack of sufficient research, and Olivia’s lack of disclosure about her marriage.  Which, ironically enough, could be used as evidence in a trial on the ninth.  She had, essentially, lied to Jason and lied to the court by not revealing the information.

Olivia chewed at her lower lip thoughtfully.  “Ten is about coveting, right?”

Sera nodded.

“Do we look okay there?”

“I’d like to get more background before committing, but ten is an easy one.  Not like nine.  With false witness, it is all over with the initial lie.  There’s no way to prove it wasn’t.  It’s just … out there.  And in trying to defend it, things could be revealed that might make ten more difficult to defend.  It’s best to just plead guilty and keep as much of your life off the evidence panels as possible.”

“Is Jason going to plead guilty to nine?” 

Sera shook her head slowly, a mystified expression crossing her face.  “Micah’s going to defend it.  I suppose because it would be an automatic fifth guilty verdict.  I can’t remember the last time someone tried to defend this one.”  She stood and walked to the door.  “Time to go.”

The crowd was nearly as large as the one that had attended Jason’s claims court.  Since it was common knowledge that Sera was going to enter a guilty plea for Olivia, they sat at the table on the right while Micah and Jason occupied their customary defense table.  The Host filed in, Sera stood and formally plead guilty for Olivia, then all eyes turned to Micah.

“I bring the case of Jason, a human soul requesting entry into Heaven.  The Commandment in question today is Five, “Do not bear false witness.”

Olivia looked around the courtroom for Lucifer and finally found him in the back row near the top of the stairs.  He was not watching the proceedings.  Instead, he was looking at her.  He smiled.  Irritated, Olivia returned her attention to Micah, who was addressing the Host.

“It is not often that you hear a case for this Commandment.  Humans have become so accustomed to lying that they seem to do it with impunity.  They’ve even developed justification for some lies, given them innocuous sounding names.  “White lies,” they call them, and believe themselves noble in their dishonesty, for they spared someone’s feelings by not telling them that they do, indeed, look fat in those pants.”

A wave of laughter rippled through the crowd as Micah continued.  “Today, I am defending a man who needs no defending.”

The laughter abruptly stopped.  Micah smiled into the silence and waited, then turned and pointed at Jason.  “Digging as far back into his past as possible, I could not find a single scrap of evidence that this man has ever lied.”

Olivia felt her lips spread in a smile.  She reached out and squeezed Sera’s hand, then glanced triumphantly over her shoulder at Lucifer.  He looked back at her, his expression serene, and didn’t move.

One of the angels spoke.  “Very well.  Does anyone else have any evidence to present in this case?”  The entire gallery turned to look at Lucifer, who shrugged.

The angel to the far right stood.  Olivia couldn’t remember him ever speaking before, and a sense of dread washed through her.  “I did my own research on this one.  I, too, was astonished at the fact that I couldn’t find one instance of untruthfulness in this human’s entire existence.  It is really quite unprecedented.”

Olivia held her breath and stole a look at Jason out of the corner of her eye.  He was watching with interest.

“I feel moved, however,” the angel continued, “to point out that his honesty is often not kind.  So, while he is not in violation of this commandment, his obedience does not necessarily mean he is fit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  To that end, although we find him not guilty, perhaps we might consider the way we judge bearing false witness in the future.”

With that, the Host abruptly vanished and the courtroom began to empty.  Sure she would find him smirking in satisfaction at Jason’s reprimand, Olivia looked up toward his seat.

He was gone.

ten