The Me In Court: A Crowded Galaxy Story: A Pop-Up Guy Story by GF Willmetts.

‘Am Me going to be accused of every crime going just because Me is everywhere?’ Me asked the court in general but looking at the judge, looking around for reaction. It wasn’t as if Me was on trail but one of the other Me’s was.

‘Why do you refer to yourself in the third person, Dr. Fulton? This Me person?’

‘There’s an estimated 5 million of identical Me’s on Earth. Me think as it’s a statistical estimate per square mile, there might be more. Me look across the room and Me see more Me. They see Me so Me are all Me. It gets a lot easier to call myself Me.’

‘But you are still Doctor Richard Byron Fulton, holder of several scientific degrees and awards.’

Me pointed to the various identical Me’s in crowd. ‘So are the Me’s over there. Me. Me. Me. Me. Me. Me believe you stopped letting any more of Me in after six. Me are all Fulton or Me are all Me. How do you tell all of Me apart? It’s a bitch, excuse my language my lord, collecting any sort of awards these days.’

‘And you are still all identical? Where is the original?’

‘That’s a good question. Me doesn’t know. Identical to the point of teleportation when Me stepped into the t-booth and stepped out of the t-booths many times over the world. Then there were copies of Me all over. Me might have different experiences but Me haven’t grown apart. It doesn’t seem to change all of Me. Me react the same way and as far as Me can tell Me haven’t developed further than that. Me doesn’t understand that part of entanglement yet but still learning. Me can’t draw from the same experiences. Me remembers them like finger memory but not experience conscious memory.’

‘Yet none of you killed this victim?’

‘Me are not killers. One of Me might have witnessed the murder but Me doesn’t murder. Me would have to ask Me around. There’s enough of Me around for Me to be accused of anything. Me have an unforgettable face so seen by anyone else. Face memory.’

‘It was you in particular that was standing over the body. You were tagged.’

‘Not Me. The Me there, as Me understands it, was too late to save him. Everything else would circumstantial. With the number of Me around, it’s inevitable Me would witness all manner of crimes. Me told which court to appear in then the Me witness would attend.’

‘And if some unsavoury criminal witnesses decided to kill you?’ the judge looked down his glasses with serious intent.

‘When the entanglement field is disrupted with a bullet, that Me then explores. There’s plenty of evidence of other Me’s exploding and leave block-size craters. The energy tend get reabsorbed and we think any Me’s are lare entangled elsewhere and might well include any witness Me’s. If anything Me are the perfect crime deterrent. That would probably extend to war zones as well. Me leaves a lot of craters and probably loss of life. Me, as Me are discovering, can be seen as a weapon of mass destruction but Me doesn’t cause it. Me has no control of what other people do unless Me stops them. At least out in public, my lord.’

‘And all these…duplicate you’s of you that are around doesn’t confuse you?’

‘Me are all in the same boat, my lord. We just accept each Me as another Me.’

‘Why don’t you call yourself ‘Us’?’

‘It’s too general. It could mean the general population, which I should hasten to add still out-numbers us. I’m agreeing with Them that playing with entanglement is dangerous. Me could have inadvertently replaced whole populations had they also been entangled.’

‘Being multiple Me’s means all of Me have variable status. All of me comes under the same passport. Not that Me wants to travel the world. Me is already there and off it, come to that.’

‘Your life would be easier if you were telepathically linked.’

‘Telepathy doesn’t exist.’

‘Neither did teleportation until you did it.’

‘Good point, my lord. But Me’ve found no evidence telepathy exists yet.’

‘Maybe you should. Give your particular Me some purpose in life.’

‘I have heard that some alien arrived and adjusted your machine.’

‘Yeah! Them. Them had the same problem with entabglement but sorted out the error in my machine. Me can teleport off planet but no more Me’s than already exist. Me and other scientists though entanglement, the means for teleportation, was only between two locations. The proof of multiple Me’s showed Me and them were wrong. Them are scattered across the galaxy, too. Them had a mistake in Them’s own teleport machine and it broke before more of Them filled the galaxy. I didn’t have the same problem as Them or there would be more of Them. Me did learn from Them, that there are more of Me across the Galaxy. Them are better scientists and sorted out their…Me machine’s errors.’

‘How did this Them get to Earth?’

‘Them worked out the co-ordinates from the Me on their planet and came here. The damage was already done but Them stopped more of Me propagating.’

‘I take it one of you went to Them’s home planet?’

‘That was Me, my lord. I presume that was why you wanted this Me at this court.’

‘Why didn’t one of you come back from their planet instead? After all, no one can tell you all apart.’

Me shrugged. ‘Me didn’t understand neither. Me was given the invite to show no bias from the Me’s there or that those Me’s weren’t being coerced. Me didn’t exactly talk to Them. Me is still learning their language there but an Earth bound Me needed to look at the science than tamper with the corrections. Me thinks Them will be speaking our language first.

‘But you came back.’

‘There’s still a communications gap between Me and Them. You might see other Them visiting from time to time. Them is curious about mankind and Me wants to know why there are fewer Them. Even a broken teleportation machine should have entangled more Them.’

‘And your role?’

‘The other Me’s decided one of Me ought to be the spokesMe. Any of Me can do it but Me was closest to the zero event. The other five Me’s there chose Me as well.’

‘How do you tell yourselves apart?’

‘Oh, Me, as Me said earlier, isn’t telepathic like twins can be. No one has ever asked whether triplicates or multiple births are telepathic. Me shares a skill set. Me just knows who Me are. If Me could die, one of the other Me would step up instead. I’m less a Number One Me, just selected to me be spokesMe. It could be any of Me here right now.’ Me pointed at the six Me’s in the court. ‘Any of Me there could continue in Me’s absence.’

‘It does create a problem of telling all the Me’s apart, Dr. Fulton.’

‘We’re undecided on that, my lord. To wear numbers would turn Me into a bingo game. Me does know how to tell Me’s apart and if a particular Me is needed, like Me is here today, then the right Me would be here, as I am now. In many respects, Me has the perfect witness protection plan. Too many Me to count and tell apart.’

‘So you personally didn’t witness the murder?’

‘No. Me appearance at this court is more to ensure Me are not automatically thought that Me commit a crime simply because Me are there first or Me witness something.’

‘And your endless Me’s are incapable of murder?’

‘Me are all the same. Me’s have been attacked regularly. Me seems to be an automatic victim for many people as there are so many of Me. Me can tell you that Me are a product of an entanglement field. Me hurts but Me can’t truly die. None of Me. Not yet. Me can’t be disentangled’

‘You haven’t answered my question. Are any of you capable of murder?’

‘There would be too many to confer with to ask about Me’s current situations but Me are generally non-violent. Me are not suicidal or homicidal. Me would prefer not to be exploded. Me knows Me are incapable of death, so what motive would Me have?’

‘Possessions? Property?’

Me shrugged. ‘For who? Me needs are few. Me discovered Me doesn’t need to eat or drink unless Me wants to. Me are not taking up resources. As Me has pointed out. Me is hardly inconspicuous. Too many of Me around. It works both ways.’

‘It make you…all of you incapable of crime.’

‘That, Me agrees, would have to be proven, my lord. But, no. Generally, Me are not criminally inclined. There’s enough Me to statistically be present at someone else’s crime. That is why Me am giving evidence at this enquiry. Me wishes to affirm Me’s use for betterment than detriment.’

The Judge studied Me, looked at the Me’s in the courtroom.

‘And you can represent all of you.’

‘Me are not telepathic but Me all think the same way. Word does get around.’

The Judge called three ushers over and whispered in their ears.

‘I’ve asked for your other six…Me’s to be escorted from this court. You have no objections to sitting quietly and watching? I only need one other of you here in court at this time.’

Me shook my head. ‘Me can only share knowledge by listening.’

Me watched them leave and then another Me was brought into the court.

‘Can you…Me…sit down and please stay quiet. I take it you are all experts.’

‘Yes, as your lord orders.’ Me got out of the witness box and watched as the Me took Me’s place.

‘Would you there…Me…stand in the witness stand please.’

The other Me nodded and stood in the box and looked to the Judge and not to Me.’

‘Are you acquainted with the other one of you in this courtroom, Dr. Fulton? You may look his way if you wish but no talking. You came to this court as a witness to a murder by an assassin?’

The Me in the dock continued to ignore Me and kept looking at the judge. Exactly what I would have done. After all, Me knows what Me looks like. Me didn’t need confirmation of other Me here.

‘You have not have had access to any information as to what has been going on in this court proceedings up to this point Dr. Fulton.’

The Me in the dock nodded. ‘I prefer to be called Me.’

‘No numbering? This is more for the clerk keeping track of who I am talking to.’

‘Me isn’t a queue.’

‘You don’t share experiences?’

‘Not as far as Me knows, my lord.’

‘As I understand from the police officers, you were the nearest to the crime when your…when the nearest Me witness exploded while that destroyed the victim and him?’

‘Yes, my lord.’

‘Can you tell me what you saw.’

‘Someone, I’m not sure what sex, in the street fell down. The nearest Me ran to see what happened. I heard a rifle fire a second time and then there was an explosion that detonated that Me. They were both gone.’

‘The evidence and size of the explosion is similar to other times when one of your Me’s are…detonated, is that right?’

‘Yes, my lord.’

‘So why wasn’t he resurrected? I believe that is what happens with this entanglement?’

‘It doesn’t always follow that a Me reappears in the same spot. Entanglement would move to another vacant spot in the entanglement field which could be anywhere in the galaxy, my lord.’

‘And there are no means of getting back?’

‘Not without a t-booth…a teleportation booth. Me would have to be shot again and entangle at an already inhabited with a t-booth to return to Earth. As that hasn’t happened yet, that Me is still out there. Me believes that the entangles on Earth might actually be full until more of us travel elsewhere…or exploded. Me believes the entanglement spread out in a geometric pattern.’

‘You can leave the science for someone better equipped. This does complicate things. Do you have any more information for what you saw and heard of the crime?’

A barrister to the left finally stood up. ‘Isn’t this leading the witness, my lord?’

‘As we have no confirmation who was shot before this Me was also shot, this is a rather odd enquiry as we have no one to represent the dead person as we have no idea who it was or why the Me there was also shot. Were they both victims or was the assassination of the Me there to ensure no evidence was left for either of them. Do you have any evidence otherwise for this enquiry?’

‘No, my lord.’ The barrister sat down.

‘Purely for our records, Dr. Fulton, what could you surmise from what you saw on that day?’

‘There was ample time to shoot at any of the Me’s that were in the vicinity, my lord. The fact that it was after that Me went to the victim’s aid before getting shot meant the assassin wanted to destroy all evidence. Whether that meant the Me that was hit was murdered can’t be proven. There isn’t a name for Me under law. At most it would be regarded as attempted murder and deportation. ’

‘You people…Me’s are really weapons of mass destruction.’

‘That wasn’t our intention. Me’s assumed no one would dare to attack us knowing the result could also potentially kill them as well. A distant sniper probably avoided being killed him or herself.’

‘I was going to consider ordering all you Me’s to stay apart from each other but having seen previous evidence when someone attacked through Me’s together, I would be more inclined in ordering you all to stay in groups.’

‘Me’s were already doing that for personal safety. Rushing to someone’s aid was purely a natural reaction. It could have been any of Me’s doing that. Me notices there is only one other Me in court. Isn’t removing the other Me’s contradicting keeping Me in a group, my lord?’

‘Yet when one of you did it, the rest held back.’

‘Me’s are aware of what would happen had Me’s all grouped over the victim against one Me’s self-sacrifice, my lord.’

‘So your interpretation is a sniper out psyched you.’

‘In other words, the other Me’s there had a chance to think through the dilemma and held back? I thought you all thought alike? Shouldn’t all of those present have got there together?’

‘The closest Me got there first, Me was ringing for medics. Me does delegate. Me just does what job is left to do. Me learnt early on Me don’t have to be everywhere simply because Me is everywhere.’

‘And your feelings for the Me who died?’

‘Me believes…thinks that Me entangled and appeared somewhere else, my lord. Me’s are in a position of having plenty or Me’s around.’

‘If it was you, what would you be doing in that situation?’

‘Me would be attempting to get back to Earth as a material witness. Without a T-booth that might not be possible unless Me entangles on an advanced technology world and its inhabitants were willing to help.’

And you weren’t in a position to see the assassin or any other detail to help this case?’

‘Unfortunately no, my lord. Me might not like seeing another Me detonating but to be used to hide a crime.’

‘It’s a pity that one of you wasn’t on the roof to stop the assassin.’

‘Me is everywhere but Me doesn’t have blanket coverage.’

‘What is stopping this enquiry is a lack of evidence. Street camera surveillance confirms your evidence and we were lucky it wasn’t wiped in the, I’ve been told, the electromagnetic wave of that Dr. Fulton that detonated there. No doubt someone will turn up and announce a missing person but there are so many of these, it would still take time to prove someone is actually dead. If anyone is waiting for a inheritance, then they will have a long time to wait. One can only hope the example from this crime will prevent other people from choosing this particular choice of assassination. One can only commend one of you Dr. Fultons to attempt saving this victim.’

The judge looked around the court and watched various nods of consent. It was the only result he could find. It wasn’t as though anyone would bomb this court let alone detonate one or both of the two Fultons in this court.

‘As such, I can only leave this case as an open verdict until more evidence is presented. Presumably should the Dr. Fulton that detonated return to Earth, his detail of evidence should tell him apart from the rest of you.’

The court clerk completed his notes and stood up.

Yes?’

‘We were given one more case based on the evidence and result of this case, my lord.’

‘Remind me, this case has kept me rather occupied.’

‘Indeed, my lord. The claimant Doctor Richard Byron Fulton also called Me requires initial proceedings to be classified as a separate species.’

The judge winced, ‘I can see why. Which of you wants to speak first?’

 

Me knows no end.

 

Pop-Up Guy/Crowded Galaxy

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