…Or would he try to detect that presence again?

…Of course. What else would he pick? Just leave it behind, crawling in his Mind? Ha!

“The show must go on. Keep it moving, System.”

The court awakened back to live. The sluggish walk of the doll in the purple robe, covered with stars; Joe's ‘lawyer’, pushing his glasses back on a nose; Logic, who put both of his hands on a table, waiting for Understanding to approach the witness stand; Resolve, with her burning stare, trying to drill a hole into Endurance. And finally, the whispers of familiar voices in the audience.

The astonishing image lulled Joe into a delusional sense of normalcy. He hammerfisted his own forehead. There was no pain, but this change of pace let him put his thoughts back together.

He was supposed to track down the lurking presence. Joe continued to watch the court battle unfold, keeping himself in focus.

“Prosecutor, you may begin questioning the witness.”

Seeing mannequin’s nonexistent muscles move, with barely any difference from a normal person, was tearing Joseph’s Mind in half. He shook his head, trying to convince himself, that such violation of logic was quite normal in the dream. To his own surprise, it actually worked. Didn’t take the weird effect away, but at least he could work with that now, without getting distracted…

“Today, on July 19th, the defendant, throughout the whole night, was training under the guidance of Xander Knight, the man, whose learning experience was consisting of beating the defendant within an inch of his life. Sir Understanding, please tell us everything the accused learned that night.”

The fortune teller bowed.

“Your Honor, my brother has managed to jump over several steps on the way to his desirable dream. I saw him finally realize, that blocking a punch with his own hands was the idea, that only a moron would ever consider brilliant, and once that settled in, he put a lot of effort into learning about the proper defence. I saw how he disarmed a monster twice his size, several times. Joe finally began to use his legs and deadlocks proper, for which he now always has my eternal respect. My brother slowly becomes a proper warrior, and I couldn’t be any more proud of him!”

Endurance clapped, raising his hands, with Empathy following his example. Joe himself was ready to hug the man, only stopping, because he didn’t want to ruin the moment.

But Understanding was not done yet.

“That said… What the hell, man?! I thought one session was enough to put your brain matter into the place, but you wish to go back to the dude?!”

Joe was crushed underneath the wave of stares.

What’s so wrong about it?! We are not done yet, right?! I have to finish my training!

While he was fuming from baseless (No, really!) accusations, the Resolve decided to grab her opportunity.

“Your Honor! You have heard the witness! Not only the defendant is insisting that his course was correct, disregarding the concern of the people, who are connected to his life on the literal level, but he intends to continue sliding down this slippery path! Your Honor, I accuse this man not only of having no instinct of self-preservation, but also accuse him of being an unapologetic masochist!”

“What?!!!”

Joseph himself, Endurance, Empathy and Instinct, all joined together to express their concern.

“Order in the court!”

“But, Your Honor, this is preposterous! The defendant never had any intention of purposefully bringing the harm to himself! Even Empathy and Instinct agree, and they would know better than anyone here! Except for Understanding, maybe, as part of WSG, but that’s one accusation that has absolutely no ground to stand on!”

Wait, what the hell is WSG?!

Logic turned his attention to Understanding.

“Witness, what say you?”

The fortune teller inhaled the smoke from his pipe.

“My brother has never showed any signs of being a normal moron, or a self-damaging moron. I do believe, that his desire to improve himself is genuine, Your Honor, but the way he goes about it… That said, as my namesake implies, I do understand his reasons, and if anything, I would agree with Endurance on this one, except for the part that my brother should be relieved of all crimes.”

Joe had never heard Understanding delivering a speech like that. He was even more appalled, when the mannequin winked at him, and pointed his finger at his own head, as if signaling him.

Watch out, bredda. There is definitely something off around you.

Joseph nodded. He detected no hostile presence around since the last time, but if Stats were feeling it too, then he should be paying extra attention.

So far, nothing out of the ‘ordinary’.

Logic nodded, acknowledging witness’ words.

“Defence, Prosecution, any other questions you would like to ask?”

Resolve was beating a rhythm on the table with her fingers.

“I have one. What would you advice to the defendant to do for his next time?”

Understanding chuckled, exhaling a ‘heart’ sign, creating it with his smoke.

“Put some mats down, brother. Or anything soft. Or better yet, find a place, not filled to the brim with stabby stuff.”

Joseph lowered his head down. He would never be against it, but… where? The entire ship was one huge piece of steel, floating in the void, geared strictly for the purpose of waging war, from top to bottom! No way he could get a gym in there, unless he figures something out himself…

He should ask Ailuros after he wakes up.

…Can’t believe, that I consider her only as my pocket guide now. What a good friend I am, huh…

That was another patch in his life that needed fixing, as soon as possible. It would simply be unfair to the very first person he met in the Threshold. Well, technically second, but that’s not the point…

Back to work, Darling. You have a spy to catch.

Right.

“Any more questions?”

Endurance and Resolve shook their heads together.

“Then, you may return to the audience, Understanding.”

The fortune teller bowed, turned around and leisurely walked back to his seat. Logic scanned the courtroom with his gaze.

“Defence, Prosecution, do you have anything else to add?”

“Indeed, Your Honor.” Endurance put his hand up. “I’d like to discuss the defendant’s methods of studying. From what we know, for him, the fastest and most effective way was always practice. Just before the incident we are using as the basis for the case here, he learned how to pilot the ship in just a couple of hours. Not to the professional level, but he was competent enough for a novice. This is when the defendant had never got a licence for a car, and never had any experience controlling anything more complex than a bicycle before! Therefore, while Prosecutor Resolve’s accusation has some merit, it is not entirely correct to say, that defendant’s way of learning is wrong.”

“Prosecutor Resolve?”

She was supporting her head with her hand. Her gaze was pointed at someone in the audience. Her fingers continued to beat a rhythm.

“Prosecutor?”

There was no answer from her.

Resolve?

She jumped up, startled.

“Ah? Ah! Excuse me, Your Honor, I’d like to call the witness Empathy!”

“You are not going to provide a retort for Defender Endurance?”

“This is not really necessary, Your Honor.”

Logic nodded.

“Then, Empathy, please stand up and come to the witness stand.”

The sound of clanking jewelry was so out of place, Joe has almost lost of all his focus.

“Your Honor, I am here!”

Resolve put her hand up.

“Empathy, I’d like to hear, what your stance on the situation is.”

This is not a proper court anymore, is it? Mind on the prize, Joe…

“Yes! Your Honor, and everyone present, my dear is a man of honor and respect! To everyone, including himself!”

That’s debatable…

“...But I definitely know, that anything he did, he did for the safety of us all! However dangerous his ventures are, he knows it, and will always take proper steps to ensure his return to us safely! While the night incident and his general lifestyle are surely terrible, my dear is the greatest man there ever was, and I’m sure he will follow a proper path in the future!”

Joseph turned away from the shining Empathy. He felt his ears heating up…

…And then he felt a slight push inside his mind!

He knew it!

There! Got you!

He focused all of his attention on the mysterious presence. Beyond the courtroom, beyond the confines of his mind, he felt that someone was there, looking at the show from a distance. His thoughts were concentrated, sharpened as the Ralf’s knife, for a single purpose - to cross the line, to reach the source of invasion…

He mentally reached out his hand…

Interference detected. Rebooting into Safe Mode.

What?! No! System, no!!

Safe Mode Enabled. Shutting Down all Interference. Please wait patiently...

*****

The presence was gone. Disappeared into the unknown, just like his money after the payday.

Yeah, that’s one awful joke…

The invader was right there. Granted, there was no guarantee that his insane ‘plan’ would have ever been successful. Following it with his thoughts? How would that even work?

How does anything in the Threshold work?

Exactly. Ships should’ve been falling down, yet they don’t. The sky should not be a void, yet it is, and even more ridiculous, only in-between the islands.

Catching a hostile presence with his mind alone didn’t sound like a stretch now. He saw Magic in action, for Kon’jar’s sake!

Now I am definitely turning into a local…

Yet, the System itself cut him off. Or did it cut the presence off? Either way, the opportunity was lost. Joseph didn’t know if the invader would try to repeat his attempt, or go for another round during the same night.

The court was frozen in time once again. He didn’t have the heart to let System’s efforts go to waste, so the best he could do was to finish watching it, at least.

Maybe he’ll get another chance further down the line.

“System, we good?”

No Interference Detected.

He nodded in response.

“Then, let’s keep it going.”

Logic coughed from the tribune, looking around.

“Everybody alright? Seems like the power has been cut off…”

Empathy beamed, putting her hands up.

“Everything is fine! I am done, Your Honor!”

Endurance raised his hand up.

“One question, Empathy. You said, that the defendant was the greatest man ever, right?”

Joseph felt his face heating up again. He coughed.

“Oh, absolutely! He is the best, most hard-working-”

Wrong.

“-very smart-”

Double wrong.

“-and very skilled in anything he puts his mind on! I’d love to have him as my husband for life!”

Joseph dived under the table.

Stop! This is too much! It’s like I am confessing to myself!!

He heard a giggle from the outside.

“So, Your Honor, I am standing by Defence! While my dear has made some mistakes, he is not guilty in this very instance!”

Joe felt a strong hand pulling him out from beneath the table. Endurance put him back on the floor, in the similar way as one puts down a very naughty kitten.

Logic nodded.

“Very well. Anybody else wants to ask some questions? No? Alright, Empathy, you may be seated. Memory, yes?”

The Victorian lady stood up, with a flame in her eyes.

“I’d like to make a statement, Your Honor.”

Joseph shuddered at the chilling tone of her voice.

“You may do so.”

She floated up to the stand, keeping her head high, and back straitened. Memory looked over the courtroom, leaving her gaze on Joe for a couple of seconds, giving him a wink (Joseph’s heart stopped beating for a moment), and locked her stare on Logic.

“Your Honor, and everyone present… All of us are aware of the dangers beyond. Sometimes, a sacrifice is a necessity for a progress to be made. Which is why I stay by the side of the Defence. However, there are forces, that will earn much more mileage out of separating us, and putting us against each other. Therefore I, Memory, declare, that Joseph Snowfield, my Prince, will forever and ever be under my protection! I will not allow anyone to touch a hair on his head without severe repercussions! I want this message to be clear. My love for my Darling cannot be swayed by any cost, or reason!”