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<--Harvey on Trial
Setup:
Moderator: Unohoo
Guests: Ka D’Argo, Chiana, Pilot, Crais, John Crichton, Harvey (in John Crichton’s body, wearing the letter H and speaking with Scorpius’s voice), Rygel, Jool, Stark, Scorpius (Note: not everyone will have something to say, but they will be present.)
Audience: Farscape fans, including the Jury from the trial. The Jurists will have the opportunity to submit questions that Unohoo will ask. (Note: the comments from the replies have been paraphrased to fit this format (not all of the replies are used). My apologies if I misunderstood your comments and I am misrepresenting you.)
Unohoo:” Welcome, welcome. Today’s topic is about the sensational trial that just ended three solar days ago to determine if Harvey murdered Aeryn Sun, and if he attempted to murder of John Crichton. Now I understand there is to be a retrial as the vote wasn’t unanimous. Is that correct?”
Jool: “Yes, Unohoo. There were fifteen verdicts, eleven not guilty, three unqualified guilty verdicts, and one guilty verdict where the preferred charge would have been manslaughter had that been available. There were many reservations among the not guilty votes, and one would also have liked to have the manslaughter option. This was all regarding Aeryn’s murder. We are dismissing the charge of attempted murder of John Crichton.”
Unohoo: “What would have been the punishment if the verdict was Guilty?”
John: “I’ll take this one, Jool. This is a complex situation, particularly for me. We agreed before the trial that Harvey would not be able to appear in either Johns’ mind unless summoned by John. What I would really like to do is get rid of Harvey altogether, but we have no way to do it.”
Unohoo: “And why did one of you agree to let Harvey take over the other Crichton body? Doesn’t that John have as much right to his body as you?”
Harvey: “If I may, before the trial, we came to an agreement where the winner of a chess game would be able to choose who was John dominant and who was Harvey dominant. The idea to put me on trial arose after the chess game settled the dominance issue.”
Unohoo: “Who won?”
Harvey: “Well, I did. I never doubted I could.” (Scorpius snickered at this remark.)
Unohoo: “Rygel, I understand you defended Harvey. Why did you agree?”
Rygel: “I wasn’t going to at first, but John explained how every defendant is entitled to an adequate defense regardless of presumed innocence or guilt. I think I presented an excellent defense. I nearly got him off on both charges.”
Crais: “But you cheated. You made Harvey look better than both Aeryn and me. How could you intimate that Harvey was not responsible for his actions? He clearly knew what he was doing before, and he is the same entity now as before. Isn’t that right Scorpius?”
Scorpius: “I have no knowledge of this persona, Harvey. The neural implant held the knowledge I was looking for. Harvey was unknown to me until I learned of the trial. Tell me Harvey, why do you think you are connected to me in any way?”
Harvey begins to rise out of his chair, but thinks better of it. “Scorpius, you put me there to protect John, why did you leave me behind?”
Scorpius: “Oh yes, the protector. You were supposed to get back in the chip. I had no idea you didn’t follow orders.” Scorpius sat back with a self-satisfied grin, both hands forming a pyramid, touching his chin.
Harvey turned his head in disgust. “You gave no such orders.”
Unohoo: “I have some questions from the jury. The first is from LeatherGirl. Harvey, before the neural implant was removed, were you acting as a direct agent for Scorpius? That is, did you have free will, or were your actions strictly on his behest?”
Harvey: “My actions then were not my own. I had two main purposes. One was to aid the chip in gathering the information Scorpius required. My more important mission was to keep John from harm so that Scorpius could get the chip intact. That was the reason I forced Aeryn Sun down causing her ultimate death. She was going to shoot John Crichton down. I had received a signal from Scorpius and I had clear orders: get John to Scorpius alive and in one piece. The Farscape Module has no weapons, but is highly maneuverable, and John is a skillful pilot. I was under orders to keep John alive. I did what I had to do.”
Unohoo: “You still haven’t answered the question. Did you have any free will of your own?”
Harvey: “I don’t think I can answer the question. John, can you help me.”
John: “I can’t help you. You were very strong at the end, and I felt like you were controlling me. The only thing I can say is you are very different now from when the chip was in my head.”
Unohoo: “This leads right into another question from Runnik. Once the chip was removed, you became cooperative. Why?”
Harvey: “I no longer had orders. I lost my connection to Scorpius. I was bitter; I should not have been left behind. I think I may have wanted, still want, to get back at Scorpius.”
Scorpius snarled at the comment. “Harvey, you will not win.”
Unohoo: “Both JD90 and Ceallaig bring up an interesting point. Where does our responsibility for our actions end? Can we avoid responsibility just because we were under orders from a superior? Anyone?”
John: “I’m not sure that entirely applies here, Unohoo. Unlike most people who are corporeal, and our actions can have independence, Harvey is not a body, rather a presence in my mind. When the chip was there, he was getting direct orders from Scorpius, which he had to obey as an extension of Scorpius. I am the independent entity here, it was my responsibility to keep Harvey from harming my friends, from killing Aeryn.”
Crais: “It is very different in the Peace Keeper Organization than on Earth from what John has told me about things there. Even as separate entities we rarely can act on our own. We must follow orders. That is why Peace Keepers are bred, so they will never question.”
Aeryn: “That is what happened to me. I was born and bred a Peace Keeper, but Crais, you weren’t. Why were you so zealous about following orders?”
Crais: “I was an outsider. I had to learn early what to do to survive and to succeed.”
Unohoo: “Roxystrong and Runnik have suggest the charge for Aeryn’s death should have been manslaughter. Why was Harvey charged with murder and not manslaughter?”
D’Argo: “We all felt his actions were premeditated. We did not consider Harvey as a different being from the one with the neural implant.”
Unohoo: “John, Grammykins makes the point that you are the only reliable witness to what took place. Were you fully aware the entire time? And do you think Harvey could be pretending to be something you would accept and not be showing his true self?”
John: “I did know what was happening, although I felt powerless to prevent some of it, especially toward the end. As to whether Harvey is being duplicitous now, I can only go by certain actions. He did help save Moya from certain destruction when we were merged with the Pathfinder’s ship. I can’t answer that question, I don’t know. It is possible he is deceiving me.”
Unohoo: “I see we are almost out of time. I want to end with a question for each of you. Do you think Harvey is a different being from when the neural chip was in John’s mind? If you do, can you forgive …..”
Stark jumps up, very agitated: “Forgive, forgive! Where is Zhaan? What are you talking about? You can’t forgive him. Scorpius is to blame!”
The round table quickly dissolved into pandemonium. Unohoo: “Good bye everyone.”
