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could. A hypnotic and aphrodisiac combo in the drinks she forced her employees to have with her, and they were prime targets.
    As each victim took the stand, Ms. Keeys replayed the insertion of the drug into their glasses and the triumph she felt at that moment.
    Inside her head, Judge Dex heard, We have enough. We have our decision.
    That was surprising. Normally, the jury enjoyed drawing out the process, but all seven voices in the jury corridor of her mind were in agreement.
    The prosecutor stood. “I would like to call my next witness, Judge Dex.”
    She spoke. “Unnecessary. Defendant, stand for sentencing.”
    The defense council went into shock. “Judge, this is highly unusual. We have not been able to present our case.”
    “Your client has testified every time a witness has stood to speak. I have seen the events in her own memories and her eagerness to have a worldwide pandemic as her legacy shrieks in her mind.”
    “Her mind, Your Honour? I do not understand.” The opposing council honestly was flabbergasted.
    “I am of the capital circuit court. I carry a jury of seven within my mind and I examine the minds of those I have been sent to judge. Now, get your client to rise. I have little liking for the manipulation of the system your client has engaged in to date.”
    Stunned, the woman got to her feet.
    “Ekalina Keeys, you have been judged by the laws of the imperium, the laws of Yiksadu and the laws of the victims’ species. Are you prepared to hear the verdict?”
    The woman reached into her blouse and Ex-Hess was there before she could complete her extraction. A neurotoxin in a vial had been her way out. His shadowed form removed it from her hand and she finally began to show fear.
    “Are you prepared to hear the verdict?” Judge Dex repeated it.
    The woman began to shake. She shook her head. “No.”
    “That is unfortunate, but your desires have ceased to be a factor here.”
    The victims smiled a little; their wives clutched their hands. Judge Dex took in the entire room and Harry recorded every expression.
    “Ekalina Keeys, on the first count of infecting with the intent to spread a pathogen, guilty. On the second count of infecting with the intent to spread a pathogen, guilty.” Judge Dex continued until she went through the entire roster of charges.
    “You have been found guilty on all charges. Your estate shall be divided equally among the families of your victims and your sentence is death.”
    The shock in her mind was both terrifying and gratifying but that was not why Judge Dex was here. “The trial is over. The sentence will be carried out immediately. Executioner, to your duty.”
    Judge Dex kept her mental corridor open for the jury to watch the sentence being carried out. Ex-Hess took the woman’s hands with his own shadowed ones and she began to shudder and shake as her body was simply turned off.
    When the defendant collapsed, Judge Dex lifted her medical scanner from the case next to her and walked over to the dead body.
    The executioner stood back and she ran the scans. She nodded, “The sentence has been carried out.”
    From under her robes, she withdrew a dagger, and she thrust it into the jaw, piercing the brain on the off chance that they attempted to revive the woman.
    “Given her state of contagion, her body should be burned to keep anyone from attempting to revive her or the pathogen.”
    The prosecution nodded. “We will take charge of the body. She will be burned as you say.”
    “Do it soon. The records of the death will be made public within two hours. The details of the reparation to the victims’ families will remain sealed. Only those here today will know of the order. They do not need to be hounded for the money that has come at the cost of their parents.”
    Each of the victims had a family; it was part of what had made Ms. Keeys so happy to destroy them.
    She resumed her seat and the rhythmic sound of the gavel tapped out. “Court is dismissed.”
    The