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The next morning, a school administrator retrieved Jason and the other TOYs from Lavender, and brought them to a courtroom downtown. They stood on a table, and each of them had a microphone near them to amplify their voices. None of them could afford a good lawyer, so they were forced to trust the services of the public defender. The judge hadn’t entered the courtroom yet, so Jason spoke with the public defender to explain their situation.

“We didn’t break out, I got kidnapped by a girl named Amelia Andino, she’s a seventh grader at one of the local junior high schools in this area. My sister took the other TOYs and plotted to get me back! The administrator took me back from my own home, my sister took care of us after Amelia got arrested!”

“Let me do the talking,” said the public defender.

The judge entered the courtroom, and after a few moments, she spoke to the TOYs: “You boys are in serious trouble, I hope you’re aware of that!” the judge said with a stern look on her face. “You left school property without permission in an effort to do who knows what! How do you plead?”

“They all plead guilty, your honor!” said the public defender.

Jason gasped in shock, this wasn’t part of the original plan. He looked at Sadler and the others, and they were just as surprised as he was.

“They willfully left school property without permission.” said the public defender.

“I’m giving all of you one more year in the Therapeutic Occupational Youth program! You’ll now be re-enlarged in two years instead of one!”

The school administrator scooped up the TOYs and carried them to her vehicle. When they returned to the high school, the habitation module had been repaired.

When they returned to the tram station within the habitation module, Jason vented to Sadler. “That was the worst lawyer who ever walked the Earth! He completely betrayed us!”

“He gets paid whether we win or lose our case, so there’s no incentive to provide us with good counsel,” said Sadler.

By the time Jason got to his first class, it was almost over. Regan was concerned.

“Jason, what happened?” Regan asked.

‘I’ll tell you during break after second period!” Jason replied.

During break, Jason met with Regan at the tram station in the quad, and told her the entire situation.

“What kind of a lawyer would force you to plead guilty if you’re innocent?” Regan asked.

“He was just highly incompetent,” Jason replied. “He’s just in it for a paycheck, he couldn’t care less about his clients!”

By this time, Maude and Ruby had been re-enlarged. They walked over to Jason.

“I heard you got sentenced to an additional year as a TOY!” said Maude. “Why didn’t you get a better lawyer?”

“I’m being raised by a single mother, and we can’t afford a lawyer,” Jason replied.

“What I did was a lot more serious than what you and Sadler did, and I got off with a slap on the wrist!” said Maude, as she high-fived Ruby. “Once a TOY, always a TOY!”

Jason knew it was true that his offense was less serious than Maude’s, but he could do nothing about it. Even being the one who decrypted an invention left by the Reality Trekkers couldn’t remove an aura of criminality from him; as far as law abiding citizens were concerned, Jason was just a criminal, regardless of how many good things he had done.
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