Chapter 236
The Courtroom That Was Empty
The courtroom looked full until Elise noticed every display had no active user.
All seats were occupied by shadows.
Priya checked attendance and said every session still had a valid ID.
No live user.
Bell called it a "presence illusion."
Elise asked the panel if it was a camera artifact.
No one answered.
In the annex, they reviewed the same room map from chapter 174's bridge path.
There was a flag:
empty_court_mode.
Elise requested full mode control.
The technician said that mode only activates for "high-risk continuity hearings."
"Who flagged this one high-risk?" she asked.
No one could identify.
At the hearing, the mode stayed active, and nothing they did changed it.
Priya replayed the motion audio and found two gaps exactly in silent intervals when no user was visible.
Elise wrote to the judge:
A legal process cannot run on empty attendance.
By night, the mode dropped for one second and returned.
No one celebrated.