"You are hereby ordered by the court to appear in civil hearing of copyright infringement, smuggling and bootlegging of a human organ."
"My heart? They're accusing me of illegally getting a heart transplant? What are they going to do? Rip it from my chest still beating?" Reading further down, that was exactly what their intention was. He felt like throwing up. This couldn't be for real, or could it?
Death by lawsuit was all Charlie could think about for the rest of the day. He did not go to class or even eat. He was required to show up in the afternoon. No one had let him know about the summons until the day of the hearing.
Charlie had no money for a lawyer. He was a starving college student, and all his money was recently spent on a heart transplant. He could not defend himself in court, and these companies suing him knew it. That was why they chose a starving college student instead of a business executive or another lawyer. Charlie was being violently mugged, ... legally.
He had had a severe heart murmur the last fall. The doctors said that if he didn't get a heart transplant, he would be dead by the end of spring semester. Not maybe. Not possibly. Definitely. Will that be cash or credit?
He showed up for court that afternoon. The judge reprimanded him for not wearing a tie. Charlie tried to explain that he did not own a tie, and didn't even have money for a tie, let alone a lawyer. The judge did not care. This was not a criminal case, so he did not have a right to an attorney. He needed to take care of these matters himself and make sure he had a tie on if there was a next time.
The case went quickly.
Are you Charlie Henry Locks?
Yes.
Were you recently diagnosed with irreparable heart damage?
Yes.
Did you fill out a waver for a free genetic exam as part of your visit?
I don't know.
Is this your signature?
Yes.
Did you recently receive a heart transplant?
Yes.
Did you receive that Heart from Iraa Medical Cloning, Inc?
Uh, .... Why?
Yes or no, please.
I received my heart in Asia. The operation was all I could afford. I would have died.
Yes or no, please.
It cost ten times as much in the U.S. I had to spend my entire college fund on it. I would have died.
Yes or no, please.
No.
Are you aware that by agreeing to the free genetic exam that Iraa Medical Cloning, Inc. was given all legal title to patent and copyrights of your genetic code and requires that to reimburse them for the extremely expensive procedure that you took advantage of, they require you to obtain all cloned body replacement parts through them?
No.
You are now. Did you get a clone from a genetic pirating facility in the far east?
They are a reputable hospital.
Yes or no, please.
No.
These records show that indeed you did visit a known genetic bootlegging facility in Asia, and there received a bootleg heart at or near Christmas. A day or two after the theft, you proceeded to smuggle the said pirated genetic material into the United States of America in your person, lying on customs forms and costing Iraa Medical Cloning, Inc. millions in losses and damages.
That's not true!
Of course it is. Here are the medical records showing that you had the heart transplant.
Quicker than Charlie's stomach could flip flop, the court ruled against him. He was ordered to turn over his bootleg merchandise to Iraa Medical Cloning, Inc. at a local hospital the next day, pay a huge fine (more than the original operation cost) and pay for removal and disposal of said merchandise. A replacement organ if any, must be paid for in cash (along with the fine) before the procedure tomorrow morning.
If any?
Charlie was having a bad day. This was all accomplished before 5:00. They fitted him with an ankle bracelet for tracking purposes by 5:30 because he was considered a flight risk. (Yes, in a civil suit.) He was back in his dorm at college by 6:00.
He had been given a death sentence in a civil suit in one day without a defense attorney. This would ruin his life. Even killers get a defense attorney for free.
Charlie was depressed, so he went by his girlfriend's apartment.
"You did what? How come I never knew?"
"It was an out patient procedure. I flew over in the morning on the space plane, non-stop, had the procedure, and flew back a couple of days later after I did some sightseeing. It was no big deal."
"But you stole from the medical professionals! You're a thief! I can't believe I've been dating you! You are a horrible person!" She began to cry.
"Unless I can come up with four times the amount of money that is required to buy a nice house, I'm going to be dead by noon tomorrow, and you are crying why?"
"Because I trusted you, and you're a common criminal. I wish I had never met you!" She continued to cry, breaking into an all out sob.
Charlie sat on her futon and stared at her. She was beautiful even when she was crying. Even when she didn't care that he was about to be killed by a court ordered medical procedure, just to make a statement to evil, bootlegging college students who couldn't afford a product they supposedly stole anyway. He followed the curves of her body in her baggy sweat suit with his eyes and said to himself, she's still my girlfriend, and she's still pretty. Her hair was long and stylish. He wanted to run his fingers through it, but probably would not again.
"How can you call me a thief?" He was more disbelieving than angry. "It was a clone of MY genes. It is MY body. I PAID MY MONEY! How can you think I did anything wrong? Did I mention I would already be DEAD if I hadn't had the procedure done in Asia? I could never afford it to be done by Iraa Medical Cloning, INC." He spit out the word "inc." with disgust. "They gouge everyone that purchases from them and then gouge the doctors by not paying them."
"All I can think about is that when I was a little girl in elementary school and they had a special assembly on piracy and I swore I would never be a thief, even of intellectual property, and here you are telling me its okay to be thief. I never want to see you again!"
"After tomorrow, that's not likely to be a problem."
Feeling even more depressed, Charlie made his way back to his dorm. He figured he'd call his parents. Maybe they could sell their house and four of the neighbors' houses by tomorrow morning. At the very least he could say good bye. It seemed the polite thing to do.
After explaining why he was calling, his mother would no long talk to him, and his father ripped into him about being responsible and accepting the consequences of ones actions being a sign of maturity.
So Charlie spent the night wishing he were a nice serial killer and not an evil broke college student with a bad heart. Then he would be given a life sentence and three meals a day, not an empty stomach and a death sentence.
The next day found Charlie in the lobby of a local hospital waiting for Iraa Medical Cloning, Inc. to rip his heart from his chest. His father had told him the night before, "Just think of all the innocent medical professionals that you are hurting by keeping that bootleg heart!"
But Charlie wasn't thinking of innocent medical professionals while he walked to the elevator and to the assigned waiting room. The room was filled with kids with ankle bracelets just like himself. Most had some internal organ that was "pirated" that would soon be removed and destroyed. They all had the same expression of despair that Charlie carried.
He took a number and waited to sign in. His number was called and he gave his name, social security number, address and case number verbally. He was instructed to sit and wait for his name to be called.
"You are lucky, it is a short wait right now."
Charles smiled politely and found a seat between two other victims and awaited justice.
Waiting for his turn, Charlie shuffled through out dated magazines that no one reads unless they're stuck in a waiting room with nothing better to do. Maybe he should have brought a book, he thought. He chuckled to himself morbidly.
"They're taking out my eyes. You?" The girl next to him spoke. He did not know her and soon would not know her again.
She was a pretty girl with beautiful eyes. Shame.
"My heart."
"I see," she paused and continued, "but I won't soon." She grinned at the attempted joke.
"I'd rather give my heart to someone with eyes like yours." Imminent death giving him courage that he normally would not have had.
"That's sweet." She winked. "I'll miss you."
"Penny Law?" A male nurse called.
She stood.
"I'll see you," he said, realizing instantly that he wouldn't, and she wouldn't.
He waited for Penny to come out. He was called in after another student was carried out on a stretch with the sheet over her head. He wondered if that was Penny. Would they have killed her just to get to her eyes? Charlie shivered. How were these guys different from any government that killed free expression and the people behind it? Only that they were making good money off it, and most governments were not organized enough to make a profit.
The doctor said, "Just relax. The procedure only takes a few minutes."
"Relax? You are about to end my life; you do realize that on some level don't you? Don't you have any remorse?"
"Lay on the table, sir."
The large male nurse strapped down Charlie's legs, arms, torso and head.
"Do you have any conscience?" Charlie asked.
"Look. This is just a medical procedure. Try to relax."
The male nurse cut away his shirt and drew a line down his chest over his heart.
"Don't I get anesthesia?"
"That would cost extra. Do you think the company that has already suffered because of your theft should be forced to lose even more profit to help you not feel some of the pain you have inflicted?"
He was serious. Charlie was stunned, and did not feel the nurse sterilizing the area where the incision would take place.
After all the pain and blood, Charlie thought that he would die instantly when they cut out his heart, but he remain agonizingly awake long enough to see them drop it in a plastic bio bag.
As Charlie finally lost consciousness, he heard the doctor say, "Get that thing out of here, I hate these cheap foreign knock offs. They disgust me."