(Brief excerpt from the novella)
“May it please the court, this trial has concerned itself with the abhorrent behavior of the inhabitants of a small planet called Earth, which is one of eight — or perhaps nine — spheres in what they call the ‘Solar System.’
"For the record, your honor, the celestial address of this rather insignificant water-covered rock is as follows: Earth, Local Interstellar Cloud, Local Cavity, Orion Arm, Milky Way, Local Group, Virgo Supercluster, Laniakea Supercluster, and the observable Universe.
“Making things more complicated, earthlings sometimes refer to earth as the world, the globe, Terra, Tellus, Gaia, and Mother Earth, among others.
“While there are many terms in many humanoid languages, the globule of gravel, grime, waste, and water is better known as the Experiment of Humanity on Planet Earth, or EHOPE.
“Pilot programs like this one are being replicated on hundreds of other stars, planets, and even some of the larger asteroids.
“Thus far, we have had some promising developments in other locations, including the Centaurus-A galaxy, the Albedo Cluster, and the Andron Spiral galaxies. However, there is nothing promising about what has happened on earth.
“Your Honor,” the prosecutor continued, “it is now painfully obvious that EHOPE has largely been an exercise in futility.
“Over the past decades, it has become evident that the actions of humanity are shameful, lame, rash, lawless, harmful, lamentable, dangerous, despicable, deceitful, wretched, woebegone, and just plain wrong.
"The prosecution has shown, and the Court has seen, the many ways humanity on earth has repeatedly acted irresponsibly in terms of the planet’s health, well-being, and environment.
"Time and time and time again, the human race allowed greed, fear, and ignorance to rule their decision-making.
“Over and over, humanity took basic scientific facts and ignored them, altered them, distorted them, or suppressed them. Therefore we ask the court to end this failed experiment.
“The People await your verdict."
The complete Nth Degree of Reality is on johnscottg.com