The Truthfinder

Chapter 3: He and She Face Each Other

Sandra entered the test facility's evaluator booth where the Chinese visitor Charlie Liu awaited her. She greeted him and then turned to look at the control panel facing the one-way mirror.

On the other side could be seen a room with a closed door and a closed service hatch at either side of the room and a closed door at the back. The room held a single bed and a small table with two chairs side-by-side facing the one-way mirror.

She knew from the background info that the chairs had been secured to the floor to force the accused and accuser to sit next to each other at meals and to face the one-way mirror. The background info had explained that body language could be very telling in such sexual assault cases.

Outside the evaluator booth Sandra had handed her Twitterverse earpiece as requested to her boss. He would speak to her through an encrypted channel on her personal comm unit, which would otherwise be inaccessible to all other communication.

Now she looked for the telltale mark on Charlie's neck that signified his implant. Could the U.S. government truly block any transmission to or from it? She wondered if Charlie felt naked without having information at his "fingertips." She suspected that, for a data scientist, the feeling of disconnect might be even more powerful than for non-data scientists.

She asked him if he were looking forward to watching this test of the Truthfinder investigation process?

"We've been successful for years in China with ascertaining who is telling the truth in sexual assault cases. The Chinese government can't understand why the U.S. doesn't employ our methods."

Sandra noted that his accented English was relatively easy to understand. Not like the accent in English of many Chinese speakers she knew.

Sandra hesitated before replying. Reports of "information" methods used in China flitted through her mind. Thanks heavens the U.S. didn't resort to these methods on its own citizens.

She said, "Because of the disappearance a year ago of the land mass west of the Mississippi River, the remaining U.S. has been very wary of any type of mind control. We aren't comfortable using the monitoring and surveillance methods used everywhere by the Chinese."

"Without our methods you have to rely on people's statements – and these can be false," he said.

Sandra glanced into the empty room, then back at Charlie. "That's why our social scientists have just developed the Truthfinder procedure. The U.S. doesn't believe in torturing people to get the truth, but this 'environmental experience' should be an acceptable alternative."

"And what happens if the Truthfinder procedure can't determine who is telling the truth in sexual assault cases?" he said.

Sandra again hesitated, the answer too uncomfortable to contemplate. She only hoped the procedure would work. She said to Charlie, "Let's wait to see what happens here before I answer that question."

She turned to the one-way mirror as an African-American woman in her early 30s entered the room from Sandra's left. The woman wore a knee-length skirt, medium-high heels, and a scoop-neck blouse that did not reveal her cleavage. Her black curly hair hugged her scalp, and even at that distance Sandra could tell the woman wore a minimum of makeup.

At the same time from the door to the right of Sandra entered a white male in his late 40s. He wore tailored khaki pants and an open-neck polo shirt. His blond hair was brushed back from his forehead and fell to his shoulders.

When the two spotted each other they stared, standing frozen as if deer caught in headlights, which, Sandra reflected, was an apt description of the situation.