Intoxicated
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
- Roy Batty, Bladerunner
So save your strength, and run the field you play alone.
- Elton John, Someone Saved My Life Tonight
The judge shifted anxiously in his seat. The past five minutes of explanation had been highly technical and he didn’t really follow all of it. This case had been difficult and complex though and he was just happy they’d reached a plea deal. He might make his 3:00 PM tee time after all.
“Explain it to me one more time, just so I understand what I’m approving.”
The defense attorney rose and addressed the judge, “My client suffers from several cognitive disabilities. One of those disabilities is called Limerence. Limerence is an involuntary state of romantic obsession and desire for emotional reciprocity from another person. It often resembles an addiction or obsessive-compulsive pattern.”
The judge nodded along and motioned for the lawyer to continue.
“Because of this unconscious pattern, my client developed an obsession around Ms. Creighton. That obsession drove my client to break into Ms. Creighton’s personal computer, hack in the common parlance, and monitor her online activities.”
The judge interrupted, “And you say all of this happened because Ms. Creighton was friendly to the defendant?”
The attorney nodded, “Yes your honour. A key characteristic of Limerence is the misinterpretation of social and emotional cues. What you or I might interpret as a friendly or professional interaction can seem like a profession of romantic interest to him.”
It was a bit of a convoluted defense but the judge thought he finally understood. The poor kid had been so thoroughly abused by both of his parents that his brain made him grasp at emotional straws. He felt bad for him even if he had broken the law so completely; stalking, hacking, breaking and entering, theft. He’d never been physically threatening to her but he had so massively invaded her existence that it had to be punished. The plea deal worked. The DA was probably happy they weren’t fighting it and he got an easy win in an election year.
He needed help. Maybe this would help him get it.
“Please rise Mr. Malin.”
James Malin had indeed had a rough life. The only child in a family that had no right to be called that. His father was an alcoholic who checked out of life long before James was born. His mother alternated between kind, mean, and angry depending on whether she remembered to take her medication. James had sought solace in the virtual early in life. Behind the locked door of his bedroom he found a world to explore that challenged him and endlessly fascinated him. He found friends like him and puzzles that allowed him to escape from the storms of rage that ebbed and flowed downstairs. He was breaking into his classmates' laptops by 12 and building his own rigs by 15; funded by the skills he’d developed. He’d made enough money to leave his mother and father behind to disintegrate into themselves by the time he was 19. Now 25, he was still finding his place in the outer world while simultaneously being firmly entrenched online. It was where he preferred to live but a semblance of normalcy threw people off his trail and kept him funded.