Fractions_ The First Half of the Fall Revolution - Ken MacLeod [279]
At a minute before ten, the voices hushed, and the other sounds – of breathing, of shifting, of recording – seemed louder, as Eon Talgarth walked up the central aisle. Heads and cameras turned. Talgarth faced straight ahead.
He was a slight-built man, of medium height, with wispy brown hair slicked back under a tall hat. He wore a plain black suit and white shirt, with a blue tie. His features conveyed a greater maturity than Ship City’s fresh-faced fashions normally affected. When he reached the dais he bounded up on it, and sat down carefully on the canvas seat. He filled his glass with a yellow liquid, sipped it, and lit a cigarette. His narrow-eyed gaze swept the crowd.
‘Right,’ he said, in a London accent that sounded archaic and drawling by comparison with the clipped local speech. ‘Begin.’
Reid stood up at once and walked to the nearest microphone.
‘Objection,’ said Wilde, rising. ‘My charge is the more serious, and should be heard first.’
‘Over-ruled,’ said Eon Talgarth. ‘His claim was prior.’
Wilde turned an incipient shrug into a polite bow, and sat down. ‘WORTH A TRY,’ the adviser told him.
Reid addressed the judge.
‘Esteemed Senior,’ he said. ‘Thank you for hearing us.’
‘Thank you for honouring the court with your custom,’ Talgarth said. ‘Now, what’s your charge?’
Reid paused, and then spoke as if reading from a note: ‘My charges are against Jonathan Wilde, and Tamara Hunter. My charge against Jonathan Wilde is that the robot known as Jay-Dub, property of the same Jonathan Wilde, was used to corrupt the control systems of a Model D gynoid, known as Dee Model, property of myself. My charge against Tamara Hunter is that she illegally took possession of the gynoid, subsequently claimed that Dee Model was abandoned property, knowing that the gynoid was not abandoned, and raised an improper defence of the gynoid’s falsely claimed autonomy against the recovery agents of its lawful owner.’
Talgarth looked at Wilde and Tamara.
‘Do you accept these charges, or contest them?’
They both stood up. ‘We contest them.’
‘Very well,’ said Talgarth. With one airy wave he gestured for them to sit, and Reid to continue.
‘The material evidence for these charges,’ said Reid, ‘has been brought to your attention through the First City Law Company, and I wish to introduce it formally. One: a transcript of an interaction between my gynoid, known as Dee Model, and another artificial intelligence. Two: personal records of interactions I have had in the past, with an artificial intelligence embodied in a robot known as Jay-Dub. The authenticity of these records can be, and has been, independently verified.’
Talgarth nodded. ‘The court accepts their provenance.’
‘Challenge?’ Wilde murmured into his adviser’s mike.
‘NO CHANCE.’
‘Three,’ Reid went on, ‘the public record of the ownership of Jay-Dub, posted many years ago with the Stras Cobol Mutual Bank. Its owner is identified as Jonathan Wilde, my opponent in this case.’
‘Will the person identifying himself as Jonathan Wilde please rise?’
Wilde complied, turning around so that every eye and lens in the place could see him.
‘Thank you,’ said Talgarth, with a curt nod to Wilde. ‘You may sit.’ He turned again to Reid. ‘Continue.’
‘Fourth, and finally,’ Reid said. ‘An autonomy claim posted through Invisible Hand Legal Services, by Tamara Hunter, also in this court –’
The identification ritual was repeated.
‘– and alleged to be on behalf of Dee Model, an allegedly abandoned automaton.’
Talgarth took another sip of his drink, and fixed his eye on Tamara.
‘We accept that this claim was posted,’ she said.
‘Fine,’ Talgarth