" The unlock code?"
" Unlock code?"
" Don't play games, Charles."
" Maybe it really is broken!"I said, almost noncommittally.
Douglas gave me the Douglas look.
Judge Cavanaugh hammered with his gavel. "All right, let's move on. I have a petition in front of me from Stellar‑American Industries, asserting that two complementary quantum‑determinant devices, manufactured on a standard memory chassis, were shipped from a Stellar‑American chip foundry to a Toronto laboratory owned and operated by Canadian‑Interplanetary. Isn't that interesting. Mr. Cheifetz, will you come forward again, please?"
There was a shuffling at the back of the room. Cheifetz came hesitantly back to the front.
"Will you tell the court how you came into possession of these devices?"
"They were given to me by the company. After we concluded our tests, the lab had no further use for them. I purchased them for a small handling charge. The company disposes of a lot of used equipment to employees; some of us have projects of our own that we like to tinker with, and–"
"Spare me," said Cavanaugh, holding up a hand. "I know tinkers. Some of my best friends are tinkers. You, sir, are not a tinker. So please don't try to stretch my credibility. Or my patience. This matter is so petty, I expect we will be here for several years. It doesn't worry me, I can live off my fat; but the rest of you will probably be bones bleaching in the sun before too long if we continue on at this rate. So spare me the storytelling. Is it your contention now that these devices were legally transferred to your labs and then to you?"
"Yes." He held up his sheaf of papers. "I've got hardcopy receipts and signatures all the way back to the foundry. Stellar‑American uses Canadian‑Interplanetary for integrity testing of chips. In particular we test for resistance to vacuum, heat, cold, radiation, sunlight, and extremes of acceleration."
"And you tested these chips?"
"Yes. The labs ran over three thousand hours of integrity tests. We tested the chips under multiple combinations of conditions."
"Did the chips survive?"
"Yes, they did."
"And when the tests were over, did you return the chips to Stellar‑American?"
"No."
"Why not?" Judge Cavanaugh looked puzzled. "I thought it was standard procedure to return prototypes. To protect against industrial espionage."
"Yes, that is the usual procedure."
"But not here?"
Cheifetz looked uncomfortable.
"Go ahead."
He took a breath. "Most foundries know what other foundries are doing, but they don't know the details. So one of the best places to find out is to infiltrate the testing labs. So sometimes a company will ship a decoy chip, with some unworkable technology in it. The chip is intendedto be stolen, so that when the other guys try to copy it, they waste valuable time and energy chasing down the wrong direction. The decoys appear to work–or sometimes they're set to deliberately fail. Another ploy to fool the other side. These chips were decoys."
"How do you know that?"
"Stellar‑American told us. We had an attempt to breach our security. We reported it to them. That's recorded here too. Off the record, they told us that the chip was a decoy. They were interested in the integrity testing of the manufacturing process, but the chips themselves were of no significant value."
"And they didn't ask for them back?"
"We asked for permission to test the chips to the breaking point, at our own convenience. We do that a lot. It was part of a whole batch of requests. They agreed. Then we got swamped with a bunch of new contracts and that testing program was put aside. Later, the chips were remaindered and my family corporation bought them. They looked like ordinary memory bars, they could be used as such, they had passed their integrity tests, and for that reason they were the perfect medium for the transfer of sensitive information. We encoded an enormous amount of personal and business information and resource materials of all kinds into these chips. It was a six week process. And, as I said, I have the paperwork to demonstrate that the information riding in these chips is proprietary to my family corporation."
"I see," said Judge Cavanaugh. "So now you do have paperwork. Lots of it. Isn't that convenient. And so does the other fellow. Goodness! What a dilemma. Hmmm. How interesting.Let's recap. Stellar‑American says that the chips were stolen. And you say they were lawfully transferred to you … and you were, for lack of a better word, conveniently smuggling them off‑planet for use … wherever you ended up. Why do I get the feeling that your paperwork is going to be flawless? Why do I get the same feeling about Mr. Phroomis's paperwork–that it will be equally convincing? Why do I get the feeling that Earthside manufacturers are very very good at manufacturing paperwork … ?" He sighed.
"All right, Mr. Phroomis, your turn. Let's hear your side of it."
Howard's voice was just as rumpled as the rest of him. "Your Honor, I agree with you that a lot of the paperwork here has been manufactured for convenience. In fact, I have here affidavits and depositions that the entire exchange of memos and communications that Mr. Cheifetz is basing his claim on are fraudulent. None of the officers of Stellar‑American ever wrote any of those notes, ever made any of those communications, or authorized such a dangerous disposal of our property. We admit that the paper trail is excellent, but it's too good to be true. It could only be that good if it were deliberately manufactured."
"So your argument is that the evidence on the other side is too good. I got it." Another voice came from the back of the room and Judge Cavanaugh looked up. "Yes, another crater heard from. And you are?"
A woman came forward. "Valerie Patenaude, Your Honor, representing Vancouver Design Works. The chips in question were designed by us. We hired Stellar‑American to manufacture and test the chips; they were to return all proprietary materials, including all flawed and failed chips, all test chips, all decoy chips, and any other material pertinent to the production of our designs, as specified in our agreement. They were to guarantee that no copies would pass out of their direct control. Not even for testing. It has only been in the past two weeks that we have discovered that they did indeed manufacture extra copies of our chips–"
Phroomis interrupted. "Those copies were made for quality control, for the testing of the manufacturing process. The chips in question required some very tricky techniques, and the copies were to be deconstructed so that Stellar‑American could affirm the integrity of the production lines. The company retains that right, it is specified in the production contract–"
"The material was to be returned," Patenaude said. "And it was notreturned. Mr. Cheifetz's own testimony here indicates a callous disregard of security–"
Judge Cavanaugh held up a hand. "Save it, Counselor. They're lining up behind you. Next? I just want to find out who's here and why, everybody will get the chance to bite everybody else before we're through." To the next lawyer, he asked, "Who are you?"
" Gracias,Judge Cavanaugh–" I recognized that voice too. Fat Se‑norDoctor Bolivar Hidalgo. Not as fat as Judge Cavanaugh, but impressive nonetheless. He was mostly a round blur, he barely glanced in our direction. "I am here as a temporary speaker for Lethe‑Corp, until their own representatives can arrange transportation. The difficulties on Earth–and the unfortunate restrictions of the sudden Lunar quarantine–have made it impossible for them to be here today. However, Lethe‑Corp wants to take a superordinate position here. The chips in question are the property of Lethe‑Corp who initiated the entire process. Lethe‑Corp hired Vancouver Design. Lethe‑Corp created the specifications and was to retain sole ownership. Vancouver Design was doing work‑for‑hire."