The monkey looked sad. Or was that simply the posture it took because it didn't have any other? Maybe I was seeing an emotional reaction where none existed? It shook its head.
" Your Honor?"I said, standing up, waving to make the judge notice me. My throat was still too hoarse to speak above a whisper. "If it please the court?"
"Go ahead, Charles."
" There's one more thing."
"Yes?"
" It's about belief. Somebody told me recently that you are what you pretend to be. If you believe in yourself, everybody else will too. HARLIE believes in himself. He believes so strongly that the rest of us believe in him too. Look around. There isn't a person in this room who isn't convinced. We're all believers now. Do you think a machine could fake that?"
"No, I don't, Charles. Please sit down. That's why it saddens me to have to rule the way I have to."
To the rest of the court, Judge Cavanaugh said, "As I have repeated several times during the course of these hearings, the Starside Covenant guarantees full faith and credit to the legal processes of all signatory jurisdictions. In return for that guarantee, participatory agencies agree to submit certain classes of issues–especially those that would create binding precedents in other jurisdictions–to the conclave of Covenant signatories for the establishment of Covenant guidelines. One of those issues that has been raised, but not yet resolved, is the legal definition of sentience, and whether or not lethetic intelligence engines qualify, and if so, what legal rights and benefits they may be entitled to.
"If I were to rule that this HARLIE unit is indeed a sentient being, I would be violating my authority as a representative of the Lunar Authority, and putting the Lunar Authority in a position of breach in regard to its Covenant treaty."
"Your Honor, the Covenant also allows you to make nonbinding resolutions in cases of urgency or immediate need."
"I don't see that this case is urgent. It is urgent to you. It is not urgent to Luna. Motion denied. As far as this court is concerned, you cannot be more than property, no matter how brilliant you are."
"But you let me argue my case anyway … ?"
"We have to start somewhere, HARLIE. Don't think I'm insensitive to your situation. I'm not. Your arguments are now a matter of public record. This question will be passed to the next conclave with a request for action."
"The next conclave may never happen, Your Honor. The collapse of the Terran economy may very well destroy the economies of the Covenant worlds as well."
"Yes, it might. But it hasn't happened yet. The Covenant still stands. In the meantime, you remain property, and you have to find another way to resolve the question of your ownership. You have my sympathies."
NINE POINTS OF THE LAW
"All right," said the monkey, regrouping. "Then let me demonstrate the true ownership of these HARLIE modules."
"Please do." Judge Cavanaugh folded his hands in front of him and waited for the monkey to proceed.
The monkey bowed politely. "If the court pleases, there are six companies claiming ownership of the lethetic intelligence modules inside this host. At this point, having heard the summary presentations of each of these companies, you must have some sense of who has the strongest claim."
"Whether I do or not, I'm not going to discuss the court's thinking short of a ruling."
"I'm not asking you to. But for the purposes of this demonstration, let's examine a single claim of ownership and see why it's no longer relevant. And then if the court wishes, we can pursue the same demonstration with the other five claims … Would the court like to pick the example? Or should I?"
Judge Cavanaugh frowned. "All right, let's say for the sake of argument that I think Stellar‑American has presented a very good case."
"Thank you. Will the court now search the records of public ownership to see who owns the majority of Stellar‑American voting stock?"
"I don't see where you're headed with this," said the judge, "but I'll allow it." He turned to his display. The court clerk was already putting the information up on the public screens. The company was worth umpty trillion dollars. Most of the shares were held by other companies– including the other claimants.Canadian‑Interplanetary. Lethe‑Corp. Vancouver Design. Even Valada Legal Aptitudes. And a bunch of others I didn't recognize.
"Your Honor? Will you please search now on the ownership of the top sixteen major shareholders?"
More names, more numbers. More companies. More shares owned by the same folks, including Stellar‑American, this time around. It wasn't obvious to me either what the monkey was trying to prove.
"Please bear with me. At this point, we can see that majority ownership is now fragmented among forty‑two different holding companies, interlocked with the major claimants. If you will cross‑match to see who owns the majority shares of those companies … "
"I see where you're headed," said the Judge. He gestured to his clerk. "Keep going."
After several more iterations, each of which fragmented the apparent ownership of Stellar‑American into ever‑smaller fractal‑bits, there were over a thousand separate corporations holding voting stock in Stellar‑American, and each other. And Stellar‑American held stock in all of them as well. Judge Cavanaugh was starting to look thoughtful.
On the next pass, the number of holding companies holding shares of holding companies began to shrink. Within three more passes, it became obvious that the majority of Stellar‑American's voting stock was owned and controlled by only seven corporations. None of their names were familiar.
"If you will perform the same searches, starting with any of the other companies making claims of ownership, then Your Honor will find that they are also owned and controlled to one degree or another by the same seven holding companies. What we have here are six corporations, and others which aren't a part of this action, all owned by each other, arguing with each other for no apparent reason other than that they don't know who's pulling their strings."
"You're talking about an industrial cluster worth seventy trillion dollars–and you're claiming that it's owned and controlled by an interlocking directorate of only seven companies?!"
"No, Your Honor. I'm claiming that it's owned and controlled by only one company. If you'll take the next step up the ladder … ?"
The screen changed. Judge Cavanaugh blinked. He looked at the monkey. I looked at Douglas– "Huh?"Behind us, the noise in the courtroom turned into a wall of sound.
The Dingillian Family Corporation?
"What kind of trickery is this?" Judge Cavanaugh demanded.
"No trickery at all, Your Honor. Everything is perfectly legal. The entire set of transactions is a matter of public record."
"Walk me through it, Counselor." The judge's voice was very very cold.
"Yes, Your Honor. All of these companies are part of the same industrial cluster. Over a period of time, it has become convenient for them to trade shares of stock to each other as incentives to keep a close working relationship. That has resulted in an interlocking ownership of terrifying complexity.
"About eighteen months ago, upon the recommendations of various HARLIE units, several of the companies involved in the production of lethetic intelligence units began quietly consolidating their holdings. They began buying back their own stock. At the same time, they also took steps to consolidate their holdings in each other. They did that through interlocking holding companies. During the next fourteen months, over thirty trillion dollars were removed from the liquid domain of the global stock exchanges. In Lunar terms, it would be the same as if a major waterholder physically removed his share from the public reservoir. That water would no longer be available for the use of others. He would be within his rights to do so, but the loss of liquidity would affect the local environment. Pun intended."