Emergence (Fox Meridian Book 5) (35 page)

Of course, the attention the case was getting was not entirely due to having an infomorph on the witness stand. The Grant case was high-profile, and the part of it dealing with the rights of synthetic minds made Hannah’s hearing a major draw. There was no real ‘defence’ in this case: the hearing was to decide how to proceed with Hannah’s indictment. But word had spread that Kit was there to give testimony from Fox, speaking in Hannah’s favour, and the media were there to record every word.

The judge hearing the case tapped his gavel a few times to silence the crowd. ‘Artificial intelligences are not normally allowed to testify in a legal capacity unless presenting statements of fact,’ he said. ‘However, the infomorph known as Kit is here to present testimony provided by Tara Meridian, one of the victims in this case. Miss Meridian is unable to present her own testimony due to her injuries, but since this is not an actual trial, we are allowing Kit to give us Miss Meridian’s thoughts on the matter. If you would proceed, Kit.’

‘Yes, your honour.’ Kit produced a virtual display in her hand, mostly to indicate that she was reading Fox’s words, and began. ‘First, I would like to thank the court for allowing my PA to present this testimony. I did some research and concluded that it would be allowed, against normal practice, since this will be a hearing to decide Hannah’s fate, not a trial. But that’s the problem, right there. A thinking, feeling being is having her future decided in a manner we would never allow for a human.’

Fox had added stage directions to her script, and Kit paused as instructed to allow the muttering from the audience to subside. ‘Hannah was created and passed for interaction with society as a class three AI, but Reginald Grant cheated. He included features in her programming to allow Hannah greater self-reliance in the event of his arrest, along with a raft of psychological conditioning which would ensure that she remained intent upon rescuing him. I am not an expert on infomorphs, but I know people, and I know my own class four, Kit. Hannah cannot be viewed as a legal class four AI, but she is closer to that than to a regular class three. Under Grant’s brainwashing, Hannah has killed people, but when she came to realise what he had done to her, she assisted in my escape, even defending me with her own body when Grant shot at me. She had no programmed reason to do so. I believe that she realised that Grant was doing wrong and attempted to make it right. Now she faces execution for those acts of kindness.’

Kit glanced around. No one seemed to be interrupting, so she went on. ‘America rightly removed the death penalty from the statutes decades ago. Except that we still have it for artificial intelligences, and we carry out that sentence without trial. In many ways, Hannah is
more
like a human than other AIs. She has no controls driving her to follow the law, and neither do we. Yet she is treated as an object, a piece of software, and we are considered people, somehow deserving of more respect and better treatment. It is my strong belief that if Hannah is to be condemned, she deserves to be tried as a human, not consigned to deactivation and deletion simply because she does not meet the arbitrary requirements of our legal system. She should never have been created, but she was, and we have to deal with what is, not what should have been.’

Looking up at the judge, Kit said, ‘And that’s all, your honour. If there are any questions, I have some notes I can use to try to answer them.’

‘Thank you, Kit. State’s advocate?’

What was essentially the prosecution lawyer stood up and stepped around his desk, smiling at Kit. Kit recognised that kind of smile. Fox was always very sarcastic about that sort of smile. ‘Kit, could you tell us why your mistress is unable to appear here herself?’

‘Miss Meridian fell into a coma on the twenty-fourth of February,’ Kit replied. She knew that Fox was awake, and on the Moon, but it had been decided that those details should be left out and it was not actually lying… ‘I should correct you, however. As an AI, I am required to have a legal entity, personal or corporate, as an
owner
. Tara Meridian remains my legal owner. However, prior to her incapacitation, she gave me my core command key. I no longer have a master or mistress, except for myself. I am employed currently as assistant to the acting head of Palladium Security Solutions’ investigations division and, when Miss Meridian recovers, I will continue as her personal assistant. Because I greatly enjoy doing that job and consider her my friend.’

That caused uproar until the judge slammed his gavel down rather hard on the desk. ‘I want silence in this room,’ he stated loudly, ‘or I’ll have it cleared. Continue.’

The lawyer’s smile remained sickening. ‘However, Kit, the injuries which Miss Meridian sustained were as a result of the actions of Reginald Alan Grant and Hannah. Is that correct?’

Kit checked her notes, scrolling text up her virtual page. She did not need to – she knew everything in the file – but Fox had said to do that because it gave the right impression. Another of Fox’s directions was that questions like that should result in an objection being raised by the defence; if it did not, then the defence were up to something.

‘Fox says, “Don’t let the prosecution draw you into questions of fact. They have my deposition to the Japanese police and I doubt Hannah will say any of it is incorrect.” So I would prefer not to answer that question. I do not believe it is my role to do so as I was not there.’

‘Are you aware of the term “Stockholm Syndrome,” Kit?’

‘Yes, sir. I have an above-basic knowledge of psychology. Stockholm Syndrome, named for the behaviour of hostages in a Stockholm bank robbery siege, is where the victims come to identify and sympathise with their captors. It is recognised as a response to abuse and captivity which can occur in a number of situations. It has been theorised that the same mechanisms cause “battered wife syndrome.” It does not apply in this case. Grant was the abuser and Miss Meridian has no sympathy for him. In the case of Hannah, she simply believes it incorrect to punish her without trial, not that her actions are fully justified by her circumstances.’

The look on the man’s face suggested that he had not been expecting an eloquent or reasoned response. ‘No further questions, your honour.’

‘Very well,’ the judge said. ‘Advocate for the litigant?’

A woman stood up at the other desk. According to the data Kit had seen, this was someone from a cybernetic rights group with something of a reputation for grandstanding. She was probably not going to underestimate Kit, however.

‘Kit,’ the woman said. Her smile was more genuine, but it still had a calculating edge. ‘Miss Meridian’s testimony seems to indicate that she believes that Hannah had no choice in her actions until she broke free of Grant’s control. Would you agree?’

Kit scrolled through her notes. ‘Fox says, “Don’t let the defence try to get you on record defending Hannah either. You weren’t there. You don’t know.” I was not there. I cannot pass judgement on what happened.’

‘But you can give your opinion.’

‘No, I legally cannot. I am an AI.’

‘Under the circumstances of this hearing,’ the judge said, ‘I’ll allow it if you wish to present your opinion, Kit.’

Kit blinked at the man beside her. ‘Thank you, your honour. In that case… I am highly conflicted. I hate Hannah for her part in Fox’s kidnapping, but I cannot thank her enough for her actions at the end of it. My core programming leads to me finding her deplorable, but I am unable to deny the truth of Fox’s reasoning. Hannah is not an object to be turned off. She is a thinking being, deserving of justice, whether that leads to her incarceration or her freedom. I believe… that she is no more dangerous now than any human in this room.’

Jenner Research Station.

‘The hearing went well,’ Kit said. ‘My copy was quite happy with her appearance, and the judge adjourned at the end for deliberation. There has been no decision yet, which I think is probably a good thing. You gave them food for thought.’

Fox nodded. She was back in her viron, reading the news from Earth and Luna City which was relayed manually each day from the external network to the internal one. ‘I’ve got no idea what they’ll decide. Trying Hannah in full court is going to upset a convoy of apple carts. The judge may not want to go there.’

‘He let me give my opinion on the case. I think he has some sympathies toward infomorph rights.’

‘We can hope then. If he decides to pass it up the chain, though, it could be months or years before Hannah goes to trial. It won’t be good for her.’

‘No. Fox, there is something else I synchronised which… I was unsure whether I should tell you. I have decided to do so because I believe you should know.’

Fox looked up. ‘That wasn’t cryptic at all. Unless you’re going to tell me Grant’s killed someone.’

‘I have no evidence indicating that, but Vali received a message from his mysterious source and passed it on to me. It clearly indicates that Grant is here, on the Moon.’

‘Where?’

‘He has a self-contained habitat in the Sea of Tranquillity, established several years ago under the name Alan Regent. It was rented out to tourists until his arrest, when it was “closed for refurbishment.” I assume this is another contingency for his escape.’

‘Okay…’ Fox frowned for a second. ‘I’m going to need a suit. That body can handle the vacuum, but the temperature extremes could stop it.’

‘You mean to go after him? What about the police?’

‘This is personal, Kit. And before you say anything, I’m going alone.’

‘But–’

‘I don’t want you there, Kit. I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, but I’m not having you involved in this.’

‘You’re going to kill him.’

‘I’m not going to let him do to
anyone
else what he did to me.’

Mare Tranquillitatis, 6
^th
March.

The Sea of Tranquillity was home to an internationally famous monument to Man’s achievement, three Apollo landing sites, as well as a base with a museum and a resort spa facility which featured all sorts of ways to get too high a dose of radiation in the name of feeling pampered, and a number of private dwellings belonging to the ultra-rich. It was not entirely uncommon for the less-than-ultra ultra-rich to have something constructed and then rent them to people who wanted the feel of a private home on the Moon without the fairly exorbitant cost. They usually became retirement homes eventually.

Fox doubted, as she trekked across the lunar surface, that Grant was thinking of this as a retirement. She had been dropped off three miles from the location of Grant’s house and was making her way in on foot, clad in one of the new suit designs Jenner had been working on, complete with a helmet which provided a lot of functions she did not need. Air, for one thing. However, it was more or less high noon in lunar day terms, no matter what the official time was locally, and the temperature in the sun was hot enough to boil water, even if there had been a normal atmosphere. According to the specs, she might have been able to handle that kind of temperature, badly, but the suit was keeping her at something more human-normal.

The suit could also handle navigation, but so could her body. The LNS, the lunar equivalent of GPS, provided the same sort of signals as its terrestrial counterpart, and Fox could navigate by it quite well. It was just a question of following the in-vision indicators in a more or less straight line. Most of the private homes were located on the south side of the Sinus Amoris, the Bay of Love, which was where Tranquillity Base was situated, well away from any of the landing sites. Grant’s was one of the furthest south, which worked for Fox since it kept her well away from the base, which had a UNTPP station in it.

She stopped as soon as she made out a shielded dome on the surface. There were a number of designs for these things, but several had a surface dome containing what amounted to a sun lounge and surface garaging facilities. The actual habitat was below ground level, shielded from cosmic rays and solar flares by metres of regolith. Grant’s was one of those. Somehow she doubted that he spent huge amounts of time in the lounge: he seemed like the kind of man who wanted to live forever, and radiation was not conducive to that.

Fox closed in. The dome’s radiation shields were closed. They were not going to do much against cosmic rays, but they would provide adequate protection against solar flares and they could be opened up like blinds for periods of good solar weather. Right now was such a period, but Grant had them shut. He was, Fox had no doubt, underground and, at three twenty in the morning, probably asleep. She figured he tended to sleep quite well: it was not like
anything
bothered his conscience. Locating the airlock door beside the large garage port, Fox set to work hacking the locking mechanism.

~~~

Grant opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling of his darkened room. Something had woken him… He checked the clock beside the bed: three forty-five a.m. He
never
woke up early without a reason. A solid eight hours had been his pattern unless he had a new toy to play with, and then he tended to be like a kid at Christmas…

‘Guilty conscience?’ The voice was female, hard to localise, and Grant failed to identify it immediately. ‘No, can’t be that. You don’t
have
a conscience.’

Grant bolted upright in bed, looking quickly around. ‘Meridian? You’re dead. I shot you.’

‘Right on both counts. I bet you don’t believe in ghosts, but here I am.’

‘Lights!’ The room brightened quickly, but there was no sign of Fox in the room.

‘I’m not
that
easy to find, Grant.’ The voice came from the doorway, muffled by the door. How could she have possibly got out that fast?

Grant yanked open his bedside cabinet and lifted out his pistol as he rolled out of bed. ‘I’ll find you and finish the job,’ he growled, but when he opened the door and looked around the lounge, there was still no sign of her.

‘Try harder.’ Off to the left. There was both an elevator and a stairwell there, leading up to the surface. Grant ran to the stairs, opening the door and looking upward. ‘Getting warmer…’ He bolted up the stairs, pausing at each landing to look up. He saw nothing, but the voice egged him on. ‘Out of shape, Grant? Come get me.’