John Wright - The Golden Age

Gannis's smile faded as his face-program hid his expression once again.

The cube on the right said: "Well said. We will inform you of the facts of the case. The matter is simple. You stand to—" (he used a word Phaethon did not know, some archaic legal expression) "—a very great deal of property and money, perhaps the largest estate ever passed along in human history. The result may change the social and economic relationships within the Golden Oecumene in a revolutionary fashion. Consequently, despite that these are rather routine matters, we seek to avoid even the appearance of irregularity. Therefore, the Curia exercises its right to invoke special jurisdiction, and we sit as a Probate Court, in order to oversee the deposition and examination to determine your identity. This present hearing is to give you the opportunity to submit to a routine Noetic examination, and swear, under telepathic oath, that you are Phaethon Prime Rhadamanth. Do you have any questions?"

"Yes. Who is giving me this fabulous fortune and why? If he wishes to give me this gift, why doesn't this generous person, whoever it is, simply step forward and give it?" "He is dead."

Gannis said, "Objection! The Court's statement is prejudicial. The finality of the death of the deceased is one of the facts at issue in this case!"

The cube on the left said: "Overruled. We make no ruling."

The cube on the right said: "The death of the deceased is a matter of rebuttable presumption under these facts. He is dead until proven otherwise."

Phaethon said: "Your Lordships, was this man some historical figure, some Egyptian pharaoh or American president? I know that people like that from time to time established trust funds as a gift to be paid to the first person to do some great feat, fly a man-powered aircraft across the Atlantic, or something. But if this is the case, why are we in a Court of Law? Wouldn't an archeologist or paleopsychologist be the best person to determine the original intent of this dead man?"

"The death was recent."

Phaethon's mind was momentarily blank. Recent? "Was it someone too poor to afford Noumenal Recording, or a prim-itivist who objected on metaphysical grounds to—"

"Your sire, Helion, who created you, is the deceased."

For a moment, Phaethon believed it. For a moment, he could perfectly imagine the emptiness his life would hold if his sire were gone. Gone forever. He did not like his sire; often they argued. But there was nonetheless a bond and a love between them, like father and son, and a long history of engineering projects on which they both worked together. To picture the Rhadamanth Mansion, or even the Golden Oecumene, without the bright, brave figure of Helion as one of the society's foremost leaders; it was impossible. It was like imagining the world where the sun did not come up. A sense of desolation crept across Phaethon's flesh, and sank into his heart.

But then, in the next moment, Phaethon smiled. "Oh, come now, Your Lordships! I saw Helion not two days ago. He was at the Ovations for the Silver-Gray; I saw him accept the award. We spoke before he went to Lemke's operetta. You know the one, the clever way each auditor gets the memories of each of the characters not in order, so that they each see the same ending in nine different interpretations? It's just the kind of funny old-fashioned thing he likes. And ... and just this morning, Helion was on the by-channels. The Six Peers

sent a contingent to honor him. I suppose it's Seven Peers now. A Peerage! He has been working for that goal longer than I've been alive. That was this morning! You're not going to take that away from him by pretending that he is dead! He is not dead! No one dies anymore! No one ever needs to die!"

Phaethon's voice had grown louder and shriller. But then, abruptly, he closed his mouth, and the muscles in his cheeks were clenched.

There was a moment of silence in the chambers. None of the Curia upbraided him for his outburst. Gannis had turned his head away. Atkins's grim demeanor did not change, even when a look of sympathy or pity softened his eyes.

Phaethon stared at the floor, emotions boiling. He saw the tangled webs of law in the mosaic underfoot. Laws meant to protect the innocent. But even now, even in this day and age, there were things nothing could ward off.

Phaethon said, "It was the solar disaster, wasn't it?"

The Court said: "The brief for the Respondent states, it is not contested, that when Helion beamed his brain information out from his body on the Solar Array to the Mercury Polar Station, the solar storms garbled the signal. Only part of his mind was recovered, enough to form a partial diary of those last events, but not enough to reconstruct his personality intact. The man whom you call Helion is actually a relic of Helion, who was recorded one hour before, as an automatic backup, when the storms first erupted from the core. The question before the Court is whether the relic has sufficient similarity to the prime version to form continuity of identity, and therefore to be considered the 'same' individual in the eyes of the law."

"So the only difference between the two versions is an hour? That's ridiculous! The Helion who is alive now, the Helion Relic, must be indistinguishable from the original, Helion Prime!"

Gannis said in a brash voice: "I would like the Curia to note that the opposing party admits and stipulates the continuity of identity between my client and Helion Prime."

The central cube radiated: "Phaethon is not under oath nor

is he qualified to have such an opinion. We disregard the comment."

Phaethon looked back and forth between the Curia and Gannis, puzzled. "But what in the world is my claim to He-lion's fortune? Surely it is well established in the law that when a man's body dies, his Noumenal Recording wakes up and takes over from where he left off."

Gannis said, "I would like the Court to note that the opposing party has just stipulated that he agrees with my client's theory of the case!"

"Phaethon was asking a question relating to his previous pleadings in this case which he does not recall. He is not under oath and is not testifying. We disregard the comment, and we require that you not waste the Court's time with frivolous motions, Counselor. Is that clear?" Gannis muttered: "Abundantly clear, Your Lordships ..." The central cube said to Phaethon: "In the earlier times, when the science of Noumenal Recording was not as developed as it now is, recordings were more expensive and were made less often."

The left cube said: "The seminal case of Kaino v. Sheshs-ession announced the standard. In that case, the defendant fell in love and was married for several years since his last Noumenal Recording, when he perished in a space-accident. When his relic woke from recording, the plaintiff requested that he take up the matrimonial obligations of his prior, and undergo emotional restructure to instill the missing passions into him. The standard announced was that if a reasonable Sophotech could not anticipate, based on deep-structure analysis of the prior, what the relic would do, then the relic was considered to have a different personality and be a separate individual. The changes must be basic and central to the philosophy, thought style, and core values of the personality, and not merely frivolous or surface changes."

The right cube said: "This holding was modified in Ao Xelepec Prime v. Kes Xelepec Secundus. In that case, a Neptunian Warlock made a Noumenal Recording, but then gave himself the brain structure of an Invariant. He then redacted

a major section of his memory, woke the Warlock neuroform, and claimed that the Warlock relic was the real version of himself, and that he was no longer responsible for carrying out certain contracts and obligations he had previously made. His contention was denied, but the Noumenal Recording was emancipated as a separate and independent individual. The rule is that, if the change in personality since the last recording is so great that the relic no longer understands the thoughts or the motivations of the prior, then the relic is a separate individual in the eyes of the law. If, however, the change is within the range of what the relic might predictably undergo himself, continuity of individuality is presumed."