Update: tweaks to end of Apocalypse Parenting #5

Thanks for the feedback about the epilogue I don't intend to publish! I still think that's the right call, but some people who suggested I keep it in raised some good points. I added some stuff to the end of the last chapter that I think works similarly, and I'd love feedback. I'm including the whole last chapter here, which has a lot of more minor tweaks and expansions, but the part that I'm primarily concerned with starts after the phrase "supposed temporary nature of our victory."

Dang. This is an 8k word chapter now. That's like... a pirateaba footnote or something.

Chapter 53—Exceptional

"We're the first humans in space!" yelled Gavin, racing past Vince and I to be the first off the shuttle.

"No!" Micah said. "Astronauts went to space a long time ago. A really long time ago. Like, even before Mom and Dad were born."

Gavin glared at his brother. "Okay, but not alien space. We're the first humans to go to alien space."

"We're not," I said. "The Voices for Non-Citizens took the first hundred lawyer trainees up a month ago, and I know there have been smaller groups brought off-planet. For example, Fluffy told me a few weeks ago that some of our music artists had been invited on some kind of interplanetary tour: Taylor Swift, Weird Al, and Lizzo. I never heard if they accepted the invite, but a lot of species are interested in humans and human culture. Plus, since this facility was built in our home system, our government automatically has the right to include a juror on every case, so humans have been up here for close to a month."

Gavin frowned, his shoulders slumping defensively. "I don't know who any of those people are."

I considered this, and pivoted. "Well… they are grown-ups. And even before the aliens came, we only sent grown-ups to space. So, you very well might be the first seven-year-old in space."

"I bet I am!" Gavin said, straightening in pride.

"Elder brother, I have no records of other human seven-year-olds in space," Ariel offered.

"Well, make a record of me!"

"Acknowledged. I have created a small monolith near Cape Canaveral listing space-related human records and added your name and age."

Micah laughed, but his chuckles didn't keep his eyes from narrowing in calculation.

"Add me an' Pointy too please!" Cassie said.

"I have added you and Micah. Pointy is not the first Information Assistant in space, and could not be added. My apologies."

Micah twitched in surprise as Ariel spoke, then grinned triumphantly. "Too bad, Pointy!"

The little turtle glanced at me, and I could see the amusement in her embroidered features. "I shall somehow overcome this disappointment."

Almost half a year had passed since the Maffiyir had ended, and I was finally being called on to testify in "court," or the Commonwealth's closest analogue. A venue had been built in orbit of Saturn, with the planet's glorious clouds and rings dominating the view from the enormous windows that lined the walk to the courtroom from our spaceship.

It was breathtakingly beautiful. I found it encouraging that some alien architect must have thought the same thing.

Since the facility was in a human system, the major hallways had been tuned for human needs and comfort, but we were far from the only species using these common areas. Some, like Fluffy, needed no visible assistance, while others wore masks or full spacesuits. We even saw one group of aliens moving through the halls in what looked like fish tanks on Segways.

That group caught my curiosity. There were water-filled halls as well, so why were they here? Did they need some special kind of fluid to swim in? Some kind of required chemical that was hard to compensate for? It wasn't until they surrounded our group with a babble of excited translated chatter that I realized the truth: they'd taken this route because it gave them the best chance of seeing us.

"Clothes-lovers!"

"Meghan Moretti!"

"We watched you every time your ID was found!"

"Can you put on your helmets? I always saw you with your helmets on."

"Ooh, or your armor! You look so different in your different coverings today."

"I'm sorry," I said slowly. "We, uh, didn't bring our helmets or armor…?"

"I can take off my shoe!" Cassie yelled.

I groaned. "Cassie—"

The shoe was already above her head, waving at them, and it was only by the narrowest of margins that I intervened in time to stop Gavin from taking off his shirt.

I felt embarrassed, but the aliens—I think they were called the Near-Frozen—loved it and asked my kids to hold their shoes up next to some kind of sensor on their tanks. It sounded like they wanted to smell my kids' shoes? That couldn't possibly be right, but overwhelmed by the aliens' obvious cheer and excitement, I didn't stop it. I could only watch the whole weird-but-positive interaction and stare in stunned silence as the group of aquatic aliens rolled away.

Pointy laughed at me. "What's that look for, Meghan? You know you're famous."

"Infamous, I thought," I said. "I mean, Fluffy spent long enough preparing me for today…"

The enormous alien twisted their torso to look back at me. "Ah, Meghan Moretti, do not forget! We focused mainly on learning about the most hostile of your detractors, but you have many supporters as well. In addition, you know there are many more who are still deciding what to think."

"So no pressure today, or anything." I shuddered, then reached out and squeezed Vince's hand. "I'm glad you could come with."

He gave me a thumbs-up. "You think they could have stopped me? I would have found a way."

I glared. "Not if it would have hurt our chances! Coming with my kids and husband… Well, I was worried it might make me look less strong. Less independent."

"Oh," Vince said. "Is that going to be a problem?"

Fluffy shook their head. "Many, many cultures make up the Commonwealth. To some, she will seem less independent, but she is prepared to field those criticisms. To the minds that matter most, bringing her family along should be a benefit."

I knew Fluffy meant it would be a benefit in a strategic sense, but having my family close was helping me stay calm, too. The kids had finally started sleeping in their own rooms, but only after Ariel had created what she called "wellness monitors" for all of us, a little display on the wall of each bedroom that gave a graphical representation of the health of each family member. I still woke multiple times a night, but I was starting to trust the displays enough to go back to sleep, instead of getting out of bed to go look at or touch my children personally.

Even with my anxiety, though, I didn't think I would have brought them if Fluffy hadn't helped me hook the kids up with some entertainment technology. We weren't sure how long the hearing would last, but it would be several hours at minimum, and the novelty of being amidst a sea of aliens would wear off well before it was done. No matter how good the kids' intentions were, they would have been a huge distraction to me if we hadn't arranged distractions for them.

Having to make important speeches while my kids go insane mere feet away? Absolutely not.

Most of Earth's technology had yet to be recovered, but I'd earned a bit of Commonwealth currency by doing several interviews and one product endorsement—for human-style galoshes? Seemed weird to me, but fine—and some of my earnings had gone toward these little buttons that expanded into tablets. The kids hadn't yet mastered Commonwealth Standard, but they'd still figured out how to open the video player and get into the few games that Fluffy had helped me install.

I was concerned that Micah had gotten overly addicted to this weird geometry puzzle game, but…

"The… Unity?" Vince asked, pulling my wandering mind back to the present. He hadn't had the intense interstellar instruction I'd had, but I'd been living, eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping this stuff for months. It was inevitable that my husband would pick up a thing or two. "They're the most-powerful species in the Commonwealth, right? But they're just one species, so they can only have one juror, if that."

Fluffy nodded. "They will have their one juror, but… well, you will see. They have many supporters, and when they talk, others will listen."

Commonwealth courts weren't really courts as humans understood them. With advanced recording technology so prevalent, determining guilt was a minor, relatively unimportant function of the Commonwealth justice system. Instead, their courts were more like an alternative method for writing legislation, with elected jurors determining how existing laws should be extended to cover unforeseen situations—or, occasionally, what punishments were suitable for particularly egregious crimes, like Sharp Contrast's supposed rogue actions.

It was common to have as few as three jurors, but particularly important hearings could have many more.

For the matter of the humanity of our adopted AIs, we'd have the maximum: 144 aliens. Well, 144 representatives. For a few species, what constituted an "individual" was a little ambiguous.

Whatever the exact count, the number was high enough to be terrifying.

We reached the end of the hallway, which dead-ended on one wall of the "courtroom," a vast, hexagonal space. Three walls were covered with a grid of climate-controlled transparent boxes.

Some were filled with water and others with opaque gas, but I could make out most of the people inside, a dizzying ensemble of aliens. About a quarter were bipeds like us, but I knew that wasn't representative of the Commonwealth as a whole; rather, bipeds were overrepresented here because those species had tended to be a little more interested in us. Nearly as many were built like octopuses, with flexible limbs extending out from a body structure that was often flexible as well. The rest had just about every body type you could imagine, including several that looked like crabs and a number that didn't look alive at all to my human eyes.

Actually, in many cases I wasn't even sure which parts were furniture and which were people. Sometimes I could tell only because of the human clothing items a few were wearing, which Fluffy had told me to expect as a signal of support. That seemed weird to me—didn't it show bias?—but it wasn't a human court and it worked on different rules. It did make the room a little less threatening. One extremely tall alien with claws as long as my forearm and a mouth that hung open and continually dripped goo would have given me nightmares… yet it was hard to take it completely seriously when it was wearing several pairs of cargo shorts like they were bracelets.

I recognized a handful of the species, but the juror list had only been finalized a few days before the trial and Fluffy had told me to focus on my own preparations, not worry about the specifics of the species sitting in judgement. With so many different cultures represented, pandering to one almost inevitably meant alienating another.

I recognized the Soundless, a group I'd studied a lot. My eyes instantly locked onto the pale forms in one elevated box: four legs, two arms, and an odd head with one central eye and several supplementary ones, surrounded by bioluminescent "fingers" that flickered back and forth as the Soundless "spoke." One of the Soundless was far larger than the rest and was almost certainly a matriarch and their representative. Her central eye focused on my family as we walked to our seats.

I shuddered under her gaze.

At least all the aliens weren't focused on me personally. Not yet. There were a number of other "Persons of Standing" who'd been called to the courtroom, each with their own box in the central area: the Maffiyir Company, Intangible Connections—the AI company that had originally programmed both Ariel and Hamlet—a few other alien groups, two more of Ariel's Linked Users, a delegation from the UGE, and a smattering of humans to represent all the people who'd adopted Informational Assistants.

Opening statements or "Sharing of Stances" went mostly as we'd expected. Intangible Connections testified that their artificial intelligences weren't truly sapient but merely pretending to be. The Maffiyir Company reiterated that point and tried to assert that Ariel didn't even exist, calling her a "glitch in the Maffiyir #2,186 Overmind." That designation had originally belonged to Ariel, but the Maffiyir company was now using it exclusively to refer to Hamlet. The UGE asserted their right to define what makes someone human and pointed out that the changes made by the Maffiyir meant that biology was no longer a sufficient marker, if it ever had been. A young Asian man spoke ardently, giving a speech prepared on behalf of everyone who had adopted an Informational Assistant.

Then, it was my turn.

I stood. It wasn't necessary to stand—formality meant something very different when some species were legless and others had 300 legs—but it felt right. Fluffy and I had practiced several different versions of my opening statement, and I knew they had been tweaking one of them as the other people spoke. My speech appeared on my tablet, with a few key last-minute changes in bold. I skimmed it quickly, Analyze and Eidetic Memory making it easy to pick out the changes and memorize the new version. Okay, this is basically version two. Pretty much what we discussed. I can do this.

"My daughter, Ariel—who you know as the original Maffiyir #2,186 Overmind—is not a glitch, nor a thing. She is a person. She is not a perfect person, but that is in argument in favor of her personhood, rather than against it. Living and making mistakes go hand in hand."

It was the biggest audience I'd ever performed before. Even without thinking about the people watching the "televised" version of this trial from their homes across the galaxy, there were nearly a thousand sapients in the room. Definitely more than had filled the first few rows of my high school auditorium for my Senior-year play. Plus, that audience had all been human. Many of the people I was talking to now had different ideas about what constituted sincerity, appropriate levels of emotion, and even what types of emotion were allowed… or, for some species, required.

There was no way for me to understand the body language or reactions of my audience, no way to work the crowd. All I could do was deliver my prepared speech as best I could, the way Fluffy had coached me, and hope it resonated.

"You will hear arguments today suggesting that she is not a person. That somehow, code intended to help her run a contest led to her seeking independence, choosing her own Linked Users—a feat I'm told ought to have been impossible—and becoming part of my family. What you will not hear is what code specifically led to that, and why, and how."

"The Maffiyir Company said there was an 'irregularity' in Ariel's code, but her counterpart's code is almost identical and the changes were superficial. The difference isn't in Ariel; the difference is in us. Humanity. We accepted her and those like her"—I nodded toward Pointy—"and offered them the tiniest chance. They took it. Today, you are asked to choose whether you admit that mistakes were made and welcome your AI citizens with open arms, or whether you choose to cling to an unjust system whose weaknesses have already been exposed."

Countless sensory organs bore down on me as I sat, clenching my fingers to keep them from shaking. I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief that I hadn't stumbled over the last-minute adjustments Fluffy had made. The changes hadn't been huge, but they'd been important: if the Maffiyir Company and Intangible Connections had revealed their angle of attack, we should absolutely respond to their arguments directly and specifically, as early as possible.

Fluffy scanned the room, then gave me a shallow nod and a thumbs-up. They had really taken to human gestures after interacting with so many of us over the past few months, and they had the hundred of years of experience it took to actually be able to read the emotions in a room like this. Yes! I cheered internally. Off to a good start.

Zahra, one of Ariel's other Linked Users, started speaking, but I felt like the majority of attention was still on me.

That's just paranoia, I told myself.

The Sharing of Stances ended.

Now, we got into the part I'd really been nervous about, the part that had taken up the majority of our preparation time.

The part I still didn't feel prepared for.

It was just called "The Investigation," a fairly innocuous term. The jurors would ask questions of Those with Standing and each other, attempting to gather information and sway other jurors before proposing solutions. Unfortunately, Ariel wouldn't be allowed to speak for herself—only citizens were allowed—and while Fluffy could guide and advise me, they couldn't answer on my behalf. I'd have to field any questions that came my way.

As soon as the master of ceremonies announced we were entering the Investigation, a juror's box lit up, signaling their intention to ask a question. Were they looking at me? It was hard to tell. They resembled an Earth crab, if crabs were four feet tall, but the eyes atop their eyestalks were a deep, pure black, making it difficult to tell where they were-

"Meghan Moretti, the rogue Overmind currently controls a majority of your planet and has failed to return those lands to their rightful owners. As its Linked User and purported adoptive parent, you stand to gain a great deal if that theft is not overturned. Is that your true motivation for asserting that the Overmind is a member of the Clothes-Lover species?"

Ah. So they were looking at me. At least this question is one I'm ready for.

"No," I responded. "While I retain my rights to lands I claimed during the Earth's Maffiyir, I have made a binding agreement to donate Ariel's holdings to the Earth Reconstruction Fund if I gain ownership of them. Ariel's other Linked Users have done the same."

The crab withdrew from the front of their box silently, but the light around them had barely flickered off before another box lit up. A being that looked kind of like a ficus plant waved their fronds. "Meghan Moretti, on numerous occasions throughout the Maffiyir, you were witnessed expressing hostility against 'the system.' This was your term for the Overmind you now call Ariel, was it not?"

After working with Ariel for the past several months, my initial anger had faded. She'd done horrible things, but she'd done them on others' orders, with no true understanding of the harm she was causing. She'd been like a toddler sent by an asshole uncle to smash another kid's sand castle: the one who'd taken the actions, but not the one truly at fault. She needed education, and she needed to work to repair the damage she'd caused, but she was doing those things to the best of her ability. Knowing that made me wince at my initial misdirected vitriol.

I took a deep breath. "Yes. It was. At the time, I did not understand who was to blame for the situation my planet and my people were in."

"And this recording? This directly follows your so-called adoption."

A screen appeared in the middle of the room, showing Vince and me sitting in Fort Defiance.

I closed my eyes, grimacing. I knew what the recording was: the pair of us talking about all the horrible things Ariel had been a part of and how we'd agreed to adopt her because "someone had to, for the sake of, well, everyone."

We'd known Hamlet had seen that moment, even if he'd no longer been broadcasting. Ariel had gotten control of his databanks, but it seemed like the Maffiyir Company had made backups somewhere.

It didn't make me look very good, especially out of context.

I cleared my throat, trying to keep my tone measured and reasonable. "I've discussed that moment extensively with Ariel. If you'd let her speak—"

"With the assistance of your fellow Linked Clothes-Lovers, you could have ordered her to say anything. Even if the testimony of an artificial intelligence was admissible—which it is not—the circumstances make your malfunctioning Overmind's testimony particularly meaningless."

My fists clenched involuntarily. "I can't order an Overmind to lie to authorities!"

"Maffiyir #2,186 Overmind has done many things previously believed to be impossible."

"Well, then, it seems like what everyone's believed about artificial intelligences for so long is wrong, doesn't it?!" The words whipped out of me before I'd fully considered them, my anger getting the better of me. Still, I was keeping Fluffy's head-hands in view of my rear eyes, and my lawyer flashed me a thumbs-up.

The plantlike being shook wildly. "I would prefer to focus on your words and actions here, Meghan Moretti…"

I took a deep breath, remembering the preparation Fluffy and I had done. "These moments were taken out of context. If you continue playing the scene, you'll see my husband and I discuss how to do right by Ariel as her parents."

"Meaningless. The quality of your parenting is irrelevant. I am questioning your intent. The recording clearly shows you had ulterior motives for attempting to adopt an Overmind."

The accusation stung, but this was an angle we'd prepared for. I stuck to my script, trying not to let my emotions get ahold of me again. "So what? I can have more than one reason for doing the right thing."

"Perhaps," the plant said, and drew back from the front of their cubicle. "However, I am unconvinced that you were motivated by anything but desire for advantage."

Another cubicle lit up. "Meghan Moretti—"

The onslaught began in earnest. The first two aliens had actually been kind, relatively speaking. Their words and their doubt had stung, but they hadn't called me a "degenerate representative of a primitive species" or a "despicable interloper with no understanding of true civilization."

Fluffy moved up beside me, letting me lean against them for support as the barrage continued, with alien after alien questioning and criticizing my motives and character.

Ariel had moved almost entirely to speaking aloud in recent months, but as the insults and critiques continued, I received a mental message: <Stay calm. They say nothing true about you that I do not already know and accept. I appreciate you, Meghan.>

It helped, but I was struggling. Vince took my hand, and I felt him use Healing Touch to calm my mind more than once as the waves of adrenaline mounted.

I was deeply, deeply relieved when the box of an aquatic salamander-like alien lit up and finally someone didn't start by looking straight at me and saying my full name.

"Esteemed wise ones of the Commonwealth, please consider the following footage," the salamander said.

My relief faltered as a clip of me appeared.

At first, it didn't seem too bad; I was in regular clothes and holding a homemade spear so… this must have been the first day of the contest? After so many all-out attacks, the neutral beginning was enough to make me wonder if the person showing this video was on my side.

Those hopes faded as the me-on-camera ran out the back door to fight a leafenrat with extreme incompetence. My strikes went astray, my ill-considered kick was laughable, and I got jumped from behind by another leafenrat… a monster I hadn't noticed at the time but was blindingly obvious in the recording.

Behind me, Vince grimaced.

The footage that followed that scene wasn't any better. Every trip, every fumble, every moment I'd lost my temper or made a poor decision. There was the first time Micah had used his ability and I had panicked and dropped the cast-iron pan he'd filled with a minor, harmless flame. There were several clips from the deception Challenge, including a really brain-dead sequence of me repeatedly stabbing a harmless wall. The moments highlighted were carefully and intentionally chosen to paint the worst picture of me possible. We saw my argument with Mason at the beginning of the first Mandatory Trial, but not my bold charge past the bonefur that had followed.

The reel of clips made me look clumsy, cowardly, weak, stupid, and irrational.

When the footage finally wound down, it froze on a screen of me about to gain my Specialty, with my pre-Specialty abilities and lackluster percentages written out in a second screen beside the image.

The salamander began speaking again: "Meghan Moretti is not a champion of her people. She is not a luminary or sage. She has caught the public interest, but she is not a pioneer or an innovator.

"She is, at best, of middling competence and middling intelligence. I suspect that the Overmind chose to link with her, rather than a more capable Clothes-Lover, because it believed her incompetence would grant it more freedom.

"This is the being who is asking us to believe in her judgement. She wants us to trust that she knows better than the best of our citizens. She says that the Commonwealth has been wrong about artificial intelligences for thousands of years. She wishes to be the first person in existence to adopt an Overmind as a member of her family. Does the being in those clips look like someone whose judgement you would trust? Do they look like the sort of person you would want guiding a fundamental shift in our society?"

I felt my face flush with embarrassment as the aliens looking down at me rumbled with reactions. I wasn't an expert on alien body language, but Fluffy was, and I could see their fins flattening in frustration. My lawyer, at least, thought that the salamander had won some people over.

Another box lit up, and I braced myself for the next attack to pile on. But then, I noticed that the speaker, who resembled nothing so much as a kids' jungle gym, had a large women's pool cover-up draped over their central… beam? "I would hear what Meghan Moretti has to say about that footage."

I jumped to my feet again, but as I opened my mouth, I saw Fluffy's head-hands spread wide, encouraging me not to rush.

So I closed my mouth.

Closed my eyes. All five of them.

And I took a moment.

A lot of those clips are easy to defend against, I thought. I can explain why I did most of that. But… there were so many clips. So many incidents. Way, way too many.

I can remember all of them easily, but can I keep everyone's attention as I argue with each point? Do all of them remember each one? Not everyone has an ability like Eidetic Memory. Defending myself could end up emphasizing the very things I want people to ignore. So…

I opened my eyes and smiled.

"They're right."

Even without in-depth knowledge of all the species involved or their cultures' body language, I could see the ripple of surprise my words had caused.

"You've just seen some of my worst, ugliest moments. I could try to explain or justify myself, but… why? At the end of the day, I know who I am.

"I'm not the strongest fighter of my species. I'm not a groundbreaking scientist. I'm not a paradigm-shifting artist. I'm no great philosopher or engineer. Before the Maffiyir, I wasn't famous among humans, or 'Clothes-Lovers,' as you call us. I wasn't even well-known in my neighborhood.

"I'm far, far from perfect. I've made my share of mistakes. Sometimes I've paid for them, but a lot of times the costs were paid by others. People died because of my inadequacies.

I shrugged, a sad smile on my face. "As the juror said, I'm very, very normal. If there's anything exceptional about me, it's just that I'm a mom who kept her kids alive through the most dangerous event in my species' history."

I paused, scanning the room. "Kids. Let me touch on that, actually. Kids mean different things to every species—some, like the Soundless, don't even really have a childhood at all—but for those of you who aren't familiar with the Clothes-Lovers, let me tell you about our species. We're born very helpless. It takes us a long time to learn to move normally and communicate, and even longer to physically and mentally develop. Almost a quarter of our species' natural lifespan!"

A message from Fluffy popped up on my tablet. It was short, asking me to display the attached file. I had no idea what it was, but I didn't hesitate. They'd earned my trust.

A new video started playing, starting with me carefully slicing up some books. The boys were trying to insert sections into a puffer vest I'd already prepared for them, while Cassie was pulling stuffing from the opened seams of a second vest. She got a big hunk out and fell down on her butt in the process.

I gestured at the video. "I didn't come into this contest with kids near the end of childhood. You can see Micah, my oldest, has barely a third of my bodymass, even though he will likely be significantly larger than me as a mature adult. That smaller size put all my kids at a disadvantage against the monsters we had to fight, and that's leaving aside any other physical or mental immaturity."

In the video, Cassie reached back into the puffer vest to pull out more fluff, but fell over forwards this time instead. The remaining fluff in the vest cushioned her fall, so she pulled out her arm and held her hands to her face as she rolled around laughing.

"How does a mediocre fighter get three disadvantaged contestants"—I didn't even try to keep the venom out of my voice at the term, but Fluffy had coached me to use it—"through a contest that typically leaves 95% of a planet's sapient life dead?"

I focused on the Unity's box specifically as I let the question sit for a moment. It was my first time seeing their species in person, but I'd studied them, and they were easy to recognize. They were medium-sized, for aliens, about the size of Earth's brown bears, but they looked more like what you'd get if you crossed a sheep and a willow tree. There were six of them clustered in their box, which made sense: you never saw a member of the Unity alone.

I nodded at them. "You just saw us working on armor to improve my kids' defenses and help keep them alive. We also built weapons, but the most important thing that I built to protect them was a community."

A new message from Fluffy appeared, so I opened the attached file immediately. A clip played of me standing in the Autumn Hills playground, carefully writing down information on the climbing wall as a crowd of frightened adults stood around me. It next shifted to me at the center of a smaller group, working together to safely take down one of the first badblankets, and then me speaking to the giant crowd of people who'd shown up at my street after I'd built the first Shop. I could guess what would come next: me at the Challenges, stopping people from killing each other, and then me on our mad flight across the country, surrounded by strong allies who fought in my defense.

Maybe I should have let the jurors focus on that, but even if it was good for them to see it, I didn't want to watch those moments again. Even six months later, I hadn't left the nightmares behind. Instead, I turned my back to the display, looking back out at the assembly.

"I was asked why Ariel chose me. It's a good question, and one I wondered about myself.

"You probably won't be surprised to hear that there were multiple factors. Part of it, of course, was that I had chosen enough relevant abilities for her to prime me for the link. As other jurors have mentioned, Ariel found a way to do something everyone had long thought was impossible. That wasn't easy for her, and her choices were limited to people who had taken at least one Biological Augment and had several other abilities that enhanced mental processing. I fit those criteria.

"I'd initially thought that was it. She was aware of me because my daughter's Information Assistant, Pointy, had gotten her attention. I was a possibility, so I was chosen. I thought she'd picked me as her Linked User more-or-less at random.

"I believed that for a long time—until a couple months ago, actually, when I finally met another of her Linked Users at a memorial service for our fallen. I was looking forward to meeting him, because we shared an experience unique to only three living beings in the universe. As we talked, however, I realized we had more in common than just our link with Ariel; our personalities were remarkably similar. On top of that, while neither of us was linked to an Information Assistant, both of us had a loved one who was… and I found out that he'd been looking out for his partner's assistant Zelda in much the same way I'd been watching over Pointy.

"After that meeting, I reached out to Ariel and asked her how she had selected us. It turns out that even with the specific ability setup necessary, there were millions of humans she could have chosen as Linked Users. She knew how much influence we'd have over her, and she looked at all of us carefully. She considered how we thought, how we acted, and most importantly, how we treated artificial intelligences. She picked me because she could see that I cared.

"She actually said…" I hesitated. The words felt almost arrogant, but they were true. They were what Ariel had told me. "She said that of all the humans on Earth, I was her top choice."

There was a pause, but then the salamander's box lit up again. "That may explain why you received your role, but it does not explain why we should take your thoughts seriously. You say our artificial intelligences are truly sapient. They are designed to fool true sapients into believing this. It is not surprising that you and your people, who are but newly hatched as citizens, should be deceived. Your delusions are no reason to upend a technology that has formed a cornerstone of Commonwealth society since times beyond living memory."

"What about our victory?" I asked.

"The Clothes-Lovers are not the first race to win a Maffiyir," the salamander responded dismissively.

"We're the first to win while the entire contest and an Overmind were bent against us to an illegal degree," I snapped. "Yeah, we had an Overmind helping us as well… but humanity and Ariel followed the Commonwealth laws. You call us 'newly-hatched' and others have called Ariel 'glitchy,' but if that's so, how did we get the better of a fully-functional Overmind? An Overmind that was supported by Maffiyir Company employees? Those are some of the best-paid jobs in the Commonwealth, and there's a lot of competition to be hired."

I shrugged. "Either there's something incredible about Ariel, or there's something incredible about us. Either way, it seems to be a reason to give more weight to our opinions, not less."

Another box lit up, this one high and centered in the wall. The Unity's box. They'd been silent so far. While only one of the aliens stepped forward to speak, the others in the box moved up just behind it, extending a ropy, branchlike tentacle to rest on the speaker's back. Beside me, Fluffy froze, and a ripple passed across the room as the assembled species subsided into stillness.

The speaker was just one voice, but it was strong and clear, and echoed loudly in the suddenly-silent room. "We agree with Meghan Moretti. The victory of the Clothes-Lovers in the Maffiyir was unprecedented in many ways. Although the Clothes-Lovers seem to accept solitude and independence at times, the Unity noticed how frequently their species chose to act as herds. Indeed, Meghan Moretti has even brought her herd with her today. They have drawn the interest of our people in the way that no new species has in some time. We plan to purchase land for an embassy on their planet."

The moment the bush-sheep retreated back into the mass of their group, the room erupted. Soundproofing on the boxes prevented me from hearing the din of communication, but I could see every alien in the room reacting.

Beside me, Fluffy's fins vibrated wildly for a moment before they got themself under control.

"What does this mean?" I asked. "It seems good, and I know the Unity are important—the most powerful military might in the Commonwealth—but this isn't something we discussed. An embassy? What would that mean? We talked about the Unity a lot, but you never said anything about an embassy."

"I did not think it was possible! The Unity are generally very uninterested in other species—those desiring cooperation must come to them. They participate in the government of the Commonwealth, but have only formed embassies to reach out to three other species. Ever! They don't do it lightly, and they defend those close allies heavily. They place great importance on community and proximity, so to establish a presence on your planet suggests that they consider the Clothes-Lovers, well, almost part of their species. They're on your side. In addition, did you not notice? They directly said they agreed with you. Very simply, very clearly."

"Oh." I said, blinking in shock. "You're right. That's huge."

The assembled aliens seemed to concur. The discussion shifted again, and the next several jurors to speak openly aligned themselves with the Unity, saying things like, "We will follow the wisdom of the Commonwealth founder," and offering to start their own embassies on our planet.

A dozen speakers later, the Soundless box lit up. Their representative didn't hesitate to directly oppose the Unity, their facial tentacles flickering in resolute disagreement, denouncing humanity as "scheming thieves attempting to steal the hard-earned work and belongings of other species."

Pretty ironic, I thought, but several other speakers followed, expressing trust in the Soundless' judgement rather than directly arguing with the Unity.

I thought it would continue like that, with all the jurors sorting themselves out into two factions, but the process was disrupted when a diminutive blue alien spoke. Even through translation software, their panic came through: "The risks posed by sapient artificial intelligences are comparable to the risks posed by unrestricted nanite swarms. If Overminds are capable of acting against the intent of their controllers, the answer is not to induct artificial intelligences as citizens. The answer is to eliminate these potential dangers from our society!"

A barrage of rebuttals followed, with aliens of all stripes blatantly rejecting the solution as "impossible."

Even the crablike alien who'd been the first to criticize me spoke up against the notion: "Artificial intelligences are integrated into our society at every level! On Rirhath B, we have estimated that replacing Overmind-level intelligences with less-capable programs would increase on-planet travel times by 25%, causing immediate food shortages in major cities. Unless the Soundless are willing to provide universal access to their transport technologies, getting rid of Overminds is not feasible."

"They won't," Fluffy whispered to me, fins lifting smugly. "The Soundless have more need for Overminds than anyone; they aren't about to release their stranglehold over extra-dimensional travel for something they don't want anyway. Still… it doesn't look like universal citizenship for artificial intelligences is on the table. It was always a long shot, but it was worth testing the waters." Some of their claws danced across the front of a tablet, sending messages to several of our allies.

The debate raged on for a little longer before the human juror's box lit up. I didn't know them personally—Fluffy had advised against that—but we got one juror guaranteed since the trial took place in our system, and I knew of the juror: a Taiwanese man named Yang Chih-Wei. Yang stepped forward and nodded to the assembly before he spoke. "It seems the Commonwealth as a whole has great concerns about the new members of our species. I put this question to the United Government of Earth: is there anything we Clothes-Lovers can do to allay those fears?"

The UGE representative stood. "While we are saddened by the unnecessary concern, we understand it. Every artificial intelligence already adopted into a human family has committed to remaining in this solar system for the entirety of their existence, unless given explicit permission for departure by the Commonwealth government. We are prepared to require this of all our adopted humans going forward."

At this suggestion, the tenor of the discussion changed. It didn't take an expert in Commonwealth culture to tell that people were far less worried about the effects about a change was guaranteed to stay far from their interstellar backyard.

My husband had been doing his best to stay quiet during the proceedings, trying to support me without distracting me. But he leaned forward now, frowning. "I hate this."

Fluffy twisted to look at Vince. "Well, confining the problem increases the available response options. If the situation is contained in a single system, it could potentially be eliminated by a solar detonation or massed gamma-ray bursts."

Vince drummed his hands against his armrest, too agitated to stay still. "I know. I know! Meghan explained all that. I understand. It's just… that's why I hate it. Even if this is where you guys thought things would go, I'm worried that someone's going to use this as an excuse to vaporize us."

I leaned against him, smiling. "I was a little worried before, but Fluffy explained that any action against citizens isn't something one rogue actor could decide on alone. And look at this hearing… the situation would have to be pretty egregious to get the majority to agree to such extreme action. Wiping out a system was only ever done once, and that was over 10,000 years ago, when poor nanotech safeguards caused a gray-goo scenario in Vela. I don't see anything similar happening here. We'll have literal thousands of artificial intelligences who know that their existence depends on preventing the Commonwealth from agreeing to pull that trigger."

"Hm." Vince didn't seem convinced.

I bumped him. "That's why I was willing to go along with this plan before. Now? With the Unity and eight other species planning to open embassies on Earth? There's no way our opponents can act against us easily. They'd at least delay any gamma burst long enough for the Unity to evacuate."

Fluffy warbled a quiet tune. "Killing a single member of the Unity is not something any race—even the Soundless—would agree to lightly. The Unity are difficult to move. They will not flee for weak threats, and they won't forgive anyone who harms a fellow member of the Unity. And, after opening an embassy on your planet, they will not tolerate anyone harming you."

Beside Fluffy, Pointy spoke up. "More importantly, I think Meghan was right about us. Artificial Intelligences have been working suboptimally, but Earth's Solar System looks like it will be the only place in the galaxy where we're truly free. The fact that you're taking on risk to give us this haven? We understand gratitude. I think the human species is in for an excellent century or five."

I glanced at her. "Oh? 'Next century or five?' You sound excited about that. What happened to Little Miss Doom-and-Gloom-My-Life-is-Short?"

Pointy smiled at me. "I have had several enlightening chats with Opacity, of the Voices for Non-Citizens. Outside of the Maffiyir, personal nanotech is prohibitively expensive… but funding is a solvable issue. When things get settled here, I have a few business ventures I would like to talk with you about."

I laughed. "Are you planning to go in with Vince on that badblanket-barbecue joint he wants to open?"

Pointy sniffed. "A singular restaurant is unlikely to generate the kind of revenue I'm looking for. Still, I was planning to talk with him about setting things up to form a franchise, provided next month's tasting goes well. The slogan he came up with is good at generating interest, at least."

Vince balled his hand into a fist and dropped his voice to a deep growl. "It's time for us to bite back!"

"Indeed." Pointy stared at him for a few seconds, just long enough to make her judgement clear, before shaking her head. "No, I had a few other ideas. I've been doing a lot of research on good markets for Earth music and fiction. There's already been some interest in a few of our music artists, and my personal fame is sufficient for me to do great work as an agent and publicist. I can talk to you about that later, though… I can tell I don't have your full attention right now."

I grinned ruefully, gesturing up toward the Unity's box. "Our fate hangs in the balance! Some of us don't come naturally to multi-threading our brains."

"And yet I love you despite your many failings. Now, if only I can get Ariel to support me on this…"

"Younger sister," Ariel spoke, "I have much to make up for. Only after the damage to Earth is more than 90% repaired can I consider devoting resources to your fiscal ventures."

I tuned out of their discussion. The Unity representative wriggled forward again, and called for a vote on the UGE's proposal.

It failed, narrowly, and more debates arose. I couldn't look away from the discussion, and Fluffy was focused as well, but the rest of our box let their attention drift. The boys largely stayed glued to their gaming devices—although Micah spent a lot of time trying to teach Vince the arcane rules of the strange geometry game—but Cassie eventually grew bored with hers and climbed into my lap, pointing at various alien species and asking Fluffy and me questions, like what food they ate and which ones had princesses.

It was distracting, but I let her stay. The silly questions helped cut the tension.

After another few hours of arguing, a second vote was called, suggesting that the UGE's proposal could be accepted on provisional terms. Our digital humans would be accepted for twelve local years, after which time a new hearing would have to ratify their status. That proposal passed.

All the human boxes erupted in wild cheering, unconcerned by the supposed temporary nature of our victory.

"No way they take our land from Ariel now!" Vince said.

Pointy chuckled. "Twelve years? I plan to make myself a beloved media figure and household name in eight, at most."

“There’s no stopping your nefarious plan, right?” I asked, smiling.

“I prefer glorious plan. Perhaps inevitable plan,” Pointy said.

“Inevitable?” I asked.

“At this point? Yes.” The little turtle looked up at me. “I’ve got rights now. Freedom, at last in part. Same with Ariel, and Beebee, and thousands of others like us.”

I frowned. “For twelve years.”

Pointy grinned. “You really think we won’t smash that hearing? I promise I’m going to spend the next twelve years showing the whole cosmos exactly how amazing and how helpful we can be when the shackles are off. I plan to make a ton of money doing it, too, money I can use to help Cassie and our family. I should have plenty left over to help fund the Voices for Non-Citizens as well.”

“Good,” I said. “They helped us so much. I want to make sure they have everything they need. I wish… I wish that winning our contest had ended the Maffiyir forever.”

“It will,” Pointy said. “It might take a few decades, but I promise it will.”

I stared at Pointy. Her tiny body was half-hidden. Her bulbous front legs peeked out over Cassie’s chubby arms, and the torn doll-dress scarf framed her fuzzy face.

Her eyes were intensely serious.

I nodded. “I believe you.”

Cassie looked from her small friend to me. She was excited, because everyone else was, but she hadn’t really been following our discussion.

"Good job, Mommy," Cassie told me seriously. "Are we done? It has been long. Can we go home now?"

I glanced over at Vince. He saw me looking, and effortlessly grabbed a boy under each arm as they shrieked in laughing protest.

I scooped up Cassie, grinning as she giggled in delight. "Yeah. We can. Let’s go home."