He had known this call was coming. How could he not? The only part that had really taken him by surprise was that it had taken so long. After nearly five months, he had begun to think that perhaps it would never come. But he knew it had when he saw the country code at the beginning of the number—a call from New Mombasa could be nothing else.
"Leonard Church," he answered. Might as well leave no doubt as to who they had reached.
"Dr. Church," replied the voice on the other end. "This is Lieutenant Ryan McCafferty, liaison to the public for the UNSC. I am calling from UNSC headquarters in New Mombasa in reference to your use of and publishing of proprietary technology owned jointly by MIT and the UNSC, as seen in the Journal of Artificial Intelligences this past June."
"Mmh," he grunted. "That was my paper, yes."
"I was wondering if you'd be willing to discuss this matter over the phone. Could you tell me how you came to be in possession of this technology nine years after leaving MIT's employment?"
"I don't intend to, no," Leonard said.
"All right, well, unfortunately, Dr. Church, you have very few options in this situation," McCafferty replied. "The UNSC has grounds to press charges over this paper. You do know that."
"I do," Leonard replied. "However, I am certain there are other options that lie between the extremes."
"Yes—the next option would be a mediation, possibly followed by an arbitration, before we move to press charges. However—"
"I am absolutely calling for mediation, then," Leonard replied.
"All right," McCafferty replied. "I will be messaging you within the day with a time for the mediation. You can connect remotely, or you can come to New Mombasa and answer in person. That part's up to you."
"I'm coming there," Leonard replied. Another thing he had been counting on.
"All right," McCafferty replied. "I will be contacting you soon."
"I expect that you will," Leonard said.
The call was disconnected at the other end. Leonard set his COM pad down and arose. He was neither nervous nor afraid. What he did feel was that it was important to make sure that his business affairs would be in order during the time he would be gone. He went straight to Jackie's office. She would take care of things in his absence, he knew. It felt very good for the wheels to be in motion, but it also felt good to know he could rely on her. Soon enough everything might change, but she would remain his rock. He was counting on it.
Just three weeks later, it was time for the scheduled mediation, and Leonard arrived at the UNSC facility on time the morning of. He was guided to take a seat at the end of the large conference table, and he sat down calmly. He had absolutely no compunction about the acts that had led to him being here, and planned to testify with confidence.
The others who were going to be attending filtered into the room shortly after he took his seat. He did not recognize any of them, but he had received their names and positions via message along with the schedule for this occasion. They were mainly UNSC lawyers, people concerned with the UNSC's intellectual property, rather than were mainly UNSC and ONI brass, and lawyers concerned with MIT's intellectual property, rather than scientists.
Someone came to his side and offered to get him a bottle of water; he waved the person away. Most of the twelve seats were occupied by the time the meeting was brought to order.
"All right, let's begin," a woman said, nodding over to someone, who started a recording device. "It is 6 December 2543, at 1100 hours. We have convened at the UNSC Headquarters in New Mombasa. I am Judge Anne Montgomery of the New Mombasa probate court, and I will be acting as a mediator in today's session. Dr. Leonard Church is an artificial intelligence expert who published a paper in June's edition of the Journal of Artificial Intelligences. This paper stated that he has developed a method for extracting and applying brain scan data from MIT's holographic brain scan program. This program was decommissioned in 2536 and has been rendered obsolete. With us today is Lt. Ryan McCafferty, liaison to the public for the UNSC's Office of Domestic Affairs, who contacted Dr. Church on 12 November 2543 to answer for his use of the UNSC's intellectual property in formulating this method. With us today are also Dr. Todd Barnes, head of the New Mombasa division of legal affairs…"
Leonard had a pen and paper sitting in front of him, but he didn't bother to note the rest of the names that were read off. He was putting on a particular affect, one of complete boredom. He picked up the pen and spun it between his fingers.
Montgomery went on to explain the process that was taking place was meant to facilitate an agreement between both parties involved, with her remaining a neutral party. She would not be making a ruling at the end of the session as one might expect during a binding arbitration. Instead, she would try to help the two parties involved agree on a mutually beneficial resolution.
"Dr. Church, we would first like to hear your opening statement," Montgomery said.
"Certainly." Leonard put the pen down. "I was a member of MIT's faculty when the holographic scan research was at its peak. A few years after leaving, I learned the program had shut down, so I obtained a set of the equipment that was capable of creating this particular type of scan. I used the resulting scan to continue the research I had done while at MIT. The solution was found a couple of years ago, but I kept it to myself for the time being. But once I had learned the archives were slated to be destroyed, I decided that I had no choice but to publish."
There was a short silence.
Montgomery finished taking a note on her datapad and then spoke. "Thank you, Dr. Church. I now call on Lieutenant McCafferty to give the UNSC's opening statement."
"Thank you, Judge Montgomery. I was alerted by a scientist working in the artificial intelligences program on Reach to the paper in question back in August. I did most of the legwork to gather the UNSC's evidence regarding the source of Dr. Church's research and findings. We found that he definitely would have had to have used proprietary research that he obtained from MIT's holographic brain scan program in order to finalize any results that would lead to this publishing."
"All right, thank you, Mr. McCafferty. The floor is open for questioning." She then motioned to the first person who had raised his hand to speak.
"Dr. Church," the man spoke up, "you stated in the paper in question that the research you had done directly built upon what you had done at MIT. Is this not to say that you must have taken proprietary coding with you upon your exit from the university?"
"I did," Leonard replied. He had not planned to deny this. "At the time I felt that I was on the edge of the breakthrough that would make using the scans possible, and although I was assuming at the time that someone else would complete my research and make this discovery, I also felt that it was important to keep it—just in case."
Another person was selected to speak. "You do understand, Dr. Church, the position you've put yourself in with this. The research you published in your paper absolutely does not belong to you. You must realize what the outcome of this mediation will be."
"Perhaps better than you do," he replied. "Although the research is partly documented in my files, other parts of it live only in my head. If you seize my assets and documents, you will not find the solution there."
There was a silence before several people began to speak at once. Montgomery raised her voice and asked everyone to be quiet, and the chatter died off.
"Dr. Church," said McCafferty firmly. "If you do not give up this information, the only result will be that you will be incarcerated and the decision to destroy the archive records shall stand. If you have hopes of AIs being made from these records, you must detail this method for the UNSC in time for the decision to destroy them to be reversed."
"I know that ONI has the advantage, not only of legal precedence, but of legal authority," Leonard replied. "Honestly, I don't see how I could possibly argue the position that I should be able to retain all rights to my research in the face of any kind of adjudication and expect to win my case."
"In that case I'm interested in knowing why you bothered to travel to New Mombasa," McCafferty replied.
Leonard leaned forward, his elbows resting on the tabletop. "I'm not here to concede, Mr. McCafferty. I'm here to negotiate."
"A monetary settlement is not without precedent in these situations," said the first man who had questioned him. "However—"
Leonard couldn't help letting out a small sound of derision at that idea, interrupting the speaker. "I couldn't be swayed from my research by mere…" He shook his head. "I did not get into this field for material gain."
"Are you so altruistic?" a woman asked.
"Not altruistic, no, but there are principles behind the decisions I've made over the years." He looked at her with a serious gaze. "There have been far too many lives lost in this war. I have done everything I know, working to prevent more."
"Then what could you possibly gain from negotiating?" McCafferty asked. "Your only options are to surrender your research to ONI and take a settlement, or bring your research with you and accept a provisional offer of employment."
"There's always another option, Mr. McCafferty." Leonard reached down beside him and opened his briefcase to pull out the holoscreen that contained the visuals for his proposal. "I have spent the last seven years establishing an advanced facility that produces top-level research and innovations. I have a staff consisting of sixteen of the brightest minds in the field. We continue to make advances in the line of research that ONI is interested in obtaining, and I am simply unwilling to release the unfinished research in its current state to people who have had no hand in its progress."
Another silence ensued as Leonard opened the first visual.
"This is not a presentation, Dr. Church," Montgomery said evenly, "this is a mediation." She wrote some more notes on her datapad. "It would seem that Dr. Church would prefer to escalate this set of negotiations to the Office of Naval Intelligence."
"Yes, I would," he said, putting the holoscreen down again.
"You understand that ONI would insist on a legally-biding arbitration, rather than something like the mediation we're having now?"
"I do now," he said.
"How does the UNSC feel about this request?" she asked.
"The UNSC moves for a recess so we can have our discussion in private, Judge Montgomery," said McCafferty.
Montgomery nodded at a soldier who stood nearby, and then at Leonard. The soldier came over to escort Leonard out of the room.
At this time, Leonard decided he'd better get that drink, and he moved to get one of the bottles of water off the table nearby in the hallway. They'd evidently prepared for a long afternoon, as there was hot water, tea, and coffee on the table as well.
After fifteen minutes, the door opened, and he was allowed back in. Leonard took his seat and folded his hands, staring straight across the table at the judge.
"The UNSC moves to accept Dr. Church's suggestion of escalating the negotiations to ONI," McCafferty pronounced.
Montgomery nodded toward the recording device. "Mediation session ended at 1217 hours."
McCafferty rose. "Dr. Church, please follow me to my office to receive further instructions on when and where your negotiations are to take place."
Leonard got up and did so. The two headed into McCafferty's office and he was directed to sit on a couch at the side. McCafferty got on his terminal and began the process of communicating to those who would be in charge of negotiations about the decision.
It was about half an hour later before McCafferty finally spoke to him. "I am sending you the appointment information now. You will appear via virtual connection."
Leonard had been studying something on his COM pad; he selected the new message to view the details. "Ah. The meeting is on Reach, and not until April 1st ." He knew that travel time to Reach could take two months, depending on the behavior of slipspace. After just a moment's thought, he put the COM pad down. "I intend to travel there for these negotiations; I will remain there once I arrive," he said. "I expect that these negotiations will go in my favor and I will have much to do when I begin."
McCafferty's eyes widened slightly. "That's quite a risk to take, Dr. Church."
"It's what I intend to do," he said firmly. "I will attend the sessions in person, and once things are decided, I will remain there."
McCafferty shook his head. "You must be absolutely certain this is what you wish to do, Dr. Church," he said. "The UNSC and ONI will not be responsible for you if you find yourself stranded on Reach."
"This is what I am doing," Leonard said.
McCafferty shook his head. "All right. I will be sending you more details about the negotiations as they become available. Once you arrive, I will be your liaison."
Leonard looked at him with a slight narrowing of his eyes. "Are you an ONI liaison as well, Mr. McCafferty?"
"That's my main position, Dr. Church."
Leonard scoffed. "Indeed."
McCafferty rose and Leonard followed suit. McCafferty came and offered his hand. Leonard took half a second to consider whether to do so before shaking it. "I trust that ONI will continue its dealings from here on out with respect," he said.
"Respect is earned, Dr. Church," McCafferty said, following him to the door. "And you are still risking being utterly ruined by these proceedings. So do keep that in mind."
Leonard turned to look at him one last time. "I'm always up for a challenge, Mr. McCafferty."
"I would hope so," McCafferty said.
"I hope the same is true of you." Leonard went through the threshold of the door and it closed behind him.