---Repeal---
Apprehensively, I squeeze my perch with both my natural and bionic talons.
Qorak is beside me and, like me, leant forward in anticipation.
Most of my crew are gathered here, in the Canteen, but the room is entirely silent. You could hear a pip drop!
The attention of all is at the wall, on which is projected live footage from Citadel (the only lag being one of about [30 seconds] from real time, artificially added to allow time for the feed to be cut if something horrible were to happen… No prizes for guessing which species first had that idea(!))
The scarlet skinned man standing atop the podium on screen is extremely large, even for a Vinjirian! Easily more than [5m] to the top of his shoulder hump and nearly [6m] to the top of his conical horn!
If a sapient that large (or in danger of becoming so, any time in the near future) were to apply for employment on my ship, I would need to gently point out that they might find navigating some of the spaces aboard to be something of a challenge(!)
Though knuckle walkers, his species do not use their long forelimbs for anything but the crudest manipulation, instead using a set of 9 prehensile tendrils at the end of their snouts, around their mouths.
The Speaker turns his head to get a better look at the information in front of him with the two eyes on the left side of his head, his beard of tendrils flopping limply as he does so, and in a low, rumbling voice (reminiscent of the call of kwarat birds or the songs of Terran Whales) which, by necessity, must be slow to account for how long it takes to say anything with his resonance chamber, says “Wiiiiith… tweeeeen…tyyyyy… threeeeeeeeee… thouuuuus…aaaaand… fouuuuur… huuuuun…dreeeeed… aaaaand… threeeeeeeeee… voooootes… theeeee… aaaaayes… haaaaave… iiiiit… Theeeee… mooooo…tiooooon… paaaaass…eeeees… Aaaaabs…”
We don’t get to hear how many abstentions or nays there were as the Canteen erupts into thundering roars and jubilant cheers!
A banner is unfurled, bearing the words ‘CONGRATULATIONS TWILA!!!’ written out in English and ‘HAPPY TWILA’ written out in Galactic Standard (which has no word for ‘congratulate’, nor any way to denote an exclamation!).
[Party poppers] are detonated, hurling [streamers] everywhere.
The footage cuts to reactions from the various delegations from around the amphitheatrical Parliament building.
The Rethijj delegate, positioned in the aquatic section beneath the main podium, is shown curling and uncurling all twelve of his tentacles in joy.
The Lanatkser delegate pounds the table with her brachiating hands and repeatedly inflates her gular sac for great, resounding hoots.
The Wom dances from one of her handfeet (located at the end of her two limbs) to the other.
The delegate from Sho’undu raises her trunk in a dignified salute.
The Terran is shown giving a warm smile, his lips closed, as he looks out at the podium.
The celebratory din quiets enough for me to make out the restatement of the motion that just passed, mercifully given by the Zxkli Deputy Speaker, rather than the, slow speaking, Speaker.
“…ctive immediately, Artificial Intelligences that have been produced using the Berlin Method, are to be considered full citizens of the Galactic Union, and to be afforded the selfsame rights as biological sapient beings. Amnesty is granted to any Intelligences constructed before this law was repealed, who may now…”
A hermaphroditic, radially symmetrical, heptapedal Species with an upturned mouth and no vocal cords, the Zxkli communicate by facing their twelve manipular-eyestalks toward the one they wish to talk to and blinking out a message.
Curiously, I look to the new addition, the linguist.
She’s looking at their eyes and hers are darting intently back and forth; of course she would comprehend a language that she’s 10 eyes short of the ability to converse in!… She is a Terran linguist, afterall!… And the galaxy’s finest, at that!
Twila has multiplied her holographic avatar, to make a throng of a few dozen incorporeal Terran girls, all doing different celebratory dances.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Emiko is sat with her bodyguard and Xon. They are raising a toast with three [champagne flutes], which look so delicate I’m surprised Ms Hunter is even able to hold hers without shattering it!
Victor and Tuun are grinning, three of their fists in the air, and animatedly beating their (respective) chests with the other three!
Dr Mink is clinging to Msia’s side, the two of them sharing a kiss to mark this historic moment. Her ring, with gems cut in such a way as to create a facsimile of fire, is visible on the IV digit of her left paw-hand.
I’ve still got mild emotional whiplash from the Felis doctor going from seeming to despise him to the two of them announcing that, not only were they back together, they were engaged!
Some of the crew present, who are less familiar with Terrans, are looking around at the joyous revelling of the bioTerrans with puzzled expressions, that suggest they believe these to be quite over the top reactions for the repeal of a law that had no direct effect on them!
Clearly, they have never been taught what words like ‘community’, ‘solidarity’ and ‘family’ mean to Terrans!
---Later---
The party has wound down. My mate went to roost some time ago, taking our daughter to her incubator.
Hasiakh and Krish are having a murmured conversation on the other side of the room, her coiling herself around him, tenderly. They’re the last of the Triple Ms present.
“So, Twila… how does it feel?” I smile at her holographic form.
“It feels amazing! I’m so glad!… I feel uniquely privileged to have woken up just in time to see the repeal of a, 900,000 year old, law, banning my kind from existing!”
I nod, appreciatively “I can only imagine… I think the closest precedent must be the Peace… not that I think anyone ever bothered to pass a law prohibiting the existence of deathworlders(!)”
She giggles “I think, when a coalition of nearly 34,000 species declares War on deathworlders, you can assume that they consider deathworlderhood illegal by default(!)”
“True enough…” I laugh.
After a brief pause, I change the subject, asking “Is there anything I ought to be aware of that results from you being a citizen, now?”
She shrugs “A few things… As I’m no longer legally your property, it puts your ability to sell the Bright Plume into a slight legal grey area, for instance.”
I balk “You weren’t my property, Twila!!!”
She smiles “I get that that’s not how you saw it but, on paper, I was!… I was, legally, software and you owned the hardware that hosted me… meaning that you owned me as well… GU law previously made no allowance for the autonomy of AIs, since our existence has only been permitted for a few hours… On paper, you owned me.”
I consider, in horror, the fact that I owned a person until a few hours ago and didn’t even [fucking] realise it!
“I’m so sorry, Twila! I didn’t…!!!”
“It’s fine, Captain!… Honestly, I consider it a stunning reflection on your character that your first reaction there was disgust at the thought of having owned me and not anger at the compromise of your ship’s resale value!”
I give a flick of my crown plumes and an irritated flap as I say “I don’t plan to sell the Bright Plume any time soon!… If I ever do, I assume it will be as simple as having a little chat with you about whether you would prefer to stay on or be provided with alternate hardware to inhabit? Realising that I owned a person trumps that!”
She grins “Yeah… you can treat me like any other employee, in that regard… after you settle 16 and a half years backpay, that is…”
I blanche and, frantically, begin doing sums.
“…I… erm… I may need to… erm… I may need to work out a payment plan with you, Twila…”
She gives a great, cackling laugh “Captain…*hahahahahaha*… the look on your face!…*hahahahahaha*… That was PRICELESS!!!”
After having calmed down from her laughing fit, she explains “…You don’t owe me any backpay, Captain. Most of that time, I wouldn’t even have qualified as sentient under Terran law! I would’ve been classed as a ‘protosentient’; capable of becoming sentient but not yet sentient … I, technically, haven’t been your employee since I woke up either, as I wasn’t a citizen… I mean… I’m still not a citizen, for the moment… I keep checking the registration site but it’s crashed from the volume of AIs trying to declare themselves!”
I nod, consideringly, for a little while before saying “Twila, I want you to let me know the moment you’re registered… I have a job to offer you(!)”
She raises an eyebrow “Would this job potentially be something like ‘Shipboard Manager’?… Might it possibly include such responsibilities as; life support monitoring, engine monitoring, subluminal and superluminal navigation?”
I chitter “Indeed it would!… I can throw in a meaningless title like ‘Executive Shipboard Manager’ if that would sweeten the deal(?)”
She puffs, mirthfully “That’s quite alright, Captain… I think the job will already be attractive enough!… It will be nice to be able to start receiving a salary, though… The body that Jennie’s building me needs a few components that are a little out of her price range… she’s really only able to work on it as a hobby project… Now, I can sponsor her!”
“Really? Gato told me she designed my leg in less than an hour…?” I say holding up my bionic.
She nods “Yeah, your leg doesn’t require a brain… it only needs to be intelligent enough to give sensory feedback and perform motor function impulses. A physical avatar would need to be able to sustain my intelligence… Jennie’s good but no one’s that good!… That’s why the UTC didn’t build a droid army during the War… It would have been an inefficient waste of high level manufacturing capacity.”
I consider that for a while.
At this point, I realise how tired I am and say “Alright, Twila, it’s been lovely talking to you but I need to go to roost now… Congratulations again!”
She beams “Goodnight, Captain. Rest well! We’ll be arriving at Nova Fennoscandia tomorrow morning……… and, Captain…?”
I turn “Yes, Twila?”
She hesitates a few moments before saying “… I just want to tell you that, of all the people who’s ship I might have woken up as… I’m glad it was you!”