“Oh, come on!” Meyer said, eventually. “You can’t seriously believe Holloway owns that seam.” “He does,” Bourne said. “Oversight on my part. Sorry.”

“Sorry?” Meyer said. “The only witness to your whereabouts is the plaintiff, who you just happen to be giving a trillion credits of ZaraCorp’s money to? Sorry is the word I would use for that, indeed.” “Am I allowed to make objections here?” Holloway asked, raising his hand.

“What is it, Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said.

“Is it just me, or did the defense go from implying it was the witness who set fire to my cabin to suggesting he and I are teaming up to rob ZaraCorp, all in a single sentence?” Holloway asked.

Soltan looked over to Meyer. “He has a point, Ms. Meyer,” Soltan said.

“Your Honor, regardless of the content of the statement, it’s highly suspect,” Meyer said. “Mr. Holloway is accusing my client of arson, and he’s the only person here who can give Mr. Bourne an alibi.” “Well, Mark Sullivan was there, too,” Holloway said.

“Excuse me?” Meyer said.

“I was at Sullivan’s when Chad tracked me down about this,” Holloway said. “He should be a credible witness. He was Ms. Meyer’s underling, after all.” “Fine,” Soltan said. “I’ll have a clerk go get him.”

“That’s not possible,” Meyer said.

“Why not?” Soltan said.

“He got promoted over her,” Holloway said. “He’s the new ZaraCorp General Counsel on Zara Eleven. He’s leaving today.” “Leaving, or left?” Soltan said, looking back and forth between Meyer and Holloway.

“Left,” Meyer said.

“Leaving,” Holloway said. “His transport ticket is for three hours from now. He’s probably loitering at the beanstalk passenger waiting area.” Soltan looked at Meyer narrowly. “For future reference, Ms. Meyer, if someone is in fact still on-planet, they have not left it.” “Yes, Your Honor,” Meyer said.

“I’ll have one of my clerks stop Mr. Sullivan’s ticket and rebook him on the next transport,” Soltan said. “I’m having the other retrieve him and bring him here. That should take a half hour or so. We’re in recess until then.” She stood and looked at Bourne. “You’re excused, but don’t go anywhere.” she said. Bourne got up.

“May I approach the bench, Your Honor?” Meyer asked.

Soltan blinked. “What part of ‘we are in recess’ are you having a problem with, Ms. Meyer?” she asked.

“Please, Your Honor,” Meyer said. Soltan sat, grumpily, and motioned Meyer and Holloway forward.

“We need to talk about the disposition of the sunstone seam,” Meyer said.

“No, we don’t,” Soltan said. “Aside from establishing an alibi for Mr. Bourne, it’s not relevant to this case.” “It’s relevant for every single other thing on the planet,” Meyer said. “Mr. Bourne testified in open court that ZaraCorp has no claim on that seam. That puts us on dangerous ground. We need to get a preliminary ruling.” “After this hearing,” Soltan said.

“The longer they wait, the worse their legal ground is going to get,” Holloway said. “Speaking as an interested party, I’m up for a preliminary ruling as well. The sooner the better.” Soltan narrowed her eyes again. “Fine,” she said. “Both of you, in my chambers. Ten minutes. Make whatever case you want, but make it quick, because the minute Mr. Sullivan steps into this courtroom, this preliminary hearing is back on.”

Soltan’s chambers, cramped when it was just her in them, were positively claustrophobic with six people. Soltan, Meyer, and Holloway were there, along with Chad Bourne, Brad Landon, and Wheaton Aubrey VII, whom Meyer had frantically summoned.

“This is cozy,” Holloway said, jammed up against a wall.

Soltan, sitting behind her desk, gave him a look, then turned to Meyer. “Go,” she said. “Fast.” “Mr. Bourne doesn’t have the authority to grant Holloway control of that seam,” Meyer said. “He’s a contractor rep, he’s not the board of directors.” “A point that’s completely irrelevant,” Holloway said. “Bourne never said he had the authority. He pointed out that he voided my contract. The second he did that, Butters applied. It’s my seam.” “If your contract is void, then you’ve been on-planet illegally since then,” Meyer said, to Holloway.

“I’m aware you’re loyal to your company and all, Ms. Meyer,” Holloway said. “But in point of fact ZaraCorp regulations are not the same as Colonial law. It’s against regulations for noncontracted surveyors to be on Zara Twenty-three, yes. But it’s not against the law. And in any case, it’s up to ZaraCorp to enforce its own regulations. I can’t be blamed if the company never bothered to escort me to the door.” “We’ll be fixing that,” Aubrey said. Landon winced at this almost imperceptibly.

The reason why became evident immediately when Soltan straightened her spine. “Do that in front of me again, Mr. Aubrey, and you’re going to be spending time in your own company’s holding cell,” she said.

“It’s fine, Your Honor,” Holloway said. “Although I should note that I’m not going to allow any exploitation of my seam unless I’m around to supervise it. Good help is hard to find.” “Quiet, Mr. Holloway,” Soltan said. She turned to Bourne. “Mr. Bourne, are you certain you voided Mr. Holloway’s contract prior to his discovery of the seam?” “Yes, Your Honor,” Bourne said. He handed her his infopanel. “Here’s the order for the termination of the contract. You’ll note several moments later both Mr. Holloway and I signed off on a rider to the original contract, having negotiated some new terms for his find. However, since the contract the rider was meant to be attached to was never reactivated, the rider itself is null and void.” Soltan looked at the infopanel for a few minutes, then looked up at Meyer. “No one thought to double-check this?” she said.

“All contracts are standard and handled through the reps,” she said, tightly. “Legal looks at them only if they’re flagged by the rep.” Soltan looked back at Bourne. “And you didn’t flag the contract,” she said.

“I flagged the rider,” Bourne said, and took back the infopanel for a second to pop up the document history. “It was the rider that had the unusual bits in it. There was no need to flag the standard contract, because it was standard.” “Except for the fact you forgot to activate it again,” Soltan said, taking the panel again.

“Yes, Your Honor,” Bourne said.

“The sign-off on the rider is yours, Ms. Meyer,” Soltan said.

“Yes,” Meyer said.

Soltan set down the infopanel. “This isn’t complicated,” she said. “If there was no contract, Butters applies.” “Mr. Holloway believed he had a contract,” Meyer said.

“Are you suggesting Mr. Holloway is now somehow legally obliged to honor a contract that doesn’t exist, merely because he believed it did?” Soltan said. “No, Ms. Meyer. It’s ZaraCorp who’s been getting the free ride here. In any case, you wanted an immediate preliminary ruling. Here it is: I’ll be issuing a ruling in favor of Mr. Holloway and putting the full court case on the docket. It’s a civil case, and you have a few ahead of it, if I recall. So I’ll hear it in about a year.” “I ask that you move it up on the schedule, Your Honor,” Meyer said.

“I’ll consider it,” Soltan said. “But not today.”

“This decision will bring operations on Zara Twenty-three to a standstill,” Brad Landon said. “Tens of thousands of people will be out of work. Are already out of work because of your preliminary ruling. They just don’t know it yet.” “That all depends on Mr. Holloway, doesn’t it?” Soltan said. She looked at Holloway.

“I have to say I’m deeply moved by ZaraCorp’s concern for its common worker,” Holloway said. “So I’m more than happy to keep operations going at the seam. All I ask is for half the gross revenue.” Landon blanched. “Half,” he said.

“Unless you think I should have more,” Holloway said.

“Meanwhile, ZaraCorp carries the load for the cost of machines and the workers,” Aubrey said.