Page 75 - Demo

“Then why do we have citizen codes and ranks?”
“I...don’t know. I had...assumed it was established on merit.”
“It is, but not from your peers. From her. From Achlys. That’s why I want your
communications key. I need to find her.”
“Her? I don’t reme-” he cut me off.
“She’s a brain. A matrioshka brain. Several Dyson sized computers layered atop
each other, debating, communicating, encasing a sun. They entrusted guardianship to her so they would not have to subject themselves to running the cooperative. She writes the laws. She selects people to produce offspring she deems worthy. She told me who was evil, and what injustice must be quashed. She’s a giant ball of snakes strangling real justice in this universe.”
“That can’t be true. We have legislators. We have elections. The laws aren’t perfect and people run afoul of them are tried by justiciars like myself! Not computers!
“Most of them are tried by computers. See, every now and then, she gets a problem she can’t solve. She needs a unique set of eyes, someone to help her add another facet to her definition of ‘justice’. Sometimes, what would produce the most good short term is terrible in the long term. Or maybe, everyone had an equal share in the problem. How to decide? So, the founders and her created the courts to answer these questions. To create an ever more precise definition of justice, so that they wouldn’t have to. Of course, this meant that they would have to serve time as justices to do this. Some still are “unlucky” enough to have this duty. Sometimes, someone like you comes along.”
“Me?”
“You’re an anomaly. Rare. A class A citizen bred from a couple of peasant D’s (Plato, 380BCE, 415b). Your scores were good, your aptitude immense. You passed the commander exam with flying colours when you condemned that engineer to death to save the ship. (Moore 1994, se. 7, ep. 16) They didn’t have to uplift you fully to send you back down to commingle with those they disdained. You were disposable. Close enough to themselves that they could substitute your life for their own.”