Overruled
Page 1
Table of Contents
COURT IS NOW IN SESSION… ALL OXYGEN-REDUCING BIPEDS PLEASE RISE!
by Hank Davis
THE SKETCHER
by Tom Kidd
JERRY WAS A MAN
by Robert A. Heinlein
PARADOX & GREENBLATT: ATTORNEYS AT LAW
by Kevin J. Anderson
THE JIGSAW MAN
by Larry Niven
SKULKING PERMIT
by Robert Sheckley
CHECKSUM, CHECKMATE
by Tony Daniel
THE EXECUTIONER
by Algis Budrys
LICENSE TO LIVE
by Sarah A. Hoyt & Laura Montgomery
THE RIOT THAT WASN’T IN PORT NEEKS
by Susan R. Matthews
LAWYER FIGHT
by Larry Correia
THE PEOPLE V. CRAIG MORRISON
by Alex Shvartsman & Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
HOW-2
by Clifford D. Simak
MOVING SPIRIT
by Arthur C. Clarke
VICTIM OF CHANGES
by Christopher Ruocchio
THE CYBER AND JUSTICE HOLMES
by Frank Riley
TO SEE THE INVISIBLE MAN
by Robert Silverberg
LICENSE TO STEAL
by Louis Newman
WITH THE KNIGHT MALE
Charles Sheffield
OVERRULED
Edited by
HANK DAVIS
and
Overruled
Edited by Hank Davis and Christopher Ruocchio
ORDER IN THE COURT! A new anthology of science fiction stories that explores what the future of jurisprudence might well be like, with thrilling, hilarious, and downright entertaining results! So much fun, it oughta be illegal! Stories by Robert A. Heinlein, Clifford D. Simak, Sarah A. Hoyt, and more.
Lawyers—pardon me, attorneys—may be portrayed in fiction as the good guys (and gals) or as greedy conniving shysters.
In mundane fiction, the former are represented ably by Earle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason and by Harper Lee’s Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (we’ll pass over her other novel, Go Set a Watchman, with a less inspiring portrait—consider it obviously set in a parallel world). The less favorable view was expressed by Edgar Rice Burroughs in his SF classic, A Princess of Mars, in which his doubly immortal John Carter observes that the Martians are very fortunate in that, while they may behave with savage cruelty, and are constantly at war, at least they have no lawyers.
Both views of the legal profession have been explored in science fiction and fantasy since John Carter set foot on the Red Planet, as well as looking into possible ways that future punishment for crimes may change, not necessarily for the better. Some of science fiction’s greatest talents are included in this book, including classics by Robert A. Heinlein, Larry Niven, Clifford D. Simak, Robert Silverberg, and more, and newer stories by Sarah A. Hoyt, Alex Shvartsman, and Alvaro Zinos-Amaros, and still other stellar talents bringing down the judge’s gavel with a verdict of excellent entertainment.
BAEN BOOKS edited by HANK DAVIS
The Human Edge by Gordon R. Dickson
The Best of Gordon R. Dickson
We the Underpeople by Cordwainer Smith
When the People Fell by Cordwainer Smith
The Technic Civilization Saga
The Van Rijn Method by Poul Anderson
David Falkayn: Star Trader by Poul Anderson
Rise of the Terran Empire by Poul Anderson
Young Flandry by Poul Anderson
Captain Flandry: Defender of the Terran Empire by Poul Anderson
Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight of Terra by Poul Anderson
Flandry’s Legacy by Poul Anderson
The Best of the Bolos: Their Finest Hour created by Keith Laumer
A Cosmic Christmas
A Cosmic Christmas 2 You
In Space No One Can Hear You Scream
The Baen Big Book of Monsters
As Time Goes By
Future Wars . . . and Other Punchlines
Worst Contact
Things from Outer Space
If This Goes Wrong . . .
BAEN BOOKS edited by CHRISTOPHER RUOCCHIO
Star Destroyers with Tony Daniel
Space Pioneers with Hank Davis
Overruled! with Hank Davis
Cosmic Corsairs with Hank Davis (forthcoming)
Overruled
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Hank Davis and Christopher Ruocchio
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
www.baen.com
ISBN: 978-1-9821-2450-2
eISBN: 978-1-62579-762-9
Cover art by Tom Kidd
First printing, April 2020
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Davis, Hank, 1944– editor. | Ruocchio, Christopher, editor.
Title: Overruled / edited by Hank Davis & Christopher Ruocchio.
Description: Riverdale, NY : Baen Publishing Enterprises ; New York, NY :
Distributed by Simon & Schuster, [2020] | “A Baen Books original” —
Title page verso.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020000557 | ISBN 9781982124502 (trade paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Legal stories, American. | Science fiction, American. |
GSAFD: Legal stories. | Science fiction.
Classification: LCC PS648.L3 O94 2020 | DDC 813/.0108353—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020000557
Pages by Joy Freeman (www.pagesbyjoy.com)
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Electronic Version by Baen Books
www.baen.com
Since by the time this hits shelves
we’ll have been married just over a month…
Hank has kindly allowed me to dedicate this book
to my wife, Jenna Ruocchio.
—C.R.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Our thanks to those authors who permitted the use of their stories, and to the estates and their representatives who intervened for those authors unreachable without time travel (and raise a glass to absent friends). Among the very helpful agents deserving thanks are Spectrum Literary Agency, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency, Inc., Donald Maass Literary Agency, David Wison, John Berlyne, and Nancy Kress. And while he has done no courtroom stories we could include, many thanks to David Drake for expert advice and moral support. And thanks to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB.org) for existing and being a handy source of raw data, and to the devoted volunteers who maintain that very useful site.
Introduction by Hank Davis appears here for the first time. © 2020 by Hank Davis. Published by permission of the author.
“The Sketcher” by Tom Kidd appears here for the first time. © 2020 by Tom Kidd. Published by permission of the author.
“Jerry Was a Man” by Robert A. Heinlein originally appeared in Thrilling Wonder Stories, October 1947, under the title “Jerry Is a Man.” © 1947 by Standard Magazines, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the Spectrum Literary Agency for the author’s estate.
“Paradox & Greenblatt: Attorneys at Law” by Kevin J. Anderson originally
appeared in Analog Science Fiction—Science Fact, September 2005. © 2005 by Kevin J. Anderson. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Jigsaw Man” by Larry Niven originally appeared in Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison, Doubleday, 1968. ©1968 by Larry Niven. Reprinted by permission of the author’s agent, Spectrum Literary Agency.
“Skulking Permit” by Robert Sheckley originally appeared in Galaxy, December 1954. © 1954 by Galaxy Publishing Corporation. Reprinted by permission of Donald Maass Literary Agency for the author’s estate.
“CHECKSUM, Checkmate” by Tony Daniel originally appeared as an e-story on Baen.com. © 2016 by Tony Daniel. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Executioner” by Algis Budrys originally appeared in Astounding Science Fiction, January 1956. © 1956 by Street & Smith. Reprinted by permission of Zeno Literary Agency, agent for the author’s estate.
“License to Live” by Sarah A. Hoyt & Laura Montgomery appears here for the first time. © 2020 by Sarah A. Hoyt and Laura Montgomery. Published by permission of the authors.
“The Riot That Wasn’t in Port Neeks” by Susan R. Matthews appears here for the first time. © 2020 by Susan R. Matthews. Published by permission of the author.
“Lawyer Fight” by Larry Correia is expanded from a much shorter version that appeared in The Monster Hunter International Employee’s Handbook and Roleplaying Game and is © 2013 by Larry Correia. This revised version is © 2020 by Larry Correia. Published by permission of the author.
“The People v. Craig Morrison” by Alex Shvartsman and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro originally appeared in Analog, July–August 2018. © 2018 by Alex Shvartsman and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro. Reprinted by permission of the authors.
“How-2” by Clifford D. Simak originally appeared in Galaxy, November 1954. © 1954 by Galaxy Publishing Corporation. Reprinted by permission of David Wixon for the author’s estate.
“Moving Spirit” by Arthur C. Clarke, originally appeared in Tales from the White Hart, Ballantine Books, 1957. © 1957 by Arthur C. Clarke. Reprinted by permission of Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency, Inc., for the author’s estate.
“Victim of Changes” by Christopher Ruocchio appears here for the first time. © 2020 by Christopher Ruocchio. Published by permission of the author.
“The Cyber and Justice Holmes” by Frank Riley originally appeared in If: Worlds of Science Fiction, March 1955. The story is in the public domain.
“To See the Invisible Man” by Robert Silverberg originally appeared in Worlds of Tomorrow, April 1963. © 1963 by Digest Productions Corporation. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“License to Steal” by Louis Newman originally appeared in Galaxy, August 1959. The story is in the public domain.
“With the Knight Male” by Charles Sheffield originally appeared in The Chick Is in the Mail, Baen Books 2000, edited by Esther Friesner. © 2000 by Charles Sheffield. Reprinted by permission of the Spectrum Literary Agency for the author’s estate.
COURT IS NOW IN SESSION…
ALL OXYGEN-REDUCING BIPEDS PLEASE RISE!
Y’know, some of my best friends are lawyers…
Granted, lawyers get a bad press, and probably worse, in the mass mind, but nobody wrote a song, “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Lawyers.” On the contrary, parents, particularly mothers, want all their offspring to become either doctors or lawyers. (Parenthetically—which is why this digression is set off by parentheses, pardon me for getting technical—parents definitely, don’t let your children grow up to be editors, and not just because the pay is so low!)
Back in the Sixties, when I was struggling with physics and math courses in college, before LBJ and his toady McNamara decided I would look simply smashing in olive drab, the mother of a friend (the friend grew up to be a doctor, btw) advised me I should instead become an attorney because I had “an analytical mind.” Well, that was intended as a compliment, so I didn’t say what flashed into my twisted young brain, which was that was like telling a girl (this was the Sixties, so I thought “girl” without guilt) that because she was beautiful, she should become a member of the oldest profession.
(Hmmm…Might the practice of law be the second oldest profession? But I’m getting too far afield from science fiction…)
Though there are multitudes of far-from-complimentary jokes about lawyers, the legal eagles still don’t show up near the bottom of surveys about which professions the public views with respect. (Journalists are hanging in there near the bottom, and they can’t blame bad press, since they are the press.) And courtroom dramas have long been popular in books, movies, and TV shows. The prime example is probably Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason, star of books, movies, and television—though Mason comes off somewhat differently in the three media—watch one of the Perry Mason movies with Warren Williams in the title role for a shock, if your knowledge of the character is limited to Raymond Burr’s teleportrayal.
The popularity of courtroom dramas also extends to attorneys who are working for the Man, too. In pre-TV days, Mr. District Attorney wowed the radio audience for years. The genre remains popular. My colleague Christopher Ruocchio cites shows like Suits and The Grinder, to name just a couple of examples.
Now, science fiction has often shown itself to be capable of cross-breeding, at least in states where it’s legal, with other forms of fiction. It’s an old truism that space opera is often a translation from horse opera, with rocketships and rayguns replacing horses and six-shooters. Similar cross-fertilizations between sf and courtroom drama have frequently been successful. Add in similar joinings with courtroom comedy, and examples of future lawyering played for laughs are included in this book. And while not all sf is set in the future, much is, and it’s a safe bet that lawyers and courtrooms will be with us in the foreseeable future. (Unless the libertarians take over, but that’s not a safe bet, and may even be a contradiction in terms.)
While that subgenre isn’t as much a mainstay of sf as the adventure yarn, the space exploration story, the gadget story, the dystopia or other future society extrapolation (though lawyers might stick their briefcases into any of those categories), etc., there are plenty of such stories, going back to the beginnings of sf magazines.
A story that isn’t on board here, “One Leg Too Many,” one of the Dr. Wentworth stories by W. Alexander, appeared in the October 1929 Amazing Stories. While the primary focus was on organ regeneration, there is a courtroom scene in the tale. George O. Smith’s classic “Venus Equilateral” series in Astounding Science-Fiction in the 1940s had a corporation lawyer who originally showed up just getting in the way of the no-nonsense engineers, but shortly turned to theft of information in a later yarn, finally becoming an outright space pirate who almost ruined a Christmas party in the bargain. Surely that display of ingenuity and ambition qualified him as an ornament to his profession.
In a less villainous vein, Theodore L. Thomas and Charles L. Harness, both lawyers, though Harness was also a chemist, began a series of stories in the Fifties under the joint pseudonym of “Leonard Lockhard,” which told of a law firm specializing in patent law, a field which, it happens, is much more fantastic than mere extraterrestrial visitors, time travel, parallel worlds, and such. Later installments were written by Thomas alone, still as “Lockhard,” and one memorable case had the firm’s lawyers explaining to their client, one Arthur C. Clarke, why he couldn’t patent the idea of global communications via relay satellites even though he had come up with the idea before anyone else. (Though that story was fiction, the situation was real, and Sir Arthur told his own tale of woe in an essay titled “How I Lost a Billion Dollars in My Spare Time.”)
I regret that space (the paper sort, not the Final Frontier sort) didn’t permit me to include a Lockhard story. (I also regret that there aren’t enough of the Lockhard stories to make it practical to gather them together in one book.)
Another series detailing the fortunes and misfortunes (mostly the latter) of a future law firm w
as written by Charles Sheffield, and there is one of those humorous tales included here. They were written by Dr. Sheffield at the request of his children, who wanted stories which involved…but I shouldn’t spoil the setup for you. Go look at the story.
Theodore L. Thomas and Charles L. Harness were not the only lawyers who also wrote sf. One such, who graces this book with her presence, is Laura Montgomery, collaborating with Sarah A. Hoyt. And I should mention another very good writer-lawyer, Joe L. Hensley, and his absence from these pages makes the book poorer (not that it still isn’t a must-buy!). Hensley liked to tell the story of how, when he was serving as Prosecuting Attorney, a somewhat illiterate person wrote him a letter addressed to “Prostituting Attorney,” but obviously didn’t intend the malapropism to be social commentary.
And, of course, David Drake is one of Baen’s most popular authors, with a library full of books to his credit. A graduate of Duke Law School, he was an assistant town attorney for several years, before becoming a versatile and top-selling writer of military sf, just plain sf, and fantasy. David has noted his reason for leaving the law books to gather dust: “They don’t tell you in law school that anybody who talks to a lawyer professionally is either pissed off or miserable, And it gets old.” Sf and fantasy readers should be grateful to those p.o.’d or miserable people who inadvertently led to David’s stellar writing career.