Court sucked more than black holes.
To be fair, the Hague was very pretty, with its elegant wooden trusses and furniture and old brick work, and outside of meeting with politicians and lawyers and reporting to court, Ellipse had the freedom to explore whenever and wherever she pleased. It was still boring though. She could only look at the same architecture for so long, and the court rooms seriously needed background music.
But, she thought, sitting up straighter so her lawyer would stop glaring at her, at least today was the deadline for her contract annulment suit. At least after this, she would have to report in less often; Andra and the trainers would probably be around more for the child labor convictions.
Ellipse glanced up at the wooden beams holding up the ceiling and took a deep breath, then focused on the judge. She shifted on the bench and tried not to wince. Her butt hurt a little, because of course wooden seats were comfortable to sit in all day. The carpenter who designed those things was definitely dead though, so Ellipse had no one to complain to.
The judge—only a judge, not a justice, because the full set of elected justices was being saved for the big Andra-Media conviction—adjusted her glasses and leveled the two teams of lawyers with a sharp gaze. She moved a stray curl over her shoulder and picked up a sheet of paper.
All at once, the courtroom hushed, and the quiet pressed in on Ellipse’s shoulders. She bit her lip and prepared to school her face, just in case.
“The court’s decision is as follows,” the judge announced. “The contract which gave Andra-Media guardianship of Elliott Bei, now Ellie Tibot, is void. The clear intent of such guardianship transfers, which is to provide for the well-being of the child in question, has not been met by Andra-Media, who essentially used the contract as a means of sourcing unpaid labor. Additionally, Ellie Tibot will receive a settlement of five-hundred-thousand USD in exchange for her existing compositions with Andra-Media.”
Supposedly, this was not nearly as much money as Ellipse should have gotten, but she cared more about her freedom than the money. Of course, five-hundred-thousand would help her get settled elsewhere.
“Extenuating circumstances lead this court to also declare Ellie Tibot’s existing papers void. She will be reregistered as Elliott Bei, with the correct age, and then be emancipated from her parents on Titan.”
Ellipse could do without being Elliott Bei again, but she supposed she could not have everything she wanted. Besides, now she could legally claim Andra as family again. Looking down at her hands, which she held clasped in her lap, she smiled to herself. She had made it.
The judge sniffed loudly. “That is all.”
A short pause followed, in which the people in the court room processed the decision. And then cameras flashed, and a few people cheered and clapped, and Ellipse lifted her head. She followed her lawyer team out of the courts, and shook hands with a few of them against the backdrop of the Hague’s clean, masonry walls. More cameras flashed, following her as she stepped into a shiny black cab and directed the driver to her hotel.
She stayed at a high-end chain hotel, using up the rewards points Andra had racked up from their tours, and as she walked through the rotating door and into the lobby, which like every high-end chain was plastered in elegance rather than built elegant from the start, she glanced at herself in the glass and wondered at how she did not look or feel so different now. Her legal freedom came from a series of sentences on paper, but the light, giddiness of knowing she could make her own decisions must have shown up before she stepped foot in court.
She did not have a chance to ruminate further on that. The polite young receptionist who greeted her after court sessions most days waved a small stack of envelopes at her and offered the usual shy smile.
“Miss Bei,” she said, handing over the letters, “I saw the decision on the news. They livestreamed that part. Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Ellipse replied. She gave the receptionist a small wave as she walked towards the elevators, and then skimmed over the senders’ addresses. She had mail from YouTube, probably with the ad revenue from the single she had put out along with her statement, and a letter from Miss Park, and then a somewhat heavier envelope from Tejal and Focci. Odd, since they never sent snail mail, but Ellipse found the letter was more special that way. There was a weird lump inside, and Ellipse puzzled over what could possibly be inside the envelope as she stepped through the elevator’s stainless steel doors.
The moment she slipped into her hotel room, she tore open Focci and Tejal’s letter. Everything else could wait. She plopped onto the too-plush bed and fished out the contents: a little slip of paper and a USB drive.
Ellipse held the USB up and examined it. It looked like a normal USB. Maybe the body was a little long and skinny, but it seemed average. She read the accompanying note in the dim, natural light from the windows.
“Someone will probably be awake on the ship when you receive this. Plug it into any computer and video call us,” it read. “Signed, Focci and Tejal.”
Ellipse stared at the little USB drive, and her mouth fell open. Her eyes watered. Forgetting everything else on her mind, she stood from her bed and ran from her room to use one of the lobby computers.
She had a call to make.
Points:
Time spent:
Canary word: Present
Possible AI signals:
Original Text:
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125,027 Literary Works • 672,769 Reviews
I'm ten seconds away from crying out of happiness. ;-;
Other than the pedantic urge to tell you that The Hague is always capitalized, there's no grammar or spelling problems here! Which is great, because it keeps me focused on the wonderful conclusion. Even in the middle of a court case, Ellipse doesn't stop enjoying the scenery or throwing snark everywhere (oof, those seats). The judge's ruling is perhaps predictable, but reassuring and sweet. Because yessss she's finally free from Andra-Media and her parents. I mean, I get the desperation that had led her parents to give her away, but it's still screwed up to willingly sign your children away to a powerful corporation that, as the judge points out, can readily manipulate the terms of a contract. So yeah, her being emancipated from her parents is perhaps the best part of the ruling itself, in competition with the judge calling out Andra-Media's abuse of power. The subsequent flow of the chapter fits the content nicely - Ellipse is free to head back to her hotel room and crash, and the slower, relaxed pace emphasizes the peace of the story's resolution. I also love the level of detail concerning the hotel's architecture and the USB, not to mention the opportunity that Ellipse has to talk to the nerds. Hnnng I'm pretty sure I remember that conversation from a previous chapter, back when the nerds were running around trying to get investors. Then again, Ellipse has presumably been in court for a while, both in her own case and in Andra's, and my memory is selective as heck. *shrug*
Pfff the letter from Park, I want to try out my evil laugh. I dunno if the letter is supposed to be an apology, a "what the heck are you doing," or a "can you please defend Andra and I 'cause they caught on to our stock manipulation," but I don't have much respect for her in any case. She was a jerk to Ellipse, and now the plan she helped orchestrate is falling on her head. Do I think that Andra and Miss Park are going to go to jail? In retrospect, likely not. Andra is clearly in more serious circumstances than Ellipse - they and the trainers will have a full set of justices going over the much larger child labor case, as well as (I presume) the stock manipulation case. Still, Andra is a beloved star at the heart of one of the most powerful companies in the worlds; the idea of jail time would cause anarchy, and they've been as much as victim of Andra-Media as Ellipse has, if not more so. Miss Park might be in more trouble, depending on who was the brains behind the idea (I suspect the both of them, which could still hurt her). The resources that she has and can use can still save her, though. No matter the case, I just think Park sending a message to Ellipse, who has no reason to care, is funny.
Yep, that's about all I have to say! This is a very soothing, refreshing chapter, and I look forward to seeing how you wrap everything up in the end. I mean, since there's only one chapter left, and both the Ellipse and nerds are in The Hague, it's quite clear who meets the nerds at the end, but I still want to see how it happens. All in all, well done!
Also I'm going to go find the thing with the USB stick before I review the last chapter, so there'll be a bit of a delay there.
Almost there...
Nice moments (because at this point I'll be surprised if there's a nit-pick):
I just want to say that I love the fact you've maintained the same sarcastic tone in all kinds of situations throughout this story ^.^
Oh hey, look at that, I found a nit-pick. You don't need that comma.
"snail mail" - world-building details also still in full strength.
Overall:
Oh, crap, I've forgotten what the USB stick was all about. I think that's just because I'm reading this so slow because of the nature of YWS, so I'm just going to pretend that I do remember. I think I remember it being something dramatic though, so that seems legitimate. On that assumption then, I think the suddenness with which Ellipse's emotions change is really really effective and prepares me for the final emotional beat of whatever comes in the final chapter.
I agree with Blue that some of the courtroom stuff maybe isn't the most interesting, and I think that's because the stakes don't feel that high, but the tone and pace of the scene itself was quite good.
Hope this helps,
Biscuits
Another A+ line how do you have so many of these when you're hurtling toward the end and everyone else's quality is seriously going down
or maybe that's just meOMG SOLD PLEASE PAY FOR MY EDUCATION ELLIE
AW YEAH THAT'S RIGHT THEY DID
But that's basically what I said several chapters ago lol when I was like "BUT CONTRACT LAW HOW EVEN" so of course I knew they'd lose the court case because literally there's no way this would ever hold up. That said, I do actually like seeing this reasoning from the judge, because we get more of an explanation of what the original intent of such a contract - or guardianship transfer, so thanks for that clarification - actually was (or should have been).
Not that I need to read an entire court case, obviously, but tbh this isn't terribly dramatic for me because it was obvious they had to lose just based on what I knew about the case and given Ellie's age and everything. It's okay if this bit isn't dramatic, but in that case there definitely needs to be more of a sense of danger or potential failure or something when she releases the single or when they find her or when she's talking with the Bellevue's crew, although I guess there's not much you can do to make that last bit dramatic (because those are the people who are going to save her).