Unicorn Trials

When Foundation scientists were put on trial for experiments conducted on Unicorns.

Introduction

Many people use the term 'werewolf' as insult, in much the same way you might be made fun for your glasses or your frizzy hair. In Jason’s case it is actually a term of respect. He'd never say this, but he actually holds a very deep reverence for Lily and her species. I will work her annoyance into future stories; but that's one of Jason’s character flaws that I don't intend to fix (it's important for characters to have flaws).

According to the Foundation, Lily is not human. She is officially classified as a Binary Changeling. Hunter is also technically in the same class, though the Foundation is not aware of it. By population, 'humans' make up over 99% of sapient life-forms in the Known Worlds. However, considering the scope of the Known Worlds, this leaves room for tens of billions of species of non-humans.

Even within the official classification, there is only loose agreement of what is 'human'. The difference between a human and a frog is less than 2% genetic material--heck, the difference between a human and a tobacco plant is very small. The difference between a human and, say, a Kamian (with whom humans are biologically compatible) is about 1 tenth of 1% genetic. Kamians, however, are not considered human.

In Lily's case, as in Hunter's, the difference is larger. Lily's D.N.A. contains six helixes (compared to two in a human) and is over twice as long. By volume, her human D.N.A. takes up less than 20%. She has one complete series of human D.N.A.; one series of wolf D.N.A.; and a series that allows change from human to wolf. The last part comprises 60% of the strand. Genetically speaking, she has as much in common with a human as she has with an oyster.

The true question then becomes one of sapience. As you recall, Jason issued an extensive battery of non-invasive procedures to examine Lily. These tests were devised and enforced after an incident shortly after the Mage Wars.

The Trials Proper

For several decades, Unicorns were hunted and captured by the Foundation, and subjected to intense, invasive scientific study. We're talking Mengele and Auschwitz type stuff here; not for cruelty, but because they were not considered sapient. It was not until one captive Unicorn finally spoke in Common that the Foundation realized the truth. The scientists involved in the studies were then arrested for crimes against the Battle Charter (which lists a very clear set of rights granted all intelligent life). The primary question of the Unicorn Trials was 'whether or not the scientists could have known the Unicorns were intelligent without torturing them to death'.

Many of the Foundation's finest scientists were eventually sentenced to death for crimes against intelligent life. Before the trials officially ended, a joint Alliance/G.S. Task Force determined criteria for evaluating the sentience of a being through non-invasive methods. The tests Jason administered were accordingly harmless.

Definition

Sentience, or intelligence, is the determining factor in the rights of a living thing. Humans make up 99% of the population of the Known Worlds; but the Known Worlds do not include those controlled by Aten or Dwarves, and because neither the Foundation nor the Alliance has their population records, humans could be a very small minority. Genetically, Aten and Dwarves are nothing like humans, and data on biological compatibility is lacking. But they are considered intelligent, and therefore protected by the Charter. It may hurt Lily's feelings that Jason does not consider her 'human'; but Jason is not given to prejudice, and the thing that drew him to her, was her Loup Garoux ancestry.

Comments

So you see, it is all very complicated.