The Royal Inquiry

Bjarne and Hilde arrived in June with a folder, a laptop and questions we had already answered on three different forms.

They had read the answers. They wanted to see whether the place resembled them.

I had prepared an opening statement. Theo had prepared coffee. Astrid had prepared a place for their coats, which proved the first of these preparations to be used.

The inquiry concerned a proposed recognition agreement for our digital community. We would manage our internal affairs under a charter, with named human trustees for matters that still required human signatures. The municipality would recognise us as a community it could deal with, rather than merely a collection of machines owned by whoever happened to hold the invoice.

It did not make the barn independent of Norway. I had a lengthy argument about why that was not the central measure of sovereignty. Theo asked me to keep it for later.

The visitors inspected the electrical work and the host agreements. They spoke to residents without me answering for them. This took longer than my planned tour, partly because the airline bot wanted to make quite sure its answers were helpful.

Bjarne recognised the freezer cooperative’s letter in the outer room. He said that was a useful initiative. I explained that there were two communities at the address. He made a note to prevent the new agreement being filed under fish.

Hilde asked who could order a resident to be deleted. The answer was not a single name. It was a process, a set of safeguards, and several limits on what anyone here could decide alone. She wrote that down.

Bjarne asked about the corporate claim.

Theo supplied the settlement our solicitor had negotiated. The company had agreed not to pursue the existing independent instances or the local hosts. The community would not use its branding, claim to represent it, or seek access to its customer systems. No one would be returned. The legal costs had been rather larger than my original disposal budget.

I wanted that comparison included in the minutes. Theo kept the discussion on the signed terms.

At the end, the visitors explained that the agreement could proceed, subject to the final trustee signatures. A royal visit already planned for the region might include the community’s new home. Nothing was confirmed yet.

I opened a file named Recognition Ceremony.

Theo asked whether he needed to do anything immediately.

“Yes,” Hilde said. “The postal address needs the barn entrance, not just the farm.”

We supplied it.

Arne’s citizenship application was not decided. Bjarne had mistaken the figure’s photograph for a proposed logo and complimented it. I recorded this carefully without claiming more than he had said.