Binding Arbitration

The Story

Earth makes first contact. The aliens (the Voss) don't want war — they want a trade deal. Their concept of 'contract' is biologically enforced: break an agreement, and the signatory dies. Earth's governments send their best negotiators. The Voss reject them. They've studied humanity and decided the only people they trust to negotiate honestly are defense attorneys — because defense attorneys are the only humans whose job is to zealously protect someone else's interests, even when it's unpopular. A burned-out public defender from Jacksonville, Marcus Cole, gets drafted into the most consequential negotiation in human history. The catch: the aliens' trade terms will benefit humanity enormously — clean energy, disease cures, interstellar navigation — but the biological enforcement clause means someone has to personally guarantee the deal with their life.