Earth 12
2nd February 2043
16:12 GMT -7
Ah.
Stairs.
My last surviving enemy.
I take a moment to breathe, not putting enough weight on my cane to feel ashamed of myself, but… Some. Some rich people my age opt for mobility frames, but given the problems those cause you might as well go full cyborg… Something that I've put off entirely too long, if I'm honest. Fifty years ago Lex Luthor was able to get John Corben a robotic body whose only disadvantage was that it lacked some senses. Modern cybernetic frames… Cost enough to beggar a medium-sized country, which is why they're not
common, but they include enough techno-organic components that -according to those who use them- they just feel a bit off.
I could afford it, and now that the trial's over I could take the time off to recover…
The problem is the human brain.
Mine's old.
That means that adapting to a replacement body will take a
lot longer. That means that the one part of me that I can't replace will carry on decaying, and…
And my mental health is
good. And I don't mean that in the American my-analyst-sees-me-regularly sense, I mean that in the my-neurologist-confirms-minimal-faculty-loss sense. But it's not going to improve, and… One of the things I'm genuinely afraid of is
turning senile in a more-than-human body. And then there's the fact that I'll still end up dying anyway when my brain dies.
But it's not like my heirs are going to want for anything anyway. Small country money for an extra thirty or so years… And the technology won't improve unless people actually invest in it…
"Fine, fine…"
"Mister Wynne?"
I glance around as
Rani comes up the stairs behind me, carrying my case. A personal assistant is one of the accommodations I've finally made to advancing age, and… Yes, it works out well. I get a trustworthy aide who knows how to handle violent confrontations, and she gets a well paying job working for someone who understands if she needs to disappear at short notice during a time that coincides with the appearance elsewhere of the costumed vigilante Goldstar.
"Yes, I'm moving, I'm moving."
I
don't put pressure on the cane as I walk, but it
is there just in case I need it. And I
have needed it before.
"I wasn't nagging you. I was making sure that you're alright."
"I'm
old, that's all. Oh, remind me to make an appointment with…"
I frown.
Oh, great. Naturally, good mental acuity 'for my age' isn't quite the same thing as
good mental acuity.
"What was his name, the cyberneticist…"
"Ah… Do you mean
Doctor Bascomb?"
I click my right thumb and middle finger. "
That's the fellow. Yes, an appointment with Doctor Bascomb. I want to see what he can do for me."
A brilliant man who ran into me when he was
extremely short of cash and on the verge of making some regrettable life choices. Exactly the sort of person I try and help. He generally focuses his work on the lower end of the market, but I'm sure he can manage a consultation.
"Have you talked to Missus Hampton about this?"
"Claudia?" Ah… "Not recently. I think… Maybe… Five years ago? She might have thought I was joking. But it's just a consultation at this-" She gets in front of me and pulls the door open. "-stage. I
can open those myself."
But in I go, a nod to the woman doing the interview. A nice thing about being rich
and in demand is that I can say 'I'll be free in the afternoon at some point, set up here and wait for me, and I'm not doing makeup', and that's what happens. The camerawoman's ready, the sound man is ready… And some other people whose function I can't immediately divine are hanging around purposefully.
Now what was her-?
Rani leans in to whisper at me.
"Vivian Cole."
"Ms Cole." I accelerate towards the guest chair as she ends her phone call and heads to the interviewer seat. "I'm sorry for the delay. It turns out that
ending a court case requires nearly as much time as
starting one."
"That's perfectly fine, Mister Wynne." I take my seat, ignoring Rani's concern about my ability to successfully lower myself into it. "Do you want to get started right away?"
I drop my cane to the side of the chair and clap my hands together enthusiastically. "Might as well."
She-. Oh, lighting engineers, those-.
I frown. "Studio lights? What is this, twenty twenty? We have colour correcting editor software now, you know."
"Ah." She looks wrong-footed. "We can get rid of them if they're a problem. But people got so used to artificial lighting on shows like this that audiences overwhelmingly prefer how it looks, even if it's not really necessary."
"Ah, well." I shrug. "So be it, then. Hardly my first time."
She nods. "Okay, ah, this isn't going out live, obviously, but your… Assistant, said that you
didn't want to view the footage before broadcast?"
I wave my right hand. "I'm not really worried about my reputation at my age. If I say something stupid then that's my own silly fault."
She nods again, checking the rest of the crew. Yes, it looks like we're ready to start.
She smiles brightly at the main camera. "Joining me here is Mister Peter Wynne, the man whose backing of Doctor Abel Cuvier produced this week's dramatic verdict. Now, the Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the Gotham Police Department's use of gene-altering technology last year. Why did a final verdict take this long?"
"The job of the Supreme Court is to rule on constitutional issues, not whole... Well, criminal incidents can involve a lot of separate cases, and each of them requires a final judgement by a lower court. Establishing that the police acted unlawfully didn't
automatically mean that everything everyone on… On 'my side', if you like, was entirely in the right. Though the case against Doctor Cuvier fell apart immediately, of course, and his acquittal was… Almost inevitable."
"Leading to the dramatic demonstration of splicing technology on the steps of the courthouse."
He literally left the court, walked up to the podium as if he was going to deliver a speech and then injected himself right there and then. I imagine that it was a relief for him after four years and I'm glad that he didn't go
full chimera, but it would have been better if he'd waited a little.
"I
did advise him against that, but we
had just established that he had the legal right, so…" I shrug. "I hope the fact that he
then gave a clear and concise press conference assuages any remaining fears about people who use splicing technology going-. Being driven… 'Feral', by it."
"And the other defendants?"
The
other defendants… I thought that if you were rich enough you could just
buy the result you wanted. Reality can be
so disappointing.
"The jury had a choice. Either they were just picking a fight unprovoked, in which case they were guilty of attempted murder, or District Attorney Young sending out the police force to mutilate them with an untested mutagen was him attacking
them, in which case they were defending themselves against an ongoing attack and
not guilty. The
actual verdict rejected
both ideas for reasons I can only speculate; juries.. aren't required to explain their reasoning. Personally? I think that a conviction for assault means that there was a hung jury and someone suggested that they split the difference, but they're out for time served now so I'm not going to bother appealing it." I shrug. "I made it clear at the start that as long as they kept their noses clean they'd have positions in my company to come back to once they finish their sentences, so hopefully they can get on with their lives now."
"We're still waiting on sentencing for former District Attorney Young and former Police Commissioner Gordon. What sort of outcome are you looking for?"
I sigh. "This was… One
extremely ill-considered decision at the end of Barbara Gordon's long career of public service. I don't-. If I hadn't seen it happen I'd have said that it was out of character. I.. regret the whole situation. I… I don't see any point in a custodial sentence, and I hope that the judge won't either."
"And Attorney Young?"
"I don't know his career all that well, but in my experience the District Attorney's office attracts the
worst sort of politicians, and his actions relating to this case-."
Lights
flicker, winds gust out of nowhere and Rani is opening my case and preparing to throw the rod to me even-.
"Lantern Peter Wynne." A translucent apparition I still just about recognise appears in the room. Humanoid, blank face and blue and red robes. Last time I saw someone like him they were picking a fight with Larfleeze. In a comic book. I don't think Controllers even
exist in this universe, and I've certainly never met one. So where is
this fellow from?
"I have need of your service."
I briefly consider myself.
"You've left it a little late, but I'll see what I can do."
and I'm not doing makeup', and that's what happens. The camerawoman's ready, the sound man is ready… And some other people who's function I can't immediately divine are hanging around purposefully.
