Overseer: I have a puzzle for you, but we need to meet.
Oracle: fine
Oracle: 22:30 my place
Overseer: Good, see you there.
(Oracle logged off)
Bruce knew that Barbara Gordon didn't much like meeting face to face anymore. However, her mind was as sharp as ever and Bruce couldn't think of anyone more suited to investigating the computers contained inside each emitter. At the appointed time, he navigated through hidden tunnels until he reached Barbara's base of operations, hooked up to the power lines underneath a large factory.
"This better be good." Barbara turned her wheelchair around to face Bruce, and folded her arms.
"I need you to hack into a nanobot."
Barbara stared at him, and Bruce smiled inwardly at having rendered her temporarily speechless. It was not something that happened very often. Then he held out a small metal box.
"It's in here, held immobile by lead pincers, but it's still functional and emitting signals. Now it's over to you."
Barbara took the box and looked inside. It appeared empty, apart from some small gripper arms, but she didn't doubt anything Bruce had said.
"Where did it come from?"
"I'd rather not tell you yet. I don't want to prejudice your investigation."
"So what can you tell me?"
"It can fly. It uses lots of energy. It has some kind of relocation ability. We think it's solar powered and includes a variety of sensors."
"Hmm... it'll take a while."
"I know. Keep me informed." Bruce turned to leave. As he reached the door, Barbara called out.
"Hey Bruce."
He turned back to look at her, and she smiled awkwardly. "Thanks."
Bruce paused. Was she thanking him for respecting her personal space, or for giving her something interesting to work on? It didn't really matter. He smiled back, before ducking out of the room into the tunnels beyond.
Three weeks later, while Bruce was in his cave watching a police interview video of one of Maroni's thugs, a series of quick-fire messages appeared.
Oracle: been looking at nanobot
Oracle: part of a distributed network
Oracle: peer 2 peer
Oracle: must be others around too
Oracle: cant determine traffic content tho
Oracle: encryption too strong
Oracle: prob used for spying or smth similar
Oracle: still looking
Overseer: Thanks. Great insights.
This tied in with Ray's observation that the emitters had external sensors. Maybe they were everywhere monitoring the whole planet. If he could tap into the network, he'd be able to see and hear what was happening anywhere in the world, like one of Clark's super-powers.
Wait... one of Clark's super-powers? Could these nanobots be the source of his x-ray vision and super-hearing? It made sense, sort of. It would explain why Clark couldn't see the nanobots – they likely edited themselves out of the picture, much like how the blind spot in a human eye is filtered out by the visual cortex. But for this to be the case, Clark would have to be linked into the nanobot network, and he had never mentioned anything like that. If it was the explanation then the nanobots must be operating on the level of his subconscious.
A few hours later another flurry of messages appeared.
Oracle: found one use of sensors
Oracle: used for commands on boot up
Oracle: e.g. presence of items 8 and 54 tells bot to reset some config
Oracle: not sure what items 8 and 54 are tho
Oracle: still looking
Overseer: Interesting.
Bruce leaned back in his chair. Changes to the nanobot's configuration? Perhaps this would turn out to be the key to disabling Clark's powers, if necessary. Of course, if that was the case, and in order to work it out all you needed to do was to study one of the emitters, then it was only a matter of time before...
Bruce's stomach went cold. He grabbed his communicator, and impatiently dialed Superman. There was no answer. For a moment his finger hovered over the emergency alert, but this didn't really count as an emergency. On the other hand... Bruce stood up and glanced around the cave. If his theory was right, then the nanobots would be scanning nearby. It was worth a try. He took a deep breath.
"CLARK – DON'T USE YOUR POWERS AROUND LUTHOR!"
THWUP
"Good evening Bruce, I hope you don't mind me dropping in like this."
Bruce had been expecting Clark to appear for the last 30 minutes, ever since he had shouted his name aloud.
"Clark. You got my message."
"Am I right in thinking you have made some discoveries about me?"
"Maybe. It's all hypothetical at this point. Although the fact that you heard me – that does lend weight to one of the theories."
"We agreed to pause the investigation."
"Yes. And we haven't been investigating you. We've been studying the emitters."
"The emitters that have something to do with me."
Bruce thought for a moment. Arguing about the distinction between studying the nanobots and studying Clark himself was not only a pointless exercise but also likely to irritate Clark.
"I'm sorry, Clark. I realize you may feel that I've gone around you, but I think this issue is too important to ignore."
"You've never really had a proper friend, have you."
"What?"
"I don't think you know how to be friends with someone. Friends don't do that kind of thing to each other. You should have talked to me about it."
Bruce wasn't sure how to respond. On one level, Clark may have been right, but on balance the investigation was too important to be held back by personal feelings.
Clark continued, "I know you have this whole reclusive loner thing going on, and I'm sure it's one of the reasons why you're good at what you do, but if you're going to be part of a team then you have to behave more like a team player. At the first meeting you gave a nice speech about how we should always be open with each other, but then you break that rule when it suits you. That's not leading by example."
"If Luthor-"
"Yes, Bruce, I know. You think we have to stay one step ahead of Luthor all the time. That's not the point here."
Bruce frowned. It certainly was the point. It was the single entire point. But Clark didn't seem to appreciate the importance. Maybe the others would be able to convince him. Bruce tried a different tack.
"Since you mentioned the team, perhaps we should get their input."
"That's not the point either, I'm..." Clark stopped, took a deep breath, then sighed. "Fine. Call the meeting. But I'm serious, Bruce, you need to work on this."
THWUP
Clark and Victor appeared seemingly instantaneously in the cave, then Clark disappeared again.
Bruce was busy on his computer, but Barry, who had arrived only moments earlier, and was sitting at the meeting table, looked up from his phone, and then put it away in his pocket. "Hey man."
"Hey," said Victor.
"I've been thinking," said Barry, as Victor sat down opposite him. "We should have some kind of cool catchphrase. Like instead of saying 'Bye' we should say 'For Justice!' every time we leave."
"Man, that's the opposite of cool."
"Yeah, well, like, that's just your opinion... " Barry grinned, "... man."
THWUP
Clark and Diana appeared, and took their seats. Bruce turned his chair around from his computer to face the group.
"Thank you all for coming. I'll get right to the point. I believe we've discovered the source of some of Clark's powers."
Bruce turned back to his computer and pressed a key, and the largest of its screens showed a detailed photo of an emitter which Ray had taken after figuring out how to immobilize them.
"This is a nanobot, which was taken from the vicinity of Clark. Or to be precise, the vicinity of where Clark had recently visited. Our working theory is that these nanobots fly around places that Clark has been, or perhaps places that he is interested in, and gather audio and visual data, and then transmit it back to Clark who can see it or listen to it, which is how he is able to see through objects, zoom in on them, hear things happening far away, and so on."
"Hah!" exclaimed Victor. He turned to Clark. "So you're a cyborg too!"
Clark looked at him blankly.
"Ooh," said Barry, "you're an alien cyborg, which is like, twice as cool!"
"Also," Bruce raised his voice slightly, "The nanobots have a speed-related ability, and seem to be connected to Barry as well. They may be the source of his speed, and perhaps Clark's too, although there are some differences between them." He glanced at Barry, who had started to look uncomfortable. "Which I won't go into now."
"This is ridiculous." Diana folded her arms. "How can little metal insects do all that?"
"They may be small, but they're very sophisticated – way beyond Earth's current technology level. There's a whole computer inside each one, plus sensors, a mechanism for flight, and the speed-"
"What does it matter?" Diana didn't seem to be impressed by the list of features.
"It matters because we think the nanobots can be reprogrammed."
"Meaning?"
"If Luthor were to get hold of one, he might be able to disable Clark's abilities. Or transfer them to himself."
"Yikes," said Barry.
Victor let out a low whistle. "That ain't good."
"I don't believe it," said Diana. "Clark is more than a match for Lex Luthor, no matter whose side the little metal insects are on."
One by one everyone turned to look at Clark.
"If this is true," he said, slowly, "then I agree it's worrying."
Internally, Bruce sighed with relief. It looked like Clark was finally on board with the process. "It's imperative," said Bruce, "that Clark stops using his powers, so that Luthor doesn't get a chance to capture one of the nanobots and study it."
"You can't ask him to do that!" Diana leaned forward in her seat. "He won't cripple himself just because you have a theory."
"It's the most sensible course of action, at least until we understand the nanobots better."
"But you don't even know for sure what these nanny-bots do." Diana turned to Clark. "Don't tell me you'll agree to this."
Clark looked at Bruce. "I can't stop being me."
Bruce grimaced. "I suppose the main thing is not to use your powers anywhere that Luthor might go. But since that could be anywhere, it's safer not to use them at all."
Clark shook his head. "I'm sorry Bruce, I know you feel strongly about this, but I just can't agree to that. And even if Luthor disables my extra senses, I'll still be able to help people."
Bruce sighed again "So, worst case, Luthor gets x-ray vision, super-hearing, and super-speed."
"Hey man," said Barry. "Supe's gotta Supe."
"Ideally," Bruce turned to Barry, "you shouldn't go near Luthor either."
"Oh, right..." Barry's smile faded. "But what about Diana? She's super-strong too."
"I don't believe the nanobots are connected to Diana."
There was a moment of silence. Then Clark inhaled sharply, and his eyes narrowed. "You scanned her, didn't you. With Palmer's thingamajig."
"Yes."
"Dammit Bruce, this is what I was talking about. Why do you have to be sneaky about everything?"
Diana stood up. "What did you do?"
Bruce raised his hand. "It's a harmless device, it just measures energy emissions at various frequencies."
Clark frowned. "As I said before, that's not the point. You should ask before doing something like that. Diana would have agreed."
"I certainly would not!"
"All right." Clark stood up. "I think this meeting is over. I'll take you back now, Diana."
Diana put her hands on her hips. "Not until he explains himself."
"Diana, please. Let's not fight in Bruce's home."
Diana pursed her lips and took a few short breaths, then looked at Clark and nodded.
THWUP
The noise echoed around the cave.
"Well, that wasn't awkward or anything," said Barry, stretching his arms up in the air and leaning back in his chair.
"Victor," said Bruce, "I'd like your help analyzing the nanobot technology."
Victor snorted. "Hah, no way man. I'm not getting between you and Clark. You gotta patch things up with him first."
"Very well." Bruce turned back to his computer and began to work.
Barry brought his arms back down. "Hey Vic, you know, me and Bats discovered that the way to hurt Clark is to pull his hair very slowly. Let's hope Luthor never finds out about that – he'd construct some kind of gigantic hair-pulling machine that pulled all his hairs at once."
"Huh, I guess Luthor would be immune to it himself, right?"
Barry looked blankly at Victor.
"... 'cuz he's bald."
"Oh!" Barry burst out laughing. "Nice one!"
THWUP
Clark reappeared in the cave. Bruce looked up from his computer.
"Clark, I'd like Victor to help us analyze th-"
"No." Clark shook his head. "I don't want to hear it. You've got to get your priorities straight." He turned to Victor. "Are you ready to go?"
"Sure." Victor stood up.
Clark walked over to Victor and put an arm around his shoulders. "I'm disappointed in you, Bruce. You're smarter than this." He turned to Barry. "See you next time."
THWUP
"Soo..." Barry looked at Bruce, and gestured with his thumbs towards the cave exit. "I'm gonna... make a move..."
"You understand the importance of this, don't you." said Bruce.
"Yeah, man, but look, we can't study Clark if he's not okay with it."
Bruce said nothing.
Barry continued, "Maybe, if you apologized, or..."
Bruce frowned.
"It's just an idea," said Barry, quickly.
Bruce sighed. "Thanks Barry."
"Cool, bye then!" Barry paused, then under his breath he added "Or rather... For Justice!" He looked back at Bruce, who was ignoring him as usual. "Hmm... tough crowd."
Oracle: latest bot findings -
Oracle: system has several layers
Oracle: lowest ones run physical parts
Oracle: similar to a normal OS
Oracle: top layer looks most complex
Oracle: some kind of massive data processing going on
Overseer: Good work.
Overseer: Do you think you'll be able to work out what the data processing is doing?
Oracle: not sure
Oracle: v. complex
Oracle: best guess – neural network for AI
Oracle: and parts of it look like 3d rendering code
Oracle: weird thing is
Oracle: those layers look unrelated to operation of bot itself
Overseer: You mean the AI layer isn't for controlling the nanobot?
Oracle: there is an AI layer for that
Oracle: lower down in the read only levels
Oracle: but the top layer is for something else
Oracle: now r u going to tell me where it came from?
Overseer: I will soon.
Overseer: Keep investigating please. This is all extremely useful.
Oracle: k
(Oracle logged off)
3D rendering code… that could be used for making shapes. A hypothesis was forming in Bruce's mind. He pulled up the video he'd taken of the last team meeting using Ray Palmer's scanner. There was a slight risk that if Clark appeared unannounced in the cave at this moment, he would become even angrier to discover that Bruce had recorded them all without their consent. But the risk seemed worth it given the stakes.
As expected, the video showed small specks of light that indicated nanobots. There were two swarms clearly visible, one in the shape of Clark, and one of Barry, although Clark's nanobots were far more numerous, and followed his movements to a greater extent. Bruce studied them carefully, looking for any patterns.
As the recording reached the point where Clark worked out that Bruce had scanned Diana, a group of nanobots seemed to congregate around his eyes.
The video continued, showing Clark standing up, and turning. He was trying to get Diana to calm down. Then he reached his arm out around her shoulders, and a glow appeared at the points of contact. There was a brief streak across the screen as they sped away. Bruce paused and went back a few frames. There was one clear image where the bots appeared all over Diana too, and a glow surrounded both figures, before they vanished off screen.
Force fields. The most logical conclusion was that the nanobots could generate force fields. It would be how they could move objects around at super-speed. Objects including Clark himself, and Barry too, as well as anything they were touching. This also explained how Clark could fly, how his skin could seem more resistive the greater force applied on it, and how he could lift enormous structures without them breaking apart – if the nanobots projected a field across the surface of those structures then the lifting force would be applied evenly.
Bruce sat back in his chair. Superman suddenly made a lot more sense if he was in fact a normal man accompanied by a swarm of super-nanobots which could project force fields and had built-in lasers.
Except...
There were still questions. A normal man would need to eat. A normal man would have a body made of biological cells. And a normal man wouldn't have been found as a baby in a crashed spaceship. There were also the unexplained differences between Clark and Barry, who was definitely a normal man accompanied by nanobots.
A further question occurred to Bruce. If the nanobots were capable of projecting a force field in the exact shape of a man, to make Clark invulnerable, then why bother with the actual man at all? Bruce remembered what Barry had said – that Clark's hairs weren't made of hair, they were just colored tubes.
Could Clark's whole body be a projection?
And then the neural net...
No, that was absurd.
Though it was possible that the neural net housed Clark's mind.
Was Clark a holographic simulation?
It still sounded absurd. Clark was so human. There must be another explanation for everything. Bruce tried to come up with alternatives, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that the simulation hypothesis was the only one that fit all the available facts. Clark could fly because he had no weight to begin with, he didn't need to eat because there was no body requiring nourishment, and he was impervious to harm because there was nothing really there to damage.
Clark was a holographic simulation.
Finally, Bruce arrived at the biggest question of all – how on earth was he going to explain all of this to Clark?
