Happy Harbour, Part 1
- - - July 18 - - -
"Excuse me, sir, but what happens to Happy Harbour now?"
Red Tornado turned away from the control screens towards Mary. It had been a long day, but she did not feel comfortable just going to bed with so many questions still on her mind.
"In what regard?", the android inquired.
She swallowed. She had only seen the TV footage of the team's first adventure, but it seemed like they had left quite a wreckage behind. A hostile robot with wind-bending powers similar to those of Red Tornado had laid waste to the small harbour town below Mount Justice.
"Regarding the property damage, mainly, I suppose? Were any civilians hurt?"
Red Tornado nodded gravely. "No causalities, but two people were hospitalized. One with a fractured rib, one with a concussion. Eight further people had to be treated for various minor injuries, caused by the falling debris."
"What happens to these people? And to those who lost their homes?"
"Supervillain attacks are insured by the state. We already made sure the incident will be classified correctly. This country might still struggle with the concept of public health care, but there is a solid recompensation system in place regarding the treatment and reconstruction requirements caused by encounters with superpowered elements. Of course the Justice League also donates heavily to support this cause."
Mary pondered this for a moment. "How does the League generate funds to donate anything?"
"Merchandise rights, mainly." The android's face remained immobile. "We profit from the sale of products with our semblance or our logos on them."
Mary remembered the little girl with the Batman action figure at the Justice Hall and the emblem on Superboy's t-shirts. Sure, why not?
"There was something else I wanted to ask you, sir." One more point that would not let her sleep.
"Please state your request."
How should she phrase it?
"Well, from what the team told us, it seemed like… There seemed to be a certain resemblance..." She broke off. "What I mean to ask is this, sir: Are there other sentient androids?"
"Yes", he replied. "However, the body the team encountered today was not an android itself, but a battle suit which was controlled by a far less advanced androgenic robot which, in turn, was directed remotely."
"And yet his appearance, and his powers, seemed to resemble yours. Sir, would it be possible to construct a body, or suit, that was practically indistinguishable from your own?"
"Possible, yes, but not easy. There are only very few scientists capable of mastering the technological requirements. You can be ensured that both I and Batman will follow up on these leads."
She was rather convinced that Batman had already started his inquiries.
"Well, sir, I do not mean this as an insolence, but… would you mind to take a precaution? Agree on a passphrase or something, anything that would let us validate your identity, if someone ever did succeed in creating a robot or android look-alike?"
His features were as expressionless as ever. "How would you know if you are talking to the real Red Tornado now?"
"Am I?"
"Yes. But how would you confirm it?"
Mary shrugged. "The day we met, before you started cleaning out the cave. What did I say we had in common?"
"An off-switch", he replied instantly. "Of course, I could have already been replaced by an imposter back then. You might have never met the real Red Tornado."
"You did, however, spend time in close vicinity with Batman on that day. He would have noticed."
"Would he?"
"He is Batman."
The android accepted that line of reasoning.
"As an alternative hypothesis", he continued, "an imposter could have overpowered me afterwards and copied my memories of our conversation."
"Is that possible?"
"Not for a man in a battle-suit. Only an android with the same type of neural network as I would be capable to access and decrypt the vast amount of data that is stored in my positronic brain."
"In that case, it seems be more likely that any of the human members of this team is an imposter", Mary mused.
"What brings you to that conclusion?"
"Well, I have learned that both cloning and mind-reading are possible, and that there are these beings called G-gnomes that can transplant knowledge into a person's brain… But as you said, it seems possible, but certainly not easy. I will continue living on the assumption that all of you are indeed who you appear to be."
The android regarded her silently for a moment.
"Solanum tuberosum, 907", he finally said.
She blinked. "What does that mean?"
"When I was newly activated, many decades ago, I requested to know if there was a manual containing information on the world surrounding me. I was handed a book, a printed lexicon. It fell open on page 907, and the first words I read were Solanum tuberosum, the botanical name of the common potato." His metallic voice sounded softer than usually. "You were asking for a recognition code to identify me. This is my answer."
Mary blinked.
"Thank you. Thank you for sharing that memory with me." She placed a hand on his red metal arm. "Mine would be 'goat milk 1929'. I can't recall my first memories as clearly as you do, of course, but I do remember one instance long before the war, when we visited my cousin in the countryside…"
It was long past midnight by the time she finally returned to her quarter.
Superboy was staring at a piece of wood.
He had broken it off one of the bushes outside the cave after Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad had left.
It would not burn.
He was sitting at one of the living room couches, focussed all his energy on the twig he was holding, willing it with all his might to burst into flames.
And nothing happened.
He was supposed to have heat vision. He was supposed to be able to shoot rays of energy from his eyes at a target, heating it up. It was supposed to be his most effective ranged attack.
Superman could shoot heat rays.
Superman would have cut right through that Twister's armour, literally within the blink of an eye.
That robot had nearly beaten them.
A stupid robot had nearly beaten them.
If he could fly, he would have smashed that Twister out of the sky.
Superman could fly.
Superboy stared at the twig in his hands.
"Hey there", Mary said.
She had been talking with Red Tornado about their past for the last hour or so. He had heard her come down the stairs, but chosen to ignore her. At least his super-hearing seemed to function properly.
"Don't you want to go to bed as well?", she asked.
He growled.
She waited. He knew that she preferred more articulate responses.
"I want to burn this", he explained.
"We do have matches in the storage cabinet", she suggested.
He scoffed, continuing to stare at the twig.
She waited.
There was no use to it. He had already expected it at Cadmus.
"No heat rays", he conceded, speaking through clenched teeth.
Why was he missing so many of Superman's powers?
An inferior copy.
Mary sat down next to him on the couch.
"To be quite honest, Superboy, I think that is the creepiest power of the Justice League."
Superboy frowned. Creepy?
"Well, mind-reading might also take some getting used to…"
Yeah. He nodded.
"But heat rays? That is intense. Usually, looking at someone means noticing, being aware of the other, it's the first stage of communication. Regarding someone, holding someone in regard, means respecting them. But with heat rays?" She shook her head. "He could literally melt your brain just by looking at you. I don't see many non-lethal applications for a power like that."
"So what?"
She hesitated.
"You are aware that killing people is generally considered as ethically wrong?"
Superboy remembered how Robin and Wally had lashed out at Megan when they thought she had killed the man inside the Twister-suit.
He nodded.
Mary did not seem convinced.
"Superboy, please tell me that you won't use lethal force on any of the team's missions."
Batman had made the same request on his first day at the cave.
He had not objected, back then. As a Kryptonian, he was indestructible. He could afford to restrain his power.
Or so he had thought.
"What if someone tries to kill my team mates?", he asked.
"Protect them", she replied firmly. "Without killing the attackers."
"What if killing them would be the most effective protection?"
"You should still not kill them, if there is any way to avoid it."
"Why?"
She shifted uncomfortably. "I might not be the best one to have this discussion with you. You should definitely talk with Black Canary and Batman and Red Tornado and the rest of your team about this question. But from my personal perspective..."
She paused, taking a deep breath.
"Every life is valuable", she continued, speaking more firmly now. "The men or women who might be attacking you are living beings. They have their own dreams and fears, skills and flaws, just like you. Whether they are good citizens or criminals, they do deserve compassion. Most people have a lot of good inside them, even if it's not always at the surface. They might be helping out their friends, supporting their families, or fighting for something they consider a rightful cause, for the benefit of others. They might only be misguided. They deserve a chance to do better."
Superboy shook his head. "What if they are really bad people, though?"
She looked straight into his eyes.
"And how could you possibly know that for sure? I suppose that is my second argument: That everyone can make mistakes, but killing another person is something you can never make right again. You cannot bring them back."
For a terrible moment, Superboy imagined bashing in the metal chest of Mister Twister, just to find out that he was attacking the shape-shifted Megan instead…
No, he would never hurt her.
Wouldn't he?
"Some people do terrible things of their own free will", Mary added. "I know that all too well. Yet if there is any way to save all lives, to bring the true criminals to justice… We have laws for a reason. There must be fair trials, lawyers, judges and juries before someone is convicted, not a split-second decision about whether they are 'really bad' or not in the middle of combat. No single person should hold the power over the life and death of others, because no one is infallible in their judgement. Not even the members of the Justice League."
Superboy narrowed his eyes. "Not even Superman?"
"Superman has never killed another person, to my knowledge. Despite the fact that even his eyes are weapons."
Superboy considered her reply.
Weapons. He didn't like being called a weapon. That's what Cadmus wanted him to be.
Maybe Superman was even more of a weapon than Superboy?
There really weren't many non-lethal applications for heat rays.
And they had beaten the robot, in the end.
He looked down once more at the little twig he was still holding.
Then he ground the little piece of wood to dust between his fingers.
Wasn't Megan afraid of fire anyway?
- - - July 19th - - -
"Megan, may I ask you a question?"
Mary approached the Martian in the headquarter's common area. It was just after lunch time and they were currently alone in the cave.
"Sure, go ahead", the green girl replied cheerfully.
"I was just wondering about one aspect of your mission yesterday. I was told that you smashed the remote-controlled robot inside the 'Mister Twister' battle-suit..."
Megan interrupted her, sounding defensive. "I already told the team, I knew it was not a human. I could not read its mind."
"But how did you know it was not a sentient android?"
The Martian's face went blank. "A what?"
"A self-aware mechanical person, like Red Tornado. You cannot read his mind either, can you? Yet if someone destroyed his positronic brain, wouldn't that be murder?"
Megan just stared at her.
"Excuse me, Black Canary?"
"Yes, Mary?"
"About the team's training schedule for the next weeks… I think it would be really good to add some lessons on ethics and moral philosophy as well. Just in case."
Author's note:
This chapter contains a very obscure reference to the best fanfiction and plainly one of the best books I've ever read: Elizer Yudkowsky's unparalleled "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality". Let me know if you spot it! (And check out the book if you don't know it yet!)
By the way, I don't think it's canon that Red Tornado has a "positronic" brain. The term was originally coined by Asimov, but was later reused to describe Star Trek's brilliant android Data. Since both he and Red Tornado are striving for humanity, I just thought the reference might fit...