[Betterman] The Little Mermaid

Creatures in the universe can always exceed human imagination, carbon-based, silicon-based, electromagnetic waves, stars... From microns to light years, from nanoseconds to hundreds of millions of years, life—intelligent life is active on all scales of the universe , and what humans can recognize is only a narrow part of it.

In 1991, American science fiction writer Terry Beeson wrote a science fiction work "They Are Made of Meat", which described the huge gap between different life systems from the perspective of a silicon-based organism.Those creatures that look like electromagnetic waves are observing humans in space, just like humans have discovered bionics that can pass the Turing test, with curiosity and panic.

Gotham heard this story at a reading held in Gotham City; but as a form of existence that is unimaginable to humans, just like the characters in the story, Gotham is strangely unable to understand the cognition described in the book. gap.He was born on this land together with human beings. Before the hilltop cities in North America were established, He silently perceived these symbiotic little lives and watched them survive the war and flourish; Become his derived body, the flowing wind is the terminal of his perception, and the people in the city are the people under his sight.

Gotham knows all about them.

And humans don't even know they exist.

Yes, "they".Gotham is not the first land where consciousness was born, the settlement where humans settled for the first time has long since disappeared in the long history; it is not the last, the living space of human beings is constantly expanding, and new settlements, large or small, are growing rapidly , Cities that died in war or other disasters also revived.In contrast, Gotham, which was born in the seventeenth century and experienced two world wars without major damage, has accumulated enough qualifications.Under the will of the entire earth, Gaia, the "mother" of all settlement consciousnesses, Gotham is one of the most powerful consciousnesses. An imperial pearl that cannot be ignored in the fields of finance, media, politics, education and entertainment.

Although for Gotham, the status of human society only gives him the opportunity to "see" more, within his radiating range, the conscious body uses his unique senses to watch the little lives he feeds from above, see They lived much the same life, but the wheel of history kept rolling forward.Predicting human behavior has become an excellent pastime for Gotham to pass the time for a long time.

Other times, Gotham has fun with its siblings.Not all conscious bodies can extend the tentacles of consciousness thousands of miles away, but those who can do so are - we can call them "urban tea parties" - frequent guests on the Internet.Gotham, Metropolis, Central City, Seaside City... and those two Atlantis and Paradise Island who like to participate in any conversation with the help of magic and the power of the ocean, which are enough to spread their tentacles to the whole world.

They will meet on the west coast of the United States, not far from Seaside City and Central City. For human beings, invisible limbs pass through each other, and they can pass their emotions and ideas together.They will always share stories of how happy or sad they feel, and project the images they "see" into the consciousness of their brothers and sisters, just like a human family gathered in a room to watch a movie together, slowly , chatting unhurriedly.When their emotions are shaken, their invisible and intangible limbs will stretch out, and the wind of the city will change direction accordingly, clearing away the turbidity accumulated in the closed corners.They would fall asleep like humans, an activity so relaxing, like snuggling up in a furry blanket by a fireplace in winter, that they would slip through the decades of human chronology without knowing it.

Metropolis is undoubtedly the liveliest one. He has too much joy to share with his brothers and sisters. The images he casts are always so bright that even Mother Gaia, who is used to a little bit, will reveal happiness. mood.Central City is too gentle. Before each meeting, he would accumulate all the happy moments and share them with his brothers and sisters while explaining shyly.And the careless seaside city usually forgets to record these things, although he is always happy.Every time Paradise Island participates, it will chatter and describe its long history and epic battles to other consciousnesses. It will not leave until the end of this tea party to find the next chat banquet.Atlantis seldom speaks. He will not miss the party, but he is not interested in human beings. Instead, he will come with the most magnificent and fantastic scenery in the secret of the ocean, so that his brothers and sisters will unconsciously watch it. In a few days time.

Gotham also rarely shares knowledge about humans with his companions, but he is by no means uninterested in humans.He observes the people within the range of perception curiously and earnestly, watching their struggle and pain, emptiness and nothingness.He watched the indifference, deceit, indulgence, and killing of these intelligent individuals whose lives were as short as the morning dew, and then recorded these fragments and hid them in the depths of Gotham's own memory.

He guesses these things make humans "sad", and he can clearly see the distorted features on their faces, people call this expression "pain" or "fear", but Gotham doesn't understand these two emotions, even if it is When favorite pets die, they have never been sad enough to be in pain - so he doesn't know what pain is.

"Every city will have its Guardians," Mother Gaia would say, "Humans cannot escape suffering on their own, so when they face insurmountable obstacles, there will be a Guardian. Guardians can help People are free from pain and fear."

protector.Gotham then recalled Thomas Wayne's recent idea of ​​building a residential planning district on Gotham's East Side.Thomas Wayne has been communicating with other wealthy people in Gotham City, they hope to tear down a townhouse on the East Side and rebuild it into a high enough apartment building.Thomas Wayne also invested in advance in an intercity train that passes through the East Side and connects the entire Gotham, so that Gotham feels what humans call "lightness".

He began to gaze regularly at Thomas Wayne and his newborn son, a baby with eyes as blue as the night sky in Gotham.He has seen too many babies, curled up with their mothers in war, dying slowly in famine without the strength to cry, frozen for lack of blankets in winter, Because of the disease, those who have to be covered with needles all day long, unattended and used to being hugged by different people... They are all suffering, parents and children, the parties involved and outsiders.

But Bruce Wayne is different. He grew up in love. Every morning, his mother would kiss his forehead to wake him up, play and study with him all day long, and read stories to lull him to sleep at night.

When Martha Wayne gently leaves the room at night to discuss with her husband about the construction of Gotham's East End, Gotham will drive the water mist (of course, the baby can't blow the wind, Gotham remembers the doctor said so) Get close to the sleeping child and He will kiss his forehead like his mother.One time, cold touch—or some coincidence—Bruce woke up after Gotham kissed him, and he smiled in Gotham's direction.

He is the carefree little prince in the rose garden.

He is the crown of the world, Gotham thought, and this child is the jewel in his crown.How desperately He hopes that the suffering in the world will leave him, and in this world that tortures people like hell, he can leave a piece of Eden for his prince.

Until eight years later, crime was revealed to the children of Gotham in the most violent way.

He watched the grown-up son of Gotham kneeling in a pool of blood, tears streaming silently from those dark blue eyes that resembled the night sky of Gotham.Deep in his eye was bleeding, a scab called Pain, which had taken all the color out of his eye.

The whole city wept silently with him.

The wind of Gotham accompanies his prince all night. He brings fragrant flowers from the suburbs to prevent the blood from accumulating around Bruce; he keeps the wonderful music in the water vapor and sends it to his ears far away; The water vapor kissed his tears, and kissed and stroked his trembling fingertips, "Don't be afraid, I'm here." The wind in Gotham vibrated gently, saying it over and over at a frequency beyond the range of human hearing.

It's just that His children can't hear it, and can't feel it.

The police came to the scene, wrapped Bruce in a coat, and carried him to the police station.They tried to comfort the shivering child, but Gotham also knew it wasn't all good in the eyes of the prince who watched him in the dark.Just like he knows that now, the media who were blocked by James Gordon from the police station are erupting with enthusiasm that is not inferior to the carnival; Hunting smile.Traders call after phone call, and millions of dollars flow into their Swiss accounts in conversations that are unintelligible to Gotham.

He watched and recorded all this, as if recording a bland murder, a glib fraud.Gotham has never liked watching dramas made up by humans, because when he wants to watch any drama, he can find a reality that is playing.

Gotham watched in silence as Alfred rushed to the police station and quietly left with Bruce through the back door.He leaned closer and dropped a kiss habitually; Bruce Wayne's expression was still tense, Gotham knew from his bloodshot eyes that fear and pain reshaped him in an instant.Gotham stepped back a little quietly, watching the unremarkable car leave.

He felt a little sad.

The author has something to say:

I love Gotham because Gotham is so close to the world.