"The future is yours, now." Those simple words, localized for the viewer, were shown on every screen on the planet. It wasn't unthinkable - the Enforcers numbered gods among them, or so they claimed - but it was a stark reminder of where common people stood. A thing had happened; all they could do was survive the aftermath.
Some are celebrating. Some are weeping. For many, whatever they personally thought of the Enforcers' approach, the supports that held up the world have been kicked out. For them, the question isn't "are we in danger" or "did we luck out", but simply "what happens now?"
Leo remembers reflecting on this at age 18, the year the world changed. The Enforcers themselves had never busted down his door or thrown him in prison because of his family connection. But they had never put the Gnome away for good either - nor those like him.
He wore a suit and tie, for the second time in his life, to the court hearing at which he was given custody of Judson Snow's estate. Much of it had been sold off to pay for damages caused by the Gnome, but the old man wasn't that bad off. He was at most an accessory when other villains used his inventions, and he had shown plenty of legal income (and paid taxes on it) when foreign parties purchased his equipment. Leo slowly becomes aware that the Feds knew - but couldn't prove - that this was simply an excuse to launder some money, so they got their revenge by handing the lot of it to his estranged son.
He remembers the increasing sense of distance with Pneuma. And he remembers the night of the argument. It started - again - about the Snow estate and its disposition, and became something more. And, of course, Leo remembers how it began.
"With this money, I can finally build you a proper body, Pneuma."
He remembers her face - back then, an incredibly articulated but still clearly artificial metal - contorting in frustration and anger. "Leo, no! Stop. Listen to yourself. Upgrading me is irresponsible right now. You have your future to think about. Invest the money until you can find a job."
He finally got angry. At eighteen, he was invincible and he knew it. "I can find a job anywhere. I can find work in computers, in programming. It pays well. It'll be fine. Stop worrying so much. Things will be perfect, I promise."
Pneuma let out a sigh. "Things won't be perfect. Things aren't perfect. Leo, they aren't. Listen to me."
Leo stopped. The shock of hearing the girl of his dreams - quite literally - tell him this unbalanced him enough to secure silence for what was to come.
"You run up your parents' electricity bill paying for us. You're working two after-school jobs. You don't have any plans to go to college. But you're still trying to fit us into your fantasy family. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Otto are still with you, yes, but.. Epsilon and Zeta ran off. They left you, Leo. And I know why. We're just copies of you. This is narcissism and escapism. You dreamed us up to be your toys."
Leo could only stare, open-mouthed, as she went on. What is she saying? There's no way she can be right? But what if she is? Thoughts warred against each other. Confusion, then horror, took hold of his heart.
"I'm leaving too, Leo. It's not because I hate you. It's because I love you too much to see you destroy yourself over us. You need to grow up, and fast. Stop playing with toys. Think about yourself for a change."
Pneuma drew close and gave him a soft hug, then turned away. She slipped on the black longcoat, hat, and scarf she used to travel in human crowds. Her hand was on the doorknob when he finally spoke.
He forgets just what he said at that moment. But he remembers Pneuma smiling sadly, and leaving anyway.
The paperwork for the Snow estate was immense. Krasnov, the lawyer overseeing the distribution of the estate, would see Leo three times a week. When he was on the road, Otto would handle steering and navigation, leaving the young man to his own brooding thoughts. Early on, these came in all varieties of self-pity. But over and over, the question appeared clearly in his mind. "What happens now?" He thought about the question, grappled with it, avoided it, tried reframing it, all to no avail.
And one day, six weeks, Leo remembers Otto stopping overly long at a traffic light. The passenger side door opened and a figure in a black coat slid into the seat beside him. But it wasn't Pneuma.
"Epsilon?" Leo asked in shock. "What are you doing here?"
The robot smiled, chrome skin peeking out from under the scarf he wore. "It's Bob now, Mr. Snow. I'd like to come back and work with you again. But I'm going to be my own person, if you don't mind." And he and Leo shook hands, and the young man cried tears of joy.
Pneuma was waiting for him when he got home, and she and Bob exchanged nods. "We met a few days ago," the gynoid explained. "Bob and I had a long talk. I think.... I think we realized the same thing, in different ways."
Leo knew enough to stay quiet. Whatever they had to say was more important than his feelings.
Pneuma, sensing the opening, smiled and spoke. "Leo, don't take this the wrong way, but you're an idiot. A helpless, lovable idiot. But this was something you weren't thinking about. It really nagged at me. It nagged at Bob. I didn't want to be created in your image, forced to be a toy, but... those thoughts came from me."
Her smile grew wider. "Don't you see, Leo? It was me. It was all me. And if we're thinking so differently that we'd argue about something like that, then... I am a real person. I am real, Leo!"
She grabbed hold of the surprised young man and gave him a bone-crushing hug that drove the air from his lungs. He was still dizzy when she let go, and her smile faded a little as she kept talking.
"I.. I can't be your girlfriend, Leo. I'm still worried. Please understand. What I feel, about you or anyone else, I have to know it came from me. I have to be sure. I have to be my own woman. I have to live my own life. But... I will stay with you, and I'll keep being your friend. You so desperately need one, Leo. You need people to look after you."
Leo smiled. And later he found out what he'd said to her the day she left. "Neither of us are copies of our makers," he'd said. And as Pneuma and Bob pulled close for a group hug, he knew it was true.
Later, the old debate resumed itself - the first of many times Pneuma would nag at Leo about his situation. "So? What are you going to do about the estate?"
Leo pulled a manila folder from his filing cabinet and handed it over. As the girl started to leaf through it, he explained. "My father sold a lot of weapons to a lot of people. He made things that hurt people. He kept records, though. So I'm going to work to make that better."
Pneuma looked up in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
He grinned back. "I'm moving to New Troy. A port city, lots of international trade. Judson Snow did a lot of business there, and bought a lot of parts too. A lot of his buyers will have a presence there. And he built one of his laboratories in the city. The government wanted me to take a look at his technology, see if they could get any ideas on how to counter some of his inventions. I'm going to do some inventing of my own."
Pneuma shook her head. "Wait, just exactly what are you going to invent, Leo?"
"The future." The young Snow rubbed his hands together. "The Enforcers are gone. Nature abhors a vacuum. People are going to start using the things my dad made. Him and others like him. I'll build things of my own. The question everyone's asking is 'what happens now?' The answer is 'whatever we make happen'. We have to do something, Pneuma. I want you to help me."
"You're an idiot, Leonard Snow," was her sharp response. "You're an idiot through and through. You're going to charge right into this thing like you always do, and you're going to need friends."
And as she watched his face fall, her sudden smile lit a fire in his heart. "So of course we'll be there with you."
"With this money, I can finally build you a proper body, Pneuma."
He remembers her face - back then, an incredibly articulated but still clearly artificial metal - contorting in frustration and anger. "Leo, no! Stop. Listen to yourself. Upgrading me is irresponsible right now. You have your future to think about. Invest the money until you can find a job."
He finally got angry. At eighteen, he was invincible and he knew it. "I can find a job anywhere. I can find work in computers, in programming. It pays well. It'll be fine. Stop worrying so much. Things will be perfect, I promise."
Pneuma let out a sigh. "Things won't be perfect. Things aren't perfect. Leo, they aren't. Listen to me."
Leo stopped. The shock of hearing the girl of his dreams - quite literally - tell him this unbalanced him enough to secure silence for what was to come.
"You run up your parents' electricity bill paying for us. You're working two after-school jobs. You don't have any plans to go to college. But you're still trying to fit us into your fantasy family. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Otto are still with you, yes, but.. Epsilon and Zeta ran off. They left you, Leo. And I know why. We're just copies of you. This is narcissism and escapism. You dreamed us up to be your toys."
Leo could only stare, open-mouthed, as she went on. What is she saying? There's no way she can be right? But what if she is? Thoughts warred against each other. Confusion, then horror, took hold of his heart.
"I'm leaving too, Leo. It's not because I hate you. It's because I love you too much to see you destroy yourself over us. You need to grow up, and fast. Stop playing with toys. Think about yourself for a change."
Pneuma drew close and gave him a soft hug, then turned away. She slipped on the black longcoat, hat, and scarf she used to travel in human crowds. Her hand was on the doorknob when he finally spoke.
He forgets just what he said at that moment. But he remembers Pneuma smiling sadly, and leaving anyway.
The paperwork for the Snow estate was immense. Krasnov, the lawyer overseeing the distribution of the estate, would see Leo three times a week. When he was on the road, Otto would handle steering and navigation, leaving the young man to his own brooding thoughts. Early on, these came in all varieties of self-pity. But over and over, the question appeared clearly in his mind. "What happens now?" He thought about the question, grappled with it, avoided it, tried reframing it, all to no avail.
And one day, six weeks, Leo remembers Otto stopping overly long at a traffic light. The passenger side door opened and a figure in a black coat slid into the seat beside him. But it wasn't Pneuma.
"Epsilon?" Leo asked in shock. "What are you doing here?"
The robot smiled, chrome skin peeking out from under the scarf he wore. "It's Bob now, Mr. Snow. I'd like to come back and work with you again. But I'm going to be my own person, if you don't mind." And he and Leo shook hands, and the young man cried tears of joy.
Pneuma was waiting for him when he got home, and she and Bob exchanged nods. "We met a few days ago," the gynoid explained. "Bob and I had a long talk. I think.... I think we realized the same thing, in different ways."
Leo knew enough to stay quiet. Whatever they had to say was more important than his feelings.
Pneuma, sensing the opening, smiled and spoke. "Leo, don't take this the wrong way, but you're an idiot. A helpless, lovable idiot. But this was something you weren't thinking about. It really nagged at me. It nagged at Bob. I didn't want to be created in your image, forced to be a toy, but... those thoughts came from me."
Her smile grew wider. "Don't you see, Leo? It was me. It was all me. And if we're thinking so differently that we'd argue about something like that, then... I am a real person. I am real, Leo!"
She grabbed hold of the surprised young man and gave him a bone-crushing hug that drove the air from his lungs. He was still dizzy when she let go, and her smile faded a little as she kept talking.
"I.. I can't be your girlfriend, Leo. I'm still worried. Please understand. What I feel, about you or anyone else, I have to know it came from me. I have to be sure. I have to be my own woman. I have to live my own life. But... I will stay with you, and I'll keep being your friend. You so desperately need one, Leo. You need people to look after you."
Leo smiled. And later he found out what he'd said to her the day she left. "Neither of us are copies of our makers," he'd said. And as Pneuma and Bob pulled close for a group hug, he knew it was true.
Later, the old debate resumed itself - the first of many times Pneuma would nag at Leo about his situation. "So? What are you going to do about the estate?"
Leo pulled a manila folder from his filing cabinet and handed it over. As the girl started to leaf through it, he explained. "My father sold a lot of weapons to a lot of people. He made things that hurt people. He kept records, though. So I'm going to work to make that better."
Pneuma looked up in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
He grinned back. "I'm moving to New Troy. A port city, lots of international trade. Judson Snow did a lot of business there, and bought a lot of parts too. A lot of his buyers will have a presence there. And he built one of his laboratories in the city. The government wanted me to take a look at his technology, see if they could get any ideas on how to counter some of his inventions. I'm going to do some inventing of my own."
Pneuma shook her head. "Wait, just exactly what are you going to invent, Leo?"
"The future." The young Snow rubbed his hands together. "The Enforcers are gone. Nature abhors a vacuum. People are going to start using the things my dad made. Him and others like him. I'll build things of my own. The question everyone's asking is 'what happens now?' The answer is 'whatever we make happen'. We have to do something, Pneuma. I want you to help me."
"You're an idiot, Leonard Snow," was her sharp response. "You're an idiot through and through. You're going to charge right into this thing like you always do, and you're going to need friends."
And as she watched his face fall, her sudden smile lit a fire in his heart. "So of course we'll be there with you."
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