19th September
18:42 GMT +5:30
"So..? What other problems are there?
"
"Insanity is a common after-effect. In the case of
my father, his mania faded a few minutes after he emerged. Or was so firmly embedded that we all believed it to be his true character. Others… The maniacal rage never leaves them. Or they tear themselves apart in an insane
fit. Or their bodies simply decay, or grow to monstrous proportions as their flesh turns to cancer. And sometimes the Pit simply does nothing, and their body simply remains unchanged."
"How did Ra's come up with the Pit? Batman thinks he was born during in the
Timurid Empire, but while there are plenty of records of people
using magic in that era, there wasn't really any sort of
alchemical tradition.
"
She raises her eyebrows. "Wasn't there?"
"Oh.
" I blink.
"I didn't think you were
that old.
"
"No. I am not yet three hundred. I am merely surprised at how you can claim to have such faultless knowledge of the time."
"Alright. No records
survive of there being a significant alchemical tradition. Nothing beyond simple herbalism. So I don't understand how Ra's could come up with something so…
Amazing.
"
"He once told me that it came to him in a dream." She shrugs. "I don't know whether he was telling the truth or not." A quiet snort. "Or if he even really remembered the truth. Making a Lazarus Pit is not difficult. Dig a hole in the ground at a site that is a focus of geomantic power. A simple druid could find such a site for you. The chemicals that it requires were available to a minor Sultan in the fourteenth century, so I doubt that you will have any trouble gathering them
now."
"I can't get over the fact that no one else has discovered the technique.
"
"What makes you think they haven't? The world is
vast, Orange Lantern. Even today. If a chemist or medicine man happened upon the technique, it might extend their life once or twice. But then the geomantic energy would be depleted, and their next attempt to use it would fail."
I nod slowly.
"And anyone who read their notes would assume that it was bunk, because it killed them in the end.
"
"For centuries, Father had to live as a nomad, wandering the world constantly in search of places where he could be restored. You know his name because he
did survive, but there were any number of occasions where he could have met his true death with no one around to restore him."
"Is.. that what you do?
"
"No." She blinks, and shakes her head. "When I left my father's service, I used what I had learned of alchemy and chemistry to
modify the Pit I made at the node he so
generously permitted me to have. The version I created uses a slightly different mixture of chemicals. It takes little power from the node, and as a result it can be used repeatedly."
"So… Why is death still a thing?
"
"It is not powerful enough to restore the dead to life. It can be
made so, but then it would be drained and I
would have to copy Father's nomadic habits."
"Do you know how many sites there are in the world where they
can be built?
"
"More than twenty nine. I do not know them all, but based on those locations I
do know I would estimate a little over a hundred. Which is why death is 'still a thing'. The sites
do restore themselves after they are used, but far too slowly to grant more than a small number of people immortality."
"And I.. don't imagine that people generally finding out about this would be particularly conducive to civil order.
" Who gets the immortality serum? Not something
I'd want to have to decide, unless the answer was 'everyone'. Heck, making the answer 'everyone' is why I support places like this. But if I ever
really needed to resurrect someone…
"Have you.. noticed any trends about who gets up sane and who doesn't?
"
"Virtually all of the resurrections I performed were of my father. The only patterns I noticed were in
his responses. But, so that I could properly discharge my responsibilities he showed me his own records. There was a.. period where he used node sites to test the process himself, but beyond noticing that restoring the long dead never produced satisfactory results-."
I raise my right hand.
"Um?
"
"They would be confused, listless, and then decay and die within a few days at most. And using a node in that way would drain it just as assuredly as using it to restore the recently dead. In fact, he told me that he had
never been able to reuse a site that had been used in that way."
I nod.
"Doesn't work with long term dead-. How long term is 'long term'?
"
"Father gave up on experimenting when his attempt to resurrect a Pharaoh failed. I do not remember resurrecting anyone who had been dead longer than a week, but as I said: I seldom resurrected anyone other than Father."
"A week..?
" Oh, that's not good.
"I also do not remember it
failing to resurrect anyone not dead longer than a century. I have marked the date of Ra's al Ghul's last possible resurrection on my calendar."
"Done any.. animal testing?
"
"There is slightly more to my life than Lazarus Pits."
"Yes, but you.. depend on it. I'd… I'd assumed that you'd have studied it a
little.
"
"My desire to do
that evaporated the first time I watch a Pit
fail. No, I have not experimented with animals, or bacteria, or viruses, or with cutting a person in half and putting each half in a different Pit-" I wasn't going to suggest that. Though it is an interesting-. "-or with any number of studies that such an investigation would require. Before his death, Father would have strenuously objected, and since…" She shrugs. "I have been busy."
"Magnificus is a lucky man.
"
She
smiles fondly. "I am a lucky woman. He has an incredible-"
"A-hem.
"
She gives me a mild scowl. "-
mind. And he seems much happier in himself since your meeting on Venus."
"Yes, the Sheeda set.. some sort of misery-inducing synthetic life form on him. He shot it dead after I mentioned that they existed. Look, I'd.. really appreciate it if you'd be willing to help me with this. Research the Pits properly. I'm going to ask Talia as well, you could.. spend some more time together…
"
"That is a fairly weak appeal. I speak with Talia at least twice a week."
I nod.
"Okay. What do you want?
"
"You know that I was tortured in a Nazi-run concentration camp." I nod again. "One of the things I was subjected to was a radical hysterectomy. I.. wish to reverse it, but my own Lazarus Pit has not corrected it. Once we have a greater understanding of how they work I wish-."
"No problem.
" An orange beam connects my hands to her torso for a moment as the rings reassemble her reproductive system.
"Just a moment.
"
Her eyes widen, staring at me. "You can-?" She looks down at her abdomen, her hands moving to the area external to the place the orange light is working at restoring her fertility. "And you are asking
me why death still exists? Why do
cripples still exist?"
"Because I have to want the result for
me. I couldn't have healed you before Jade's wellbeing was on the line, but I
really want to help her.
" The light cuts out.
"There. I included thirty years' worth of egg cells so that you can once again experience the joys of ovulation. Might take a few months for your hormonal system to settle down. Anything else you want?
"
She prods gently at herself, perhaps getting used to the slightly altered arrangement of her internal organs. "No. That is quite sufficient."
