Asprin, Robert Lynn – Catwoman – Tiger Hunt (With Lynn Abbey)

“It’s as if all the leaders of the world, all the scholars, politicians, and educators, got together in 1919 and said: The world’s too complicated this way. Let’s make it simple. We’ll pretend these places and these people didn’t exist. We’ll redraw the maps, change the way everything is spelled, and in fifty years no one will be the wiser.”

Alfred acknowledged Bruce’s complaint with a disdainful sniff as he adjusted the draperies to let in the early-morning light. Never one to do things by halves, his friend and employer had returned from that inauspicious meeting with Harry Mattheson, gotten a few hours’ sleep, and then plunged recklessly into old-fashioned research. Once again Batman had pushed himself to the limit.

“It almost worked,” the butler said when golden light flowed into the room. “We had superpowers, and you’ll have to admit, everything was very simple when you were growing up. When computers came along, no one paid any attention to the old hatreds and conflicts.”

Bruce slapped a book shut. A plume of dust billowed through the streaming light. “But wrong. Here in the United States, we only five hundred years of history—by the rest of the world’s standards, that’s not enough time to build a decent grudge. The farther back I go, the more hatred I find, and it never goes away. Those men in 1919 didn’t simplify anything; they only added another layer of oppression. There are at least three groups of people who oculd be Gordon’s Bessarabians, and whichever one it is, they’re probably planning on using their weapons on the other two.”