Douglas McEwan has always been a fence-sitting man, though as a Court Defence Officer he’s developed a sense of responsibility to his clients.

“But Douglas had taken it to an extreme, always refusing prosecution cases. The price he paid for his quirk came in the form of people like Adrian Reynolds. Twenty years old, with a father who had abused him from the age of eight – sexually, physically and mentally. Abused him right up until the day he finally snapped, taking a kitchen knife upstairs while the family slept.”

Adrian’s guilt is obvious and so the Reynolds trial is clear-cut, but what is to happen to Reynolds in this future version of Europe in which the death penalty has been reintroduced? Protestors from the TRUE JUSTICE group cry for Reynolds’ death; others from the LIFE! group light candles and sing hymns. Yet McEwan’s client has been offered an alternative solution: “Softlight: the total erasure of memory and behaviour patterns. Personality death.” McEwan, discomforted by the grey morality of this new biotechnology, oversees the administration of Softlight to Reynolds which should, at least, be a quick and painless procedure. But something remarkable happens that no one expects.

First published in Novacon Souvenir Booklet 1997. Collected in Burning Brightly: 50 Years of Novacon, NewCon Press, 2021