Mobile Panopticon

[revealed: April 18, 2008]

Originally designed by Treason Transport for moving Class A3 offenders and enemy combatants, the Mobile (Mono-wheel) Panopticon was one of the first of the ‘non wobble tubes’. Balance was maintained by the use of a large counter-rotating ‘spin-cycle’ engine, and a set of modified bracelet generators around the rim – these had the beneficial side-effect of providing power for the onboard electrocutions.

Although it was not the manufacturers original intention to create a mobile execution machine, it soon became the Panopticon’s major selling point – great crowds would always gather along the vehicles scheduled routes, hoping to get a glimpse of the occasional frying passenger. (This is believed to be the origin of the crowd chant, “He’s not singe-ing anymore.”)

Its principal use was quickly discontinued due to the backlash against invasion of personal privacy (see entry for Panoptical Dust).

Fortunately for Treason, however, the design continued to be a success in a completely new field: that of tourism. The vehicle’s ability to handle rough terrain, coupled with the uninterrupted field-of-view ensured its adoption by a number of countries offering safari-type travel adventures across plain, savannah or tundra.