Prodigy Eternal (book 2)

Chapter Sixteen

Whenever Milo needed a break from his life, he would go to Incarus as an escape. He still had his school obligations, but decided to take a week off to experience how Mara and her community lived. It was the longest he had ever stayed there at one time. Throughout the day, there was no shortage of tasks that needed to be done, and everyone pitched in to help. It was good for him to learn the value of an honest day of work. At night, the group would split off into smaller groups to play board games, watch a movie with their families, or relax with a good book from the vast library. Milo remained close to Mara and was learning quite a bit from her.

“I don’t know,” Milo said, “perhaps we were a little harsh to judge Maxim Morrison. As Lord Acton famously stated, ‘power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.’ I’m just saying… I’m not sure if I would be any different if I was in his position. And who knows, we may actually be making things worse since we have no idea who will replace him.”

“The lesser of two evils,” Mara said.

“I’m not sure I would call him evil,” Milo defended. “After all, what did he do that was evil?”

“How about the fact that he didn’t overturn the Child Rearing Act, despite violating it himself.”

“That makes him a hypocrite, and perhaps untrustworthy, but certainly not evil. I think we’re all guilty of a little hypocrisy, are we not?”

“We are.”

“I hear where you’re coming from, believe me, but if I remain objective, I don’t necessarily see him as the villain in all this. As for the Child Rearing Act, it’s a good law. We can’t open the floodgates and allow a bunch of yahoos in. Many of the problems in the world come from too many people and not enough resources. And in addition to that, bad parents tend to raise bad kids. History has shown that neglected kids from broken homes cause 95% of the world’s crime. The dystopian society of 2030 is a perfect example of what our society would develop into if left unchecked.”

“Yes, but the law prevents a lot of brilliant people from being born as well. Look at Alex, for example. The law tried to prevent me from having her, and she ended up saving the planet. Think of all the bright people we’re negating from being born, as well as all the innocent mothers who get shipped off to prison. It’s not right.”

“But the law was in effect and you still had Alex,” Milo said.

“What’s your point?”

“The law doesn’t necessarily prevent people from being born, it just acts as a filter to screen out a lot of the riffraff. So if a person is destined to be born, they will be born. The only reason you went to prison was because you broke the law.”

“I still think those restraints are unjust.”

“I don’t mean to upset you, Mara, but I hope to show you how much your argument is based on emotion and irrationality. We must never allow this way of thinking to go unchecked — like a blaze we must stomp it out quickly before it spreads, and in this case, ruins your life.”

“You have the charisma and tenacity of a great leader, Milo.”

“I don’t deserve praise for that,” Milo said. “I just downloaded all the speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. so they’re still fresh in my memory. He said ‘All that is required for evil to flourish is that good men do nothing’.”

“So I’m evil?”

“No, of course not,” Milo assured. “I just don’t want to be apathetic to faulty ways of thinking. It’s dangerous to you and society. But I understand what you’re saying. The law is certainly not perfect, but if thought about carefully, one should arrive at the logical conclusion that it prevents a lot more harm than good, and I’m willing to bet that’s a trade-off most people would be willing to make. What society may lose is a gifted individual, but in turn they gain something far greater. The law deters millions of inadequate parents from raising intellectually inferior and morally decrepit children. Trust me, we’re better off with the law than without it.”

Mara let out a deep sigh. “I should have known better than to argue with you, I am clearly outmatched.”

“Does my reasoning seem valid though? Lots of things prevent children from being born: contraception, abstinence, abortion, sober thinking... but nobody’s outraged about these things. So a law preventing pregnancy should be treated as no different.”

“I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree. Until you have had your baby ripped away from you, you might just not understand.”