Chapter 4 Part 4

Nathan stood before a balcony that looked out over the tunneled street of the residential section of Ares Metro. Harriet walked up behind him and placed her soft hand on his forearm. "You didn't tell me that you were a MIRA agent," she said.

"I was not aware that that was a prerequisite," Nathan explained.

That remark failed to impress her. "So are you going to arrest me now?"

Nathan turned and looked closely into her eyes. "You did not ask for money," he reminded her. "That makes our activity a private contract. So long as one of us is sterile or a contraceptive is used, there are no laws broken."

"I thought unlicensed sex was illegal," Harriet stated.

"That law would be unenforceable," Nathan assured her. "No it isn't illegal, just discouraged outside of marriage. Part of a marriage license is the temporary sterilization to prevent free births. The population must never get out of control again. Couples can petition to have children if they want them. Rarely are the petitions refused. By law each adult is allowed one offspring. For married couples, that is two."

"And unlicensed births?"

"Are investigated vigorously," Nathan finished. "If it is determined that the sterilization failed, the couple is allowed to keep the child naturally."

"And if it did not fail?"

"The child is placed in the custody of the state and the parents are indicted."

"What of the other children."

"Placed with relatives if possible, fosters if necessary."

"Isn't that cruel to the children? What of their rights?"

Nathan looked away. "It is cruel, but human rights must take a back seat to the survival of the human race."

"One child could not threaten the human race," Harriet argued.

"One child could destroy the human race as easily as a super nova. If an exception is made in just one case, then the zero tolerance of infraction is nullified. In all fairness, others will want the same exception. Then eventually the whole solar system will be starved to the point of war on an interplanetary scale. What then? Just for the sake of a single child who was taken from his criminal parents because they were too greedy to be satisfied with two children, society would die."

"Don't you think that you are stretching it a little on that?"

Nathan sighed. "Look at the politics of the late twentieth and early twenty first century. Liberalism became so powerful that murderers, rapists, and arsonists were not put behind bars because their crimes were a result of their environment. They were deprived of the same privileges as everyone else, so they were pitied and released from prison. They almost destroyed civilization by turning honest citizens against each other. The rally cry of their champions was 'I am not being treated as well as my neighbor'."

"I still don't agree with you," Harriet said.

"Like a parent caring for a small child, it is not important that you agree with us, what is important is that the PLC and MIRA will make sure that you stay alive and well."

Harriet stood at his side silently for several long moments. Below in an alley some kids were playing ten pins. They rolled a large ball made of what appeared to be old rubber along the ground to knock over the pins. The old rubber was brittle and picked up dirt and bits of rubble as it rolled.

Nathan watched the scene for long moments. He wished silently that he could return to the simplicity of childhood. What Harriet had said had stung him. It always did. He truly understood what his father had meant about spankings hurting him more than they did Nathan.

Nathan himself had broken several families up and taken the children to live with relatives. The looks on the parents faces as they were dragged to prison spoke volumes. But the effect made its point. Over the last twenty years, only six infractions on that law had been recorded.

"Will we ever be able to return to free births?" Harriet asked sadly.

"Yes," Nathan assured her. "There are several planets in nearby solar systems that may be able to support life. When colonists settle there, they will be allowed to multiply as they see fit."

"When will that be?" Harriet asked.

"Hopefully no more that ten years from now." Nathan stated. "Plans for a fleet of ships large enough to carry all the necessary equipment is already in the planning. But once these people leave, they can never come back. It is just like the criminals sentenced to banishment at Charon Ward.

"That is good to know," Harriet decided.

Nathan leaned back in a stretch. "How about dinner?"

She smiled and tossed her hair. "Sounds good."