Birthright

“You mean youkill them all?” demanded Rojers.

“Don't look so damned horrified,” said Herban. “Let's not forget that you have killed just about every single life you've created.'’

“But those were just babies,” protested Rojers. “And more than half of them were still in the fetal state.” “It comes to the same thing,” said Herban. “However, if it'll put your mind at ease, we don't bring them down here for the express purpose of killing them. We have a galaxy-wide structure set up to spot every human with what you might call a wild talent. And considering how many trillions of humans there are, we don't miss very many. Anyway, once they're found—and adolescence is usually the earliest that such traits can be determined by outside observers—they're either brought here or to one of seven similar labs scattered throughout the galaxy.

“Once here, they're tested thoroughly. Before we're done, we know the absolute limits of their abilities; quite often, we find talents eventhey didn't know they possessed. We also run a comprehensive analysis of their genetic structure, DNA code, sperm, ovum, everything that could possibly influence their offspring, though I must admit we've found nothing unusual as yet. That done, we are free to reach one of three decisions. If there is any chance that the talent will breed on—and since we can't determine it genetically, we simply assume it is possible if anyone in the past five generations has displayed any odd talent—they are sterilized. Without their knowing it, of course. And if it seems pretty certain that the talent will not breed on, we'll usually let them return to society, especially if it isn't too spectacular a talent, such as mild telepathy. If it's something really interesting, something that might lead people to demand that we find a way to unleash it, such as levitation, we usually ship the subject off to a frontier world.” “That's two decisions,” said Rojers. “You mentioned three.” “The third should be obvious.”

“Death?”

“Quickly and painlessly, if the talent warrants it,” said Herban. “And, in answer to your next question, it warrants it if it can ever, in any way, prove inimical to Man. For example, if a man's intelligence is so great that no device in our technologically oriented culture can measure it, he's too dangerous to live. Admittedly, that intelligence could conceivably make meaningful communicative contact with some of the races we just can't seem to get through to, or possibly cure every disease known to us ... but it could also mount a navy and a political following that would overthrow the existing order of things. And it's not just intelligence. A man who possesses the power of telekinesis to the ultimate degree can manipulate elements within the core of a star and cause it to go nova. This could be a boon if we get into another war with the Setts; but what if he decides that the government of his own system is totally corrupt? And the same goes for other talents. A legitimate case of prescience—and we haven't come across one yet—could destroy the economic structure of any world that deals heavily in financial speculation. Teleportation? More than half our economy is bound up in interplanetary and interstellar transportation. The ability to master involuntary hypnosis? It would lead to absolute control of a system, possibly of the entire galaxy.

“No, boy, these talents can't be allowed to survive. We don't destroy every highly intelligent man, or every man capable of telekinesis, or every telepath. Only those that can be considered a clear danger. And notice that I didn't say a clear andpresent danger; clear and future dangers are no damned better. And if we can discover the outer limits of a dangerous man's abilities before he does, it's a lot harder for