Perfect People

124

They sat on comfortable sofas in an air-conditioned room with a view out across the campus, chromium shutters partially closed against the sunlight; John and Naomi on one side of the coffee table, Luke and Phoebe on the other, each child sipping a bottle of mineral water through a straw.

John glanced at the clock on the wall and suddenly asked if there was a men’s room and Naomi said she needed a loo, too. Luke and Phoebe led them out into the corridor and directed each of them.

John went through into an immaculately clean toilet. He urinated, then went to the washbasin, and ran the taps to muffle sound. He went over to the window, cracked it open, looked at the sun in the sky and glanced at his watch, which was still on UK time. John had intentionally excused himself at noon and yet his watch said it was 2 a.m. That meant they had travelled ten time zones ahead. He squinted as he stared at the sun and tried to judge its elevation in the sky. The sun was nearly at the zenith. It was not quite a month after the winter solstice, the date when the sun would be at the zenith over the Tropic of Capricorn, twenty-three degrees below the equator. The fact that sun was perfectly poised above him at the highest point in the sky showed they were probably just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Based on the time of his watch and the position of the sun at noon, this placed them just a bit north of the Tropic of Capricorn in the South Pacific. This was not a definitive experiment; they could still be over one thousand miles from the nearest population centre, but it was a start.

Back in the room with their children, Naomi leaned forward and poured milk into her cup on the coffee table. This could not be happening, she thought. John and I can’t be sitting here, having a formal meeting with our children, as if we’re discussing some property deal, or a used car, or a bank loan or something.

Luke, cradling his mineral water between his tiny hands, said, ‘I am really not clear why you are so anxious for us to return to England with you.’

‘Because we’re your parents!’ Naomi said. ‘Children grow up at home with their parents. That’s how life works!’

‘It doesn’t work like that here,’ Phoebe retorted. ‘Only very few kids here have Parent People. Mostly they are original New People.’

‘What’s the difference?’ John asked.

‘Really, Parents, isn’t it obvious?’ Luke said. ‘They’re the kids who aren’t saddled with baggage.’

‘They didn’t have to develop the way we did inside a woman’s womb,’ Phoebe clarified.

Naomi shot a glance at John and saw the shock on his face. After a moment she asked, only partially tongue in cheek, ‘You found that a hardship, did you, darling?’

But there was no hint of humour in Phoebe’s response. ‘It’s a totally archaic and pointless method of reproduction, which subjects children to unacceptable risks. Parent birthing is no way to protect the long-term future of a species.’

John and Naomi were momentarily stunned into silence.

Then Luke’s expression softened a little. ‘Phoebe and I don’t want you to think we aren’t grateful for all you both did. We feel very privileged.’

Sensing a thaw, Naomi said, ‘And we’re very proud of you both, enormously proud.’ Turning to John, she said, ‘Aren’t we, darling?’

‘Hugely!’ John said. ‘Look, I think you both understand that you are way smarter than other kids back home, but you’ve kept it concealed from us. Now that we know, we can help you realize your potential. There are some terrific specialist schools you can go to – we have a list-’

Phoebe, eyes raised, interrupted him. ‘This is what everyone here who’s descended from Parent People has to deal with.’

‘Your expectations of us may be high, Parents,’ Luke said. ‘But I’m not here to serve your expectations, nor is my sister.’

John and Naomi stared back, trying to absorb what they were saying.

Then Luke continued. ‘I’ve been assessing the world, and frankly, it doesn’t work very well. There need to be a lot of changes, totally new mindsets applied to the problems, and a new paradigm for the future worked out, otherwise there isn’t going to be any future.’

‘Any future?’ John echoed. ‘What do you mean by that?’

‘You couldn’t even protect us from the Disciples – we had to ask for help externally.’

‘Can you explain that, darlings?’ Naomi said, her voice sounding brittle. ‘Can you tell us what happened?’

‘I think there are more important issues we should be discussing,’ Phoebe said, imperiously. ‘You need to understand the fundamentals of where we are coming from.’

Naomi glanced at John. They seemed to have matured years, mentally, in the past few days. She was finding it very hard to accept that her children were capable of talking in such a very adult way. To accept anything here. She felt she was in the middle of a bad dream.

‘Tell us what you believe those fundamentals are?’ John asked.

‘Well,’ Phoebe said, ‘to start with, we know you made genetic choices about us, because you wanted us to be better than other kids. You wanted us to become perfect people.’ She gave her parents a challenging stare.

‘Your mother and I-’ John started, but Naomi interrupted him.

‘Listen, you two,’ she said. ‘You need to understand our reasons. After we lost your brother, Halley, your father and I wanted to ensure nothing like that was ever going to happen to you. We wanted you to be as healthy and as free from the spectre of diseases as possible. Was that so wrong?’

‘No, quite reasonable,’ Luke said. ‘So what’s your problem?’

‘Our problem?’ Naomi said after some moments. ‘Our problem is that we want you to come home with us.’

‘Why exactly do you want us to come home with you?’ Phoebe asked.

‘Because-’ Naomi floundered for a second. ‘Because we love you.’

‘Although you have very advanced intellects,’ John interjected, ‘you are still small children. You need the love and guidance that parents can give you – that we – your mother and I – really want to give you.’

‘You know what you Parent People are?’ Luke said. ‘You’re just one more generation in an unbroken chain going back thousands of years, of humans who have made a muck of the world. Homo sapiens! ’ he sneered. ‘ Sapiens means wise. Your species isn’t wise, under your stewardship the world is out of control. You’ve created nuclear and chemical weapons of mass destruction that any no-brainer with a gripe can go and buy, somewhere in the world. Your scientists claimed to have proven that God does not exist, but you allow your planet to be ravaged by religious fanatics. You are destroying the ecosystem because you cannot agree on a united ecology plan. You print more information every week than any human being can read in a lifetime. And you want to give us guidance? I think that’s pretty damned breathtakingly arrogant.’

‘Other animals don’t cling on to their young,’ Phoebe said. ‘They let their offspring go as soon as they can fly, or swim, or hunt for food. Why are you so desperate to cling to us and hold us back? You’ve had a big chunk of your lives, but Luke and I have barely started. Unless we can make fast and dramatic changes, there is no future on this planet for anyone. Go home. Go back to your obsolete ways and leave us New People to sort out the future.’

John tried hard to keep calm, to show them they were capable of understanding. ‘And how do you plan to sort out the future? What exactly will you do?’

Phoebe’s tone suddenly became more pleasant. She smiled at her parents. ‘There really isn’t any point in trying to explain it to you. This is not something you or any Parent People could understand. I’m not trying to sound patronizing or anything like that. It’s just a fact.’

‘Kids,’ John said, ‘the people who were trying to kill you have all been arrested by the authorities. It’s safe to come home now. We can keep you safe. If you want to make a difference to the world, which you have clearly shown you are capable of doing, you should come out of isolation. We’ll give you all the support you need to achieve this.’

Phoebe replied, ‘Luke and I need to talk about this. Please leave us alone for a while.’

Dettore, who had quietly entered the room without them noticing, said, ‘John and Naomi, let’s go take a walk.’