Stockton cut Barnes off with a gesture of his hand again. “Go on, Dr Holtzmann. Our ancestors outcompeted Neanderthals. We led to their extinction. Is that it?”

Holtzmann nodded. “Yes, Mr President. Everywhere modern humans went, Neanderthals eventually went extinct. The groups mingled. They even mated. But the modern humans were just smarter, faster, better able to think and communicate and invent things. They made better tools and hunted and gathered more effectively. The Neanderthals couldn’t keep up.”

Stockton nodded. “Yes. Exactly. And that’s what could happen to us. We’re the Neanderthals, and we need to nip this problem in the bud, before we aren’t able to keep up.”

Holtzmann reached forward with his hands, almost pleading. “But, Mr President, if Neanderthals had managed to nip the human problem in the bud, we wouldn’t be here.” He gestured around him. “There wouldn’t be a White House, a United States of America. The world would have less art, less science, less of everything we value, all those inventions of culture that the Neanderthals couldn’t have achieved, but that our homo sapiens ancestors could. That’s the Dilemma, Mr President. If you were a Neanderthal and could stop humans from coming into being, or stop them from getting a foothold, you might extend the life of your species, but leave the world a poorer place.”

Stockton was shaking his head now, not unkindly. “Dr Holtzmann, that’s no dilemma at all. We’re here now. My job is to protect the citizens of the United States of America. And there’s no way that I’m going to allow a threat to them to develop, no matter what wonderful world you think might come later, after we’re extinct.”

Holtzmann hung his head in defeat.

“So now, Dr Holtzmann. Back to that cure and that vaccine. You need to get those moving. Because I may be unwilling to euthanize those children, but by the time you’re saying any cure is available, someone else is going to be sitting in my chair. And neither you nor I know what decision that President will make.” He paused for effect. “If you want these children to live, Doctor, you better find them a cure.”

Chapter 30: Bonding

30

BONDING

Friday October 26th

Rangan spent most of the next three sleep cycles on the floor in the corner of his cell. He sat there when they had the lights turned up. He slept there when they turned the lights down. It was hard and cold. It left parts of his body numb and asleep. But it was where the connection was clearest.

Bobby. Bobby and a dozen others. They were on the other side of this wall, trapped like he was. Just kids.