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It's my birthday today. I have lost count of how many birthdays
have passed, but I still keep my tradition. I climb to the top of the
nearby hill, bringing a handful of dirt with me. I press it into the
ground. Then, I sit down to prepare my mind for my next annual rite:
reminding myself of who I am and why I am living.
I made this hill, actually, and I'm still building it up. I started on my
tenth birthday. Now, the hill is large enough for me to ski down each
winter. In a world where people stay young forever, persistence pays.
Persistence was what led Dr Syue Cano to discover the secret
of eternal youth. At the age of eighty-four, he identified the gene that
causes humans to age and the specific radiation that destroys it. No one
will know whether he detonated his "Youth" bomb for the sake of his
own immortality or for the sake of the other human beings in the world.
However, his defective heart could not withstand the impact of the
blast. He died the instant the bomb exploded.
Mankind will always be grateful for the discovery to which
Dr Cano dedicated his life. However, he left the world with one
problem: the earth's limited natural resources. Even with plant growth
accelerated by scientific wizardry, food and oxygen were becoming
inadequate for the world population, which only kept booming.
Some subtractions were necessary for the survival of the human
species. The only solution was to remove some of the people by
unnatural means, that is, to execute them. Thus, this was why all crimes
were made punishable by execution: murder, theft, adultery, slander,
hoarding of food... the list is very long. This was the only way to
maintain the valance of nature.
That's where I come in. I am an Executioner. I work alone, never
considering the risk. People say I have a death wish. Perhaps I do.
Certainly, yesterday's job was no waltz in the park.
Rob Tao was suspected of stealing and hoarding food. My job was
to check this out. As always, I was to be detective, judge, jury and
executioner.
I had enough stealth technology to break into Tao's compound
undetected. To get into the house was also a cinch. My vibra-blade cut
through the wall like it was butter. In the house, my Arometer detected
food, lots of it. I went down corridor after corridor, following the bleeps
of light on my Arometer.
The signals went wild outside one closed door. There was a lot of
human activity inside, judging by my HUO sensors. I primed a grenade
and opened the door just a crack -- enough to see whom I would be
executing.
Then I deprimed the grenade. Sitting there were thousands of
children. Rob Tao stood amongst them, holding a huge pot of steaming
mush. He smiled at me, seemingly unperturbed.
"You're feeding all these children?" I asked, flabbergasted.
"Yes," he replied quietly.
"How do you get so much food? I'm sure you steal it," I said.
"Yes, I do. Going to execute me?" Still that gentle smile. Sitting here
now, on my hill, I don't understand why I just walked out. I had no
excuse for letting him get away with his crime. It was not my decision
to make. Yet... I can't remember what I'm killing for; can't remember
what I'm living for. |
