An Excerpt from The Tomorrow Paradox (Book Two in The Adventures of Mackenzie Mortimer):
“Obviously, although I still
can’t understand your attachment to a clone. Clones are commodities, Mackenzie.
It would be far easier to buy you a robot or a puppy for companionship.”
“Dad, Gemma is not a
commodity; she’s a person. Why doesn’t anyone get that? It turns out the future
is a lot like the past. There’s always a group of people ready to strip another
group of its humanity. Blacks weren’t human, so they could be sold as slaves.
Jews weren’t human, so they could be rounded up and ‘exterminated’ like rats.
Women weren’t as good as men, so they couldn’t vote or own property. Gays
couldn’t get married because it wasn’t possible for homosexuals to fall in love
like real humans. So, it makes sense that clones should be treated like all the
rest. Don’t you see, Dad? They’re all human, and they all deserve the same
rights.”
“But clones aren’t human. They
may walk and talk as we do, but they have no more emotions than a robot does.
Gemma has no umbilical cord; she wasn’t born, she was developed in a
laboratory. She’s never known a mother’s touch or other human contact. They
don’t have feelings, the way you and I do.”
“You’re wrong, Dad. Gemma does
have feelings. More than that, she has hopes and dreams… and a yearning to experience
all the things she’s read about and seen online.”
“You’d better hope you’re
wrong, Mac. You’re the only human that Gemma has been in contact with. If she
does have feelings and emotions, then she’ll imprint on you, as a young chick
does with the first living thing it sees.”
Mackenzie gulped, as he realized the implications of what
his father was saying.
Time is running out… fortunately, Mackenzie Mortimer has a few more minutes than anyone else!
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