"Ringo, John - Council Wars 1 - There Will Be Dragons" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ringo John)

so many chose wild body forms. Aikawa, however, had the broad face and
epicanthic fold of a classic Son of Han. His appearance was so true to standard
that it actually detracted from his looks; the flattened nose, broad cheekbones
and epicanthic folds being decidedly nonstandard.
Without doing a DNA scan and violating privacy, Sheida couldn't tell if his
appearance was natural or artificial. Whichever it was, the appearance was a
personal statement, like Bowman's height. However, it was a far more ambiguous
one. And Aikawa had also cultivated a poker face to make any of the rest of the
Council envious.
"Frankly, I would make them work for the games and delights, yes," Paul said. "I
think that we need to reinstitute work. For those of you who don't know what
that word meansЕ"
"Ssspare usss, Paul," Ungphakorn said. "What we do now isss 'work,' at leassst
when it comesss to talking to you. And mossst of usss have no more children than
any of the ressst of the world."
"I don't see you raising a huge brood, Paul," Ishtar interjected.
"I have five children," Bowman replied, proudly.
"Yes, and you have dumped the actual job of raising them off on five separate
females," Ishtar snapped. "What you don't understand, you stupid little man, is
that since each of them only had one child, and since by law you have to have
both a male and female genetics to produce a child, all of your 'work' to
produce multiple children has been in vain. As long as women control
reproduction, men are nothing but a source of DNA."
"Perhaps that should be changed as well," Paul snapped. "Why should women
control reproduction? If I want to have a child which is mine and another
male's, the choice should be mine. Or three children by my own genetics. What is
wrong with that?"
"Law and history," Sheida interjected with a sigh. She looked at his surprised
face and laughed out loud. "What? You thought because I didn't object to your
statements and that I have had minimal Change that I agreed with you? Far from
it. Let us discuss your suggestion."
She leaned back, called up some texts for a moment's review, then nodded. "In
theЕ twenty-first century, the Iron Brotherhood was founded. Its stated
intention was to 'eliminate the scourge of womankind by replacing them.' Using
the relatively new DNA structuring abilities of the time, they grew children in
early-model uterine replicators, 'all male children from all male genetics.'
They only existed as a functional group for about three generations. The
children were dysfunctional in the extreme since the average male has all the
maternal instincts of a male leopard. By and large they were raised with minimal
positive input and minimal interaction because males are lousy mothers."
"So you say," Bowman snarled. "That is history so old that it's practically
fable!"
"There are at least four similar failures in history, Paul," she said with a
thin smile. "Many of them closer in time. Individual males may be excellent
mothers, but letting any old male uncork a child 'just because' is a route to
another dysfunctional generation. And we've had far too many of those over the
years. You really should do some research for a change instead of just listening
to the voices in your head. Speaking of which, what sort of 'work' were you
intending to enforce?"
"I said nothing of 'enforce,' " Bowman snapped.