Absent Heroes
an excerpt

“I know that genetic modification has become a part of our world, but I don’t necessarily like it.” David retorted with growing irritation. “The more we alter the human make up, the more we interfere with the nature of man. What about free will, Peter?”

Peter snorted. “What about cancer? And Alzheimer’s? And Parkinson’s?” He glared across the table, their beers forgotten. “We’ve been able to make strides against all of these diseases because of the research done at places like Bellgrande. Besides,” he stressed, “unlike some of us at the table, I don’t work for an organization that encourages that genetic modification become a way of life.”

David flushed, but he met Peter’s eyes steadily. “Point taken. I know that altering the human genome to affect man’s capacity for violence had done much good in the world, but every year fewer metahumans are born.”

Peter raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re the one who always stressed that meta or not, we were all the same.”

“And I still believe that. That’s why I can’t help but feel guilty at the abilities we may have denied people because of this testing, which we encourage so heavily. What if we find out in the next hundred years that it’s not just meta abilities and violence that we’ve eliminated, not just Alzheimer’s and Parkinson? What if we destroy the human ability to create art? Music? Literature?”

For a long moment, they sat in silence, then Peter sighed and picked up his beer. “Then we’re going to owe the future a very large apology.” He took a deep swallow and David mimicked him, picking up his own beer.

“I’m afraid that an apology won’t even begin to cover what we’ll owe.”