"Isn't that what you planned to do all along? Stop them
from trampling on that human soul?" -Casey, Sons of Earth.
It began on the manufacturing floor of the factory I work
in. I was a brand new operator in a pharmaceutical plant, adjusting to the new regimen
and rules. There were so many rules! Any product that didn't meet the strictest
of parameters was 'reject'--garbage. One day I got this funny idea. What if we
were manufacturing clones? What would the factory do with clones that didn't
meet their specifications?
With the idea of human 'reject'--garbage clones--Sons of Earth was born.
A
manufactured person is no person at all. Designed to fight and die, Dominic
escaped from the metallic womb of Caspian Genetics. He knows that if he is
found out he’s as good as dead, but he cannot forget that his brothers are
enslaved.
He matches
his wits against Caspian’s might. But how can Dominic stand against an industry
that denies his personhood when he doubts his own humanity? As his plans
unravel, Dominic is forced to face the question: Was he lied to? Is he human
after all?
Can you just
'throw out' a human being? I suspect a normal, rational person would say no.
But what if we believed they weren't really
human? Some might think this is a giant leap, but I would contend that
dehumanization is easier and more common than you'd think. Case in point: the
YouTube comment section.
Have you
heard the adage "Do unto others as you would have them do for you?"
This golden rule is nowhere to be found in comment section debates, where the
slightest difference of opinion is grounds for ridiculous name-calling. Unfortunately,
I cannot exempt myself from this tendency, in the interest of full disclosure. Why
do we do this? On a subconscious level we don't believe they're as human, or as
valuable as we are.
Let's move
down a layer. One of the main arguments in the prolife/prochoice abortion
debate is 'When does the fetus become a human being?' By the grounds of 'it
isn't a person,' thousands of babies are aborted. The motto, “To keep you is no
benefit. To destroy you is no loss" could be aptly applied.
So it doesn't
take a big stretch in my overactive imagination to picture clones that didn't
quite make spec being fatally injected and incinerated. Rights? They have no rights.
Those who are good enough are sold, and their owners do what they please with
them.
Dominic, Casey and Justine do not call them worthless.
Dominic calls them his brothers. Caspian Genetics treated him like scum, and
he'd like to serve it back to them. Casey and Justine are devout Christians and
see the clones as God's creation, just as they are. But they are just blue-collar
workers, nobodies themselves.
A penniless son of a drunk struggles to make a good life for
his family. A clone's search for revenge lands him in a relationship that will break
the heart he didn't know he had. An unlikely alliance challenges an industry.
What is a life worth? Explore this with me in Sons of Earth.
Author's blog: http://
Amazon link for book: http://mybook.to/
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