13
" But, Mr President, if Neanderthals had managed to nip the human problem in the bud, we wouldn't be here." He gestures around him. "There wouldn't be a White House, a United States of America. The world would have less art, less science, less of everything we value, all those inventions of culture that the Neanderthals couldn't have achieved, but that our homo sapiens ancestors could. That's the dilemma, Mr President. If you were a Neanderthal and could stop humans from coming into being, or stop them from getting a foothold, you might extend the life of your species, but leave the world a poorer place."
Stockton [the President] was shaking his head now, not unkindly. "Dr. Holtzmann, that's no dilemma at all. We're here now. My job is to protect the citizens of the United States of America. And there's no way that I'm going to allow a threat to them develop, no matter what wonderful world you think might come later, after we're extinct."
Holtzmann hung his head in defeat. "
― Ramez Naam , Crux (Nexus, #2)
14
" You could have done this the easy way Jade," Lo Prang told her [Sam]. "I meant what I told you. If you joined my household, you'd be happy." He gestured with his cuffed hands towards his head. "A little tweak here and there. All this stress? All this hardship? I could have taken care of whatever problem you have. And you'd have contentment, the satisfaction of having a purpose in life, of knowing what it was, of having a master who loved you."
Sam stared at Lo Prang and shook her head.
Lo Prang smiled. "Trust me, Jade. I've never had happier staff than I do now. They come to me willingly, for what I can give them, for the satisfaction, the peace and contentment. Even the whores are happy."
Sam shuddered. "There are more important things than happiness," she told the man. "Doing the right thing. Doing what matters".
Lo Prang smiled at her. "The right thing? What matters? Those are just patterns in your brain, Jade. A few tweaks, and your right thing would be mine."
"Not in my lifetime," Sam told him.
Lo Prang shrugged. "You'll change your mind one day. I'll be waiting. "
― Ramez Naam , Crux (Nexus, #2)