“At puberty we add sex drive to the basics, and by the time our male reaches maturity we have something like George. Actually, George is more mature than either you or I. He has all the answers he needs. He’s strong, solitary, authoritative, and selfish. He has no curiosity and resents encroachment. He’s a complete individualist. If he proves out he should make an excellent sire.”
“But isn’t he dangerous to handle?” Kennon asked.
“Yes, but we take precautions.”
Kennon grimaced with distaste.
“Look at it objectively,” Douglas said. “We’re trying to select the best physical type we can in the hope that he’ll pass his qualities to his offspring, and there’s no better practical way to select the strongest and hardiest than by natural selection. We control their environment as little as possible and let Nature do our educating until they’re old enough to be useful.
“Naturally, there are some things which we cannot provide, such as exposure to disease, to the elements, and to predators. The one isn’t selective about whom it infects, while the others would tend to produce co-operation as a matter of survival.”
“Isn’t there a great deal of mortality under such a regimen?” Kennon asked.
“Not as much as you might expect. It’s about twenty per cent. And there is a great deal of compensation from a management viewpoint. We get essentially the same physical end product as we would from a closely managed operation, plus a great saving in labor. Males, you see, are fairly expendable. We only need a few a year.”
“It’s brutal.”
“So it is, but life is brutal. Still, it’s efficient for our purposes. We merely take advantage of natural impulses to produce a better product. Grandfather got the idea out of an old book—something about the noble savage, natural selection and survival of the fittest. He thought it was great—said there was nothing like relentless competition to bring out the strongest and hardiest types. And he’s been right for centuries. Can you imagine anything much better than George—from a physical viewpoint?”