Tiera's Earth (Andromeda 9 Book 1) by Marston Ethan T

Author:Marston, Ethan T. [Marston, Ethan T.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2017-10-20T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

“Xana?” Tiera turned from the large, mounted smart glass on the living room wall to look at her roommate. The display was currently playing a news story about everything that had happened to Tiera the night before, and Tiera had watched similar stories all afternoon, but she was hoping for updates about Kert or the officers he attacked. Which made her remember something—or re-remember something.

“Yeah?” Xana looked up from the software project she had open on her smart glass tablet.

“You know how I told you about the officers who were poisoned last night?” After Xana nodded, Tiera continued, “Well, when I first met one of them they said that they wouldn’t reproduce, so their gender didn’t matter. Do you know what they meant?”

Xana looked away and thought for a moment. “I’d assume they weren’t allowed any progeny under the reproduction law. Have you learned about that yet?” Since they started living together, Xana had become pretty good at anticipating what Tiera might not know about this galaxy and its culture—and Tiera really appreciated it.

“No. How does it work?”

After shifting herself diagonally on the red couch so she could see Tiera better, Xana explained. “Essentially, when you turn 17 you find out how many kids you can have. Geneticists and physicians go over your health and genetic potential, and demographists determine how many children need to be in the next generation to maintain each planet’s population. Government representatives then pool that information and decide how many children you can have.”

“The government decides how many children you have?” Xana had explained everything logically enough, but something in Tiera still revolted at the idea of the government having that much power over her family. “What if you have as many as you want anyway?”

“That depends on whether you were under or over your limit,” Xana explained, her voice completely calm. “If you fail to reach your limit by the time you’re 40 years old—and that’s as late as you’re allowed to reproduce—then there’s no consequence. If you have more children than you’re allowed, however, the additional children are relocated unless you pay a fine.”

“A fine?” Tiera asked. That sounds pretty reasonable. “How big of a fine?”

“Each planet’s government recalculates it every year, but on Faroa it’s usually about 500,000 marks. It can change though.” Xana shrugged.

“Five—but that’s!” Tiera tried to translate Original marks into American dollars based on how much she usually spent on groceries. “That’s like a million dollars! How is anyone supposed to afford that?!”

“Dollars? You pay for things with sea creatures?” Xana frowned and started typing into the tablet on her lap.

“What?” Tiera had no idea what Xana was talking about. And if the look on Xana’s face was any indication, the feeling was mutual.

“Never mind,” Xana said, then she finally addressed Tiera’s question. “And they aren’t supposed to afford it—that’s the point.” Xana tilted her head. “Although affluent families actually can. If my parents were at all interested, for example, they could have probably afforded a couple extra kids.

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