Page 167 - TruthAboutLyingFinalAmazon15

Nicholas Boothman
Logan arrived with a delegation of pragmatists— economists, military strategists, actuaries. They'd already drawn up preliminary criteria for Extraction: genetic diversity, empathy scores, age distribution, skill sets. It was eugenics dressed in the language of optimization, and it was gaining traction fast.
"We're not saying it's ideal," Logan told the room, his voice carrying the practiced calm of a man who'd pitched to hostile boardrooms. "We're saying it's survivable. Ten percent of humanity, carefully selected, relocated to a preserve world. We lose everything else, but we don't lose the species."
"You lose the soul of the species," Vincent said, standing up from where he'd been sitting in silent prayer. "You're proposing to save humanity by abandoning humanity. That's not salvation—it's damnation with better optics."
"And your alternative is what?" Logan shot back. "Faith? Hope? We have seventy-two hours, Father. I need something more concrete than divine intervention."
Vincent's face flushed. "I'm not proposing divine intervention. I'm proposing that we act like we actually believe the things we claim to believe. That every life has value. That we're stronger together than apart. That—"
"That we're willing to risk extinction on principle?" Logan's voice rose. "My daughter is seven years old. You
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