was dying. We simply didn’t have the resources to sustain an uncontrolled population. It was a sacrifice that everyone had to make, for the good of our planet and our people. And the repercussions for defying the law were dire. I couldn’t fathom why anyone would put themselves at such a risk for something so… foolish.
I said so aloud, and Eos laughed derisively. “Because it was their right, Enforcer.”
“It was not their right,” I argued. “It’s in violation of the Contract.”
“The Contract,” the apprentice spat. “That precious scheme that none of us ever signed up for but all of us have to follow. You know, Enforcer, it’s not really a ‘contract’ if both parties don’t agree to it.”
“What would your alternative be? Death? Do you think any of us would be here right now if we’d had a choice about it? There can be no choice. The Contract is the only way.”
“That’s what the geroi want us to believe. The Contract is what gives them their power. If everyone thinks that there is no alternative, they get to keep it.”
I’d twisted around enough that I could see him over my shoulder. Eos wore an expression of condescension on his face that I knew mirrored my own when I’d first laid eyes on him, when he’d come in the door covered in dirt and grime. He went on, “I saw you back there, looking at me like you’re so much better, when the only real difference between us is the names the geroi call us by. The geroi took away your free will same as mine, but you act like they’ve given you some great gift just because you get to call yourself a patroin instead of a plivoin.”
I turned away from him, closed my eyes, but he kept right on talking, his insidious words clawing their way inside of me, poisoning me.