Last Wild Boy Read Online Free PDF

confirm that she had illicit relations with an outsider, but the signs seem to indicate that this is the case. I repeat: the real danger, the danger of temptation, still exists within certain of us.”
    â€œThat’s ridiculous!” snapped a red-faced Gloria. “We have a dead body on our doorstep and you expect us to sit here listening to nonsense about the weaknesses of the victim?”
    â€œAs I said,” Blanchefleur’s voice cut through the air like ice-hardened steel, “it is likely that Minn got herself pregnant in the Palace of the Temple Donors. If she jumped from the wall, it is probable that she did so after giving birth to a child outside of the gender determination. No child has been found. She may have jumped with the baby in her arms, which would mean that somehow the child is now somewhere in the wild, or she may have left it behind in Aahimsa. Either way, we have no way of knowing whether the baby is alive.”
    â€œAnd what would possess her to leave her baby?” Gloria spat sarcastically. “After what she’d done to keep it?”
    â€œMinn could have asked permission to keep the child,” Blanchefleur said reluctantly. “She would have been punished for insubordination, but her wishes would have been granted. It has happened before. Unless…”
    â€œUnless what?”
    â€œUnless the newborn child was an outsider.”
    The chamber fell silent as a tomb. The councillors looked from one to the other in shock.
    â€œOne outsider baby is not a danger in itself,” Blanchefleur continued soberly. “However, if it exists, this unauthorized child could furnish the spark needed to ignite some very real danger to the future of this world.”
    â€œAnd that’s why all outsiders should be terminated!” Gloria shouted. Her face was bright red and her dark eyes flashed. “This is your fault, Blanchefleur! It’s you who pose the greatest danger to all of us. You still won’t acknowledge the danger inherent in your refusal to accede to the demands of the World Federation.”
    â€œThat’s enough, Gloria,” Blanchefleur interjected, shooting daggers from her icy blue eyes. “This event occurred because the primal instinct to pair with the outsiders still clearly exists within us. We have been assured by our scientists that Mother Nature will eventually extinguish this deep-seated urge, the vestige of an earlier age. With lack of use, the theory goes, it will, like the appendix, shrink and eventually disappear. And once it does, the advantages of controlling the outsider workforce will far outweigh the risks we’ve taken to secure it. It’s taken several generations, but we’ve almost completely overcome our primal instincts, and we’ve come much too far to give in on our stance toward outsider labour now. However, I can’t caution enough that these urges, and the oppression that results from them, could return in a very short time if we let down our guard.” She scanned the room, meeting every councillor in the eyes before continuing. “Babies have more power over us than we could ever imagine. That child must be found and destroyed. It is the only way that we can sleep in safety.”
    She picked up the stack of paper in front of her and cracked the edges on the desk to bring them in line. “This meeting is adjourned.”
    Alice clicked a button on the control panel and the screen faded to black. She turned around to face Nora, who was cradling the sleeping outsider baby in her arms. The blood had drained from her face, and there was a look of sheer panic in her eyes.

C h a p t e r 5
    â€œThey’ll kill him, won’t they?” Nora said, her hazel eyes squinting like a cat’s. The answer was obvious.
    â€œOf course,” Alice said, noticing the tears welling up in Nora’s eyes. She held her arms out, took the sleeping baby, and looked down at his peaceful