Chapter 4

Doctor Gleason started things up again.

“Ms. Anderson, are your requirements fulfilled?”

Sharra nodded. “Yes, I will tell you anything you want to know about the incident.”

“Wonderful. The main question I want to ask first is, if you had a chance to eat that again, would you?”

Silence reigned in the Oval Office as everyone looked at her and held their breath. She surveyed the faces that looked back at her, but no one was really that grossed out at her personally.

“Given that I felt better than I have in many years afterward, and that the meal itself was exquisite, unlike anything I have ever tasted, yes, I would.”

Sharra expected a bomb to go off in the room as everyone would try to talk at once, but there was very little of that. And from what she could tell, there was also very little in the way of condemnation directed towards her for her statement. Ironically, the women in the room, who slightly outnumbered the men by eight to six, seemed to be accept the situation just as easily as the men. Then again, a very pragmatic leader would most likely attract very pragmatic followers, she thought to herself.

“Why is this so beneficial to humans? Why did Ms. Anderson benefit so much from this? What is the science behind this? I realize that you don’t have anything definitive right now, but do you have any speculation that you can take us through?” the Surgeon General asked Dr. Gleason.

“I have a suspicion that I can share. Because humans have a specific set of nutritional requirements for optimal health, the human body acts as a sort of filtration and optimization system, optimizing and storing the nutrients that it needs for future consumption while excluding the rest. The needed nutrients are then shuttled to where they are consumed to provide health and wellness.

“However, the body is not perfectly efficient. And anything not needed will either be stored for later or expelled through the waste processing cycles. In effect, the most perfectly nutritious food for a human is the meat, if you will forgive me for saying so, from another human.

“This is probably the source of the social, cultural, and political taboos against cannibalism throughout history. If it was wrong to eat humans, you were not feeding off your own population when famine times are present. This kept your own population growing to keep up with your wealthier neighbors who were not in famine times to prevent your tribe from being overrun by enemies. And yes, that’s very weak, but that is just one thought I had while working through this.”

Dr. Gleason paused while people absorbed her statements, but when no one had anything to add, she continued her questions for Sharra.

“What about the whole aspect that you were eating the meat taken from another human, and a woman as well? And that if you were to have another meal of that nature, it would also come from another human woman? Does that bother you?”

She thought about it for a while before answering.

“That is a very complex issue. First and foremost, we are talking about the survival of our species. I think that that takes precedence over the needs of the individual. There have been other periods in history where difficult choices about who lives and who dies has been forced on the leadership of a given group or population.

“And yes, I realize that you are asking about a single meal, and not the overall issue in front of us, but I think you can’t talk about a single meal without talking about the greater picture. There will be no single meal of that nature without going down the path as you know the Chinese have done. Either we do something similar, or no meal like that will be forthcoming for me or anyone else.

“I was horrified by the thought of eating a young woman that I had unwittingly chosen to be slaughtered, butchered, and cooked as food, who was later served to me without my knowledge. You all saw the video of me trying to empty everything I had eaten in the last month when it hit me.

“But since then, I have had the chance to think about it. Yin Xiulan was not given a choice to volunteer. But she knew what was going to happen to her people if she resisted. She knew that many of the people that live in her country would eventually be harmed by not following this path. She was treated with dignity and respect, even after she was terminated. The Chinese people treated her with honor and respect for her sacrifice for the rest of their survival. That made it much easier to accept.

“Are we going to do this? I read some of the documentation provided by the Chinese government. I know that not everyone will believe it, but the numbers are sound. I am a scientist. While I am not well versed in population science, I can say that I see the logic, the reasoning, the premise, the results, they all seem to be accurate for what is there. I think it is inevitable that it will happen. Otherwise, we will become a third-rate power in the world while the Chinese bully everyone else to follow their lead, and other populations thrive while we continue to flounder.