Extreme Measures/Sean

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You get out of the limo in front of the studio. The network went all out on this one, literally rolling out the red carpet even though this was only a recording for an episode of the Jillian Waters Show. Granted, it is supposed to be a special episode that would air that very night all about the last measures of the S-Factor Act going into effect. The crowds press up against the velvet ropes as you straighten out your jacket. You've been slowly getting used to the crowds over the last three years; but there were still a little unnerving to you. You put on your fake smile, and worked on acting confident like your therapist had suggested. Fake it until you make it, you think to yourself. Self-actualization is a proven technique. You never used to have a confidence problem. That all started when you lost your dad, along with thousands of other supers, three years ago. You have ben slowly regaining it, however.


"Oh my GOD, Deathless! Deathless! Over here!" "Deathless, we love you!" "I want to have your babies!" "Deathless, could you sign my wife's tits?" The crowds chants it's usual drivel.


You smile and make your way toward the doors. "I love you guys too," you say the standard lines. "We supers need you as much as you need us." Then you decide to be creative. "With these new laws I might have to take you up on that offer, miss," you say to tween that offered to have your children. "That is if you've been to your seminar. It's important that everyone who is fertile knows about informed consent." You wink at the girl, then move on. "I would love to sign anything on your wife, sir," you say as you pull out a ready sharpie. "Love, Deathless," you say as you write the words on her ample bosom. "I'd love to stay and chat," you say, summoning your best charm, "but I have a show to do."


You are escorted to the green room, where you wait to be taken to the stage. You crack open one of the ice cold flavored soda water, and quench your thirst while you wait. You watch the show as it plays out, taking mental notes as you go. Before long you are escorted to the stage. There is a conservatively dressed brunette already seated on a sofa, with Jillian seated in the chair next to her. You read up on the lady before agreeing to come on the show. You know all of her talking points, many of which she has already used in the show. Ellen Ackerson, outspoken mouthpiece of the religious right, and most outspoken opponent of the S-Factor Act. You wait for your cue to enter.


"It's not even a question of religion," says Ellen, "so much as it is common human decency."


"With that," says Jillian, "Let's bring out our next guest. You know him as Deathless, the teen superhero that helped to save us from annihilation...Sean Riley!"


You choose to enter the stage with an active, bouncing trot, waving to the audience as you do. You make your way to the couch to the cheers of the audience. You blow a few kisses on the way, then go to sit down where Ellen has just moved over. The audience continues to clap and cheer when they would normally be settling down. You get back up, a bit embarrassed at the attention, and bow to the audience.


"You're too kind," you try to say over the crowd. "We supers need you as much as you need us." You try to wave them down. "Come on guys," you say, "you're embarrassing me. We have a show to do." The crowd finally dies down, and you take your seat. "Wow," you say to Jillian, "you have an amazing crowd today!" The crowd roars with applause again.


"What can I say?" says Jillian, "you bring it out in them. Such charisma at such a young age. So we were talking, Ellen and I...you know Ellen, right?"


"I don't believe I've had the pleasure in person," you say, "but I have heard you speak, Mrs. Ackerson. I'm Sean Riley." You offer your hand. "It is a genuine pleasure to finally meet you."


She shakes your hand, and seems a little taken aback. "The pleasure is mine, young man. Such manners...and thank you for your service. That war must have been terrible."


"Oh," you say, "I think I've talked enough about that for the last three years. It's time to move on from the war, and start rebuilding."


"Speaking of rebuilding," says Jillian as she tries to take back her show, "Ellen and I were talking about the S-Factor Act going into effect today. As a popular American Superhero, I'm sure you have some thoughts about this particular subject."


"Well," you say, "I must say that it's a rather balanced approach to the problem."


"You call forcing people to have sex to be balanced, young man?" retorts Ellen.


"What we are doing isn't forcing people to have sex. That's what China and Russia are doing. What Japan is doing could even be considered forcing people to have sex. Here we are giving incentive to produce a greater presence of the S-Factor allele in the human population."


"There is an article in the act that requires anyone that is asked by someone with two genes, like yourself, to let them have sex with them."


"So if I asked to get you pregnant right now," you say, "you would legally have to do it?"


"Well no," she says, "I have a religious exemption."


"Exactly," you reply, "in the United States we understand that the world has needs. The need to raise an army of supers to defend the planet when the alien armada comes back; but also believe in the rights of the individual. That's why we have exemptions. Japan only has exemptions for those who are sterile or already pregnant; Russia doesn't have any exemptions; and China doesn't allow either party to chose who mates with whom."


"Before this boils over," interjects Jillian, "How hard was it for you to get your exemption, Ellen."


"The process was rather straight forward. I advise all of you married women and young girls to go to the website www.S-Factor.gov and sign up for a religious exemption right away if you haven't done so yet. They should have a new ID for you in about a week. Don't go outside until you get it."


"So," you interject, "you didn't have to provide any proof of your religion to get the exemption?"


"No, of course not. You are religious simply by choosing to be religious...and following the tenants of faith, that is."


"Sounds like no one is really being forced here," you say.


"What about the age issue," says Jillian. "Ellen and I were discussing this earlier, but you're only seventeen, right? This directly affects you. Do you think that children that have just become fertile have the emotional maturity to consent to sex?"


"I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask this question. I've been trained since I got my powers at ten years old to fight for justice. I was allowed to grow up. In the past, children were allowed to grow up earlier too. In the middle ages it wasn't uncommon to have twelve year old's getting married and having a family. It wasn't all predatory the way we depict it through the lens of modern morality. We baby our children, then we're surprised when they're still acting like babies when they are adults. I wasn't babied. I was allowed to grow up. Do you think it was wrong that I was fighting aliens when I was fourteen?"


"Well," says Jillian, "that is quite young to be fighting in a war."


"Quite so," says Ellen, "you should not have been subjected to that."


"No," you say emphatically, "the eight year old kids in Sudan should not be subjected to being forced to fight for a cause that they don't understand or believe in. I wanted to fight for my family, my country, and my world. It was my choice, and my parents let me make it. Let's let our kids grow up, and make some grown up choices." The audience applauds once again.


"Well," says Ellen, "what about the incest? You know that they have an article that relaxes the restrictions on incest. You can't agree with that, can you?"


"I can see where this would be concerning. I'm sure you ladies know this information, being intelligent worldly women; but let me lay some groundwork for any audience members that might not be up to date on certain scientific developments. Before the government considered any breeding oriented legislation, they authorized emergency use of CRISPR, a system for modifying genes in fully grown subjects, in an attempt to give terminally ill volunteers the S-Factor alleles artificially. While CRISPR usually can change genes without difficulty, it continuously failed to accurately replace the targeted gene with the S-Factor code. The chemicals kept getting crossed in the transfer somehow leading to a series of mutant genes instead.

"They did, however, perfect a way of eliminating deleterious recessive genes from adult subjects. These are genes that would cause problems if you had two alleles, but are harmless with just one. We all have these, and run the risk of our children getting two pair, and therefore developing a genetic disease. That is why we don't have incestuous relationships. We share more of the same deleterious recessive traits with our relatives than we do strangers. Now we can identify and eliminate these bad traits so that we are just not capable of having children with birth defects...with anyone. That includes family members.

"Now there are less than seventy thousand people with the S-Factor in the whole world. The only way we can possibly get supers is to have people with two S-Factor alleles. Let's say that I, with two alleles marry a normal woman with no S-Factor genes at all. All of our children would be carriers of the S-Factor, but none of them could be supers...NONE. If I can somehow find a woman with one S-Factor allele half of the children we have would have the possibility of being supers, and the other half would be carriers. The best option would be to have two supers get together as their children would always have two alleles, and the possibility to become supers. The problem is that there are very few of us left.

"For those of us with S-Factor alleles the closest answer we have is our relatives. They are some of the few that have the gene. My mother is a carrier as are my oldest two sisters. My little sister is a possible super, though she hasn't been activated yet. I have had all of my deleterious recessive genes replaced. Am I supposed to ignore the math here, just because we're related?"


"It's unholy," raged Ellen. "It's utterly sinful. That is as bad as bestiality!"


"Didn't Lot's daughters have their father's children? Didn't those family lines produce sacred personages in the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faiths?"


"God condemned Lot's daughters for their actions!"


"Was that because he was their father? I think it's more likely that it was because they weren't married, or...I don't know...they RAPED him?"


"Now calm down everyone," says Jillian, "we have a surprise to wrap up the show." A murmur goes through the crowd. "Does everyone want to know who our Special Guest is?"


Who is the Special Guest?

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