The process of elimination

Part 1

2035- our world

Life had not been kind to Mitchell Doldrums. He had never been popular at school, never been able to hold onto a job as an adult. His wife had been the bright spot in his life and now she was gone. She'd been gone for a long time, in fact since a year after he'd been enlisted. World war three. It had lasted longer than anyone expected. Mitchell's city had been bombed. Alexia, his wife had not been able get to safety. Her body had been found sheltering a small baby boy, possibly hers and Mitchell's. Mitchell had kept the baby. He hated it. It was because of this child that Alexia was dead. "She could have saved herself." Mitchell told himself. "But she gave up her life to save him." Life had not been kind to Mitchell Doldrums.

And now he had a choice to make.

The man sitting in front of him was best described as gray. Gray suit, gray hair, gray face. He pushed a piece of paper towards Mitchell. The baby whimpered. Mitchell jiggled him impatiently. "Tell me again." He said to the gray man, stalling for time. The gray man sighed. "We want war orphans." He said. "Babies. We want to put them in a better world. We have already built the world. It is all arranged. Now all we need are war babies to grow up in there along with a few selected adults. The babies won't know the horror of war, won't know bullying. We will keep out most major diseases such as cancer and ebola. It will be a utopian world. In this way we will help the future. We will educate the generation to be better humans. We will protect our planet from another war such as this one." the gray man gestured outside to the barren wasteland, war had left behind. "All we need is the orphan."

Mitchell looked at the baby silent in his arms. Lucky kid. He's barely experienced war or pain and now he was getting to leave it forever. He was quite a cute kid to be truthful. Alexia must have saved him for a reason. Maybe he was Mitchell's son. Alexia would hate it if he gave him up.

"He's not an orphan." Mitchell said gruffly. "He's mine"

The gray man was taken aback. "Oh." he said. "Well it's just that you never officially claimed him and.."

"Does a man have to officially claim his own son now?" said Mitchell. "Anyway it doesn't matter. I'm not saying you can't have him. I'm saying you can take us both." The gray man raised his eyebrows. Mitchell continued. "You said you needed selected adults to live with the babies. Well select me. I've got nothing left here anymore. All I ever had was my wife and she's gone now."

"The whole point of the dome." the gray man said "is to stop the children knowing about the outside world."

"Well I'm not gonna tell them!" Exploded Mitchell. "Why on earth would I spoil a utopia with my stories of war and pain? I want to leave it all behind. Don't you think I want a happy ending as well."

The gray man smiled. "Very well." he said "We will take you on board for this "happy ending." he reached into his briefcase and removed a new sheet of paper. "Simply sign here saying that you, the baby and all of your descendents will live in the dome until we chose to send them into the world. Oh and you'll have to give the child a name."

Mitchell paused as he picked up the pen. "His name's Alex." he decided. "After my wife." Mitchell grabbed the paper and signed on the dotted line.