The Secret People - The SF Classic of Homo Superior (Electronic book text)

"A SMOOTHLY CONSTRUCTED MOSAIC!" ~ANALOG After a nuclear war only one man in a hundred, and eight women in a hundred, can produce children, only one science counts: Genetics. And the most respected, feared, and hated man in the world is Chief of the Genetics Bureau, Robert Wellton. It under his direction gene charts are made of every citizen, and only the few who are found to be "Normals" are allowed to become parents. The vast majority are denied the right to have children, for they are Deviate-carriers, whose progeny will be mutants or Deviants from the homo sapiens norm. Bitter and hate-filled in the aftermath of the war, most people believe that all Deviates are monsters; and organized society is committed to exterminating any who are found. But, the Genetics Program is failing, for fewer Normals are discovered every year, and the end of humanity seems assured. However, not all Deviates are monsters. Some are improved human beings, telepathic and long-lived; their average intelligence equal to the most intelligent Normals. They are what humanity needs, but if their existence were known a fearful, prejudiced humanity would only round them up and execute them. They are a secret people, hidden from Normals, living a perilous existence among the rest of homo sapiens. Then, a powerful government committee (headed by a bitter, politician who failed the genetic tests for having children) hears rumors of this secret people and begins an investigation that can have only one result: sooner or later, their existence will be discovered, and they will be hunted down and wiped out. But, the secret people have a legend of a mysterious being know only as the "Father," who it is said has promised tocome some day and lead them to their destiny. Thus begins a moving novel of fear and hope in a world where the only hope for humanity lies in that which all humanity fears.