"The Borderland of Sol" presents a future Earth whose government regulates who may be parents and how many children they may have. The idea is to reproduce strong genes as much as possible in a population with too many of what are perceived to be genetic defects. Carlos Wu is a genius whose genes are considered desirable for reproduction; thus he has a license for unlimited reproduction, meaning that he may father as many children as he wishes. He and others like him are much in demand.

Beowulf Shaeffer is grateful that Carlos has fathered two children for Shaeffer and his wife to raise as if they were their own. This vision of a future in which human reproduction is controlled is somewhat unsettling, and government control of people's reproductive lives is presently a hotly debated topic. In "The Borderland of Sol," the issue is not...