The Hunted — Alex Shearer

Children are very precious . . . because they are so rare.

In a future world where people live to be 150, humans have paid the price for their longer lives �" the cost being their fertility. Children have become a commodity: they are bought and sold, won and lost, and worst of all, are hunted by the ‘kiddernappers' keen to make a quick buck on a big sale.

When Deet wins Tarrin in a card game he rents him out to childless couples. They pay for Tarrin to play in their houses, and they pretend he's their child for an hour or two. But as Tarrin gets older, Deet is keen to secure his future, and his interest in ‘The Peter Pan' operation grows. By having ‘The Peter Pan', Tarrin would stay a boy forever. He would grow old inside the body of a young boy.

While Tarrin faces a difficult dilemma, someone is watching him. Someone who has plans of his own.