Gene. Sys.

1-3

He doesn’t seem amused. “I

promise you it’s not boring. It starts with the first world

war.”

“That does sound fun.” Ev

smiles.

My interest is also peaked.

“How many world wars have there been?”

“Four,” my dad says as he

stops just outside a door. “But you will learn more about them from

Brianna.”

“Thanks dad,” I say out of

habit. Ev walks in and I follow. He closes the door behind us. The

room has windows on one wall and the other walls are empty. Like

every other classroom, this one has around a dozen giant beanbags

arranged in a circle on the floor. I choose the green one like

usual. Ev sits in the beanbag next to mine.

“He lets you call him

Dad?” she asks as she makes herself comfortable in her

beanbag.

I can tell this is a

sensitive subject for her. “That’s what he told me to call him. He

would never let me call him Rene.”

“I knew he preferred you.”

She’s obviously hurt. “All he does is talk about you and he

corrects me if I ever call him dad or father or

anything.”

I don’t really know how to

respond, but I try. “I think it’s because he respects you. He sees

you more as an equal. All he does is coddle me. I just thought

that’s how he was.”

“Not at all,” Ev laughs. I

really like when she laughs it makes me feel better.

We both stand when the

doors open and Brianna Lawson walks in. She is much younger than I

would have imagined. She couldn’t be older than 26 or 27. Her deep

red hair is pulled back into a ponytail and the big glasses she

wears cover half her face. I can tell though that underneath those

glasses she has a very refined quality about her. She carries

herself well, which might be because of her age. People have

probably never taken her seriously since she is young and

pretty.

I must have been in a

trance staring at her because I get bumped in the shoulder by Ev

and realize that Brianna has her hand extended towards me. “It’s

nice to meet you, Atom”.

I shake her hand. “The

pleasure is mine, Ms. Lawson. I like your glasses.”

“Thank you. Please, call

me Brianna.” She pulls her hand away and takes a seat on one of the

beanbags. I can feel that my cheeks have turned red because of the

heat emanating from them. Ev must have noticed them too because her

eyes are burrowing holes into me. I feel ashamed, so I avoid making

eye contact and sit back down in my beanbag. When Ev sits, she

shuffles her beanbag closer to mine. My heart races as she does so.

If she feels threatened by Brianna, she shouldn’t.

Brianna places a 3D

hologram projector on the floor inside the beanbag circle. “I want

you two to recall your world geography.”

She hits a button on the

projector and a giant image of Earth projects before us. It looks

odd. The ice shelves at the North and South poles are much smaller.

She continues, “This hologram of Earth I’m sure looks different

than what you are used to. That’s because this is an image of what

the world looked like in 1914.”

“It’s so different,” Ev

mumbles. I look at her and can tell that she is just as enthralled

as I am. Dad was right. This will be interesting.

“I want you two to just

sit back, watch and listen. This information will be important for

your survival.” Brianna taps the wall behind her and the windows

darken, leaving the hologram to light the room.

What does she mean our

survival? What are we going to have to survive? These questions flood my mind, but just as quickly as they

came, I have to brush them aside. Brianna has started her

lesson.

*****

World War I marked the

beginning of globalization. Prior to 1914, conflicts remained

localized to their specific areas without much outside influence.

When America joined the war in 1917 the world got a lot smaller.

Any issues that would arise would now become worldwide issues. With

radio and later television, these issues also became the concern of

any citizen with access. This war ended the German Empire, but gave

rise to two new ones. The Soviet Empire and the American Empire.

This also brought us into the SciTech Age.

The Soviets, America and

Germany all poured money into scientific research. This would lead

Germany into attempting to reclaim their empire and their quest for

power ignited World War II. In 1939 Europe was once again at war

and in 1941 Japan brought America into the war. Though the war

itself was mostly over control of certain land, World War II proved

significant because it introduced the world to nuclear technology

and nuclear weapons. The strong-arm gesture by America to drop two

nuclear bombs on Japan would actually raise tensions between them

and the Soviet Empire. Both would try hard to win the Space Race

and the Nuclear Race.

The Space Race did

eventually put a man on the moon and would lead to the development

of the Internet. This would be the final step to complete

globalization because information could be accessed by anyone at

any time. Secrets, whether national or personal, would become

obsolete.

The Nuclear Race would have

different consequences. Though the Soviet Empire would fall apart

due to internal conflict, the amount of nuclear weapons developed

by them and the United States would exceed 70,000 by 1990.

Relations between nations from that point on would always carry the

threat of a nuclear attack. By 2040, 18 nations had nuclear

weapons.

Around that time robotics

had become commonplace and were used in everything from household

chores to space travel. Earth entered into one of its most peaceful

eras, as the world powers would unite on the joint goal of putting

a colony on Mars. Together the Americans, Chinese, Russians and the

European Federation formed the NCM and built a base with launching

platform on the moon. Over the following decades they went from

putting a man on the moon to developing the first self-sustaining

and renewable colony on Mars.

Though the first world

countries had all switched to renewable energy, the rest of the

world still depended heavily on fossil fuels. With reserves already

low, the colonization of Mars drained what was left of the fuels

and left the rest of the world in a perennial dark age. Conflicts

arose between the third world countries, as they would fight to

attain each other’s resources. Brazil invaded Venezuela and took

control of their oil, becoming a superpower in South America;

battles raged on in Africa, as famine became its biggest killer;

the worst of the conflicts would happen between Pakistan and India,

when Pakistan invaded India and India retaliated with nuclear

force. This marked the beginning of World War III. Afghanistan and

Iran allied with Pakistan and launched their nuclear missiles at

India.

This forced the hand of the

NCM countries. They sent troops into the region to stop the

conflict and disarm all active nuclear weapons. Overall, the blasts

and the ensuing fallout killed nearly 250 million people. When the

conflict was resolved, the NCM and other participating countries

with nuclear weapons would sign the Fallout Treaty, agreeing to

disarm all active weapons. Any country that did not participate in

the treaty would be invaded and forced to disarm its weapons. The

two lone holdouts, North Korea and Iran, showed little resistance

to the NCM armies that forced their way into the countries. The

disarming of the last nuclear missile would mark the end of the

World War III.

With Earth in relative

peace, the NCM countries would turn their attention back to the

advancement of science and technology. They worked to develop

chemicals that would offset the effects of the nuclear fallout and

allow the areas to be habitable again. They developed cheaper

versions of renewable energy that would allow the poorer countries

to begin to flourish. Lastly they worked to make Africa a

self-sustaining ecosystem by creating a web of pipes that would

bring water from this compound on the Nile to the rest of the

continent. With access to fresh water, farms could be more easily

cultivated, causing the risk of famine and disease to

decrease.

Humanity was once again

flourishing but in their research they found that global

temperatures had been steadily dropping. By the beginning of the

22nd century Earth had entered its next ice age. The average

temperature had dropped nearly 20 degrees Fahrenheit and would

affect the cultivation of food. Africa, however, would flourish, as

the climate change brought more rain. Other parts of the world

would not fare as well. Famine and disease ravaged South America,

Australia and Southeast Asia.

As the ice shelf pushed its

way south, the northern countries became uninhabitable. Canadians

were welcomed into America. Europeans made their way towards the

countries surrounding the Mediterranean. The Russians attempted to

move down into China but were met with a heavy blockade, as the

population was already too big and too hard to feed. Left with no

other option, the Russians attempted to force their way in, ending

a long era of peace between the two countries. The other countries

of the world did not concern themselves with the Russian/Chinese

War because they all had to deal with their own regional conflicts.

Since the food supply could not keep up with the demand of the

people, countries closed down their trade routes, putting countries

with poor access to resources at risk of famine and disease.

Anarchy reigned supreme.

Earth had entered into

World War IV. Countries fought other countries, civil wars raged in

half the world, and neighbors would fight each other for access to

resources. Amidst the chaos, those with money immigrated to Africa

where the climate was ideal, the resources were plenty and the

population was minimal. Africa became a cesspool of the world’s

privileged, including politicians and scientists. Together they

decided that, in order to save the human race from collapse, they

needed to somehow end the ice age.

The decision was made to

collect as many scientists as possible and assemble them at the

compound by the Nile River. There, they were tasked with finding a

way to reverse the ice age. One of the scientists, a young

geneticist by the name of Rene Anfang was put in charge of creating

clones to use as security for the compound. When progress was

stalled on a way to end the ice age, Dr. Anfang and a few other

scientists began a revolution to change the objective of the

compound. The revolution was successful and the scientists embarked

on their new goal. The reset that we are in the midst of

today.