Prologue

When the sun descends, all of us live in shadow. It’s almost as if the earth herself is awaiting the demons that live inside all of us to emerge and she is giving us the perfect opportunity by drenching the world in to maddening darkness. At some point, men and women don’t need the shadows anymore.

After the Third Civil War in what was once the United States, our leaders decided that they had far too long neglected the needs of their own country. Almost overnight the country severed all communications and trade with every other nation around the globe. Our borders to the countries north and south were put on immediate lockdown with no traffic allowed in or out. Even domestic borders between former ‘’States’’ were heavily guarded and policed due to fallout and disputes that continued even after the war was over.

Due to the former government’s neglect of domestic production and currency, and all of the massive waste from the preceding conflict, it became very apparent after a few years that, without foreign imports or monetary relief, our resources would be depleted beyond repair. Death and seemingly incurable disease became rampant. Violence was an every day occurrence as mass slaughters were commonplace as what was left of the government tried to deliver what little food there was to the poorest and most decimated areas of the country. I’ve seen the pictures of the bodies of men, women, children and soldiers lying in the streets, painting the pavement red with spilled blood.

Perhaps the most famous photograph from that post-war era was that of twenty or so tattered, ragged and malnourished children (most didn’t even have shoes on their feet), some looking no more than ten years old. Their clothes were so covered with filth, it was impossible to distinguish any color but brown. Their weak, pathetic, bullet-riddled bodies laid next to an overturned government truck. Two soldiers looking like deranged creatures from nightmare wearing bug-eyed airborne disease masks and carrying deadly looking weapons stood over the young corpses. What was most shocking about the photograph however wasn’t the seemingly unnecessary slaughter of starving children or the destructive weapons the soldiers had slung over their shoulders. It was what the truck had been carrying. The supplies carried within were meant to feed an entire community of destitute, perhaps a population of more than one hundred. The contents: a solitary unlabeled, unmarked ten-ounce tin can and a half a loaf of bread.

This is what the remainder of our government had become.

The uproar once this photograph was published was overwhelming. There were cries and demands for government resignations and petitions for trials and executions. Our nation seemed on the brink of yet another civil war one that, surely this time, would decimate all.

Remarkably, the government leaders realized they were unfit and ill prepared to lead a people from near extinction. Our food sources nearly depleted our money worthless. We had only one place to turn: Science. For all its failings, the country still had the minds of some of the most brilliant men and women in the world living on its blood-soaked soil.

The largest summit in the country’s history was called and scientists and authorities from every discipline were called in: physics, botany, genetics, medicine, radiology, zoology, archeology, psychology, education and chemistry. Even experts in astronomy, math and medicine were asked of their opinions on the current situation.

It was decided that traditional democratic politics would not be enough to appropriate the grimness of the country, as it was them who had gotten us in to this seemingly hopeless state. The solution was that the new government would consist solely of the top scientists in their respective fields. Year-long studies were conducted on anything that could be studied: plants, animals, engineering, sociology, and weather patterns. The newly formed board made promises that people would finally have clean water, sufficient food and, above all, hope.

The country itself was literally divided in to eight Sections. Each Section was then given a grade according to which purpose it would best serve. Areas with fertile soil were given high grades for crop production. Areas with vast space were given high grades for animal grazing. Areas containing deserts or large mountain ranges were given low grades for food sources and animal holdings but were ideal for factories and resource production. Individual Compounds in each Section were then built and staffed by experts who had been chosen by the Scientific Board to oversee the daily activities and functions of each Compound.

Work began immediately to maximize natural resources. Precious metals and oil were brought to the surface. Crops were being grown at a record pace. People had a reason to work again knowing they’d go to bed with a full stomach. Within a decade, new life had been breathed into a people. The war was a distant, dull memory, as there seemed to be no more reason to think there’d be another revolution. Old, corrupt politics were a thing of the past. This new regime was the zenith that should be preserved. Choice and freethinking were the ideals of Neanderthals. After all, what happened when people had the right to choose? How many ideals and beliefs had been sacrificed for greed and laziness? Intelligence and common sense were our politics now. We had even given ourselves a new name born from an old language: Novus Octo.

Every science advanced beyond imagination, none more so than the field of genetics. Breaking down the DNA of nearly every living creature in Novus Octo, the most ideal genes could be isolated and refined. Animals and plants could be grown at will. New elements, ideal for the creation of raw materials and replacements for natural resources were constructed from seemingly out of thin air. Disease, once so wide spread and chilling, was now eradicated by a simple injection. Embryos could now be ‘’created’’ for parents wishing to conceive a one hundred percent healthy child; if you could afford it of course. Novus Octo would be the envy of the entire world if we so desired to let the rest of the world in.

However, it did not possess that desire. 

Our world was perfect. Why chance someone ruining all of the fun? And, if they did,...Continue Reading