3000 Ad: A New Beginning

3000 AD:

A NEW BEGINNING

Jon Fleetwood

Writers Club Press

San Jose New York Lincoln Shanghai

3000 AD: A New Beginning

All Rights Reserved

© 2001 by Jon Fleetwood

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher.

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ISBN: 0-595-16729-2

ISBN: 978-1-469-70130-1 (eBook)

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Chapter 1: Scourge

Chapter 2: Exposed

Chapter 3: Transformed

Chapter 4: Destiny

Chapter 5: Council

Chapter 6: Preparation

Chapter 7: Las Angalas

Chapter 8: Approach

Chapter 9: Defense

Chapter 10: Search

Chapter 11: Chase

Chapter 12: Flight

Chapter 13: Danvar

Chapter 14: Surrounded

Chapter 15: Return

Chapter 16: Confrontation

Chapter 17: Victory

Chapter 18: A New Beginning

3000 AD: A New Beginning

Chapter 1: Scourge

Lightning flashed outside as tentacles stung Paolo repeatedly. He looked across the room in vain for his family. They were nowhere in sight. He thought about the beautiful days that he had spent with his family that he could never return to now. He had fled to the mountains to live in seclusion with his wife and three children hoping to stay away from the Scourge that was attempting to eradicate the new human race.

But the Scourge was spreading fast. Now there was only death and destruction that finally caught up to him as well. He lived in the mountains on the west side of America. It was on that side of America that the Scourge had begun just one year ago, slowly spreading east. He knew that he would fall asleep soon, that he would awake convulsing, and that he would transform into the creature that was attacking him at this very moment.

His skin burned intensely at each point of penetration. The venom pounded through his veins and brain with every beat of his heart. Pain grew quickly and was driving consciousness from him. The screaming in the next room was vague and growing weaker now as his wife succumbed to the same venom that was destroying him. Paolo drifted on the fringes of reality. He was aware of the smile still on his face as he finally blacked out.

* * *

Paolo slowly regained consciousness. He could not open his eyes or move at all. He was in complete paralysis, not convulsing at all as he had expected. His body was completely numb and none of his senses were responding. Only his mind was active.

He did not understand why he was still alive. All reports detailed that once the venom took over that was the end of life. Every infected person would turn into a monstrous creature that lives only to repeat the cycle over and over again until the entire human race is eradicated and a new dominant species would take over America.

He did not feel like a monster though. He felt completely normal except that he could not wake up from the paralysis that remained in complete control. A paralysis that would not break no matter how much he struggled with his mind. He could still feel the internal battle raging in his body for control. However, the battle was distant and he felt that he would win.

The very thought was inconceivable. How could he possibly beat the Scourge that was destroying the new human race? How could a simple man from Las Angalas withstand it? What made him so special or was this just another part of the disease? Lulling its victim into submission before taking control. Nobody may have reported this part of the transformation because the victim would still seem unconscious even though they may actually be awake and even aware of their surroundings.

Paolo had no answers. No concept of time passing around him as the internal battle raged. He could not even feel whether there was warmth on his face from sun pouring through the window that should be in front of him, or if it was still storming at night just minutes after he had become unconscious. He tried again to shout to the world that he was still alive, but to no avail.

Nothing came to him at all except remembrances from the past as he passed his time. Paolo was 40 years old now. He grew up on the beautiful shores of Las Angalas overlooking a vast ocean. Beaches stretched for miles and miles out of sight in either direction. A paradise for all who came to see it. The crystal pure water lapped the shore quietly and lay so peaceful and calm.

It had taken 200 years to return the area to this pristine state. Now, heading into the 31st century, the new human race had almost completely erased the mistakes of the past. The mistakes that had led to the downfall of the human race and to the near eradication of the race from America. Mistakes that were thought to be completely in the past now. Failed ideas where society was based on a financial system, growth, and social classes. Ideas that prospered through the 20–27th century but that were doomed to fail because at their core the ideas were fatally flawed. Paolo could not believe that his ancestors had been so short sighted. His ancestors should have seen that growth cannot be prolonged indefinitely, that social class systems cannot be constantly maintained, that money is arbitrary and only holds worth as long as the perception of worth can be sustained.

This was ancient history now. All school children learned their ancestral mistakes beginning in the year 2720 when the social system crashed and the old human race as it was known disappeared forever. At that time, the Trade Era came to an end. The world’s population had peaked at close to 50 billion people. A population too enormous to maintain or expand further and a population that allowed no privacy, no individuality, no disorder.

All of that changed in 2720, though. At that time, realization began to set in that world’s enormous Stock Markets that held most people’s money and assets could no longer sustain growth. The basis for the stock market had been for all companies to be owned by people who would buy shares of each company. The sale of each company’s shares raised money for the company to use to grow and invest in increasing the company’s sales. In return, the company paid the person holding the share a dividend for investing in the company. Even more importantly, the value of the share would increase as the company increased in value by increasing its sales and profits.

This worked very well early. There were a lot of undeveloped countries, strong population growth, and inflation to allow for high volume growth that continued through 2700 when the world was completely united under one trade organization. That was the pinnacle of the Trade Era. Companies had grown and merged and continued to grow. Countries were uniting as borders and races grew together in relatively peaceful harmony. Differences had to be put aside as the human race covered the world. There was no place left to grow and expand except for space where repeated colonization attempts of the Moon and Mars had failed in time due the complex issues of maintaining a society with almost no natural air or water.

The Trade Era inevitably crashed in 2720, though. The old human race realized that growth was dead. Companies had expanded to sprawling, global entities with millions of employees. Newer companies were therefore insignificant and no longer noticed, or purchased quickly and incorporated into a global company. Since global population growth was zero, overall company sales and profit growth only increased at the same pace as inflation growth at a typical rate of less than 3%.

This realization led to mass hysteria in 2720. There was no longer a reason to believe in the Stock Markets anymore. The overall return could never be higher than a low yield saving’s account. People pulled all of their money out of the Markets at a blistering rate. In less than half a year most companies in the world had closed down and chaos reigned as money and employees both fled from the collapsing system.

At that time, the financial system, growth, and social classes all became meaningless. By 2721, millions of people were dying from mass starvation. The five major agricultural corporations on each major continent had dissolved as well. Fools! They were forced to conform to the concept of supply and demand for food as well. The companies therefore only produced and sold just enough food to last for less than a few months at a time. Food ran out. Transportation and communication systems collapsed. People had taken too much for granted. Relied too much on the flawed system that they had fostered for generations. No safety net was in place to stop it from happening except ineffectual governments that had grown too huge and sprawling to react fast enough. By the time the bureaucracy started to react, it was too late and it was all over.

It was an awful time. The saddest time in history. Death spread across the world as starvation killed millions and then billions. Bodies began to pile up and spill into the streets. Cannibalism spread almost as quickly as starvation, which led to the rapid spread of the plague that had broken out as a result of the unsanitary conditions and unburied decaying bodies. No system remained to fight the disease that spread quickly around the world.

It only took two years. Two years to wipe out the world as it was known. Two years to crumble a civilization that had taken almost one thousand years to build. Two short years and yet two of the longest years recorded in history. My God, Paolo thought, two years. In two years it was all over. Almost fifty billion people dead. Wiped out by starvation and plague. Only people who were living in seclusion on three of the five massive agricultural areas on each continent remained alive. They had managed to organize and defend their borders against the possible plague carrying people that stumbled into their territory seeking refuge. The other two agricultural communities were not so lucky. They had not heard about the plague and were wiped out by carriers that they had unknowingly welcomed.

When it was all over, only a few million people were left alive. The people who remained in the agricultural areas remained there for fifty years without venturing into the outside world. So the new age began. People encouraged each other to group together and follow their passions and interests. New structures were built and history was recorded so mistakes from the past were not repeated. People with transportation skills began building new vehicles for agriculture first and then exploration and construction. Twenty years flew by and the new human race had just begun reorganizing.

People from the country formally known as the United States began exploring west from the agricultural region in the center of the country. Groups broke away and founded new communities in Danvar, Hustan, and Las Angalas, changing the names of the past to reflect a new beginning.

The new human race began rebuilding the world. After one hundred years, most of the old dead civilization had been removed from the new communities. The old communities had fallen into ruin by the time they were found and their remains were piled in mountains of scrap away from the new buildings to allow nature to finish the decay process that had already begun. The new communities were then established outside of the mountains of scrap that were then used as valuable resources.

Communities reestablished communication with each other in the former United States of America, which was now simply called America. Finally, after over 200 years, civilization was returning to a form of steady, normal growth again.

However, the principles for society were completely changed. Social classes and money were gone. People worked each day on jobs as needed. Only a few people from each community worked in an individual industry. At the end of the day, they took their products home or to local markets and distributed them throughout the community to anyone that wanted them. If too many people from a community worked in any one industry, the youngest workers automatically changed to different industries as needed by the community.

The process was extremely difficult at the start and took over 50 years to begin to run smoothly. Once started, though, it worked amazingly well. Every person lived equally and was each responsible for bettering their communities, not dependent on the whims of politicians whose vote was for sale to the highest bidder. The only government that remained was a body of five elected officials from each city that worked together with other cities. These elected officials were elected for life and only dealt with transportation and communication with other cities and exploration to attempt to re-establish communication with any other humans that remained alive after starvation and the plague.

Las Angalas had grown to become the largest city in America. Paolo had lived there his entire life until the Scourge had begun. He and his family had been one of the lucky ones that had escaped. They had fled to the mountains east at the beginning of the Scourge. If reports were correct, Las Angalas was gone now. Swallowed by the Scourge that methodically encircled the city and destroyed it. He did not know if Las Angalas was really gone or not, but if the creatures had reached the mountains, then it was almost certain that they were winning.

Paolo began to regret the complete non-violent lifestyle that they had chosen. No weapons existed anymore to fight the creatures. Only a few thousand guns remained that were hundreds of years old. Las Angalas could have easily been taken without a fight. If that happened, the creatures would now number in the millions and could spread rapidly across America. Paolo could not believe this would ever actually happen. But he also did not believe that he would be found in the middle of the mountains either. If the creatures had found him, he could only image that the creatures had conquered or assimilated Las Angalas over the last year and were slowly moving across the mountains during summer to begin attacking the rest of America as well.

He could only hope preparations had been made. That weapons had been made in time to combat the horrible death that would encompass them all. Paolo knew his family had already been taken. He vaguely remembered his wife’s screams just before blacking out. A tear spilled out of the corner of Paolo’s eye as he remembered the past fifteen years spent together. They had grown to be best friends and then lovers over a five-year courtship that culminated in a marriage on the beach at sunset. She had and will always be the most beautiful sight he could ever behold. He could not imagine her any other away.

Paolo suddenly became aware of the tear streaming down his face. The fog that was covering his mind was slowly lifting away. He could feel the paralysis slowly loosening its grip. He wondered what consciousness would finally bring. If he would be unchanged and unaffected by the multiple stings covering his body or if he would be transformed into one of the creatures that did this to him and his family.

He knew he would find out soon. He still could not force his eyes to open or any muscles to move yet, but his senses of smelling, hearing, and touch had all returned. Tingling was spreading throughout his body. He could hear the thunder crashing outside and the wind banging the door repeatedly against the wall. Rain whipped into the living room where he was lying and Paolo realized that his back and legs were soaked. The spray from the rain covered his face and he was aware that his body was chilled by the rain and the cold mountain air. Very little time must have passed since he had blacked out, probably no more than an hour or two at the most. Surely not enough time to complete the conversion, he thought.

Slowly Paolo was able to pry his eyes open. As he became able to peer through the mist and the darkness, Paolo could see the pine ceiling of his house again. He had never really looked at the strong wooden ceiling as closely as he was now. A ceiling that he and his oldest son had worked hard to construct as fast as possible. It had taken almost two months to build the house by themselves without any aid while they were living in two tents that they had brought with them. He had built the house hastily as winter had been fast approaching, especially in the high mountain elevation that they had chosen to be as secluded as possible. He never dreamed he would be found here or he would have kept moving over the mountains east and never stopped until he reached the shore on the other side of America.

It was obviously too late to worry about that now. Lightning flashed and the room lit up briefly. Something blocked the doorway but he could not make out what or who it was. Paolo shifted his eyes in that direction but still could not bend his neck. Silhouetted in the doorway was just a shadowy figure. Lightning flashed again and he saw the creature. Arms stretched to the sky with tentacles waving as if it had just completed a ritual sacrifice to the gods. It seemed so surreal to know that he and his family were the living sacrifice. Tears were now streaming down his face clouding his vision. When lightning flashed and he was able to see again, the creature was gone. No doubt gone to wander the mountains to find other hapless victims like Paolo and his family that tried to hide from the Scourge.

Paolo lay there motionless for what seemed like an eternity before he could move again. The wind and rain continued the whole time and night would not end. Paolo worked continuously trying to bend joints that seemed to be locked in place. Muscles were screaming not to move, to not be wakened from their slumbering paralysis. He could only just barely turn his neck from side to side now.

At the same time his muscles were beginning to work again, though, his mind was beginning to drift. He could no longer focus on what was going on around him. The storm lost its fury. The lightning lost its intensity. A fog was setting in over his mind. A strong sense of security and well-being was descending on him. Everything must be fine after all. Everyone was telling him that anyway. Everyone just wanted him to relax, move on with his life, and head east. The rest of them would join him later.

Who are you? Paolo murmured. What do you want?

There was no answer. His voice sounded loud and unwelcomed in is head, but the soothing sensation quickly smoothed over the feeling and he felt calm again.

I need to move. I must move, Paolo said getting up slowly. His muscles tried to scream in protest, but that feeling was quenched immediately. He looked around. The house was in disarray, torn apart by the struggle the night before.

Paolo wondered where his wife was. He turned and headed to the bedroom. He had been attacked in the living room checking on the noise that had woken them. Katrina had tried to lock herself in the bedroom after she had seen the creature attacking him. The creature had broken through the bedroom door effortless, though.

Paolo walked into the bedroom. Katrina was lying on the bed. Her eyes were closed and she had over ten welts protruding through her ripped clothing. Welts where tentacles had lashed her repeatedly injecting venom into her body. They still looked fresh. He brushed her hair away from her face and was amazed at how peaceful she looked.

Katrina, Katrina! Paolo nudged her, but she would not respond. He stood transfixed momentarily. Torn between his love for her and his need to leave. She was breathing slow and steady and he could see that her transformation was already starting. Her beautiful form was swelling and distorting as it began to become one of them.

Paolo looked lovingly at her with a morbid fascination of what was about to happen, but he could not stay. He turned and walked away without looking back. He knew he had to keep moving. He had to move east. He knew his wife would follow soon. Hopefully, his children would follow, too. He stopped and wanted to turn back to see his children. He couldn’t understand how he had forgotten about them. He wanted to turn and look, but a forceful voice sent him shambling forward again out the door into the lashing wind and rainstorm.

The wind whipped him violently back and forth. Rain soaked him to the bone in no time. He was sure he would catch pneumonia if he stayed out here long. He longed to go back to the warmth of the cabin. Paolo thought about starting a roaring fire in the fireplace and waking up his wife. He had spent many nights lying with his wife in front of the fireplace. A warm feeling flitted through him, but was torn away by the wind as quickly as it came.

He heard the voice again lulling him into submission and boosting his strength and energy. He was amazed at the soothing effect that he felt. The rain and wind were as intense as when he left the cabin, but it no longer had the same effect anymore. He felt more and more in control. A communal sense of well-being had drifted over him. He began to feel stronger and stronger, beyond any human strength that he had ever had. An unwavering feeling of love began to sweep over him.

What do you want from me? Paolo repeated to the emptiness surrounding him.

A communal voice forcefully responded in his head, We don’t want anything. You are one of us now. We must continue and be ready to lead the human race forward.

I don’t understand, Paolo said. Who are you? What’s happening to me?

The voice responded, In time, you will understand everything. It is too soon to explain now. Your transformation is only in its infancy. Be patient. Go east.

Paolo still did not understand. His own mind was too fuzzy now. The voice was becoming louder and seemed to be consuming him. He wasn’t even sure what it was saying. Paolo threw his arms up in the air and yelled in his final show of frustration and defiance. He looked up as lightning flashed again and saw his tentacles waving to the heavens.

Chapter 2: Exposed

Drew gazed across the desert in all directions.

Our water supply is running out, he said glancing at the map. It looks like we should be coming to a river soon in about an hour where we can stop and refill.

Mark walked up beside him. This desert’s killing me. How much farther do we have to go before we see something alive again?

Too far and we aren’t going to get there until we get moving again, Drew said folding up the map and returning to the rover. Let’s get going.

Fine, Mark said still standing there. I didn’t care anyway. It’s not like I was trying to look at the map when you walked away. Do you think I followed you up here for my exercise?

Drew ignored him and went into the rover. Mark followed him slowly still muttering to himself. When he finally made it back to the rover, they continued their long trek across the desert.

They were just one of fifty individual scouting parties sent out to see what happened to Las Angalas. Half the parties left from Hustan and half left from Danvar. None of the parties knew which paths the other parties had taken in case they were captured or worse. They had left Danvar and gone south along the eastern side of the mountains. They had been traveling for one week now, crossing the mountains slowly last week, and heading south-west across the desert hoping to strike the coast on the southern side of Las Angalas and then heading north to scout the area.

The rover moved over the desert silently at a maximum speed of 30 miles per hour, much faster than the treacherous mountain crossing. The rover had large wheels that were soft and a cross between a large wheel and a belt that allowed it to cross rugged terrain fairly easily. The engine was a standard 30th century solar and kinetic energy engine. Solar energy initially drove the rover and stored extra energy in the battery until the rover’s own kinetic energy took over.

Drew admired the work the people in Danvar had done when they had built the rovers. He only wished they could have built the rovers for both speed and all-terrain ability, but he realized they would have needed more time to do that and time was something they didn’t seem to have enough of anymore. Even at 30 mph, though, they would still reach Las Angalas fast. The desert only stretched for another three hundred miles or so and would only take about another day or two to finish crossing.

Drew looked ahead on the horizon and finally saw the water they had been hoping to find. They carried plenty of food to last them for almost a month if necessary, but water took up more space and was therefore harder to store for long periods. They had especially drunk a lot of it during the brief time they had been crossing the desert. Even with their air conditioner, it seemed hot and dry in the rover.

They re-filled their water supply and continued. The rover crawled across the desert. Drew and Mark took turns driving the rover as always, often locking in the steering and cruise control and letting it cruise across the desert at 20–30 mph. This made the monotonous desert crossing a little more tolerable.

They had seen no signs of life in the desert at all since they began crossing it. Summer was starting with a strong heat wave that seemed to have sent everything into hiding until after the sun went down. However, that wasn’t going to hold true today. Drew slowed the rover to a crawl now. He peered into the horizon, but could not believe what his eyes were seeing.

Not yet. The sun was sinking now toward the horizon and Drew tried to cover his eyes so he could see farther.

He nudged Mark who was dozing beside him. Do you see anything strange?

Mark rubbed his eyes and stretched. See anything where? He was obviously irritated at being woken up in the middle of the desert where they should have been able to set the cruise control so they could both sleep undisturbed. After all, the rover was built with a warning system and would shut itself down and automatically lock the doors if something dangerous happened. What are you talking about? We’re in the middle of nowhere. The only things out here are snakes and scorpions and even they won’t come out in this sun.

Drew ignored his complaining as usual and pointed out directly west. What I’m seeing isn’t too different from a snake. But if it is a snake, it’s the biggest snake I’ve ever seen.

Mark was looking now and he set straight up in his seat staring. He stared long and hard as the sun slowly sunk to the horizon. What he saw was unmistakable. It can’t be. It can’t be, he shook his head in disbelief and then looked at Drew who nodded to confirm.

The rumors are true, Drew said sadly. How many do you see?

At least fifty. Maybe more, Mark said squinting trying to count quickly. We’ve got to turn back and warn Danvar immediately.

Warn them of what? Everyone knows the creatures are out there. We have even almost caught some of them trying to cross the mountains, but only in very small numbers so far. Our job is to find out if everything west of the mountains is lost, and especially to see if Las Angalas has been taken. We can’t turn back yet.

Mark slumped in his seat. I’m not cut out for this. I never should have volunteered. Mark was in his late forties now and volunteered for the mission because he was one of the few that actually thought the threat was real. Most of the other people in Danvar still didn’t really believe they were threatened. Sure they had heard rumors. Everyone had heard the rumors.

How could you lose contact with a city as big as Las Angalas and not hear rumors? I’m ready to turn back. If they’re roaming the desert, we know the rest is lost. I think we’ve all known all along.

No, Drew had a grim look of determination on his face, yet a sad look in his eyes. After a moment he managed a slight, ironic smile. We’ve got a job to do and we’re going to do it. Drew was a member of the Full Council. There were about two hundred people in the Full Council. Only the seven member Insider Council was above them; however, the Full Council members still called themselves Insiders anyway since they thought they knew about as much as the Insider Council knew. He had already known the creatures would be here, but even he was surprised how soon they had encountered this many of them.

In a way, he was kind of sorry for Mark. The decision was made in Danvar to send fifty separate parties to scout Las Angalas. However, the Insiders knew what they would find and that they were going not just to scout but also to destroy the creatures if possible. He had argued that only the Insiders should go on this mission, but everyone agreed they could not afford to send one hundred Insiders on what could be a suicide mission. So they had asked for volunteers and agreed that they would have to wait to tell the volunteers the plan until the last possible minute. Until there was no turning back.

That time had come. He looked at the creatures barely visible and knew they would be safe enough here tonight locked in the rover. Even if the creatures did approach, they wouldn’t be able to break in without some type of weapon. All reports said they did not carry any weapons except for their tentacles, which was all they needed if you weren’t protected. He hoped it wouldn’t be the last night he would be safe, though. Drew stopped the rover and shut down everything except for the air conditioning.

We’ll camp here tonight and continue toward Las Angalas in the morning, Drew looked at Mark and slumped now under the burden of the truth he had withheld.

Mark saw the