Global Warming has reached it's peak, natural disasters are happening almost daily, people have over-populated the planet, wildlife is rare to find anymore. Life is becoming more difficult, electricity is no longer in use as much, clean water and food are becoming hard to locate, people are losing hope...and yet others continue to fight. Humanity rose to the top, and now it begins to fall.
The land is shifting from right beneath us, northern America has been split into three sections owned by separate governments, some of the previous States have completely broken off and become islands. Even other countries have experienced this change, some of which were completely swallowed up by the rising waters.
About 30 years ago was when these changes really began in full-force, although we could see it coming even back in 2009 and earlier. Yet we ignored the Earth's cries for help.
Space travel was a very real possibility at one time, and people were planning to completely abandon Earth for new planets. Although, once the sources needed for electricity and oil dried up, a lot of projects were dropped, including the vessels they were planning to send out into space.
Things are looking bleak all around us, no matter where you look. Is there any hope left for us other than that God or some higher entity will aid us? Although, even the idea that any kind of God could exist is beginning to diminish. After all, what higher entity would bother making a race as screwed up as us? All humanity has ever done is destroy and BE destroyed.
We can only hope for a miracle in this living nightmare.
Was what Kara wrote down in her notepad-journal as she sat in the corner, her light green eyes briefly danced across the dark lab room, then returned to the notebook. Although, her brain betrayed her, for she could no longer think of anything additional to write.
Kara was fifteen years of age, her hair was a bright reddish-orange color and hung down to her shoulders in a curly mess; her eyes were light green with hints of blue and gray around the pupils, she occasionally wore glasses; her face was rounded with a slightly pointy chin, freckles dotted her pale cheeks. She often dressed herself in plain tank tops and denim jeans, nothing outstanding.
Kara was the daughter of a researcher of global warming, her father helped to discover new possible energy sources. However, since solar power is out of the question now due to constantly cloudy skies, and usable water is becoming scarce, there's almost nothing left to use any more. Or so they thought.
She sighed, frustrated with the lack of thought in her mind, and cast aside the notebook and pencil, then just sat in the dark. The dim light flowing through the window on the wall above her made everything seem more depressing than it would if the room were pitch black, dark storm clouds blew past far above. Wind howled harshly outside, little droplets of rain water splattered messily against the glass. At least the windmills would be able to harvest a small amount of energy for later that night.
The city beyond was nothing like what most would imagine; There were no skyscrapers nor hover-cars, no sidewalks leading to rows of grand shops and stores, no crowds of busy people. No, instead, it was just an endless sea of metallic mobile homes placed in extremely close quarters. No one lived better than anyone else, nor was anyone necessarily poorer, all were equal when it came to the size of their homes, for there was no room left for mansions anymore. It all looked so much more like a military base than anything, and to think that most of America was like this now. Though no one really knew what the other colonies looked like behind the guarded borders, because even the United States had divided themselves as three separate countries and governments. The Central colony probably had the most advantage, though, being more inland and away from the rising tides.
Footsteps echoed from the hallway on the opposite side of the lab, and soon peaked in the face of Matthew Higgons, Kara's father. He took a brief glance around the room, then bothered to speak up, "Kara, are you in here?"
The girl remained silent in her corner, hidden by the tall counter in front of her. She had no reason to hide, she just didn't want to talk at the moment.
However, Matthew didn't seem to take the silence seriously, and stepped inside to investigate for himself. His long lab coat caught on one of the empty glass bottles on the counter-top as he passed by, and the bottle shattered noisily on the tile floor. Kara flinched at the sudden noise, and that gave off her location.
"Kara? What are you doing back there?" Her father questioned as he caught a glimpse of her bright orange hair, which always gave off where she was, even back when she was still a toddler.
Kara pulled in her knees close to her chest, arms wrapped around her legs, making her nice and conveniently small. She did not respond to his question.
The researcher's expression softened a bit as he approached his daughter, more curious than anything. Perhaps it was just his observational personality kicking in, subconsciously telling him to watch everything that's even mildly interesting and learn from it. "What's wrong, kiddo? You've been acting strange all day..."
Kara just shook her head slightly, then said, "It's nothing, really. Just..." Her voice trailed off into silence as Kara's eyes fixated on the end of a scar on her father's left arm, one of many from a painful memory. "It's just...I'm tired of living this way, I'm tired of having to constantly hide in these over-sized tin cans just to avoid being blown away by a storm, and I'm tired of the non-stop fighting over land and supplies that just about everyone is involved in...All my life things have been this way, when I was little, when mom died..."
Matthew nodded softly in understanding, "Don't worry; this is only temporary. I, and many others, are trying to help improve the future. Once we can find a new power source to draw upon for electricity, everything will begin to pick up quickly thereafter; machines will be built to purify the water better so that it's usable and to drain out the toxins, formulas to speed up plant and vegetable growth, possibly even something to stop these violent storms. Things will all get better with time, I promise."
And, although Kara liked the sound of what all he mentioned, she knew deep down that something would likely backfire in the long run. "You're right, things will get better. Just not right away..." She stood up off the floor now, and headed towards the long hallway to her room in silence.
The researcher remained in his lab, alone in the darkness. The lights above suddenly popped on as the reserve energy gathered from the windmills was put to use, still wasn't much, though. His gaze dropped to a lone book on top of a storage unit in the other corner, it's cover depicted an odd looking glyph-illustration of sorts, it's title was clearly visible; "Beliefs of the Ancients."
Matthew didn't believe in any particular religion himself, nor did he really care to, but things like that just sparked his curiosity to learn about. After a moment of hesitation, he gave in and began to read.
~~~
The next morning...
Kara woke up to the sound of bustling activity outside her bedroom door in the hallway, which was rather unusual. She quickly got dressed and brushed her hair, then went to investigate. Someone almost bumped into her as she entered the hall, along with many others, all seemed to be researchers or scientists of sorts. Kara finally fought her way into the main lab, only to find the majority of the crowd clustered in here. Her father was at the head of the crowd, lecturing about something or other. She waited and listened, trying to figure out what was going on.
"...but really, we've had a power source ever since the prehistoric ages. It's a clean, natural, self-replenishing type of energy, and one that we can control with using nothing more than our minds. Imagine the possibilities that are open to us if we learn to manipulate this power; machinery could be converted to run off this power instead, we could build energy-based barriers to protect against the weather, I bet we could even rebuild the very land we stand upon if enough people were there to help all at once!"
The crowd sounded off with a series of varied expressions of excitement or disbelief, some began to whisper amongst themselves.
"Where would said energy be found, though? Underground? In the air? Out in space?" Asked one of the researchers, obviously one of the few that probably doubted what was being mentioned.
"It's all around us, even here, right now as I speak. It's the very life force of Earth itself, or possibly even beyond --the universe's life. What did you think 'magic' was made of? This energy is the same that the various ancient religions used and manipulated long ago, the energy of the cosmoses."
Everyone fell to silence, some looked purely awestruck at the idea of something so vast, while others seemed a bit more skeptical over the concept.
"I mean, what would we have to lose if it didn't work after all? Nothing. We're probably in the worst possible condition as it is right now, so why not at least try?"
At last the group got a bit more active, people nodding their heads and muttering stuff to each other, some glowering at the stupidity of this idea. However, the majority of the researchers seemed to agree to at least attempt this theory.
After all sorts of planning and whatnot went on, Kara was able to force her way past the dissipating crowd, and to speak with her father. "What's all this about?" She asked.
"Changing the future, that's what this is about."
The next morning...
Kara woke up to the sound of bustling activity outside her bedroom door in the hallway, which was rather unusual. She quickly got dressed and brushed her hair, then went to investigate. Someone almost bumped into her as she entered the hall, along with many others, all seemed to be researchers or scientists of sorts. Kara finally fought her way into the main lab, only to find the majority of the crowd clustered in here. Her father was at the head of the crowd, lecturing about something or other. She waited and listened, trying to figure out what was going on.
"...but really, we've had a power source ever since the prehistoric ages. It's a clean, natural, self-replenishing type of energy, and one that we can control with using nothing more than our minds. Imagine the possibilities that are open to us if we learn to manipulate this power; machinery could be converted to run off this power instead, we could build energy-based barriers to protect against the weather, I bet we could even rebuild the very land we stand upon if enough people were there to help all at once!"
The crowd sounded off with a series of varied expressions of excitement or disbelief, some began to whisper amongst themselves.
"Where would said energy be found, though? Underground? In the air? Out in space?" Asked one of the researchers, obviously one of the few that probably doubted what was being mentioned.
"It's all around us, even here, right now as I speak. It's the very life force of Earth itself, or possibly even beyond --the universe's life. What did you think 'magic' was made of? This energy is the same that the various ancient religions used and manipulated long ago, the energy of the cosmoses."
Everyone fell to silence, some looked purely awestruck at the idea of something so vast, while others seemed a bit more skeptical over the concept.
"I mean, what would we have to lose if it didn't work after all? Nothing. We're probably in the worst possible condition as it is right now, so why not at least try?"
At last the group got a bit more active, people nodding their heads and muttering stuff to each other, some glowering at the stupidity of this idea. However, the majority of the researchers seemed to agree to at least attempt this theory.
After all sorts of planning and whatnot went on, Kara was able to force her way past the dissipating crowd, and to speak with her father. "What's all this about?" She asked.
"Changing the future, that's what this is about."
