When it became apparent that disaster could not be avoided and that
long-term survival on Earth after the impact would be untenable, both
private and public efforts were undertaken in every country to prepare
for the end and to ensure that some aspect of humanity might be given a
chance to survive. Governments mobilized to expand underground bunkers
in an effort to extend life for at least the chosen few, as well as
retain a record of humanity’s collective accomplishments in samples of
its art, science, and literature. Hardened bunkers built to withstand
nuclear strikes might survive the impact for the former players in the
deadly game of mutual assured destruction. Existing facilities were
expanded to the extent possible in the available time, and stocked with
sufficient food, water and oxygen to permit a few thousand people to
live underground for up to five years. Technology developed for space
and for use in submarines, including air and water reclamation
processes, hydroponics gardens growing genetically altered strains of
fast-growing wheat and other grains, and small nuclear generators
capable of providing the necessary energy to run the equipment that made
a self-contained closed environment possible, were utilized and
implemented with all due haste. In the U.S., military bunkers from the
cold war era were reclaimed and new ones built with a total capacity to
house perhaps 250,000 people. No attempt was made to make the selection
process of the chosen few democratic or fair. There was not even the
pretense of a lottery system that might buy the chance to cheat death
for a lucky few. In the end, the survival of the species was of
paramount importance and the decisions made were based on the criteria
set by a civilian government backed by martial law. Other countries
made similar preparations and, even in the poorest countries, some
effort was made to provide the chance for survival to a select few. All
of these efforts would be largely thwarted on the day of the impact, but
they represented a brave effort nonetheless at avoiding defeatism and
giving in to despair. Although the record must show that in the final
days anarchy ruled the world, perhaps there is some comfort in knowing
that humanity did not surrender to its fate or walk quietly into the
night like sheep to the slaughter but met its fate fighting to the end
for life.
[End on preview]
A
book trailer for this short story collection that includes my
unedited, "cold-reading" of the shortest story in the collection,
"Justice", is available
here.
The
excerpt above is from the book's newest short story, "Mars: Genesis
2.0" which is also available as a stand-alone Kindle story. (Click on
the cover below for more information.)
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