Exitus

2178. Munich.

Our historians say that human kind has come a long way. Incredibly long. A century ago, people thought that life would be of intense ease, with technology achieving unfathomable reaches, making the way of life luxurious and effortless at the same time. But they forgot to factor in one fact that was staring them right in their faces. The planet was dying. It was already terminally ill a century ago, and it is on the brink of death now. Exitus, the scientists and geologists have named it. The event of the obliteration of the only known planet that could have sustained life.

But the human brain and it's far reaching limits have found solutions to almost every problem that has hampered a linear lifestyle. Mankind has always found it cumbersome to make use of detours. Every time. In every place. For everyone. So, for those elite few who could afford any piece of technology that the scientists could conjure up, there was devised a special kind of escape route from this inhabitable (and inevitable) hell-hole. A machine which could transport you back to a time where situations were more favourable and existing was not such an effort. This machine was not, in any way, supposed to be thought of as a 'time travelling conduit'. No. With this contraption, you could only go back to a time which has actually been witnessed and recorded in the pages of time. Thus the machine only worked when a specific event was put into it. You couldn't just key in any date and hitchhike through time. You could, however, go to a time like the time when an Asian country was split into two, or when Kurt Cobain shot himself, or when the Grand Canyon dried out to be as it was known to the world.

Praeteriatum, they called it. Simply, ‘past’ in Latin. As with every new invention, there were certain core uses that made it more trustworthy to the general public. And so, the Governments all over the planet allied and laid down a mandate as follows:

“Urgent.

Concerning: Law Enforcement throughout the planet.

A mandate has been passed by the World Governments Alliance that all jails are to be immediately closed down. Praeteriatum will be made available to all law enforcement units throughout the planet. All inmates, tried and imprisoned, have to be transported back into a time when conditions for living were unfavourable, and left there. The severest punishment that can be given is to cast a man away to fend for himself in a time when staying alive is dangerous and death is torturous. For reasons of safe and effective working, the WGA has laid down a list of times that have to be hard-wired into each Praeteriatum, and inmates can be sent to one of those at random. This decision is final and binding on all law enforcement units throughout the planet, effective immediately.

Attached: List of past events for inmates to be sent to.

• The Great Drought of 1930.
• World War II, circa 1939 to 1945.
• The Great Chinese Famine, circa 1958 to 1961.
• Syrian Civil War, circa 2011 to 2020.
• Asteroid TH-92467 strike on the Arctic Circle, 2121.

LAW AND ORDER, FOR THE GREATER GOOD.”

Thus, by simply tweaking the use of this new age machine, people felt safer and therefore, sales increased. It was a win-win situation.

•—~—•

Lukas lowered his hat and pulled up his overcoat collar. He had to do this with one hand because he was wiping blood off a huge fucking dagger inside his coat with the other. Pointed objects were his favourite kind of weapons. Knives, daggers, spears; hell, even a sword if he could land one. He never understood the point of long-range guns and grenades and the like. Killing people is an art, a precise act against nature stemming from a twisted mind. Enjoyment is eminent only if you are near enough the victim to hear him scream, to witness that gut-wrenching loss of light from his eyes, to revel in the masterpiece that is created by destruction. How ironic! Thy art is murder.