Emeros X

Prologue

Studies have shown that when an individual is in love, his or her body releases a series of chemicals: phenylethylamine (PEA), norepinephrine, dopamine, oxytocin, testosterone, and many endorphins.Years passed with little attention to the study. People became more reliant on the state of technology, finances and education. Within several decades, the homelessness rate was barely one percent. The national minimum wage set at ten dollars an hour, and the technology industry was flourishing. Educational standards were set higher, creating a system that enabled students to retain critical information while still holding onto their imaginations and creativity, allowing industries to grow exponentially. Divorce rates however, were at an all-time high, with eighty percent of couples divorcing within ten years.

The nation was in an uproar. What could possibly be done to lower the divorce rate? Many suggested not getting married at all; they claimed that love was unnecessary. Dr. Emeros, a biological chemist with a divorce looming in his future, had a different approach. After months of research, he and a team of forty developed a small pill. This pill, when ingested at the right time, causes an individual to release the chemicals attributed to love, affectively making him or her to fall in love, and when taken daily, stay in love. Tests were made, using human subjects between the ages of thirteen and forty. Regardless of the subject’s age, gender or sexual orientation, the study showed that one hundred percent released the chemicals appropriately.

Dr. Emeros announced his findings and within months, the product was sold to most of the populace who were in romantic relationships. Divorce rates plummeted as expected. However, the nation became dependent on the drug. Not a single couple lasted for a year without the aid of Emeros X. To them, organic love, as it was now called, didn’t exist. The problem with the drug quickly came into consideration: how would the next generation fall in love? They soon came to a consensus that, once the child had fully undergone puberty, they were to be paired up with another based on opposite genes linked to the immune system (MHC), physical type, and sexual preference. A week before the pair was scheduled to meet, both would be taken to a building in their town, placed in a room and told to take two pills a day. At the end of the week, they would be placed across from each other, affectively starting the process of falling in love. Every couple used got married by the time they turned twenty five, with no divorces filed.