LF Friends, Will Travel

Innovation is Impartial - Chapter 8

Date: 2424 AD

CHOCK

The sound of the axe echoed through a silent forest, the thud of steel upon wood and the splitting of the log silencing any fauna who might have made a sound in this wilderness. Well, wilderness was technically an incorrect way to describe anything on this planet, Vereka had been a desolate wasteland of blue and red rock before the Terrans had arrived here and terraformed it into a livable location. Technically, nothing was 'wild' as everything had been originally brought here from Earth, over a hundred years ago.

"The good news is, there's been no report of any kind of transmission to non-humans. AI are obviously immune, and no uplift has been infected by Project Genesis yet. That's the only good news. Quarantines have broken down, AI can't protect anyone outside the main cities, and the official death toll stands at 47 million. It's higher, I know it's higher, we just haven't found all the dead yet."

The radio played as Dr Johnathan reached for the next log on the pile, working quickly and efficiently to chop up the firewood. He might have been a professor, but all Terrans of his age knew at least a little bit of how to survive. He was just a kid when the Great Colony Rebellion had happened, he'd grown up as temperature dropped and countries collapsed.

Canada, that's what his home had once been called, back when Terrans had only just left their solar system, before things became governed at a far larger planetary scale. None of the original countries existed anymore: They say that the dinosaurs had been wiped out by a single meteor and its plumes of dust blocking the sun, and the 'rods of god' that had been dropped on Earth during the war had numbered in the double digits.

It was almost... nostalgic, watching society and everything Terrans had created collapse on itself once more.

"If you're showing symptoms, the official guidance is to quarantine yourself as all hospitals are overwhelmed. I'm not going to lie to you: There is no treatment. The lifespan increases from the drugs we have are measured in hours, and they're being depleted rapidly."

The voice being broadcast on the 'radio' was also familiar: Dr Fletcher had listened to their show many times over the last ten years, his mornings were filled with the voices of Peaches and Vivian. The duo of human and feline uplift had a popular show on the planet, although now only the shaky sad voice of the uplift remained.

"The AI, they're trying their best, trying to use what they can to build as many stasis chambers as we can, but... don't have enough time. They're giving them out by lottery. One in ten. We have enough stasis chambers for one in ten, and then, and then we get to watch the rest die."

Dr Johnathan Fletcher slammed the axe down once more, the log splitting with ease as the setting sun danced between the trees around him. They were as isolated as you could get without heading into space, the nearest settlement a tiny grouping of buildings a hundred miles north. Only the wildlife, wind and river made any noise out here.

"There's other groups who are making chambers, at Heldever Dam and a few in the plains near Keltona. But... there's no protection there, the AI government isn't able to get the power supplies out that far, and I've heard stories of people fighting over supplies, terrible stories."

He picked up the logs, placing them into the simple box he was going to use to carry them back to the campfire they'd made for the night. They had no electricity, none of the AI powered creature comforts most of humanity had gotten used to. The most 'advanced' thing they'd brought was the case of medigel and the radio he was listening to right now to keep up to date on what was happening, everything else as silent and undisruptive as possible.