When The Lights Go Out

Prologue

                  

The year is...well, humanity has lost count of the years. It is believed that it is somewhere in the 91st millennium however, but people don't care about time any more, it simply remains as a painful reminder of what life used to be like. It all started on August 6th 1945. 80,000 innocent people were killed when the world's first atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. 80,000 women, children, men, animals, 80,000 lives whipped from the planet in seconds, leaving only charred shadows in their place. This was the first time man discovered his power, and was the day the earth truly began to die. The man who invented the weapon that reduced two cities to dust was famously quoted recalling a line from Hindu scripture, "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds...", and everything that humans did from that day onwards only proved the point Robert Oppenheimer made.

In the centuries that followed, wars began to cover the surface of the beautiful, green and blue planet. Entire nations were slaughtered for petty resources like oil and fresh water, brother turned against brother out of jealousy. And then, Oppenheimer's dark legacy was once again dragged up. The world's collection of nuclear armaments, kept simply as a 'deterrent', were simultaneously launched in a cataclysmic event, the 60 minute war. No one is completely sure what caused the first divulging of launch codes and the turn of the authorisation key, this is of little concern when over 23,000, 5 megaton missiles are flying through the air. The aftermath was terrible. The surface of the Earth was irradiated, cities were left in ruins, vast expanses of land were turned into thick sheets of glass by the heat and intensity of the bombs, and the death toll was unimaginable. Those who survived retreated into vast, underground vaults to live out the rest of their days under artificial light and in darkness.

Then they came. It was man's dream to discover intelligent life in the universe, until weaponry took presidents, but it had found them. Fortunately, the people of the Denann were peaceful and came to Earth to flee the collapse of their own planet. They brought with them such wondrous technology, they helped the humans scrub their atmosphere of radiation, they showed them how to regrow plant life and revive extinct animal species, the Denann improved medical care tenfold and the average life expectancy tripled. Within a decade of their arrival, the Denann had taught us how to build superstructures, called Dyson spheres, around local stars to harness natural fission and fusion for energy, people had moved out of the vaults and returned to their cities looking to the future once again. And so began an era of peace, or so it seemed. If technology had the power to heal and save lives, it has the power to cause pain and kill. The vaults they had once called home were appropriated and turned into weapon development labs by power hungry humans. In secret, powerful instruments of war were constructed and then used against our saviours. And so is human nature, the need to exert dominance over everything. A violent war broke out between the two races, but both were well matched. The Denann with their thick skin and quick reflexes used weapons resembling something mankind would have once called magic, and the humans exploited their talent for causing pain. The war was a stalemate and the casualties were high, if the fighting were to continue then both races would have been pushed beyond the brink of extinction. And so the universal treaties were formed, diplomats from both sides signed the agreement to call a ceasefire and stop the fighting before it was too late. Once again, the races were in harmony. Together, they rebuilt their civilisations and turned their gaze upon the stars.

For millennia, the two united races explored the universe, draining stars with their Dyson Spheres, setting up colonies in far off galaxies, interacting with other, stranger races. But once again, the Humans dark past resurfaced, alien races learned of their warlike nature and tried to push them away, but their technology was inferior compared to that of the Denann and Human. What began as a simple restriction to Human and Denann movement, rapidly turned into a senseless massacre of any who dared stand in the way of their 'exploration'. Mankind torched entire planets with their great battle barges, wiped out numerous races with their devastating machines of war and drained solar systems of resources, leaving only broken shells of planets in their wake.

This may seem like a tale of the monstrosity that is Human nature, but, from the 'evil' is born the 'good'. There were those who opposed the eradication of the universal species, those who fought back against the search for power, groups who searched for a way to collapse the councils who decided the course of the cull. And so they came to realise, the only creatures that posed any kind of threat to the Human and Denann alliance, was Humans and Denann. One of the old civilisations, called the 'Latins' or something, had a saying, "Si vis pacem, para bellum" or "If you want peace, prepare for war". It seems human have never changed. And so, war was what happened. Resistance groups rose up, diplomats killed in their sleep by Ark weapon wielding assassins, huge frigates were captured and driven into each other, council chambers and secret meeting halls were bombed or gassed. The reach of the races was cut back by its own people. By the time the fighting had stopped, it was far too late. The war effort had cost trillions of lives. They returned home to their planet and were shocked by what they had found. The mother star that had supported and protected the planet had been drained by Dyson Sphere technology, the plants and animals that had been abandoned had evolved to its new habitat and became strong and hostile, the atmosphere had escaped and the oceans had dried up. Earth was a baron lump of rock, floating through space. There was no life here on the planet for the Humans and Denann, so once again they looked to the stars for salvation. That was when they noticed their impact on the structure of the universe.

The hunt for power had spent the energy of Galaxies, the Milky-way was empty, every star had been sucked up to fuel ships and power colossal weapons, planets had been drained of all resources, all life, save that which made it back to Earth, had been eradicated and what energy they had in reserve had been put into making the dying planet bearably habitable again. There was nothing left. Humanity and Denann kind had ensured their own mutual destruction. And so, the weapon labs of old were dismantled and turned back into habitation vaults, an artificial atmosphere was created with old tech and the OxyNet was constructed, the planet was lit with Eternalight technology and an extensive network of Candelion lamps was sent up into the sky to simulate the light of the mother star. And so the great races slunk back into the artificial light and darkness of their bunkers to contemplate the evil they had brought to the universe and to watch the last remaining galaxies drift slowly out of sight.

Most tales would leave it there, the evil races have learned the error of their ways. They have been reduced to a speck of their former power, their continued existence relies on ancient steam power, the only source of water is artificial and uses machinery too primitive for current minds to understand and the flora and fauna is alien to them. But, as the Humans once used to say...Karma is a bitch. And one hell of a bitch it was.

Long after the last stars had burned out and galaxies had drifted beyond detection, after the final satellite and chunk of space debris had burned up in the OxyNet or hammered into the Earth's surface with power equivocal to that of the Nuclear bombs that started this whole mess, long after all of this, Humans discovered that the Denann were not the only alien life to call their old planet home.

It started with hunting parties going missing, this however could be attributed to the violent plant and animal life striking back. This quickly escalated into entire vault cities falling off the grid and not responding. Reports came flying around the system about strange creatures with razor sharp fangs, slashing claws, silver blood and thick, chitinous carapaces. People refused to leave their shelters, fear of, what was named simply, the Hive, hung heavy in the artificial air. The creatures kept above ground, and the Humans and Denann stayed underground, only sending out small parties to forage and hunt.

And this is the current state. A planet that is a mere shell of its former glory, two races who are mere shells of their former glory and an unknown species of fierce, hungry, violent creatures who have pushed the races to the point of extinction. Oh, how the mighty have fallen...