Beyond

Prologue - Year 6074

Until 6074, the world was a beautiful place. So much technology had been invented that no one had to do very much and everyone was free to spend their time doing what they wanted. The education was perfect and students finished school within seven years. College was unnecessary. Animals were ever plentiful and children were, too. As the international law decreed, each adult must marry at the age of thirty and have at least two children. That wasn't the only one, though. The other ones were much more important to the world. Everyone followed these rules, of course because of the strict punishments that could follow. People who did not follow these rules were sentenced to jail for years or... they were killed.

But the laws mostly lead to good as they were formed in the hopes that all evil in the world would stop. And for a while, it worked.

Then the war.

It lasted for almost one hundred years and over one-hundred-thousand lives were lost every year in America alone. Teenagers all over the United States were shipped off to war and were killed just as quickly.

Then, every male over the age of twelve in America was sent off and only five-hundred-thousand made it out.

New York City smoldered. California exploded. Arizona disappeared in an earthquake. New England was swallowed by the ocean. Hawaii erupted in lava.

Whole races were wiped out. Cultures vanished.

Family abandoned family. Mother abandoned child. Soldier abandoned soldier. Leader abandoned their own people.

Innocent children were massacred at school. Mothers were killed at work. Towns were burned.

Countries swarmed countries. People killed people. Blood seemed to run over the world fiercer than any tide and stronger than any lion.

Then there were only five million people left on the Earth.

Parentless children, family-less adults. The survivors came together as the world's surviving leaders came together to discuss the world's fate.

They quickly decided that they had to leave. There was nothing left on Earth for them. Jonathan O'Leary, president of the United States, quickly pointed out that they had nowhere else to go. Thus, the leaders decided that they would tell the people that they planned to reach a new Earth and that the scientists had detected one. The leaders told their lie, and everyone believed them.

Why wouldn't they?

The war had left everything scarred with tragedy and death.

Everyone so desperately wished that they would find this new Earth.

So, country by country, everyone left the Earth. Abandoning all things that seemed of no importance. Things that once were vital were lost in the madness.

Almost one month before the evacuation, twenty-three scientists got together. Each one a representative of the twenty-three surviving countries. These scientists also knew the truth - the leaders had lied to the world. But they kept their mouths shut. If the leaders were going to lie, they must've had a good reason to. So the scientists decided to be cooperative.

"What will they do once they reach their destination?" Asked one, trying hard keep his voice even. And where is the destination? Seemed to be the silent challenge. The glare in his eyes. The power in his clenched fist. The anger that bubbled out with his words.

"Yes!" Another one called. "Already people across the world are forgetting the math and science they were taught when they were young."

Almost everyone nodded in agreement.

The leader up in the front rubbed his chin, thinking. He had been taught in every form of science, but no form of science or math could tell him how to save humanity.

"We will write a book!" He exclaimed suddenly. "We will send five copies onto five different barges and once we reach our destination, we should at least have one. I do not think that the surviving printers have enough ink to make more." He wrinkled his forehead, thinking once more.

A couple of the scientists nodded, but the others frowned at him disapprovingly.

"What if none of them make it?" Asked one.

"We could place a copy of the book into each ship's logging computer. They have enough memory and are flawless." Suggested another. This man was known to the name as Justin Blankenship. He was one of the many inventors of the wireless car. A perfect machine. Running only on the power of the sun's light, and needed no battery, engine, anything.

But anyway, this man was smart and he knew that the logging computer could only work as long as it had a signal to Earth. Though he knew this, he kept his mouth shut, willing no one else to point out the flaw. If they didn't point out his error, and their destination wasn't too far away, he might be considered a hero.

The leader nodded. "Each generation of new children will be taught everything we have found. Each child must learn every field of science and math, in case we lose everything."

Thus, five copies of this book were sent on five of the most protected barges and each ship was given a copy in their logging computer.

And over time, five barges were lost and as time passed on, the space fleet made their way through the galaxy and the signal to Earth was lost. They could no longer access the logging computer.

The things that were once known to all man, were not.

Things that everyone should have been remembered were forgotten.

And soon, no one knew what temperature or centimeters were. No one knew what animals were. All they knew about was how they had to use special boots to stay fixed on the ground and not float off, and that they would all die if they did not find a new planet to survive on. They knew how to count up to ten and how to make friends.

They didn't understand that the little food left came from the people before them. They didn't know why they were traveling and where they came from. They didn't even know about the war. The war that had killed thousands upon millions of people.

It seemed like all humanity is lost.

But in every dark place, there will always be a light.

In every evil soul, there is a heart.

In every night sky, there is always a star.

For there is always hope.