The year is 2387. Earth has rapidly deteriorated into a ruthless and primitive place. Nuclear explosions in Russia and Japan killed off millions in 2385. A major tsunami carrying nuclear waste from those explosions wiped out the entire west coast of North America, leaving a toxic marshland. A deadly mutation of whooping cough exterminated most of South America, India, and Australia. This series of tragedies has resulted in Earth's continents being defined as a group of uninhabitable land masses, the largest livable part in North America being about the size of Alaska. Number 995 in Science Fiction on 3/26/2015 at 2:58 pm.