Dissonance - Book One

five

"Aveline, fair warning for what?" I'm growing irritated at her unresponsiveness.

"For everything you've experienced over the past couple weeks."

The words she said to me earlier about the tsunami triggering my fight or flight mechanism ring in my ears.

"So let me get this straight; the disasters over the last few weeks, they aren't directly related to climate change, are they?"

"Yes and no. Eventually everything that Dr. Ivanov predicated would have come to fruition, but by then, Earth would have been completely destroyed, not even the embryos would have survived. So Environettix took matters into their own hands."

I think back over everything I've endured: the tsunami, the earthquake, the flood, the blizzard, the pandemic.

"It was all done by Environettix?"

She nods.

"Technically, I'd say it was all done by the government, but really, at this point, Environettix and the government are one in the same."

"But how were they able to do all of that?"

"Oil drilling rigs, wind turbines, water filtering systems, the list goes on and on. So many devices throughout the world that the public thinks were designed to help us, were actually used to trigger these seemingly naturally occurring events."

"And when it's all over, the ones that survive?"

"Oh Ever, you're still too compassionate to fully understand. Don't you see, no one will survive, except the embryos and the caretakers that will make sure they're born."

"The caretakers?"

"Yes, government employees that signed up to take care of the fetuses. Memory re-imaging has been used to wipe their brains free of medical and technological knowledge so that they will be unable to inform the new race of what modern society had achieved. The carriers will survive for 13 years, until the child reaches an acceptable age to take care of him or herself, and then they'll die."

"Die? How?"

"They've been injected with a serum designed to kill them at the 13 year mark."

"Do they know that?"

"Actually, yes."

"Why would anyone sign up for such a thing?"

"You'd be surprised what people will do to be a part of something special. They get bragging rights that they were the last living human beings of the original race before humans were manufactured. Everyone wants to be someone, and for them, this is their chance. Plus, it allows them longer to live. Since they aren't allowed on the ship, they would have died once the disasters started. This allows them to live over a decade longer on Earth. The mine is set up with living quarters, food and supplies to ensure their survival until the world is wiped clean and they can resurface."

"Wait a minute, you said they aren't allowed on the ship? What ship?"

"Ah yes, the escape plan," she gleams. "You have to remember that all of this was conceived by real people, people with wealth and status that don't want to die. A space shuttle is waiting to carry 1,000 souls to their new destiny."

It makes sense. Billionaires, government officials, the upper echelon, people with power, money, status, greed and a lack of morals, have created a way to rid the earth of those at the bottom and to find a way to ensure their own survival.

"And what will happen to all those children, the ones that Environettix has created?"

"They'll have a fresh start. Earth will have a fresh start. Just think if we didn't have to find new energy, new resources? Back to square one, don't you see? We'll begin again, from the very beginning. The first time man discovered fire, created the wheel, invented penicillin; man will have a chance to do it over. No more pollution from cars or factories, at least not for a very long time. A clean slate. The earth's resources will last longer this way and humankind will be given hundreds of more years to live until they need to find the next solution."

"The bunkers," I say in shock, as the realization of what they've done washes over me. "They were designed to fail."

She nods.

"But why would they have invested all that money in building them?"

"In the beginning, the government's intent was good. They wanted the world to be prepared. But then several moronic politicians and celebrities began spewing information that global warming wasn't real, and a large portion of the public decided they would rather listen to the opinions of people they idolized than fact-based science. Essentially, they were killing the planet and in turn killing themselves, but they were too stupid to realize it, which is part of why many people at Environettix don't feel bad about what they're doing. There were those in the government who thought they could convince the public of the dangers of global warming, but when it became apparent that mankind was too ignorant to understand, or too stubborn to change their ways, they pulled the majority of the funding, redirected the money to what you see before you, and changed the project's end goal. However, appearances were key to their plan. So they finished construction, and since the bunkers were designed to fail, they half-assed the project. It didn't cost them nearly what the public thought."

"They knowingly sent all of those innocent people to their deaths?" I think of all the students with whom I went to high school. I remember the terror in their eyes. The fear at the end. It wasn't just them. All the schools, middle and elementary included, had faulty bunkers. They were all purposely sent to watery deaths.

"But there were children, so many children," I say, sickened at the thought.

"Oh, come on Ever. You're smarter than that. Hiroshima. The Holocaust. Governments have been sending children to their deaths for a very long time. Not to mention diseases that were designed to curb population growth. SARS, H1N1, Ebola, Smallpox, Coronavirus, even the flu; they were all government sanctioned, including the most recent virus, RFND-17, which you came face-to-face with. Frankly, you came a little too close for comfort. It was only supposed to affect those over 60, but it morphed and began infecting younger humans and even animals. It went its own direction once it was released, as pathogens often do."

"This is beyond immoral. There isn't even a word for what they've done. How could they do this?"

"Environettix doesn't exactly have a moral compass, nor do most government entities. They're driven by money and power."

"So what do I have to do with all of this? Why is Environettix after me?"

"It's not just Environettix that wants you. The better question might be; who isn't after you?"