Apocalypse Past, Part 1
Elzora's Diary, Part 1
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Apocalypse Past, Part 1
2107 AD: After centuries of struggle, mankind finally learned to live with itself in harmony. World peace was declared, and worldwide celebrations marked the beginning of a new era of prosperity.
Or, so we thought. Later that same year, strange electromagnetic emissions were detected worldwide. There seemed to be no pattern in location or frequency of appearance of these emissions, but in a matter of days they were found on every continent, the highest concentration in Europe. Despite best efforts to analyze their source or meaning, the answer came too late: a week after the first electromagnetic emission was detected, a strange opening appeared at the location it was detected. A portal of some kind, as if the very fabric of space was tearing open -- it was an invasion!
In less than a month, there was little of civilization left. Some found it ironic that it was only when humanity finally gave up war and disarmed that we most needed to be good at it, but it was neither a military nor any kind of superior technology that we faced. Whatever they were, the aliens were the stuff of nightmares -- terrors to freeze your soul.
Ironically, the Allied States of America that had been the most fervent opponent of disarmament seemed to have suffered the least of the devastation. It was rumored that the aliens were setting up colonies in Europe, using the people who lived there as slave labor while they begin to repopulate the Earth with themselves. However, while America's infrastructure and population centers had been decimated, there was nothing like forced slavery here.
There were many terrifying things that came through the gateways, yes, but none of them here seemed to have any kind of hierarchical structure or other signs of macroscopic organization. In fact, they seemed almost animalistic in their behavior, though they were clearly predatory, ruthlessly intelligent, and nearly impossible to kill. A steady stream of refugees from the east, though, suggested that it was probably safer here than anywhere else, despite the monsters that were now roaming the countryside.
Yet, hope remains. No one knows why the demonic-looking beings didn't exterminate us outright, but whatever the reason, mankind still survives and still has a chance to retake the world of its birthplace. We are not without resources; the centuries of conflict and three world wars brought many advents of science and technology. Recently, they had even begun to fully map the brain at the neuron-level, and in combination with genetic engineering had been able to open many untapped powers in the human genome, powers that in an earlier century might have been called supernatural. Who knows if these can possibly give us an advantage over our adversary? And there is always the most intrinsic resource of all, human ingenuity and the will to survive and adapt. So, there is hope.
But it will not be easy.
(from the journal "Apocalypse Past", Smithsonian Resource Archive, Baltimore, MD)
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