In the year 2078, a group of environmental radical (it always starts with some type of radical, doesn't it?) developed a virus (wait for it) that would change humanity itself forever. Unlike previous suggestions for "furry viruses" or "elf viruses" or "mutant viruses," however, the virus released by the radlicals forced those affected by it to "devolve." "Devolution," is essentially the opposite of evolution. Those affected by the virus rapidly changed, within a period of six months after the initial infection. These changes consisted mostly of the affected individual rapidly reversing on the evolutonary scale, sometimes physically, sometimes mentally, sometimes emotionally, sometimes all three. It was not uncommon for those affected to believe that they were in the medieval ages, though most of those affected effectively became cave men.
The virus, which was scientifically called the Evolutionary Revrsal Virus (ERV) or Devolution Virus (DV) later came to be known as the Cave Man Virus (CMV) for obvious reasons, did not affect all individuals the same though it did usually send most indivuals backwards evolutionwise, but there were a large number of cases (thousands against billions) who did not "devolve" and merely recovered with no further signs of the virus. Of those infected who recovered, about a third developed capabilities they did not previously have. Sometimes these capabilities included heigtened IQs, better perception, faster rate of thought, even completely heightened mental capcities. Other cases had individuals who stronger and/or faster for no apparent reason, or those who had an improved equilibrium (better sense of balance).
These individuals were nothing, though, compared to the remaining individuals who ended up developing even more amazing abilities. Everything from the classic psionic/psychic abilities such as telepathy, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and others to more bizarre abilities such as individuals who could apparently tap into a force so vastly different from the other recorded abilities that many began calling it magic and those who used it mages or wizards or witches or warlocks or sorceresses or some such.
Still more mutations occurred, some of them readily apparent, some of them not. Eventually the individuals responsible for the virus were found and hanged without any trial whatsoever. In the end, four-fifths of the world's population had been infected, and half of those individuals had "devolved." It took fifty years for order to be restored but restored it was. A new, worldwide government was formed.
This government, tough to act at first, quickly set about dealing, or at least trying to deal with, the individuals who it considered "unfit for society at large," Meaning anyone who showed some alteration, any alteration at all, that could be attributed to the virus.
Several plans had been proposed, reviewed, and rejected before the heads of this new govrenment had finally acted, which took a year in itself. All those individuals considered "unfit" were gathered up, somehow clensed of all personal meories and any memories that could be used to eventually develop space-worhty vessels, and launched into outer space on specially designed vehicles, that, after their first launch, could never possibly be used again, even as raw material for a new vehicle.
The individuals did have a destination however: a set of planets incredibly distant from Earth that probes from before "the new era" had found to be habitable for permanent human settlement.
Nearly a hundred years had passed before more "mutants" began turning up worldwide at an astronomical rate. The Powers That Be (the government) found that they could not gather them all together as they had with the first batch, and eventually developed an alternative method that was immediately put into action.
Said method mostly consisted of an "adventure" program where "volunteers" were selected to be launched into outer space to explore other worlds, make contact with the previously seeded worlds, or perform some other task that they were suited for. Not just "aberrations" were selected for these missions, though. Criminals, suspected rebels, anyone that could be seen as a threat, or even just an insult, to their power was put into the program. This method was much quieter, though slower, than simply performing a repeat of the original "cleansing" of the world's population. Somewhat surprisingly, it also had an unforseen side effect: individuals who willingly signed up, many of whom the government didn't even really need or want to get rid of, though most were accepted anyway.
Meanwhile, back in the present...
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(Posted Wed, 28 May 2003 04:07)
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