Genre: Sci-fi/Thriller
When we fall
Historically, it is common for human civilisations to fall or at the very least be severely devastated. The Rome empire, the Mayans, the Indus – the list goes on. Even in more recent times, events like the world wars and pandemics have led to many societies almost collapsing. The ‘invasion’ that occurred on the 25th of January 2102 would be another of these key events. The only difference was, this key event didn’t just destroy one or two civilisations, but instead almost destroyed humanity itself. Just like any other catastrophic event, no one had saw it coming in the moment but in hindsight it was bound to happen.
Just like many civilisations before their doom, us humans had become compliant. The ‘invasion’ event occurred twenty years after the world had completely converted to sustainable energy, seven years after a ground-breaking stem cell treatments were globalized which had severely reduced all diseases, and one year since ‘floating islands’ were released into the public. Truly in a time of peace, and with no real predators or even competition, humans had no need to be wary. They had been on the top of the world for centuries, and now with their latest advances in technology, there really was no reason why they needed to be cautious. But as the saying goes, the higher you go, the harder you fall.
The ‘invasion’ refers to a one-sided massacre that took place over weeks of that date. It took a mere 2 months for over 99.5% of the human population, 12 billion individuals, to be slaughtered, reducing us to a mere 60 million global population. It was sufficient to say, that the human race lost that war.
The creatures that they battled, and that we continue to battle, have been given many names. ‘Aliens’, ‘Monsters’, ‘Demons’ and eventually ‘Cacex’. The last term shortened from the Latin words Cacumen (Peak) and Extinctors (Destroyers) which arose from how they had toppled us from the top of our universe. When the Cacex had first landed on earth, 90 percent of the human population were still hopeful that we would win. They didn’t believe, or more like couldn’t believe, that we could lose to another species especially in the year 2100. Our technology had far surpassed anything we had ever thought about in the past. Global warming, supply shortages, aging populations and many other worldly issues had been solved by the most intricate technology and the most advanced humans. Falling from our peak was an idea that was laughable to many.
By the time you’re reading this, you would have long realized that the ‘invasion’ itself was not a surprise to those in power. They had months to prepare which may seem like a lot of time, but perhaps in the grand scheme of things, it was no time at all. The leaders of the world knew this wasn’t enough time to evacuate the people, as there really was no place to evacuate in the first place. The only way we could have escaped would be to leave earth itself, but there were neither enough spaceships nor resources to get more than a few thousand to survive in space. Not that it would have helped, as it seemed like these creatures were hell bound on colonizing our civilisation
With no other options, this led to the formation of project Euler. Many consider this project to be cursed, a project that would make the gods angry. Yet it was also this project that saved us when no gods could.
It was inevitable that only a select few knew about this plan for the following reasons:
• Preventing public panic: It would be harder to complete the plan if people knew what exactly was happening. If they knew what the world leaders were planning for.
• Preventing public outrage: Project Euler was not the most ethical of projects. If the public knew of it, there was little chance they would have accepted it.
Even the creators of the project understood just how immoral their plans were. Yet the fact that the project was completed could tell you just how desperate they were. How much they wanted to prevent the destruction of mankind. It’s likely another hundred years from now, future humans, if there are any left, would shake their heads at the lengths we had undergone, just like we once did to previous inhumane acts within history. But really, what was more human than our drive to stay alive? If we hadn’t done what we did, would there even have been any humans left to even criticize our actions.
This book wasn’t written to justify their actions nor was it to criminalise them. Instead, it desired that you treat this book as another page of humanity. To showcase true human stories. To showcase human mistakes.
Originally, I had wanted to write a book that would showcase what had gone wrong. As if by writing it, I would be able to turn back time.
[…]
Regardless, it was far too late to have such desires.
The only thing we could do now, was learn from the mistakes of others.