The Red-Hot Mistake: Prologue

Author's Note: I am changing the year from 2056, to 2109.

Earth is the birth-place of mankind. However, mother Earth only has so many natural resources to give us. We were careless about how we handled them and the world payed for it, dearly. We did not care that they were running out or when they would. This was the mentality that led us into World War III.

Many factors played into the beginning of World War III. The first signs that something big was coming was with Russia. Of course, people knew what was going on, but they cared little for what was happening. Russia had invaded and annexed all the countries it had occupied during the era of the Soviet Union. Then, they invaded Afghanistan again, with much greater success this time. Though there was little confrontation, they had forced out all U.S. forces from Afghanistan and had effectively eliminated virtually all terrorist threats. But, they did so with little regard for civilian lives. Not long after having an iron grip around Afghanistan and the former satellite states of the former Soviet Union, Russia then declared that the New Soviet Union was established.

In addition to Russia aggressively expanding its territory, China too began to become more powerful. China began to expand its industry extensively and this caused many nations to become reliant on China for manufacturing. They began to expand deep into Africa, by promising the building of new infrastructure and factories, which would create desperately needed jobs. But, they would then take the natural resources of the region for themselves. Additionally, in the less passive areas of Africa, China began to expand as well, with very high civilian casualties. Many nations of the UN were very displeased with the actions of China and Russia, which led to a very tense political standoff. But, that quickly changed from a political standoff, to a military standoff.

The stage was set for what would become the deadliest war in our history. No one knows who is responsible, but on September 2, 2109, World War III began and ended. Within the day, more than half of the world's population would perish in nuclear fire. I was only twenty five when it happened. I was in Boston when I heard the reports of nuclear weapons hitting the capitals and major cities of numerous nations, including our own. I was leaving MIT when I saw the missile coming straight towards the city. But, from the opposite direction, I heard the roaring engine of a jet heading towards the missile. The jet was going incredibly fast, most likely as fast as it could. The pilot rammed their jet into the missile, sacrificing themselves to protect the city and save it from the nuclear apocalypse that would cover the majority of the world.

I cannot believe it has been nine years already. Nine years since that dreaded day where civilization as we knew it collapsed because of the war. Fortunately, many people in the surrounding area did survive and we were able to come together to try and recreate society. However, the problems of the war still plague us today. We do not face the problem of having to feed too many people, but we do lack the raw materials that keeps our technology going. We were fortunate that many scientists, because of the universities in Boston, as well as up and coming students managed to survive the war. Sciences, such as Engineering, Chemistry, Geology, and Astronomy had becoming highly valued and were very important to us if we were going to survive. We had to starting thinking long turn about our survival and we needed to come together to create a plan which could hopefully solve our problems.