Chapter 2
News from overseas came from only one source now, Satellite radio. The nation's grand corporations couldn't survive in the new order with its statial interests and broadening gaps between social circles. CSPAN and other government channels gave sporadic updates on the government's project they called Operation Lock Down. CNN was no more, too many reporters had been killed, lost or disapeared.
And the news from Europe and the Middle East was alarming. After the nuclear attack on America, the president destroyed the remaining tribal countries of the middle east, according to one report (from a team who didn't survive retrieval), "Bagdad is a sea of broken glass." Other reports constantly used the term 'glass' and it was commonly believed that the nuclear fires that had incenerated the remaining Terror states had caused the sand to melt into glass.
What was more alarming (unfortunatly) was that after the initial attack, the worst news was that the world's natural stores of oil were on the brink of decimation. The western world caved in under its own weight and had essentially been sent back to pre-industrial age living conditions. The plagues that followed devastated the portion that had survived the first five years of lack of food and no work.
America had left tens of thousands of troops scattered across Europe too, and they had been left to their own devices after America mysteriously (to the world anyway) pulled support from the Global platform. Germany was now an unofficial state of America when the troops learned there was no way home, they took the government by force. France was scared, but had its own problems, as did the rest of the World.
In America things were changing. The President addressed the nation some ten years earlier and announced the start of the operation Lock Down. Until the threat was completlely neutralized, the country would be under a form of martial law. Taxes would be paid, but the control of the local government's was being laid directly on the state. This lasted all of a year when the food shortages caused the cities to revolt against the states. Rebellion manifested and the state government's disolved. The central government was too slow in responding to the widespread dissolution and could only constitutionalize the new city-state system that sprang up in the wake of the bloody rebellions.
Operation Lockdown mandated that the country be first safe from external threats. The President and Vice President felt that this could be affected by creating barriers that would be efficient without constant guidance from the populace. At first, the best way they found to keep the borders safe was with a strong military force. But with martial law in affect, the Vice President urged the President to make use of dangerous science to help create 'natural' barriers. Creating several firms, backed by government funding breakthrough science took a surge forward. Nano-technology, genetics and cybernetics all made revolutionary leaps forward, without the hinderance of the old congressional system.
The lack of fuel was quickly remedied. Using a mix of genetics and nano-technology it was possible to synthesis crude oil from organic materials. This was the first generation of things created with the new technologies. Food wasn't a problem in America, after the inception of synthetic gasoline. The city-state regime's thrived and flourished. The companies the Government had founded to help with Operation Lock Down partitioned and were made 'public'. These public corporations made second and third generation genetics and nano-technology more effiecient and created the first barrier that Operation Lock Down used on our Southern Borders.
Using nano-technology, it was possible to animate sand and dirt and give it a rudimentry intelligence. Planted along the walls of the Mexican border, any living human that tried to enter the country without proper documentation and cybernetic installations, was attacked and would literally disapear into the earth. These monstrosities were self-replicating, but wouldn't migrate beyond the zones they were destined to live. The affect was amazing. Nothing could destroy them, and they could be controlled by a small group of men. Operation Lock Down had its first success.
The same technology that made the Muddies, was then used as a construction medium. Buildings took on faerie tale porportions and shapes. The cities of America transformed into Organic islands in the sea of land. Each building with its own unique programable nanites.
Genetic engineering was taking strides into new areas. Resurrecting long extinct animals became a constant practice, and it wasn't uncommon for a farmer to have several dinosaurs to use as farm stock. Third generation genetics took a step to solving the dangers of the synthetic crude oil had (mostly just pollution concerns) and created hybrid animals that were completly genetically engineered to perform just one or more function. Implanted with cybernetics and nano-technology these beasts became the new transportation, Humming Birds made to the size or an old motorcycle, implanted with servo's and bioluminescent lights were called Jump's and were a common form of transportation. Family sized vehicles were made from anything from feline material to completly manifest forms that were purly from the imagination of the genetist ( a popular model for a family vehicle was the Octendrix which was made from material from a tentacled beast called 'an octopus' It featured the ability to babysit children as well as safe travel for the whole family. I'll let your imagination figure this one out).
It was third generation genetics that allowed another breakthrough for Operation Lock Down. The nation's coastal areas were huge gaps in the defence of the nation. Nano-technology refused to work properly with sea-water. and it was believed that there would be no way to control where the nanites would go. A global ocean of American Loving water was in its own way appealing. It was decided however, that the chances for the technology to be lost to enemies was too great a chance. Instead the creation of a breed of frogs was incepted. These frogs, dubbed Slaadi by their ironic resemblence to the fictional charachters, were created from the splicing of amphibian DNA with that of a human being. They laid eggs, which hatched into slimey tadpoolish babies. The Slaadiwere educated in hierarchial tiers. The drones were the lowest caste, and were controlled by Drogs. The Drogs were fanatically loyal to the next tier up which were the Shamans. The Shaman's were the only caste that knew what their existance was. They created the taboo's that kept the frog-men along the coasts of the country. The slaadi would attack and destroy any vessel or human-submersible that the Drogs and Shaman's (thus the government) deemed dangerous.
The slaadi nation required a force of humans to keep tabs on the shamans and drogs, but the system was incredibly efficient. Made doubly so by the fact that the leaders of the Slaadi were born and raised by the government in special camps. The fanatism of the Shaman's kept the Slaadi nation loyal.
It was third generation genetics that spawned new races of humans. People would sometimes choose to have their appearance changed, but it wasn't until later that it was realized that these changes were passed on in genetic material. So the children of a woman that changed herself to an elf, were elves. Trolls, Elves, and other manifest forms sprang up, creating new societies.
Cybernetics also made strong strides forward. It became required that every infant born be 'chipped' so that they could be identified as American. Other implants and cybernetic enhancements came from surprising sources. Apple Computers made use of an implant to create a system to enjoy your music literally anywhere.
Military use of cybernetics was uniform. Anything from human interface to full fledged robotic armor became common. City soldiers were a step back from complete cyborgization, but had several interfaces and an occasional arm would be replaced with some kind of weapon. Genetic manipulation was more common on the local scale, whereas genetic and cybernetic manipulation was used more frequently in the central government.
It was the cybernetic movement that allowed the now ailing vice-president to enter the immortality machine his companies had been perfecting for him. The machine gave him a cybernetic interface that he could manipulate from inside the machine, while the machine itself, using a genetic vitrol and nano-tech medical gelatin kept him alive. The machine was a prototype, and was the size of the lincon memorial. The president and the Slaadi Shaman's, as well as a small delegation from the city-state were present when the Vice President entered the machine. The Slaadi enshrined the machine and began worshiping it as a god.
And the news from Europe and the Middle East was alarming. After the nuclear attack on America, the president destroyed the remaining tribal countries of the middle east, according to one report (from a team who didn't survive retrieval), "Bagdad is a sea of broken glass." Other reports constantly used the term 'glass' and it was commonly believed that the nuclear fires that had incenerated the remaining Terror states had caused the sand to melt into glass.
What was more alarming (unfortunatly) was that after the initial attack, the worst news was that the world's natural stores of oil were on the brink of decimation. The western world caved in under its own weight and had essentially been sent back to pre-industrial age living conditions. The plagues that followed devastated the portion that had survived the first five years of lack of food and no work.
America had left tens of thousands of troops scattered across Europe too, and they had been left to their own devices after America mysteriously (to the world anyway) pulled support from the Global platform. Germany was now an unofficial state of America when the troops learned there was no way home, they took the government by force. France was scared, but had its own problems, as did the rest of the World.
In America things were changing. The President addressed the nation some ten years earlier and announced the start of the operation Lock Down. Until the threat was completlely neutralized, the country would be under a form of martial law. Taxes would be paid, but the control of the local government's was being laid directly on the state. This lasted all of a year when the food shortages caused the cities to revolt against the states. Rebellion manifested and the state government's disolved. The central government was too slow in responding to the widespread dissolution and could only constitutionalize the new city-state system that sprang up in the wake of the bloody rebellions.
Operation Lockdown mandated that the country be first safe from external threats. The President and Vice President felt that this could be affected by creating barriers that would be efficient without constant guidance from the populace. At first, the best way they found to keep the borders safe was with a strong military force. But with martial law in affect, the Vice President urged the President to make use of dangerous science to help create 'natural' barriers. Creating several firms, backed by government funding breakthrough science took a surge forward. Nano-technology, genetics and cybernetics all made revolutionary leaps forward, without the hinderance of the old congressional system.
The lack of fuel was quickly remedied. Using a mix of genetics and nano-technology it was possible to synthesis crude oil from organic materials. This was the first generation of things created with the new technologies. Food wasn't a problem in America, after the inception of synthetic gasoline. The city-state regime's thrived and flourished. The companies the Government had founded to help with Operation Lock Down partitioned and were made 'public'. These public corporations made second and third generation genetics and nano-technology more effiecient and created the first barrier that Operation Lock Down used on our Southern Borders.
Using nano-technology, it was possible to animate sand and dirt and give it a rudimentry intelligence. Planted along the walls of the Mexican border, any living human that tried to enter the country without proper documentation and cybernetic installations, was attacked and would literally disapear into the earth. These monstrosities were self-replicating, but wouldn't migrate beyond the zones they were destined to live. The affect was amazing. Nothing could destroy them, and they could be controlled by a small group of men. Operation Lock Down had its first success.
The same technology that made the Muddies, was then used as a construction medium. Buildings took on faerie tale porportions and shapes. The cities of America transformed into Organic islands in the sea of land. Each building with its own unique programable nanites.
Genetic engineering was taking strides into new areas. Resurrecting long extinct animals became a constant practice, and it wasn't uncommon for a farmer to have several dinosaurs to use as farm stock. Third generation genetics took a step to solving the dangers of the synthetic crude oil had (mostly just pollution concerns) and created hybrid animals that were completly genetically engineered to perform just one or more function. Implanted with cybernetics and nano-technology these beasts became the new transportation, Humming Birds made to the size or an old motorcycle, implanted with servo's and bioluminescent lights were called Jump's and were a common form of transportation. Family sized vehicles were made from anything from feline material to completly manifest forms that were purly from the imagination of the genetist ( a popular model for a family vehicle was the Octendrix which was made from material from a tentacled beast called 'an octopus' It featured the ability to babysit children as well as safe travel for the whole family. I'll let your imagination figure this one out).
It was third generation genetics that allowed another breakthrough for Operation Lock Down. The nation's coastal areas were huge gaps in the defence of the nation. Nano-technology refused to work properly with sea-water. and it was believed that there would be no way to control where the nanites would go. A global ocean of American Loving water was in its own way appealing. It was decided however, that the chances for the technology to be lost to enemies was too great a chance. Instead the creation of a breed of frogs was incepted. These frogs, dubbed Slaadi by their ironic resemblence to the fictional charachters, were created from the splicing of amphibian DNA with that of a human being. They laid eggs, which hatched into slimey tadpoolish babies. The Slaadiwere educated in hierarchial tiers. The drones were the lowest caste, and were controlled by Drogs. The Drogs were fanatically loyal to the next tier up which were the Shamans. The Shaman's were the only caste that knew what their existance was. They created the taboo's that kept the frog-men along the coasts of the country. The slaadi would attack and destroy any vessel or human-submersible that the Drogs and Shaman's (thus the government) deemed dangerous.
The slaadi nation required a force of humans to keep tabs on the shamans and drogs, but the system was incredibly efficient. Made doubly so by the fact that the leaders of the Slaadi were born and raised by the government in special camps. The fanatism of the Shaman's kept the Slaadi nation loyal.
It was third generation genetics that spawned new races of humans. People would sometimes choose to have their appearance changed, but it wasn't until later that it was realized that these changes were passed on in genetic material. So the children of a woman that changed herself to an elf, were elves. Trolls, Elves, and other manifest forms sprang up, creating new societies.
Cybernetics also made strong strides forward. It became required that every infant born be 'chipped' so that they could be identified as American. Other implants and cybernetic enhancements came from surprising sources. Apple Computers made use of an implant to create a system to enjoy your music literally anywhere.
Military use of cybernetics was uniform. Anything from human interface to full fledged robotic armor became common. City soldiers were a step back from complete cyborgization, but had several interfaces and an occasional arm would be replaced with some kind of weapon. Genetic manipulation was more common on the local scale, whereas genetic and cybernetic manipulation was used more frequently in the central government.
It was the cybernetic movement that allowed the now ailing vice-president to enter the immortality machine his companies had been perfecting for him. The machine gave him a cybernetic interface that he could manipulate from inside the machine, while the machine itself, using a genetic vitrol and nano-tech medical gelatin kept him alive. The machine was a prototype, and was the size of the lincon memorial. The president and the Slaadi Shaman's, as well as a small delegation from the city-state were present when the Vice President entered the machine. The Slaadi enshrined the machine and began worshiping it as a god.