The Beginning of the End: Book One of The End of Children

ISBN-13: 9781539010920 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 360 str.

Fredrick Hudgin

Opis

Some graduate students discover how to open a wormhole after one Three graduate students at Stanford University-Lily Yuan, Kevin Langly, and Douglas Medder-discover how to open a wormhole after Lily has a dream about it. When the students open their first wormhole, an alert is sounded by the wormhole detectors that were planted on the moon fifty thousand years ago when humanity was raised from apes to humans. The alert causes humanity to be evaluated by the Galactic Species Control Board, the New Species Enforcement arm of the Ur. The Ur is the Confederation of Sentient Species in our galaxy. Wormholes would allow humanity to begin spreading and exploring the rest of the galaxy. We are evaluated to see if we have progressed enough to begin trading and interacting with the other peaceful species who already inhabit much of the galaxy. The evaluation examines us to see if we have accomplished the five basic milestones of acceptance into the Ur: ending war, controlling capitalism, ending pollution, ending resource depletion, and ending overpopulation. We fail to pass their evaluation. Because there is no way to stop us from developing starships using the wormhole technology and spreading our warlike attitudes and greed throughout the galaxy, humanity is selected for elimination. This is done by releasing a virus that has no other side-effects beyond turning off our ability to have children. The dream was planted in Lily by someone who wanted humanity to be evaluated before we were ready. This would cause us to be selected for elimination. But no one knows who or why. Suddenly humanity is part of a who-done-it to find out who planted the dream, why they did it, and how the elimination decree can be reversed before the last of us dies out. Without the need to preserve our world for our children, civilization begins to unravel. We plead with the Ur to give us a second chance, but no one answers our calls. We continue building starships to escape our doom and populate them with uninfected clones while the worldwide pharmaceutical industry tries to defeat the virus and create an artificial uterus to clone uninfected children. Sterile habitats called SHIPS are built by seven different governments to house the uninfected children until they virus can be defeated or the starships completed. Wormholes are used to send drones to nearby solar systems to see if they have worlds capable of sustaining human life. Wormhole technology escapes the US and proliferates around the world. Suddenly every hostile regime, despot, and terrorist has the ability to deliver anonymous bombs without notice or warning anywhere they choose. Doug escapes the prison where the three students are being held and connects with the antigovernment underground. With a group of scientists at UC Berkeley, Doug invents a wormhole detector. The underground publicizes the wormhole weaponization development our government is desperate to keep top secret. The underground publishes the plans to build the wormhole detector, giving the technology for free to everyone, worldwide. Suddenly everyone can see where a wormhole originates and ends. This stops the anonymous bomb delivery and covert spying. The US government puts Doug on the FBI's ten-most-wanted list. Doug escapes to Canada, which gives him amnesty in exchange for his help in building peaceful uses of wormhole technology, technology the US refused to give Canada. As public pressure mounts for their release, Kevin and Lily broker a deal with the US government-both of them are hired by NASA at phenomenal salaries, the three students are submitted for the Nobel in physics, and all charges are dropped against Doug. Doug declines his Nobel in physics, feeling that the technology has been perverted by its weaponization. This is the story of how it all unfolds. Book 1 - The Beginning of the End Book 2 - The Three-Hour War Book 3 - The Emissary

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