J U I C E
"I-it's vibrations! Wavelengths! On a quantum scale... they, they affect everything, they explain how the Juice exists!"
"I-it's vibrations! Wavelengths! On a quantum scale... they, they affect everything, they explain how the Juice exists!"
Year 2196
Earth's united efforts to abate the impending resource crisis has lead mankind beyond the reach of their own solar system in search of mineral rich planets, or, alternatively, an entirely new energy source. The story begins upon the discovery of such an energy source, on a far-off planet known as Agatha, in the nearby solar system of Cygni. Almost invisible due to a heavy electrostatic fog that encapsulates the entire planet, the planet was happened upon by coincidence, or as some have come to believe, divine intervention.
Agatha is approximately twice the size of Jupiter, and appears to consist entirely of an ocean body; a sea of liquid electricity that strangely emits no heat signature. On-board scientists temporarily dubbed the mysterious substance as Amorphous-Plasma-Cousin (a lot of them were Japanese), but was soon known colloquially among the fleet as "Juice". The maximum volume of Juice that was harvested and transported back to Earth was roughly one cubic mile collectively. However, the potency was underestimated, and it was soon discovered that this relatively small capacity was enough to facilitate the entirety of Earth's past energy needs six times over.
Year 2208
It had been a total of twelve years since the Prometheus Fleet had left Earth and their return brought a definitive end to "fuel fear". After the utter nuclear decimation of Korea in the Third World War, the UN imposed a world-wide prohibition on almost all nuclear technologies that extended even to power production plants, which was where Korea had been constructing the majority of their weapons base. Well over 500,000 warheads were collectively dispersed into space (where outlandish rumors soon arose of Martian colonists having retrieved a number to be sold back to countries through the silk veil market). This extreme measure had caused much political unrest over the years that were finally quelled with Prometheus Fleet's return.
There was initial economical instability, what with most countries finding that through the worldwide Juice distribution they no longer needed to buy from other nations, and that things like coal and oil plummeted rapidly in value. But this was soon amended with the rise of new Juice technologies, a growing market with untapped potential that primarily revolved around innovation of existing tech. Juice batteries. Juice vehicles. Juice ammunition. Mankind itched to make a return visit to Agatha, and with the construction of a new fleet things were almost underway.
Year 2209
Agatha was believed to have been totally uninhabited, but a less likely existence had infested its waters and been brought back to Earth. A virus. A highly advanced virus that had lived off the juice parasitically, and now it had been introduced to other lifeforms. It seemed to possess the neural network and literally control the host, driving them into insane fits of violence. Wild animals flooded into cities and attacked pedestrians on the streets, people themselves took arms, worked together and began killing other people. It had escalated to the point that over 60% of the entire world's population had been infected.
Out of the 60% infected, 0.6% overcame the infection through what has been accepted as a threat-to-species reactionary evolution: where the infection was driven out of the subject's body through a sub-conscious neuro-kinetic field. Through the same effect, the subjects began to develop what was quite blatantly psychic powers. These "Espers" were rounded up by each respective nation's military, though it's quite possible some escaped their detection. Those capable of any destructive talents were hastily trained to be used against the infected, hopefully even to drive out the infection if possible, in what had almost become the Fourth World War, or perhaps more appropriately: the First Inter-Species War.
Year 2210
The virus simply stopped. It went dormant. People awoke from a state of stupor with little to no memory of what had happened. The environment might have been a factor, maybe the fact that the virus was no longer feeding on Juice. Nobody knew, and weren't willing to find out. Experiments on the virus were prohibited, instead a worldwide effort focused on finding "post-infected" and removing the virus through MRI-esque machines based on the neuro-kinetic fields produced by the Espers. Some Espers could even remove the virus from others themselves.
Year 2212
A number of nations (unbeknown to one another) began conducting experiments in the hopes of isolating the Esper gene. There have been varying degrees of success.
Nations specifically: America, Russia, Japan, China, Britain and Finland.
Year 2216 (present)
Affluence in Juice, Juice weaponry and the temptation of Esper power has lead China and Finland to form an unlikely alliance against the rest of the world, Russia maintains distance from these events. Past/Future note: China is no longer a communist nation, but has regressed to Imperial Dictatorship under an Emperor Lu Wei.
March 6th
Once more, on the brink of another World War, the virus awakes from dormancy. But things are different this time. While originally the infected amassed into great hordes, there now appears to be a hierarchy in their currently small yet growing population. Some are much more intelligent.
Also, the virus seems to have branched in strain. The majority are infected by a parasitic strain. But a symbiotic strain exists in a 0.1% of infected. These infected retain their minds, yet gain all the beneficial effects of the virus, such as enhanced strength, speed, reflexes and regenerative tissue.
Meanwhile, an autopsy on an infected body conducted by a Russian scientist has revealed something alarming. The virus itself was not of organic origin, but of technological. An advanced bio-technology that seemed to emulate a microscopic organism.
Which means that it was originally created by something else.
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