Chapter 1: Background.

Tom

Hi! I am Tom Savage and this is basically the story of myself and my wife, Cynthia, and how we found and defeated the Karg. She is just letting me tell it.

CYNTHIA

Bullshit! I just lost the coin toss so he gets to tell it. I will tell some parts later. Go ahead Tom.

Tom

The Karg are a humanoid race very similar to Earth humans. The Karg were a race that allowed an artificial intelligence to be built to improve their ability to fight their neighbors. The AI was very successful. They wiped out six worlds near Karg. Then they reformed them to replicate Karg. In the process the Karg became slaves to their own AI. They developed a very efficient way of dealing with other life forms and planets. They directed asteroids at the target planet.

This is my and Cynthia's story of how we and ten other students at Analy High School trained to become astronauts in the Earth asteroid defense force created by the UN.

Before the Burma asteroid the WE were disseminated world wide. Many companies failed, but many others succeeded. The need for housing and food provided work for millions of the unemployed. Infrastructure enhancement was promoted by the UN. All over the world the military people became part of the Food and Home Corps. They worked at rehabbing derelict areas of cities and growing food to feed everyone.

We all were happy. Education, scientific investigation, the arts and physical health were encouraged by the WE. By the end of the first week of world wide connection the whole population had a BMI of twenty three; all adults had twenty two year old bodies that were immune to all disease and in great physical shape.

Education took a major change. Knowledge could be quickly transferred on the WEnet. Education then took the role of training activity. The training was hands on. Flying a plane, painting a picture, playing a viola, cooking a waffle, these all involved motor skills and education worked in these motor skill areas. Educational institutions were encouraged to continue scientific investigation.

We were all in this blissful state for about one month when an asteroid was detected on an impact course with Earth. It struck in Northern Burma one month later. All of South East Asia was gone. In a flash, one third of the world's population was wiped out. South East Asia was a vast wasteland of totally burnt farms, homes, cities, and forests. The destruction zone extended to the north coast of Australia in the south, to the city of Shanghai in the east, to Mongolia in the north, and to New Delhi in the west. The ash thrown into the air caused an extended winter to hit both hemispheres. The UN was able to provide and distribute needed supplies. The meteorologists had determined that there would be two very bad winters in the Northern hemisphere and one bad winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Food and Home Corps were dispatched to Australia, Argentina, Chili, Uruguay, Brazil, and South Africa. Food production there was really pushed. The Food Corps processed the food and distributed it to the rest of the planet. By the third summer the weather had pretty much returned to normal all over the planet. Food production returned to the northern hemisphere.