Awakenings

Genre

Sci-fi / Thriller

Setting

It's summer 2020, and the world is changing. Fast.

It all started back in 2017 when the comet arrived. For two long nights at the celestial equinox, the sky was aflame in a rainbow of colors as the object's outer layers vaporized, creating a sparkling cascade of microscopic particles to rain down upon every square inch of the planet.

Authorities asserted that the particles were benign, despite being mildly radioactive. Two scientists, one in Germany and one in Australia, independently claimed the particles were a new type of virus never before known. Both were quickly fired and broadly ridiculed.

Over the next year, remarkable changes occurred across the globe. Religious conversions skyrocketed, altering the power structures and communication patterns of communities worldwide. Regional armed conflicts largely subsided, through simple cessation of violence, if not active peace negotiations. Three adjoining countries in the Middle East entered into negotiations to redraw their mutual borders.

It was the second year after the comet that global deaths outpaced births. In the first six months of 2018, most terminal cancer patients died. During the same time, cancer diagnoses plummeted. Likewise for dialysis, heart disease, and dementia patients.

In 2019, the power and reach of the United Nations was expanded considerably, and unanimously. Every country on Earth (except the US, Russia, Israel, and China) ceded their authority to deploy conventional military forces. As just one example of a wave of industries being nationalized worldwide, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and seven other publicly traded "space companies" were voluntarily nationalized as new departments within NASA. Seven countries in the Middle East joined to become one.