The Void.

Chapter One.

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.

Well, only time was going to bear witness to whether this was actually true or not. Humanity's plans would certainly attest to that in time.

And so it began.

The rebuilding of what was left of the human race.

Not one single person across the western world could have foreseen it happening within their lifetime on Earth. Sure, there had been two world wars up until then, leaving many civilians truly believing that the world leaders had indeed learned the harsh realities of what these wars had left behind, the ugly loss of millions of innocent lives, the countless destruction of home dwellings and of well-established and thriving business networks, all wiped out within a matter of just a few months.

Certainly, everyone had heard it the first time when leaders had widely promoted their beliefs that a second world war would never take place, that they had indeed learned a very true and harsh lesson, that war never solved any of their problems. Many world leaders even went as far as saying that the first war was nothing more than activist groups doing nothing more than flexing their mighty muscles to show their opposing sides that they were the stronger ones. One leader went on record by saying that, 'the war mongers were nothing more than silly little kids bullying the weaker ones in the school playground.'

But it occurred again didn't it?

The next world war had been bloodier and much more fierce beyond all human comprehension. Many more lives were lost and greater famine persisted across far-reaching areas than ever before. Economies were decimated and thoughts of never being able to recover the great losses were echoed across the planet Earth for many years that passed.

Though, the world indeed recovered, much slower than it had following the first war but, it nevertheless did recover. Infrastructures were rebuilt with a new-found economy that quickly prospered into what was to be an encouraging new beginning for all.

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New technologies were born. Life was at long last starting to be seen as positive and peaceful at last. Computer technology had enabled new organizations to look toward the stars and beyond what had previously been seen as, the protective bubble of the home planet. New and powerful user-friendly space telescopes, capable of searching the sol system had been planned and developed, that were more than capable of observing and interpreting the planets, well beyond our own system, in search of new planets, new worlds that indeed could once and for all prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt that life outside of our own galaxy truly existed. The moon had been extensively mapped, physically reached and explored, widely by several prospering countries. Heralding a new dawn, a new era, that the people of the Earth may at last finally have seen the error of their ways, and had begun peaceful joint ventures in exploring the galaxy together.

To look jointly at discovering potential new planets that could theoretically allow humanity to spread its wings, and to settle eventually amongst the stars. Peacefully together at long last.

Talks of warring had quickly over time, become nothing more than simply a dull and distant bad memory, but nevertheless, one of a shared memory that greatly united the world's nations into a new state of peace and tranquillity. An era where everyone together was to work towards a state of bettering themselves for the overall benefit of one another.

Of course, there were a few handful of negatively-focused and instutionalized separatist groups that every now and again, reared their ugly heads protesting against how the world leaders were doing nothing more than trying to brainwash civilians into thinking that the so-called plan of '... everyone together was to work towards a state of bettering themselves for the overall benefit of one another,' was nothing more than media propaganda to line the pockets of the officials that manipulated the world into believing the world to becoming a bettter place than it really was.

But then this kind of brainwashing crap was all too typical of what the world used to be like and, one which had started the chain reaction that led to the wars breaking out. There would always be these types of groups existing that vehemently resisted any thoughts of a chance of change for the better.

It was sadly these groups that once again created an ever-growing rift between the previously warring leaders throughout the world. Those change resistant groups that were strongly opposed to any changes being made which were projected to guide the way for a more united Earth. They did not want that to happen. They indeed feasted upon the hunger that they created to reignite hatred across the world.

Peace meant that they would have nothing to moan about, these select resistant fighters wanted civil unrest, they rallied for those that had become friendly with each other to once again, mistrust.

British, American and Chinese forces had gradually dispanded their nuclear defensive capabilities in favor of of focusing and expanding their joint efforts upon diverting military finances, channelling these colossal monetary funds into making a renewed headway into feverish efforts of searching outside of the home planet. To step up a more extensive search into locating suitable planetary environments to grow the human race. Plans were afoot to colonize the Earth's solitary satellite, the Moon, by basing a high-secure 'off world' detention center there, parallel to the development of living habitats for the staff and prison amenities that would be essential for meeting the needs of the colonists for their primary survival needs, due to the space corridor (that was separating Earth from its Moon being so expansive and volatile in the cold harshness of space itself) which would mean that the Moon colonists would effectively be isolated from the home planet for regular 8-monthly cycles - the colonists only contact back with Earth would essentially be nothing more than just an audio-visual connection.

Initially though, before any of the physical activity taking place could be actualized, the old and long-ago abandoned space station that had been constructed in low Earth orbit, was essentially in need of long overdue repairs to it, after the last war had seen its dispanding carried out in response to opposing aggression, which had sadly signed its death warrant following the total loss of its personnel compliment. The station was unable to maintain itself with the absence of its crew onboard, resulting in rapid deterioration to its onboard computer systems which had previously been closely monitored by eagle-eyed human crew around the clock,who's responsibilty it was to control the station's flight stability, environmental network, day-to-day repair needs, oxygen storage, flow regulators & gravitational corrections.

Without the intensive round-the-clock supervision of these vital systems, the space station was set on a road of declining doom. Over time as the station's neglect endured, it had sustained structural damage to its heat shielding and outer hull damage, as the station slowly slipped into the Earth's searing atmosphere.

So, with the plans laid out to repair and crew the station once again and place the renewed station into a much higher orbit (well outside of the dangers of the home planet's gravitational forces) Earth's nations would then be in a prime position to push forward with developing the newly laid proposals for the new penal colony to be based on the Moon.

And in that, there lay the grassroots that finally lead to the problems that were to come. The resistance groups upon the Earth were growing. They liked neither of these plans, that would see the eventual removal of the criminal groups based throughout Earth correctional centers being relocated to the Moon, with the colonisation that was to surely come, and the slow, but steady, reaching out into the sol system and beyond.

These groups were flatly opposed to anything that would witness a never before seen, unity of nations. These people did not want to see peace, they strived for nothing more than corruption and bad blood amongst all.

These peace resistant groups eventually made their move. Nobody truly discovered just how they had gone as far as they had. No one could comprehend even how they had gained access to the tools needed to achieve their goal.

Just that they had.

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And so as a result, the year 2148AD saw the terrifying start of the nuclear war that every single human had feared, but had never dreamed of ever happening. The nightmare that so many had feared had seen the near total demise of the human populus, seeing the loss of large technological bases and space exploration facilities in the blink of an eye.

The local world leaders, that had worked so hard together in friendship for many years, were unable to fathom just how the separatist groups had gained access to the securely guarded weapons bases that had been housing the nuclear missiles. The only joint conclusion that those leaders could reach was that they must have had a considerable amount of insider help, in gaining access to both the missile launch silos and indeed, to the top-secret launch codes that were needed to authorise the nuclear missile firing.

The world economies that had been so carefully built-up over the passing decades since the last war had ended, had been decimated over simply a few small hours following the illegal launching of nuclear destructive powers. The separatists appeared all too eager to lay claims to the actions that wiped out millions of innocent lives. Essential structures remained generally intact following the decimation created by the initial mushroom cloud explosions that billowed rapidly and angrily after multiple launches. The electromagnetic force created by these explosions knocked out all key electronics for thousands of miles around. Violent actions that these separatist groups evidently had an organised plan but, obviously were keeping these catastrophic actions very secret and closely guarded.

The nuclear winter that immediatly ensued created such a dangerous and disorientating dense fog that, any immediate retaliatory defences were rendered pretty much useless. More to the point, the widely hit areas were to experience a more ominous threat, that would occupy the greatest minds for years to come, that of Carcinogenic particles left over from the explosions, which would kill many more innocent lives in time to come.

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As the initial mutilation left by the security breaches, which had allowed for the unauthorized silo bases in the first place, slowly began to initially settle, international world leaders were slowly able to fire up satcom computer systems that had been stored deep below the surface in protective bunkers, which had been organized years in advance of any potential nuclear strike occurring. Communication satellites that had ringed the Earth from high orbit, were unaffected from the land-based explosions, allowing for key players of the alliance of leaders that had been working mutually beforehand, to successfully access all the other friendly nations through the satcoms in operation to enable video call systems.

And so it began once more.

The first and foremost action was for everyone to work out some kind of reasoning behind the unwarranted attacks. After all, neither of the working world leaders had agreed in sanctioning what was nothing more than out-and-out mass suicide across the planet.

So the first question was evidently, WHY?

One answer to many of the multitude of questions posed by all, was very quickly reached with one unanimous decision.

'Why did the separatists choose to breach complex security mainframes, heavily guarded silos and, key personnel to action a widespread nuclear launch? When the world had been experiencing widespread peacetime for so many decades?'

The answer?

There seemed to be three key areas as to why the separatists had taken such noxious, aggressive and extreme measures in doing what they did. The first was to do with the world leaders and their plans to create a secure penal colony based far out on the Moon, the separatists did not in any way want to see this happen, as this would have undermined and weakened their vice like grip on spreading violence and hatred across the Earth. After all, they never wanted to see Earth's community's coming together as one without violence and petty destruction, they never wanted to see the day come when every nation would come together in harmony and friendship.

Secondly? The idea of searching far and beyond our own galaxy scared them. They believed that they alone were the 'all powerful' and the sole sentient lone authority amongst the vast star systems both known and unknown, as yet to humanity. They never wanted their status quo to have its balance upset by anyone or anything that could potentially be potential unbalanced by any other sentient lifeform.

Finally and very much in line with the second answer, the separatists never wanted to see the day when space was going to be the host for humanity to spread its wings, explore and colonize amongst those stars, never yet seen before by any other Earth dweller. The very instigators of the cataclysmic nuclear attack wanted nothing more than to see humanity rely completely upon the Earth, to continue in their ways of damaging the climate, to continue the suffering that these ways had already started. Those very same groups that had heralded in the dawn of nuclear waste grounds, wanted nothing more than to 'cash in' on those very negative effects by creating a reliance on the groups in desperate ways to survive.

But the nations that had been operating for the past few years in the name of peace would prevail. Sure, everyone linked by the satcom systems on that day of such an unwarranted and vile attack, all agreed that yes, it was going to take time and plenty of it too. Though they would never lose neither sight nor hope that, one day, no matter how long it was going to take to achieve, that they would reach their goals, of building that penal colony, of exploring space and, reach out for those distant stars.

In the name of unprecedented peace for all humankind. To those present via the satcom link, today was just the end of what they had known up until now and together, this was also the first day of rebuilding the world together, united in a joint air of friendship to better one another.

In unanimous agreement and in standing proudly for one another there and then, these words were spoken out as one:

'Together we stand here, friends for all time, let us rebuild this nation for everyone of us today. Let us not mourn the great losses we have incurred here, rather, let us stand strong for everyone of us and for all those on this home of ours. We will reach out to those stars that wait for us patiently. Tomorrow is a fresh new day for us all.."