Biscotti was smaller than Seven had thought. Every inch of space was taken into account. Bedrooms were only a few paces wide, and hallways were narrow. Even major rooms like the bridge, the mess hall, and the navigation theater could only hold a few people at a time. The sole exception was the engine room, which sat in the back of the ship. But even then, it was more tall than wide, spanning three of the ship’s four floors. It made for a strange contrast with the rest of the ship. Then again, the bridge was strange enough for being the only room on the forth floor.
Seven felt cramped and underfoot. Immediately after leaving the bridge, he bumped into at least eight different people moving about the ship’s interior. No matter where he stood, he always seemed to be in someone’s way.
He wasn’t sure how he felt about it. All his life he had been the center of attention. Or at least, his abilities and physique had been. His thoughts and feelings, less so. When that overwhelming amount of attention hadn’t been piled on him, he had always been placed in an isolated corner, a specific spot he was meant to reside until he was sought after once more.
But now? He wasn’t sure how to deal with not having such a place. A feeling of not belonging arose inside of him, and it made him feel uncomfortable. He pushed it down, ignoring it as he instead looked for a place to quietly occupy.
Half an hour later, Seven found himself in a turret cockpit. It was tight and cramped, but surprisingly cozy. Lex had gotten him curious about India’s wall, so he was browsing random documents on the web. It was surprisingly linked all the way back to back to World War III.
Back in 2044, the country known America was in the midst of collapse. Political intrigue saturated the government. As such, nothing could be accomplished. Crippling debt affected the whole country. To make matters worse, with the country being over dependent on the production of corn for almost every food product on the market, the corn famine that began in 2043 and raged until 2051 had disastrous effects.
The amount of fresh water in the world at that time had reached an all time low. As such, farmers could no longer water plants with fresh water, and the water they had to resort to happen to be contaminated with a new strain of bacteria which was highly resistant to antibacterials. On it’s own, it had no ability to affect humans, but it attacked most strains of corn. However, this bacteria had an unusually long incubation period, and so most plants infected in the initial stage of the plague had already been shipped to various food suppliers.
America was hit by surprise. The plants had almost no defense against the bacteria, which surprisingly stayed alive even during multiple refining processes. The corn, in all it’s various forms, was eaten and absorbed by livestock and by humans, and the bacteria hidden within the corn cells, which otherwise would not have a way to enter into the blood stream, well, it came along for the ride.
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Everything that ate it died within days. It took months on end for the world to figure out the cause, and by then, America and several other countries were almost completely demolished.
Even then, political rivalries still raged within America. With the help of the United Nations, the situation might have been resolved, but any help that was sent was stopped by one party or another in a seemingly meaningless bid for more political power. Seven found their blatant greed disgusting. In all that chaos and constant bickering, the famine seemed all but ignored.
It was then that American President, George Albacore, shocked the world. The only reason that America was able to stay afloat as a powerhouse during this detrimental time was the fact that it had, over the years, stock piled a massive amount of nuclear weapons.
On October 14, 2044, 8 a.m. in the morning, the president was found missing. Six hours later, a video was released from the Russia Federation. In it, Albacore made an appearance announcing his dissolving of the United States of America and his appointment as the as vice president of Russia. He had sold out his country.
Within five minute after the video was released, every top secret sight containing nuclear resources was attacked by Russian operatives, most of which were sleeper agents or turn coats. When the UN discovered this, World War III began,and the first shot was the official collapse of America.
The war lasted almost one hundred and twenty years, mostly due to an intense desire to “never surrender” that permeated the world. Over that time period, countries rose in power, only to later collapse and disappear forever. It finally ended with simple attrition. No country left had the resources to continue, and so cease fire was finally, and begrudgingly called.
The result, the UN and Russia had long since collapse, and the three major powers, the Confederate of North America, the Coalition of New Poland, and the United Social-Communist Union, all made their first appearance.
The sixty or so years following were marked by a period of intense expansion and colonization between those three powers. This period came to be later called The War of Expansion, or World War IV.
The defining hallmark of World War IV was the discovery of Uranium, thought to be completely depleted during WWIII, in a newly dug mine in India in 2193. The three superpowers rushed to secure the supply. India was caught in the cross fire, and the country burned as a result. In the end, it was discovered that the amount of usable Uranium from the mine was almost negligible, and the superpowers retreated chagrined.
New Poland accepted India into its coalition as an apology of sorts, even though what was left of India was almost nothing. Over the years, India slowly became a place to send the unwanted criminals of the world, and to keep them in, a wall was built. Crime lords grew within, and a basic underground government between the major mob parties was built. It’s power grew without the superpowers noticing.
A revolt occurred in 2213, in which that government surfaced and forced any outsider belonging to the superpowers out of the country. As quick as it began, it was over, and before they could send troops, the new government of India sent them a proposition:
“Leave us our autonomy. Let us govern ourselves. Interfere no more with our workings, and we’ll accept any and all of your criminals.”
The proposition proved favorable for all parties involved. India gained it’s independence from interference, and the superpowers no longer needed to waste resources and manpower in maintaining the place.