The Circadia Chronicles: Omnibus: The Complete Colonization Sci-Fi Series by Heather Heckadon (books to read to get smarter .txt) 📗

We followed with our faces pointed toward the ground as we trudged through the rest of the tour. Suddenly, nothing inside of the walls was interesting. I wanted to see beyond them, to learn what the world had become during our absence.

When the Herrolds greeted us, their faces twisted when they smiled. They appeared sweaty and uneasy. "Hey, guys! Did you like what you saw?"

All three of us stood silent. Nira spoke up. "We just finished with the tour. We got to see the very front gates, and I think it was a little traumatizing."

"I thought we discussed this," one of the brothers replied.

"I know, sir. They insisted." She raised her chin a bit and sent Jane a sideways glance.

"Sorry," Jane offered.

The brothers nodded. "It's okay. We understand curiosity. Truly. We hoped to prepare you a little more before you were exposed to the callousness of our world now. Now you know. We're deeply sorry you had to experience that firsthand without warning." Their eyes were both tearful and their faces red. They looked at each other and nodded. "I guess now would be as good a time as ever to tell you the news we've received in our briefing." Ross ran his hand through his hair and sighed long and heavily.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Come with us. We have a little history to catch you up on. Then we’ll share some current events." The brothers walked down a long hall as we followed. The corridor opened into a large white room with matching white couches and tables in the center of the room. A large flatscreen TV was mounted on the wall. There were no windows in the room. "Make yourselves comfortable."

I sat on one of the white loveseats next to Smith, who leaned intently toward the brothers. I pulled my knees to my chest and rested against the arm. It felt odd to be a guest on your native planet. To not know the last few months of history in which there had been major changes. My brain jumped to all kinds of conclusions until they began talking.

"Earth has changed a lot since you left. As you know, the planet wasn't in great shape right before you launched for Circadia, anyway. Everyone prepared to die since they thought Circadia would crash into Earth. That included the government. Everyone was broke, and all the money was spent. Everyone demanded payment of their debts when no one had the money to pay them. It caused a lot of tension between countries.

“On top of that, every country persecuted people for the crimes committed while they thought the end was near. This created tension between the people and their governments. Then the nuclear war happened," Phillip said.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I'm sure you know all the big cities were targets. I'm sure you tried to imagine what it was like, but no matter how hard you try, you wouldn't even come close. It was horrific."

Another long pause. "It changes the landscape. People migrated away from the heavily populated areas, the weather changed worldwide, and we entered a nuclear winter. It destroyed nearly all the food. Not only did it change geography, but it changed people. They became angry and animalistic. Who wouldn't under the circumstances? The big change though, was the rift between government and people. Such a huge shift happened because governments claimed whatever food was left and tried to control people. Scared people don't like that, and they don't like to starve. People created an uprising against their governments and would have been successful if the Divinity hadn't formed."

"What's the Divinity?" Smith asked.

"The Divinity combined all Earth's remaining governments into one. As the United States used to be the 'world police,' the Divinity became the world's governing body. It's not an easy feat to overthrow a single government, but it's nearly impossible to eradicate multiple governments working as one. People haven't stopped trying, though."

"So people are still trying to take the world back? What is the Divinity doing?" I pressed for answers. What had this world come to?

"They're still fighting back. They've gotten a lot more ingenious and made some allies that helped them join together as well. They had to unify to have any chance. It's brought people together in amazing ways, but it still isn’t quite enough. The Divinity keeps pulling in more of the remaining agricultural land and eliminating more people."

"Eliminating them?" Jane asked.

"That's the Divinity's whole platform. 'Be with us or against us.' If you choose to be against them, they make it a point to eliminate you. Fewer people means more food. Food has become the new currency."

"Why not join them? What's so bad about being fed?" I asked. "I don't get it. Why are we fighting them?"

"They have laws we aren't willing to abide by," Ross stated.

"Like what? What could be worth war and starvation?"

"They want to take away our guns so they can take away our rights."

"What's the big deal?" Jane asked. "Who do you need to protect yourself from if they're protecting you?"

"In 1939, Germany established gun control. From 1939 to 1945, they exterminated six million Jews and seven million others unable to defend themselves. It may seem like a small price to pay to give up your guns for your life and food, but freedom is too high a price to pay. Do you agree?"

I sat for a moment in silence. What had seemed so simple, wasn't. The people had seen right through the idea and decided to revolt while they were still capable. I was both shocked by the concept, and amazed people had the brains to recognize what was happening. Honestly, I was embarrassed I hadn't.

The Herrolds viewed our silence as understanding. "We know that's not what you want. You all have already experienced what it's like when citizens are unarmed on Circadia, and it wasn't pretty." Phillip bowed his head. "I'm deeply sorry for the people you lost, but