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| Mar 3, 2005 - 10:11 pm |
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The people of Earth had always been confrontational. They had always felt the need to have more than their fellow man. When they could not achieve their goals using normal peaceful means, they inevitably turned to violent actions. Many suffered, many died, and a few prospered. It was early in the 21st century when the middle class was almost wiped out, leaving only the very poor working class, and the very rich, who called themselves the Elite. It was not long before laws were passed declaring the poor to be a lesser species, called Workers, and as such not worthy of the protections that human rights laws would have otherwise afforded them.
Life, as always, continued. The environmental groups of the late 20th century and early 21st century were proven wrong. Man was not destroying the planet, as no matter what happened to the ozone layer and the rain forest, there would always be life that continued. What man was destroying was his own habitat. By the start of the 22nd century huge factories covered most land masses, processing the ores and minerals that the workers mined and harvested. Food was grown in vats, and on greenhouses on Mars. Space travel had become a regular means of transport and travel to the mining colony on the moon, and the agricultural colonies on Mars. Workers made up the grand majority of the population, and were bred for the needs of the Elite. The strong were bred to the strong, to produce Workers more capable of bearing the harsh climate of Mars and to work in the ozone-depleted areas of Earth. The intelligent, logical, and smart were also interbred in order to produce Workers more capable of researching and developing new ways of making the Elite's lives easier, increasing their wealth, and entertaining them.
By the 24th century, the first colony in the Alpha Centauri galaxy was populated with twenty million of the Workers bred for strength, who had begun calling themselves Musclers (me-you-sklers), and ten million of the Workers who had begun calling themselves Genii (jeen-y-eye). A strict hierarchy was maintained such that appropriate Workers would report to the Elite back on Earth of mining, resource utilization, and how much wealth was being shipped back to earth.
Near the end of the 25th century, nearly all of the Elite were living on Mars, which had been terra-formed to resemble their old home on Earth. The Earth had unfortunately since been decimated by microwaves and solar winds since the collapse of the ozone layer a few decades prior, and only automated machinery still operated the mines and factories that produced the luxury items that the Elite desired. Nearly all of the Workers were moved to what the Elite considered the Barbaric colonies of Alpha Centauri.
Over the centuries that the Elite thought the colonies were doing only their bidding, the Workers of the colonies had been very busy. The reports sent back to their Elite masters on Mars were all modified, and at least half of all resources being produced were kept locally. Research projects that had been completed decades prior were slowly and carefully made available to the Elite, and only enough that would prevent them from becoming involved in the day to day operations of the colonies. Unbeknownst to the Elite, the Genii and the Musclers had been interbreeding in their own specially developed genetic manipulation program, such that their children would have the strength and stamina benefits of their Muscler parents, as well as the intellect and reasoning abilities of their Genii parents. By the middle of the 26th century, almost all Workers in Alpha Centauri were of the new race who called themselves the Ration, after the rational way by which they had begun securing their freedom. Half of the ships that were used to transfer resources from the planets to the space processing platforms were converted into fighters. The giant hauling ships that brought megatons of minerals and processed materials to the factories of Earth were converted into carriers, and the Ration prepared themselves for the day that they knew was coming.
The timing of that day could not have been better for the Ration, as most of the Elite were intoxicated or asleep due to the use of mind altering substances that were frequently used during their celebrations, when the Ration armada disabled their stealth technologies and made themselves known. While the Ration hated the conditions that they were forced to undergo throughout their lives, they knew that these Elite were not the ones who caused the strife of their ancestors, and so let those who wanted to leave occupy a large transport ship, and begin a long journey towards reaches of space that had not yet been explored. These Elite swore vengeance on the Workers, but it would be almost a millennium before they were heard from again. Those who chose to stay, and there were very few who did, were sterilized so they could not bear more Elite children, and were permitted to live out their lives in a small community on Mars.
The days of the Worker revolution were a turning point in the civilization of the people whose ancestors came from Earth. Many of the technologies researched over the past decades had been prepared to help change the planet Earth from the disgusting polluted mess that it had become, to a planet of lush greenery and prosperity that had never been known before. Factories were moved to unpopulated planets that could not otherwise sustain life, and the Ration began what is referred to in history books as their Golden Age.
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