This thread is for the discussion of the Spring 2007 Anthology story End of the World by Graeme.



*** SPOILER ALERT ***

This thread contains details about the story. Be forewarned, in case you haven't read it yet.

End of the World

By Graeme


Wow. I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to sci-fi, there’s a certain standard that had to be met, or it won’t hold my interest very long. I found myself glued to the monitor from start to finish in this classic, which opens with one of the most heartbreaking scenes I’ve ever read.
Nuclear Proliferation and Biological Warfare cross paths, and the result is catastrophic for mankind. Indeed, it ends life on the planet, and the only hope for the future of the human race lies with the faction of people who have colonized the moon. Admiral Chris Riley and his husband Joshua come face to face with the prospect of the end of humanity, and they know that in order to preserve mankind, they must do the unthinkable.
I love the theme of this story, and I think that the most powerful element of it was the reality that gay and straight were mere formalities when it came to procreating for the preservation of the human race. The villain of this story seems to be Hiro Takasomi, the Japanese psychologist who takes any and all steps necessary to see to it that all fertile humans mate, even through back biting and manipulation. But in the end, is he really the villain? Some might see him as a hero.
Thanks Graeme, for this amazing story.

Wow... That was spectacular!

The dynamics were very well done... I also noticed that the "suicides" such as the one that destroyed the European base, and almost the Russian one, were all too believable.

The underlying theme seems to be Duty, to the detriment of Josh and Chris' relationship. I also noticed the underlying theme, not only in the war itself but in the murder-suicides on the moonbases, that the fault is inherent in man's nature.

This was a magnificent short story, Graeme!!!

Truly the ultimate ending...and a hopeful beginning. Really a theme on Darwinism and survival of the fittest.

I felt uneasy while I read the story. Last night I watched a program on the Discovery Channel. The topic was locating the waste munition materials of past wars that rest in the coastal ocean waters off Canada and the English Channel. A primary concern was mustard gas and the harm to civilization if the rotting barrels aren't found and contained.

Then I think of the drought conditions in Australia and China. Hmmm.

Timely material.

Jack

I have a much darker view of this story.

It only reminds me that mankind's self-destruction is inevitable. Maybe not today or next week; maybe not for a hundred years; but we'll do it one day.

Anyone interested in a ticket to the moon? I have 5 tickets and a parcel of land, slightly submerged, in Florida for sale.

If there are survivors, as in this story, we'll just start the whole process all over again. I have no doubt that the results will be the same. Extinction. It's God's back door really. He or She wants to go back to the drawing board.

I believe that the marriage of leaders (or between members of their families) is a practice that started in the Middle Ages. It didn't work then, either. Fortunately, we humans have a penchant for repeating our errors. We somehow convince ourselves that it'll work this time. This time we'll overcome our fears, our greed, our lust......

Thanks for the story, Graeme.

Conner

Thanks, everyone.

I'd also like to thank Trebs for reviewing an early draft and correcting some mistakes I made with the Japanese cultural parts of the story. And, of course, Rain from The Mail Crew for his usual great job of editing.

And Kitty -- WOW on the graphics!

I notice that everyone seems to have a slightly different take on the story. I won't give my own thoughts on what I had in my mind as I was writing for the moment, but I'll say that I'm happy that Conner picked up on the feudalistic nature of the ending marriage. It is not definite, because we CAN learn from our mistakes, but it is quite possible that the society will evolve into a feudal model unless someone tries to make sure it doesn't.

I found this story incredibly depressing.

Nice work though

Me too. Sighs... the story was good, but just.... depressing (not unlike several of the others either... why do people always have to die in the anthology stories?).

I think this particular theme lent itself to death. While there are a lot of beginnings and endings to choose from, death is one of the obvious endings to use and I'm not really surprised that several authors chose to use that.

Graeme,

Thank you for another well told and captivating tale.

This reminded me of 'On The Beach' by Neville Shute: a post apocalypse story set in Australia. Also of a TV series called 'Space 1999'.

'End of the World' would make a good movie too; though the special effects might cost rather a lot!

Camy

Wow, Graeme, this is really special. A complete departure from the style and genre of other stuff of yours that I've read, it shows you are a master of science fiction as well as everything else that makes us mere mortals green with envy.(!)

Thank you for writing a superb anthology story.

Sinbad

Graeme,

I, too, thought of On the Beach by Nevil Shute. Thankfully, we didn't have to go through that, again. It's scary to realize there are diseases out there that are quite capable of almost annihilating the entire human race. One tragic biological weapons accident and, well, we're reading "End of the World" and wishing that dreamed of moon base was a reality.

Heterosexuality wins? I don't know if that's good, or not. It is definitely necessary for continuation of the species, but can't homosexuality find a place, too? If you have to change human mores for a reproduction first mentality, does love have to play second fiddle?

There are a lot of questions in this little, well written story. I like good sci-fi and this one definitely raises enough questions.

Thanks for the great story.

Carl

Hey Graeme,
It was also my first reaction, you are an Aussie, as the people in the story of Nevil Shute. BTW, did you read this story ?
The mood in your story is the same, as is the nostalgy of the lost home countries in both stories
Nevil Shute, with his connection to technology is one of my favorite authors.


I'm more optimist than Carl. Humanity is capable to react quickly enough, even if it is almost in the last minute. BTW, you show it in your story !


Nobody wins here !
In reality, each problem brings its solution within the problem. They are 3 gender: heteros, homos and bi. Even in a small community like in your story, people with open minds can "coordinate" love and reproduction. And dont forget LUST . It leads the world, together with FUN.

Thanks for this great story also from me.

Thanks for the comments, everyone!


I know OF the story, but I haven't read it.

To be honest, it was two other science fiction stories that were the partial inspiration. I can remember the name of one, Earthwreck, which had an orbital community surviving after a worldwide disaster (I think it was nuclear war, from memory). They were planning to go to the Moon until reports from recent probes reported water on Mars, so they made the effort to go there instead. One of the things I remember was the psychological aspects of the story, and the varying reactions of the survivors. I can't remember the name of the other story, but it was biological hazard and the survivors were in an underwater city. They couldn't risk any encounter above the water because of the chance of infection.

I too found this story to be depressing, and hopeful.

I think there are a lot of things that weren't said in this story, however - I'm not sure I'd go so far as to consider them flaws, but serious considerations that would come into play if this were real. First of all, as any geneticist knows, you want to increase the intermixing of the gene pool as much as possible when the pool is limited. In other words, the survival of humanity would best be served if the survivors were not monogamous. That could cause a lot of problems, but if the colonists were to do what is best for survival, they would each have to mate with multiple partners. This could make the hetero-homo argument somewhat moot as traditional family structures would have to be bent in any case. The other is that one wouldn't want to have all of humanity's eggs in one basket. Otherwise, one meteor could wipe out humanity's future. One need only look at the number of craters on the moon to realize the seriousness of this possibility. Therefore, although the colonists might wish to pool resources, they would almost certainly want to maintain two separate colonies.

Otherwise, this is a very good story, and one I hope we never have to face in reality.

There's a much bigger flaw in the story.... a virus (even one that was genetically enhanced) that was highly contagious, able to tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions, an extremely high mortality rate and that was airborne? Possible, but highly improbable....

On the genetics side, I knew a large gene pool was required, but that was about it. I didn't know minimum numbers so I kept the sizes of the colonies vague. As for diversity, they wouldn't want too many partners because of the danger of inbreeding after the second generation. I DID see that all children would undergo a DNA test to confirm their parents, though.

Not exactly the most heartwarming, feelgood story, but it still ends with some hope for the future. The issues raised about survival of the race and leadership, as those of having children and gay marriage and family are nicely wrapped up in this short story.