The Huntress Ch. 01

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Timeline / Missteps.
5.9k words
4.48
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Part 1 of the 2 part series

Updated 06/07/2023
Created 03/17/2015
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AwkwardMD
AwkwardMD
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2014 - You surfed a porn site for wank fodder.

2096 - The events of Chasing the Dragon.

2123 - The gender ratio of infants throughout South America began to skew strongly toward females, with 1 male born for every 25 females. The male infants that did make it to term showed signs of strong hormonal imbalances or even genital feminization.

2124 - A mutated strain of the bacteria Wolbachia, capable of infecting humans, was discovered to be the culprit. Unlike previous strains, the bacteria proved to be highly infectious. It was also incredibly resistant to attempts at treatment. Worst by far, though, was the rapid pace at which the bacteria had already spread, and was still spreading. Doctors who had flown into South America to analyze and research a birth phenomenon unwittingly brought back a disease with no day-to-day symptoms.

2128 - Now coined "The Purge", the bacteria had infected an estimated 85% of the population of Northern America and Europe. The CDC released studies that heavily suggested that this mutation had been designed. Tensions began to rise between nations as males of every race became sterile or genetically incompatible with females.

Due to the incredible uncertainty Wolbachia brought, Russia became swept up in a call for the reinstatement of Communism. All-female leadership took over to great fanfare, and for several years very little else was heard from within it's borders as the great nation restructured itself "for the greater good of it's citizens."

2131 - As the bacteria ran rampant through the developed world, Russia broke it's own self-imposed isolation and began annexing neighboring territories in a bid to control vast natural resources as much as any remaining male population. In an emergency meeting, the EU unanimously passed a 'Mutual Defense' resolution. The threat of war with Russia loomed. Females were hesitantly conscripted on both sides as grunts in an effort to protect the male population, and an arms race toward alternate rank-and-file is quietly begun.

2132 - In March, a Russo-Chinese alliance was formally announced. The following day, China simultaneously invaded Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan. The US responded by sending carriers to Japan.

2134 - After 18 months of posturing and line drawing, a shooting war breaks out with the EU, the US, and Japan on one side, and China and Russia on the other. The forces of the EU suffered the worst of it as Russia is the first to unveil robotic soldiers. Although their versatility in combat left much to be desired, their hardiness and design created strategic problems that the Allied Forces would not soon be able to counter.

2135 - News leaks out from behind the new Iron Curtain that males have been nationalized, becoming property of the state. For the first time in centuries, human beings became property in a First World nation. Although the Allied forces are not able to turn the tide, their defense became much more frantic. The war slowed down to town-by-town, street-by-street blood baths.

2137 - The Russian invasion of mainland Europe reaches the northern shores of France. The British Isles became the sole holdout. Although the rhetoric and propaganda attempted to draw parallels to the second World War, their ability to influence the war was almost completely nullified. Even the once-lauded Royal Navy was reduced to a smattering of ships performing guerilla operations in the North Atlantic. Later that year, China released an engineered virus, decimating Japan's population. The entire island was quarantined. The US was left alone in the war.

2138 - First documented case of parthenogenesis in humans discovered. Post-Purge females began to spontaneously become pregnant and give birth without semen from a man. Although the pattern would not be visible for another decade, most females began to give birth on a three to four year cycle. Birth, new life, and it's perception gradually began to shift toward something common and regular rather than precious and born out of love.

2140 - Communist forces took control of India. In addition to the vast population, the Chinese also gained access of one of two Space Elevators in the world. Built at the turn of the century, the Elevator and it's twin in Ecuador were more than just the gateway to outer space; they also represented the possibility of incredible resources in the burgeoning field of asteroid mining. A rogue element in the United States CIA attempted to sabotage the communist-controlled Elevator in India with a tactical nuclear weapon.

Although the Elevators were designed with a structural weak-point at the base, the cables did not break away as intended. Instead, the massive structure rippled and broke 3,000 miles above the surface. As the counterweight at the far end dragged the station and it's 1,000+ inhabitants out into the vastness of space, the remaining cable snapped back into Earth's atmosphere. The kinetic force of the cable, as it struck down along the equator, was roughly equivalent to a series of nuclear bombs going off in rapid succession over the Arabian Sea, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, and the Central African Republic.

2141 - Following a retaliatory nuclear strike at the US-controlled Elevator in Ecuador in which the structural weak-point functioned, The United States launches a full-scale intercontinental nuclear assault against Chinese and Russian targets. The United States believed that their superior stealth technology would allow the bombs to land before a return strike could be mounted, but within minutes, Mutually Assured Destruction failsafes across Asia signalled the end of the United States of America. Between the two waves of nuclear strikes and the unprecedentedly-massive cloud of debris kicked up by the fallen Space Elevator, no survivors on either side are able to assess the damage inflicted, and the Third World War comes to a sudden, violent end with no clear winner.

With all major governments having crumbled and much of the world irradiated, society collapsed. Global warming due to radiation caused much of the polar ice caps to melt, reshaping the world as we knew it and ravaging what was left with increasingly severe weather. The older generation, those who had seen the birth of Wolbachia, began to die off, and with them died the millennia-old hierarchy of the sexes. Gender population steadied, with males now only making up approximately 5.75% of the world. The vacuum of power and lack of a government-backed monetary system reduced most of world to a barter system.

The most valuable stocks of usable material, technology, and real estate were in the hands of corporations. A medical supply company with access to a full warehouse, a communications company with access to satellites; these were the new Captains of Industry. Access to these vital resources was ruthlessly controlled, demanding total obedience from any wandering souls in need. As time passed, these "company towns", built strategically away from the rich military targets that had been sure to be bombed, grew and grew. By 2150, domes were being erected to protect from the intense radiation and erratic weather patterns brought on by global warming. Shelter and food underneath those domes came at the price of forced labor. By 2160, most of these "company towns" had either completed their dome, or had been abandoned to merge corporate resources with neighbors who lacked what they had to offer but had completed their dome. By 2170, the average worker's quality of life had risen to something approximating pre-war levels, but at the cost of almost all civil liberties.

2175 - The Russian Republic forms in what was once Eastern Europe, as thousands of miles of land on either side of the Ural Mountains was rendered uninhabitable. The RR largely forms in response to and in opposition of the increasing, albeit localized, power of corporations within America. This new Russia is also heavily communist, with the government taking over all forms of production and distribution, outlawing capitalism of any form.

2179 - The hubs of civilization in America have begun to form into massive cities dubbed "Mega-cities". These Mega-cities create their own governments with major corporations acting as controlling councils. Non-compete clauses set up each corporation as it's own monopoly within a given city. Only the employees of these corporations are considered full citizens, despite every city gathering a vast number of 'huddled masses' that eke out a life in the lowest parts of these dizzying metropoli.

2181 - In response to the increasing influence of the RR, the American Mega-cities band together to form Conglomerated City-States of America.

2192 - Antigravity technology developed by the CCSA. Although it has nearly limitless applications, the developing corporation restricts it's availability almost completely for fear of it falling into Russian hands. In addition to that, the equipment required to power antigrav scales poorly with the antigrav strength. Beyond small prototypes, it's only application with current generation technology is allowing objects in high atmosphere to resist the Earth's gravity well, allowing for the first space elevator located away from the equator.

2195 - The first extraplanetary capture of an asteroid. The mission to begin this had been launched 70 years earlier. Although communication with NASA failed in 2145, the crewless craft continued to pursue it's purpose. The Asteroid itself, 887 Alinda, was towed into Earth's orbit opposite the Moon. It was never visible from the surface of the Earth.

2198 - The drone towing 887 Alinda was hacked and taken over. A crew of robotic workers was flown up onto the asteroid. Construction began as the asteroid was hollowed out for the material needed to build first the antigrav generators, and then the Space Elevator itself.

2200 - 887 Alinda was towed into geostationary orbit over New England.

2209 - First northern space elevator is completed, as the cable makes landfall in Emerald City, located deep in the green mountains of Vermont.

2214 - The first weather control base is built on the Emerald City Elevator line in the upper atmosphere, allowing for the formation of a positive pressure envelope around the city and the dismantling of the dome. Emerald City becomes the first undomed city in the Northern Hemisphere in almost a half century.

2217 - Communism's systematic intolerance of religion and Russia's strict immigration laws interfering with members of the Nation of Islam's ability to make the all-important Pilgrimage to Mecca had always made their occupation of the Middle East tenuous. When the RR slowly pressed it's borders into Africa, a rash of large-scale uprisings swept throughout the region. A state of tension forms between the CCSA and the RR with both parties cutting off formal ties. Russia's military campaign into what was once Egypt met with fierce resistance.

2220 - Russia's military campaign in Egypt is summarily abandoned. Many soldiers fighting on the front lines are left behind.

2224 - Present Day

***

This story, The Huntress, takes place in a vision/version of the future along with two other stories here on Literotica. Chasing the Dragon, set 130 years earlier, has several tie-ins that enrich and enhance the reading experience, and although it is by no means required. Light Rays Coming Out Of The Computer is a contemporary story to The Huntress. Characters and plots from the two stories will overlap. Although it is possible to read these two independent of each other, we do not recommend it. Chasing the Dragon was written by me. Light Rays and The Huntress were both co-written by LittleGrue and myself.

***

The bar was an aging hole in the wall, one of hundreds in the metropolis. Squeezed in between a laundromat and a barely-authentic Japanese tea room, it saw modest business day to day. Trophies from the waste lined the wall; mostly bits of junk. Cast off husks of a dead age. The bar was packed with weary bodies eager for the night's excitement, or at least a few hours where the alcohol let them forget. Unwashed souls looking to smother their problems with cheap booze and easy ass. Petty criminals, the working poor, male hookers on the job, they were all the same here. Women looking to lose themselves for a while.

The door slid open, letting the dull cacophony of the megacity spill in. A woman stepped in, drawing a few glances from the more curious patrons. Her short-cropped blonde hair framed a hard face, and her challenging stare sent the roomful of curious barflies back to whatever they had been paying attention to before. Tall and extremely built; her tight fitting tanktop stretched over rippling muscles. Her right arm, a gleaming synthetic replacement grafted onto a mass of scars at the shoulder, fingered a pistol holstered at her hip. She walked over to the bar with an easy pace that belied a coiled tightness in her posture, as if she was waiting to pounce; it gave her the impression of a large cat on the prowl. Walking up to the crowded counter, she fixed two women with increasingly intense stares until a space suddenly cleared for her. Her eyes lingered appreciatively over the male tender behind the bar as he wiped out a dirty mug, flashing him a hungry smile.

With little to do this early besides drink, most eyes were on the holoscreen above the bar. "...and finally, today marks the 100th anniversary of The Purge. The spokeswoman for the Conglomerated City-States of America honored this day with an address to the citizens." A tall, well-coiffed woman in an elegant pant suit stepped up to a podium and nodded while the assemblage cheered. Hisses and jeers broke out among the bar's patrons, and someone threw stale food cubes at the screen. "My fellow daughters of the CCSA. It has been a century since the Purge struck and left our culture, and our world, forever changed. Today we take a moment to commemorate the hardships of those who came before us and the great strides we have made to protect our way of life. We take time to give thanks for the leadership and stability the corporations have given us, and remember that time stands still for no one. As we continue forward, with our heads held high and our eyes on the horizon, we remember-" The bartender finally relented to the mounting pressure, and changed the channel to a rerun of the prior day's mag ball game.

She leaned forward onto her elbows, fingertips steepled under her chin, and watched the bartender go about his business. Her eyes ran up and down his form, unnoticed. When he finally turned to put away a clean mug and noticed her attention on him, his cheeks flushed. She smirked, staring even more blatantly, until he found a very important reason to wander into the back room.

"Anya, stay focused," a voice crackled in the blonde's ear. Anya scowled and grumbled under her breath. "Long dark hair. Scar on her chin. Looks like that pop star Magenta."

"Da, I know," she muttered, flashing the barkeep a final quick smile before she turned to look over the crowd. "You think I do not know what she look like?" Her thick Russian accent gave the words an unintended harshness she rarely took the time or effort to soften. She waved a finger at the barkeep. He nodded, filled the freshly cleaned mug, and slid it across the bar to her.

"The bartender is blonde, and a man. Move on."

Anya grinned in amusement. "Do not be jealous, myshka. Is ugly on you."

The voice studiously ignored her jab. "Maybe she's not here yet."

"She is here," Anya said, calmly watching the highlight reel on the holoscreen.

"You already spotted her," the voice said flatly.

"Da. In corner."

"You were staring at the barkeep to be discrete."

"Da. Looking directly at target is amateur. Look next to, past, and around."

The voice sighed exhaustedly. "Well, the drones have you covered. Larry is out back. Curly and Moe are on the roof across the street, watching."

"Thank you, myshka." Anya downed the mugs contents, and twisted her lips contemptuously. "Beer without yeast like gun without bullet. Is pointless. Only thing I still miss from Russia." She tapped her wrist comp briskly, generously tipping the bartender, as she turned and walked toward the back.

"Tell that to the forger you beat unconscious with an empty rifle. You gave the woman a concussion."

Anya shrugged "Oh, well... da, there was that."

She made for the restroom, but at the last minute turned and sat herself down in a booth opposite the brunette with the scar.

"Ohhh, yes. Very discrete," the voice said, snarkily.

Anya's eye merely twitched as she withdrew her pistol and set it down on the table between her and the brunette. "I hate these things," Anya said, as she slowly took her hand away from the gun. "So loud and... how you say... inelegant. Have you ever been shot?" she said, making direct eye contact with the increasingly-terrified brunette. "No? Is terrible. Hurt for months at best, if not forever. Once, I was chasing gambler who owed money all over town. Slippery woman. Kept getting out of cuffs! Had to shoot both kneecaps..." The harshness of her accent was in full effect as the brunette sank further and further into her seat. "You see this? This is Markov X8. It can blow hole in chest big enough for me to stick hand through. It is..." She grumbled for a moment, scratching her chin. "Overkill? Da, overkill. If I have to shoot kneecap it will blow off entire leg." Anya made a small explosion sound as if to narrate the grisly image. "Is very messy gun. I do not think you will run far without leg."

"Now... this either happen two ways, Virginia. We go quiet. Yes?" Anya smiled wryly, stroking the pistol. "Or you go messy."

"I-I-I-I can pay you!"

She stared back impassively. "You not listen suka. Only happen two ways!"

"I didn't even do it though! I was just the lookout but I neve-"

Anya flexed, loudly cracking the bones in her shoulder and neck. "Not caring. But, will slit throat if you keep trying to talk Anya to death."

The woman's hands trembled as she fished through her pocket. "No, you don't understand. I have money, I can pay-"

Anya flinched as the woman suddenly tossed a small black cube into the air. Her eyes widened in recognition, and she had barely a moment to turn away before her world erupted into blinding light and a piercing keen that reverberated through her skull.

The world slowed down, or at least her perception of it did. She rolled up onto her hands and knees and managed to open one of her eyes to look back. Everyone was on the ground, with their hands clawing at their ears. She couldn't bring herself to look at it without being nauseated, but she knew that the small black cube was laying a few feet away, continuing to emit strobing, disorienting lights and blasted harmonics designed to disrupt the inner ear. Her synthetic arm pawed blindly at the ground, feeling for tiny box. She clenched her fist and crushed it, but the severe disorientation continued.

Through the near-senseless haze, Anya could see the back door swing closed. She swore violently and climbed unsteadily to her feet. A frightening wave of disorientation and nausea swept through her, threatening to knock her back on her ass but she threw herself toward the door, sweeping through it in more of a controlled fall than a run.

AwkwardMD
AwkwardMD
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