2050 - December 9, 2061

Physical Sciences | Biological Sciences | World Sociology
New World | Europe | Middle East | Africa | The East | Asian-American War

Physical Sciences
     Over half of the orbital population in space is killed when automated environmental systems fail due to the computer virus. Many stations are rendered uninhabitable and the crews are forced to return to Earth. Only a few thousand people remain in space, and their numbers dwindle over the years as nations cut back on space investment to concentrate on economic rebuilding and war. There is no one to repair the satellites and orbital factories crippled down by the computer virus. Military space installations, however, receive top priority, and most of them are brought back to working condition.
     During the war a number of advances are made in weapons research, including clean tactical nuclear weapons, laser infantry weapons, Gauss infantry weapons, and Gauss artillery. Due to lack of resources, however, few of these weapons are actually produced.
     The Soviets place first priority on rebuilding their space capabilities and have all of their orbital facilities in full running condition by 2053. Soviet scientists achieve a number of breakthroughs in ion drive research and by 2058 have a perfected ion drive ship capable of cheap and economic space travel. The ship immediately commences runs to transport a joint Soviet/Swiss colony to the moon. By 2060 there is a nearly self-sufficient lunar colony of 5,000, producing their own raw materials from lunar mines and growing food crops on the moon's surface.
     Due to the soaring price of oil and petroleum polymers in Europe, Soviet and Swiss scientists develop new, inexpensive polymers based on agricultural byproducts. These are used to construct new laser/fiber-optic computers and networks. New mining and refining techniques also allow the Soviets and Swiss (and some of their European allies) to switch back to solid metal construction in industry.

Biological Sciences
     The Earth's atmosphere continues to heal itself as the burning of fossil fuels decreases in most areas of the world due to shortages. Desalinization facilities and genetically designed grasses help to slowly reclaim the deserts.
     A major earthquake strikes the Philippine Sea in 2057. The resulting tidal wave wreaks havoc in the Philippines, Micronesia and southern Japan.
     On December 9, 2061, unknown terrorists release a genetically-modified version of the oil-eating bacteria in cities throughout the world. The bacteria uses humans as a vector and breaks down most petroleum-based polymers.

World Sociology
     The world economy slowly recovers from the economic crash of 2049. Factories are put back on-line with backup copies of programs. However, few computer operators are willing to connect their systems into the communications net and the global economy is fatally fractured, splitting into numerous regional economies. All regions are badly hurt as they lose access to distant resources and markets. At least half of the world's factories sit idle due to insufficient raw materials, while mines and farms cut back on production due to a lack of buyers. The global standard of living is reduced by an order of magnitude. Most effective industry is controlled by the military.
     Global communications effectively cease to exist. Computer terrorists continue to dominate the world's telephone/computer lines, rendering them useless. Broadcast communications remain inviolate, but have been crippled due to the loss of at least 96% of the world's communications satellites to the computer virus. In addition, both sides of the Asian-American War treat any source of radio broadcasts as a military target for orbital lasers. Only the military's retain any decent long-range communications, and even those are often unreliable and subject to interference from hackers. The only news available to most people is a mix of government propaganda and whatever stuff the various computer terrorists decide to send over the lines.
     Communes, clans and extended families evolve among the urban poor as ways of coping with want and violence. Loyalty to one's commune/clan takes precedence over loyalty to one's nation. Most people's only contact with government consists of listening to far-fetched propaganda or hiding from invading armies. Back-to-nature, anti-technology, anti-war movements spring up spontaneously in many places.

New World
     The ACC is invaded by the Pan-Asian Union. See below for details on the Asian-American War.
     Civilian government virtually ceases to exist in the Americas and the churches rapidly move in to fill the vacuum. What industry and communications exist left are in the hands of the churches. By 2054, the church militia outnumber the ACC Army and soon come to dominate the war effort.

Europe
     Switzerland and the Soviet Union set up a new computer system based purely on new laser/fiber optic technology. The system extends to nearby countries in Europe but is unconnected to the world net in order to prevent access by computer terrorists.
     The European economy, set back by the computer virus, recovers slowly but surely, aided by technological assistance from the Soviets and Swiss. Appalled by the sheer scale of the Asian-American War, a strong peace movement, with European isolationist overtones, develops.
     In 2058, the USE and Germany set aside their differences and sign a treaty which sets the stage for a future unification of the two nations into a Franco-German Confederation, commonly nicknamed "Gaul" by the media, for obscure reasons. West Germany remains outside the alliance.

Middle East
     Though not involved in the war, the Middle Eastern economy is extremely hurt by the computer virus and the loss of tourist revenues from both Asia and America. In desperation, the long independent-minded states form an economic union, the Arabian Financial Association. They concentrate on trying to gain new customers and markets in Europe.
     The agricultural economies of the fertile crescent are less badly affected. Iraq becomes heavily pro-Asian and sends economic aid to the Pan-Asian war effort.

Africa
     The African economy, still largely based on agricultural exports, is able to rapidly recover from the computer virus, rebuilding trade routes to Europe and the Middle East. By 2060, Africa is supplying one third of Europe's food and one half of Arabia's. Africa remains one of the poorest regions in the world, but the economies are stable, the nations are at peace, and the people are fed; compared to what little the Africans hear about the rest of the world, they feel lucky and are quite content the way they are. Egypt and South Africa remain the leading nations of the region.
     European scientists test out many new genetically engineered plant and animal species in the deserts of Africa. Whole artificial desert ecologies are built specifically to transform those deserts into fertile savannahs with herds of high-yield meat animals. Though there are a number of failures and a few disasters (including a mutant strain of deer which eat half the harvest of Kenya before they are brought under control), by 2060 a handful of self-sustaining and self-expanding biomes have been established.

The East
     Of all the nations of the world, the Pan-Asian Union is hit the hardest by the computer virus due to their overwhelming reliance on automated industry. The country only hangs together by the imposition of ruthless control by the central government. Tens of millions die of starvation due to food rationing. Even more die in riots.
     The Pan-Asians blame the computer virus on the Americans. In 2050, the Pan-Asian Union declares war on the ACC. Millions of troops invade. Almost on the side, the island nations of the South Pacific are absorbed into the Pan-Asian Union as forward bases for the war. Most surrender before a shot is fired, but Fiji puts up a stiff fight for almost eight months, and continues to field a strong underground resistance throughout the war. See below for details on the Asian-American War.
     The Pan-Asian Union drifts into fascism. A small technological elite rules over impoverished masses which grow poorer every year. Pan-Asianism becomes an ideology of conquest. In 2055, the Union adopts Chainan, an artificial language, as its official tongue. By 2061 it is the only language allowed in all government offices and all schools (which are only attended by the technocrats' children). The poor continue to speak their native tongues, further distinguishing them from the elite. The ruling classes take to using plastic surgery to make themselves all look alike, a new "Pan-Asian" race. There are plans to genetically transform the entire population into this new Pan-Asian race, the lower classes being made into willing laborers and warriors.

The Asian-American War
     By tacit agreement, both sides refuse to use nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. Orbital lasers, however, are heavily used by both sides, though, once again by unwritten agreement, population centers are not targeted by the weapons. Most of the sophisticated tracking and AI programs which would have made these satellites devastatingly effective were destroyed by the 2049 computer virus: now neither side is willing to let their satellites accept broadcast input for fear of takeover by either the enemy or independent hackers, so the weapons are mostly limited to simple programs and commands installed on-site by the few astronauts still left in space to fix them. They are thus used mostly to fire on easily identified targets such as ships at sea and sources of radio emissions. There are still a frighteningly large number of shots at friendly or neutral targets.
     In 2050, the Pan-Asian Union launches a massive invasion of the Pacific. Hawaii is overrun almost immediately. Naval combat is fierce on both sides. The ACC Pacific fleet is decimated by summer, but reinforcements from the Atlantic arrive to bolster the defense. The Panama canal is destroyed by laser fire. By late 2050, the ACC gives up on the Pacific and withdraws its remaining fleets to the Drake Passage to deny Asian entrance into the Atlantic. (South Africa and Madagascar, supported diplomatically by the Middle Eastern nations, have stated that they will not allow Pan-Asian military fleets to cross their rich fishing grounds between the Cape of Good Hope and Antarctica. The Pan-Asians comply rather than provoke an incident.) The ACC prepares to defend its western coasts.
     In 2051 over 100 million Pan-Asian troops land in California, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The landings in South America are repelled, but the Asians gain firm beachheads in California, Baja California, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. In the following years, Asian troops continue to pour into the Americas.
     California is left virtually unprotected by the ACC army which fears that the native Asian-American majority will assist the invaders, making defense impossible. The Asians, believing the same thing, rapidly conquer the state and set up a puppet government in 2053. Both sides are surprised by the appearance of a highly organized and motivated popular resistance among Caucasian, Latino and Asian-American Californians. Californian rebels disrupt Pan-Asian supply lines, sabotage the Long Beach Harbor, and assassinate key military officials. On one night in 2057, 80,000 troops quartered in the homes of Asian-Americans in San Diego are slaughtered by their hosts. Also in 2057, the Pan-Asians discover that their hand-picked quisling governor in Sacramento is actually a member of the resistance when he sets off a bomb in the capitol building, blowing up 233 Pan-Asian officers. He then flees to the Sierra Nevada to lead guerilla bands against the conquerors. In 2059, the Pan-Asians begin a negotiated withdrawal from California, which declares itself an independent neutral republic.
     While there are Pan-Asian forces in California, they attempt a number of attacks into neighboring states. The deserts of California, Arizona and Nevada soon become a no-man's land full of random patrols and mine fields. ACC forces are concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, and the front wavers back and forth through Oregon and Washington. When the Pan-Asians leave California in 2059, they also abandon the rest of North America.
     Central America quickly falls to the Pan-Asians. By 2053 they hold everything from Panama to the Yucatan and are pushing outward both north and south. The Pope flees to Miami. The Central American front soon becomes the center of the war as Pan-Asians attempt to take the oil fields of Mexico and Colombia. Combat intensifies as both Pan-Asia and the ACC send more and more troops to the Central American fighting. While Pan-Asian success in Colombia is limited, they slowly advance into the central basin of Mexico and by 2058 are in the suburbs of Mexico City.
     In 2057 the Asians attempt a second and this time successful invasion of the west coast of South America. Pan-Asian troops occupy the coastal regions of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, including most of their oil producing regions. Many ACC units retreat into the Andes, and combat in these countries turns into a deadly contest of mountain guerilla warfare. Pan-Asian forces turn south toward the rich industrial cities of Chile.
     In 2058 the Pan-Asian fleet crosses African waters into the Atlantic. The South African and Malagasy fleets put up a token resistance, but soon withdraw. ACC fleets rushes to stop the breakthrough. Only days later, the ACC fleet in the Drake Passage, reduced by the forces sent east, is attacked by the major portion of the Pan-Asian navy while marines land in Tierra del Fuego. The Pan-Asian attack is successful and the ACC blockade into the Atlantic is broken.
     In late 2058 the Pan-Asians land over 200 million troops on the lightly defended and heavily populated coasts of Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil, the agricultural and industrial heartland of South America. City after city falls to the Pan-Asians.
     By the late 2050's, the ACC military forces are so divided by the various religious factions that there is little agreement on a central strategy. While by this time the Asians have all but left North America, the North Americans send few reinforcements to the beleaguered South Americans.
     In 2059, the newly elected Pope Ramon secretly travels to Brazil where he personally leads the Catholic militia. Recruits flock to his call and the defending forces are tripled within six months. Civilian resistance to the occupying forces also grows. On Easter morning of 2060, the Catholic forces form a chain of prayer from Rio de Janeiro to Tierra del Fuego all along the battle front. At dawn, the worshipping troops lift up their guns and launch a major counter-offensive against the Pan-Asians. Simultaneous uprisings occur in the occupied cities. The Pan-Asians begin to retreat. By lat 2061, the last Pan-Asians have left the eastern seaboard and the Pope and his victorious troops turn their attention toward the Andes.
     Racked by inadequate supplies, continuing guerilla warfare, and bad leadership, the Pan-Asian forces in Central America and the Andes suffer drastic losses in morale. Pan-Asian tactics rely on sheer numbers to overwhelm their foe, and losses are inordinately high. Cases of desertion and insubordination are on the rise. Some troops even defect to the other side, though they are treated with mistrust by the natives. A number of troop ships are hijacked by Pan-Asian soldiers who want to go home.

Continue to 2061-2062