Oasis 2064

In the 2,064th year of the current era, many people felt as if the world had come to an end, or at least the world as they’d known it had. Nature awoke and demonstrated its invincible power, as if to declare that it would endure no more exploitation and abuse. It was as if Mother Earth had finally decided to punish her tormentors and abusers, who, following their greed and insatiable pursuit of power, had threatened to destroy her beauty and inherent nurturing nature and to turn her into a barren, poisonous no-man’s-land. Earth rose in a fury of erupting volcanoes and earthquakes. Not only did active volcanoes and dormant ones alike spew their lava, but also mountains that had never been known as volcanic started rumbling. The earth had been shaking unexpectedly, frequently where humans had dug deep into the ground to retrieve oil or minerals. It seemed that the equilibrium that had maintained the magma, dormant under the earth’s crust, was destroyed abruptly, and it was pushed out as an expression of the earth’s wrath and frustration. The elements acted synergistically to increase the disasters. Earthquakes created tsunamis and wildfires, whose energy was augmented by the powerful winds. The lava that spewed out into the oceans raised the water temperature, which resulted in hurricanes, tornadoes, severe storms, and floods. The oceans’ water level rose and covered small islands and metropolises alike. In the United States, forty million people were killed directly as a result of these disasters, and sixty million died subsequently from starvation and diseases. The rest of the world did not fare much better. Cities and villages were in shambles, and the roads were full of refugees who were willing to give everything they had for safe shelter and a secure means of subsistence. Social institutions collapsed. Governments were incapacitated and could not ensure the supply of food and clean water to the survivors. The health and welfare systems were incapable of helping the sick and the destitute, and many were left to die. The catastrophes brought out the best and worst in people. Many opened their homes and religious temples to provide shelter to the uprooted, but others armed themselves to the teeth and robbed what little the unfortunates had. Unsurprisingly, there was no lack of self-proclaimed prophets eager to preach and frighten these unfortunates, as if the later had not been through hell already. Religious fanatics told the people that the destruction was the result of their transgressions, while environmental zealots reminded all how they had tried to dissuade governments and corporations from polluting the atmosphere, poisoning the food supply, and depleting the soil, and how fiercely they had fought against the use of GMOs and poisonous pesticides and herbicides. Some people followed these zealots for lack of better options, especially if the preachers promised food, shelter, and employment. Many of the CEOs of companies that were responsible for pumping carbon dioxide into the air, or obstructing legislative attempts to halt climate change, left the country as soon as they sensed fingers pointing toward them. Hefty bank accounts in foreign countries guaranteed a safe restart. These people were never prosecuted or punished. Others, however, stayed and used their power to subjugate people so as to increase their own control and wealth and create a secure and luxurious life for themselves and their loved ones, hidden from the public eye. Being known before by conspiracy theory believers as the Illuminati, they emerged after the disasters as the Order Defenders (OD). Since many of them had contributed directly or indirectly to the disasters, they governed through surrogates, using their massive amounts of capital and their private army of loyal, well-paid, and professionally trained mercenaries equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry. They emerged in the eastern United States, known east of the Mississippi as East, and threatened to broaden their control to include the rest of the country, which reorganized as Central and West. The world was yearning for a new direction but did not seem to evolve above and beyond self-aggrandizing greed, power, and lust. Those who did evolve and who had expected other people to learn from their experience were horrified to witness how little people had changed. It seemed that greed and ignorance were humanity’s everlasting incurable diseases that in the best of times had been in remission. Some people, however, disillusioned by governments and corporations, and believing in imminent catastrophes—natural, social, or both—organized themselves into sustainable communities that provided most of the food and energy they needed. Some were driven by fear and armed themselves to defend against potential enemies. Others attempted to develop communities based on sharing and love. The first book in this series chronicles the events occurring in the divided country from the vantage point of James Callahan, a sustainable community developer whose fate carries him across the country to experience life as an OD supporter and as a man who fights against them. This is not a story of David and Goliath or of Hercules fighting the Hydra. The modern monster has too many regenerating heads beyond one legendary hero’s ability to decapitate. It takes a collaborative effort of many people, each contributing his or her personal talents and being willing to risk it all. Against this backdrop, the story highlights one community, Oasis, as a beacon of light, and follows its residents’ transformation as they attempt to fight the monster. MT: In the 2,064th year of the current era, many people felt as if the world had come to an end, or at least the world as they’d known it had. Nature awoke and demonstrated its invincible power, as if to declare that it would endure no more exploitation and abuse. It was as if Mother Earth had finally decided to punish her tormentors and abusers, who, following their greed and insatiable pursuit of power, had threatened to destroy her beauty and inherent nurturing nature and to turn her into a barren, poisonous no-man’s-land. Earth rose in a fury of erupting volcanoes and earthquakes. Not only did active volcanoes and dormant ones alike spew their lava, but also mountains that had never been known as volcanic started rumbling. The earth had been shaking unexpectedly, frequently where humans had dug deep into the ground to retrieve oil or minerals. It seemed that the equilibrium that had maintained the magma, dormant under the earth’s crust, was destroyed abruptly, and it was pushed out as an expression of the earth’s wrath and frustration. The elements acted synergistically to increase the disasters. Earthquakes created tsunamis and wildfires, whose energy was augmented by the powerful winds. The lava that spewed out into the oceans raised the water temperature, which resulted in hurricanes, tornadoes, severe storms, and floods. The oceans’ water level rose and covered small islands and metropolises alike. In the United States, forty million people were killed directly as a result of these disasters, and sixty million died subsequently from starvation and diseases. The rest of the world did not fare much better. Cities and villages were in shambles, and the roads were full of refugees who were willing to give everything they had for safe shelter and a secure means of subsistence. Social institutions collapsed. Governments were incapacitated and could not ensure the supply of food and clean water to the survivors. The health and welfare systems were incapable of helping the sick and the destitute, and many were left to die. The catastrophes brought out the best and worst in people. Many opened their homes and religious temples to provide shelter to the uprooted, but others armed themselves to the teeth and robbed what little the unfortunates had. Unsurprisingly, there was no lack of self-pr