23rd Century Anatomy
The Bird Flu Pandemic did happen but not as the experts predicted.
Most of the First World countries felt little impact as it seemed to only affect the very young, old or sickly.
Many shrugged it off as a bad cold, this was due to the many governments who stock piled huge amounts of the flu drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu),These governments included the British Isles and most of Eastern Europe , Japan , South Korea , Australia, New Zealand, The United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Canada and Brazil. Ironically the United States where it was manufactured sold nearly all of its reserves to most of the above countries due to high demand and left it exposed to the worst part of the pandemic.
The US Health system was unable to cope with the outbreak and the division of its wealthy and poor was highlighted when it lost most of its poorer citizens to the disease thus creating a huge labour shortage.
The same happened to many Western Europe countries and Africa. The Middle East and most of Asia seemed to suffer very little casualties in the first round of the pandemic but were dealt a severe blow when it mutated into another form of the virus due to the introduction of the Tamiflu into the worlds population.
By the year 2055 half of the worlds projected population of 9 billion had been killed by the pandemic.
The world had reached a new crises. In a few short years hunger and poverty had been reduced significantly in the world but there was a massive shortage of cheap labour to supply those that had survived and perpetuate their life styles.
At first the human spirit come to the fore and a new enlightened society arose from the ashes of the Old World Order.
But this didn’t take long to be corrupted by those in charge who were in reality still the Old World in their thinking.
Greed is never far from a man’s heart.
They first appeared from the prison systems.
The NewMans.
There was a short out cry at first but it faded when the benefits matched the wanting to return to the easy life.
Robots in the historical sense had never lived up to the hype of the science fiction novels that spawned them.
They were bulky and had to be programmed endlessly to do simple tasks.
That is why the NewMans proved such a success.
When the world’s population had dwindled most of the prisons were emptied and the prisoners were put to work in essential industry to keep economies going, only the worst sociopaths and murders were exempt.
Eventually these inmates were considered burdens as no one could afford the manpower to watch over them.
This is where things started to change.
The US Military in conjunction with larger Corporations began cybernetic transplants in conjunction with neurological implants to control behaviour.
Under the guise of the United Nations (long ago taken over by the leading Economies) the first NewMans were released to work in Mines and dangerous rescue missions.
Their appearance shocked those at first but it didn’t take long for them to become an acceptable part of the landscape.
Men with large drills attacked at the forearms with huge splayed feet to counterbalance their centre of gravity. Running up there spines scares covered the titanium spinal implants that held them upright.
More and more of the NewMans appeared over the next decade in different forms and for different purposes.
Many had arms similar to the spot welders on the old automotive assemblies lines and were used for similar purposes others had clamps on all appendages and were used for high rise construction and maintenance. There were versions suited to deep sea and high altitude climates work to aide in recovery and development.
Each new model taking that extra step forward up the machine evolutionary ladder.
Meanwhile as the US with United Nations backing was virtually replacing it’s labour force with NewMans the African continent was becoming a hot bed of territorial claims. South Africa had invested billions of dollars redeveloping the Southern and Central States which had virtually been wiped out during the pandemic due to the lack of medical aide and the huge HIV count per population. Meanwhile the Northen and Western States were being heavily invested by Saudi Arabia , now a major player as a Economic giant. This had given those more deceptive of Government officials an excuse to reopen old religious wounds and all acts of sabotage were quickly blamed on or claimed by Religious Extremists.
This opened up the door to introduce NewMan Guards, which were in fact Super Soldiers to protect large Investments and developments. Huge beasts that had hardly any semblance to their original human state.
Most of this was kept out of the public domain, the population had become smarter but also easier to control.
Armed conflicts had become rare and physical competition had become more popular than ever. Countries were often pitted against each other on a weekly basis as air travel became faster and less taxing on the individual. People wanted to see faster, stronger, further more and more. The Olympic Games became the ultimate in status for athletes and national pride and soon it became apparent that the human body even when riddled with drugs could only achieve so much.
This spawned a new breed of elite.
The ReNewMan.
Humans who had enhancements added to their physical body in relation to their particular sport. High jumpers had spring loaded legs, runners had modified lungs and muscle enhancements in the legs, swimmers had much the same but with flipper attachments on the arms and legs. Javelin throwers had arms made into harpoon like apparatus this was stunning as it was entertaining but it also heralded the introduction of vanity modifications, though these were irreversible the were incredibly popular.
With this bold new application came new technology.
No longer were there shiny metal but skin grafts had been applied to make the runners legs like jaguar or Ostrich legs. The jumpers like Kangaroos, the swimmers like twin finned Dolphins.
Vanity had reached new heights.
(c)2009 Danny Nolan Shidot Productions
Image (c) Glen Smith NoFrills Art used with permission.
Glen is a multi talented painter and designer, administrator and teacher who I have collaborated many times and his works can be found here and his Blog here.
I have written about Glen before on this site and you can find that here
