A.I.: Orphans of Terra (HTTYD)

Prologue

AN: Helooooooo everybodyyyyy!!! I'm back with a new story for you all. Now this is a plot I've been toying with for some time and finally got the chance to put to paper (or Word doc) and it isn't yet finished. So updates will be when I got time but I do have a backlog of chapters ready for the Holidays. Consider this prologue a teaser and the first chapter will be out on Xmas eve. Also I do want to stress that this is HICCSTRID and while it is Post-Apocalyptic there are no ZOMBIES in this story. This story was inspired by the question my friend once asked me "What would happen if humans kept screwing up the Earth?"

AN2: There is a very high chance that like Eternal Valkyrie, this story will have a sequel.

Prologue

Earth, the once great vessel that supported life. The evolution of humans was both its greatest achievement and its greatest downfall. Humanity spread across the Earth and consumed its resources, never stopping to consider that there might soon be no resources left. Always growing and consuming.

By the beginning 23rd century, the Earth was overpopulated and dying. The once great ecosystem could not sustain itself anymore. Mass extinction of animal and plant life due to pollution ran rampant. The once great tropical forests shriveled and turned into deserts. The ice caps melted and the flooding of the great cities began.

But this would not be the end for humanity. If the planet could not sustain them then they would look to the stars. A bold plan was initiated by the collective governments of the world. Project Genesis, where humans were selected to board the spaceships that would seed the stars. While this project was being hashed out, several governments also started employing strict birth control laws to battle the overpopulation. These laws did not do much in regards to the growing population and the loss of resources, and then in a secret meeting, a choice was made.

A new drug called 'Midas' was released in the water supplies of the cities to an unknowing population. This drug would lower the pregnancy rate. It would affect both male and females and be virtually undetected. The drug seemed to be working and fewer people conceived causing the population to stay at a steady rate. But then the decline started happening. Second, third, and later generations exposed to the Midas drug over the years started becoming completely infertile. When the drug was finally discovered the public outcry was immense. Riots broke out planet wide and those that had not been infected, mainly the rich and powerful, went into hiding and bought their way onto the Genesis project.

The ships left the Earth's atmosphere not long after and in the midst of the chaos on the planet people wondered if this had been the privileged's goal the entire time.