Tags
anthology, Biosphere, chosen, doomed, eden, fantasy, folklore, forbidden, fringe, Garden of Eden, genetically-engineered, myth, pleasure sphere, romance, sin, tested, The Foundation, the Great War, Underwater, utopia, writing, zander vyne
Many would be tested. Most wouldn’t make it. The unchosen were Doomed unless they ran.
My friend, Trek, decided to run and join the group living on the fringe; he’d received a rejection letter and had nothing to lose. “Some Chosen run too, Eve. It’s that good there, and it’s our only chance to be together.”
I’d been raised on the history of Eden like all children—long, long ago, the Great War had driven Earth’s people underground. With only artificial light and the barest of resources, they tried everything to reduce their numbers, hoping to last long enough to repopulate the surface. They failed. Only stranded astronauts on space-station Biospheres survived.
My Chosen dad often pointed out Earth in the night sky. “It looks like any other star, but it’s a reminder. Don’t forget that, baby girl.”
Our ancestors found themselves with no home.
The new Biosphere world faced many problems. People wanted solutions ensuring survival. Out of the chaos came the Foundation.
Those pioneers led the expedition that discovered the habitable, but tiny, Eden. To make sure this new home didn’t become like the old one, the Foundation mandated a genetically-engineered society. No trouble-making genes allowed. The people on Eden were all products of the Pleasure Sphere. No one could remember another way of life, another way of reproducing.
For the Chosen, Eden was perfect.
