In a green field of sparsely spread wheat, the red sun above was starting to set. The dim light that managed to make it through the blanket like smog cast dark shadows against the ground. The crops were rooted in ground which looked more like solid rock than fertile soil for agriculture. The soil looked dry with countless cracks forming jagged edges that spread throughout the field. With water and nutrients hard to find, the crop looked weak but struggled against the odds it found itself in.
Suddenly, the smog started to twist and wisp in unnatural patterns. The wheat sagged, as if a strange pressure wanted to flatten the poor field. The loose clumps of soil rose from the ground as if to mock the wheat. The dim light started to bend and curve, mathematically the same as light around a black hole.
Just when the phenomenon started to more aggressively disrupt the environment, it stopped without warning, like a switch flipped off. The only trace of what happened being the hole in the smog which quickly filled back in.
Sometime later, from the adjacent field, an advanced automated drone descended in the field. It scanned the wheat and noticed some unripe grain had fallen from the sparsely spread stalks. A note about possible smog poisoning was sent with the data from the scan. Then, the drone lifted back up and went to scan the next field.
Deep in the middle of the Eurussian Ocean, a similar phenomenon occurred. The salt water grew agitated. Small bubbles appeared and floated up to the surface hundreds of feet above. A dim light appeared, allowing one to see no more than a foot away. The dim light illuminated trash and pollution in the water. Just as the water started to become turbulent, it stopped with no one witnessing the event.
At the top of a mountain peak, the gently falling Snowash whipped fiercely then resumed its gentle pace downward. On one of the uninhabited Antarctic Archipelago islands, the sand formed a small storm before settling again. More events of inconsequential outcomes started happening randomly all over the planet, but none witnessed these illogical events, unexplainable by science.
They were a message to the planet, an omen of dark days ahead. Unfortunately, no one was listening. No one could listen, for they had more pressing issues to worry about. Even if they had been listening, few would have cared, for in this post-ecological collapse, surviving was hard enough already.
Even then, humans are a creative species. They adapt to changes faster than any other, especially the ones they create. In this dying world, the humans are determined to continue surviving, and they are determined to keep the world on life support, until the last man. For if the world dies, then so do they.
They have tried to move to different planets, the have tried to reverse the damage they caused to their current one. They have tried and tried, but all their efforts only made the situation worse. All the advanced technology they currently have would have baffled scientists even 25 years prior. But every rocket they'd send to space, every power plant used to power factories for manufacturing only worsened the planets situation more.
Perhaps the rich could've privately funded ways to leave, and maybe some did in the past, but with no messages coming from them now, it hardly matters no one can follow their footsteps. Every factory, every city, every last piece of infrastructure is heavily monitored to prevent any unauthorized damage to the planet.
In the Western Nation, the city of Denver stood among the Rocky Mountains, untouched by the elevated ocean levels. The city stands much larger than what it did 60 years ago. As one of the few cities left mostly untouched by the disasters of the past it grew exponentially as survivors flocked to the safe haven. Now, it is one of the 3 capitol cities and the capitol of the Western Nation.
Within the city, the atmosphere can best be described as neutral. Not too tense, not too relaxed. While the city is roughly double the size as it was historically, it has roughly 20 times the population. The people can only be canned into shelters like sardines with few personal possessions. Consumerism is a practice of the past. The planet cannot support more than the basic necessities of its inhabitants let alone luxuries.
With so many people living so close, high tensions can only be expected. Fights breaking out is a common occurrence for the populace. Crime, is at an all time high, but even the criminals know not to cross certain lines.
While the government cannot afford the time and resources to regulate their activities, if morale drops too low due to incessant crime, they'd be forced to step in. And if the government wanted you gone, there was no stopping them. This is a comfort afforded to the law abiding citizens.
What looks to be a group of children are playing in the road with affectionate mothers looking from the sidelines. The only way to tell the two groups apart is their size as everyone is wearing a gas mask of some kind. While the smog won't kill you quickly, it is said that even breathing it for more than a minute will triple your chances of developing cancer, and while the cure exists, maybe only the Speaker can receive it. Though, that would require you to live long enough to develop cancer in the first place.
Everyone is wearing clothes that hide all skin and have a strange residue layer on the outside. The acid rain leaves chemical burns that fester for weeks before eventually killing the patient. Medicine is costly to manufacture. It is better for the planet that they pass away. That is the unfortunate situation which the denizens of the planet must bear for the mistakes of their predecessors.
Living in the city isn't all bad though. The city provides electricity from 0700 to sun-up and from sun-down to 2100 each day. That's all they can afford since fossil fuels are strictly prohibited and solar panels barely work with the smog. The only decent power source is nuclear and ironically wind.
Nuclear products are extremely difficult to manufacture and properly dispose of so it is also strictly prohibited except for in key government buildings. Wind incurs lots of maintenance costs though due to the dust storms which ravage the planet, but it is worth the cost in most cases.
Each citizen of Denver receives two meals per day consisting of small and dry biscuits and a cup of soup with a small number of vegetables. The air in the city is supplied with oxygen, meaning the citizens don't need to worry about keeping stock of their oxygen canisters. The small luxuries that not even every city is able to provide.
The heart of the city is the government building. It's the only building powered 24 hours a day. One would be hard pressed to call it a building though as it easily spans more than a square mile. It would be better to call it the government complex for how much happens here each day.
Most women work a shift within the complex as a drone operator, assistant, scientist, teacher or other non physically challenging jobs. The majority of the men work within or outside the city doing physically intense jobs. This is not a matter sexism, but a matter of who works best in their role. It's a simple study of physiology to know that men tend to be stronger and are needed in those roles more.
"ATTENTION ALL CITIZENS, IT IS NOW 2045 HOURS. CITY-WIDE POWER SHUTDOWN AND CURFEW WILL BEGIN IN 15 MINUTES. NO WARNINGS WILL BE GIVEN TO THOSE FOUND BREAKING CURFEW."
The nightly power shutdown announcement was made city wide. Immediately after hearing it, the group of children found their mothers and started walking home. Preparations needed to be made before power down. Within minutes, the streets were clear with barely a soul in sight. No one wanted to be caught after curfew, most couldn't handle the punishments. Only those with valid reasons were still out, like those heading towards the government building for their shift.
At the center of the government complex, stood a 20 story building, the tallest in the city. This tower was the Command Center and was the heart of not just this city but also the Western Nation as a whole.
On the 20th floor, the main meeting room was located in the center with a dozen other smaller meeting rooms around it. On the periphery of the floor laid a number of rooms. They belonged to the leaders of the city and nation.
At the same time as the power shutdown announcement, a meeting between all the leaders finished in the main meeting room. Each of the personnel filed out in an organized fashion and each person went to their own designated room. Each entered to find an extremely bare room that contained only the essentials, which included a bed, a bathroom, a table and chair, along with a sink and set of silverware. Not a single room had the luxurious feel you would expect from the leaders of a nation.
At almost comically exact timing, each leader pulled their chair up to the window and watched the city. Perhaps after more than a decade of this, each person instinctively watched as the city wide power shutdown started. What once looked like a lively city with lights everywhere suddenly became pitch black. The only light one could see came from the buildings directly below them, the ones part of the government complex.
A young man, approximately 20 years old sat in his chair and watched a little longer. This was the Commander in Chief, the Commander of the military of the Western Nation.
"I still don't understand why it chose me," the man thought aloud. "What were you thinking choosing someone 20 years younger than the rest of the council. No one will listen to a thing I say," the man grumbled afterward.
After staring at his reflection in the window for a little longer, the man got up, put his chair back at the table, got ready for bed in the bathroom and went to bed, not knowing that the world would change once again tomorrow.