The Chronicles of Amon book 2 The Sea of Marmara

  Chapter 1.

  Amon awoke to the sound of a baby crying. The infant mewed quietly for a few minutes and then fell silent. He wondered how the the poor little thing was doing.

  The infant and her parents had arrived two days ago. Apparently the last of the survivors, they had escaped the latest of a series of assaults on what was left of Cairo. They had managed to remain undetected as they made their way out of the city.

  The city itself was little more than a pile of rubble. Desperate people had gone on a rampage, taking everything of value and setting fire to what was left.

  Since the EMP wars a year earlier, social order had collapsed globally. The ‘pulses’ had literally destroyed everything electronic. Even the planes that dropped the bombs crashed when their shielding failed. No one had anticipated what the effects of multiple EMP blasts would do. Supposedly hardened against radiation, even the most sophisticated weapon systems in the world were rendered useless as the bombs set off a world-wide chain reaction.

  Ironically, it was the ozone layer high above, that facilitated the earth’s electronic doom. For centuries activists had insisted that the layer was being depleted. They cited as evidence, the so-called ‘hole’ above the south pole. Fear mongers as they were, they insisted that the hole was growing, and that when it was gone, the earth would be cooked in the sun’s radiation. The hole continued to grow and shrink over the decades. When it shrank, the activists were quiet. When it grew, so did their noise and feigned concern.

  Just as the layer acted to filter most of the sun’s harmful radiation from reaching the earth, so it’s under surface became an invisible barrier, reflecting most of the EMP’s back toward the surface.

  Within minutes everything electronic was rendered useless. Planes fell from the sky. Motored vehicles simply rolled to a stop, never to start again.

  The EMP’s affected everything electronic, from home appliances and computers to international banking systems. Data bases were corrupted to the point that they were useless. Chaos ensued. Governments failed. Law enforcement was overwhelmed. People, desperate for food but unable to purchase it, stole it. Violence in all forms prevailed. Entire social systems completely fell apart. Civilization had effectively crumbled. Practically over night, 23rd century society had degenerated to almost prehistoric conditions.