Trama

The story of a century: a decades-long second World War leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and attempts space travel.

A global war begins in 1940. This war drags out over many decades until most of the people still alive (mostly those born after the war started) do not even know who started it or why. Nothing is being manufactured at all anymore, and society has broken down into primitive localized communities. In 1966, a great plague wipes out most of what people are left but small numbers still survive. One day, a strange aircraft lands at one of these communities, and its pilot tells of an organization which is rebuilding civilization and slowly moving across the world re-civilizing these groups of survivors. Great reconstruction takes place over the next few decades, and society is once again great and strong. The world's population is now living in underground cities. In the year 2035, on the eve of man's first flight to the moon, a popular uprising against progress (which some people claim has caused the wars of the past) gains support and becomes violent.—Kevin Steinhauer <K.Steinhauer@BoM.GOV.AU>

It's Christmastime 1940 in Everytown. People are happy and enjoying the holiday season but all is shattered when war is declared. Some see war as necessary but John Cabal for one knows there is always a heavy price to pay where war is concerned. As the decades roll by, the war continues, and in the 1960s the ravages of disease, the Walking Sickness, takes its toll. By the 1970s the disease is gone, and society begins to rebuild itself. The return of John Cabal brings hope for the future, but even by 2040, there are still those who are prepared to fight to stop progress.—garykmcd

The effects of war are shown on an everytown and its residents, it not so coincidentally named Everytown. The story focuses largely on three different time periods. The first is Christmas Day 1940. While there had been chatter about the possibility of war, most people are enjoying the Christmas reverie. One exception is John Cabal, who is worried about what war may mean, he right to be concerned as bombs start dropping on Everytown that evening in the declaration of war. The second is thirty years into the war in 1970. Plague and pestilence had been a direct effect of the war, it killing approximately half the world's population. It is now largely eradicated in the extermination of the wandering infected. Many traditional skills have been lost in they not being needed during wartime. Most people in Everytown have no memory of what caused the war, including Everytown's autocratic leader, who, like most world leaders, veers toward barbarism in achieving his own desired goals. Long away, John makes an auspicious return to Everytown, he now representing an organization called Wings Over the World, who advocate for a different way of doing things to rebuild civilization in an environment of peace. In his mission in Everytown on behalf of the organization, John has the biggest obstacle in overcoming the objections of the autocratic leader. The third is the year 2036. The effect of progress in the aftermath of war is presented.—Huggo

After a century-long global war, during which a plague wiped out half the world's population, the survivors are able to rebuild. With the assistance of a group of scientists (from a group which calls themselves Wings Over World; WoW), they bring advanced capabilities developed during the previous century. They also bring with them a gas, which makes the population docile and complacent. But one day, into this land of contentment - a modern Everytown, an opponent of the progress raises the population against the system.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil