Hell Follows After (Monster of the Apocalypse Saga) Read Online Free
Author: C. Henry Martens
earth, and there were no good reasons for large government with so few survivors.
Along with the documents, technologies followed into oblivion. Their decline took longer but was just as inexorable. As the remaining few people grieved for those they had once known, they scrambled in a world of plenty. The grid stayed up and running on auto pilot, solar panels functioned, and wind generators whipped their huge blades. There were large quantities of anything a human being could want. Water was pumped and filled pipes to be delivered to taps, automated transportation ran, furnaces performed, preserved foods filled shelves, and clothing was to be had for the taking. The survivors had no reason to maintain anything because they could just scavenge. When anything broke, they threw it aside and foraged for another. There was no reason to grow food, repair a pipe, or fix a vehicle that stalled and would not move.
Many of the original survivors had no jobs or training and, untrained and unskilled, had been living on the public dole. Those with experience necessary to maintain the high standard of living lost their expertise because they did not need to study or stay in practice. Many of the skills they possessed were not transferable to the world they had inherited anyway. Abilities disappeared over time and with them the technologies they supported. The decline in capability took twenty years, more or less.
The first systems to lose function were isolated electrical systems around the country, but they were minor problems. People moved or found ways to adapt.
The next failure that caused some anxiety was the satellite network. Not all at once, but in fits and starts, each lost its focus point over time. One orbiting chunk of hardware after another failed, and people were unable to use their comlinks to call others or to access the net. GPS systems went down, and survivors learned to stay in place, use old style maps, or take their chances. Most chose to stay in place in what small groups had formed.
Rudimentary robot technology, so recently coming of age in a useful way, remained capable for a short time. Because of the maintenance requirements of a new industry, the machines failed due to lack of service. The newest generation of robots, designed and manufactured just before the plagues were released and as part of that plan, were infected with a termination program. They had reached the end of their fail safe programming and gathered to march into the ocean as instructed. Most survivors never even knew they existed.
Battery and solar powered vehicles aged past their expiration dates and quit running. Furnaces failed to ignite, and canned goods froze and exploded. Wires were chewed by small animals and shorted out. Structures corroded, buildings caved in, bridges collapsed, surfaces decayed, and man returned to the eighteenth century.
The technological death of the earth took time. A few events occurred within days, weeks, or months. Other events took years and even decades. Large scale agriculture, refrigeration and air conditioning, the internet, and television were early victims.
Some of the more resilient designs, mostly based on being long term and grand in scale, lasted into the next centuries. Concrete and steel, when protected adequately, outlasted most other things. While the city streets returned to forest or grass, the buildings displayed their silhouettes against horizons as though permanent. Still, eventually they would fall as well.
As man’s skill diminished from lack of use and then from a failure to train and learn, medicine devolved until any simple malady became dangerous. The use of pharmaceuticals ceased as medications expired and lost potency. Even the ability to read suffered a mortal blow in areas where there was no society to enforce learning of the written word.
There were industries and technologies that survived. Steelmaking and machining in elementary forms continued or were relearned. There
Along with the documents, technologies followed into oblivion. Their decline took longer but was just as inexorable. As the remaining few people grieved for those they had once known, they scrambled in a world of plenty. The grid stayed up and running on auto pilot, solar panels functioned, and wind generators whipped their huge blades. There were large quantities of anything a human being could want. Water was pumped and filled pipes to be delivered to taps, automated transportation ran, furnaces performed, preserved foods filled shelves, and clothing was to be had for the taking. The survivors had no reason to maintain anything because they could just scavenge. When anything broke, they threw it aside and foraged for another. There was no reason to grow food, repair a pipe, or fix a vehicle that stalled and would not move.
Many of the original survivors had no jobs or training and, untrained and unskilled, had been living on the public dole. Those with experience necessary to maintain the high standard of living lost their expertise because they did not need to study or stay in practice. Many of the skills they possessed were not transferable to the world they had inherited anyway. Abilities disappeared over time and with them the technologies they supported. The decline in capability took twenty years, more or less.
The first systems to lose function were isolated electrical systems around the country, but they were minor problems. People moved or found ways to adapt.
The next failure that caused some anxiety was the satellite network. Not all at once, but in fits and starts, each lost its focus point over time. One orbiting chunk of hardware after another failed, and people were unable to use their comlinks to call others or to access the net. GPS systems went down, and survivors learned to stay in place, use old style maps, or take their chances. Most chose to stay in place in what small groups had formed.
Rudimentary robot technology, so recently coming of age in a useful way, remained capable for a short time. Because of the maintenance requirements of a new industry, the machines failed due to lack of service. The newest generation of robots, designed and manufactured just before the plagues were released and as part of that plan, were infected with a termination program. They had reached the end of their fail safe programming and gathered to march into the ocean as instructed. Most survivors never even knew they existed.
Battery and solar powered vehicles aged past their expiration dates and quit running. Furnaces failed to ignite, and canned goods froze and exploded. Wires were chewed by small animals and shorted out. Structures corroded, buildings caved in, bridges collapsed, surfaces decayed, and man returned to the eighteenth century.
The technological death of the earth took time. A few events occurred within days, weeks, or months. Other events took years and even decades. Large scale agriculture, refrigeration and air conditioning, the internet, and television were early victims.
Some of the more resilient designs, mostly based on being long term and grand in scale, lasted into the next centuries. Concrete and steel, when protected adequately, outlasted most other things. While the city streets returned to forest or grass, the buildings displayed their silhouettes against horizons as though permanent. Still, eventually they would fall as well.
As man’s skill diminished from lack of use and then from a failure to train and learn, medicine devolved until any simple malady became dangerous. The use of pharmaceuticals ceased as medications expired and lost potency. Even the ability to read suffered a mortal blow in areas where there was no society to enforce learning of the written word.
There were industries and technologies that survived. Steelmaking and machining in elementary forms continued or were relearned. There
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