Being Sapphire. Sylvia Ryan

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      The first cases of the deadly influenza were identified January 22, 2050 in New York City. The spread of the virus proved aggressive and unstoppable despite the declaration of martial law and mandatory quarantines enforced by the National Guard. Death of the infected occurred within seven days of the first signs of the disease.

      Mortality rates grew exponentially and government services collapsed sixty days after the first identified cases. By that time, there were not enough people alive for society to carry on as normal. Millions of dead were left unburied and made cities uninhabitable for the few uninfected by the virus.

      By the time the pandemic was over, an estimated ninety-two percent of the world’s population had not survived. The majority of the deaths were caused by the virus, but some were a result of being cut off from food and water or from the chaos reigning in the aftermath of the pandemic. Those who survived were left isolated throughout the world. Suddenly, mankind was an endangered species.

      In the United States, remaining government and military leaders rallied quickly in an effort to save surviving citizens. The skeletal remnants of military forces concentrated on making three US cities–Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta–habitable.

      In New Atlanta, the densely packed skyscrapers of the downtown area were left untouched and loomed like ghosts haunting the new city hastily constructed in its shadow. In outlying neighborhoods where the population had been less dense, corpses were buried in mass graves so their homes could be assigned to the thousands of people that descended in hoards in a last-ditch effort to survive with others instead of dying alone.

      In the years that followed, martial law ruled with brutal authority. Everybody participated in the rebuilding, except for the very young and the very old. Those who didn’t fall in line were exiled outside the safety of the tall walls that surrounded the “new” cities. The area outside the walls, what would later be named the Onyx Zone, was unlivable and lawless.

      As the population gathered, and the momentous, uphill struggle of rebuilding society began, it became clear that some genetic traits in humans, like blond hair and blue eyes, were on the verge of disappearing altogether. In an effort to propagate these endangered genes, and eliminate unwanted genes as well, the government decided that the repopulation of the US would occur slowly and under their supervision. Backed by a heavy military presence, the Repopulation Laws were enacted in 2052.

      The Repopulation Laws mandated significant and difficult restrictions on the pandemic survivors all in the name of saving the unique and diverse qualities of the human race. Segregation of the population into zones and sterilization of those who possessed unwanted genes linked to chronic illnesses and mental-health diagnoses, eliminated propagation to the next generation. That, hand in hand with mandatory birth-control implants and heavy policing made the following of the Repopulation Laws nonnegotiable. Any type of relationship between citizens of different zones was illegal and the punishments for breaking that rule became more severe as the years passed. In time, leaders reasoned, the US would be completely populated with humans who had near-perfect genetic profiles. People who were smarter and disease free. People who would someday rule the world.

      By the end of 2053, all citizens living under government control had submitted to genetic, psychological and intelligence testing and were classified according to the results of those tests. Four classes were established and given corresponding color marks. Every person was required to bear the color mark of his or her class, follow the Repopulation Laws established for that classification and restrict their movements to their own zone. Those with impeccable genetics were classified Diamond. The ruling class and those determined to possess significant talents or have made significant contributions to society, were designated as Emeralds. The overwhelming majority of people were classified as Sapphires or Ambers, with Ambers being the lowest and most restricted of the classes.

      The Sapphire Zone had substantial restrictions to their freedoms as well. In the beginning, those designated as Sapphire lived happy and oblivious to the atrocities the Amber population was subjected to. However, when leadership of the National Guard changed, life for the Sapphire population changed as well. The changes were subtle at first, but over time, more and more Sapphire citizens became afraid of the Gov that “protected” them. By the time the Sapphire population began to realize there was a monster within, they’d already waited too long. General Morgan was entrenched as leader in his position of power with one hundred percent control over the Guard that policed them.

      The Sapphire people were pumped with the Gov’s propaganda about the crazy and diseased people in the Amber Zone, reminding them regularly how much the Gov did for them and reinforcing the mindset that they should be grateful to be alive.

      The Repopulation Laws accomplished what they were set up to do. Genetic traits like blue eyes and blond hair were snatched away from eminent extinction. Yet the Laws continued, serving a different purpose from what they were originally intended. They had evolved into nothing more than a way to control the population so that the Gov could maintain absolute power over all the citizens of New Atlanta.

      Objections against the Gov’s rules were no longer voiced for fear of consequences that befell those who spoke out for change. As a result, fear increased in direct proportion to the military tyranny of the Gov, and the Constitutional rights American’s fought to preserve in countless wars were denied in the name of improving the quality of the next generation of Americans thus maintaining the Gov’s total control.

      Slowly, people in every zone of New Atlanta were waking up to the fact that failure to act would doom them all.

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