Seventh Cross
World War III (2006)
In the year 2006 the virus DPX-a caused
a world wide epidemic. Over one billion
people, from all regions of the world,
died within weeks of the first death.
DPX-a closely resembles a virus that
was artificially created in 2002 as a
biological weapon. When the outbreak
began, this man-made weapon was assumed
to be the cause. The world's military
powers immediately retaliated with
nuclear weapons. Humanity entered its
final nuclear war, World War III.
About one month after the outbreak, the
truth about DPX-a was discovered by the
humans hiding deep within shelters
built to withstand nuclear fallout and
biological weapons. The virus was found
to have been released from its ancient
resting place in Antarctica when a
large ice shelf melted because of
global warming. How the virus
propagated so quickly and took effect
simultaneously around the world is
still not known.
It was too late for those not protected
by the underground shelters. By this
time, the virus and the massive
destruction of the nuclear war had
nearly destroyed the humans on Earth's
surface.
[Supplement: DPX-a outbreak details]
Verification of time:
During the last half of the 20th
century, the world was faced with major
environmental problems. Industrial
waste, deforestation, and other human
activities drove many forms of fauna
and flora to extinction. The sea level
was rising steadily because of global
warming. In 2006 a large ice shelf in
Antarctica collapsed and released the
virus DPX-a, which caused a worldwide
disease epidemic and the subsequent
outbreak of World War III. Nuclear
explosions and radiation erased the
world map and had a devastating impact
on all life on Earth.
Cause of outbreak:
The melting of an ice shelf in
Antarctica released an ancient virus,
DPX-a.
Situation during the outbreak:
A red smoke cloud was released when the
Antarctic ice-shelf disintegrated.
This red smoke quickly rose into the
upper atmosphere, carrying the virus
DPX-a with it. The stratosphere was
contaminated and the Earth turned a
hazy red. At the time, the true nature
of this cloud was misunderstood.
Scientists thought that the red haze
was associated with the destruction of
the ozone layer.
?? Survivor project launched (2015)
Only a few people reached the
underground shelters. Most of these
were construction workers who were
constructing the sites. Few other
humans survived the epidemic and the
nuclear war.
The Survivor Project was created by
some of the best-equipped workers to
find, rescue, and assist all survivors
who could be found aboveground or in
other underground shelters. A survey of
the Earth's environment was also
undertaken.
Central government established (2030)
The Survivor Project found only about
600,000 survivors worldwide, including
those in underground shelters. Most of
these survivors had been infected with
viruses or exposed to radiation, and no
one had completely escaped the ravages
of the disaster of 2006. Radiation
still existed above ground at dangerous
levels.
The idea of a central government was
first proposed in 2015.
Because the underground shelters were
not entirely safe and clean, the
surviving population continued to
plummet.
By 2030, when a central government was
finally established, only 35,847 people
remained alive on Earth.
Survivor restoration team launched
(2035)
After the establishment of the central
government, research and development
efforts began with the hope of
restoring the Earth's environment.
However, time was running out. Because
of radiation leakage and other
environmental damage caused by
centuries of pollution and the disaster
of 2006, researchers predicted that all
of the underground facilities would
become uninhabitable within 200 years.
Two major scientific teams were
established to create plans for the
survival of the human race.
Survivor restoration policy determined
(2040)
Five years after the launch of the
teams, two projects were proposed: the
Seventh Cross Project and the Earth
Revive Project. The 22,517 remaining
survivors deliberated the merits of
these two projects. The Earth Revive
Project was selected by more than 70%
of the population.
The Seventh Cross team, of which you
are a member, could not agree to the
Earth Revive Project, which required
hundreds of years for restoration.
Because we did not expect approval for
our project, we have secretly secured
our research laboratory in an abandoned
underground shelter. 1,126 personnel
and their families have been moved to
this laboratory to begin work on the
Seventh Cross project.
Earth Revive Project (2041)
A survey in 2016, ten years after the
nuclear disaster of 2006, confirmed
that a few small plants and animals
survived. The survivors were mutated
by exposure to radiation, virus
infection, pollutants, and other
environmental factors.
By 2020, researchers discovered
additional surviving plants and
animals. A more thorough survey found
examples from each of the major
biological groups:
Invertebrates
Pisces
Amphibians
Reptiles
Ornis
Mammalia
The environment also showed signs of
slow but continual improvement. Levels
of contaminants were dropping.
This study made clear that restoration
of the earth's ecosystem could
eventually lead to recovery from the
environmental contamination. An attempt
to artificially recreate the earth's
ecosystem could have a negative effect
on this natural restoration process.
The survivors decided to let the Earth
restore itself with minimal human
involvement. The Earth Revive Project
proposed moving the population into a
large spacecraft in orbit around the
Earth. The remainder of the human race
would wait out the estimated 500 years
required for the Earth's recovery in
cryogenic (cold) sleep.
To promote normalization of the earth's
ecosystem, an intelligent robotic
monitoring vessel was proposed. This
vessel would track dangerous genes,
including those mutated through
radiation or virus infection, and use
Neo Bionoid technology to eradicate any
such genes.
This project was completed in 2070
after 29 years of work constructing the
large spacecraft, monitoring vessel,
and Neo Bionoid.
Seventh Cross Project (2100)
The Seventh Cross Project continued in
secret and was launched in 2100. The
Seventh Cross project is still in
progress.
[Project overview]
The Seventh Cross Project team feels
that the risk of waiting for the Earth
to restore itself while humanity waits
in cryogenic sleep is too high. We
propose to modify existing human DNA to
survive in Earth's current contaminated
environment.
[Project procedure]
Create multiple experimental
protohumans, based on human DNA, which
can rapidly evolve and mutate in
adaptation to the environment. Release
these experimental protohumans onto the
Earth's surface.
The protohumans will be transferred in
sequence through six biological areas.
Each area is designed to encourage
reproduction and rapid evolution while
protecting the protohumans from certain
harmful organisms. When they reach the
sixth area, the protohumans will have
advanced to become primates that are
similar to humans. The state of
evolution of the protohumans is checked
during each transfer, and their DNA is
corrected accordingly.
When the DNA structure of the
protohumans reaches the level of
advanced primates compatible with
humans, the DNA for adapting to the
environment will be extracted and then
embedded in the DNA of human sperm and
egg cells. As a result, we hope that
humans will evolve into a new breed
that can adapt to any change in the
environment.
The chance that a new advanced primate
will survive in this project is only
1 in 810,000. To increase the odds, the
protohumans are provided with special
abilities through genetic manipulation.
Ironically, this genetic technology
emerged from the study of DNA extracted
from deformed organisms contaminated by
radiation.