Unforeseen

Prologue

The world didn't end with a bang caused by global warming, nuclear war, or solar flares, as many scientists and paranoid survivalists predicted, though it was a close call. The world ended when the nation decided to elect His Excellency, President Evander Alverich, to power, though no one realized it at the time.

His first term started well enough; President Alverich ended dependence on foreign oil by investing heavily in making eco cars affordable to everyone. Companies that didn't get on board with the new transportation trend declared bankruptcy a short year later.

After that, he went after companies that outsourced work and closed most trade deals, isolating the country from the rest of the world. International incidents were barely settled when he turned to the nation's health, approving taxes that made fast and processed food too expensive for anyone to afford, ending an era of convenience. He also granted tax breaks to farmers, making organic food more affordable to the public. People moved out of cities in droves to places with land and almost every home had a garden.

He won his reelection by a landslide.

In his second term, His Excellency gave scientists funding needed to cure diseases through genetics. By halfway through his second term, both the House and Senate agreed to permanently extend His Excellency's term, and America went back to the rule of one man. Everything went downhill from there, at least, for the middle and lower-classes.

A gray-clad nurse stared up at the life-sized billboard boasting his image. Not surprisingly, His Excellency's swarthy coloring and dark looks seemed all the more attractive in high definition; he had fantastic genes. His looks were probably to blame for the recent increase in darker colored hair and eyes in children, a rising trend other colonies were reporting at the more established birthing centers. The metal and glass was still gleaming on colony 412's birthing center, and when she walked in the foyer to scan her ID, it still had that new, industrial scent of welded metal and clean floors.

The newly approved option to modify fetal genes had been approved for the lower classes on a trial basis, giving geneticists plenty of practice to perfect their new technology and learn emerging trends, as well as work out issues with the equipment. Fair skin was popular, as parents didn't want their children to look too different from them, though most paid homage to their dark leader by opting for brown eyes and hair. Some went so far as to name their children after His Excellency.

The nurse stowed her bag in her locker and headed to her desk in the back and nodded hello to a couple other nurses while checking the day's schedule: two consultations scheduled back to back and the rest of her day spent in labor and delivery. The nurse made it to her office and finished turning on the PrettyBaby program as her first consultation walked through the door.

A tall, broad-shouldered Elite man with dark brown hair and striking blue eyes led a small redhead with striking green eyes to her desk. The top of the woman's head barely reached the man's shoulder, and under her expensive clothes, she was too thin. Her cheekbones stood out a bit too much, her chin a tad pointy, but according to Elite standards, she was beautiful.

As a member of a lower class, the nurse stood and waited to sit until after they did. She noted the couple's entwined hands and bracketed lines around the man's eyes as they awaited her news. He'd have to seek treatment for those wrinkles before they set any deeper; lines in the face weren't fashionable.

Nurse Colleen hadn't missed the assessing glances at her too dark to be upper-class skin and the doubtful looks on her client's face, but the nurse had been conceived long before genetic mods were popular and was proud of her skin. Perhaps their glances spawned the catty thoughts, or maybe just nerves. She hated this part of her job.