The Great De-Evolution

 

The Great De-Evolution Series – 6 books by Chris Dietzel

Fiction: Science Fiction/Fantasy/Post Apocalyptic

I am a big fan of end-of-the-world books. Usually there is some kind of natural disaster, nuclear war, disease, zombie attacks, or alien invasion but the concept in this series is a new one for me. In The Great De-Evolution there is only humankind winding to a slow end.

The de-evolution happens when babies are born without an essential brain protein. This leaves them as comatose “Blocks”, without the ability to move, hear, see, speak or reproduce. The birth rate for these Block babies climbs and soon, 100% of newborn babies worldwide are Blocks. Unfortunately science fails to find a cure. Humans began to age and slowly fade away – schools close, businesses are no longer needed and the government prepares for “survival.”

Governments have ensured that each household has an incinerator for waste, a “food processor” for nutrition and a generator for power, then the government disbands. Chaos does not prevail since basic needs are met. Besides, Blocks need around-the-clock care from their parents, siblings and, for the orphaned and abandoned Blocks, community caregivers.

While many of the events in this series could happen, there are some things that are just fantasy. For example, how will people get food? Voila! The government provides “food processors” to each household. This machine can produce a multitude of foods plus beer and wine. However, even a 3-D printer needs some sort of “ingredient.” A “powder” is mentioned but is its supply infinite? You can’t just produce food out of air!

Plus, each household is also provided a magical power generator which doesn’t need fuel. How is the water coming out of faucets? Water systems do not run themselves! AC systems don’t last forever, especially in Florida which is where the majority of people migrate. Finally, can humans (the “Blocks”) survive until old age with just a “nutrition bag” attached to their arm? Unable to move, someone has to continually change their diapers and their position so they don’t get bedsores. This is intensive care. Can an aging population maintain their care?

I think the author used these fantastical elements in order to focus on what is happening emotionally, intellectually and spiritually to the characters. Without having to fight over food, water, and shelter, people have an opportunity to seriously consider life.

Each novel or short novelette in this series focuses on a lone survivor meditating on what matters when everything else is gone. Each solitary narrator wrestles with the choices he or she has made, with love and loyalty, grief and anger, regret and hope, and ultimately the question of what gives life meaning.

This series does not have intense action scenes nor happy endings. Rather these stories are introspective, reflective stories contemplating the end of mankind.

*The books in the series are numbered here by order of publication date, they do not need to be read in the order given.*

 

 Book #1

The Man Who Watched the World End

The narrator is this book is a 82 year-old man. His only company is a brother, Andrew, a few years his junior who is a Block. As his brother’s caregiver, the narrator speaks to his brother as if he was a walking, talking human being. In his heartfelt and touching journal entries, he reminisces about how his parents taught him to treat Andrew with love and respect as an equal, as his brother.

While most people have moved south to centralized communities, the narrator and Andrew have stayed in their deteriorating home so Andrew will not be “warehoused” with thousands of other Blocks in gymnasiums called “group homes.” They are the final two residents in the golf course neighborhood of Camelot, trapped in their house by a surrounding forest full of cats and dogs battling with the bears and wolves to eat anything they can find. How will they survive on their own?

The Man Who Watched the World End is an example of how family can often be enough to keep an individual going against the harshest of odds. It is a reminder of humanity's knack for optimistic denial and its inability to believe that our end is not only possible but also inevitable. This story is a true wake-up call to everyone. Luxuries are great - food, water, and shelter are necessities - but family, and the bonds we have with those we love are everlasting.

Book #2

A Different Alchemy

Military officer Jeffrey lives with his wife and Block son, Galen, in Philadelphia. The story circles back several times to Jeffrey’s regret for having persuaded his wife to have a child when they knew he would have an 99.99999% chance of being a Block.

From their Philadelphia home, Jeffrey commutes to Fort Dix. Because of the Great De-Evolution, the military no longer has a mission and the base is closing. Jeffrey, who wants to stay in their home, and his wife, who wants to migrate, argue about joining a caravan of Philadelphians migrating south to Washington D.C.. In preparation for the migration, as Blocks are being gathered in a stadium, there is an absolutely horrific incident. On his way home from his last day at Fort Dix, Jeffrey learns from a radio broadcast the shocking news. He stops his car on the freeway and walks back to Fort Dix. There he takes a tank and heads north, away from humanity.

Jeffrey watches the world as he passes through, noting, but never involving himself with any people he meets along the way. He has given up on humanity and just wants to be left alone and find inner peace. Where can he go to find peace?

This is the story of a father's loss and his inability to forgive himself and his wife. Ultimately, it is a story about healing.

Book #3

The Hauntings of Playing God

Everyone else is dead. All that remains is a 93 year-old woman, Morgan. She is the last remaining Block caregiver in Miami. She has spent ¾ of her life caring for a gymnasium full of Blocks. When her co-worker dies, she is totally alone. How can she possibly care for 64 Blocks? She is old. She is tired. She has aches and pains and struggles to keep up. As the days go on, Morgan is left with the chilling decision to either unhook some Blocks from their nutrient bags or be unable to properly care for everyone. Alone and overwhelmed, will the final member of the human race be thought of as a caregiver or as a monster?

We learn about Morgan’s life through a series of flashbacks. At night, we experience her agony as we enter her nightmares. We listen to her creative “conversations” with the Blocks. Each day she questions her religion and her will to go on. She knows that if she can no longer care for the Blocks they will die.

She constantly questions the possibilities each life holds:

• "Maybe life begins the first time you understand the magnitude of suffering around you, and ends the last time you witness that sorrow."

• "Maybe life starts the first time you play make-believe and ends the moment you admit you can no longer imagine something better for yourself than what you have."

• "Maybe life isn’t defined by the first and last time you believe in something greater than yourself. Maybe life isn’t measured in heartbeats or curiosity or even in acts of love.”

• “Maybe life is whatever you make of it."
  

Book #4

The Last Teacher – a novelette

Teaching is a noble profession but how can one teacher instill knowledge to her students when the end of the world is close at hand? Surrounded by disheartened fellow-teachers and students losing hope, will the Last Teacher give up?

This story takes place as the last of the normal humans are in high school. The children younger than the teenagers are Blocks, so this will be the last high school class.

Although Ray, an English teacher, is surrounded by people who are angry, bitter, and hopeless, she still believes her students can do whatever they want with their lives. No one else agrees with her. With no responsibilities, the teenagers still have the world to explore and enjoy. The earth is still beautiful and there are adventures to be had, but it seems that without a future, all people do is talk about and prepare for the end. The Last Teacher tries to fight against this, but it is a losing battle.

I found it interesting that Ray introduced her students to "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin and "The Stranger" by Albert Camus. Perhaps she wanted her students to explore the never-ending quest by humans to superimpose some meaning and purpose in their lives? Lesson Learned: Knowing that life does end, each human being has to decide how to create their own unique meaning and purpose in their respective lives.

Book #5

The Last Astronaut – a novelette

This is the story of boy growing up as the world is ending. He is ten when his parents tell him that no more normal babies are being born and the world is going through the Great De-Evolution. Most families are heading south to form new communities. That way they can prepare for old age and be with others to help them take care of themselves. Because of the mass migrations, friends pass in and out of the young boy's life and he never gets to experience a close friendship.

Except for his cat, Bob. Bob is his best friend and is always there for him. Sadly, Bob dies when the boy (now a man) is 22. He applies that same day to be The Last Astronaut. There is no talk about saving mankind; they are just sending a man out into space for a final journey. He doesn't want to watch the world end as humanity slowly dies of old age. He has already suffered the loss of who he loved most and doesn't want to go through it - person by person - for the rest of his life.

Traveling through the solar system, he describes its beauty and vastness. As the years pass, he comes to realize that in the grand scheme of things what is happening on earth is inconsequential. It's a tragedy for the people and the planet, but in the vastness of the universe, it's just the blinking out of a light. At the same time, he realizes he now thinks of only the happiness he and Bob shared. It took decades of time and millions of miles, but he finally is able to remember Bob with a smile instead of with tears. He is able to stop wishing Bob was still with him and appreciate what Bob meant in his life.

This is such a unique story which helps us appreciate love and accept loss! Anyone who has “loved and lost” will “get” this story!

Book #6

The Last Voter – a novelette

Before the Great De-Evolution, during his youth, Kurt, didn't believe his vote actually mattered. Now, an old man, Kurt is the only living person left in the city. Yet, every four years he walks to his polling place (a derelict gymnasium) in order to cast his vote.

When he gets there, the place is empty. There’s no election worker, only some animals rustling through the leaves that have been blown in through the shattered windows. Kurt finds the wobbly table and a piece of paper on which he writes in the name of his candidate. That’s it. Election day in a democracy that doesn’t exist anymore.

But why does Kurt go to all this trouble when there have not been any elections for a long time? We learn through flashbacks that, as a child, he was allowed to accompany his father to the gymnasium on election day. He remembers the pride his father had in voting and how, even after his parents migrated south, his father continued to vote and then called to encourage Kurt to vote. His parents are gone, but Kurt keeps voting.

This is a story about how the things that are important to us don't have to make sense to the rest of the world. It is our life to live and it counts.