In the future deep space travel is a regular occurrence. After completing a mission to take supplies to Earth 2, or Genesis as the colonists call it, something goes horribly wrong with the space shuttle returning Adam Evans and his crew mates to Earth. The shuttle crashes and Adam and Jason survive, but the Earth they return to has changed greatly.<br><br>When tragedy strikes, leaving Adam on his own, he finds the paradise surrounding him has an increasingly darker side. He assumes he can outsmart it, beat it. The product of a lost past, where men and speech are free, he rebels against the rules restricting him. But is he just setting himself up for failure, for pain and misery? Can he ever hope to outwit the powers that be?<br><br>Then he meets River Boy, the only person in a village full of dirty, animalistic villagers with whom he connects. There is something intelligent about River Boy. Something civilized about him. Yet is Adam’s growing closeness to River Boy going to save him from himself? Or will his stubbornness, his rebelliousness, cost him more than he is able to pay?

Animals

“It took many decades for the planet to recover from the war you waged against each other and the scars left upon it. Fortunately, most of your kind was wiped out. We in the animal kingdom took our chance and claimed control. By the time the few humans remaining had strength enough to fight back, it was too late.”


Adam shook his head. “Bullshit! If there was such a great war then surely there’d still be ruins, evidence of cities.”


“There are, in some parts of the globe. But a lot of it has rusted or crumbled. The elements have worked together to return the minerals to the earth. The plant world has done a superb job of beautifying the mess your kind left behind. We have worked hard to return the planet to its intended state and part of that work is keeping the human menace under control.”


Adam hung his head and walked a small circle. It was a lot to take in. He didn’t want to believe what Lord Bear was saying but somewhere inside he feltit to be true.


Chapter 17