HALF – LIFE

The story of half-life is a musical retelling of the extinction level event that wiped out an entire dystopian society in an alternate universe and the cult behind the incident.

The natural cosmic progression of the central star that supported the tachyon solar system lead it into the star becoming energy depleted white dwarf. Not before going through a red-giant stage where the extreme growth of the sun lead to the seas drying up and killing all forms of life from extreme temperatures. The only life forms that survived were the sapiens and the domesticated creatures that managed to survive within shielded societies. These self-contained dystopias maintained living conditions and temperatures and shielded the inhabitants form the outside world.

As the struggle for sapiens sustenance grew more competitive within the containments, life went on for generations within the closed-off societies and life bloomed. The planet of Curie received less and less energy from the sun and the societies turned to nuclear energy to power their existence. Within this pocket of life, were a group of radicals that wanted to eliminate all life-forms within the habitations. They orchestrated a dystopia wide extinction level event. This is the story of the Cult of the Celestial Teapot.

1 – IMMORTAL MEN (The Curse of Immortality and the Game of Death)

The planet Curie was dying. Its sun was growing ever larger and baking the surface of the planet. In a desperate attempt to survive, the last of the planetary inhabitants built shielded bio-domes where they formed communities and survived within an artificial world. Everything outside was dry as bone and sterile. As generations passed within these closed quarters and families grew, the strain on the bio-domes grew to the point where they had to be switched onto nuclear energy. That is the gift of intelligence, the power of manipulation and the curse of survival. Survival became a direct derivative of contained implosions and jingoism developed for the reactor core.

2 – QUANTUM ABYSS (Fissile Society)

Evolution would have it that whatever life forms were left on Curie, aggregated in the protected housings into a very nuclear happy dystopia. Nuclear energy was worshiped at the sun god and maintenance of the core reactor systems was the central tenant of the entire populace. Workers in lead lined shielded suits were seen around the clock coming in and out of the reactor, feeding the fire within it. Rods of radioactive plutonium being pushed in sparking were visible nonstop. The hive was always busy with its nuclear bees.

Everything always had a yellowish hue to it because of the light of the central core reactor. Its massive hum and churn were audible throughout the dystopia and formed the noises of the new nature. Children were taught to associate life with its sounds. And life continued, brutally, feeding the core. Meanwhile, other sectors of the society were busy administering daily life, racing across the overhead super-highways that raced across the bio domes

3 – OPIA (The Cult of the Celestial Teapot)

In a dystopian society desperate to survive and worshipping nuclear power, the statistical outliers formed an annihilation cult, the cult of the celestial teapot. Starting out as an advocacy group for planetary relocation rather than community housing, their message and ideology got distorted over the years. Selfish and ulterior motives took over and the play for power corrupted leaders. The desire to control and grow became a common trait among leaders who exploited the group’s message for their means.

The ideology of relocation to the nearest habitable zone of Russell’s teapot, was distorted and evolved into salvation by nuclear annihilation. The Chinese whisper of cult teachings made it into a radical extremist faction that was more than happy to carry out attacks and be destroyed in the process for the sake of achieving salvation. The cult was known for its brutality, lethality and relentlessness. They would not rest until their message was spread across all communities and salvation for the entire sapiens race had been achieved.

4 – L. D. 50 (Critical Mass)

To achieve their goals, after much planning and deliberation, the cult surrounded the ever busy reactor cores within the center of the communities and quarantined by force anyone from entering or interfering. They had been left unchecked to grow within the underbelly of society and the little enforcement that was there was nowhere nearly enough to stop them. The cult members overtook the reactor’s control chambers and drove the fuel rods to critical mass. As the coolant dried and concrete lining melted away, the cores exploded.

Massive explosions took place within the center of each societal zone and the nuclear fallout immediately wiped out any life forms. Flowers burnt and flesh turned to ash. Children cried and became a fried crisp. Skin was peeled and burned off the bones as the shockwave spread. The remnants of society burnt within a dense fiery yellow nuclear flame of its own doing. Bodies danced to the waves of gamma particles. Radiation illuminated the miserable mind and wiped all absurdities.

5 – THE INFERNAL MUSIC BOX (Neutron Song and Depleted Core)

No sign of life was left as the radioactive dust settled and the bio-domes became sterile. Did the cult achieve salvation on behalf of all the creatures? There was no way to find out. Curie was left a barren nuclear wasteland, hot and dry, unable to support anymore life. It is at that point that we find extremophiles. Not survivalist bacteria, but in our case a certain number of handful of cult members.

Some had simply not been chosen to take part in the redemption, others had children, the concern for whom led them to hide and stay behind. Although a very small number, they did survive the holocaust by hiding among the underground system of caves, labyrinths and caverns where the cult members used to get together for mass meetings. Down here it was cool, and there was underground water to sustain life. It was a lonely and dark way to live, but they were the last of the surviving sapiens. They spent their time living in the caves, in the dark, eating small animals, moss and anything else they could lay their hands on.

6 – DECAY (And rebirth – The Alpha and The Gamma)

The few that survived continued to survive and multiply. Over the course of hundreds of years, the nuclear fallout disappeared as the radioactive particles decayed beyond their half-lives until eventually the domes became habitable again. Humanity flourished again from these last surviving members, populations grew and happiness was seen among the community members. The second coming and rebirthing of humanity had taken place. By this time, the creatures had evolved to live in the dark and at lower temperatures without the nuclear energy heating the domes. Human life filled the areas below the ground like an ant farm. It grew back life a happy pestilence onto the planet. And although all knowledge and technology was lost, humanity had decayed pat its half-life and ended up becoming enriched.