Prologue

A prologue by any other name would be a prologue. We hear about the instigator of the event.

Prologue

Lucas Pellsby was a strange kid. He was quiet and smart. He lacked not social skill, but the unnamed quality which makes us all human. He hated people, all people. He was constantly disgusted by everything people do to, and around each other. His favorite phrase:

PEOPLE SUCK

He used the phrase so much that his older brother, Simon, had a black t-shirt made for him with his catch phrase emblazoned over an image of a nuclear mushroom cloud.

“Here you go Lucas”, he said as he handed Lucas his birthday present that year, “I sincerely believe that you would blow up the world if you could.”

“Well, not the world, just people”, Lucas said in retort.

“Whatever, Man, you’re a true wacko!”, his brother responded, getting the last word as usual.

Lucas was a firm believer in the theory that the human mind belies a vast untapped potential. As his hatred for the human race grew so did his need to find a way to tap that potential and deal with the object of his rage.

One of his many discoveries was that nearly all human minds are interconnected by a sort of undeveloped hive mind. This hive mind suggested that it may be possible to insert a simple, but specific set of instructions. An almost built in mind control.

Within months his experiments resulted in a massive west coast blackout in the United States by implanting the suggestion that it was too warm. Everyone turned on their air conditioners at once.

Unbeknownst to Lucas, this wasn’t the first time he had manipulated the human hive mind. The night that Lucas was born, he like most babies, was terrified. Suddenly cold, in bright light, and having his feet slapped he experienced a brand new sensation. We know it as acute fear verging on raw panic. To Lucas’ mind it was simply, “Wwaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

As Lucas would come to know through his research; the human animal taps its deepest potential when it is extremely taxed.

That night Lucas sent another simple message through the rudimentary network of the hive mind. People everywhere in the hospital reported an extremely intense sensation of utter terror. It affected both medical staff and regular folks alike. It even caused some to flee the hospital in fear for their very lives. Though the incident was studied by scientists and charlatans alike an adequate explanation was never found.

Lucas, as a young adult, perfected his message delivery system in short order. He progressed to the point where he could send a simple message to the planetary population. He had designed an entire collection of thought magnification equipment, though he hadn’t an inkling that this equipment was really superfluous, and not needed. It actually did nothing to help or hinder his abilities.

His first command to the entire population was simple. It made people think that a popular children’s entertainment conglomerate was bad. The next film to be released by the company in question failed utterly at the box office regardless of the actual quality of what was a very good film.

The following experiment was much more sinister. His command was that people from Pakistan were killers. Over the next few hours people of Pakistani descent were attacked and killed the world over in ways so brutal they cannot be described here. It was only mentioned in the press as a filler story of no real import. The command’s most unexpected result was that the government of Pakistan detonated two nuclear weapons in two of their largest cities. The world press responded by essentially treating this tragedy as a good start.

The only reason that Lucas chose Pakistan was that it was centrally located and on the other side of the globe. The violence toward people from the unfortunate country was worldwide.

For a long time the idea that someone could think themselves into oblivion was considered ridiculous crap or complete bunk. But, that is precisely what he caused nearly eight billion people to do on a generally normal Sunday night.

On that fine Sunday evening everyone who was anywhere, well almost everyone, got up from what they were doing and went home. Criminals and police officers dropped everything and went home. Gas stations, toll booths, hospitals, restaurants, bars, concerts, convents, classrooms and all the like were abandoned that night as they sat. The people simply got up and went home. Routines to make dangerous places safe were followed before the people left, but they did leave.

In the entire world there was not one accident, traffic jam or other type of delay. It was the most orderly and uneventful homeward commute the world had ever seen.

The human populations of the planet Earth, at least those connected to the hive mind, were given the simple command, “Time for bed.” Even the venerable Lucas Pellsby found himself following the command in a state which was more trance or dreamlike in appearance than anything resembling a commanded action.

Once home the people all prepared for bed as they normally would. Some took pills, others brushed teeth, and still more took showers or some combination of all three. Once all were abed they received their final command. It was more a concept rather than a word or phrase, but it was none the less a simple command. It was, “Vanish.”

Although no one knows for sure how it happened, it's likely that it wasn’t instantaneous, but it probably happened quickly. The most common assumption was that the vast majority of humans in existence, including the crew of astronauts on the international space station, turned to vapor and dissipated like smoke on a calm day. Since Lucas was never heard from again he likely followed his second command and was no more.