Back to Part 6 of the Timeline.
The Solar Systems superhuman population exceeds eight billion people.
The total off-Earth population of the Solar System, from Mercury to the cometary halo, exceeds thirty seven billion people, many of whom, especially on the more hostile worlds, are engineered for life in space. These are divided among more than thirty thousand known independent nations spread throughout the Solar System, whose populations vary from billions to less than ten. However, only a little more than ten thousand of these nations are members of the UN.
By this time there are more than one hundred thousand settlements flocking around the Earth, to beyond the orbit of the Moon, built from asteroids and the like, and forming what is known as the Terrasphere, Earth-Moons suburbs. Some of these are independent nations, others form part of Earth or Moon nations.
Other worlds have similar 'suburban' spheres, though none as large. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have tens of thousands each. Mercury has more than a thousand, and all other worlds have hundreds. All these settlements are built from asteroids and Kuiper Belt objects.
Several psion observatories, automated probes and halo survey ships report unexplained activity in the outer solar system, beginning near Pluto. However, these reports are never confirmed and are written off as instrument error.
A project to produce an artificial ecosystem, similar to those being carried out on Titan and Pluto, is set up on Neptunes largest moon Triton.
A fourth orbital tower, to be anchored to a Pacific seamount, begins to be constructed in Earth orbit; it is never completed.
The Solar Systems AI population exceeds two billion entities.
Plans for an artificial high-temperature ecosystem to be placed on Mercury, very different from the low-temperature ecosystems on the outer planets, are put forward.
Several massive anti-matter and gravity bomb strikes fall across the world, especially the Chilean Empire on Christmas Day (which later becomes known as the Deus Irae [Day of Wrath]). El Libertador dies for the second time, incinerated in the destruction of his capital Guaqui, but automatic systems launch massive retaliatory strikes against the rest of the world, and other automatic systems retaliate against them. The world dies in a huge ball of flame, helped along by large-scale use of gravitational, chemical and biological weaponry. Records show that far more weapons are used than were thought to exist on Earth.
All three orbital towers, plus the one under construction, are shattered. Their fragments, in many cases thousands of kilometres long, utterly shatter the Earths equatorial regions and cause massive geographical damage and cratering as far as the poles. Other fragments bombard the Moon, also drastically changing its geography.
Weapons are launched at all facilities in near Earth orbit. All facilities apart from StarHolme are destroyed as a huge volume of space around the Earth, extending halfway to the Moon, is seeded with billions of particles of anti-matter, mines and pieces of dangerous shrapnel, making it impossible for ships to land on, or even approach, the Earth. the vast majority of the hundred thousand-plus settlements of the Terrasphere are also destroyed.
Images from space-based sensors show that the very geography of the Earth has been changed and the atmosphere ripped away, exposing the oceans the vacuum of space so that they start to evaporate, slowly giving the Earth an atmosphere of water vapour.
StarHolme is devastated. Only 500000 out of its population of over 30 million survive, and that only because the huge bulk of StarHolme shields some of its inner sections from the majority of the damage. Lady Blue survives, and as most of the other survivors are superhumans attempts at rebuilding begin fairly quickly.
Shortly after the destruction of the Earth the Pope and his personal staff appear on StarHolme, broadcasting appeals for calm. No explanation for their getting there is ever made. Unfortunately they arrive on StarHolme just in time to be caught in its near-destruction, and although their bodies were never found (like those of millions of other casualties) it is assumed that they died with all the others.
Like the Earth, the moon also has its geography permanently changed, as multiple strikes against Chilean and other facilities there kill over ninety percent of the population. Then the Earth-facing side of the Moon is subjected to a huge bombardment of debris from the ruined Earth and its orbital towers.
Other human (and AI) settlements around the Solar System are attacked by Chilean and other governments forces. Many Martian cities are damaged or destroyed; thousands of asteroid settlements are destroyed, and hundreds of thousands more are damaged. Settlements in the Jovian system are attacked, and enough energy is expended that parts of the moon Callisto are actually melted. In the Saturn system, parts of Titan receive heavy bombardment, and the 101 AI society is also attacked but manages to defend itself quite effectively; others of Saturns moons are attacked too. In all cases the 'spheres' of orbiting 'suburban' settlements suffer the most heavily, as they are entirely civilian settlements designed with no thought of withstanding a war.
Damage is also inflicted to settlements in the outer Solar System, but they are so widely spaced, especially in the cometary halo, that, compared to the inner Solar System, the damage inflicted is negligible.
With these attacks many species of plant and animal which only existed in space after the Earth was destroyed become extinct as the habitats they survive on are also destroyed. In many cases not even their genetic codes remain.
As it becomes obvious that a true Golden Age has ended, the first of what become hundreds of settlements commit mass suicide rather than live in such a universe.
As the people remaining in the solar system reel from the destruction of the Earth and the devastation of other settlements, it is noticed that in addition to the known ships, there have been many attacks by unidentified vessels using cloaking devices, causing huge damage and millions of casualties. At first each side suspects the other, but by the end of January it has become obvious to each side that the other has been attacked by these ships as well and an uneasy truce ensues.
At the same time a very large scale attack destroys the already weakened settlements in the Jovian system while other attacks cause the destruction of all seven deep-space transmutation facilities in explosions visible across the Solar System.
With the various armed forces around the solar system placed on alert several of the attacking vessels are hit and crippled, allowing their capture. Boarding troops find that they are crewed by what are apparently alien beings and propelled at faster-than-light speeds by systems which use what can only be described as magic. Because of their doglike-ape appearance, the aliens become known as Hounds, and less frequently, wolf-bats.
They also find, alarmingly, evidence that the DEMON organisation is not dead, as had been thought, but in fact appears to working in concert with the attackers, against humanity.
The Martian orbital towers, already badly damaged, are rapidly disassembled so as to avoid a repeat of Earths fate.
The UN proves its worth by stepping in to fill the power vacuum left by the destruction of all the major governments in the Solar System, starting at its first emergency meeting on the former Imperial Japanese Navy battleship 'Tokugawa' in orbit around Ceres. Almost in relief most people support it fully, and it becomes what it never managed to achieve on Earth - the government of all humanity. Unlike before the arrival of the Hounds, when it was acceptable for settlements to isolate themselves from the rest of Humanity, the UN now overrides this and insists on all settlements being in continual contact with each other, investigating any cut-offs of communication. They also quickly intervene to stop the mass suicide of whole settlements; humanity cannot afford to lose anyone, now.
As rebuilding and repair work starts it becomes obvious that the solar system really has been invaded by aliens and that they have taken over the Jovian system, colonising the major moons and also the gas giant itself. It is also discovered that, although the aliens can be killed, their bodies disintegrate to dust within hours of capture. However, enough information can be gained in that time to determine that these creatures really are incontrovertibly aliens, and probably some kind of artificial life form as well.
All attempts to make contact or negotiate with the Hounds end in failure as they do not even respond to any signals.
Many religious leaders call for a return to 'the old ways', claiming that the Hounds are sent by God to punish humanity for their hubris in areas such as genetic engineering, and their fall from 'proper morality' which led to and resulted from such hubris. Most people are too busy trying to survive to pay much attention.
Solar Angel is seen by several stealth probes in the Jovian system fighting the Hounds there, alongside someone who appears to be wearing the armour of Dr Destroyer. Although they make significant initial inroads against the aliens, their inherent toughness and prodigious breeding rate mean that little real headway is made.
Shortly afterwards Solar Angel, now calling herself simply the Angel, and two armoured man calling themselves the Destroyer and Peacemaker appear at the new UN headquarters on Ceres, where they offer their aid in the war against the Hounds. From his speech patterns and general attitude it seems that the Destroyer is in fact Albert Zerstoiten, Dr Destroyer, and Peacemaker in really Alan Trahurn, despite the fact that neither of them has been seen for some two hundred and fifty years years.
Peacemaker takes overall strategic command of the unified UN military as the Marshal of Humanity; even so, Hound strategy and tactics greatly outmatch those of the UN.
With the death of the Pope and many of the top level of the Catholic church, Roman Catholicism goes through a period of crisis. However, eventually agreement on a new Pope is reached among the surviving church leadership, and the church finds a new home on Phobos, in Martian orbit.
The remnants of the Chilean Empire officially join the UN. Other dystopias do not. Even so, the UN protects them, but will not allow them a voice in decisions. As time passes many of these dystopias reform and join the UN as full members.
The Amnesty International organisation is absorbed into the Social Arm of the UN as its Rights Protection Section.
The first Commemoration Day, remembering the Deus Irae, is held in parallel with Christmas.
Force field hulled ships and settlements soon vanish, either destroyed by Hound attacks, or converted into more conventional hulled versions.
Cometary halo settlements prove to be easy prey for the Hounds as many are destroyed, and many more simply vanish, never to be heard from again.
More and more instances of DEMON activity are reported, indicting that not only is DEMON not dead, it is thriving in the new environment of the war-torn Solar System. Investigation by a special UN task force indicates that they are bargaining with the Hounds for power, or simply survival. As soon as this information is made public only reinforced security prevents a blood-bath in many areas as people, enraged at the thought of anyone co-operating with the destroyers of the Earth, attempt to lynch suspected DEMON members (with or without evidence).
The Angel lands on the devastated remnant that is the Earth. After spending weeks searching the globe and broadcasting images of the general destruction back to humanity in space she returns to orbit and states that no life now exists on Earth. However, she does find one survivor, the superhuman Ghost Wind who, after treatment to recover from her massive mental trauma, returns to work with the UN.
A series of relativistic asteroid strikes on Jupiter and its moons, where Hound settlements are known to be, are somehow deflected onto courses towards major population centres, forcing them to be destroyed. Even so, the remaining fragments kill thousands.
The surviving settlements of the Solar System struggle to rebuild themselves, harassed by Hound attacks. With the destruction of many of the Solar Systems major manufacturing facilities and information repositories on and around Earth people are forced to make do with whatever materials and information they can get, leading to a general slow decline in the level of human technology. Among the items of information destroyed are the genetic codes of much of humanity and those of many of the living things made extinct by the destruction of Earth.
StarHolme slowly begins to rebuild itself. In this it is aided by several mobile asteroid settlements which, seeing the way things are likely to go, decide to merge with StarHolme and aid in its rebuilding. Because of this, and the determination of Lady Blue, StarHolme becomes one of the few places, along with several of the AI societies, which maintains the pre-war level of technology. Once StarHolme has regained most of its structural integrity it slowly moves to a stable position with the Moon between it and the Earth, to provide some degree of protection against debris coming from Earth orbit.
Many settlements, especially StarHolme and some of the Lunar cities, become refuges for tens of millions of refugees fleeing from across the Solar System.
A mass exodus of more than a million people out of the Solar System in a fleet of warships is eradicated by a Hound attack about a light month away from the Sun.
As many of the widely-used living life support systems are destroyed in Hound attacks old-fashioned cloning is used to produce replacements from undamaged systems. However in many cases the clones fail for unexplained reasons, leading to many deaths and a fairly widespread re-adoption of mechanical life-support systems.
Most settlements also have their teleport transportation systems destroyed in attacks, forcing them to revert to more primitive vehicle-in-tube transportation systems.
The majority of the human population in space now exists within the Asteroid Belt, although large settlements also exist at StarHolme and on the Moon, with many smaller settlements on the inner planets, the moons of the outer planets and in the cometary halo. Many people, with more following over the years, move en masse to huge warship-cities; many more stubbornly refuse to leave their homes.
Purely robotic non-sentient warships soon prove far too vulnerable to Hound take-over to be used by the UN in any capacity.
On several occasions Hounds are taken prisoner by human forces. This fuels hope that they can be examined or questioned to gain useful information. However, like dead Hounds, it is discovered that captured Hounds disintegrate to dust within hours of capture.
Despite this lack of information several attempts to engineer some sort of virus which will affect the Hounds are made. Unfortunately none succeed. The Hounds also mount similar bio-warfare attacks against Humanity, but all of humanity is by now immune to disease so these too fail.
Almost all 'pure' scientific research is shelved for the duration of the emergency in favour of more goal-oriented research. What remains of pure research is carried out by AI's and human super-geniuses in their 'spare time'.
After some initial problems, the remaining Chilean Iron Legionnaires prove very effective working with the UN against the Hounds. However, the only place they were created, at the Chilean capital Guaqui, was destroyed in the initial Hound attack leading to a slow but inexorable decline in their numbers, as the UN has no desire to create more of their kind.
The Greyworld nanotech ecosystem is somehow turned into a horde of virulent space-capable devourer-creating monsters by the Hounds, and it has to be destroyed.
In the confusion and chaos spawned by the war with the Hounds several organised crime groups spring up, involved mainly in smuggling and the black market. The most widespread of these becomes known as Omerta (Silence). Despite attempts to track them down the concentration of effort against the Hounds means that few resources are available for this, so that they remain as a persistent thorn in the side of the UN. However, in most cases the UN allows centres of crime (in particular the notorious centre of Carconte) to exist on the grounds that they keep unsavoury activities on a known and observable place rather than hidden 'underground'.
Many of these criminal groups, along with the occasional DEMON cell and various mentally disturbed individuals (whether criminal or not) operate out of abandoned settlements or areas within inhabited settlements which have been abandoned for some reason.
Along with the re-birth of organised crime this period also sees the re-emergence of the occasional costumed super-vigilante who, although officially deplored by the authorities often usefully augment the local law-enforcement agencies.
There is also a worrying increase in the number of AI's showing signs of some form of mental illness as time goes by.
Use of personality manipulation technology almost ceases after the Hounds use warped personality overlays to infect people with insanity, or simply to kill them.
In the uncertain times after the destruction of the Earth all of the organised religions, especially some of their more extreme branches, experience a huge upswing in their popularity as people look for some promise of solace in the midst of uncertainty. Only the Church of Dr Hiroshima, suffering from the death of Flashlight in the destruction of the Earth, does not grow during this period. In particular the memberships of the Children of Steel and the Soldiers of Love grow greatly.
One new religion, the Cult of the Angel, also springs up during this period, its worshippers becoming more numerous as time goes by. They worship The Angel in her two aspects - Mercy, the kind saviour, and Solaris, her martial side.