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'Hunter
Prologue Part 1
Prologue Part 1
The River City was a thriving metropolis when it happened. It was rapidly growing on both sides of the meandering river that it straddled, almost too fast, as it struggled to build infrastructure to support its new population. 'It' was a series of explosions at key infrastructure points designed to cripple the city. The main supports for each of the 15 bridges crossing the river were blown up at peak hour causing thousands of casualties and crippling the transport system. A 16th explosion was triggered on the wall of the city's main water storage dam, allowing the water to flow down the river and causing flooding of the likes that had not been seen in 26 years. The result on the population was predictable and rapid. Those who survived the flash-flooding and who weren't killed by the collapsing bridges moved away from the city as quickly as they could throw their most-loved belongings into their vehicles and move north or south towards the nearest relatives or friends. This was hindered by the destruction of minor bridges to the north and south along the highways.
Part of the reaction was due to the fact that all the residents thought that attacks of terrorism would never occur in their city. It was too far out of the way of the major internationally known areas. This was however, out of the point. The attack had come from within the country, and the River City had been chosen because it was easy to place the explosives, as no-one was on the watch for such events. The populace that became entrenched in the River City became a suspicious group. The government continuously claimed that it was an international terrorist attack, but a small select group of people began gathering information that suggested this was not the case. Most called them conspiracy theorists and they were ridiculed and laughed at. They claimed that the government had planned and carried this out in order to make sure that they retained power through the next election. A country in panic was less likely to vote for a new administration, and the people in power did not want to risk having to let go of it.
These theorists began to disappear and a few of the more intelligent people who had laughed at them previously, realised that they may not have been too far from the truth. They joined the movement and made suggestions to keep their ideas quiet. It wouldn't do for the government to take them all, for who would then be able to oppose them.
Two years later a proposal came through the government; a man called Andrew Reynolds had thought of a way to keep the outrage of the general populace down, all by just increasing the control that the government already used on media releases. He also proposed that knowledge of what life used to be like in the country was dangerous, and that any remnants of this knowledge must be destroyed. The government saw his logic and agreed, allowing him to form the Bureau of Historical Investigations, colloquially known as the bookhunters.
Those rebelling against this control of thought and information got news of the upcoming disaster and began to store away as many books as they could, and to download and save to disc large portions of the internet. They saw the danger of keeping these books in their homes, however, and built an underground library in the hills outside of the River City. How they did it without being noticed by the 'hunters or other government operatives, they didn't know, but once built, they realised that if it was expanded, it would be a good location for them to live, and try to preserve the way of life that they knew and wanted their children to know.
The central group of this rebellion was built around a group of friends who had gone to school together, and who had all been part of a weekly book club that Reynold's ran between the two schools where he worked as an English teacher. These young adults had all been shocked by their teacher's efforts, especially when they considered that he had always tried to push the importance of knowledge and freedom of speech above everything else.
The River City became the head quarters of the Bureau of Historical Investigations. Reynolds decided it would be amusing and ironic to set up his headquarters in the old and now abandoned university buildings, approximately 10km out of the city centre. The large courtyard, surrounded by its beautiful sandstone buildings, where students would meet to discuss philosophy, history, science, law and languages became the centre of the oppression of this knowledge.
It didn't take much for the government to take control of the rest of the citzens. The changes that Reynolds had put forward were not that much different to what the country had been like before then, execept that they had the ability to arrest dissenters. Then it started going too far. The BHI was worried about the rebellion, as they were the most intelligent people. They obtained permission to begin to hunt down, capture, torture for information and execute dissenters from the governments rule. The rebellion became much more underground, and more chapters began to appear throughout the country.
Then a global catastrophe occured, and the rebound was for those who had once been major powers to form strong alliances with each other, resulting in three major alliances world wide. These alliances closed their doors and largely ignored each other. They all saw the importance of not attacking each other. Reynolds was happy at last. He was now one of the most important people on the planet, or at least within the Austro-Americas Alliance. It became his personal mission to hunt out the dissenters, especially those he knew from his book club.
Part of the reaction was due to the fact that all the residents thought that attacks of terrorism would never occur in their city. It was too far out of the way of the major internationally known areas. This was however, out of the point. The attack had come from within the country, and the River City had been chosen because it was easy to place the explosives, as no-one was on the watch for such events. The populace that became entrenched in the River City became a suspicious group. The government continuously claimed that it was an international terrorist attack, but a small select group of people began gathering information that suggested this was not the case. Most called them conspiracy theorists and they were ridiculed and laughed at. They claimed that the government had planned and carried this out in order to make sure that they retained power through the next election. A country in panic was less likely to vote for a new administration, and the people in power did not want to risk having to let go of it.
These theorists began to disappear and a few of the more intelligent people who had laughed at them previously, realised that they may not have been too far from the truth. They joined the movement and made suggestions to keep their ideas quiet. It wouldn't do for the government to take them all, for who would then be able to oppose them.
Two years later a proposal came through the government; a man called Andrew Reynolds had thought of a way to keep the outrage of the general populace down, all by just increasing the control that the government already used on media releases. He also proposed that knowledge of what life used to be like in the country was dangerous, and that any remnants of this knowledge must be destroyed. The government saw his logic and agreed, allowing him to form the Bureau of Historical Investigations, colloquially known as the bookhunters.
Those rebelling against this control of thought and information got news of the upcoming disaster and began to store away as many books as they could, and to download and save to disc large portions of the internet. They saw the danger of keeping these books in their homes, however, and built an underground library in the hills outside of the River City. How they did it without being noticed by the 'hunters or other government operatives, they didn't know, but once built, they realised that if it was expanded, it would be a good location for them to live, and try to preserve the way of life that they knew and wanted their children to know.
The central group of this rebellion was built around a group of friends who had gone to school together, and who had all been part of a weekly book club that Reynold's ran between the two schools where he worked as an English teacher. These young adults had all been shocked by their teacher's efforts, especially when they considered that he had always tried to push the importance of knowledge and freedom of speech above everything else.
The River City became the head quarters of the Bureau of Historical Investigations. Reynolds decided it would be amusing and ironic to set up his headquarters in the old and now abandoned university buildings, approximately 10km out of the city centre. The large courtyard, surrounded by its beautiful sandstone buildings, where students would meet to discuss philosophy, history, science, law and languages became the centre of the oppression of this knowledge.
It didn't take much for the government to take control of the rest of the citzens. The changes that Reynolds had put forward were not that much different to what the country had been like before then, execept that they had the ability to arrest dissenters. Then it started going too far. The BHI was worried about the rebellion, as they were the most intelligent people. They obtained permission to begin to hunt down, capture, torture for information and execute dissenters from the governments rule. The rebellion became much more underground, and more chapters began to appear throughout the country.
Then a global catastrophe occured, and the rebound was for those who had once been major powers to form strong alliances with each other, resulting in three major alliances world wide. These alliances closed their doors and largely ignored each other. They all saw the importance of not attacking each other. Reynolds was happy at last. He was now one of the most important people on the planet, or at least within the Austro-Americas Alliance. It became his personal mission to hunt out the dissenters, especially those he knew from his book club.
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