The year was 5710. Humanity had thus far been unable to resolve global warming and the depletion of the earth's natural resources. Based upon the advice of the most intelligent scientists, many of the world's leaders decided to re-engineer the human race to adapt to the changing environment as an alternative to changing the planet. The idea, originally proposed as early as 2021, was simply to make people smaller. Petite humans would be "greener," consuming less food, using less energy, and emitting less carbon dioxide. Scientists estimated that a 15cm reduction in the height of a human would yield approximately a 25% reduction in necessary resources. People would also no longer raise livestock but would produce artificial meat instead. As time went on and the destruction of the planet became more evident, it became necessary to reduce the stature of the human body even further. By 5710, their average height was only 24".

Due to the difference in scale, the outside world had become increasingly dangerous. To best protect themselves, the small people lived exclusively in a network of underground cities.

About two-thirds of the earth's population consisted of people no taller than two and a half feet. The remaining one-third of the people were not nearly as short in stature. They belonged to a very independent, self-supporting nation and had little or no contact with the rest of the world. They did not succumb to the authoritarian politics and ideologies of the globalist governments that ruled the remaining two-thirds of the world. They continued eating red meat and using traditional sources of energy. Because of their ethics and belief in freedom and independence, they never chose to engage in genetic alteration. Instead, they literally stood tall in the face of the world. Their average height was six feet.

Although the smaller people did not use large amounts of the world's energy, such as gas and oil, their portion of the world only contained 25% of the globe's energy resources. Meanwhile, the land belonging to the remaining third of the people was rich in petroleum. The nations comprised of small people felt that it was unfair that the rest of the world should have 75% of all the gas and oil. They began to revolt. And soon, they foolishly declared war on the nation of the independent people.

The diminutive peoples were no match for the nation of independents. Their countries quickly saw the wrath of full-scale bombs and other weapons that the independents unleashed upon them. Not since thousands of years ago had anyone seen warfare leave such devastating destruction.

However, there was one up-side to human engineering. It enhanced immunity to many diseases. Therefore, the little people were able to weaponize a virus that wouldn't harm them. After they produced enough of the virus, they injected it into the livestock that belonged to the independents. The virus was harmless to the cattle, but the result was catastrophic to the meat-eating independents. The lesser people had triumphed... for now.

Story and Cover Illustration Copyright © 2021 by Michael DeFrancesco