Speciation. How exactly does that occur? When does it occur? What would it mean for the world if it happened in humans? Once upon a time, the answers to that line of questioning would have meant very little to Clarence Brownstone. He's never been the scientific type, to be exact. A tall, slim African American fellow who seems quite bland when one first meets him, that's Clarence in a nutshell. Well, that was before...
In the latter days of the twenty-first century, a series of events began to plague mankind. First, it happened to the environment. Animal and plant species began to die out. The Amazon Rain Forest began to recede, and the Sahara got flooded due to the coming of the Super Storms. The Arctic all but vanished, and once-dry areas of the world began to flood. Next came the skyrocketing rates of cancer, mental illness and various other human ailments.
By the year 2077, environmental disasters had claimed nearly a billion lives. Europe was a shell of its former self. South America and Australia had similarly been decimated. Africa and the Middle East were hanging on for now. China and Japan had been forced to join forces in the name of survival as Vietnam, India and Pakistan all but succumbed to cataclysms. North America remained largely untouched, but no corner of the human world can escape the changes wrought by the shifting climate...
"Mother nature is cancelling humans," said Linda Javier-Brownstone, the woman whom Clarence was brought forth and raised by. Tall and elegant, with dark brown skin and silver hair, Linda Brownstone is a proud daughter of Biloxi, Mississippi. Educated at Jackson State University, Linda Brownstone went on to teach at Biloxi Latin Academy, an elite prep school. She's known her only son Clarence was different from day one.
"Don't say this, mama, we are not getting cancelled," said Clarence, and the young man exchanged a smile with his mother. Sometimes, he felt as though he could read her mind. Nearby sat Theodore Brownstone, Clarence's adoptive father. Stocky, balding, dark-skinned, mustachioed and bearded, Theodore Brownstone has worked for the Biloxi Department of Corrections for the past twenty five years and is damn proud of it. In fact, Theodore and Linda met when the latter protested law enforcement abuses with some friends at the county jail. Talk about a unique match. Decades later, they're still married.
Theodore looked at his wife and son, briefly pausing from his favorite TV show, Raw Eden. The show dealt with themes of science fiction, pitting a family of time travelers against dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Clarence didn't much care for TV, preferring his computer and video games. As for Linda, she was more of a book and crossword puzzles kind of person. Theodore was always the odd man out in this family, and it sometimes irked him.
"How was school today, Lens?" Theodore demanded, and he cocked an eyebrow when Clarence didn't answer fast enough. Clarence, who royally pissed Theodore by choosing to study at nearby Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College instead of the University of Mississippi, didn't talk about school much. The young man's decision to stay at home instead of stretching his wings was a source of tension between him and the aforementioned man of the house...
