The Fifteenth Article — Linda Wood Rondeau

Does Chaos in United Earth Foretell a Third Dark Age?

In a post-apocalyptic era, factions compete for control of a global government gone amuck. The Network, a system of outworld communities comprised of defectors and Nomadic tribes, has become organized and desires more independence from United Earth's dictates.

Edwin Rowlands, current governor of Western America Province and President-elect of United Earth, fears if other outworlds follow the Network's example, the system of one government, one world, one people will collapse. His proposed Preservation Act, the Fifteenth Article of United Earth's Constitutional Government, would criminalize non-citizenship -- past, present, and future -- punishable by death without benefit of trial.

As the cry for freedom crescendos, Ahmed Fared, Rowland's Second-elect, fears a civil war that would usher in a third dark age. He calls upon the God of the Ages to once more intervene in the affairs of men.