Prelude Chapter 2: Mountains out of Grassy Knoll Hills

As mutations in sections of the general population grew and became more profound, the various governments and governing bodies of the Earth grew only more confused and frustrated. Frustrated because they had a hard time grasping the mutation threat; confused because segments of the public had refused to believe that governments were on top of the problem. Civil disorder and chaos was on the rise.

This was the first problem. Some governments denied everything, others refused to speak, and still others declared doomsday scenarios. The growing evidence of various forms of mutation was nearly impossible to suppress. This obvious contradiction of what the governments wanted people to think, and what was evident to the public on global information networks fostered societal distrust.

Enter the conspiracists. Feeding off the public's fear and suspicion, the conspiracists pushed varied agendas – legitimate or otherwise – as far as they could go. Anything and everything was fair game. Governments were the problem; secret conspiracies lay behind the mutations; it was the punishing “Hand of God;” the results of mysterious cosmic rays; nature’s revenge; or even the prelude to an alien invasion force.

When the leading governments denied that the plainly visible mutations were occurring, Dr. Samson Templetus, PhD, led a respected vocal charge decrying governmental leadership. Though researchers later failed to verify his credentials, Templetus pelted the world with conspiracies layered within conspiracies, one after the other, like a peeling onion with no end. He claimed governments were hiding the facts, were unable to check the spread of the mutations and were failing to protect the public. Templetus' visibility did nothing to ease the public mind.

In the face of growing civil unrest, the governments finally shifted their public stance to acknowledge the problem, but remained firm that the mutations were probably harmless. Templetus and other conspiracy heads were convinced they were right and immediately began to shout even louder than before. However, one by one, various dissident figureheads began "quieting down". Some seemed to disappear almost overnight.

Templetus, perhaps out of a newfound paranoia, saw the invisible hand of the military establishment in motion. He went into exile, continuing to broadcast and add severity to his warning messages from hiding. Not only were the mutations caused by some biological weapons program gone horribly out of control, he claimed, they were now trying to cover it up by any means necessary. Templetus was on the verge of becoming a sort of living martyr, as more and more people saw the inaction of the government as justifying his claims.

The governments and their propaganda machines were initially caught off-guard by the wily doctor, but reacted deftly. They shifted stance again, and announced a global cooperative effort to utilize the cause of the mutations – a new type of energy previously undiscovered before 2030 – as a new type of power source to benefit humanity. The close cooperation between governments would also help unify the world as one people.

In conjunction with this announcement, some new "conspiracy theorists" came out of the woodwork to support or offer their own radical ideas as to the cause of the mutations. Many of these new theories had obvious logic holes, or they varied from day to day. The world governments did very little to silence these new dissidents, and often agreed to public debates with them. As a result, Templetus' signal to noise ratio weakened considerably and fewer people found his arguments relevant.

After all, what was more believable, the conspiracists and their ever-shifting wacky theories, or the leading governments that seemed to all agree on the problem and actually do something about it?

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