The Prompt You Say! - 16. Prompt 141 - TOUCHDOWN

We never could have guessed how wrong they got it when they said nothing would come of it. Scientists are still trying to figure it out thirty years after TOUCHDOWN. Funny, but that is how most of us older ones talk about it. Before and after the meteor crash defines everyone’s existence now.

It feels like I was barely out of high school when it all started. I know I wasn't really a grown up yet so the implications were originally lost on me. I was home for the summer from my first year in college when the news began telling of all the freak problems across the globe. The sea water had risen over five inches, there were fires spreading out throughout the East and South of the United States. There were tsunamis that had hit India, Japan and the coast of China. Global warming just wasn’t showing how fast and how bad Mother Nature could strike back.

Then NASA caught sight of a massive meteor storm headed for earth. People figured it was the end of the world. The meteors were expected to mostly burn up as they entered the atmosphere, but they didn’t. They were small so luckily the shower didn’t end up creating the ice age some said would come about from it, like the last one which killed off the dinosaurs.

The meteors rained down around the world for two days. Some blew through skyscrapers; others came down in fields, and still more crashed into the oceans. Scientists couldn’t wait to get their hands on them, while others from religious groups claimed it was a sign of the end of the world. For most it was a strange occurrence that had little to do with their day to day life.

It was about two weeks later that scientists worldwide began to explain that the meteors were made of something that wasn’t in our periodic charts. New rounds of testing of the areas they landed in and exploration of the sea for parts of meteor began. Things took time and every move was covered worldwide on the net. It is one of the few cases where it can be said they moved too slow.

The meteors had actually carried two things. One being the new element, and the other being strange seeds that were evidently protected within the meteor. Scientists had been stumped about what new element did and where totally unaware of the seeds till later.

Within three weeks of the TOUCHDOWN the first changes began to place. First, the odd seeds began growing wherever the meteors had landed. Strange blue fronds began to spring from the ground. The nations of the world all had their scientists, military, and nutcases all examining them. Meanwhile, the new element seemed to be multiplying. They were finding it the air, water, and soil now. Still they couldn’t say if it was harmful or not. They finally named the thing Metix, sort of combination of meteor and the odd helix shape the element took. Little did the world know how short its former lifestyles would remain in tack.

The fronds died out about week six to be replaced by new shoots of orange. Considering it was happening worldwide the news covered it, both day and night. There are always idiots who feel they want to get attention and the plants were offering the perfect opportunity. They took clippings from the orange shoots and were eating them. Scientists warned against it but nothing is stronger than stupidity in groups. The plants soon began expanding to spots where the meteor never had been and people were curious. Soon many people were eating it, never fearing if it could be lethal or have other implications.

Metix was being studied like nothing else in history. For the first time people were so focused on the new element and the strange plants they weren’t paying attention to the planet. Earth which had been in such chaos, erupting, tsunamis, earthquakes, mudslides, heavy rains, and fires all seemed to find all the natural disasters suddenly just stop. What we didn’t realize then was it a worldwide phenomena and it would signal major changes for us all.

The seeds weren’t poisonous but they did cause major changes to those who ingested the plants they grew. At first no one seemed to notice but then the rings began to show in people’s eyes. A bright orange ring was the first symptom to show up in those who ate the plants. The outer iris took on the glow and soon people that had blue, green, brown, or gray soon found that those were just a small ring closest to the center of the eye. However that was the just the first change the plants wrought. A year later children born to those who had eaten the plant found their newborns had thicker skin, orange eyes, and a silver tint to their nails.

Metix in the meantime was also making its way around the world. Its abilities are known now, still not fully, but then it was just all guess work. It was something of an energy collector and it was spreading its way through plants, water, and air. People had hopes of finding ways to use it as a new fuel. They hadn’t realized how or what sort of energy it was collecting till it was too late.

About four years after the TOUCHDOWN the first of the problems began. All radio signals stopped. I don’t mean people turned them off but there just was no way the signals could get around. Every one of them seemed to be absorbed. Radios stations around the world just found themselves without a way to broadcast. Television stations that still used broadcast to antennas were next. Four years later newspapers were the rage and books made a major come back as people were suddenly without their favorite forms of entertainment.

Six years after TOUCHDOWN saw the end of the internet. Anything that was sent by signal seemed to stop working. Wifi which had once connected the world stopped as if someone had thrown a switch. The instantaneous ways of contact were over. Cell phones stopped working. Land lines were the only way to keep in touch other than letters and cards. Things people had forgotten were suddenly taking a place of importance again. People had to get to know one another again, face to face, not message to message.

Ten years after TOUCHDOWN the children growing up began to divide themselves into the planter and non-planters. While the planters looked vastly different, they were also showing signs of higher brain function and using closer to forty or fifty percent of their brain instead of the ten percent most of us used. Non-planter children grew and seemed to carry on as they always had. There was a marked change in how Planter children acted toward each other, no malice or prejudice was shown in them over much of anything then the destruction of life.

Fifteen years after they began growing the space plants died out completely. It was estimated that forty percent of the world’s population were now Planters. The changes in their children, especially as they grow up, seen an end to problems over color, sexual preference, and so many other problems of the world. Basically for the Planters, people were people and you never hurt them. The plants seemed to end a lot of things. Cancer, AIDS, Child defects, and other health issues did not appear in Planters. By the time this news was finally released the plants were no more. What the Non-planters had once considered odd and scary now became something everyone wanted.

Twenty five years after TOUCHDOWN the world had altered dramatically. There were those who fought to be untainted and seen anything done by, created by, or suggested by Planters to be bad. Luckily, these were a small portion of the world populance. The world that once existed was slowly falling away to new ideas. Matix had claimed so many energy sources. The only batteries that now worked were solar and wind. The earth was undergoing a Renaissance of sorts. New ways of thinking and doing things had become normal. The first generations of Planters were now in their twenties and they were implementing things that made the world safer. It was like an overnight change, cities were concerned about parks, water ways, and how to make things clean and not leave pollution around. Everyone now recycled, reused, and cut any sort of carbon footprint. The older generations that hadn’t eaten the plant shook their head in wonderment. Crime worldwide dropped fifty percent and the number went up as the number of Planter and their children increased. Non-planters were freely marrying Planters and their children showed all the traces of the Planters. The world was changing quickly.

It is now thirty years later and TOUCHDOWN altered everything. I’m nearing fifty and cannot believe how far the changes have gone. The world is rapidly moving toward a single government. The jails worldwide have dropped dramatically. There is less tension all around as people are now more willing to help one another. The fear of color, sexual orientation, and religious belief are nearly gone. It seems it is something only the older generations and the one immediately after my own still really understand. The children of today play games in the streets, wander freely, and have no fear of anything happening to them. The days of computer chatting, text messages, and cell phones are gone. Telepathy seems to be a talent among so many of the Planters. It makes it hard to feel left out, but the younger generations seem to take this in stride. So many of the things we once took for granted are gone now. New ideas, new ways to do things, and new energy sources are filling some of the voids but the world continues to change as Matix continues to absorb the old ways. The weather systems are simple now as well. The earth moves at a slower rate, earthquake and natural disasters are slow to happen. Scientists make huge strides in what is going on, but even with Planter’s working as scientists we still haven’t figured out what it will mean to us. They say the ice caps are growing thicker again. The sea level has dropped again and the magnetic fields are altering as well. Who knows what the final result of TOUCHDOWN will be, but some of us wonder if things will just keep getting better.