LeRoy Parkin had a secret: a project to raise the intelligence of chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and baboons to human levels.
Some would say that wasn't a very high bar. Fifteen years after he began, plagues ? preventable but not prevented ? broke the world, killing over 99% of the world's human population. Parkin survived, moving his team and the animals to a secure island for the duration of what would become known as the Die-Back.
Fifty years later, the Die-Back ended with the Restoration of the United States. The remaining humans nervously focused on recovery, trying to keep at bay old fears and prejudices long discarded in favor of survival. Parkin, now an aging patriarch, left the apes on the island and restarted LifeWorks on the mainland.
After two decades, they have had some success.
But three years ago, the apes began discussing who they were, what they wanted, and what they should do next.
Today, they've made the decision.
In this first volume of a post-apocalyptic science fiction trilogy, author Steven Popkes reminds us of the connections that both sustain and endanger humanity and the world around us.
