PAPOOSE

PROLOGUE

It has been over half a century since The Change. No one knows who started it, but everyone agrees that anyone with the knowledge have long since gone. However it might have started, life on Earth has been altered and it happened literally overnight. Nearly half of the world’s adult population started to behave like young children, some as infants and others as teenagers. It also affected some people’s gender behavior as well, with fully grown men acting as young girls.

With nearly half the work force not going to work, but staying at home and playing, the world fell into an economic crisis. Crime and civil unrest started to increase. People started to believe that the end of world was near. Nations reacted differently to these changes. Some countries began eugenic programs against those who were affected. Others quarantined them into isolated communities. Yet, neither of these worked to eliminate the problem.

It wasn’t until months later that scientists started to discover that there was an unidentified virus in the air causing the changes in people. Although when The Change first accrued it affect all adults, with future generations it only happened to some people in their twenties. The scientists couldn’t understand why someone people were affect and others were not. They also could not clean the virus out of the air.

People gradually started to accept and understand youngists, as people were calling those affected with the virus. Although they had the behavior of someone much younger then their biological age, they still retained their mentality. They just needed more structure and guidance in their lives just like the children they were acting like. Some nations started to set up Baby Communities were those affected could go and get adopted by a mommy and/or daddy. Also within these communities the work environment is set up with strict supervision and guidance to ensure that they work and become productive citizens.

This is the story of one such Baby Community called Papoose, just north of Chicago.