The Future

A user by the handle of OneCorn posts on the Name The Day survivalist web forum about the book of Genesis in the Bible. Another user, ArturoMegadog, warns OneCorn that their posts on biblical texts are not welcome on this sub-board, but OneCorn is undeterred. The post imagines a conversation between Abraham and God about the destruction of Sodom: Abraham asks God if Sodom should be saved even if only one good man is left in the city. OneCorn takes this to be a lesson about power; if one has power, then one has an obligation to help, not just to punish. When another user attacks OneCorn for the religious content of the post, ArturoMegadog defends OneCorn.

Lai Zhen is an expert in survivalism, specializing in survivalist technology. She is also a top contributor to the survivalist web forum Name the Day. She is shopping at Singapore’s Seasons Time Mall one June day when an active shooter strikes. Before the gunshots ring out, Zhen is thinking about her past, as a survivor of the Fall of Hong Kong, and about her subsequent career as a survivalist. All of her advice seems trite in the face of a real-time event.