Beggars Ride - Background

Background

The Beggars trilogy is set in a near future in which genetic engineering has become commonplace. "Genemods" were developed for intelligence, physical features, personality, enhanced sensory perception, and so on, but when Dr. Susan Melling discovered a genemod to alleviate the need for sleep, she changed the face of the world. These so-called "Sleepless" were not only more productive, due to 33% more hours in the day, but less prone to the vagaries of the unconscious mind due to their inability to sleep; they were well-adjusted, cheerful, intelligent, driven, and quickly came to dominate the scientific, economic, intellectual, medical, legal and technological arenas of the world, often at unprecedentedly young ages. As with many successful minorities, they were the target of prejudice, racism and general intolerance, but the final blow came when Melling discovered an unexpected side effect. The sleeplessness genemod had unlocked an unprecedented cellular-regeneration mechanism, and Sleepless do not age. At the start of the novel, their oldest specimen, computer magnate Kevin Baker, looks 35 years old but actually is 116.

Beggars Ride begins in 2120 in a United States becalmed. The Sleepless have long ago banded together for protection and defense, forming the community "Sanctuary," first in the southwest corner of New York State and then later in their own orbital. In 2092 the Sleepless, led by permanent leader Jennifer Sharifi, attempted to secede from America, but were prevented by a small contingent of their youngest generation. These "SuperBright" Sleepless, led by Jennifer's granddaughter Miranda, underwent such advanced engineering that their thoughts are no longer the same as normal humans. Jennifer was indicted for treason and served 27 years in prison; in the prologue of the novel, she is released.

The Supers, meanwhile, moved to Earth and transformed the social landscape of America. America's political situation at the time had been unstable: 80% of the population, "Livers," were unemployed and supported by a lavish dole, made possible by cheap cold fusion discovered by Kenzo Yagai sometime before 2008. These "Livers" were supposedly the upper class, enjoying a life of "aristo leisure" and served by the "donkeys," genemod white-collar workers who were voted into power by Livers due to promises of increased prosperity. Due to economic stagnancy and (what turned out to be) constant sabotage by anarchist forces, the infrastructure supporting the Livers, and thus the nation itself, was in grave danger of collapse. Miranda Sharifi changed this by creating the "Change syringe," a slim black injection that rebuilt the human body to be photosynthetic, able to absorb nutrients from any adjacent biological matter (dirt, grass, clothes, etc.), and resistant against disease, infection, foreign matter and casual injury. Lying on the ground in the sun for half an hour is sufficient "food" for any Changed individual. The Livers, now autotrophic, were able to cast free of the donkeys and now live in wandering communes, while the donkeys retreated behind their Y-shielded enclaves and likewise turned to a life of leisure.