Donald Hricik

Our Great Escape Donald Hricik

In this sequel to "Our Great Escape: Part 1: Dumbers", Dr. Henry Shannon is commander of a manned mission to Jupiter, hoping to find a moon that can sustain human life. Earth and its small remnant population of humans have been ravaged by wars and global warming. Most of Henry's original twenty thousand passengers, maintained on dumbers (a concoction of drugs and viral vectors that inhibit aging and blunt cognitive skills), die in route to Jupiter from severe dementia resulting from dumbers contaminated with mutant viruses. After discovering that the moons of Jupiter are uninhabitable, Henry reluctantly agrees to return to Earth, ultimately bolstered by news that global warming somehow has given way to global cooling, seemingly over just a few years. During the return trip, his wife is killed when an asteroid collides with their spaceship. Depressed and increasingly concerned about survival of the human race, Henry presses on and successfully lands his group back on Earth, which bears little resemblance to the planet they remembered. The returning passengers encounter strange new animal species and are stunned to find that Earth has been repopulated by a group of humans previously known as Tunnel People because of their subterranean life style. Under the direction of their Supreme Leader, the Tunnel People have mysteriously developed advanced technologies, an above-ground life of opulence, and apparent immortality. As Henry unravels the nefarious means employed by the Supreme Leader to create this Utopian state, he discovers why these new humans remain desperately dependent on his passengers for maintaining their immortal status, and must decide whether to cooperate or resist and face his own mortality.