Hahn reflects on the world as it existed in 2076, before the war, and how the devastation unleashed by the war shaped the lives of the survivors. Hahn is keen that the school boy, Eugene, grasps that, while there were huge changes in technology before and after the war, the most important change was in people, and their attitude towards each other and the planet on which they lived.
Eugene’s brow furrowed. ‘You mean you could choose who died?’
‘Oh yes.’ Hahn’s tone was matter of fact. ‘But now I venture onto the territory of state secrets! Not only were we implanted with health chips, those of us who thought we were important were implanted with tags that identified our status. This was updated in real time. So if my car was in an accident with another, and there was a possibility that one car would be so badly damaged its passengers would die, one...