2020: A secret society commits a trillion dollars to create a new kind of future.
A thousand rich and powerful people from around the world gather for a secret meeting, codenamed “Genesis”, to discuss the formation of an independent mission to colonize Mars and beyond. They believe that the destiny of humanity is to create a new lifeform better than itself, a digital lifeform that is not bound by the limitations of a biological body. They also believe that this work would be better done far from the bureaucracy of Earth. Like the Pilgrim Fathers that founded America, they see a better future in a new land. At the end of the Genesis meeting, most attendees decide to invest in the project; the result is a trillion dollars of private investment committed to the areas of space exploration, biology and artificial intelligence. Some of the participants, however, are concerned with the goals of Genesis and secretly vow to thwart its success.
