Ecumenopolis
Volume 1
A Wonder Woman Series
Wonder Woman:
Municipal District of New York; Municipality of Earth; 2512 AD
I stood atop the super skyscraper while on patrol, Amazonian cloak and its raised hood billowing in the high nighttime breeze, and couldn't help but think about all of the changes that had taken place over the centuries to not only this former city but also the entire planet - now one big city state (think Coruscant from Star Wars but without the aliens!). And it had no doubt been in large part to my efforts at stopping Ares from conquering/destroying it. I now lived in an age where science fiction was now commonplace science fact. It was what the scifi writers had written about centuries ago. The difference in this case however was that space exploration programs were mostly robotic and private in nature (something I loathed!). Yet humanity couldn't be forced to go outward; despite my father's will that they do so. Most nowadays didn't believe in him or any other form of him but my father didn't seek or need their worship as mythology would have attested to. The other Olympians had preferred that but Zeus was completely self sustaining. Still, my father preferred a certain harmony with his creation.
How much had the world changed since the "boring" 21st century? In some ways many but in other ways no. There was still poverty war and disease although they were of a differing nature nowadays. There was still crime lords and those that sought power, but now it was filled with androids holo beings and all other manner of artificial life form one could imagine. Things that had used to be illegal were now legal, like drugs and such. Prostitution had long ago been legalized. It was a surgically liberal society that humanity had become. I thought the growth for the most part had been good but with the population now at twelve point two billion humans and other forms of artificial life it had become super complicated; much more so than the 21 century had ever been. In essence the globalists had won; and I had reluctantly helped them. I was still all for freedom as I had always been; I was sill the SOL leader to serve as proof of that.
WW's relationship with the now one world government? That was a complicated association to say the least. There had been times when authority and I had gotten along just fine and other times when it had definitely been more contentious. WW had done her fair share of terrible things over the centuries; all of which had paved the way for this massive city state to occur. The globalization of the planet could have been construed as natural/inevitable.
But humanity had made it. I had to remember that was what mattered most. And I could see that before my eyes now in real time. The efforts of myself and others had enabled the human race to get this far. There was still a lot of work to be done, but much had been accomplished as well. It was all a step in the right direction.
I closed my eyes and reached out with my super hearing. The sky traffic was all around and at all levels. There were constant horns, engines and everything else that you could think of for a city that never slept. There were shuttles sky cars and freighters. They carried out the business of the human race. People still went to work and paid bills. Not me in that sense though. I'd been WW full time for centuries now; the ongoing need had been there. I'd done it for many other reasons too. Being WW had brought me closer to lovers and pushed me away from others. I'd never stayed with anyone permanently however. It didn't really make sense to due to the mortality limitations of my lovers. And it wasn't for any medical reasons; I couldn't get STDs or get knocked up. That wasn't in the cards. Not that I was complaining. Being a god had its advantages and being who I was felt plenty good enough for me. I loved being WW; I always had. I couldn't imagine doing anything else.
"It's something, isn't it...?" a male voice randomly said from out of nowhere beside me. I smiled with my eyes still closed. I of course knew instantly who it was. "Brother Hermes. It's been a while." "Yes, Diana; twelve years in fact." I opened my eyes pulled my hood back and faced him. He looked exactly the same from the last time I'd seen him. "What brings you here?" He shrugged and smiled. "Do I need a reason to see my sister god?" I looked off at the sky traffic a few hundred meters away and gave his likely rhetorical some mild thought. "I suppose not; but you do get around. I can only imagine that you came for a more specific reason than a mere random visit." "Perhaps. Will you fly with me?" I gave a small scoff. "Of course." We took to the air and rose above the main higher sky traffic lanes to where it was really just us at that height; we flew slowly; it was a gentle casual flight pattern. We loosely surveyed the countless mortals below us. None paid us any heed. They were well used to us by now and/or were caught up in their own affairs to otherwise care. "Our father has charged me with making sure this global traffic continues to flow smoothly." I would have expected nothing less. "Yet there have been strange disruptions of late." "Have they caused any major economic effects?" "Not yet; but I'm still concerned Diana." It made sense; he was the god of commerce as well after all.
Insight came to me at that moment. There were of course many other gods on earth, but the Olympian pantheon was the dominant one because of me; because I was the daughter of God. My conception had elevated the Greek pantheon entirely in terms of cosmic importance. This had made every other god and celestial envious of the Olympians. There had been spiritual wars fought over it. It wouldn't stop now just because it was the 26th century. And with humanity being so jammed packed together on this city planet innocents could be lost much more readily because of it.
There was one god above all that entered my mind at that moment with increasing divine insight that seemed to indicate who the culprit of sorts was... "Amaterasu..." Hermes stopped flying with mild surprise; I stopped with him. He nodded. She was the Japanese sun goddess. We'd duked it out before, but now it seemed she might be causing trouble again. "Tell me what you know brother."