Jacob's Trouble

The Last Wars, Volume 1 The Chinese announce they are going to Mars. In 2 years time. This absolutely stuns the United States and Russia and kicks them out of the crawling pace of their space programs, challenging them to recall that once, many years before, they were the leaders in space exploration. The U.S. and E.U. launch a crash program to make it to Mars first. So does Russia. A new Space Race has begun. After the first nation sets down on Mars and begins explorations, Earth is struck by a disaster heretofore unknown and unexpected though some had predicted it for years. A full fifth of the world's population winks out one day/night. No warning or buildup. Just gone; from one moment to another...