No.18925
>More than six hundred now lived in Universe 25, constantly rubbing shoulders on their way up and down the stairwells to eat, drink, and sleep. They found themselves born into a world that was more crowded every day, and there were far more individuals than meaningful social roles. With more and more peers to defend against, males found it difficult and stressful to defend their territory, so they abandoned the activity. Normal social discourse within the community broke down, and with it the ability to form social bonds. The failures and dropouts congregated in large groups in the middle of Universe 25, their listless withdrawal occasionally interrupted by spasms and waves of pointless violence. The victims of these random attacks became attackers. Left on their own in nests subject to invasion, nursing females attacked their own young. Procreation slumped, infant abandonment and mortality soared. Lone females retreated to isolated nesting boxes on penthouse levels. Other males, a group termed “the beautiful ones,” never sought sex and never fought—they just ate, slept, and groomed, wrapped in narcissistic introspection. Elsewhere, cannibalism, pansexualism, and violence became endemic. Society had collapsed.