This new sci-fi novel from author Eva Laurenson creates a world in the not-too-distant future where a pandemic threatens the existence of humankind, not with sickness and death, but hitting right at the core by changing our way of reproduction. As the first of three instalments and in contrast to other novels picking up on the theme of gender apocalypse, XX - The History of Mankind takes its time to explore the cause of such a major shift in society. The author Eva Laurenson has a doctorate in animal genetics and breeding and took meticulous care to represent the changes in reproduction on a personal and global level and as accurate as fiction allows. What is the meaning of life? What is a family? How will we love? The first manned Mars-mission plunges back onto Earth on March 13, 2054. The mission was a success, though spacewalker Veronica Vargas returns pregnant, which is a mystery to everybody, not the least to herself. Is one of the three male colleagues the father? As the crew is released from quarantine, a silent pandemic begins to spread across the globe. Neither lives nor health are in danger, yet humankind and the society that it has built for centuries are threatened to be changed forever. Will humanity descend into a dystopian future or rise to the ideals of a utopian society?