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In the winter of 1986 a group of scientists study the effects of acid rain on the vegetation of Maine. One of them, Alessandro Righi, discovers the wreckage of an aircraft with USAF markings containing a cargo of empty cages in the Allagash forest along the border with Canada. Oddly enough, the local authorities seem uninterested in the discovery. The Department of Defense intervenes and immediately shuts down any information about the site.
A local tribe of the Passamaquoddy has taken possession of the contents found in the cages. It is a rare organism that the Native Americans have known for centuries. They call it Wahant or the great plague, the evil spirit of the forest: an organism feared but protected by them to shield the Earth from its devastating force. Noticing a mysterious symbol on the cages, Alessandro Righi scours for information in a small library in Quebec and learns that, since the thirteenth century, the Camaldulensis monks have hidden a similar organism in the underground caves of their convent in the Apennine Mountains near Arezzo. What are cultures that are so different trying to do with a creature so rare and dangerous? What is Wahant?
More than two thirds of the species on earth remain unknown; many will become extinct before we even discover them. Some, perhaps the most elusive, can survive in extreme environmental conditions such as lethal radiation; others at very high temperatures and pressures. These are the so-called extremophile species and Wahant is one of them. It has the extraordinary characteristic of surviving in suspended life through geological eras and then regaining its vitality when the CO2 in the atmosphere reaches high concentrations. Stimulated by high levels of CO2, Wahant begins to devour all plant material and, consequently, kills all organisms on Earth. The Pentagon intends to control its voraciousness and use it as a tactical weapon to eliminate vegetation in potential enemy territories.
The Pentagon's plans are sabotaged by the betrayal of a general who heads Wahant's adaptation strategy for weaponization. He is recruited by a secret foreign intelligence agency, the Federal Triangle (FT), to steal the rare species. The aircraft that carries the species, from one Army base to another, crashes inexplicably in the Allagash Forest and the specimens are lost for several years. When the general learns of Alessandro Righi’s discovery of the wreckage he also finds out his knowledge of the existence of a similar organism in Tuscany. He then launches an operation to take possession of the organism in Italy to conclude his deal with the FT. A ruthless fight takes place in Piombino, Italy, between the general and an Allagash scientist, initially his accomplice, to conclude the FT trade. Due to events resulting from the confrontation, the whereabouts of Wahant are lost again while air pollution continues to rise. In 2019, CO2 reaches its peak of 417 ppm, almost fifty percent more than during the pre-industrial period.
One night, in December 2022, in Meredith, New Hampshire, the vegetation begins to disappear. CO2 has reached the critical threshold of 425 ppm for Wahant to become active. Like a virus resistant to all means of struggle, Wahant spreads unimpeded throughout the planet. At the end of 2024 the land is completely stripped of vegetation. Without food in 2030, there are five million humans left who eat protein from oil fermentation. Cannibalism has raged for many years before. The time has come to use a germplasm, hidden in various parts of the world before the 2022 catastrophe, to restore life on Earth. But something goes horribly wrong.
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