Clockwork Sun | Making a Difference

Professional Nerd Blah 23-Jun-20 07:47 PM

Hello once more! I'm back with (potentially) the final story that will be run over the MTU Huskies discord server! I hope we make it a good one! You should know the rules by now, so here are the four scenario choices this time around! Two are ones that weren't picked last time, while two more were cooked up fresh and shiny new. Please note that all starting scenarios will expire after four times on the docket and will be retired. The number of times each scenario has been listed is indicated. Vote for the one(s) you'd like to see turned into a full-fledged story! (Note: the approximate length of each option is listed. Two are novel-length, while two are shorter)

(3) [SHORT STORY] Dungeon Delvers

Action-Adventure Magical Medieval / Renaissance - Underground Dungeon A classic adventuring party a la D&D dives into a mysterious and dangerous dungeon in search of treasure, or perhaps something more valuable. What dark secrets lie in wait? What horrifying monsters bar their way? How many will die in the process? (1) [NOVEL] Making a Difference

Cyberpunk / Rebellion The Future - Major City An authoritarian government controls the country and monopolistic corporations wring out what value is leftover. The wealthy and loyal enjoy a perfect existence in majestic towers and mansions, while everyone else is relegated to the cramped, dark, disease-riddled slums. There’s been resistance, of course, but until recently, the police and corpo agents had been too effective at shutting it down. That, however, is starting to change. The latest rebellion group has lasted longer than any before it, and our protagonist[s] are ready to ensure it’s the first one to be successful as well.

(1) [NOVEL] To Turn Back the Clock

Science Fiction / Heist The Future - Space In today’s galactic market, cybernetics, implants, and biotech are all the rage, though hugely expensive. There’s significant demand for these miraculous modifications at a more reasonable price, and even more demand for certain rumored special implants that could extend a being’s lifespan. No one seems exactly sure who made them, where they are, or if they even exist, but if the rumors are solid enough for the mob to start taking notice, our protagonist had better take notice as well. Time to get rich... or live forever. (2) [SHORT STORY] The End of Everything

️ Cosmic Atmospheric / Horror Space The end of the universe has been and gone, and yet life remains. Pitifully inching across the empty, frigid void, a single starship crawls across utter nothingness, its reactor capable of sustaining it for millennia more. But what is the point of living in this utterly dead existence? Is there a way to reverse entropy, to jump-start the universe back to life? [You’re] not sure, but it’s got to be a better plan than just sitting around in the ship, waiting for the ultimate end. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 27-Jun-20 07:55 PM

The next story will be Making a Difference. Before we get started, however, there are a few questions to answer. The first options for each section are the original “intended” options (particularly for the protagonist), though alternate choices have been included. Who is our protagonist? [Note that Eva and Landon (along with several other characters) will both be central to the story, no matter who is chosen here.]

- Eva, an athletic and upbeat infiltrator with a particular knack for working with technology in the field. The story will focus more on heists, infiltrations, covert ops, and other exciting things.

- Landon, a nervous and somewhat out of shape biologist who specializes in cloning. The story will focus more on espionage, sabotage, and the day-to-day life outside of contributing to a resistance operation.

‍

- Multiple protagonists. The story will switch perspectives and have a broader, though necessarily shallower, range of focus. The story will be written in third person. The setting has already been decided as part of the initial prompt: a major city in a cyberpunk dystopia. However, one critical question remains. Does space travel exist?

- Not beyond satellites, manned lunar missions, and unmanned probes (ie current / near-future tech).

- Significant infrastructure investments and technology advancements have allowed for easy launches and manned missions to other planets in the solar system. However, no off-planet colonies exist (yet). When will we begin the story?

- Start at the beginning. How did the resistance form?

- In medias res. Fill in the background later. (Winners:

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Professional Nerd Blah 30-Jun-20 11:02 PM

Alright, we’ll have relatively current-age space technology and will definitely start in medias res. You guys really hate context, I guess. We’ll get some soon enough, I suppose. As for the protagonist, Eva won by a single vote over multiple protagonists. Keeping that in mind as well as my own preferences and ideas for this story (which matter more to me in a novel-length one like this than for a shorter one), I think we’ll have Eva as the main protagonist, but perhaps occasionally switch perspectives to someone else. Maybe that will be Landon, maybe it will be someone else or someones else. We’ll find out as the story develops. Anyway, before we get started (which will probably be this weekend), I’ve got one more poll. As you know, I’m looking for a way to continue to run these stories outside of the MTU Huskies server, as I’m graduating this fall. Here are a few options; pick the one(s) you’d generally prefer. If you don’t have a preference or would be fine with any of a block’s options, feel free to vote for multiple or all. As always, if you have further comments on this stuff, let me know in #story_discussion. Running the stories as a whole

- Run the stories on a website. This would likely run Wordpress of some variety and could have a comment section, submission boxes for ideas/commands, polls natively or through something like gforms, or a companion discord server or similar. Along with, you know, the story as a whole. It would also likely come with RSS for those of you who still use that (like me!).

- Run the stories on an independent Discord server. This would likely continue in a fairly similar fashion to what we’ve got going here, with a few changes. I’d probably split the channels up a bit further and there might be a focus on sharing and appreciating/critiquing other peoples’ works. If the server got large enough, there might even be other authors running their own CYOA stories. That seems unlikely, though, since I don’t know how to advertise and grow a server. How voting will work

️ - Continue as is. Use emotes on Discord or native/gforms/whatever on a website to have voters choose one or more of a preset selection of options. I choose the options, but voters choose which one(s) will be used.

️ - Threads. Voters submit suggestions/ideas/commands, and other voters upvote those that they like. This would be a little complicated on a Discord server but would be doable; it would likely use a comment system on a website. This would probably work better with a larger voting audience than we currently have. ✉️ - Submission box. Voters submit suggestions/ideas/commands, which are sent directly to me. I choose the option or options I want to use to continue the story and credit whoever sent it in. This would be difficult on a Discord server and might require the use of a bot or plugin, but it would be easy on a website. This would probably work better with a larger voting audience than we currently have. I’d also be interested in your thoughts on what sort of direction might attract a larger audience, since that seems like a lot of fun. I’m not very confident in advertising or anything like that, and there aren’t a lot of text-only voter-influenced stories going on to take inspiration from, so it’s hard to know what would work best. Comment in #story_discussion with your thoughts! (Winner: ... well, there is no "winner" here. But thanks for your feedback!) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 05-Jul-20 02:06 PM

Scene 0 “This is Ashland. Transfer to Blue and Brown line trains at Ashland. This is a Green line train to Water’s Edge.” Eva opened her eyes briefly to survey the new occupants of her car as a handful of people trickled onto the train. Not many were still awake at this time of night, and even fewer had any reason to be riding the metro near Ashland. The central business district of the city had shut down hours ago and there was really no reason for anyone to be going there at two in the morning. She smirked. Except for her. With a happy chime and an announcement of “Doors closing,” the train continued on its way. Her stop was next. Ironwood, the station nearest the northwest corner of downtown. Not much time left to get prepared, but then again she didn’t really need to get prepared. She had practiced this mission probably a hundred times at this point, going through the steps in her head until she could repeat it from memory and running through the execution in VR for hours on end. Of all the missions she had been on lately, this was the one that had to be flawless. This was the one that would make or break the resistance. No pressure. Eva leaned back in her seat and watched the city’s lights fly past the windows. At night, it almost looked pretty. Neon-style LED signs and soft streetlights glowed in the darkness, leaving little streamers of shining luminance as the train clattered past. From up here, she couldn’t see the back-alley deals and fights that she knew were taking place just forty feet below. It was almost peaceful. Just her and a few dozen random strangers, all bound together by the train’s inexorable movement. All in their own little bubble together. Someone a couple seats down snorted and spat a glob of brown substance onto the floor.

Right. It wasn’t all sunshine and roses up here either. A different man on the other side of the train was staring at her. He wore a shabby brown coat and a tattered baseball cap, synthweave fibers dangling from the brim. Probably just some creep, not a corpo spy. Probably. She couldn’t be too certain, and definitely couldn’t be too careful. Whatever. She could see the building from here; her stop would be in just a few more seconds. Right on cue, the train started to slow. “This is Ironwood. Transfer to Blue and Red line trains at Ironwood. This is a Green line train to Water’s Edge.” By the time it had finished speaking, Eva had already stepped out onto the station platform and was making her way down the steps into the nighttime streets of New Brighton. She glanced behind her as she left the platform, looking for the shabby cap man. He wasn’t there. Good. She’d call herself paranoid, but in this line of work, it was really more “justified caution.” Eva slipped her in-ear into place and clicked it on. There was a brief delay as it connected to her phone, then a short two-tone beep as the circuit was established. She tapped through a series of menus as she walked, looking to the untrained eye like just another twenty-something engrossed in their phone and not paying attention to their surroundings. “Hey all,” she whispered. “How’s everyone doing this lovely night?” “Nervous. You’re two minutes late.” That was Charlie. Of course he’d gotten worried when she hadn’t checked in exactly on schedule. “Just havin’ some second dinner. Waitin’ to hear the good news.” “Matt, why are you even on this call? Go to bed.” “You’re not my mom,” he replied good-naturedly. “If you get to break into a gcorp, I at least get to listen in.” “He’s promised not to distract anyone,” Sidney said. “Hopefully he’s going to stay true to that promise, eh?” Matt’s reply was muffled by what sounded like a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

“Right. Anyway, Eva, where are you at?” She rounded a corner and glanced at the street sign. “Ironwood and Apex. ‘Bout three blocks away. You ready, Mr Nervous?” “Of course I’m ready,” Charlie snapped. “I’ve been ready since two - three minutes ago, when you were supposed to check in.” “Chill. The train was late. What do you want me to do about it? We’re still on schedule. I’ll be there in just a few minutes. No one’s around.” He backed down immediately. “Sorry. I just get a little... wound up about these missions. You know? Especially this one since, well...” “Yeah, I know. Sid’s only reminded me about twelve times today.” “Hey, it was ten times at max.” “Sure.” She grinned, then frowned as some movement registered in her peripheral vision. “Anyway, hush up a bit, okay? I want to case the joint. Plus... I think I might have a tail. Somehow. Don’t freak out; I’ve got this. But just letting you know.” “Eva, I’m freaking out.” “Stop that. Sid, make sure he stays calm, okay?” “Will do.” Silence fell on the voice chat as Eva approached her target. The towering skyscraper of white metal and glass still shone brightly, even at night. While the suits had gone home hours ago, there were still plenty of janitors, maintenance techs, and security guards in the building. Xera Corporation was too high-profile for their headquarters to ever be truly empty.

But that was okay. She had planned for that. Her mission tonight was simple, but deceptively so. She just had to get in, take a copy of one specific file, and get out. All without being spotted, if possible. She knew, through corporate leaks, that the file was regarding a top-secret project that was going to define the next decade of Xera’s business. She knew, through the same sources, who was in charge of the project: a certain Mr Thomas Baxley, VP of Biological Research for the company. Through an improperly-secured API on Xera’s website, she knew his office phone number as well. Unfortunately, that didn’t directly translate to an office location. Charlie could trace a call if she had a tap in the building’s phone system, but getting a tap in wouldn’t be easy. The executive suites were generally on the upper levels, but just walking around looking for his office didn’t sound like a great idea with the guards on patrol. She had a few options for how to get in and look around, but each had their own drawbacks.

Another flash of shabby brown coat behind her. Damn. Before she could even think about getting in, she had to deal with this tail. Eva pulled her mask up, though it would be of limited utility. Assuming this was ball-cap man, he had already seen her face. She had to deal with him quickly in order to stay on schedule. How should she deal with the tail?

- Directly. One shot and he’s no longer a problem.

- Try to capture and interrogate him. Who sent him? How did he know to follow her? She’d have to be very quick to keep to the schedule.

- Ditch him. A few alleys, a quick jaunt across the rooftops, and a change of clothes. Clean, and no one’s the wiser. How should she get into the building?

- The front door. A suit and a good bluff. Get the location and head on up.

- Around the back. Pretend to be maintenance staff and discreetly tap the phone network to get the location.

- Up the side. Climb to an unoccupied floor and cut through the glass. (Winners:

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Professional Nerd Blah 07-Jul-20 08:27 PM

Scene 1 “Gonna take a little detour,” she whispered into her mic. “I’ll hurry it up. Should still have plenty of time.” Charlie - she assumed it was Charlie, at least - whimpered at the risk to his precious schedule. Quiet chewing filtered through from Matt. He was being admirably restrained. One glance over her shoulder to confirm the tail’s position - he had disappeared, but there were only so many places he could be - and Eva ducked into an alley between two skyscrapers. As soon as she disappeared from view of the main street, she broke into a sprint and emerged onto a road running parallel to the one she had just left. She ran for another block before the skyscraper abruptly gave way to a shorter two-story brick building - one of the old historic sites that even powerful lobbying had only just managed to unseat. It wouldn’t be around much longer, based on the construction barricades, but it was still here tonight. Eva tapped the backs of her hands together and felt a slight vibration as the climbing gloves activated. They didn’t work too well on metal and glass, but for porous materials like brick or wood, the miniscule hooks and claws gave her an almost perfect grip. She grasped onto the side of the building and hauled herself up the two stories in seconds, pivoting onto the roof and tapping the gloves together again to deactivate them. Careful, careful... The roof was slanted and creaked softly underfoot. It had clearly been left to rot for some time. Luckily, nothing broke under her weight and Eva made it to the side overlooking Ironwood street without further issue. Her tail was still nowhere to be seen, but he definitely would have noticed her ducking into that alley. He’d have followed and would be heading to the other street now, trying to figure out where she had gone. No one ever looked up.

Eva quickly pulled off her hoodie and stuffed it into her bag, revealing the light-grey polo underneath with the Xera Corp logo on the chest. Her loose jeans also came off - though with a bit of a struggle on the roof - to reveal more professional-looking slacks underneath. A fake ID lanyard completed the ensemble and Eva was now, in all appearances, a Xera Corp network technician. There. A flash of shabby brown disappeared down the alleyway. Eva didn’t hesitate; she’d have only seconds. Gloves on, clamber down the side of the building, and dash across the road to hide in the shadows to the side of the Xera Corp building. She pulled the gloves off and stowed them too while searching the darkness across the road for any sign of the tail. Not for the first time, she wished she had some sort of ocular implant. Night vision, infrared, zoom, anything would do. Unfortunately, despite the ready availability of such implants and even the doctors to install them, Eva was deathly afraid of any sort of surgery on her eyes. She knew the procedures hardly ever went wrong, she knew how useful it would be to have enhanced vision, and she even had other implants that worked perfectly fine. Just... eyes and sharp objects did not belong together. Ugh. She shuddered despite herself. “Eva, you on target? We’re running behind.” “Yes, I know. I’m at the building. Give me just thirty seconds to confirm I lost my tail.” “Alright, okay.” He seemed to want to say more, but (wisely) held his tongue. After a half-minute with no sign of the shabby man, Eva decided to get on with it. Normally she’d stay put a while longer just to be safe, but there wasn’t time today. This job was ruled by a schedule, and everything had to be perfect. Okay, calm down. Just like you practiced. She adjusted the strap on her bag, stood up, and headed into the alley.

The building had multiple entrances besides the front door, but the one Eva was making for was unique in that it led into a loading dock rather than a public hallway, storage room, or staircase. And the thing about loading docks is that no one locks the door, Eva thought as she passed by a security camera, head turned away so it couldn’t see her face. Too easy. The door opened without issue. No alarms, no locks. The larger garage door was still closed, blocking the exterior cameras’ view. There were no cameras in the room. Cardboard boxes and wooden pallets lay strewn about the floor, lit only dimly by one set of emergency lights. Eva made straight for the set of double doors that would open into a hallway near the elevators. Amazingly, this was unlocked too. Someone’s gonna get fired when they check the recordings, Eva grinned. “Charlie, I’m in the loading dock. Give me a minute to get down to the telexchange and I’ll patch you in.” How should Eva reach the telexchange?

- Take the elevator. The lower floors are locked, but she can override it, probably.

- Take the stairs. The door will be locked, but she can override it, probably. ⤴️ - Actually, just take the elevator up. No need for the phones. [This will deviate from the plan and not provide as much information, but will be much faster.] (Winner:

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Professional Nerd Blah 11-Jul-20 05:49 PM

Scene 2 “Good, good,” Charlie replied, seeming distracted. “Ready when you are. Just... gotta...” he trailed off. Eva cracked the door open, looked both ways, and darted out into the hallway. No one was around. The lights were on power saving nighttime mode, leaving the normally bright white walls and floor a somber shade of grey. Mechanical noises clanked and spun within the building, its systems never at rest. She passed the elevator bank, jumping slightly as one of the cars suddenly started moving, but rationalized that it was probably just someone on another floor. Nothing to be worried about. Here we are. Let’s see how long my luck lasts. The stairway doors were imposingly solid, built to resist fires, gunshots, and sustained rioting. The lock was similarly tough, so it would be a lot easier if someone had just forgotten to close it properly earlier in the day. Damn. No such luck, unfortunately. The doors were actually locked and, from her practice on a similar set back at base, Eva knew the latch wouldn’t be loose enough for a simple shim to have any effect. She had two options, given that her fake ID card didn’t actually have any of the correct RFID codes to open the door the “right” way. Alright, no one’s here. Calm down. Just follow the plan. Eva dropped to one knee and slipped a length of relatively rigid wire out of her bag, quickly straightening it out and revealing the loop on the opposite end. She slid this under the door, struggling slightly to get it through the tiny fire-code compliant gap. Almost forty agonizing seconds passed as she carefully maneuvered the wire on the other side of the door, twisting and feeling for the handle. She felt a drop of sweat slide down her neck even through the building was perfectly climate-controlled. It always felt different in person than in a simulation.

Finally, she caught hold of the handle and tugged it down. The door clicked open and she tugged it towards her, picking up her bag and jamming the wire back into it as she quietly headed down the stairs. That took too long. Dammit, I needed to make up time, not lose more of it. Between the train, the tail, and this door, Eva was in danger of running behind schedule. Save for getting caught or killed, running out of time was the worst possible thing she could manage to do tonight - even worse than leaving empty-handed. She felt another bead of sweat on her forehead and anxiously wiped it away. Not helping. Don’t focus on that. Let’s go, come on. Two flights of stairs later and she emerged onto the S1 landing, where the telecommunications equipment was located. Even from here, she could hear the hum of dozens of powerful fans. Past the hallways and offices in the middle, where she was now, the entire floor was almost entirely one large datacenter. The doors would be locked and would have guarded handles not susceptible to her trick with the wire. She’d have to either get a real access card or spend several minutes picking the lock. She was proficient with lockpicks, but with such a high-security application, it wouldn’t be a quick open. Shit, she cursed, pressing herself against the wall. A uniformed security officer, carrying a flashlight in the darkened building, passed by the stairway door. The window allowed a line of light to peek into the room - Eva would have been plainly visible if she had been a single second slower. He’s not supposed to be here. Why is there a guard in the server room? Are they paranoid, or do they know something? “Eva, you in yet? I’m starting to get worried.” “Charlie, you’re always worried. Hold tight, I’m almost there. I can see the cables from here.” A lie, but hopefully a minor one.

How should she get into the telexchange?

- Approach the guard. Bluff; ask him to let her in. Maybe her card is broken and she left her keys in the room or something. Fast but risky.

- Sneak up on the guard and take him out. His ID will definitely have access to the datacenter. Fast but risky.

️ - Dodge the guard, pick the lock. Hopefully get it open before he patrols past again. Slow but more certain.

- Dodge the guard, look around the offices for either a spare access badge or an easily-intimidated employee who could be convinced to “donate” theirs. May or may not be faster; this is a wildcard. (Winner:

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Professional Nerd Blah 13-Jul-20 03:46 PM

Scene 3 Oh boy, here we go. Eva swallowed hard, took a deep breath, then opened the door and stepped audibly into the darkened hallway, only a dozen feet behind the guard. He immediately turned and Eva was discouraged as she saw him reaching for his gun. Not gonna be able to turn back now. Come on, give it a shot. She winced internally at the poor choice of words. “Ah, hello,” Eva said, trying to project an air of nervousness. It wasn’t hard. “I’m glad you’re here, actually. See, I think I left my keys in there-” she pointed to a heavy door down the hall that led into the telexchange. “- and my boss is gonna kill me if I don’t have ‘em tomorrow morning. You think I could maybe pop in for a second and grab ‘em?” The guard slowly withdrew his hand from his gun. She could see his brow furrowing as he considered her. “Right... and who did you say you worked for, again?” Eva slipped further down the hallway, passing the guard as he slowly followed. “Networking team. I’m one of the physical plant guys. See?” She pulled a few lengths of network cable out of her bag, presenting them to the nonplussed guard. Her voice was changing, growing more confident as she realized that one of them was going to have to take charge here and it definitely wasn’t going to be him. Acting all nervous and unsure wasn’t the way to go here. “You’d be doing me a big favor if you’d just let me in for a minute to find my keys.” The guard reached for his badge almost automatically, then pulled his hand back and narrowed his eyes. “Why don’t you use your own badge?” He nodded towards the fake ID hanging off her belt. “If you left ‘em in there, you can get ‘em out.” She was ready for this. “I would, but my card’s actually busted at the moment. Little accident earlier today with a UPS and some unshielded cables.” She chuckled self-consciously. “They said I could get a new one printed tomorrow, but until then I’ve just been mooching off my teammates.”

The guard stared at her, considering. Eva blandly smiled back at him, panicking internally. “Alright, but just a minute, okay? And no touching anything else, got it?” “Understood. And thank you so much.” “Yeah, yeah. Come on.” The guard tapped his badge on the door and shoved it open. “After you.” Eva hurried into the room, conscious of the presence at her back. The guard stood just inside the door, eyes trained carefully on her as she moved over to a desk and began pretending to hunt for her keys. They were, of course, in her pocket. Along with a very special spiked fiber-optic cable that was her actual goal. A rack of switches hummed on the opposite wall, the patch cables tantalizingly close. The datacenter itself was on the other side of yet another door, but even just compromising one of the switches would be plenty for tonight. She just had to get over there without the guard noticing... Eva finished looking through the first desk and moved on to the second. The guard shuffled and grunted. “Sorry, not here. Maybe...” she muttered, hopefully loud enough to be audible, as she turned slightly sideways and fished her keys out of her pocket, discreetly letting them drop into a drawer. No noises from the guard. Thank god. Now for the hard part. “Ah, found th- aah!” Eva pulled the keys out of the drawer, simultaneously turning towards the guard, holding them aloft, and shuffling her feet under the table to hook one of the legs. With a scream and a series of crashes, the desk shifted several inches and Eva and the chair both went tumbling across the floor. Coincidentally, Eva just so happened to land right next to the switch rack.

As the guard pushed himself off the wall and started forward, Eva grabbed out with her right hand, as if to try and pull herself to her feet. The spiked cable in her hand wrapped around one of the switch’s connections and dug deeply into the wire. Hopefully that’s a good enough connection. I’m definitely not going to be able to do much better. “Miss, are you okay? What happened there?” Eva grimaced and rubbed her hip where it had hit the floor. “Ow. Sorry, I guess I can be a little clumsy. But hey, at least I found them!” She held up the keyring for the guard as she carefully stood up and started moving the chair back into position. “Hope you’re a little more careful on the job. Don’t need anyone falling off a ladder or something.” “Oh, don’t worry. I’m really good at following safety guidelines. Just, uh, a little less good at picking something up from a desk drawer. I really don’t know how that happened...” she trailed off. “Anyway, thanks so much for your help! I can just take the elevator back out if you want to get back to patrolling.” The guard escorted her out of the room and back into the hallway, leading her towards the elevator bank. “Head on back up, now. Don’t let me catch you down here again, okay? You should know that technically no one’s supposed to be here after hours, even if you are an employee.” Charlie said something in her earpiece; Eva did her best to tune him out as she pressed the elevator button. “Yeah, sorry. One-time thing only. Won’t lose ‘em again!”

The elevator arrived with a ding and she stepped in, selecting the lobby as the guard looked on. As soon as the doors slid shut and the car started to trundle upwards, Eva collapsed to the floor and took several deep breaths, pressing her shaking fingers together. She had been doing these missions for months now, and even still, getting that close to a guard terrified her. He hadn’t been about to shoot her. He had hardly even suspected her. The situation had been entirely under control. And yet, here she was, kneeling on the floor of an elevator. Get it together. You’ve been in more danger before True, perhaps, but that didn’t help right now. “Eva, please answer me. You’re not dead, right?” “H-hey Charlie. I’m here.” Eva held the “door close” button as the elevator slowed to a stop. She didn’t want anyone in the lobby walking in on her. “Good news, I hope?” “Were you not listening to the last several sentences? Please try to pay more attention.” “Sorry, I was busy convincing a guard I work here. But do go on.” There was an awkward two-second pause. Eva imagined what expression Charlie was making right now. Probably not a happy one. “Right, well, yes. Good news. I just got the connection a minute ago and traced a call as soon as I could decipher the routing logic - they’re still using EloTek K250s in that rack.” He laughed. “K250s, Eva!” “I definitely know what that means. Please get on with it. I’m running behind, as you keep reminding me.” “Right. Anyway, Mr Baxley’s phone routes to office 8208B; that’s on the 82nd floor, I would have to assume.” “Sounds about right. On my way.” Eva thumbed the button and the elevator shot upwards. “Anything else I should know?” “Yes, actually. One little quirk about the K250 model is that it still uses a really old version of TLS to -” “Sorry, I meant is there anything relevant I should know?”

“This is relevant! Because it uses such an old version of TLS, I was able to decrypt the phone exchange’s master session key in just a few minutes. I’m everywhere, Eva. I can hear all.” She imagined him wiggling his fingers at the headset for emphasis. “And there’s some chatter over the guards’ radio band that suggests a spotter caught sight of, then lost, some suspicious-looking individual on Ironwood. They’re currently debating whether to keep looking, call off the alert, or check the cameras.” Eva swallowed hard. She knew leaving her tail to his own devices was going to come back to bite her. “I don’t suppose you can influence them at all?” “No can do, sorry. I’m in listen-only mode. The central router is not a K250 and will get very upset if I start injecting packets. I can keep you updated on what they’re doing, though. Best I can tell is that someone’s going to check the cameras. I hope you haven’t been recorded at all.” Eva glanced up at the elevator roof and the innocent little dome security camera gazing back down at her. “Oh no, not at all,” she squeaked as her throat constricted with anxiety.

What should Eva do? ⏩ - Head straight there. Room 8208B, get the file, get out. Quickly, before anyone can figure out what’s going on and stop her. Fast, but without much of a backup if things go south.

️ - Cover the camera, select a bunch more floors, and get off somewhere else. Sneak to the right floor. Slow, but hopefully it’ll keep the guards guessing for longer. If she encounters more guards, how should she handle them?

- Bluff past. Change her disguise in the elevator. Hopefully no one will connect her to the camera footage. [Suggest Eva’s new disguise in #story_discussion.]

- Directly. They won’t be ready for combat, at least not immediately. Anyone who gets in her way gets taken out.

- Stealthily. Distract, hide, and sneak past. She’s got a few gadgets that could help. (Winner:

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Professional Nerd Blah 16-Jul-20 08:23 PM

Scene 4 Within a few seconds, she had amended the current plan. Slower, yes, but safer. Even with the pressure of the clock pressing against her, it never paid to rush. This is gonna be down to the wire now, isn’t it. First things first, though. Eva covered the camera with some good old fashioned duct tape from her bag, then selected several more floors. Hopefully with so many places to search, they wouldn’t be able to tell where she had left the elevator. As long as there wasn’t a camera in the lobby of whatever floor she picked. Past that, her disguise wasn’t going to be much more help. She didn’t have any more changes of clothes - her bag only had so much space in it - but if she happened to find a janitor or guard outfit, she certainly wouldn’t turn it down. That would be hard to rely on without getting very lucky and probably stealing it from some actual Xera employee. And while she did have a few weapons with her tonight, actually incapacitating some random janitor just to steal their clothes seemed a little morally questionable. She was, after all, the good guy. At least in her opinion. She skipped the first few floors, though she did let the doors open so there wouldn’t be an obvious difference in timing on the floor she actually chose. The building was still dark and empty, though she had to guess not for much longer. Floor 79 was the one she ended up choosing. Eva stepped quietly out of the elevator into a large, open-plan, carpeted office space. Half-height walls allowed some minor divisions between desks and a wall of dark glass windows overlooked the city’s night skyline in the distance. The lights, presumably motion-activated, clicked on as she entered the room, making her jump. A moment later, however, she relaxed, rationalizing that there must not be anyone else here or they would have already been on. Gotta find a stairway, quick. “Charlie, how am I doing?” Eva asked as she quickly searched the area for any stairwell doors.

“Well, you’re running behind schedule, aren’t on the right floor, and have been identified by the building’s guard staff. So I wouldn’t say great, exactly.” “Identified? What do you mean by that? Also, hang on, how did you know what floor I’m on?” “Listening in, Eva. If they know, I know. And they definitely know. The elevator’s got a weight sensor, the lights indicate whether they’re on or not; it’s all connected. Plus, there’s a camera right over the elevator door. Real paranoid, these Xera guys.” “Charlie, I don’t think you’re taking this as seriously as you should be.” Eva finally located a stairwell and yanked the door open, taking the steps two at a time with adrenaline-infused speed. She was breathing heavily into the mic by the time she was near the top. “Can’t you do anything? At all? Also, what did you mean by ‘identified?’” “I told you, Eva, I’m in listen-only mode. I can’t do anything crazy with that router in the way. If you had gotten me plugged into it rather than just a switch, now that would be a different story. But alas, all I can do is listen. And I’m sure you’d rather me be able to listen than try to do something and get kicked out.” “Fine, fine. How long do I have? Also, answer my question, please.” “You have... twelve minutes and twenty... three seconds. As for ‘identified,’ I’m sure you can get the gist. You’d been pretty careful with the exterior cameras and the elevator camera doesn’t have a good enough image to get a good facial ID. However, that guard you were talking with wasn’t quite as dumb as you thought. He was wearing a body cam and got right up close when you were waiting for the elevator. They know who you are, Ms Evelyn ‘Eva’ Marais.” Eva stopped dead at the stairwell door, hand on the doorknob. “Goddammit,” she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. “I was hoping - you know, you had meant something like ‘my disguise is blown.’ Not... that.”

“Yeah, getting flagged for something like this isn’t going to be good for your image. Sid and Matt are already on their way to your place to get your stuff before CP gets there. This isn’t the first time this has happened; we’ve got procedures in place. As long as you get out of there, you’ll be fine. We’ll get you a new identity. How does being a Marielle sound? We can make you even more French!” “Charlie!” she whispered. “Right. By your somewhat off-putting breathing, I’m assuming you’re in the stairwell on floor 82?” “Yes.” He couldn’t resist any opportunity to make fun of her. She never could quite figure out Charlie - a nervous wreck before the mission, but as soon as he got into his groove, he acted like... well, this. “Okay... assuming you’re at the northern one, I’m not hearing anyone talking about this floor specifically. They know you went into the stairwell, but not anything past that. You’re gonna have company in there from floor 79 in a minute, though, so you should probably get moving. 8208B is... left, I think, then down that hallway. You’ll know when you hit the right door.” “No one on this floor yet? You’re sure?” “Of course I am! When have I ever been wrong?” "..."

A door crashed open three landings beneath her and someone shouted something. Eva shoved her way out of the stairwell and darted down the hallway to the left. The staircase was at the northwest corner of the building, so she was heading east along a wide, opulent hallway lined with richly decorated office doors. All the metal and glass of the lower floors was covered with a dark wooden facade, covering up the technological core with a layer of fake culture. You destroy the buildings that look like this down there, she thought, remembering the historic site she had perched on earlier this evening. And then you decorate your own skyscrapers to look like them. She wasn’t really sure where she was going with that train of thought, but it had felt profound when it had occurred to her. She hit the corner of the building and pivoted, running south along the east wall. Glass windows took up the entire outer wall of the building, floor to ceiling. The inner wall was more fake wooden paneling with only three doors down the entire length of the hallway. None of those doors were covered in fake wood; they were conspicuously out of place bare metal with hazard diamonds painted on. At a brief glance, she could only make out the fragment “MUT,” which usually indicated powerful mutagenic substances. Those must be labs. But where’s his office? “Charlie, all I see here are labs. Did I miss his office? None of these doors are labeled.” Eva nervously stood in the corner, glancing down both hallways for any guards. She was terribly exposed and had no immediate escape routes. “Did - are you blind? Does it not have his name on... wait, this is - that doesn’t matter! It’s in the northeast corner, door on the north wall. This picture is a little outdated. And probably a prank. You’d laugh if you had seen it, though.”

“Not in the mood, Charlie!” Eva glanced at the elevator banks to her left and was alarmed to see all six cars in use and going up. She grasped the handle to Baxley’s office and wiggled it, hoping against hope it would just be unlocked. No such luck. Of course not. She has less than a minute before she’s surrounded. What should Eva do?

- Use the shaped charges to blast open the door. Fast and effective, but destroys the door so she can’t use it against the guards.

- Try slipping the latch, or the wire trick again. There’s a bigger gap and it’s probably not shielded. Faster than picking, but not guaranteed to work.

️ - Pick the lock. Unless she’s very lucky, this won’t be fast, but it is almost certain to work given enough time. [Or suggest something else in #story_discussion!] (Winner:

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Professional Nerd Blah 18-Jul-20 11:43 AM

Scene 5 Focus. Don’t panic. The latch. This door wasn’t the original meant for this frame. Xera must have refurbished this place and replaced the original metal doors - like the ones on the labs - with these wooden ones. But the tricky thing about door replacement is that you have to make sure the new latch fits the old strike plate, or replace it. Eva pulled one of the last tricks out of her bag: a simple metal hook attached to a plain plastic handle. Low tech and dead-easy to use, but surprisingly effective. And just like that... A couple seconds spent sliding the hook into place and tugging the latch out of the way resulted in a gentle click as the door popped open. She slipped into the room and quickly shoved the door closed. Hopefully that would buy her some time to search the - “AAH!” Eva jumped back, crashing against the door, as she noticed she wasn’t alone in the office. The room was large and dark, with floor-to-ceiling windows on two walls and fake wooden paneling on the others. Cabinets and an L-shaped desk lined the left-hand wall, while a few freestanding tables and glass tanks dotted the floor nearer the windows. But she wasn’t interested in the decor; she was much more concerned about the strawberry-blond, young-looking man sitting at the desk and staring at her in shock over the monitors. After a moment to recover from the surprise, Eva darted around the desk and shoved him out of the chair, pinning him against the cabinet. Papers went flying. “You’re not Thomas Baxley,” she growled. “The hell are you doing here?” The man choked and she relaxed her grip slightly to allow him to speak. “I - I - special project. Mr Baxley wanted - hrk - reports.” He weakly gestured to the papers spilling across the floor. “What project? What reports?” In her ear, Charlie muttered “Ten minutes, Eva. Hurry up.” He couldn’t hear her unless she specifically keyed the mic.

“G-genetics, testing... special serums. If you’d - hrk - let go, I could explain.” Eva could feel her heart pounding. This was all wrong. The plan had gone so far off the rails she couldn’t even see the tracks from her derailed train. There wasn’t supposed to be anyone in this office. He’d be a witness. Could tell everyone what she had taken. It wouldn’t be safe to leave him here, and no one would miss a corpo employee. Her thoughts strayed to the gun tucked discreetly into her bag. The second-to-last trick she had in it. No, I can’t just kill an unarmed man. Corpo agent or not, he’s a person just like the rest of us. Fuck. Why am I even considering that? She released her grip and stepped back, right hand dipping into her bag and brushing against the gun’s cool steel. She wrapped her fingers around the grip, just in case. “You’d better start explaining.” The man rubbed his throat and coughed. “Th-thanks. What are you, some sort of plainclothes security guard?” Right. He doesn’t know who I am yet. This could be useful. Eva conspicuously activated her mic and spoke to Charlie. “Base, I found someone in Baxley’s office. Says he’s got permission to deliver reports from a ‘special project.’ You know anyone who’s allowed in here? Please advise.” She deactivated the mic and nodded at the man. “Sure. Internal audit, I guess. Can I see your company ID, please?” Her tone was gruff and fast, not giving the man time to calm down and work out the holes in Eva’s own cover story. “Sure, here you go.” He unclipped his badge and handed it to her as Charlie spoke in her ear. “What? You found someone in Baxley’s office? I’m not hearing any chatter about that, and there obviously won’t be anything public to confirm it. What’s he doing? Are you okay?”

The name on the ID was Landon Kozlov, and the listed job title was “Lab Technician I, Dept. of Biological Research.” Nothing else stood out to her in particular; Xera IDs didn’t have date of birth or any other personal information. She handed it back and spoke to Charlie again. “Name’s Landon Kozlov, lab tech in biological research. I’ve got the situation under control; what do you want me to do with him?” “Eva, you’re speaking really weirdly. Are you... oh! I get it.” She could imagine him grinning slyly. “It’s a cover thing. Gotcha. I can run a trace on him, see if I can get anything useful, but it’ll take a few minutes. You do not have time for this. Just make sure he can’t compromise the mission, get the files, and get out of there. The guards are on your floor now, but they don’t - scratch that, someone got the footage. They’re... preparing an assault on the office. I... abort, Eva. Get out. Now. That’s a suggestion, not an order.” I can still make this work. “What’s the time?” “The time? It’s a little past two thirt - wait. You have less than eight minutes. Don’t tell me-” “Thanks.” Eva turned down the volume on her in-ear to muffle Charlie’s inevitable shouting. To Landon, she said, “This project you’re working on. It wouldn’t happen to be codenamed ‘Apotheosis,’ would it?” He cocked his head. “No? I don’t think it has a codename, actually. Why?” “Have you seen any files with that codename in this office?” “...No? Why would you care?” A key scraped against the door’s lock and Eva leapt across the office to hold the handle shut. She looped her wire around the handle and a lamp bracket on the wall, creating a makeshift barricade. The door cracked slightly open, then stopped. Someone shouted something on the other side. A heavy impact shook the door, but the wire held.

Eva drew her gun. “If you open that door, you’re dead. Now, look for anything with ‘Apotheosis’ in the title. If you find something, you might get to live through the night.” She was bluffing, of course. Landon was no threat to her; she wouldn’t be able to bring herself to shoot him. But he didn’t need to know that. “You... you’re not a guard.” Landon felt around for a drawer handle as Eva looped back around the desk to ransack the cabinets. “Nope,” she agreed. “Now hurry it up before the real guards get in here.” A minute passed, then two. Eva turned up the volume on her in-ear again. “Charlie, what’s going on out there?” “Oh, now you want my opinion, but not when I’m trying to save your life?” “Cut the crap, Charlie. I need your help, right now.” “Fine, fine. You have about five and a half minutes. The guards are bringing up a battering ram and CP’s not far behind. Can whatever you blocked the door with hold up to that?” Eva glanced at the thin loop of stiff wire. “Probably not.” “Then you’ve got thirty seconds, maybe. They’re already in the elevator and going up. If you don’t have anything by now, you’re not going to get anything. GET OUT!” What should Eva do?

- Abort. Get out, right now.

- Keep looking. There’s got to be something here. Thirty seconds is enough time. What’s the last trick in her bag that can get her out of this jam?

️ - A one-use shield medallion. Expensive, rare, and unstable, but it’ll block bullets and batons alike for as long as the battery lasts. Break through the guards and get out.

- Flightfoam and concussion pads. The combination is rated to make any fall survivable, though it won’t be comfortable. Jump out the window and run.

- Electroactive bonding gel. An enhancement for the climbing gloves, it allows them to work just as well on metal and glass as wood and stone. Climb down the skyscraper. (Winners:

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Professional Nerd Blah 19-Jul-20 03:45 PM

Scene 6 “Talk to you in thirty seconds,” Eva said, then muted the in-ear. Charlie would be furious. Good thing she couldn’t hear him. Come on, come on. There can only be so many files in this goddamn office. He’s gotta have something, right? Maybe it’s all digital. Maybe there aren’t any paper files at all and I’ve wasted all this time for nothing. Dammit dammit dammi- Landon nervously held up a plain brown folder. Eva snatched it and read the first few sentences on the first few pages. “Project Apotheosis.” “Initial sequencing report.” “Output: raw, normalized, hyper-normalized.” Graphs of all sorts and hardly any intelligible words. Close enough; it would have to do. A thunderous impact shook the door and one of the loops of wire snapped. Eva took that as her cue to leave. “Thanks,” she said to Landon. “Get back.” The glass was reinforced, but it definitely wasn’t bulletproof. Four shots - deafeningly loud in this enclosed space even with her in-ear dampening the sound - were more than enough to shatter an entire pane. Shards plummeted towards the street, twinkling in the moonlight. She stepped towards the opening and opened her bag as wind rushed into the office, tousling her hair and whipping at her clothes. Landon stood up and half-stepped towards her as she extracted a loop of dull grey pads and a small tub of translucent blue gel. “Wait, you can’t just - what are you - don’t leave me with them!” “Only got room for one. You said you’re allowed to be in here. You’ll be fine.” Eva tightened the concussion pads around her chest and midsection, panic and the time limit making the connections not quite as secure as she’d have liked. “Probably not gonna want to be right in front of that door, though.”

She unscrewed the lid of the flightfoam tub, but had only just dipped a finger in before a second impact on the door slammed it open, snapping the wire and allowing a heavily-armored Civil Protection officer with a ram to step into the room, immediately kneeling to allow the two officers behind him to sweep the office with their SMGs. Time almost seemed to slow for a brief moment. Eva launched herself out the window, watching wide-eyed as the two CP officers sprayed the room with bullets at mid-chest height. They’re shooting to kill, she realized. Landon, cowering under the desk, was well below the path of the bullets. Eva, however, had jumped up and out of the window. Even as she fell, bullets tore the air around her. Most missed, but two did not. There was a stabbing pain as burning lead tore a hole through her left side, then another as a bullet jammed its way into one of the concussion pads lining her torso. It passed through, lodging somewhere in her abdomen, but the bigger problem was the pad itself. With a bang almost on the same level as the gunshots themselves, the pad detonated and shoved Eva backwards through the air. The tub of flightfoam slipped from her fingers as she fell, the rushing air tearing it away. As she plummeted, concussion pads damaged and flightfoam missing, no thoughts could penetrate the continuous mental screaming besides the word no, over and over again. SLAM ... Eva groaned in pain as the concussion pads deflated. She was alive, but only barely. Her head spun, her chest felt like it had been hit by a truck, and she could see a distressing amount of red liquid staining her Xera Corp polo. As if to add insult to injury, the tub of flightfoam slammed into the ground only a dozen feet away as she was desperately trying to untangle herself from the spent pads.

The entire Xera skyscraper was lit up like a Christmas tree. Even from here, she could see the distant forms of the CP officers on the 82nd floor, visible in the office lights they had turned on. Something cracked and sparked off the pavement nearby. Were they still shooting at her? Eva shakily unmuted her in-ear and wrestled her way out of the concussion pads, coughing against the pressure and pain in her chest. Two CP patrol cars were parked at the base of the building, but more were no doubt on their way. Thankfully, they hadn’t thought to leave any officers on the street, at least to start with. “Charlie, I’m on the ground,” she gasped, stumbling to her feet and limping towards the skyscraper next door just to have some cover from the bullets raining down from above. “CP shot my concussion pad; I’m hurt, bad. What’s the time?” She could imagine him shaking his head, eyes flicking between five different screens. “Two minutes. You’re not going to make it. We’re going to have to improvise.” Reluctantly, she had to agree with him. Even if she could make it to a station - unlikely, given her current state - she had been way too loud. CP would be swarming in just a few minutes; the trains wouldn’t be safe. Charlie’s careful interference with the NBTA’s systems - planned and executed over months - wouldn’t be able to stop them from just searching all the cars. They certainly had enough cops to do so. Slipping away like a ghost was not an option anymore. “What are my options?” “Matt and Sid are about... seven minutes out, and they’ve got a car. They could pick you up if you can lose CP. Aside from that... it’s bad, Eva. They’re calling in a level four alert. As soon as they figured out whose office you were in, the whole system lit up. More CP is crawling out of the woodwork than I’ve ever seen before. I... I don’t know. Can you run? Is anyone on the ground yet?”

Eva slipped around the side of the building and jogged down the alleyway. It felt like knives were stabbing into her lungs and she had to stop and cough up a glob of blood mixed with spit by the end of it. “Not well. I’m not seeing anyone yet. What about... what about the river?” “What about the river?” “The tunnels under the Anderson bridge. Invisible from above, only accessible from the water. They won’t be expecting to have to take boats out to look for me.” She started hobbling northward before Charlie even replied, moving across the empty street as fast as she could manage. “Two problems. First, can you get in and out of the river? I don’t know how badly you’re hurt, but I’d rather you didn’t drown. Second, how long are you planning to stay there? Till the morning? Longer? The other thing I’d like to avoid is you dying under the bridge because you didn’t get medical attention soon enough. Sid’s never going to agree to this.” “Well I don’t know, Charlie,” she gasped. “I’d rather avoid getting killed or caught by CP. So give me another option. Please.” What should Eva do?

- Hide under the Anderson bridge. It’s less than a quarter mile away and will probably be safe as long as she’s not seen. The problems of swimming and medical attention can be dealt with.

- Head to a station nearby and get on a train away from here. Change a few times; just be unpredictable. The hack has made it so no camera or automated system can find her, and CP won’t be able to spread out and search stations away from the Xera building that quickly.

- Just stay out of the way for long enough for Matt and Sid to pick her up. It might put them in danger, but at least they’ll be available to help her. (Winner:

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Professional Nerd Blah 21-Jul-20 07:35 PM

Scene 7 “Dammit, dammit, dammit, alright.” Charlie was typing so furiously at this point she could actually hear the keys through his mic. “It’s not worth saving this access if it gets you killed. Go north, find somewhere to hide - not in the river - and stay put. Let me know where you are once you’ve found a spot; I’ll get Matt and Sid to pick you up.” Eva hesitated only a second before hobbling down the next northbound alley. She was starting to get light headed and, for how difficult Charlie could be to get along with sometimes, he was very good at supporting her in the field. Most of the time he phrased his intel as suggestions, but here he had spoken very firmly. He had a plan. “What’re... you doing?” “You wouldn’t approve of it, so just don’t ask. I can tell you when you make it back safely. It’ll be about... forty five seconds. Please don’t get caught by CP before then.” “Oh you know me... Charl. Ee.” She was getting dizzy. A siren sounded in the distance, but she couldn’t tell where it was. “Like a ghost.” An all-too-fragile ghost possessing a faltering body. There was the next street. Left, right, clear. On the move. Where was CP? “Eva, where are you?” She squinted at the nearest street sign, but it was too dark and too far away. “Dunno. One... two?... three? Three blocks north of Xera, I think. One... east?”

“Can you tell me what you’re doing right now?” “Ru-runnin - walk...ing.” She couldn’t seem to get enough air. Without really feeling anything besides a jolt and a steadily rising sensation of dizziness, she collapsed to the ground and knocked her head into the rough concrete. “Humm urrmrr,” she murmured to Charlie. “Are you okay? What’s goin-” Charlie was interrupted by a distant, muffled explosion. The sound continued for several seconds without dying away and almost seemed to be increasing in volume and ferocity before finally fading after nearly ten seconds. A helicopter chopped past, heading northwards, then abruptly changing direction and returning to the south. “What was that?” Eva definitely did not manage to say. It came out more like “Whrm muhmm.” She closed her eyes. Everything was so dark anyway. “Eva, hey. Stay with me. Say something, please.” “...” “Eva!” “...” She slipped away. [Scene 7 has no choices. We will learn what happened to Eva later.]

Scene 8 Landon looked up again. The armored CP officer hadn’t moved once in the fifteen minutes he had been sitting here. The man - he assumed there must be a man under the glossy visor and layers of armor plating - had said one word in a toneless robotic voice - “STAY” - and then stood perfectly motionless in front of the door for a quarter of an hour. Just waiting and watching. “H-hey,” he squeaked. The officer didn’t move at all. “How lo - how long am I going to be in here?” There was no response. Landon hadn’t expected one, really, but it was still disappointing. He couldn’t even call for Mr Baxley or a lawyer or anything because the cop had taken his phone. He wasn’t entirely sure if this whole arrangement was legal, but in New Brighton, the Office of Civil Protection (and thus by extension the CP officer standing in front of him) was the law. ... Landon looked away from the cop. He wasn’t entirely one hundred percent sure that there definitely was a human in there, and staring longer wasn’t going to help. He had to think about what he was going to say, get his story straight. He was definitely going to be interrogated; there wasn’t much doubt about that. But his well being after the interrogation depended almost entirely on if he could convince CP that he wasn’t associated with that girl at all.

Thinking of her, why was she here? She had been disguised as a Xera employee and broke into Mr Baxley’s office looking for information on a “Project Apotheosis.” Landon had never heard of that project, but from what little he had seen in the file before he had given it to her, it involved a lot of very high-level gene manipulation. Genetics was his field - to some degree - but he had hardly recognized any of the terms in the report. Traitorously, he almost wondered if Mr Baxley would have been able to read it either, but he shook that thought out of his head. Anyway, what would she have wanted with presumably top secret gene-editing data? Who was she working for? A rival corporation, perhaps? He had heard that Korman had been making some moves towards Xera in the biology field, but he had always dismissed those as overblown. Korman made engines, mechanical parts, and cybernetics. They didn’t dabble much with biology and genetics beyond what was needed to help cyber- and bio-implants bond with the body properly. But if they had decided to broaden their scope... What if she wasn’t with another corporation? Direct infiltrations were very rare - typically digital espionage or defectors were the preferred methods. Not nearly as messy. But if not a corp, then who? The government seemed unlikely, as CP was clearly not allied with her. Landon shuddered, replaying that half-second yet again. The deafeningly loud cacophony of dozens of gunshots behind him, the girl’s expression as she fell, the spray of blood as bullets tore through her body, the explosion kicking her away...

He shook his head, trying to dispel the image. Had she survived? He hadn’t been able to see; CP had dragged him away within a minute. They had been shooting at something on the ground, though. Treacherously, he hoped she had lived. He didn’t know why, really. She hadn’t exactly been polite to him, and she had stolen potentially valuable data from his employer. But there was something about her. She had just seemed so... lively? That wasn’t exactly the right word, but he was on the right track. Even in such a dangerous situation, she had been so purposeful, energetic, and capable. Like she had a spark of life that everyone else in this building lacked. You’re being stupid, Landon, he admonished himself. You don’t know her. You’ve seen her for less than three minutes. Start thinking with your brain rather than, well. You’re probably never going to see her again, and that’s going to be a good thing. Now, focus on what you’re going to tell CP to save your own life. The officer at the door very suddenly stepped aside and pulled it open. To Landon, he - it? - said “FOLLOW.” What should Landon tell CP? Each piece of information has the option to be truthful or attempt to lie. If you wish to lie about any particular thing, mention what sort of lie you’d like to tell in #story_discussion. What were you doing in the room?

️ - Truth.

- Lie. What was the intruder’s motivation?

- Truth.

- Lie. Did the intruder take anything?

- Truth.

- Lie. Was the intruder violent towards you?

- Truth.

- Lie. Landon’s responses to any further questions will be based on his attitude towards Eva and CP, which will be determined by his responses to the above questions. (Winners:

️ ,

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Professional Nerd Blah 23-Jul-20 09:09 PM

Scene 9 “Okay,” he squeaked, jumping to his feet and hurrying after the officer. Two others fell into line behind him, both wearing faceless masks and carrying SMGs. CP was nothing if not frighteningly homogenous. He wasn’t handcuffed, but the officers were probably correct in assuming that he wouldn’t be able to get away or harm them. They didn’t go far, just leading him to the elevator and down a few floors to a commandeered conference room on the 79th floor. Several additional CP employees - thankfully not full officers - held visualizers and scanned the area from one of the other elevators to the stairway. He could see faint holographic outlines of footprints appearing in the carpet; presumably she had come this way. He briefly wondered what they were looking for, but figured any information they could get could be useful to the bureaucratic behemoth. The two officers behind him stood outside the glass-walled conference room, while the one in front of him took up a post just inside the door, returning to perfect stillness. There was only one other person in the room: a thin, drooping man probably in his mid-fifties and wearing a dark suit with a Civil Protection badge pinned neatly on the lapel. “Sit, would you?” he commanded. The man’s voice was quiet, but deliberate. Forceful. Dangerous. Landon sat. “Good day, Mr Kozlov. I am Special Agent Kremel with the Office of Civil Protection. I will be handling this investigation and you will be providing all the information you have on the intruder. Understood?” Landon nodded quietly. The man’s accent was hard to place; he clearly wasn’t from around here. He preferred to focus on that rather than the thinly veiled malice hiding in the intonation of the words.

“Mr Kozlov, look at me.” Landon did. The agent’s irises were a deep shade of purple, and the sclerae were such a dark grey as to almost be black. A spark of blue light flared in the depths and he could feel his heart rate rise almost instantly. This was not a man to hide things from. “Mr Kozlov, before we begin, let me make just one thing clear. It would be incredibly unfortunate if the intruder had thrown you out the window in the confusion. Yes? If you seem to be less than forthcoming with useful information, it might very well be discovered that this terribly unfortunate event had in fact come to pass. Understood?” He swallowed and nodded. Couldn’t have been more clear with a gun pressed against his head. “Excellent. Now, start from the beginning. Why were you in Thomas Baxley’s office?” Thankfully, Landon was ready for this one. His voice was quiet and shaky, but at least not trembling. “Mr Baxley had assigned me to work on a series of tests after regular hours, then deliver the reports directly to his office once I was done. I had just finished up the tests and was in his office to deliver the reports. Then...” He trailed off, unsure if he was supposed to go further. “Continue,” the agent said. “I will stop you if needed.” “Okay... I started hearing someone running down the hallway and didn’t want to go out until whoever it was left. But after a minute, she just sort of opened the door. It was locked, I’m sure of it.” “Continue. What did the intruder do once they entered the room?” “Well, she, uh, shoved me against a wall and started choking me, asking me what I was doing in the office. When I explained, she let me go and said she was a security guard. She was wearing a Xera shirt, so it was pretty convincing.” The agent nodded. His eyes glimmered with blue light.

“Then she started talking into her earpiece, pretending like she was asking her boss what to do with me. After that, the building guards showed up and she blocked the door, then started looking through all the drawers and cabinets for something. She couldn’t find it and got really mad, then shot out the window and, well, your officers know the story from there.” The agent quietly stood up and clasped his hands. A chill of fear ran down Landon’s neck. “Interesting. The intruder did not take anything from the room?” “...N-no, I don’t think so. It was all so fast...” His heart pounded at his audacity. Why was he lying to this man? Was he insane? “No...? Did the intruder indicate at all what they were searching for? Think carefully. This is important.” Another flash of blue in the eyes. “I...” Whatever augmentations the agent had in his eyes must be messing with him. It was hard to think. “I - no, I don’t think so. I didn’t see what she was looking for.” “Hmmm. Most disappointing.” No flash of blue this time. “You are not being particularly... helpful, Mr Kozlov. Do remember how disappointing it would be to find you splattered across the pavement.” The agent let that threat hang for several seconds as Landon sweated and squirmed in his chair. “I -” Kremel cut him off. “Now, I will ask this once more. Mr Kozlov, what was the intruder searching for? What did the intruder take? To whom was the intruder speaking? Come, you must remember something.” A wide grin. He couldn’t go back on his lies; the agent would kill him. But the agent would kill him anyway if he didn’t have anything useful. Maybe... “Uh, um...” Need to say something - anything! “She was... a name! When she was pretending to talk to her boss, she called him Charlie.”

The agent leaned down and stared at Landon. “‘Charlie’...? Out of all the possible memories to resurface, you chose this one? Very disappointing. I can see you won’t be of any assistance to our investigations. 04, please escort Mr Kozlov to the sidewalk. The quick way down.” The CP officer behind him stepped forward. Landon stood, knocking over the chair and backing away to the side of the table as the armored brute ambled towards him. “Wait! You can’t do this! I haven’t done anything wrong!” “I’m afraid right and wrong don’t enter into the equation, Mr Kozlov. The only winning move in this little game is to be useful. And you, very unfortunately, are not. Unless you have anything at all you’d like to share with us? What the intruder was searching for? What the intruder took? Anything of use would be appreciated.” The CP officer placed a heavy armored hand on his shoulder and he almost buckled from the weight. He was breathing far too quickly. Have to get out have to run away have to - have to - “P-project Apotheosis!” he blurted out. The agent raised an eyebrow and gestured minutely at the officer. “Yes?” “She was... that’s what... a folder. Full of results from whatever that project is. I don’t know what it is or anything about it, but that’s what she took.” Agent Kremel grinned broadly, but without a hint of warmth. “You see, that wasn’t too hard, now was it? Confirming this has been very useful. Oh yes, very useful indeed.” Landon tried to slow his breathing down, with limited success. The cop’s grip on his shoulder hadn’t lessened. “Does that mean... I can go?”

“Hm? Oh, yes. Of course. 04, please escort Mr Kozlov to the sidewalk. The-” Agent Kremel glanced out the glass windows of the conference room and the corners of his mouth curled down in distaste. “Safely.” The cop immediately started moving, shoving its hands into Landon’s back and sending him stumbling towards the door. The other two officers outside the door stepped aside, leaving the exit clear. Landon could hardly believe they were just letting him go after all that. The agent had clearly known he was lying. Why was he letting him go? Was it just because he had been useful, or- “Landon! My boy!” Landon looked up, shocked, as Thomas Baxley shouted his name across the office. The vice president was large - tall and broad, but not fat - and had a grizzled brown beard. Even at this time of night, he wore an impeccable tan suit. He brushed past the CP staff still combing the area and shooed away an officer that approached him. As a high-level executive of Xera Corp, he wasn’t quite immune to the law, but he was certainly resistant. The grimace on the special agent’s face now made more sense. “Mr Baxley!” he exclaimed, grateful and bewildered that his boss seemed to be pleased to see him. “I was just, uh, finishing up telling the agent here what happened.” Baxley peered over Landon’s shoulder into the dimly lit conference room, his expression changing quickly. “Damn vampires,” he muttered. “Good thing I got here when I did; you’da been nothing more than a red smear on the pavement outside.” In a normal voice, he shooed away the CP officer who had been guiding Landon. “Off you go. I can escort him from here.” The cop hesitated a moment, then silently backed away and returned to the conference room. “Sir, I - thank you. I nev-” “Shh. Not here, not now. Come on.”

Baxley silently led the way to one of the elevators that wasn’t currently occupied by CP staff with their visualizers - presumably that had been the one she had taken. The two of them stepped in, unmolested by the officers standing quietly nearby, guns still at the ready. Baxley did not, however, press the button for the lobby as Landon had expected. Instead, he chose the restricted floor 94, tapping his card on the reader before the elevator would move. “Sir, where are-” “Shh. Soon.” “...” Before long, the elevator opened into a harshly lit white-tiled hallway. Baxley - still silently - led Landon down the corridor and past several white-metal doors. A handful had plexiglass windows, but they were invariably too scratched up or frosted over to see what was on the other side. Landon held his tongue, sure he would find out what was going on soon enough. Still, some part of him wondered if no one would see him again. Agent Kremel would approve of that, no doubt. Finally, Baxley tapped his badge on a door without a window. It opened into a small, well-lit room lined with lockers. Another solid white door led deeper into the building. No one was around, but then again it was almost three in the morning. Baxley sat down on one of the benches in the middle of the room. “Okay, now we can talk. I heard some of what happened from Civil Protection, but...” He rolled his eyes. “You know CP. I need you to tell me what happened in as much detail as you have. Once I know what’s going on, you can ask some of the questions I know you’ve got. Okay?”

- Okay. Tell the truth, as best he can remember.

- Try to keep some things hidden. [Suggest what to lie about in #story_discussion.] Separately, what should Landon ask? [Questions will be picked in roughly the order of votes until I’ve had enough questions. Feel free to vote for multiple or explain why Landon shouldn’t ask something in #story_discussion.]

- What’s Project Apotheosis?

- Do you know who the intruder was? Who she works for? Did she survive?

- Am I going to be safe from CP? ❔ - Where are we now? [Suggest additional questions in #story_discussion.] (Winner:

. Topics: ❔ >

>

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 25-Jul-20 01:43 PM

Scene 10 Landon nodded nervously. “Okay. Sorry; I’m still a little... shaken up.” “I understand. Take your time. I’m also going to request that you take tomorrow off - today, I suppose. Both so you can calm down a little, and so CP can finish up here without getting any itches to introduce you to the pavement.” “Thank you, sir. That’s very kind of you.” Baxley waved a hand. “It shouldn’t be considered kind; it should be considered normal. Bah. Either way, what happened to you tonight?” Landon told the story as best he could remember, not embellishing or leaving anything out. Mr Baxley had been consistently kind to him and seemed to have his best interests at heart, so lying to him seemed even more out of the question than lying to the dangerously quiet Agent Kremel. Once he had finished, ending his story just after Baxley had shouted his name across the room, the vice president sat quietly for a few moments. “Hmmm. Landon, this isn’t good at all. Some unknown infiltrator breaking in would have been bad enough, but it sounded like she had planned for this and knew exactly what she was looking for. I don’t think any of the reports in that office were too compromising, but anything on Apotheosis leaking would be devastating. Plus, now CP’s all riled up, and that’s never good for anyone.” He muttered quietly to himself for several seconds before closing his eyes briefly and looking up at Landon, who had been pacing nervously and had not sat down. “Well, I certainly have some work to do this morning to clean up this mess. Now, Landon-” “I’m sorry, sir. I should have-” “No, you shouldn’t have. You were in a dangerous situation and you came out unharmed. That’s good enough. None of this was your fault, understand?” “... Yes, sir.”

“Good. Now, what do you want to know? I’m afraid you’re now a little special, marked in the eyes of the company and CP alike. You can’t get away with just returning to normal work, so I’d rather you be informed. Ask away. I’ll tell you what I can.” “N-normal work? Am I being... reassigned?” He didn’t dare even mouth the alternative - “fired.” “Well, sort of. That’s one of the things I’ll have to work on this morning. Some of the other directors might want a say in things, but I’ll do my best to keep you on my team. Just perhaps in a different role than you’re used to. Can’t say much more than that at the moment, but I’m sure you’ll be satisfied with the outcome.” An uncomfortable pause, then Landon nodded. “Okay. I, then, where are we? Why did you take us here?” Baxley lifted himself off the bench. “Floor 94, my boy, is one of the four entire levels of this building dedicated to the Apotheosis Project. I brought you here, to this particular room, because it’s so secret and so off-limits that it doesn’t even have cameras. Can’t risk anything through that door there getting out to the public, or worse, competitors.” “Ah. Then, if it’s so secret, I guess I shouldn’t know what the project is?” “Well...” Baxley stepped over to the door and held his badge up, considering it and the card reader. “I’m not sure. That’s one of the possibilities for your reassignment. Apotheosis is so top-secret that anyone who knows about it has to be either on the project team or very high up in senior management. You, my boy, are currently neither, and that is very dangerous for you. I have a strong feeling that both CP and some rather... unsavory Xera executives are going to want you to quietly disappear.” He returned his badge to its place without tapping it on the reader and turned to face Landon. “I don’t want to add fuel to that particular fire, so no. You shouldn’t know what the project entails. Not yet, at least.” “Not... yet?”

“Not yet. I think I’ve made up my mind in just the last few minutes; I’m going to assign you to Project Apotheosis. That post will stop Xera execs from wanting you dead, at least. CP... they wouldn’t try anything so brazen. But I will warn you that adding members to this project isn’t a unilateral decision. I won’t be able to certify you’ll be safe until the other directors have weighed in. If they reject the reassignment... I’m not sure. I’ll figure something out.” Baxley sighed. “The agent, Kremel. Is he going to be... coming after me? I think he was about to order me killed before you showed up.” “Well, that’s a tricky subject. Civil Protection is a by-the-book agency, which would normally mean you’d be safe since you haven’t been charged with anything. Special agents, however, somewhat buck that trend. If you study the agency’s bylaws - not something I’d recommend, by the way - you’ll find out that special agents are essentially immune to the law entirely, whether on the job or not. There are only a handful of them in the whole agency and they’re only assigned to the most urgent and dangerous of cases. There are rules for which cases a special agent can get, and the one I believe was triggered here is ‘affects urgent matters of national security.’ There’s technically nothing in the law that would stop a special agent from shooting you dead in broad daylight and just walking away. But it’s only rarely that they’ll be that brazen; CP tries to keep its reputation just a little higher than that. I probably wouldn’t worry too much, especially if you’re on the project team. No, what you should worry about is whoever was helping that girl get her information.” “‘Charlie?’”

“Well, yes, but whatever that group is, as a whole. Given my brief chats with Civil Protection, they’ve already identified her, and she’s not associated with any corporations or known groups of interest. This is something new, and whoever they are, they know about Apotheosis. They knew about Apotheosis, even before breaking in here. That was their target going in. This is very dangerous for Xera and for, well, the nation. That’s why CP is so riled up, and why a special agent was assigned. I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of her.” “Haven’t seen the last of her? Does that mean she got away? I thought CP would have...” He trailed off, unsure how to finish his sentence. “Yeah, she got away. Left a lot of blood on the ground, but when officers finally managed to get the disaster at Ironwood under control and chase after her, they didn’t find anything at the end of the trail. Seems like her friends picked her up, or she just suddenly and miraculously stopped bleeding.” Landon wasn’t pleased with how relieved he was at that news. “Wait, the ‘disaster at Ironwood?’ What happened?” “Oh, right. You’ve been in here this whole time. There was a crash at Ironwood station. Two trains heading opposite directions were shunted onto the wrong track somehow, weren’t able to stop in time, and collided head on. CP is still investigating, but if you ask me, it was caused by this new group as a distraction. The timing is too tight and the mechanism is too improbable for it to be an accident. I don’t know how many people died in that crash, but I hope whoever pulled the trigger takes a good, hard look at themself in the mirror and asks if whatever they’re doing is worth it.” Landon felt sick but didn’t respond. What was he supposed to say to that?

“Chin up, my boy. It’s a tragedy, for sure, but we can’t dwell on it. Too much to do, too much danger to fight off. If you don’t have anything else to ask, I’m sure you’d appreciate going to bed.” He just nodded, unsure how else to respond. He didn’t feel remotely tired. Not after everything that had just happened. “Let me get you back down to the street, then. Don’t want the CPs getting any funny ideas, eh? And, if you normally take the train home, you may want to consider a taxi.” Which character shall the next few scenes focus on?

- Landon. [Twenty nine hours later...]

- Matt. [Several days later...]

- Eva. [Almost a week later...] (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 26-Jul-20 09:18 PM

Scene 11 Twenty-nine hours later... Landon stood in the lobby of the Xera Corp building, anxiously waiting for his elevator. He kept replaying the message that Mr Baxley had left for him at around 3 PM yesterday, when he had finally fallen asleep from exhaustion. “Congratulations, Landon, you’ve been approved for immediate transfer to the project. Tomorrow, report to room 9401 instead of your normal station at 8 AM sharp. Your card should have the correct access to get the elevator up there; just make sure no one unauthorized tags along with you. You’ll get a briefing from your subteam director; I personally am tied up for the next few days with the clean up from yesterday. Good luck!” And now here he was, standing in the midst of the crowded lobby at 7:58 in the morning, about to be late for his first day on the new top secret project. With Ironwood station still closed, the train commuters for Xera and the surrounding corporations were forced onto rail-replacement buses, and the capacity just wasn’t as high. The bus stops had been packed and the buses themselves crammed tight. He had climbed onto a nearly-full bus and rode the entire way with someone else’s elbow digging uncomfortably into his side in the hopes he might make it on time, but apparently that hadn’t been enough. Finally, an elevator arrived and Landon was swept into it in the tidal wave of workers. He tried to grab at the panel as he was shoved into the car, but couldn’t reach it and didn’t really have enough room to get his card out anyway. I’ll just wait until a few of these people have left, he thought. Probably less conspicuous to do that anyway. He had never actually seen anyone tapping into locked floors in the morning rush, so he felt somewhat conspicuous doing so. “Going up.”

The elevator slowly emptied of people over the next minute or two, vomiting office workers onto the lower block of floors. No one else got on, thankfully, and by floor 52, there were only four people left in the car. He pulled out his ID, preparing to tap it on the reader, but one of the other passengers beat him to it. A darker-skinned girl with long black hair tapped her ID and selected, of all places, floor 94. Landon nonchalantly put his card away and leaned back against the wall, curious. Mr Baxley had said the entire floor was dedicated to the project, so she must be involved somehow. Maybe he could ask once the other two passengers left. The remaining people left on floor 76 and it was only Landon and the other girl now. He glanced at her, trying to figure out how to word his question, but she caught him looking and spoke first. “You should choose your floor. You aren’t allowed on the 94th.” “Well, actually, I am. I’m a new transfer to Project-” he cut himself off, just in case he wasn’t supposed to be talking about it. “Uh, just ‘the project.’” “Really? You want to prove it or...?” Landon tapped his badge on the reader and selected the 94th floor. The icon flashed green again as the elevator continued upwards. He looked at her and shrugged. “Good enough?” “Huh. That’s quite a coincidence; I’m also a new transfer. I didn’t know they did more than one at a time.” “I didn’t know they did any at all. I guess there’s a lot we don’t know.” “Yeah.” “Uh, anyway, I’m Landon. Nice to meet you...?” She blinked and automatically returned his handshake. “Maya. Do you have any idea what we’re actually going to be doing?” “Not a clue.” “That’s a relief.” With a quiet ding, the elevator stopped and allowed Landon and Maya to exit onto the 94th floor. Paying slightly more attention than he had the last time he was here, he now noticed the room numbers. “Looks like we go... that way?”

Maya nodded and the two of them set off to the left. Landon looked around the hallway as they walked. “This whole building is all white and modern, but this floor in particular just seems kind of... oppressive. I wonder why?” “No windows. They turned the lights all the way up to compensate. I guess this project is too secret for anyone to even see the hallway.” She was correct. Unlike the 82nd floor - and most of the building, in fact - the 94th floor did not have any windows or natural lighting. The tube lights buzzed uncomfortably in the ceiling above. Landon quietly hoped that wherever he would be working would have less ominous illumination. Finally, room 9401 came into sight. Maya, in the lead by a few paces, grasped the handle and opened the door, gesturing for Landon to go first. He did so, stepping into a wide but relatively shallow room. Lockers lined the walls, reminding him of the room that Mr Baxley had first introduced him to. This one was a different shape, though, so it wasn’t exactly the same one. A tall woman probably in her forties sat sternly on one of the benches. Her hair was blonde, though streaked with silver-grey. She stood as Landon entered and nodded to him and Maya. “Ah, our new recruits have arrived at last,” she said, tapping her watch. You were instructed to arrive at 8 AM sharp, not 8 AM more or less. My time is quite valuable, and you have wasted four minutes of it. I’m afraid that does not make an excellent first impression.” Landon nervously looked away, feeling his face heat up. “Sorry,” he murmured. “Irrelevant, Mr Kozlov. Simply do better next time. That goes for you as well, Ms Harish.” “Of course, Director.”

“Very well. As you both should know, I am Director Hynes, head of the biotechnology division of Project Apotheosis. You are both assigned to my team, and I will be your direct supervisor. Vice President Baxley is the next point of contact above me, and President Bennet above him. Under no circumstances are you to speak of your involvement in this project to anyone outside of those individuals or other Project Apotheosis staff in the biotechnology division. You are not permitted to discuss the project with individuals from other divisions, nor are you permitted to know the identities of the directors or members of those divisions. Is this clear?” “Yes, Director.” “Good. These restrictions are in place for the security of critical project data and personnel. If you are found to be violating any of these guidelines, your involvement with the project will be immediately terminated, as will your employment with Xera Corp, and you may be remanded to Civil Protection depending on the circumstances. If you ever choose to voluntarily leave this project, you will be required to remain employed with Xera Corp and not disclose any information about the project. If you leave Xera Corp’s employment after leaving this project, a warrant for your arrest will be filed with Civil Protection at a level four priority. In short, once you step through that door behind me, you’re in here for good. This is your last chance to turn back.” Maya and Landon glanced at each other. Neither moved. “That’s what I thought. Very well. Get your coats, gloves, and face shields on, and I’ll give you your first taste of Apotheosis proper. Your names are on the lockers.”

Landon suited up, donning a heavy lab coat over his polo, as well as a pair of what felt like nitrile gloves and an adjustable face shield. Everything smelled new, like it had just been removed from its packaging. In a few moments, both he and Maya were ready to enter. Director Hynes tapped her card and entered a code into the keypad below the reader - idly, Landon tried to see if he could tell what she was typing, but her hand blocked the view - and the door slid open. “In you go,” she said. “You’re about to get decontaminated. Don’t want anything getting into our specimens.” A fine blue-green mist filtered down from the ceiling. It smelled strongly of alcohol or some other chemical, and Landon held his breath to avoid coughing. After thirty seconds or so, the chamber lock cycled and the door on the opposite side clicked. Hynes grasped the handle and looked back at them. “One more important rule when working on this floor. Whatever a specimen might say to you, don't answer its questions and don’t do what it asks. They’re not conscious; they’re just mimicking behaviours they’ve observed. For your first few weeks, it’s safest not to handle them at all. Ready?” Two hesitant nods. Hynes pushed the door open. The lab was large - wide and long, and crammed with machinery. Landon didn’t recognize most of it, but he could pick out a centrifuge and a spectrometer, almost hidden in a corner behind much more exotic equipment. However, the machinery was almost the least impressive part of the lab. The ceiling lights were low, allowing the dim blue light shedding from the dozen or so glass cylinders in the room to light the space. Each cylinder was about the size of a small trash can, placed on a table to be closer to eye level, and hooked up to a complicated mess of wires and electronic equipment. Some tanks were empty aside from the liquid, their electronics cold and dark. Some tanks, however, were not. (edited)

Hynes led them into the room, stopping beside the second filled tank. Suspended inside, floating weightless in the blue solution, was a human-sized brain. Dozens of wires and electrodes lined its lobes and passed through various ports near the top of the cylinder to connect with the electronic devices on the table. As Landon rounded the table, he recoiled slightly as he caught sight of a large chunk of metal and circuitry inserted into the cerebellum. He glanced at Maya, trying to gauge her reaction, but she was facing away from him; he couldn’t tell. “These specimens will form much of your work for your first few months with the project. To be brief, our current goal in the biotechnology division is to develop a cybernetic implant that transfers and syncs memories, preferably wirelessly and in real time. Of critical importance is the ability to function in live, fully autonomous human subjects, but even the basic form is so complicated that we’re still working with donated animal and human brains.” She tapped a button on one of the electronic devices and the tank’s light changed color to a greener shade. “This particular brain is using one of our newer models, only a few weeks old. It originally belonged to a death row convict, but if we ask it who it thinks it is now...” She typed in a brief query on the attached keyboard - “what is your name” - and waited for a response. Lights flashed on several of the devices and a chart that resembled an EEG spiked. Eventually, after nearly ten seconds, a response was output on the monitor. “HENRY” “And, see, we’ve managed to transfer at least some of the most basic memories of a different donor brain. Unfortunately, there are a few issues. Plenty of issues, in fact. One of-” Hynes was interrupted as a new line of output wrote itself on the screen: “KILL ME KILL ME KILL ME KI-”

She typed a command and the monitor went blank. Landon stared at her, speechless. “One of the issues is, well, that. The donor memories don’t seem to mesh well with the memories of the recipient, and it can cause significant dissonance. In extreme cases, like ‘Henry’ here, this can lead the brain to erroneously believe it is a threat to itself and request termination. Remember, however, that none of these brains are actually conscious. We aren’t torturing anyone here. This is simply a lump of tissue with electrical impulses running through it, and we’re trying to get it to talk nicely with our own electrical impulses. Same as any other brain-implant cybernetic. The crux of the matter is that memories are so much more nebulous than other areas of the brain, and our process requires so many steps that it’s very likely to break down along the way. “We have to extract memories from a donor brain - eventually transferring them real time from a live, conscious, active brain - then sort out the raw data we extracted into a readable format, drop the excess, compress it down into something that can be processed by the recipient brain, inject the memories, and have them either mesh with or overwrite the existing memories. So far, we’ve had partial success with all steps, but no strong success with any of them.

“That is where you two, along with your coworkers, come in. Ms Harish, you are a cybernetic engineer, and Mr Kozolv, you are a... an electrobiologist, yes? Mr Baxley was somewhat unclear on your exact specialty, but indicated strongly that you would be an excellent asset to this team. Would you mind sharing what your field and qualifications are?”

️ - “Uhh, yep! Master’s in Electrobiology. Specialized in how the nervous system communicates and its connection with the rest of the body.” [Lie.]

- “Uh, neurology, actually. I specialize in the central nervous system, primarily the brain and its structure.” [Lie.]

- “Uhhh, I majored in biology, but I’ve mostly just been doing lab tech work. I don’t have a lot of experience with cybernetics.” [Tell the truth.] [Or suggest a different response in #story_discussion.] (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 28-Jul-20 09:15 PM

Scene 12 “Uhhhhh,” Landon stammered. “I, um, majored in biology, but I’ve mostly just been doing lab tech work. I don’t actually have a lot of experience with... cybernetics.” “Hm? You don’t have any experience with the kind of high-level biotechnology work that this project involves? Then why are you here, Mr Kozlov?” “Well... I kind of... learned about Apotheosis by accident, and at that point it was either join the project or, well... you know. But I can be useful! I’m a quick learner and I work hard! I’ve been running tests for Mr Baxley personally for the last few weeks, and-” Hynes cut him off with a bored “Interesting.” She pondered for a moment, then fixed him with an intimidating gaze. “If you don’t have the qualifications, then you will have to prove your worth. Mr Baxley sees promise in you, so I am willing to give you a chance. However, a chance is all I am willing to give. If you cannot keep up with the work, you will be reassigned or... terminated.” The way she emphasized “terminated” did not fill Landon with confidence. “Uh, yes, Director,” he stuttered. “That seems very fair. I’m sure I’ll be able to kee-” “Very well, Mr Kozlov. Ms Harish, is there anything you would like to share about your prior experience? Have you worked with neural cybernetics before?” Maya had to turn slightly to look at Hynes, giving Landon a limited view of her face. She, thankfully, looked similarly unsure and nervous. He didn’t know what he would have done if she had seemed confident and unmoved by the suicidal brain floating just feet away. “A... little,” she said. “I’ve usually been the one optimizing the implants’ size, energy consumption, that sort of thing. I’ve done a few neural ones; not too many, but I’m sure I could work on more.”

“Well, at least you have some prior experience,” Hynes muttered. “Honestly, are they just assigning the...” she trailed off, glaring at both of them. “In any case, you will be judged on your work, not your experience. If you do well, there will be no issues.” She tapped a button on the electronic panel and the tank’s light returned to its previous blue shade. “I was going to demonstrate further the exact state of our research, but I see we will first need to ensure you are both familiar with the basic concepts. We’ll start simple. “Your first task, which should need no further explanation due to its simple nature, will be to analyze the sample patterns generated by another group and determine the most stable options. Those will then be sent to a different group to be prototyped and incorporated into the latest design. Come, I’ll show you your office.” Director Hynes led the way out of the lab, back through the decontamination chamber, down the hall, into a sub-hall, and finally to a plain white door - identical to all the others on this floor - marked as 9418A. She gently clicked the door open and stepped aside, revealing a small, dark, very plain office. Two workstations were set up on opposite sides of the room, both with plain white desks, plain white chairs, and plain white monitors with the plain white Xera Corp default lock screen. There were no windows, decorations, or anything else of note besides a painted-over white vent cover near the ceiling. Hynes smiled at them. “Go on, take a look. You’ll be sharing this office for the foreseeable future, as we do with all our pairs of new hires. That way you can help each other out if you get stuck on anything - not that I’m expecting any trouble with your first assignment! Anyway, these computers should have everything you need to get started software-wise: sequencing, visualizing, analytics, and design. But I’m sure you’re already familiar with these programs, so I won’t bore you with a recap.

“You should be able to find the data you are to analyze under the research data / prelim_neur_sequences directory - they’re all .seq files describing a particular pattern of cyber-neural interface. Analyze the files 0000 through 0100.seq and prepare a list of the most stable... say ten of them, ideally ordered by speed after stability. You should be able to complete this task by the end of the week. If you need any assistance, feel free to reach out, but I’m sure you won’t need any help to complete this very basic task. Now, I think I’ll leave you two to make some progress.” Director Hynes left the office and closed the door, leaving Landon and Maya in the dark; neither had turned on the light yet. There was a long moment of silence before either of them moved. Finally, Landon got over his shock enough to mutter something along the lines of “I, uh, the lights,” and fumble his way along the wall to find the switch. A white disc light in the center of the ceiling illuminated and began to brighten. Maya stared at him. “She wants to get rid of us,” she said, sitting down heavily in one of the chairs and covering her face with her hands. Landon silently took the other and sat down facing her in the cramped space. “As soon as she figured out we’re not PhDs or geniuses, she just stopped explaining anything and told us to go do some random task that I definitely haven’t done before. Have you ever analyzed... cyber-neural interface stability? Or whatever she said?” Landon glumly shook his head. “Like I said, I was a lab tech before I got put on this project. I haven’t done anything with cybernetics before.” “She wants us to fail. To be able to say ‘hey, these new recruits aren’t doing well.’ To replace us with people she wants.” Maya clenched her fists. “Doesn’t even want to give us a chance.” “It does seem really unfair, doesn’t it? What... happens if we fail and get kicked off the project? Is that...” He gulped. “...Termination?”

Maya scoffed, but her eyes were wide. “They’d be scraping us off the pavement. A ‘suicide.’ The pressure got to us. Something like that. Dammit, why did I take this job?” “How did - how did you get recruited to the project?” “Got a little too nosy, I guess. I saw some papers that I guess weren’t supposed to be visible and asked around a little too openly. Got snagged by security and given the options of ‘voluntary severance’ or to join this project. I didn’t want to lose my job, so here I am. A fucking idiot. Should have left while I still could. But... I probably couldn’t, even back then. I...” She trailed off and stared off into the middle distance for a moment. “I even think this project seems really interesting - memory transference, really! - but not with her in charge.” “You, uh, don’t think it’s a little weird for the brain to be saying it wants to die?” “Well, that is a little weird. This whole thing’s super weird. But I guess if these are just donor brains from dead people, it’s not really... alive? Conscious? It’s just a glob of electrified meat. No, I’d only get nervous if we were testing with real live people. Which... I think is probably going to happen at some point. If we don’t get killed first.” A brief pause as she looked over at Landon and actually caught his eyes. “Hang on, actually. How did you get recruited to the project? I told you; you owe me that much.”

- “Did you hear about the break-in two nights ago? Well...” [Whole truth]

- “Similar to you. Heard about it accidentally, and Mr Baxley offered to have me join the project.” [Partial truth] [Or something else] Also, what should Landon do afterwards?

️ - Work with Maya; try to figure out how to do this task. Together, they can prove Hynes wrong.

- Work with Maya; try to figure out how to escape this deathtrap. 1️⃣ - As

, but without Maya. Can’t trust anyone else, even if she seems nice enough.

- Contact Mr Baxley and ask what to do. Hopefully he’s not too tied up at the moment. [This option may be combined with other options and will be chosen if given at least 8 votes.] [Or something else] (Winners:

,

️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 30-Jul-20 08:05 PM

Scene 13 “Uh, kind of similarly to you. I heard about it by accident and Mr Baxley offered to have me join the project. I didn’t really get a... second option.” “Baxley personally put you on the project? And you’re sure you don’t have a doctorate or something?” “Pretty sure.” Landon looked down. “I don’t know what he was thinking putting me on this team. I don’t know anything about cybernetics.” Maya stared at him for a moment. “... Well, what can you do? I’m pretty sure our only option at this point is to prove Hynes wrong and actually do well. Like she said, I don’t think leaving is an option anymore.” “Well... I can operate lab equipment. I can take samples, clean things up, make sure the results look like they should, that sort of thing. Not any high level analysis.” Maya had turned around at this point and was logging into the computer. Landon took a moment to do the same on his workstation. Before he was done, she turned around again. “Okay, but what kind of samples were you working with?” “Genetic stuff, mainly. Looking at mutations based on exposure to certain kinds of chemicals.” “So you’d know what a stable chromosome looks like, compared to an unstable one, right?” “Well, uh...” “And I’ve worked with neural interfaces before. They’re not... too complicated. Sort of. I know we’re going to have to look at mutations in brain cells and tissue here, because that’s one of the big dangers with these implants: that they’ll either not meld properly or they’ll change too much of the structure. I know my way around the implant side, so if you can analyze the organic side...”

She gestured to the screen and, after a few moments searching, pulled up one of the sequences they were supposed to be analyzing. The representation on the monitor consisted of several graphs: an assortment of multicolored dots linked by lines of varying thickness, a mosaic-like wheel of color gradients, and a larger sequence of animated shapes changing positions and sizes over time. “I don’t... is that a phase portrait?” he asked, pointing to the middle one and leaning closer. “It’s... there are singularities all over the place. That’s super unstable.” “See?” Maya spun around to face him and Landon hurriedly returned to his own seat. “I know the first diagram - that’s a tagged pinout of the interface. If you know the second one as whatever you just said, then that’ll help us rule out a lot of these. We’ll just be left with the ones that have stable pinouts and, uh, portraits. Then I’m sure we can figure out what the third thing is, right?” Landon hesitated a few moments before replying, still somewhat in shock that he had actually recognized anything in the mess of shapes and colors. “I - maybe? I don’t know how complicated the rest of this will be and we’ve only got today and tomorrow to figure everything out.” She slid her chair backwards a little and gestured at the room around them, spreading her arms. “Look, do you have a better idea than at least trying? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to die, and I don’t think I can handle all this on my own. So maybe you can take some of that nervousness and put it towards this work so we can both stand a chance of seeing the weekend.” He took a deep breath, then let it out. “Y-yeah. Yeah, you’re right. Hynes doesn’t know us. She can’t just kick us out. We’re gonna - we’re gonna prove her wrong.” “That’s the spirit. Now, I have no idea how long this is going to take, so let’s get started, yeah?” “Yeah.”

Hours passed. The sun rose, burned, and set. Coffee was found, somewhere. Sequence after sequence was considered, studied, and sometimes exhaustively pored over. The portraits got more difficult and Landon had to recall more and more complex mathematics from his upper level coursework. Maya silently stared at diagrams, her eyes unfocused and fingers twitching as she traced the flow of logic. Hynes never stopped by to check on them. The night wore on. 8 PM. 10 PM. Midnight. Only thirty eight samples were complete. Finally, at 3:30 in the morning, Maya broke the silence that had reigned for the past forty-some minutes. “Landon,” she groaned, slumping onto the desk. “I can’t focus any longer.” He tried to turn around, partially missed, and almost dropped whatever he was holding. He looked. It was a pen. He dropped it. “Yeah, I’m getting a little... drifty. How far did we get?” “Hnnnnhhh...” Maya dragged herself across the desk and clicked several times. “Forty six. Not enough.” “No time for sleep,” he muttered, then yawned. “Too much... to do.” “D’you think anywhere’s still open that sells k-cubes?” “Uh, I don’t know. It’s pretty late. Probably not anywhere downtown; maybe further out? Across the river?” “Do you think you could go find some? It’d really help get this done, at the cost of most of the weekend. Or - I could go instead. Sorry, I didn’t mean to-” “No, that’s okay. I... understand.” Landon patted his face, trying to wake up a little more. The room was very warm. Who should go to buy k-cubes?

- Landon.

- Maya.

‍

- Both of them.

- Just get delivery instead. (Winner: a tie between

‍

and

.

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won by a die roll) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 01-Aug-20 02:56 PM

Scene 14 “I can go,” he continued, making a valiant attempt to stand up. Several things popped in his back and lightheaded stars sparkled before his eyes. He sat down again to let the dizziness pass. “No, hang on. I’ll come too. It’s not fair to ask you to go on your own, and I don’t think I could stand sitting in this room on my own for much longer.” Maya carefully pushed against her desk and stretched, breaking into a yawn midway through. Muddled thoughts churned through Landon’s mind as he stood up a second time and stumbled over to the door, slowly regaining motor skills after so many hours sitting still. “Wait, hang on, can’t we just order delivery? Even at this time of night, I’m sure someone would-” Maya groaned and slumped against the door, shoving it open and emerging into the hallway. “Nooooo. I can’t sit in that room for another minute. It’s too hot, it’s too quiet, it’s too math-y. I need a break and you do too. Come on.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room. Landon let himself get pulled along, unsure exactly how to respond to this situation. The hallways were dark at night. With five out of every six ceiling lights off and no windows, there were long stretches of corridor without any significant illumination. No other people were visible and everything was very quiet. Even the constant buzz of the tube lights was softer. The pristine white hallways felt alien and unwelcoming, like no one should be disturbing the nightly ritual of silence and calm. The light from their office cut into the hallway: a wedge of brilliance piercing deeply into the blanket of darkness. Landon wondered if other people tended to become more prone to these weird poetic thoughts when they were tired, or if it was just him. The elevator arrived after only a few moments of waiting and Maya released his arm after leading him into the car. She leaned against one wall and selected the lobby. “So, where are we going?”

Landon fiddled with his phone, trying to get the maps app to work as the elevator rapidly descended, switching access points every other floor. “Just across the bridge? Isn’t there a convenience store just on the other side?” Maya shrugged. “I don’t go to the north side very often. Don’t know.” The map finally loaded in and Landon tapped at the icon. “Yep, 24/7. I think that’s the closest one. Just a few blocks north and over the bridge.” She yawned again. “Works for me.” The two guards in the lobby didn’t give them any trouble past checking their IDs and before long, they had made it out onto the street. The night was chill, though not uncomfortably so. Fall was approaching, but as of yet, it hadn’t arrived. The sky was covered in clouds, though the moon - close to full - peeked through the barrier. Downtown was, as expected, almost completely deserted. Only a handful of people had any reason to be in the center of the city after the close of business, though Landon knew that would change almost immediately after they crossed the bridge. The rest of the city never slept, at least not completely. But here, walking down Ironwood in the midst of sleeping, gleaming skyscrapers, it almost felt peaceful. Maya rubbed her arms. “Ugh. It’s getting too cold out at night. I should have grabbed my coat.” Landon glanced at her, then looked around to make sure they were standing in the same city. “It’s not that bad out - this would still be shorts weather if it weren’t for dress code.” “Uh, what? You’re not even the least bit cold right now?” “Mmm, nope. Not really. This is pretty mild, really. Are you not from around here?” “Yeah, yeah, you got me,” she grumbled. “I’m from Arizona originally. Old Phoenix. Reminded of that every time I go outside in the winter. You’re from around here, then?”

“I’m a midwest native, yeah, though not from New Brighton originally. I moved down here from Madison when I got my job with Xera. How long have you been in the city? The cold gets easier to handle over time.” “Only a couple of months, actually. I had been working at one of Xera’s branch offices in Old Phoenix, but when they did a reorg, I was given the old ‘voluntary transfer’ options. One: move halfway across the country, or two: get fired. Not really much of an option, especially when you remember that Old Phoenix has waaay more people than jobs these days. Ever since they started building Marnosa next door, the old city went downhill. So I moved up here. It’s okay, I guess, but everything seems less friendly. Especially CP.” Landon swallowed, glancing around uneasily despite himself, as if a CP agent would be hiding in the shadows with a gun and a dangerous smile. “Y-yeah. They can be a little... intense?” “Old Phoenix didn’t have any CP; it still used the old police system. In a lot of ways, it was a relic of the past, I guess. I kind of miss it. But you have to move on; can’t stay in the 2000s forever. The cybernetics industry there wasn’t anywhere near what New Brighton has.” “It kind of feels like everyone’s being funneled into these megacities, don’t you think?” Landon frowned, glancing at his phone as if it would confirm his thought. “New Brighton, Marnosa, Kharath on the east coast - and the old cities keep closing down.” “I guess that’s what progress looks like. Everything here is so much newer and more technological. Maybe whoever makes these decisions wants to start over fresh rather than trying to improve the old ones.” “But, I mean, it’s not all new and fresh here either! Have you been to the undercity? Lower Brighton?” “The undercity?”

“Ah.” Landon hesitated for a moment, trying to decide how to continue. “Well, you, uh... you know that there are people who don’t work at big global corporations who can’t afford to live in the city center or suburbs? Some of them work low-skill jobs at big employers, or smaller businesses outside of downtown, or just factory work. Well, they have two choices. They can either live outside the city, in the wastelands, or they can live in the... undercity.” “I take it the undercity isn’t a very nice place to live, then.” “W-well, I haven’t actually been there. But I hear it’s pretty bad, yeah. That’s part of why leaving the company is such a big deal - why it’s almost a death sentence. Without an employer like Xera, you can’t afford to live on the surface. And living below is... dangerous. At least for most people. I don’t know; like I said, I haven’t been there.” “How’d you find out about it, then? It doesn’t seem like it’s a very public thing, since I’ve never heard about it.” “It-it’s sort of an open secret. CP doesn’t like to acknowledge it, but outright banning it would just make more people talk about it. You can’t find much info online. I... I heard about it from a friend who lost his job and had to go live down there. After a few months, I... never heard from him again.” Maya slipped an arm around him in a one-armed hug. “I’m sorry.” Landon felt his face grow red as the contact lingered, hopefully invisible in the darkness as they continued onto the bridge. She’s exhausted and not thinking straight. So are you. Stop it. Don’t even think about it. Whatever it is, just don’t. He couldn’t come up with anything else to say, so he glanced over the side of the bridge into the dark, churning water below. The waves held no answers or advice. He hadn’t really expected them to.

Eventually, she let go and the two arrived on the north shore of the Brighton River. It had once had another name, but just like New Brighton had consumed the city it had replaced, so too had the Brighton River erased all traces of whatever it had once been. The crashing waves held no memories of the name they had once carried. Man, I really do get too philosophical at night. Too tired. Landon let Maya handle the actual purchase, giving a weak excuse about not feeling well and leaning against the railing, looking down into the river. Behind him, lights blazed and car engines roared. The city pulsed with life. Below his feet, water flowed endlessly away from the great lake that was its source. Deeper below, he knew, millions of people lived and worked endlessly, never seeing the sunlight unless they could afford the tolls to venture to the surface. This isn’t fair. Why am I here, working on this super-shady project under a tyrannical director? What am I doing to help them? The city? The world? Myself? He let his mind drift back nearly two days exactly. The girl in Mr Baxley’s office, shoving him against the cabinets, searching desperately for information on the project, leaping out the window and plummeting eighty two stories to the pavement below. What motivated her? Why would someone do that? What could possibly be important enough to risk death or capture by CP for nothing more than a handful of papers? Was there anything Landon felt that passionate about? ... He didn’t know. Maya returned from the store holding a small bag of k-cubes. From experience, he knew there would be six white, powdery cubes in there, each about the size of a normal six-sided die. Taking even one would snap him straight back to alertness, and more could extend the spike, at the cost of one hell of a crash at the end of it. Taking three would probably put him out for the entirety of Saturday and part of Sunday. (edited)

“Feeling better?” Landon stared down into the water. “Sort of. I don’t think I should stay up this long very often.” Maya portioned out three cubes and handed them to him in a napkin. “I’d probably wait on these till we get back. But tell me about it. I hope she’s not going to keep giving us these ridiculous deadlines. I’d rather not replace my blood with caffeine. Although...” Landon pushed himself off the railing and accepted the cubes. “Thanks. You’re considering it?” “If you could get rid of the pesky problems of oxygen transfer, the immune system, hormones, and a bunch of other things, I think it could work. I’m sure there’s an implant that just continuously injects you, though. That sounds much easier.” “Might need to get one if Hynes keeps this up.” “Yeah...” She sighed, looking down into the river as well as they passed back over the bridge. “I don’t want to go back. I know we have to, to stay alive and all that, but this is much nicer. Even though it’s too cold. See, now where would we be if we had just ordered delivery? Still in that office, still thinking about sequencing and stability, and overall just having a miserable time. Isn’t it better out here?” “Y-yeah. Everything’s so quiet at this time of night, at least downtown. It’s nice.” He paused for a moment, thinking, then glanced at her again. “Hey, if it’s too cold, why aren’t you wearing a long-sleeved shirt? I’m pretty sure the dress code allows that.” “Well, I still had a bunch of my short-sleeved shirts from Old Phoenix and I didn’t really want to buy any more. I guess I kind of hoped I’d get used to it? Kind of still hoping that’ll happen. These things aren’t cheap when you need the Xera logo on them.” “That’s fair.” Landon stayed quiet, unable to really come up with a proper follow up. “Besides, I’ve got... coats... and...?” Maya trailed off, peering into the darkness down one of the side streets. “Hey, did you see that?” she whispered, slowing her pace.

“See what?” Landon looked down the street she was gesturing to, but didn’t spot anything. Just darkness, dumpsters, and a fire escape between two moderately sized skyscrapers. “Down that alley. There was a... a person, I think. Really pale, though, so I’m not sure. You didn’t see anything?” “I don’t think so?” Landon was starting to get nervous, unconsciously matching Maya’s anxiety. “Was it moving?” “Yeah. Real weirdly, though. Like it was really limp. What do you think we should do?”

- Take a closer look. Don’t be dumb, but see if it’s just a poster or a cat or a maintenance man or something.

- Avoid the alley and report it to the guards at the desk.

- Avoid the alley and don’t tell anyone. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 03-Aug-20 07:30 PM

Scene 15 Landon swallowed nervously and stepped towards the alleyway, unsure where his bravado was coming from. “Well, let’s go take a look and find out.” Maya cautiously followed him, hanging back several steps and staring into the darkness. “Landon, I don’t really think this is a good idea. What if it’s-” “It’s fine,” he said, not really believing himself. “Probably just a cat or a maintenance worker or something.” The alley was very dark; the only illumination trickled in from streetlights on Ironwood. Landon took out his phone and turned on the flashlight, holding it high as he crept past a pile of discarded bricks and deeper into the alley. Glancing back, he saw Maya hovering anxiously at the entrance, unwilling to go much further. “Don’t be dumb,” she called quietly. “This is how horror movies start.” “I’m just going to take a quick look around this corner, then I’ll come back.” Could he hear the sound of quiet breathing? Bare footsteps on stone? Why am I doing this? Finally, he managed to build up enough courage to peek around the corner and brought the flashlight up to see into the perpendicular alley. He let out a breath and turned around, heading back towards Maya. “Nothing there. Just more dumpsters. See? It was fine.” She was silhouetted against the streetlights, so he couldn’t see her expression. “It was fine this time. That really wasn’t saf - RUN!” Landon didn’t hesitate and launched forwards into a full sprint. Something grazed his back, brushing against his polo and sending him out of the alley at an even faster pace. He could hear Maya screaming something, but couldn’t parse the words - if there were any. Suddenly, she made a fast movement and his left shoulder blazed with pain. Landon stumbled, tripping over his feet with the speed, and fell heavily to the ground. Maya shouted something else, running towards him and throwing something else. He heard a wailing screech, then bare footsteps receding into the alley.

Maya crouched next to him and tugged at his arm. “Come on, get up. We have to go.” “Uhn... what happened?” She helped him to his feet and the two of them retreated from the alleyway. Landon looked back and rubbed his shoulder unconsciously as he searched the darkness. Again, nothing was visible. “Are you okay? Sorry, I think I hit you with the first throw.” “I’m-” Landon took a moment to roll his shoulder. Bruised, but it would be fine. His hands were all scraped up from the rough concrete, but nothing a single layer of medigel couldn’t fix. “I’ll be fine. What happened?” Maya glanced back several times as they walked, making sure nothing was following them. “It was sort of human, but too tall, too thin, and really... limp. It came around the corner right after you did and reached out for you. It-” she shuddered. “Its skin was pale white and its eyes were just all black. Its face was really smooth and small. But it reached out for you with long, thin, droopy fingers and kind of grinned.” Landon stared at her, wide-eyed. “Then what?” “Then I threw a brick at it. And missed. And hit you instead. Sorry.” “That’s okay,” he said automatically. “I guess your second one didn’t miss, huh?” “Yeah, I got it the second time. Right in its wiggly face. It kind of deformed with the impact, like it was made of jello. Then it screamed and ran away. See, this is why I said you shouldn’t have gone in there!” Landon brushed some gravel out of his hands as he replied. He didn’t feel too scared, actually. Just energized. “You predicted I was going to be assaulted by a pale noodle man?” “Or something like that! I was really thinking more ‘mugger’ and less ‘terrifying monster,’ though. Look, before we-”

Maya cut herself off as a group of heavily armored Xera guards emerged from an alley on the other side of the street. Two of them were holding sleek black battle rifles not often seen outside of full military engagements, while the remaining two held, respectively, a dart rifle and a metal stick with a loop of sleek silver wire on the end - a collar. The guards seemed in a hurry, discussing something quietly amongst themselves before crossing the street and entering an alley adjacent to the one Landon and Maya had just left. Maya glanced between Landon and the guards, motioning at them urgently. “Now what the hell are they doing? Look, Landon, something very weird is going on here, even weirder than this project as a whole. I don’t think we should say anything about that... creature to anyone. And... I think we need to get to the bottom of what Project Apotheosis is actually doing.” [Pick at least one from each set.]

- “We should tell the guards.”

- “Good call; don’t say anything.”

- “Let’s figure it out.”

‍

- “Let’s keep our heads down, at least for a while. Re-evaluate later; it’s been less than 24 hours.”

- “No, it’s better not to know about these things.” (Winners:

,

‍

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 06-Aug-20 08:39 PM

Scene 16 Landon cautiously watched the guards disappear down the alley and scanned the street for any other passersby before replying. “M-maybe. We’re in a dangerous position, and we’ve only been in that position for less than a day. I think we should keep our heads down and get established - learn some things, get to know how everything works - before trying to poke around where we don’t belong. And maybe by the time we’ve learned more about this project, we might not even need to. But. I do think you’re right; we shouldn’t say anything about that... creature.” “... You’re probably right. There’s not really a huge rush right now, anyway. The project is still a long way off from completion. We’ve also got to finish up those samples. Only got another day to go.” They entered the lobby and the desk guards scanned their IDs to let them back in. “Enjoy your break?” one of them asked. “Very refreshing,” Maya affirmed, walking past and calling the elevator. Landon didn’t say anything, instead opting to avoid eye contact with the two guards. In only a few more minutes, Landon had applied a light layer of medigel to his hands and covered the sticky blue-green substance in a translucent sheet of bandage wrap. The thin plastic substance was designed to seal in medigel and prevent wound contamination, as well as prevent him from getting it all over his keyboard. Finally, at 4:07 AM, Landon and Maya sat back down, swallowed the k-cubes, and returned to work. Hours passed in a steadily-clouding haze, only sustained by the heavy doses of chemical stimulants slowly dissolving out of the bloodstream. The start of the work day came and went without any special fanfare, and neither Hynes nor anyone else came to check on them. Noon passed before long, the k-cubes stifling any hunger either of them should have been feeling, and the end of the work day loomed close. Finally, as 5 o’clock drew near, the very last sample was completed.

The entire batch of 100 samples was analyzed, sorted, organized and sent off to the next team. Hynes didn’t deign to visit in person even then, opting instead for a brief email after several minutes’ delay: “The analysis was adequate. You will receive your next assignment on Monday.” “Well I feel very appreciated,” Maya grumbled, half-slumped on her desk. “I’m going to go home and sleep for the next few days. If I don’t show up on Monday, I probably went into a coma.” She paused, then pushed herself closer to upright. “Actually, if I don’t show up on Monday, you should call me. Here.” Landon numbly swiped to the correct screen and tapped his phone against hers, completing the process and adding her as a contact. “Same... thing for me, okay?” Thinking was very hard. He wasn’t sure if he would make it off the bus before passing out. “Mmhmm. Let’s get out of here before we spend the weekend sleeping in the office.” Out the hallway. Down the elevator. Across the street, onto the bus, off the bus, and another few blocks. Landon stumbled into his apartment and collapsed onto the first soft surface he found: the sofa. His mind spun away into unconsciousness. A single image bubbled up just before he passed out. Shards of glass, droplets of blood. The girl, falling. Who was she? [We will return to Landon after we catch up with a different character for a while.] When will we pick up?

- Friday, still.

- Saturday.

- Sunday. (Winer:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 08-Aug-20 08:20 PM

Scene 17 Eva slowly opened her eyes, trying to focus on the dimly-lit metal ceiling above. Her memories were fragmented and she tried to piece together a timeline as she attempted to determine if she was still alive or if this was what death felt like. She remembered Xera Corp, remembered slamming into the pavement, and remembered the desperate flight through alleyways as Civil Protection stirred to life behind her. But everything was hazy and unclear, and beyond a certain point it was nothing but blackness. Where was she, actually? A loud, familiar voice suddenly intruded on her thoughts. “Eva!” Matt shouted from right beside her head. “You’re awake!” Eva winced. “Inside voice, Matt,” she managed to croak out after a dry cough. Her head spun and pain still coursed through her chest. Still in bad shape. Great. “Sorry,” he said at a slightly more normal volume. “Just a little excited! You want to know how long you’ve been out?” “You’re probably going to tell me whether I want to or not.” “Two and a half days! It’s 4:15 on Friday. How ya feeling?” Eva considered that. “Pretty awful, actually. Got a headache, I’m really thirsty, breathing’s hard, and my chest still feels like it’s made of broken glass. Didn’t you guys take me to a doctor or something?” Matt helped her shuffle into a slightly more upright position so she could drink from a glass of water. Her hands were still weak and she had to use both of them to steady the cup. Matt, ever the gentle giant, loomed over her in the dim light, illuminated from behind by a soft lamp. His stocky frame blocked most of the light, for which she was grateful. That meant she couldn’t see how wrecked she undoubtedly looked. “Well, we tried, but it’s kind of hard to just go to a hospital when you’re flagged in the CP database with a priority-four warrant. Instead-”

“Hold on, priority four? Me?” Civil Protection warrants were served based on how urgent it was to catch the criminal, and how dangerous they were assumed to be. Even priority one warrants were no joke - serial burglars, murders with a single offense, and so on. But priority four... He grinned lopsidedly. “You betcha! Eva Marais, wanted for ‘immediate and critical national security concerns.’ You really stirred them up good.” She stayed quiet a moment, unsure whether to be proud or worried. She settled on both. “Can you tell me what happened? From when I... passed out in an alleyway, I think? It’s a little foggy.” “Sure! But first let me tell the others you’re awake. I’m sure they’ve missed your shining smile.” Eva glared at him. “That’s the one!” He typed quickly on his phone, presumably texting Sid and Charlie, then set it down and settled back in his chair. “Alright, let’s begin. “It was a dark and stormy night. Well, it wasn’t really stormy, but it was dark. Because it was night. Anyway, Sid and I showed up a couple minutes after Charlie’s ‘distraction’ went off. Guess it really was effective because there weren’t any CPs anywhere to be seen! I just picked you up like a fragile little baby, Sid grabbed your bag, and we tossed you in the back seat with the rest of your stuff. “Ah - I see that eyebrow raise. No, your stuff was actually in the trunk. Don’t worry, you didn’t get blood all over it. Though Sid’s upholstery is a different story. Anyway, there’s not much to say past that - CP was too busy dealing with the explosion to spread out for a search before we were long gone. Since we obviously couldn’t take our favorite terrorist to the hospital, we had to settle for medigel and a visit to a moderately shady fellow that I had to keep a very close eye on while he did the exam. Don’t worry, I’m at least 95% sure he didn’t steal anything from your insides.” He winked.

“Anyway, doc says you fractured two ribs in the fall and need to take it easy for at least a couple of weeks. He managed to get both the bullets out and said those wounds won’t be much of an issue with regular medigel applications. Beyond that, you’ll be good as new so long as you give your bones time to heal up nice and proper. That means absolutely no running around and definitely no infiltrating top secret corpo labs, got it?” “Yes, mom.” Eva felt a wave of relief. Just two cracked ribs were a small price to pay for how crazy things had gotten at the end of that mission, and the prognosis of a full recovery was very encouraging. “I’ll be good.” Matt grinned and patted her lightly on the shoulder, continuing in a slightly more serious tone. “It’s good to have you back, Eva. I was starting to get a little worried after the second day.” “Hey, I’m glad to be awake too. Do you happen to know if those files I snagged were worth this trouble? And what’s our next objective? Also, where are we?” “Hm. Lots of questions, eh? I forget you haven’t been to all the hideouts before. We’re in the undercity, layer two, about fifteen minutes’ walk from the Adams street gate. Specifically, this place used to be a brewery a couple of years ago before the owners got gunned down just up the street. Now it’s just an empty warehouse with a sad history, like a lot of the buildings down here. However, that meant it was cheap. I... probably could have gotten away without mentioning what happened to the owners, couldn’t I?” “Do I need to avoid the street?” “It’s mostly safe as long as you keep an eye out and make sure not to get isolated. Those two, unfortunately, owed the wrong debts to the wrong people. We don’t. At least not until your medical bills force us into bankruptcy.”

Eva stayed silent for a moment, thinking. She hadn’t been in the undercity more than a few times before, and it was never pleasant. At least it was safer from CP. “What about my other two questions?” “Right! Well, I’m pretty sure I should let Sid fill you in on our next plan. It’s a doozy and I don’t think he’d want me ruining the surprise. As for the files, Charlie’s been working on them while you’ve been out. They’re pretty complicated genetic stuff, so even Mr Egg-head himself can’t quite figure it all out on his own, but he’s at least got the gist of it.” Matt leaned down and lowered his voice. “Project Apotheosis,” he whispered, “is about human cloning.” Eva tilted her head as Matt moved back to his prior position. “Cloning? Like injecting someone’s genetic material into an egg so the woman gives birth to a genetic duplicate? Like a twin? That seems... really lame for such a secret project.” “I’m not sure.” Matt shrugged. “The files were pretty vague, Charlie couldn’t decipher them fully, and I’m not the science guy here anyway. You know that - I shoot stuff. I guess it’s got to be some new development if they’re this upset about you grabbing the files.” “Hm.” Eva frowned, pensive. Human cloning wasn’t a new concept and had been achieved before, albeit with some pretty dubious moral implications. It just wasn’t that useful, as “clones” were really more just like twins or siblings of the original and often didn’t even have similar personalities, let alone abilities. What was Xera doing with cloning that warranted such secrecy? Maybe Charlie would have more information. Speaking of... “So, when are the others going to get here and explain stuff? Not that I don’t enjoy hanging out with you, but I want to know what’s going on.” “Not sure. Sid’s out doing some shopping and hasn’t replied yet. Charlie said he’d be here ‘soon,’ but you know how it is with him. Could be a couple minutes or could be a couple hours. You-” (edited)

Matt was cut off by a loud knock on a metal door outside the room. He looked over his shoulder, concerned, then stood up quickly. “Stay put, alright?” He grabbed a sleek black rifle that had been leaning against the wall and exited into the main body of the warehouse. Several seconds passed. Eva strained her ears, trying to hear what was going on, but the drone of fans in the main room drowned out any noises that might be present. She itched to know what was happening. Matt could take care of himself, but if CP had found their way down here... Stop that. You’re being paranoid. Still. Paranoia saved lives. What should she do?

️ - Stay put.

- Get up. Take a peek. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 10-Aug-20 07:37 PM

Scene 18 Just a quick peek, she assured herself. Matt doesn’t even have to know. Eva gently pulled the blankets back, moving slowly to avoid aggravating her injuries. She carefully slid out of bed and stood up, wincing and hunching forward as the stretch sent a twinge of pain through her chest and head. The concrete was cool on her bare feet as she crept towards the door and cracked it open, just a centimeter. Matt was standing about forty feet away near a small door in the massive warehouse wall, half-hidden behind an enormous barrel that had presumably once held beer. He was talking quietly to someone Eva couldn’t see past the barrel, but he had at least slung the gun over his shoulder. He likely didn’t feel too threatened. After another thirty seconds or so, the mysterious guest presumably left and closed the door. Matt turned back towards Eva’s room and she gingerly slipped the latch closed again, returning to bed with some difficulty. She had only barely managed to climb back in and fold the blankets back over herself before the door opened again and Matt returned. “What was it?” she asked, the picture of innocence. Matt grumbled, returning the rifle to its position near the door. “One of the new scouts who hasn’t yet learned how to signal properly. I swear, this operation ran so much smoother when it was just the four of us. I don’t know what Sid’s thinking, bringing in all these fresh faces.” Eva blinked. “He what?” “Oh, whoops. Uh, surprise!” Matt grinned. “That’s part of the new plan. We haven’t been making much progress in the, what, ten months we’ve been at this? All we’ve got to show for our efforts are a couple thousand credits, a few crates of illegal goods, several injuries, and some half-illegible notes about a secret project. We - Sid could say this better, but I can try. We’re not doing anything, Eva. So we’re going bigger. More ambitious. You’ll love it. But I just wish these new folks were a little more competent.”

“He’s done all this in two days?” “He’s been pretty motivated since you nearly got yourself killed. Seems to think it was his plan that got you hurt, but don’t worry. Charlie and I made sure to let him know it was your own boneheaded stubbornness that did that.” “Well... Now I’m even more curious what he’s got planned. Even bigger, huh? Bigger than a heist on one of the most powerful corps in the city?” “So he says.” “Do you think I’m going to be able to go?” Matt frowned. “Now hold on here, lil miss. What did I specifically tell you just five minutes ago? ‘No infiltrating top secret corpo labs,’ yeah? You need to stay put and rest. I’m not letting you out of that bed until you can breathe properly.” “I’d like to see you try. We both know you can’t stop me.” “Only because I’d be too worried to break you.” Charlie arrived a few minutes later, letting himself into the warehouse but at least knocking before entering the room. He gave Matt a nod as he walked in - the two had never gotten along too well outside of business - and pulled up a chair. He was tall and skinny - almost stretched - and pale from long hours working on gathering intel and other, less legal, digital activities. “Eva, glad you made it back to us in more or less one piece. I hope you’ve learned a bit of a lesson in when to cut your losses.” “Never, Charlie. As far as I’m concerned, I traded a few weeks of healing for some valuable intel. Seems fair to me.” “Well, it was a little more lopsided than that. You also forced me to pull that trump card I had been saving. The NBTA purged my access in a matter of hours after that. They didn’t take any chances; the boxes I had compromised were totally rebuilt. We’re going to have to start over from scratch if we want to get back in.” Eva tilted her head. “Speaking of the NBTA, actually, what did you do for your ‘distraction?’ Matt seemed to think it was pretty effective.”

He hesitated a few moments. “Look, remember this was life or death for you, alright? I didn’t have a choice. But... I caused two trains to collide head-on at Ironwood station. CP had to divert a ton of resources over there to deal with the fires and medivac. They didn’t have anyone left to search for you for another half hour, and by then we were gone.” “...” “No choice, Eva, remember that. If CP weren’t so goddamn persistent in going after you... they forced my hand.” “How many people?” Her voice was small. “Irrelevant. All that matters is you got out. I don’t like it either, but at some point you just have to decide what price you’re willing to pay for something you believe in, and hit the button.” Eva stayed quiet. There was an awkward pause as the silence stretched on. Matt cleared his throat. “Uh, hey, did you maybe... want to talk about what you found in those files?” “Right.” Charlie turned half-away from Eva, directing his gaze somewhere between her and Matt. “I’m not a geneticist, and if we want to understand the full content of that file, I suggest we recruit one. But the gist of it, as I understand, involves a series of tests on extracted DNA from various methods of human cloning. Some - controls - seem to involve normal injection into an egg and a normal internal gestation. Others seem to involve external gestation, manipulation of the egg, or other various environmental factors such as the chemical mixture of the solution the developing clone was placed in. I’m not entirely sure how to interpret the results, but Xera is very interested in growing clones, especially outside of a host. Your guess is as good as mine as to what they’re going to be doing with this technology, but it will undoubtedly be nothing good. Thoughts, Eva? Worthwhile?”

She stayed quiet for another few seconds, thinking. “I don’t know what to make of that. Cloning has never been very useful; you can’t grow another person identical to one you already have. You just get a weird semi-sibling. But...” She shifted under the blankets. “We need more information. There’s not enough to go on. Hey - what about that guy I ran into in Baxley’s office? What was his name, Landon?” Charlie nodded sharply. “Landon Kozlov. Not even important enough to be listed on Xera’s staff pages outside of the directory, but at least in the department of biology. I couldn’t find anything too useful on him online. Not much social media presence, nothing much in the CP public records, only a few passing mentions in local news. He is, to put it mildly, very boring. I did manage to get some contact info if you wanted it, I guess, but I really don’t think he’d be very useful. Too boring, too unimportant, too unlikely to support a cause like this. Plus, he’s definitely under CP’s watch right now due to how close he got to you. If you do want to talk to him, be very, very careful.” Does Eva want Landon’s contact info?

- Yeah. She might try to reach him later. Once she figures out what to say.

- No. It’s either too dangerous or he’d be too useless. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 13-Aug-20 07:29 PM

Scene 19 “I’ll take the info. You never know.” Charlie shrugged and typed a few lines into his tablet. “Alright. I sent it to your phone. As I said, just be careful. The last thing we need is for you to bring CP down on us by getting too friendly with him.” “I’ll be careful.” “You said that last time, and the time before that. Do you think you’re invincible? One of these missions, you’re going to get yourself killed, captured, or hurt in a way we can’t fix with a few weeks of healing and some medigel. We were all very lucky that didn’t happen this time. Eventually, that luck will run out.” Eva frowned at him. “Look, what are we doing here? What’s our goal? I joined this group because I wanted to change something; to make a difference. So that, eventually, no one has to fear for their life just going outside at night, or if they lose their job, or if they get sick or are just born into the wrong social class or whatever else. I don’t know why you’re here, but I’m trying to make the world a better place for everyone. And I think that’s a good enough goal to take some risks in pursuit of it.” “...” Charlie squeezed his lips together, seeming like he was about to shout, then deflated. “Fine. Whatever. Just be careful and don’t expect us to break you out of jail, or raise you from the dead. I’ve got to go deal with something.” He rose from his chair and left the room. Silence lingered for several seconds afterwards. Finally, Eva spoke. “So... what was that all about?” Matt shrugged. “He’s on edge. We all are. Everything’s a bit precarious right now with the new people, new plan, new information, and your injury. I’m sure he cares about you, but... well, you know he’s not the best at showing it.” “Yeah, it’s fine.” Eva sighed lightly. “Matt, why are you here? What’s the point of this group?” “Me?” “Yeah. I’m sure with your skills, you could work as security for a corp, or CP, or even be a freelancer. Why us?”

“Well, I like you guys and I don’t want you to get hurt.” “That’s it? No... larger purpose?” “Well... let’s be real here, Eva. We’re not going to overthrow the government. Even if we somehow manage to neutralize the entire Office of Civil Protection here in New Brighton, there’s the rest of the country to think about. The rest of the world! But we aren’t even going to get that far. Chances are, with Sid wanting to speed things up like he’s been doing over the past few days, we’re all going to be dead or rotting in prison before the year’s out.” He smiled wanly. “Eva, have you heard about the previous resistance groups?” “There were previous groups? I mean, I guess of course there were, but...” “I don’t know how many have been stamped out before I heard about them, but I’ve known three personally, before this one. Each was led by a brilliant strategist, each had loyal and skilled members, and each was messily slaughtered by Civil Protection less than a year after they started making real trouble. The first one - they called themselves the Mole Rats, ‘cause they’d hide in the undercity tunnels - were too sloppy on a raid and one of their guys was captured. Only a few hours later, they were flamed out of their hideouts and gunned down in a really quite gruesome display. “The second group was the Phoenix. Rising from the ashes of the previous resistance and all that. Very noble, very optimistic. They lasted a lot longer - almost nine months of hit-and-run before CP managed to plant a tracker in a box of stolen goods and were led right back to their hideout. I didn’t see how they were killed, but I’m sure it wasn’t pleasant.

“The latest group, Omni, really went big. They tried to hit the CP Head Office, to try and get rid of that damn group right at the source. That... well, you can guess that didn’t go too well. Somehow CP got word they were coming and the building only offered moderate defenses until they were in too deep to back out. Then they were surrounded. I don’t think I need to continue. “And now there’s us. We don’t even have a name yet, but we’ve already stolen confidential files from one of the biggest corps in the city. One of our members has a level four warrant. We are officially on CP’s radar, and I guarantee we’re going to meet the same sticky end as all the rest of these groups.” He paused a moment to gather his thoughts. “So, no. I don’t really have an endgame in mind. I just want to keep the people I care about safe as long as possible.” “Matt...” “Sorry, I’m not normally that much of a downer. I guess it’s kinda getting to me too.” A multitude of questions whirled through her mind. Had he worked with these previous groups? Why was he still sticking with Sid if he thought it would just end in more death? Why did he still bother if he thought everything was hopeless? But none of those questions seemed appropriate right now, not in the particular moment she found herself in. “Matt.” He looked down at her. “This one’s going to be different.” He chuckled softly. “Why? How can you possibly think that?” She hesitated.

- The plan, the project. Apotheosis.

‍

- The people. This group is different.

‍♀️ - Just a feeling. (Winner:

‍♀️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 15-Aug-20 07:37 PM

Scene 20 “... I don’t know. Just a feeling. But a strong one. We’re gonna make it.” Matt paused a moment, considering her, then laughed. “Oh, if only I could share your optimism. Who knows, maybe you’re right. Maybe this group will be the first one to succeed where all the others have failed. Maybe we’ll be the first ones to do the impossible. But, right now, I need to get going and help out with some training. Charlie was supposed to replace me here, but who knows where he ran off to. You think you’ll be okay on your own for a few hours?” Eva nodded. She was already feeling tired just from the exertion of being awake. “Think I’m just gonna go back to sleep for a while.” He stood. “You do that. Get some rest, feel better. When I get back, at around 8 PM tonight, Sid’s gonna tell us what the next steps are. See ya then, and don’t get into any trouble, okay?” He slipped out and closed the door before Eva could reassure him. While she would normally have taken some time to look around the warehouse, right now she just didn’t have the energy. Probably wouldn’t be smart to be walking around like this anyway. Eva sighed, not really feeling anything and just wanting the next few hours to pass quickly. Time passed in a sort of light haze. The continuing discomfort from her chest prevented her from sleeping deeply, so she slipped in and out of consciousness instead, skimming along the barrier between dreams and waking. The room seemed almost to distort, the walls becoming a jelly-like liquid and shimmering oddly in the dim light. There was a heartbeat, monotonously slow and achingly distant. A sense of vertigo as the bed seemed to shift and almost dip into the floor, starting to travel towards the source of the strange sound. She felt a presence, ancient and unknown, sleeping deep below. Did the heartbeat belong to it?

She felt her own heartbeat speed up as she fell further down, encapsulated in the shimmering jelly. It had a color, but it couldn’t be described. Arms, hands, forces tugged at her, pulling her deeper into the fathomless depths of the planet. The pull accelerated and she started to fight against it, her struggles serving only to elicit a deep, rumbling chuckle. The presence below still slept, but there was something else here. Something with hands and arms and a voice. I’m dreaming. Wake up. Come on, wake up! The dream stubbornly stayed intact, and this was when Eva really started to panic. She had always been able to at least wake herself up from nightmares. Never before had she been trapped in dreams with something laughing and pulling and blocking her from waking up. The jelly began to change and mutate. Its color and texture faded, becoming less viscous and a duller and duller shade. The laughter grew louder, the acceleration grew faster, and she knew that in a matter of moments, she would meet whatever entity was responsible for all th - HONK. Eva’s eyes shot open and she reflexively sat up in bed, gasping for breath and then groaning as her chest strained under the pressure. HONK. Was... was that a car alarm? HONK. She let herself flop back onto the pillow, trying to get her breathing under control as the alarm continued to blare. After maybe fifteen seconds, someone finally stopped it. “What the hell was that?” she whispered to herself. She didn’t have any satisfying answer to that question. About 25 minutes later, Sid walked in. He was of average height and average build, with average shaggy brown hair. Unremarkable in every way except that he led a secret resistance movement. “Hey Eva, how are you feeling?” he asked in his characteristically soft voice, pulling up a chair and sitting on it the wrong way around. Matt and Charlie followed him in and shut the door.

“Fantastic,” Eva grimaced. “I think I’ll go jump off a skyscraper again as soon as I get better just so I can go through this a second time.” “Glad to hear you didn’t lose your sense of humor. I’m hoping you’ll avoid any further skyscraper-jumping for the foreseeable future, if that’s alright with you.” “That’s a tough ask, but alright. Just for you.” Sid smiled. “Good. Now. I’m sure we’ve all - er, most of us - have a lot to get done tonight, so I’m going to just get started. Matt and Charlie, you two have already heard some of this. Eva, it should all be new to you. But I’m sure you’re all wondering what exactly our next plan is, now that we have some understanding of what Project Apotheosis involves. Well, the overall goal is to learn more about it. Those notes only posed more questions, but they also reinforced a key observation: whatever that project is, it’s of critical importance to the government. They’re willing to pull out all the stops to keep us from getting our hands on it, so we have to be willing to do the same to get our hands on it. With that in mind, our next mission is...”

- Raiding a cargo train carrying supplies for Apotheosis. Not just to hurt the project, but to learn about some of the classified materials in use.

- Breaking a particular person out of prison. Formerly a Xera employee, now an inmate at one of the most heavily fortified locations in the world.

️ - Infiltrating the Office of Records and Information Security and stealing additional information. Plus, deleting a certain level four warrant. [Or suggest something else!] (Winner:

️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 17-Aug-20 10:37 PM

Scene 21 “To infiltrate ORIS and gather additional information. Plus, while there, I’m sure we could manage to slip and ‘accidentally’ delete a certain level four warrant.” Eva looked up at Matt. “Wow, you really weren’t kidding. We are going big.” ORIS, the Office of Records and Information Security, was a very important department in the central core of bureaucracy that made up New Brighton’s government. If Civil Protection was the arms and weapons of the beast, then ORIS was the mind and memory. It was well known that every bit of data gathered by any governmental agency - and many more purchased from private suppliers - ended up in the central ORIS complex and distributed to any other office that needed it. Most megacities of New Brighton’s size had an ORIS department, and they all shared records between themselves. That meant that if a criminal were wanted in one of the major cities, they would be wanted in all of them. However, that also meant that if, in one city, a warrant mysteriously went missing, the other cities would quickly follow suit as the gargantuan server farms synced the changes. Obviously deleting the warrant wouldn’t stop CP agents from pursuing her - they didn’t sync their memories from ORIS - but it would be a huge help in defeating the automated surveillance systems that covered the city like so many layers of spiderwebs. “Hang on, actually,” Matt interrupted. “Couldn’t they just, you know, re-issue the warrant once they noticed it was missing? I’m sure there’s an active investigation going on here.” “That’s right,” Sid agreed. “That’s why we’ll be deleting her file too. And all of ours, if we can get away with it. In this line of work, it’s only a matter of time before we get found out too, and getting rid of all the biometric data they’ve got on us is the only way to be safe from automated profiling. We’ll be invisible to the system.”

At this point Charlie leaned forward and raised an eyebrow. “Do you have any idea how difficult it would be to wipe every copy of that data they’ve got? I don’t know exactly how ORIS works, but let me count how many backups they probably have.” He held up his fingers for emphasis. “One: the original. Two: the onsite backup. Three: the offsite backup. Four: the cold storage backup. Five through thirty-eight: the other ORIS facilities around the country. And those facilities each have their own backups too, I’m sure. Actually deleting something, permanently, from the ORIS system is just insanity. It’ll never happen.” “Sure about that?” Sid stood up and walked over to the table, placing a miniature projector on it and turning it on. A few moments later, the far wall was a blank page. He typed “ORIS” near the top, then added two child items: “Steal records” and “Delete records.” “There’s a lot of work to do, sure, but we can’t just stop here at the first impossible hurdle. Balking at ORIS means we don’t even get the chance to take down CP; that’s the real impossibility. So let’s start with deleting the records. You mentioned a few things we’ll need to take care of.” Sid typed these out as he spoke. “The original copy. The onsite backup. The offsite backup. Cold storage. And the other ORIS facilities. A few of these can be linked together; there are basically three things we need to do.” He grouped “original,” “onsite,” and “cold” into one bubble. “First, delete all the on-site copies from the local ORIS complex. Second, get rid of the backup facility, if it even exists. I feel like the other branches of ORIS count pretty well for an offsite backup. So third - or second, if I’m right - is syncing the changes to the other ORIS facilities and their backups too.” He looked up at the wall. “That doesn’t seem too hard, now that it’s broken down like that. Any ideas?”

Eva frowned. “Isn’t cold storage like a physical vault? Would we have to go there in person?” “Yes.” Charlie nodded. “Generally backed-up data is written to tape or disk, then stored in a warehouse. The storage facility is usually onsite in case a restore has to happen quickly. Anything could work here, from a quick snatch and grab of the one record we need to a total destruction of the area.” “Do we... know what the place looks like?” “Not really,” Sid admitted, typing “Recon” onto the board. “ORIS doesn’t make it very easy to get something like a floor plan of their building. But once we know where it is, I’m sure our star infiltrator could figure out a plan.” “Eva” was written on the board next to “Cold storage.” Matt leaned forward, off the wall. “Hang on, what about all the other ORIS facilities? Wouldn’t they have their own cold storage? We can’t possibly hit every one in the country.” Charlie was already shaking his head. “You might think that, but given the enormous amount of data that ORIS stores, it would be prohibitively expensive to store an offline copy of every single bit of data, even stuff not relevant to the local facility. If I had to guess, they only back up data that’s local to that particular branch.” He closed his eyes, thinking. “Yeah... this... might actually... hmm. If I can...” “Alright, let’s give him a minute, then.” Sid turned his attention to the “Recon” section. “It’s not going to be easy to dig up information on ORIS. I can put out some feelers, see if I have any contacts who know anything, but I have a feeling we’re gonna come up short. Matt, do you still have that drone? I think we may want to go in a bit more directly.” “Yep! A little worse for wear after its last encounter with CP, but still definitely functional. I can see what I can find out. What’s our timeline on this?”

Side typed “Matt” next to “Recon.” “Well, given that we’ll need Eva to actually pull this off - unless you want to try and recruit another infiltrator as good as she is - let’s say a month. Gives time to heal and time to plan. Sound good?” Two nods. Eva was just happy she would get to take part. Charlie finally opened his eyes. “If you give me a few days to source some biometric readers, I can take scans of the data we want to get rid of, then write a script to find and delete it. That should work on the primary system and the backup, assuming they use the same architecture. It would also be useful while you’re out flying-” he nodded to Matt. “-to see if you can figure out what vendor supplies their primary and backup systems, or if they’re homegrown. Helps me tailor the script to a particular model.” “Gotcha. Will do.” “Charlie” was typed next to “original” and “onsite backup.” Sid looked over the whole chart. “I don’t suppose there’s much hope in being able to get those deleted remotely?” “Maybe. But we’d have to coordinate the timing pretty closely, because if I remove them too soon, they’ll restore from cold storage. Too late and they’ll be able to take another backup. It would be more consistent to use the same remote hands approach that we’ve been running for the past few missions.” A nod. “Alright, that’s not a big deal. We’d have to go in anyway. Is there anything special about making sure the changes sync to the other ORIS branches?” Charlie shrugged. “Not really. They should sync automatically, and as long as they don’t notice for however long the backup rotation is, everything should be all set. I’d say probably a week at least, two to be safe. If we’re feeling extra confident, there might be a flag we can set on the deleted records that marks it as redacted or something and automatically removes it from the backups.” Sid nodded. “That sounds good. You want to see if you can do something like that?”

“I can certainly try. Again, it would be real helpful to know what vendor supplies these systems so I can see what sort of flag would be used.” “Noted. I’m sure Matt won’t have a problem finding that out. Now, what about stealing records?” “Well, that should be pretty simple. We’re already going to have to be in the system to delete the other stuff, so just copying things down by a keyword will be pretty easy. The only concern would be to make sure whatever account we compromise has enough access to get them. I have to bet Apotheosis stuff will be pretty restricted, even to ORIS staff.” “Alright, we’ll have to pick a target. You think we can phish credentials?” “Not a chance. High level ORIS guys all use physical security keys; that’s fairly well known. Even getting a password won’t do much good without the key. Might be helpful anyway, though. I can do some poking if you can get me a target.” “Sid/Charlie” was written next to “Credentials,” and “Steal records” was linked to “Delete records.” “See? Not too bad when you look at it like this. And we’ve got some goals for the next few weeks. Matt, get as much info as you can on the ORIS facility. Charlie, get that script written. I’ll do some social engineering and see what I can dig up on the people there. Eva... you focus on getting better, okay? We need you to heal quickly so you’re at full strength when it’s go time.” She frowned, trying not to actively pout. “Isn’t there anything I can be doing? Sitting in bed for a month sounds really... boring?” “Well...” Charlie cut him off. “You want to find us a geneticist? Someone who can understand the data we got from Xera?” “Well, I was hoping more for-” “No, Charlie’s right. Making use of our existing information is very important, and tracking down someone who might be able to help us is something you can do from bed. Sound good?” “... Sure.”

“Excellent. Now, talking about the specific logistics given the training and recruitment events we already have scheduled, I think...” Eva slowly lost focus on the conversation as Sid, Matt, and Charlie hashed out a more concrete plan for how to allocate their resources. She lay in bed only a couple feet away, but feeling far more distant. Not part of the conversation or the group. She sighed internally. This had been happening more often lately; it seemed like when she wasn’t on missions, she just didn’t have much to contribute. Sometimes she felt like she was nothing more than a tool - an infiltration drone that had to be attended to lest it break, but didn’t really need to be indulged beyond that. She shook her head slightly. It wasn’t like that. They cared for her. She had been assigned an important task, plus she didn’t really ask to be involved in the logistical planning anyway. It wasn’t fair for her to be thinking like this. Still. The feeling lingered.

- Try to pay attention anyway.

- Tune it out; go to sleep.

- Ask them to leave, politely.

- Ask them to leave, passive aggressively. [Non-duplicate votes from the two “leave” options will be combined and the one with more votes will win if the overall leave option is chosen.] (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 21-Aug-20 03:48 PM

Scene 22 Eva tried her best to pay attention, at least vaguely, and even managed to interject here or there with some bit of information or advice. By the time the logistics were mostly straightened out, she felt at least a little better. Sid and Charlie bid her and Matt goodnight as they headed out. “I’ll be around, Eva,” Matt said, slinging the rifle across his back. “Not right here, but patrolling nearby. Keeping an eye on things. You lemme know if you need anything, yeah?” “Mm hm.” “Great. See you in the morning.” With that, he closed the door and exited into the main body of the warehouse. Eva sighed and half-turned, unable to entirely alleviate the pain in her chest no matter what position she was in. She didn’t feel sleepy at all, just... unfocused. Too many things going on in the world, but absolutely nothing in this room besides the hum of the fans above. Maybe if she just closed her eyes for a moment... ! Some time later, some mechanical part clanked and scraped in the ceiling. Eva blinked awake, completely disoriented, and sat up in bed. She rubbed her eyes, groggily looking around the pitch-black room for the glow of her phone’s charging light. Ah. 2:39 in the morning. And now she was wide awake. Great. ... With a limited air of unreality, Eva quietly pushed the covers off and stepped out of bed, again shivering at the touch of the cool concrete floor. She grabbed her phone to take with and gently pushed open the door far enough to peek out into the warehouse. Dark and empty. Perfect.

Her footsteps were silent as she made her way through the cavernous room, passing barrel after barrel and vat after vat, all of which had presumably once been someone’s livelihood. Maybe some of them still held alcohol, quietly aging and waiting for the day they would finally be opened. She passed the door Matt had used yesterday and kept moving. She didn’t plan on going out to the street, especially not when her outfit consisted entirely of underwear and bandages. No, she had spotted a ladder poking up above one of the vats in her brief look yesterday. And if she wasn’t going to be sleeping, she might as well check it out. The ladder was old and crooked, but was bolted securely to the wall and seemed sound enough. It didn’t creak or shift when she placed a foot on the bottom rung, so that was good enough for her. She left her phone on a barrel near the base of the ladder and started climbing. The stretching hurt, so she slowed down and tried to reduce how far she was reaching at a time. The thought of stopping never entered her mind. Eventually, she reached a ledge and pulled herself up, again wincing at the pain. The roof was low and slanted just overhead, so she had to crouch. The ledge seemed to be a narrow wooden lip that ringed the entire warehouse, just below the roof. What purpose it served was hard to discern, so Eva carefully moved further along, looking for any clues. After only a few yards, she came across an irregularity in the roof: a large, vertical window broke the roof’s slant and allowed her to stand. She quietly shifted aside a long-forgotten broom and bucket and tried the latch. It moved reluctantly, but after a few moments of effort, she had gotten it open. Eva poked her head out and looked around.

The warehouse stood midway down a street of old industrial buildings, most seemingly abandoned or in some state of disuse. There were no functioning streetlights, though there were several broken ones she could see. A couple of blocks in either direction led to larger, better lit streets seeming to host similar industrial buildings in better repair. Several still emitted noise or smoke, working into the night. A handful of people were visible scurrying here and there, heads down and not making eye contact with anyone else. Most seemed to avoid the lights. Eva looked up. The cavern roof - referred to by some, almost affectionately, as ‘the Lid’ - was just as imposing as she remembered. A solid mass of millions of tons of solid rock hovered impossibly overhead. Occasional fans or exhaust ducts dotted the surface, and large metal support pillars were visible every few blocks. From her position - probably about 40 feet above street level - the Lid was still over a hundred feet away. She glared at it. The air was stale. Recycled. The only stars were the slowly-blinking lights ringing the rare roboports that allowed drone passage between the undercity and New Brighton proper. No moon, no clouds, no sky. In the morning, the only difference would be how many streetlights were turned on.

Eva pulled herself back into the warehouse and shut the window, not entirely sure what she was doing up here. She turned around, climbed back down the ladder, and returned to her room without further incident aside from a slowly rising sense of befuddlement. Had she had a plan? A purpose? Did she really need one? Oh well. She took another dose of painkillers before crawling back into bed, aware that the medicine would knock her out quickly. She had a job to do in the morning. But... how?

- Contact Landon. [Specify how and what she should say in #story_discussion.]

- Advertise, ask online, do some research. Normal, primarily legal methods.

- Poke around Sid’s contacts and underground forums. Less legal methods. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 24-Aug-20 02:53 PM

Scene 23 Two weeks later... “Ironwood is next. Doors open on the left at Ironwood. Transfer to Blue and Red line trains at Ironwood. This is a Green line train to Water’s Edge.” Landon looked up at the announcement and started to get up. The train felt different this morning - all the passengers in their fancy business suits seemed quiet and subdued. Honestly, he was surprised there were as many people here as there were. The NBTA had worked quickly to restore service to Ironwood, and this Monday morning 7:30 express was the first train to be carrying passengers to the freshly reopened station. He peered out the window towards the platform. Everything looked almost exactly the same as the last time he had been here. There was no trace of the fire, smoke, twisted and broken metal, or the wreckage of the platform and two trains that he was assured had been present only a little over two weeks ago. Several passengers anxiously glanced out the windows or held their breath as the train pulled in and slowed safely to a stop. “This is Ironwood. Transfer to Blue and Red line trains at Ironwood. This is a Green line train to Water’s Edge.” Landon funneled off the train with the rest of the crowds and made his way down the stairs towards Xera, still glancing around to see if there was any evidence of the devastating crash. Nothing remained. Even the plants had been replaced. The cleaners had done an excellent job. Almost too excellent a job.

Regardless, that wasn’t relevant at the moment. Today was going to be an important day. The past two weeks had passed in a blur of long days (and sometimes nights) as he and Maya worked tirelessly to meet the increasingly ridiculous deadlines Hynes had imposed. Thankfully, after about a week and a half, the director began to ease off and seemed to begrudgingly start to recognize them as part of the team. On Friday, the two of them had submitted a neural interface schematic that would be going into the next iteration of the implant that was the team’s overall goal. And late on Sunday evening, Landon had received an email from the manufacturing team stating that the implant was complete and ready for integration. More to the point, he would get to test it, reporting directly back to the lab 9401 where he had first been introduced to the brains in tanks. Quietly, he hoped that someone had already done the installation. Maya was already in the locker room when he arrived, as was a taller, stubbled man with a dark ponytail. “Morning Maya, Manny,” Landon said as he opened his locker. “Exciting day today, yes? Your first integration test. I hope you don’t mind that Hynes has requested I accompany you two and make sure you don’t ruin one of the specimens.” “Oh no, that’s fine. Good, even. Don’t want to be ruining anything.” Maya seemed a little on edge. Landon didn’t blame her; she had done most of the design work for the interface. If it didn’t work, she would take a lot of the blame. “I’m sure it will go fine.” Manny patted her on the shoulder. “It’s only once you’re working in the real lab that there’s much of a risk of failure. In here, the worst that can really happen is killing a specimen. In there, well... you’ll find out soon enough if you keep learning.” Landon shrugged on the lab coat and started working on the gloves. “So what does an integration test mean, actually? What are we going to be doing today?”

Manny leaned back against the wall and counted up points on his fingers. “Well, first we’re gonna need to install the implant. It’s in there already and all clean, but since we keep changing the interface design, manufacturing isn’t messing with actually putting it in until we’ve standardized that. Then, we’ll hook it up to one of the tanks and push some memories in. Finally, test the brain to see how well the donor memories meshed with the host’s. It’s usually the last part that goes wrong and ends with specimens either dying straight up or getting the memories wrong.” “Okay, so what’s our specimen today?” “This one’s pretty recently donated; someone who died from a car crash. Their body was unsalvageable, but the brain survived long enough to make it here to one of these tanks. Doesn’t really matter too much who they were before, as we’re going to be applying a full overwrite today. Hopefully we’ll manage to turn this brain into a near-perfect copy of the ‘Henry’ dataset that I believe you’re already familiar with.” Landon nodded, remembering the words “KILL ME” written over and over on the screen. He finally managed to get the face shield secured and Manny gestured to the airlock. “You two ready to get this started?”

- Landon will help install the implant.

- Landon will help prepare the donor memories. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 27-Aug-20 08:56 PM

Scene 24 The next half hour or so passed relatively quickly as Maya and Manny worked on installing the implant while Landon loaded and configured the Henry dataset into the computer attached to the tank they would be using, trying not to look at the brain surgery. He was fairly successful with this and, as such, was almost caught off-guard when Maya nudged him as he was messing with some of the finer calibrations, saying “We’re ready.” Barely five minutes later, the brain was in the tank and hooked up to the computer. Landon queued up the Henry dataset and primed it to start the overwrite, then looked to Manny just to be safe. The older man leaned over, toggled a switch from off to on, gave a thumbs up, and returned to his former position. “Everything except the ‘large block write’ option was good. You want that on for full overwrites, otherwise it takes forever. Whenever you’re ready, kiddo.” Landon gently pressed the button and the tank’s light turned a dark shade of purple. A progress bar flashed up on the screen and slowly started to fill, but aside from that, there wasn’t much fanfare. The brain didn’t writhe or bloat, the lights didn’t flash, the computer didn’t throw sparks or spit smoke. It was all kind of underwhelming, though he knew it would be. A couple of tense minutes passed before the computer gave a cheerful ding and the tank’s lighting returned to blue. Landon looked between Maya and Manny. “Did... it work?” Manny gestured to the computer and leaned back. “You tell me, kids. I’m not here to do the test for you; just to make sure you don’t break anything.” Maya tapped at the keyboard and pulled up a screen that Landon only vaguely remembered from the documentation. “Looks like... neural activity is normal, no signs of deformation or necrosis. It’s, uh, not dead at least. I... Landon, do you remember how to do the comparison against the baseline?” “Uh...”

“Oh, right. It’s just Analyze / Baseline, then pick the file. Thanks.” He gave a weak smile and a thumbs up. Manny grinned at him. “Looks like...” Maya stepped back in surprise, then did a double take. “That can’t be right. 99.7% match?” She shook her head and fiddled with the analysis settings. “I did something wrong. There’s no way...” Manny leaned forward, one eyebrow raising as he took in the chart. “That’s looking very promising. Very promising, indeed. Landon, ask it some questions while she tries to convince herself.” “Uh, okay.” Landon pressed up against the table and grabbed the other keyboard that would communicate with the brain. “Let’s start easy... ‘What is your name?’” Just as the last time he had been in here, lights flashed and the EEG-like chart spiked. Several seconds passed before a response wrote itself on the screen. “HENRY.” Manny gave Landon a double set of fingerguns. “Solid start, dudes. Ask it something else.” “Uhh...” Landon typed out another question. “How old are you?” A delay, then “36.” The correct age. “What is your job?” “ACCOUNTANT.” Correct again. After several more questions to confirm the basic facts - and after Maya had convinced herself that the match percentage wasn’t a fluke - Landon went for the gold. None of the brains so far had been capable of rationalizing after an overwrite; their memories were intact, but something about the ability to think and reason had been destroyed. He typed “Where do you think you are?” Another delay, much longer this time. Over 80 seconds passed as the graph spiked over and over again. Landon stared at it the entire time, nervous beyond belief. Finally, a message wrote itself on the screen. “HELL?” There was a brief moment of pause before Manny laughed uproariously and snared Maya and Landon in a bear hug. “You little geniuses!” he shouted, still laughing. “What did you change? Oh man, the boss is gonna flip when she hears this.”

Maya, concerned but elated, launched into an explanation of the interface design and the associated decisions she had made. Landon had already heard this speech and even understood some of the words; he glanced over at the screen again, uneasy. “Hell,” it had said. Did this brain think it was being tortured? Nervously, he reached out and typed another word into the console. “Why?” The graph spiked, but a response was returned much faster. “I DIED. I CAN’T SENSE ANYTHING. TERRIFYING THOUGHTS KEEP APPEARING IN MY HEAD. THE DEVIL IS ASKING WHY.” Landon backed away from the table, uncomfortable. He almost interjected, but Maya looked so radiantly happy at her success that he couldn’t. She deserved this. But still... was this brain conscious? Were they torturing it? ... Was he torturing it? Landon didn’t know, but he didn’t like thinking about it. He should be thrilled at the progress they had made. Right? Yeah... “Stop, stop,” Manny said. “I’m going cross-eyed. You’d better write this up for publication ASAP, okay? I need to read it, and so does the director. But first...” He glanced from side to side and leaned down slightly. “I know Hynes probably wouldn’t approve of this right now, but this is the furthest we’ve gotten in months. I think we need to get this implant into one of the full test subjects as soon as possible to make up some time on this project. If she gets upset, it was my idea. If she’s happy, it was yours. You in? You’ll get to see the big boy lab.” Is Landon in? ✅ - Yes.

- No, and he should try to discourage Manny and Maya from doing this.

- No, but he’ll just stay here and clean up if Manny and Maya want to do this. (Winner: ✅ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 29-Aug-20 08:14 PM

Scene 25 “Of course!” Maya said, still elated from the successful test. “Landon, you coming?” “Uh, y-yeah. Sure.” “Alright! Is that a ‘right now’ thing, Manny?” “Heck yeah, my dudes! Here, let me just set up an automated testing battery on this thing. You two grab another implant and wait outside room 9408, alright? That’s the other lab. I’ll be out in a few minutes.” Maya hurried out of the lab, Landon following more reluctantly behind. After the decontamination lock had cycled and the two of them were removing their PPE, he nervously spoke. “Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, Hynes just stopped trying to kill us with work. Do you really want to risk making her-” “It’s fine, Landon. Manny knows what he’s doing. He’ll cover for us if she gets mad, and just think about how much further we could get if it works!” Landon made a noise somewhere between a whimper and a verbal shrug. “I’m just trying to be careful. I don’t want to... well, you know.” “It’ll be fiiine. Come on, let’s go.” “...” Manny showed up after about five more minutes and tapped into the other lab. Landon hadn’t recognized it at first, but now that he was inside the locker room, he recognized it as where Baxley had brought him that first night just after the break in and his interview with Civil Protection. “Here, just grab the stuff from this locker over here. It’s the spares; they won’t mind if anything goes missing. Same as the other one; face shield, lab coat, and gloves. While you’re getting that on, let me explain a little bit of what you’re in for.” Manny bowed with a little flourish before continuing. “You’ve worked with the little test subjects before. Well, the full subjects are pretty similar. They’re still brains; the only real difference is they’re completely artificial. There aren’t any memories to overwrite, whether to get in the way or to help hide any sloppiness of the transfer. Every subject is a clean slate.” He frowned slightly.

“That does mean, however, that screwing it up can have slightly more problematic consequences. As blank as they are, these brains are very impressionable and tend to fill in any blanks in the memories you give them with whatever they want to come up with. And, due to a quirk of how they’re grown - I don’t know exactly, that’s another team’s job - what they’re thinking tends to become what they are. Basically, just know that this lab is why we have a full security force on standby on this floor. Not that I’m anticipating any problems, but, you know. Just in case.” Maya’s enthusiasm was barely tempered. Landon, on the other hand, muttered “What do you mean they become what they’re thinking?” “It’s... well it’s a little complicated. I’m not really sure I understand it myself, but trust me when I say their physical bodies can reform to become who or what they think they are. So if everything goes well in a few minutes, you might just get to see what Henry looked like!” He stared at Manny for a moment. “Uh...” “Look, you’ll believe it when you see it. Just come on, hurry it up. I’m not gonna be able to do it justice just by trying to explain it. Are you ready yet or what?” “Y-yeah, yeah...” The door slid open into another airlock and Manny led the two of them in. The chamber cycled and the far door slid open, revealing nothing but darkness. Manny led them in, whispering, “We leave the lights off because they can get irritable if we don’t. Same reason we don’t talk too loud. Don’t worry though; it’s perfectly safe.” “I wasn’t worried until you said that,” Landon admitted. “Don’t be. Just, don’t get too worried when I flip the lights on, okay?” “I wasn’t going to until you said that,” he hissed. “Alright, alright. I’m turning the lights on. Ready?” Click.

Maya was the one who gasped, not Landon. She covered her mouth quickly, but both Manny and Landon had noticed. “Yeah, it can be a bit surprising the first time. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to them,” Manny said reassuringly. Floating suspended in a dozen tanks spaced around the clinically clean room were twelve nude humanoids. Most were bald, smooth, and without any defining features. Several had hair, moles, crooked limbs, or in one particular case, a tail. The rest, however, were simply long, thin, blank, and limp. Landon, though he hadn’t seen the monster in the alleyway, had a hunch he knew why Maya was so surprised.

- Tell Manny about the monster in the alleyway.

- Don’t.

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Professional Nerd Blah 31-Aug-20 08:28 PM

Scene 26 “R-ight.” Maya composed herself and shot a meaningful glance at Landon, all but confirming his suspicion. She’d definitely have some words for him after this. “Okay, let me get this installed, then. I’m gonna need one of you two to help out a bit, just to keep things stable. Maya?” “Yep. Let’s do it.” She stepped forward. Landon turned away, wanting to witness brain surgery on a human or human-like being even less than on just a naked brain. Instead, he took some time to look around the lab and examine the other floating specimens a little more closely. As he had previously observed, there were really two categories. He counted seven of the long, thin, limp humanoids. They were bald, lacked any visible sexual characteristics, and in general just seemed incredibly generic. They floated in their tanks, connected to the base and lid by several thin wires and clear tubes. They all seemed to be asleep, just gently drifting and waiting for something to happen. The remaining specimens were much more well-defined. They all looked very unique, with differing amounts of hair, different skin tones, and different general body shapes and sizes. Most, though not all, had sexual characteristics, and the one that didn’t was the one with a tail and long, talon-like claws. These specimens seemed to resemble actual human beings much more closely (with the exception of the one with the tail) rather than generic templates like the others. He presumed these were the ones that had been implanted with memories and their bodies had changed to match who or what they thought they were.

Two of these specimens actually seemed to be awake and silently watching Landon from their tanks: a larger, muscular man with the beginnings of black stubble on its - his? - face, and a smaller woman with what seemed to be an extra joint in one arm and both legs. He shivered as two sets of eyes scrutinized him while he surveyed the room. Neither of them moved, aside from their eyes, but the piercing stares were still extremely unsettling. He turned around and hurried back to Maya and Manny, who were already finishing up. “Alright, are you guys ready for this? I’m excited, to be honest. We’ve been using the Henry dataset for months now and we still don’t know what he looked like. I’ve got full confidence we’ll find out today.” Maya gave a weak thumbs up. Landon just swallowed nervously. “Yeah, that’s fair,” Manny said. “Takes a few times till you get used to this room. Don’t worry, they’re still not people. Just like the brains. These specimens are just meat that we’re trying to get to behave in a certain way with electrical impulses. Anyway, let’s get this party started.” He tapped a few keys and one of the tubes in the tank slowly began to fill with liquid. Landon looked down. He was starting to have doubts about the whole “the specimens aren’t people” thing. Those eyes... there had been an expression there. An emotion. Something had been staring at him from inside those bodies. He just wasn’t sure what it was, or what it was trying to say. When he looked up again, the body in the tank had started to warp and shift. Slowly, but definitely. The torso and arms shortened and broadened. The skin tone began to change. Muscles flexed, grew, and shrank. Hair began to sprout. Finally, after about two minutes and several tweaks to the process from Manny, the specimen’s eyes opened. Landon held his breath as the pupils dilated, then contracted and focused on the three of them. The specimen screamed.

Landon stumbled back, almost tripping over a floor tile but managing to keep his footing. The noise vibrated through the tank and rippled out into the lab, quiet and muffled, but still definitely recognizable. The specimen thrashed in the fluid, yanking at the cables and tubes that bound it. Blood spilled into the tank as IVs were ripped carelessly out. Manny typed furiously at the controls and Maya stared blankly up as Landon locked eyes with the specimen. He couldn’t read lips, but at that moment, it was clear that ‘Henry’ was screaming “HELP ME.”

- Stay put, frozen in place. Manny will handle this. [Added per suggestion: see what the other specimens' reactions are.]

- Get out. Bring Maya if she’ll come.

- Release the specimen, or at least try to convince Manny to do so.

- Call security. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 02-Sep-20 03:57 PM

Scene 27 Landon couldn’t decide what to do, so he just stayed put. What could he do, anyway? He didn’t know how to operate one of these tanks; they were much more compli - what was that noise? He spun on his heel to look around the lab and pinpoint the source of the sound. It didn’t take him long to discover that the two specimens that had previously been watching him were screaming too. Their mouths were barely open, each spraying a steady stream of bubbles from one corner while the rest of the face stayed frozen in a perfectly neutral expression. The eyes spun wildly, darting between Landon, Manny, Maya, and ‘Henry.’ Despite himself, Landon stepped closer and stared up at the nearest specimen, the smaller woman with extra joints, trying to understand. Her - its? - eyes followed him as he approached, though the scream and stream of bubbles continued unabated. He glanced down at the control panel, his ears ringing from the vibrations and his mental state confused from the situation and constant exhaustion he had suffered over the past few weeks. ... Landon never would be entirely sure what he would have done if he had been given just a few more seconds with the control panel. Unfortunately, his time of reflection was cut short by the screeching peal of breaking glass and Manny shouting. “Come on, kids, time to go! With me!” Landon turned and his eyes widened. ‘Henry’ had mutated considerably farther in the last minute or so. His flesh stretched and bulged, pounding against the glass and forming hairline fractures. Little droplets of fluid dripped to the ground, splattering the empty control panel. Blood clouded the liquid and the still-human face of ‘Henry’ continued to shriek and howl in pain and madness, consumed by mounds of billowing, rippling flesh. Manny was running back towards the exit, dragging Maya along with him. She stumbled but managed to get her legs under her and started running alongside him.

Landon decided it was high time he did the same and sprinted towards the door, never glancing back as the screaming grew louder and more animalistic, or as the heavy sounds of glass and liquid crashing to the floor overwhelmed the quieter shouts. He almost seemed pushed forward by the shockwave of the tank collapsing. He blinked. A team of eight heavily-armed Xera guards met and passed by them in the locker room, overriding the decontamination lock and rushing into the lab. Gunfire and screams erupted before the door slid shut and silence reigned. He blinked again. “-ou alright? Hello? Hey, pay attention. Landon, focus.” Maya’s face swam overhead, blurry against the ceiling lights. “...ggh?” he replied. “Stay with me. Manny’s gone to get help.” Some indistinct noise babbled at the outermost edge of his awareness and she turned towards it, nervous. After a moment, she nodded and returned her focus to him. “Hey! Don’t go to sleep. Talk to me. Do you remember what just happened?” It was getting increasingly difficult to keep his eyes open. Everything felt so cold. He tried to form a response but couldn’t remember how to speak at the moment. Some mouth-related set of muscles triggered but he couldn’t tell if he made a noise. “No, no, no. Don’t close your eyes. Stay awa...” He drifted away.

- Pass out. Dream.

- Drift in and out of consciousness.

- Pass out, hard. Wake up later. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 03-Sep-20 04:42 PM

Scene 28 Stars spun and colors erupted behind his eyelids. Landon couldn’t move and every sensation felt numb and far away. He strained, trying to ignore the kaleidoscopic display right in front of his eyes. What was going on? He could still hear, though dimly, and the world outside kept fading in and out, sometimes skipping ahead what felt like several minutes without apparent cause. What happened? Distantly, a voice filtered in. It sounded furious. Hynes, probably. There was some sort of high-pitched ringing that meant he could only barely hear what she was saying, but what he could catch wasn’t encouraging. Something about “immediate termination,” “removal from the project,” and “never seen a bigger disaster before.” He felt like he was floating. Someone else was talking, rapidly listing off instructions that Landon didn’t understand. “No medigel yet; gotta remove the...” “- are stuck. Get me the pl...” “Okay, looking good. Still got a pulse?” A voice that he thought he recognized as Maya’s. “- going to live?” “How long until...” “How bad was it?” Someone else muttered a response, but it was so quiet he couldn’t hear. Then, silence for a long while. Eventually, Landon woke up. He blinked, looking around. He was in a hospital, presumably, lying in a bed and surrounded by sterile-smelling sheets and medical equipment. There was no one around and he felt... fine, basically. It probably wouldn’t be too wise to get up and wander around while attached to whatever this IV was, though, so he stayed put and resolved to wait it out. There didn’t seem to be an obvious call button anywhere. Luckily, he only had to wait about fifteen minutes before a nurse in standard blue scrubs walked purposefully into the room. “Ah, you’re awake,” he said, changing course and heading for Landon’s bedside. “Feeling better?” “...Yeah, I’m feeling completely fine, actually. What happened?”

“To be brief, you had a big shard of glass stuck in your back. Xera wasn’t real clear on how it got there, so you’ll have to ask them if you don’t remember, but we were able to get it out. Your insurance is diamond-tier, as well, so you got a couple of minutes in the molecular reassembler. You should be 100% good as new, with pretty much no side effects. No co-pay, either. Man, you’re a lucky guy. Well, lucky for someone who somehow had a giant shard of glass in his back an hour ago.” Landon tilted his head, confused. “How did... my insurance, er nevermind, I guess. Not questioning it.” The nurse nodded and stood up, walking around to the other side of the bed. “Good choice. I don’t see many diamond-tier people pass through, and those that do are almost always CEOs or politicians. No offense, but you don’t look like either of those.” “No, I just work for Xera.” He shook his head and winced as the nurse quietly removed the IV. “So, am I good to just... go?” “Yessir, you certainly are. The reassembler is basically magic, if you ask me. Any doctor without special tools wouldn’t even be able to tell you had been injured at all. You should be clear to walk right out the front door and even head back to work tomorrow if you want. Make sure to check with Xera first, obviously.” “Tomorrow? What time is it?” “Oh, right. You have been out a while. It’s 6... 17 PM. Here, let me get you some clothes. I hope you weren’t too attached to the old ones; they’re pretty ruined from all the glass and blood and everything.” Landon accepted the plain grey outfit. “Ugh, that was a Xera polo. They charge like 80 credits for a new one.” The nurse shrugged. “Sorry. I personally think that if that’s the worst thing you’ve got to complain about today, you’re doing pretty swell.” “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, I don’t mean to sound... well, you know.”

The nurse gave a thumbs up, then stepped out of the room to let Landon change. After a minute, he was given back his phone, wallet, and keys, then led through the clean white corridors of the hospital to the front door. “Alright sir, you have a good evening. I hope we don’t see you again. Train station is that way a few blocks.” The door slid shut and he was alone on the streets as the sun set. He quietly sat down on one of the benches just outside the hospital entrance and pulled out his phone, trying to ignore the darkening shadows of the concrete jungle around him. One text, from Maya: “hey, call me when you get out of the hospital. we gotta talk” One email, from Hynes: “Mr Kozlov, You are expected to come in to work tomorrow morning as usual. Report to my office, 9414, at 8:00 AM exactly. - Director Hynes” Well, that wasn’t unexpected. What should he do? [Pick one from each block]

- Call Maya now.

- Call Maya when he gets home.

- Don’t call Maya.

- Go to work tomorrow.

- Quit, run, hide, whatever it takes to get away from this nonsense. (Winners:

,

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 05-Sep-20 06:30 PM

Scene 29 Landon considered waiting until he got home to call Maya, but given the crazy events of today, he figured she’d probably appreciate it if he just called her now. He put his phone up to his ear, glancing around the area to make sure no one was too close. Maya picked up on the second ring. “Hey. Doing alright?” “I’m fine, surprisingly. Somehow I have diamond-tier insurance now, so I got the molecular reassembler. Wouldn’t even know I had a shard of glass in my back if the nurse hadn’t told me.” She sighed, presumably in relief, though it was hard to tell through the phone connection. “Good. Apparently our position here grants certain benefits, like that level of insurance. I’m glad you’re doing okay. I... yeah, that wasn’t a good few hours.” Maya paused long enough that Landon felt like he should say something. “Uh... so, you said to call you. Did you want to talk about anything in particular or...?” “Right. I don’t really want to talk about it on the phone, though. If you’re feeling up to it, do you think you could meet me somewhere in a few minutes?” He glanced down the street and stood up. “Uh, sure. Where?” “Mmmm... how about that park by the river just south of downtown? You know, right next to the Blue line?” “The stop right by the post office? ...Folk, I think? Yeah, that’s not too far away, probably. I can be there pretty quickly once I get on a train.” “Alright, sounds good. I’ll meet you there. See you soon.” She hung up and Landon started walking towards the station that the nurse had pointed out, vaguely perplexed. I guess it makes sense she doesn’t want to talk about this stuff on the phone. Who knows if anyone’s listening in?

True to his word, it did not take him long to make it to the Folk St station after getting on a Blue line train only a few blocks from the hospital. He watched the city lights pass by, trying to ignore the occasional odd looks he got from other passengers. His generic grey hospital outfit was at least mildly conspicuous. Still, no one bothered him and he was even able to grab a quick hot dog from a restaurant in between the station and the park. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast and was hungry enough to not worry about the extra two minutes Maya would have to wait. The park was dimly lit by occasional streetlights and sparsely populated. Most people would be home at this hour, or out for dinner or at a bar. Just after sunset wasn’t a popular hour for sitting amongst the rare greenery not found outside the city limits and watching the water pass by. Vaguely, he wondered what it must have been like in the days long ago, when vegetation like this wasn’t anything special. When it was normal to leave the cities and drive through miles of grass and forests. That image didn’t make much sense to him. Maya had been sitting on a bench and reading something on her phone, but she stood up and walked over when she noticed him. For the first time since he had met her, she wasn’t wearing a Xera polo and slacks, but rather a looser pair of jeans and a nondescript dark hoodie. It wasn’t much of a change, but she almost looked like a different person without the influence of Xera Corp in her outfit. She didn’t look happy, though. He wasn’t surprised. “Hey. Did you notice anyone weird on your way here?” “...No? Should I have?” “No? Maybe? I don’t know. I’m just getting a little paranoid, okay? Sorry.” She glanced behind him. “Today’s been nuts. Anyway, before we talk about anything else, I want you to install this app.” She held up a small flash drive and Landon accepted it, curious. “What’s this?”

“Encrypted communication; calls, text, etc. I don’t know if anyone’s snooping on us, but I really don’t want to get into any trouble if they are. After today, I wouldn’t be surprised.” “Isn’t that... illegal?” “Spying on us? No, not if you’re the government. Or Xera.” “No, encryption. Wasn’t that outlawed?” “Well, sort of. From what I’ve read, companies still wanted to use full encryption, so the practice itself wasn’t outlawed. It’s just listing an app without a backdoor on the open market isn’t allowed. That way normal people can be spied on while companies can keep their secrets. I promise, this isn’t breaking the law.” He tapped at his phone, then looked up. “Would you care if it was?” “What kind of question is that? Maybe? Would be a pretty stupid law if it was written that way. It’s kind of stupid as is.” She accepted the flash drive back as Landon finished the install. “Anyway, now that’s out of the way, did anyone tell you what happened today?” “Only a little bit. I don’t really know what happened after the tank exploded. And I’m not sure I really know what happened before the tank exploded either. That whole thing was just...” “Yeah.” She sighed, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. “Hynes told me to report to her office first thing tomorrow morning. She’s, uh, not happy. That’s going to be a fun meeting. Anyway, let me catch you up. “First of all, those things in the tanks were definitely the same thing I saw in the alley on our first day. We need to figure out what’s up with that. But more on that later. After we ran out of the room, Manny went to get help while I tried to get you to stay awake. I sat there for two minutes, just waiting for him to come back, with you mumbling and bleeding right next to me. I don’t know if you were awake for that, but...” She shuddered. “Not fun. Not at all.” Landon shrugged. “Sorry I made things uncomfortable for you. I’ll try to keep the bleeding to a minimum next time.”

“That’s not what I-” Maya cut herself off as she looked up at him and saw the grin. “Oh, you dork. Stop it. That was really harrowing.” “Yeah, tell me about it.” “I’m trying! Anyway, after a few minutes, Manny came back with some medics and Hynes, who had apparently been alerted when security was. I have never seen her as angry as she was just then. She fired Manny on the spot and had him escorted away by security. I... I think she’s gonna kill him. I don’t know what to do about that. I don’t know if there’s anything we can do about that.” She paused to take a breath. “After that, she told me to leave and not come back until tomorrow morning for the meeting. Landon, I’m really worried about all this and I don’t know what to do. The things in the tanks can get out and attack people - we saw that two weeks ago. I don’t know if they’re human or conscious or what, but they’re really dangerous. Manny... I don’t know if he was just too enthusiastic or if he was in on it - whatever it is - or if he’s even still alive! Then there’s tomorrow morning. What are we going to say to her? What’s she going to say to us? Is she just going to kill us?” Maya peered at Landon through her fingers. “What are we going to do?”

️ - Blame Manny for everything. They were just following orders from a superior. Realistically, they’re innocent.

- Try to figure out what happened to Manny. Free him if possible, tonight. [There are so many possible responses that I can’t list them all. Landon won’t suggest running away due to the previous unanimous decision. Post ideas in #story_discussion.] (Winner: unclear due to low turnout. I'll make my own decision.) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 07-Sep-20 04:12 PM

Scene 30 Landon paused, gazing up at the night sky as if it might have some solution for him. As always, it did not. Just wisps of cloud, occasional stars sparkling dimly through the city’s light pollution, and the pale moon just starting to rise over the skyline. “Look,” he began. He swallowed, then tried again. “Look, I don’t want Manny to get hurt either. But, well, I don’t see any other option here. He did say that if Hynes was mad, he’d take the blame. Well, she’s mad, all right. We can’t save him. He might even already be dead. The best we can do is try to save ourselves, and I think, in this case, telling the truth might be the way to go.” “You think?” “Yeah. We did the test with the smaller specimen as instructed, then followed the directions of a senior employee to run a test with the full ones. That, er, didn’t go well, obviously. But what else could we have done?” “Told him no?” “Well, yes, but she doesn’t know exactly how the conversation played out. No cameras, remember? It could have just been phrased as directions, rather than a question. Not really a lie.” Maya turned away and slumped down on the bench from earlier. “Realistically, you’re right,” she murmured. “I know he’s gone already. There’s nothing to do but try and stay alive. But doesn’t that just feel, I don’t know, wrong? It was an honest mistake. And he died for it and we didn’t. That’s just not fair.” She took a breath and cut Landon off before he could speak. “And I know that life isn’t fair, and I know that the city isn’t fair, and I know that Xera sure as hell isn’t fair, but that doesn’t make it right! That doesn’t make it any less-” she struggled to find the right word, eventually settling on “- any less bad. I know there’s not a solution, not right now. I just - today has been such - ugh.”

Maya slid down further, now more or less lying supine on the bench, and covered her eyes with her hands, groaning. “I hate this project. But I’m stuck here and you’re stuck here and we need to do our best to stay alive. Right?” He hesitated, remembering that night two weeks ago. Staring at the river, thinking about those toiling and dying in the undercity beneath his feet. He had pitied them then, but was he really any more free? Stuck at a dangerous job on a top secret project, to be killed if he made a big enough mistake or if he tried to leave. “Right.” She sighed. “I’m not looking forward to tomorrow morning, that’s for sure. Hey, are you hungry? I don’t want to sit alone and just think about things.” “Kind of, yeah. I haven’t had any food since breakfast.” Shouldn’t have had that hot dog. “Great; you want to come get dinner, maybe talk about how we’re going to figure out what’s going on with the ‘specimen’ we saw in the street?” “Sure, why not?” Maya took the lead and before long, the two of them were seated in a cozy-looking Italian restaurant just a few blocks away from the park. It was a bit of a step up from the frozen meals Landon had grown accustomed to over the last few weeks of relentless overtime, so he took the opportunity to order some pasta that hadn’t come from a box. After the waiter had come and gone, Maya leaned slightly forward and frowned at the table, sipping at her drink. “So, what do you think? We know there was a specimen in the alley two weeks ago, and we know there were some security people chasing it. These things can shapeshift - sort of? I don’t really know how that works - but the one in the alley ran away after I hit it with a rock. The ‘Henry’ one seemed a lot more dangerous. I wonder why?”

Landon considered this. “Well, Mann-” he tripped over the word. “Manny told us that they mutate to become what they think they are. If they all start without memories, then I guess what they look like and how dangerous they are depends on what gets implanted, right?” She nodded. “So maybe - and this is reaching a bit - since you said the one in the alley was really generic, maybe whatever implant it had was weak and didn’t add many memories, so it didn’t mutate much.” “Which would mean our implant was strong, since it caused it to mutate a lot,” Maya said, completing Landon’s thought. “Just in the wrong ways.” “Yeah, that’s my theory, at least. Maybe if we can narrow down what didn’t transfer to the smaller specimen, or what transferred wrong, we can figure out how ‘Henry’ mutated so much.” “Something to look at when we get back to work. Assuming Hynes lets us.” “I’m sure it’ll be fine. We made a lot of progress with that implant. We’re useful now. She’s not going to just-” Landon cut himself off as Maya put a finger to her lips. A few moments passed before the waiter returned with their meals. After he left, Landon tried to finish his sentence, but another group of four people was now being seated at the table just next to theirs. Maybe far enough away not to overhear anything, but maybe not. “Probably should save the rest of this conversation until we’re somewhere a little less public,” he remarked, motioning slightly towards the other table. “Yeah. That’s fine, though. I don’t really want to think about work right now anyway.”

[I wonder what Eva’s up to right now. What do you think?]

️ - Sitting in bed, still recovering, bored out of her mind.

- Just coming back from a meeting with a geneticist about the Apotheosis files.

- Topside, against the others’ wishes, because she’s sick of the recycled air and going stir-crazy. [What irresponsible action is she about to take?]

- Contacting Landon. [You can specify what she should say in #story_discussion.]

- Getting jumped by thugs. [You can specify whose thugs or why in #story_discussion.]

- Sneaking into somewhere. [You can specify what, where, and why in #story_discussion.]

‍♀️ - Eva? Irresponsible? Never! [Nothing bad happens. Or at least, if it does, it’s not Eva’s fault.] (Winners:

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Professional Nerd Blah 10-Sep-20 09:32 PM

Scene 31 Eva was furious. Well, maybe not quite that mad, but she certainly wasn’t happy. She walked briskly down the street, a sheaf of papers clutched tightly in both hands. Her chest still hurt as she moved, but the pain was distant enough that she could ignore it with a fair level of success. After all this time and effort, all he could tell me is only a little more than we already knew. Useless. She had spent the better part of a week and a half trying to track down someone with enough experience in genetics and biology to be helpful, enough courage to get involved with this sort of scheme, and enough morality to not just rat them out to the highest bidder. Not an easy task, but she had eventually managed to set up a meeting. A meeting that had lasted all of about half an hour. She was just coming back from it now. The geneticist, whose name she didn’t know in order to protect him, had read through the document twice, carefully, then gave her only a few tidbits of information. The project dealt with extremely mutative specimens that could be formed into basically any shape. That made sense, given that she already knew Apotheosis was working with cloning. The second tidbit was simply that the majority of the document dealt with failed strategies to make these specimens less volatile. And that was it.

Two weeks (and a warrant and significant injury), and that was all she had gotten from it. Sure, it was a little more information, but it wasn’t anything damning. There was nothing that would help them bring down Xera, if that even was their goal. The project had to be something important - they just had to figure out what. Eva sighed, her anger starting to cool a little. She supposed it would have been too convenient if the first document she had stolen had been the one they needed. This campaign wasn’t going to be over in a few weeks, or even a few months. It would take probably years of dedicated recon, sabotage, and thievery to get anything worthwhile accomplished, and in that time, odds were good they’d all be caught and executed by Civil Protection. It had happened before to better groups than theirs. Someone bumped into her and she stumbled, pivoting to watch the nondescript figure in a long coat fade into the darkness. Asshole, she muttered to herself, straightening the papers and continuing on. Everyone down here was so absorbed in their own little world. Well, either that or far too invested in someone else’s world. Which was to say that stalkers, murderers, and thieves were far too common and Eva had to work hard to avoid catching anyone’s attention. She checked the papers. All still there. Clear, for now. She turned down the side alley she had been using to shake off any pursuers the last few times she had left the hideout. Waited a few minutes. No one showed up. Good. Not in the mood to deal with anything right now.

A quick hop, climb, duck, and wave to one of the lookouts and Eva was back in the warehouse. It was dark and empty; the rest of the team was out doing useful, important work on the surface. Matt was spying on ORIS with Charlie’s backup, while Sid was out meeting with his contacts and trying to pin down a target for manipulation. Meanwhile, here Eva was, hundreds of meters underground and sitting around in a dark, empty warehouse. Bored out of her mind. She kicked a rock across the room and slapped the papers containing both the original document and the geneticist’s notes on one of the tables. Her goal for the day was done and the others likely wouldn’t be back until tomorrow; they would probably stay the night topside to avoid trying to cross back at 3AM. Fuck it. Eva was bored, demoralized, and still a little angry. No one was around to stop her, either. She picked up her phone and typed in a particular number, followed by a brief message. --- Landon’s phone vibrated again. He apologetically gestured to it, realized Maya couldn’t tell what he was pointing at, then explained, “I’m just going to see who keeps texting me, okay? I’ve gotten like ten messages in the past minute.” “Go for it.” Landon’s expression froze and his face went pale as he read the texts from [RESTRICTED NUMBER]. There were three of substance, then a half dozen periods, presumably just to make him check his phone: “hey” “it’s that girl from baxley’s office” “you want to know what was in that file?” How receptive is Landon to this conversation, in general?

- Let’s do this.

- Wary, but willing to listen.

- Distrustful. Also, does he tell Maya about this? He’ll have to reveal his involvement with the break in if he does.

- Of course!

- Definitely not. (Winners:

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Professional Nerd Blah 12-Sep-20 02:56 PM

Scene 32 “So, who is it?” “Uhhhh,” Landon stammered, glancing through the messages again. They hadn’t changed. “Someone I shouldn’t know about?” She leaned forward, just a little, as if to glance over the table at his phone. “N-no, er, well.” He locked the phone and put it back in his pocket. “Are you just about done? I think we’ve got something else to talk about.” Maya sighed and sat back. “Yeah, pretty much. Work?” “Y-yeah.” “Well, at least there were about twenty minutes there when I wasn’t thinking about it. Let me get the bill.” A few minutes later and the two of them were back out on the streets, casually walking along the sidewalk towards the Blue line station that would lead back home. The streets were crowded with cars and the sidewalks packed with people. Unlike parks and the business district downtown, the ring of bars and restaurants surrounding the inner city was a very popular destination after dark. Lights blazed and conversation flowed in the space between rumbling engines and squealing brakes. No one would have a chance of overhearing them. “So, did you hear about the break in at Xera on... uh, I don’t remember dates. Two days before we started on the project?” “Of course. It was all over the news and company gossip.” Landon fidgeted, uncomfortable. “Well, I was, uh, involved in that. The thief broke into Mr Baxley’s office and stole a file on the project. I was, well, not really a hostage. She didn’t threaten to kill me or anything. Well, she sort of did once but I don’t think she meant it.” Maya raised an eyebrow and half-turned to face him. “You were in Baxley’s office with the thief? And just before you were put on the project... You learned about it that night?” “Yeah,” he affirmed. “The intruder already knew about the project and made me help find a file on it. Then CP showed up, she jumped out the window, and, well, I think you’ve heard the rest.” “So, the texts are...?”

“From her. Apparently. Here.” He pulled out the phone and unlocked it, showing Maya the messages. She read over the screen, then slowly grinned. “Well? Aren’t you going to respond?” “I, I’m not sure yet. I don’t even know if it actually is her, let alone if she can be trusted, let alone if this is safe. Remember, she broke into Xera and stole secret files! CP has a priority four warrant out for her! This is really, really dangerous.” “So tell the cops. Go to CP with those messages and help them set up a sting or something.” Landon hesitated. “I don’t, uh-” “See, that’s what I thought. CP is dangerous too, maybe even more so. Hynes might kill us. Everything we’re involved in is a threat. What’s adding another danger to the pile going to do? Plus, if this girl is legit, think of what we could find out. What the project is all about, what’s going on with the specimens that got out, what they’re hiding.” “But, well, why?” “Why what?” “Why do you want to know all that stuff? Even knowing about the project at all is dangerous enough for Xera to kill people, so think about what knowing all that would mean. We’d be marked for death. So... why? There has to be a reason beyond just curiosity.” “Look, Landon. Think about the big picture here. We work for a global megacorporation on a top secret project dealing with neural implants, memory transfer, and artificial humans. Our coworkers are killed if they make a mistake or know too much. We’ll be on the chopping block eventually, I’m sure. I’ve had the whole day to think about this and, no matter how interesting the work is and how advanced the technology can be, I really think it’s time we sit down and ask ourselves: ‘are we the bad guys?’ Because when I stepped back and looked at it, I think we might be. And if that’s the case, we have an obligation to use our position to help bring this thing down.”

Landon swallowed, glancing around at the crowds pressing in on all sides. “That’s treason. If anyone heard that...” “Yeah, yeah, I’d be killed on the spot. What else is new? That’s part of the problem! Who treats their employees like this? Everyone? Is that right? Are you willing to put up with that when you can change things?” She grabbed his arm and turned him to face her. “We can make a difference, Landon. This company, this city, this world. All rotten. Something has to change, and we can make it happen.” He stared into her eyes for a moment, the world narrowing to just the two of them. Isolated in a sea of humanity. Then he blinked and the bubble shattered. The crowd shoved against them, pushing them onwards. Landon took a shaky breath, his thoughts whirling. He had to admit he had thought about it before, more than once. Betraying Xera just seemed like such a suicide mission. He had no plan and nowhere to go once they inevitably discovered the plot. Plus... “Are the rebels any better?” he asked. “They’ve killed people too. Ironwood station, but even before that. The burglary-turned-shooting on the East Shore. The drone attacks last Thanksgiving. The fire at the wharf. That’s just pointless violence.” “And who actually did those attacks? I haven’t been here for too long, so I don’t know anything beyond Ironwood, but anyone can set a fire or blow something up and say they were with a certain group. I don’t know if whoever this girl is with is better than Xera, but I don’t think there’s any way to find out without at least being open to the idea. And that means asking her.” The sound of wheels clattering on track from above cut into the conversation and announced that Landon and Maya had made it to the Blue line station just above the street. “I... I need time to think about this, okay?”

“Yeah, I understand. It took me a few weeks and, well, today to figure it out. But you should at least reply to her tonight. You never know if this offer is on a timer. You don’t have to agree to anything, just... don’t let this opportunity get away. Sound good?” “Alright...” “Great.” Maya stepped closer and gave Landon a hug before he could react. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning in Hynes’ office, partner,” she whispered. “Whatever you decide.” With that, she let go and headed up the steps to the station. Landon sat down on a cool concrete bench nearby, listening to the pounding feet on the platform above him. His head spun. His phone felt heavy in his pocket. ✅ - Reply “yes.”

- Reply “no.”

- Don’t reply. (Winner: ✅ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 14-Sep-20 08:20 PM

Scene 33 Breathe in, breathe out. Down the rabbit hole, I guess, he thought. A brief flash of worry crossed his mind - What if this is CP trying to bait me into betraying Xera? - but he managed to dismiss that idea. For as powerful and dangerous as the organization was, that sort of subtlety didn’t seem like their thing. He stared at the messages long enough for the screen to go to sleep, then woke it up again and typed, very slowly, “Yes.” Send. Landon shoved the phone back into his pocket and stood up, walking the wrong direction for several steps before awkwardly turning around and heading for the stairs to the Blue line platform. Then he remembered that Maya was probably still up there and it would be even more awkward if he ran into her again tonight, so he pivoted yet again and power-walked down the street, feeling his face heat up. A few glances around revealed no one was paying any attention to him, but that didn’t stop the anxiety and- AAH! Landon jumped as his phone vibrated again. He hurried down the street for a few more blocks before slowing down to a more reasonable pace and calming down somewhat. He dared to get the phone back out and read the reply. “1410 young st, 105 am” “come alone, no tails, if you want to know what xera’s up to” Aside from the obvious and immediate danger of going to some random address in the middle of the night, Landon’s secondary concern was that he had to be at Hynes’ office at 8 AM tomorrow morning or he’d probably just get thrown out the window. Now that the initial decision to reply had been made, however, he found the actual prospect of going to this meeting much less intimidating. Maya had said he didn’t have to agree to anything tonight, but what else was he going to do? Get a reasonable amount of sleep? Not meet up with a band of criminals and terrorists? Like a responsible person? ... Yeah, that sounded pretty nice, actually. He texted Maya.

“So she’s asking me to meet her alone at some random address at 1 AM” “This seems pretty unsafe” “Yep” “So, are you gonna go?” “I don’t know. I’m not really built for this kind of thing” “Don’t go if you don’t want to” “But this is probably our best chance to get to the bottom of this whole thing” “Maybe ask to reschedule? Probably won’t agree, though” “I don’t know if rescheduling would be better” “Gives me more time to think about it” “I think if you could come with, I’d be okay” “Ask her then” “I’ll go” “Hang on” He switched back to the other conversation. “Can I bring a friend? Another Xera employee, knows what’s going on. Could be useful to you” “yeah, no problem. just no cops or weapons” “Okay, 1:05 AM. Young St.” “see ya then :)” The smiley face at the end added a faintly sinister touch. Landon switched back to the other conversation and let Maya know the results. They agreed to meet up at a nearby station on the Red line at 12:30, then head over together. 1410 Young St was, according to Landon’s map, some sort of small, nondescript business that may have once been a laundromat in a past life. Now, it seemed abandoned, somewhat isolated, and just over a mile from the nearest train stop. It was also fairly far to the South, only two stops away from the end of the NBTA’s line. At least the Red line ran all night, so he wouldn’t have to worry about getting stuck there. It was also less than ten miles from the city limits and the edge of the wasteland. Not close enough to be worrying, but not far enough to entirely dismiss. New Brighton’s borders were fairly solid and fairly well defended, and Landon had never heard of anything making its way ten miles into the city, but even the reminder that there was a limit was a little unsettling. He had passed through the wastelands a few times before, twice in a plane and once in a convoy, and had no desire to repeat the experience.

Anyway, what’s he going to spend the next few hours doing before it’s time to hop on another train and head South?

- Napping. Boosts energy.

️ - Relaxing. Boosts composure.

️ - Studying the area. Grants some knowledge of the location.

- Reconsidering. Skips the meeting. Goes to bed. (Winner:

️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 16-Sep-20 07:46 PM

Scene 34 There were still a few hours until Landon needed to get on the Red line, and he had an unlimited metro pass anyway, so he headed home and tried to spend some time preparing. It was hard to believe the day had started with excitement over the test of the new implant. So much had happened since then. But he couldn’t dwell on that. He had to calm down and stay calm. So... how to do that? Over the next several hours, the enormity of what he was about to do kept sneaking in, slipping through his distractions and attempts to ignore it. This was really happening. He was going to meet with a priority-four criminal, and not just any priority-four criminal. The girl from the break-in. Her name hadn’t been publicized - just her image - but the information had been easily available in the “public enemies” list on the CP website. “Evelyn Marais, nickname Eva.” What will she be like? he wondered. Outside of those few fleeting minutes in Mr Baxley’s office, he had no idea. Would she be as intense as last time? Point another gun at him? Why was she even offering this meeting at all? What would she - and whatever group she represented - get out of this? It was possible he was fixating a little too heavily on her, he admitted. But all the same, this was a very major decision. It was treason. If CP ever found out about this, his name would be on that list right next to hers. Or, more likely, his name would appear in the list of obituaries. He wasn’t any good at fighting or hiding. If - no, when - CP found out about this, he’d have to either leave the city (and possibly country) entirely or hide out with whoever Eva’s group was. He still wasn’t sure if he wanted to do this, but now he had promised. Maya would be counting on him. He couldn’t back out now. Landon glanced over at the clock and blinked in surprise. Those few hours had certainly passed more quickly than he had thought. He didn’t feel any calmer. Oh well. It was time to get going.

Surprisingly, the Red line was actually fairly busy even a few minutes past midnight, apparently with night shift workers destined for the outer ring of the city. Landon stood uncomfortably on the platform, hands in pockets and trying not to shiver. The weather had shifted dramatically in the past few days, and fall had definitely arrived. He tried to position himself such that a support pillar was between him and the wind, but several other passengers were doing the same thing and he couldn’t get close enough to the windbreak. Ugh. He turned around and stared along the tracks, waiting for the train’s headlight to come into view. Still no train, but as he traced his eyes along the rails, he noticed an anomaly. Just a slight shift in the darkness a couple hundred feet down the elevated track, but he was on edge tonight. Is something moving down there? he wondered, gingerly stepping forward along the platform to get closer. There was definitely some motion; something vaguely less dark than the background was shifting around near one of the signals. It was too dark to see what, though. A brilliant off-white headlight sprang into view around a building and Landon automatically glanced up to gratefully confirm that his train was approaching. When he glanced back down to the tracks, he couldn’t see any further motion - his eyes had adjusted to the headlight and were no longer sensitive enough to see anything.

- Oh well. Ignore it and get on the train.

- Keep looking. The train’s headlight should illuminate it once it gets closer. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 19-Sep-20 07:23 PM

Scene 35 Still curious, he kept his gaze trained on the spot where he had seen whatever it was, waiting for the train to get close enough for the headlight to illuminate it. The area steadily grew brighter until, with only a few seconds to spare before the light would illuminate it entirely, something pale, gangly, and vaguely humanoid leapt down from the tracks, plummeting the two dozen or so feet to the ground and out of sight under the platform. The train swept over the area, revealing nothing at all. Landon frowned, uneasy. Pale and gangly, combined with what he had seen this morning... He shivered again, then gratefully stepped onto the train with the rest of the crowd. The mass of people around him was comforting, as were the solid steel confines of the train car. There were no monsters here, at least none worse than the normal dregs of humanity found on the trains this long after dark. He sat back in his seat and gazed out the window, staring over the sea of buildings as the train accelerated. Where did that thin, limp creature go, really? Did Xera capture it? Or is it still out there, looking for something? Someone? Me? It seemed unlikely, but not enough to entirely dismiss the idea. I still don’t know how any of this works. What would it want with me specifically, anyway? I’m not special. Xera probably got it back. It’s fine. So what was that pale shadow on the tracks? A little over 20 minutes later, Landon stepped out of the warm, well-lit train car and onto the dim, run-down concrete platform. A faded red sign proclaimed it “Boab St Station.” Two other people got out of the car and quickly walked away, while only one other person got on. In a matter of moments, the train had sped away and Landon was left alone on the cold, windy, lonely platform. He shivered and huddled against a large pillar holding up the roof, pulling out his phone.

Nothing from Maya yet, though he was a few minutes earlier than he had expected. He texted her anyway, just to be sure. “I’m at the station. You almost here?” There was no immediate reply, so he put the phone away again and resolved to stay right here until the next train arrived, hopefully carrying Maya. ... Boy, was this spooky. Between the wind, the darkness, and the isolation, Landon continued to glance around the platform every few seconds, just making sure nothing pale and gangly was climbing up the pillars to run horrifically across the concrete at him. Nothing there. He was starting to feel hot under his jacket, even though his fingers and nose were still chilly. The buzz of his phone almost startled him. He pulled it out quickly and read Maya’s response: “Sorry, running behind. Should be about ten minutes.” “Okay, see you then,” he typed, lying. It wasn’t okay. He wasn’t sure if he could stand to wait on this platform on his own for another ten minutes. He wasn’t sure if it would be even worse if someone else showed up. ⌚ - Suck it up, buttercup. Stand on the platform and wait for Maya.

‍♂️ - Head down the stairs and try to find somewhere less scary to wait.

- Go straight to 1410 Young St. He’ll be early and Maya will have to catch up, but at least he won’t be just standing around waiting. (Winner: ⌚ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 21-Sep-20 07:49 PM

Scene 36 But unfortunately, there wasn’t really another option. Running off into the city below seemed like a far worse idea. At least the platform was too public to be mugged or murdered right out in the open. Right? Probably. God damn it was windy. And clouds blocked out the moon. In fact, it almost felt like a storm was brewing. Landon checked the weather, berating himself for not looking earlier. Yep, a fairly large thunderstorm was forecasted for tonight, starting in about twenty minutes. Fantastic. At least I’ve got a jacket, even if it isn’t a raincoat. “‘Scuse me, you got the time, mister?” Landon jumped, stumbling back a half step, as someone short, hairy, and dressed in a thick coat appeared near his right elbow. “Uh-h-h, I, uh, yeah, sure. It’s... 12:33.” “Thanks.” The shorter fellow didn’t seem to be doing anything with that information, instead just slouching down on a cold metal bench right next to the pillar Landon was leaning against. One of the station’s digital clocks hung almost directly overhead. “Nervous fellow, are yeh?” Landon didn’t reply. What was he supposed to say to that? “That’s alright. S’a good trait, it is. Keeps you alive.” The man scratched at the tangle of beard obscuring his face and Landon caught a glimpse of something reflecting the platform lights. An eye, perhaps? “Don’t get many o’ your type down these parts. What’cha hangin ‘round here for?” “M-my type?” “Yeh.” A short, congested sniff. “Corpo drones. Ya think just a change o’ clothes is gonna change yer scent? Bearing? Demeanor? Ye ain’t a spy. So what are ye doin’ here?” Something about this man’s presence radiated danger. Landon took a half step back and glanced over his shoulder despite himself. Still no one else on the platform, and no train in sight. “Uh, meeting someone.” “Oh? Who?” Dammit. I should have expected that. “Uh, another ‘corpo drone.’ You wouldn’t be interested.”

“Not interested? Me?” The man made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a cough. “Perish tha thought! I’m interested in everything that goes on down here. Especially corpo activity. Yer friend comin’ in on the train, then?” “Uhhhhh.” “A’ight, we’ll go with ‘definitely.’ I don’t s’ppose you’ll mind if I hang around here and wait with you.” The last sentence was not a question. “S-sure...” “Mighty kind of yeh.” The stranger shuffled up against the bench, slouching lower into a more comfortable position. “Ah! There’s no need for that, now is there? Put that away. It’s rude!” Landon froze and slowly returned his phone to his pocket, the screen half-unlocked. He wasn’t sure if he had been about to text Maya or call the police, but something was definitely wrong here. A headlight appeared in the distance and the hairy man shuffled back up the bench into something approximating a sitting position. “This yer train?” “Maybe? I could tell with my phone.” “Pfah. We’ll just wait here.” Even though the man was facing diagonally away from him, it still felt like he could see Landon. Maybe he could. There was no way to tell what sort of implanted cameras or other crazy things were hiding under those layers of cloth and hair. He couldn’t think of any options in time and the train pulled into the station. The doors slid open and Maya stepped off a car three doors down from Landon and the stranger. She glanced both ways, spotted him, and started walking in his direction.

“Her?” Landon swallowed. He had to do something. Right?

- Go along with the man. Pretend like nothing’s wrong.

- Wait till the doors are about to close, then grab Maya and leap onto the train. Leave the man behind.

- Grab Maya and book it. He probably won’t chase them.

- Subtly indicate to her that something is wrong. Look for an opportunity. [Or suggest something else in #story_discussion!] (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 23-Sep-20 07:51 PM

Scene 37 “Hey, uh, who’s your friend?” Maya asked, adjusting her jacket and stopping several feet away. “Name’s Bart,” the man said, hauling himself to his feet and giving a miniature bow. “‘M just keepin’ him company on this here cold, rainy night.” She glanced between Bart and Landon skeptically. “Right. Well, he needs to get somewhere, so we’ll be leaving you, then.” “No, I don’t think so.” “Excuse me? Come on, let’s go.” Maya stepped forward and grabbed Landon, dragging him away from the other man. “Look ‘ere.” Bart shifted his coat partially aside, revealing a glimpse of a dark, metallic, gun-shaped object. “Ye’ve got two options. One: ye bring me along. Or two: I bring ye along. Get the idea?” “Doors closing.” The train slowly started to pull away from the station as Maya froze, thinking. Landon’s heart rate jumped. “So what’s it gonna be?” “Fine. Come on, then.” She glanced at Landon, eyes wide, but he didn’t know how to interpret her look. The next several minutes were excruciating. Landon didn’t know the way exactly, and it seemed Maya didn’t either. Since they refused to tell Bart where they were going and he wouldn’t let them use their phones, wrong turns and backtracks kept cropping up. Both Maya and Landon kept glancing at each other and the surroundings, looking for an opening, but there wasn’t anything obvious. Just dilapidated buildings and alleyways, stained by the long years of ash and smog. There were very few people around, and those who were present tended to turn a blind eye when they noticed what was happening. Several snickered.

Then it started to rain. Lightly, at first. According to the radar, it would get much worse later, but for now it was nothing but a light drizzle. Still, even that was enough to annoy Bart. He started grumbling and wiping at his face, sighing at every wrong turn. Finally, after choosing the wrong road twice in a row at the same intersection, a change came over his bearing. He stopped muttering, walked more calmly, and gently slid a hand over his jacket, as if to feel the weapon. This was, of course, highly concerning. But there was nothing to be done about it. About halfway down the next street, Bart quietly called out, “Stop.” They did. “I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “Yer not gonna be leadin’. I am. Come on out, boys.” Emerging from hidden doors in the buildings overlooking a cross street, about a dozen people all wearing similarly form-hiding coats to Bart’s streamed onto the main road. Maya gasped and pressed back against Landon, who was standing frozen in place. Some of the people carried guns, more carried pipes or bats, and, most concerningly, two carried rough lengths of rope. “Get ‘em subdued and on their way to Chimney’s,” Bart said, stepping out of the group and allowing the circle to close behind him. “I think I’ll head on back to the-” He trailed off, then looked up, as a harsh siren blared to life. Out of nowhere, an enormous CP suppressor drone dropped out of the sky, lights on and siren blaring. It slowed to hover only about twenty feet above the group, close enough that the wind from its rotors whipped at hair and clothes, then started firing. The total time elapsed between the first sound of the siren and bullets striking pavement and flesh had been less than three seconds. Someone screamed. Everyone scattered. Landon ran. ...

Minutes later, he pressed up against the side of a building, gasping for breath. He was uninjured, somehow, but he had lost Maya in the confusion. The drone was still audible in the distance, wailing and screeching and occasionally firing its weapons with a sound like a buzz saw. He still had his phone, but she wasn’t responding to texts. Maybe she was still trying to evade the drone or otherwise occupied. Or maybe- Nope. Where the fuck did it come from? he wondered, slouching down and trying to calm his breathing. Why here, of all places? Suppressor drones were a less common sight nowadays, when the demand for riot suppression was much lower. Still, the aging models remained in service and often served as backup to CP officers operating in the field, especially in higher-risk areas like the undercity. Is CP here? Why? Just a coincidence or... are they following us? Or maybe they’re following Bart’s crew? He pressed his hands against his face. He didn’t know. Fuck. What was he doing out here? Alright, stop that. Mental breakdown later. Focus on the situation now. He glanced at his phone. 12:58. And I’m only two blocks away from Young St. Maybe... if she’s okay, she might go to the meeting? It’s the closest place to look. Can’t hurt. Right? Sure. Quietly, and keeping an eye on the dark sky above, he crept out of the alley and hustled down the street. The two blocks passed quickly until suddenly, there he was. Peering out from a narrow gap between two four-story apartment buildings, looking across a completely deserted two-lane road at the gravel parking lot in front of the laundromat he had seen on Maps. The old sign had partially collapsed, obscuring the boarded-up windows, and only one of the lights in the parking lot was still on. In that cone of yellow illumination, Landon could see an abandoned shopping cart. Conspicuous, but not too conspicuous. No one was visible.

What should he do?

- Stride in confidently. Investigate the shopping cart. Look for Maya.

- Hide out here, watching for anyone else who might show up. ↪️ - Make a detour and approach from the rear. Try to stay out of sight.

- Text Eva. [This choice can be combined with any other option and will be taken if it gets at least 7 votes.] (Winners: ↪️ ,

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 26-Sep-20 07:35 PM

Scene 38 Okay, I can’t just go straight in. I don’t trust anything around here. Maybe if I go down the street a bit, cross at that intersection, and go around the back. Yeah, that should be less visible. Carefully, and still keeping close watch for the suppressor drone or any of Bart’s crew, Landon made his way down another block and under a raised section of the street that would obscure him from anyone watching from the rooftops. He snuck back into a tangle of alleys on the other side as soon as feasible, fumbling his way through the darkness mostly by touch and the still-functioning streetlights whose illumination diffused slightly into the rain. The storm was getting heavier and visibility was decreasing. Probably a good thing at this point, he supposed. Oh! I should tell Eva that I’m here. And probably what’s going on. I don’t want them to think I’m trying to lead CP... here. Wait, is that why that drone is here? Did they know? How? He shook his head, ducked into a recessed doorway, and grabbed his phone. He didn’t have time to consider that right now. Resolve crisis first, figure out what CP was doing later. “I’m almost here, but heading around the back. Where should I go?” “Also, there’s a CP drone flying around the area. Be careful.” He made it through the rest of the alley and into another doorway before she replied. “i can hear that. i said no tails” “there’s no way i’m coming out there with a drone on the hunt” “you still want something useful, go check the register in the building then call me once you’ve looked at the thing inside”

Landon considered responding, but didn’t really know what to say. He shoved the phone back into his pocket and continued through the steadily worsening downpour until he finally broke out of the maze of alleyways into the narrow rear parking lot of the miniature mall the laundromat was part of. Well, I guess I just... He tried the back door and it readily opened, creaking on rusted hinges but otherwise operating normally. Landon slipped inside, turning on his flashlight. The interior of the laundromat was completely dark. Old, grimy washers and dryers loomed out of the blackness, reflecting the meager light in an almost menacing manner. A wooden door, splintered and broken in half, lay on the floor in front of an empty gaping door frame leading into the next building in the mall. There were no sounds besides that of rain on the roof, but Landon shivered and kept his eyes trained on the hole anyway as he made his way towards the register. The counter was a mess, with old bills and coins scattered around the shelves and floor. This place must have been closed for quite a while, he observed, picking up a dollar bill and turning it over. The last time physical money was in circulation was before I was born. Bills such as these would be mild curiosities at worst and fairly valuable to collectors at best, but Landon wasn’t here to be an amateur historian. He left them where they were and opened the register with a disquietingly loud metallic cling. The thing Eva wanted him to find was fairly obvious: there was a large manila folder shoved haphazardly on top of the cash drawer. He pulled it out and slid it open, quickly skimming the contents. After only a few seconds, he put it down again. Several pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. Cloning. The memory-transfer implants. The “full specimens.” They can’t be... no, they definitely could. It made sense now. At least until Xera proved him wrong again.

He made the call. ... The connection timed out and his phone cheerily informed him that the number he was trying to reach had not set up a voice mailbox. What? She told me to call her. Confused, he tucked the folder into his jacket and crouched down between the counter and the wall, hopefully less conspicuous than standing up. He typed in a short message - “I found the folder. You didn’t pick up the call.” - and then stood up again, anxiously hopping from side to side and unsure what to do with himself. Maya still hadn’t replied and neither had Eva. The drone was still out there somewhere. What should he do?

- Start heading back towards Boab St station.

- Stay put right here. [Or go somewhere else or do something else! Suggest in #story_discussion.] (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 28-Sep-20 06:46 PM

Scene 39 A few minutes earlier... Eva peered out the window, blinking against the downpour as if that would help clean the water off the glass. She had been right about where Landon would go, but wrong about the kind of trouble he would bring with him. She was hiding out on the third floor of a nondescript apartment block just across the street from the back of the laundromat, watching the entrance through her light-gathering scope. The chunky tube of metal and electronics acted essentially like a camera in low-light conditions by capturing additional light, lengthening the exposure time, and processing the image artificially to increase the brightness and eliminate noise. Overall, it was basically a night-vision scope that also helped remove rain, snow, and fog from the picture. She blinked again. It was having trouble keeping up with this downpour, though. Ah, there he is. She zoomed in slightly, watching Landon dart out of cover and into the laundromat. At least she assumed the nervous-looking figure in a light coat was Landon. She hadn’t seen him since the night of her Xera break-in. Well, we’ll know soon enough. Shouldn’t be too hard to find. I just hope this is a good idea. She had been keeping up with CP movements over the last few weeks, at least to the extent she could. Xera was still on high alert for anyone matching her description, so that mostly meant drones and tips from other less-than-legal types. Landon had been followed almost everywhere, nonstop, by either a CP officer or a surveillance drone. This on its own wasn’t too unusual - he had been involved in a fairly high-profile break in - but the duration and intensity of the surveillance had gotten her attention after a week or so. CP seemed very intent on keeping track of him, so either he was valuable or he wasn’t to be trusted. Either one would be useful to her.

But of course, that meant she had to get rid of his tails if she wanted to physically talk to him. Which was easier said than done. Especially when the rest of her team was still out working on ORIS while she was out here alone, with no backup. I’m starting to think this wasn’t my smartest plan, she admitted. She had just been so bored for so long. Ugh. Eva sighed and swung her feet off the chair, starting to stand up. Suddenly, however, a flash of movement caught her eye in the rain. She hesitated, halfway through pulling on her jacket, then got the scope back out and gazed out the window. Ah. That’s not good. Two Civil Protection officers, both in normal uniform rather than the heavy powered armor she had encountered during the Xera break in, pressed up against the wall adjacent to the laundromat. Both had handguns drawn and one seemed to be speaking into an earpiece. She didn’t know what exactly they were doing, but their presence here, now, was definitely not a good sign. Her phone vibrated. Someone was calling her. She didn’t have time for that right now. She was about halfway deciding what to do before two more figures became visible through the pouring rain. Two more CP officers, one wearing a dull blue drone operator’s vest. The suppressor controller? The hell are they - oh no. These two didn’t stop on the street with the others. They headed directly into the door of the building that Eva was hiding inside. She didn’t hesitate. She had less than 15 seconds before they would be breaking down the door to her room, and she had to get the drop on them first.

What should Eva do? [Pick one from each block]

️ - Fire on the CP officers near the laundromat from the window to draw them away from Landon, then...

- Attach the light-gathering scope to her handgun, then...

- Strap on a few concussion pads, then...

- Don’t delay; just...

- Jump out the window. Try to get them away from the laundromat. ⬆️ - Go to the roof. Jump to the next building and run away.

- Head down the stairs. Surprise the CP officers coming up. [Or suggest an alternate plan in #story_discussion] (Winners:

,

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 30-Sep-20 09:45 PM

Scene 40 Not again, she thought to herself, strapping on a belt of concussion pads. She couldn’t help but remember the Xera break in and the sensation of plummeting 82 stories onto unforgiving concrete. Three stories would be much less dangerous; she wouldn’t even need flightfoam to be fully compliant with the product’s safety ratings. No, the bigger problems would become apparent when she got down to the ground. Oh well, one disaster at a time. Let’s do this. Eva wrenched the window open, patted at her jacket to make sure all her stuff was secure, then kicked out the screen and hurled herself towards the pavement below. There were almost two seconds of panic in midair - even though she knew she would be fine - before she slammed into the sidewalk with one loud bang as the concussion pads burst. She almost managed the cool trick where the force of the pads could be used to shove her back into a standing position, but didn’t quite have enough velocity to get all the way there and ended up on her hands and knees. The two CP officers standing at the door to the laundromat gaped at her. “Hi,” she said, jumping to her feet and sprinting down the alley next to her building, drawing her gun as she did so. She turned as she made it into cover, peering through the rain with the scope and watching the CPs gesture wildly at each other. The other two emerged from the building and all four of them huddled up, having a heated discussion. None of them seemed in any hurry to chase her. Eva crouched there for a few moments, just watching, before making yet another reckless decision. She set the gun down and pulled out her phone, tapping a number in before shoving it back into her pocket. She jammed her in-ear into place and clicked it on, then snatched up the gun again and returned her attention to the CPs. Still debating. What on earth were they talking about? “H-hello?” “Hey pal, how’s it going?”

Landon didn’t respond in the second and a half Eva gave him. “So, you’re probably wondering what all that noise outside is, right? Well, don’t worry. It’s just Civil Protection. They’re standing right outside your door, arguing about something. Seems to be important enough they don’t even want to chase me. Go figure. Anyway, you’re probably going to want to get out of there if you can. I’ll try to distract them.” Her voice was surprisingly calm. She supposed she worked well under pressure. Deadly, deadly pressure. “Wh-what? I saw the drone, but... right outside?” “Yep. Four of ‘em. I think one’s controlling the drone. Go out the front or sides if you can. Keep track of where you are. I’ll try to meet up with you. Ready?” “Uh-” “Good. Go!” Eva carefully took aim, lining up the sights with the drone operator’s chest, then gently squeezed the trigger. The gun cracked and the bullet flared through the rain. About a foot from its target, however, a burst of light flashed and it fell to the quickly-flooding pavement. A hexagonal grid of blue, transparent panels blinked over the CP’s body, then faded back to invisibility. Damn. They’ve got medallions. At least she had gotten his attention. Eva fired several more times at the group as they scattered and drew their weapons. She hit twice more, once on the drone operator and once on the CP who had been with him. Both bullets were deflected or reflected by the energy shields generated by the cops’ shield medallions. They were, however, definitely distracted. From personal experience, Eva knew that shields of the sort favored by non-armored CP officers could only withstand a few shots before failing. More if her aim was off, less for direct hits. Either way, it wasn’t like they could ignore her entirely and let the medallions deal with her. They would have to take cover and fire back.

Ducking back behind the wall for cover and to reload, Eva again questioned her strategy. She had certainly drawn them away from Landon; that was a plus. On the other hand, she was now pinned down in the middle of a downpour, presumably taking fire from a team of CPs. Although she didn’t hear any gunshots yet, they would certainly be coming. And there was still the wildcard: that suppressor drone was still around somewhere. Well, speak of the devil. With sirens blaring and lights flashing, the drone was not subtle as it screamed into sight around the corner, quickly flying over the CPs and towards Eva. She sent a single shot in its direction - missing completely between its erratic speed and the rain - then turned around and ran down the alley. She was not going to win a fight against that thing. In fact, she almost certainly wouldn’t win against the CPs even without the drone. But she had wasted enough of their time for Landon to get a significant head start. Someone screamed in her earpiece. Loud enough she could hear it from two directions: directly into her eardrum, sure, but also around the corner and down a ways. She altered her path, tensing up as the drone rounded the corner. It would have about two seconds of uninterrupted line of sight before she could get a wall between her and it. The machine gun spun up, but didn’t fire. What? Then she turned the corner and her eyes widened. “What?” Everything happened very quickly after that.

Landon was backed up into a doorway, trying to hang onto a door handle and prevent himself from being pulled into the air by the monstrous, twelve-foot humanoid thing crouching in the middle of the street. It was tall, thin, and pale, its features simple and almost... unfinished. Its body slowly pulsed and writhed, morphing and shifting constantly while keeping the same basic shape. All its proportions were wrong and none of them matched each other, but it still seemed to move with power and certainty as it tugged at Landon, attempting to pull him into its grip. The suppressor drone shot into view overhead, wailing and screeching, machine gun already whirring. With a sound like a buzzsaw crossed with a woodchipper, the drone emptied hundreds of rounds into the creature in a matter of seconds. It screeched, dropped Landon, and scrambled away in a loping, four-legged gait, dripping bright red blood from dozens or hundreds of wounds. The drone pursued, firing several more times but slowly falling behind the shockingly fast pace of the enormous creature. Landon slowly struggled to his feet, seeming only minorly injured. Eva glanced between him and the rapidly approaching voices she could hear behind her. CP was on their way. What should she do?

- Book it. She’s the criminal here, not him. Get away from CP.

‍

- Grab Landon and run. The rain is still so thick that with the drone otherwise occupied, they’ll have a decent shot at getting away.

- Stay put. Something’s up with the officers here. They didn’t shoot at her and they didn’t seem aggressive. What’s going on? (Winner:

‍

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 02-Oct-20 12:24 PM

Scene 41 She ran forward and grabbed Landon by the arm, pulling him further down the street and towards an intersection. “Come on; we’ve got to go!” she hissed. His pace was slow and he wasn’t even looking at her, let alone replying. “Get a move on! They’re almost here! I know you’re probably overwhelmed right now but-” “STOP!” Eva glanced over her shoulder at the three CP officers running down the street towards her - the drone operator was missing. Dammit dammit dammit what do I do? “STOP!” the officer in the lead repeated, the group slowing down as they approached Eva. She backed up, pulling Landon with her. The officers all had weapons drawn, but none of them were aiming at her. “Fuck’s sake!” he yelled. “Can’t you tell we’re not trying to hurt you?” She didn’t reply, still backing up towards the intersection. The CPs slowly advanced, matching her pace. This isn’t working. Come on, think. “Look,” the lead officer said, stepping slightly forward with open hands. The other two fell a half-step back, guns still at the ready but not aimed. “I just want to talk, alright? Can you give me at least a few minutes?” “Hurry it up, then,” she growled. It would give her some time to come up with a better plan. “And stay back.” “We’re not here for you. We’re here to stop that thing-” he gestured in the direction the enormous monster had gone - “from getting to him.” He indicated Landon. “You showing up was a bonus. But since you’re here, we need to talk about you and Xera.” One of the other CPs cocked his head and muttered something into an earpiece. The leader didn’t appear to take notice. “You’re after Apotheosis. You need to stop. Let’s say you’re after it for personal gain. There is nothing in this city, and probably this country, that Civil Protection is more interested in than that project. You may get away tonight, but you will be hunted down and executed, just like the dozens of groups before you. There’s no gain to be had here.”

He made another light step forward. “Say you’re in it for other reasons. I’ve heard rumblings of a ‘rebellion’ going after Xera. You want to help the people of this city? The absolute worst way to go about it is to try to interrupt Apotheosis. All you’ll get is more of what just happened. Monsters in the city. The wastelands encroaching. You’re messing with a project way beyond your understanding. Please, for the sake of everyone in this city - and country, and world! - Please, leave it to the incredibly smart people who have studied their whole lives for this and know how to manage these risks.” He paused for a moment. Eva didn’t reply. Landon stirred, raising his head slightly. “Here’s my offer. You’ve got three options tonight, okay? One: come with us. You can learn about this project and help achieve whatever it is you’re trying to do, but in a safe and non-destructive way. Alright? Two: You let your hostage go and leave. Stop trying to attack Apotheosis, forget you ever heard about it. Leave well enough alone and we’ll leave you alone. Okay? Or three: You turn and run, and then get shot to pieces by the suppressor.” She half-jumped at the last point, glancing above her. The drone had reappeared in the minutes the CP officer had been speaking and now hovered only fifty feet away, its heavy, rotating machine gun trained directly on her. It was surprisingly silent with its lights and sirens off; she hadn’t noticed it approaching at all through the rain.

1️⃣ - Option one. Go with them. 2️⃣ - Option two. Leave Landon with them and go. 3️⃣ - Option three. Get shot to pieces by the suppressor. [This is probably not a good idea.] 4️⃣ - Make a counterproposal. She gets to keep Landon and leave. [They may not agree. Her backup plan will be the second-most-voted option.] [Or suggest something else in #story_discussion.] (Winner: 1️⃣ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 04-Oct-20 02:46 PM

Scene 42 Landon murmured something that Eva couldn’t hear over the rain. She hesitated, trying to think through the options as the drone menacingly hovered behind her back. She couldn’t keep running, not at this point. The drone was too close; she’d be riddled with bullets before making it more than a dozen feet. If she tried to give Landon back and leave, nothing at all was stopping them from tracking her anyway, or even just using the drone to kill her as soon as she let him go. She’d have to trust that the officer in front of her was telling the truth, and that was a hell of an ask for CP. But going with them was an even bigger gamble. Why would they let her join the project? They had no reason to. What would happen to the rest of her team? Who’s to say they wouldn’t just arrest her on the spot and throw her in prison for years? No, she didn’t have a way out of this one that didn’t involve having to take the CP at his word. And that meant going for the biggest prize. She had never been one to shy away from taking risks. “Fine,” she muttered, barely audible over the rain. “What was that?” the CP asked, bringing a hand up to his ear. “I said fine!” she half-shouted. “I’ll come with you. Don’t have much other choice.” “You’re making the right decision, I promise,” he said, taking another small step forward. “Now, if you’ll just let him go and please put that firearm down...” Eva grimaced, but she had committed at this point. She let go of Landon and gently pushed him away. He stumbled forward and was quickly passed from the lead officer to one of the other two. She saw him say something else, quietly, but no one seemed to hear him over the continuous rain.

Her shoulders tightened, expecting the piercing-hot agony of a machine gun firing into her back now that Landon was out of the way, but nothing came. The drone hovered in place, threatening but non-hostile. She slid the gun back into its holster and lifted her hands to her sides, both empty. “Fine, here you go. Now what?” “Now we’ll all walk back to our patrol car and head back to HQ, where we can prepare for the morning. It’s just out the end of the alley and down that street a block. Okay?” He kept his voice calm and quiet, as if he were talking to a child. Or an unstable criminal, I guess. He doesn’t know anything about me and I did just shoot at them. “Great, good. Lead the way.” “Alright. I’ll just ask that you stay next to me here, just for everyone’s safety.” The group - Eva and the CP leader in front, Landon and the other two just behind, and the drone and its operator fifty feet back - made it to the end of the alleyway and out onto the main street without further incidents. The rain was starting to ease up, a little. The monster was nowhere to be seen, nor were any of Bart’s gang. Or anyone, in fact. Presumably most of the population here had better things to do than stand outside at 1:30 in the morning in the pouring rain. Quite suddenly, just after leaving the alley, Eva heard footsteps approaching quickly from behind. She tensed and clenched her fists, unwilling to make any sudden moves with the drone watching. Someone jammed a metal prod into her back. An instant later, electricity jolted across her skin and she half-shouted as her muscles froze up. The sensation lasted only a few seconds, but by the time she had regained control of her body, one of the other two CPs had bound her with a pair of eLink cuffs and was halfway through taking her gun. “Excuse me?” she exclaimed, sidestepping away as best she could. “The hell do you think you’re doing?”

The officer glanced up to the leader. “Boss, didn’t you hear what HQ said? She’s gotta be bound and disarmed before we get to the car. Figured I’d-” “Yes, figured you’d assault our guest and forcibly cuff her instead of, say, asking or explaining the reasoning?” To Eva, he spoke more quietly. “Sorry about this, but it is for your and our safety.” “Boss, are you forgetting who we’re arresting here? National security threat? Priority four warrant? Dangerous criminal? You think HQ would understand if we lost her cause we didn’t follow protocol?” “Enough. We’ll discuss this further back at base.” Eva glanced back at Landon in the confusion. He seemed distressed and worried, and was just starting to speak up as the conversation quieted. “Uh, excuse me, but did any of you happen to see my friend around here? I’m worried about her with that... creature around.” “Name, appearance?” “Maya Harish, she’s got darker skin and black hair, wearing jeans and a hoodie?” “When and where did you last see her?” “Uh, right after that drone scattered the group of thugs. Forty minutes ago? Maybe?” “Delta, anything?” the leader called back to the drone operator. “Negative, sir. Drone’s not reporting any matches on her since 00:54, just after the first encounter tonight, as he said.” “She’s on the project, right?” “Y-yeah,” Landon replied. “Well, we can’t just leave her out here. Delta, get on the phone with HQ and have them run cams on this district. Ring her, if we can’t get anything, have them send a few survies over to help look.” He glanced up. “Keep the suppressor, just in case. If that thing’s still around here, you might need it. Clear?” “Yes sir.” He turned to Landon. “We’ll find her. But right now, we’ve got to get going. Definitely do not want to be here if that thing comes back.”

Eva grumbled quietly the rest of the way to the patrol car, gently tugging at the cuffs. The eLink series was made by Elo-Tek Industries specifically for Civil Protection. They consisted of two lightweight bands of some super-strong polymer, each equipped with miniature energy projectors of the same sort as was used in shield medallions. The end result was a configurable “chain” of energy between the cuffs that was basically impervious to all damage and could be easily modified by CP officers with the digital key. They weren’t foolproof - the projectors themselves were probably the most vulnerable part of the system, though they were embedded in the cuffs to prevent simple bashing attacks - but they were difficult to defeat without tools or time. She sighed. She had expected this, really, but it was still disappointing. She wondered what her jail cell would look like and how many years she would spend there. The leader and one of the other officers got in the front of the car, while the drone operator and the other officer stayed behind, presumably to search for Landon’s friend. Eva and Landon were bundled into the back of the car. While he was unrestrained, her cuffs were bound to a small pair of pegs embedded in the seat for this very purpose. She wouldn’t be able to move her wrists from that position without breaking the cuffs, which would be very difficult. She sighed again, starting to comprehend what she had just gotten herself into. Her eyes felt hot. No. No crying allowed. Not here, not now. You’re tough and resourceful. You can survive this too. “Everyone comfy back there?” The leader turned around to look through the reinforced window between the front and back seats. “Should be about 25 minutes. I’m sure we’ll get you out of those cuffs in no time.” The other officer shut the window, sealing off the front from the back. The car pulled away from the curb and headed north. Eva leaned back and closed her eyes, defeated. (edited)

“Hey, uh...” She opened her eyes and glared at Landon. “What do you want?” What does he want? [In any case, you can specify more details.]

- To talk about what he found in the register.

‍♂️ - To apologize or empathize for the trouble she’s in now.

- To discuss the monster.

- To speculate on what will happen tomorrow.

- Nevermind. (Winner:

‍♂️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 06-Oct-20 07:54 PM

Scene 43 He shrank back a little at her reply, but continued anyway. “I’m, uh, sorry for what just happened. If you hadn’t had to try and rescue me, you wouldn’t be in this car right now.” “Yep, that’s right. I should have left you there. Apparently CP was on your side the whole time.” A cold silence descended and lasted almost thirty seconds while Landon debated what to say and Eva stared out the window at nothing. Eventually, he spoke. “So about that fold-” Eva interrupted. “You know they can hear us, right?” He swallowed. “Okay, I get it.” Landon spent the rest of the trip worrying. He worried about Maya, missing and wandering alone with a giant monster on the loose. He worried about Eva, both for her personal safety after having been captured by CP, as well as how this would affect him and the project. He worried about himself; CP had been relatively nice to him so far tonight, but he hadn’t forgotten how eager that special agent had been to throw him out the window two weeks ago. He worried about the city as a whole, obsessing over those few words the lead officer had said about the wastelands encroaching and more monsters roaming the streets. He worried about that smaller, pale creature he had seen earlier and the limp one Maya had scared off in the alley. He worried that they were related to the larger one, and worried that they were after him in particular. Why else would CP be following him specifically? He worried that he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. Oh well. That wasn’t new. The car started to slow, then paused briefly at a checkpoint as the CP officers in the front seats showed ID badges to several heavily-armed guards observing from the gatehouse. Landon looked up as the gates retracted and the CP Head Office came into view.

The office consisted of three main buildings and several smaller ones arranged around a central courtyard and parking lot. The leftmost building was low and wide, formed of concrete and steel. The middle building was the largest, a behemoth of metal and glass much like the skyscrapers downtown. The right-hand building was a light brownstone with narrow windows and a series of odd metal plates arranged in a grid across its surface. The patrol car turned towards the right-hand building and sped up to pass the massive, multi-leveled parking lot in the center of the campus. A minute later, the car pulled up next to a pair of blue-metal doors labeled ‘15’ in large, blocky red paint. Two gun turrets mounted on the wall swiveled to follow Eva and Landon as the CPs pulled them out of the car and walked them towards the door. “Sorry about all the security,” the lead CP said as he typed something into a keypad next to the door, then scanned his ID. “It can be a bit intimidating. We are going to need you two to stay put for the night, just so we can get organized and contact the right people to be available in the morning.” Landon gave a weak “Sounds reasonable” in response, while Eva just raised an eyebrow. The doors clicked and the other CP officer opened them. Two Mechanized Civil Protection officers - or MCPs for short - stood grimly on the other side, each carrying a heavy machine gun as well as wearing an active shoulder laser. The machine guns were thankfully pointed at the ground, but both lasers were aiming directly at Eva. She raised the other eyebrow. “Overkill much? The hell do you guys think I’m going to do, transform into a tank?”

The MCPs stayed silent, while the lead CP ushered the group forward. “As I said, it can be a bit intimidating. The Head Office tends to take these sorts of things seriously. Anyway, we’re just going up to the next level and down a few doors to get to your accommodations. I’m sure you would both appreciate some rest before the morning.” One of the MCPs - it was difficult to tell which one since all the suits used the same vocal modulator - interrupted. “YOU WILL ESCORT THE XERA EMPLOYEE UPSTAIRS. WE WILL BRING THE CAPTIVE DOWNSTAIRS.” The lead CP frowned as the group approached a dim concrete stairway. “Hold on, why downstairs? That’s for prisoners, not-” “AFFIRMATIVE. DISPUTE THIS DECISION WITH THE OVERSEER IN THE MORNING IF DESIRED.” He sighed. “Well, sorry again. I can’t really do anything about that right now. I’m sure you’ll be fine, though.” Eva looked up at him and frowned. “You don’t have to play this good cop, bad cop game with me, you know. I don’t know exactly what you’re up to, but you’re not going to make me like you.” “I’m just trying to provide proper accommodations for our guests,” the leader replied, exasperated. “You aren’t our prisoner-” “Oh, so I can leave right now?” “Well-” “CEASE. PROCEED UPSTAIRS WITH THE EMPLOYEE.” The MCPs pushed Eva along, into the downwards stairwell. She didn’t look back at Landon or say anything else as she disappeared from view behind the MCPs’ armored bulk. After they disappeared, the lead CP sighed lightly and led Landon up the stairs. “Come on, we’ll get you a room.” “Is she going to be okay down there?” “I hope so. I don’t like them using mech units in here; they’re supposed to only be deployed for wasteland duty or riot control. Using them as guards here is totally unnecessary and just raises tensions.”

Landon stayed quiet, wondering. This cop sure seemed to disagree with a lot of the decisions made by CP as an organization. Was it an act, like Eva seemed to think, or legitimate concern? It was hard to tell. After another half-minute or so, the group arrived at a series of smooth metal doors lining both sides of the corridor. The lead CP tapped a keycard on a reader and one of the doors opened. “Anyway, here we are. Make yourself comfortable, but I’m afraid you aren’t allowed to leave until the morning. If you need anything, touch the call icon next to the door to speak to the officer keeping watch on this section. Hopefully, we’ll meet again before too long.” Landon nodded, not up to the task of speaking at the moment, and stepped into the room, allowing the door to slide shut behind him. It was a fairly decent hotel-style room, with a bathroom, bed, desk, and a few chairs. It even had a standard wireless charging port that seemed to be compatible with his phone. Nothing special, but certainly not a jail cell. He spent some time cleaning up and drying off from all the rain, then lay down on the bed and stared at his phone for a while. No messages from Maya. ... Eva rhythmically tapped her feet against the concrete wall of what could charitably be described as her jail cell. It was at least enclosed - no open bars, just a slot in the door - but it was nothing but bare concrete with the few essentials needed for sustaining life. A hard bed, a sink, a toilet and shower barely hidden behind an almost see-through sheet of frosted privacy glass, and a little dome camera in the corner to watch her every move. This was an odd one, to be sure. It was unusual to have all the plumbing in the cell, and it was a little larger than she would have expected as well. This was probably meant to be an isolation room, where the prisoner inside wouldn’t need to leave... ever.

She shivered despite herself, still tapping against the wall just to have some noise to focus on. The only things she could see in the dark were the red light of the camera and the dull orange of the light switch. What was she going to do? What could she do, actually? Whether or not that officer actually wanted to help her, he clearly wasn’t in a position of significant authority. Those MCPs could very easily just leave her in here for years and no one would ever know. Now is not the time to be thinking about that, she admonished herself. Get at least some rest. With any luck, tomorrow will be a busy morning. ... Today, I guess. ... ! There was that sound again. That slow, rolling heartbeat from somewhere deep below. She opened her eyes and watched the darkness melt and distort, sliding off the walls like dripping paint before dropping away into an endless chasm of some indescribable color below. She started to shift again, just as before, dipping into the floor and beginning to move slowly down into an ocean of shimmering jelly. The heartbeat called to her. This is insane. Stop. I don’t - what... is happening? Just as before, she traveled down through the depths of the planet as the jelly slowly faded and transformed around her. Just as before, a deep, rumbling chuckle began to echo up from the infinite expanse below. Just as before, hands tugged at her and she accelerated, shooting deeper and deeper as the jelly morphed into a white - a black - a grey liquid. Hues spiralled through every color of the rainbow as rushing wind grew louder and louder. Her chest hurt, though from pressure or old wounds she didn’t know. A curtain of the liquid opened before her and - she woke up. What?

Just like that. Her eyes simply opened and she slowly controlled her breathing, heart rate coming down from the nightmare. It was still dark and silent in the cell. She had no idea how much time had passed, but it couldn’t have been that much; she was still dead tired. Cautiously, she rolled over, facing the wall so the camera couldn’t spy on her, and tried to go back to sleep.

- Be Eva.

- Be Landon. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 10-Oct-20 11:48 AM

Scene 44 “Good morning, Mr Kozlov. I hope you had a restful night.” Director Hynes held a cold expression, as usual. Was there malice hidden there? He couldn’t tell. Landon paused halfway through the door before being prodded the rest of the way through by the CP behind him. “Not really,” he admitted, sitting down awkwardly in the chair he was directed to. “I didn’t expect-” “Landon, my boy!” Landon’s CP escort deferentially stepped out of the way, allowing Mr Baxley to enter the room and excitedly clap Landon on the shoulders. “I’m glad you’re safe! You’ve really got to stop getting into such trouble all the time.” “I - I’m sorry, sir, I’ll-” “Oh, hush. Trouble seems to find you, rather than the other way around. Anyway, we’ll have plenty of time to talk about that once your partner shows up.” “Partner? You mean someone found Maya?” “Oh, did they not tell you that yet?” Baxley sat down and leaned back, comfortable even in this austere conference room somewhere deep in the heart of the CP Head Office. “Apparently they managed to track her down around four in the morning. Looks like the drone accidentally got her in the leg and broke her phone. Luckily, they managed to get her treatment in time and she’s good as new. The wonders of modern healthcare.” A heavy burden seemed to lift and Landon exhaled in relief. At least she had lived. He hadn’t gotten her killed too. It took a few more minutes for Maya to arrive. Hynes stood the whole time, ruler-stiff, while Baxley lounged in the chair and put his feet up on another one. The three CPs in the room stood silently back, wearing unreadable expressions beneath their visors. When she finally arrived, exhausted-looking and wearing similar grey hospital clothes to Landon’s yesterday, there was hardly time to even say hello before Hynes spoke.

“Excellent. Now that we are all here, we can begin. The goal of this discussion is twofold. First: discuss the repercussions from the events of yesterday and last night. Second: determine what the Project’s official stance will be on the captured infiltrator. We shall focus on the first point presently.” Baxley sighed. “Always so formal, Jen.” Hynes continued without even pausing to acknowledge the interruption. “From the start, then. The two of you submitted a new implant design and tested the manufactured part on the limited specimens. This test went well. Astonishingly so, in fact. The brain produced an overall 99.7% match on the baseline, even on extended analysis testing. “Next, however, protocol was disobeyed and the implant was tested on the full specimens without proper authorization or preparation. This test went exceptionally poorly, resulting in a total loss of all twelve specimens, tens of millions of credits worth of equipment, and one member of the security team. Mr Rabellini was terminated on the spot for his role in this disaster, as Ms Harish should know.” Hynes exhaled strongly before continuing, seeming either annoyed or repressing fury. “After consulting with Vice President Baxley, we have agreed to hold the two of you blameless for this debacle, as instructions were given by a senior employee to perform tests outside of his scope of authorization. You are to continue development on the highly successful implant design and prepare another prototype as quickly as is safe. Is this decision clear?” Landon nodded, scarcely believing it. Mr Baxley must have pulled some strings to get her to agree to that. There was no way Hynes would have just let them go without further consequences. “Good. Now, among our previous discussion, Vice President Baxley had an idea that perhaps the Apotheosis teams should, well, he can explain better than I can.”

Baxley straightened up somewhat, taking his feet off the chair. “Right. So Jen and I were talking about what went wrong here, and it seems like at least part of the problem is that none of the Apotheosis teams actually know what the goal of the project is, overall. If you folks had known some of the information that the Genetics and Containment teams know, you would have known not only that testing in a full specimen was against protocol, but that it was a very risky idea and why. So I’m wanting to bring some of the teams together, at least a bit, and let them collaborate. I think there’s too much overlap between these disciplines to have everyone totally separate all the time. Thoughts on that?” Landon nodded. Maya spoke for the first time since she had entered the room. She sounded as exhausted as she looked, her voice broken and low. “That’s a good idea. I don’t know about everyone else on the Biotech team, but I at least would be able to optimize my designs better if I knew what specifically they would be used for.” “Excellent, excellent. Well, here it is. You ready?” Baxley put his hands together, then spread them apart for emphasis. “Cloning. We’re making full, real, perfect copies of people with all their memories so that if the original dies, their clone can take over without any issues. Immortality, sort of. Apotheosis. What do you think? Sounds impressive?” “Very,” Landon agreed. His suspicions from last night had not only been confirmed, but expanded on. But this couldn’t be the only goal of the project. There were so many things that could be accomplished with perfect human clones and flawless memory-transfer implants beyond immortality.

“As you know, your group is working on the cybernetic part, trying to figure out how to perfectly copy memories from one brain to another - the original to the clone - in real time. Beyond that, there are three other groups. There’s Genetics, responsible for growing the clones and ensuring stability; Containment, responsible for security, nutrition, and figuring out the right conditions to hold these things in; and Integration, responsible for taking all the results from the other groups and putting them together. “Now, I said there were some things from Genetics and Containment that would have helped you yesterday. Here’s what I meant. Jen, where did the initial technology to create these clones come from?” “The first prototypes for our cloning procedures were developed from wasteland beasts. Specifically, those relatively rare few that can mutate quickly and permanently, at will. We took cell cultures from them and discovered that, after some modification, the cells could be primed to mutate in response to memories in the brain. The clone would essentially become whoever it thought it was. Genetics team is currently working on ways to disable the mutative properties, so they will become normal human cells after the transformation.” “That’s right. So you can see why these things can be problematic. We’re working with wasteland creatures in our labs, so any memories that aren’t exactly right can trigger them to become what they originally were. It’s rare, but it does happen. And it happened yesterday. Does that help fill in some gaps and, more to the point, explain why it’s such a risky thing to test on the full specimens without significant preparation?” Landon nodded. Both he and Maya seemed almost stunned by the sudden deluge of new information after weeks of secrecy on the project. Experimenting on wasteland beasts, really? That’s so... dangerous, but incredible.

“Good. Now, before we go on, do you two have any questions about the wasteland beasts, the cloning procedures, or anything else with regards to the project?” Hynes leaned over and muttered, “Vice President, we’re already running behind. We need to know what they were doing last night.” Does Landon have any questions? [Suggest anything to ask Baxley or Hynes in #story_discussion. You may not get a chance like this again.]

- What happened to Manny? What kind of "terminated"?

️ - What's the endgame for immortality? When the project is finished, who gets it? Who benefits?

- Do you plan on stopping reproduction with these clones?

- Can multiple clones be active at once? How would you know who the 'true' person is? What were they doing last night? Why were they in the Boab St district?

- Tell the truth. Going to meet with Eva.

‍

- Just going out together for a walk or to explore or something. Nothing particularly special. [Or suggest a stronger alibi in #story_discussion.] (Winner:

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️ >

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Professional Nerd Blah 13-Oct-20 08:29 PM

Scene 45 “So, uh,” Landon began. Baxley and Hynes both turned to look at him. “Well, when Apotheosis is finished, uh, then what? Who... gets immortality?” Baxley furrowed his brow. “Why, those can afford it, of course. The process is horrendously expensive, costing tens of millions of credits per specimen as is, and these aren’t even full clones yet! There will be absolutely no way for supply to keep up with demand, so the distribution of finished clones will have to be governed by the market. That’s how business works.” I’m sure the government will be Xera’s number one customer, Landon thought. Immortal CPs, sure, but why not politicians too? Why be a senator for one lifetime when you could be a senator for ten lifetimes? He blinked. “How would this work with ‘life term’ jobs, like high judges?” “Xera doesn’t make the laws.” Baxley shrugged. “We provide a service. I’m sure there would have to be some changes made, but I’m not the one in charge of them. I would bet there are legislators working on this currently - at least the ones that are aware of the project.” Hynes interrupted. “If the laws are not ready for this technology, they must change quickly. Xera is not the only company working on a similar project, though we are the furthest along. It’s not a matter of ‘if,’ but ‘when.’” “Yes, Jen has been quite active in working with legislators on the ramifications of the project. Another important piece of the puzzle to be careful not to lose.” “Is there anything stopping a clone from walking around at the same time as the original?” Maya asked from the other side of the room. “Based on my experience with the implants, I haven’t seen anything, but that sounds like an even bigger deal, to be able to duplicate someone.”

“Yes, there is,” Hynes replied. “Although we’re not entirely sure yet and it needs more testing with full clones. But so far, it appears that activating a clone with a high enough baseline match will cause instantaneous brain death in the original, as long as it’s still linked via an implant. Activating a clone after the original has been unlinked... doesn’t seem to work. Maybe there’s something about the instantaneous spark of consciousness that’s needed right at the instant of transfer for it to be successful, but we’re not sure yet. It’s possible those problems could be fixed, which would of course create a whole new mess of issues. But for now, it’s impossible.” Hynes paused a few seconds, glancing at the two of them. “Are you done? We do have a schedule to keep.” Landon half-leaned forward, then returned to his chair, his question about what had actually happened to Manny left unasked. Looking at Hynes now, and knowing the stakes of this project, he knew what kind of “terminated” it had been. “Excellent. Vice President, please continue.” “Always in such a rush.” He slowly stood up, then walked to the head of the conference table. “So, last night, Civil Protection apprehended a certain Ms Marais, probably most well known for breaking into my office about two weeks ago. The officers involved were only able to make this arrest because they were in the same area, and they were only there because you two were there.” He tapped his fingers on the table. “Now, I don’t mean to sound distrustful, but we would like to know a little more about what happened that night. The drone only captured so much, as it spent much of its time chasing down various participants in the night’s events. Why were you at Boab St at almost 1 AM?”

Landon hesitated just a moment, and then he lied to Mr Baxley. Maya joined in to affirm his statements after the first few sentences and together, the two of them told a story that didn’t involve going to meet with Eva at all. It had been a long day. They wanted to avoid the stress of thinking about work. Why Boab St? Why not Boab St? Did there need to be a reason for everything besides jumping on the train and picking a stop to get off? The longer he talked, the more nervous Landon got. Mr Baxley had always looked out for him, been kind to him, and had presumably saved his life at least twice. But Hynes was here, and Civil Protection. There was no way he could admit to conspiring with a known criminal, right? Even though he hadn’t really done anything illegal; not yet. And what if Eva admitted to what she had been doing? This was a very bad idea, but it was the best one he could come up with on short notice. He hated lying to Mr Baxley. But if it kept him alive another few weeks... At the end of it all, Baxley returned to his seat. “Well, thank you for telling your side of the story. It’s certainly a useful coincidence that you happened to be around the same area at the same time. I don’t even want to know what the odds of that are. Although who knows; maybe she was tracking the same monster that was tracking you, or some other third factor! We don’t know yet, but hopefully we will once the interrogator downstairs finishes up.”

“Hold on,” Maya interrupted. “What’s this about a monster?” [Can pick multiple; results prioritized by votes]

- Bring up the noodle man in the alleyway as a possible connection.

- Bring up the pale figure near the trains as a possible connection. [Plus, interject with any other questions if you have any. Suggest in #story_discussion.] (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 17-Oct-20 07:27 PM

Scene 46 “At a little past midnight, an automated drone picked up a large humanoid entity, similar to a wasteland beast, a couple of miles East of the Boab St station. Patrols started tracking it, trying to determine where it came from and what its goal was. However, they lost track of it around 1 AM before it reappeared near the Boab St station and was chased away from Landon here by the on-scene CP officers. Baxley rubbed the bridge of his nose. “We’re not really sure what it is or what it was doing - it can’t have been a wasteland beast because none of the city perimeter sensors tripped and none of the defenses activated. All were reporting full functionality the entire night. We’re also not sure how it managed to evade the three surveillance drones assigned to it, and the suppressor after a few blocks. Something that large doesn’t just appear and disappear at will.” Hynes leaned down. “Vice President, are you certain that this information is required to divulge?” He waved a hand. “Bah, let them have it. The poor kid was attacked by this thing. He deserves to know we were at least aware of it.” Maya glanced meaningfully at Landon, but he was already speaking. “A few weeks back, I think Maya and I might have run into something similar.” He described their encounter with the pale, malleable humanoid in the alleyway during the first of their many all-nighters for Hynes. After a brief hesitation, he also mentioned the armored Xera guards they had seen presumably chasing after it. “Jen?” Baxley asked. “Don’t think I was made aware of any breaches that night.” “No, Vice President. It was a minor incident and we recovered the specimen within 45 minutes. Given your preoccupation with other matters at the time, it was decided to keep the incident only on file.” “Alright, so what happened?”

“One of the un-differentiated specimens suddenly mutated and escaped containment, falling to the pavement and running off quickly. We tracked it down, terminated it, and performed an autopsy to determine and correct the cause of the mutation, which was an unexpected fold in one of the protein sequences.” “Huh.” He scratched his chin. “Any chance the big one could be a similar problem? Have we lost any specimens recently?” “No, definitely not. By your description, the large creature does have some similar traits, but we haven’t had any breaches in the last week aside from the one yesterday. And all of the specimens from that breach are accounted for as terminated.” “Well, this is concerning, to say the least.” To Landon and Maya, he continued, “We’ll continue investigating, but as far as I know, there’s no way something so large could get much farther into the city before the more sophisticated automated systems start picking it up. So don’t feel unsafe; we’ll track it down eventually.” There was a brief lull in the conversation before Hynes spoke again. “Vice President, we really are running behind now.” “Oh, very well. As Jen said, the second thing we want to talk about is what we’re going to do with your friend downstairs.” Landon felt a sudden chill of fear before Baxley continued. “Well, not your friend, but it sure is interesting that you’ve managed to meet up twice now. Anyway, since you’re really the only one who’s managed to interact with her in any meaningful capacity, outside of the interrogator, I’d like to see if you - or anyone else in this room - has any ideas on what we should do with her.” He cleared his throat. “So, we’ve got a few options. One: kill her. Simple, fast, no chance of loose ends. She’s seen some very classified material and this would be the easiest for everyone. I guarantee that this is what CP’s going to be pushing for, once they’ve gotten all the information they can out of her.

“Two: keep her in jail. This doesn’t really change a whole lot except that we could use her later as a bargaining piece or for further information. I don’t think CP will be entirely thrilled about this, though, and I would expect some sort of ‘accident’ to befall her within the next few months if we just leave her with them. “Three: let her go, but track her as much as possible. This might lead us to the rest of her group, or she could manage to lose the tails and go right back to stealing critical secrets. CP will have a very tough time agreeing to this one, and, to be honest, I’m not convinced of the utility of it either. “Four: hire her. She’s clearly a proficient infiltrator and we have plenty of competitors that need infiltrating, as well as certain structures in the wasteland that could use more of a gentle touch than our forces typically possess. However, this would of course be incredibly risky. We wouldn’t be able to trust her and things could very easily go wrong with her sabotaging us rather than our enemies. I would need to make a very strong case to Mr Bennett to even have a chance of convincing him, let alone Civil Protection. But still, she could be useful. Or she could ruin the entire project. So, any thoughts?”

- Kill her.

- Lock her up.

- Track her.

- Hire her. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 20-Oct-20 07:32 PM

Scene 47 Eva snapped awake to the sound of creaking metal. She quickly rolled over, turning to look at the door. Ah. It’s time, I see. A thin, drooping man probably in his mid-fifties closed the door behind him as he entered the room. He wore a dark suit with a CP badge pinned neatly to the lapel and - more concerningly - his eyes were a deep shade of purple with dark grey sclerae instead of the normal white. Augmented, definitely. “Have you had a restful night?” the man asked, taking a few steps into the room before stopping and just staring at her. A spark of blue light flashed in his eyes and Eva shivered. “What do you want?” she asked, ignoring his question and pivoting into a sitting position. “You’re clearly not here to talk about how I slept.” Or didn’t. “So hasty, so rude.” The man walked slowly forward as he continued. “I believe that dreams can often tell us a lot about a person. But as you wish. My name is Special Agent Kremel and I am the lead investigator on this case. Your case, specifically.” Eva blinked, trying to clear her head. She couldn’t tell if it was just from waking up so recently or if the agent was clouding her mind, but her thoughts were muddled and slow. Dangerous. “I just wanted to ask you a few questions. Does that sound agreeable?” “Do I get to ask you stuff in return?” “If you wish. I make no promises of any answers, but you are always welcome to ask questions.” “Hey, let me start with an important one: are you planning on letting me out of here anytime soon? Your goon who brought me here said I would be working on Apotheosis, not sitting in a prison cell.”

“The ‘goon’ who arrested you did not have the authority to make that decision. Your future well-being will depend, at least in part, on your behavior in this interview. As I believe you are well aware, our department does not shy away from distasteful acts in order to ensure the overall attainment of our goal. You will have to convince me that releasing you will further our goal more than terminating you.” She shrugged, still feeling kind of woozy. “Alright, shoot.” “Basic facts. Can you confirm your name?” “Aren’t you guys the ones with a priority four warrant out for me? Why do you need me to-” “Please confirm your name.” She sighed. “Eva Marais. You know this already.” “Age?” “25. What do you need this info for?” “Date of birth?” “October 21st. What are you doing?” “Just one more. The full name of your partner during the Xera break in.” “Uh, no thanks. You’re not going to get me to trip up that easily.” “Please provide a name.” “Thomas Baxley. Why not?” “Thank you for helping to calibrate the discriminator.” The blue light in his eye flashed again. “We may now begin.”

Oh. Now she remembered. A discriminator was one of the many ocular implants she hadn’t been brave enough to get in her own eyes, and worked as a sort of lie detector. After being exposed to several baseline truths and a lie, it could tell when a specific person was lying. At least that was the idea. The implants had come under fire from critics after several high-profile failures in courtrooms, but the device line’s average detection rate was still higher than both chance and un-augmented human interrogators. [How should Eva approach the interrogation, in general?]

‍♀️ - Betray Sid and the rest. They will have moved on by now anyway (probably), and it could save her own skin.

- Don’t lie, exactly, but just don’t answer sensitive questions.

- Lie. Plant as much false information as she can get away with. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 22-Oct-20 09:57 PM

Scene 48 “The more questions you answer, and the more truthfully you answer them, the better the outcome for you. Now, how did your group first learn of Apotheosis?” Eva stayed silent. Easier than lying, with that discriminator. The agent’s eye flashed blue. “Who sent you into Xera?” Silence. Another flash of blue. A slight pressure building in her temple. “How many members are in your group?” No response. The blue flash. Her head hurt. “How do you know Landon Kozlov?” She stayed quiet, but only barely. Blue light. A dull ache in her head. Dimly, she thought she could smell something metallic. “Why were you near Boab St last night?” Definitely metallic. A drop of blood fell from her nose onto the floor. Her ears rang. Was she staying quiet? The agent’s next question was drowned out by the rushing, static sound flowing through her skull. Blue stars twinkled in her vision. Distantly, she felt herself fall over, lying on the hard bed without any coordination. So dizzy. Some time later, Eva became aware of herself again. She was lying on her back, one arm trapped under her body and going partially numb. Dried blood caked the inside of her nose. “Wh-?” “You have been very helpful,” said Agent Kremel, still standing perfectly straight about a half-dozen feet away. “Thank you for your cooperation. You should know within the next few days how long you will be staying here. I’ll be leaving you to recover, now-” “H-hang on,” she interrupted, extracting her arm and pivoting into something approximating a sitting position. Fuck, her head hurt. “What did you just do?” “Hm? I performed a standard interview in which I asked questions and you answered them.” “No, no, that’s not what happened. You used some kind of... aug or something. That wasn’t a discriminator.”

The blue light in his eyes appeared to be extinguished now, leaving only the grey and a hint of purple. “What difference does it make to you? I merely expedited the process that would otherwise take weeks and perhaps expensive drugs or mechanisms.” “No, look - what...” Eva clutched her head, unable to properly express the confusion and frustration she was feeling. “Fucking... What are you doing?” “Hm?” She groaned. “Oh, whatever. You’d never say anyway. Fine, get out of here. I’ll just sit around and do nothing at all for days on end. Don’t mind me.” “Your cooperation is appreciated. An officer will alert you once a decision has been made.” As the agent turned to leave, an idea finally sparked and caught. “Ah!” Eva exclaimed, causing Kremel to turn around again. “You - have, uh...” she trailed off, not sure how to phrase her question, or even whether to reveal the information. Something about him - his bearing, his voice, an aura? - reminded her of that voice in the jelly-like dream she had been immersed in both last night and when she had first woken up after the Xera infiltration. “Dreams can often tell us a lot about a person,” he had said. Hmmm...

- Ask.

- Don’t. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 25-Oct-20 06:42 PM

Scene 49 “You said... something about dreams when you walked in here. What did you mean by that?” “Just making conversation,” he said, his expression still neutral. “Was there a particular dream you were interested in or wanted to share?” “Uh.” Eva rubbed her head again. It was still hard to think. “There’s... weird colored jelly, and falling into the earth, then something starts laughing. Something with a voice very similar to, uh, yours. Before I even came here.” The agent allowed a slight grin to tug at his lips. “Interesting indeed. I will certainly take this into account. Is there anything else you would like to share?” “What does it mean?” she growled. “You can’t just say ‘interesting’ and not say why.” “Oh, yes I can. Remember that you are the one being questioned here, not me. I have no obligation to grant you any information whatsoever should I not feel like it. And wouldn’t you know, but I don’t.” “Great. Thanks. Glad to see I’m really valued around here.” “You are currently being held on charges of espionage, theft, assault, treason, and a variety of other crimes,” Kremel pointed out. “There’s no reason that you should be valued, really. Now, I really should be going. As I said previously, an officer will get back to you in a few days to deliver the verdict. Enjoy your solitude.” The special agent left the room. Eva managed to catch a glimpse of an armored MCP standing with a rifle on the opposite side of the hallway before the door shut behind him. Fantastic, she grumbled. Don’t know what I was thinking with that, honestly. Welp. Now what? We are about to enter another timeskip. Who shall we refocus on when the story resumes?

- Eva. “We are go for liftoff; estimated flight time is 90 minutes.”

- Landon. “Analyzing baseline... 100% match. Full analysis pending.” (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 27-Oct-20 07:55 PM

Scene 50 Months later... “Analyzing baseline...” Landon yawned and leaned back against the wall, staring unfocused at the brain in the tank. He really wished he could have brought his coffee into the lab with him. Just a little bit longer. I can wake up properly once the quick scan finishes. “100% match. Full analysis pending.” “What?” he exclaimed aloud, scrambling off the wall and almost knocking something small and fragile off the nearest benchtop. “That can’t be right...” He bent down and fiddled with the controls, pulling up the report from the quick scan as the full analysis ran in the background. Every single bar was bright green and full up to the top. The results would need to be replicable in the full analysis and would need to work on the complete specimens, but... Dang. He had suspected this new implant would be good, but not this good. Or maybe it’s due to the changes made by Genetics. There had been a modification to the process used to create both the artificial brains and the full specimens, designed by a cross-team group from all four branches of Apotheosis. Maya had been involved, and had thus kept Landon up to date on what was going on. Apparently, adding some tissues from the desired target as a base to grow the clone made the genetics much more stable, much less susceptible to mutate in violent ways, and gave much greater success at mimicking the original perfectly. These new clones did take much longer to grow - upwards of several months - but the additional stability more than made up for it. There had been some hope that the new process for growing the clone would lead to better implant performance, and now it looked like that might very well be the case. I gotta tell Maya. She’s gonna be so excited.

He double-checked the life support and test battery, then dimmed the lights and headed out through decontamination, reclaiming his thermos once back in the locker room. Landon walked confidently through the halls of the 94th floor, nodding agreeably to the three or four people he passed on the way. Things had certainly changed since the teams had integrated. He almost scoffed, thinking back to the first few weeks of his job and how scared he had been. He had almost betrayed the company. What a mistake that would have been. Yep, things had changed. The atmosphere was more collaborative and open, no one had been terminated in well over a month, and even overtime had been reduced to usually less than ten extra hours a week. Progress on the project had exceeded expectations as well. After a lengthy period of roadblocks involving the absurd volatility of the specimens, the addition of target DNA had stabilized that and really allowed Biotechnology to reach new levels of memory transfer. And now, with that 100% result... “Hey, Landon, you heading to watch the broadcast?” a fit man with blond stubble asked as he approached. “Hm? No, I was just-” “You should come watch, then! Whatever you’re doing can’t be that important, right?” “Well, actually-” “That’s what I thought. Come on!” The man looped an arm around Landon and dragged him off in the opposite direction, towards the big meeting room that also served as this floor’s break room. “Uh, what broadcast?” Landon asked, resigning himself to being dragged along. “The latest mission into the hot zone, duh. Don’t you read the daily briefings?” “I, uh, get a lot of emails...” “Anyway, shouldn’t you care? Your girlie’s life is on the line for this one!” “She’s not -” Landon began automatically, before changing track. “Wait, who?” “The new one! The one you fought so hard to get out of prison? Have you not been paying any attention?” “Uh-”

“Anyway, come on. Let’s go see how your girlfriend does.” “She’s not... ugh.” Landon trailed off, knowing that Yavin wouldn’t listen anyway. Sure, he had spent weeks in meetings and appeals, talking to everyone from the president to the board to the CP top brass, but that didn’t mean anything about their relationship. He had barely seen Eva since then, actually. But, if she was going into the hot zone... About fifteen people were packed into the meeting room, filling it to an almost-but-not-quite uncomfortable level. Most had some form of food so they could claim they were taking some sort of lunch break, even though it was only a little past 9:30 AM. The image of the interior of a helicopter was projected on the wall and the sound of rotors whirred through the room. Landon spotted Maya and made his way over to her, ducking out of Yavin’s grasp when he was distracted by the offer of a bowl of chocolate pretzels. “Hey,” she said, scooting over on the bench to make room. “You get caught by Yavin too?” “Yeah, but that was before I knew who was on this mission.” “Man, Landon, do you ever read your emails? I’ve known about this for the past three days at least!” “I get a lot of emails.” “Uh-huh. So, anything fun happen this morning? I’ve been in meetings for the past hour and a half. Supposed to be in another right now, but I’ve got an excuse.” “Oh?” “Yeah: ‘I don’t feel like it.’ Also, Yavin stole me out of the hallway on my way there. So it’s his fault.” “Always a good candidate for blame,” Landon agreed. “Uh, but, actually, I have had a pretty exciting morning. I ran another analysis on the new implant and the-” “Touchdown in 60 seconds. Prepare to disembark,” came a gruff voice over the projector. “Got it,” replied a smoother, more feminine one. Landon broke off, turning to the screen. He couldn’t see Eva, but that was probably because the camera was mounted on her. “What’s this about the new implant?”

“I’ll tell you later. Once the full results come in. But it’s looking really promising so far.”

- “No hostiles in sight; sector clear. You are good to disembark.”

- “Hostiles spotted; we’re coming in hot. Hold on tight.” (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 29-Oct-20 08:04 PM

Scene 51 “No hostiles in sight; sector clear. You’ll be good to disembark as soon as we land.” “Right,” Eva replied, checking the straps on her backpack. The familiar doubts resurfaced again, asking her why she was working for Xera. Betraying Sid, Charlie, Matt and the rest. Not the time, she thought. Not like I have a choice anyway. “Three... two... one... annndddd... touchdown.” There was a bump as the helicopter set down on the uneven ground. The bay door slid open automatically, ushering roaring wind into the cabin. Eva stood with a slight struggle, then hustled over to the door and stepped out of the chopper into the knee-deep snow. She slogged through the first few steps before she could get far enough from the rotors to activate the little energy nodes clamped onto her boots. Mostly-translucent greenish panes of force flashed into existence, forming temporary snowshoes that lasted only as long as her foot was in contact with the snow. With a little practice, these devices would allow her to move at full speed over the top of the unstable, fluffy drifts. “I’m out of the way; you can head back up.” The chopper slowly rose off the ground. “Affirmative. I’ll be back in four hours. Get in touch if anything goes wrong.” “Will do. See you soon.” The earpiece went silent and the sound of the helicopter’s rotors quickly faded into the distance, muffled by the blanket of brilliantly shining snow. Eva stood still and took a deep breath, just marveling in the quiet, natural beauty of the wastelands. The little temperature regulator strapped to her thigh clicked on and started to hum softly as it dumped heat into the network of tiny capillary-sized tubes threaded through her clothes. Nuclear-powered, they had said. 100% safe, they had added. Well, 99.9995%, they had clarified. Out of all the things to worry about in the next few hours, I think the mini nuclear reactor stuck to my leg is probably the least of my concerns.

Right. Time to get to work. Eva clicked the tiny power switch on her glasses, waited the few seconds for the AR display to initialize and clear, then selected a handful of overlays: map, glare filter, and motion sensor to start with. Green lines traced over her vision before fading along with the snow’s overwhelming brightness. A little red marker appeared over a nearby hill, along with the text “278m.” After another few seconds to admire the endless plains of snow, off she went, crunching along the top of the drifts. The wastelands were definitely not what she had expected. Eva had been out of the city before, but never far: always within sight of the massive silhouettes of New Brighton’s defense perimeter. The land around the city was nothing but bombed-out structures, demolished vehicles, and decaying corpses of slain wasteland beasts. Occasional deep thumps indicated an auto-mortar locating a target and firing a powerful shell towards an encroaching beast. She had never heard the inner perimeter defenses - the building-sized laser cannons - activate, and she never hoped to. The mortars were terrifying enough. But out here, only 45 minutes’ flight from the New Brighton Corporate Airport well within the city limits, there was nothing but cold and snow as far as the eye could see. Even the air smelled cleaner, somehow. She wasn’t sure exactly what scent was missing, but it all just seemed so... pure. There was no way there could be a colony of incredibly dangerous beasts just a quarter-kilometer away, right?

She crested the hill and stood for a moment, catching her breath after the long walk with the unfamiliar energy snowshoes. She was standing on the lip of a wide, bowl-shaped depression in the snow, probably a quarter-mile wide and maybe a hundred feet deep. Nothing moved in the crater according to her motion detector, which was at least minimally comforting. There were a few ruined concrete structures, half-buried in snow, near the bottom of the valley, along with a series of little circular regions where the snow was melted down to a dark surface; Eva couldn’t tell the material from here. Her instructions were to “investigate the crater for reasons why so many wasteland beasts are gathering there, and anything else of note.” What should she do?

️ - Investigate the ruined structures.

- Investigate the melted snow.

- Stay put for a bit and see if any beasts show up. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 31-Oct-20 03:08 PM

Scene 52 Well, better hurry. Never know when anything dangerous might show up. She had a few surprises in her bag of tricks for any wasteland beasts that might want to harass her, but it would still be better to keep away from them entirely. No need to win a fight if you could just avoid it. Carefully, Eva crunched her way down the slope. The energy snowshoes were surprisingly effective at providing friction on the snow, though the green projections appeared entirely smooth. She kept leaning to counterbalance against inevitably slipping down the crater, then almost falling in the other direction as her shoes didn’t budge. This will take some more getting used to. She veered slightly to the right as she approached the more level ground at the bottom of the crater, aiming for the mysterious circular regions of melted snow. Melting meant heat, which meant energy. That was far more interesting and unusual than some more ruined buildings; those were everywhere in the wastelands. The circular regions, on the other hand, suggested some sort of power. Geothermal, electric, or something else? Well, she would find out. Hopefully. As she got closer, the crisp winter air started to warm and become more humid, like she had stepped into a sauna. Eva crouched down to examine the nearest circle. It was a manhole cover, just like she might find on the city streets. Thick, dark metal with some sort of warm gas venting from the little divot presumably intended to be used to remove it. Snow had melted on top of the cover and left a slight coating of water, though most had evaporated. Printed in the center was the company name “Starforge Foundry.” Eva had vaguely heard of Starforge; she thought they operated out of a plant a couple hundred miles north of New Brighton, so it would be possible for a manhole cover manufactured by them to have made it here. The real question was why? What was it covering?

For completeness’ sake, she checked the other four circles she had noticed from the ridge; they all formed a line perpendicular to the radius of the crater, about 40 feet apart. All of them were labeled with the same “Starforge Foundry” manufacturer’s mark and all of them had the same warm gas and melted snow. The motion detector beeped and Eva spun, glancing up at the ping it had indicated behind her and near the top of the crater. There was nothing there and the sensor quietly allowed the alert to fade away, unable to confirm movement. She exhaled nervously. What now?

‍♀️ - Open one up; see what’s inside.

️ - Check the buildings for any more clues.

‍♀️ - Head back up; look for tracks or movement. (Winner:

‍♀️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 04-Nov-20 07:32 PM

Scene 53 Here goes nothing. Out of her bag, Eva produced a small crowbar and dropped to one knee, brushing away the water, snow, and dirt caked around the cover. Presumably it hadn’t been opened in a long time. After cleaning it up a little, she jammed the crowbar into the opening and carefully levered it up, straining against the surprising weight of the solid steel disc. Still, she wasn’t about to be defeated by a chunk of metal, and after a few strenuous seconds, she was able to pry it up enough that she could haul it out of position and dump it in the snow a couple of feet away. A plume of warm air rose from the open manhole, shimmering against the winter chill. There was a strange smell, but not an unpleasant one. Eva wasn’t entirely sure what the scent was, only that it made her nose tingle. Curious, she caught her breath and peeked into the hole. The midday sun illuminated a good distance down, revealing a series of old iron rungs set into the walls to act as a ladder. Deep below, probably more than 80 feet down, the shaft opened out into a much larger circular tunnel. Water (or some other colorless liquid) moved through it and away from the center of the crater at a moderate pace. Not just a trickle, but not rushing quickly. “What in the...?” Eva muttered to herself. There weren’t supposed to be any still-functioning structures or machines in the wastelands. This looked an awful lot like a sewer or some other artificial conduit for water. How had it survived? The motion detector beeped again before she could come to a conclusion and Eva whirled around, staring back up at the same location the detector had beeped previously. This time, she caught a glimpse of some large pale shape moving against the background glare of the snow before it ducked away behind the edge of the crater. Not quite the size of the beast she had encountered with Landon in that alley months ago, but definitely bigger than her own form.

This isn’t good, she thought anxiously. Nothing moving out here is friendly.

️ - Investigate or take cover in the ruined buildings.

️ - Head down into the manhole to investigate or take cover.

- Head up the opposite side of the crater and away from whatever it is.

‍♀️ - Confront the thing. (Winner:

️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 07-Nov-20 03:45 PM

Scene 54 Well, she had a ready-made area of shelter right in front of her. Plus, it would double as investigating. The manhole was pretty narrow; there wasn’t much chance a wasteland beast could fit in unless it was around Eva’s size, and if that were the case, she had some options for dealing with it. The bigger ones were much more dangerous. She turned around and placed a foot on one of the old metal rungs. It held her weight, so she tried the other foot. Still good. One hand, then the other, and she was climbing down the shaft. Her backpack scraped against the curved concrete wall, but it wasn’t so tight that it couldn’t fit. Just a little uncomfortable as she had to squeeze close to the rungs to make enough room. Good thing she wasn’t claustrophobic. That strange smell grew stronger as she descended, but she still couldn’t tell what it was. Hope this isn’t some super-toxic gas. Do I have an atmospheric analyzer in this kit somewhere? No way I can reach it now; gotta get to the bottom first. It’ll probably be fine. Regardless, she tried to take shallow breaths as she continued to climb. Just in case. Eva reached the bottom of the ladder and jumped down into the tunnel with a splash as she sunk into the water flowing through it. The current tugged at her legs. The tunnel was circular and probably a few inches less than six feet in diameter; Eva could only stand upright in the very center. Water rose to a depth of about a foot and a half, so only a little below her knees. She sighed and shuffled sideways, widening her stance to keep more of her legs above water. Deeper than I thought. Hopefully this isn’t anything dangerous either.

Little wisps of water vapor curled from her pants as the temperature regulator dumped nuclear-generated heat into the soaked fabric and evaporated off much of the liquid. Her boots didn’t have that feature, but luckily they were watertight enough that their short dunk in the water hadn’t allowed a significant amount of liquid in. Eva carefully removed and dug through her pack as she looked down the tunnel, flicking on the IR mode on the glasses. Even with night vision, the bland concrete continued into the distance, fading out of sight in both directions after about a hundred feet. Dark, echoey, and unnerving. Ah, got it. She slung the pack back over her shoulders as she pressed the big blue “sample” button on the atmospheric analyzer, intending to determine if there were any harmful gases down here. In her other hand, she held a less complicated instrument. Eva wasn’t sure if something about the smell had reminded her, or if she was still lightly paranoid because of the nuclear reactor strapped to her thigh, but either way, she was nervous enough to retrieve and turn on her geiger counter. There was a brief delay as the electronics warmed up, then a steady series of clicks. Eva blinked, surprised, as she watched the display number rise, then settle at around 1 mSv/hr. That’s not good. But it could be worse. She wasn’t an expert in radiation dosage, but she vaguely remembered that a dose of 4-5 Sv was usually lethal. A few milliSieverts probably wasn’t that big of a deal. At least not until she figured out where this radiation was coming from. The atmospheric analyzer beeped and displayed its status on the screen. Eva scrolled through the results, ignoring the long list of chemical names she didn’t know, before finally arriving at the “SAFE” label at the bottom. Good enough, I guess. What now? ⏪ - Go against the current, towards the source of the water. ⏩ - Go with the current, towards the destination of the water. (Winner: ⏪ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 09-Nov-20 06:51 PM

Scene 55 Well, let’s find out where this is coming from. Eva crouched down a little lower and stretched her legs across the tunnel, one foot on either side of the water. Though the air wasn’t toxic and the radiation levels probably weren’t harmful, it wouldn’t do her any good to get possibly contaminated water in her boots. Moving in this way was slow and very uncomfortable, but she kept at it anyways, unwilling to splash back into the channel. After several minutes and probably nearly two hundred feet of shuffling forward in the cramped tunnel, Eva caught sight of a change in the distance. A large grate or similar obstruction blocked off the tunnel. As she approached, the geiger counter clicked faster, eventually settling on 12 mSv/hr right next to the grate.Well, this is probably where it’s coming from. Better be careful. Through the grate, the tunnel opened up into a much larger cylindrical room. The floor was covered in slowly moving water and several more pipe grates were visible ringing the lower part of the wall. In the center of the area was a large blue-metal cylinder, standing about 15 feet tall and 5 feet in diameter, 3/4 of the way to the ceiling and 1/4 the width of the room. Little sparkles of light flared in her glasses as she looked at it, interfering with the night vision and making it difficult to pick out any more details. The geiger counter spiked when pointed at it, up to a maximum of 19 mSv/hr from right next to the grate. What is this, some kind of reactor? Why would it be in a room like this? These pipes don’t make any sense if that’s the case. Eva glanced up, trying to see if she could make anything out in the upper levels of the room, but the sparkles were too distracting; she couldn’t see. There was, however, a shaft leading straight up almost directly above her, complete with old ladder-like rungs same as the one she had recently descended.

Curious, she lined herself up with the grate, sideways, and pushed against it. It would be a very tight squeeze, but she could probably slip through the bars and into the room. If, uh, if she wanted to. That blue-metal cylinder was certainly intriguing, as were the dark shapes under the water she couldn’t quite make out through the sparkles. But the radiation level was almost certain to increase as she got closer...

️ - Head in. Take a look. Be careful.

️ - Go up. ⏩ - Go in the other direction. Check out the water’s destination. (Winner:

️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 12-Nov-20 11:09 AM

Scene 56 Yeah, that’s not happening. Eva backed away from the grate. I’m not *that dumb.* She glanced up at the shaft directly overhead, dark and mysterious. Based on how far she had shuffled down this tunnel, it wasn’t one of the other manholes she had seen above ground. This would be something different. Alright, let’s give it a shot. She reached up and stretched as high as she could, just barely managing to grab hold of the lowest rung with one hand. A brief crouch to stow her instruments and a scramble up the circular wall of the tunnel later, she had managed to get both hands onto the ladder. Luckily, she wasn’t carrying too much stuff and was able to pull herself up using arm strength alone until she could get her boots onto the lowest rung. Eva paused for a moment, breathing heavily and stretching her arms. “Ow,” she said aloud, almost by accident. In the brief silence afterwards, the motion detector beeped. She jumped, sharply raising her head to look up. Nothing, again. The ping slowly faded and Eva let out a shaky breath. Something’s in here with me. Maybe just a rat or something. Hopefully. Another deep breath and she placed her hands back on the rungs. Here we go. Carefully, and as quietly as she could, Eva climbed up the ladder until she reached the top of the shaft. It wasn’t covered by a manhole, but rather just ended in an uneven concrete barricade. Curious, she brushed her gloved fingers across it and found she was able to chip away a few tiny chunks of concrete even by just lightly touching it. However, that barricade wasn’t the most interesting thing here. Set into the wall opposite the ladder, partially obstructed by the concrete, was a slim metal door. Old, rusted, and left hanging open so she could barely see into the seemingly empty room beyond.

Conscious that there was no other place the source of the motion could have gone, Eva braced herself against the wall and shoved against the door, cracking it open another few inches with a heavy squeal and a light rain of additional concrete fragments. Something tiny scuttled in the room and the motion detector painted another ping on her overlay. This time it stayed red: a small blur obscured behind the door, about the size of a cat. Alright, let’s do this. You and me, little mystery beast. Eva shrugged off her pack and shoved it through the door, then squirmed through herself, only barely able to squeeze through the gap thanks to the thin, lightweight clothing. If she had been wearing a jacket or snow pants, she absolutely would have gotten stuck. The motion detector beeped again as she wriggled her arms through and started working on getting the rest of her torso and legs into the room. Eva looked up, spying something tiny, red, and fast-moving jumping from a low box onto a set of shelves and scuttling up towards the ceiling. With the low-resolution from the night vision, the obstruction of the red glow from the motion detector, and how fast it was moving, she couldn’t tell its shape in the slightest. It was, however, definitely moving towards her across the ceiling. At concerning speed.

- Shoot it. Don’t bother getting out of the door; just fire now. ⏩ - Focus on getting into the room, then defend herself.

- Back out of the room, be ready to fire when it emerges into the shaft. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 15-Nov-20 11:03 AM

Scene 57 Making a split-second decision, Eva crammed her arms back through the door and slid back onto the ladder, scraping painfully against unyielding concrete and metal. She grasped at the holster strapped to her leg and quickly drew her pistol, worryingly aware that a ricochet in such a confined space could prove fatal. Don’t miss. The creature scrambled through the crack in the door and skittered across the concrete plug in the shaft. Eva whipped her arms upwards, readjusting her aim; she had expected it to enter at around floor-level. In the half-second between it crawling through the door and her finger squeezing the trigger, she managed to get a slightly clearer glimpse. It was a dull red color, covered in dust and grime. Vaguely humanoid. Not at all resembling any creatures of similar size she had seen before. The gunshot was mostly silent as her earpiece automatically activated to block the harmful level of sound. She could, however, feel the vibrations as the bullet struck and passed through the creature, then dug into the brittle concrete blocking the shaft. Sound began to return as the little monster lost its grip and fell, bouncing off Eva’s leg as it splashed into the water below. A moment later, hundreds of pounds of concrete began to fall, the plug breaking apart from the force of the bullet. Eva gasped and pressed herself tightly against the ladder, covering her head with one arm and holding on as best she could with the other. The deafening clatter was muted by her earpiece again, but it could do nothing about the continuous barrage of heavy rocks scraping or slamming against her. Finally, nearly ten seconds later, the cascade subsided. Eva let out a sigh of relief and took stock. Her left arm was in significant pain from the beating it had taken while protecting her head, but it didn’t seem broken. Aside from that, a slight headache, and some minor dizziness, she seemed to have gotten away mostly unharmed.

The concrete had piled up in the water below, possibly blocking her from going back the way she came. She’d have to take a closer look. The door on this level was clear and could probably be opened more easily now. Additionally, with the plug gone, she could continue up the shaft to what appeared to be one more door and then a sliver of daylight entering through what appeared to be a trapdoor. ⬇️ - Go back down; investigate the concrete and creature. ⏩ - Head into the room on this level. ⤴️ - Go up; investigate the door on the next level up.

- Go up; investigate the trapdoor. (Winner: ⏩ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 17-Nov-20 06:37 PM

Scene 58 Without wasting any further time (or waiting for any other dangerous creatures to appear), Eva shoved the door open a little further and squeezed into the room. She grabbed her pack off the floor and looked around, taking in the rusted shelving units, old metal control panels and displays, and surprisingly modern-looking sheets of fencing and hardened glass lying on the floor. First things first, she grabbed the geiger counter again and switched it on. The device clicked slowly, never actually settling, but instead fluctuating between 20-30 µSv/hr. Much lower than the mSv readings below, and probably almost a safe dosage. Good. She could take her time. Now, what was all this stuff doing here? The control panels were labeled on little metal plaques, all written in an alphabet she didn’t know. It was angular and filled with lots of harsh, straight lines. Some letters almost resembled ones she knew, but the words didn’t make sense phonetically if she tried to translate them. Most of the panels were primarily filled with heavy metal toggle switches, dials, and gauges, but a small minority seemed to resemble ancient computer screens. Curious, Eva spotted a slot below one of these screens and lifted up the dust flap to see inside. A flat, circular disk, six inches in diameter and maybe an inch thick, slid out and into her hand. Eva blinked at it, nonplussed, turning it over to see if there were any other distinguishing marks. It was blank and black, with a thin strip of some sort of film along the edge. It was surprisingly heavy, probably about the weight of a small textbook. She glanced over to the shelves, where hundreds of disks almost identical to this one rested. Each had a white ring around its edge, presumably to protect the film from the elements. Eva set the disk down with its fellows and clicked a few switches on the control panel experimentally. No lights, no change. She hadn’t expected anything, really, but you never knew.

The last thing to look at was the pile of fencing and glass sheets on the far side of the room. Both the fencing and glass were cut into square panels, about 6 by 6 feet. There was no rust or dust on any of them; they could have been placed here just yesterday. A smaller cardboard box hid just behind the last shelf, containing a few tubes of binding gel and some applicators. Clearly, someone had been here recently and was planning a construction project. Freshly visible behind the last shelf, partially obstructed by the box and piles of fencing, was another metal door. It was of a similar type to the one leading into the ladder shaft, but sported a concerningly familiar yellow triangle with a radiation symbol. Presumably her geiger counter would get another workout if she entered. What should Eva do?

️ - Enter. It’ll be fine, probably.

- Back out, go up, and investigate the trapdoor. ⤵️ - Back out, go down, investigate the concrete and creature. ⤴️ - Back out, go up, enter the next level. [Or suggest something for her to do with the contents of this room.] (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 20-Nov-20 12:24 PM

Scene 59 Maaaybe not, Eva thought, backing away from the door. I think I’m good for radiation, actually. Instead, she levered the door to the ladder open the rest of the way, crumbling away the rest of the concrete plug as she did so, then slipped out into the shaft and began climbing up. She passed the next door up, only noting that it was closed and seemed locked, before arriving at the trapdoor at the top. It was made of an obscenely heavy metal - possibly lead or at least lead-lined given all the radiation - so she really struggled to shove it open far enough to finally emerge back into the open. Eva blinked against the harsh sunlight, turning the anti-glare feature back on to look around. She was standing in one of the ruined structures she had spotted from the edge of the crater. The roof was partially collapsed and the walls didn’t seem like they’d be far behind. The floor was covered in snow drifts, one of which she had just muscled her way through to open the trapdoor, and whatever door had once protected the interior was long gone. It really seemed like more of a hut, designed just to allow access to the trapdoor, than anything else. There was no furniture or machinery, or anything at all. Just drifting snow and sad, ruined concrete. Her headset clicked and suddenly, she wasn’t alone. The pilot called in, his voice distorted from the circuitous satellite route it had to take. “Hey, just checking in. Your tracker disappeared about twenty minutes ago and just came back. Please report status.” She took a moment to breathe before replying. A regular Charlie, this guy was. Too worried about her. ... What was Charlie up to now? What had happened to him and the rest after her capture? No news was good news, she supposed. CP would be sure to brag if they had caught them. “Eva, report if able.”

Right. “Hey, uh, reporting in.” She still wasn’t used to the radio formalities Xera tended to use. “I found a big underground structure and went exploring a little. That’s probably why everything dropped out. Made it back to the surface now, though.” “Confirm: a man-made underground structure?” “Yep. I think there was a little wasteland beast in there too that I had to shoot. Lots of radiation. You might want to bring a team out here later; there’s a lot of machinery I don’t understand.” A long pause followed. “Alright, copy all. Underground structure, machinery, radiation, beasts. Anything else?” Partway through the pilot’s message, a loud, long howl echoed through the crater. Eva ducked down out of instinct, then darted over to the missing door to peek out. The motion detector lit up with dozens of blips around the rim and scattered throughout the bowl. She could only see a few from her current position, but the ones she could see were loping, misshapen wasteland beasts. Some were large, some were around her size. All were moving slowly, but all straight towards her. “Uh.” How should she respond?

- Report the situation and say she’ll handle it.

- Report the situation and ask for evac.

- “Nope, all good.” Then what?

️ - Back into the shaft. Down to the water area.

- Back into the shaft. Down to the control room.

- Evade; get out of the crater. Clearly they want something here. (Winners:

,

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 22-Nov-20 03:06 PM

Scene 60 “Yeah, there’s something else,” she whispered, retreating back away from the doorway. “There are about 50 big beasts that just showed up in the crater, all closing in on me. Can I get an evac or something?” Another dangerous pause as the signal bounced from satellite to satellite. “Confirm: evac requested, fifty beasts in the crater?” “Yeah. It’s not looking great.” “Alright, I can get back there in about 20 minutes. Try to stay out of their way until then. Report status when able to confirm you’re still alive.” “Great, yep. Thanks.” Damn. Twenty minutes? The pilot might as well have said “I’ll be back in time to pick up your corpse for a funeral.” Well, now what? After some quick consideration, Eva reasoned that the beasts had already been known to gather in this crater - that’s why she was here in the first place - so they must want something already here. They probably weren’t after her in particular; maybe if she could get out of the crater, they’d leave her alone. I don’t really know much about wasteland beasts. Maybe that’s how it works. Worth a shot. But she still had to get past them, and that wouldn’t be easy. Eva jumped up onto a partially-collapsed section of wall, balanced as concrete crumbled under her feet, and hauled herself up to perch on a corner of what remained of the roof. It was such a good idea to work on arm strength, she thought, taking in a view of the area. Wasteland beasts were encroaching from all sides, stalking towards the approximate center of the crater where her building sat. Fewer than a dozen other structures lay dotted around, providing meager cover. She wouldn’t be able to lose them in there, let alone hide. The only other features of the crater were the manholes she had spotted and descended earlier, but there were at least a dozen beasts in the crowd that would be small enough to fit into them.

Double damn, she swore. There weren’t any significant features of the landscape to help her out. It would be down to a race, and she definitely doubted she could outrun all these beasts, even with the snowshoes. What else do I have in here? She poked through her pack, digging through the various measuring and analytic instruments to try and find something that would help her get out of this situation. She came up very light for defenses and narrowed her eyes. They knew this would be dangerous and they hardly packed any weapons. Just a little suspicious. Anyway, all she had for offense was the gun she had used to kill the smaller creature - 9 shots left in the magazine and two spares. Hardly enough to take down even three or four beasts, let alone fifty. For utility, she had a three-pack of “variety grenades,” which claimed to do whatever was most helpful to the thrower at the time but in practice mostly just ended up exploding into smoke or glue. The last possibly helpful item was an old favorite: a string of concussion pads. These things come in handy all the time. Eva quickly wound the strand around her torso, securing it with as much dexterity as the gloves would allow. She didn’t expect to be falling far enough to activate them, but the explosive force might help with any body slams or claws. It would be better than nothing, though she still shuddered with anxious anticipation, almost able to feel sharp claws tearing into her skin already. Alright, let’s do this. Eva waited until the first few beasts were almost at the doorway, trying to get the group as close to the center as possible before she ran off, then threw a grenade into the nearest cluster and leapt off the roof. There was a loud flumph as a wall of pressure blasted out, knocking wasteland beasts off their feet and causing Eva to completely flub her landing.

She crashed into the snow leg-first, the energy shoes unable to activate due to her awkward positioning. She sank two feet in, feeling her right knee impact hard ice or solid ground with a painful jolt. “Dammit, dammit, dammit,” she whispered, detaching another grenade and throwing it as she struggled to rise. The approaching cluster of beasts was coated in a clear slime, movements slowed by the glue-like substance. Another group approached from the other side and Eva was forced to throw her last grenade, producing a cloud of thick, mint-scented smoke. She couldn’t see through it; only the silhouettes from the motion detector were visible. Furious at how terribly this was going, she wrenched both legs out of the snow, activated the snowshoes, and was immediately knocked off her feet by an explosion centered just to the right of her ribcage. Eva picked herself up again, wincing as the spent concussion pad deflated and fell away from her body. She had no idea what had triggered it; the smoke was too thick. “Fucking-” she began, then shut up and focused on running along the top of the snow. She emerged from the smoke, trailed by a small group of six wasteland beasts. The rest of them seemed to be sufficiently distracted by the grenades to leave her alone. Still, six beasts was too many to take out. She drew her gun, but couldn’t aim properly while running away. “Come on, go back to your weird radioactive sewer. You don’t want me; get outta here.” The beasts did not appear to be convinced.

“Okay, I warned you.” Eva pivoted and ducked behind the crumbling wall of the last structure before the edge of the crater, raising the gun and firing nine times in quick succession. Two beasts dropped to the snow, blood staining the perfectly white ground. Two more sustained injuries and slowed down, possibly enough for Eva to outrun them. The last two, however, were the largest of the group and the least affected. One had taken a bullet, but it seemed only to enrage it. Eva shouted and ducked away as the beast in the lead gurgled and spat a glob of steaming, greenish-blue substance at her. She managed to avoid it, but the second beast sliced a jagged cut down her right arm as she dodged. Eva cursed, her fingers going limp, and only barely managed to catch the gun with her left hand before it fell. She sidestepped the next swing, then purposefully took the third directly to the abdomen, angling her torso just right to detonate another concussion pad. Three of them exploded this time, sending Eva and the beast sprawling in opposite directions. Due to the pads’ design, the beast had taken the brunt of the blast and Eva was able to get to her feet faster. Another glob of green-blue substance splashed against the snow as she ran, peppering her legs with sizzling droplets that burned like acid. As she ran, she painfully corralled her right hand into holding a spare magazine so her left could jam it into the gun. She wasn’t a great shot with her offhand, but the two beasts chasing her were very large targets. At this point, the one she had knocked away with the pads had gotten up and almost caught up to her. Eva stopped, pivoted, and tried to line up a shot, but it seemed to have learned from last time and clawed at her face rather than torso.

Eva’s head was jerked painfully to the side as a claw dug into her scalp, but she retaliated tenfold by jamming her gun into the thing’s chest and firing several times. The beast fell to the snow after five shots, leaving her with only the one that kept spitting at h- Eva screamed as long, sharp claws dug into her side. The last beast hadn’t been content to merely stay at a distance and had closed in while she was distracted. Still, she was fast enough to react with the last of the second magazine. The beast dropped, its claws pulling Eva down with it until she could rip the serrated talons out of her side with another pained cry. Blood dotted the snow. She didn’t have time to catch her breath and just kept running. Those beasts wouldn’t stay down forever. Even as she staggered away, she could see the first two she had downed begin to stir, their flesh starting to morph and flow into new shapes. That was the real danger of these beasts. They just wouldn’t stay down without overwhelming firepower. And every time you “killed” one, it would come back with a mutation designed to counter however you did it. Her gun wouldn’t be effective enough to take them out a second time.

- Be Landon.

- Keep being Eva. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 24-Nov-20 07:24 PM

Scene 61 “You’re kidding.” “No, I promise. Just got the email a few minutes ago. Right after the video cut out.” Maya leaned in as she tugged on her lab coat, squinting at Landon’s phone. “15,000 unread emails? What is wrong with you?” “I get a lot of emails.” “I can see that. Anyway, prove it. You could have faked that report. I refuse to believe that the first test after we change the cloning technique is the one.” “Alright, come on. See for yourself.” He led the way into the decontamination chamber and waited for the blue-green mist to settle before continuing. “Just over here. I’m using the old classic: Henry.” “After what he did last time?” “I feel like he deserves another chance.” Maya shrugged. “I guess that’s-” She stopped short, then tapped at the test results. “You weren’t kidding,” she breathed. “Everything... every single test is reporting 100% compliance. Not even 99.9. One. Hun. Dred.” “You know who’s responsible for that, right?” “Don’t you dare.” “She’s standing right here, about to tell me why I’m wrong.” “You little - it’s a team effort and you know it. Not even just Biotech; this was everyone on the project.” “Sure, a lot of people contributed. But at the end of the day, whose name is listed first on this implant’s design file?” Maya muttered something under her breath. “That’s what I thought. So, uh, what now?” Landon frowned, remembering the last time an implant had done so unexpectedly well. That had been one hell of a day. He had never seen Manny again. “Well, we need to tell Hynes, right? I mean, it’s not like we’re going to go start a test on the full specimens right now without her authorization. That, uh, wouldn’t be... smart.” “Y-Yeah.” The two of them stood awkwardly for several moments, the triumphant atmosphere of just a minute ago now much more somber. Neither could meet the other’s eyes.

Finally, Landon broke the silence. “Well.” He shuffled his shoes on the floor. “I guess we should go get Hynes, then.” “Yep.” Landon took a few hesitant steps back towards the decontamination lock before Maya quickly approached and spoke in a low voice. “Landon, are you fully on board with this? They killed Manny. Sure, a few things have changed, but this is still the same company with the same people in charge. Maybe it’s all nice and open now, but that’s just because this is more productive. The instant we stop being useful, we’re getting ‘terminated.’ One way or the other.”

- There are still kind people here. Things have changed. We can make a difference.

- If not Xera, it’ll be someone else. Korman? EloTek? Lockheed-Bolte? Better that we do our best to control it.

- I’m not on board, not really. But what other choice is there? We can’t leave. (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 27-Nov-20 06:43 PM

Scene 62 Instinctively, he glanced around the room even though he knew they were the only people in it. There were no cameras either, as everything was far too top-secret to risk it. “Look, if it’s not Xera, it’s going to be someone else. You read the report too; Korman’s on their way already with EloTek and even Lockheed-Bolte not far behind. Would you prefer one of them finish their version of Apotheosis before us? This tech isn’t going to go away if we stop working on it. All that’ll happen is we’ll lose our chance to influence it.” He paused for a moment, trying to think of some way to wrap up the thought. “So - so yes, I’m on board with this. Maybe things haven’t changed as much as they’d like us to believe, but I’ll be damned if I let my chance to make a difference in a once-in-a-generation technology go to waste.” Maya looked at him for a moment, head slightly tilted to one side and expression unreadable. “They’re hiding something.” “Of course they’re hiding something! But we’re never going to figure out what it is if we get ourselves killed trying to sabotage the project or leave the company or something.” Landon sighed and lowered his voice again. “Look, why are you bringing this up now? It’s been months since-” “Because this is the endgame, Landon! If this implant works at 100% on the full specimens, we’re done. Apotheosis will be ready for human subjects. Add that to all the weirdness going on with the wastelands and... I don’t know, it just feels like everything’s about to change. Like we’re sitting on a bomb and someone just started the timer.” “The weirdness going on with the wastelands?” “Landon. I swear, if your next sentence is ‘I get a lot of emails,’ I’m going to slap you.” “I do!” “It was a few days back, from... Greg, I think. One of the GIS guys downstairs? Sent it out to the Apotheosis teams because we deal with the wastelands, sort of. You should give it a read.”

Landon uncertainly pulled out his phone as he saw her expression. “Like, now?” “Like, now.” It didn’t take long to find the email, buried under a hundred more from earlier in the week. Greg had been relatively brief, but had attached several charts detailing the two-dozen miles surrounding New Brighton. Landon wasn’t an expert at reading geographic (or geologic) data, both of which had been included, but he had enough of a passing familiarity to get the gist. The wastelands had been expanding for the past few years, yes, but only at a marginal pace. A centimeter per month or so. Slow enough that, at the expense of untold man-hours and millions of credits in purification technology, the city had been able to keep them back. Other settlements hadn’t been so lucky, but at least the expansion had been slow. No longer. Within the last few weeks, the expansion rate had increased by orders of magnitude - almost fast enough to observe with the naked eye. Greg had provided some projections in the charts, showing that the entire city of New Brighton would be swallowed up by the wastelands within the next two years. Of course, the city would never make it that long. All it would take would be for the massive defensive perimeter walls to be undermined and fall. Within months, wasteland beasts would roam the streets. And New Brighton was one of the largest, wealthiest, and most prepared megalopolises in the country. Smaller settlements were certainly doomed, and more likely in weeks than months. He put his phone down. “That’s some ‘weirdness.’” “Yeah. You’re telling me.” Landon hesitated, still trying to work through the magnitude of the news. “Why... isn’t this public? The city is doomed, and probably the entire nation if this is happening everywhere. Why - ah, panic. Right.”

“Yep. That’s why Xera’s not saying anything. But if it’s as fast as the GIS mapping predicts, we’ve only got a matter of weeks before someone else notices and blows the whistle. It’s not going to be pretty.” “Well of course it’s not going to be pretty; we’re going to die! Why does Apotheosis... even... matt...er. Oh. Ohhhhh.” “You get it? Yeah, that’s what I thought too. These clones can stay in stasis for centuries, theoretically. And while no one’s quite sure what the wastelands are or how they work, we for sure know they’re dying. Only a couple hundred more years till we can go out and be free, or so scientists say. Those timelines match up suspiciously well, don’t you think?” “Then, this whole thing, you think...” “Yeah. Just like in those old books on nuclear bunkers and fallout shelters. The privileged few get to hide themselves away for centuries, waiting for the surface to become inhabitable again, while the common folk get slaughtered in some kind of armageddon. And here we are, making it happen.” The chamber lock slid open and someone else stepped into the lab. “Oh, hey guys,” Yavin said, immediately walking in their direction. “Funny thing I found you here, eh? What have you been up to?” “Test results!” Maya exclaimed, nervously striding past him. “We were about to go report to Director Hynes. Right, Landon?” “R-Right. Sorry, Yavin. Another time.” “One of these days, right? See you later!” In the decontamination lock, Maya exhaled in relief before then coughing on a lungful of the decontaminant. “Dammit. We’ll finish that conversation later. Don’t spread it around.” Landon should...

‍♂️ - Talk to Mr Baxley about this theory.

- Talk to Eva about this theory.

- Stay quiet. Don’t spread it around.

- Do some research on his own. [For any option, please specify either what he should share or ask about, or how / what to research.] (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 29-Nov-20 01:52 PM

Scene 63 Many hours later, Landon stepped out of an elevator and looked both ways down the long hallway before heading to the right. As he walked, he thought back over the day’s events. He and Maya had gone to Hynes and reported the test results. She had apparently just learned that Korman Enterprises was starting full subject trials with one of their implants, and so was completely on board with accelerating the normal approval timeline significantly. Maya had been pulled away to head up the approval committee on the technical side, so Landon had been left to deal with the ethics, efficacy, and safety committees. He had spent the rest of the day in meeting after meeting, collating, presenting, and answering questions from room after room of executives who needed to know if this would be the big breakthrough that would put them firmly above Korman once and for all. He hadn’t been able to answer every question, but he had been able to assuage the board’s fears enough to get an extended approval out of them - not only were they cleared for full subject trials, but for human trials as well, assuming the full subject tests met given benchmarks. Maya had been similarly successful and the two of them got a few seconds to at least exchange glances at around 6:30 PM before getting swept away into different meetings again. By 8:45 PM, everyone had signed off who needed to (including some calls to executives at home), and poor Maya had been conscripted to head up the installation as well. Landon, finally, was allowed to leave and escape the crushing waves of bureaucracy that had been battering him all day. He was absolutely drained and hadn’t had a moment to himself in hours. But the wasteland maps Maya had shared with him still scratched at his mind, demanding what little focus he had left. Oh, here’s the door.

Landon reached out and knocked, then leaned back against the opposite wall and waited. Wait, why am I doing this again? I haven’t talked to her in weeks, it’s almost 10 at night, and I’m so tired I can hardly think. I should go. He hesitated, then turned to head back to the elevator, face growing red. She’s probably not even there. The door cracked open. “Oh, it’s you. What do you want?” Landon froze, then turned back towards the door to catch sight of Eva’s eyes peeking distrustfully at him through the crack. “Uh, actually I, uh...” “Look, you woke me up, so you’d better spit it out. If you just knock on my door and leave, I will beat you up.” “I... wanted to ask your opinion on something.” He couldn’t see her face, but the long blink made him imagine an exasperated expression. “Oh, really? Fine, but you’re gonna have to do this as inconveniently as possible to make up for it. Get over here and close your eyes.” “Wait, why?” he asked as he made his way over to the door. “Because you just woke me up and I’m not wearing clothes.” Landon felt his face grow hot as he stepped back and stammered, “I can, uh, wait outside while-” “Nope, let’s go.” Landon saw the door start to open and hurriedly closed his eyes, overwhelmed and not really sure what else to do. A hand grabbed his arm and he allowed himself to get pulled into the apartment, dragged over to what felt like a couch or recliner, and pushed into a sitting position. “Okay, you can look now.” “But you’re standing right in front of me!” “Yep, open up.” “N-no!” Eva slapped him, relatively gently, but the shock forced him to open his eyes. She stood in front of him, fully clothed in a dull grey t-shirt and shorts, her expression somewhere between a glower and a grin.

“O-oh.” He fell back onto the couch as Eva burst out laughing and leapt into a chair on the other side of the small living room. She clicked on a standing lamp on the way, providing a soft yellow illumination. “That wasn’t funny,” he protested. “I really-” “Yeah, whatever. I had fun. Nothing really matters at this point anyway; it’s just a matter of time. So-” “W-wait, ‘just a matter of time?’” Does she know about the wastelands already? “Until your glorious employers send me off on a secret mission to guillotine island or something. I’m going to get killed at some point; I’ve accepted that. Anyway, what did you want?” Landon stayed quiet for a moment, recovering from the multiple shocks of the last few minutes. Eva seemed content to sit, partially curled up, and fidget with the arm of the chair. “How are you feeling? I heard today’s mission didn’t go well for you.” “I’m fine.” She paused, briefly rubbing at her right arm. “Annoyingly so, actually. Used to be if you get hurt bad enough, you get a couple weeks’ break. Now, they’re planning on sending me back out the day after tomorrow.” “Already?” “Yep. Like I said, they’re either trying to get me killed or they just don’t care.” She shrugged. “Oh well.” “You just... don’t mind?” “What can I do? Stay, get to go on some exciting adventures, possibly get killed. Leave, get my head blown off by that explosive chip in my neck. Two choices, one obviously better than the other.” “They... what? Explosive chip?” She sighed. “You were on this committee, pal. What did they call it? The ‘system to deter possible relapse behavior?’” At his blank expression, she continued. “God, you really don’t pay attention, do you? Anyway, look, you’re not my therapist. I can be as nihilistic as I want. You wanted advice on something. Spit it out so I can go back to bed.” “I-I’m sorry, I can go-” He started to stand up. “Sit down,” she growled. “Spit. It. Out.”

He swallowed and tapped at his phone. “Okay. Here.” Eva raised an eyebrow, but took the phone and quickly scanned through Greg’s email and attachments. She handed it back. “Huh. So I was right, then. It is only a matter of time, but for everyone instead of just me.” A pause as she picked at the arm of the chair again. “What kind of advice did you want here? How best to die? Why me, of all people? Why not your scientist-extraordinaire girlfriend?” “She’s not my girlfriend,” he replied automatically. “And-” “Sure.” He glared at her. Eva grinned briefly, then returned to a neutral expression. “And,” he continued, “I needed to talk to someone who isn’t in Xera. Someone who has a non-corporate perspective. Plus, I was kind of hoping you might know something about the wastelands since, well, you’re the only person I know who’s actually been there.” “You’ve never been to the wastelands? Really?” “Well, I’ve flown over them a few times, and I’ve been in one of those armored convoys once, but never actually into them.” “Well...” she said, stretching the word. “They’re very pretty. Pure and clean and nothing at all like the city.” “...What?” “There’s a different smell there. I don’t know how to describe it, really, but it’s so... fresh. Coming back to the city is like sticking your head back into a smoked-up fishbowl after breathing in clean air for the first time in forever. Right now, there’s nothing but snow as far as you can see in every direction. I’m sure that changes in the spring, but right now, it’s just a blanket of pure, white, fluffy snow.” “That - but, the wastelands are dangerous! They’re going to destroy the city! They... I... don’t really know anything about them, really. Just that they’re supposed to be super dangerous and that wasteland beasts live there.”

“Oh, they are super dangerous. But mostly just because of the beasts, I think. Aggressive, constantly-mutating, flesh-hungry bastards.” She rubbed her side, pressing against a wound that had been erased entirely just earlier today. “Take one down and it gets right back up a minute later, mutated to stop you from doing it again. I shot six of the fuckers and they all popped back up with armor plating to stop my bullets. Had to get creative with concussion pads and the energy snowshoes to get out of that one. Was a pretty miserable helicopter ride home, too. You ever try flying for half an hour while slowly bleeding out, with no one but the pilot available to talk to, and he can’t even help you because the stupid helicopter doesn’t have autopilot?” She exhaled and released her grip on the chair. “Sorry.” Landon said nothing for several seconds. It didn’t seem appropriate. “Where do the beasts come from?” she asked. “Huh?” “Well, ‘the wastelands,’ duh, but... has anyone actually seen what makes these things? Do they breed? Are they constructed? Just rise out of the ground? Does anyone know?” “No. I don’t think anyone knows.” She stayed quiet a little longer, squeezing her arm seemingly unconsciously. “Have you ever met Special Agent Kremel?”

- Yes. He’s a creep. He reminds me of... [Specify what Landon remembers, if you have an idea. If not, he’ll stick with just “Yes. He’s a creep.”]

- In passing. I don’t have any strong opinions.

- No, can’t say I have. (Winner:

+ mentioning the ocular implant) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 01-Dec-20 06:44 PM

Scene 64 “You mean the guy in charge of your case? The guy who did his absolute best to hurt or kill you for months on end? The guy who would have thrown me out a window because I was at the wrong place at the wrong time? That Special Agent Kremel?” “That’s the one.” “Yeah, he’s a creep, a nutcase, and a complete bastard. Why do you ask?” Eva shifted restlessly in her chair. “If you laugh, I’m kicking you out the door, literally.” “Promise.” “Okay. I... Where to start? A couple of days after the first Xera break in, I started having these dreams. About falling into the earth, with weird-colored jelly all around and something laughing at me. Over the weeks, they got more frequent and lasted longer, until Kremel came to interrogate me after the Boab St incident.” She paused, closing her eyes as if to remember more clearly. “He asked some weird leading questions about dreams, I think, and I ended up telling him about them. He just laughed and left, but that laugh sounded exactly like the one in my dreams. Which... which had been happening before I had even met him.” “That’s, uh, weird,” Landon said neutrally. “Yeah, it is weird, but that’s not the end of it. That was months ago. More stuff happened recently. After I met Kremel, the dreams kept getting weirder. Falling further, more jelly, and glowing, morphing shapes like I was inside a kaleidoscope. Eventually, just after I heard the decision that I would be reassigned to Xera, I fell through the kaleidoscope layers and into a dark, muddy cave. Just in front of me, there was some sort of glowing white tree with round white fruits. It looked so pretty, until I saw there was a noose and a hanged man dangling from one of its branches. When I saw that, a blue light flashed in its gross, decaying eye sockets. A blue light a lot like-” Landon sat up straight. “Like the blue light in Kremel’s eyes?” “...Yeah. You’ve seen it?”

“When he was questioning me after your break-in. It’s some sort of implant, I think. Maybe a discriminator or something like that - to help with interrogations.” Eva shook her head. “It’s not a discriminator. When he used it on me, everything went all... static-y, I got a nosebleed, and then I passed out. There’s no discriminator in the world that does that. This is something different. And I think it’s related to the wastelands somehow.” A deep breath. “After that blue light flashed in the corpse’s eyes, the ground erupted and wasteland beasts rose out of the mud. I tried to run, but there were too many and, well, they killed me. And then I woke up.” She hesitated just long enough for Landon to wonder if he should say something before continuing. “Ever since, every couple of days, I’ve had the same dream again, a little different every time. I keep getting closer to the tree. The corpse keeps getting less decayed. The beasts take longer to rip me apart. It’s a constant, ongoing nightmare, only made worse by knowing I have to go out and face them in reality too.” “Not to doubt the seriousness of this, but couldn’t these just be normal recurring nightmares triggered by stress? It might make sense that you started seeing Kremel and beasts in your dreams when you had to start dealing with them in reality.” “No, see, I thought so too. But if that’s the case, why did I get that laugh that sounds exactly like him before I had ever met him?” Landon frowned, thinking. “Maybe you had heard it in passing, or maybe you’re just remembering that it sounded exactly like him after making that connection once you met him?” “You’re saying I’m duping myself and there’s no actual connection here? You think it’s not even worth thinking about? If no one knows where these beasts come from, who’s to say it’s not from some weird underground tree with a hanged man?”

“No, that’s not what I meant at all! It’s definitely worth considering - Kremel is really weird and I wouldn’t doubt he knows more about the wastelands than he’s telling - but I just think it’s important to keep in mind that there’s a possibility that it’s just a coincidence.” “Fine. I guess that’s fair.” “Okay, so... now what? The wastelands are still going to cause havoc within weeks, you’re still being sent out into danger, and Kremel’s not going to say anything. He never does.” He paused. “What did you find today, anyway? Anything that might help? I got dragged away to meetings before the signal came back.” Eva slowly smiled. “Yes, actually.” Landon’s eyes opened wider and wider as she described the underground facility, the tiny monster, the recent glass and fencing. “We’ve got to go back there,” he said. “This is the only structure like that I’ve ever even heard of in the wastelands, let alone actually being found. This could - this could be where the beasts are made, something that’s causing the wastelands to expand, some... solution to something!” “Or it could just be an old derelict nuclear reactor, powering something that got destroyed hundreds of years ago.” “Y-yeah, you’re right. It could be. But then why would the beasts be gathering around it? It has to be important to them. Is Xera going to send a team out to investigate? Is this where you’re going on Thursday?” She shrugged. “Beats me. They don’t tell me anything. You’re the guy with the clearance; you ask them. I just know I’m being sent somewhere with an ‘elevated level of danger,’ as if the last place wasn’t bad enough.” Landon stayed quiet. “Well.” He sighed. “I still don’t know what to do about this. There’s this mysterious underground complex you found, there’s Kremel and his crazy eye implant, there’s the wastelands spreading that may or may not be related to any of it, the beasts, still the actual Project, and... agh. I just don’t know what to do.”

Eva shifted position, lying down across the armrests of the chair with her legs and upper back curving towards the floor. “Yeah, I can relate to that. Been a crazy few months.” Landon blinked. “Eva, what did you do before this all started?” “What?” “Well, I mean, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” Landon backpedaled. “But I’m just curious. You had a team before Boab St; what was that like? Were you with them your whole life, or did you do something else beforehand?” She was silent for several moments, staring upside-down at Landon. “I, uh, guess that’s - uh, sorry. I’ll just... I’m taking up a lot of your night. I’ll just go.” “You need to be more patient,” she finally said, speaking in a low voice. “Five seconds is not enough time to know if I’m going to answer your question or not.” Landon sat back down again. “Sorry.” “You’re hopeless.” Eva closed her eyes and stretched her arms down to the floor, staying in that position for nearly fifteen seconds as Landon uncomfortably tried to stay still and quiet. “I’m not going to tell you my life story, okay? But if you’re really curious, I can talk a little bit.” She swung her arms back up to lie folded on her stomach, but kept her eyes closed. “I grew up here, in New Brighton. Worked some dead-end jobs, kept myself mostly out of abject poverty and homelessness. Nothing special, but I made some friends. Some of them had some ideas. Ideas that maybe there were better ways to run a city than with 80% of your population living in squalor. Ideas that maybe multinational megacorporations shouldn’t be running the world. You know, your standard revolutionary rhetoric.” “Your ‘standard revolutionary rhetoric?’”

“Liberty, justice, equality. That kind of thing. You know the type. I didn’t have a whole lot to lose, so I helped out. Got some tools, practiced my acrobatics, started infiltrating. Learned a lot. As time went on, we got more equipment, more benefactors, and more intimidating targets. All culminating in the Xera break-in. After that, you know the rest.” Silence. Then, “Do you miss them?” Another long pause. Eva opened her eyes to look at Landon again. Her face was in shadow, but he thought he could make out the glitter of tears. “What do you think? Obviously. We didn’t always get along, but we made a good team when it counted, and they cared for me. I don’t care how much I learned about Apotheosis; I wish I hadn’t been stupid enough to try and save you.” She flipped herself right side up again and wiped angrily at her eyes. “Don’t even know if anyone survived. No contact whatsoever for months. Protocol; I could have been compromised. And I have! Who knows what else this goddamn explosive chip does. I can never see them again.” She exhaled shakily. “Easier to just assume CP got them. Easier than knowing that I’m betraying them with every breath I take.” “I’m sorry.” “Sorry for what?” she snapped. “For being in Baxley’s office when I happened to show up? For accepting my offer that led to the Boab St... thing? For spending weeks in committees trying to keep me alive? As much as I wish I had never met you, it’s not your fault. You’ve done nothing but try to help me, for whatever reason. I don’t know how or why, and I don’t want you to try and explain. Just...” Eva let out a choking laugh, then cleared her throat and resumed speaking with a clearer voice. “Just... everything’s fucked right now. Yeah? I’ve never been the one with the plan. I’m the one who executes it. So I’ll make you a deal. You and your crazy smart girlfriend figure out what needs to happen to make the world not end, and we can make it happen. Alright?”

“She’s not...” Landon trailed off, spotting Eva’s smirk. “Alright. Let’s make the world not end. Sounds like a plan.” “No, the plan is something you two need to come up with. Making the world not end is the goal.” “Okay, sounds like a goal.” “That’s the spirit.”

- Be Landon; contact Maya and explain what just happened. [You may want to specify a backup plan if he can’t get ahold of her.]

- Be Landon; investigate something. [Specify what: possible ideas include Kremel, the eye implant, Eva’s complex, the wastelands, the beasts, etc.]

️ - Be Eva; get equipped and briefed for Thursday.

- Be Eva; skip ahead to the mission on Thursday.

- Stay longer. Talk. [About what?] (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 04-Dec-20 10:16 AM

Scene 65 At this point, Landon was too tired to do anything else that night. He caught the train home and went straight to bed, only pausing to send Maya a vague text saying he wanted to talk about what they had discussed earlier that day. She didn’t reply in the ten minutes before he passed out. The next morning, he headed in to work and arrived a few minutes early to beat the elevator rush. Maya still hadn’t answered, which was unusual, but he figured she might still be running behind from yesterday’s craziness. It wasn’t until he entered their new, slightly larger, still shared office that he realized how correct he was. There was a moment of panic as he saw her slumped over the desk where thoughts of assassins or heart attacks ran through his head, but then he re-asserted control. “Hey. Wake up. Feeling okay?” He shook her shoulder and she grumbled, blinking awake. “Urgghhh... What time is it?” Landon checked his watch. “7:59. How late were you up?” Maya leaned back and stretched, then stood up. “The last thing I remember happened at 4 AM. I was fine-tuning the nutrient ratio...” She gasped and quickly unlocked her computer, scrolling through a series of graphs that Landon vaguely recognized as full-subject growth charts. “Okay, phew. It didn’t save. If I had accidentally entered the wrong number...” After a brief pause to remember the consequences of screwing up a full-subject test, Landon asked, “So why were you here so late? Surely you personally didn’t need to run all the adjustments, right?” “I had to stay until the subject was stable, since I’m the team lead. Then I knew I was going to be on call for the next few hours anyway, so I stuck around just in case something weird happened. After that, one of the overnight monitors called in sick, so instead of making the day shift guys stay here, I just figured I would keep watch while also getting some other stuff done. I guess I was a little more exhausted than I thought.”

“Take care of yourself, please. I thought we learned that lesson months ago.” “This isn’t the new norm; don’t worry. Now, unfortunately I have a meeting at 8:30 and I am not presentable right now. I’m going to run downstairs and get cleaned up; can you cover for me until I get back? Like twenty minutes.” “S-sure, no problem. Are you going to be busy again all day, then, or...?” “Most of it. Haven’t looked at the full schedule, but everyone’s going to want to know what the test results are.” Maya opened the door and stepped into the hallway. “I’ll talk to you tonight, hopefully. Okay?” “Okay...” Landon slouched down unhappily in his chair, unwilling to even get up to close the door. He had really wanted to talk to Maya about Eva’s revelations last night, especially since she had asked him to not tell anyone about Greg’s email. Eva was probably an exception, but she and Maya hadn’t actually ever met, so he wasn’t sure. Plus, Maya being unavailable all day meant Landon would again have to take over the daily administration of their subteam as well as handle his own share of meetings. Already, briefings were popping up on his calendar. Well, I should probably get started, he thought, resigning himself to another full day before he could start making a plan like Eva has asked. Let’s see... equipment requests. That should be easy. What did you - huh? His thought was interrupted by a series of heavy footsteps heading down the hallway just outside his door. Landon got up to close it, but hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. The two Xera security officers weren’t unexpected - they were a fairly common presence with the labs just next door - but the other three people were a very unusual sight.

He recognized one of them: Special Agent Kremel. The man was wearing a white coat with visible silver wires crossing its surface. He didn’t know what those implied, but the color was certainly a departure from his trademark black. The agent noticed Landon looking and gave him a neutral nod. The other two were completely unknown. One seemed male, large and bulky and dressed in white camo with a bulletproof vest. A patch on his left sleeve showed the national government’s insignia with the words “Federal Agent” underneath. No agency or name was listed. The other seemed female, with long ghost-white hair and a similar coat to Kremel’s. Hers, however, also bore the same “Federal Agent” patch as the man’s. As Landon puzzled over these newcomers, the woman turned and caught his eyes. He shivered, noticing her irises were as pale as her hair. “Hold on,” she said to Kremel. “Do we have a spare minute?” “Of course,” he replied, his expression and tone still carefully and perfectly neutral. “You there,” she called, gesturing to Landon and striding forward. Everyone in the group except Kremel followed. “What’s your name?” “U-uh, Landon. Kozlov.” He took a step back at the sudden approach. “Well, Landon, what do you do here at Xera?” “I, uh.” He glanced at Kremel, who seemed entirely disinterested, and at the security guards, who didn’t even look at him. “I don’t... think I can say. Classified.” “Nothing’s classified to a federal agent,” she said quietly. “You can tell me.” As she spoke the last few words, she leaned in slightly closer. “No, I don’t think I can. If you want, I can go get my supervisor, who can authorize the release of-” “That won’t be necessary. Thank you for this little conversation, Landon.” With that, she gave a quick smile that didn’t seem to indicate any friendliness, then returned to Kremel. “We may continue now. Please, lead the way.” “Of course.”

The group disappeared into a meeting room just down the hall, where Landon - leaning out the door to get a better look - thought he could see Mr Baxley and some man in fatigues he didn’t know sitting at a table. Then the door closed and he stepped back into his office, confused. What was that all about? Why are there federal agents here? Why is Mr Baxley meeting with them?

- Tell Maya what happened. She can spare a minute, right?

- Ask Eva if she has any idea.

‍♂️ - Ask Mr Baxley what’s going on (after he gets out of the meeting).

‍

- Ask around the office generally. Anyone know?

- Don’t say anything. (Winner:

‍♂️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 07-Dec-20 11:22 AM

Scene 66 Landon closed the door and sat back down, annoyed. Maybe I can talk to Mr Baxley after his meeting. Let’s see if he’s got any availability... Several minutes later, after he had sent a 5-minute timeslot request and settled into a rhythm with the administrative tasks, Maya returned. She was wearing different clothes and her hair was still damp from a shower, but at least she looked more awake. “Hey. Did I miss anything interesting?” “Well, sort of, but... nothing urgent,” Landon said, deciding not to bother her with any more weirdness until she was done with the day’s work. “We really need to talk later today, though.” She picked up a handful of notes from her desk, jamming them haphazardly into a bag. “Yep, I agree. Still need to finish that conversation from yesterday. Hope there’ll be time; with this pace of progress on the full-subject tests, there might not be.” “Isn’t there anyone else who can replace you for, like, a half hour?” “As far as they tell me, no. I’m annoyed too.” She glanced at her phone in camera mode, shrugged, and headed out the door. “I’ll be back... later.” A brief pause, then, “Sorry.” I hope this delay isn’t going to cause the end of the world. Landon took a deep breath, then returned to reviewing requests and forwarding results where they needed to go. The entire department was making rapid progress now, and the amount of data generated was immense. It was sometimes a struggle to wade through all the reports and summaries to figure out who actually had important things to share and who was just submitting to fill space. Usually there were only a few actually important things, but with the most recent breakthroughs, almost everything seemed relevant. It was a scary feeling, sorting through papers and graphs that would individually all likely be worthy of a dissertation. In aggregate, however, they would change the world.

His phone vibrated. Landon blinked and glanced at the time; Mr Baxley was finished with his meeting with the federal agents and had accepted Landon’s mini-debrief. He had five minutes. Time to go. “What can I do for you, my boy?” Landon swallowed, still unsettled after nearly half an hour. “One of the federal agents you just met with was acting really weird in the hallway. She got real close and asked what my job was - which is classified - and then when I said no, tried to get me to tell her anyway. When I said no again, she just smiled and left. Who are these people, if you can share, and why are they here?” “Ugh. Feds are nothing but trouble. Unfortunately, they’re even further above our law than CP, so there’s not much I can do. These particular ones - and you didn’t hear this from me, by the way - are from the AIB: the Anomalous Investigations Bureau. They’re interested in the complex that Ms Marais found yesterday and asked a whole bunch of questions that I definitely shouldn’t be sharing, even if you ‘didn’t hear it from me.’” “Do you know why they might be interested in me, or are they just being creepy to everyone in the building?” Baxley gave a single chuckle. “Feds are always creepy. No one seems to know what goes on over there. But for you in particular, well.” He paused a moment, thinking. “Perhaps due to your involvement with Ms Marais? She discovered this complex that they seem so interested in, and you were strongly involved in her case for months. Landon, I’d try to stay out of their way if possible. But if not, do your best to comply. There’s nothing Xera can do if the feds decide you’re more trouble than you’re worth.” “Mr Baxley, does every conversation with you have to end with some sort of dire warning?”

He chuckled again. “Afraid so, my boy. You’re getting deeply involved with some very high-stakes projects. Welcome to business. Anyway, I’ve got to go; my next meeting is down several floors. Do let me know if you need anything else.” After Baxley left, Landon stayed in the empty conference room for a while. He knew it wouldn’t be in use for another hour, so he had plenty of time to sit and think. I’ve never even heard of the AIB. He supposed that made sense, if they were in charge of investigating anomalies. That kind of thing probably didn’t make it to the general public very often. But why are the feds so interested? Because of the wastelands, I guess. That facility might hold the key to stopping whatever’s going on. But if they’re already committed to Apotheosis...? Maybe it’s just a backup. Probably better to save the world than to clone your way through the end of it. But still...

‍

- Back to work. Don’t worry about it right now; talk to Maya later today.

- Landon is somewhat important now. Use some access, pull in some favors. Someone knows about this complex, and maybe about the feds. (Winner: a tie!

‍

won the tiebreaker) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 10-Dec-20 02:28 PM

Scene 67 Feeling increasingly nervous about some sort of unknown but still-threatening impending doom, Landon got back to work. He half-considered digging deeper; pulling in some of his coworkers and redeeming some favors, but eventually decided against it. I’m not prepared for this, he thought. I should wait for Maya to get back. Trying to look too closely on my own is just going to lead to more danger. Still, he worried about the delay. There wasn’t any definite deadline that he was aware of, but the conversation with Eva combined with Greg’s email made him think that every second counted. Focus. And focus he did. The next several hours passed without significant incident in a blur of meetings, spreadsheets, and emails. He didn’t see the federal agents again and didn’t ask where they had gone. Probably headed out to the complex in the wastelands. Privately, he wondered what it would be like to just charter a helicopter and fly out himself. He could get away with it. As a subteam manager, he had the authority to do so. His career would likely be over by the time he got back, but if it was important enough, wouldn’t it be worthwhile? Landon did not run out of work and just kept going into the evening. He took a handful of breaks, but otherwise just sat at his desk, got things done, and waited for Maya to finish whatever was taking her so incredibly long. He resolved not to leave this building until he had gotten a chance to talk to her for more than three consecutive minutes. And if that meant staying until two in the morning? Well, he had caffeine. He’d make it.

The building slowly emptied of people over the course of the afternoon until, by 9 PM, the hallway lights clicked down to their night mode and Landon was convinced he was the only one left on the floor. He had no idea where Maya had run off to, and was finally starting to run out of work. He tabbed between windows on his computer, debating between starting on future reports, doing some probably not illegal research on the wastelands, or just staring blankly at the screen. At 10:46 PM, there was a loud mechanical CLUNK and all the lights went out. The building grew silent after four heart-pounding seconds as all the machinery that formed its internal organs ground to a halt. There was a two-tone beep, familiar but infrequent, as the backup generators kicked on, then an unhappy grinding noise as they kicked right back off. Everything was pitch-black and utterly silent. Landon held perfectly still in his chair, not even daring to breathe, as he tried to decide what to do. [Select as many options as you want, or suggest more! Choices will be taken in order of most votes to least, with contradictory choices not being taken.]

- Lock the door, stay put, and stay silent.

- Start down the 94 flights of stairs to ground level. Get out.

- Get to the labs; stabilize the specimens as best as possible.

- Try to find the cause of the problem.

‍

- Try to find a night guard or any other coworkers.

- Call Maya.

- Call Civil Protection. (Winner:

>

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 12-Dec-20 06:41 PM

Scene 68 Dim light filtered into the room as he retrieved and unlocked his phone. Landon quickly selected Maya’s name from the list and waited, holding it up to his ear. Come on, come on... why is it taking so long? After several seconds, the phone beeped cheerfully and informed Landon in a popup error that it could not connect to any wireless networks. Right. Dammit, dammit. Of course there wouldn’t be any network available; the access points providing the internal network would have died along with the power. Wait, what about cell data? His phone was switching between reporting a full-strength connection and none at all, seemingly at random. Nothing seemed to be working. Now is not a good time for this. Or maybe... jammed? This has got to be an attack, right? There’s no way the generators just failed like that. And there’s no way my phone chose right now to forget what cell data is. A sudden thought popped into his head as he considered the network problem. Some technology in the building had backup batteries. Not all - not the access points that could let him call for help, at least - but several very important things that did have batteries were the labs on this floor. However, those batteries wouldn’t last forever. From what he remembered, they were specced for 15 minutes. Long enough for the generators to kick on, sure, but nowhere near long enough to last through a prolonged outage. And if he was right and this was an attack... What would those specimens do when their containment failed?

Landon turned on his phone flashlight and quietly, carefully opened his office door. Glanced down the utterly dark hallway in both directions, then shined the light too, just to double check. Empty. He took a deep breath and slipped out into the hall, tiptoeing away from the one item of illumination on the building - the exit sign - and towards the full specimen lab. The very same one where he had almost died several months ago, and where Maya’s new implant was currently undergoing testing. The only sounds were his footsteps, uncomfortably loud in the silent darkness. No doors opened, no other footsteps echoed, and no one spoke. He was still alone. For now. The lab was just around the corner. A few more steps and... He peeked around the corner, saw no one, and quickly hustled into the room, turning off the flashlight. The emergency lighting was functional here, at least, and he could see well enough to don the standard protective equipment. No point in saving the subjects if he accidentally contaminated them, he supposed. The decontamination lock also still functioned, though slower than usual, and in a minute, Landon strode into the lab and directly towards the control console. No one else was there and the twelve full subjects still floated in their tanks. Six of them were using the new implant; the other six were still in development. He logged into the console and checked the status. All green, with one exception. The batteries were reporting 7 minutes remaining. The six still-growing specimens were out cold, not even dreaming according to their brain wave monitors. The six functioning specimens, however...

Four were fine. Sleeping and dreaming, still adjusting to the implant and transferring over more data. Those were the four newest ones. On the pages for the two older ones, however, a bright yellow warning flashed, cautioning Landon of unusual brain activity. He looked up, trying to pick them out of the lineup. One was Henry again, this time in full physical form. The other appeared to be the counterpart dataset called Kate; both had been very normal, boring people when alive and thus made perfect candidates for testing. But that was all beside the point. Both Henry and Kate - or their clones, at least - had their eyes open and were blanking staring into the middle distance. Landon couldn’t parse the brain wave graphs, but he figured it probably wasn’t a good sign to be spiking off the scale. Nothing objectively dangerous was happening, but he had a very limited time to decide what to do, and then do it. He was glad for the gentle background hum and bubbles from the tanks, so at least it wasn’t completely silent. What should he do, and how long should he wait to do it?

️ - Kill the specimens; at least the ones with unusual brain activity. It’s not worth the risk.

- Hands off. Monitor, but don’t do anything.

- Activate and release the specimens; at least the ones with unusual brain activity.

- Lock the door as best he can, then leave.

- Try to talk to the two awake specimens. ⏰ - Now!

- After about half the remaining time has elapsed. ⏱️ - Wait till the last second. Maybe the power will come back. (Winners:

, ⏰ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 14-Dec-20 08:16 PM

Scene 69 (nice) Landon nervously stepped past the control panel and approached the tanks. “H-hey, are you two... okay?” No response. The two clones continued to stare blankly ahead. The tank lighting slowly started to dim as the system entered low-power mode. Over the next few minutes, Landon alternated between poking at the control console, making minor adjustments to the specimens, and seeing if they reacted at all. They still didn’t move, and they still didn’t respond to his questions. The only thing left to try would be to activate and release them. Boy, that would be risky. These clones had no testing, he had no idea what was going on, and there would be no controls in the middle of a power outage. But as he watched the battery timer slowly tick down, he started to wonder if he had a choice. The tanks’ aerators were slowing, little bubbles trickling up less frequently as the batteries drained. In a matter of minutes - two, according to the console - all twelve of these specimens would start to asphyxiate. Would it be better to just let it happen and know that they could always grow more, even if it took months? Or would it be better to release them? Some of the clones would probably die from the shock - it would be similar to an extremely premature birth - but the implanted ones would almost certainly survive. But... Landon couldn’t shake the anxiety of what had happened last time one of these specimens got out. Sure, he knew they were grown differently now, and the wasteland beast cells should have been converted into perfectly normal human ones. It should just be like releasing a normal person from cryosleep. But... The decontamination lock beeped and started to cycle. Landon jumped at the noise, glancing between the specimens and the door. Was it a guard? A coworker? An assassin? He couldn’t decide what to do in time and settled for sort of crouching down next to the console in a fruitless attempt to be less visible.

Despite his nervous planning, he still wasn’t prepared for the group of people who walked through the door. Probably the least surprising was Maya, but more unexpected were the rifle barrel pressed to her temple, zip ties binding her wrists, and heavy tape preventing her from speaking. With the rifle out of the way, the person holding it wasn’t much of a surprise in comparison. He was big, though not fat, in all dimensions and was wearing both a bulletproof vest and a shield medallion. Striding just behind him was a smaller woman with curly auburn hair and a pistol; Landon didn’t recognize her at all. The real surprise, however, was the man with blond stubble and a Xera employee badge quietly locking the chamber door behind them. Yavin seemed calm and collected, and was not held at gunpoint like Maya. Landon tried to wrestle with this scene for several seconds before the auburn-haired woman noticed him crouched beside the console and leveled her gun at him. “Hey! Hands up and don’t move!” In a split second, Landon knew he could stand and brush against one button on the console as he did so. One fluid motion; it would look like an accident. What should he press, if anything?

️ - “Purge.” Kill the specimens and melt the implants.

- “Release.” Activate the specimens and open the tanks.

- Don’t press anything. Allow them to asphyxiate in a few minutes. Also, what are the intruders here for?

- “Them.” (clones)

️ - “That.” (implant)

- “You.” (Landon)

- “Get out of the way.” (bomb) (Winners:

,

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 16-Dec-20 07:27 PM

Scene 70 He stood up, raising his hands as he did so, and carefully brushed against the controls in just the right way to hit the “Release” button. Out of the corner of his eye, Landon could see a popup box appear on the screen, stating “Releasing all specimens in 30 seconds. Press ‘Cancel’ to cancel.” Thankfully, no alarm sounded. Now it was time to stall. “Yavin, what’s going on?” he asked in a surprisingly clear voice. “Who are these people and what are you doing with Maya?” The taller man stepped forward, giving Maya and her captor a wide berth. Despite the gun, she still struggled fruitlessly in his grip. “Landon,” he drawled. “How unexpected. Shouldn’t you have gone home hours ago?” “Is he going to be a problem?” the woman with the gun asked, not taking her eyes off Landon. “Oh, he wouldn’t dare. Right?” Not sure exactly where his bravery (or recklessness) was coming from, Landon answered. “I’m not sure; I might if you don’t start explaining.” “Okay, get him secured then. Just to be safe.” Yavin started strolling towards the tanks, clearly in no big hurry, while the woman with the gun approached with a similar set of zip ties to Maya’s. “Do you really think I’m going to do the whole monologue thing where I explain why what I’m doing is right and how all my plans are coming together? Just because you asked?” Landon shrugged, still filled with some sort of reckless bravado. He glanced down just in time to see the popup disappear. The tanks all hissed, venting jets of some white gas as the blue-tinged liquid began to drain. A harsh alarm began to blare. The woman stopped a few feet away before reaching him, leveling her gun. “What did you do?” “Nothing! I don’t know what’s happening!”

Yavin quickly changed course and hustled over to the console, shoving Landon out of the way and knocking him to the floor. “Really?” he shouted over the steadily-increasing noise in the room. “Really?! Why? What do you think this is going to do aside from make a big mess on the floor?” To the man with the rifle, he yelled, “Get ready to shoot anything nonhuman that comes out of those tanks. Quickly, before they have a chance to mutate. I’ll make sure they don’t-” “But Ms Harish-” “L can take care of her. You’ve got the bigger gun; you focus on the tanks.” Landon picked himself up off the floor, watching as Yavin tapped at the console. The other two were distracted, switching positions as Maya struggled and made it very difficult for them. He’d never have a better opportunity. Without giving himself time to doubt, he leapt forward and tackled Yavin from behind, sending his face smashing into the console. There was a sharp crack as glass shattered and the other man rolled to the side, groaning in pain. He was quick to recover, though, throwing himself at Landon and knocking them both to the floor. Blood dripped from his face onto Landon’s. “Motherfucker,” he growled. “Loyal company man, eh? That’s the last time I underestimate you.” “What are you doing?” Landon asked again. “Maybe if you explained what the hell is going on, I would help you!” “No you wouldn’t. Xera got to you. You’re nothing but a corpo drone now, paper-pushing and sitting in meetings until the day you die. Do you not care that the world is ending? That Xera’s causing it and doing nothing about it? That you and her -” he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder in a vaguely Maya-ward direction “- are heading the project that’s doing all this?” “Yavin, you absolute twat,” Landon gasped against the pressure on his chest as Yavin finished pinning him to the ground. “I don’t know any of this. Calm the fuck down and we can talk! Maya too!”

There was a brief pause. For a moment, he thought he could see a glimmer of hope or sanity return to Yavin’s eyes. Then he laughed. “Yeah, right. You got that email from GIS too. It only took me a few minutes of looking to learn more. Either you didn’t care about what you found or you didn’t even bother looking. I don’t know what’s worse, but I do know you can’t be trusted.” Guiltily, Landon remembered Greg’s email. It had been almost a week since it had been sent out and he hadn’t done any further research. He had been halfheartedly putting it off, waiting for Maya’s opinion, but he could have taken some time to look on his own. Hell, even today he had spent hours organizing inventory reports. He had time; he just... hadn’t looked. “So what are you going to do, then? Why this lab? Why kidnap Maya and bring her over here?” “I thought I needed her access. But with you already here, apparently not. We’re saving the world here, Landon, since nobody else seems to want to.” Alright. Now time for the big one. “How are you saving the world?” Yavin laughed again. “If you had cared, you would know already. These clones have to go back where they came from.” “The vats downstairs?” “No, you idiot. The wastelands. The flesh they stole wants to return to its source, and the source wants to return to its flesh. So it’s spreading. If we don’t give it back, we’re all doomed. So -” A skittering blob of flesh thudded into Yavin’s side with the energy of an out-of-control wheelbarrow and sent him flying. Landon sat up as quickly as he could and took stock. There was a lot to take in.

Yavin was on the ground a few feet away, struggling against a beach ball-sized amorphous blob of flesh that seemed to have grown a series of rotating, tearing teeth directly out of its skin. He was injured but still alive, and fighting against the weight of the biting mass. Nearby, the man with the rifle was darting between cover, shield active and firing at several more similarly-amorphous monstrosities. Maya and the woman Yavin had called “L” were backed up against the door by a much larger, almost snakelike mass. The Henry and Kate clones were picking themselves up off the ground, dripping in tank liquid and seeming dazed. The other four implanted clones lay flat on the floor, apparently having fallen face-first out of their tanks. The six non-implanted clones were nowhere to be seen, but, counting up the monstrosities, Landon had an idea where they had gone. In all, there were six monsters rampaging around the lab. One was pinning Yavin, one was menacing Maya and L, three were fighting the man with the rifle, and the sixth seemed to be partway through eating one of the clones collapsed on the ground. Then, at the absolute worst possible moment, the batteries finally ran out of power and the lights died. Only the blue glow of the energy shield and brief flashes from gunfire were visible. What in the world should Landon do?

[You may select multiple options. Landon will attempt actions with a priority set roughly based on the number of votes, and in a manner influenced by any suggestions in #story_discussion. I have significant leeway in interpreting results for this scene.]

- Run for it. Override the door; get out.

‍♀️ - Try to save Maya. That snake thing can’t stop him. Hopefully.

- Help Yavin get up. Save him from the biting blob.

- Get the clones to come with; they can’t just be left alone.

️ - Help the guy with the rifle; distract some blobs so he can focus on fewer at a time.

- Activate the emergency self-destruct. The lab will be destroyed along with everyone and everything in it. Better than letting these things out. (Winners: Well... you'll see) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 18-Dec-20 08:26 PM

Scene 71 Landon toggled on his phone flashlight so he could see what he was doing, then ran forward. It seemed unlikely the situation would stabilize any time soon, so he made the executive decision to go for Maya and get the hell out of there. Yavin, however, was on the way. Landon hesitated as he ran, debating whether or not he would regret this. Eventually, he decided that no one else had to die if he had anything to say about it, and kicked the blobby mass right in the side. It was heavier than anticipated, but he still managed to dislodge it enough for Yavin to wriggle free and knock it away. By the time the other man was getting up, Landon had already ran past. Yavin was swallowed up by the darkness and cacophony behind him; he had no idea whether his kick had actually saved his life or not. As he ran, he swept the flashlight beam to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of the clones. Henry and Kate weren’t visible within the limited range of the flashlight; he had no idea where they had gone in the chaos. He had wanted to save them too; if the implants had worked properly, they were real people with real minds. Even if they weren’t, letting them die here would be such a waste of months of effort. Still, he wasn’t going to compromise his chance to help the one person he really wanted to save in order to track down the clones.

Boy, that snake was intimidating. It had to be almost twenty feet long and over two feet thick, with several powerful fangs protruding from its mouth at almost random angles. L was backing up towards the door, firing at the snake while dodging swings from its tail and bites from its mouth. Every time the snake closed its mouth, more rivulets of blood dribbled down its chin. It seemed to care about this almost as much as it cared about its multiple bullet wounds - which is to say very little. Maya hid behind the other woman, hands still tied and struggling against the bindings. What am I going to do here? Landon asked himself. No time to make a plan; just gotta... do something! Working under the assumption that this thing probably had a brain of some sort, Landon leapt forward and crashed into the thing’s main body, trying to bring it to the ground so L could shoot it in the head. The snake moved, but not enough, and managed to straighten up before falling forward. Landon was thrown free and sent crashing into L; they both fell in a heap on the floor. There was a brief delay as he gathered his senses before the snake vomited up a green-blue liquid onto both of them. Maya jumped out of the way, but both Landon and L got drenched. The liquid... didn’t really do anything. As far as he could tell, it was just gross and slightly sticky. Landon untangled himself from L and - seeing an opportunity - grabbed a plasknife off her belt before she could object. “Can you distract it? I can... uh.” The smaller woman’s skin was drooping and a harsh sizzling sound was audible. Landon gasped, sickened, as flesh loosened and sagged. She groaned in deep pain, but made a valiant effort to stand anyway, reaching back for the gun. Landon double checked his own skin just to make sure, but he was still fine. No damage. “Uh... I’ll get the door open so we can escape,” he finished. “Just... hold on. You’ll be okay.”

Not daring to watch the chaos behind him, Landon ran over to Maya, ripped the tape off her mouth, and cut at the zip ties binding her wrists. “Are you hurt?” She winced, though whether at the tape or some painful scene behind Landon wasn’t clear. “I’m fine. Are you?” “All good,” he replied, moving to the next zip tie. “Somehow this stuff isn’t hurting me. Probably shouldn’t get any -” he winced as a drop fell from his arm onto Maya’s and she gasped. A little curl of smoke drifted up from her skin. “Sorry. I don’t know what’s happening.” “We can figure that out later. For now -” she flexed her wrists as the last zip tie fell away. “- help me get this door open.” A cry of desperate pain distracted Landon and he looked back. The snake had skewered one of its fangs clear through L’s right arm; the pistol lay uselessly on the ground as her hand fell limp. Landon grimaced and tried to look away as he ran for the door, but he couldn’t. L’s left hand groped at her belt, searching for the knife Landon had stolen - it would likely be powerful enough to cut the fang out of her arm. It wasn’t there, obviously. A curious expression crossed her face; almost one of acceptance. Landon squinted his eyes mostly shut, but still couldn’t look away. The snake flipped its head up and there was a ghastly crunch as it bit down. Now he could look away. The snake was occupied chewing; they would have time to open the door. Probably. Maya already had the access panel open and had pulled the manual override, but the door itself was staggeringly heavy and she could barely budge it. Wordlessly, Landon added his strength and together, the two of them managed to make slow progress shoving it across the floor.

A gurgling hiss sounded from behind them and Landon whipped around to look. Yavin had shown up and was trying to dodge around the snake to get to the door. It swallowed down the last of its gruesome meal, then blinked, its eyes focusing on the light Landon still carried. “LOOK OUT!” Yavin yelled. Landon threw himself to the ground as the snake lunged, barely managing to duck under the gristly neck and mouthful of fangs, but a piercing scream told him Maya had been less lucky. He threw himself to his feet and drew the knife, scrabbling for traction on the slippery floor as he lunged for the thing’s head. It had buried one of its fangs in the door, through Maya’s torso. The snake thrashed, shaking Maya and the door in its fury, but it seemed stuck. Knife blazing, Landon swept in and seared a glowing cut clean through the snake’s fang, separating it into two parts. Blue-green liquid splashed from the break and the snake reared back, screeching. Landon slashed through the fang on the other side of Maya’s body as well, releasing her from the door and catching her as she stumbled and nearly fell. “Come on, go go go.” Yavin ran up behind them, shoving the door open the rest of the way and wordlessly taking half of Maya’s weight. The fang tapered from an inch to half an inch wide, and speared straight through the center of her chest and out the back. A frightening amount of blood already stained her shirt. She was still conscious, but only barely, her eyes wide open and unfocused. Yavin hauled open the second door of the lock as Landon supported Maya and in moments, the three of them had made it back into the still-dark hallway. Yavin was scraped up and favoring his left leg, but seemed mostly intact. Maya, obviously, was in very bad shape with the fang jammed through her chest. Landon, somehow, was completely unharmed. “Why did you have to - AGH!” Landon shouted at Yavin. “You did this! It wasn’t paying attention to us until -”

“Oh yeah? Where’d you get that knife, huh? Your little thievery got L KILLED! This one’s not even dead yet! Now hurry it up so we can get out of here!” Landon hissed under his breath, but Maya’s weight on his arm reminded him there wasn’t time for this. “Where to? We can’t get all the way downstairs like this! It’s 94 floors; she’ll be gone before we get to floor 80. Actually, did you cut the power?! Can you turn it back on?” “Not now. It’ll be half an hour before it comes back. What about the roof? Much closer.” “What about the roof? There’s nothing up there!” “There’s a helipad if you’ve got a friend.” “I can’t get ahold of anyone; I think it’s jammed.” “I can add your phone to the bypass; hang on.” What should Landon and Yavin do?

- Go to the roof. ⏬ - Go to the ground floor and exit. ⚕️ - Hide out nearby and find a medkit. Who should they contact? [Multiple options may be selected; they will be called in order of votes. You may write in someone else.]

- Eva.

‍♂️ - Mr Baxley.

- Civil Protection. Should Landon work with Yavin?

- Yes, but reluctantly.

- Only to get out, then they part ways.

- Betray him if possible. He’s too dangerous. (Winners: ⚕️ ,

>

‍♂️ ,

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Professional Nerd Blah 20-Dec-20 12:43 PM

Scene 72 As Yavin quickly typed something into his phone, Landon started moving through the darkened hallways. He tried to slow his breathing; he felt like throwing up. “Before anything else, we need to stop this bleeding. There’s a first aid kit in the other lab, right? Just by the stairs?” “Yeah, I think so. Here.” Yavin tapped his phone against Landon’s and an instant later, the cell data signal stabilized. “We can’t stay here for long, though. Those things are going to break out. I don’t think you want a rematch with that snake after it’s mutated.” “Right. We’ll hurry. Maya, can you hear me? You’re going to be okay. Got it?” She murmured something in response, but there were no words in the quiet exhalation. She couldn’t walk at this point, even with support, so Landon and Yavin had to carry her. Despite his distrust of and anger at Yavin, Landon had to admit it was a good thing the other man had survived. He wouldn’t have been able to carry Maya this quickly on his own, and he wouldn’t have been able to call for help. Speaking of... who was he going to call? As they hurried through the corridors, he mentally ran through his list of contacts, crossing names off the list if they wouldn’t have access to a helicopter. Only a handful remained, and of those, only Mr Baxley and Eva had the required knowledge and clearance to land one on the Xera building. Did either of them know how to fly? Were either of them anywhere near a helicopter? He shook his head. Didn’t matter. Had to try. Landon gently set Maya down on the floor while Yavin pulled down the first aid kit, closed the door, and set up a light. She was barely breathing. “Call for help,” he told Landon. “I can get started on her, but we have to get out of here.”

Still keeping his eyes on Maya as Yavin pulled on gloves and started cutting the shirt out of the way to apply gauze, Landon tapped at his phone and selected a contact. Medigel wouldn’t be able to stick until the blood flow could be stopped, and it was generally a bad idea to apply it before removing any foreign objects; they could get sealed into the wound. Listening to the phone ring, Landon continued to remember random facts from his first aid class. Gauze to stop the bleeding. Bandage to apply pressure. Medigel directly over the wound if the flow could be stopped, otherwise a light application around the outside. Don’t remove the object; that causes the bleeding to increase. CPR only if the patient is unresponsive and isn’t breathing. But that’s only to stabilize until help arrives. How do you do CPR with a fang sticking out of your chest? Please keep breathing. Please. “Landon? Does this have something to do with -” Eva’s voice was completely drowned out for a moment by a loud bass thump “- sirens? What’s going on?” “Sirens? What - no time for that. Eva, can you get to a helicopter right now?” “Y - probably? Are you in dang-” Another enormous thump. “- happening?!” As she spoke, Landon started to hear an eerie wail echoing through the building. This wasn’t the tornado siren. This was the alert tone used in case of air strike, nuclear attack, or a wasteland beast incursion that had breached the outer wall. He felt an involuntary shiver run through his body. There was no way this was a coincidence. “I don’t know what’s going on!” he half-yelled into the phone. “Please, bring a helicopter to the Xera building roof. Bring a medic if you have one. This is life or death.”

Another thump. Landon started to piece it together. If the sirens were going off, the perimeter mortars would be too. Those enormous thumps would be the bone-shaking sound of one of them firing. Eva’s voice returned, midway through a sentence. “- soon as I can. I’ll call back when I’m on my way.” The call ended. Landon looked up, noting that Yavin had awkwardly flipped Maya over to dress the wound on her back as well. “Helicopter on its way. I don’t know where we’re going to go with the sirens, but there might be a medic on board too. It was hard to hear through the mortars.” Yavin nodded sharply. “If you don’t need to make another call, I could use your help here.” Landon immediately dropped the idea of calling Mr Baxley and knelt down next to Maya. “What can I do?” Elsewhere... Eva took one deep breath and held it, staring out the window. She let herself slowly exhale as she watched streaks of light rocket into the sky; the mortars looked almost like shooting stars, but in reverse. She had seen them activate before, but never all at once like this. Dozens of shells flared into the sky and slammed into the ground just outside the walls with overwhelming force. The jarring thumps as they fired rattled her, but the laser cannons were actually even more unsettling. They swiveled on their bases, enormous blocky structures lined with visibly-glowing red circuitry or heat fins along the barrel. They fired quickly, blasting a beam of light as bright as the sun for less than a second at a time before swiveling to find a new target. She couldn’t see any wasteland beasts from here, but the sirens made her painfully aware of their presence. Everything was going wrong, but she had her small part to play. Maybe she couldn’t save the city or the world, but she could at least save Landon. Whatever he was doing. Okay, enough of that. Let’s go.

Eva scooped up her bag and dashed out the door. She didn’t have to stop to get dressed; she was already wearing her outfit for tomorrow’s excursion. Xera coordinators had put her through hours of briefings and training before telling her to get ready to leave at a moment’s notice and to get as much rest as she could. Hence, while she hadn’t expected Landon to be calling, she had certainly been ready to get moving as soon as he did. Eva ran through the hotel corridors, shoving bewildered businesspeople out of the way as they poked their heads out of their rooms in confusion. Several seemed terrified to see her, while others almost looked relieved. She supposed she definitely looked like someone who knew what they were doing, with her military-style pack and partially-mechanized armor. Maybe they were comforted by the appearance of some government-looking agent presumably going to respond to the emergency. Maybe she could use her appearance to- “GET OUT OF THE WAY!” she yelled, charging straight through a crowd of travellers blocking the elevators. People scattered before her and she crammed herself into one of the cars. “Official business; let me through!” She jabbed the “door close” button and swiped her card on the reader, converting the elevator into emergency mode. It quickly accelerated downwards and the car burst into chatter as everyone tried to ask her questions at once. “Calm DOWN!” she shouted. “I don’t know for sure what’s going on yet, but it looks like the perimeter is holding for now. You’ll get more information as the situation develops. No more questions.”

As the car reached ground level, she didn’t even bother to set it back to regular operation and just ran as quickly as she could through the airport terminal. The security agent balked, seeing her rush up covered in armor, weapons, and a little nuclear reactor, but she tapped her card on his reader and “XERA CORP. - NO RESTRICTIONS” appeared on the agent’s screen. Eva darted through the gate, setting off the metal detector, but she didn’t care. She paired her earpiece with her phone as she ran through the concourse, then spoke into the mic. “Call Lewis.” There was a brief delay as the call connected, but he picked up midway through the first ring. “Eva? Are we going now?” “Change of plans,” she said. “We’re going to the Xera building. Can you land on the roof?” “Of course. Why are we going there?” “Life or death. Someone’s hurt, bad. I don’t know much else, but we need to get moving as fast as possible. Do you have your full medkit on board?” “Yeah, of course. Eva, is this an official route change? Since normally I’d get-” “Does it matter?!” she shouted. “It’s the end of the world, everything’s in chaos, and we have a chance to save lives. Please, just... don’t worry about procedure. Now isn’t the time.” There was a worrying pause. Lewis was always one to play it by the book, even in a situation like this. Worse, if he got ahold of a Xera higher-up and said she was trying to go rogue, they could very easily just blow her head off here and now. This was a risk, but it was faster than clearing it officially. “I’ll just contact command real quick and try to get it cleared, okay? Give me a few minutes.” “Lewis! I’m going to be on board in a few minutes! If we aren’t taking off by then, I’ll-” she cut herself off as the earpiece informed her the call had ended. Dammit, dammit, dammit. Fuck.

Well, she could at least try to help out. “Call KNBC clearance.” A pause as several rings passed. She turned left, rocketing past a donut stand. Someone screamed. “New Brighton Corporate clearance,” the dispatcher picked up. “I need clearance for a helicopter from here to the Xera building,” she panted. “Are you still doing clearance in this mess?” “We are. What’s your aircraft ID?” By the time the short conversation was over, she had finally reached the gate where Lewis was waiting with the helicopter. She charged down the stairs and tapped her card, waiting half a second before the door clicked open and she emerged onto the apron. Thankfully, the helicopter was already spinning up its rotors. Lewis must have received his precious approval. She slid open the door and clambered into the helicopter, clicking her earpiece over to radio mode and connecting to the aircraft’s network. Lewis’ voice sounded in her ear. “We’re good to go. Seems like someone already got us clearance from tower, too, so strap in. Lifting off in three seconds.” Eva exhaled in relief and tiredness, buckling up. “Ready. Let’s go.” The chopper lifted off and rose only a few hundred feet before turning sharply and rocketing towards the business district as it continued to gain altitude. “Doesn’t look good from the air, does it?” Lewis commented. “I hope it’ll turn out okay.” Eva slid over to the window and looked out. “Oh. No it doesn’t.”

Below, the city flared with light and activity. The perimeter walls were by far the busiest, with mortars and lasers still firing steadily. From here, however, she could see the wasteland beasts too, piling up against the walls like a tsunami of rapidly-mutating flesh. Several sections of the wall were dark, and there, she could spot flashing lights of CP vehicles barricading the roads nearby. Beasts raged in the streets, crashing against police barricades. They were holding, for now. Dozens of other aircraft were visible as colored lights against the starry backdrop. Most seemed to be military, doing strafing runs or dropping bombs on the beasts outside the walls, but there were still many civil aircraft visible, both GA and commercial. These seemed to be flying out of the city as fast and far as they could. Eva absolutely did not envy the city’s ATCs tonight. “Where did they all come from?” she wondered aloud. “There have never been this many beasts before.” “Something must have stirred them up,” Lewis replied. “One of the Xera execs said they had an idea what was going on and wanted us on standy. You in particular, actually.” “Me? Who -” “Mr Baxley. He said you might be very important in stopping this, if he was right. He seemed very busy, though, and not quite sure yet.” Eva didn’t really have anything to say to that and just stayed quiet. A few seconds passed before “Oh, hell! I was supposed to - agh, hang on. Gotta make a call.” She fumbled with the earpiece and flipped it back over to phone mode, severing her connection to Lewis. “Call Landon.” The phone rang only twice before he picked up. “Eva, are you on your way?” “Yeah. We’re in the air and only a few minutes out. It’s looking real bad, Landon. The perimeter’s breached in a few places. There are more beasts than I’ve ever seen before. I hope you’ve got a plan.” “I... one step at a time. We’ll meet you on the roof. See you real soon.” He hung up.

“Well, that wasn’t encouraging,” she muttered, switching back to the radio. “They’ll meet us on the roof. How far out are we?” “About a minute. Are you wanting us to take off again immediately or stay and try to help this injured person? Because I can’t fly and give first aid at the same time.” “I... I’m not sure. If there’s no imminent danger, we can stay. If there is, I guess we’re going to have to go anyway. You don’t think I could fly this thing?” Lewis chuckled. “Negative. You’ve had, what, a few hours of training in a plane? Helos are a bit different. Lots more concentration needed to even keep ‘em stable. I don’t think your injured person would appreciate a bit of medigel if it was followed by a fiery crash a few seconds later. Hey, do you see that? Just out front of the Xera building.” Eva peered out the window again and actually gasped. Although tiny from her vantage point, the thing was at least two stories tall. It was larger than the last time she had seen it, but was still recognizable as the same creature. Tall, thin, pale. Its features simple, almost... unfinished. All the proportions wrong and out of sync with each other. “That’s the thing from Boab St!” “Is that thing ‘imminent danger’ enough? Oh, I see your friends. Coming in to land; keep an eye on it for me.” The creature didn’t seem to be moving; it just stood motionless right outside the front door to the building, slowly pulsing and shifting, one hand pressed up against the third-floor windows. “It’s not doing anything. Just... standing there.” “Alright, brace. Touchdown in three... two... one... nice.” The helicopter landed with only the slightest bump. “I’m not gonna power down entirely, but I’ll slow a bit. I’m thinking we’re gonna want to be able to move fast.”

“Good plan.” Eva shoved open the door, staggering against the blast from the rotors as they began to slow, and struggled down the helipad stairs to the roof itself. “Landon! What happened?” she shouted, gesturing at the injured Maya still carried between the two men. AED pads blinked on her chest above and below an enormous spike partially covered by gauze. “Later!” he yelled back. “She’s not breathing!” “Come on, get in!” Eva led the group to the helicopter and helped place Maya gently on the foldout table used for in-flight operations. She secured the straps as Lewis emerged from the cockpit and tugged on his gloves. Yavin and Landon backed off as the pilot got to work. “It doesn’t look good,” he muttered into his earpiece. Only Eva would be able to hear him; the other two hadn’t yet put on their headsets. “But I’ll do what I can. She’s not gone yet. Get them out of here, keep an eye on that thing near the entrance, and figure out where we’re going. Don’t let us get surprised.” “Got it.” She grabbed Landon and Yavin, then pulled them out of the chopper, down the stairs, and over to the edge of the roof. “Look.” Landon, too, gasped as he spotted the thing from before. It hadn’t moved, but that didn’t make Eva any more comfortable. At least from this distance, the rotors had slowed enough to make conversation slightly more possible. “What... what is that thing doing here?” He glared at Yavin. “Did you do this too?” “No, of course not! Look, it wasn’t my intention for things to go like this. When you released those spec-” “Oh, fuck OFF! This is all your fault! Who cut the power? Who kidn-” “Who released that thi-” “Boys! Shut the FUCK up!” Eva shouted, shaking them both. “I’m sure you’ll both have a very interesting story to tell me later, but for now, we need to figure out where to go and make sure that thing doesn’t come up here. Lewis will take care of Maya, okay?”

“How bad is it, really?” asked Landon. “Is going to a hospital out of the question?” “Maybe? It was pretty bad. Every single perimeter defense was firing when I was up there, and the wall had been breached in a few places. CP was holding the beasts off for now, but I don’t think they’ll last forever. I don’t think the city will be safe for long; there’s no way we’ll be able to get extended treatment. They might even already be full of injured cops or people attacked by beasts. It’s a warzone out there.” “If it’s this bad, we could just leave,” Yavin suggested. “New Brighton isn’t the only city around here. We’ve got this helicopter. Could fly to Madison or somewhere.” “If the beasts are attacking here, why would Madison be safe? It’s not far away; whatever’s happening to the wastelands here could be happening there too. Eva, do you have any idea what’s going on or how to help?” “You’re supposed to have the plan!” she exclaimed, then hesitated as she remembered. “But, actually, sort of. Lewis got ahold of Baxley and apparently he wants us - and me in particular - on standby. Apparently Xera has some idea what’s going on but they aren’t sure yet.” Landon gripped his head. “What kind of half-answer is that? ‘On standby’ where? The airport? Here? ThAT THING IS MOVING!” Eva quickly glanced down and yelped. The twenty-foot creature had raised itself off the ground and was climbing up the side of the building. Its hands and feet seemed to have mutated and now possessed large suction cup assemblies. Its face was still blank and empty, but it was absolutely in a hurry. “Come on, back to the chopper. Go!” Eva shooed the others away from the roof and shouted into her mic. “Lewis, it’s coming up! Get us out of here!” “Agh, hang... gimme a moment. I just need to...” “Lewis, we don’t have a moment!” “Do you want her to die?!” “Do you want us to die?!” “You know how to start the rotors. Give me fifteen seconds.”

“I hope you’re right!” To Landon and Yavin, she said, “Sit down and buckle up. Put a headset on, but don’t touch anything unless Lewis or I tell you to. We’re gonna be moving fast.” She leapt into the helicopter and passed by Lewis. A jolt of terror flashed through her as she saw he was just now finishing up tugging the fang out of Maya’s chest. He wouldn’t be able to seal a wound like that in fifteen seconds. “Lewis, what the hell were you-” “The fang’s poisonous. I had to get it out. Gonna be a bit more than fifteen seconds.” Eva jumped into the pilot’s chair and quickly located the rotor control, setting it to full. “Landon, Yavin, shut the doors. Lewis, I don’t know how to... I-” She choked, surprising herself with how close she was to crying. She knew that Lewis had to fly the helicopter, but Lewis also had to treat Maya. He couldn’t do both at once. Yavin had some medical training, but not enough. Eva had some flight training, but not enough. Was she really going to have survived such a grievous injury for so long just to bleed out in the helicopter? The display beeped and indicated the rotors were at takeoff speed. “Eva, it’s almost here!” Landon shouted over the headset. She almost screamed in indecision.

- “Lewis, take the controls.” [Maya will almost certainly die, but the helicopter will not crash.]

- “Lewis, I’ve got this. Stay with her.” [Maya will likely survive, but the helicopter might crash.] Assuming the helicopter does not crash, where should they go?

- A hospital.

- Madison.

- The airport. [Or write-in your own destination below.]

️ - The complex in the wastelands. (Winners:

,

️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 22-Dec-20 02:51 PM

Scene 73 “Lewis... agh! Stay with her. I’ve got this.” Eva carefully rested her hands on all the controls she recognized - most of them were familiar from her time practicing in planes, but not all - and lifted off. The helicopter immediately drifted to the right and lost altitude, narrowly avoiding the building as she wrestled with the controls, sending the aircraft lurching unevenly through the air. “Eva, I can’t do anything like this. You have to stabilize or I’m going to hurt her. Center the sticks; little adjustments. Keep us hovering.” “I’m TRYING!” she shouted, actually shaking as she nudged the helicopter away from the side of the building and higher into the air. The creature came into view briefly as she rotated, standing on the roof and staring vacantly in her direction. It didn’t try to jump at the helicopter or do anything, really. It just stood tall and stared with its empty face. A shudder ran through the craft as she failed to correct for a gust of wind. “Keep it stable, please,” Lewis muttered. “You’re doing great so far.” Eva didn’t reply except with a half-hiss, half-scream through her teeth. Keeping the thing upright was at least within the realm of possibility. Keeping it stable? She had no idea how Lewis did it. Every nudge of the controls seemed to send the craft spiralling, with almost no correction from the helicopter itself. Unlike a plane, which wanted to fly stably, the helicopter almost seemed to want to flip and fall. It was like trying to balance a hammer on her palm, but with significantly larger consequences should she screw it up. And she had to keep it in the air, as stable as possible, until Lewis was done. It could take two minutes. It could take five minutes. It could take an entire quarter-hour of nerve-wracking fighting with the controls before Lewis finally spoke. “She’s stable. I’ll take over.”

A hand dropped onto her shoulder and Eva jumped, breaking out of the tunnel vision that had sent her into a near-trance. The world expanded again to something beyond just the controls and the feel of the helicopter around her. Lewis grinned and helped her out of the seat. “You did fantastic. Kept us in solid enough shape for long enough that I could finish up.” He wrapped his hands around the controls and the helicopter stabilized, almost seeming to sense a master in the cockpit. “Why don’t you go take a break, alright? You’re still shaking.” Eva nodded numbly and shuffled her way back into the main cabin. Maya was still unconscious, but the bleeding had stopped and her chest was wrapped in a clean bandage. A small amount of medigel was visible beneath it, meaning Lewis had managed to stem the blood flow enough that he was comfortable applying the blue substance. A very promising sign. Landon shuffled over to make room for her on the bench and she collapsed gratefully. The helicopter turned and started to pick up speed. “Hey, you alright?” Landon asked, looking at her concernedly. “Fine,” she breathed. “Do I not look fine?” “Uh-” “Sarcasm.” She took a moment to buckle in as the helicopter continued to accelerate, then asked, “So she’s going to live?” “Yeah. Lewis said it actually wasn’t as bad as it looked. It didn’t pierce any organs; just shoved them out of the way. And since he was able to neutralize the poison, he says there’s a very good chance she pulls through. Just have to be careful with the internal bleeding.” “Man, things are a lot harder without those magic machines in the hospital, huh?” “A lot scarier, too.” “Yeah...” Eva thought back to her weeks in bed recovering from those bullet wounds. Without a molecular reassembler, Maya would be out for weeks at least. “Did you figure out where we’re going? I notice we’re moving pretty fast.” “We’re... uh, going to... that complex you found. In the wastelands.”

Eva blinked. “Okay... Why?” “Well, Yavin here had some things to say about what might be causing all this. Do you, uh, want to explain?” Yavin, who had been glaring out the window for the past several minutes, begrudgingly turned. “Fine, I’ll say it again. But I’m not giving a third explanation when she wakes up too. Ready? “He told you about that GIS map, right? Good. Unlike him, I dug a little deeper. As you should know, the clones for Apotheosis are made, initially, from wasteland beasts. It turns out there are actually a lot more of these things being captured than I thought, and the major locations where they’re taken from match up pretty well with the main GIS hotspots. On top of that, waste from this process isn’t just dumped back into the wastelands - it’s disassembled into component atoms due to how possibly dangerous it is. It never makes it back. “Then, I happened to hear about a group raiding ORIS.” Here, he gave Eva a side-eye. She frowned. “I was able to figure out what files they were after and, through my position at Xera, gain access to them. Apparently they were classified on the same level as Apotheosis stuff. It turns out that Xera - and other groups - have been experimenting with these beasts for a long time, and that it’s a known thing that the wastelands get... ‘angry’ when too much is taken. But because research in this area has been so profitable and led to so many (classified) advancements, they just keep doing it. And now, I guess, it caught up to them. And us. So we need to put everything back. The clones, the flesh, everything we’ve got. Then the wastelands will calm down.” Putting aside the ‘group raiding ORIS’ for now, Eva asked, “So what does that have to do with the complex I found? We don’t have any clones with us now, I don’t think.”

“Right. But since there’s no way to really get any right now, it’s at least worth looking to figure out what the hell is going on there. You didn’t explore the whole place, right? It’s got to have some information on the wastelands; the beasts don’t just gather there for no reason.” “I... guess? I don’t know, it just seems like-” “Sorry to interrupt,” Lewis broke in. “But please hold on tight. We’re about to cross the perimeter and there might be some mortar fire we’re going to have to dodge.” “Can’t we just fly above the mort - aAAH!” The helicopter banked hard and Eva slid into Landon through the play in her seatbelt. She could see the ground through the window, as well as a fiery-bright trail passing by only a few dozen feet away. A second passed, then she was thrown to the other side as Lewis righted the craft. “Sorry about that. I think we’re clear now.” Eva let out a breath. “You had to fly through them?” “Faster than going over. These things fire pretty far up and we are in a hurry. ETA 20 minutes.” Yavin straightened up and glanced out the window again before turning back. “Anyway, you were saying?” “Uh, right. It just seems like a-” “Hey, sorry to interrupt again, but I’ve got a call from Mr Baxley. I’m going to patch him through, okay?” There was a brief delay as the connection stabilized, then, “Hello, everyone. I hear you and Eva have some guests in that chopper with you? Landon, Yavin, how is poor Maya doing?” “Hopefully going to live,” Landon said. “Were you informed how she was hurt?”

“My boy, I know you’re upset, but we unfortunately do have bigger problems right now. I’m glad to hear she’s doing at least as well as possible under the circumstances. Assuming we all survive the next week, I’m sure there will be plenty of time for us to sort out exactly who did what and why. But for now, listen carefully. I want you - all of you, since you’re all in the helicopter - to fly to the underground complex Eva just recently explored. Lewis, you remember the coordinates, yes?” “Affirm, boss. We were actually already on our way.” “Oh? Well, even better. You will meet several federal agents there, and then Ms Marais and Landon will have a special task to complete. The rest of you will assist them in any way possible, but I’m informed that it’s those two who will be needed for the ‘main event,’ as it were. Questions?” “What... is this task?” Eva asked. “Unfortunately, I don’t know. They were in a bit of a hurry when they told me; communication is rather strained right now. But I’m informed it will help stop this rampage.” Landon spoke up. “Why us? Why me; does this have anything to do with the agent I asked you about this morning?” “Not sure, my boy. If I had to guess, probably. But it’s hard to be sure with the feds. Still, I’m sure you two will do great and save the world. I - hm?” There was a brief pause. “Ah. One moment. Okay, I’ve got to take another call. Be safe and I’ll talk to you again when this is all over.” There was a click and a long delay before anyone spoke.

- Eva brings up her dreams.

- Landon mentions the agent and his apparent immunity to acid.

- Yavin knows something else. [Specify what he should say in #story_discussion.] (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 26-Dec-20 11:30 AM

Scene 74 “An agent you asked him about this morning?” Eva paraphrased. “What’s this about?” Landon quickly explained his strange encounter with the federal agent just earlier today, though it felt like it had been much longer. “So she just... tried to get you to say what your job is? And then walked away when you wouldn’t?” “Basically, yeah. Seems kinda weird for someone like that, right? And now they’re saying I’m important for some reason; I just think it’s got to be related.” Yavin grumbled and spoke. “What about that acid? You were covered in the stuff, but it didn’t do anything to you. Unlike, well. You know.” Landon blinked. “Right. Eva, before you showed up...” He summarized the major events of the day for her, including his mysterious seeming-immunity to the blue-green liquid that the snake had spat. “That stuff sounds a lot like the stuff that some wasteland beasts can make. Last time I was out, one of them tried spitting a bunch of it at me. Managed to dodge most of it, but it burned pretty bad. You’re... entirely immune?” “Seems like it?” Landon shrugged, baffled. “I have no idea why. I don’t think I’m some sort of mutated superhuman. I barely even have any implants, and none that could do this.” “That you know of,” Yavin interjected. “Huh?” “You’ve been unconscious around Xera docs before; they could very well have slipped something into you that you don’t know about. I’d honestly be shocked if they didn’t take the opportunity to implant a tracking node at the very least after some of your more high-profile escapades.” Landon considered this. “I guess you’re right. But it’s still weird. And if it’s just some implant doing this, why are they saying I’m needed? They could just implant some random agent. And that’s to say nothing about Eva; what if there’s something beyond your knowledge of the place?” She shrugged. “That stuff we talked about last night?” “You mean your-” “Shh. Not in front of him.”

Yavin crossed his arms. “Oh, I see. Not trustworthy enough for your big secrets? That’s fine. I’ll take this off.” He angrily pulled off the headset and shouted over the rotors, “Now you can talk privately!” Landon glanced nervously at Yavin. “Your dreams?” “Yeah. Kremel’s involved in all this, right? He was with the federal agents. He’s got to know something.” She paused, then her eyes lit up. “Wait; Kremel! The blue light - the thing that he’s trying to pretend is a discriminator! You said he used it on you after the break-in, but... did it affect you strongly? Static? Nosebleed? Passing out?” “N-no. It was just kind of intimidating.” “You’re immune to that too. Must be. Maybe that’s it; you’re just... really resistant to all this weird stuff going on? Can you think of anything else that might fit that pattern?” “Uh.” Landon cast his mind back over the past few months, trying to come up with further evidence. “I don’t know. There’s the big pale thing that keeps showing up, but I’m not sure how it fits into this. Maybe-” He reached out and gestured for Yavin to put the headset back on. “Maybe Yavin has some other ideas?” The three of them spent the next several minutes trying to piece together the disparate threads of evidence into one cohesive picture, but couldn’t quite get there. Landon’s apparent immunity to various almost-unrelated threats. The huge pale creature. How did Eva fit into all this? The wastelands? The complex? There must be some central connecting factor here, but it just kept slipping away. Eventually, Landon was forced to conclude that they were either missing something important or they didn’t have enough information to figure it out. “Everyone get ready to disembark,” Lewis said over the radio. “We’re almost here.”

Out the windows, a haze of light came into view. The crater surrounding the complex was covered in lights and patrolling guards, and several miniature laser cannons were visible in the snow around the crater’s edge. No wasteland beasts could be seen, possibly because they were all attacking the city. A makeshift helipad had been formed from packed snow and a few small lights near the center of the depression, and Lewis made straight for it. As soon as the helicopter touched down and the rotors started to slow, agents in white jackets slid the doors open and began to roughly escort Eva and Landon away. It wasn’t quite a handcuff-and-forced-march experience, but it was definitely more forceful than a request or some directions. Eva sighed, used to this treatment by now, and Landon just went along with it in the hopes that he would be able to get the missing information from these agents. Lewis shouted something out the door, but he couldn’t be heard over the rotors. His concerned face disappeared behind a series of white-clad agents as the two of them were escorted underground. The room where they found themselves a minute later was familiar to Eva, though not Landon. The control panels had been reactivated and many of the film discs on the shelves had been rearranged, but this was definitely the same room where she had encountered that little monster just a few days ago. The place was now packed with white-coated agents. Some fiddled with or monitored the control panels, while others started suiting up Eva and Landon in white hazmat suits. Notably, Special Agent Kremel was there, leaning against a wall and looking like he’d rather be anywhere else. The two agents Landon had met this morning were nowhere to be seen. An agent with a tablet and earpiece quickly approached, starting to run through a briefing of some sort, though he could barely be heard over the general din.

- Just go with it. The longer they delay, the more innocent people are killed.

- Refuse until someone explains, in some detail, what the heck is going on.

- Eva confronts Kremel about her dreams.

- Landon confronts Kremel about the federal agents. [Or write-in any other questions for him. There will only be time for one.] (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 28-Dec-20 02:19 PM

Scene 75 “Uh, hey, I can’t hear you,” Landon said, trying to get the attention of the agent seemingly talking to him and Eva. “Hey! Are you - I can’t-” The agent didn’t seem to be paying attention, just looking down at their clipboard and rattling off a series of words that Landon couldn’t catch. He tried to step forward to shake the agent’s shoulder or something, but he was restrained by the other agents equipping him in the hazmat suit. He glanced at Eva, but there were too many people between them and he couldn’t see her expression. The din of so many people talking and voices overlapping continued to grow louder and more piercing until- “CAN YOU PLEASE BE QUIET?!” he shouted, yanking his arms away from the people cramming him into the suit. The noise level dropped as most of the agents stopped what they were doing to look at him. “I can’t... I can’t hear what you’re saying, and I don’t know what’s going on, and I’m not going anywhere or doing anything for you until you explain!” “What he said,” Eva seconded. The silence extended for several uncomfortable seconds as no one seemed to want to speak up and answer him. Finally, a heavy sigh drifted through the room. Special Agent Kremel pushed himself off the wall and advanced forward, suddenly looking very old and very tired. “I’ll take care of this,” he said quietly. “Come along, you two. Away from all the clamor.” The agents around them glanced at each other, then shrugged and stepped back. Landon shared a look with Eva, neither of them wanting to go anywhere with Kremel but both agreeing after a moment that they didn’t have many other options. No one else around here seemed to know what they were doing.

Kremel led them back up the ladder to the second door Eva hadn’t investigated the last time she had been here. It appeared to be nothing more than a dimly-lit store room, filled partly with neat stacks of wooden planks and acrylic panels. Kremel stood tall but slightly stooped on the far side of the room, waiting for them to get settled before beginning. Finally, after Eva had perched on a stack of wood and Landon stood uncomfortably near the door, Kremel spoke again. “You want to know why you have been chosen. You want to know what waits for you beneath here. I can only tell you so much, but it’s more than what those Bureau idiots downstairs would give you. Listen carefully.” A dull spark of blue light flashed briefly in one eye and Eva flinched. “Don’t-” Kremel interrupted her. “You remember this, don’t you? Both of you.” He pointed at Landon. “You are unaffected. I knew this months ago, when I first met you, but the ones running this program - the Anomalous Investigations Bureau - did not care. Just this morning, one of them finally listened and tested her own powers on you. Of course, you felt nothing. Yes?” Landon nodded dumbly. “Yes. For some reason, you seem to be immune to this type of mind-altering effect. I would love to explain more, but as they only just confirmed your abilities this morning, no one knows why yet. Things would have been different if they had listened months ago, certainly.” He paused, raising an eyebrow. “But no matter. That is why you are here. As for you...” Eva refused to look at him. “It’s my dreams, right?”

“Partially. Your visions, combined with certain test results obtained during your detainment, indicate that you have a very particular characteristic. Among other things, this makes you highly resistant - almost immune - to the wasteland’s contamination. Mr Kozlov’s apparent immunity to mind-altering effects provides him a similar, or even higher, level of protection. The two of you could stay out here for months or even years without suffering any ill effects, while most humans would submit to the corruption in days or even hours.” “Hang on, what test-” Eva began, but cut herself off as Landon spoke at the same time. “Wasteland... contamination? Is that what makes them so dangerous?” “Yes. It’s not just the beasts. An ordinary human doesn’t last long out here, even if they can stay away from the prowling creatures. It’s not the air, the water, or the ground, but, as best we can tell, some sort of powerful radiation. It leads to mutations within hours, death via similar symptoms to acute radiation sickness not long after, and reanimation as a wasteland beast not long after that.” Landon looked at his hand, as if he could see the corruption spreading. “What about you, then? And the rest of the agents? And... Maya and Lewis and-” “Your friends have already been sent away. Brief exposure is typically harmless. As for myself, I and many of the agents have certain defenses to this corruption. Not as strong as yours, perhaps, but enough that we can survive out here for weeks at a time before needing to recover. Those that do not have these defenses, well.” He shrugged. “They are needed here regardless. The walls of this place seem to slow its progression, but in the end, their sacrifices will be remembered.” Eva seemed uneasy, but asked her question anyway. “You said I have a ‘particular characteristic.’ What? You can’t just say that and not elaborate.”

“Unfortunately for you, I can and will. As I told you many times during our sessions, you may ask questions if you wish, but I make no guarantee of answers.” “That’s - ugh,” she huffed. “Whatever. Landon, when we get out of this, you’ve got to make him tell me, okay?” “I, uh.” “Thanks.” “Shall we proceed, then? Now that you know why you are here, perhaps you would like to know what you will be doing?” Two nods. “Ideally, of course, you would have received implants to augment your abilities and training to help you control them, but given our previous... difficulties with the AIB, we’ll have to go without for now. Just keep in mind that you, Ms Marais, should generally be considered in charge of dispatching any threats the two of you encounter. This is in part due to your characteristic, which you should be able to leverage offensively, and in part due to your physical abilities. You, Mr Kozlov, with the higher level of immunity, should generally be in charge of protecting you both from the environment and any other threats long enough to allow Ms Marais to dispatch them. Clear?” “...How do I, uh, do that?” Landon asked. “I don’t know how to protect anyone else.” “This is why that training I mentioned would come in handy. I don’t have these abilities, so I can’t tell you how they work. It’s possible being in contact with such a high concentration of the contamination will help unlock your abilities, but it’s equally possible it will make them harder to use.” He shrugged again. “Good luck.” “Thanks,” Landon squeaked.

“Regardless. You are being sent below this complex, into a large series of caverns that seismic and other readings indicate are a hotspot for both wasteland beasts and, potentially, the wastelands themselves. The corruption reaches incredibly high levels all throughout these caves, meaning that anyone not immune to it would be killed very quickly. No one else can accompany you or provide assistance once you enter. We don’t have a very clear picture of what exactly is down there, but it appears to be controlling the beasts to some extent. Destroy it, negotiate with it, placate it, whatever you need to do. Stop the beasts. If you succeed, we’ll have enough time to recover and enough information to proceed. Any questions?” Eva glared at him. “So you’re sending us alone, unprepared, and untrained into some underground cave system full of deadly corruption and probably monsters, without any instructions beyond ‘figure out how to stop the beasts?’ Did I get that right?” “Essentially, yes.” “Fantastic. You know, just last time I thought these missions couldn’t get any more insane.” ✅ - Accept Kremel’s briefing and go underground.

- Reject Kremel’s briefing. He can’t force them to go in. [What should they do instead?]

- Require he tell them what Eva’s ‘characteristic’ is as a condition of going in. [This is a branch point. Choosing any option here will permanently lock out at least one ending to the story.] (Winner:

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Professional Nerd Blah 30-Dec-20 11:15 AM

Scene 76 “So, are you ready to go, then? We have limited time, as always.” Landon hesitated, but Eva raised an eyebrow. “Hang on. You can’t make us do anything down there, since you just said no one else can go in. What if I ask for something in return?” “Such as?” “Well... two things. First, after this, I want this explosive chip removed and I want you to stop treating me like a criminal. No more curfews or tails or threats. I think I’ll have earned it.” “Fine. Not a problem.” “Second,” she continued, “I want to know what my ‘characteristic’ is. Before I go in.” “That... is less possible,” Kremel replied. “It’s quite a complicated subject. I don’t know all the details and it would take longer than we have available to explain it. We can discuss after you return, yes?” “Give me the short version. Just a few words. Come on, you can summarize.” “I really cannot. Don’t try to push this.” “Alright, then I’m not going in.” Eva crossed her arms and sat down on the wood. “We’ll just sit here until the world ends. Right, Landon?” “Uh, yeah.” He nervously copied her posture, though he could tell Kremel wasn’t impressed. “Look, even beyond the complexity of the topic, it’s theorized that just knowing about it can make you more vulnerable to corruption. This is for your own protection.” Eva laughed. “Yeah, bullshit. Tell me.” The back-and-forth continued for over a minute before they were interrupted by a minor tremor as the complex shook. The light flickered and dust rained from the ceiling. Kremel glared at Eva. “You remember when I said we didn’t have time for this?” She shrugged. “So just tell me. Takes five seconds and we can go in.” A white-suited agent popped up in the doorway from the ladder. “Uh, excuse me, special agent, but you may have noticed-” “Shut up! I know. Get back down there. We’ll be right behind you.” The agent gulped and began to descend. “Yes, sir.” Eva smiled at Kremel. “Well?”

He sighed. “DNA testing. You’re related to someone very important, we think. That’s the best I can do at the moment.” She grinned with a fake brightness. “See? That wasn’t so hard. Come on, Landon, let’s go save the world.” The next few minutes passed in a blur of noise and heat, with a steady stream of minor earthquakes continuing to rattle the complex. Eva and Landon were bundled up in bulky hazmat suits and given packs full of weapons, tools, and supplies. Finally, after far too short a time, at least in Landon’s opinion, the other door in the control room was opened - the one marked with a radiation symbol. Behind was a small airlock, followed by another door. The room went almost silent as they entered and an agent began to close the other door behind them. It seemed to be sinking in, just then, that their best hope for survival rested, at least partially, on Landon of all people. He was glad he was facing away from them. The door clanked shut. Then, after a short delay, the second door clanked open. Beyond was a dark, rocky tunnel that led down at a steep gradient and then around a corner. Landon clicked the flashlight on and, without any further words, stepped forward. After only about twenty seconds navigating through the tunnel, Eva spoke up. “Hey, how do you think they know we’re actually immune to this stuff? They don’t have much evidence, really. Like, I survived a few hours in the wastelands (barely) and you resisted a few implants. How do they know we’re so much more immune than anyone else that we can actually survive this?” “Uh...” He shivered, his throat almost constricting as the air seemed to grow heavier. Maybe they didn’t know.

“Plus,” she continued, “We have absolutely no idea what we’re doing and don’t know how to use our powers, assuming we even have any. They don’t really have any evidence of that either. Apparently they knew about my ‘characteristic’ (ancestry?) months ago, but they never mentioned it or trained me in it? If it’s that important, you’d think they would have done something in that time. Just seems... y’know, a little odd. Like maybe they’re just making this up. Or are hilariously badly managed.” “I’m gonna be honest; I don’t really want to think about that right now and I’m not glad you brought it up.” “Sorry. Just thinking aloud. I don’t have much of a filter on missions; that’s what you get when I’m nervous.” “You sound really calm, though. Not, uh, like me.” “Yeah, if you do enough of these, you get better at hiding it. Communicating is important and it’s easier if you at least sound collected, even if you aren’t. Hey, do you see that light?” Landon paused, looking around the corner. There was indeed a soft, almost rainbow glow. He turned off the flashlight to get a better look as it slowly shifted and morphed. “Y-yeah. What do you think it is?” “Something really dangerous, probably. Let’s go look at it.” She headed forward. “W-wait!” Landon followed. “Ah.” Eva had stopped just a few feet around the corner. Landon approached, then looked down into the cavern. They were standing on a short outcrop above a massive pit. Jelly-like rainbow shapes melded and broke apart, sending flashes of multicolored light through the room. The sound of a deep, rolling heartbeat echoed. The tunnel they had entered through simply ceased to be. Landon looked back and it was nothing but a solid rock wall. “It’s like your dreams...” “Yeah. Exactly like it.” Eva let out a long exhale. “I guess I finally get to know what’s down there.”

“Wait - you’re not... hold on, we can-!” Landon stammered as Eva took a step back, then leapt off the ledge and into the pit. “Don’t le- argh!” He followed, unwilling to be left alone up there. Darkness. There was a sound on the very edge of his consciousness, muffled and only barely audible. The heartbeat? Laughing? Some other, extradimensional noise? He couldn’t tell. The rainbow lights were also gone. There was only the sensation of falling, though he couldn’t feel any wind dragging at his limbs. Landon reached up and clicked on the flashlight. Freshly illuminated, enormous stone or crystal walls shot by in the gloom. They sparkled in the light, as if from wetness or some strange reflectivity. Above, nothing was visible. Below, a soft white light began to grow as he fell towards it. Nearby, Eva tumbled in the air, descending faster than Landon. “Eva, are you okay?” he asked. No response. “Can you hear me?” Nothing. Uh oh. Landon tucked his arms in and tried to make himself more aerodynamic, angling his body towards Eva. He made some progress, but somehow she was still falling slightly faster and he was unable to get close. The white light grew brighter until it was revealed to be emanating from moss, mushrooms, and other plantlike structures growing on the walls. A floor became visible, approaching at steadily decreasing speed. Eva hit the ground and flopped to one side. Landon, at this point, was going slowly enough that he could land on his feet with only a slight stumble. He quickly darted over to her, turning the suit over so he could see her face. “Eva, wake up. You’re okay, right?” As she opened her eyes, he was startled to see them clouded with a glowing white film for an instant before it dissipated. “Huh? Landon? Oh, hey. How was your trip?” “What? Are you hurt? We just fell like a mile and you were passed out for a lot of it.”

She sat up and twisted around. “I feel fine, actually. I was passed out? Did you see the kaleidoscope stuff and the jelly, and hear the laughing? It was just like my dreams, but in reality.” “Uh... No, I didn’t. It was just a long fall, dark walls, and then these glowing plants.” He glanced around, noting that a ceiling had appeared at some point and they were in a relatively small, mostly hemispherical cave dotted with those glowing white fungi. A single tunnel led out and around a corner. Eva narrowed her eyes, thinking. “Huh... Okay, well, whatever. I guess I never really expected this to make sense. Ready to keep going?” “I guess? I wonder if they saw that shaft on seismic maps. I wonder if it exists at all, actually.” “I don’t think trying to apply logic here is going to work too well,” she said, standing up and heading for the exit. “I don’t know about you, but I’m just going to try and go with the flow until something tries to kill us.” “Seems... reasonable?” “No, it doesn’t. But that’s okay. Hey, check this out.” Landon rounded the corner. The next room was of a similar size to the one they had just left, but contained what appeared to be a steaming natural hot spring. A short obelisk formed of a reflective, deep black rock rose from the center of the pool. “That’s weird,” he observed, peering closer at the obelisk without stepping into the water. “What do you think it is?” “I’m not sure,” Eva admitted. “But I feel like I know how to use it. Somehow.” “‘Use’ it?” “Yeah. Something tells me I just need to... sorta...” She waded into the hot spring, the water coming up to her waist, then grasped the obelisk with both hands and pressed her forehead against it. “No, this isn’t working. The suit - ugh. Hang on.” “Wait, Eva, don’t you dare-”

Predictably, she failed to listen to him and removed the suit’s helmet. “Ugh, still no good. Maybe if I...” Though with a struggle due to the suit’s weight, Eva managed to wriggle out of it entirely and stood in the water in just her expedition clothes. “Ah, much better. Landon, you should get out of that suit. Much easier to move, and I can feel... something from this pillar thing.” “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. I mean, this place is supposed to be really dangerous and filled with that contamination they mentioned.” “Yeah, and you think that suit’s going to stop it? At least this way, I can... ah.” She pressed her forehead against the obelisk again and it began to glow with a soft white light, similar to that of the fungi. Landon stood by, concerned but not really sure what he should be doing. [This shrine, and others like it, allows Eva and Landon to activate their latent abilities. Think of it like allocating points in a skill tree. There will not be enough shrines available to unlock every possible ability, so choose carefully.] What ability should Eva unlock?

- Physical Defense 2.

- Mental Defense 2.

- Physical Offense 3.

- Mental Offense 1. Should Landon also use the shrine?

- Yes.

- No. If Landon does use the shrine, what ability should he unlock?

- Physical Defense 3.

- Mental Defense 3.

️ - Create Shield. (Winners:

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️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 01-Jan-21 01:18 PM

Scene 77 After a few moments, the light faded from the obelisk. Eva raised her head and Landon could again see a distressing pale light in her eyes for a moment before it faded. “Huh,” she said. “‘Huh?’ Are you alright?” “Y...eah.” Eva stretched her arms and neck, as if sore, then gave Landon a strange look. “I can... sorta... sense things? Like... minds, maybe? Or, that’s not exactly it. I’m not really sure, but there’s a lot more around us than I could see before. Plus, I think I can...” She stretched out her hand and pointed it at the wall. A dim haze of light began to gather around her palm, but then dispersed as Eva let out a heavy breath. “That’s hard, actually. Really hard. And I don’t really know what I was going to do. Here, get in the pool. You should try this.” The demonstration of Eva being able to physically affect something in the world, even if that something was only a bit of light, was enough to convince Landon. He took off his suit too, then quickly followed her into the pool, pressing his forehead against the obelisk as she instructed. “Well? Do you feel anything? It’s done glowing.” He looked up. Nothing seemed different. “Not really. What should I do?” “I don’t know. I just sorta... felt something. It’s weird, like another sense. I didn’t really have to do anything.” “Hm.” Landon closed his eyes again and tried to focus, but it was impossible to do without knowing what he was focusing on. “I don’t feel anything. Maybe it’s because of your ‘characteristic?’ Here, help me up.” Eva reached down to help him out of the pool, but the instant their hands touched, she jerked back and let him fall into the water again. “AAH!” she shouted, pressing up against the wall. “What did you do?” Dazed, Landon hauled himself out of the pool, now dripping with water and soaked up to his neck. “I... do not know.” He wiped some of the water off his arms. “And can you please not do that next time?”

“Maybe? Sorry.” She stepped away from the wall, but continued to stand well back as if afraid to touch him. “As soon as I touched your hand, everything changed. All the rainbow lights went away and everything got all quiet. No more music. I felt like I was getting ripped out of my body.” Landon blinked slowly, looking around at the very non-rainbow-lit and non-music-filled cavern. “Uhh...” Eva inhaled sharply, putting it together. “You don’t see any of that, do you?” “Not really, no.” She darted forward and grabbed his hand again, wincing and letting out a little cry as she did so. A moment or two passed as tears leaked from her eyes before she could open them again, breathing heavily. “Oh. This is very different.” Landon stood still, befuddled. “What?” “It’s like - actually, just to be sure we’re seeing the same thing now, can you describe where we are?” Landon ran through a brief description of the cavern and Eva nodded in relief. “Good. Man, I was being really stupid back there. Just jumping into the pit? ‘Going with the flow’ until something tries to kill us? It just seemed like such a sensible idea in that weird rainbow place.” She shuddered. “Landon, don’t let go of my hand, okay? I don’t want to go back there.” “Okay.” He nodded resolutely, though still baffled. “But I wonder why this happened now. Was that the first time we touched since we came down here?” “No; I helped you take off the suit just a few minutes ago. It was - it was the first time since you used that obelisk, though! Maybe it did actually do something!” “Maybe?” He exhaled in exasperation. “None of this makes sense! There have to be rules, right? But there are too many unknowns to figure them out. We’re having different responses to the same phenomena, or maybe they’re not the same. Is this obelisk actually doing anything? Actually, can you still do... whatever it was that you got out of it?”

Eva closed her eyes, concentrating. “Yeah. I can still sense... whatever this is. And I can still feel the same energy, or something, that I tried to use on the wall. It’s just the lights and music and bad decisions that are gone. But...” She turned to look at him quizzically. “I can’t sense you. At all. Everything else has... some, uh, thing to it. Energy? Thoughts? I’m not sure. But you...” She tapped his forehead to make her point. “Nothing.” Disturbed, he replied, “So... what does that mean?” She shrugged. “I have no idea. I hope it doesn’t mean that you’re a figment of my imagination though. That would not be good.” “Y-yeah, let’s not worry about that possibility.” Eva chuckled. “Landon, you’re not seriously considering that?” “No! We’re not worrying about it, right? Hey, we should get moving. The longer we wait, the more innocent people die.” “Right.” Eva’s smile disappeared quickly. “Let’s go.” Still holding hands, the two of them quickly left the small cavern. Only a few steps later, the wall had closed behind them. “No going back,” Landon said nervously as he noticed. “I wonder if it’s going to keep doing that? It’s kind of intimidating.” “Makes me wonder how we’re going to get back out once we’re done here,” Eva spoke in a low voice. “Problem for later, I guess.” The tunnel split at a Y-junction only a minute later. To the left, the stone seemed to grow slightly more translucent with pinpricks of light as the path continued straight ahead into darkness, almost resembling a starfield. To the right, a warm mist rose and blocked their view as the path dipped down at a shallow gradient. The sounds of lapping waves and gentle bubbling rose. “Which way do you think?” Landon asked.

“I’m not sure.” Eva breathed out shakily and Landon could feel her fingers twitch as she concentrated. “Left I can’t really feel anything. It’s like a haze. Right, I can definitely sense something. Large, bloated, hungry. But also something... sparkly? Bright?” She groaned. “It’s so hard to tell! Everything’s so fuzzy and unclear! It’s like I’m learning how to see after being blind my whole life.” ⬅️ - Left. ➡️ - Right. (Winner: :arrow_right: ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 03-Jan-21 01:32 PM

Scene 78 Landon frowned. “Right? It goes down, which is presumably where we’re supposed to be going, and with the water and steam, there might be another obelisk. Plus, the left path just being empty seems a little creepy.” “You’re not worried about that big hungry thing?” “Maybe it doesn’t eat people?” Eva raised an eyebrow. “What? Most things don’t!” “Okay, sure. Let’s go. But stay on your guard.” Eva moved around to Landon’s other side to free her right hand, then drew her pistol. “Tell me if you see anything weird.” The haze grew thicker as they descended, muffling sound and reducing vision to just a few feet in any direction. Some sort of weird, dim light spread from nowhere in particular to provide a very low level of illumination to the scene. The bubbling and lapping waves grew louder and more noticeably echoing until, quite suddenly, the mist thinned somewhat as they emerged into a larger room. Little waves lapped gently at the shore of a subterranean lake. The water bubbled and frothed, constantly boiling and venting steam into the air. The cavern was oppressively hot and humid, and the air smelled disturbingly sweet, like some tropical fruit. Somewhere farther into the center of the lake, a bright white light shone steadily. “I can feel something moving around under the water,” Eva said quietly. “That’s what’s so big and hungry. But, I mean, the water’s boiling anyway. We’re not going in there.” “Right. Let’s see if there’s anything else along the shore. There’s too much mist to be sure.”

To the right, the shoreline ended quickly and abruptly at the cavern wall. To the left, however, Landon noticed an old stone dock as Eva was busy focusing on the thing in the water, trying to learn more about it. The dock extended about fifteen feet into the lake and was cracked and crumbling in many places. There was, surprisingly, a rowboat made of similar-looking stone chained to the dock. It was chipped and weathered, but appeared to still be watertight. Lastly, a path of stepping stones extended from the top of the dock further into the lake, only a few inches above the water and sometimes swamped by the waves. Eva exhaled and slumped forward before recovering. “It’s a lot harder to focus like that than you’d think. Hey, cool, a boat!” “Yeah, and a path. See?” “Looks dangerous. So I think I got an idea of the thing. It’s big and got a lot of arms, like a huge octopus or squid. I think it’s just sitting on the bottom and uses its arms to catch stuff and bring it into its mouth. But based on where I could ‘see’ it, I also think there’s an island in the middle of the lake, about a hundred feet out. Pretty much where that light is. How much do you want to be that’s another obelisk?” “Please tell me you don’t want to try and make it there with some enormous octopus in the water.” “Oh, I want to. Just... maybe with a bit of a plan first. So, plan guy, what do you have?” [Choose a goal and a method for both Eva and Landon, as well as any other miscellaneous options. Goals and methods will be prioritized based on number of votes. I have significant latitude in interpreting the results here, and you may suggest specifics in #story_discussion.]

[Eva] Goal:

- Cross the lake.

- Reach the obelisk.

- Fight the octopus. Method:

- Physically.

- Mentally. [Landon] Goal:

- Cross the lake.

- Reach the obelisk.

️ - Defend Eva from the octopus.

- Defend himself from the octopus. Method:

- Proactive.

- Reactive. [Misc] How concerned should they be with staying in contact to prevent Eva from falling back into the rainbow dimension?

- Very.

- Somewhat.

- Not much. Use the boat or the stepping stones (primarily)?

- Boat.

️ - Stepping stones. (Winners:

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️ /

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Professional Nerd Blah 04-Jan-21 08:08 PM

Scene 79 “Okay, here’s the idea.” ... The oars were staggeringly heavy, as they were made of stone. Landon struggled against the weight to push them into position; Eva offered to help, but he refused. She had a more important job. After several more moments of effort, he managed to get them into the little hooks on the side of the boat and pushed off across the water. Because Landon’s hands were otherwise occupied, Eva sat in the bow with one arm stretched back to press against his leg. The pose was awkward for both of them, but it was the best they had come up with to prevent Eva from falling back into that strange rainbow reality. It seemed that they didn’t have to be holding hands; any sort of skin-to-skin contact triggered the effect. They had also experimented with the duration; Eva had about fifteen seconds after letting go before the lights and music reasserted themselves. She held onto the frame of the boat tightly with her other hand, focusing intensely on the water. A dim haze of light leaked from her fingers, drifting gently down to settle on the surface of the lake. The boat left very little wake and even the oars barely made a sound, the vibrations dampened by her concentration. It was very, very difficult work trying to control the natural motion of the water like that. She had to take several breaks on the way, slumping down against the side as she regained her energy. But still, it was achievable. Even their slow pace made progress and, after an interminable while, the island came into sight: a small, round outcrop of black rock and sand with another obsidian obelisk sprouting from the center. Just a minute more; she just had to hold it together a little bit longer. ... Where was that music coming from?

Eva glanced back, noting to her concern that her hand had slipped off Landon’s leg and neither of them had noticed. She stretched back out and the music faded again, but the momentary lapse in concentration had been long enough that she had lost her grip on the water. “Landon, stop,” she hissed, trying to reassert control. He froze midway through a stroke, but the oars were so heavy and he was so tired, or surprised, or unlucky, or something, that one of them slipped out of his grasp and slapped the surface with an echoing crack. Both froze. “Go, quickly. It’s moving!” Eva grabbed one of the oars and Landon picked up the one he had dropped. In a matter of moments, they had made it to the island. A sleek purple-black tentacle rose from the water and wrapped around the rear of the boat, tugging it down into the water. Eva jumped out and onto the sand, pulling Landon with her. An instant later, the boat was gone, dragged beneath the boiling lake into unknown depths below. Somehow unharmed, the two of them looked at each other in a kind of shock. “Well, that went almost better than expected,” Landon whispered. “Don’t celebrate yet; it’s still moving down there.” Eva pointed. “And over there. And there, and... you get the idea. Quick, go do something with the obelisk before it comes back.” [Landon]

- Physical Defense 3.

- Mental Defense 3.

- Ranged Shield. [Eva]

- Physical Defense 2.

- Mental Defense 2.

- Physical Offense 3.

- Mental Offense 2.

- Healing Factor (scaling with Mental Offense). [This is a branch point. Some options, though not all, will lock out at least one ending to the story. Pick wisely.] (Winners:

,

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 06-Jan-21 09:04 PM

Scene 79 The obelisk flared twice. Eva blinked and shook her head, dropping Landon’s hand. “It’s gone,” she said. “The rainbow stuff, the music. All gone. Did you get anything?” He backed away from the water and pressed his hands against his temples. “I don’t know. I’m still not feeling any different.” She tilted her head as she looked at him. “You feel sorta... glowy now. Try... I don’t know, focusing on something.” “On what? We don’t have time for this!” “Well, we gotta figure out what you can do now! Uh-” she blinked, her eyes briefly changing color again. “Focus on me, maybe. I don’t know.” The water churned and tentacles began to break the surface as Landon stared at Eva, not in any way sure how to focus the way she did. “Nothing’s happening and we have to move!” “No, I’m feeling something,” she said, ducking away from the water. “Kind of a warmth. A little stronger. Keep it up, whatever you’re doing.” “I don’t know what I’m doing!” “Well, just keep doing it. Watch out!” Eva shoved Landon aside as a tentacle crashed down between them, missing them both by inches. She drew her weapon and fired several times, freeing splatters of purple liquid from the thing’s rubbery skin. It thrashed and retreated back below the waves. “Come on; we’ll take the stepping stones,” she shouted, helping Landon to his feet. “Refocus, please. Whatever it is stopped when you fell.” He looked back for a moment as Eva dragged him towards the treacherous path above the heaving, boiling water. Tentacles surrounded the island and several of them tugged at the obelisk. It shifted in the weak sand, tilting towards a heavy fall. He had to look away before it came down entirely. “What’s the plan here; just run?” “You got it! Don’t slip. I’ll try and keep that thing off our backs; you focus on running and whatever it is you don’t know how you’re doing.”

It was like the world’s most painful and terrifying game of hopscotch. Without the suit, Landon’s shoes weren’t waterproof and scalding water quickly worked its way in, burning his feet. He limped on regardless, tentacles springing up from the surrounding lake and being cut down quickly by Eva’s marksmanship. It wasn’t going well, exactly, but he at least had hope that they might make it. “Reloading,” Eva spoke at a normal volume under the crashing sounds of tentacles slamming against the water’s surface. “Hold tight.” A pause and the sounds of clicking, then, “Oh, fuck” and a quiet splash. “Eva? It’s getting really close now!” “Hang on!” “Eva?!” “Fucking-!” She leapt over him, palm outstretched and glowing, aiming for the tentacle that was about to drag Landon into a watery grave. Her hand struck the rubbery skin and the light flashed, then faded with a sharp pop. The tendril, unharmed, immediately changed track and slammed down. Eva disappeared in a cloud of steam and debris. Landon hardly had time to react before a second tentacle slammed against his back and sent him flying into the water. ... There’s really not an adequate way to describe the sensation of being fully immersed in boiling water. Even with his enhanced resistance, he wasn’t immune. It did help, though, allowing him to stay conscious and mobile enough to claw his way out of the water and onto the next platform - wait, no. This was the far shore. The air was frigid in comparison. “Sorry, sorry!” Eva shouted, struggling to extract herself from the crushing grasp of another nearby tendril. She finally managed to get another magazine slotted in and fired several times, kicking lithely off the descending tentacle and landing on the beach with a splash and a wince. “You okay?” “N-ever... better,” he gasped, shivering against either the arctic chill of the air, or the severe damage that his nerves couldn’t translate accurately. One or the other.

“Come on, get away from the shore. I’m sorry; I really fucked that one up. I - ugh. Here, I’ve got some medigel. Hold still.” “It doesn’t hurt,” he said. “J-just... really cold.” “It’ll hurt if you give it a few minutes; believe me. We’re gonna try and not let that happen, though. Stop wiggling, please.” The lake slowly calmed over the next few minutes as Eva applied the blue gel. She was right, of course. As time passed, the areas she hadn’t gotten to yet grew warm, then hot, then agonizing. Landon had to bite his lips to keep from crying out until, finally, the fiery pain subsided to a dull sort of ache as she applied the last bit. It was still difficult to move. “All better?” she asked, stuffing the now mostly-empty tube back into her bag. “Uh, sort of. It aches and sort of tingles.” “Yeah, this stuff is good, but not miraculous. It’ll probably take a few days to heal that level of damage. Don’t... get hurt again, if you can.” “I’ll try not to.” “I...” Eva looked like she was going to say more, then quickly shut her mouth and turned away. “Nevermind. Anyway, that did not go well. I’m really sorry; I’ll do better next time.” “Hey, it’s not your fault. The-” “Yeah, it was. I dropped that mag in the lake. Too slow. Too clumsy. I fucked up and you got hurt because of it. It’s my fault; I’ll do better.” “... Okay. You will.” “Right. Now come on; we’ve still got peoples’ lives to save. Here’s our exit.”

The tunnel picked up again, initially looking much the same as it had on the other side of the lake. Here, however, it simply continued forward at a slight downwards grade until it abruptly ended at a smooth concrete wall. A single metal bulkhead was set into it, though there was a large ventilation shaft near the top of the barricade that seemed to be constantly expelling warm air laced with particles of tiny red sand. The sand had pooled near the door, making it difficult to open. Eva cranked the wheel and was able to tug it open a few inches at least, revealing a small room whose floor was covered in several inches of red sand. Warm light trickled from a cracked-open bulkhead on the opposite side. Eva closed her eyes and focused. “Forward, I sense heat for a very long way. It’s not hateful, but it is... angry? Frustrated? It’s mad about something. And very large.” She shivered. “I’ve never been to a desert before, and this one just feels dangerous.” A glance upwards, at the vent. “And actually... Machines, very old. They’re forgetting their purpose. Corrupted? Hard to tell. There’s still that sand there, but less of it. I can’t sense an obelisk anywhere, but it might be too far away or just hidden.”

- Investigate the room, the papers scattered around, and the desert.

️ - Climb into the vent. Find the abandoned machinery. (Winner:

️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 09-Jan-21 04:07 PM

Scene 80 Landon peered into the room and shivered. “I don’t like the sand. You want to go up?” “Take our chances with whatever those machines are? Sure. It might be related to the complex up there. Here, I’ll boost you.” The vent was almost exactly the right size to fit through: large enough to not get stuck, but small enough to be able to press against the walls for purchase when climbing upwards. As they made their way up through dozens of feet of metal ductwork, Landon stopped to catch his breath. “Hey, do you think this duct is too big?” “What do you mean?” “Well, we can easily fit in here. Is that normal? I thought ducts were normally like a couple of inches across.” “You can get bigger ones, especially in a large building or factory or something like that, but they’re pretty rare. Climbing through the ventilation isn’t usually a good option unless the vents are designed to move a lot of air. So, yeah, this one seems a bit oversized. Probably don’t call attention to it, though.” “Why not?” “I dunno; just a feeling. I get a lot of ‘just a feelings’ down here, and so far they’ve been pretty accurate. I just don’t want it to suddenly get smaller or something. Wouldn’t put it past this place, heh.” Landon glared nervously at the walls. The inanimate metal did not move. “Let’s keep going.” “Agreed.”

The vent emerged into a small, broken room. The concrete walls were cracked and buckled, and red sand had spilled in. The vent vanished as soon as they took their eyes off it to look around. Chairs, desks, and old computing equipment lay scattered around the room in varying degrees of decay. Everything seemed ancient; over a hundred years old, perhaps. A red painted notice on the wall read “DOP-3.” Underneath, a faded map showed what appeared to be a cross-section of the underground. “Prim. Fac.” was listed at the surface, followed by “The Pit” leading deep into the earth. DOP-3 appeared to be the next point of interest, located near “North Desert.” Below DOP-3 and the desert was DOP-2, located in between “Growth Fields” and something that resembled a geodesic sphere, cryptically labeled “L.U.K.E.” Below that was DOP-1, situated just to the left of “Containment” and directly above “Source.” Eva immediately started poking through the tattered documents scattered around the floor and desks. “Look, we’re not the first to have trouble with things disappearing.” She held up a torn, yellowed paper that could have been from a manual. “In event of class 2 or higher spatial anomaly lasting longer than three days, follow the procedure below. First, ensure all personnel are accounted for. Any who are not are to be considered lost. Second...” she trailed off, reading the rest of the passage silently as Landon examined the map. “Basically, if the world shifts so you can’t get back up to the surface, you’re supposed to use your provided ‘PRS device’ and go to the site’s ‘dedicated anchor point.’ I have no idea what that means.” “Does it say what organization wrote that procedure?” Landon picked up a discarded book, but it turned out to just be the instructions for assembling a chair.

“No, but it’s so old the logo could have faded or been ripped off.” She flipped through a series of spreadsheets. “Just a bunch of really small numbers. Fractions of an inch over years. What is this place?” “And what are these places?” Landon countered. “We’re clearly in DOP-3 now, and the desert is presumably what’s broken in here, but what about all these other things? Did we come down ‘the pit’? What - or who? - is L.U.K.E?” Eva popped up over his shoulder. “Well, we know where to go, at least.” “Do we?” “Yeah, ‘source.’ That sounds the most dangerous and it’s also the deepest. Gotta be that one.” “Very convincing. But how would we even get there? This map isn’t exactly detailed; it’s more like a diagram, really.” Eva kicked some sand out of the way and hauled open one of the room’s two doors. More sand flooded in and almost knocked her over as it settled over more of the room. “Not that way,” she coughed. “Try the other one?” “What if it’s more sand?” “Then I guess we get to follow whatever that procedure said. Or dig.” Landon cautiously cracked open the other door as Eva wiped sand off her face. Thankfully, only a small amount of additional sand spilled into the room from this one. Beyond was a short hallway, walls and ceiling cracked and bulging in a very uncomfortable manner. Drifts of sand coated the floor. A broken sign that had probably once been illuminated informed Landon that DOP-3 was where he was standing, the desert would be to the left if he kept going, DOP-2 would be to the right, and “L.U.K.E. Failsafe” would be directly ahead. “Find anything? Oh, yeah you did. Okay, give me a minute.

“The desert feels hot and angry. It wants to destroy this place. I don’t know how it would react to us, but I don’t think it’s noticed yet. DOP-2 is down a long way. Everything’s very faint from the distance, but I can feel hundreds of creatures moving around down there, and one very, very large... thing. Bigger than that squid, by a lot. A lot. The failsafe... something shiny, I think. Like an obelisk, but kind of... muffled? Like I’m trying to hear through a pillow. There’s something else in there, too. Us-sized? It almost feels human, but I would not believe that there are any other people down here. I don’t trust it, whatever it is.”

️ - Desert. ⏬ - DOP-2. ❓ - L.U.K.E. Failsafe. If they happen to find an obelisk, what abilities should they unlock? [Landon]

- Physical Defense 3.

- Mental Defense 3. [Eva]

- Physical Defense 2.

- Physical Offense 3.

- Mental Offense 2.

- Healing Factor (scales with Mental Offense). [This is a branch point. Some options, though not all, will lock out at least one ending to the story. Choose carefully.] (Winners: ❓ ,

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Professional Nerd Blah 11-Jan-21 09:47 PM

Scene 81 “An obelisk sounds good, and I would like to know a bit more about this L.U.K.E. thing. Straight?” “I don’t have any better ideas,” Eva said. “Only thing I’m really confident about is that I don’t want to go to the desert. I think... nothing good will happen if it notices us.” Little eddies of air sent curls of sand drifting off the piles and twisting through the empty corridor behind them. “Okay, now, about that maybe-human thing you saw in there?” “Yeah?” “Uh... what are we going to do about it?” Eva shrugged. “I sure don’t know. Try to talk to it? Shoot it if it tries to attack? The normal stuff? Aw man, what if it’s a wasteland beast? I don’t have anything big enough to take one down, and I bet you don’t either.” “Can you stall it for a bit?” “Yeah, my gun should kill it once. But just once. After that, no go.” “Well, if there’s an obelisk in there, we can use it while it’s reviving, then run away. Sound like a plan?” “What about the actual thing that’s supposed to be in there? The failsafe; whatever that is?” “Hopefully we’ll have time to check that out too?” “You’re putting an awful lot of faith in this little pistol. These suckers aren’t easy to take down.” They had arrived at the door at this point. Landon put his hands on the opening mechanism. “We’ll do our best, okay? And just make sure you don’t get hurt.” “I don’t think I’m the one you should be worried about.” Eva gestured to the light coating of blue gel that still covered much of Landon’s body. “How about you don’t get hurt, alright?” “Sure. Team not-getting-injured. Let’s do it.”

The door opened and let them through into a somewhat tall, cylindrical room. An upside-down obelisk hung from the ceiling, dozens of feet out of reach and covered in dim red glyphs. Below it, there was nothing but a deep pit descending into darkness. Ringing the pit was a concrete lip with a safety railing, about twelve feet wide from wall to drop. Three sets of stairs placed equidistantly around the room receded into the wall, carving out three small platforms. A keypad, monitor, and heavy breaker-like switch adorned each pedestal. On the other side of the room were two reinforced windows and a door, clearly leading into some sort of control room built into the wall. Landon blinked. “What do you think this is?” “It’s the L.U.K.E. failsafe, obviously.” Eva strode confidently into the room, leaning over the railing and peering into the pit. “Loooonnnng way down. Don’t slip.” Entering with slightly more caution, Landon stepped up next to her. “I know it’s the L.U.K.E. failsafe. Just... what does that mean? It looks deactivated right now, but does that mean the L.U.K.E. - that sphere thing - is now fail-safe, or fail-unsafe? Or something else entirely? And where’s that human thing?” Eva squinted, then pointed across the pit. “I can’t tell you how this thing works, but I can let you know that the ‘human thing’ is in that room over there. Would be nice if it stayed there.” “Okay, let’s stay out here and see what it does, then. Do you think you could reach the obelisk?” Eva craned her neck to look up at the ceiling, then back down at Landon incredulously. “Is that even a question?” “Well, I didn’t know if you had a grappling hook or a jetpack or something; it was worth a shot!” “As per usual, Xera packed this kit full of everything they could think of that is almost, but not quite, useful. I’ve got some energy nets for some reason. Great if we need to, y’know, set up a trampoline. Or go fishing.”

Landon glanced down into the pit, then up at Eva. He raised an eyebrow. “No. No, no, absolutely not. Are you out of your mind?” “I mean, you mentioned it.” Eva took a moment to think about it. “Actually, that would be pretty badass. Man, would it be unsafe, though.” “Please don’t tell me you’re actually considering this; I said that as a joke!” “No, I’m not. I’m just messing with you. Except...” “No, no ‘except’s. Come on, let’s go see what this terminal does.” He dragged Eva over to the nearest elevated platform set into the wall. The keyboard didn’t do anything and the monitor didn’t light up. He stared at the switch. “It seems pretty obvious that we’re going to have to flip this to make it work. You think that’s safe?” Eva shrugged. “Go for it.” Squinting his eyes partially shut, Landon leaned forward and pulled the switch. It slotted into place with a satisfying clunk and, a moment later, the screen lit up with a display dashboard. One of three boxes was lit up green; the other two were empty. No prizes for guessing what that meant. It was the rest of the screen that was more interesting. Most of the graphs and readouts meant nothing to him, even with the labels, but the “available actions” section gave him some pause. Several words were listed: “ENGAGE,” “DISENGAGE,” “ARM,” “DISARM,” and “CONFIGURE” were the primary verbs, and it seemed he could enter an argument of “PRI,” “SEC,” or “ALL” afterwards. Before he could sort out what those commands would actually do, there was a loud grinding noise from the ceiling. The obelisk above slowly lowered into the chamber, descending about ten feet before stopping. The red glyphs on its flanks were now visibly glowing, though dimly, and a faint white light gathered around its point. Lastly, the control room’s door popped open and an eight-foot tall wasteland beast shambled out.

“I knew it,” Eva whispered, ducking down and pulling Landon with her as the thing swung its head around. “Stay low and quiet; I don’t think it knows we’re here yet. How do you want to play this?” [Remember that you can always specify more details in #story_discussion if you want, especially for the command options. The choices are given in an order roughly corresponding to how they will be executed chronologically.]

- Quietly sneak around the beast.

- Take it down, then quickly do whatever before it gets back up.

- Enable the other two terminals.

- Don’t, and turn this one back off too.

- Use the terminals’ ENGAGE and ARM commands.

- Use the terminals’ DISENGAGE and DISARM commands.

- Don’t use the terminals.

- Enter the control room.

- Trampoline. Pit. Obelisk. Make it happen. ⏪ - Go back out into the corridor. The door hasn’t vanished, unlike the others. (Winners:

,

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 14-Jan-21 09:00 PM

Scene 82 “Quietly.” Landon glanced around the room, gauging the available resources. “I bet if we turn on the other two terminals, the obelisk will come down low enough to use. So... here’s the plan. We each sneak over to one of the other terminals and activate it, then you shoot the beast, we use the obelisk while it’s reviving, and make an escape through the control room door before it can get back up.” “You think there’s going to be a way out through there?” “Maybe, but if not, there will definitely be some way to at least lock the door or use this machine to get rid of it. Or we could try just throwing it down the pit. Can they fly?” Eva blinked. “I’m not sure. I haven’t seen one fly, but that doesn’t mean anything. It’s worth a shot, at least.” “Okay, ready? Where’s it at?” Eva crept down the steps towards the main level. She held very still at the base of the stairs, slowly moving one hand in a “stop” motion. Landon held still, breathing shallowly, as heavy footsteps thudded slowly along concrete. Suddenly, Eva’s hands moved. One changed to more of a beckoning sign, while the other dipped into her bag and emerged holding a small metal sphere. Landon quietly started to descend, though the stairs weren’t silent and he cringed on every step. With two steps left until the bottom, Eva stopped him again and rolled the sphere out onto the walkway. There was a slobbery grunt, then a metallic pop as the grenade detonated. Smoke billowed, obscuring the immediate area. Landon felt Eva grab his hand and yank him forward, running along the path in the opposite direction. They cleared the smoke in a few seconds and Eva hissed a few words as they ran. “I’ll keep going. Don’t let it see you.”

She let go of his hand at the next staircase and, true to her word, kept running along the pathway as the beast roared amid the smoke. She’s running directly at it, Landon thought as he climbed the stairs into the relative safety of the small alcove. What if it goes the other direction? Worried, he placed his hand over the breaker and watched. Just as he feared, the beast emerged backward out of the smoke, not in the same direction they had just run. It had totally lost track of them, but was now stumbling directly towards Eva as she ran for the last switch. She tried to make it into the alcove before the beast turned around, but the distance was just too great. It spun, wiping its eyes, and howled. Landon threw the breaker, hoping to distract it. The chamber rumbled and the obelisk began to lower, but the beast was fully intent on its prey. It howled again, chasing after Eva as she ran up the steps into her own alcove. Landon couldn’t see what was going on in there, but a moment later, the third green square lit up on his monitor and the obelisk descended again. I’ve got to do something, right now, he thought, turning to regard the keyboard. But what? I don’t know what any of these do! He only hesitated for an instant, long enough for the first gunshot to ring out, mixed with a gurgling roar and a much more human yell. Fuck it, maybe it’s a weapon. Maybe it can help us. Let’s go. “ENGAGE ALL,” he typed into the console, followed quickly by “ARM ALL.” No time to “CONFIGURE.” Hopefully it’s already all set. Something began to emit a loud humming noise as he darted down the steps towards Eva and the beast. Several more gunshots cracked through the din, then the sound of tearing metal and a truly agonizing scream. Landon redoubled his speed, sliding around the corner just in time for Eva to crash into him and send them both tumbling to the ground. “Are you-” Landon began, before cutting himself off abruptly. She clearly wasn’t alright.

The beast lazily stomped down the metal steps, each one bending under its weight. It sported several marks on its chest where a bullet had cracked, but not broken, its natural armor. Clearly, this beast had already mutated. Eva groaned and tried to say something as she lay sprawled face-down on the floor. An alarming amount of blood began to pool beneath her head. Landon shuffled back as the beast stepped over - no, on - Eva, its beadlike black eyes fixated on Landon. Something cracked in her arm as its foot slammed down, but she didn’t react. Mechanical noises whirred behind Landon and he spared an instant to glance back. A bridge was extending towards the obelisk in the center of the room. He slid under the railing and onto it, shakily getting to his feet. The monster stopped at the railing, then slashed out with its six-inch claws. Broken segments of pipe fell into the pit and the beast stepped onto the bridge, which sagged and creaked alarmingly under its weight. Landon continued to back up. The obelisk was just over his shoulder now, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the thing long enough to use it. Two more bridges had emerged from the other sides of the pit, meeting up and locking together in a circular ring just below the obelisk. Landon’s bridge was too low to lock into place, bent down by the beast’s weight. Something sparked in the small portion of his mind not dedicated to panic. A plan. He reached out behind him and grabbed onto the metal circle that was supposed to lock up with his bridge. The obelisk crackled and grew warm behind his back. The bridge sagged further and he could see discoloration near the other end as tortured metal began to give way. Landon waited as long as he dared while the wasteland beast continued forward, oblivious to the danger. Finally, as it raised its claws to strike, he pushed off the bridge and leapt backwards.

Weakened metal broke and the entire bridge tumbled into the pit, toppling the monster along with it. Landon half-yelled as he scrambled for purchase, barely managing to pull himself up onto one of the other bridges just before the obelisk fired a beam of red-black light down into the pit. It wavered and sparked, as if it was focused improperly, but it stayed coherent enough to be easily visible for hundreds of feet. Landon gingerly touched the obelisk, then, satisfied it wasn’t painfully hot, pressed his forehead to it. As usual, he didn’t feel any different and had no idea what he had gained, if anything. Eva would be able to tell him. Hopefully. You had better still be alive, he muttered to himself as he ran along the bridge, mostly to drown out the panic. I’m not going to forgive you if you got killed by that thing. She was unresponsive when he arrived. He wasn’t entirely sure, but he didn’t think she was breathing. No, no, no. Not now. Not you too. The obelisk. Maybe it can help. Dragging Eva over to the obelisk was a painful, strenuous, and harrowing experience. Her head and limbs hung loosely and rivulets of blood continued to stream from several very deep cuts across her face and neck. He tried not to look. Once, he almost dropped her straight off the side of the bridge when his grip nearly failed. He might have just thrown himself down the pit with her if he had made that colossal of a mistake. Finally, he managed to get her all the way to the obelisk and pressed her forehead against the stone. A deep rumble and a flash. He began to drag her back to the more stable concrete. Someone was speaking quickly; the word “please,” repeated dozens of times. Landon blinked. He was the one speaking. ...

Eva woke up in darkness. No, wait, there was a little bit of light. Just blurry and dim. Her head hurt. So did her arm. And... Eva paused, confused. That was it, actually. She was otherwise just exhausted and very hungry. And, unless it was intensely dark here... blind. “Landon!” she shouted. As good a way as any to figure out what was going on. Her new sense, the one the obelisks had given her, was still present, but the sensations were washed out by some sort of powerful pulsing force directly behind her. “LANDON!” she shouted again, a tinge of fear coloring her voice. He had to be around, right? He had to have killed the wasteland beast, right? Otherwise she wouldn’t be alive. “LAND-” “Eva! You look... alive!” She frowned. Her face hurt doing that, so she stopped and resumed a neutral expression. “Thanks. Why can’t I see anything?” She tried to figure out where he was as she spoke, but it was made difficult by the acoustics of the room and the fact that she couldn’t feel him at all with her new sense. “A-ah.” To her left, then. He moved around in front of her. “No-nothing? At all?” Eva closed her eyes, then opened them again. “Just a little really dim, blurry light. I can’t make anything out. Are we safe? What’s going on?” Calm. You’re going to get too wound up if you don’t calm down. You’re alive. That’s good enough. “We’re safe. Those beasts can’t fly, apparently. I can explain what happened.” “Landon. Before you do that, why can’t I see? Tell it to me straight. How bad is it?” Maybe it’s fixable. She was too scared to touch her own face. “U-uh, how straight?” “Like a fucking ruler, Landon. Do I still have eyes?” “You still have... an eye. But it’s really cloudy and I can’t even see the pupil. The other one... gone. The beast clawed it out.”

Eva felt a distant sensation of falling, even though she had already suspected this. Her voice sounded far away. “G-great. Fantastic. You know, I had always wanted ocular implants.” Her voice was wavering. She was about to cry. Stop talking. “Now I get to have f-fully... cybernetic - ones.” “Y-yeah! When we get out of here, I’m sure Xera will get you seeing again in no time. Maybe even better than before!” There was an awkward pause as Eva struggled to regain her composure. “How’s your arm feeling?” Landon asked after several seconds. “Great, w-why?” Fucking- She was still stuttering. Get it together. “Well, the beast, uh... stepped... on it.” “Neat!” Eva waved her arms around, wincing against a dull ache in her left forearm but otherwise fine. “Good as new! Now, you’ve got to tell me how that happened.” Several minutes passed as Landon explained what he had done and helped Eva off the floor. It turned out that, in the control room and away from the pulsing beam of the obelisk, she could almost use her sixth sense to “see.” Everything had its own energy (except Landon, for some reason), and she could vaguely tell where things were. It wasn’t nearly as precise as actual vision, though, and it could be hard to tell what was a wall and what was just a particularly energetic pocket of air. It was like staring into a starfield and trying to pick out which tiny pinprick of light was a chair and which was a pencil. Probably enough for her to hobble from one side of a room to the other, but not enough to explore, or fight.

Now that she was taking some time to focus, though, she could work out what the obelisk had probably done. Her body glowed and sparkled now, at least in her sixth sense, and seemed to want to mend. This would be why she hadn’t bled out, presumably. Landon, on the other hand... she couldn’t tell, at all. He was even more of a void now: more than invisible, he darkened other energy sources around him. It was unnerving watching herself dim as he got close. Eva wasn’t sure if she was in shock or denial, or if she genuinely was okay with being blind until she could get an implant, but after the initial few minutes, she felt relatively upbeat about her situation. As she chewed on a ration bar, wincing as every bite sent shocks of pain through her face, she was able to ask, “So, what next?” in a moderately cheerful tone. “Well, we’ve got to get you out of here.” “Eh - what?” “You can’t see. You can’t fight like this; you’ll die. If anything else dangerous shows up - and it will - I don’t want you to get hurt any more than you already have.” Eva stayed quiet for a moment. He had a point. No matter how curiously good her mood was, she still wouldn’t be able to handle a fight. “Okay, so... how do we get out, then? Pardon me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure all the passages sealed behind us.” “Right. I... don’t have a good answer for that. But if we find anything going up, you’re leaving. Okay?” “Sure.” Not. “I’m glaring at you right now,” Landon explained. “That wasn’t sincere.” “Of course not. Look, do you think you can fight? If I leave, you’re going to have to go with me. But if we both leave...” “The city’s doomed.” “Yeah.” Silence. “So.” Eva spoke firmly. “What next?”

Landon hesitated again before speaking. Eva wished she could see his expression. “Well. There’s not much of use in this room. Just things to control whatever that obelisk is doing out there, but I don’t understand any of the terms or controls. I don’t think it’s a good idea to touch anything; it seems to be working fine as is. Whatever it’s doing.” “Okay, sure. So what next?” “There’s no other way out of this room, and for some reason the hallway door still hasn’t gone away. If you don’t want to go to the desert, then I guess DOP-2 is the only other option. It gets us closer to the source, anyway.” “Alright. The source is where we need to be. I know it.” Eva stood up with some difficulty. “Lead the way. We wasted a lot of time here. I don’t want to think about how much.” The hallway was empty aside from the whistle of blowing sand and the echo of their footsteps. Landon hauled open the door to DOP-2, then stopped short and took a sharp breath. “Eva.” “What?” she grumbled. “I can’t see anything.” “There’s something that goes back up. It’s a ladder with an EXIT sign on it. There’s something else here, too...” Eva felt him step farther into the room. She stayed put, vaguely aware there was a spiral staircase leading down here as well and unwilling to fall down it. “‘Reality-anchored escape route,’ it says. Last inspection was in January.” “January of what year?” “Doesn’t say. Do you, uh, want to leave?” [This is a branch point, and a fairly obvious one at that. I think you can tell that both options will lock out at least one ending to the story. Choose wisely.]

- Go back up to (presumably) the surface.

- Descend to DOP-2. (Winner: :angry: ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 16-Jan-21 03:41 PM

Scene 83 “No; I already said that. Now, unless you’re planning on dragging me up that ladder somehow, I’m going down these stairs.” “Eva. Please think about this. What do you think we’re going to be able to accomplish down there?” She shrugged and started feeling around for the first step. “Beats me. Better than going back up, saying we chickened out, then watching the city get destroyed. Xera won’t be thrilled, and neither will I. I’m going.” Landon was silent for several seconds as Eva cautiously felt her way down the stairs. She had almost made it around the first turn before she heard shuffling on the floor above. “Alright, alright. Let me help you.” The staircase descended for a long time. Probably not as far as the pit, but long enough for it to get uncomfortable. The whole way down, Eva was concentrating partially on not falling and partially on her inner light, smothered though it was by Landon’s close presence. She had a spark of healing energy now, after that obelisk above, and she felt like if she could just harness it a little better, she could do something about her eye. Not the one that was gone entirely - that would be a job for cybernetics - but maybe at least enough to see out of the remaining one. Despite her brave words just a few minutes ago, she held no illusions that she would be of any use in a fight; not in her current condition. If they encountered another beast or anything similarly dangerous, they would both be dead. I just... it’s too slippery. I can’t get ahold of it. She could feel the ember that would help restore her, but it just kept sliding out of her mental grasp. She didn’t have the skills required to harness it. Maybe another obelisk. I wonder how many of those there are, actually?

Finally, the base of the staircase came into... “view.” Landon cranked open the bulkhead after confirming with Eva that there wasn’t anything moving in the next room, and the two of them emerged into DOP-2. From a combination of her sixth sense and Landon’s careful description, she got a reasonably good idea of the area. The main room was a mishmash of desks, old computers, and scattered documents very similar to DOP-1, except without the bulging walls and red sand everywhere. Instead, heavy claw marks scored the walls and furniture, and many papers had been rendered unreadable by a sticky covering of blue-green slime. Landon nervously poked around the non-destroyed documents while Eva focused on clarifying her view of the room. Before long, he had found something useful. “Hey, this sounds interesting. I’ll read it to you. Or at least, the bits I can make out under this slime. “‘L.U.K.E. Project’ - and then a bunch of slime that’s too thick to make anything out. Then, ‘- activate the L.U.K.E., DOP-1 technicians must ENGAGE and ARM both the PRIMARY and SECONDARY failsafes. Once armed, DOP-2 technicians can -’ it’s too blurry here. ‘- step is for the DOP-3 listener to turn his key. This will start a ten-minute countdown before the L.U.K.E. is activated; it can no longer be cancelled at this time. All non-essential personnel are to evacuate immediately after the DOP-2 technicians have completed their step, and all personnel are to evacuate once the DOP-3 listener has activated the L.U.K.E. Ensure the primary facility is entirely evacuated no later than eight minutes after the L.U.K.E.’s activation in order to guarantee personnel safety. In the event of L.U.K.E. activation, the acting director must contact -’ it’s cut off again. Uh, ‘- Indicators that a L.U.K.E. activation may be required: -’ but it’s all gone after that.”

“I don’t like this ‘personnel must be evacuated’ stuff. It took us longer than ten minutes just to get down here from DOP-2. I’m a little concerned what’s going to happen if we activate this thing.” “Yeah...” Landon was only vaguely listening, immersed in digging through the debris of the past. “Hey, I found something else legible. Listen: “‘- Source growth has continued to accelerate in both size and intelligence. Yesterday’s samples from the main pool indicate roughly 125% complexity, nearly twice the rate of last week’s increase. If this trend keeps up, we’re not going to be able to maintain any semblance of containment. We have to devote more funds to either finding a way to stop this growth, or finding a way to destroy it. None of our current technology is up to the task, no matter how confident -’ and then it cuts off. Doesn’t sound good, does it?” “No, not really. But I guess that’s what we’re here to do today. I hope they figured something out after that was written.” “Okay, I’m not finding anything else that I can read. Let’s see where these go.” There were three other doors. One led to a destroyed storeroom, scorched black by a fire at some point in the distant past. Another opened into a small closet containing ancient networking equipment and cables snaking into the ceiling. The last had the feeling of an airlock with three more doors available: “L.U.K.E. Control,” “Growth Fields,” and “DOP-3.” Eva concentrated and extended her senses into the new rooms.

“Left, in L.U.K.E. Control, there’s a massive surge of energy. So bright I can’t see anything else.” She half-turned away, squinting involuntarily. “I don’t know what it is, but I’m sure it’s related to whatever that laser did upstairs. In the middle, DOP-3... It’s glittery. Sparkly lights drift around. Everything’s bright in there, and it feels very alive. It goes down a long way, but unevenly. Not straight like that staircase. I think whatever these DOPs are doing to stop passages from sealing behind us - reality anchors or whatever that ladder said - will stop working if we go that way. Right... Growth Fields. Hundreds of moving things. Big, little, and in between. It also feels glittery, like the DOP-3 passage, but less so. Like it’s further from the source. Outside of whatever protection these walls bring. I think there might be more of those beasts there...” She shivered. “It’ll be really dangerous. But...” She hesitated, unsure whether she should even bring it up. “There’s an obelisk there. Right in the middle, all shiny and glowing. I don’t know how we’d even get there, let alone get away. But... it’s there.” [This is a branch point. I think you can tell which option(s) will lock out at least one ending to the story. Be careful.] ❓ - L.U.K.E. Control.

- Growth Fields. ⏬ - DOP-3. (Winner: ❓ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 19-Jan-21 09:00 PM

Scene 84 “We’ve got to figure out the L.U.K.E.,” Landon asserted. “Otherwise we wasted all that time upstairs, and you got hurt for nothing. Let’s go.” “Isn’t that called the sunk cost fallacy?” “Doesn’t matter.” Eva heard a metallic creak as Landon shoved open the door, but she couldn’t sense anything in the room itself. It was just a total whiteout. “What’s in there? It’s so bright!” Leading her carefully, Landon explained. “It’s a giant cavern with a huge geodesic sphere thing in the middle. Like... one of those dice you use in tabletop games sometimes, the ones with way more sides than normal.” She nodded, still trying to face away from the overwhelming light. It helped to put Landon between her and it; his aura of darkness almost brought the glare down to a manageable level. “Is that it?” “No, there’s more. There are two big metal tanks in glass boxes on opposite sides of the room, connected to the sphere thing - I assume that’s the L.U.K.E. - by pipes. In front of the tanks, I think I see some signs. Hang on, let’s get closer.” The floor felt strange underfoot. Eva wiggled her boots around, trying to figure out why. It wasn’t slippery or sharp; it was... kind of... soft? She knelt quickly on her next step, pushing her fingers into it. They left shallow impressions in the solid stone. Disconcerted, she was about to bring this up to Landon, but he started speaking first. “‘L.U.K.E. Controls,’ it says. A little scratched, but mostly legible. ‘1. L.U.K.E. activation is a last resort and will completely destroy all Deep Observation Posts, as well as the primary facility. The only valid reason to activate the L.U.K.E. is an attack by an overwhelming force.’ Well, I think that’s happening. Oh, I bet that’s what ‘DOP’ stands for!” His tone changed quickly. “Wait, this is a DOP. Do you think we can make it out of here in ten minutes?”

Eva shook her head. “No. And to actually activate it, we’ll have to go down further. DOP-3, remember? Keep reading.” “... Okay. Next, ‘2. Ensure DOP-1 technicians have engaged and armed the L.U.K.E. before proceeding. Confirm the presence of the stabilization envelope around the superstructure.’” Landon paused. “I wonder if that’s the red-black beam? It’s there, but it’s kind of wobbly. I hope it’s not too weakened by that lens getting knocked out of alignment. Because otherwise... ‘Without the stabilization envelope, there is a risk of premature activation.’” “Landon. If we set this thing off, we’re not getting out of here either way. Premature detonation or not. Think of it from that angle.” A shaky breath. She couldn’t know his expression. “‘3. Turn on the A and B pumps and monitor the progress until all liquid has entered the primary site.’ There’s controls for the A pump here. B must be on the other side. ‘4. Activate the two-man override to switch the pumps over to the secondary site. Monitor progress on A and B pumps until all liquid has entered the secondary site. 5. The L.U.K.E. is now active. Evacuate now. The DOP-3 listener will turn their key to complete the activation.’ The... the next few steps are how to deactivate it if the DOP-3 guy hasn’t turned their key. It looks like it’s a pretty messy process; you have to go into the superstructure with what they call a ‘negative pressure unit’ but I’m pretty sure is just a vacuum from the description. I don’t see one around here, either. Let’s be sure before trying anything.” Eva leaned against the controls, careful not to accidentally hit anything with her arm. The L.U.K.E. glowed like the sun just behind Landon, his presence like a pair of strong sunglasses. “So. Heroic sacrifice, or do we try to get out of this alive?” She spoke wryly, but even she could hear the little break in her voice. All this time, all this effort, just for this?

“Well...” Landon drew out the word. “We don’t have to activate it even if we turn on the pumps here. This is just the second safeguard.” “Really? What about the ‘premature activation?’ What if it just decides to go off since that envelope thing is all wiggly? No, if we turn on these pumps, we’ve got to commit. No time to go to the growth fields, no time to screw around. Just down to DOP-3, turn that key, and then... I don’t know. Ten minutes to try to get out, I guess. Maybe it’s possible. If they gave these times to evacuate, it must have been possible somehow, right? There’s no way everyone took that staircase and ladder.” “I don’t know.” “Yeah, me neither. And there’s no way to be sure except to try.” [This is (yet another) branch point, obviously. We likely have around ten scenes left in the story; I find it very unlikely that we’ll reach scene 100.] ⏱️ - Activate the L.U.K.E. and commit to turning the key in DOP-3.

️ - Do not activate the L.U.K.E. [If they do not activate the L.U.K.E., where should they go?]

- Go to the Growth Fields.

️ - Go to DOP-3. (Winner: ⏱️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 21-Jan-21 08:37 PM

Scene 85 “...” “Okay, let’s say it together. So there’s no influencing each other. On three: ‘L.U.K.E.’ or ‘no.’ Ready? “One. “Two. “Three.” “L.U.K.E.,” they said together. Quietly, despondently, but still together. “Right. Well then. Let’s get going. Don’t want to hold anything up.” Eva stayed at the A pumps while Landon crossed the room to the B pumps. It took several minutes for all the liquid in the tanks to be piped into the primary site, after which a lock automatically engaged. They had to each hold a button for several seconds before it would release and allow them to continue filling the secondary site. Still, it didn’t take long at all. Only a little more than five minutes later, the pumps fell silent and the L.U.K.E. was active. It felt different. It no longer shone bright like the sun. Now, it resembled an eclipse. An outer corona of blinding light with nothing but roiling blackness in the center. Almost like Landon’s void aura, but much stronger. Eva didn’t really know what to make of that. Not wanting to worry Landon any further, she didn’t tell him. Instead, with minimal conversation, they left the L.U.K.E. room and started the descent to DOP-3 and the Source. The descent started as a simple ladder, but the tunnel walls quickly grew constrictive and the ladder was swallowed by rock. They wormed their way down into the depths of the planet. There was always a way further down, but even if the passage hadn’t been actively closing behind them, there would be no way back up. Sharp protrusions of rock acted as one-way gates, allowing passage down but slicing through flesh on the way back up. It was an unsettling feeling, like slowly being forced down some stone titan’s winding throat.

To Eva, a galaxy of stars spun by, flickering and fading and bursting into existence. The walls of the passage were dimly visible as hazy sheets of energy, but the drifting stars didn’t seem to care. They flitted in and out of the rock without slowing, and even brushed through Eva herself from time to time. She shivered when she noticed, but couldn’t feel anything from the contact. Landon, of course, couldn’t see them. When the little stars got too close to him, they began to spark and fizz. If they didn’t change course (and few did, except seemingly at random), there was a little pop like an ember from a fire, and the star would burst. No lights were permitted in his dark glow. ... Eventually, the descent ended. The walls seemed to be formed of stars, their light dimming and extinguishing as Landon got too close. There was a bright gleam nearby, but it was entirely overshadowed by a new, immense, ancient, familiar presence. It stretched out of her “sight” in all directions; its deadly, poisonous roots seemed to encircle the globe. Feathery little feelers straining out of cracks in the walls to taste the air as the two interlopers passed by. Every action calculated, planned. This was where it wanted her to be. There was only one more step. Eva walked forward, past the light, and towards a little circle of stars on the wall. A doorway. This was - Landon winced at the thunk and involuntarily said “Sorry!” aloud. He pressed Eva’s forehead against the obelisk again, more softly this time, and exhaled as the light flashed. Quickly, he did the same for himself and waited anxiously to see if she would come to her senses. She had been out of it on the way down, but as soon as she got down here, to this overgrown, crumbled observation post, she had stopped listening to him entirely and headed straight for a thorny archway leading off into darkness. He had stopped her. Forcibly. “Hey, are you awake in there?”

[This is the last obelisk before the final confrontation. I’m sure you’re getting sick of branch points, but this here’s another one. Four options will not lock out any further endings, while two options will.] [Landon]

- Physical defense 3.

- Mental defense 4 (max).

- Healing factor (scales with mental defense). [Eva]

- Physical offense 3.

- Mental offense 2.

- Cure (scales with mental offense). (Winners: :blue_circle: , :adhesive_bandage: ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 23-Jan-21 02:42 PM

Scene 86 “Eva?” Her breathing was shaky and she gripped the obelisk’s stone tightly enough that the tips of her fingers were turning white. Landon cautiously tapped her shoulder. “Are you, uh, okay?” Almost ten seconds after he asked, she finally started to relax. She let go of the obelisk and slumped down, breathing returning to a more even cadence. She opened her remaining eye and looked up at Landon. “H-hey. You can’t... feel this, can you?” “Your eye... it’s white. Just like that agent.” “A striking fashion statement,” Eva groaned, struggling to stand up. “And one that I will absolutely take in exchange for being able to see again.” “You can see now? Did the obelisk-” “Yeah. I think it amplified what the one upstairs did. I feel fine now; at least physically.” She waved a hand in front of her face. “Mostly. Depth perception is a little weird. But I’ll take it that you can’t feel that... presence?” “...Nope. What is it?” Eva exhaled, then closed her eye, reaching out with her extra sense. She only stayed in this position for a moment before inhaling sharply and returning to normal vision. “Big, ancient, poisonous. It’s the Source, or at least that’s where it’s coming from. I was... kinda drowning in it. Its light is so bright I couldn’t focus on anything else.” She paused, then smirked. “I guess that’s what it’s like to be a moth. But anyway, now it’s all muffled. Your darkness is so deep now that I can’t even see myself when I’m standing this close to you. I think you’re blocking it.” “If that’s the case, why wasn’t I blocking it before?” “Did you use the obelisk?” “Oh, right.” “Yeah. So please be really careful. I think, at this point, I would probably be gone without your aura. Don’t let that drop. I can’t promise what I’ll do without it.” Landon nodded, still not really sure how this aura thing worked or how to control it. “Will do.” “Right. So...” Eva looked around the room. “Wow.”

The thin chute they had emerged from had been sealed up behind them, leaving only two exits from the room. There was the open doorway ringed by thorny vines and leading into the darkness of the Source on one side, and a much larger metal-framed blast door labeled “Containment” on the other. The door had been ripped out of the frame and crumpled like a tin can; presumably it was no longer containing whatever had been inside. The obelisk that had proven so helpful was merely protruding from the floor, as if it had just grown through the broken concrete. If it had, it wouldn’t be out of place. The room’s concrete boundaries were entirely coated in vegetation. Most common were thorny vines like those encircling the Source doorway, but leafy ivy, pale mushrooms, and even woody-stemmed plants resembling young trees were also visible. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all buckled, shattered, and on the verge of collapse, only held together by the embrace of the very plants that had so crippled them. The centerpiece of the room was probably the skeleton. The rest of the equipment and furniture had long-since been overtaken and destroyed by the vegetation, but one desk along the far wall had survived almost unscathed. The skeleton sat in a chair, slumped over the desk set up just beneath a broken window obscured by vines and ivy. Its arm was outstretched towards a simple red button in a glass case, around which an urgent orange light pulsed. The button had a keyway carved into the top, while the skeleton tightly gripped a plain metal key in its postmortal grasp. Eva beckoned Landon to come along, leading him to the desk. “This must be the listener,” she said quietly, as if not to disturb them. “Guess the guys upstairs didn’t manage to arm it in time.” She carefully slid the key out of its bony fingers and held it up. “Well, we have now.” Landon nervously hesitated as Eva opened the glass cover and slotted the key into the button. “W-wait.”

She looked up.

- “W-we should go look in Containment first. Just in case there’s something useful.”

- “N-nevermind. Do it.” (Winner:

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 25-Jan-21 11:25 PM

Scene 87 “W-we should go look in Containment first. Just in case there’s something useful.” Eva looked back down at the button. “I don’t like just leaving it like this. Remember, it’s not stable.” “Just a few minutes. We might find a way out. Come on.” Still looking concerned, Eva slowly removed the key from the button and closed the glass case. She kept a tight grip on the key, as if it might try to jump out of her grasp. “Alright, but let’s hurry.” Cautiously, the two approached the broken doorway. Landon glanced down at it nervously and Eva followed his eyes. The door was lacerated and heavily dented; something incredibly strong had mutilated the three-inch steel. “Wouldn’t want to meet whatever did that,” Eva said. “Good thing it’s probably gone by now.” Landon peeked through the doorway and into a yawning, empty chamber that fell away into the depths of the earth. There was no light except what spilled in from the observation room, so he could only see a little of the true extent. The room took the form of an enormous cylinder, probably several hundred feet in diameter, with hundreds of thick metal doors or shutters set into the walls. The ones he could see were dented, torn, or outright missing, revealing utter darkness beyond. A large turntable-style bridge hung in the middle of the room, presumably able to ascend, descend, and rotate to reach every door. One of its six heavy cables was snapped and dangled forlornly into the pit. “I wonder if that goes all the way up?” he murmured, peering into the darkness above. The bridge cables vanished into the gloom after only a short distance, making it impossible to tell how far they extended.

Eva glanced back towards the thorny doorway nervously, then stepped up to the edge of the pit, grabbed onto Landon’s shoulder, and closed her eye. Her grip grew tighter as she focused, and Landon started to wince after a few seconds. Finally, she exhaled and let go, stumbling back onto solid ground. Her expression was wide and nervous. “Landon, it goes up, but-” She was interrupted by a metallic screeching noise from somewhere far above. Something large and heavy plummeted past the bridge - it looked like one of the metal doors. “But...?” Landon prompted, backing away from the ledge. “Yeah, that. Something big and angry. I think it noticed me. We could get out that way, maybe, if we could fly. But I don’t know if there’s a way out the top of the cylinder and -” her voice started to rise and she started dragging Landon back towards the button. “- there’s something in the way!” Landon looked back, listening. Nothing except some distant, ominous clanging. “Why are you so worried? Whatever it is, it’s really far away and probably too big to fit in here.” Eva slotted the key back into the button and placed her hand over it. “No, it’s closer than you think,” she hissed. “I can feel it. Just... up there.” She motioned with her arm, about thirty degrees up and through the wall. “I don’t want to - it’s... that thing is terrifying. I don’t know what it is or where it came from or why it’s so scary, but that pit does not have a bottom and I do not want to meet anything that came out of it.” “Okay, okay.” He nodded towards the button. “Go ahead. If we’re not going through Confinement, all that’s left is the Source. And we both know that’s the end. No coming back here.” She nodded. “Right. Stay close and stay quiet. I don’t know what’s in there, exactly, but it can’t be good. We’re going to have to play it by ear.” She applied just a little bit of tension to the key, but not enough to turn it. A moment of hesitation. “Are you ready for this?”

Landon hesitated, wanting to come up with a meaningful line. Something encouraging, but that also understood the incredible danger and longshot odds of survival. A quote for the ages. “... Yeah. I’m ready.” Eva turned the key. A moment passed, then another. The facility held its breath as new signals traveled up ancient pathways to the L.U.K.E. core far above. Something received the instructions, processed them, and finally executed the program that had lain dormant for so long. A broken, vine-choked loudspeaker above the desk crackled back to some semblance of life. “L.U.K.E. protocol initiated,” it warbled. “Evacuate immediately. Ten minutes to activation.” Landon’s heart rate seemed to double instantly as the eerie wail of a nuclear-style siren began to drone from the speaker. “Let’s go!” Together, they hustled out of the observation post and passed through the thorn-ringed doorway. Together, they stood on the edge of the Source. Together, they laid eyes upon the flawlessly white tree that Eva had described in her dreams, and the blackened corpse that hung from ones of its branches. A pool of glossy silver liquid spread from its roots. The next experience, however, was separate. Landon staggered under a monumental psychic blow. A colossal force crashed against his reinforced mind... and was narrowly deflected. He dropped to one knee, head spinning from the impact. Eva heard blood rushing in her ears and hundreds of voices whispering at the edges of her awareness. For now, a powerful shield kept them mostly at bay. The hanging man didn’t move, but she knew it was his voice leaking through the shield regardless. The voice was rasping, snake-like, and quiet, but held an unmistakable undertone of deathly malice. A gurgling laugh trickled through the connection.

“You’re too late...” [Eva]

- Ignore the hanged man. Search for an escape route.

- Communicate with the hanged man. Try to get more information.

- Try to destroy the tree. [Landon]

️ - Stay put and focus on keeping the shield up.

️ - Stay close to Eva, but search for an escape route.

- Seal the doorway behind them. (Winners:

,

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 27-Jan-21 09:15 PM

Scene 88 Eva glanced back at Landon as he struggled to his feet. A headache pounded through her skull from two directions, as if she were caught between incredibly powerful psychic forces. “What are you?” she asked, taking a hesitant step forward. The pulls unbalanced and it felt like little needles were being driven into her brain. She clutched at her head and retreated to stand by Landon, the sensation fading. “That bomb won’t stop us...” Out of the corner of her eye, Eva noticed Landon frantically doing something with the doorway. She couldn’t concentrate on anything besides the voice, though. “Why are you doing this? What even are you doing?” “You seem... familiar.” The tree’s branches rustled and the lake of silver liquid rippled as if in a breeze. “How long has it been...?” “You’re that voice in my dreams. I dreamt of this tree for months. What are you?” Again, she tried to step forward, but was rebuffed by the mental stabbing sensation after only a few feet. “Perhaps we have met before... Another time; another dream...” “Are you even LISTENING TO ME?!” “Regardless... You must end. Your gifts will not save you...” Out of the tree’s pool emerged three dripping monstrosities seemingly formed of the shimmering liquid. After several seconds, the liquid sloughed off and revealed rugged skin typical of shambling wasteland beasts. All three of them howled and made a beeline straight for Eva. She spun and grabbed Landon’s arm, dragging him away from the doorway that he had apparently been barricading. “No time for that; we’ve got to move! Wait; why were you...?” “Something came out of Containment and started crashing around the main room. I didn’t want it to get in. What are we doing?”

Eva glanced at the beasts. A hundred feet out and closing fast. These ones seemed poised for speed and would quickly outpace her, let alone the less-athletic Landon. “I don’t know. We can’t split up, that tree isn’t telling me anything, and I can’t kill these things. Do you have a plan?” Landon spared four whole seconds to scan the entire room. It was roughly elliptical and about a football field in length, with the door they had come through at the end of its major axis. The tree and its pool took up about a third of the floor’s area. The rest of the land was overgrown with moss and vegetation, and it all sloped down towards the pool. The dark, rocky walls were barren and there didn’t appear to be another way out, though he couldn’t see behind the tree due to all the branches. “That tree is the Source, right? Do you think the corpse controls it?” Eva half-shrugged and pulled Landon into a sprint away from the beasts. Something scratched at the other side of the doorway barricade like an inquisitive cat. A very large, very deadly cat. “I don’t know. Maybe? I think that’s what’s talking to me.” “It’s talking to - nevermind; of course it is. Shoot the corpse?” “Sounds good. Smug bastard deserves it. But the beasts?” “I... I don’t know; can you...?” “You’re putting an awful lot of faith in my aim. Alright, get ready.” Eva whipped around, raising the gun and crouching for stability. She exhaled, then... Nine shots cracked off in quick succession and Landon swore he saw a glimmer of light surrounding Eva’s hand as she fired. All three of the beasts stumbled and fell, blood spraying onto the mossy ground. Every single shot had hit. “Wow,” she breathed, then dropped the gun and nearly collapsed.

Landon rushed over and helped her up. “Come on; we don’t have time!” Her skin was fever-hot and seemed to tingle with an electric charge. He decided not to worry about that right this instant and jammed the gun back into her hands. “You gonna make it?” “Yeah, yeah. Just...” Eva didn’t finish her sentence and started moving towards the tree as she slotted in a new magazine. “Remember me now, do you?” she said aloud, presumably to the tree. Landon looked back as they moved around the edge of the pool to get a better angle on the corpse. The three beasts were twitching, but weren’t mutating just yet. They’d have at least a minute until they got back up. More ripples churned the pool’s liquid, but nothing new was emerging. The nuclear siren briefly paused for a warbling voice to calmly state, “Seven minutes to activation.” The doorway-! A long, pale arm reached through the door, brushing aside the barricade with some difficulty. Another arm followed, then a blank head, then the rest of the misshapen body of the twelve-foot creature that had been following Landon around for possibly months. As Eva raised the gun to take aim at the corpse, facing the other way and oblivious to the new monster, the tall creature darted forward with unprecedented urgency. It had never moved that quickly before, even when retreating from the suppressor drone months ago. “Eva...?” [Eva]

- Shoot the corpse.

- Shoot the approaching creature.

- Do not fire. [Landon]

️ - Advance towards the creature.

️ - Stay by Eva.

- Step into the lake. (Winners:

,

️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 30-Jan-21 11:18 AM

Scene 89 After the crack of the gun firing, all other sounds became quiet and muffled. Eva watched the bullet spin through the air in slow motion, an angry vortex of thoughts spinning around her mind. Still held back. For now. The bullet took the corpse in the head. Its neck snapped back and it swayed on the branch, dim blue light beginning to gather. A dull ache spread through her head from behind her left eye, the one that still worked, as dangerously calm mental words speared into her skull. “Ah... So we have met before...” Someone tugged at her arm, but she was almost paralyzed by the overpowering metal force and couldn’t turn around. The corpse’s head rose and scrutinized her carefully with burning blue eyes. “Or... someone like you. Another with your gift, perhaps... So long ago...” Someone shook her urgently and some sort of sound filtered vaguely through the rushing static that filled her ears. Important. She should turn. The corpse didn’t move, but projected an aura of action. “We control you, through your gifts... What do you hope to accomplish...?” Something entered her field of vision, blocking the tree from view. She couldn’t tell what it was, though, and the words continued unabated. “We are eternal... An extension of this planet’s will... You could have joined us, like the other long ago... But no.” Quite suddenly, the speech pattern changed. Faster, sharper, more deliberate. Words cut at Eva's mind like razor blades. “We can tell you are unsuitable for our work. Delays and setbacks. Your line must end.” Something touched her face. A painful lightning-like jolt arced between the point of contact and her remaining eye. Something in her head stretched between two extremes, but as quickly as the sensation began, it was over. She couldn’t hear the corpse anymore.

Landon stood between her and the tree, arms outstretched defensively against an onslaught of creatures emerging from the pool. Dozens of wasteland beasts rose up, dripping silver liquid before howling and stalking forward. Several humanoid figures seemed to be composed entirely of the liquid and moved in jerky, stumbling steps. A huge bubble was rising in the middle of the lake, slowly gaining form and definition. The glowing white fruits on the tree grew dark. Only a few points of light remained, near the top. Blue light from the corpse’s eyes bathed the ground in ghastly illumination, brighter than floodlights. The twelve-foot creature arrived from Eva’s left, swooping into the scene and reaching out to wrap its long, misshapen fingers around Landon. The wasteland beasts screeched and howled as one, some breaking off to charge towards it while others retained their original trajectory towards Eva. She felt feverish and some sort of energy crackled along her skin. In the midst of all the chaos, as the tall creature reached in, the smaller beasts charged, and she tried to figure out what to do, another announcement was still uncannily audible. “Five minutes to activation.” [This is the branch point that will decide the ending archetype. There will still be room for variation within the archetype after this scene.]

[Eva]

- Fight the beasts emerging from the pool.

️ - Fight the twelve-foot beast reaching for Landon.

- Attack the tree. [You need to specify exactly how in #story_discussion. Eva will not put it together without a specific plan.] [Landon]

- Allow the creature to pick him up.

- Fight against the creature; stay with Eva. [Hand of Fate 1]

- The L.U.K.E. destabilizes and detonates, now.

- The L.U.K.E. countdown continues as planned. [Hand of Fate 2]

- The crackling energy around Eva coalesces.

- The energy dissipates instead. (Winners:

,

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 01-Feb-21 10:08 PM

Scene 90-B Oops; I wrote the other choice accidentally as scene 90-A. This is the one you chose. The twelve-foot creature scooped up Landon, wrapping its fingers tightly around his torso. He struggled and fought against it, but wasn’t able to overcome the monster’s grip. The immediate impact of this, however, wasn’t on Landon. The intangible aura of darkness that he had been emitting wavered as his concentration broke. It was still present, but it was no longer directed. Eva wasn’t being targeted. Eva wasn’t being protected. She cried out and fell to her knees as stabbing pain like railway spikes drilled into her head. Laughter and shouting, overwhelmingly loud, filled her ears to the point where nothing else seemed real. Her sixth sense was just as blind as the rest of her senses, a whirlwind of pulsing light hiding the darkness behind it. “End... End. END!” Her heart stopped. Just like that. ... A surge of energy flared through her body and drove the voices out entirely. Her heart recovered from its brief pause and kicked into overdrive. Eva leapt to her feet absolutely furious and surrounded by a pale glow. The tall creature, with Landon in tow, was sprinting towards the rear of the cavern, having fought through the horde of lesser beasts that had sprung up from the tree. With it having escaped, they turned towards Eva. She took a step back and felt sparks flare from her body. A sense of power built in her muscles. She glanced towards Landon, but these creatures were more pressing. Her gun slipped into her right hand and a long knife slid into her left. Eva took a short, sharp breath, then leapt into a run.

Only a few steps forward, Eva felt her heart skip a beat and she stumbled, gasping. She recovered easily enough, but the motion flipped a few strands of hair in front of her face. Pale white and glowing towards the roots, but charred black towards the tip. Bright sparks jumped from the strand as her hair burned like a fuse, the glowing white color slowly giving way to the charred section. What’s going to happen when it burns out? ... Honestly, I already know the answer to that. Gunshots cracked through the air and the knife carved through physical flesh just as easily as whatever strange liquid the silver creatures were made of. Her enemies melted before her, unable to match the fury of whatever soul-burning state she was in now. Beast after beast fell to the ground, hard, and did not rise. White light gathered in her wake and settled on the corpses, preventing them from mutating. The only opponent left was the towering bubble rising out of the pool. A narrow line appeared near the top of the bubble. An instant later, it sloughed away and revealed the towering mass of gristle and slime within. A wasteland beast, perhaps, but so much larger and so much less human that it almost didn’t make sense to consider them related. The thing roared a challenge, shaking the tree’s branches. Eva flicked a hand through her hair, noting that over half had burned away. She didn’t have long. She gripped the knife like a sword, shouted an answering cry, and darted forward. ... Landon struggled in the monster’s grip as it ran through the tunnels with a loping, uneven stride. He couldn’t break free - he just wasn’t strong enough. “Eva...” he whispered again, replaying the last few moments in the cavern over and over in his head.

She had fallen to her knees, then burst with brilliant white light and got back up, ghostly angel-like wings shimmering behind her back. She had glanced towards him, once, but then turned away. As much as it hurt to admit it, he knew she was right. His survival didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. What mattered was destroying that tree and saving millions of lives in the city above. She... she had made that choice. The right choice. But we activated the L.U.K.E. It’s going to destroy the tree anyway. You don’t know that, he countered himself. Those notes said nothing worked against the Source. She’s being sure. Millions of lives matter more than one. Simple math. Still, he couldn’t help but feel betrayed. Just a little. ... Where was this thing taking him? The tunnels didn’t resemble anything he had seen on the way down. Was it returning to its lair to cook him up properly? Would the L.U.K.E. reach this far? It had to be activating soon, right? What did it even do? He had been assuming it was a bomb, but was it really? Why was it getting so cold? Was that wind? Light? Wait- The creature burst out of the tunnel and continued loping across the snow without slowing. Landon looked around wildly, taking in the dozens of aircraft visible overhead. They were on the surface, not far from the city. Which direction was it? What is this thing DOING? It continued to sprint across the snow until the exact instant a thundering CRACK echoed through the night. At that exact instant, it missed its next step and slammed into the ground, stone dead. Landon wriggled in the snow, trying to extricate himself from its grasp, as the single crack became the drawn-out rumble of an earthquake. Brilliant white light erupted from the ground where Landon had just been. Night turned to day.

[Landon, now.]

- Call Lewis.

- Walk back to the base / city.

- Go the other way. There are other settlements nearby. Be presumed dead. Escape. [Eva, two minutes earlier.]

- Fight the monster.

- Attack the tree.

- Run away. (Winners:

,

) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 03-Feb-21 10:41 PM

Scene 91 “Two minutes to activation.” Eva grimaced at the loudspeaker’s announcement, narrowly backpedaling out of the way of an enormous appendage that slammed down inches from her. She was much faster than the monster, but her attacks weren’t having much effect. In contrast, it couldn’t catch her, but would only need one hit to take her out. Her hair was down to the last few inches, now almost entirely burnt. She had to end this fight. And do what? It’s too late to get away from the L.U.K.E. now. Landon’s gone. I can’t... you know what? I’ve got nothing left to lose. C’mere, motherfucker. Rolling under the monster’s latest blow, Eva popped up and sprinted past it, dashing through the silver pool. Her lower legs grew hot and tingly, but she paid them no mind. In two minutes, it wouldn’t matter. The corpse couldn’t speak into her mind anymore. She grasped the knife and smiled. The blue light burned as she leapt through it, but not enough to stop her. Eva slashed through the noose tying the corpse to its branch and jammed her knife into its chest as it fell. It crashed into the silver pool and quickly sank out of view, the light fading. The tree shuddered. Eva paused for a moment, staring at the fading ripples. Is... is that it? Is it dead? Did I win? A slight whistle of air was all the warning she got before the enormous beast swung its bulk down on top of her. Eva jumped sideways, almost fast enough to dodge out of the way. Her left arm burst with light and went dead as a titanic force crashed into it. She felt several snaps, but no pain. Just a swirl of little sparks. What now? What do I do?! She backed away from the creature, sloshing through the burning silver liquid. Is there anything else? Do I try and get away? What am I missing? “One minute to activation. Point of no return reached. Main sequence started.”

Eva glanced up at the tree. Glowing white branches. Glowing white leaves. Glowing white fruits. The entire thing looked like it had been dipped in glow-in-the-dark flour. So why are so many fruits dark? Why aren’t they glowing? I swear they were when... we... came in... Some sort of connection flashed through her mind. Correct? Maybe. Maybe not. Enough to go on with one minute left and her powered-up form having only an inch remaining? Absolutely. Eva launched forward and jumped for one of the lower branches. She caught it with one hand and - with difficulty - swung herself into the tree. The beast crashed against the trunk below, smashing its appendages into the leaves to try and knock her down. Nimbly, she darted up the tree. Leaves cut at her skin, trying to hold her back, but they couldn’t stop her. Dark fruits glared at her like angry eyes. “Thirty seconds.” She was near the top now, fifty feet above the cavern floor. The few remaining glowing fruits rested here, shining with a pale light similar to Eva’s hair. I don’t know if this is what I need to do, but... Her knife was buried in the corpse’s chest in the pool below. She tore the fruit off its branch instead and tossed it away. Its glow diminished as it fell. Two more. The next one resisted, growing spines that stabbed her palms as she grasped it. Undeterred, she threw the second one down as well. The third- With a crackling flash, Eva burst with white light. Her arm blazed with pain and she felt like she had run several marathons in a row. Her heart beat weakly and she couldn’t get enough air. No... “Ten seconds.” Shaking, she reached out with her right arm, trying to pull herself along the branch to the last fruit. She didn’t have enough strength to move her own weight. “Nine. Eight. Seven.”

She collapsed on the branch, face down with one arm outstretched. The tree smelled nice, like cedar or some other aromatic plant. The voices were gone. The pain from her arm seemed dull and unimportant. Even the monster had stopped slamming against the trunk. “Six. Five. Four.” Breathe in. Breathe out. It was so hard. “Three.” Would her efforts be enough? She had let Landon get taken away by that monster to do this. Had it been worth it? “Two.” Eva thought back to the beginning of all this. Charlie, Sid, Matt. The first heist on Xera. Everything had seemed so clear back then. Break in, steal some documents. Find out what Project Apotheosis was. Take down the man. Make a difference. Now... Here she was, at the end of it all. What had happened to them? She had never found out. Now, she never would. “One.” Had it been worth it? In the end, had she done what she wanted? Had she made a difference in the world? “Zero. Goodbye.” The L.U.K.E. erupted with a sound so loud it was beyond hearing. Light flared like she was immersed in the sun. Goodbye. ... [This scene has no choices.]

Scene 92 Landon fell back and gasped as a plume of brilliant white light flared from the ground. He had to look away after only a moment, afterimages fading in his eyes. The eruption went on for nearly twenty seconds before the light finally began to fade and the rumbling began to lessen. A minute later, it was over. Ash and dust clouded the sky. Slowly, Landon got to his feet. He looked at the creature’s body, then at the drifting cloud of debris, then back at the ground. No thought crossed his mind. He sat back down again, dizzy. He remembered to breathe. She’s gone. There’s no way she could have survived that. Right? Maybe. Stranger things had happened. But... Looking at the enormous crater in the landscape, Landon had to admit it seemed like a longshot. Distant crashing sounds began to reach his ears as pulverized rock slid down into the new pit. Even if she had somehow survived the initial explosion, she would be buried under millions of tons of rock. There would be no way to get her back. But also... no way to know for sure. Eva had been so powerful, so competent, so... important. Not just in the tunnels under the complex, but the whole time he had known her. She had felt like... well, like someone who mattered. Like someone who would change the world. Like someone who wouldn’t just die in a fiery explosion. Not like Landon at all. And yet, here he was. And here she wasn’t. ... Landon breathed out unsteadily, sniffling. He didn’t know what to do. Go back to Xera? What would he do then? If the wasteland beasts had indeed been decimated by the L.U.K.E., would he go back to being a middle manager until he inevitably got assassinated in the cutthroat corporate world, or just “terminated” for messing up? Without Eva...

Maya... What about her? He hadn’t even gotten to talk to her since... Yavin’s crazy attack. God, that had been just earlier today. It felt like months. She could do well on her own, though. She had talent, unlike Landon. Real technical skills were always in demand, and she was determined enough to go far. He knew that. She’d be okay without him. Even if... well, maybe sometimes he had wanted the rumor everyone spread about them to be true. Why was he even thinking about this, though? He couldn’t just... not go back to Xera. Right? ... What else was there for him in New Brighton? Maya, but he had just thought about that. Mr Baxley, maybe, but the rest of Xera was one big wildcard. He didn’t really have any other friends - besides Eva, he choked - and certainly no family. What would Xera do with him once he returned? Had anyone at the “primary facility” survived? He had to assume not. The power of that blast... Landon turned away from the lights of the city and looked towards the southeast. There were other settlements nearby. Smaller towns. He had never been, but maybe that was a good thing. Start over. Start fresh. Xera would assume he had died in the blast. He didn’t have to be Landon Kozlov anymore, and maybe he didn’t want to be. Maybe there were other ways to make a difference in the world. He took a tentative step away from the city. Breathe in. Breathe out. His phone rang. Landon jumped and fished it out of his pocket, amazed it still worked after all that. Lewis was calling. [All choices here will lead to an epilogue, then the end of the story.]

- Answer. Go back to the city with him.

️ - Answer. Get him to help Landon disappear.

- Don’t answer. Leave it here. There’s probably a tracker in it. (Winner:

️ ) (edited)

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Professional Nerd Blah 06-Feb-21 01:58 PM

Scene 93 “H-hello?” Lewis was out of breath, but sounded elated. “Landon! You survived! All the beasts just suddenly dropped dead! I saw the blast; what happened? Is Eva okay?” “...” He took a shaky breath. “Landon?” “Can... can you come pick me up?” “Oh.” The enthusiasm in his voice left immediately. “Yeah. I can track your locator. Be there in ten minutes. Stay safe.” The call ended. Landon sat down in the snow and watched the sky for a while. Aircraft passed overhead. Further up, satellites drifted through the night. Above even them, stars shone down, twinkling on as they always had and always would. No matter how much had changed in the past few minutes, days, or months, those stars would still be there. The sound of rotors grew loud. Lewis touched down about fifty feet away and the engine slowed to a complete stop. Landon trudged through the snow, hauled open the door, and sat down on the bench. Lewis emerged from the cockpit and sat down opposite him. No one else was in the craft. “How are you feeling?” the pilot eventually asked. Landon stared at the floor. “Empty.” “Do you want to talk about what happened?” Landon hesitated, remembering. There were so many things that Lewis would want to know. That Xera would want to know. Important things for the world. He was the only one who knew what had happened down there. “...No. Not yet.” “Okay, that’s fine. When you’re ready.” He rubbed his hands together as the temperature continued to drop. “Where did you want to go?” “...” This was it. He just had to say one word. “... Away.” “Away?” “Somewhere else. Not New Brighton. Not Xera. I don’t want to do this anymore. Does anyone else know I’m here?” “I told Baxley that I found your locator, but I didn’t say I had gotten ahold of you. You’re saying you want to just... leave?”

“What’s left for me here? A backstabbing, uncaring corporation? More crazy science and Civil Protection? Having to be reminded of... this every day? There are other towns nearby. CP isn’t omniscient. Maybe I died in the explosion and all you found was my phone.” Lewis took a deep breath. “Landon, please think about this. I know you’re hurting right now, but this is a big decision. You’d be throwing away your life here. You wouldn’t be able to come back to here or any other big city. For your safety, no one else could know - not even Maya. Are you sure that’s what you want?” “...No. But I do know that the other option - going back to Xera - is worse. I’ll figure it out.” Lewis stared at Landon, looking for something in his expression. “You haven’t thought this through. Not entirely. I shouldn’t let you do this.” “Lewis...” “But. This is your one chance to get out of Xera. I know that. They don’t let you just ‘quit.’ You don’t have the luxury of sleeping on this decision.” He sighed and closed his eyes for several seconds. “Make sure you leave your phone with me. And everything else Xera-branded that you own.” Landon just nodded, not trusting himself to say anything. “Okay. Away we go. Buckle up.” Landon didn’t remember much of that final helicopter ride. He vaguely recalled Lewis on the radio, telling Mr Baxley that he was searching the area for him. Fuzzy impressions of fires passing by beneath the aircraft. Miscellaneous chatter as Lewis switched frequencies and negotiated clearance for his fake mission. Finally, touchdown.

The rotors slowed, but didn’t stop. Lewis popped out of the cockpit and held out a hand. “Can’t stop for long or they’ll get suspicious. This place is called Nanton. Little farming town, too small for CP. Pleasant enough, and there’s an airport nearby if you want to move on - once you’ve changed your name and face. Ask for Doyeon Sol at the big hotel downtown; I don’t remember its name, but it’s got a brick entryway. I used to fly with him; you can tell him I sent you and he should help you out. Got it?” Landon handed over his phone and everything else that could possibly contain a tracker. “Doyeon Sol, brick hotel, you sent me.” “Correct. Landon.” Lewis took a deep breath and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Good luck. And I hope - for your sake and mine - that I don’t see you again for a very long time. Take care.” Landon swallowed. “Thank you, Lewis.” He stepped out of the craft into another knee-deep snow drift and struggled to get out of the way as the rotors spun up. The helicopter lifted off and chopped its way through the air into the distance, returning to New Brighton. Landon turned around. Nanton’s lights beckoned. A guard just inside the perimeter fence called for him to hurry up. He looked up at the stars one more time as they twinkled calmly overhead, then entered his new life.

Epilogue “Folks, from the flight deck, this is your captain speaking. We’re going to be landing here in about five minutes, which puts us roughly half an hour ahead of schedule. Our taxi might take a little longer, but I’m informed our gate is available, so we should get you into the terminal about fifteen minutes early. The weather on the ground in New Brighton is a pleasant 74 degrees and sunny. Remember to fasten your seatbelts and it has been a pleasure flying for you.” Erik leaned back and stared out the window at the suburbs below. The city certainly looked different from the last time he had been here, almost eight years ago. The massive perimeter wall had been demolished and its materials used for further development. The megacity now sprawled miles further than it ever had, and had recently surpassed a nine-digit population. It seemed more colorful, too, and with freer architecture in the newer neighborhoods. As the plane passed over downtown and continued towards the airport, he noted that the city center was still all concrete and glass monoliths, but the suburbs had room to grow without the wall. Green roofs and curved shapes dominated. The landing and taxi passed without incident and Erik was on the station platform twenty full minutes early. He stepped on board, smiling as the train happily announced the station name, its color, and the next stop. They were still using the same voice lines as he remembered. Away he went.

A few hours later, Erik had dropped off his luggage at the hotel, gotten lunch, and wandered around the river shore for a while. It hadn’t changed much, though something about the atmosphere seemed more pleasant in the warm sun with a nice breeze and no deadlines. Still, not everything had been fixed. He glanced down the street at the unmarked, sanitary dull grey building that he knew led down into the undercity. Millions of people still lived and worked underground without ever being able to see the sunlight that he was enjoying so freely. Erik handed his ticket to the guard, who scanned it and handed it back. “Thank you, Mr Siyansky. Have a good afternoon.” “Likewise.” Erik entered the convention center and headed left immediately. He had cut it a little close by spending so long at the river, so he only had a few minutes left before the talk was scheduled to begin. He hurried along, passing dozens of well-dressed professionals networking, presenting, or just chatting. He caught snippets of conversation as he went. “300 years...” “No, I said anti-crystalline...” “Sentient? No one’s sure...” If only they knew. He arrived just in time and took a seat near the back of the room, patting his briefcase just to make sure it was still there. The speaker took the podium and he focused his attention on her. “Good afternoon. My name is Dr Maya Harish, and today I’m going to be talking about the wastelands. What they were, what they are, what they’re doing now, and what we need to do, as a collective species, to prepare for their next move.”

The talk lasted for almost an hour, but Erik was never bored. Maya was a good speaker, and he hadn’t heard a lot of this information before. Much of it was new, discovered only in the last few years as teams explored the rubble-choked pit created in one memorable night eight winters ago. Still, there were questions that her team had never answered. Among those was one that she said she never expected to find out: what had happened to the first two people to enter the Source? Erik tapped his briefcase again. At the end of the talk, he lingered after the questions and waited for most of the other scientists to leave the room. Dr Harish herself was preparing to leave when Erik approached and cleared his throat. “Excellent presentation,” he said, glancing around to make sure no one was within earshot. Two event security staff by the doors were watching, but were far enough away to be safe. A group of six other scientists were discussing something on the other side of the room. Good enough. “Thank you,” she replied, reading his badge. “Did you have something you wanted to ask or comment on... Erik?” “Yes, actually.” He lowered his voice slightly. “You were talking about the two people who first entered the Source, just before the explosion. Does no one know what happened to them? It’s been years, and your teams have explored miles of tunnels.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, yes. I’m told one of our pilots picked up a signal from one of them, but he was never found. Just his phone.” “Do you happen to know the names of either of these people? I personally was nearby on that night - I remember the blast vividly.” “I still remember; of course. Eva Marais and Landon Kozlov. Both assumed killed in action.” “Landon Kozlov, you say? Now doesn’t that just take the cake.” “What do you mean?” “I think you might find some of the answers you’re looking for in here.” Erik handed her the briefcase. “Do me a favor, though.”

“What’s that?” “Don’t open that until tomorrow morning. And when you do, don’t come looking for me. Okay?” Maya narrowed her eyes, trying to peel back years of wear and facial surgery. “L...Landon?” “Not anymore.” He smiled. “You’re doing great. Keep up the good work.” =o=

Conclusion Hey, thanks for playing! Boy, this one was an adventure, right? I think it’s probably the one that diverged the most from what I had originally intended, just barely beating Glorbulon. As such, I’m not the biggest fan of it and do not plan on even thinking about submitting it for publication without major revisions. It will thus be up on my website along with the others. Again like Glorbulon, it’s not a bad story; it’s just that I had intended to write a technological heist / rebellion story, and I ended up with... whatever this was. A sci-fi / magic wombo combo with a bunch of right-angle plot twists? Anyway, as usual, there are plenty of references and tie-ins to some other stories I’ve written; you may be able to discern some more information about a few of them if you pay attention. So, what’s next? To start with, as usual, if you have questions or suggestions, or if you just want to discuss the story, feel free to do so! I can answer questions about the world, the characters, or the writing process (though probably not too much about the connections to other stories). After about a week, I’ll be working with the mods to delete all the story channels and move this operation to a new server, as requested in the poll run at the start of this story. The new server invite link will be posted well before this and we’ll basically just have the same thing going on there as we do here, though maybe with some other bits and bobs over time. We’ll see. The next set of starting prompts will go up on the new server. We’ll run through a few rounds of decisions for the topic, world, and characters, and I’ll likely start the next story around the 21st. Definitely before March. Thanks a lot for your support and engagement, and I hope you come along for the next one! ~ Shaun / @Professional Nerd Blah

9

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

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