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/tg/ - Traditional Games


File: 1385263473045.jpg-(33 KB, 999x394, 01_synopsis_open_earth_destroyed.jpg)
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A shot screams past your head, causing you to jerk to the side. You drive your speeder into the the gray-green fog, hoping that your pursuers have an equally difficult time seeing through the heavy metal clouds that pervade this area. The heads-up display on your IRES starts blaring proximity warnings on you and you swear. An instant later, your speeder collides with a hostile, throwing you over the handlebars of your vehicle. You fly for what seems forever, before slamming into the dirt and rolling several yards. You groan, collecting your thoughts and trying to shake off what you can only guess to be another concussion. Before you can regain control of yourself, you find yourself hoisted up into the air. Your eyes focus in, propelled by the rush of adrenaline and you see your attacker. A vaguely humanoid shape, but its flesh has sloughed away in places, revealing nothing but cockroach sized colonies of nanomachines, swarming back and forth through its veins and over its exposed skeleton. Its eyes lock onto yours, as if it can see straight through your visor; the blue shine from within reminding you that your assailant is no longer human. It raises its hand, a twisted, gnarled thing filled with syringes and various bits of sharp scrap.

Shit. You have to do something. You close your eyes and bet everything on this next move. You reach for...

>Your Pistol
>Your Knife
>The enemy's face
>>
I reach for my pistol
"May the Gods of Gunpowder and Firearms hold may aim true."
>>
>>28460841
>>Your Pistol
>>
>>28460910
>>28461045
thirding
>>
>>28460841
Pistol, superior firepower is best firepower
>>
Had some interruptions. Almost done writing.
>>
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>>28461428

You reach for the pistol on your hip. Your hand finds the smooth, polymer frame and slips it from the holster. As you bring the weapon up, your eyes glance at the weapon's cylinder. Good, there's a couple of shots left. Leveling the barrel at the mutant's head, you clench your teeth and brace yourself as best as you can for the kick. You squeeze the trigger, the hammer drops, and there is a thunderous crack. The enemy's head is torn in half and you're pretty sure you just sprained your wrist. Nevertheless, the mutant drops its hold on you for an instant. You're not sure if these things can actually feel pain, but they don't like being shot in the face. You kick yourself free from its grip and fire again and again, tearing another three holes in the monster's frame. Finally it falls. Immediately, you rush forward and plant your hand on its chest. "Phonton Agonizer Engaging" reads on your display, and your hand crackles. Instantly, the enemy's body begins to bubble and pop, boiling from the inside out. After a moment or two, you are satisfied that it is well and truly dead and you back away.

You hear the roar of an engine behind you, and you spin around, bringing your weapon to bear. Out of the fog steps another individual, wearing a suit much like your own. It raises its hand when it sees your weapon, and then raises a holographic image over its head, so that you might see its face.

"Whoah, Rocky, take it easy. It's just me."

Ah, right, it's your friend, Allie. You thought she was supposed to cover the East side of the Center.

>Ask her nicely what she's doing here.
>Be blunt.
>Crack a joke.
>>
>>28461511
>>Be blunt. "I almost slotted you."
>>
>>28461511
>Ask nicely
>>
>>28461511
>>Ask her nicely what she's doing here.
>>
>>28461511
"I thought you were supposed to cover the East side of the Center?
>>
>>28461853
You decide to calm down and ask her what she's doing over here. If you remember right, her route is somewhere completely different.

"I'm already finished, jackass. You took forever to do your own sweep, so I came to check up on you."

Oh. Figures. She never did think you could do anything right. Whatever, you need to get back to the task at hand. If the perimeter is secured, that means you two have to head inside soon. This is probably one of the most important places you'll ever clear, if the old Doc was right about this place. You take a moment to reload your pistol.

"I can't believe you're still using a revolver. You know Doc cleared us for semi-auto last week, right?"

You wave Allie off. This pistol has served you for ten years now, and you're not going to change it out any time soon.

"Anyway, when you're ready, we'll head to the waypoint." The holographic image of Allie's face fades from your heads up display, and shows a rough map instead. There's a bright green trail leading from your current position to a facility less than a mile away. The Johnson Space Center. Even though you're so close, you have no idea what it really looks like anymore, the heavy metal fog obscuring all vision.

>Proceed directly to the Space Center. Allie can explain along the way, but it might be rushed.
>Go over the plans with Allie first. You'll be a little behind schedule, but you'll be prepared.
>>
>>28461997
>>Go over the plans with Allie first. You'll be a little behind schedule, but you'll be prepared.
>>
>>28461997
>>Proceed directly to the Space Center. Allie can explain along the way, but it might be rushed.
>>
>>28461997
>Proceed Directly to Space Center. Do Not Pass Go
>>
>>28461997
You decide not to sweat the small stuff. The most important part is actually getting there. You tell Allie to fill you in on the gist of it while on the way. You mount your speeder and take off.

"Okay, so more or less, the Doc wants us to retake the Johnson Space Center. We know there's a big nest of mutants and other exhumans in there, not to mention synths. They don't seem to be doing much of anything besides squatting, so we've just got to wipe em out. After that, we need to get some life support going in there so the rest of the crew can get in there...Hey, are you listening!?"

You absentmindedly nod. You can hear Allie huff over the comms, but you decide to ignore it. The fog breaks and you find yourself looking at what's left of the Johnson Space Center. The complex of buildings stretches out several blocks in either direction, but what your eyes are drawn to is a large shaft rising from the central building and heading all the way up through the cloud bank. You don't remember seeing that in any of your old stock photos of the place, but you don't pay it too much attention.

You park your speeder and draw your weapon. Allie pulls up alongside you, loading her rifle and making a few last adjustments to the weapon.

"So how do you want to do this? You want to go in hot? You want to sneak in? Or do you think you can show me some of the tricks the Doc taught you?"

>Go in guns blazing.
>This is a sneaking mission.
>Commence Electronic Warfare
>>
>>28462443
>>Commence Electronic Warfare
>>
>>28462443
>This is a sneaking mission.
>>
>>28462443
>>This is a sneaking mission.
>>
>>28462443

You decide to sneak in.

"Alright, I'll cover you. You go on ahead."

Allie motions towards the complex and waits. You take that as your cue to proceed and start creeping inside a nearby building, hoping that this place isn't rigged to blow or something crazy like that.

The inside of the Space Center is as unlivable as the rest of this area, but it looks like the fog wasn't able to penetrate much farther than the door. LED bulbs, still on after more than a decade of turmoil, still bathe the interior in a sterile white light. You sweep your eyes across the room. Displays, each talking about the past and future of space travel, are littered about. Some are knocked over their contents scattered and apparently chewed on, while others remain untouched. In the corner, you can see a human form, bent over and facing the wall. It clings to its legs, and you can hear it alternating between violent coughing and sobbing. Your first instinct is to call out to it, but experience silences the urge. Whatever that is, it is no longer a person.

You creep forward, your hand already crackling with the power of the Agonizer. In a single motion, you grab the base of its skull and lift the creature up off the ground. The power running through your glove cooks the creature's brain before it can think, and you toss its now lifeless corpse aside before training your weapon on it. You wait. And you wait. And you wait. It doesn't move.

Finally satisfied, you take another look. There is a door marked SECURITY, a door heading to the south, and there is a placard containing a map of the facility. You make a note to scan the map before you do anything else, and then consider your options.

>Go to the SECURITY door.
>Head South
>Call Allie in and discuss your course of action with her.
>>
>>28462892
>>Call Allie in and discuss your course of action with her.
>>
>>28462892
>>Go to the SECURITY door.
>>
>>28462892
>Go to the SECURITY door.
>>
>>28462892
>Call Allie and discuss your course of action with her
>>
>>28462892
>>Go to the SECURITY door.
>>
>>28462892
You decide to head through the SECURITY door. Making a quick stop to upload the map into your HUD, you then turn your attention to the door. As you expected, it's locked. Looking over the device, you conclude that it operated on a two stage security lock. First, one would need to present an RFID token, and then input the correct key sequence on a keypad during a preset timeframe. While this was state of the art before the Fall, this is nothing to you now. You raise your hand and give a quick jolt with your Agonizer, overwhelming and disabling the first stage of the lock. You then bring up your holographic keypad over the lock. After a few incorrect guesses and about a minute of brute force searching, you disable the lock. You can hear the carbon rods running through the frame of the door withdrawing, allowing you to gently swing the portal open.

The interior of the security office seems to be exactly as it was left almost 13 years ago. There's a moldy cup of coffee on the desk, a jacket in the corner of the room, and the standard issue sidearm just lying on the control panel for the various monitors. You head over to the console right away, placing the putrid coffee and sidearm on a nearby counter.

After a routine quite similar to your lockpicking exploit, you manage to crack open control of the security systems for the center. While it looks like the nanoswarms have corrupted most of the security synths over the years, there are at least a dozen you could still commandeer to make your job easier. Alternatively, you could deactivate them all right now and see just how many subverted synths go down with them. If you leave the system online, you could also call Allie in here to spot for you while you clear out the exurgents. The only question is which of these you'd like to do

>Commandeer the Synths
>Forcibly Shutdown all Synths
>Have Allie man this station
>>
>>28463233
>>Commandeer the Synths
>>
>>28463233
>Commandeer the synths
>>
>>28463233

>Commandeer
>>
>>28463233
>>Commandeer the Synths
>>
>>28463233
You decide to commandeer the synths. Overlaying your interface device onto the console, you immediately begin work taking control of eveyr uncorrupted synth on the network. Fortunately for you, there seems to be several dozen. Unfortunately for you, it seems that most of them are unarmed or in severe disrepair. Oh well, it doesn't matter. You lift their safety limiters and set them to work rooting out all the threats they possibly can. You hear wild howling and scraping coming from the other areas of the center, and over the security cams, you can see the synths going to work. Most of them are horribly wrecked by the opposition, but by coordinating as many synths as you can, you manage to clear out all but the strongest of the exhumans in the Center.

That just leaves the meanest and the strongest for you to take care of personally. Great. You call Allie in the room and tell her that there are just a few left to take care of before you can consider the Center reclaimed. After noting their position on the security cams, you find you either have a choice between a rather large corrupted synth, complete with strange biological grafts, or what appears to be the horribly mutated remnants of the young visitors who were here during the Fall. You're not sure which you'd rather deal with.

>Ask Allie which she wants to deal with.
>Take care of the large Synth
>Take care of the swarm of childlike mutants.
>>
>>28463674

Ask Allie. Maybe she has some advice on how to best apply our talents to this issue.
>>
>>28463674
>Take care of the large Synth
>>
>>28463674
>>Take care of the swarm of childlike mutants.
PTSD from my first DH session kicking in.
>>
>>28463674
>>Take care of the swarm of childlike mutants.
>>
>>28463674
Can we try (Forcibly) shutting down the synth remotely? It is worth a shot, if it is possible. If not, go for the large synth. Our gun seems to pack a punch, but we lack the full auto to deal with crowds.
>>
>>28463674
You already locked the command in so that the synths you used to attack with couldn't be further tampered with. You could try interfacing with the Synth directly, but that would require being within spitting distance of the Synth anyway.
>>
>>28464030
Meant to link here >>28463987
>>
We've still got a bit of a tie here. If there's no outcome in 5 minutes, I'll just roll a 1d2 and start writing.
>>
>>28463674
Go for the big synth
>>
>>28463674
>Take care of the large Synth
>>
>>28463674
"Really? You want to deal with that big guy?"

Allie looks at you with what you're sure is incredulity, but you can't see her face through that helmet. She leans forward and puts her hand on your shoulder.

"Farewell, my friend," She begins in a painfully melodramatic tone, "Before you go, I want you to know that I always loved you."

She sniffles.

You brush her hand off and tell her to make sure she's careful around that swarm. Her armor's not as good as your IRES.

"Geez, did you even blink?"

You remind her that her routine would be more effective if she hadn't been doing it since you were children.

"Right, right, I'll be careful."

You take your leave of the security office and follow the marker on your HUD. Even this far away, you can feel the ground shaking as the Synth lumbers about. You see the scattered remains of the security and custodial robots littering the floor. You kick them out of the way as you make a few last minute preparations, going over any potential problems in your suit and making sure your Agonizer still has a full charge. You've got another few cylinder's worth of ammo in your pocket and your armor integrity is reading good, even though you drove through several hours worth of metal particulate.

The rumble of the Synth's feet is now accompanied by the whine of its gears, and you can hear the cracking of the tiles as it roams around. Your marker indicates that it is less than 30 yards away now. You peer beyond a corner and get a good look at the cyberbeast.
>>
>>28464470
What once was a custodial robot is now a hulking monster. The parts from countless other synthetics as well as what appears to be multiple skin grafts cover the robot. The skin is bloated and rotting but...somehow, it still seems alive. Where its old head would have rested, it has attached the heads of three different humans, all of them with the bright, gleaming eyes of anyone that has been truly subverted by the nanoswarms that now roam the earth. Six arms, each topped with gruesome makeshift weapons, sprout from its back, and its legs have been refitted countless times, now being as thick around as a tree trunk.

You swallow, hard. One screw up here and it could be the end. You raise your pistol, wishing you were more religious, and formulate your plan. You could try to close the distance, and hope your agonizer will overload its power source. You could try to destroy it from a distance, relying on your pistol. Or you could try to subvert its systems one last time, but you'd need to somehow get around to its backside to access the port.

>Close to Melee Combat
>Stick to Ranged Combat
>Try to hack
>>
>>28464491
>>Try to hack
>>
>>28464491
>>Stick to Ranged Combat
>>
>>28464491
Hacking time.
>>
>>28464491
Do its heads face anywhere besides forwards?
>>
>>28464567
You haven't seen its head look in any direction a normal head would not, but that doesn't mean anything to a synthetic.
>>
>>28464592
Assuming it uses the heads to see, do we have the option to destroy or disable them, then hack it?
>>
>>28464678
It's possible, but as a fair warning, many purely robotic synths use multiple cameras located on several body parts to see.
>>
>>28464704
O.K. I'll just go with

>Try to hack it
>>
>>28464491
You decide that brute force isn't going to get you anywhere here. If you want to get this job done, you'll need to attack this thing's brain...or whatever passes for that...directly. You try to think of a plan, some way to get in a safe enough position to where you can slice into this thing's cyberbrain. You peek around the corner, trying to get a gist of the layout of that room. When your head rounds the corner, you find six eyes staring right at you. In the time you were thinking, it seems that the Synth noticed you and hunkered down to get a better look. The three mouths on the head all smile as best they can, though you notice the jaw on one is beginning to give way.

You're paralyzed for a second, until you see its multitude of bladed arms swing into position. You quickly dive out of the way, rolling past the Synth as its arms cascade after you. No sooner have you cleared its side than the Synth swivels its torso around, slashing wildly with its arms. Its legs immediately reconfigure themselves, the knees buckling and bending backward to support the tremendous weight of the machine. And yet, despite what it must weigh, the Synth leaps forward, chasing after you. Its three heads give a battlecry as they pursue you.

You level your firearm at the Synth's heads and empty the cylinder. The rounds pulverize the colony of biological heads, splattering a tar-like, nanomachine filled fluid everywhere. What remains of the skulls shows a bizarre mixture of organic and synthetic parts, but you believe this must be the creature's brain. Several secondary cameras open up along the synth's arms and legs as it recovers from your assault and it presses on. You pay it no mind, however, as you've already found your chance.
>>
>>28464895

Once more, you dive at the creature, letting its sharp appendages lash out at you. The arms clatter against the ground, and a few scrape up against your armor, but you manage to dive past it and then reach around to grab at the base of its neck. The Stack, where biological data should reside. If it were truly biological, there would be nothign you could do, but since it is a Synth, there should be a back door. If you can just subvert this...

Even though it only takes a split second for you to shut the beast down, you see the holographic inputs load in slow motion. Several lifetimes of data, clearly taken from its biological victims, flash by you as you ruthlessly purge the system. Everything about them, their interests, their desires, even the moment of their deaths, is wiped away along with the rogue programming of the robot.

Exhausted, you slump to the floor. The Synth doesn't move. It will never move again.

Allie comes through on the comms, and you can see her marker closing in on you.

"Alright, problem solved! How's everything on your end?"

>Be modest and complement her work
>Complain about her taking too long, you could have used the help
>Brag about your victory
>>
>>28464923
>>Brag about your victory
>>
>>28464923
>>Be modest and complement her work
"So, about what you said earlier... did you mean it in a platonic or romantic sense?"
>>
>>28464923
>Brag about your victory
>>
>>28464923
>Be modest and complement her work
>>
>>28464923
>Be modest and complement her work
>>
>>28464923
>Brag about your victory

We're childhood friends right? Bragging is common.
>>
>>28465161
Yes, you're childhood friends.
>>
>>28465172
Brag, then.
>>
You decide to talk yourself up, and you tell Allie about your clearly heroic exploits against the fearsome giant synth.

"Yes, yes. I'm sure if there were any other women left on this planet, they'd just be dying to hear about it. As for me, I just want to know if you're ready to set up the life support and start scrubbing this place. We can't leave any TITAN remnants behind."

Figures she wouldn't give a damn. And you were so cool too. You mutter an affirmative as you start to clean the Space Center. It takes you a few hours to pile up all the bodies and any other parts, but you complete your task and quickly apply thermite to the bodies. After that, you produce a small phial from one of your pouches. Inside is what the Doc called a "scrubber swarm". Supposedly, it's going to clean up the interior of these buildings, and make them sterile enough to live in. Both you and Allie apply these swarms to the interior of the complex.
>>
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>>28465481

After you've finished seeding your own scrubbers, you return to your speeders to find a small polymer dome. Allie must have already set up the tent. You present your suit's RFID and then enter the makeshift shelter. Inside is sterile and safe, if a bit small. You estimate these survival tents only have about 100 square feet to them. In the corner, you can see the Fabricator working away. It's only about the size of a breadbox, but it keeps spitting out row after row of polymer panels. When its done, you'll have to unfold and stretch these panels over the entire complex, so you imagine it will take most of the night for it to complete its task.

Finally in a safe place, you command your IRES suit to disengage. The helmet, armor, and other survival tools seemingly wick away into normal, if thick, layers of clothing.

"I'm so jealous you got your hands on one of those," Allie says, still struggling to get her own survival suit off, "That was a police suit, right?"

Actually, it was Riot Armor. After you correct her, you start assembling the sleeping gear. A cot, some simple blankets. Just the essentials. After you finish, you look up to see Allie finally break free of her suit, now sitting around in her sweat drenched undergarments. You resist laughing at her misfortune, as her suit isn't even properly climate controlled.

"What? Got a problem?"

You shake your head. In any case, you have a couple hours free.

>Talk to Allie about your assignment
>Find one of your books and read.
>Sleep.
>>
>>28465504
>>Talk to Allie about your assignment
>>
>>28465504
>>Talk to Allie about your assignment
>>
>>28465504
>Talk to Allie about your assignment
>>
>>28465504
You decide to talk to Allie about your assignment.

"Oh? You want to know what we're doing this for? Aren't you the one who is the Doc's favorite?"

You narrow your eyes at Allie.

"Fine. Look, this is just what I overheard, okay? Don't take it as 100% fact."

You nod, knowing that Allie tends to hear what she wants to hear, instead of what was actually said.

"Ahem. Anyway, there's something in this Space Center that the Doc thinks is going to help set us up for life! There must be something like a well protected bunker or a super strong safety vault here that we can hide in."

Allie places her hand over her heart.

"Think about it! No more running from wild AIs! No more mutants! No more sleeping on cots or rocks! It'll be fluffy pillows, air conditioning, and good food from now on!"

Oh yeah, that's right. Sometimes you forget, but Allie was actually from a very rich family before the Fall. You suppose she never quite got used to the survival lifestyle. You were always on the streets, so you never thought much of the change in..

"And there's probably people there too! And I bet some are around our age! Imagine! Boys that aren't you!"

Ouch.

You put your pride aside and leave Allie to her ramblings. If there's really a hidden bunker here, that would explain why the good Doctor was so interested in it. Still, the old hideout was plenty safe. You've already traveled over a hundred miles across the wastes to get here. It must be something bigger than that.

Feeling sleepy and a little sick of Allie's enthusiasm, you decide to let her take first watch while you get some sleep.

"Ehh? Fine. I guess I'll stay up. I need to towel myself off anyway."

(There will be a short intermission while I get cigarettes and a snack)
>>
>>28465776
Wow, Allie is a bitch. Would not waifu.
>>
>>28465776
Your nap goes relatively undisturbed. Eventually, Allie wakes you up and has you assist her with constructing the Life Support Dome around the complex. Despite it being tiresome, dreary work, you can't imagine having to live in this wasteland without the Doctor's technology. You wouldn't even have this suit without his help. After finishing the Dome, you fire off your signal to the Doctor and the rest of his crew: a single green flare leaps from your pistol's barrel into the sky. Half an hour later, a large, heavily armored van arrives and your childhood friend helps guide them into the safety of the dome.

Naturally, the Doctor and his crew takes up their residence in Mission Control, the iconic throne of the Johnson Space Center, and you follow them. Strangely, this one area seems fairly undisturbed, as if the machines had no interest in this site. The monitors and consoles are all lined up neatly and show no sign of even electronic tampering. You doubt you even needed to send the scrubbers in here.

The Crew, as you've come to know them, were apparently a group of elite scientists from before the Fall. Supposedly, they worked on defense contracting or something like that, but they've never been quite forward with the nature of their work. The dozen or so aged scientists are busy scrambling around the room, turning on equipment and performing various tests. A few of them nod to you, and apologize for not having the time to talk. The Doctor, Tom Ryete, from his seat at the back of the room, begins to smoke his pipe. The man is clearly old. You've heard that he declined rejuvenation treatments from before the Fall, so every year is worn plainly on his bearded face. Despite his advanced age and short stature, he radiates an aura of confidence, power, and wisdom. No matter what you're doing, if the Doctor is with you, you feel like it's going to turn out okay.
>>
>>28466118
"Ah, Rock, my boy. I hear you cleaned out this place fairly well. Good job."

You thump your chest proudly. Of course you did well, would he expect any less from you. From the other side of the room, you swear you can *feel* Allie roll her eyes.

"We'll need a little while to settle in, a few days at least, so why don't you go explore the complex now that it's safe?"

While you'd like to help them set up, it looks like the Crew has everything well in hand, so you nod and think about what you'd like to do. There were a couple of locations that stood out to you on the map.

>Visit the Hangar
>Visit the Commissary
>Visit the Sleeving Room
>>
>>28466128
>>Visit the Commissary
>>
>>28466128
>>Visit the Commissary
>>
>>28466128
What's a Sleeving Room?
>>
>>28466277
You've heard the term before, but you don't know yet. You weren't really up to speed on modern technology, even before the apocalypse.
>>
>>28466277
>What's a Sleeving Room?
Something where you change bodies, i.e "sleeves".
>>
>>28466329
>>28466338
Then I vote for that.
>>
>>28466128
>>Visit the Hangar
>>
>>28466118
>>28466128
You decide it would be best for you to go visit the Commissary. Maybe there's some real food in there, instead of the paste that comes out of the fabricator. God, you don't even remember what real food tastes like anymore. Allie decides to tag along for your little venture, and hums a little song to herself as she follows.

She must be excited about all this. Does she really think that there's some hidden vault of available men and fresh bedsheets here?

"What else could it be? I mean, really, let's look at the facts: There's nobody good living above ground. They're all mutants, old men, or you. There's no food growing anymore, and all the food fabricators are either corrupted or broken. And finally, there's no way we're getting out of here. You saw how all our drone ships got shot down by that mess of satellites in the sky."

While she has a point, that backhand prevents you from agreeing completely.

"Besides, I'm sure you'd like to finally quit wandering. I love the Doc and all, but I'm tired of chasing these wild leads of his. They never amount to anything."

You consider Allie's words as you rifle through what remains of the Commissary. It's mostly barren, but you and Allie find a couple of bars of freeze dried ice cream. They're...not very good.

>Visit the Hangar
>Return to Mission Control
>Visit the Sleeving Room
>>
>>28466476
>>Visit the Sleeving Room

We have to find out what it is.
>>
>>28466537
Second
>>
Only two votes? I guess I'll just roll with it.

>>28466476
You idly wonder what a Sleeving Room is as you return to the corridors.

"What, you don't know?"

You shake your head as Allie looks at you incredulously.

"I knew you were basically homeless, but I didn't think you were that out of it."

You ask her to get to the point already. Allie sighs and shows you the back of her neck. There's a small patch of slightly discolored skin, right where the neck meets the base of her skull.

"See that? That's my Cortical Stack. Before this whole mess happened, this thing was supposed to record my life so that if I ever died, they could just put my mind into a new body. Places where you could do that were called Sleeving Facilities. That Sleeving Room might just be a smaller version of one of those."

Get a new body? Sounds fishy to you, but then again, so does the world being destroyed by computers and nanoswarms.

You head to the Sleeving Room, cracking the security on another door before heading inside. You're immediately greeted by a smell of blood. The scrubbing machines should have cleaned this place, but you suppose that some smells are just too hard to remove. The interior of the room is lined with tank, filled with a strange amber liquid. Floating in each of the tanks are what appear to be various organs and body parts. All human.

"Yep. This is a Sleeving Room alright. You know, before we got all wrapped up in this, I went into one of these to try to get myself beamed off world. It didn't go through quite right, obviously." Allie shrugs and starts fiddling with the equipment.

"See, they strap you to one of these tables," she points out a rather uncomfortable looking slab, "then they plug you right in and download your brain. Well, not you anyway. I'm pretty sure you don't have a Stack."
>>
>>28466868

You're not sure you're too comfortable with being uploaded somewhere at any rate. You look over at a nearby monitor and console. The words EGO READY FOR TRANSFER / MORPH UNAVAILABLE keep flashing over and over again on the monitor. You notice a cable running from the console, but it doesn't appear to be connected with anything. You could try to connect it to the safety port on your suit to analyze the data, if you wanted. Allie might know more about what to do, however.

>Check the Data
>Ask Allie to handle it
>Leave the Sleeving Room
>>
>>28466880
Check that data.
>>
>>28466880
>>Leave the Sleeving Room
Check out the hangar.
>>
>>28466880
Check the Data.
>>
File: 1385289590314.png-(24 KB, 614x512, Hel.png)
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24 KB PNG
>>28466880
You decide to check out the Data. What's the worst that could happen, right?

You pick up the cord and give a signal to your IRES, causing it to revert back to its protective form. It takes a couple moments because it is rarely used, but you're able to find the safety port. You should be able to analyze any data here without fear of it overriding your suit's main controls. You plug the cord in and begin downloading the data.

Allie turns to look at you, then reads the screen. All the color drains from her face.

"Hey, Rock, hold up, you know what's in there, right?"

You give her a strange look, but it's too late to be asking questions now. The download is already finished. The holographic interface on your wrist projects an unfamiliar OS boot screen.

LOADING.

LOADING..

LOADING...

LOADING FINISHED.

NO MORPH FOUND. INITIALIZING INFOBRAIN PATHING. CREATING AR AVATAR. CHECKING AVAILABLE RESOURCES...WARNING. AVAILABLE RESOURCES CRITICALLY LOW. SIMULATED SPACE WILL BE RESTRICTED TO IMMEDIATE AREAS. INFOBRAIN PATHING COMPLETE. BOOTING UP EGO.

The words vanish, but in their wake is the holographic image of a small room with nothing but a chair in it. There is a young woman sitting on the chair, dressed in strange, frilly clothing. Her eyes are shut, it appears she's sleeping. Is this some kind of AR interface?

The figure's eyes open, and she looks at you, then at her surroundings. She blinks once, then stands up.

"Hello. I am Hel. Can you tell me where my body is?"

(Ending for the night because I'm tired.)
>>
You can leave any comments or suggestions, should you have any, here. I'll get to them when I'm not about to fall asleep or something.


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