Phase Q/Right Time

Watching. Observing. Waiting. Hoping.

You sit by the monitor. Every little twitch in the signal send a jolt through your mind.

Up. Down. Up. Down.

The cycle repeats with regularity. You are waiting for a break. For the right time.

“What if it doesn’t come?” asks Lupak.

“It’ll come,” says Zank.

You sit there silently, waiting, watching, observing, hoping.

As the time goes by, a digclock shows to the tenth decimal place.

Sitting in a floating platform well above the cityscape, the group of Futuristas hovers nervously in front of the displays.

“Any moment now,” says Valbeena.

Unbeknownst to them, the Trad clip you’re wearing waits equally impatiently.

“One wrong move and we’re all toast,” says General Markov.

“Should we stop them?” asks the President.

“Not yet. Let’s wait a bit more, maybe we can find out what they’re doing.”

“I think we should blast them,” says Mrs. President.

You fidget nervously in your seat.

Any time now, it could come. When it happens, you’ll only have a nanosecond, a billionth of a second, to act. Even with your souped-up Futurista mental hardware, that’s still be incredibly tough.

+0.0000000001.

+0.0000000001.

+0.0000000001.

One wrong move and you’re all fucked.

“Come on! Let’s take them out now before they take us all out,” says Mrs. President.

“Hold on, Dear, let’s wait and see,” says the President.

You hover over the button, ready to unleash a new era, or to fuck everything up.

“I think we bail,” says Zank.

“What?! Are you fuckin’ out of your mind?!” screams Lupak.

Valbeena looks on silently.

You get ready to press the button, feeling the timing coming in.

In your synthmind, the indicators swing wildly about. Usually you have a huge advantage with it, but now you feel as blind as you would be unaided. You run a quick self-check, risking not having enough spare thought to watch and start the Progression.

Your mind rattles with fear.

+0.0000000001.

+0.0000000001.

+0.0000000001.

A few stray thoughts pop up in your souped-up mind. You quickly stop them.

“That’s it, I can’t watch this any more,” says Valbeena, leaving in disgust.

“What are they up to now?” asks Mrs. President.

“I think they’re reorganizing. Let’s run a tracer,” says the General.

An aide presses a few buttons in the Trad Command HQ, and a light flashes in the Futurista group.

“What the fuck was that?!” asks Zank.

“Hey!” screams Lupak, looking at you. “Why’d your intercom go off beforehand?!”

You panic.

Whole milliseconds go by without you being able to think.

Lupak and Zank have lasers drawn on you.

+0.0000000001.

+0.0000000001.

+0.0000000001.

Should you just push the button now, even though you haven’t yet got the signal?

“The time’s right,” says Lupak angrily to Zank, thrusting his laser in your direction, while keeping aware of the counting clock.

Or should you try to explain the situation to the Futuristas, while waiting patiently for the right time?

“I think so too,” says Zank, nervously.

Or should you beam in a request back to Trad Command HQ?

“Now what the fuck’s happening?” asks Mr. President.

What should you do?

Phase Q: An interactive adventure.