Phase Q/Crossings

In the vol surrounding the crossing point, many things happen.

This, of course, is where it all begins. And ends.

And by dint of its importance, it attracts nearly endless crowds of onlookers, wannabes, and new recruits.

The stream continues around the clock. Basically nothing will stop it. They’ve tried.

At first, the Triad forces fought against foreign infiltrations the classic way, killing them off. That didn't last for long, with such rapid overgrowth.

Then, when a sort of makeshift truce arose around the opening, the Triad forces accepted a stalemate, and enforced strict entry and exit requirements on the side that they controlled.

On the other side, the original Fyuchee side, the entryway to the opening was more or less on a "come or go as you please" policy.

So, within sight, within mere inches even, two different sides of the opening had vastly different policies, with vastly different effects.

On the Triad side, the strict enforcement of rules meant that most people could not, and thus did not bother to, cross the threshold.

Therefore, only a small number of Triads – those on official duty, those with holobucks to blow, those seeking adventure – bothered to cross the threshold.

Most Triaddies stayed home. Giving the impression wrongly that Triaddies were often relatively go-getting, since it’s the go-getters who go through the opening.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the Fyuchee side, anyone and everyone came. It became a center of festivities. Whole ontographs of Fyuchees followed one another up to the opening. Some set up camp.

An economy arose outside the opening. Much of the daily traffic happened on the free-flowing Fyuchee side. Much of the bigger trade happened on the organized Triad side.

After a while, a large part of the overall economy refocuses itself on serving the entryway economy. Fyucheez and Triads cross into each other’s areas, often bringing forbidden items.

Of course, even still, it would take a different level of valor to bring something into the opening itself.

The opening itself becomes a source of fascination. Reports in the Triad interior describe the dangerous situation in the vol all around the opening, often inaccurately. Rumors fly among Fyuchee nodes.

Distinctions grow much blurrier at the entryway, too. Many of the Fyucheez there grow to resemble their Triad counterparts, and vice versa.

After some time, like an ancient biological system, the entryway becomes its own zone.

Through whatever unconscious forces, the Triads and Fyuchees around the entryway learn to live with each other, they blend together into each other, and they carry on as a distinct entity, neither fully Triad nor fully Fyuchee.

With contraband flowing freely, Fyucheez use their position at the entryway to fuel their ongoing efforts, both for the resistance and to establish a foothold in Phase Q.

Triads too benefit from the hive of activity. They, however, pour their funds into the development of their Forces, which operate domineeringly in multiple zones.

A Fyuchee sequesterer crosses into the entryway, carrying an enclosed container.

• Dream.
• Fall.

Phase Q: An interactive adventure.