Phase Q/The Conditions

They sat around the fireplace. Staring. Dreaming.

The last holdouts of the Futurista revolution. Burned.

Nothing left to live for. Nothing left to lose.

At least their accidental creations, the Zonnyxes, will live on. Whether for better or for worse, who knows?

The flames lick up into the air. Dancing. Frollicking. Playing.

Ah, those memories from so long ago. Back when the tubeworks were operational. Back before the farm ruffians took over. Back when the world seemed so full of hope, optimism, possibility.

They were going to change the world. To make it better, faster, smoother. And instead they wind up here, pressed up against a savage fire off in the wilderness. Like fuckin’ animals.

The flicks of light flying up from the fire shift about, subject to slight puffs of wind. Leaves fall from a decaying tree.

You listen in on your observer. Witnessing the end of an era. The death of the Fyucheez.

At least you’ll have something to report to the Ruffs.

Splat!

An assassin’s bullet hits one of the Fyucheez sitting around the fire. His corpse collapses, face first into the fire pit.

Ploof!

A second Fyuchee falls down.

The remaining Futuristas scramble to their feet. They rush to get away from the fire, but not in time. A rattle of machine gun fire clears out the camp, taking down the remaining Futuristas.

Goodbye.

Your observer starts erupting with noise. You rapidly turn the knobs, but nothing stops the commotion. You turn the power off.

Grbbrr zrrbr.

The noise keeps on coming. Something must be supplying external power.

You dash for your escape route, wishing you still could hop into the tubeworks.

A cadre of young Ruffs see you.

You press and hold the emergency button on your pocket computer.

A static discharge zaps your comp.

The electric charge seems to magnify of its own accord. It spreads into the sky, light upwardly arcing lightning bolts.

The sky shakes.

In the violent rocking motions of the air, something solid seems to materialize from the rays of light.

With thunder rolling through the hills, the sky emerges into a vast swarm of Zonnyxes.

Hovering, flying, darting about, they emit sharp jolts of light. Sometimes the radiative forks bounce among the hypernodes, messages flashing in an obscure network. Sometimes a tine jumps out and smashes into a corps of Ruffs, blowing them apart harder than any frag shell.

The Ruffs fire back, launching wave after wave of advanced weaponry. Cutting, piercing, smashing, exploding, vaporizing. All the armaments of a new breed of killer, falling flat.

The Zonnyxes have impervious armor. They are made of bits billions of times stronger than steel.

Swooping through the sky, the Zonnyxes levy devastating attacks on the Ruffs. Survivors flee in terror.

You cower under a fallen tree. Your stump aches. You watch the Ruffs drop some weaponry that may come in handy later. A Zonnyx cuts through space right above you, killing three Ruffs who were on your tail.

The Zonnyx turns around toward you.

Phase Q: An interactive adventure.