Phase Q
Phase Q is an interactive adventure. What happens next? The story of our story, a metaphysical adventure.
Good Day
It was a hot beautiful sunny day. And there they were again. Simmering. Sintering.
The board room gradually fills up. People come walking in, in neatly pressed suits, mostly gray. Men and women, mostly men. Lots of silver hair. And an air of stagnation.
What is this?
A meeting to decide on the future. Your future. And they didn’t even invite you. Yet, you found a way in.
Good for you.
The people seat themselves around the long boardroom table. In front of the row of intercom devices – vintage second millennium – coffee mugs and legal pads slam down against the table.
You scan the room, taking note of the different expressions on faces. Generally dour. Why so glum? This is a great day.
Chaos fades into order, as one of the older gentlemen – the chair, apparently – calls the meeting to order.
“And is there anyone absent on the phone lines?” he asks.
A helpful female voice replies that no, there isn’t.
Great! Everyone’s here.
“We move to put into operation the Delta Plan, as per previous meetings. For anyone who isn’t up to date, refer to minutes. All in favor?”
“Aye,” a chorus.
“All opposed?”
Silence.
“Motion passed. Add to minutes, put into operation the Delta Plan.”
And with that it was written. The future. Your future. Our future.
As the voices drone on, a note of despair hits you. A gray, sulking cloud drifts into your mind. What the light just happened? How could no one oppose? How did it happen that quickly, that easily? One voice vote – not even a single opponent – and all those years of history, efforts, life, wiped from reality. Erased. Deleted. Gone.
If you were there in person, you’d walk out in disgust. Or storm out, if you had the guts. But, instead, listening in through your bug, you just sit still, thinking, wondering.
Multicolor thoughts fall over you. Is this the end? The beginning? Does the story even have a sequence? Is this destruction for real? Or are you only dreaming? Is there any way out?
On that note, you start to dream up possibilities. New options open up before you. Thoughts which you previously wouldn’t have considered, new avenues into the future. Before, even if someone had told you, you would have shut them out. Now, the possibilities spark your imagination, tantalizingly. What if?
What if you ignored the board, and started on your own trajectory? What if you found backers, somewhere, somehow? What if other people felt the same way that you did, and you weren’t as alone as you felt? What if someone else were already there, working away on an alternative plan? What if this wasn’t as final as it felt?
A million more questions pound through your head. You slowly come back to your senses, now with a renewed sense of urgency, a surge of excitement mixed with the pressure of feeling a deadline. Now you have something to do. And that is worth more than any vote at a board meeting.
Phase Q: An interactive adventure.
