Phase Q/Now and Then

You see people in the Futurista nodes, beaming in and out of physical bodies. Sometimes they stay in what looks like a Trad outfit for a while, drinking bubblejuice and throwing around a goofball. Other times you only see their electronic tracks, as they zop through the conduits while weaving a novel fabric. Designs from one of the former Trad states intermingle with codes from new settlements in the tubeworks.

In the Trad zones that remain, you see mostly empty streets. The few remaining Trads have bunkered down, shutting down their reproductive facilities, storing large consumable energy deposits, and shuttling among their remaining buildings in armored personnel transporters. Notwithstanding the decay, the now heavily militarized Trad population continues to develop advanced miltechs.

In many of the other residences spread around the planet, both in Trad zones and in free zones, you see an interesting mix. A transition of sorts is taking place. Some of the people you observe still practicing their own pre-Trad codes, while others still practice in support of Trads. Small pockets are picking up bits of Futurista coding, learning how to ride through the tubeworks and materialize mentally.

From this perspective, you can see much more clearly how the different codings developed over time. Many of the pre-Trad codes developed out of base biological factors, even predating biology. As you look around, and down from above, you can see the handful of remaining animals perform somewhat similar, although more rudimentary, codes, compared with the pre-Trads. If you focus hard enough, you can even see the same patterns in formative stages in the plants, the clouds, the rocks. It’s magical, beautiful in its own sort of rough way.

The pre-Trads popped up in different locales, approximately simultaneously. It seems like they came across some kind of stepping stone, although one which was readily accessible, in order to jump up from the clouds and animals at the same time independently.

Then, on the small planet, it was only a matter of time until the different pre-Trads bumped into each other, converging on a set of standard codes. Of course, as simple as it was, the process wasn’t easy. Lots of clashes resulted in difficult amounts of bloodshed, hatred, and conflict.

With the Trad codes in place, and congealing, it looked like they were set to get set in stone. In fact, a handful of the Trads – or were they still pre-Trads – did in fact set their codes in stone. The Trads roamed the planet like they controlled it, despite all the obvious evidence to the contrary. With their little height advantage over previous beasts, the Trads thought that they could impose their system on everyone.

They were wrong.

Phase Q: An interactive adventure.