Phase Q/The Conditions
They sat around the fireplace. Staring. Dreaming.
The last holdouts of the Flowriser 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. Frolicking. 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.
The Flowrisers 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 darkin’ 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 bug. 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 Flowrisers 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 Flowrisers.
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 your bug with 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 nodal unit.
A static discharge zaps your unit.
The voltaic charge seems to magnify of its own accord. It spreads into the sky, light upwardly arcing like 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 Zonnyx hypernodes, messages flashing in an obscure network. Sometimes a tine of light 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 rocket-powered weaponry. Cutting, piercing, smashing, exploding, vaporizing. All the armaments of a new breed of killer, yet 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 against the Ruffs. Survivors flee in fear.
You cower under a fallen tree. Your stump aches. You watch the Ruffs jettison some weaponry that you may find 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.
