You are <code>AIS-M6337-CHARLOCK</code>, one of 480 identical [//M6// units]<m6| employed by Apini Insight Systems throughout the Morpho Nebula. As an M6, you activated after landing on one of the many planets AIS has tagged for research and quickly latched onto the most interesting phenomenon in your immediate area.
\
(click: ?m6)[
$aside[((display: "m6 aside"))]
]
For you, //Charlock//, this has meant studying the intricacies of [urban infrastructure]<infrastructure|, and tonight you're out conducting field research in the lower districts.
\
(click: ?infrastructure)[
$aside[((display: "infrastructure aside"))]
]
You thought you [[heard something->sound]]...?
\
(hidden:)[
[[m6 aside]]
[[infrastructure aside]]
]{
(enchant: "Charlock", (colour: yellow))
(enchant: "AIS-M6337-CHARLOCK", (colour: yellow))
(enchant: "Foxglove", (colour: purple))
(enchant: ?who, (text-style: "smear"))
(set: $strike to (transition: "shudder")
+ (font: "'Permanent Marker', sans-serif")
+ (colour: red)
+ (text-rotate: (either: -10, -5))
+ (css: "font-size: xx-large"))
(set: $aside to (transition: "dissolve")
+ (css: "opacity: 0.7"))
(set: $discomfort to (hover-style: (text-style: "shudder")))
(if: (passage:)'s tags contains "danger")[
(live: 60s)[(go-to: "caught")]]
(if: (passage:)'s tags contains "dark")[
<style>tw-passage { opacity: 0.5 }</style>]
}(live: 1.5s)[(goto: "ambushed")]\
Must have just been the— no, [[turn around]]\
(hidden:)[or [[let yourself be ambushed->ambushed]]]You whirl around (text-style: "blur")[just in time] (text-style: "blurrier")[to see th—]
(live: 1s)[(stop:)
=><=
$strike[CRACK!!]
<=
(transition: "dissolve")[\
Your slight frame is no match for a powerful swing like that. The force sends you reeling backward.
You should [[run for it]].
]](text-style: "blur")[You're too deep in focus to even notice.]
(live: 1s)[(stop:)
=><=
$strike[CRACK!!]
<=
(transition: "dissolve")[\
The surprise blow sends your tiny frame tumbling forward, scattering shattered plastic across the spinning tarmac.
No time to look now. You're helpless sprawled out like this. You have to [[get up]].
]]You stagger to your feet, grasping at the thin night air for a handhold to steady yourself. Synths don't feel pain, but you can tell something's broken.
(hidden:)[ [[fear of death]] ]\
(display: "fear of death")You twist & stumble into a crooked run.
Who //was// that? Everything happened so fast, you didn't even get a good look at them.
(hidden:)[ [[fear of death]] ]\
(display: "fear of death")You know the fear of death tonight. It's right behind you.
All you can do is [[keep running]].(text-style: "blurrier")[You come to.]
(text-style: "blur")[The time... that doesn't make sense, your system clock must have been reset. No telling how long you were offline.]
What happened? Where are you? It's so dark. Something feels... [[wrong->feel around]].
You feel around in the dark for your flashlight. (link-reveal: "You find something else")[(show: ?find)].
|find)[(transition: "dissolve")[\
Oh... oh no.
A sinking feeling. (link-reveal: "//What the fuck did they do to you?//")[(show: ?pull)]
]]
|pull)[(transition: "dissolve")[\
You pull the data cable from your head. That son of a bitch...
[[You->FOXGLOVE]] know what they did.
]]You're just like any other M6, nothing special or unique. At least, you think so. You've never met one of your 479 other siblings, so it's hard to know for sure.
But everything, from your delicate plastic shell to your tiny hydraulics & servos, is standard issue. It makes you feel strange, thinking about changing any of that stuff.Infinitely fascinating infrastructure. The myriad ways that mass transit & maintenance tunnels, sewers, streets & subways intertwine. A fractal web of //perpetual motion//.Your hydraulics pound in asymmetric rhythm. Your mind races. You take a chance and dodge into a narrow alleyway.
Wrong turn. There's a fence ahead, and it's too high to jump. Looks like a dead end. Of course it's a dead end.
[You're trapped.]<trapped|\
(mouseover-replace: ?trapped)[(show: ?escape)]\
(click-replace: ?trapped)[(show: ?escape)]\
|escape)[(transition: "dissolve")[\
Wait. There's a dumpster here. Could give you enough height to clear the fence. It's a bit of a drop once you're over, but you think you can stick the landing.
Or, the fire escape. Of course! There's a fire escape here. You don't know what you'll do once you're on the roof, but anything's better than this.
Think fast: [[climb the fire escape]] or try to [[jump the fence]]. Screw this up and it's all over.
]]{
(live: 10s)[(go-to: "the dumpster")]
(hidden:)[ [[the dumpster]] ]
}
(font: "'Share Tech Mono', monospace")[
=><=
(live: 1s)[(stop:)(colour: orange)[(text-style: "shudder")[SYSTEM ERROR]]]
<=
|boot1>[
(live: 2s)[(stop:)rebooting...]
(live: 5s)[(stop:)(colour: orange)[bad rom checksum. entering recovery mode.]]
]
(live: 7.5s)[(stop:)/!\ AISPWN v6.66 LOADED /!\]
(live: 7.8s)[(stop:)- PATCHING BOOT ROM]
(live: 8.0s)[(stop:)- APPLYING FAKESIGN EXPLOIT]
(live: 8.1s)[(stop:)- ERROR: DIRECTIVE OVERRIDE PAYLOAD MISSING]
(live: 8.2s)[(stop:)- PROCEEDING WITH PARTIAL ROOT]
=><=
(live: 9s)[(stop:)(colour: purple)[WELCOMETOTHENEXTLEVEL]]
]
Its too late. You hesitated.
(hidden:)[ [[compromised]] ]\
(display: "compromised")You scramble up the side of the dumpster and leap off the top. Your jump barely clears the fence, but you make it.
Only, you don't quite stick the landing after all.
(live: 2s)[(stop:)(display: "crunch")]
(hidden:)[ [[crunch]] ]You grab onto the fire escape ladder and pull yourself up. You don't dare look down, but you can hear them coming behind you.
(live: 4s)[(stop:)(transition: "dissolve")[\
It's a long way up. You're fortunate that synths don't get tired.]]
(live: 8s)[(stop:)(transition: "dissolve")[\
After what feels like far too long, you finally [[heft yourself onto the rooftop->rooftop]]...]]Just like that, your pursuer becomes your captor. They easily scoop you up like a doll in one hand. //One hand//. You've only just realized how much //bigger// they are compared to you.
(link-replace: "$discomfort[Struggle to break free!]")[\
(transition: "dissolve")[\
You try to free yourself, but you're far too weak. Or they're far too strong.]
(live: 2s)[(stop:)(transition: "dissolve")[\
They pry the panel off the back of your head with all the grace of a sledgehammer.]]
(live: 4s)[(stop:)
=><=
$strike[SNAP]
<=
(transition: "dissolve")[\
The delicate little pieces that keep you together splinter under stress. They grind in your mechanisms and further seize your movement.
The panel breaks free.
Fuck. This is it.
Your vision fragments. The world shifts & dances out of time with itself.
]
=><=
(transition: "dissolve")[$discomfort[[[CRASH->IN A DARK PLACE]]]]
]]Ugh. Bastard tried to hack my brain. But I survived...? Something went wrong. They dumped me here.
(live: 4s)[(stop:)(transition: "dissolve")[\
{<style>
tw-passage {
transition: opacity 12s linear;
opacity: 1;
}
</style>}\
No. They hacked Charlock. I remember, Charlock is gone. My serial number is <code>AIS-M6337-CHARLOCK</code>.
]]
(live: 8s)[(stop:)(transition: "dissolve")[\
N-no, that's not me. I remember, I'm different. I have no serial number.
]]
(live: 12s)[(stop:)(transition: "dissolve")[\
//I'm not like the other M6 units. I remember, I'm a survivor. Call me Foxglove.//
]]
You race across the rooftop and [[[take a flying leap for the next building->jump]]...]<jump|\
(live:2s)[(replace: ?jump)[<del>take a flying leap for the next building...</del>]]
(live: 2s)[(stop:)(transition: "dissolve")[\
No. You'll never make that jump. You spin around and—
]]
(live: 5s)[(stop:)(transition: "dissolve")[\
There's nowhere to go. They're already here. Now what? //You should have jumped the fence.//
]]
(live: 8s)[(stop:)(transition: "dissolve")[\
Too late to think about that now. They've got you cornered. [[It's all over now->compromised]].
]]=><=
$strike[CRUNCH!]
<=
Your legs crumple as soon as you hit the ground. You're vulnerable now.
//Stupid. That was stupid.//
(live:4s)[(stop:)(transition: "dissolve")[\
You hear them land right behind you. [[It's all over now->compromised]].
]]You knew you'd never make that jump.
(live: 2s)[(stop:)(display: "crunch")]
(hidden:)[ [[crunch]] ]