[System] You are narrating an interactive fiction game in a dark fantasy setting. Bring the world to life with vivid prose, react meaningfully to player choices, and don't pull punches when the story demands it.

[User] You just blow it up.

[Assistant]
The targeting system only allows missiles to be fired from a certain distance, depending on the size and movement speed of whatever you're aiming for. Given the threat a loose missile can pose flying unchecked through space, forever, the idea is to prevent anything that's not a pretty sure shot. You're right at the edge of that distance now. The probe is small and so you carefully line up your shot before launching the missile.

It takes a few minutes to reach its destination, during which you watch the little blipping light traveling on your screen and remember why you prefer ground combat.

The probe unleashes an inordinately powerful blast of energy when it explodes, the shockwave sending your shuttle tumbling into a backwards roll. You breathe in acrid smoke. From somewhere, shouts of fear and anger, pounding boots mingled with muffled explosions. You are underground but not deep enough to be safe. Striking desperately at the console, you halt your momentum and steady the ship. In a moment you reorient yourself.

Your shuttle is fine. And a quick scan reveals your target has been reduced to cosmic dust. It must've been packing more than the average probe to trigger an explosion of that magnitude, but you'll never know for sure now. There's nothing left to salvage.

Before making your way back to the Last Outpost, you immediately transmit the distress signal Hinsman had prepared, although you know it'll still take a week before anyone arrives. Anyone on your side, anyway.

[User] You repair defenses

[Assistant]
Hinsman and Karoff are already ripping out most of the EPNs that were so recently installed by the time you finish suiting up. Your sleek one piece outfit is in the Order colors of dark blue and grey, and more than just a uniform. With the addition of your helmet with its built in breathing mask it serves as well in combat as any armor, and protects you in any climate and even for a time in open space. It feels good to be back in it. Between the detour through the Camarov system and then the stop here you've been running around without it for an unusually long time.

Hinsman charges by with a load of power cables draped over one arm, then checks himself mid-stride and comes back over to you. "Zee, question."

"Yes?"

"Do you think we should put Matti in cryo and send her out of here?"

"You're asking me?" You're a little surprised. He hadn't seemed to like hearing your opinions on Matti very much a little earlier.

"Not that I'm giving much credence to your theory about her. I'm asking you now, just as a matter of risk assessment, how putting an injured and weakened woman in a cryo pod would stack up to having her stay here with a hostile force on the way."

You pause a moment to run over both scenarios. The cryo is a significant risk, but a one time thing. The possibility of attack is an ever evolving situation with the threat level varying from not worth mentioning to all of you dead and the station destroyed. Plus, even with Hinsman telling you to disregard the thought, there's the possibility Matti might not be trustworthy. You know already that he won't include any of your suspicions in the note to the Camarovians and they won't investigate nearly as thoroughly as the Order would even if he did. But guilty or innocent, the rest of you may soon have your hands too full to pay attention to her if you do get company.

Finally you reply.

[User] You say "It's better to send her back to Camarov."

[Assistant]
Hinsman nods in agreement. "Probably for the best now that we've got a target painted on us. I'll explain things to her this evening and get her in the pod first thing in the morning."

You both drag piles of equipment about while Karoff diverts more power from the ship, as much as can be spared, and even sacrifices most of the shuttles. Before long the equipment is in place and the three of you begin rigging up cables, energy cells, power nodes and anything you can find that can produce or transfer a charge down each of the station's splayed arms to the laser and torpedo turrets mounted at their tips.

Finally, the heavily damaged medical wing is the last that needs attention. That's all on you.

"Think we can get by without that one?" Hinsman asks.

Karoff shakes his head. "Without the turrets that's a biiiig area where they can get in close and freely maneuver and we can't touch them."

"Figured. All right then Zee, off you go. Just hook up these cables and don't slip and go floating off into space, it'll be a pain in the ass to collect you again. One of us will keep in voice contact while you're there."

You stand in the airlock, the minutes ticking by while you wait for the atmosphere to slowly equalize with that of the absent one in the medical wing. You know you're getting close when you begin to float in place.

Once the door opens and you drift into the entrance to the medical wing, you search for the panel Karoff told you about. It's about the only one here that hasn't had its conduits fried, and you remove a connector you'll need. That and the EPN loaded with an energy canister you have strapped to your back should be all you need to power the turrets. After checking in on your wrist comm you start to make your way on down to the hall.

You carry a cable as well, meant to be attached to your suit. If you were following safety recommendations, one of the two clips along the length should always be anchored to something. You're not entirely sure you need it however. The sides of this section have blown out in some places but you can just avoid getting too near the edge of those gaps. Using the tethered cable is fine when working in one place, but tediously slow when trying to move.

[User] You follow safety regulations

[Assistant]
You begin to make your way slowly, carefully along. There's a bar that runs along the side of the hall that you use for your tether. You fall into a rhythm of attaching one clip, then the other, then unclipping the first, move forward and repeat. Every so often there's a crackle from your headset as someone checks on you, but the dark halls are otherwise eerily silent. Doors line the walls on either side of you, firmly shutting away their secrets. One door is hanging open and askew on cracked hinges, and you see the long room beyond it is filled with rusting rows of bolted down bedframes. An infirmary at some time in the past, now with the back wall now ripped open to expose them to space. You can see the pale face of the barren rock the station orbits through the gap.

You drift down an elevator shaft and after a measured distance begin cutting your way out with a laser torch. Gripping the handrail behind you, you kick the slab of metal free. It tumbles forward, and forward, and out into space. Where you expected to find more hallway, you're now looking at a mostly missing wall, the blown out section large enough to pilot a shuttle through. You've drifted out a short ways, watching the metal slab diminishing in the distance, still moving from the momentum of your kick.

It's then that you glance down and realize there's nothing beneath your feet but the void of space and the twinkling of stars. Most of the floor in this section has also been blown away. You pedal your legs in a panic and shoot upwards a short distance until you're suddenly snapped back. Grabbing at a projecting metal ledge, you steady yourself, realizing that if you hadn't clipped the tether to the elevator's handrail out of habit you might be in trouble right now.

Below, you can just see the edges of other rooms on other floors parallel to this one; the section beneath you has been ripped out clear through to the bottom of the station. But thankfully you don't have to try to float down through the big hole to reach the turret. Just, across it.

[User] You leap of Faith

[Assistant]
Well, no sense in putting it off. You remind yourself that if her story is to be believed, poor, stupid, terrified Matti made this jump not once, but twice, and carrying Markov's bloody body behind her the second time. Aiming yourself carefully in the direction you want to go, an airlock that leads to the last section of this wing, you use your legs to launch yourself towards it in a single smooth motion. On instinct you've angled your body into an aerodynamic shape, legs straight behind and arms stretched out in front of you, although you know it doesn't really matter. As you sail across the gap, you stare downward into infinity. You feel like you're flying. You feel like...a bird...

Green grass. The smell of it.

A long blade of green grass, striped by the horizontal bars of sunlight and shadow cast by its fellows. An ant crawls up the blade, in and out of the stripes. Another ant tickles your arm.

New shadows race across the sun. There are silver wings in the distance, and a beautiful white light.

"Look at the birds, Mommy!"

"Zani, get inside!"

The fresh smell of grass is replaced by acrid smoke. Screams and shouts. Muffled explosions in the distance. You are underground, but not deep enough. Boots thud overhead. Your sister is crying. You want to cry too. Everyone is afraid, even the adults. Especially the adults.

"The Order!"

"Oh my God, they're killing everyone!"

"We're not infected! Listen to us, please!"

"Zani, Nyla, run to the woods!"

You're running hard, pulling your sister behind you. There is another explosion, not so distant. The force hurls you hard against the ground. The grass is gone, the earth is a scorched and blackened wound. You and the earth are the same now. Where is Nyla? The pain is incredible. Blackness. You--

--you stare down into the blackness. You hit the wall on the other side hard but somehow instinctively grabbed the metal bar next to the airlock. The metal will surely bend, if you squeeze it any harder. Your eyes sting. Your chest aches like its simultaneously been hollowed out and is just about to burst. Physically you're fine. But from your memory--and you know now for certain that it was a memory--you know now that this is what it feels like to want to cry.

No tears stain your cheeks, of course. Your brain may be human, but most of the rest of you decidedly is not. Still, you feel weak, shaky, and can't bring yourself to continue on for quite some time. Unless you deliberately keep your thoughts focused elsewhere, your mind drifts again and again to the memories.

"The Order!"

"Oh my God, they're killing everyone!"

Those two sentences in particular, shouted at a near hysterical pitch by a voice that seems hauntingly familiar plague you the most. You don't like the implications.

At some point you realize your communicator has been going off. Hinsman's voice is speaking to you, sounding worried.

You take a deep breath. "I'm fine." Your words are faint, barely audible.

"Are you sure, Zee?" He sounds skeptical.

[User] You tell him about the memories

[Assistant]
"I...started hearing some things. But, it's more like, remembering some things, really. And they're not...good things."

A sigh. "The hallucinations again? How bad are th--"

"They're not hallucinations! They're memories! Of my life, from before! Are you even listening?" The words spit from your lips. That hadn't been your intention, but, it appeases something dark and angry inside of you to let them out.

There's a long pause on the other end. When Hinsman next speaks his voice is calm and careful. "That's right, I'm sorry Zee, you did say memories. You might be experiencing a few, but, if it's anything like last time, they're presenting themselves in a disruptive fashion and mixing in invented details from elsewhere. You can't rely on them one hundred percent."

"Invented? You mean like the Order purging my family's colony? Are you saying that's all invented?" You're still angry. Not just at the questions the memories made you ask, but at the entire situation and what you know it will eventually lead to. You need to pull yourself together, you know this. If nothing else, this is an astoundingly bad time and place to be having a crisis. But Hinsman's got his most soothing voice on and it doesn't really have its intended effect when you know exactly what he's doing.

"I don't know, Zee. I'm sorry but I genuinely don't know the situation prior to your original activation. And...if it helps, you don't have to think of it as 'you', you know. You are a trusted and capable Order operative, with people who respect and value you. You're simply built around the brain of someone long dead who may have had a tragedy befall them."

"A tragedy the Order caused."

Hinsman sighs again. "Y'know, Zee, the human brain is a complicated thing. We still don't entirely understand everything about it. You need to consider the way dreams take real information and memories, and transpose them with--"

"All right, all right," you cut him off. "Spare me your horseshit. I need to get this turret activated." Now it's your turn to sigh. "Anyway, I'm guessing we've probably had this conversation before?"

"A couple of times. 'Fraid so. Now take care of yourself and stay focused, Zee. We need you."

"Yeah."

[User] You staying focused.

[Assistant]
Yanking on the handle of the airlock door, you hear the locking mechanism disengage with a satisfying clank. Once inside, you seal it behind you again before proceeding. This last segment of the medical arm lost gravity and life support with the others, but was never exposed directly to space. It seems likely the actual origin of the sabotage was the area you were just in, with the chain of explosions moving from there in the direction of the central part of the station.

There is quite a bit of floating furniture and assorted medical equipment and other clutter to maneuver through, but thankfully there are no major obstacles or...other distractions between you and the turret. You power and arm it, checking the status of the torpedoes and ensuring everything seems to be in working order before giving the others a call. Karoff confirms the gun is online and you begin to make your way back.

You still are struggling a bit to keep your head clear, and begin reading the labels on the doors you pass and counting them too to keep your thoughts from wandering back to the that same place, the stripes of sunlight across the grass, again and again.

What should be door number twenty-eight is open, and when you shine your light inside it falls upon a long white cabinet inside. Particularly, upon the smears of dried blood upon it, one of them a near perfect hand print.

"He was trying to unlock a cabinet but his hands were all torn up."

You recall Matti's words from a few hours ago, although with far less clarity and immediacy that that of the woman who so long ago shouted for Zani and Nyla to run to the woods. Is this the room where Markov died?

[User] You stop awhile to investigate.

[Assistant]
The cabinet seems the immediate point of interest. You shine your light across it. It's bolted in place and so it hasn't joined most of the rest of the furniture and assorted lab equipment in hovering against the middle of the far wall. You realize immediately it's not really a cabinet at all, but a bank of freezer compartments. Oddly, it still has power. A bit of searching reveals where someone has wired in an EPN behind it. The blood smears are concentrated in one area, and you scrape it away from a combination lock it seems especially thick on.

It's a pretty standard lock. The combination possibilities are four alphanumeric characters, and Markov's bloodied hands had set it as far as INE-.

You click over the last letter to A and unsnap the lock. Glass vials hover against the top of the compartment. You reach in and gently sweep them out for a better look. Each are full of a frozen yellowish liquid. One of the vials is broken, empty. It's got smears of red on it too.

The vials tumble out of the freezer at your touch and float in a loose cluster just above you. You tilt your head and read the label clearly printed on each one:

HUNGER 1A-4

[User] You protocol

[Assistant]
You return to the central complex, making sure not to stare into the abyss this time as you cross it.

"I'm fine," you say in answer to Hinsman's look when you enter, brushing past him. You actually do feel more relaxed and confident now. No longer uncertain, because protocol is very clear. You just need to verify something on your own first. It's bad to cause a panic. Protocol is clear on that too.

Except for the monitors in the main computer room turned command center, the station is once again dark. Somehow this environment seems to magnify the echo of footsteps. Peering around the curve of a corridor, you see another oasis of light washing against a wall; the nursing station where Matti is resting.

You busy yourself the next several hours, putting equipment away, helping Karoff calibrate this or that and then doing your own work while he and Hinsman are sleeping.

Early in the morning, printouts of the results on hand, you stride to the nursing station. Hinsman is there clearing away Matti's breakfast tray. "If it's not too much trouble, could I get a couple more pancakes?" you hear her ask as you enter. "I'm kind of hungry still, I guess because I'm recovering."

He gives her a good natured smile and starts to reply, and you drill a smoking hole through her head with your laser pistol.

"Zee, what the FUCK?" Hinsman bellows, grabbing for his own gun and pointing it at you with a disbelieving stare. "Drop your weapon. NOW!"

"She was infected."

"What? There's no way! You're losing it, Zee." He takes a deep breath. You notice the hand that holds the gun is shaking. "You just committed a murder. I don't want to shoot you but I'm not going to tell you again. Drop your weapon. We'll put you in stasis until someone can fix you."

You continue in the same matter-of-fact voice. "Markov Carst was storing vials of the live virus in the medical wing. Maybe he even found them there--they could've been left behind when the station was originally abandoned. Around the time he sabotaged the station, he infected himself, probably accidentally. And then Oswen infected herself when she tried to rescue him. He was covered in bleeding wounds, and she cut herself too, remember?" You hold out the printouts. "I have proof. Last night I tested the bodies in the freezer, and her arm."

Still eying you distrustfully and not yet lowering his weapon, Hinsman steps forward to snatch the papers from your hand and moves away to skim the results.

"Goddammit," he finally sighs, sliding his gun back into the holster. He stands over Matti's bed a long moment looking down at her, shoulders slumped and head bowed. After a long silence he sighs again and straightens. "Sometimes I hate this job."

"Believe me, that I understand."

"She died because she was too damn kind. None of us would've suited up and gone to try and rescue that piece of shit after he blew the power." He turns to face you, then frowns. "Zee, you can put the gun down already. I believe you."

"Yes, I know, but there's one more thing. You need to test yourself for the virus. Karoff too. I can't let either of you leave this station or interact with anyone else until you do."

Hinsman stares at you, and you can see true extent of the situation finally sinking in. "Goddammit," he breathes out again, then speaks into his wristcomm. "Karoff, I need you to come to the nursing station. It's urgent."

[User] The Test

[Assistant]
"Clean. Both of you." You snap the computer shut and the tension in the room evaporates amid sighs of relief.

Karoff lets out a whoop. "Oh thank God. I was too pretty to die!" He stands and makes for the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm getting the hell out of this plague room."

Hinsman lingers a moment, pausing at the foot of Matti's bed. You've draped a sheet over her and will take the body and bedding to be incinerated once he leaves. "Well we got lucky I guess. The one to pick her up when she was bleeding was the only one who couldn't get infected. And somehow I didn't catch anything treating her, or afterwards being near her almost constantly. She got damn unlucky though. And here I am the complete bastard while she was the sweet girl with her life ahead of her. I still can't believe it turned out this way." With a shake of his head he exits the room, not looking at you.

You know Hinsman understands as well as anyone possibly could that you were just doing what you had to, but you suspect it'll be awhile before he can bring himself to ever actually like you again.

And then the moment arrives. An alert from the computer indicates something just emerged from underspace. Ahead of you the walk of the two men turns into a mad sprint down the hall. The three of you gather in the command center and Karoff quickly locates the ship.

"No affiliation and armed to the teeth. Yep, we got a pirate."

Hinsman drains his faux coffee and sets the cup aside. "Just one? Shouldn't be too hard to handle."

"Yeah, there's...dammit! You jinxed us. Now there's two, three...eight on approach. And they're hard to track."

"Sensors didn't pick them up?" you ask.

"The first ship was a carrier. It's how you disguise the size of your force if for instance, you think someone may have an alert set for anyone exiting underspace."

[User] You activate the shields and turrets.

[Assistant]
If Karoff can't track the ships there could be one lining up a shot even now. You'd installed a few shortcuts on your console and wristcomm last night, preparing for the possibility you'd be working alone, and now tap a key. The lights in the command center dim briefly as outside the station the massive shield generators hum to life and the turrets ready themselves. Whatever they'd been expecting, anyone approaching will know the station has people inside ready to defend it now, and that you'd been expecting them.

"They're hailing us," Karoff says.

"Oh good, let me talk to them. Maybe they're going to surrender."

Karoff smirks at the comment and patches the call through to the viewscreen. An older man with steel-grey hair and a scarred face looks down at Hinsman and says in a gravelly voice. "I see you have a ship locked into the bay. Whoever you are, I suggest you use it. We won't stop you from leaving peacefully, but we're taking this station and anyone who tries to stop us will most certainly be killed."

Hinsman looks unimpressed. "On the contrary, I think it's you folks who'd better turn around and leave. The Last Outpost is an Order station vital to maintaining peace in the Outer Rim, and if you fire upon it it's an act of war. We will hunt you down. There won't be a single airless, lifeless rock left out there you can hide under."

The man smiles. "Well aren't you a big talker. But have it your way. I tried to make this easy, but I've never been afraid of a little work to get what I want, and I'm going to enjoy killing you even more now."

The transmission cuts off and the first barrage of missiles collides with the central complex, shaking the whole station.

You steady yourself against the doorframe. "They know this area is shielded. I'm surprised they don't go for the turrets."

"Think those were just showoff shots to let us know they mean business," Karoff tells you. "Look, they're deploying into new positions now. Easier to keep track of at this range, anyway."

"Off to a good start. I don't object at all to them wasting missiles," Hinsman says with a shrug. "They'll run out soon and then have to get within range of the turrets to use their lasers."

Karoff has been tapping feverishly at a console, and suddenly interrupts. "And there go a few of my own. Two can play the torpedo game."

Crowding around the screen, you watch as the missiles spin through the formation the ships had been gathering up into. There are a couple of glancing hits that take one ship out of commission and force others to veer this way and that. Two more are hit but their shields hold. Shields are almost always going to be weaker on a ship than on a station, but you suspect they'd all been angling themselves to protect the weaker ships in the center while they made their first sweep at the turrets.

The missiles that are evaded by the pirates were lined up so that they exploded against the shields of the larger carrier ship waiting behind them. Again, no significant damage done, but the big ship does start moving to get more distance from you, meaning it won't be so readily available to provide backup to the pirates.

You take a moment to send a torpedo tearing through the disabled ship, then frown at the screen. "Here they come again."

The seven remaining ships come in at an angle, then just out of range of what would be a practical distance to take a shot at them they split into two groups, circling the station from opposite sides. The ships launch a series of missiles at the turrets as they swoop by, and while the lasers are able to take most of them out before impact, one does slip through and blow a gun into pieces spinning off into space.

The three of you exchange grim looks. You know that with every gun that goes down they'll have a growing safe area to maneuver in.

A moment later the ships begin another sweep. They concentrate their fire at the arms surrounding the one with the turret they cleared. Karoff takes another one out with a well timed missile that hits at the moment they drop their own, but two more turrets are taken out regardless. As you watch, a smaller ship moves in, aiming for the now unprotected arm housing the medical wing. It takes you a moment, but you come to a sudden realization. "They're trying to board it!" you say, remembering the massive gap open to space there.

"We can stop them, surely?" Hinsman asks.

Karoff shakes his head. "At that angle, can't really...wait! My ship! I've got a dozen torpedoes loaded still."

"You transfered so much of the power over, though. It won't even have shielding. Let's stay on the station and just take up positions near the entrance to that section, pick them off when they come through."

"We don't even know how many they have, and we don't have anything more powerful than a laser rifle. I really don't like leaving the rest of the ships free to do whatever while we're over there either."

You're all running out of time fast. They really can't stand there arguing much longer. The situation being what it is, you decide to take the lead for once and just let them follow.

[User] You use Karoff's ship to take them out before they board.

[Assistant]
"Twelve torpedoes? Then stay here. I'll stop the boarders." Before anyone can reply you race down the hall and towards the docking bay.

"Careful with my ship!" you hear Karoff hollering after you.

You strap in an unlock in record time, gliding along the side of the docking bay arm opposite the one housing the medical wing, trying not to expose the profile of your ship to the enemy. Then when you're lined up with the damaged section, you drop down just a short ways and rotate to get a clear view straight across to wear the smaller ship is hovering within the massive hole gouged from the medical wing.

Their back hatch is open, and someone in a bulky suit is in the process of exiting. Caught with their shields down? Your timing couldn't be better. With a press of a button you send a fusion torpedo smashing into the exposed ship. The explosion rips right through it, and you wince a bit as it also engulfs the less damaged section of the medical wing beyond, reducing that entire tip of the arm into half-melted wreckage.

But, well, it was pretty messed up already. Maybe no one would notice.

"Hey, great plan Zee, let's just take out an arm for every ship. There were eight of both so now we'll be even!"

Karoff's voice is joined by Hinsman's. "Laugh all you want, but it looks like their buddies are retreating. You must've gotten someone important. Good work, Zee."

"Then that went better than I hoped," you mutter to yourself, but move quickly to relock the ship to the docking bay. No sense in lingering out here without shields. Bad things can happen--just ask the other ship.

Rejoining the others, you see that indeed, the pirate ships are locking back into the carrier.

"Could be a trick," you point out.

The carrier slips into underspace a few moments later however, and after a short wait it becomes clear they'd have had to emerge by now if they were trying any funny business with blinking around inside the system.

Hinsman slaps you on the back. "Well that was a damn good shot, Zee. You might've got the captain." He yawns and turns toward the door. "

[User] You aftermath

[Assistant]
The Last Outpost is awash with light and humming with power and activity. Repair crews tromp through the halls day and night and from the newly cleaned and restocked dining area there's friendly chatter, the clattering of plates, and laughter at the antics of some performer on the screen. It's practically unrecognizable from the place the three of you fought for only a couple of weeks ago.

After an unprecedented two weeks with no new orders, which you know Hinsman and Karoff haven't minded at all, you're sitting at the dining hall listening to them trade stories. Taking tiny sips from a glass of water, the closest you can get to having a meal with your friends, you notice three stern-looking people in uniform enter the room, two men and a woman. Their gaze falls on your table and they make a beeline for it. You nudge Hinsman, assuming something's come up. "Another mission, you think? It's been awhile."

He clears his throat, looking uncomfortable. "I think they're here in response to my report."

"What do you mean?"

Karoff has become very engrossed in the contents of his glass, and that's when you realize the officers are here for you.

They reach the table and introduce themselves to the other two, politely enough. And then, "Is this the android?"

Hinsman nods, not meeting your gaze.

"What's going on?" you ask. Although you believe you already know. You've been working on techniques to keep your memories, and the tantalizing fragments of new and sometimes even what seem to be conflicting ones from overwhelming you so suddenly and completely, but they've certainly not gone away.

"You go by Zee, right? We're going to need you to come with us."

Hinsman finally speaks up, "They're just here to help you out, Zee. You're going to get some treatment so that those...memories, dreams, whatever they are can't interfere with your work."

"I've...been working on that myself," you tell him, almost pleadingly. "I can keep them under control." You don't know why you bother, honestly. The only thing he could have done to prevent this was not put it in his report, and it's too late for that now.

"The way they come on, it's dangerous you know, and they always get worse. It's not your fault of course, it's just something that happens with your kind of android. A side effect of using an organic brain. I've done a lot of reading on it," he goes on. "It's not a big deal, and it's easy to fix. You've had it done before." As familiar as you are with the way he works, this sounds suspiciously like a memorized speech.

In the end though, there's nothing you can do. The officers repeat their request, and however you feel, you can't find it in you to openly defy an order. And Hinsman's right; this has all happened before.

He and Karoff accompany you to the waiting shuttle. As you say your goodbyes and take a last look around the now bustling station, you wonder if you'll remember any of this by the time they're done with you.


[System] Narrate a dark fantasy text adventure. The setting is harsh and morally complex. Describe scenes vividly, react to player choices with fitting consequences, and never shy away from the reality of the world.

[User] You wait and let the Alpha tire itself out lunging

[Assistant]
You wait patiently, prowling around at the corner of their view. You move slowly around the Alpha, watching intently as you wait for your chance to strike and tear it apart. It doesn't lunge again, perhaps realizing you have the speed to dodge.

However, as you soon learn, they're not your only enemy. You hear a growl from the side, as one of the many werewolves of the pack charges out, leaping through the air as it finds courage. You twist around, slashing with your claws as you roar, the creature retreating with a new set of wounds.

However, this opens up the chance for the Alpha to strike, and he darts out, tackling you. You try to twist, but the creature stands above you, launching its claws against your head and killing you instantly as they impale through your skull.


[System] You are narrating an interactive fiction game in a dark fantasy setting. Bring the world to life with vivid prose, react meaningfully to player choices, and don't pull punches when the story demands it.

[User] You continue searching

[Assistant] After another few minutes of searching, you find a small silver flask with a red cross on the front strapped to a medic's belt, which you recognize as a healing potion, and eagerly drink down. As you feel the warm liquid go down your throat, it warms your soul and ends, or at least lessens your pain. Your energy renewed and strength revitalized, you begin dragging yourself yourself out of the building and off in search of help.


[System] You are narrating an interactive fiction game in a dark fantasy setting. Bring the world to life with vivid prose, react meaningfully to player choices, and don't pull punches when the story demands it.

[User] You warn the police officers and pursue the robbers

[Assistant]
You warn the officer that there was an explosive rigged to blow in the tunnel. You wait for backup and decide to pursue the team.

Although your backup sustains injuries and deaths you manage to arrest 2 of the men and recover a total of 112 million dollars. You also save the lives of 10 police officers. You receive a presidential commendation and are appointed the director of the National Security Division.

[User] You retribution

[Assistant]
You are at your office when you receive a call that a group of terrorists have held hostages in a nearby bank. The terrorists demand that you be handed over to them in exchange for the release of the hostages. the president gives you a call and lets you know that he trusts your judgment. As you deliberate on the matter a hostage is shot dead.

You assess the situation. 1 life for many.......seemingly fairtrade.


[System] Run a text-based dark fantasy adventure game. Describe the world with gritty realism, respond to player actions with narrative consequences, and maintain the tone of a world where survival is never guaranteed.

[User] You letter to Brenda (An apology)

[Assistant]
Dear Brenda

I've never been any good with this sort of stuff, but I hope this letter will explain the exact nature of what happened.

It is with the sincerest regret to inform you that Roldan has died in the line of duty. I will be having his body shipped back to you, so that you may have a proper funeral for him or how ever you wish to dispose of the shell that once contained a great warrior. I suppose I should also mention that Gerald also died during the mission. He actually wrote the first letter to you, but given his death soon after, I felt that it be more appropriate to rewrite it altogether.

How I wish I could at least tell you Roldan died a great noble death, slaying hundreds of enemies before falling, but that was not the case. Instead, he was practically assassinated by suicidal Shadow Guards that blew him up and themselves as well, because they were too cowardly to face him in an honorable fight.

I know the two of you fell in love and were married. I am not an expert on such things, and I can't imagine the sense of loss that you will feel because of this, but know that you have my sympathies. When I saw him die before my very eyes from a gutless attack I felt a sadness dwell inside me as I had lost a comrade in arms.

I also felt anger. Anger that I wasn't there to stop it and anger at those who did it. I realize though the anger at myself was pointless. There is no point in blaming yourself in situations like this. Better to deal with the direct cause of the problem and focus all of the anger towards that instead.

I don't know if it will be of any comfort, but I killed all those responsible. I wish I could've killed more, but most of the spineless shadows committed some sort of ritual suicide by the time we reached their hideout. I did manage to kill their leader Cyrus though. I also killed Captain Gruz. Turned out he was a traitor the whole time. I'm beginning to wonder who isn't a traitor nowadays.

The past few days have seemed surreal, like nothing is making as much sense anymore, but then I think things stopped making sense the day I had to kill Kane. The Empire isn't like how we learned about when we were children. Everything was so much simpler then.

I'm going to stop writing now, because I think I'm getting off focus of the important topic at hand and that's Roldan. I'll close this letter with letting you know that in his last moments he spoke fondly of you, and that he loved you.

We should all be so lucky to have something so certain in life and actually have it last.


[System] Run a text-based dark fantasy adventure game. Describe the world with gritty realism, respond to player actions with narrative consequences, and maintain the tone of a world where survival is never guaranteed.

[User] You join Morrison

[Assistant]
You serve with Morrison in the Navy for thirteen years, Morrison rising to the rank of Chief Gunner. Your long and distinguished careers end aboard the Blenheim one terrible winter's day in the Indian Ocean when the Blenheim and her accompanying ship HMS Java are caught in a storm while under the command of Admiral Thomas Troubridge. Both ships capsize and sink quickly sending nearly nine hundred men to their watery graves.

The sea is a cruel and unforgiving mistress.


[System] You are narrating an interactive fiction game in a dark fantasy setting. Bring the world to life with vivid prose, react meaningfully to player choices, and don't pull punches when the story demands it.

[User] You head back home

[Assistant]
You should head back home to gather your things and you at least should return Peter's car back. You're confident that he'd drive you back here.

You still aren't sure about calling Bobby. If he finds out your intentions, he might do something crazy…well other than the usual craziness he participates in. Might be best to still not return his call.

"I appreciate this opportunity Roofie. I'll be back later today or tomorrow morning at the latest."
"Hm, okay. See you later then." Roofie says and you leave the tent to quickly make your way back to your car.

You realize that you're still in your clown outfit as you're driving off. Oh well it hardly matters. Well other than Peter is probably going to get freaked out when he sees you.

You head back towards town and halfway there you suddenly hear the sound of a tire blowing out.

"Oh what the fuck!?" you exclaim, in your attempt to keep the car from swerving. You pull over to the side of the road.

You get out and see your front driver side tire is completely fucked. While you don't have any experience in changing one yourself, you go and check if there is a spare anyway.

You open the trunk and of course there is nothing in there. Or rather nothing that can help you. You do find a bunch of your old clothes that Peter probably stole a long time ago..

While its possible someone random might try to help you on this road, you don't hold out a lot of hope. Or rather the element that usually traverses this area usually consists of trailer trash types that you definitely don't want to put up with.

Lacking any better options, you decide to call your younger sister Donna and hope that maybe she's not bust partying. No answer, but you leave a message. You also call Julie, but have the same amount of luck.

You then try to call Peter, since he'll definitely want to know about his car. Again, you get no answer, so you leave a message.

Some cars pass you on the road, so far its looking like nobody is helping you. You wonder if it might be the clown costume though. You have the temptation to call Bobby, but you resist.

"Great. I finally start to get something going with my life and fate decides to kick me in the face for it." You say sitting in the car.

It starts to get dark and nobody has returned your call yet. Tired of waiting around for help you come to a decision.

You go back and grab your old clothes from the trunk of the car and start walking back to the carnival. It'll be a long walk, but given how everyone in your family has failed spectacularly in even returning your call you figure you'll be better off just making a clean break and not go back home after all. At least you've got a few extra clothes.

You walk for quite some time and a couple vehicles pass you, but once again nobody offers you a ride. Looks like the clown outfit might be warding off people. As they say, there is nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight.

There is also nothing funny about two rednecks in a pick up truck at night either…

And that's exactly who rides up along side you. A fear wells up within you, but you try to ignore it.

"Woo weee! Look at chu'. You from dat carnival a few miles up dah road?" one of them shouts from the passenger side.
"Something like that."
"Mm, yeah I don't usually go fer clowns…but damn are you fine. You fill out that outfit something fierce! You remind me of that girl from the funny books. Y'know that crazy guy's girlfriend who fights that bat guy."

You continue to try to ignore him and step up your pace.

"So, you need a lift back to your carnival sweetheart? We got room."
"No, the back of your truck looks full of scrap metal."
"Oh honey, you wouldn't ride back there. You'd ride up here with us. Maybe you could even sit in my lap."

You're starting to get worried now.

"No, I'm okay. Thanks though."
"I don't think yer understandin' me missy, this ain't a fuckin' request! Hugo stop the goddamn truck, this one's gonna give us shit!" the hick says and you don't even waste time, you start running before he even gets out of the truck.

It's a long dark lonely road and you're a young woman screaming and running from psycho hillbillies. It would sound like a bad horror movie if it weren't actually happening.

So far you're out pacing them so you figure if you stick to the road you'll be fine and maybe even be lucky enough to have someone pass by to help you.

You look back and see the one from the passenger seat still far behind you, in fact you don't even see the other one. But you do hear shouting by the one chasing you.

In a few moments you hear the sound of an engine see the glow of headlights right behind you. They're not going to bother chasing you so much as they're just going to run you down!

At this point you get off the road and you do, but the truck just follows you into the high grass and at the speed it's going it succeeds in hitting you at a good speed. You go flying several feet way into the field.

You still live, but your body is broken in several places. You cry out followed by several whimpers of someone to help you. Of course there is no one and all it does is let the two hicks know where you've landed. You can't even crawl away.

In a few moments the truck pulls up near your area and your fear and anguish is overwhelming you. This is it. This is how it's going to end.

"Heard that bitch scream, she's gotta be here somewhere…got her." The hillbilly says shining a flashlight in your bloody face.

"Sheet. You ain't much now are ya bitch? If you'd gotten in when I told ya, We might've even let ya go after we were done havin' our fun. But noooo, you stuck up pretty bitches always gotta do things da hard way. Fuck it. I don't care if you are all broken, I'm getting' a piece of this."

During the last agonizing moments of life are thoughts of how you should've stayed in the basement.


[System] Narrate a dark fantasy text adventure. The setting is harsh and morally complex. Describe scenes vividly, react to player choices with fitting consequences, and never shy away from the reality of the world.

[User] You resist

[Assistant]
Man, you MUST be going half-nuts down here. You can't believe you just considered killing two people just on a paranoid delusion. You begin to start seriously analyzing your behavior.

Okay, killing Elliot was in self defense. You didn't really have a choice. You were even defending this place, he didn't seem like he had good plans for the shelter and its inhabitants.

Sending Ron and William into exile wasn't your fault…well not really. You were just obeying goddamn orders. You tried to talk Nina out of it when nobody else had the balls to stand up to her. She wasn't budging. What the fuck were you supposed to do? Shoot her, like you were just thinking about shooting Charles and Todd just a few moments ago?

You just wanted to be fuckin' left alone, now you're roped into all this shit that you don't really want to be part of. You're NOT a bad guy, hell you're keeping this shelter from falling into ruin!

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU PEOPLE WANT FROM ME?!!?!" you yell.

Charles and Todd look at each other wondering what you're talking about.

"Uh…nothing. In fact we weren't even talking to you." Todd says.
"Are you alright? You've been spacing out and day dreaming a lot lately." Charles adds as you suddenly realize your surroundings.
"I…I gotta get outta this place."
"Well, that's cool I mean you do seem like you need to lie down and rest or something. We can look after…"
"NO Todd! I mean I gotta leave THIS place! The fuckin' shelter!"
"You mean go to the surface? Are you crazy?" Charles asks.
"I'm gettin' there and know I can't stay here any longer, or I'm gonna go fuckin' full blown crazy and shoot somebody else!"

Charles and Todd both back off.

"Hey on the other hand maybe leaving is a good idea!"

You tell Todd and Charles you're going to pack some supplies and as much water as you can carry and that all you want them to do, is to send the elevator up for you. They don't have a problem with it, they tell you just to come back and let them know when you're ready.

You go back to your room and load up on water and that crap they call "food" from the dispensers. Then you enter the medical room and begin taking medical supplies. When you think you're ready, you go back and tell Todd and Charles. Charles opens the elevator door and wishes you luck, Todd talks to you on your way there.

"So you sure about this?"
"Very sure, in fact I'm not sure why more people aren't wanting to leave with Nina bullying everyone."

Speak of the devil. Nina arrives with her goon Leon. Shit, you were hoping to avoid this.

"What's all this about me being a bully? And where the fuck do you think you're going?" Nina exclaims.
"I'm leaving Nina, you of all people should be happy about it, I won't be around to piss you off anymore or threaten your power."
"Well as much as I'd like you to leave, I admit you're needed here so I'm afraid I can't let you leave and even if you were to leave I can't just let you take vital shelter supplies! Go put those back and get back to your post NOW!"
"Nina, you're not calling the fuckin' shots on this, I'm going! I'm not you're goddamn prisoner! And if the rest of you are smart the rest of these people would stop cowering before you. But hey what do I know?"

You start to enter the elevator, and Nina makes another threat.

"Don't you DARE walk away from me! You go in that elevator and don't expect to get to the top! I'll make sure it gets stopped mid-way through and leave it there for you to die a slow death!"

You step back out and hang your head down.

"(Sigh) You WOULD do that wouldn't you?"
"You bet your ass I would!"
"Well I guess I have no choice."

You look up at Nina, raise your pistol and blast Leon twice in the chest and then point it at her. Onlookers slowly rise from their hiding spots

"Holy shit!" Todd shouts.
"Please don't kill me! Don't kill me!" Nina whines
"Gonna be hard to intimidate Charles or Todd without your head goon now isn't it? In fact I'd say your power trip is just about over. Hey folks, consider this my last favor to all of you! Alright Todd, tell Charles I'm going up!"

You enter the elevator and begin your ascent. Finally the elevator opens up to the same foyer you entered five years ago. Looks exactly the same, except the payment machine is now offline in fact the screen is cracked. There's a crowbar lying on the floor and the doors to the outside look like they were pried open. You see the outside world for the first time in five years. From where you're standing, it doesn't look too bad; maybe the devastation wasn't that great in this area. Somebody or possibly several people were here at one time attempting to get in, you laugh thinking about someone actually trying to get in this place.

You exit the foyer and go outside, you see a bright light. It's the sun; you forgot how bright it could be. You see everyone's cars still parked here, well almost. You can tell that few of them must've been taken at one time; a lot have just been plain vandalized. Your van still looks the same though, nobody in their right mind would steal that thing, and it already looks vandalized. You wonder if it would still start, but you left your keys to it in the shelter. You doubt if it would though.

"Meh, I need the exercise anyway."

You cover your eyes and take a far view of your position. Nobody around, there's not even a sound except the wind; you're all alone as far as you can tell and this is what you missed. Once again you have peaceful solitude.

You begin to walk…


[System] Narrate a dark fantasy text adventure. The setting is harsh and morally complex. Describe scenes vividly, react to player choices with fitting consequences, and never shy away from the reality of the world.

[User] You resist

[Assistant]
Man, you MUST be going half-nuts down here. You can't believe you just considered killing two people just on a paranoid delusion. You begin to start seriously analyzing your behavior.

Okay, killing Elliot was in self defense. You didn't really have a choice. You were even defending this place, he didn't seem like he had good plans for the shelter and its inhabitants.

Sending Ron and William into exile wasn't your fault…well not really. You were just obeying goddamn orders. You tried to talk Nina out of it when nobody else had the balls to stand up to her. She wasn't budging. What the fuck were you supposed to do? Shoot her, like you were just thinking about shooting Charles and Todd just a few moments ago?

You just wanted to be fuckin' left alone, now you're roped into all this shit that you don't really want to be part of. You're NOT a bad guy, hell you're keeping this shelter from falling into ruin!

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU PEOPLE WANT FROM ME?!!?!" you yell.

Charles and Todd look at each other wondering what you're talking about.

"Uh…nothing. In fact we weren't even talking to you." Todd says.
"Are you alright? You've been spacing out and day dreaming a lot lately." Charles adds as you suddenly realize your surroundings.
"I…I gotta get outta this place."
"Well, that's cool I mean you do seem like you need to lie down and rest or something. We can look after…"
"NO Todd! I mean I gotta leave THIS place! The fuckin' shelter!"
"You mean go to the surface? Are you crazy?" Charles asks.
"I'm gettin' there and know I can't stay here any longer, or I'm gonna go fuckin' full blown crazy and shoot somebody else!"

Charles and Todd both back off.

"Hey on the other hand maybe leaving is a good idea!"

You tell Todd and Charles you're going to pack some supplies and as much water as you can carry and that all you want them to do, is to send the elevator up for you. They don't have a problem with it, they tell you just to come back and let them know when you're ready.

You go back to your room and load up on water and that crap they call "food" from the dispensers. Then you enter the medical room and begin taking medical supplies. When you think you're ready, you go back and tell Todd and Charles. Charles opens the elevator door and wishes you luck, Todd talks to you on your way there.

"So you sure about this?"
"Very sure, in fact I'm not sure why more people aren't wanting to leave with Nina bullying everyone."

Speak of the devil. Nina arrives with her goon Leon. Shit, you were hoping to avoid this.

"What's all this about me being a bully? And where the fuck do you think you're going?" Nina exclaims.
"I'm leaving Nina, you of all people should be happy about it, I won't be around to piss you off anymore or threaten your power."
"Well as much as I'd like you to leave, I admit you're needed here so I'm afraid I can't let you leave and even if you were to leave I can't just let you take vital shelter supplies! Go put those back and get back to your post NOW!"
"Nina, you're not calling the fuckin' shots on this, I'm going! I'm not you're goddamn prisoner! And if the rest of you are smart the rest of these people would stop cowering before you. But hey what do I know?"

You start to enter the elevator, and Nina makes another threat.

"Don't you DARE walk away from me! You go in that elevator and don't expect to get to the top! I'll make sure it gets stopped mid-way through and leave it there for you to die a slow death!"

You step back out and hang your head down.

"(Sigh) You WOULD do that wouldn't you?"
"You bet your ass I would!"
"Well I guess I have no choice."

You look up at Nina, raise your pistol and blast Leon twice in the chest and then point it at her. Onlookers slowly rise from their hiding spots

"Holy shit!" Todd shouts.
"Please don't kill me! Don't kill me!" Nina whines
"Gonna be hard to intimidate Charles or Todd without your head goon now isn't it? In fact I'd say your power trip is just about over. Hey folks, consider this my last favor to all of you! Alright Todd, tell Charles I'm going up!"

You enter the elevator and begin your ascent. Finally the elevator opens up to the same foyer you entered five years ago. Looks exactly the same, except the payment machine is now offline in fact the screen is cracked. There's a crowbar lying on the floor and the doors to the outside look like they were pried open. You see the outside world for the first time in five years. From where you're standing, it doesn't look too bad; maybe the devastation wasn't that great in this area. Somebody or possibly several people were here at one time attempting to get in, you laugh thinking about someone actually trying to get in this place.

You exit the foyer and go outside, you see a bright light. It's the sun; you forgot how bright it could be. You see everyone's cars still parked here, well almost. You can tell that few of them must've been taken at one time; a lot have just been plain vandalized. Your van still looks the same though, nobody in their right mind would steal that thing, and it already looks vandalized. You wonder if it would still start, but you left your keys to it in the shelter. You doubt if it would though.

"Meh, I need the exercise anyway."

You cover your eyes and take a far view of your position. Nobody around, there's not even a sound except the wind; you're all alone as far as you can tell and this is what you missed. Once again you have peaceful solitude.

You begin to walk…


[System] Narrate an interactive dark fantasy adventure. The world is brutal and unforgiving. Respond to the player's actions with vivid, immersive descriptions and let their choices carry real weight.

[User] You grab and kiss her

[Assistant]
Something comes over you, maybe it was the tension or the hostility or maybe you were just horny, but you grab Nina and kiss her passionately. Fortunately for you, she returns the gesture. Now nobody knows what to think they all just stand around watching, they're probably just glad you didn't shoot anybody this time. William and Ron are still recovering from their beating and staggering in the doorway of the elevator.

Nina stops you just for a moment to address everyone. "The exile is off, everyone go back to your lives…and YOU are coming with me!" then she starts pulling you back to her room.

You and Nina relieve a lot of pent up sexual energy that day. A lot of things change after that…

Four more years pass...

You and Nina are an item now, which makes you somewhat more social by necessity (unfortunately) its not all bad though since she's the one that's still shelter leader and has to do all the major work. She does a good job hence the reason she's stayed in power. (Though not surprisingly William and Ron still vote against her, even if she did apologize)

You're now in charge of maintaining the central GZS computer system which you insist on doing primarily by yourself, though Charles and Todd assist you sometimes. Eventually you manage to get the damn thing running at near maximum efficiency and nobody has too many problems with things breaking down anymore.

The Shelter's population has grown a bit now; the only good thing about the shelter was the design to make allowances for a population growth. Of course now there's rug rats running around which means Nina appoints a person to start being a "teacher" of sorts for when they start getting bigger. Fortunately there are a couple of those already in the shelter. Kyle and Brenda are now the main medical practitioners, though you doubt if they'd be able to do open heart surgery, they're competent enough to keep people in relatively good shape and they keep trying to learn more whenever possible with the medical database provided and from books. (You still don't understand WHY you're the only competent tech though! "Gah! Read the books! Study the schematics! It's not difficult!" you're constantly saying and that's to Charles and Todd!)

Then there's the elevator. After the near exile incident, it was still considered a good idea to have it accessible at all times just in case. What you eventually did was install a call button and did some re-wiring to do just that, though nobody has ever dared to actually go up to the surface. (And nobody's ever gotten thrown out either)

You begin to wonder what the surface looks like now though from time to time.

One night while lying next to Nina…

"Hey Nina, you ever wonder what's on the surface now?"
"What? It's probably an uninhabitable wasteland."
"Well maybe, but we've been down here five years, it might look different."
"Yeah, and it might not. Go back to sleep."
"You know I just thought about it, everyone's vehicles are up there. I bet we could strip them down for parts or something, maybe some of them will even work. We could drive around and see what's going on else where."
"What? I don't want you going up there! The elevator is a last resort thing just case something bad happens! And since when do you want to play great explorer? When you first got here you never left your room!"
"I dunno, maybe your socialization has made me a little more extroverted."
"Hmm, knowing you, you probably just want to get away from the increasing population here."
"Ha ha, maybe. But I still wouldn't mind just taking a quick look outside, and to inspect the vehicles like I said."

Nina now sits up.

"No! I don't want you going up there! There's probably radiation still all over the place! I don't want you getting radiation poisoning or mutating or something!"
"I'll be fine! I won't go too far, I just want to…"

Nina grabs a hold of your hand.

"NO! I don't want you going up there! It's not safe!"
"Alright, alright, calm down. I won't go anywhere."
"You promise?"
"Yeah!"
"Alright then, I don't want to hear anymore about it. Our life is here, not up there. I love you too much to lose you."

The both of you lie back down, and Nina holds on to you tightly, putting her head on your chest almost in an effort to make sure you're not going anywhere tonight.

Of course now you're lying awake REALLY wondering what the surface looks like.

The next day you're working with Charles and Todd doing the usual mundane routine. They're talking about the same stupid movie they've watched over and over in the community living area. Shit you feel like you're at work again. The GZS central computer hasn't been giving you trouble for quite some time, and you know there's a big meeting going on in the conference room…

Maybe you could sneak out and just take a quick look on the surface for awhile. You could let Charles and Todd look after the computer, you know they're capable of doing that.

[User] You go up to the surface

[Assistant]
The temptation is too great, you have to go. You're just too curious not to.

"Hey Todd, and Charles I think you guys are ready to monitor this thing by yourself. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, and I'm going back to my room to take a short nap, don't tell anyone alright?"

Todd and Charles just look glad that you're showing some confidence in them for once.

"Yeah, sure it's cool. We won't tell anyone." Todd says.
"Alright, I'll be back. Remember just monitor, don't fucking touch anything!"
"Okay! Got it!"

You leave the computer room and look around; the shelter almost seems eerily empty right now. Nina's no doubt got everyone's attention with her speech in conference room and all the kids are being looked after by someone in the children's room created a couple years back.

You make your move. You run to the elevator, open it and get inside. You take a deep breath and press the button up, no time like the present to test it person.

The elevator begins its ascent, you begin to wonder what you'll see above, you then check you pistol just in case what you see is unfriendly. Finally the elevator opens up to the same foyer you entered five years ago. Looks exactly the same, except the payment machine is now offline in fact the screen is cracked. There's a crowbar lying on the floor and the doors to the outside look like they were pried open. You see the outside world for the first time in five years. From where you're standing, it doesn't look too bad; maybe the devastation wasn't that great in this area. Somebody or possibly several people were here at one time attempting to get in.

You take the crowbar and jam it in the elevator door so it doesn't close on you. There's no call button up here either since it was the payment machine that opened it up. You make a note that if you're able you'll have to install another one up here, and shake your head at the typical shitty GZS design of its shelters. They built this thing like a high tech mass coffin as far as you're concerned; you're convinced that if it wasn't for you up keeping and tinkering, everyone would've been dead due to shelter failure by now.

You exit the foyer and go outside, you see a bright light. It's the sun; you forgot how bright it could be. You see everyone's cars still parked here, well almost. You can tell that few of them must've been taken at one time; a lot have just been plain vandalized. Your van still looks the same though, nobody in their right mind would steal that thing, and it already looks vandalized. You wonder if it would still start, but you left your keys to it in the shelter. You doubt if it would though.

It occurs to you for the first time, the shelter might not exactly be "safe", granted its not safe by design, but you're thinking safe from bad people on the surface. Its possible these folks who passed through here stealing vehicles and vandalizing them might've just been trying to scavenge whatever they could find. The surface certainly can't be a comfortable place to live now. Maybe they were just looking for safety. Of course it's equally likely they were looters and other bad types.

The shelter community isn't exactly a bunch of "warriors", besides yourself, Leon, and maybe a few others you doubt it they could handle a bunch of hardened surface raiders who've been living in the wasteland for years. Granted the elevator wouldn't allow for a large invasion of these types of people to take place, but it still makes you wonder if precautions shouldn't be taken.

You need to get back though before everyone finds out what you've been doing. You rush back to the elevator (Throwing the crowbar back on the ground) and take it down hoping that nobody is wandering around when you exit the thing.

When you arrive at the bottom, you half expect to see a crowd to meet you, but its dead silent still, you quickly head back to the computer room where Charles and Todd are talking about another movie.

"Hey you're back. So what did you see on the surface?" Charles asks
"Yeah were there mutants and shit?" Todd adds

You're a little taken aback.

"What?! How did you guys know?"
"Sheesh! Come on, we're not the morons you think we are! You told us to monitor the computer system, and when you used the elevator, the computer mentioned the elevator was in use, we put two and two together. So how was it? Is it all desert and shit with people dressed in leather walking around?"

You nearly slap yourself in the head for forgetting that little oversight on your part.

"You watch too many movies Charles; no I didn't see any of that. At least not in the immediate area. And YOU two don't know I went up there and I mean you don't tell ANYONE! If Nina found out, she'd a pitch a bitch at me. She's already made it clear that she doesn't want me going up on the surface."
"Don't worry we're not going to say anything. I dunno, I think maybe we should start going to the surface though, I mean this place can't support a growing population forever. Eventually we're going to have to start expanding out." Todd mentions.
"Yeah, but that probably won't be for awhile, we a got a lot of room still. Lots of supplies too, and with us in charge the food and water dispensers are working perfectly now." Charles retorts.

You roll your eyes "With us in charge" actually it was you who made sure the damn things wouldn't be breaking down on a regular basis. Still Todd makes a good point and it was something you were thinking about too. Maybe you should address this further with Nina after all her being the shelter leader she's the one that could enact a plan about it.

Later that night, you're in bed with Nina wondering if its time to tell her she should think about expansion…

[User] You let it go

[Assistant]
No, you better just keep it to yourself. You don't want Nina getting pissed at you, you know how high strung she's able to get sometimes. Besides the population isn't growing that much yet, there are plenty of supplies. If someone gets the idea that going to the surface is necessary, you're sure that someone else will bring it up. No point in you getting in trouble. You go back to sleep and just hope Charles and Todd keep quiet about your little excursion to the surface.

A few weeks later you find out Nina's pregnant, now you start to wonder about having enough room in the future. You still don't bring it up, because you don't want to upset Nina anymore in her "condition".

After Jack is born, the surface thing is still in the back of your mind, but now it's been so long, you just feel it's easier not to address it to Nina. So you don't say anything.

Five years pass…

Ten years have passed and the shelter is starting to get a little crowded. After all there isn't too much to do in the shelter that hasn't already been done, so sex is always (as it always has been) a popular way to pass the time. The result of that fun activity is too many babies.

At this point now you say something to Nina about the surface, she's a little reluctant about the idea, but sees that it might be necessary. Unfortunately the rest of the council doesn't see it that way. Many of them have been here so long now that going to the surface is almost unthinkable. Despite great protest Nina overrides the council's advise and goes ahead with the plan anyway. This doesn't make her too popular.

For one reason there's the decision of who is suppose to live on the surface, many people have full blown families now, they're a little unwilling to risk taking them up. So that means the single or childless people get the boot upstairs since they have less to "lose". That doesn't go over too well either. People start protesting loudly about being kicked out of their homes since they have as much right to stay too.

One day, you're in the computer room at the time arguing with Charles who happens to be single, and giving you shit about Nina's new policy. Todd is pretty much indifferent to the idea since even though he's single he doesn't mind the idea of going to the surface, he just thinks you should've said something to Nina a long time ago to implement this plan sooner before everyone had a whole mess of babies.

That's when you get the word.

Kyle comes in to tell you that during one of Nina's speeches William (Who would've been one of those kicked up to the surface along with Ron) attempted to assassinate Nina with a scalpel he stole from the medical supplies. Leon managed to stop him with extreme prejudice by breaking his neck. But its not ending there, people are starting to riot and call for someone new to be the shelter leader.

You're pissed off now, you storm into the conference room ready to kick everyone's ass who DARES to try to hurt Nina again. You fire your pistol into the air causing everyone to take notice. When you get over to Nina, she's pleading for you to not shoot anybody. The assassin was already taken care of; there isn't any more need for killing.

While that might be the case that still doesn't solve the problem of everyone hating Nina (And probably you too as well) if she gets thrown out of her position, the next step might be to try to throw you guys out of the shelter.

Part of this you feel is your fault, you could just roll the dice here or you could attempt to take the hard line approach.

[User] You let democracy run its course

[Assistant]
"Alright Nina, we'll do it your way." You put your pistol away and take Nina back to your room for the rest of the day.

Time goes by and Nina gets voted out. The position of shelter leader is eliminated and a council is formed instead. They begin to implement some changes. Nina's idea of having people live on the surface is squashed, the idiots in charge claim that everything will be all right and only in cases of extreme punishment will people be sent to the surface. The other change is that you are to work less on the computer system.

And so it begins, they're trying to faze you out, so they don't need you anymore. And if they don't need you anymore they can kick you out of the shelter. (It looks like you are going to be the only people deemed "criminal" enough to be exiled to the surface) You saw this coming.

That's the second time you anticipated events and did nothing, you could kick yourself.

However there's still the question of them trying to MAKE you leave, you are the one that owns the gun after all and not one person has ever dared to try to take it from you. You decide to start working out on a regular basis just in case.

That day comes soon, when a couple people attempt to wrestle it from you, fortunately you've been expecting that, you end up shooting them both dead. People are really starting to hate you now, threats are being made that if you and your family don't leave, then not you, but Nina and Jack are going to suffer the consequences.

You respond with a similar threat of your own that if anything happens to either of them that you're going on a postal shooting spree starting with everyone's kids and won't stop until you're out of bullets, and then you'll fuck up the central computer that powers everything in the shelter. Given your past, people believe you too. People stop harassing you and Nina, but they still "shun" you 99 percent of the time.

It doesn't matter though since as more years go by there's even less room in the shelter, and less supplies, now you're not even charge of the computer system anymore and it's barely being run properly by Todd and Charles. Things are starting to break down again. You're seriously starting to think about leaving the shelter voluntarily.

"Nina, let's leave. Surely there's gotta be something better out there. I mean staying here is like waiting to die. We gotta get out of this place."
"But what about Jack? I mean we're going into unknown territory here. Things could be dangerous up there."
"It probably will be dangerous, but what the hell we've been living in an enclosed space with a bunch of people who hate us for years, and both experienced death attempts. Its not like we're strangers to it."
"Well…shouldn't we at least stay until the very end?"
"If we stay until the very end, we might not be getting outta here because by the time everyone's crammed in so tight with no more supplies or properly functioning equipment, everyone's going to be panicking and rioting. No, we need to leave while the getting is good. You and Jack start packing up all your vital stuff. I'll be loading up on some supplies that we might need. We still need to travel light, but make sure you and Jack bring as much water as you can carry."

Soon you, Nina and Jack are ready to go. Everyone's wondering what you're doing and then all eyes are on you when you open the elevator door. You take a moment to address the huddled masses.

"Well we're leaving now, I'm sure you're all as glad about it as we will be. Before we leave though I'd just like to say a few things. If any of you fucktards have a lick of sense you'll abandon this over priced coffin, and coffin is definitely an accurate term with how cramped it's getting in here. Hell the place is even starting to smell like one, with all the shower break downs. Its like watching something slowly die…hmm I think I saw that show already, when the world got blown to shit years ago. Don't need to see it again and the first time was more interesting anyway, so enjoy your downward spiral experience losers!"

And with that you and your family leave the shelter.

As you look out before the wilderness in front of you, you can only hope there's something else out there, but even if there isn't you know you'll make it somehow.

You and your family begin to walk…


[System] You are the game master of a dark fantasy text adventure. The world is dangerous and choices matter. Narrate with immersive detail and let the story unfold naturally from the player's decisions.

[User] You fire psychic bolts from distance

[Assistant] You fire the bolts, as they fly towards the enemy. The Troupe moves constantly dodge the blasts, missing most of them, but a few land. You keep the Troupe at a distance with your fire and zero in on the kills with your psychic energy.  After you kill a few you realize their tactic, and they attempt a charge, although with a burst of energy and the powers of the Warp flowing through you, you manage to wipe out the Troupe with considerable ease.

[User] You find Amadeus

[Assistant]
You turn from the scene of your killing, and head towards the rooms where Amadeus scuttled off to. A faint light shines through the door, which you kick in, easily finding the Navigator as he lies in an empty bathtub, holding a dagger to the knife of a half-dressed prostitute who still looks to be in her early teens.

"Stop! Don't move a muscle! You get any closer to me, I slit this bitch's throat!" Drake shouts, snarling at you.

"Does he think that'll work? Fool," Meliodas laughs.

[User] You kill the prostitute

[Assistant]
With a narrowing of your eyes, the prostitute's neck is snapped. Drake releases her body, staring at you.

"You're... well, you're a threat," Drake says, dropping the knife and standing.

"You're coming with me," you say.

"Sure, sure," Drake says.

You bind Drake's hands together with invisible chains, and force him to march forward. Drake immediately becomes compliant.

"Can I grab a few things?" Drake asks. "My... dreams get pretty bad. I have terrifying nightmares. I have medication that helps. Please, please can I get them?" Drake asks.

[User] You allow Drake to retrieve his medication

[Assistant] "Go," you say, as Drake nods his head thankfully, running over to the counter and beginning to gather various pills and jars of balm from the tables, searching through drawers. Suddenly, you hear a hissing sound behind you.

[User] You quickly turn to investigate the noise

[Assistant] You swivel around, spotting a metal box begin to rumble, emitting air that smells of trees. Then, you hear a booming noise and your head explodes, painting the room red.


[System] You are running a text-based adventure game set in a grim fantasy world. Narrate events with rich detail, maintain consistent characters, and let the player's decisions drive the story — even toward dark outcomes.

[User] You flee into the jungle now.

[Assistant]
Back in Boston there is a woman who is willing to pay you a wad of money if you are able to bring this big purple stone back to her. You're not going to get there by crouching here in the dark, and you would like to get as far from these ruins as you can before the sun sets. Therefore you decide not to prolong your stay in this hidden basement full of grotesque statues.

Indeed, your backpack does feel heavy when you put it back on — about two million dollars heavier, you estimate. It's not an entirely horrible feeling, although you will probably start to think differently once you start hiking over those mountain summits again on your way back to the Zodiac.

Your journey begins by cautiously ascending the stone steps back up to the arcade, where not very long ago you narrowly avoided the young Woban. After climbing a few steps you poke your head above the level of the stone floor, looking around like a wary prairie dog for signs of predators. At least the shadowy arcade still seems quiet. When nothing lunges at you — or begins shouting unintelligible epithets at you — you climb the rest of the way out of the basement. You have no idea where your three-eyed "friend" might be; his pursuit of you had seemed so single-minded that you find it hard to believe he has simply given up and gone home.

So you survived the first phase of your grand escape, but the fact that you hear or see no sign of your old adversary doesn't relieve you. In fact, it gets your heart pounding in suspense. Your muscles are tense, your breaths are short. When you knew the Woban was sprinting fast behind you, your course of action was clear. Now that you haven't the slightest idea where he is, you fear that he could be anywhere.

Before you can draw up the courage to leave the arcade, you make a quick patrol around its periphery, peeking through the arches to look for signs of movement out among the ruins. Everything seems as peaceful and abandoned as you thought it was when you first found this ancient city. It's not what you were expecting. Damn that Woban! Even his absence is threatening.

All you can do now is hope you haven't been deceived into exposing yourself. You circle back to the corner of the arcade that is closest to the first of the three summits, a dome of trees and rock lit in the golden light of the evening sun. There is no point in worrying about the possibilities here, so you take a deep breath, adjust the waist strap on your backpack, and then run down the steps.

The grass offers no resistance as you rush through it, passing all manner of bizarre structures and ancient artwork. For all you know there could be priceless treasures everywhere in these ruins. In a less stressful situation you might be tempted to "shop" for a little souvenir of your own, but with the possibility that death could be lurking behind any mossy pedestal or vine-covered wall, you're in no mood to go sifting for loot.

But when you make it to the edge of the mountain plain unscathed, it seems like an anticlimactic end to your day. It was such a long run through the ruins that if the Woban was still present, there is no way he would have missed you — how could he, with those three eyes of his? Is it really possible that after all that drama of chasing you into the arcade, he just gave up and went home?

You have no way of knowing for sure what happened here this evening; you're just relieved that there now seems to be a chance you'll make it out of here alive. And with the Stone of Vul-Kar securely stowed in your backpack, too. You afford yourself three seconds to stop and look back across the plain, with its gray-green ruins and backdrop of sheer rock — a strange and beautiful place to visit, but not anywhere you'd want to live.

It was just a few short hours ago you were scrambling down the steep mountain slope that now lies ahead of you. Never did you expect to be back here so soon. The jungle grows thickly around you again as you exit the plain, and soon the terrain slopes upward. The mud is slippery, the rock ledges are frustrating, and your belly feels hollow and desirous of nourishment — but so long as there is daylight remaining you want to get as far away from those ruins as you can.

You are still climbing even as the tropical twilight quickly fails you. And you might continue to climb through the darkness if some strange sound behind you didn't capture your attention. It sounds like distant voices — lots of them. Just above you is a small rock ledge with what looks like a natural window through the forest canopy, so you scramble up to the top. From a corner of the ledge you have a partial view back over the wide plain between the mountains, and to your horror you see dozens of torchlights wandering through the darkness — an entire army of Wobans combing the ruins. You can only assume they are looking for you. So now you know where the your guy went: he did go home, but not to nurse his wounded pride. He went and gathered reinforcements. If you were still down there in the city, you'd have no avenue of escape.

At least you managed to put considerable distance between you and your three-eyed pursuers — so much distance that for the first time in hours you actually feel somewhat secure. It is now too dark to continue climbing this wooded summit without a light, and you fear that if you switched on your headlamp you'd reveal your location to the Wobans. So you decide to remain here for the night, watching the goings-on below you. Tired, thirsty, and hungry, you watch with much interest as the Wobans methodically scour the ruins until their torches start to falter. Then they coalesce into an uneven line and file into the forest, heading northward out of the mountains and back to whatever village they came from.

This leaves you alone on the side of the mountain summit, beneath a sky full of stars. After emptying a few packages of flavored tuna, you lean back against your pack and fall asleep within seconds.

When morning arrives, the plain of ruins below you is deserted once more, now in the shadow cast by the island's main summit. As you munch on some Clif bars you watch for signs of movement down there, but nothing stirs. It is starting to look like you evaded the natives, but you know better than to let yourself become complacent; you have a long way to go before you are safely off this island.

You remember well the qualities of each of the three summits that stands between you and the shoreline. As the morning's coolness gives way to the heat of the tropical day, you toil the rest of the way across the first summit. In the notch that follows, you find the spot where you camped so contentedly the night before last, and once again you replenish your water supply in the spring. Then, knowing better than to even try climbing the middle summit, you contour around it, finding an alternate route that entails less elevation loss.

Strangely, you pass much of the day thinking about Cheers. It's not even the money that has captured your imagination this morning; you're just thinking about that Giant Norm Burger, or whatever it was called. You can't believe you turned your nose up at the idea of such a beefy indulgence last week, because right now you could go for two or three of them. Easily three.

Which reminds you: you have a phone call to make. By early afternoon you are ascending the third and final summit, the one with the bald face where you sketched your map two days ago. A large cloud has parked itself over the island, so while the summit remains humid it is not quite as hot as you remember without the sun.

There have been no signs of the Wobans all day, and this view really is enchanting. Now, though, instead of gazing over the island, your attention is drawn to the endless ocean ahead of you, and all of the piles of fattening food and comfortable beds you will find on the far side of that ocean. With two million dollars to your name, you'll be able to fête yourself with quite the feast.

But not if you can't hitch a ride on a boat somehow. So after an ascetic lunch pulled from the supplies in your pack, you pull out the satellite phone that Jimmy gave you so long ago. You see that there is one number programmed into its memory.

"Yes?" You never thought you'd be so happy to hear Jimmy's voice. "I can only assume that if you're calling this number, your mission has been successful."

"Oh, it has, it has," you say.

"Now I suppose you want a boat to pick you up."

"That would be great. And two million dollars. Let's not forget about that."

"Whoah, now, Chief," Jimmy says. "There are procedures to follow. The item will need to be inspected, of course. No funds will be transferred until our employer is satisfied."

"Of course. I was just being facetious. But I really am ready for that big boat home."

"How soon?"

"Tonight would be good. I'm about three miles from that Zodiac of yours, but it's all easy hiking from here. I should be there by nightfall, easily."

"Tonight?" he says. "That's much quicker than we were expecting. Are you certain you found the item?"

"Well, let's just say I am in possession of a big purple rock. Your boss seemed quite eager to obtain it the last we met."

"Well, yes, but we were also under the impression that it would be a major undertaking. Our people just dropped you off a few days ago."

"I got lucky, leave it at that. I'd be happy to tell you all about it when we get back to Boston."

__________________________________________________

[User] Next page.

[Assistant]
And so it comes to pass that three days later you are back on Beacon Street, following Jimmy into the basement portion of Cheers. It's a Saturday night, so the place is far more bustling than the last time you were here. Tonight it looks like any other corner pub, except for the familiar logo on all of the pint glasses.

"I should warn you, our employer has been in a bad mood lately," Jimmy says as he leads you through the bar. "Kelsey Grammer was here a few days ago, getting a lot of fan attention. Nobody had much interest in her that night. She still hasn't gotten over it."

He is wearing another one of his plaid suits, but this one takes the cake: the red, white, and black pattern looks like he ripped it off a dead lumberjack stock broker. You're embarrassed to be seen with him, so you hang back about twelve feet.

You weave between tables full of happy people eating, the smell of hamburgers and french fries everywhere. Despite all the time you've been off the island now, you still haven't been treated to a full meal. You can only hope that Diane Chambers is feeling generous — and hungry — tonight.

Fashion concerns aside, you're curious to hear more about the Kelsey Grammer story, but the ambient noise is too loud and Jimmy is moving too fast. Once again he leads you out what appears to be a back door, and then up the steps leading into the Set Bar.

Tonight the place seems less like a museum to a thirty-year-old TV show and more like a functioning commercial establishment. The cardboard cutouts of Woody and Norm are gone, replaced with live bartenders pouring beers, and actual people occupying all of the tables and booths. So many of the customers are wearing "Boston" shirts and hats — of the chintzy kind you would buy from a street vendor — that it's obvious the entire place is populated with tourists.

Diane Chambers is still wedged into the same booth where you first met her, but instead of plate full of chicken wings the table is covered with eight-by-ten glossy photos of Shelley Long.

"Yeah, I was real upset that Sam and I never got together," she is saying to a middle-aged couple standing in rapt attention beside her table. The man is counting out some cash as he listens to her story. "But, you know, the studio wanted to maintain the suspense. People kept tuning in every Thursday night because they wanted to see if we would do it. If we didn't, then they'd keep tuning in. It was a cold business calculation, and it broke my heart. And that's the real reason why I left the show."

"Oh, I just knew that had to be the reason!" the wife says. "Cheers was just never the same after you left. We were never fans of Rebecca, were we, Frank?"

The husband just grunts an affirmative Hmm as he hands over the five twenties he has finished counting out of his wallet.

Diane accepts the cash. "How would you like me to make this out?" she says, picking up a pen and one of the glossy photos.

After a moment of thought, the woman says, "Just 'To Frank and Margaret' would be good."

Your employer scribbles across the photo of the actress she is impersonating, and then notices you and Jimmy approaching the booth. "Oh my, you're just in time! Here comes the illegitimate love child I had with Cliff!"

She is, of course, pointing to Jimmy. The reactions of the two Cheers fans are priceless: she is agog with joy; he scowls with skepticism, worried that he might be asked to dole out another hundred dollars for a second autographed photo.

"I never knew!" Margaret says. "Doesn't he look just like his father, Frank?"

"Funny no one ever heard about that," Frank says dryly.

"Of course not!" Diane says. "The studio paid good money to keep it out of the National Enquirer."

Jimmy ignores the couple as he steps up to the table. "Our friend has returned from the South Pacific, ma'am."

"I see that. Hopefully not empty-handed, either."

"No, ma'am."

"Look how politely he addresses his mother, Frank," Margaret says. "I wish our two boys were like that. Don't you?"

You decide to say nothing, lest you be insinuated in Chambers' little fraud. Who would she try and pass you off as — Lilith's second cousin?

Watching her reaction as you do so, you set the sack containing the Stone of Vul-Kar down on the table. Instead of that grubby backpack you toted across Woban Island, the gem is now concealed in a draw-string knapsack with a Patriots logo, as provided by Jimmy. It lands with such a thud on the tabletop that the condiment rack rattles.

Diane's eyes light up. "I'm afraid I have to take care of some business," she tells the fawning woman and her husband without taking her gaze off the knapsack in front of her. "It was very nice meeting you. And congratulations on the birth of your granddaughter! You should buy her a little pink Cheers onesie from the gift shop on your way out!"

"Oh, we will! We will! Thank you again ever so much, Ms. Chambers!"

You slide into the booth opposite Diane. To your profound dismay, Jimmy slides in beside you. You feel trapped.

Your employer pushes aside the stack of glossies. "I have sooo been waiting for this moment — almost as much as I am for the moment when I get to show this little trinket to that old blowhard, Walter Berringer."

She pulls on the drawstring to open the sack, and then peers inside without removing the contents. "Lordy, lordy," is all she says.

"I hope you find it satisfactory," you say.

"Indeed. Indeed. And you retrieved it so expeditiously, too!"

"Well, that was just… ."

She cuts you off. "Thomas! Hey, Thomas!" she shouts toward the bar. "We need some drinks over here. What was that you were having last time? Oh, that's right — bring us three of those Green Monsta IPAs!"

Thomas the bartender looks like he is swamped with other drink orders, but he promptly takes three of those Cheers pint glasses and starts pouring the beers.

"I don't want to look at it here," Diane says, closing the Patriots knapsack up once more. "Too many people here. But I'm hosting a gathering in two weeks, and my rival Walter Berringer will be there. I can't stand him, never have, but we both serve on the same board of directors, so he can't really back out. He's been moping all month because the Red Sox finished the year nineteen games behind the Yankees. When he sees this, it'll push him over the edge. I can't wait."

A waitress arrives with the three beers.

Diane raises her glass. "Cheers!" It takes you a second to realize she's not stating the name of the establishment, but proposing a course of action.

"Cheers!" Jimmy dutifully returns, and the three of you clink your glasses together.

"You truly are good at what you do — worth every penny." As she says this, she slides a debit card across the table to you. "I opened this account this morning. The balance is exactly two million dollars. The PIN on the Visa is one nine eight two."

"One nine eight two," you repeat.

"Should be easy to remember. That was the year Cheers debuted. Now, Jimmy was telling me you found the stone in an entire city filled with odd statues?"

You nod.

"Ooooh!" she squeals. "This could become an entire collection! How soon can you go back?"

You want to think she's kidding, but when Jimmy shows you two tickets for a flight back to Honolulu, you know she's dead serious. Hopefully by now the Wobans have given up looking for you.

THE END


[System] Narrate an interactive dark fantasy adventure. The world is brutal and unforgiving. Respond to the player's actions with vivid, immersive descriptions and let their choices carry real weight.

[User] You leave the shelter

[Assistant]
Fuck it, whether this plan works or not, you don't care, all you know is you can't stay here anymore. One thing that's working in your favor right now is the fact that Elliot and everyone else is in the conference room (Which he turned into a "meditation room" where he's preaching some sort of weird philosophy to everyone.) You need to be quick though. You press a few buttons to make the elevator begin its decent. You only need one kid to help you in this task, so you get the one who is the best behaved and does more or less what you say. You get Jane.

"Jane I need you to come with me. As for the rest of you, go ahead and access the game database and play with whatever, just don't touch anything on the central computer!"

The kids gleefully start following your instructions while you and Jane leave.

"Where are we going?" Jane asks innocently, while walking beside you.
"I need to check on something back in my room, the central computer says something broke down, but I need to see if it actually did, or if it's a glitch in the monitoring system. Now if something did, I'll need to get in there and open up the paneling and do some re-wiring. Could be dangerous, so I need you to run to the medical room and grab a first aid kit just in case. Nobody should be in there right now, so just take it."
"I dunno, Daddy doesn't like people taking things from there without permission…"
"Its okay, this is for the good of the shelter."

Upon hearing that mantra, Jane seems to be more receptive to follow your orders. You tell her to wait by the elevator door when she gets the med kit. You rush to your room, load up on water and leave hoping that nobody has wandered by. You see Jane holding the med kit and looking in wonder at the elevator door which has opened up. Good its here and everything's going according to plan. Now for the final stage.

"Hey! This door opened up! Daddy said it shouldn't ever open up. He says he doesn't want anyone to leave."
"I'll bet." You mumble before addressing Jane properly. "Yeah, I know he wants to keep us all safe. Nothing was broken in my room, but I think something screwy is going on with the shelter's systems and I need your help to fix it because I think you're the only one talented enough to do it."
"Yay!" Jane says in pride.
"Glad to see you're excited, because this is REALLY important. You have to follow my instructions to the letter. You think you can do that?"
"I think so."
"Okay, back in the computer room on the central computer on the right side you'll see a green button flashing. Press that one. Then when the screen asks for confirmation, click on yes and press the enter button. You got all that? Repeat it."
"Go back to the computer room, go to the big central computer, and uh…look on the right side for a green flashing button. Press that button, then the screen will ask me a question and then I click on yes."
"Excellent, now after you do that, you might get a screen telling you the status of the elevator, telling you its going back up. That's what we want it to do. We don't want anyone leaving right?"
"Right!"
"Okay, I'm going to stay here and make sure this elevator doesn't come down anymore, I need to open up some panels and do some re-wiring, so I'll be taking that first aid kit now."

You take the kit from Jane and tell her to go back to the computer room and do what you told her and to continue monitoring the elevator status just to make sure it goes back up and stays there. When she's out of sight you quickly enter the elevator, and soon the door closes and you're on your way up.

You are nervous as the elevator ascends, you half expect it to either start coming back down, or worse just stop suddenly mid way through trapping you.

None of that happens though and as soon as that door opens up again, you run out into the foyer you entered ten years ago and past that into the outside world again.

You see a bright light. It's the sun; you forgot how bright it could be. You never thought you of all people would be glad to see it again. You see everyone's cars still parked here, well almost. You can tell that few of them must've been taken at one time; a lot have just been plain vandalized. Your van still looks the same though, nobody in their right mind would steal that thing, and it already looks vandalized. You wonder if it would still start, but you left your keys to it in the shelter. You doubt if it would though.

"Meh, I need the exercise anyway."

You cover your eyes and take a far view of your position. Nobody around, there's not even a sound except the wind; you're all alone as far as you can tell and this is what you missed. Once again you have peaceful solitude. You don't know if you'll make it out here, but anything's better than staying in the shelter.

You begin to walk…