Chapter Text
You are Jess Witman
You put on her *Telematrix* and loads up a new game. *Barren Moon* is an alpha build according to its steam page. Rated T for violence, reference to alcohol and tobacco, and cosmic mischief.
You load up the game, and start the brain-synch. No matter how many times you endure it, you can never get used to the calibration sequence. The feeling of your limbs retreat into plastic and aluminum, like you've been shrunken into a pinprick.
Sudden you wake!
Jessica looked around the environment, with curiosity.
Ready for action, wondering what kind of game plot was in store. If she was going to be instantly thrown in to action or wether it was going to be a slow build to the carnage either way she was ready for what was next.
The room is a dark wide space with colored paint on the ceiling above. The only light in the room comes from a high circular opening with stairs leading down from it.
You are lying on an round sleeping platform. Its framed with ornate carved lacquer. There are two metal polars on either side of the bed.
You aren’t holding anything.
Jessica pops up and heads towards the stairs before she goes up them she gives a glance back to the room and the bed she was on. Then continues heading up the stairs.
Seemed like it was going to be the slow option then, though she didn’t have a sword, she would be pretty fucked until she got one. So she decided she was going to have to be careful until she got her hands on a weapon.
Up the stairs the opening reveals a high church-like building. The walls are cracked and worn. The dark night sky can be seen through the holes in the roof.
Silvery boxes are scattered about the pews with wires and pipes snaking along the floor.
“Ooooow church shit! Interesting.” She says to herself as she searches the area for items and any pages or books that might explain the lore of the game. She also is looking for any secret rooms or hidden items.
You look around the church for clues. You take note of the objects on the floor and around the corners of the room.
You find a few scatters cloth-like papers. The papers have a scratchy illegible handwriting. One has a diagram of a skull.
The boxes resemble dense computers of some sort. You find a large plastic-like bag full of pink liquid discarded in a corner. It smells like rust and rat droppings.
You find a solid silver block with a bronze trim. It has a beeping panel.
You find no hidden rooms.
“Aaah okay cult shiz!” She pokes and investigates the silver block as it beeps. And tries to spot a place where she could climb up to the roof as she sees no entrance door or exit. If she had to she might start stacking items to help her reach the holes in the roof.
You see that the wooden door is boarden up from the inside. The stained glass windows are broken, letting the moonlight in.
Interacting with the silver block with bronze trims causes small pores to show in its top face. An orange slime pools on the top face before cleanly stopping at its edges. The middle of the orange slime becomes gray and cloudy, before the slime dries and disappears.
The pores close and a square-tipped sword remains on the block.
Jessica grabs the sword inspecting the blade and hilt, after she was done inspecting the hilt she pocketed the loose cloth with writing on it and would attempt to run up the walls a little ways before kicking off and flipping through a gap in one of the glass paned windows.
She hand many things to think about, number 1 what we’re these scribbles about, clearly it had to relate to death in some way as the skull indicated or maybe burial ritual. Possibly ritualistic symbols from a possible cult. Number 2 what was that pink liquid and what the fuck was that orange goop maybe in the game it’s important to how tech works or something like that. But for now she would wait until she could get in contact with someone else see what they might know.
The sword is coated black with a shiny uncoated edge just peeking though. The hand-guard is shaped like a round cog with six holes. Two are blocked. The handle has a two triggers in sequence with a guard. The handle is long enough to be used with one, or both hands. The pommel is a hexagonal nut seemingly holding the handle binding in place.
You take a running start towards the wall. Your feet push yourself up with the momentum and jump back jump as the momentum gives out. You flip and your feet push off against the nearest pillar and fly out the broken window.
Outside you see that the church is on a hill and trees beneath you. Just before you plummet you see the lights of civilization in the distance and shadow in the night sky
You flip so that your feet are toward the ground and land on the slope of the hill, skidding to loose the momentum.
There is a river at the bottom of the slope with a brick bridge leading away from the forest.
“Hell yeah, still got it!” She said as she continued run forward with a bit of the momentum she had gained down the hill and on to the bridge she would, but inspect the bridge as she ran over it while head of towards the glimpse of civilization she saw.
You walk down the path. The chirping of unseen insects makes the view of a brightening sky all the more pleasant.
Suddenly, you hear an ear-piercing whistle in the distance. It sounds like a blaring siren surrounding you on all sides. You slap you hands to your head, but the sound ends just as quickly as it began, leaving you with a dim ringing in your ears.
You stop at the edge of the forest and see a large town. Blue lights travel follow the streets of two-story townhouses.
In the far distance past the town you see a beach to the sea. On the beach is a black speck. Floating in the ocean is a large metal iris.
Jessica heads into town and in search for a person to speak with, nobody in specific just a regular to ask questions to so she can get the lay of the land, she would take note of the iris and it looked pretty cool but for now she would focus on finding someone for questioning.
You notice the buildings are deserted. Shops have their windows boarded up. You feel a rumble on the ground and see a row of tanks heading down your street.
Jessica tries to duck into an alley way as she notices the tanks.
You duck into an alley and the tanks drive past. Until the last tank stops. The hatch opens and someone looks out.
She would attempt to move to kick up off the ground dash off the wall and pull herself up on top of the building using the board on a window as grip support and other over hanging part of one of the buildings in the alley.
You jump of the ground and bounce off the wall to climb to the roof. The roof has a three foot ledge, a few upturned chairs, and a floor hatch. From the tank on the street you hear a man. “Hey Jess, is that you?” he yells.
She looked up dusting herself off and raising an eyebrow at the voice. She didn’t know this guy but she would play buddy buddy.
“Uh, yeah it’s me. Where have you been?”
She would pretend like she knew who the fuck this was.
“I was delayed . But you needn’t worry about lateness, an outdated notion might I add, because I am here.” he says from the tank.
She was still trying to figure out who the fuck she was talking to. She would walk up to the tank and look at the clothing she was wearing maybe that would give her a clue as to what kind of character she was playing. After she would say.
“Yeah, yeah *delayed* my ass but whatever your here now so, where are you headed.”
You hear his laughs from within the tank. “Where am I headed?” he repeats mockingly. He hops out from the hatch and lands to the side of the tank. The man wears a blue bodysuit patterned with a white square and a ribboned cape. “I came here for you.”
She was even more confused looking at this dude’s uniform. But there was no time to question it further without seeming insane so she jumps up on the tank.
“Welp ya found me, let’s go. But uhh, have you ever seen a sword like this?”
"Indeed I have. Its a high-end repeating shockblade." His eyes turn black briefly. "...and it's fresh from my Yoctotruder. You don't have to play these mind games on me Jess. You know who I am."
She just sat in silence… Yoctotruder… WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!!! She just was at a lost for words. Whatever world the devs made she was just not understanding, this whole thing was odd.
"Come along now we have much to discuss. You seem a bit lost, so how about you ask me anything you want to know and to the best of my..."
He suddenly looks off in a random direction. He turns back. He asks, "You didn't happen to see any floating lights here, did you?"
“Actually I did see some light heard a loud ass Fuckin siren to. What the hell is a Yoctotruder?!?!?”
In the distance the tanks fire. You hear explosions and screaming metal. The tank you're sitting on starts driving away from the man. The man says "I don't know how, but they found us! Run to the beach." He runs away from the tank.
She rolled her eyes, and dash after him attempting to running off the wall of the building and doing a flip just because she felt like it before rolling and darting off after the man.
You do a sitting flip off the tank and run after the man. The tank you were sitting on turns its turret around and fires into a rapidly approaching smoke cloud. A beam of light shines at the tank, causing it to explode.
A bean of lights aims at the running man before he glows red brief and something distant explodes.
“What fools they are, that they can stop me. Well at least they won’t try to vaporize you.”
“So what are they and where are we headed to?” She ran alongside him as she looked back seeing that fog approaching from behind.
A wall of smoke suddenly blocks the path ahead. Two sets of glowing eyes peak out.
“Blast! There goes my last tank. We’ll just have to take on these leftovers by hand.” Or in this case, by sword.” Standing right next to her Nimroid, Jessica swings wide and cleaves the robot from shoulder to hip, fuel-blood spilling everywhere.
The man pulls out a collapsible spear and impales the Nimroid through its skull. Its body slumps, the light fading from its opticals.
“Robot scum.” She said with a cheerful smug look
“Where to next?”
The Man looks around the smoke. He focus on the Smokescreen past the tank wreckages. His eyes flash black for a second.
“Run down the beach. There will be a pod their. Don’t worry about me. Just close the door and the flight path will take you elsewhere.”
“Alright well nice fighting bro!” She would run of toward the beach look for the pod and once found she would do as she was instructed.
You prepare to zoom away put the man taps your shoulder. “I forgot to mention, my name is Brother.” You nod in rushed agreement and return to leaving the ruins of the town as fast as possible.
The town gradually slopes down into grasslands. A running leap over a stream and you are running the sandy beach. At this close to the ocean you see the floating metal iris much better. It looks like a coral or some infinitely complex fractals. But you pay it little mind as you throw yourself into the round pod half-embedded in the sand.
The inside of the pod contains four seats arranged around a support pillar. The inner shell seems to iridescent, like a mother-of-pearl and stars.
The seats have full body restraints. The headrests have a white square emblem and two metal poles on either side of them. On the armrest of the closest seat to the entrance is a glowing button
Jessica straps herself in and gets ready for blast off as she presses the button without delay. “Oh a space game. Hell yeah!”
You press the button to begin the launch sequence. The hatch slams shut and becomes seamless. The inside fills with an orange liquid. It smells like cellophane and surgery gloves so you reluctantly breathe it.
The walls become translucent and the ground suddenly disappears. The crater the pod created becomes a small speck. The long distance between the beach and the town is a lot shorter now. The town you fought four your life in becomes a distance smudge.
A bright light shines from the town as a tiny mushroom cloud pushes out like a germ on a petri dish. The church thst keft many questions disappears in the blast. You seen the whole landmass from above, and it just a small island in an empty sea.
Then everything falls faster and faster downward, but the pod is moving away
Suddenly you wake up.
“BROOOOOOO! That shit was awesome! Man I got to get more of my friends to try this stuff.”