=><=
Prologue
(click: "Prologue")[Inevitable]
<==
(click: "Inevitable")[//"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;//]
(click: '"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;')[//For he to-day that sheds his blood with me//]
(click: "For he to-day that sheds his blood with me")[//Shall be my brother;"//]
(click: 'Shall be my brother;"')[//-William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act V, Scene iii//]
(click: "-William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act V, Scene iii")[I slide into the cramped bridge-level office between a pile of trajectory reports and a stack of policy proposal papers. Through a small window I see glistening stars beyond. Malcolm is talking into his radio.]
(click: "into his radio")["-I just can't see any way out..." Malcolm says, waving at me absently.]
(click: "can't see any way out")[The clicking computer consoles behind him (colour: "#00BFFF")[light up] as the door closes behind me. One computer speaks.]
(click: "closes behind me")["Message. For the Director. Of Operations. Urgent." it says, in a voice somehow both monotone and staccato.]
(click: "Urgent.")["Isn't there some way you can smooth her over?" Malcolm continues.] (click: "Isn't there some way")["What's the expected death toll?](click: "What's the expected death toll?")[ Of course we deny-] (click: "Of course we deny-")[Look, I've really got to go, my Director of Operations is here."]
(click: "Director of Operations")["If you think of anything, radio me. Immediately," he adds.]
(click: "Immediately")["Urgent. Message. For the Director. Of Operations."]
(click: "Urgent. Message. For the Director. Of Operations.")["Morning!" Malcolm says. He looks (colour: "#D1E27C")[terrible]. "Sorry about that. Fucking... everything, you know?"]
(click: "terrible")[I make a decision.]
(click: "I make a decision")["Afternoon!"
"You look terrible."
I enter my name into my computer.](click: '"Afternoon!"')[(set: $greeting to "Afternoon.")(replace: '"You look terrible."')[](replace: "I enter my name into my computer.")
[]"Whatever. It doesn't mean anything out here. I'm just trying to be nice you know?"
"Urgent. Message. For the Director. Of Oper-"](click:'"You look terrible."')[(set: $greeting to "You look terrible.")(replace: '"Afternoon!"'
)[](replace: "I enter my name into my computer.")[]
"Well you can fuck right off."
"Urgent. Message. For the Director. Of Oper-"](click: "I enter my name into my computer.")[(set: $name to (prompt: "Enter your name to access urgent messages", "Type your name here"))(live: 100)[(if: $name is "")[(set: $name to (prompt: "Name cannot be blank", "Type your name here"))](else: )[
"$name" I type.
A direct text-based message from (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] appears.(stop: )(set: $greeting to "You didn't even say hello.")]](replace: '"Afternoon!"')[](replace: '"You look terrible."')[]](click: "Urgent. Message. For the Director. Of Oper-")[(set: $name to (prompt: "Enter your name to access urgent messages", "Type your name here"))(live: 100)[(if: $name is "")[(set: $name to (prompt: "Name cannot be blank", "Type your name here"))](else: )[
"$name" I type, cutting the computer off.
A direct text-based message from (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] appears.(stop: )]]]
(click: "Lily")["Open the door $name, I'm right outside."]
(click: "I'm right outside")[Malcolm's eyes are elsewhere. He is looking at a report entitled "Mortality Observations in (colour: "#C8F440")[Radiation]-Tainted Environments and Atmospheres".]
(click: "Mortality")["I left Mercury for this," he says. "I had a lease on a three bedroom apartment. And a cat."]
(click: "And a cat")["Lily is here." I say.
"Malcolm, I think you should see this," I say.
I say nothing.](click-replace: '"Lily is here." I say.')["(colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] is-"
The distinctive smell of burning metal fills the air. A loud machine scream pierces our ears. A bright, molten rim appears around the door.(replace: '"Malcolm, I think you should see this." I say.')[](replace: "I say nothing.")[]](click-replace: '"Malcolm, I think you should see this," I say.')["Malcolm-"
The distinctive smell of burning metal fills the air. A loud machine scream pierces our ears. A bright, molten rim appears around the door.
(replace: '"Lily is here." I say.')[](replace: "I say nothing.")[]](click-replace: 'I say nothing.')[I say nothing.
The distinctive smell of burning metal fills the air. A loud machine scream pierces our ears. A bright, molten rim appears around the door.
(replace: '"Lily is here." I say.')[](replace: '"Malcolm, I think you should see this." I say.')[]](click: "loud machine scream")
[Steel hisses and froths and the door collapses.]
(click: "collapses")[A scrawny, pale-faced blonde woman emerges.
"Hello Malcolm. Hello $name. Momma sends her regards." (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] (colour: "#DC143C")[smiles].]
(click: "smiles")[[[...->Cramped, bridge-level office]]]"What are you implying?" I say. (set: $Lily1 to "You asked me what I was implying by saying 'something must be done'. I was implying that Malcolm should have Momma's message burned into his body, where he will never forget it.")
(colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] (colour: "#1E90FF")[squints] at me.
(click: "squints")[(display: "Must not fester")]"If there were some way that you could avert the blame Malcolm, then our dear darling Momma might be able to let it pass. But you fired the old (colour: "#C8F440")[radiation] safety team. You cut out the middle men and put ship safety - the biggest ticking time bomb on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] - right in your own department. Answerable to you."
(click: "right in your own department")["I know what you're telling me (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily]," Malcolm nods and (colour: "#FFFFE0")[smiles], his hands (colour: "#F0E68C")[shaking]. "And. You know. I've learned a lot. The whole office has. $name is making inroads with getting (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] (colour: "#B7986C")[Operations] organised."]
(click: "inroads")["Is that right $name?" (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] raises an (colour: "#A0522D")[eyebrow] at me.]
(click: "Is that right")[[["Yes, we're well on our way to running a tight ship now."->"Yes, we're well on our way to running a tight ship now."]]
[["Progress is slow."->"Progress is slow."]]]"Progress is slow," I say. (set: $Lily2 to "Let's have no more of this slow progress, m'kay?")
(colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] shakes her head.
(click: "shakes her head")["Malcolm. You know what people are going to say. //They're going to blame you.//"]
(click: "They're going to blame you")["But that's not-"
"Fair? I'm afraid it is Malcolm. $name. //You're// the Director of (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] now-"]
(click: "You're")["What about-" Malcolm (colour: "#FFFFE0")[whimpers].
(display: "What about Malcolm")]"-What about //you//? //You//, Malcolm, are coming with //me//. We're going to meet //Alex//. //Big Momma//. Your //boss//."
(colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] (colour: "#DC143C")[laughs].
(click: "laughs")["You're going to (colour: "#FF0000")[kill] me aren't you?" Malcolm croaks (colour: "#BDB76B")[weakly]. ](click: "kill") [He (colour: "#FFFACD")[wavers] as (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] walks him to her (colour: "#8B4513")[pod]. She frowns at an (colour: "#DEB887")[oxygen recycler] in the ceiling. Then she sighs and looks him straight in the (Colour: "#6B8E23")[eye].]
(click: "eye")["My child."]
(click: "My child")[She embraces him.]
(click: "She embraces him")["It'll be pleasant," she says softly, holding him tight.]
(click: "holding him tight")[She breathes deeply. Her (colour: "#1E90FF")[eyes] are (colour: "#1E90FF")[dewy].]
(click: "dewy")[She clenches him in her irresistible grip and breathes slowly for a long time, one finger tracing circles on his back. Her (colour: "#DC143C")[smile] is one of serene pleasure. She (colour: "#1E90FF")[cries].]
(click: "cries")[Eventually she releases the (colour: "#A6D5B5")[sweating] man and wipes her cheek.]
(click: "wipes her cheek")["Morphine overdose." She points to a syringe in her utility belt, reassuring herself that she is a (colour: "#FA8072")[humane] individual.] (click: "humane")["You don't think I'd throw you out of an airlock?"]
(click: "throw you out of an airlock")[She (colour: "#DC143C")[laughs] and her (colour: "#2D611E")[enforcers] follow as she leads Malcolm away. She steps over a coagulating semi-molten chunk of the bridge door. Malcolm looks at me.]
(click: "Malcolm looks at me")["$greeting" he says. He looks away.]
(click: $greeting)[Inevitable.]
(click: "Inevitable")[Too tense with nervous (colour: "#40E0D0")[energy], I pace the (colour: "#8B4513")[office] and try to focus my breathing.]
(click: "focus my breathing")[Minutes later, all 50,000 speakers on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] screech and howl and cackle as they are remotely overridden by (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily]'s priority key. This goes on for some time, then there is a discordant, high-pitched echo, which gradually fades into silence.]
(click: "cackle")[Eventually, we hear the clear melodious sound of a grand piano. I look out of a window above me and catch a glimpse of (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily]'s (colour: "#8B4513")[pod] orbiting us. She's got Malcolm in there.] (click: "orbiting us")[She sings.]
(click: "sings")["//I let it fall, my (colour: "#AB0000")[heart],
And as it fell you (colour: "#C50A1B")[rose] to claim it,
It was (colour: "#4930A0")[dark] and I was over,
Until you (colour: "#DC143C")[kissed my lips] and you saved me,//]
(click: "kissed my lips")["//My (colour: "#FFEFD5")[hands], they're strong,//"]
(click: "strong")["-Aaaaagh-"]
(click: "Aaaaagh")[It was his own stupidity that got him here.
Lily's cruelty is utterly wrong.
A man is born free. But trapped, confined, he is a slave.
What can I gain from this?
Violence, and the threat of violence, is power.
No one is safe.
That's not a morphine overdose.]
(click: "It was his own stupidity that got him here.")[(set: $songthought to "stupid")(replace: "Lily's cruelty is utterly wrong.")[](replace: "A man is born free. But trapped, confined, he is a slave.")[](replace: "What can I gain from this?")[](replace: "Violence, and the threat of violence, is power.")[](replace: "No one is safe.")[](replace: "That's not a morphine overdose.")[][Inevitable...]](click: "Lily's cruelty is utterly wrong.")[(set: $songthought to "cruel")(replace: "It was his own stupidity that got him here.")[](replace: "A man is born free. But trapped, confined, he is a slave.")[](replace: "What can I gain from this?")[](replace: "Violence, and the threat of violence, is power.")[](replace: "No one is safe.")[](replace: "That's not a morphine overdose.")[][Inevitable...]](click: "A man is born free. But trapped, confined, he is a slave.")[(set: $songthought to "slave")(replace: "It was his own stupidity that got him here.")[](replace: "Lily's cruelty is utterly wrong.")[](replace: "What can I gain from this?")[](replace: "Violence, and the threat of violence, is power.")[](replace: "No one is safe.")[](replace: "That's not a morphine overdose.")[][Inevitable...]](click: "What can I gain from this?")[(set: $songthought to "gain")(replace: "It was his own stupidity that got him here.")[](replace: "Lily's cruelty is utterly wrong.")[](replace: "A man is born free. But trapped, confined, he is a slave.")[](replace: "Violence, and the threat of violence, is power.")[](replace: "No one is safe.")[](replace: "That's not a morphine overdose.")[][Inevitable...]](click: "Violence, and the threat of violence, is power.")[(set: $songthought to "power")(replace: "It was his own stupidity that got him here.")[](replace: "Lily's cruelty is utterly wrong.")[](replace: "A man is born free. But trapped, confined, he is a slave.")[](replace: "What can I gain from this?")[](replace: "No one is safe.")[](replace: "That's not a morphine overdose.")[][Inevitable...]](click: "No one is safe.")[(set: $songthought to "safety")(replace: "It was his own stupidity that got him here.")[](replace: "Lily's cruelty is utterly wrong.")[](replace: "A man is born free. But trapped, confined, he is a slave.")[](replace: "What can I gain from this?")[](replace: "Violence, and the threat of violence, is power.")[](replace: "That's not a morphine overdose.")[][Inevitable...]](click: "That's not a morphine overdose.")[(set: $songthought to "observe")(replace: "It was his own stupidity that got him here.")[](replace: "Lily's cruelty is utterly wrong.")[](replace: "A man is born free. But trapped, confined, he is a slave.")[](replace: "What can I gain from this?")[](replace: "Violence, and the threat of violence, is power.")[](replace: "No one is safe.")[][Inevitable...]]
(click: "Inevitable...")["//But my knees were far too weak,
To stand in your arms,
Without falling to your feet,//]
(click: "feet")["-Just let me die!"]
(click: "-Just let me die!")["//But there's a side to you,
That I never knew, never knew,
All the things you'd say,
They were never true, never true,
And the games you play,
You would always win, always win...//"]
(click: "You would always win, always win...")[All other sounds are obscured by the rising scream of a (colour: "#8B008B")[plasma] (colour: "#AB20AB")[flame] (colour: "#CB40CB")[reaching] (colour: "#FF80FF")[''full intensity''].]
(click: "full intensity")["//But I set (colour: "#FF7400")[fiiiire] to the (colour: "#B0E0E6")[raaain],//"]
(click: "raaain")[-muffled crying-]
(click: "muffled crying")["//Watched it (colour: "#8B0000")[burn] as I, cut your (colour: "#FFDAB9")[braaain],//"]
(click: "braaain")[-(colour: "#B0C4DE")[metallic scraping]-]
(click: "metallic scraping")["//Well, it (colour: "#8B0000")[burned] while you (colour: "#00CA9A")[cried],
'Cause I heard it screaming out your name,
Your naaaame!//"]
(click: "Your naaaame")[I am breathing fast and heavy. My (colour: "red")[heart] is racing. I'm going to collapse. I (colour: "#808000")[vomit].]
(click: "vomit")["//When I laaay, with you,
I could staaaay there,
Close my (colour: "#1E90FF")[eyes],
Feel you heeeere, foreeever,
You and me together,
Nothing is beetter.//"]
(click: "Nothing is beetter")[Over and over I (colour: "#808000")[vomit], until there is nothing to throw up, and then until my (colour: "#641E16 ")[stomach cramps up].] (click: "stomach cramps up")[(if: $songthought is "stupid")[That fool is being burned alive and there's nothing I can do.](if: $songthought is "cruel")[Inhumane behaviour. Psychopathic.](if: $songthought is "slave")[Nobody should be bent to such arbitrary power.](if: $songthought is "gain")[I will profit from this. I'll make sure I do.](if: $songthought is "power")[This is the way. I must be stronger or she will destroy me too.](if: $songthought is "safety")[How can I protect myself?](if: $songthought is "observe")[She lied. Lily lied.] I hold myself still for a moment.]
(click: "I hold myself still")["//...I set (colour: "#FF7400")[FIIIIIIRE] to the (colour: "#B0E0E6")[RAAAAAIN],
And I threw us (colour: "#FFACC0")[INTO THE FLAAAMES],
Where we fell something died,
'Cause I knew that that was the last time, the last time, oh, oh...//"]
(click: "the last time")[[[...->...]]]"Something must be done," I say. (set: $Lily1 to "You said something must be done. And now something has been done. I've killed Malcolm.")
(colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] (colour: "#DC143C")[smiles] and nods at me.
(click: "smiles")[(display: "Must not fester")]"We're doing what we can," I say. (set: $Lily1 to "You said you were doing what you could. Now I've done what I could. I've killed Malcolm.")
(colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] looks away from me. She runs a (colour: "#00FA9A")[charging cycle] on her (colour: "#8B008B")[plasma pistol].
(click: "away")[(display: "Must not fester")]"Yes, we're well on our way to running a tight ship now," I say. (set: $Lily2 to "Let's keep this tight ship of yours taut, m'kay?")
(click: "well on our way")["Good. Then you're all set to take over. $name. //You're// the Director of (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] now-"]
(click: "You're")["But what about-" Malcolm (colour: "#FFFFE0")[whimpers].
(display: "What about Malcolm")]=><=
Chapter 2
(click: "Chapter 2") [Compassion]
<==
(click: "Compassion")[I didn't sleep much last week.]
(click: "sleep") [On my first day, every twenty minutes or so the (colour:"#8B0000")[Genesis] Director's Office door would slide open and an executive would explain some new disaster.]
(click: "disaster")[(colour: "#7CFC00")[Nuclear fuel] had leaked out of the (Colour: "#2F4F4F")[boiler] because we'd forgotten to recoat it, meaning hundreds would die early in the reactor residencies.]
(click: "die early")[Bioengineering had accidentally created a new breed of addictive (colour:"#FF4500")[hallucinogenic] (colour:"#FFEBCD")[potato].]
(click: "addictive")[Six separatist terrorists who everyone assumed had starved to death in internment cells were uncovered running our procurement office.]
(click: "uncovered")[The next few days were a (colour:"#D2691E")[c](colour:"#7FFFD4")[o](colour:"#FFD700")[l](colour:"#F08080")[o](colour:"#228B22")[u](colour:"#D2691E")[r](colour:"#00BFFF")[f](colour:"#FF00FF")[u](colour:"#0000FF")[l] haze. Every time I thought I had grown accustomed, some new piece of news would send my (colour: "red")[heart] racing or have me wanting to smash my head into a wall. And then, yesterday, just 122 hours into my new role, Erskine spotted Odysseus-]
(click: "Odysseus")[My office door opens with a gentle hiss. I put down my pen for a moment. It's Tilde Lindburg, my Science Director. Her (colour: "#1E90FF")[eyes] skip mine as she scans the room.]
(click: "Tilde Lindburg")["$name, Apolline told me to tell you that the outsider ship is now 26 hours' distance from us. 'The outsider ship is now 26 hours' distance from us.' That was me telling you that the outsider ship is now 26 hours' distance from us."]
[The door hisses open again, anticipating Tilde's departure.]
(click: "hisses open again")[[["Wait-"->"Wait"]]
[[I keep writing.]]]"I was writing my diary," I say, carefully pocketing the worn, fraying book. When this was made, men and women still walked upon the Earth."I was meditating," I say, memories from the past week fading from my imagination and losing their (colour:"#D2691E")[c](colour:"#7FFFD4")[o](colour:"#FFD700")[l](colour:"#F08080")[o](colour:"#228B22")[u](colour:"#D2691E")[r]."I was asleep," I say, and I have already forgotten my dream.Security Commissioner, Commander Erskine Brown. Believes in rewarding success and punishing failure. Hates incompetents. Extrovert. Practical. Arrogant. Single-minded. Middle class Scot from military family. Coordinated repulsion of pirate invaders who tried to take over Genesis back when Genesis was in the solar system. In charge of internment, internal security and defence. Operates though rules and structure. Rule of thumb parallel - Judge Judy. Angry. Pessimistic politics. 53 years old.
Internal Communications Director Kyra Kulkarni. Believes in helping everybody, especially based on need. Hates bastards. Extrovert. Idealistic. Emotional. Spontaneous. British Indian, from a family of Shudras (the lowest caste apart from untouchables.) Leading founder of Genesis Care, which provides a minimum standard of free medical care and councilling services on Genesis. In charge of on-board Directorial communications, media management and strategy for Genesis Director. Wins people over by making them like her. Rule of thumb parallel - Russel Brand. Happy. Optimistic politics.
Science Director Professor Tilde Lindberg. Believes in freeing everyone to do as they wish so long as they do not harm others. Hates authoritarians. Recluse. Idealistic. Independent. Spontaneous. Swedish daughter of a primary school teacher single mum. Designed the last three generations of solar momentum converters which create massive amounts of power for the ship from the physical effects of high speed intergalactic travel. In charge of the ship's shields, piloting, internal environment, gravity and internal hypertube transport system. Ignores any rules and just does what she thinks is right. Rule of thumb parallel - Abed. Stoic. Experiences everything vicariously through science and science fiction fantasies. Utopian politics. Blonde. Blue eyes. Tall. Thin.
Chief Culture and Innovation Officer Valentin Osipov. Believes in looking out for yourself above all else. Hates givers. Extrovert. Big picture. Detached. Spontaneous. Russian orphan who was brought up by his elder brother. Began by fixing and recycling old computer parts, has done a million odd jobs and freelanced for most everyone on Genesis, ultimately being brought in to use his connections to tie the social fabric of Genesis back together. In charge of new initiatives, industrial/economic strategy and education. Hates to be tied down. Rule of thumb parallel - House. Jealous. Cynical politics.
External Communications Director Zhang Xiuying. Believes in being completely loyal to Alex. Hates subversives and separatists. Extrovert. Well-read. Organised. Proper. Her father was Alex's 2nd in command and was sent to Genesis to keep the ship on track with Alex's goals. Strict but prosperous upbringing with the knowledge she would take on whatever important diplomatic role her father had drilled into her from a young age. Negotiated incredibly advantageous terms with the various solar system factions such that Genesis became the most prosperous and subsequently advanced ship in the solar system, and was able to outpace the superweapon that killed all life back there. In charge of external communications and diplomacy, a role she has not exercised much in the past couple of years. Craves structure and order. Sad. Pessimistic politics.
Finance Director Apolline Dupont. Believes in eliminating all diseases, nastiness and uncertainty. Hates innovators. Shy. Observant. Logical. Organised. Suffers from disease which causes blindness brought about by high levels of radiation in space. Genetic tendency to suffer this within family. Financial analyst background. Made a lot of money and invested it in Genesis as escape from civil war on Venus. Genesis' biggest backer. In charge of the official budget on Genesis. Craves rationality and constant improvement. Rule of thumb parallel - Ultraconservative Spock. Fearful. Apocalyptic politics.
Chief Health and (colour: "#EE91DB")[Welfare] Officer Doctor Ayodele Adeyemi. Believes in being open and honest in all things. Hates liars and cheats. Introverted. Idealistic. Push-over. Organised. Brilliant low-gravity and extra-terrestrial health specialist. Created the drugs and machinery that enable low-gravity, high-radiation life to be sustain to (almost) Terran rates on Genesis. Craves benevolence and harmony. Rule of thumb parallel - Wilson from House. Exasperated (in a very self-directed, harmless, defeatist way). Idealistic politics.The player apprehends a separatist terrorist who argues that Genesis should become independent of Exodus. The terrorist is a marginalised, poor type. You decide what is to be done with the terrorist. Alex offers a reward for them to be taken to her ship, where she will deal with them. This is something that was explicitly forbidden in a previous agreement between the two main ships. Do you forgive and release them? Sentence them to the full number of years that those who would have been killed would have lived? Have them killed? Hand them over to Alex?
The player encounters people in a rich, potentially valuable ship suffering under brutal rule, who ask for help overthrowing their leaders (but do not want to be part of Genesis). Some are highly skilled. The rulers are absolute bastards who took the ship (legally) as payment when the original democratic ship leadership ran into excessive debts. The crew have been banned from runnning brain/machine interface design research by the brutal leadership which Appolline regards as extremely risky for the future of humanity. The player decides what (if anything) is to be done. The democratic crew are also historic allies of Alex. Does the player overthrow the rulers? Leave the crew to their punishment? Take the goods on the ship for themselves?
A disease is created by ambitious but safety-unconscious scientists, lackeys of Alex, who suffer horribly at the epicentre of the disease. It can be eliminated quickly and easily by killing the infected, or more difficultly with a quarantine of everyone on the entire ship into locked zones, or the whole ship can be put at risk if only the diseased are quarantined. There are, at the time of disease creation, no regulations condemning what the scientists have done. Does the player help everyone? Do they punish the scientists? Put the ship into lockdown? Let people who are not useful to them die?
A religious community (the same as Alex's) uses large amounts of precious rare resources for their rituals which clense the ship's fuel exhausts. These rituals are supposed to make the ship invisible to alien predators, but only Apolline believes that these alien predators are likely to be real. The owner of these precious rare resources has died and stipulated that the resources be left to his children, who are already very wealthy within Genesis society and will abandon the rituals if they receive these resources. The religious community want the resources for themselves in perpetuity. Current rules state that apart from a 20% gift charge all property can be handed down as decided by current property holder. The player decides what is to be decided on this issue. Respect the owners' wishes? Or the community's? Or use them to help the crew? Or take the resources for themselves?
You have the opportunity to run some very precious and illegal (according to the dead solar system you come from) weaponry to pirates and allies of Alex through some dangerous territory, in exchange for a lot of money and resources. These will certainly be used to kill a lot of people. There may be space-faring aliens here... Maybe. Do you take the risk?
Super-scientist who has created longevity treatment that extends natural, disease-free life does not want to share it. Ship rules state that all inventions are free for public use. She is long-time critic of Alex. Do you respect her wishes? Take it for yourself? Share it with the people? Sell it on board? Sell it off board? Reward her for it? Destroy the treatment?
Criminal organisation which extorts and steals from high strata as well as scientists working on highly specualtive interplanetary consciousness projects (or exhaust-intensive stuff?) and uses funds to help the poor. Also has branches on Exodus which Alex is trying to destroy. Does the player punish them? Reward them? Enforce the rules? Let them be? Return stolen goods to high strata? Take stolen goods for self?
How much does the player take from the crew to fund fast travel and research? (Which helps them get to a new home planet quicker) How much does the player take for themselves? How much does the player set aside for Alex, owner and Managing Director of the pair of ships? How much for the poorest? How much for excessive failsafes? Does she take resources that were attained legally through unforseen loopholes?
Alex offers the player advanced and speculative technical engineering assistance, which should help the player create comfortable living accommodation for thousands of homeless, including homeless the player once promised but never delivered housing solutions to (at the request of malcolm). She will only do this on condition that the player hands over three engineers of alex's choosing to her ship to help organise this, effectively as slaves for the duration. These are highly skilled, respected engineers, who have no record of ill-doing to their names. Alex will also refurbish your office and bridge, making themmuch more usable and impressive. The process uses dirty/dangerous/risky methods.
Apolline discovers messages claiming there is a great monster made of steel, the size of a battleship, which follows dirty exhaust trails. "THE GREAT LISK" as it calls itself, will spare you, but only if you do as it says. If the player does leave dirty exhaust trails in previous choices then THE GREAT LISK threatens them when it arrives. This monster turns out to be a strange man-made construct, built by jokers from a more wealthy and advanced time. It is powerful and can do serious damage to your ship, killing some of your crew, unless you accept a tracking communication robot to your crew for one month, who will fire anyone beneath you who is too competent, and put useless people in charge. THE GREAT LISK is one of your superior's favourite real-life myths, an expression of pure arbitrary power, and she wants you to accept it. This goes against your ship's employment code, which is explicitly meritocratic. Do you accept THE GREAT LISK's bizarre request, or risk your ship and fight it?
Victims of nuclear waste disaster demand enquiry into ship command structure failures. Do you hold enquiry? Pros - open govt, benevolence, find culprits and punish them, cons - invasive for many who did nothing wrong/had no choice, undermines you, risks inviting more scrutiny and higher standards, not popular with Alex.
Student loan interest payment scenario. Expand on this.
Must be opportunity to kill LilyPlayer must encounter their various staff with their different aims and values.
Player must be acquianted with the long-term goal of finding a habitable planet for humanity to survive on.
Player must make a decision on what to do with K-11 (intergalactic refugees.) Possible decisions:
1 Tests for the refugees. Those who can work on Genesis are let in. Those who are a burden are sent on their way. (They keep their stuff.)
2 Let everyone on board in and feed and clothe them. (They keep their stuff.)
3 Let everyone on board in and make no special provisions for them. (They keep their stuff.)
4 Take everything on K-11, intern/enslave the people and put them to work on whatever private projects the player may have.
5 Offer them as slaves to Alex.
6 Send them away and do not let them dock. (They may be diseased/some other risk.)
7. A commission made from random citizens of Genesis as well as leaders within management decides what to do through open consultation. (This results in a random decision out of 1, 2, 3, 6 and it is recorded that this decision was made through open consultation.)
Player must decide what their goal is for the next few chapters. Possible goals:
1. Make Genesis a true meritocracy.
2. Make Genesis a compassionate haven.
3. Everyone on Genesis free to live life as they wish.
4. Make your own life really really good.
5. Win the adoration of Alex.
6. Eliminate systemic risk and disease from life on Genesis.
7. Make the management of Genesis open, honest and entirely transparent.Humanity spread out over the solar system. On the planets, political authorities were formed, but space was a chaotic, wild ungovernable place. Powerful ships run by clever leaders were able to make great profits. Genesis was one of those ships. Seven years ago, in the midst of wild rumours about a "sun-bomb" that would turn the sun into a black hole, Alex, leader of Exodus and Genesis, had a premonition of system-wide destruction and brought her two ships away from the solar system. For a week the ships travelled away, faster and faster, its crew growing more and more furious at this needless departure. By the end of that week, with no destruction in sight, Alex wavered and began to slow their journey. And then, with a flash, all life in the solar system was swallowed by the sun. We were on one of only eight major vessels to have escaped the blast. Alex has been hunting for a new system to call home ever since.
Time is 292x slower for those on fast ship than on planet
Background:
I had nothing to live for on $homeplanet. I was living in a tiny one-bedroom (colour: "#EAAE6B")[apartment] with six hours' (colour: "#F7F75F")[electricity] a day. I couldn't go home. My mother was broke, living in a kind uncle's house, since our own had been repossessed. I have no father - he was murdered when I was three.
(click: "murdered")[Perhaps I could have kept on going a little longer. I didn't //know// it was hopeless there. But I could feel it. A pain in my bones. So I left for (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]. I brought nothing with me but my values, emotional (colour: "#CA583C")[scars], a useless arts degree, masses of debt, and total uncertainty about the future.]
Tilde has theory that when leave near-light speed may encounter humans far in advance of us, due to time differentials. They may invent faster travel whilst we are travelling
Jupiter Orbital Merchant Republics and Earth were main powers in solar system and big enemies.Discover dead alien civilisations.
Find out all other ships founded their own planets and then built superweapon and killed selves. This happened over a few thousand years, even though Genesis has only been travelling for seven due to the effects of travelling close to the speed of light.
Some WorDs on SYNESthesia"Wait," I say.
(click: "Wait")[She looks at the floor and rolls her pencil up and down her palm with her thumb. It's an odd motion, one I've never seen before.]
(click: "one I've never seen before")["What are you doing?" I say.
I do not draw attention to it.] (click:"What are you doing?")[(Replace:"I do not draw attention to it.")[I'm rolling my pencil up and down my palm with my thumb."]]
(click: "I do not draw attention to it.")[(replace:'"What are you doing?" I say.
')[] She waits a few moments, then says "Wait for what?"] (click: "rolling my pencil","wait for what?") ["Tell me about Odysseus."
"Tell me about Erskine Brown."]
(click: "Tell me about Odysseus")[(replace:'"Tell me about Erskine Brown."')["It's an Epsilon-Class lifeboat, approaching us at ten percent of our relative maximum speed. Estimated maximum capacity... maybe five or six hundred. About five percent of our population, three percent of our volume. Survivability... much lower than ours, I would expect. I don't imagine their ship is self-sustaining. It is being tracked by my team currently with information sent to senior Genesis executives at hourly intervals. No disclosure to crew as of yet."
And then she leaves.]](click:"Tell me about Erskine Brown")[(replace:'"Tell me about Odysseus."'
)[] "Commander Erskine Brown is your Security Commissioner, in charge of Genesis' defensive armaments, internment facilities and enforcement of the ship's code of laws. He's 53, was born in x near Edinburgh....Double-click this passage to edit it.=><=
Chapter 1
(click: "Chapter 1") [Relative Local Time]
<==
(click: "Relative Local Time")[3,211 relative local hours since the (colour: "#FFFD98")[Sun] was destroyed.]
(click: "3,211 relative local hours")[(That's four months, twelve days and three hours.)]
(click: "four months, twelve days and three hours")[It has been 158 hours, or almost a week, since our (colour:"#FFFFE0")[Director] was thrown out of an airlock and I, $name, was chosen to replace him. I haven't slept much.](click: $name)[(set: $name to (prompt: "Do you want to change your name? This is your last chance", $name))(live: 100)[(if: $name is "")[(set: $name to (prompt: "Name cannot be blank", "Type your name here"))](else: )[(stop: )]]]
(click: "I haven't slept much")[Time seems to distort at (colour: "#BBBBFF")[high speeds]. It feels like two minutes ago Malcolm and I thought we were beginning to get a firm grasp on the (colour: "#FF4500")[crises] that beset (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis].]
(click: "two minutes ago")[Time also literally distorts at (colour: "#BBBBFF")[high speeds]. For us on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis], travelling at (colour: "#BBBBFF")[close to the speed of light], it has been four and a half months since the (colour: "#FFFD98")[Sun] went (colour: "#505050")[black] and swallowed the (colour: "#FFFD98")[Solar] System. For what remains of the (colour: "#FFFD98")[Solar] System, it has been more than 107 years.]
(click: "107")[55,000 relative local hours ago I was a mid-level nobody getting by on survival rations and four hours' (colour: "#40E0D0")[electricity] a day. The (colour: "#FFFD98")[Solar] System War was consuming almost the entire focus and energy of humanity. At that time, (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] appeared in my life like a beacon, (colour: "#FFEF64")[shining brightly] in the darkness. It was the shining light of...]
(click: "It was the shining light of...")[[[Meritocracy->Meritocracy]]
[[Compassion->Compassion]]
[[Freedom->Freedom]]
[[Profit->Profit]]
[[Power->Power]]
[[Safety->Safety]]
[[Honesty->Honesty]]]It was the (colour: "#FFEF64")[shining light] of meritocracy.
(click: "meritocracy")[(colour: "#FFCCB1")[Erskine] (colour: "#CA632C")[Brown], the no-nonsense security commissioner of (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis], found me in my seventh year in the United Kingdom civil service. I was working as a Junior Manager on military supply standardisation.]
(click: "Junior Manager")[As (colour: "#592C0D")[Earth] won more and more victories against the (colour: "#DD8452")[Jupiter] Orbital Merchant Republics I felt my stomach get heavier and heavier. There was nothing more for me in this job. I would be doing the same thing until the war ended, and then I would be made redundant. Would my abilities ever be recognised?]
(click: "recognised")[(colour: "#FFCCB1")[Erskine] told me I was better than this, and offered me a place on a ship that would recognise excellence. I jumped at the opportunity.]
(set: $homeplanet to "Earth")(set: $homeplanetadjective to "Terran")(set: $moralvalue to "meritocracy")(set: $moralvalueadjective to "hard working")(click: "I jumped at the opportunity")[[[...->Opportunity]]]It was the (colour: "#FFEF64")[shining light] of compassion.
(click: "compassion")[(colour: "#DF975B")[Kyra Kulkarni], (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]' idealistic Internal (colour: "#FEC399")[Communications] Director, found me in my seventh year as a U.N. (colour: "#F56817")[Martian] Junior Development Campaigns Executive.]
(click: "Junior Development Campaigns Executive")[In theory, I was there to get aid and support to the impoverished people of (colour: "#F56817")[Mars]. But (colour: "#592C0D")[Earth] wanted allies for the (colour: "#FFFD98")[Solar] System War. I was pressed into winning over the (colour: "#F56817")[Martian] Warlords. "Aid for blade" as it was unofficially known. As I won (colour: "#F56817")[Mars]' backing for (colour: "#592C0D")[Earth], (colour: "#592C0D")[Earth] won more and more victories against the (colour: "#DD8452")[Jupiter] Orbital Merchant Republics. Who was I really helping?]
(click: "Who was I really helping")[(colour: "#DF975B")[Kyra] told me I could make a positive difference on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis], and offered me a place on a ship that looked after its crew. I jumped at the opportunity.]
(set: $homeplanet to "Mars")(set: $homeplanetadjective to "Martian")(set: $moralvalue to "compassion")(set: $moralvalueadjective to "compassionate")(click: "I jumped at the opportunity")[[[...->Opportunity]]]It was the (colour: "#FFEF64")[shining light] of freedom.
(click: "freedom")[(colour: "#FFF3DC")[Professor Tilde Lindberg], the eccentric (colour: "#87FFED")[Science] Director on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis], heard word of me whilst I was in my seventh year as a Campaign Officer for (colour: "#BF8E00")[Venus]'s (colour: "#FAEA94")[Liberal] Party, just as the party leadership was being entirely replaced by ruling (colour: "#F02036")[Communist] apparatchicks.]
(click: "entirely replaced")[(colour: "#BF8E00")[Venus] maintained the pretence of democracy by allowing a multi-party system to exist but made sure all parties were implements of the state, unified and controlled. (colour: "#BF8E00")[Venus] was preparing to enter the war, to join the renascent forces of (colour: "#592C0D")[Earth] and crush the capitalist (colour: "#DD8452")[Jupiter] Orbital Merchant Republics.]
(click: "unified and controlled")[In what sense was the (colour: "#BF8E00")[Venus] (colour: "#FAEA94")[Liberal] Party actually committed to freedom?]
(click: "committed to freedom")[I received a message from (colour: "#FFF3DC")[Professor Lindberg] telling me I didn't need to be (colour: "#455A50")[shackled] down by a totalitarian state. She offered me a place on a ship that ran by its own rules. I jumped at the opportunity.]
(set: $homeplanet to "Venus")(set: $homeplanetadjective to "Venutian")(set: $moralvalue to "freedom")(set: $moralvalueadjective to "liberal")(click: "I jumped at the opportunity")[[[...->Opportunity]]]It was the (colour: "#FFEF64")[shining light] of (colour: "#37BF3B")[profit].
(click: "profit")[(colour: "#F5AE6B")[Valentin Osipov], the impish Chief (colour: "#D23D97")[Culture] and (colour: "#73E5A9")[Innovation] Officer of (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis], found me in my seventh year as a (colour: "#839198")[Mercury] Mining Company Business Development Executive.]
(click: "Business Development")[The war had pushed up prices and I was selling everything the engineers could squeeze out, but every time the mines were hit by a (colour: "#E4BE3E")[SMART] missile or a (colour: "#AD53E8")[KyRO] bomb we'd lose workers, lose resource, and I'd lose another source for a sale.]
(click: "I'd lose")[And it wasn't just minerals that were getting more expensive. Food and (colour: "#5BC2F9")[water] was pricier by the day. With supplies cut off from the (colour: "#DD8452")[Jupiter] Orbital Merchant Republics, this war was losing me (colour: "#74A04B")[money]. Could I ever live a life of comfort?]
(click: "comfort")[(colour: "#F5AE6B")[Valentin] told me I could make a lot more (colour: "#74A04B")[ruble] than this, and offered me a place on a ship that had its share of (colour: "#F3DF3A")[treasures]. I jumped at the opportunity.]
(set: $homeplanet to "Mercury")(set: $homeplanetadjective to "Mercurian")(set: $moralvalue to "profit")(set: $moralvalueadjective to "self-seeking")(click: "I jumped at the opportunity")[[[...->Opportunity]]]It was the (colour: "#FFEF64")[shining light] of power.
(click: "power")[(colour: "#F7EEA7")[Zhang Xiuying], the competitive External (colour: "#FEC399")[Communications] Director of (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis], found me in my seventh year in the (colour: "#DD8452")[Jupiter] Orbital Merchant Republic Diplomatic Service.]
(click: "Diplomatic Service")[I was the Assistant Ambassador to our mortal enemies, (colour: "#592C0D")[Earth], and had been working on a secret Alliance with (colour: "#BF8E00")[Venus] to surround them, but as the War ground on we were slipping behind, and the fickle (colour: "#BF8E00")[Venutians] were reluctant to support a losing power. Had I backed the wrong horse?]
(click: "backed the wrong horse")[(colour: "#F7EEA7")[Zhang] told me (colour: "#DD8452")[Jupiter] was too far down this (colour: "#AAD0D9")[stream] to swim back up, and offered me a place on a ship that could shape the fate of the solar system. I jumped at the opportunity.]
(set: $homeplanet to "the Jupiter Orbital Merchant Republics")(set: $homeplanetadjective to "Merchant-Republican")(set: $moralvalue to "power")(set: $moralvalueadjective to "dominant")(click: "I jumped at the opportunity")[[[...->Opportunity]]]It was the (colour: "#FFEF64")[shining light] of safety.
(click: "safety")[(colour: "#FDDEB8")[Apolline Dupont], the analytical (colour: "#74A04B")[Finance] Director of (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis], found me in my seventh year as a [Science] and (colour: "#DCA435")[Engineering] Project Manager. I was working in Ireland under the (colour: "#592C0D")[Earth]'s surface.]
(click: "Project Manager")[We were trying to build underground vaults that could sustain human life after nuclear (colour: "#B2E9F3")[winter], or a major atmospheric destabilisation event. But as the (colour: "#592C0D")[Earth] military smashed (colour: "#839198")[Mercury] and won victory after victory against the (colour: "#DD8452")[Jupiter] Orbital Merchant Republics, the UN withdrew resources from what they regarded as unnecessary projects.]
(click: "unnecessary projects")[Was I really safe without the vaults?]
(click: "without the vaults")[(colour: "#FDDEB8")[Apolline] told me I was right to be afraid even on a victorious (colour: "#592C0D")[Earth] and offered me a place on a ship that could escape global and inter-planetary conflict. I jumped at the opportunity.]
(set: $homeplanet to "sub-surface Earth")(set: $homeplanetadjective to "subterranian")(set: $moralvalue to "safety")(set: $moralvalueadjective to "cautious")(click: "I jumped at the opportunity")[[[...->Opportunity]]]It was the (colour: "#FFEF64")[shining light] of honesty.
(click: "honesty")[(colour: "#422A1B")[Dr Ayodele Adeyemi], the conscientious Chief (colour: "#EE91DB")[Welfare] Officer of (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis], found me in my seventh year as a (colour: "#BBC1BF")[Ceres] News Network Researcher.]
(click: "News Network Researcher")[We'd been recently bought up by an Australian (colour: "#592C0D")[Earth] media oligarch. He changed as much of our focus as possible from reporting which included perspectives from both sides to pro-(colour: "#592C0D")[Earth] propagandising.]
(click: "propagandising")[With every one of their victories against the (colour: "#DD8452")[Jupiter] Orbital Merchant Republics less care was given to show any kind of balance or critical scepticism of sources that favoured (colour: "#592C0D")[Earth]. When I tried to get a report through about the (colour: "#6E5C50")[Ganymede] genocide it was buried and I was suspended for two months.]
(click: "buried")[Did I get into journalism for this?]
(click: "Did I get into journalism for this?")[(colour: "#422A1B")[Ayodele] told me honesty and openness were vital and offered me a place on a ship where people told the truth and stuck to their promises. I jumped at the opportunity.]
(set: $homeplanet to "Ceres")(set: $homeplanetadjective to "Ceresian")(set: $moralvalue to "honesty")(set: $moralvalueadjective to "honest")(click: "I jumped at the opportunity")[[[...->Opportunity]]]Alex had four ships. (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis], (colour: "#854378")[Exodus], (colour: "#3BC49F")[Leviticus] and (colour: "#BD6431")[Devarim]. (if: $moralvalue is "meritocracy")[(colour: "#FFCCB1")[Erskine] offered me a place in (colour: "#ABE8FB")[Security] on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]. He wasn't the only one to request me on his staff.](if: $moralvalue is "compassion")[(colour: "#DF975B")[Kyra] offered me a place in Internal (colour: "#FEC399")[Communications] on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]. She wasn't the only one to request me on her staff.](if: $moralvalue is "freedom")[(colour: "#FFF3DC")[Professor Tilde] offered me a place in the Department of (colour: "#87FFED")[Science] on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]. She wasn't the only one to request me on her staff.](if: $moralvalue is "profit")[(colour: "#F5AE6B")[Valentin] offered me a place in the department of (colour: "#D23D97")[Culture] and (colour: "#73E5A9")[Innovation] on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]. He wasn't the only one to request me on his staff.](if: $moralvalue is "power")[(colour: "#F7EEA7")[Zhang] offered me a place in External (colour: "#FEC399")[Communications] on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]. She wasn't the only one to request me on her staff.](if: $moralvalue is "safety")[Apolline offered me a place in (colour: "#74A04B")[Finance] on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]. She wasn't the only one to request me on her staff.](if: $moralvalue is "honesty")[(colour: "#422A1B")[Dr Adeyemi] offered me a place in the (colour: "#EE91DB")[Welfare] department on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]. He wasn't the only one to request me on his staff.] I decided to work under (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]'s...
(click:"decided")[[[...Security Commissioner, coordinating attacks on pirates and enemies->Security Commissioner]]
[[...Internal Communications Director, setting up the Genesis Healthcare system->Internal Communications Director]]
[[...Science Director, mastering near-light-speed travel->Science Director]]
[[...Chief Culture and Innovation Officer, project-managing Genesis' infrastructure and industry->Chief Culture and Innovation Officer]]
[[...External Communications Director, weaving alliances and powerful system-wide support networks->External Communications Director]]
[[...Finance Director, fabricating defences against all the hazards of space->Finance Director]]
[[...Chief Welfare Officer, making Genesis self-sustaining and liveable over the entire human lifecycle->Chief Health and Welfare Officer]]]"They call me elitist," the (colour: "#DED4D2")[greying] (colour: "#E15103")[ginger] (colour: "#FFCCB1")[Glaswegian] (colour: "#ABE8FB")[Security] Commissioner had said the first time he appeared in (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] (colour: "#B7986C")[Operations], "as if that's an ill thing."
(click: "as if that's an ill thing")[When (colour: "#FFCCB1")[Erskine] (colour: "#CA632C")[Brown] saw how coordinated and capable at communication I was, he specially requested that I be put in the (colour: "#ABE8FB")[Security] department. I was put in charge of steamlining on-board (colour: "#C0CACF")[internment] - what $homeplanetadjective(colour:"#FFFFFF")[s] would have called "(colour: "#65717C")[jail]" or "(colour: "#65717C")[prison]".]
(click: "internment")["Most of the old (colour: "#C0CACF")[internment] staff are thicker than a (colour: "#839198")[Mercurian] (colour: "#EEE93A")[sulphur-beetle]'s outer shell, but you and I are going to turn this whole department around.] (click: "turn this whole department around")[(colour: "#FF7400")[Fire] those who aren't up to it and get yourself whoever you need. Young, old, well-connected, hermit, doesn't matter, they've got to be knackie and they've got to be quick. (colour: "#C0CACF")[Internment] is going to be as efficient and fair as we can make it, given our limited resources."]
(click: "efficient and fair")[He was in charge of both enforcing onboard rules and coordinating our (colour: "#2D611E")[fighting forces]. He demanded full commitment from his staff. Some didn't like his approach, so (colour: "#FFCCB1")[Erskine] (colour: "#FF7400")[fired] them.] (click: "fired")[He focused in on specific technical problems, of which there were many, and micromanaged any area that fell behind his strict schedules. At the same time I coordinated the main (colour: "#8B4513")[office], making sure we were keeping on track with our headline performance goals.]
(click: "headline performance goals")[In the 50,000 hours I was under him we cut reoffending rates by 20% and earned our keep hunting down seven (colour: "#173FE1")[Neptunian] automated assault ships, all with minimal losses on our side.]
(click: "minimal losses")[(display: "As the war escalated")]When (colour: "#DF975B")[Kyra Kulkarni] heard about my persuasiveness she requested that I come to her department and spoke to me in front of the Internal (colour: "#FEC399")[Communications] team. (click: "spoke to me")["I have a dream," the young (colour: "#DF975B")[Indian] had said, her (colour: "#AC672E")[eyes] (colour: "#FFFCC2")[shining] with premise,] (click: "dream")["An audacious and enrapturing dream. Imprudent. Impracticable. And if realised it will be the most prodigious attainment achieved on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]."]
(click: "prodigious")[She smiled. "I want you - $name - to help me fabricate a system of free, universal (colour: "#BFF0EA")[medical] and (click: "#EFD0AA")[psychological] healthcare provision for every inhabitant of this vessel.] (click: "I want you")[You have the spiritual capacity to revolutionise the social order. Join me in (colour: "#FEC399")[Communications]. You and I will heal (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]."]
(click: "revolutionise the social order")["Technically comfort, security, and happiness are not the purvue of the Department of (colour: "#FEC399")[Communications]," she said, opening her arms wide and pointing at her (colour: "#A8B8AF")[computers] and staff,] (click: "Technically")["Our brief is only to present whatever decisions are made by (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]' director in the most (colour: "#F9A8A8")[positive] (colour: "#FFFAC2")[light]. But I have (colour:"#FFFFE0")[Malcolm]'s blessing on this. And what better song to sing than the heavenly chorus of health and well-being?"]
(click: "heavenly chorus of health and well-being")[We got to work. (colour: "#DF975B")[Kyra] had the vision and I worked out the details. And how many details there were! We had to get the (colour: "#BFF0EA")[medical] staff on board, and enough of the (colour: "#87FFED")[science] and (colour: "#E7791D")[engineering] crew.] (click: "how many details")[There were interminable meetings and attempts at obstructions. Issues with the (colour:"#BD3144")[ship]'s rules. Special exemptions and religious considerations.] (click: "religious considerations")[It was a (colour: "#FE3925")[hell] of a hard job making a healthcare system out of nothing, but we achieved what (colour: "#DF975B")[Kyra] set out to do.]
(click: "we achieved")[In the 50,000 hours from the time Kyra hired me we increased onboard life expectancy by two years and eliminated a host of (colour: "#C8F440")[radiation]-based diseases, and we wiped out every single STD on the ship.]
(click: "every single STD")[(display: "As the war escalated")](colour: "#FFF3DC")[Tilde Lindberg], (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]' (colour: "#87FFED")[Science] Director heard about my analytical abilities and specially requested that I be offered a place in her Department. She sent me a message:
(click: "message")["(colour: "#FFF3DC")[Tilde Lindberg] offers $name a place in her advanced division. Your decision.
Signed,
(colour: "#FFF3DC")[Professor T. Lindberg]"]
(click: "Professor T. Lindberg")[I replied that I would do it.]
(click: "I replied that I would do it")[I was sent a response saying I was to take charge of the team creating new (colour: "#BBBBFF")[near-light-speed] propulsion systems. I'm no (colour: "#87FFED")[scientist], but I could coordinate the team, and I could understand and work with (colour: "#87FFED")[scientists] and keep their plans on schedule. But I didn't meet (colour: "#FFF3DC")[Tilde] in her department the day I started.]
(click: "the day I started")["They told me to introduce myself," the thin (colour: "#FFFCB0")[blonde] (colour: "#FFF3DC")[Swede] said, peering in around my door 120 hours after she had officially hired me, "so this is me introducing myself." And then she left. I didn't see her for another 2,000 hours.]
(click: "another 2,000 hours")[The entire 50,000 hours I worked for (colour: "#FFF3DC")[Tilde] I only met her three times. She seemed to stay in her virtual reality chamber at all hours and communicated only through text messages.]
(click: "text messages")["Work as you wish. Work when you wish. You are cats, not dogs. Autonomy is priority. Compatible with (colour: "#87FFED")[scientific] results.
Signed,
(colour: "#FFF3DC")[T. Lindberg]"]
(click: "results")[Despite her cryptic communication style, (colour: "#FFF3DC")[Tilde] had extraordinary vision and could deal with challenges in a huge variety of areas. Whatever problems our engineers threw at her, she knew what the next step was.]
(click: "she knew what the next step was")[In the end, with her brilliant insight, the team's technical skills and my management and coordination we achieved what we set out to do. In the 50,000 hours I was under her we created humanity's first - and to our knowledge only - (colour: "#BBBBFF")[near-light-speed] propulsion system, as well as a new generation of (colour: "#9D39C2")[particle shields].]
(click: "particle shields")[(display: "As the war escalated")](enchant: "Earth", (colour: "#592C0D"))(enchant: "Mars", (colour: "#F56817"))(enchant: "Venus", (colour: "#BF8E00"))(enchant: "Mercury", (colour: "#839198"))(enchant: "Jupiter", (colour: "#DD8452"))(enchant: "sub-surface Earth", (colour: "#1B4D39"))(enchant: "Ceres", (colour: "#BBC1BF"))First thing when I came on board I got a memo asking me to meet with (colour: "#F5AE6B")[Valentin Osipov], Chief (colour: "#D23D97")[Culture] and (colour: "#73E5A9")[Innovation] Officer in the (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] (colour: "#3F8133")[tennis] court. The (colour: "#855711")[brown-haired] young (colour: "#F5AE6B")[Russian] talked while winning straight sets against a junior security officer.
(click: "winning straight sets")["(colour: "#707070")[Gravity] on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] is strong, but it's not (colour: "#592C0D")[Earth] strong. Plus you've got to deal with the-" he stopped speaking momentarily so he could concentrate on gracefully tapping the (colour: "#C2F03D")[ball] short "-curvature of the force, due to the ship's size and shape.]
(click: "size and shape")["(colour: "#32D822")[Tennis] up here is a different game, especially-" he drove the ball right to the far corner, out of reach, winning the point "-when we're on manoeuvres... Did I say stop the game?! Then keep playing! Jackson is like one of the (colour: "#79ADA7")[T33 battle drones], if he's listening to a sentence with more than one clause in it then he'll forget how to breathe. Isn't that right Jackson?"]
(click: "Isn't that right Jackson?")["What?"]
(click: "What?")["See?" He smiled and his (colour: "#A8AFAD")[grey] eyes (colour: "#FFFDD0")[twinkled]. "What can I do for you, $name?" he said. As if //he// hadn't called //me//. He was always playing games.]
(click: "He was always playing games")[(colour: "#F5AE6B")[Valentin] put me in charge of morale-building projects. Life on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis], like life on (colour: "$homeplanetcolour")[$homeplanet] or anywhere else during the war, consisted of interminable periods of boredom punctuated by brief periods of (colour: "#FF0000")[mortal] (colour: "#FFFF00")[terror]. If we could offer distractions people would pay us whatever we wanted.]
(click: "whatever we wanted")[I organised the creation of a museum to humanity's last (colour: "#D23D97")[Cultural] (colour: "#F0CA3D")[golden] age - the period which began with the end of World War II and ended with the Russian Federation dropping their eighth thermonuclear bomb on SPINK.]
(click: "SPINK")[(For younger readers - SPINK was a 21st century AI that consumed most of the organic matter in North America to use for self-replication. Fear of another AI outbreak on (colour: "#592C0D")[Earth] was part of the justification for colonising the (colour: "#FFFD98")[Solar] System.)]
(click: "Fear of another AI outbreak")[The museum was a couple of rooms filled with books and films and virtual reality games. The crew loved it.]
(click: "The crew loved it")[By the time the museum was complete, Alex had decided she wanted (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] to be made truly self-sufficient. We were commissioned to make a curriculum for the children who would be born and raised here.] (click: "curriculum")[They would be taught all the necessary (colour: "#87FFED")[Science] and analytical skills to survive in space, as well as the essentials of humanity's (colour: "#63707C")[history] and (colour: "#D23D97")[culture].]
(click: "essentials")[Amidst all the great historical figures and the interpretations of different schools of history, (colour: "#F5AE6B")[Osipov] insisted on teaching every child his own life story.] (click: "his own life story")[How he was born an orphan and made his business as a fixer and freelance salesman. The struggles we had getting the curriculum approved by the ship's teachers were put into the curriculum too, at (colour: "#F5AE6B")[Osipov]'s request. He wanted humanity to know that he was great.]
(click: "he was great")[If it weren't for us, all the colour and vitality of our flotilla would be nothing. We gave (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] the museum of human history. In our museum we kept Adele, James Bond and (colour: "#F9CE5B")[World of Warcraft] alive.]
(click: "World of Warcraft")[(display: "As the war escalated")]"Everybody (colour: "#6D6F7C")[dies]," the (colour: "#D6CBBF")[greying] (colour: "#F7EEA7")[Chinese lady] frowned to her congregation first time I came to her service, "but if you tie yourself to strength and authority, what comes between (colour: "#FED5BD")[birth] and (colour: "#55565F")[death] may be fruitful."
(click: "fruitful")[As External (colour: "#FEC399")[Communications] Director and resident expert in all of humanity's contemporary cultures, (colour: "#F7EEA7")[Zhang Xiuying] led the ship's non-denominational all-religion service. The ship's (colour: "#EF4058")[chapel] was both her main workplace and the greeting space for off-vessel visitors.]
(click: "off-vessel visitors")[(colour: "#FE1838")[Red] candles were arranged in neat, geometric formations. Religious texts were held on raised platforms. To the fore, a (colour: "#F9EDB1")[//Torah//], (colour: "#C64863")[//King James Bible//] and (colour: "#1B9945")[//Quran//]. On the port side, the (colour: "#EDDD86")[Vedas], (colour: "#E7ED86")[Upanishads] and (colour: "#F0CF7E")[Sutras].] (click: "Sutras")[Starboard were the (colour: "#955030")[Four Books], (colour: "#C15320")[Five classics], (colour: "#F3F4BE")[Kojiki] and (colour: "#F5CAA8")[Nihon-gi]. Stacked behind them were the complete works of Thomas Hobbes and Edmund Burke, and a number of other works of political theory including Francis Fukuyama's (colour: "#6F7A7E")[//The End of History//].]
(Click: "The End of History")[(colour: "#F7EEA7")[Zhang] noted some thoughtful element to my disposition and requested that I train in diplomacy under her.] (click: "train in diplomacy")[I took the opportunity.]
(click: "I took the opportunity")[I would meditate in the (colour: "#EF4058")[chapel], the only genuinely beautiful place on the ship, and I would read books of philosophy and religion. I learned manners, style and the codes of behaviour of all the planets in the system. I was the first person outsiders would see after (colour: "#F7EEA7")[Zhang]. Before long, she made me Junior External Communications Director, (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]'s public representative to the rest of the (colour: "#FFFD98")[Solar] System.]
(click: "Genesis")[Together we gradually convinced a network of allies to support (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]. They allowed us to smuggle valuable goods to pay for our developments. They protected us against the automated assault ships of (colour: "#173FE1")[Neptune]. Eventually they shared with us the latest research on (colour: "#BBBBFF")[near-light-speed] travel.]
(click: "latest research")[While the rest of humanity clung onto a bare, murderous, insignificant existence, we were the ones that Presidents and Prime Ministers looked up to. (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] was no longer simply acknowledged. It was admired.]
(click: "It was admired")[(display: "As the war escalated")]"Fear is rational emotion," the (colour: "#6D2637")[blind] (colour: "#5779CB")[blue-eyed] (colour: "#FDDEB8")[French] (colour: "855814")[brunette] said when she first spoke to me, alone, in her (colour: "#74A04B")[Finance] Director's office. "This is new environment. Foreign to you. No doubt you will face unfamiliar dangers."
(click: "unfamiliar dangers")["Do you know how I became (colour: "#641118")[blind]?" (colour: "#FDDEB8")[Apolline Dupont] said, her (colour: "#5779CB")[eyes] darting as if seeing fast-moving terrors that were invisible to the sighted. "Poor (colour: "#C8F440")[radiation] shielding. Human (colour: "#DCA435")[engineering] error. Call me paranoid..." She smiled.]
(click: "paranoid")["Paranoia is rational response to the dangers of space travel. Humans did not evolve on Earth to survive in irradiated vacuum. Built ships and computers to guide us. But machines flawed. Made by flawed humans. No matter how many redundancies. Have handwash. Please shut door as you leave. Thank you."]
(click: "handwash")[She put me in charge of spending on ship defences. Defences against missiles, (colour: "#8B008B")[plamsa], disease, air loss, (colour: "#FF7400")[fire], (colour: "#C8F440")[radiation], hostile teleportation, (colour: "#40E0D0")[power] failure, the list went on. Everything needed many failsafes at minimal cost. I got it all solved.]
(click: "failsafes")[Eventually, when I had proven my intelligence and foresight, she had me work alongside her from her private office. The only crew member she somewhat trusted.]
(click: "somewhat trusted")[She spoke little and worked constantly. She kept an ear on all her department through a network of powerful microphones, all hooked up to her earphones, feeding her information whether she was awake or asleep.]
(click: "powerful microphones")[There was a machine behind her desk that received radio waves from across the system, pinpointing all known vessels and life-form centres. It would play fast sounds to her at a variable pitch. It was strange, discordant, frenetic music.]
(click: "strange, discordant, frenetic")[Our work was insular, but it was effective. We resolved most causes of accidental injury, ensured there were backups for all critical systems, and our inspections caught a problem in the (colour: "#DCA435")[engine] venting design that if unresolved would have likely killed everyone on the ship.]
(click: "likely killed everyone on the ship")[(display: "As the war escalated")]"It's the lies I don't like," the bald (colour: "#422A1B")[Nigerian] doctor and Chief (colour: "#EE91DB")[Welfare] Officer said into his video receiver. (click: "lies")["I have been told three times that I will receive a shipment of (colour: "#CDD0D4")[aluminium] weave this past 200 hours. Have I received it? No. How can I provide a decent service if I don't know what tools I am going to have?"]
(click: "don't know what tools I am going to have")["Hello $name. Sorry about that," (colour: "#422A1B")[Ayodele] looked around his small, functional (colour: "#8B4513")[office].] (click: "Sorry about that")["I am trying to make this ship fully self-sustaining over the entire human life cycle. This means food production, waste recycling, accommodation for children and the infirm. I cannot do this unless people accurately tell me what is going on."]
(click: "accurately tell me what is going on")[He took me on as his protégé in this difficult task. I was to speak to suppliers from across the (colour: "#FFFD98")[Solar] System, working out best (colour: "#74A04B")[prices] and the most efficient route to purchase everything we needed. He had worked out a broad plan, which included the materials and (colour: "#DCA435")[engineering] instructions.]
(click: "broad plan")[It was a battle. We were frequently let down by disappearing orders and unfulfilled promises. Eventually, as the war ground on and after we were cheated more and more we decided to threaten one particularly nasty trader who stole from us. We told him we'd blow up his ship if he didn't pony up. We got everything we ordered close to on-time after that.]
(click: "close to on-time")[After 50,000 hours of what felt like wading through treacle we managed - just about - to make the ship truly self-sufficient. By this stage a new system of free, universal medical care - "(colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] Care" - had been added to Ayodele's brief, making him Chief Health and (colour: "#EE91DB")[Welfare] Officer. He made me his Delivery Director in the new combined department.]
(click: "He made me his Delivery Director")[(display: "As the war escalated")][I... How long have I been staring into space?]
(click: "staring into space")[What am I looking at?]
(click: "What am I looking at?")["Audio. Message. For the Director. Of Genesis." the computer drones.]
(click: "Audio. Message. For the Director. Of Genesis.")[(colour:"#FFFFE0")[Malcolm].] (click: "Malcolm")[Oh dear.]
(click: "Oh dear")[The message plays automatically.
"$name, it was so good to see you. $Lily1 $Lily2"]
(click: $Lily2)[Malcolm's (colour: "#E6E6FA")[glittering] (colour:"#E38E7D")[naked pink corpse] is orbiting the bridge of (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis], with words [burned] into his rubbery chest.]
(click: "words")["(colour: "#B22222")[Don't fuck up.
Love,
Lily & Momma
xxxxxxxxxxxx]"]
(click: "xxxxxxxxxxxx")[His skin is swollen and ripe, and his eyebrows and lips are twisted like I've never seen on a living person.]
(click: "swollen and ripe")[Past Malcolm's corpse, (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily]'s (colour: "#8B4513")[pod] curves towards the flagship (colour: "#854378")[Exodus], which spins on its own axis and orbits us as we orbit it. Two vessels like a pair of ancient, obese ballet dancers.]
(click: "orbits us")[The dance of death.]
(Click: "The dance of death")[Let's hope I last longer than (colour:"#FFFFE0")[Malcolm].]
(Click: "longer")[[[...->Chapter 1 - Relative Local Time]]]But as the (colour: "#FFFD98")[Solar] System War escalated, our job got harder and harder.
(click: "harder and harder")[4,000 hours ago, (colour: "#BD6431")[Devarim] was shot down by a (colour: "#CB588B")[Plutonian] fighter convoy, and I got a call from Malcolm.]
(click: "a call from Malcolm")["$name, it's Malcolm. I'm glad you're still alive. Following the (colour: "#BD6431")[Devarim] incident, we're reorganising staff. Your record has impressed me. You're going to be Director of (colour: "#B7986C")[Operations] for (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis], under me.] (click: "under me")[This is not a request but an order. I hope you understand. Desperate times and so on."]
(click: "Desperate times")[And so I became his Director of (colour: "#B7986C")[Operations]. The second-in-command on (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis].]
(click: "second-in-command")[700 hours later we intercepted an urgent encrypted internal intelligence report about a new superweapon that would supposedly be activated that month, coming from the ailing (colour: "#DD8452")[Jupiter] Orbital Merchant Republics. A weapon that could end the war by wiping out all life in a three-dimensional space of octillions of cubic kilometres.]
(click: "wiping out all life")[Throughout the ship, people argued furiously about whether it was fake intelligence. We were (colour: "#FFFFE0")[pale] and hoarse and exhausted. Not knowing the intended target, the only way to be sure we were out of its blast volume was to leave the system entirely. Assuming it was real, every minute we stayed increased the risk of getting caught in its blast.]
(click: "getting caught in its blast")[We had a choice. We could flee the (colour: "#FFFD98")[Solar] System into the unknown, and possibly starve to (colour: "#55565F")[death], or we could stay and await possible annihilation.]
(click: "annihilation")[I said we should stay.
I said we should leave.
I said nothing.](click: 'I said we should stay.')[(set: $solarwarchoice to "stay")
Alex noted my words before overriding me.(replace: "I said we should leave.")[](replace: 'I said nothing.')[]](click: 'I said we should leave.')[(set: $solarwarchoice to "leave")
Alex noted my words before agreeing with me.(replace: "I said we should stay.")[](replace: 'I said nothing')[]](click: 'I said nothing.')[(set: $solarwarchoice to "nothing")
Alex noted my abstention before saying we should leave.(replace: "I said we should leave.")[](replace: 'I said we should stay.')[]]
(click: "Alex noted")[After a few intense hours of altercations, Alex demanded that (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] and (colour: "#854378")[Exodus] leave with her and Malcolm assented. We left those who stayed behind on (colour: "#3BC49F")[Leviticus].]
(click: "Leviticus")[For 172 hours we accelerated into the great (colour: "#505050")[dark] beyond our system.]
(click: "accelerated")[For 172 hours we doubted ourselves and Alex, wondering if this was all for (colour: "#505050")[nothing].]
(click: "doubted")[For 172 hours we lived in uncertainty.]
(click:"uncertainty")[ Wavering.]
(click:"Wavering")[Asking ourselves if we should return to our loved ones.]
(click: "return to our loved ones")[Then we saw the (colour: "#CDFAFF")[flash]. Blinding (colour: "#CDFAFF")[light], followed by (colour: "#505050")[darkness]. The (colour: "#FFFD98")[Sun] was transformed into a (colour: "#505050")[black] hole that swallowed everything in the (colour: "#FFFD98")[Solar] System.]
(click: "swallowed everything")[The superweapon was real.]
(click: "The superweapon was real")[It was worse than any of us had imagined.]
(click: "It was worse than any of us had imagined")[It had killed everyone. Literally everyone outside of our two ships.]
(click: "outside of our two ships")[We were alone in the universe. (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] and (colour: "#854378")[Exodus]. The last 35,000 humans.]
(click: "The last 35,000 humans")[That was 3,211 relative local hours ago.]
(click: "That was 3,211 relative local hours ago")[[[...->Your Story Ends Here]]]The other senior department leaders criticised Osipov for frivolous use of limited resources. His response was to have me throw a party and invite everyone except for the department heads. He called it his "fuck you party" and it would have been the end of him if it were not such a hit with crew.
["Do you know why I work for Alex? She is a great power. In the last century there was considerable debate amongst historians about whether individual men or women could reshape history. Alex already has. She has made a fortune restoring (colour: "#592C0D")[Earth]'s dominance over the system, reversed the (colour: "#F9A137")[sunrise] of the (colour: "#DD8452")[Jupiter] Orbital Merchant Republics, and will continue to shape humanity's future.]
(click: "future")["Find power. Find powerful people. Make them your own. Everybody (colour: "#6D6F7C")[dies]... but if you tie yourself to strength and authority, what comes between (colour: "#FED5BD")[birth] and (colour: "#55565F")[death] may be fruitful."]
"of course there is no fundamental social transformation. You are simply living each moment to the next, trying not to be destroyed."
"I've been up for thirty hours with Erskine and our delightful insurgent friends. These people think we've got some magical pot of gold that will-"
"(colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily]'s here! Fuck."
We're fucked. I'm fucked. (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily]'s on her way. Did you hear them in the lobby? Oh fuck
it were just //one or two// errors then my dear darling Alex might be able to let them pass. But this feeling of (colour: "#A00202")[//chaos//]... the endless (colour: "#FF4500")[//crises//] and (colour: "#FFD700")[//catastrophes//] and (colour: "#ADFF2F")[//foolish mistakes//]... and you let people //follow this dirty breadcrumb trail back to your slimy gob//."
(click: "your slimy gob")["I know what you're telling me (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily]," Malcolm nods and (colour: "#FFFFE0")[smiles], his hands (colour: "#F0E68C")[shaking]. "And. You know. I've learned a lot. The whole office has. $name is making inroads with getting (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] (colour: "#B7986C")[Operations] organised."]
(click: "inroads")["Is that right $name?" (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] raises an (colour: "#A0522D")[eyebrow] at me.]
Do you know why Alex called one of the ships "Devarim"? All the others are from the old testament. "Devarim" is from the Torah. - Zhang
Erskine - It is because it is the best name
Kyra - because it sounds nice
Tilde - Because she could
Osipov - Because then we would be divided by this interminable dicussion!
Zhang - Power does not reveal its secrets
Apolline - atavistic superstitious paranoia that goes deep into our species' evolutionary past. God is real and God will crush us if we make one misstep
Adeyemi - we don't know=><=
Your Story Ends Here
(click: "Your Story Ends Here") [Sorry]
<==
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Refresh the page to restart the story.](set: $name to (prompt: "My name is", "Type your name here"))(live: 100)[(if: $name is "")[(set: $name to (prompt: "Name cannot be blank", "Type your name here"))](else: )["$name," I say.
"//$name//..." as if she hasn't heard my name fifty times before. "Doesn't it?"(stop: )]]
[[Chapter 1 - Relative Local Time]]After the Sun
A Ship in Time Saves 35,000
The Arc of Bastards
Do Unto Others
Survival Not Guaranteed
Ahead, Flibnars!
For Whom The Bell Tolls
No Man Is An Island
Blackstar
(colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] is standing in the cramped bridge-level (colour: "#8B4513")[office] (colour: "#DC143C")[smiling] at me and Malcolm.
(click: "office")[(colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily]'s armed (colour: "#2D611E")[enforcers] are outside the smoldering remains of the door, listening in on our conversation. Malcom is (colour: "#556B2F")[sweating]. (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] gestures with her (colour: "#8B008B")[plasma pistol].]
(click: "sweating")["I //like// you Malcolm," she says. "Momma //likes// you, Malcolm. We both know how //difficult// it is running a crowded space-vessel like (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis]."]
(click: "difficult")[The computer consoles behind Malcolm (colour: " #00BFFF")[blink] silently. He wipes his forehead with a (colour: "#6B8E23")[greasy handkerchief] and (colour: "#FFFFE0")[smiles weakly].]
(click: "smiles weakly")["I'm glad you like me. I'm glad Alex -
"-Momma-"]
(click: "-Momma-")["I'm glad she likes me. That makes me feel a lot better (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily]," he says. "Because - you know. With all this (colour: "#C8F440")[radiation] nonsense, and all these rumours about me-"]
(click: "rumours")["-//None// of them true," she replies.]
(click: "None")["Exactly."
She pauses.]
(click: "She pauses")["We're on your side Malcolm," (colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] continues. "Nobody appreciates the work you've done for (colour:"#BD3144")[Genesis] more than me and Momma."]
(click: "me and Momma")[(colour: "#F5DDB8")[Lily] nods.]
(click: "nods")["We believe in you Malcolm," she says.]
(click: "We believe in you")[Malcolm is about to speak-]
(click: "about to speak-")["//Still//..." she says, ponderously.
Malcolm's face is (colour: red)[red] and blotchy.
"Yes?"]
(click: "Still...")[The hairs down my spine are raised. My fingers are (colour:"#B0E0E6")[cold]. My face - tight. I can feel my (colour: "#B5394B")[heart] drumming in my neck.]
(click: "neck")["The thing about a cover-up, is things are supposed to stay under the cover. Aren't they?"]
(click: "stay under the cover")[She prods Malcolm's chest with her (colour: "#8B008B")[pistol]. He turns (colour: "#FFF9E3")[white]. "Because - you know. With all this (colour: "#C8F440")[radiation] nonsense. And all these //rumours// about you...] (click: "white")[People are angry. Angry people are dangerous."]
(click: "dangerous")[She ruffles Malcolm's hair and cocks her head to one side. "Something must be done. Isn't that right $name?"]
(click: "Something must be done")[She looks at me and (colour: "#DC143C")[smiles] with shining (colour: "#FFFFBD")[yellow teeth]. Through the window behind her, a (colour: "#FFE4E1")[spiral galaxy] floats in and out of view.]
(click: "yellow teeth")[[["Something must be done."->"Something must be done."]]
[["What are you implying?"->"What are you implying?"]]
[["We're doing what we can."->"We're doing what we can."]]]How did they engage with Lily in Prologue?
What did they think of Malcolm's murder?
Why did they join Genesis?
Who did they serve under in the solar system war?
Did they support leaving the solar system, staying, or did they hold their tongue?