You stand in the elevator. The engine hums for a bit, then stops.\n\n"YOU ARE NOW AT DOCK D", the feminine robotic voice tells you.\n\nAfter a few clicks and whirrs, the big door of the elevator cabin opens, and you see a man. On your HUD, you can read his callsign. His name is ANIMAL.\n\n"It's about time your ass showed up, EASY. Let's take you to OP Control for briefing, and on the double."\n\nHe points to a room further down a hallway, and takes a few footsteps in its direction, then stops.\n\n"Come on, EASY, let's go, they're waiting for us".\n\n[[FOLLOW ANIMAL|animal]]\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shoot5]]

The probe is now in your sights. But as you get closer and closer to it, you start hearing static in your comms. \n\nWith each step you take, the static gets louder and louder, until it becomes all you can hear.\n\nYou press forward. You're now so close to the probe you could grab it.\n\nThe static becomes unbearably loud. \n\nYour vision gets blurrier and blurrier, and then you faint.\n\nNow there is only silence.\n\nNow there is only emptiness.\n\nYou know it is not death because then, you hear a faint voice echoing through your head.\n\n[["You"|dream]]

"Our sensors have picked up an unknown radio broadcast coming from WA-140213, an unhinabited planetoid in Hyperspace Sector Q. We've sent a probe down and it has found the source of the broadcast to be an as of yet unclassifiable artifact. A few moments after, the probe suddenly died.\n\nWe've waited for months to be in range of WA-140213, and the time is now.\n\nYour mission is to go on WA-140213, and once you've touched down, to safely retrieve both the artifact and the probe for analysis at Central Station.\n\nUnderstood? Then get to your ship and head out.\n\nGood luck, soldiers."\n\nIn the back of the room, a door opens.\n\n"You heard the man", ANIMAL says. "Let's head out"\n\n[[HEAD OUT|out]]\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shoot8]]\n\n

You take your first steps out of the ship and on to the surface of WA-140213. As you do, ANIMAL finishes unloading a box from the shuttle's cargo bay. \n\n"Okay, EASY, grab your equipment", he tells you.\n\nYou walk to the box, and grab the gun inside. It's a standard issue LAR-1500 equipped with a red dot sight. You also grab the 7 energy cells in the box, and load one in your gun. On your HUD, you now read "30/180". You also grab 3 Plasma Grenades. \n\nFully loaded and ready to go, you hear ANIMAL in your ear again.\n\n"Okay, now that you're equipped, come back and I'll tell you how it's gonna go down".\n\n[[COME BACK TO ANIMAL|plan]]\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shoot10]]

Okay last chance, you either go forward or you try again, whatever, I'm ending this either way.\n\n[[<font color="#000000">SHOOT YOUR GUN</font>|shootloop1]]\n\n[[MOVE FORWARD|probe]]

RETRIEVAL RUN\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[[-PRESS ANY BUTTON TO START-|begin]]

''Written and designed by''\nEl Narez\n\n''Special Thanks''\nZoë Quinn\nLisa Z. Furioso\nCaelyn Sandel\n\nand ''YOU''\n\n\n//This Story is dedicated to all those Cyberpunks out there who fight against Video Games and Gamers every day of their lives.//

//You are alone//\n\nYou look at one of the floating bodies. It's shrouded in darkness.\n\n//You are alone//\n\nYou look at the darkness.\n\n//You are alone//\n\nYou look at yourself again. Your body is also shrouded in darkness.\n\n//You feel alone//\n\nYou look at the darkness, and you see it is one and the same.\n\n[[You're not alone|alone]]

You follow ANIMAL, DEMO and MORRIGAN through a door that just opened in the back of the room, and find yourself in a large hangar, surrounded by dozens of ATCSes (Armored Troop Carrier Shuttles).\n\nThe female robotic voice comes on, booming everywhere.\n\n"SHIP AWAITING CRITICAL MISSION PERSONNEL ON RAMP 1\n\nTAKEOFF IMMINENT\n\nALL NON-MISSION RELATED PERSONNEL MUST CLEAR RAMP 1 IMMEDIATELY"\n\nYou walk towards the brightly lit takeoff ramp, where you see a medium-sized shuttle. A robot finishes loading boxes into its cargo bay. \n\n"Well", DEMO says "Everything seems to be in order so just, take your seats and let's do this"\n\n[[PRESS A TO GET ABOARD THE SHUTTLE|launch]]\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shoot9]]

Okay I've tried now please move forward. \n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shootend6]]\n\n[[MOVE FORWARD|probe]]

You try shooting again and again, still to no avail. MORRIGAN scolds you. "EASY, you know wasting ammo has been outlawed since after the [[Third Skreelak War|skreelaks]], right? Please cut it out."\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shootend5]]\n\n[[MOVE FORWARD|probe]]

Really ? \n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shootend8]]\n\n[[MOVE FORWARD|probe]]

Loading...\n\nTip: Situated at the very edge of colonized space, the Nostradamus Barnum II is the largest Scouting Station of the Space Navy.\n\n[[-PRESS ANY BUTTON TO CONTINUE-|deck]]

You try shooting once more. ANIMAL and MORRIGAN have now caught up to you.\n\n"What the fuck are you doing?", ANIMAL asks. "We can't use our guns when no Unknowns are around! It wastes ammo! Just go to the probe god damnit!"\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shootend4]]\n\n[[MOVE FORWARD|probe]]

You try shooting again. It still doesn't work. The female robotic voice repeats: "NO UNKNOWN LIFEFORMS DETECTED. USE OF WEAPONS RESTRICTED."\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shootend3]]\n\n[[MOVE FORWARD|probe]]

It's been one Terran Standard Year since the incident on WA-140213. All you remember from that day is dreaming, then waking up in the Emergency Med Bay of Central Station. When the doctors told Animal you were fine, you thought you could see relief on his face, but that couldn't be, could it?\n\nAs is standard procedure, you and your squad were then transferred to Central Station Security. But after a string of [[incidents|incident]] you'd rather not talk about, you started planning for your disappearance.\n\nAnd then one night, you broke into a research facility. With guns blazing, you made your way to the laboratory where they were studying the artifact, and you stole it. A few moments after that, [[Security troops|security]] were looking for you everywhere, but you were gone. \n\nToday, you live in the Underground, helping the mutants and the misfits survive against those that would want to hurt them. Sometimes, you show people the artifact. They look at it, feel its feeling, and, like you, decide it is best for them to help others.\n\nYou still don't know anything about the artifact, but you're thankful it exists. You're thankful it showed you a better way to be. People want to hurt you, and you get shot at sometimes, and you wish they could feel what the artifact made you feel, but it's okay.\n\nYou're in a better place.\n\n[[THE END|END]]

Your footsteps echo as you enter the cave. For a moment, you can't distinguish any shapes in the dark. Detecting the lower levels of light inside, your Power Armor immediately activates your front lamp.\n\nThe path ahead is clear. There are rocks and rock formations alon the way, but none are obstructing your progression. \n\nYou walk forward, getting closer and closer to both the probe and the artifact.\n\n[[MOVE FORWARD|probe]]\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shootend]]

There is nothing to shoot.\n\n[[GO TO THE CAVE|cave]]

The servos in your Power Armor force you to keep your gun down when looking at Space Navy equipment or personnel. You cannot fight that reflex or shoot your gun.\n\n[[COME BACK TO ANIMAL|plan]]

You make a fist and violently hit the panel.\n\nThe door closes.\n\nOver the elevator's speaker, the robotic female voice speaks once again.\n\n"NOW ASCENDING TO DECK D"\n\n[[loading|loading]]

You follow ANIMAL down the hallway. Around you, you see signs. One says "COMMS CENTER". Another "SHIPS BAY", and another "OPERATIONS CONTROL". Each with an arrow, each pointing in another direction.\n\nLooking straight ahead, ANIMAL walks at a brisk pace in the direction of OPERATIONS CONTROL.\n\n"You really liked that pod didn't you? You're the last one in the squad to make it out. I'll introduce ya and then we'll get to the mission, clear? Good.", he says.\n\nYou keep walking for a bit, until ANIMAL stops in front of a door.\n\n"And here we are, EASY. Let's do this.", he says, looking at a scanner.\n\nThe door opens.\n\n[[ENTER THE ROOM|briefing]]\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shoot6]]\n\n

You keep advancing forward, until you come to a doorway larger than those you have seen before. It opens on a small grey featureless room.\n\nYou walk in, and see nothing of note.\n\nYou then turn back, and see a panel on one side of the doorway. \n\nYou are in an elevator, looking at that panel.\n\n[[PRESS A TO GO TO DECK D|elevator]]\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shoot4]]\n\n\n

Retrieval Run

You put your finger on the trigger, getting ready to fire a shot. But then, the female robotic voice comes in your comms. It says "NO UNKNOWN LIFEFORMS DETECTED. USE OF WEAPONS RESTRICTED."\n\n[[MOVE FORWARD|probe]]\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shootend2]]\n\n

Feeling comes back to you. First to the very tips of your fingers and toes, then to your limbs, and then, finally, the whole of you is awake. \n\nThe lock of your Cryo-Pod clicks open. \n\nIn a flat tone, a robotic female voice starts speaking to you from the embedded speakers near your head.\n\n"BODY TEMPERATURE RESTORED TO NOMINAL LEVEL\n\nCRYOPRESERVATION PROCESS COMPLETED\n\nVITAL SCANS SHOW OPERATIVE IS COMBAT-READY\n\nSOLDIER, EXIT THE POD AND GO TO DECK D FOR PRE-MISSION BRIEFING"\n\n[[PRESS A TO EXIT THE CRYO-POD|corridor]]\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shoot1]]

The door is locked.\n\n[[GO FORWARD|forward]]\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shoot3]]

The pod door opens, and you take your first step inside a metallic room filled with dozens upon dozens of pods, put together in rows and all similar in every way to the one you just stepped out of.\n\nIn some, you see soldiers clad from head to toe in Power Armor. In others, you see nothing but the very same equipment that was in your pod.\n\nThe whirring of the machines around you is interrupted by the voice you heard in the pod.\n\n"SOLDIER.\n\nPROCEED IMMEDIATELY TO DECK D FOR PRE-MISSION BRIEFING."\n\n[[PROCEED TO DECK D|todeck]]\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shoot2]]

It's useless to try.\n\n[[SHOOT THE GUN|shootloop1]]

You will never shoot the gun.\n\n[[SHOOT THE GUN|shootloop2]]

Your gun's in a box on the back of the ship.\n\n[[PRESS A TO GET ABOARD THE SHUTTLE|launch]]

You're getting your gun, calm down.\n\n[[HEAD OUT|out]]

You exit the room through its only doorway, and find yourself in a brightly lit corridor. \n\nOn the grey metal wall to your left, a sign reads "CRYOPOD BAY", followed by an arrow pointing in the direction you just came from.\n\nYou move forward in the only direction you can, until you see a grey metal door on the grey metal wall to your left side.\n\n[[GO FORWARD|forward]]\n\n[[GO TO THE DOOR|door]]\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shoot3]]

No really I'm done. Like, I've told you all I can about why you can't shoot, I've got nothing else. Please, just move on.\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shootend7]]\n\n[[MOVE FORWARD|probe]]

You walk back to find ANIMAL and MORRIGAN together in a huddle waiting for you. You join them, and then ANIMAL speaks.\n\n"Sensors have picked up the probe's signal. It's a few clicks down in this cave. We detect no lifeforms, all we have to do is walk up to it and grab it. EASY, you're the last one to wake up, so you take point. MORRIGAN and I follow you, and DEMO you get that ship ready to fly as soon as we tell you in case anything goes wrong. All clear?"\n\nMORRIGAN nods. DEMO says "Clear" over your comms.\n\n"Then we're Oscar Mike. EASY, you go and we follow."\n\n[[GO IN THE CAVE|cave]]\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shoot11]]

Loading...\n\nTip : You can buy decals to customize your guns and ID tag in Multiplayer Mode in the Shop\n\n[[-PRESS ANY BUTTON TO CONTINUE-|planet]]

You don't have a gun yet.\n\n[[PRESS A TO EXIT THE CRYO-POD|corridor]]

Again, you do not have a gun that you can shoot yet.\n\n[[GO FORWARD|forward]]

You still don't have a gun.\n\n[[PROCEED TO DECK Q|todeck]]

Not happening, and before you ask, Animal doesn't have a gun yet either.\n\n[[FOLLOW ANIMAL|animal]]

Still no gun.\n\n[[PRESS A TO GO TO DECK Q|elevator]]

You can't shoot holograms.\n\nAnd you don't have a gun. \n\n[[LISTEN TO BRIEFING|mission]]

You're really excited about the possibility of shooting a gun, which is respectable, but, you won't get a gun for another, like, two or three scenes? Please be patient.\n\n[[ENTER THE ROOM|briefing]]

Through your in-ear communicator, DEMO speaks: "Okay, we're all here, ship's loaded, we're cleared for takeoff.\n\nReady or not, here we go!"\n\nYou hear the sounds of engines powering up, then a blast, as your ship is hurled out of the station.\n\n[[loading|loading2]]

//Open your eyes.//\n\nYou are alone, floating in infinite darkness. \n\n//Open your eyes//\n\nYou see yourself, floating alone in infinite darkness.\n\n//Open your eyes//\n\nYou see yourself and other beings, all floating alone in infinite darkness.\n\n[[Open your eyes|open]]\n\n\n

SUBJECT NB2-RLJ8X "ANIMAL" - INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT - CONT'D\n\nINTERVIEWER: You brought the witness in for interrogating on the murder case, is that right?\n\nANIMAL: Yeah, basically, EASY wanted to hear their story, standard procedure and all that, so he talks to them, and it seems like it's gonna go nowhere, but then, I get this hunch--\n\nI: What hunch?\n\nA: Well, I had been working this racketeering case on my own for a few weeks, and I remembered seeing that face, and so, y'know, I thought I'd get involved, so I start asking some questions, and then...\n\nI: Then what?\n\nA: Well they're not answering, and EASY doesn't say anything, so, y'know, I try and get more forceful, I start slapping them a bit, and that's when EASY reacts.\n\nI: How did Easy react?\n\nA: He starts protesting, asking me why I'm doing that, because this has nothing to do with the case, and he asks me why I didn't tell him about the racket earlier, and I say I did, and he gets angrier but it's weird, because I look at him, and I see tears\n\nI: Easy was crying?\n\nA: Yeah, it was--\n\nA: It was almost like he could feel the suspect's pain\n\n[[BACK|epilogue]]

All the people floating are containing the darkness.\n\nAll the people floating are fighting back the darkness.\n\n//HE'S BREATHING//\n\nYou and me and all the people floating, we can fight the darkness.\n\nYou and me and all the people floating, we can fight anything.\n\n//GET HIM IN THE POD\nSTART THE ENGINES//\n\nAnd maybe we won't win, but maybe we will. \n\nAnd maybe we won't win, but we will fight.\n\n//WE GOT THE PROBE\nWE GOT EASY\nDEMO ARE WE READY FOR TAKEOFF//\n\nYou and me and all the people floating, we're stronger than the darkness.\n\nYou and me and all the people floating, we're stronger than we know.\n\nRemember how it all started. Open your eyes. Open your eyes, and let the feeling back into you.\n\n//REQUESTING EMERGENCY WARP TO CENTRAL STATION\nWE GOT A MEDICAL EMERGENCY\nWE'RE IN THE ORBIT OF WA-140213\nHYPERSPACE SECTOR Q\nSTAY WITH US EASY, WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT//\n\n[[STAY WITH US|epilogue]]

//Look at me//\n\nYou look at the darkness and you see it is the same darkness as the one above everyone floating.\n\n//Fight me//\n\nYou look at me. Can you see me? Look at my hand. Can you reach out? Can you touch it? Can you grab it? Can you hold it? Hold my hand.\n\n//Hold my hand//\n\nHold my hand, and with your other hand, hold someone else's hand, and tell them to hold someone else's hand.\n\n//All together now//\n\nAll the people floating are now holding hands.\n\nAll the people floating are making a circle.\n\nAll the people floating are surrounding the darkness.\n\n[[All the people floating have contained the darkness|miracle]]

"There we are", DEMO says as you hear the jet engines of your shuttle wind down for landing. "WA-140213".\n\nThe ship rumbles, then stops. You don't hear the engines anymore. Then, the door of the cabin opens. ANIMAL and MORRIGAN get out of the ship.\n\n[[PRESS A TO EXIT THE SHUTTLE|surface]]

ANIMAL takes you to the center of the room, where two other soldiers look at a map holo-projected above the floor.\n\nYou look at the two soldiers. Your HUD tells you their callsigns are DEMO and MORRIGAN.\n\nThe map shrinks in size, as the robotic female voice starts speaking once again.\n\n"ESTABLISHING HOLO-LINK WITH CENTRAL STATION\n\nLINK ESTABLISHED\n\nOPENING COMMUNICATIONS WITH COMMAND CENTER\n\nCHANNEL OPENED".\n\nIn the space the map occupied now stands the hologram of a stern man.\n\n"Now that you're all here", he starts "let's go over the mission parameters."\n\n[[LISTEN TO BRIEFING|mission]]\n\n[[SHOOT YOUR GUN|shoot7]]

TO SECURITY PERSONNEL ABOVE LEVEL 3\n\nFURTHER INFORMATION ON THE ATTACK ON RESEARCH FACILITY ONE\n\nSuspect has been identified as NB2-EZF7G "EASY". \n\nSuspect has had both Space Marine and Central Security training. \n\nRecords show the Suspect was part of the team sent to retrieve the stolen artifact on WA-140213. Initial reports on the health of the Suspect were erroneous. Further study and witness testimonies show exposure to the artifact has altered subject's brain patterns.\n\nWe believe the Suspect is now capable of lower-level telepathy, and that use of these powers is what disabled the guards on patrol.\n\nSuspect is heavily armed and extremely dangerous. Troops are forbidden to go after the Suspect on their own. Any sighting of the Suspect must be reported.\n\n[[BACK|epilogue]]

BASICALLY WHAT HAPPENED WAS, MOTHERFUCKERS THOUGHT THEY'D GO FOR THE WICKED SICK PLAY #57, WHERE YOU RUN UP TO A FUCKER GUNS BLAZING IN THE AIR, AND WHILE HE'S ALL "WHOA, THIS MOTHERFUCKER'S LEGIT", YOU PULL OFF THE MOST WICKEDEST SICKEST FRONT FLIP AND YOU THROW A FUCKING KNIFE IN HIS FUCKING THROAT AND YOU WATCH THE FUCKER BLEED.\n\nWHILE IT IS INDEED FUCKING SICK AS SHIT, THERE'S LIKE, TWO PEOPLE TOPS (INCLUDING BARRY, SON OF BARRY, YO BARRY WHAT'S UP I LOVE YOU) WHO COULD PULL IT OFF AND EVERY OTHER IDIOT WHO TRIED ENDED UP STUFFED ALL OVER THE FACE AND BEAK OF THE OL' BEAKFACES (THE IMPLICATION HERE IS THAT FUCKERS GOT EATEN ALIVE BY THE ORBS, TRY TO KEEP THE FUCK UP)\n\nANYWAYS THIS AND THE OTHER PLAYS IN THE WICKED SICK PLAYBOOK ALMOST LOST US THE THIRD 'LAK WARS, BUT THEN BARRY SON OF BARRY (YO IT'S ME BARRY REMEMBER?) TOOK OVER AS COMMANDER OF THE SPACE NAVY AND OUTLAWED WASTING AMMO AND TOLD PEOPLE TO JUST, Y'KNOW, SHOOT THEM IN THE FUCKING ORBS.\n\nPOINT IS HE SAVED ALL OUR ASSES AND THAT'S WHY WE DON'T WASTE AMMO AND ALSO I MISS YOU BARRY SON OF BARRY IF YOU NEED SOMEONE WHO'S DTF AND/OR SHOOT UP SOME FUCKERS AND/OR BOTH CALL ME UP YOU GOT MY NUMBER RIGHT.\n\nALRIGHT PEACE OUT.\n\n[[BACK|shootend4]]