A Black Holey Christmas

(set: $hasKnife to false)(set: $hasKnifeNow to false)(set: $blackHolesInterest to "nothing")(set:$name to "Holey")A virus is on a rampage in your spaceship's computer system. You no longer have any control of the ship at all. If only you hadn't clicked on that suspicious link last week... At least the virus is keeping the ship running so you can still breathe, but what had once felt like a cozy one-room cabin now feels stiffling. The virus has been steering the ship in all sorts of directions so you aren't even sure where you are anymore. You can't tell if the virus has an actual destination in mind or if it's just doing as it pleases. You glance at the fuel meter. 5%. Why can't this dumb virus steer us to a fuel station at least? If the fuel runs out, the computer will die and so will the virus. It probably doesn't have any sense of self-preservation. You do, however. You sent out a distress signal on your handheld device as soon as you realized what was happening last week. Unfortunately though, no one has come yet and your handheld's battery is now at 1%. You don't want to risk plugging it into the system to charge for two reasons: The first one being that it's possible the virus could spread from the ship to your handheld. The second reason is that you don't want to drain the fuel more than necessary. You'd like to send another distress signal since your location has changed so much since last week. But you aren't sure if you have enough battery to send one. You could try sending the distress signal now or you could take the risk and plug it in, which might give you more battery to send the distress signal. What do you do? - [[Take your chances and plug it in.]] - [[Try sending one more distress signal with the remaining battery.]]

You plug it in. The handheld lights up, showing you it's charging. //Ah, it's Christmas//, you notice. //Merry Christmas to me I guess.// Although each planet has its own culture and traditions, the widespread accessibility of information about other planets has caused many to adopt foreign traditions. Christmas comes from the planet Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy, very far from your own planet, but it has become a holiday commonly celebrated among humanoids in the entire universe. Taking your mind off of Christmas, you try to open the radio app to send out a distress signal, but the screen is not responsive to your touch. Instead, it starts opening all sorts of random apps and rummaging through them. It finds the video app and plays a random video. Panicking, you glance at the fuel meter on the dashboard of your ship. 4%. It's only been a minute or so but the fuel is draining fast. You hurry to unplug your handheld. The virus still rampages inside of it, making it die in a couple more minutes. You slump in your seat and watch the fuel meter of the ship go down, down, down. When it hits zero, the engines cut out. The lights turn off. The oxygen flow is halted. Every breath brings you closer to your own death. You float through space on the ship, destinationless and, eventually, lifeless. No one comes. ENDING 1 of 5: DEATH BY VIRUS. [[Start over|Start]]

You touch the screen of your handheld and it lights up. //Ah, it's Christmas//, you notice. //Merry Christmas to me I guess.// Although each planet has its own culture and traditions, the widespread accessibility of information about other planets has caused many to adopt foreign traditions. Christmas comes from the planet Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy, very far from your own planet, but it has become a holiday commonly celebrated among humanoids in the entire universe. Taking your mind off Christmas, you open up the radio app and tap out your distress signal. You broadcast it as far as it'll go, until your handheld dies a moment later. Sighing, you slump in your chair. Hopefully, that was enough. With nothing else to do, you stare at the fuel meter and watch it slowly go down. When it hits 3%, you hear something knocking on your spaceship door. //Could it be? Someone's here to rescue me?// You bolt out of your chair and run to the door. Through the glass, you see a man's face inside of a spacesuit, and behind him, a small ship pod, similar to yours. His reddish-white skin, heavy brows, and wavy blonde hair which hangs down to his shoulders tell you that he is humanoid, like you, but definitely not from your own planet. You've only seen such skin and hair in videos and pictures. He points at the door, as if gesturing for you to open it. You look down at the keypad and then remember the virus. It wouldn't let you open the door with the keypad since it's controlled by the main computer system. You can, however, open it manually with the emergency handles. You nod at the man through the window and hold up a finger, telling him to wait a moment. He nods back. You hurry over to your closet and pull on your spacesuit. Since you have a bit of time, you also grab your emergency bag (already packed with clothes, toiletries and rations) and consider what else you should bring. You decide to pack your handheld as well as your heavy-duty laptop since they might let you charge them on their ship. You look around for what else you might need. Your paring knife in its sheath catches your eye on the table next to your chair. You had been using it to cut your hair earlier and hadn't put it away yet. Should you bring it? - (link: "Yes, you never know when it might come in handy." )[(set: $hasKnife to true)(goto: "You're saved")] - (link: "Nah, you probably won't need that." )[(set: $hasKnife to false)(goto: "You're saved")]

GUIDE: ''Bold'' //Italics// (if: $happiness is 0)[You aren't happy at all.] (else-if: $happiness >= 1)[You are a bit happy.] (else:)[You have some happiness!] (set: $hasKey to true) (set: $happiness to it +1) Curly brackets surrounding the code {} will remove white space VARIABLES LIST: - $hasKnife (can choose to bring it or not when evacuating the ship) - $name (PC's name) - $blackHolesInterest (why PC likes black holes. "scientific" or "religious" or "artistic" or "writerly" or "gamerly") - $hasKnifeNow (took knife from bag and put in boot) FOR ITCH DESCRIPTION: This is a ridiculous Christmas-themed game I made in my many, many hours of free time, to soothe the soul in these times of strife. All innocent fun, I swear. Oh, but I should note that it could get gory, but that all depends on you. I mean if it gets gory, that definitely sounds like a you problem, just saying. It's all just text anyway so if it bothers you, you can stop reading or go back and make... better choices I suppose. But really, if it gets gory, I'm not really sure how that happened as I wrote a simple, wholesome Christmas story, honestly. There are no images and no music or sound effects of any kind. This is just a plain, boring interactive story. There are 5 different main endings, but for 3 of the endings there are 4 different variations in how it plays out depending on your choices, so it may seem like there are more than 5 endings, and there sort of are, but there are 5 distict endings if that makes sense. A sci-fi dating sim taking place on a space ship or tardis? The protag is a nondescript YOU character who can choose who to seduce: Brian (video gamer), Ivan (artist), Aaron (scientist), or Jesse (writer/alien language interpreter). All are related to black holes somehow. Like Brian is streaming a game about black holes. Ivan draws artistic interpretations of black holes. Aaron is the lead of the trip and is searching for and researching black holes. Jesse writes sci-fi about black holes. And YOU want to find a black hole and perhaps this is where you lead the ship to if you kill everyone off. OR perhaps it can be a romance or murder thing. So there are options to get to know them OR to try and kill them off, which is where the "worst deaths" thing will come into play. ''Must have: deaths drowning, suffocation, fire, being cut up. Sci-fi elements: space travel/tardis, food machine, jetson's type robot that does everything. Accomplish: equality, no discrimination, people care about important things, be a successful artist.'' SCENE 1: It starts with YOU being rescued from your destroyed spaceship coasting through space by this spaceship of hot dudes (you sent out a distress signal and they responded and let you abroad their ship on Christmas Day). You meet all of them and then they ask you what you'd like to do on the ship. You can choose who to go with which means you'll be choosing who to get close to. They are currently setting up to celebrate Christmas so you need to choose who to help with their setting up. SCENE 2: You hang out and assist one of the hot dudes with their Christmas task. Depending on your answers, you either get closer to the dude and end with a romance scene at the Christmas party OR you kill the dude. SCENE 3: You can then go and help and get close to or kill the other 3 dudes one at a time OR sit idly in your room waiting for the party to start, which would skip over the other scenes with a chance to know the dudes. SCENE 4: Christmas party. Either you celebrate with the dudes, with one of the dudes paying special attention to you. OR if you've killed some of the dudes, there's discussion of this and they question you, leading to a brawl where you must either kill the rest of them or die yourself (if you kill all, you celebrate alone). OR if you've killed all the dudes, you celebrate and feast alone.

{ (if: $hasKnife is true)[You tuck the knife into a pocket on the side of your emergency bag and then zip it up.] (else:)[You leave the knife where it is and zip up your emergency bag.] } You put it on over your shoulders and fasten it around your waist with the belt. After going back to the door, you see the man is still there. You give him the okay sign and he smiles at you. You pull the emergengy latch and heave it open, with the man helping once you get it open enough for him to slip his fingers through the crack. Once it's open, he takes your hand and guides you to his ship, which he is tethered to with a cord. You notice how tall he is then. His limbs must be at least double the length of yours, while somehow managing to be around the same width. You also notice how small his ship is. He must be on a solo expedition like you. You turn back to glance at your teeny tiny pod of a ship. You'll surely miss it. He opens the door of his ship and you both step into a small, empty room, which looks like it's about the size of the ship yet nothing is in here. He closes the door and fiddles with the keypad on the door. Then, he opens the opposite door and gestures for you to follow him, so you do. This door opens to a long silver hall. You follow him and look around, baffled. As he walks down the hall, passing door after door, he takes off his helmet and says something to you in a language you don't recognize but your brain chip translates it for you with a second's delay. "It's bigger on the inside," he says. You take off your helmet too and tuck it under one arm. You take a hesitant breath in. The air in the ship is thankfully perfect for your own lungs. "I've never seen anything like this before," you reply. "It's new tech—a prototype. By the way, what happened to your ship?" "My computer caught a virus unfortunately, so I was trapped." "Ah, yes, those viruses are getting worse and worse, I swear. We caught a mild one a couple years ago but luckily we managed to snuff it out before it spread too much." "We?" Judging by the outside of the ship, you had figured only one person would be able to comfortable be inside but now, you supposed it made sense that several people could be inside. "Yes, my friends and I run this research vessel. It's a good thing we were in the area when we heard your distress signal." "I'm grateful. I sent one a week ago but no one responded." "Understandable. This is a pretty deserted region." What should you say next? - [[Ask him for his name.]] - [[Ask him about his research.]]

"Oh by the way, what's your name?" you ask. "Aaron. Yours?" (link: "Tell him your name.")[(set: $name to (prompt: "Enter your name:", "Holey"))(goto: "Name Told")]

"So what kind of research are you guys doing?" you ask. "We're researching black holes. I'm specifically trying to prove a theory that they are the key to time travel." You nod. You had heard about such a theory. You are also interested in black holes. It was the main reason why you left the comfort of your home planet. Why are you interested in black holes? - (link: "Because they are one of the few scientific unknowns left in the universe and you want to research them.")[(set: $blackHolesInterest to "scientific")(goto: "Arrive at control room")] - (link: "Because they are obviously the all-knowing gods of our universe.")[(set: $blackHolesInterest to "religious")(goto: "Arrive at control room")] - (link: "Because they are beautiful, and you would like to capture their beauty via painting.")[(set: $blackHolesInterest to "artistic")(goto: "Arrive at control room")] - (link: "Because you're writing a novel about them and would like to write about them accurately.")[(set: $blackHolesInterest to "writerly")(goto: "Arrive at control room")] - (link: "Because you're making a game about them and would like to see how they work in real life to figure out the game mechanics.")[(set: $blackHolesInterest to "gamerly")(goto: "Arrive at control room")]

"Nice to meet you, $name," he says. "Let me take you to meet the others." Finally, the hall opens up into a control room. Floor-to-ceiling windows surround the whole room, showing off the darkness of space around you. At the far end of the room, there is an empty chair sitting in front of a long panel with various lights, switches and knobs. Most of the center of the room is taken up by a big semicircle couch around a thick metal table. Three men had been sitting there. They stand up and come closer when the two of you enter through the archway. As a fellow humanoid, you find them aesthetically-pleasing, albeit a tad bit exotic-looking. "This is $name," Aaron says to the others. "Ship ruined by virus. Only one in the ship, looks like." They nod. Aaron had been a bit talkative to you earlier but suddenly is only talking in sentence fragments. Is that how he spoke to his friends? Aaron gestures to another tall man, but this one is a couple inches shorter. He has a skin color similar to Aaron's and chin-length hair with a fading blue color on the ends and dirty blond roots, which makes you figure that blue is probably not his natural hair color. "This is Ivan," Aaron says. Then, he gestures to a similarly tall man with that same reddish-white skin, but this one has long brown hair hanging down to the middle of his back, and a broad frame wired with muscles. "This is Brian." He gestures to the last man, who is near your height but a couple inches taller. He is the only one with brown skin and a curly halo of hair around his face that seems to defy gravity. "And this is Jesse. The four of us man this ship." Despite their differences, they all have similar humanoid features which tells you they come from the same planet. "Nice to meet you all," you say. They murmur back something similar. Brian steps forward. "I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your ship. Is there somewhere we can take you?" "Well, where are you guys heading?" you ask. "We're currently searching for a new black hole," Brian says. "There are reports that there may be one around here, but nothing concrete yet." That's precisely where you were trying to go too. You are also interested in black holes. It was the main reason why you left the comfort of your home planet. Why are you interested in black holes? - (link: "Because they are one of the few scientific unknowns left in the universe and you want to research them.")[(set: $blackHolesInterest to "scientific")(goto: "Convo link")] - (link: "Because they are obviously the all-knowing gods of our universe.")[(set: $blackHolesInterest to "religious")(goto: "Convo link")] - (link: "Because they are beautiful, and you would like to capture their beauty via painting.")[(set: $blackHolesInterest to "artistic")(goto: "Convo link")] - (link: "Because you're writing a novel about them and would like to write about them accurately.")[(set: $blackHolesInterest to "writerly")(goto: "Convo link")] - (link: "Because you're making a game about them and would like to see how they work in real life to figure out the game mechanics.")[(set: $blackHolesInterest to "gamerly")(goto: "Convo link")]

You decide not to say anything about your interest in black holes for now though, since you aren't sure who this guy or his friends are exactly yet. Eventually, the hall opens up into a control room. Floor-to-ceiling windows surround the whole room, showing off the darkness of space around you. At the far end of the room, there is an empty chair sitting in front of a long panel with various lights, switches and knobs. Most of the center of the room is taken up by a big semicircle couch around a thick metal table. Three men had been sitting there. They stand up and come closer when the two of you enter through the archway. As a fellow humanoid, you find them aesthetically-pleasing, albeit a tad bit exotic-looking. "This is..." the man leading you starts, "um, what's your name?" (link: "Tell him your name.")[(set: $name to (prompt: "Enter your name:", "Holey"))(goto: "Name Told 2")]

"No need to take me anywhere special," you say. "I'd like to accompany you." "Ah, really?" Brian says. "Why?" The other three look interested as well. "I was heading there anyway, but my reasons are personal, so I'd rather not divulge them." Brian rubs the back of his neck, looking a little unsure. "That's fine, I guess. That's easier for us then since we don't have to change our route now." "Anyway," Ivan cuts in, "it's Christmas, remember? We can discuss all of that later but we're behind on our party preparations because we went looking for you instead, $name." "Oh, sorry," you say. "No, it's fine," Ivan says. "Now that we know you'll be going with us, we can continue the preparations. Do you mind helping one of us out? Brian will be baking dessert, Jesse will be preparing the party games, Aaron will be setting up the Christmas tree, and I'll be decorating this area. We could all use some help. Even with Bettison, there's still so much to do." "Bettison?" you ask. "Oh yeah, Bettison is our robot. They usually handle these kinds of things for us but right now they're sending out our Christmas cards and presents to our families back on Earth." Ah, so they're all from Earth, huh? No wonder they're taking Christmas so seriously. Other planets celebrate it, sure, but no one is as gung-ho about it as Earthlings. Well, if you want to attend the party later on, you suppose you should help one of them out. Or you could not go to the party at all, therefore getting out of having to help them. What do you do? [[- Help Aaron with setting up the Chrismas tree.|Help Aaron]] [[- Help Brian with baking dessert.|Help Brian]] [[- Help Jesse with preparing the party games.|Help Jesse]] [[- Help Ivan with decorating the control room.|Help Ivan]] [[- Help no one and spend the rest of the evening in your room alone, without going to the party.|Ending: Christmas alone]]

"No need to take me anywhere special," you say. "I'd like to accompany you. I'm also looking for that black hole." "Ah really? Why?" Brian says. The other three look interested as well. { (if: $blackHolesInterest is "scientific")["Because they're scientifically fascinating, aren't they? Nowadays, it feels like everything has been uncovered and explained but black holes are still a big mystery to us. I've been researching them as well, so maybe we can work together?" Aaron nods enthusiastically. "Yes, I totally get you. And of course, you can join us. Frankly, I'm glad. I'm the only one really doing any scientific research on them here so it'd be nice to have a helping hand." "Really?" you say. "I thought this was a research vessel?" He chuckles. "It is, but we all have different reasons for seeking out the black hole." "Ahhh." It made sense. Lots of people have interest in black holes for a variety of reasons other than scientific. On your home planet, there's even a strange cult that worships them.] (else-if: $blackHolesInterest is "religious")["Because they are the only true gods of this universe. They are spectacular, mysterious, all-knowing! I simply must commune with them. It is my calling." The four men exchange uncomfortable looks. Then, Brian chuckles awkwardly. "Ah, I see. Well, you're welcome to accompany us then. We all have different reasons for seeking out the black hole too."] (else-if: $blackHolesInterest is "artistic")["Because they're beautiful, aren't they? Painting a real-life black hole will be my magnum opus!" Ivan smiles. "They really are gorgeous. I'm hoping to accomplish something similar." "Oh, you're an artist too? I thought this was a research vessel." "It is, but we all have different reasons for seeking out the black hole." "Ahhh." It made sense. Lots of people have interest in black holes for a variety of reasons other than appreciating their beauty. On your home planet, there's even a strange cult that worships them.] (else-if: $blackHolesInterest is "writerly")["Because I'm writing a novel about them and nothing beats real-life experience, right? Even if it's fiction, it should still be accurate, but unfortunately we just don't know enough about black holes for me to find good enough articles about them. I'm hoping that encountering one will help me out with my story." Jesse's eyes open wide and he takes a small step forward. "Seriously? You're writing about black holes too? That's exactly why I'm also on this ship." "Oh, you're a writer too? I thought this was a research vessel." "It is, but we all have different reasons for seeking out the black hole." "Ahhh." It made sense. Lots of people have interest in black holes for a variety of reasons other than trying to write about them accurately. On your home planet, there's even a strange cult that worships them.] (else-if: $blackHolesInterest is "gamerly")["Because I'm making a game about black holes. I tried reading up on them but since we still don't know much about them, I couldn't find anything useful enough to base the game mechanics on. I'm hoping that encountering one will help me out with my game." Brian steps forward with a big smile. "Oh, wow, that's why I'm also on this ship! I'm making a game too." "Oh, you're a game developer too? I thought this was a research vessel." "It is, but we all have different reasons for seeking out the black hole." "Ahhh." It made sense. Lots of people have interest in black holes for a variety of reasons other than trying to make a game based on them. On your home planet, there's even a strange cult that worships them.] } "Anyway," Ivan says, "today isn't about black holes. It's Christmas, remember? We can discuss all of that later but we're behind on our party preparations because we went looking for you instead, $name." "Oh, sorry," you say. "No, it's fine," Ivan says. "Now that we know you'll be going with us, we can continue the preparations. Do you mind helping one of us out? Brian will be baking dessert, Jesse will be preparing the party games, Aaron will be setting up the Christmas tree, and I'll be decorating this area. We could all use some help. Even with Bettison, there's still so much to do." "Bettison?" you ask. "Oh yeah, Bettison is our robot. They usually handle these kinds of things for us but right now they're sending out our Christmas cards and presents to our families back on Earth." Ah, so they're all from Earth, huh? No wonder they're taking Christmas so seriously. Other planets celebrate it, sure, but no one is as gung-ho about it as Earthlings. Well, if you want to attend the party later on, you suppose you should help one of them out. Or you could not go to the party at all, therefore getting out of having to help them. What do you do? [[- Help Aaron with setting up the Chrismas tree.|Help Aaron]] [[- Help Brian with baking dessert.|Help Brian]] [[- Help Jesse with preparing the party games.|Help Jesse]] [[- Help Ivan with decorating the control room.|Help Ivan]] [[- Help no one and spend the rest of the evening in your room alone, without going to the party.|Ending: Christmas alone]]

"Nice to meet you, $name," he says. "I'm Aaron." Aaron turns to the others. "Their ship was ruined by a virus. They were the only one in the ship, looks like." The three of them nod. Aaron gestures to another tall man, but this one is a couple inches shorter. He has a skin color similar to Aaron's and chin-length hair with a fading blue color on the ends and dirty blond roots, which makes you figure that blue is probably not his natural hair color. "This is Ivan," Aaron says. Then, he gestures to a similarly tall man with that same reddish-white skin, but this one has long brown hair hanging down to the middle of his back, and a broad frame wired with muscles. "This is Brian." He gestures to the last man, who is near your height but a couple inches taller. He is the only one with brown skin and a curly halo of hair around his face that seems to defy gravity. "And this is Jesse. The four of us man this ship." Despite their differences, they all have similar humanoid features which tells you they come from the same planet. "Nice to meet you all," you say. They murmur back something similar. Brian steps forward. "I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your ship. Is there somewhere we can take you?" "Well, where are you guys heading?" you ask. "We're currently searching for a new black hole," Brian says. "There are reports that there may be one around here, but nothing concrete yet." That's precisely where you were trying to go too. What should you say? - [[Tell him you want to accompany them but don't say anything about why.|Accompany but don't explain]] - [[Tell him you want to accompany them and explain why.|Accompany and explain]]

How should you respond to Brian? - [[Tell him you want to accompany them but don't say anything about why.|Accompany but don't explain]] - [[Tell him you want to accompany them and explain why.|Accompany and explain]]

"I'll help Aaron with the Christmas tree," you say. "Great!" Aaron replies. "Follow me then. First, I'll show you to your room." You nod and follow him back down the hall where you came from. You turn down into another hallway. "This is where all our rooms are," he says. He stops in front of a door and gestures to it, "This one is empty, so you can use it." As he taps some numbers on the door lock panel, he continues, "The default code for all the rooms is 1-2-3-4, but once inside, you can change it to whatever you like." He opens the door for you. "I'll wait outside while you put your stuff down." "Thanks," you say. "I'll just be a moment." After you go in, he closes the door behind you. The room is just large enough to hold a twin-sized bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. The walls and floors are all a shiny silver metal like the rest of the ship. You set your helmet and bag down on the desk. You strip out of your spacesuit and hang it up on the back of the door. { (if: $hasKnife is true)[ As you're about to go back out, the knife bulge on the side of your bag catches your eye. ] } What do you do next? { (if: $hasKnife is true)[(link: "- Tuck the knife into your boot—you never know when you might need it—and then leave the room." )[(set: $hasKnifeNow to true)(goto: "Back to Aaron")]] } [[- Just leave the room.|Back to Aaron]] [[- Leave the room after changing the door passcode.|Change door code]]

"I'll help Brian with dessert," you say. "Brilliant!" Brian replies. "Follow me then. First, I'll show you to your room." You nod and follow him back down the hall where you came from. You turn down into another hallway. "This is where all our rooms are," he says. He stops in front of a door and gestures to it, "This one is empty, so you can use it." As he taps some numbers on the door lock panel, he continues, "The default code for all the rooms is 1-2-3-4, but once inside, you can change it to whatever you like." He opens the door for you. "I'll wait outside while you put your stuff down." "Thanks," you say. "I'll just be a moment." After you go in, he closes the door behind you. The room is just large enough to hold a twin-sized bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. The walls and floors are all a shiny silver metal like the rest of the ship. You set your helmet and bag down on the desk. You strip out of your spacesuit and hang it up on the back of the door. { (if: $hasKnife is true)[ As you're about to go back out, the knife bulge on the side of your bag catches your eye. ] } What do you do next? { (if: $hasKnife is true)[(link: "- Tuck the knife into your boot—you never know when you might need it—and then leave the room." )[(set: $hasKnifeNow to true)(goto: "Back to Brian")]] } [[- Just leave the room.|Back to Brian]] [[- Leave the room after changing the door passcode.|Change door code: Brian]]

"I'll help Jesse with the party games," you say. "Cool," Jesse replies. "Follow me then. First, I'll show you to your room." You nod and follow him back down the hall where you came from. You turn down into another hallway. "This is where all our rooms are," he says. He stops in front of a door and gestures to it, "This one is empty, so you can use it." As he taps some numbers on the door lock panel, he continues, "The default code for all the rooms is 1-2-3-4, but once inside, you can change it to whatever you like." He opens the door for you. "I'll wait outside while you put your stuff down." "Thanks," you say. "I'll just be a moment." After you go in, he closes the door behind you. The room is just large enough to hold a twin-sized bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. The walls and floors are all a shiny silver metal like the rest of the ship. You set your helmet and bag down on the desk. You strip out of your spacesuit and hang it up on the back of the door. { (if: $hasKnife is true)[ As you're about to go back out, the knife bulge on the side of your bag catches your eye. ] } What do you do next? { (if: $hasKnife is true)[(link: "- Tuck the knife into your boot—you never know when you might need it—and then leave the room." )[(set: $hasKnifeNow to true)(goto: "Back to Jesse")]] } [[- Just leave the room.|Back to Jesse]] [[- Leave the room after changing the door passcode.|Change door code: Jesse]]

"I'll help Ivan with the decorations," you say. "Awesome," Ivan replies. "Follow me then. First, I'll show you to your room." You nod and follow him back down the hall where you came from. You turn down into another hallway. "This is where all our rooms are," he says. He stops in front of a door and gestures to it, "This one is empty, so you can use it." As he taps some numbers on the door lock panel, he continues, "The default code for all the rooms is 1-2-3-4, but once inside, you can change it to whatever you like." He opens the door for you. "I'll wait outside while you put your stuff down." "Thanks," you say. "I'll just be a moment." After you go in, he closes the door behind you. The room is just large enough to hold a twin-sized bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. The walls and floors are all a shiny silver metal like the rest of the ship. You set your helmet and bag down on the desk. You strip out of your spacesuit and hang it up on the back of the door. { (if: $hasKnife is true)[ As you're about to go back out, the knife bulge on the side of your bag catches your eye. ] } What do you do next? { (if: $hasKnife is true)[(link: "- Tuck the knife into your boot—you never know when you might need it—and then leave the room." )[(set: $hasKnifeNow to true)(goto: "Back to Ivan")]] } [[- Just leave the room.|Back to Ivan]] [[- Leave the room after changing the door passcode.|Change door code: Ivan]]

"Sorry, but I'm a bit too tired to participate in a Christmas party. I think I'll just get some rest actually." "Okay, no problem," Ivan says. "I'll show you to your room," Aaron says. "Much appreciated." You follow him back down the hall where you came from. You turn down into another hallway. "This is where all our rooms are," he says. He stops in front of a door and gestures to it, "This one is empty, so you can use it." As he taps some numbers on the door lock panel, he continues, "The default code for all the rooms is 1-2-3-4, but once inside, you can change it to whatever you like." He opens the door for you. "Thanks," you say. After you go in, he closes the door behind you and you can hear his footsteps outside the door retreating. The room is just large enough to hold a twin-sized bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. The walls and floors are all a shiny silver metal like the rest of the ship. You set your helmet and bag down on the desk. You strip out of your spacesuit and hang it up on the back of the door. You lay on the bed for the rest of the evening, reveling in your solitude. ENDING 2 of 5: CHRISTMAS IS BEST SPENT ALONE. [[Start over|Start]]

(if: $hasKnifeNow is true)[You take the knife out of your bag and tuck it into your boot.] You leave the room. "All set?" he asks. You nod. You notice that now he's in jeans and a red Christmas sweater with bits and bobs hanging off of it, instead of his spacesuit. He must have taken it off and dropped it and his helmet off in his room while you were gone. He begins walking down the hall again. You look down at your clothes as you follow him. You don't have any Christmasy clothes, so you suppose your plain long sleeve t-shirt will have to do. "First, we need to go get the Christmas tree," he says. After turning down yet another hallway, he brings you to a huge room, almost as big as the control room from earlier. Looking around, it must be some kind of storage room since it's full of tall shelves neatly lined with labeled boxes. "Organized, right?" he says, noticing you looking around in amazement. "That was Jesse's doing. He's not done yet though." He brings you to the very end of the room, where there are no shelves so it's a lot messier. This end of the room has big boxes and crates, bags of all sizes and little jars, all strewn about and unlabled. "The Christmas tree is in here somewhere," Aaron says. "I think it's in one of these boxes." He wades through the containers to one of the largest boxes. His back to you, he calls over his shoulder, "Can you check some of the other boxes? With the two of us, we should find it in no time." What do you do? (if: $hasKnifeNow is true)[[- KILL HIM WITH YOUR KNIFE!!!|Kill Aaron]] [[- Look in one of the boxes in silence.|Look in silence]] [[- Look in one of the boxes while chatting.|Look and chat]]

After changing the door code to your preferred set of numbers, you leave the room. "All set?" he asks. You nod. You notice that now he's in jeans and a red Christmas sweater with bits and bobs hanging off of it, instead of his spacesuit. He must have taken it off and dropped it and his helmet off in his room while you were gone. He begins walking down the hall again. You look down at your clothes as you follow him. You don't have any Christmasy clothes, so you suppose your plain long sleeve t-shirt will have to do. "First, we need to go get the Christmas tree," he says. After turning down yet another hallway, he brings you to a huge room, almost as big as the control room from earlier. Looking around, it must be some kind of storage room since it's full of tall shelves neatly lined with labeled boxes. "Organized, right?" he says, noticing you looking around in amazement. "That was Jesse's doing. He's not done yet though." He brings you to the very end of the room, where there are no shelves so it's a lot messier. This end of the room has big boxes and crates, bags of all sizes and little jars, all strewn about and unlabled. "The Christmas tree is in here somewhere," Aaron says. "I think it's in one of these boxes." He wades through the containers to one of the largest boxes. His back to you, he calls over his shoulder, "Can you check some of the other boxes? With the two of us, we should find it in no time." What do you do? [[- Look in one of the boxes in silence.|Look in silence]] [[- Look in one of the boxes while chatting.|Look and chat]]

With his back to you, this is the perfect opportunity. You silently take your knife out from your boot and remove it from its sheath. You creep behind him, carefully avoiding all the strewn about bags and jars. "$name? Why aren't you saying anything?" Aaron asks, turning back toward you. Just as he locks eyes with you, you slash him across the throat, cutting him as deep as you can with your little paring knife, and then you step back, out of his reach. His eyes open wide as he grips his throat, gasping for air. Blood spurts out between his fingers and down his red Christmas sweater, made redder and redder with blood. The beautiful crimson color of blood... He drops down to his knees a moment later and thrashes around on the floor. You step back again, looking down on him desperately trying to survive. Thick blood pools around him, staining the bottom of the nearby boxes and bags red too. You spot a flamethrower from the corner of your eye and smirk. You pick it up and blast it over him, the smell of burning clothes and flesh wafting up into your nose. He can't even scream since you've cut his throat so deep. He stills, but his body is still aflame and the box behind him is starting to catch on fire. You find a fire extinguisher in the room and put it out. You know what you must do now. [[- An object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.|Kill the rest of them]]

"Sure," you say. You head over to another box and rummage through it, but don't see a Christmas tree in it. After you both look through a couple more boxes, you finally find the tree. You lug it to the control room, where Ivan is standing on a ladder stringing up tinsel. He has Christmas music blasting in the background and he sings while he works. You and Aaron set up the Christmas tree. Aaron tries to talk to you a couple times over the blaring music, but you just give him terse, one-word answers, not in the mood for chatting. After a while, he gets the hint. Eventually, Brian comes in bearing a cart with a tray of cookies and a pie he baked, as well as a turkey and some side dishes. As does Jesse with a stack of party games. Once Ivan is done decorating the room, the five of you sit at the table in the center of control room and feast. The four men mostly talk around you about whatever interests them. You don't really pay attention, and when someone asks you a question, you answer in such a way that it makes the conversation a dead-end. After the meal, they begin setting up one of the board games, but you decide to excuse yourself and head to your room, claiming you're tired. They bid you goodbye, looking a little sad by your early departure, but you don't really care. You spend the rest of the evening in your little room, wondering where your tiny pod of a ship is now. ENDING 4 of 5: THE ONLY POINT OF SOCIALIZING IS THE FOOD, ISN'T IT? [[Start over|Start]]

"Sure," you say. You head over to another box and rummage through it. You see some Christmas decorations but not a Christmas tree so far. Still, you keep looking through it. "So can you tell me more about your research?" you ask, trying to ease the awkward silence. "There isn't much to say about it since we haven't gotten to the black hole yet. I'm just a scientist trying to gather data on black holes. I don't want to bore you though so I won't get into the details," he says as he goes through another box. { (if: $blackHolesInterest is "scientific")[ "Well, I'm a scientist too so there's no way you'd bore me," you reply. He chuckles. "I suppose. Then we can work together to collect data once we get to the black hole. I'm mostly just interested in observing it." ] } "Ah, okay." You move on to another box. "What made you decide to leave Earth to research black holes?" "Well, as I'm sure your familiar with, since your own planet has these issues too, but..." He sighs. "It's just so difficult to stay there. I can't bear to see how little people care about the important things." "And those important things are?" "Oh, you know, preserving the environment and wildlife, keeping the oceans clean. That sort of thi—oh! I found it." He drags the large box he was looking in away from all the other containers. "Can you help me carry this to the control room?" "Sure." You go over and help him heave the box up. You lug it to the control room, where Ivan is standing on a ladder stringing up tinsel. He has Christmas music blasting in the background and he sings while he works. You and Aaron set up the Christmas tree, not really chatting since it's hard to talk over the loud music. Eventually, you finish and Brian comes in bearing a cart with a tray of cookies and a pie he baked, as well as a turkey and some side dishes. As does Jesse with a stack of party games. Once Ivan is done decorating the room, the five of you sit at the table in the center of control room and feast, while talking happily. You sit near Aaron and mostly talk to him though. You sense something good may come of this relationship in the future. After dinner, you all play the games Jesse prepared and have a merry, merry time. ENDING 5 of 5: A SOCIAL CHRISTMAS [[Start over|Start]]

Holding your little paring knife at your side, you leave the storage room. Next stop, the kitchen. You navigate through the maze-like hallways, following the scent of baking. Your nose is quite a lot better than an Earthling humainoid's. You also hear the sound of Christmas music coming from somewhere, perhaps the control room. Your ears are quite decent too, you see, but the music is so loud even an Earthling humanoid would be able to hear it from here. You find your way into the kitchen. Brian is in there noisily mixing something in a bowl with a hand mixer. This will be too easy. How about a bit more of a challenge? You stab him in the back with the knife and then quickly pull it out. The hand mixer crashes onto the counter as he is about to turn around, but you drop your knife to the ground, jump on his back and crush his throat with your strong grip, the blood from his stab wound soaking into your shirt. The two of you thud to the floor but you don't let go. Instead, you pin him down so he can't fight back as easily. He does try, cute thing, but to no avail. Soon, he stills. For good measure, you slit his throat with your paring knife. Then you go to the sink and rinse of your hands and the knife under a strong-flowing current. Feeling like your knife is a bit underwhelming, you rummage through the drawers and find a large butcher's knife. You had briefly forgotten about the running water so you go back to it. The sink seems to be plugged up so the water isn't draining and now the entire basin is nearly full. You turn it off. Whatever. Carrying both the butcher's knife and your trusty paring knife, you go to the door, ready to find the next victim. But, turns out you don't have to look. You bump into Jesse in the doorway. Not seeming to notice your bloodstained clothes and weapons, he pulls away and says, "Oh, $name, I heard a crashing noise so I—" You stab him in the heart with one swift motion with the paring knife. He puts a hand on the wound and yells out in shock. You drop the paring knife to the floor and grab Jesse by the throat. Poor, weak thing can barely resist as you drag him over to the sink by the throat. You force his head into the bloody water and hold him there. He tries to fight back but he's no match for you. Soon enough, he stops moving. You release your grip on him and he slumps to the floor. As you leave the kitchen, you pick up your paring knife and then you head to the control room. Ivan is in there, standing on a ladder, stringing up some tinsel with Christmas music blasting. He bops his head and sings along as he works. You go to the ladder and knock it down. Ivan hits the ground in such a way that one of his legs break. He cries out in pain as you stalk over to him. "$name?" he manages to get out. You smile and bring the butcher's knife down on one of his arms, slicing it off in one clean motion. He screams. And then, the other arm, and then his legs. You cut up as much of his extremities as you can until he bleeds out, his screams finally silenced. Satisfied, you sit in the chair at the end of the room where the control panel is. With red fingers slick with blood, you turn up the Christmas music and hum along quietly while you watch the darkness of space around you. "Merry Christmas to me," you say to yourself. "Merry Christmas." ENDING 3 of 5: EVERYONE MUST DIE. [[Start over|Start]]

(if: $hasKnifeNow is true)[You take the knife out of your bag and tuck it into your boot.] You leave the room. "All set?" he asks. You nod. "Great. Let's go to the kitchen." He begins walking down the hall again and you follow. After a bit, you end up in the kitchen, a large room lined with counters and cabinets. The only break in the counters is for the fridge, the stove-oven combo, and a food synthesizer. You wonder why Brian is baking if they have a food synthesizer, a machine that can prepare food quickly with the press of a button. As if reading your mind (perhaps because he saw you looking at it), Brian says, "We'll use the food synthesizer for most of the meal, but the pie I want to bake isn't an option on ours. Besides, homemade is the best made, am I right?" You can't remember the last time you've had homemade food—it's been a couple years at least—but you laugh awkwardly and say, "Sure, right." He leads you to the fridge and opens it, his back to you. "Can you come here and help me? I'll hand you the ingredients and you put them on the counter right there." What do you do? (if: $hasKnifeNow is true)[[- KILL HIM WITH YOUR KNIFE!!!|Kill Brian]] [[- Help Brian in silence.|Help in silence]] [[- Help Brian while chatting.|Help and chat]]

After changing the door code to your preferred set of numbers, you leave the room. "All set?" he asks. "Great. Let's go to the kitchen." He begins walking down the hall again and you follow. After a bit, you end up in the kitchen, a large room lined with counters and cabinets. The only break in the counters is for the fridge, the stove-oven combo, and a food synthesizer. You wonder why Brian is baking if they have a food synthesizer, a machine that can prepare food quickly with the press of a button. As if reading your mind (perhaps because he saw you looking at it), Brian says, "We'll use the food synthesizer for most of the meal, but the pie I want to bake isn't an option on ours. Besides, homemade is the best made, am I right?" You can't remember the last time you've had homemade food—it's been a couple years at least—but you laugh awkwardly and say, "Sure, right." He leads you to the fridge and opens it, his back to you. "Can you come here and help me? I'll hand you the ingredients and you put them on the counter right there." What do you do? [[- Help Brian in silence.|Help in silence]] [[- Help Brian while chatting.|Help and chat]]

You quietly take your knife out of your boot and unsheath it. You creep up behind him and stab him in the back and pull it out quickly, but his thick muscular frame means it probably has barely penetrated through his muscle. "Ow, what the—" he yells as he begins to turn around. But before he can, you let the knife clatter to the floor and jump on his back and crush his throat with your strong grip, the blood from his stab wound soaking into your shirt. The two of you crash to the floor but you don't let go. Instead, you pin him down so he can't fight back as easily. He does try, cute thing, but to no avail. Soon, he stills. For good measure, you slit his throat with your paring knife. You know what you must do now. [[- An object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.|Kill the rest of them: Brian]]

"Sure," you say, going over to him by the fridge. As he hands you ingredients which you put onto the counter in a short assembly line, he says, "We'll be making an apple pie. And if we have time, let's make some gingerbread cookies too." "Okay." The two of you bake the apple pie and gingerbread cookies. Brian tries to make conversation while you do, but you give him terse, one-word answers and eventually he gets the hint. Once you're done, the two of you prepare a turkey and some side dishes with the food synthesizer and put it onto a rolling cart. Then, you bring it to the control room, which Ivan has finished decorating. Aaron has finished setting up the Christmas too, and Jesse has a stack of games off to one side. You set the table and then feast. The four men mostly talk around you about whatever interests them. You don't really pay attention, and when someone asks you a question, you answer in such a way that it makes the conversation a dead-end. After the meal, they begin setting up one of the board games, but you decide to excuse yourself and head to your room, claiming you're tired. They bid you goodbye, looking a little sad by your early departure, but you don't really care. You spend the rest of the evening in your little room, wondering where your tiny pod of a ship is now. ENDING 4 of 5: THE ONLY POINT OF SOCIALIZING IS THE FOOD, ISN'T IT? [[Start over|Start]]

"Sure," you say, going over to him by the fridge. As he hands you ingredients which you put onto the counter in a short assembly line, he says, "We'll be making an apple pie. And if we have time, let's make some gingerbread cookies too." "Okay." Once all the ingredients are on the counter, he fetches a large silver bowl. "Let's start on the pie. Can you help me peel these apples?" You take a paring knife and begin peeling apples side by side. "So can you tell me more about your research?" you ask. "It's not that interesting. I'll just be observing the black hole to base my game mechanics on." { (if: $blackHolesInterest is "gamerly")[ "Well, I'm a game developer too so there's no way you'd bore me," you reply. He chuckles. "I suppose. Then we can work together to collect data once we get to the black hole. If we pair our analyses together, we should be able to come up with interesting mechanics for our games." "Sure, that sounds nice." ] } You finish peeling that apple so you set it in the bowl. "What made you decide to leave Earth to research black holes, instead of, say, just using your imagination for the game mechanics?" Brian sighs. "I just felt like I needed a bit of a break from Earth. It can be so hard to live there sometimes, what with all the discrimination and whatnot, you know?" { (if: $blackHolesInterest is "religious")[ You do know. Many on your home planet called you crazy and shunned you for saying that black holes are the only true gods. Truthfully, you wanted to leave, but they also gave you no choice //but// to go. ] } You nod, but you don't know too much about the social situation on Earth and it seems like a touchy subject, so you'd rather not push it any further with some stranger you just met. The two of you make the pie and gingerbread cookies, chatting idly about games and movies. Once you're done, you prepare a turkey and some side dishes with the food synthesizer and put it onto a rolling cart. Then, you bring it to the control room, which Ivan has finished decorating. Aaron has finished setting up the Christmas too, and Jesse has a stack of games off to one side. You set the table and then feast, while talking happily. You sit near Brian and mostly talk to him though. You sense something good may come of this relationship in the future. After dinner, you all play the games Jesse prepared and have a merry, merry time. ENDING 5 of 5: A SOCIAL CHRISTMAS [[Start over|Start]]

You go to the sink and rinse of your hands and the knife under a strong-flowing current. Feeling like your knife is a bit underwhelming, you rummage through the drawers and find a large butcher's knife. You had briefly forgotten about the running water so you go back to it. The sink seems to be plugged up so the water isn't draining and now the entire basin is nearly full. You turn it off. Whatever. Carrying both the butcher's knife and your trusty paring knife, you go to the door, ready to find the next victim. But, turns out you don't have to look. You bump into Jesse in the doorway. Not seeming to notice your bloodstained clothes and weapons, he pulls away and says, "Oh, $name, I heard a crashing noise so I—" You stab him in the heart with one swift motion with the paring knife. He puts a hand on the wound and yells out in shock. You drop the paring knife to the floor and grab Jesse by the throat. Poor, weak thing can barely resist as you drag him over to the sink by the throat. You force his head into the bloody water and hold him there. He tries to fight back but he's no match for you. Soon enough, he stops moving. You release your grip on him and he slumps to the floor. As you leave the kitchen, you pick up your paring knife and pause in the doorway, listening closely. You hear Christmas music coming from the control room. Your ears are quite decent, but the music is so loud even an Earthling humanoid would be able to hear it from here. "Later," you say. You sniff the air. Your nose is quite a lot better than an Earthling humainoid's, you see. Underneath the scent of blood behind you, you pick up Aaron's scent, which you got a good whiff of earlier. You follow it to what looks like a storage room lined with neatly arranged shelves. You stalk to the back of the room, which is messier since there are no shelves here—just boxes, crates, bags and jars strewn about on the floor. You see Aaron rummaging through on of the boxes, his back to you. You notice that he's now in jeans and a red Christmas sweater with bits and bobs hanging off of it, instead of his spacesuit. He must have changed before coming into the storage room. Smiling, you get close to him. As you do, he seems to hear you, so he turns around. With wide, confused eyes, he says, "$name?" Just as he locks eyes with you and says your name, you slash him across the throat, cutting him as deep as you can with your little paring knife, and then you step back, out of his reach. His eyes open wide as he grips his throat, gasping for air. Blood spurts out between his fingers and down his red Christmas sweater, made redder and redder with blood. The beautiful crimson color of blood... He drops down to his knees a moment later and thrashes around on the floor. You step back again, looking down on him desperately trying to survive. Thick blood pools around him, staining the bottom of the nearby boxes and bags red too. You spot a flamethrower from the corner of your eye and smirk. You drop the two knives, pick it up and blast it over him, the smell of burning clothes and flesh wafting up into your nose. He can't even scream since you've cut his throat so deep. He stops moving, but his body is still aflame and the box behind him is starting to catch on fire. You find a fire extinguisher in the room and put it out. Then you pick up your two knives and head to the control room. Ivan is in there, standing on a ladder, stringing up some tinsel with Christmas music blasting. He bops his head and sings along as he works. You go to the ladder and knock it down. Ivan hits the ground in such a way that one of his legs break. He cries out in pain as you stalk over to him. "$name?" he manages to get out. You smile and bring the butcher's knife down on one of his arms, slicing it off in one clean motion. He screams. And then, the other arm, and then his legs. You cut up as much of his extremities as you can until he bleeds out, his screams finally silenced. Satisfied, you sit in the chair at the end of the room where the control panel is. With red fingers slick with blood, you turn up the Christmas music and hum along quietly while you watch the darkness of space around you. "Merry Christmas to me," you say to yourself. "Merry Christmas." ENDING 3 of 5: EVERYONE MUST DIE. [[Start over|Start]]

(if: $hasKnifeNow is true)[You take the knife out of your bag and tuck it into your boot.] You leave the room. "All set?" he asks. You nod. "Great. Let's go to the game room." He begins walking down the hall again and you follow. After a bit, you pass by the kitchen and see the Brian in there, peeling apples. You then go into the game room, which is right next door. The game room is a cozy lounge area with a flatscreen TV as large as one of the walls. Below that is a cabinet holding all the latest game consoles. Off to one side is a bookshelf, which holds books on all of the shelves except the lowest one, which instead has a stack of board games. You notice that there's a glass door next to that bookshelf which leads to an indoor swimming pool. On another wall, there's a low shelf holding dumbells. //How wealthy are these people?// you wonder. //It must take a lot of fuel to keep all of this running.// Jesse goes over to the bookshelf and squats down to look at the board games. "Let's choose some games for the party." What do you do? (if: $hasKnifeNow is true)[[- KILL HIM WITH YOUR KNIFE!!!|Kill Jesse]] [[- Help Jesse in silence.|Choose games in silence]] [[- Help Jesse while chatting.|Choose games and chat]]

After changing the door code to your preferred set of numbers, you leave the room. "All set?" he asks. You nod. "Great. Let's go to the game room." He begins walking down the hall again and you follow. After a bit, you pass by the kitchen and see the Brian in there, peeling apples. You then go into the game room, which is right next door. The game room is a cozy lounge area with a flatscreen TV as large as one of the walls. Below that is a cabinet holding all the latest game consoles. Off to one side is a bookshelf, which holds books on all of the shelves except the lowest one, which instead has a stack of board games. You notice that there's a glass door next to that bookshelf which leads to an indoor swimming pool. On another wall, there's a low shelf holding dumbells. //How wealthy are these people?// you wonder. //It must take a lot of fuel to keep all of this running.// Jesse goes over to the bookshelf and squats down to look at the board games. "Let's choose some games for the party." What do you do? [[- Help Jesse in silence.|Choose games in silence]] [[- Help Jesse while chatting.|Choose games and chat]]

You quietly take your knife out of your boot and unsheath it. You creep up behind him and stab him in the back and pull it out quickly. He's so thin that, despite your knife being small, it sunk in quite deeply. He gasps and falls to the floor, writhing in pain with his eyes closed. You drop you paring knife and grab both of his little wrists with just one hand. You hoist him up. "Stop!" he shouts. You take your other hand and cover his mouth. He keeps trying to speak but it comes out as only mumbles. You elbow him hard in the head. He passes out. Not satisfied yet, you fetch a two pairs of the heaviest dumbells from the shelves off to the side. You tie them tightly to his feet using a blanket on the couch in front of the TV. Then, you drag him over to the next room where the pool is and throw him into the deep end. You watch him sink. You know what you must do now. [[- An object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.|Kill the rest of them: Jesse]]

You squat down next to him and look over the games. You aren't really interested so every time he asks, "How about this one?" you just say yes. He seems to notice that you aren't really helping so he just chooses the games by himself. Then, the two of you open them up to check that all the pieces are there and everything is in order, which takes way longer than you thought it would. Once you're done, the two of you carry the stack of games to the control room, which Ivan has finished decorating. Aaron has finished setting up the Christmas too, and Brian has a cart of food containing a pie, a tray of cookies, a turkey and some side dishes next to the table in the center of the room. You set the table and then feast. The four men mostly talk around you about whatever interests them. You don't really pay attention, and when someone asks you a question, you answer in such a way that it makes the conversation a dead-end. After the meal, they begin setting up one of the board games, but you decide to excuse yourself and head to your room, claiming you're tired. They bid you goodbye, looking a little sad by your early departure, but you don't really care. You spend the rest of the evening in your little room, wondering where your tiny pod of a ship is now. ENDING 4 of 5: THE ONLY POINT OF SOCIALIZING IS THE FOOD, ISN'T IT? [[Start over|Start]]

You squat down next to him and look over the games. You recognize some of them but most are a mystery to you. "How about this one?" Jesse asks, pointing to a game you don't know in a red box. "Um, I don't really know that game so I can't really judge." "Hmm okay. Which ones do you know?" You point to the three that you know and he pulls them out and sets them aside. "Okay, let's use these then, and I'll choose some extra ones which we can teach you." You nod. He chooses some more games and sets them aside. "Now let's check that everything is in order for each of the games. You look through the ones you know and I'll check the others, okay?" "Sure." You open one of the boxes and begin counting out the pieces to make sure they're all there. "So can you tell me more about your research?" you ask. As he neatly organizes fake money into different piles, he says, "Oh, no I don't want to bore you. I'm just looking into black holes for my novel is all." { (if: $blackHolesInterest is "writerly")[ "Well, I'm a writer too so there's no way you'd bore me," you reply. He chuckles. "I suppose. Then we can work together to collect data once we get to the black hole. We can use each other's notes to base our stories off of." "Sure, that sounds nice." ] } You finish checking that game so you move on to the next. "What made you decide to leave Earth to research black holes, instead of, say, just using your imagination for your novel?" Jesse sighs. "Earth can be a tough place to live for certain people, like me. We've made a lot of progress, sure but still, inequality is pervasive around the universe, even on your own planet, right?" { (if: $blackHolesInterest is "religious")[ That's right. Your planet is more liberal than others, but ironically rather intolerant of religions. Many on your home planet shunned you for saying that black holes are the only true gods. Truthfully, you wanted to leave, but they also gave you no choice //but// to go. ] } You nod at Jesse, but you don't know too much about the social situation on Earth and it seems like a touchy subject, so you'd rather not push it any further with some stranger you just met. The two of you check the rest of the games while chatting idly about TV shows and books. Then, you bring the stack of games to the control room, which Ivan has finished decorating. Aaron has finished setting up the Christmas too, and and Brian has a cart of food containing a pie, a tray of cookies, a turkey and some side dishes next to the table in the center of the room. You set the table and then feast, while talking happily. You sit near Jesse and mostly talk to him though. You sense something good may come of this relationship in the future. After dinner, you all play the games you two prepared and have a merry, merry time. ENDING 5 of 5: A SOCIAL CHRISTMAS [[Start over|Start]]

Since the kitchen is next door, you head there first, after picking up your bloody paring knife from the ground. You enter the kitchen. Brian is in there noisily mixing something in a bowl with a hand mixer. This will be too easy. How about a bit more of a challenge? You stab him in the back with the knife and then quickly pull it out. The hand mixer crashes onto the counter as he is about to turn around, but you drop your knife to the ground, jump on his back and crush his throat with your strong grip, the blood from his stab wound soaking into your shirt. The two of you thud to the floor but you don't let go. Instead, you pin him down so he can't fight back as easily. He does try, cute thing, but to no avail. Soon, he stills. For good measure, you slit his throat with your paring knife. Feeling like your knife is a bit underwhelming, you rummage through the drawers and find a large butcher's knife. As you leave the kitchen, holding both knives, you pause in the doorway and listen closely. You hear Christmas music coming from the control room. Your ears are quite decent, but the music is so loud even an Earthling humanoid would be able to hear it from here. "Later," you say. You sniff the air. Your nose is quite a lot better than an Earthling humainoid's, you see. Underneath the scent of blood behind you, you pick up Aaron's scent, which you got a good whiff of earlier. You follow it to what looks like a storage room lined with neatly arranged shelves. You stalk to the back of the room, which is messier since there are no shelves here—just boxes, crates, bags and jars strewn about on the floor. You see Aaron rummaging through on of the boxes, his back to you. You notice that he's now in jeans and a red Christmas sweater with bits and bobs hanging off of it, instead of his spacesuit. He must have changed before coming into the storage room. Smiling, you get close to him. As you do, he seems to hear you, so he turns around. With wide, confused eyes, he says, "$name?" Just as he locks eyes with you and says your name, you slash him across the throat, cutting him as deep as you can with your little paring knife, and then you step back, out of his reach. His eyes open wide as he grips his throat, gasping for air. Blood spurts out between his fingers and down his red Christmas sweater, made redder and redder with blood. The beautiful crimson color of blood... He drops down to his knees a moment later and thrashes around on the floor. You step back again, looking down on him desperately trying to survive. Thick blood pools around him, staining the bottom of the nearby boxes and bags red too. You spot a flamethrower from the corner of your eye and smirk. You drop the two knives, pick it up and blast it over him, the smell of burning clothes and flesh wafting up into your nose. He can't even scream since you've cut his throat so deep. He stops moving, but his body is still aflame and the box behind him is starting to catch on fire. You find a fire extinguisher in the room and put it out. Then you pick up your two knives and head to the control room. Ivan is in there, standing on a ladder, stringing up some tinsel with Christmas music blasting. He bops his head and sings along as he works. You go to the ladder and knock it down. Ivan hits the ground in such a way that one of his legs break. He cries out in pain as you stalk over to him. "$name?" he manages to get out. You smile and bring the butcher's knife down on one of his arms, slicing it off in one clean motion. He screams. And then, the other arm, and then his legs. You cut up as much of his extremities as you can until he bleeds out, his screams finally silenced. Satisfied, you sit in the chair at the end of the room where the control panel is. With red fingers slick with blood, you turn up the Christmas music and hum along quietly while you watch the darkness of space around you. "Merry Christmas to me," you say to yourself. "Merry Christmas." ENDING 3 of 5: EVERYONE MUST DIE. [[Start over|Start]]

(if: $hasKnifeNow is true)[You take the knife out of your bag and tuck it into your boot.] You leave the room. "All set?" he asks. You nod. "Great. Let's go back to the control room." He begins walking down the hall again and you follow. Soon, you're back to the control room. He brings you to the area near the control panel, which has two boxes stuffed with decorations and a tall ladder tucked behind the control panel. "First, music." He sits at the control panel and opens up a Christmas music playlist and blasts it loudly. "Okay, let's string up the tinsel," he shouts over the music, pulling out the ladder, his back to you. "Can you go through those boxes and get out all the tinsel?" What do you do? (if: $hasKnifeNow is true)[[- KILL HIM WITH YOUR KNIFE!!!|Kill Ivan]] [[- Help Ivan in silence.|Decorate in silence]] [[- Help Ivan while chatting.|Decorate and chat]]

After changing the door code to your preferred set of numbers, you leave the room. "All set?" he asks. You nod. "Great. Let's go back to the control room." He begins walking down the hall again and you follow. Soon, you're back to the control room. He brings you to the area near the control panel, which has two boxes stuffed with decorations and a tall ladder tucked behind the control panel. "First, music." He sits at the control panel and opens up a Christmas music playlist and blasts it loudly. "Okay, let's string up the tinsel," he shouts over the music, pulling out the ladder, his back to you. "Can you go through those boxes and get out all the tinsel?" What do you do? [[- Help Ivan in silence.|Decorate in silence]] [[- Help Ivan while chatting.|Decorate and chat]]

You quietly take your knife out of your boot and unsheath it. You creep up behind him and stab him in the back and pull it out quickly. He yells out in pain and just as he's about to turn around, you bash him in the head with you elbow. He crumbles to the ground, holding his head with a grimace. You knee him in the face, over and over until he stills. You know that it isn't over yet though. You're knife is too small to finish the job. You look around and see an emergency axe box on one wall of the room. You go over to it and break the glass with your elbow, not even caring about the shards that found their way into your skin. You return to him, just as he seems to be coming to. You raise the axe up high and bring it down on his left arm with all of your mighty strength. It comes off cleanly (you've always been quite strong). Ivan, fully conscious again, screams out in pain, but you're sure no one can hear him over the joyous tune of the Christmas music blaring from the speakers. And then, you bring the axe down on his the other arm, and then his legs. You cut up as much of his extremities as you can until he bleeds out, his screams finally silenced. Satisfied, you toss the axe aside and pick up your paring knife. You know what you must do now. [[- An object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.|Kill the rest of them: Ivan]]

"Sure," you say loudly over the music. You kneel in front of the box and sort through it while Ivan props up the ladder. Then he comes back and sorts through the other box. He asks you questions about yourself while you pull out the tinsel from the boxes, but you just give him terse, one-word answers and eventually he gets the hint. After you find all the tinsel, you hold the ladder for him while he strings it up and then you decorate the rest of the control room. At some point, Aaron came in and set up the Christmas tree, Jesse came in with a stack of board games, and Brian rolled in a cart of food containing a pie, a tray of cookies, a turkey and some side dishes. You all set the table and then feast. The four men mostly talk around you about whatever interests them. You don't really pay attention, and when someone asks you a question, you answer in such a way that it makes the conversation a dead-end. After the meal, they begin setting up one of the board games, but you decide to excuse yourself and head to your room, claiming you're tired. They bid you goodbye, looking a little sad by your early departure, but you don't really care. You spend the rest of the evening in your little room, wondering where your tiny pod of a ship is now. ENDING 4 of 5: THE ONLY POINT OF SOCIALIZING IS THE FOOD, ISN'T IT? [[Start over|Start]]

"Sure," you say loudly over the music. You kneel in front of the box and sort through it while Ivan props up the ladder. Then he comes back and sorts through the other box. "So can you tell me more about your work with black holes?" you ask, practically shouting. As he pulls out the tinsel, he says, "Oh, no I don't want to bore you. I just want to paint one is all." { (if: $blackHolesInterest is "artistic")[ "Well, I'm a painter too so there's no way you'd bore me," you reply. He chuckles. "I suppose. Then we can paint together once we get to the black hole. I'd be interested in seeing your interpretation of it." "Sure, that sounds nice. I'd like to see yours too." ] } You finish taking out all the tinsel from your box so you wait for Ivan to finish his. "What made you decide to leave Earth to paint a black hole?" you ask. "I just want to be a successful artist," he says with a bit of a laugh. "No one has artistically captured a black hole yet. I think people would be interested in seeing artwork of it." "True." After you he finishes finding all the tinsel, you hold the ladder for him while he strings it up and then you decorate the rest of the control room as you chat idly about art and games. At some point, Aaron came in and set up the Christmas tree, Jesse came in with a stack of board games, and Brian rolled in a cart of food containing a pie, a tray of cookies, a turkey and some side dishes. You set the table and then feast, while talking happily. You sit near Ivan and mostly talk to him though. You sense something good may come of this relationship in the future. After dinner, you all play the games you two prepared and have a merry, merry time. ENDING 5 of 5: A SOCIAL CHRISTMAS [[Start over|Start]]

Next stop, the kitchen. You navigate through the maze-like hallways, following the scent of baking. Your nose is quite a lot better than an Earthling humainoid's, after all. You find your way into the kitchen. Brian is in there noisily mixing something in a bowl with a hand mixer. This will be too easy. How about a bit more of a challenge? You stab him in the back with the knife and then quickly pull it out. The hand mixer crashes onto the counter as he is about to turn around, but you drop your knife to the ground, jump on his back and crush his throat with your strong grip, the blood from his stab wound soaking into your shirt. The two of you thud to the floor but you don't let go. Instead, you pin him down so he can't fight back as easily. He does try, cute thing, but to no avail. Soon, he stills. For good measure, you slit his throat with your paring knife. Then you go to the sink and rinse of your hands and the knife under a strong-flowing current. Feeling like your knife is a bit underwhelming, you rummage through the drawers and find a large butcher's knife. You had briefly forgotten about the running water so you go back to it. The sink seems to be plugged up so the water isn't draining and now the entire basin is nearly full. You turn it off. Whatever. Carrying both the butcher's knife and your trusty paring knife, you go to the door, ready to find the next victim. But, turns out you don't have to look. You bump into Jesse in the doorway. Not seeming to notice your bloodstained clothes and weapons, he pulls away and says, "Oh, $name, I heard a crashing noise so I—" You stab him in the heart with one swift motion with the paring knife. He puts a hand on the wound and yells out in shock. You drop the paring knife to the floor and grab Jesse by the throat. Poor, weak thing can barely resist as you drag him over to the sink by the throat. You force his head into the bloody water and hold him there. He tries to fight back but he's no match for you. Soon enough, he stops moving. You release your grip on him and he slumps to the floor. As you leave the kitchen, you pick up your paring knife. You sniff the air. Underneath the scent of blood behind you, you pick up Aaron's scent, which you got a good whiff of earlier. You follow it to what looks like a storage room lined with neatly arranged shelves. You stalk to the back of the room, which is messier since there are no shelves here—just boxes, crates, bags and jars strewn about on the floor. You see Aaron rummaging through on of the boxes, his back to you. You notice that he's now in jeans and a red Christmas sweater with bits and bobs hanging off of it, instead of his spacesuit. He must have changed before coming into the storage room. Smiling, you get close to him. As you do, he seems to hear you, so he turns around. With wide, confused eyes, he says, "$name?" Just as he locks eyes with you and says your name, you slash him across the throat, cutting him as deep as you can with your little paring knife, and then you step back, out of his reach. His eyes open wide as he grips his throat, gasping for air. Blood spurts out between his fingers and down his red Christmas sweater, made redder and redder with blood. The beautiful crimson color of blood... He drops down to his knees a moment later and thrashes around on the floor. You step back again, looking down on him desperately trying to survive. Thick blood pools around him, staining the bottom of the nearby boxes and bags red too. You spot a flamethrower from the corner of your eye and smirk. You drop the two knives, pick it up and blast it over him, the smell of burning clothes and flesh wafting up into your nose. He can't even scream since you've cut his throat so deep. He stops moving, but his body is still aflame and the box behind him is starting to catch on fire. You find a fire extinguisher in the room and put it out. Satisfied, you head back to the control room and sit in the chair at the end of the room where the control panel is. With red fingers slick with blood, you turn up the Christmas music and hum along quietly while you watch the darkness of space around you. "Merry Christmas to me," you say to yourself. "Merry Christmas." ENDING 3 of 5: EVERYONE MUST DIE. [[Start over|Start]]