You are not particularly dangerous.
Yet, you can carry with you serious diseases for humans and other mammals.
And so, they would rather avoid an encounter with you.
This is [[how you manage to ambush->Story_1]] your future host.You crawl out of the egg, only a larva. You lack some legs and cannot reproduce yet.
{(live: 3s)[
First, you feed upon some easy species. Maybe a lizard.
]}
{(live: 6s)[
After that, you moult once and again until you develop fully.
]}
{(live: 9s)[
Then, you find a safe place to mate. You are now ready to be a mother.
]}
{(live: 12s)[
But more than that, you are [[ready for warm blood->Story1b]].
]}
(set: $distance = 0)
(set: $touch = 0){(set: $distance += 1)
(if: $distance is 1)[[[Sense->Game_1]].]
(if: $distance > 1 and $distance < 19)[Not there yet. [[Sense->Game_1]].]
(if: $distance >= 19)[You have finally reached [[your post->Story_2]].]}You may be blind. You may be deaf. But you can smell your prey.
Butyric acid, humans call it. The smell of mammals.
To you, it is just the signal to [[leap off->Game_2]].<center><b>Tick Life</b>
a text-based simulation based on
Jakob von Uexküll's
<i>A foray into the worlds of animals and humans:
With a theory of meaning</i>
{(live: 4s)[
You [[are->Intro]] a tick.</center>
]}You lie dormant.(set: $success to (random: 0, 1))
{(live: 1.5s)[
Nothing happens yet.
]
(live: 2.2s)[
(either: "", "", "", "", "", "But then, a smell. (if: $success is 0)[[Jump!->Story 3 failure]](if: $success is 1)[[Jump!->Story 3 success]]")
]}You can feel the warmth. It is the blood, running under the creature's skin. Now, [[find a clear spot->Game_4]] to bury your head past the barrier.You feel the cold. You have missed your target. [[Climb back up->Game_1]].
(set: $distance = 0)You cannot taste anything, but the temperature tells you that this is what you were looking for.
{(live: 4s)[
This is your last meal. You now fall to the ground, [[lay your eggs->Story_1]], and die.
]}{(set: $touch += 1)
(if: $touch is 1)[[[Sense->Game_4]].]
(if: $touch > 1 and $touch < 14)[Not there yet. [[Sense->Game_4]].]
(if: $touch >= 14)[You bite and fill your body with a slow stream of [[warm blood->End]].]}Your goal is to reach the tip of a branch, from where you will pass to the unsuspecting mammal. Your food. Your new home.
You have no eyes, but your skin can feel the light. This is how you [[find the way to your lookout->Game_1]].