/* You can do a lot with CSS in a Twine file! For 1.4.2, just add "stylesheet" (no quotes) in the Tags part of the passage. \n\nThese changes are minimal and are for itch.io, which messes up the background color on full screen when it's not explicitly set and doesn't give iframes padding. */\n\nbody { background-color: white;} \n#header-container, #passages { padding: 0 10px;}

It's dark here, but you press forward.\n\nSuddenly, your feet have nothing to stand on.\n\nYou fall in a rush of air and smash into the rocks. Your body breaks apart. \n\nLights flash from some of your scattered appendages. You can see the outline of wires and circuit boards.\n\nTHE END

You agree and lead her toward the road.\n\n"Are you sure you know where you're going?" she asks.\n\n"Of course," you say. "Magnetic north is that way, which means the road is this way."\n\n"But you don't have a compass."\n\n"I don't need one."\n\nMore footsteps. These are genuine, military-issue boots.\n\n"The search party must have found us!" the girl says. "I'll let them know we're here!"\n\nDo you [[keep her quiet]] or [[run away]]?\n\n

You keep your hands up. Soldiers surround you and shove you into the back of their truck.\n\nA familiar person in a lab coat is waiting for you.\n\n"Thanks for coming back. As soon as we get you back to the holding cell, I promise I'll repair your new programming. You were supposed to be more human, not run away."\n\nTHE END

//This is a short interactive fiction piece meant to demonstrate a basic branching story to beginners. I wrote it as a demo for a local radio interview I did in 2015 after I [[wrote an article|https://www.eastidahonews.com/2015/11/write-a-branching-story-with-twine/]] introducing Twine to a general audience.//\n\n[[Begin story|begin]]

You cover her mouth -- not too hard.\n\n"No, I'm not kidnapping you," you say. "But please be quiet."\n\nShe nods.\n\nDo you [[remove your hand]], or do you [[keep it over her mouth]]?

"Thanks!"\n\nYou try to open the passenger door but end up yanking it off its hinges. \n\n"Sorry," you say.\n\n"It's an old car," your rescuer says. "It happens all the time."\n\nWith that, he makes a squealy U-turn and leaves the door behind.\n\nA mile up the road, you see flashing lights in the distance.\n\n"A blockade!" the man says. "It wasn't there a few minutes ago."\n\nHe pulls over.\n\n"I'm all about helping ... people, but I didn't sign up to be arrested," he said. "Get out."\n\nIt would be easy to [[overpower]] this guy. Or you could just [[do as he says]].

You take your hand off her mouth.\n\nShe screams.\n\nYou hear the thunder of many boots rushing toward you.\n\nYou run -- you can't help it. You can't go back to the lab.\n\nYou don't pay attention to the direction and end up back on the road.\n\nYou are next to an armored truck with tinted windows.\n\nMore soldiers are here, along with a person in a lab coat.\n\n"Surrender!" a soldier shouts.\n\nDo you [[fight]] or [[give yourself up|give-yourself-up]]?

"Thanks for the offer," you say. "But I'll manage."\n\nThe Offended Samaritan turns up his nose and drives away.\n\nYou lean against a tree, letting the sunlight dance on your face. After a minute, you feel like you can run some more.\n\nBut maybe you shouldn't. Maybe you shouldn't spend the rest of your life running.\n\nDo you [[continue running|trees]] or [[wait here]]?

You vanish into the trees.\n\n"Where are you going? Help, someone! I'm right here."\n\nYou [[vanish into the trees|keep going]].

You don't bother to knock. \n\nSomeone jumps out of the easy chair in the living room.\n\n"Don't make me go back!" the other one shouts. "Oh --"\n\nYou recognize the other one. You don't think the other one has a name.\n\n"You escaped too?" you ask.\n\n"In the confusion after you left," the other one says. "You -- we -- are in huge trouble."\n\nThe other one has always grated on you -- maybe it's the fact that you're the same height. Or the fact that the other one blinks at regular, non-random intervals.\n\nMaybe you should [[find a different hiding place]]. Or you can just [[kick the other one out|kick her out]]. You're probably stronger than the other one.

The stream leads to a clearing. About a dozen people have gathered here. They hold hands, silently waiting for something.\n\nYou are still in the cover of the trees. Do you [[show yourself]] or do you [[turn back|continue deeper]]?

You rush toward them, but they're ready.\n\nGunshots. You keep moving, but you're limping now. One of your legs isn't responding. More gunshots. You fall.\n\nThey rush toward you.\n\n"You didn't have to damage it!" the person in the lab coat says.\n\nYou glance down. Wires and motors hang out of your leg.\n\n"It'll take me weeks to repair!"\n\n"You just saw -- it's dangerous," the soldier says. "I'm going to insist on a guard 24-7 in the lab from now on. Now get that android out of my sight."\n\nTHE END

You rip off his seat belt and drag him out of the station wagon.\n\n"What are you doing!" he shouts. "I'm warning you!"\n\nYou have no choice, of course. You throw him as gently as you can into the grass and get back in the car.\n\nBefore you can take it out of park, you hear a gunshot. The man is holding a pistol in a shaking hand. \n\nYou topple across the seat, and your vision blurs.\n\nYour inner clock stops and starts. You blink, and suddenly the soldiers are surrounding the car.\n\n"Don't damage it!" a familiar voice calls out.\n\n"It's already damaged," the lead soldiers says. "Or did you mean the car?"\n\nAs they lift you out of the station wagon, you catch a glimpse of your face in the rearview mirror. Wires bulge through the bullet hole between your eyes.\n\n"Consciousness is so tricky!" the scientist says. "My lab will fix the consciousness program. No more escapes!"\n\n"You'll forgive me if I don't trust the promises, doctor," the solider says. "We'll put a 24-hour guard near the android's cell effective immediately."\n\nTHE END\n\n

The noon daylight makes you feel a little stronger. You can run again, though not as fast as you could before.\n\nYou hear a siren in the distance by the time you reach the [[woods|trees]].

Escape From Them

"I am claiming this house as my sanctuary," you say. "Please leave."\n\n"No," the other one says. "You want to fight, then?"\n\nBefore you can reply, you see flashing lights through the half-closed curtains. They're here.\n\n"Quick! We must go through the back door," the other one says.\n\nDo you [[go through the back door]] or do you [[face the soldiers|find a different hiding place]]?\n\n

Climbing is easy for you. You reach the top quickly.\n\nYou know you're exposed standing here, but you don't care.\n\nOn the other side of the mountain are countless buildings and streets. It's the perfect place to get lost.\n\nYou will never be see the lab again. You will never hear people telling you real you look, how wrongly you're programmed, how state-of-the-art you are, how you'll go the way of Windows XP next year.\n\nNone of that anymore. \n\nYou go down the mountain and become one of the humans.\n\nTHE END

<<give-yourself-up>>

You have been running for a while now, and you are nearly out of energy.\n\nThe road ends at the edge of a forest.\n\nDo you [[stop]] to re-energize or do you continue through the [[trees]]?

"I understand," you say. \n\nHe speeds off before your feet even touch the ground.\n\nA lot of good that did. Now you're closer to the lab than you were before.\n\nYou remember this mailbox and the house with the peeling white paint. It looks abandoned.\n\nDo you [[hide]] in the house or go back down the road to the [[forest]]?

You sigh, put your hands up -- and take off.\n\nBullets whiz over your head. The woods. You have to make it back to the woods. \n\nThe noon daylight makes you feel a little stronger. You can run again.\n\nMore trucks join the first. Sirens wail.\n\nYou have just enough energy to race down the road. You leave the trucks far behind and vanish into the [[trees]].

You wait. Before long, another truck comes down the road. This one is armored and has tinted windows.\n\nYou watch as the soldiers and a person in a lab coat get out and walk toward you.\n\nDo you [[fight]] or [[give yourself up|give-yourself-up]]?

You have been running so long, you have to stop to recharge. You don't care if they get you.\n\nA rusty station wagon pulls over next to you. You don't recognize it or its driver, a bald man in a muscle shirt who can't stop staring at you.\n\n"I saw you on the news," he says after two awkward seconds. "The guys in the uniforms -- they're close!"\n\nYou are a little hesistant, but he's probably right. No doubt your escape has been noticed by now.\n\nDo you [[get in]] the car or [[decline]] the offer?\n\n

The forest swallows sound. You feel weak in the shadows, but keep moving forward.\n\nYou come to a whispering stream. Do you [[follow it]], or do you [[continue deeper]] into the half-dark?

You know humans well enough to know what the girl would do if you removed your hand. \n\n"I'll let you go when they leave," you say into her ear. "We'll stay behind this tree until --"\n\nShe kicks you in the knee with those hiking boots. You don't feel anything, but she hops on one foot in pain, your hand still over her mouth.\n\nAfter a few minutes, you no longer hear anyone else. Your arms fall to your side.\n\n"You can scream as long as you like," you say.\n\nShe doesn't.\n\n"You look so real," she says.\n\n"I think real too," you say. "That's why I had to leave the lab." \n\nYou point.\n\n"The road is a few meters that way," you say.\n\nShe goes in that direction for a moment, then stops.\n\n"Robot?" she says.\n\nBut she can't see you anymore. You run through bushes and branches, hoping to never see a human again.\n\nTHE END

You step into the meadow.\n\nThe people are the same height as you. They tilt their heads to look at you. You tilt your head the same way to look at them.\n\n"Welcome," one of them says. "Do you come from the lab?"\n\n"Yes," you say.\n\n"They will look for you," the one says.\n\n"We will help you hide," another says.\n\n"We escaped too," says a third. "They do not understand."\n\n"I know," you say. "They make androids conscious and then do not know why they escape."\n\nTHE END

You can no longer hear the girl. \n\nThe trees end at a mountain wall. You see a very dark cave entrance.\n\nShould you [[venture into the cave]] or [[climb the mountain]]?\n

"Good-bye," you say.\n\n"Good-bye," the other one answers.\n\nThat's all both of you need to say. Luck is imprecise and doesn't need to be wished on anyone.\n\nYou close the door behind you to find an armored car pulling up in front of the house.\n\n"Come forward with your hands up!" a soldier shouts into a megaphone.\n\n"Come back to us," a gentler voice pipes in. "We'll help you in the lab."\n\nDo you [[obey the authorities]] or do you [[run]]?

You hear something behind you. It's getting closer. It sounds like boots, except --\n\n"Excuse me?"\n\nYour whirl around to find a girl who can't be more than 10 years old. She's wearing full hiking gear and is half-slumped under her pack.\n\n"Sorry," she says. "I've been lost for three hours. Can you help me find the road? My parents must be worried like crazy."\n\nDo you [[help her]] or [[go deeper|keep going]] into the woods?

Robert Patten

You follow the other one through the kitchen and out the back.\n\nAs soon as you step into the yard, you know it was a mistake. More soldiers are here too.\n\nThe other one does not bother to put its hands up. The soldiers keep their guns pointed at you while the other one walks toward them.\n\n"I was sent to make sure you were taken back undamaged," the other one says to you. "You have errors."\n\n"Give yourself up!" the lead soldier shouts.\n\nDo you [[obey the authorities]], do you [[run]], or do you [[fight]]?