You where at the height of your life. You where a star. A hero. An explorer. But now...
It has been almost a year. You and a hundred men and women on a revolutionary ship, the Columbus 5000, traveling to Nebula 15, the furthest any traveler has ever made. Seven planets circled the sun, three of which are said to be able to support life with minimal terraform. They where supposed to be paradise. They are nearly ten light years away, but that is where your revolutionary ship comes in. Once it was a good five solar units away from the dock, it used a gravity drive to literally bend space enough to not only slow down time, but cross vast distances. Or that is what you heard in the news. It was supposed to use some kind of small item with near infinite density, a black hole was it? You don't remember. It simply wasn't important now. The drive seemed to work, for a few seconds. Then the engine collapsed in on it's self. Not only was the gravity drive broken, but the normal engine was also disabled. And worse, you where many light years from where you entered the gravity drive. Even worse, you where hurtling toward an unknown planet. Your captain assured you that everything was under control and told you to go to the sleeping tubes. You where put in an artificial sleep. That was a year ago, according to your neat digital watch. The only thing that seemed to have survived the atmosphere... Besides your pod and a large amount of scrap. Perhaps some of your crew members survived, perhaps not. But for the moment you just look at the large red sun and think "What the hell just happened?"
Your age must be from 18-30. Your race may be one of three: Human: I assume you know what this is. Companion: The dog of the future. It has been genetically altered to be almost human. It still has a mostly canine face with hair surrounding it's body. It is stronger and faster than a human, but it is slightly less intelligent and obedient to humans. It only possess minimum capacity for speech and typically uses physical expression over words. It can use tools, but do to it's less dexterous hands, is not as good with tools as a human is. Enhanced human: A human with a biological, technological, or other implant which has different positive and negative consequences. Please state your enhanced part, and how it is enhanced.
Name: Viet Anh Age: 22 Race: Human Biography: Viet Anh was born on planet Zorg after he grew up he was friendly to all creatures around him one day his mother took him to the Colombus 5000 Status: None Inventory: None
Name: Isaac Franks Age: 22 Race: Companion Biography: At birth, Isaac was given a human name in an attempt to make the difference between him and the humans smaller, and to impress corporate big-shots. He was then taken on the ship by his human master/friend. Status: None Inventory: Leaf Knife
"Exploring? What do you expect to find? Well I suppose we could find something to eat other than this fruit. Sure, its good and all, but after a while you get sick of it. I would personally like some meat, though the only living thing we have found are fruit and each other, and I am not that desperate. Maybe some salt, I used to like salt. You know before we crashed here. Maybe some ..." Babbled Smith before another glance of death was forced on him "Erm right. Well lets not get lost. Bobo, cut an X in every tree we pass, so we don't get lost. Well where exactly do you plan to go? Every direction is the same to me, and I doubt we will get significant distance in this forest. But hey."
So what direction do you want to go in? You can remember the smells of the other day. You can search for the sleeping pod, in the case he somehow survived. The other directions you probably only smelled fruit, so it may be futile. But going in that direction, you may find something that is closer to the ground than the fruit.
Name: Viet Anh Age: 22 Race: Human Biography: Viet Anh was born on planet Zorg after he grew up he was friendly to all creatures around him one day his mother took him to the Colombus 5000 Status: Hungry and Thirsty Inventory: None
You attempt to travel out of this dust bowel by heading to the closets mountain. On the way, you encounter some strange plants that are only about two feat high. Which is strange, you think, a taller tree would have the ability to go above the dust cloud and reap all the sunlight it desires. You also encounter small dunes, that seem to be ever changing.
Your stomach is starting to kill you, and your mouth is dry. You have not made any significant movement to the mountain, they look almost as close as before. You decide that you would have to eat and drink before you died of hunger. You could try to eat the plant that you find in the desert, which may prove to be edible somewhat. You could attempt to dig a hole, you heard somewhere that may desert creatures live underground and if your extremely lucky you may find one, as their seems to be life on this planet, and you may also find water. Or you could go to the mountains some more, it seems futile but you may be able to make some distance before collapsing.
Name: Viet Anh Age: 22 Race: Human Biography: Viet Anh was born on planet Zorg after he grew up he was friendly to all creatures around him one day his mother took him to the Colombus 5000 Status: Hungry and Thirsty Inventory: None
I dig a hole to reach water and some creature to eat just raw
Name: Viet Anh Age: 22 Race: Human Biography: Viet Anh was born on planet Zorg after he grew up he was friendly to all creatures around him one day his mother took him to the Colombus 5000 Status: None Inventory: None
You dig a hole, or more accurately attempt to. You manage to pull out several handfuls of dirt before the wind pushes all of your labor back into place. You form a new strategy of actually placing the sand where the wind has less of an effect, making yourself able to make a hole the size of your head before it fills in once more. After repeating this harsh cycle many times, you collapse. Seeing no other option than to continue digging, you continue to repeat this cycle of digging, having your work ruined, and then passing out. When the sun almost ran behind the mountains, you are just about to give up digging for the night when a strange voice startles you.
"Digging your own grave? You won't get to far with your hands, and defiantly not during the day. Try again at night. When the sun goes down, this aria no longer gets any heat. No heat, no convection, no wind." Said the voice. You did your best to turn to the voice, and somehow manage it. The voice turns out to be a man, a young man. He is about average height, with bleached hair tied in a ponytail behind his head. He is wearing some form of aviator goggles that cover most of his head and eyes, probably useful to have in a sandstorm. His cloths are ragged and torn, reminding you somewhat of pirates in the old stories, though miraculously they seem to be clean without much sand. The same can be said for the man, who even in the present situation, looks like he had time to shave, if poorly.
You only manage to utter a few words, being what was foremost on your mind "Food...Water..." Before you black out once again.
You wake up lying on a ragged beach blanket, but other than that small change there seems to have been no change. You can see the place where you had attempted to dig a hole, so it seems you have not moved. Perhaps stranger than this, you are no longer hungry or thirsty. You look around, seeing no sign of the man who had helped you. Perhaps he was just a dream, an illusion brought about from hunger. But that wouldn't explain where the towel came from, now would it? In any case, the sun has just started its expedition across this valley.
You could try for the mountains again, maybe a few more days of this and you can make it out. You could look for the man, he may be able to assist you some more, but if he left you that may mean that he didn't wish for your company. Or you could look for food, either waiting until night to attempt another hole or examining some of the plants more closely, either at night or in the day.
Name: Isaac Franks Age: 22 Race: Companion Biography: At birth, Isaac was given a human name in an attempt to make the difference between him and the humans smaller, and to impress corporate big-shots. He was then taken on the ship by his human master/friend. Status: None Inventory: Leaf Knife
I will go to the scent of the pod. Maybe there is somebody near it.
Name: Isaac Franks Age: 22 Race: Companion Biography: At birth, Isaac was given a human name in an attempt to make the difference between him and the humans smaller, and to impress corporate big-shots. He was then taken on the ship by his human master/friend. Status: None Inventory: Leaf Knife
You lead the small party to the smell of the pod. Remembering the general direction, you find it with ease a short walk to a place where you find a large wreckage. After some unimportant things where said by a certain person who's mouth, if harnessed, could single-handedly power a whole ship back home, you find the remains of a sleeping pod.
"There is a human in there...And he is alive. Trust me. This eye isn't just for the ladies, you know. He is about six feet, maybe a little taller, so he is probably a normal human. A human with a little extra would either show up as having a mettle part or be shorter do to the shortcomings of genetic science. Looking at the pod's programmings, the man is going to be let go in about a year. I may be able to let him out, with electricity directed in the correct form the pod will open. I am not an expert, so it may be dangerous and may never open. I tried this once before...Didn't go so well."
And he would continue, but Bobo gave a small gasp of surprise behind him. Bobo picked up a sheet of mettle and showed it to you. It was an eight-pointed star, the sign of the Columbus ship, with a wrench in the middle, a sign of an engineer. Bobo gave one of his relatively rare sentences "This man...He may get us off this planet."
Smith than continues his rant "Well perhaps, if you happen to have the materials for a second gravity drive. We could just keep him in here, I mean he is safe and we don't want to put him in danger. We don't even have a shelter for him. By the way Bobo, am I really that short? I just realized that I am shorter than you, who is really short. What are we? Five? Four? We can't be close to six feet. I am way shorter than I thought I was. " At which another glance of doom from Bobo makes Smith quite.
It seems you will get the deciding vote. Do you take him out of the sleeping pod, exposing him to danger but giving you a small hope of escaping this planet? Do you leave him in the pod, not exposing him to danger but not allowing him to help you? Or do you do something else, like keeping the path from here to camp clear? Or building a shelter for this man, then coming back and freeing him later?
Name: Isaac Franks Age: 22 Race: Companion Biography: At birth, Isaac was given a human name in an attempt to make the difference between him and the humans smaller, and to impress corporate big-shots. He was then taken on the ship by his human master/friend. Status: None Inventory: Leaf Knife
We'll go back to our tree hideout, and build a shelter for him.
Name: Isaac Franks Age: 22 Race: Companion Biography: At birth, Isaac was given a human name in an attempt to make the difference between him and the humans smaller, and to impress corporate big-shots. He was then taken on the ship by his human master/friend. Status: None Inventory: Leaf Knife
After telling your plan to the guys, Bobo nods his head and starts to walk back. Smith sates "I think I will stay behind and see what I can scavenge. If we want this guy to be useful, then he will need some materials. Lets see, this bit of mettle looks like it could do something, so does this one..." as you walk toward camp. After you arrive, Bobo lifts you up in the same way he had done the other day.
He begins to collect leaves from the tree below, after gathering a sizable pile, which didn't take very long do to the fact he used three limbs, he placed them in a pile and motioned for you to hand him some fruit. You pull one out from the tree and toss it to him, at which he uses it to roll over the leaves. Examining this process, you notice a sizable pool of water form after the rock hard fruit rolls over them, with Bobo's open appendages quickly forming the dehydrated leaves into the shape he wishes. This seems to be difficult, judging by the look on his face, both pushing the leaves and forming them. You can tell it must take a lot of force to extract the water - you sleep on a bed of leaves but you never noticed any water come out. After Bobo finishes the leaves and gets them to the form he wants, they look much like your shelter, and is able to stand up by itself. You pull a loose leaf off and play with it a little. You notice that it is hardened, but not as hard as your knife. You then rest for a while, neither you nor Bobo speak often leading to a very silent hour or so. By the time your leaf had hardened, the sun was about halfway true it's journey. You feel the shelter, it hasn't dried as much as yours but Bobo seems to think it is enough, as he motions you to follow him down.
After going down in the same firefighter esque manner, you set off on the trail for the pod. You notice the pod before you enter it, Smith was either talking to himself or his unconscious audience. Once you enter, Smith turns his verbal prowess toward you. "Do you have his shelter ready? Almost ready? Well it should be close enough ,right!" As Bobo nodded "Well we better give our little friend here a wake up call..." As he approached the Sleeping pod. Smith was silent for a second, then two shields of sparks came out of his hands, as he pushed them toward the pod. Some lights flashed, and a the pod opened with a man coming out of it.
The man gave a cough of sorts, and starts looking around. He had a small beard, as expected from sleeping that long. He gave a cough and looked around. He than spoke "Ughaghagha", or something that sounded similar to that. Smith than said "Well it looks like he is suffering the effects of waking up to early. He should be fine after a little nap... Just like if you woke someone up normally during the middle of their sleep."
Night is slowly making it's way to the forest, and now this man is no longer safe. You could bring him back to camp and put him in his shelter, risking confusion and the slight risk that he manages to fall off of the tree. You could close the pod and come back later, risking that he comes out and gets himself lost or killed. Or you could just leave him in this current state, hoping that he will wake up in enough time for you to be able to make it back to camp before nightfall.
Name: Viet Anh Age: 22 Race: Human Biography: Viet Anh was born on planet Zorg after he grew up he was friendly to all creatures around him one day his mother took him to the Colombus 5000 Status: None Inventory: None
I attempt to go to the mountain and find a weapon and if I had spare time I would try to look for the man.
Name: Isaac Franks Age: 22 Race: Companion Biography: At birth, Isaac was given a human name in an attempt to make the difference between him and the humans smaller, and to impress corporate big-shots. He was then taken on the ship by his human master/friend. Status: None Inventory: Leaf Knife
We'll take him to the shelter. I also recommend that we take turns watching him during the night to make sure nothing happens.
Name: Viet Anh Age: 22 Race: Human Biography: Viet Anh was born on planet Zorg after he grew up he was friendly to all creatures around him one day his mother took him to the Colombus 5000 Status: None Inventory: Obsidian knife
You continue to the mountain, continuing in the same scenario as before. You keep going. You collapse. You get saved. On the third night, when you are just about to give up and try going by night, you suddenly wake up on top of the mountain. You find words etched in one of the rocks the mountain is made of, presumably with a mettle object. It read "Apparently the desert is not for you. I left you a small weapon, it will be useful if you continue on as you have been doing. It will probably involve you stabbing yourself, since the burring thing didn't seem to work". Next to that rock is another rock, this one seems to be made of observant. Or something close to it. It has the appearance of antique knifes, maybe like what the Aztecs would use. Under the blade was a crude handle, making a small knife.
You examine your new surroundings. You are on a tall mountain, with the ability to see far in any direction. Though this mountain is rather tall, you don't seem to be any cooler than the desert, and you don't have any harder time breathing. That may be because of the act you are not breathing in sand anymore.
Back where you came, to your current right, is the desert valley which you have been recently saved from. Not much more to add, besides the fact that you can see the sun almost setting behind the mountains on the other side. That must mean it is near night? Or near day.
To your current left, the other side of the mountain seems to be a valley of caves. You can not see very much of the caves, do to your angle, but you can't go over it, it seems. The top is a mountain of rocks that seem to be so pointed you will have a ton of trouble using them. There is a series of this mountains, stretching out as far as you can see.
You could go to the new destination of the caves, to at the very least examine the caves further. Though caves are typically dark, and you would have trouble without a torch or other lighting device. You could go back to the desert, trying to find that man, which may kill you if you try like you where. Or you can stay on the mountain, in which you will most likely starve.
Name: Isaac Franks Age: 22 Race: Companion Biography: At birth, Isaac was given a human name in an attempt to make the difference between him and the humans smaller, and to impress corporate big-shots. He was then taken on the ship by his human master/friend. Status: None Inventory: Leaf Knife
Bobo lifts the man and attempts to take him back to camp, though soon starts grunting. He seems to be, if anything, weaker on the ground. You soon offer to help and both of you lift him to the base tree, with Bobo bearing the rest of the wait while you stood on the bottom and waited. You and Smith where whisked away a few minutes later.
Soon, night falls. You sleep in shifts, though it was hard to tell the time. The night was uneventful, aside from one close call where the engineer went insane and got up, screaming and waving his hands, and started running around. Smith was on duty at the time, and managed to tackle him, but after a few minutes of screaming and flailing, he went back to sleep.
You eventually woke up, after both Smith and Bobo had. They where doing the things they normalcy do, which for Smith was talking and for Bobo nothing in particular. The engineer was also doing what he normally does, meaning sleep.
You can attempt to wake up the man using a variety of techniques, which risks him going into another fit, and possibly wasting a day. You could go back to exploring and see what else you can find. You could also go back to the Engineer's pod and see what you can collect for when he wakes up.
Name: Isaac Franks Age: 22 Race: Companion Biography: At birth, Isaac was given a human name in an attempt to make the difference between him and the humans smaller, and to impress corporate big-shots. He was then taken on the ship by his human master/friend. Status: None Inventory: Leaf Knife
I'll get Bobo and Smith and attempt to wake the engineer up. Bobo can hold him down if necessary. Smith will do the talking, he seems to be good at that. We just have to be as kind as possible.
