Clouds were gathering around the tall skyscrapers of Sambourough, chasing the tourists away from the wide avenues lining the city canal.
“Come on, you have to go, it's the last concert of the year,” Anna whined, as she reached out for Farrah's hands, coming dangerously close to knowing over their milkshake and frappé.
“Anna, honey, it's the last Dee-L concert of this season,” Farrah replied with a dry chuckle. “There will be others in March.”
“But March is so far away,” Anna whined again. “Pretty, please, pretty? I can't go without you.”
Farrah rolled her eyes and shook her head, that half-amused, half-in-disbelief smile still on her lips. She knew how much the band meant to her friend. Anna had 4 tattoos of the band members spread across her forearms, back, and ankle. She also had 3 more abstract tattoos, one of which she'd gotten at an afterparty of one of the concerts. So, the reason Anna wanted to go was her unholy obsession with the band. The reason she wanted Farrah to come, in addition to both of them having a good time of course, was that she knew she needed a babysitter.
“You can and you will, you'll do just fine,” Farrah flicked Anna's forehand with her index, making the girl finally sit up properly. “I told you already, I have other plans.”
“Oh, mysterious madam Deveraux And her fancy, fancy, totally real, plans,” Anna crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.
“I can't tell you or I'll jinx it,” Farrah grinned. She was all but begging the woman to ask her about how her MSc interview went. Then it wouldn't count as jinxing it if she wasn't the one to bring it up.
She could see the gears in Anna's head turning.
“Oh my Lord,” she exclaimed, “no way!” She almost jolted up from her seat. “So, what, I'll be calling you Master Farrah at this rate?”
“Hush,” Farrah reached out to grab her friend's arm to hush her. Her elbow hit her frappé, and the half-full glass almost toppled over, if not for her quickly catching it with her other hand. “What did I say about jinxing it?”
“Wait, so does this mean no more evenings for us? When are we gonna hang out?” Anna's continued, all but disregarding Farrah's superstitions.
“No, it will be like last time,” Farrah referenced the bachelor she completed half a year ago. “Twice a week in the evenings, and a week per semester in person. I'll be gone on the 17th for induction. Then in December, then in June.”
“Gotcha,” Anna nodded. “Do you-”
A few drops of rain fell over them, and a waiter came out to open the large umbrellas that covered the girls’ table, and three of the neighbouring ones. He sighed, the way a man who knew he'd be out here again in 10 minutes to close them again would. The girls thanked him, before returning to their conversation:
“Do you plan on getting a flat there then? You've always wanted to invest, so now would be as good a time as any.”
“In Khent? You're crazy. Never.” Farrah shook her head with the appropriate level of disdain a city girl would have for a town like Khent. “Mum and ‘pa need me within a car's ride range, and Hubby is about to start primary school.”
Anna chuckled.
Farrah pointed a finger at her, silently telling her to keep whatever thoughts she was having about her brother's name to herself. They'd been over this too many times to count over the past 6 years, and yet Anna had never gotten over the idea of someone naming their newborn son Hubert. Of course, Farrah never added that she agreed. Someone named Hubbert belonged in the Eastland's countryside, raising horses and complaining about tarmac permeability on national news. To add insult to injury, Hubby was a quiet kid who would never pass as a Bert, and every other time she introduced him as Hubby, people wondered if they were married disregarding the fourteen-year age difference and blood relation.
“But I'm serious Devs,” Anna swung her arm over the back of her chair, picking up her milkshake and taking a long sip of it through the straw sticking out of the pink and white mix. “Hubby is all grown up, your dad is months away from that promotion. As soon as your mum drags herself to the lawyer's, she'll get that villa deal sorted. You're good. You can go.”
Farrah pressed her lips into a sad smile. She couldn't. Well, she could physically, but she couldn't morally. Plus, she didn't really want to. She liked living with her family, cooking meals together, arguing over who clogged the sink, watching TV on Saturdays, and drinking wine in the garden on hot summer evenings. People made assumptions about why someone her age, and with her work history and aspirations, still lived with their parents. Those people were too blind to see what she had.
“Hey, Devs, forget I asked.” Anna gave her a tap on the shoulder.
Farrah replied with a smile, before picking up her own drink and taking a sip.
“So, you and Tomas?” She asked, changing the topic.
Anna awkwardly chuckled and ran her hand through her messy blond carré.
“Well, he's really good in bed…”
Farrah choked on her drink.
“Honey,” she looked at her friend with pitiful eyes, “so is your vibrator, dump him.”
Anna tilted her head to the side, in an annoyed manner.
“You say that about every man I date.”
“Because every time the only good thing about them is their dick, and in the very rare case of Jean-Baptiste, their tongue.”
This earned Farrah a kick from under the table.
“You're wrong, I like him. He's- he's chill, you know?”
Farrah shook her head.
She could read her best friend's mind about many things, but she'd never understood where Anna stood with boys. She'd wondered on more than one occasion if it was her asking the wrong questions.
“Would you run away to Khent with him? Let's say I have a place and a spare couch. Would you?”
Anna cringed.
“Khent is a shithole.”
Farrah chortled.
“Well, at least Thomas isn't the problem.”
“No. Oh, unrelated, but did I tell you about the canal thing last Saturday-”
A wall of code flashed before Farrah’s eyes.
In 1: System Operational
System_Online = sys.exec("TheSystem.ssy", (sys_ii for sys_ii in range(1, 555)), raise_alpha_error=False)
diagnostic_Check = dgsc_alpha_145(System_Online, D="OlegS/SystemFinal/all_runn.ssy", diagnostics_Check_=[jj for jj in all_pop[Quad + sys.fetch.location.gbl]])
Out 1: True
In 2: User name:
out_cath = class.person.human[alive].isTrue
name = [peer for peer in gbldata["2014.csv"] if out_cath or (excpt_alpha == sys.version.System(v=0.8))]
Out 2: User name: Farrah Deveraux
In 3: Tutorial Activation
try:
print("tutorial working")
TutT = sys.fetch.ppt(o='D:OlegS/SystemFinal/Alpha_NT/Tutorial_slides.ppt')
System_Tutorial = Display(slide for slide in TutT if out_cath, "sys_145.ssy")
except:
pass
Out 3: Input Error: not enough input in sys_145.ssy line 593
In 4: Display HUD
hud_display = sys.activate("HUD_Main_Interface", [stats, skills, goals, other], combat_overlay=False, HUDalert=False, HUDnotification=True)
quest_limit = {}
sys.check_errors(display_errors=False)
quest_limit["User name"] = 5
Out 4: True
It scrolled past, dark letters on a light-blue, semi-translucent background, before vanishing. Farrah rose up, and grabbed Anna by the wrist, with the intent to rush the bathroom and make them both puke whatever hallucinogenic had been put in their drinks. Anna waved in front of her, not fully focused, and thunder crackled in the distance, as a few drops of rain suddenly turned into a heavy downpour.
System Operational
Welcome Online – Farrah Deveraux
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
MEMENTO MORTIS IN SEMITA VITAE
Stats
Skills
Goals
Other
Power
Luck
Conditions
Goals not fulfilled
Stats
Skills
Goals
Other
No skills to display. Your learnt and acquired skills will be displayed here.
Stats
Skills
Goals
Other
Goals
· Get an MSc
· Kill a person
· Tell grandma about Amelia
· Clean the mouldy mug in the third drawer of your bedroom
· Get the 3-cmb-up shot
· Walk 10 kilometres in a 24h span
· Water the plant in Josh’s office
· Get the kitchen faucet fixed
Give Up
Stats
Skills
Goals
Other
Map
Notes
+
Scan the surroundings to unlock the map.
Each of the four screens vanished as soon as Farrah finished skimming them. She turned towards Anna, no longer sure that this was a case of spiked drinks, as yet another screen flashed before her.
Reminder!
You have exceeded the maximum number of simultaneous goals allowed.
These goals can be completed within the next 24 hours.
Kill a person
Reward
Permanent luck increases of 5% of current value at a minimum of 1
Luck Surge - Expert
Tell grandma about Amelia
Clean the mouldy mug in the third drawer of your bedroom
Get the 3-cmb-up shot
Reward
Poison resistance - Untrained
Viral immunity - Novice
Walk 10 kilometres in a 24h span
Water the plant in Josh’s office
Get the kitchen faucet fixed
The message lingered just long enough for Farrah to read it before another wall of code flashed before her eyes. This time, it scrolled by too fast to even attempt to read, but Farrah felt a shiver run down her spine. There was something about the phrasing of it all that made her feel uneasy - in addition to the situation in itself of course.
“Did you see that?” Farrah turned towards one of the other café patrons. They nodded in response, and Anna confirmed it out loud.
“I don’t think – I think it’s … but can it be - real?” Anna muttered.
“Can you drive?” Farrah asked. She tried her best to mask the anxiety that bordered on fear in her voice. She could see her friend had enough of that on her own.
“Yeah, but your car is just a block away-”
“Your bike has more mobility, let’s go.” Farrah pulled her jacket over her and Anna’s head, as they ran towards the street she’d left her motorbike. “You should leave too, go home and stock up on water!” Farrah called out to the people at the café.
----------------------------------------
Running
Allows the user to traverse terrain moderately faster over moderate periods of time.
Untrained
Cost: 1P for a maximum of 10 minutes for an acceleration of up to 12 km/h.
“Just got a box text – thing – about running,” Farrah muttered as she brushed her soaked hair back, before pulling a motorcycle helmet over her head.
“Yeah, me too. Do you think it’s like a game? Where …” Anna also put her helmet on, not finishing that thought. “No, that doesn’t make sense.” She muttered, her voice partially masked by the plastic and metal.
Farrah pressed her lips into a silent shrug.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. But either way, it’s bad. Either we’re tripping, and we’ll end up at a hospital, or there was something in the water, or-” She didn’t want to finish that thought.
“Yeah, or it’s real…” Anna finished it for her. “So, where to then? Home? The tornado shelter?”
Farrah shook her head. The movement barely translated with the helmet now holding her head in place, but the tone of her words conveyed the sentiment:
“No, we’ll be sitting ducks at the shelter. It’s like those terrorist drills, with all of us in one place, we’ll be much easier to hit, no matter how thick the walls are.”
Anna nodded, remembering fair and well what Farrah was referencing. They’d done more than a handful of these drills in secondary school, and every time, without fail, Farrah’d complained about the stupidity of it all. One bomb, even one of those shitty homemade ones like the ones they used to blow up the Ingmouth-Crodon bridge would quickly make do with a few dozen of children. Or adults.
“Your uncle, he still has that farm.”
“Yeah,” Farrah confirmed. “I give it two hours before any proper announcements will be put in place. So, tomorrow morning, let’s meet by the oak tree roundabout.”
She had no way of knowing that. Perhaps something was already being broadcast on national TV, but there weren’t any police or ambulance sirens yet, and they needed to act. If this was all in their heads, they’d laugh it all in a few days.
Anna nodded. She was more anxious than Farrah, and it took her a little bit of fiddling to get her key into the ignition, but soon they were speeding through the increasingly busy streets. Neither of them had stopped to pause and think about it all, so perhaps those terrorism drills had paid off. They’d come up with a plan of action at the time, in high school, the main point of which was to get out of town ASAP. Farrah lived in a house, and their basement had gotten converted into a makeshift shelter after the attacks of 2003, but the reinforced hatch would not withstand more than a few rounds of an automatic, or the whole house collapsing over it.
Anna was even worse of, living in an apartment block only three streets away from the biggest local banking company. But at least she had her motorbike for a quick getaway.
Now, automatics, explosives, and crazy people in cars chasing after them were the worst-case scenario. It was completely unrelated to the blue screens that’d suddenly appeared, but all too related to the ongoing conflict between the Eastlands and the Global Continental Coalition. And that was the only thing the girls could truly prepare for.
During the tense twenty-or-so minutes it took Anna to drive to Farrah’s street, the woman managed to make the screens appear again.
Stats
Skills
Goals
Other
Running
Allows the user to traverse terrain moderately faster over moderate periods of time.
Untrained
At Expert level: Terrain can be traversed significantly faster, over long uninterrupted periods of time.
Cost: 1P for a maximum of 3000 minutes for an acceleration of up to 12.5 km/h. 1P per additional acceleration of 2 km/h.
Domain benefit: undiscovered
Levels up to: undiscovered. *Running will still be retained*
Cost: 1P for a maximum of 10 minutes for an acceleration of up to 12 km/h.
Farrah didn’t know what to make of it. Did this mean she’d have to run more to improve that skill to eventually be able to rival the speed of a car? She assumed ‘P’ in ‘cost’ stood for Power, as that was one of the first words that’d popped in front of her. But what did it mean? If it could be spent, how did it get restored? And, as much as that one was self-explanatory, what did ‘Luck’ mean, and why did she only have one little square of it?
The motorbike came to a stop on a corner of Farrah’s street.
“I got a pop-up – uhh … box thing – for driving,” Anna spoke. It was hard to make out her muffled voice over the sound of the engine and that of Farrah’s own thoughts.
“Did you get tasks too?” She asked.
“Yeah,” Anna replied after a short pause. “They’re … bizarre.”
“How many of them can you do tonight?”
“Huh?”
Farrah took off the helmet, putting it back into the side storage on the bike. Then, she locked eyes with Anna’s visor, and asked again:
“The thing said I’ve exceeded the maximum number of quests. I think that number is the little squares on the bottom left, on your -”
“Yeah,” Anna waved in front of her as if reaching out for the boxes. “I have four orange and one blue one.”
“I have five orange. Okay, then you should be fine.” Farrah took a deep breath. She didn’t like what she needed to ask next, but it was better to get it out of the way now. “What are your tasks?”
“One of them is to kill someone,” Anna replied in a tense tone. She’d picked up what Farrah was trying to say. “You too?”
Farrah nodded.
“What about the rest?”
They briefly listed their other tasks to each other. It seemed everything else was comparable to stuff you’d find on a daily to-do list.
A black Vord Viesta drew by, honking at the girls, and their bike that was blocking half a lane. Farrah flipped her neighbour off, before saying:
“Okay, I really should go check on my folks. If this doesn’t sort itself out by tomorrow, we’re meeting at the roundabout with supplies.”
“My uncle will just be overjoyed to see your mum again,” Anna attempted a joke. She flipped her visor up. “At the roundabout with the big oak, by Baron’s Court, at 7 sharp.”
The girls hastily hugged, and Farrah ran towards her house, not turning around to see her friend drive off, and thinking about the skill she’d discovered earlier.
Her dad’s car was parked sideways on the lawn, headlights on, and engine off. The door to her house was wide open.