+ If you're just here to read, scroll down past the outline. +
++ Outline: +
++ Annie looks through the window in the door as the train enters the + station. The platform is empty except for a shady figure in a hoodie + leaning against the wall, observing the train from under his hood. She + looks at the clock on the station: 10:34 PM - a bit late. As soon as he + notices her, he steps away from the wall and walks up to the train. + Is there a more elegant way to say that he stops + leaning on the wall? The pressurized air for the doors hisses in + the lines. Annie presses the button; the door opens. +
+
+ "Hey, wait..."
+ The guy had made his way to the door and looks directly at her.
+ It's him from behind the library counter.
+ "We're gonna take this one for a couple stations."
+ Annie steps aside and he gets on the train as well.
+ "My name is Lucas, nice to meet you." He extends his hand as
+ the doors close.
+ "Annie." He probably knew that already, right? "Sorry for
+ being late."
+ The hum of the motors sets in and the train begins to move.
+ "Perfect timing, I'd say." He makes a short pause before
+ continuing quietly: "So about that interaction we had earlier today
+ - I assume you want to leave the dome?"
+ "Not directly..."
+ "Okay then disregard my question and we have never met."
+ "Wait. You say there is a way out of the dome?"
+ "Well, there might be. Some friends of mine say there is."
+
+ Annie thinks about it for a moment. Before yesterday, she wasn't
+ even aware that there was a world outside the dome - and now she might
+ find out about a way to go there?
+ "Tell me more." she replies.
+
+ They get off at a station near the city center - a place that is never + asleep. In contrast to the empty stations everywhere else, the stations + here are busy with people seeking entertainment, clubs, or the many bars. + Lucas hurries down the stairs; Annie follows him. +
++ The streets are alive with people, seeminly few of them purposefully + moving in a specific direction; most of them are just meandering from + bar to bar. The street they are walking down is illuminated by strings + of lights hanging from the buildings and between street lights. The + muffled bass of techno coming from one of the buildings is in the air. + She enjoys the atmosphere, she hadn't been here in a little while. +
+
+ Lucas turns left and enters one of the bars, Annie still following him.
+ They make their way through the crowded bar towards the counter. The air
+ feels dense and depleted, and carries the smell of alcohol. Live
+ musicians are playing Idk? Music genre? Need ideas
+ on a small stage area in the corner.
+ "Hey Kate, I'll take a some very
+ alcoholic drink? "Braincell Rattler"? Idk and my uhh...
+ friend here looks like she needs a coffee."
+ "Okay. Going to the back room?"
+ "Yeah."
+ Coffee sounds good... The back room? Annie raises an eyebrow. He opens a
+ door next to the counter and gestures her to follow.
+
+ Lucas takes off his hoodie and hangs it on a hook on the wall. Annie does
+ the same with her jacket. She looks into the room: A bunch of people
+ sitting around a large, round table - to her surprise including her
+ grandpa.
+ "Grandpa Karl?" Language intuition
+ question: Is this how one would realistically refer to their grandpa?
+
+ "Hi Annie!" TODO: Fix this
+ Before she has time to voice her confusion, they get interrupted:
+ "Here you go, your drinks. Enjoy!"
+ Lucas walks up to the window that connects to behind the counter.
+ "Thank you!"
+ Annie takes a second to regain her composure.
+ I don't think this is a great way to say that, Idk.
+ "Thanks."
+
+ They sit down at the table. Karl starts introducing people and some + introduce themselves. Then, he continues talking about the group's + mission: +
++ "We are working on getting the city officials to change their + stance on some things. When the city was built, it was seen as sort of + a plan B for humanity in case things would get worse. It wasn't + built as a place where we could go and hide forever in isolation. Over + time, knowledge of the outside world stopped being an imagination of a + possible bright future, and instead it became something to be worried + about. ‘What do you mean, you want to go there? Do you really want + to go where the air you breathe is literal poison and die?' +
+
+ My dad used to always say - and maybe this was naive hope on his part -
+ that it would get better one day and that we could open up the airlocks
+ and leave. That was many, many years ago. It's been over a century
+ now since the city was sealed - even if it was naive hope on his part,
+ we should at least take a look outside and see for ourselves what
+ it's like."
+ Voices of agreement all around the table.
+
+ "I mean we have that manual at the library." says Lucas.
+ "It's just classified because they really don't want
+ anyone to open or use the air locks." He reaches into his pocket
+ and pulls out a key chain. "If you want, you can try getting it -
+ I can't because I disappeared from a birthday party with an excuse
+ and they are probably waiting for me to be back." He places the
+ keys in the center of the table.
+ Karl says "I would love to, but I'm afraid I can't run if
+ things go south."
+ A bunch of other excuses from other people. Finally, Annie takes the
+ initiative: "I could go. Anyone want to help me with this?"
+
+ If you are here just for reading, skip past the outline. +
++ Outline: +
++ 11:30 PM - Isabelle and Annie find themselves at the side entrance to + the library. They try a couple keys before finding the right one. The + door swings open with a quiet squeaking noise. The air inside is warm + and dry. The door closes and latches behind them. They turn on their + flashlights. +
++ Following the description Lucas had given, they find their way into a + small room in the basement. They close the door behind themselves and + look around. To the left is a desk with a terminal and a bunch of small + devices connected together using many cables. The wall in front of them + is lined with racks that are almost as tall as the room itself and filled + with computer equipment. To the right is a shelf with boxes. +
++ The two paragraphs below are really not ideally formatted. Depending on + how the styling for literal speech turns out, I might need to touch up + the formatting for all dialogs and monologs in the story. +
+
+ "I guess this is it. Let's take a look at the instructions
+ Karl gave you." Isabelle says in a hushed voice.
+ Annie pulls the note out of her bag. "First step is turning on the
+ terminal... Hey, Lucas said something about using a new floppy disk, can
+ you search for that?"
+ Annie walks over to the terminal; Isabelle turns to the boxes on the
+ shelf. Annie puts the keys on the desk and inspects the terminal for a
+ power switch.
+ "There's a box with cookies back here." She pulls it out
+ from behind the terminal. They giggle.
+ "I want one", says Isabelle.
+ Both end up taking a cookie before stashing the box behind the terminal
+ again.
+
+ Annie flips the power switch. The terminal makes a bonk sound and a
+ crackling noise. She feels the hairs on her arm stand up as she
+ inadvertently moves it in front of the screen.
+ "Whoa..." The screen begins to light up. "... I guess
+ this is supposed to happen." Annie looks back at the note.
+ "‘Turn on main power switch on computer'...", she
+ mumbles to herself. She looks at the racks. They are mostly filled with
+ what looks like large drawers with buttons on them. The one in the
+ center is different. It has a bunch of empty panels, some panels with
+ buttons and lights on them, and some other devices.
+
+ "I found you a new floppy disk." Isabelle interrupts her. She
+ pulls a large, square, floppy thing, half-wrapped in a paper sleeve, out
+ of one of the boxes. She pulls the paper sleeve off. Turns out, it's
+ another sleeve made out of thin plastic with some openings that were
+ previously covered by the paper containing a black, glossy circle.
+ "Lucas said to put it in the computer and push a lever down."
+
+ They look back and forth between the floppy disk and the computer until
+ Isabelle points to a device in the center rack with a large, flat slot
+ and says: "It could fit in there." She walks up to it and
+ inserts the disk. Then, she pushes on the mechanism in the center of the
+ slot. It latches in place. "What's next?"
+ "The note says to turn on the 'main power switch'",
+ Annie repeats while inspecting one of the panels with buttons.
+ "Maybe this one?" She points at a key switch.
+ "Let's try." Isabelle hands her the keys. One of them
+ fits and turns.
+
+ Fans come on; they hear the loud noise of air rushing through the
+ computer. Some of the lights and buttons light up. Annie looks at the
+ note again:
+ "‘Spin up boot hard drive'... Lucas has also written
+ here: 'Number 2'" The two look back at the racks.
+ "These drawer thingies here have numbers on them, maybe that's
+ what they mean?" Isabelle presses the power button on number two.
+ It starts blinking. The device makes a loud clonk noise followed by a
+ motor accelerating inside. Clicking and more mechanical noises. The
+ power switch stops blinking and stays lit up.
+ "The last step on the note is to press ‘reset' and
+ ‘load' and to enter something into the terminal. They also
+ wrote down a list of commands that might help us to find and copy the
+ manual, and ‘Good luck!'..."
+ Isabelle pushes the buttons and they walk over to the terminal.
+
+ After a lot of typing into the terminal and figuring things out the hard + way - and maybe a couple more cookies disappearing - they find the + manual on one of the hard drives and manage to get it onto the floppy + disk. They follow the instructions to turn the computer off and Annie + puts the floppy disk back into its sleeve. +
++ might want to add that Annie takes the disk out of the drive before + putting it back into its sleeve +
+
+ "Shhh." Isabelle gestures for Annie to be quiet. She whispers:
+ "Do you hear that?"
+ Footsteps. Annie nods. Someone is in the building - and probably heard
+ them. Quickly, she puts the disk into her bag.
+
+ Opening and closing the door as quietly as possible, they sneak out of
+ the room and back towards the stairs. The footsteps are coming closer.
+
+ "Shit", Isabelle whispers.
+ They turn around and sneak to the other end of the hallway. It opens up
+ into a room filled with crates that has small windows near the ceiling.
+ The footsteps are making their way down the stairs. Annie reaches for
+ one of the windows and opens it as quietly as possible while Isabelle
+ moves one of the crates under it - not quite as quietly. The person on
+ the stairs starts running. Isabelle jumps onto the crate and quickly
+ climbs through the window. Annie, trying to follow her example,
+ struggles for a moment to get onto the crate. After she finally manages
+ to get up, Isabelle pulls her through the window - not a moment too soon.
+
+ "You, stop!", rephrase?? a man
+ yells at them from inside, "Stay where you are!"
+ They start running.
+ "I'm gonna catch you."
+
+ Isabelle runs ahead, leading Annie into a dark alley. She climbs onto a
+ ledge on the side of a building, pulling Annie up after herself. They
+ continue running on the ledge until reaching a wall at the end of the
+ alley. Isabelle jumps, grabs hold of the railing at the top, pulls
+ herself up, and climbs over it.
+ "Wait here." She disappears.
+ Annie looks around nervously. What if she was caught now?
+ A moment later, Isabelle returns holding a ladder. Annie climbs up and
+ pulls the ladder up after herself. Isabelle takes it and stashes it on
+ the other side of the embankment. Annie finds herself between the tracks
+ of the metro. The Central Square station is close by, they run towards
+ it along the tracks. Just as they make their way onto the platform, the
+ rails start ringing.
+ Isabelle says with a smirk on her face: "I don't think he
+ expects our getaway vehicle to be yellow and red..."
+
+ If you are just here for reading, skip past the outline. +
++ Outline: +
++ Emily wakes up. She is laying in bed, facing the large panorama window. + Her eyes wander across the familiar gray moonscape outside before + fixating on the half-visible Earth ball for a moment. A noise - someone + is in her module. +
+
+ Emily turns around to find her older sister Lena sitting against the
+ wall - tears running down her face. After a moment to fully wake up and
+ grasp the situation, she asks: "Who?"
+ Lena snivels and points to the ring on her finger.
+ Dictionary to the rescue! Is that the right word? ...
+ A grim but not uncommon way for days to begin lately. That leaves five
+ of them, and since Tony is gone there is no more hope for a cure.
+
+ missing section +
++ The air hisses in the lines as the door closes behind them. The noise of + the vacuum pumps kicks in and begins to slowly fade. +
+ diff --git a/notes/Readme.md b/notes/Readme.md index bfbb41f..591f992 100644 --- a/notes/Readme.md +++ b/notes/Readme.md @@ -11,3 +11,5 @@ Notes to self: * treat literal speech and other quoted strings differently * format literal speech differently from the rest of the paragraph * format suggestion: use ▸◂ as quotes and a slightly different font style + * versions of this as span and paragraph + * paragraph version needs to deal with the fact that speeches can have multiple paragraphs