Update things to the current working state

master
BodgeMaster 2023-04-13 02:12:50 +02:00
parent 60905514b6
commit f6a7c7237f
2 changed files with 123 additions and 48 deletions

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@ -1,20 +1,38 @@
**BEEP BEEP**
beep beep
What was that? Annie turns around.
**BEEP BEEP**
beep beep
That came from the hallway. She steps outside her office to see where this noise is coming from. Everyone else had already gone home and she was about to leave as well so this was weird.
That came from the hallway. She steps outside her office to see where this noise is coming from. Everyone else had already gone home and she was about to leave as well so this is weird.
beep beep
She stops to listen. Following the sound she walks down the hallway.
**beep beep**
She opens a door to the left. It reveals a staircase that leads down to the basement.
**BEEP BEEP**
She opens the door to the room across the hallway. On a desk in the corner sits a terminal. <needs image of a dumb terminal for people who aren't retro nerds> The reception desk has one of these. They always use it to order office supplies.
It sounds clear, she is close to it. Annie walks down the stairs and turns on the lights. She was only down here once before. Rows of shelves hold lots of documents, some standing up vertically in folders and boxes, others as horizontal stacks of paper. The room is dimly lit by a few light fixtures on the walls.
**BEEP BEEP**
She walks past the shelves. The noise is now very close. Behind the last shelf, she finds a corner that looks like a small office. There is a desk with a terminal and a comfortable-looking though well-worn leather chair.
##### BEEP BEEP
The terminal is a device that looks like kind of a weird TV... It has a small screen to display text and a bunch of buttons - a lot of buttons. Below the screen are multiple rows of them with letters and other symbols. The reception desk has one of these things; they always use it to order new office supplies when they run out and do other important-sounding work... *image of a dumb terminal with an integrated keyboard here would be nice*.
*not to self: Add something like "she turns on the lamp on the desk"*
##### BEEP BEEP
The text on the terminal blinks. She had never used one before but taking a quick look cant hurt...
**BEEP BEEP**
##### BEEP BEEP
\[Screen:\]
@ -25,24 +43,17 @@ This is Jack from CryoCorp Outpost 53. I got woken up from cryogenic sleep and a
Type reply: █
```
**BEEP BEEP**
##### BEEP BEEP
She sits down in front of it. The thing has a bunch of buttons with letters, should be easy enough...
She sits down on the chair in front of it. The thing has a bunch of buttons with letters, should be easy enough...
**BEEP BEEP**
##### BEEP BEEP
```
hello
```
The beeping noise stops.
*ChatGPT Feedback:*
*More sensory detail here. Maybe about the chair, but most importantly about the terminal. What does it look like? What does the keyboard feel like (after all, this is the first time she would be typing on one)?*
*Could be a comment about a satisfying click-clack or something...*
*Also, a comment of my own: A short description of the room cant hurt. Like this, its just a room with a desk in it. Might as well have been all thats in the room (which is kinda what I originally imagined, but that would be boring... Should be a room with a function other than holding a terminal forgotten by IT)...*
Click, click, click, click, click. The buttons click with a very satisfying feeling. Unlike the beeping noise which is ... now gone. It was __kinda__ loud and getting annoying.
```
i am going to get help
@ -50,12 +61,12 @@ i am going to get help
Thank you. Appreciate it.
```
That took a while to *type?*... The letter buttons are arranged in a weird order... Annie looks around. A phone! She picks it up - no signal. Weird. Maybe its disconnected. She puts it down and rushes back to her office and picks up her phone... Strange electrical noises. She tries to dial a number but nothing happens. She drops the receiver back on the cradle and returns to the terminal.
That took a while to *type?*... Is that the word? The letter buttons are arranged in a strange order... Annie looks around. A stack of papers, a cup with pens and pencils, a screwdriver, a rubber duck - what a weird place to find a rubber duck... A phone! She picks it up - no signal. Weird. Maybe its disconnected. She looks on the floor and, sure enough, there is the plug - not for much longer as she plugs it in. Strange electrical noises. She tries to dial a number but nothing happens. A couple random characters appear on the terminal. She drops the receiver back on the cradle and types into the terminal again:
```
i cant call anyone the phone is only making weird noises
Thats probably because I am connected through a modem on the same line. Ill disconnect. I will dial in again in a bit.
Thats probably because I am connected through a modem on the same line. Ill disconnect. I will dial in again in a bit. Talk to you later.
LINE DISCONNECTED -
Tue, 2106-06-01, 19:16
@ -63,28 +74,42 @@ Tue, 2106-06-01, 19:16
AgriWorks Login: █
```
She walks back over to her office and picks up the phone - but who to call? Her coworkers would probably make fun of her or be annoyed. Also, this place, *CryoCorp Outpost 53*, she had never heard of it. The only one who might know more about that place is her grandpa, as he had thoroughly studied the plans of the city in his spare time back in the day. So she dials his number...
Annie picks up the phone again - but who to call? Her coworkers would probably make fun of her or be annoyed. Also, this place, *CryoCorp Outpost 53*, she had never heard of it. The only one who might know more about that place is her grandpa, as he had thoroughly studied the plans of the city in his spare time back in the day. So she dials his number...
<Missing dialog here:
"Hello", says an old, friendly voice on the other end.
* reveals that CryoCorp Outpost 53 is unreachable because it is outside of the dome
* his dad had mentioned it in passing when talking about the old world and attempts to overcome the impending doom of humanity
* explanation of what "cryogenic sleep" is
* his dad had thought that it was a ridiculous idea that could never work
"Hello, its Annie."
\\>
"Hey Annie! Whats on your mind that you call now?" *Not to self: Improve this, it doesnt sound right to me*
Slowly, she sets the receiver back on the cradle. What would she tell Jack? What could she do for him? And there was an outside world? A whole world, much bigger than the city, that she had never heard of and would never see? She gets up. While leaving her office, she glances at the terminal in the other room but the text hadnt changed. She goes to the reception area to find some snacks. A cup of juice and a cookie later, she returns holding two additional cookies in her hand. She paces back and forth between her office and the terminal room while taking small bites of the cookies. One cookie disappears, and then the other one. And then she paces some more...
"Hey Grandpa! So ... Uhhh..." She makes a short pause. "This might be a little bit weird but someone contacted me from a location called CryoCorp Outpost 53. I wondered if you happen to know where that is."
**BEEP BEEP**
"CryoCorp... Thats a name I havent heard in a long time... Are you sure?"
Annie looks up. That had to be the terminal again. She walks over.
"Yes, he wrote it to me: CryoCorp Outpost 53."
"What did he want?
*Missing dialog here:*
* *reveals that CryoCorp Outpost 53 is unreachable because it is outside of the dome*
* *his dad had mentioned it in passing when talking about the old world and attempts to overcome the impending doom of humanity*
* *explanation of what "cryogenic sleep" is*
* *his dad had thought that it was a ridiculous idea that could never work*
Slowly, she sets the receiver back on the cradle. What would she tell Jack? What could she do for him? And there was an outside world? A whole world, much bigger than the city, that she had never heard of and would never see? She looks at the terminal but the text hadnt changed.
Annie gets up to grab some snacks. A cup of juice and a cookie later, she returns, holding two additional cookies. She leans against the wall while nibbling at one of them. The second cookie is almost gone when she hears it again:
##### BEEP BEEP
Annie looks up. That was the terminal. She walks over.
```
Hello again.
```
She sits down in front of the terminal.
Again, she sits down in the chair.
```
hello i am really sorry but we cannot help you we cant get to outpost 53 its outside
@ -92,10 +117,10 @@ hello i am really sorry but we cannot help you we cant get to outpost 53 its ou
Hm. Okay...
```
Annie doesnt know what to say. She feels bad about it, but there really is nothing she could do.
Annie doesnt know what to say. She feels bad for Jack, but there really is nothing she could do about it.
```
is there anything else i could help you with
is there anything else i could do for you
Let me think for a moment.
......
@ -167,11 +192,23 @@ can we talk tomorrow i have questions
We can tal
LINE DISCONNECTED -
Tue, 2106-06-01, 20:07
Tue, 2106-06-01, 20:12
AgriWorks Login:
```
"Is that a yes or a no?", Annie wonders, still slightly puzzled by the whole situation. She starts reading all that's still on the screen. "The light of day", she quietly says to herself.
As she reads the section with the bunker door and the phone number, she reaches for a pen and some paper and writes them down - whoever works here hopefully wont mind (she had never seen anyone enter or leave this room). As Annie continues reading, she hears a quiet clicking noise and the terminal turns off with a flash of the screen. A tiny red light illuminates the letters "RDY" on the side.
As she reads the section with the bunker door and the phone number, she reaches for a pen and some paper and writes them down - whoever works here hopefully wont mind. As Annie continues reading, she hears a quiet clicking noise and the terminal turns off with a flash of the screen that quickly fades to black. A tiny red light on the side comes on to illuminate the letters "RDY".
*This still needs a satisfying conclusion of how she gets up, grabs her stuff, and leaves.*
Annie closes the door behind herself and locks it. As she takes a breath of the slightly humid air, she takes a step back onto the sidewalk to look at the clock above the entrance... 20:35 - the realization of how much time had passed hits: Normally shed be home by now. She starts walking towards the metro station at the corner. The buildings here are similar to the ones in other parts of the city - three to four story houses painted in different colors - but they are lacking balconies and, instead of being homes, they mostly house offices. On the other side of the street is an embankment that holds the rails for the metro and beyond that the outer wall of the dome. The street lights illuminating the area had already switched to their low-brightness mode for the night. She had only seen it like this a couple of times, it made the area look eerie.
Annie reaches the corner. She looks left and right before crossing the street but not a single car is in sight. As she enters the station and walks up the stairs, she glances at the display - 21 minutes until the next train arrives, thats a long wait... The station is completely devoid of life, nobody else is out here this late. Annie walks up to the vending machine at the upper end of the staircase - "OUT OF ORDER"... Hrm. Mildly frustrated, she sits down on one of the benches and and starts rummaging in her bag. She finds her headphones and puts them on. At the end of the cable is her walkman. She presses play and starts listening. *Yes, spell-checker, I know that Walkman is a name and should be capitalized. "Portable cassette player" just doesnt sound nearly as elegant and I don't want it to be a Sony Walkman.*
*The next section/chapter is Jacks intro where he wakes up and experiences his side of the situation.*
*Her story line will pick up when the train arrives or when she wakes up the next day.*
\--

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@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ __Setting:__
* Post apocalypse
* (What happened?)
* Possible scenario: Flaky AI + biological sludge
* Possible scenario: Mix of nuclear and biological warfare
* Just enough time has passed for no living memory of how the world used to be to survive, slightly more than a century
* Always need to watch out for <reason of apocalypse> when outside
* In some areas, the landscape has been turned into a toxic wasteland
@ -21,21 +23,30 @@ __Setting:__
__Locations:__
* Underground City
* Needs a name
* Needs a name - Gleaming something something (an elegant name that would say something like light in the darkness implying there is hope for humanity in the shadows of the dome)
* Location details:
* Built inside a gigantic hermetically sealed dome under a mountain
* Past its prime but most things are intact
* Semi-automated public transport system (trains, trams) to get around
* Can theoretically be used to enter/leave through big air locks but nobody has ever done that since the first inhabitants arrived
* As a matter of fact, it is strictly forbidden
* Food (mostly algae and weird plants) is being farmed in big halls adjacent to the dome illuminated by hermetically sealed light shafts
* Circumstances:
* People have been living completely isolated from the outside world for generations
* People mostly go about normal lives, they have "normal" jobs
* Waste water is recycled in a closed loop
* Slight water scarcity due to slow treatment process
* meant more like "dont waste this, you dont need to wash your car" and less like "if you shower now, we might have too little left to drink"
* Relies on external facilities for electricity
* Background information:
* Inhabitants never arrived in the numbers that were expected so while there are a lot of people there, many buildings/homes are essentially time capsules
* Places in the underground city:
* Annies work
* Annies home
* single room apartment
* Annies grandpas home
* two room apartment (living room, bedroom)
* This is gonna be where they bring the stolen minicomputer
* Hydro Power Station
* Miraculously still works without ever being maintained
* In dire need of repairs
@ -73,7 +84,7 @@ Just some ideas for characters, may or may not be protagonists
* Annie
* From the underground city
* Completely technologically inept but also incredibly curious
* Completely inept in regards to computers but also incredibly curious
* Works at an agriculture organization - AgriWorks - that is kind of a mix of a company and a regulatory body
* Has a tendency to stay late
* Is seen as a bit of a dreamer by her coworkers
@ -87,16 +98,20 @@ Just some ideas for characters, may or may not be protagonists
* Knows a few bits and pieces about the outside world - things his dad told him about his childhood
* By no means a computer genius but he knows how to use one
* Annies grandpas dad
* Is dead when the story happens
* Was 8 when the apocalypse happened and he moved into the underground city
* Jack
* A dude from the old world
* Starts out in the cryogenic bunker after his cryogenic sleep gets interrupted
* Either knows how to drive a train or has another important skill (whichever the gal doesnt)
* Knows how to drive a train
* Used to live in the ruined city
* Wears his CryoCorp shirts and jacket with pride - this might become a problem for him later
* A gal from the old world
* When ideas that are on the border of ingenious and incredibly stupid are *somehow* put into action, he probably had a hand in it
* Michelle
* A gal from the old world
* Starts out in the cryogenic bunker
* Either knows how to drive a train or has another important skill (whichever Jack doesnt)
* Has some important skill or skill set
* machine shop skills?
* Used to live in the ruined city
* Likes to hide the fact that she came from the old world - this might be relevant for the story, or it might not :)
* The Nomad
@ -104,11 +119,34 @@ Just some ideas for characters, may or may not be protagonists
* Experienced survivalist
* Has had good and bad human encounters
* Has seen places across various countries
* Has a dog
* Electronics Tinkerer
* has a drug problem
* relevant for the story because he is an absolute computer genius
__Scene Ideas:__
One morning, Annie gets awoken at work by her coworkers who find her asleep at the terminal. The coworkers should say things like "Oh, Annie the computer expert? Why the sudden carreer change?"
While she wont find it funny in the moment, its nothing mean-spirited or anything the like.
* One morning, Annie gets awoken at work by her coworkers who find her asleep at the terminal. The coworkers should say things like "Oh, Annie the computer expert? Why the sudden career change?"
While she wont find it funny in the moment, its nothing mean-spirited or anything the like.
* Annie waits at the train station that her and Jack have decided on. At the same time, a train and "keepers of order" (police) arrive at the station. Annie panics for a moment before she realizes that it is a single, very rusty railcar - it had to come from outside. She also sees that the driver is wearing a CryoCorp jacket. The doors open as she runs towards it. Inside, Jack runs to the other side. The railcar starts to move again (in the opposite direction) as Annie reaches it. She jumps inside. It leaves the station and the doors close.
__Story:__
Subplot to get the story started:
* Annie and Jack get into contact through a terminal at Annies workplace.
* They later establish contact from Annies grandpas place.
* Jack is stuck in the CryoCorp bunker and needs a manual to fix a door so he can leave.
* Annie finds it unexpectedly difficult to procure a copy of said manual
* Apparently any information about that type of door is top secret
* She almost gets put on a watch list trying to get the manual at the library
* She sneaks into some place and steals a floppy disk that holds a copy but it turns out to be encrypted
* Somehow, they come to the conclusion that hijacking a minicomputer to break the encryption would be a great idea - they end up stealing one (an entire half-height rack filled with stuff)
* At the end of it, Annie wants to sneakily return any stolen property back to its rightful owners (at this point, she is definitely being watched, so she has to be extra careful)
* This happens in a matter of days to a week. During this time, Annie quits her job with nothing lined up as she makes plans with Jack for how to leave the city (which might be what makes her suspicious)
* Quitting her job may be prompted by a nightmare about being stuck in a building
* Once Jack finally manages to open the door, he unfreezes Michelle
* they use the bunker as a base and set up a sort of open air workshop around the entrance
* They stay in contact with Annie and continue working on the escape plan
* somehow, this has to end with Jack driving a train into the dome and picking up Annie before making a hasty exit
* They have to use code words as the phone lines are being monitored by now