Hunting Aliens

Several years ago, aliens arrived on Earth and unfortunately for the people living there, they decided to colonize the planet. They began building settlements and unleashing alien creatures in order to make the land more suitable for their habitation. People were driven out of their homes and although the military and civilian militias tried to make a stand, they were quickly crushed. People realized their planet was no longer their own and as a last desperate attempt, decided to create floating cities in the sky as the last bastian of a dying civilization. People fled en masse to these newly built cities, hoping for stability and secuirity in their chaotic lives. When the aliens came and your life was upheaved, you chose to: [[Flee to the safety of the Floating Cities->city beginning]]

Ever since you joined the Floating Cities, you've been assigned to be one of the engineers / maintenance workers responsible for looking after the mechanisms that keeps the city afloat. Today as you made your daily rounds through the hot underbelly of the cityscape, checking the mechanisms and avoiding getting too close to the dangerous machinery, you noticed something. One of the engines was broken. It had been working perfectly fine yesterday. Moreover, one of the parts definitely looked like it had been smashed in. This was no random error or failure of maintenance. You quickly fixed the engine. But now you had a dilemmna, this was an extremely obvious case of sabotage here. You decided to: [[Report the situation to your supervisor->supervisor]] [[Investigate on your own->sneak]] [[Do nothing and continue as usual->engine break]] (set:$report to false)

After your rounds, you approached your supervisor. He was an apathetic, grumpy man in his 40s with blond hair, beard already gone half grey, and a permanant furrow between his brows. "What is it now?" he huffed, noticing you hovering. You explained the situation to him, emphasizing how it had definitely been sabotage with the way the parts were smashed in. He looked mildly concerned but shrugged, "That is concerning but you'll have to give me something more concrete than that. I don't have the time or money to fund an investigation." You tried to argue your case, pointing out the city would go crashing to the ground below if the engines all failed. He simply raised a hand for silence, "Of course I know that, but unless you can make money appear out of thin air, you'll have to figure it out on your own. I'll hire an extra guard but this is on your hands now." You grumbled but walked away. Thinking the situation over, you decided to: [[Spy through the cameras to try and catch the perpetrator in the act->camera]] [[Wait by the engines and see if you can ambush whoever it is->sneak]] [[Make a list of possible suspects ->list]] [[Whatever, this isn't your job anyways ->engine break]] (set: $report to true)

That night, instead of going to your assigned quarters, you decided to camp out in a hidden alcove near the engines. It was a tight fit but it gave you proximity and a way to keep an eye on the hallway without being easily spotted. You sat there for hours, developing a cramp in your neck and back, but soon you heard something. Sitting up to glance out into the hall, you noticed a shadowy figure approaching one of the engines. It was too dark to make out any definite features. With the perpetrator right in front of you, you decided to: [[Ambush the figure->gone]] [[Watch and see what they do->engine break]] (set: $ambush to true)

Unfortunately, you failed to stop the sabotager. They made their way to each engine, breaking them down until the city plummeted to the the ground below. (Ending gained: The Death of a Civilization) [[Back to beginning->city beginning]]

Your supervisor reluctantly gave you access to the camera room after you asked him for it. That night, instead of sleeping in your assigned quarters, you sat in the hot, airless security room, staring at the grainy, camera feed. Despite the importance of the equipment down here, not too much funding had been put into the security of the place. After all, the higher-ups had logically assumed nobody would be insane enough to doom the last of humanity (to their knowledge) by sabotaging the engines. Besides, very few had access to the underbelly of the city, let alone knowledge of it. As long as the city stayed in the sky, who cared about the particulars of how it stayed up? For several hours, you saw nothing. You began to nod off at points but quickly jolted yourself up. Eventually the hours melted away and soon your supervisor was knocking at the security room door, telling you to get to work. This made no sense, why hadn't the saboteur returned? Were they aware of being watched that night? Sleepily working on the engines, you thought it over and decided: [[Make a list of possible suspects ->list]] [[Abandon the investigation, clearly the saboteur gave up ->engine break]] (if:$ambush is false)[[Wait by the engines and see if you can ambush whoever it is->sneak]]

That night, instead of sleeping in your assigned quarters, you were awake and hunched over a piece of paper at your desk. You had thought over every single person that had easy access to the engines. Now that you had a thorough list, you simply had to choose who to interrogate first tomorrow morning. You decided to start with: [[Your fellow engineers->engineer]] [[Your supervisor->supervisor2]] [[The higher-ups->authority]] [[I'm done interrogating]]

You lunged from your hiding place, making a mad grab for the figure lurking in the dark. But then, the strangest thing happened. The figure simply vanished like smoke, as though they were never there. You looked left and right down the hall, you even checked the ceiling and the nooks and crannies of the engine room. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Hurriedly, you rushed over to check on each engine. All were intact. You breathed a sigh of relief, even if you hadn't caught who it was, none of the engines had ended up sabotaged that night. Still, the figure just disappearing like that meant your job had gotten infinitely more complicated. Lost in thought, you decided to: [[Make a list of possible suspects->list]] [[This is too much for you, give up the investigation->engine break]] (if:$report is false)[[Report the situation to your supervisor->supervisor]] (if:$ambush is false)[[Wait by the engines and see if you can ambush whoever it is->sneak]]

You decided to start simple, focusing on your fellow engineers. After all, they had daily access to the engines and enough authority on the matter not to be questioned about visiting them. You worked with two other engineers: Harlowe, a young woman with sepia-toned skin and long braids often tied back in a bun. She was deeply intelligent, though inexperienced and prone to gossip. She noticed things others didn't. Andre, an older man with sallow skin and emerging wrinkles. He was the most experienced of the engineers and had the blunt attitude often attributed to being older. More importantly, he was rumored to be an alien sympathizer. You first chose to interrogate: [[Harlowe]] [[Andre]] [[I'm done interrogating the engineers->list]]

The next day, you went to your Supervisor's office during the early hours. His office was shabby, furnished with simple, minimalistic furniture. Unlike the rest of the hot, airless underbelly of the city, there was a AC in the office, making you sigh in relief as the cold air hit your face. "Yes?" he prompted, seeing you come in.

The person in charge of keeping all the engines of the city running was Mr Horea Rayne, a brown-skinned man with curly black hair streaked all over with grey. He wore gold-rimmed spectacles and always dressed as if he was going to a business meeting. You had to visit him on your day off, venturing out of your assigned quarters to the bustling city streets. You went to the Rayne Headquarters and asked the gloomy woman at the desk if you could speak with Mr Rayne. "Sorry, but his scheduale is full for today. If you like, I can maybe pencil you in for a meeting this coming week. Mr Rayne is a very busy man." [[Accept that you're likely not speaking to Rayne->list]] [[Break into his office]] [[Call your supervisor and see if he can help]]

You cornered Harlowe on her lunch break, sitting with her on the worn-down breakroom table. She looked up, giving a smile and wave of greeting since she was too busy chewing to say hello. You waited for her to swallow before enquiring into what she'd been up to the night the engine was broken. "Oh you know, the usual. I did my shifts and left as soon as possible. It's so gloomy and hot down here," Harlow complained. It was true, Harlowe didn't have a tendancy to linger. [["What did you do after your shift?"]] [["Did you notice anything strange during your shift?"]] [["What do you think about the floating cities?"]] [[Stop questioning Harlowe->engineer]]

"After? Well... I went over to check out this new diner that'd opened with my friends. It was down the south side, near where all the factories are," Harlowe replied cheerfully. "You should've totally come! you would've liked the place." [["Did you notice anything strange during your shift?"]] [["What do you think about the floating cities?"]] [[Stop questioning Harlowe ->engineer]]

Having collected the alibis of those you decided to interrogate, you sat down and looked over all the information you'd collected. You chose to pin your suspicions on: [[Harlowe ->h route]] [[Andrea->a route]] [[Your Supervisor->s route]] [[Mr. Rayne->r route]]

Andre was easily the most suspicious and it was him you decided to investigate further. That night, you chose to break in to his quarters and see if you could find anything incriminating in there. You called out sick to work, paying the penalty fee with some annoyance. Then you made your way to Andre's assigned quarters. Unlike you and Harlowe, his was on the slightly nicer streets of the Southwest side of the city. You suspected he'd bribed the officials into assigning him better quarters. You went into an alleyway and scaled the wall to his quarters. Thankfully, he'd left the window unlocked.

You managed to catch Andre on a smoke break near the vents, the man sitting on an overturned crate as he stared at the grimy floors. He sighed heavily when you said you wanted to ask him some questions but didn't say no so you went ahead on asking what he'd been up to the night the engine was broken. "Nothing much, it's the same day in and out." (if:$argument is true)[["Is it true you heard Mr Rayne and the Supervisor arguing?"]] [["What do you think about the floating cities?"->aliens]] [["What did you do after your shift?"->tired]] [[Stop questioning Andre->engineer]]

Harlowe tilted her head, squinting as she tried to remember. "Hmmm... not particularly-" "-Well actually," she paused, considering. "I did see the Supervisor arguing with Mr Rayne while doing my rounds. And y'know, Mr Rayne is barely down here. I couldn't hear what they were arguing about, but it looked quite heated." "Maybe ask Andre more about it," She suggested. "They were arguing right by the engines he's assigned to, so he might've heard more of the particulars." [["What do you think about the floating cities?"]] [[Stop questioning Harlowe->engineer]] (set: $argument to true)

"What, like living here or...?" You clarified you wanted her thoughts on the Floating Cities as a whole. "Well, it's better than being down there, that's for sure. I was a kid when the aliens came, I never thought life could be easy like this. Sure people complain, it's hard up here as well unless you're assigned a leading position. But anything's better than being at the mercy of those aliens," She put down her food, giving you her full attention now. [["What do you think about the people down here?"]] [["Did you notice anything strange during your shift?"]] [["What did you do after your shift?"]] [[Stop questioning Harlowe->engineer]]

"Harlowe tell you that, did she?" He sighed. "Yeah, I did but it's nothing to write home about. Just that Rayne fella trying to find ways to shrink the budget even more. You'd think he wants the city to go crashing down the way he runs the place." [["Mr Rayne?"]] [["What do you think about the floating cities?"->aliens]] [["What did you do after your shift?"->tired]] [[Stop questioning Andre->engineer]]

He scowled as soon as you asked that question, as though already sensing your intentions. "No, I'm not a alien sympathizer for pete's sake," he complained. "I have no idea where Harlowe got that rumor from. You think anyone would want to be down there?" "Don't get me wrong, it's horrible up here too. They practically wave the corruption in your face. But anybody who thinks the aliens'll give us a better chance are snorting straight crack." [["Weren't you an outlaw?]] [["Harlowe?"]] [["What did you do after your shift?"->tired]] [[Stop questioning Andre->engineer]] (if:$argument is true)[["Is it true you heard Mr Rayne and the Supervisor arguing?"]]

"I barely remember," he complained. "I don't understand how anyone could do anything other than hitting the hay with these hours."

"What about it?" He gave you the stink eye. When the Floating Cities had gone up, some had rejected the promise of civilization to stay on earth's surface as outlaws and make a stand against the aliens, forming gangs and organizing raids. Others simply didn't trust the promise of the floating cities, choosing to eke out their existence in small towns dotted across the wilderness. Outlaws had little to no contact with the Floating Cities. Occasionally, one or two would appear, gravely injured and picked up by the rare jet or robots sent by the Cities below and taken up to be healed. Mostly, the outlaws left after but sometimes they stayed. Andre was one of those former-outlaws, and there was a heavy bias against them as rash, wild, and uncouth. [["So what do you think about aliens?"]] [[Nothing]] [[Stop questioning Andre->engineer]]

"Yeah," he grunted. "Nice kid, smart worker, but she's too into gossip for my taste." [["Weren't you an outlaw?]] [["What did you do after your shift?"->tired]] [[Stop questioning Andre->engineer]] (if:$argument is true)[["Is it true you heard Mr Rayne and the Supervisor arguing?"]]

"That's what I thought. Bad enough that Mr. Rayne badgers me about it, I don't need it from you too." [["Mr Rayne?"]]

"I love them and tucked one into bed every night while I was down there," he intoned dryly. Then he scowled at you, "Seriously kid, what kinda question is that?" [["Sorry"->Nothing]]

The City itself was at stake, you had no time to deal with this. You chose to break into Mr Rayne's office, ducking into an alleyway and scaling the wall like a lizard. The window was unlocked, and when you dragged your upper body over the ledge, you were face to face with the barrel of a gun. "Who the hell are you!?" Mr Rayne exclaimed. [["The City's in danger!"]] [[State your name]]