The Accident
From Soloralwiki
It was another day for President Jasonian. Jasonia was doing well; all of
the former Audentior were Jasonian again. Of course, Blackrock, Apolyton,
Istvanistan, and Hau'Oli'Ena were still independent. There was a fair
celebrating the annexation of Hyperborea, and Jasonian went to go check on
it. He went to the fair at the bustling Air Port of Kajar. He soon met his
friend, Bill3000 in the fair.
Bill: Yo, Jason!
Jason: Good morning Bill. Enjoying the fair?
Bill: You bet! Everyone here is having a great time. Yay! Let’s celebrate us!
Jason: Haha. Yes, the country has come a long way in a very short time. I’m proud to be the President. And people look up to me, ya know?
Bill: Yeah, things are going so much better than they have in a long time.
{there is a pause in the conversation}
Bill: Hey, I’ve got something to tell you... can you keep a secret?
Jason: Huh? Yeah. What’s up?
Bill: I dunno, maybe I shouldn’t be saying this in public.
Jason: That big of a deal, huh? Come on, it’s a noisy fair.
Bill: Well, okay. Matt, you know, my brother. He claims to have invented a time machine.
{another, smaller, awkward pause}
Jason: ... really... ?
Bill: Really.
Jason: How?
Bill: No idea.
Jason: Bill... I know we’re standing on a chuck of land held thousands of feet above the ground by poorly understood antigravity, but it’s time travel a bit much?
Bill: That’s what I thought. But he says he did it! It’s here, at the fair. He’s going to show the public.
Jason: Seriously?! Where are the reporters? This is major history! Wow, the ethical ramifications... are we ready for this? Is humanity responsible enough to handle this burden? What do you think?
Bill: I think I want to go see it.
Jason: ... well, there’s that too.
Bill: Yeah. He’s going to be having a screening for top-level people in a few minutes. You’re invited as the President. CinC Gman will be there too, and some other officials.
Jason: ... huh. Well I don’t’ believe in this nonsense, but I’ll be thinking about it all day if I don’t see it.
Bill: Right, let’s go check it out!
{The two went to Matt's booth. Next to him was an absurdly large machine.}
Matt: Welcome, welcome, colleges, friends, and various other peoples. I, as you know, am Matt Dusch. Today I’m going to show you the latest marvel in a long string of Jasonian inventions. Antigravity? Laser weapons? Bullet-proof clothing? All very notable and brilliant technological leaps of faith, but why stop there? And why indeed! Today, I bring you... the TimeTravel2000 model.
{he gestures towards it with a flourish, but it was visible the whole time, so really the gesture it just appears sort of cheesy}
Matt: The TimeTravel2000 is capable of opening a temporal portal to this very location in either the past or the present. Controlled by this remote {he goes over to a table and picks up a small device}, the TimeTravel1000, a user in either the past or the future can operate the machine to take them home in the blink of an eye! Fully safe, fully foolproof, totally great. Any questions?
A cynical official (I got nothing on the name here, but not Gman): Yeah. Does the thing work?
{general laughter and scoffing by everyone except Bill and Matt}
Matt: Ha ha. All right. So you’ve heard about “crackpot” Matt and think he’s just blowing steam. Well I thank you for coming, and you’ll be thanking yourselves too. I think a demonstration is in order.
{Matt picks up a rock}
Matt: A random rock from the fairgrounds. I have wrote “MATT WAS HERE” on it in marker, see?
{he goes over to a basket}
Matt: A totally empty, normal basket.
{and finally back to the TimeTravel2000}
Matt: I will now send this rock back in time to midnight, last night. When I come here to set up my machine at 6:00 AM I will find the rock and put it in the basket. Got it? Let’s do it!
{various machine noises, a flash of light, and the rock disappears. Murmuring from the crowd. Matt walks over to the basket.}
Matt: BEHOLD! Just as I said! {he picks up the rock and shows it around}
{more general murmuring}
Gman: That’s very impressive Matt, but a more spectacular display would be sending someone back. It IS safe for humans, right?
Matt: Of course it’s safe. So, any volunteers?
{a very awkward silence}
Matt: If you want something done right... okay, I’ll send myself forward in time five seconds. I’ll vanish and reappear five seconds later. Here we go!
{more machine noises}
{about ten seconds pass}
Jason: Hey, it’s been, what, more than five seconds now. Where is he?
Official: Hmm... okay Matt. Very funny. You can come out of hiding now.
{more silence}
{Bill steps forward, but trips}
Bill: OW! I swear that rock wasn’t there before...
Jason: Hmm? {picks it up} It’s got something written on it in marker! “Something went wrong. I’m in (whenever the time period is), January... I can’t read the date.”
Bill: OH GEEZ! That idiot.
Official: Well what do we do now? Dismantle the machine and claim he died of natural causes?
Gman: Don’t be crazy. Besides, that was only (not too many years ago, however long it was). He should still be alive unless something bad happened to him.
Jason: That was the beginning of the sector, if you remember. War in ACOL and tensions between everyone. Bad times.
Bill: {at the machine} Well, I guess we’re going after him. You coming Jason?
Gman: W-what? Mr. President, you can’t! The country needs you. This would be a huge scandal.
Jason: Hmm... {a pause} Gman, you trust me. My intuition has lead Jasonia this far. I feel this is something I have to do. I’m going.
Official: Young people today... you shouldn’t throw your lives away.
Jason: And you shouldn’t be so fast to throw our lives away. {Official looks enraged, Jason turns to Bill}
Bill: Wait, that remote! That’s why Matt couldn’t get back! Grab it Jason.
Jason: Got it. Okay, set us up.
Bill: You do realize I don’t know how to do that, right?
Jason: Weren’t you watching Matt?! Come on!
Bill: Okay, I think I got it. {they get on the platform}
Jason: We’ll be back soon. Seeya guys!
{A Gate opens. Bill and Jason enter the gate and end up in the Kajar forest}
Jason: ... wow.
Bill: That was amazing!
Jason: It’s the middle of the night... like Matt said... and the fairgrounds is a forest, just like it was in the past. Did we actually travel through time?!
Bill: DUH Jason!
Jason: Well, where’s Matt?
Bill: Uhh... yeah. I think I might have messed up the date when trying to activate the machine.
Jason: ... ARE YOU AN IDIOT?! Who knows when we might be! Aggghh!
Bill: Well we have the remote so we can go back... want to try again?
Jason: No... we don’t know what the date was originally. Let’s look around a bit, and if we can’t figure anything at all out, we’ll go back home.
Bill: Good call. But it’s night now.
Jason: ... yeah. I’m not tired, but we should probably get the night’s sleep anyway so we don’t mess up our minds.
Bill: A bit late, in some of cases....
Jason: WHAT was that?!
Bill: Sheesh, stop being such a spaz all the time. Come on.
Jason: ... yeah, okay.
{So they rest at the inn, and in the morning, ask around town. A few people recognize Jason. No one recognizes Bill (he wouldn’t be that famous in Kajar as the city is made of mostly Automatics anyway)}
Random Townsfolk A: I’ve heard that the war in ACOL recently heated up.
Townsfolk B: Really?
Townsfolk A: Yeah, the UD has these new laser sword weapons.
Townsfolk B: What, like lightsabers? Technology is so weird these days.
Townsfolk A: I know. I can’t keep up with it. Lucky for us Jasonia is neutral in the war.
Bill: Laser weapons? That’s Matt all right. He’s been trying to build one as a custom weapon for ages.
Jason: Hmmm. He probably realized he was trapped here and decided to make the best of it. Demesosia it is.
(all the text from here until Airosamente that is in the game is fine. I like the talk in the shuttle docks and on the shuttle itself.)
{at the Airosamente airport}
Bill: We can’t get a flight to Demesosia and we probably don’t have enough for a charter flight. Guess we’re walking.
Jason: Bill, it’s dangerous to wander without any sort of protection. You’re good with a sword, right? Let’s try to get you one from my family’s house here in Airosamente.
Bill: And what about you, tough guy?
Jason: I was... trained by the AIN empathy corps. Don’t worry about me.
Bill: ...whatever. How will we get into your house?
Jason: My family abandoned it in this era, and I know the password.
Bill: You know the password your ancestors used?
Jason: Same password we use for everything...
Bill: Fine. Let’s go.
{at the ASTEX spire}
Bill: What the?! This is your house!
Jason: Yeah... my family held a minor nobility position in Audentior before my grandparents became outcasts and founding an orphanage. {goes up to the door} A-U-R-O-R-A
(note: this is sort of an in-joke. I don’t actually use this password for anything. when Scott wanted a password for the UCC one time, I made this the password. He thought I used it for everything)
{Bill gets his sword, they walk to Demesosia. Minor dialogue on the way like Bill whining about the Spire’s size and directions. Finally... in Demesos City}
Bill: Huh. Demesos City. I barely remember it. You know, the city was destroyed by invading Jasonian and Automatic forces...
Jason: ... not one of our better moments.
{they get into the city using Fake Rob and the ferry, ala the old version of the game, because I thought that was cool. :-P Fake Rob makes them military passes too. They get into the military complex}
Jason: No guard?
Bill: A lot of Demesosian bases had security based on having the right keycards. Of course, people like Fake Rob brought the whole system down... it’s no wonder we lost the war.
Jason: Hmm. Well, we need to find Matt. Let’s check this computer terminal.
Bill: {reading} Uh oh. "Matt Dusch: imprisoned for impersonating a military scientist. None of his credientials check out." Idiot, he put down a university that hasn’t even been built yet.
Jason: So they locked him up, even after he gave them all the technology to build laser swords? That’s tacky.
Bill: We have to get him out.
Jason: Yeah. Let’s destroy their research on laser swords too.
Bill: HUH?!
Jason: Matt’s being stupid. Altering the past could change the future. Demesos might emerge as a huge military power and wipe out everyone and take over the world.
Bill: ... there’s a downside here, right?
Jason: It’s WRONG! We can’t let it happen.
Bill: FINE! Yeah, you’re right. We should be careful and undo his mistakes.
{so they find and destroy the research, and open doors, and get down to the jail level}
ProvostB: WHO are you working for?
Matt: You guys!
ProvostB: LIES! You put down “Tapfer Institute of Technology” as your college. Where is it?
Matt: ... crap. Hasn’t been built yet.
ProvostB: YOU ADMIT the lie!
Matt: No, I admit being an idiot and not really thinking when I wrote that. Wonder when it was built.
ProvostB: WHAT are you talking about?
Bill: Enough of this nonsense! Matt, you’re a moron. Let’s go.
Matt: BILL?! No way, you came after me?
Jason: I’m here too.
Matt: Mr. President?!
ProvostB: WHO? What?
Bill: We’re leaving!
ProvostB: I don’t think so.
{Boss Fight}
Jason: AGG! Now we’ve really done it! Changing the past all over the place.
Bill: Nah, I heard he overdosed on eating too much spam pretty soon after getting this job anyway.
Jason: Oh. Well.
Matt: Thanks for coming after me, guys.
Jason: This was really dumb, this whole laser sword thing. We had to destroy your research to stop history from being altered.
Matt: I know, but there wasn’t much else for me to do. And I did finish building the laser sword. My personal one should be with the rest of my gear.
{It is. They access the top levels and try to flee the city and jump down onto some crates in a back alley, but guards are pursuing them.}
Bill: It’s hopeless! They’ve shut the gate! We’re trapped inside!
Matt: GAH! Time to see if this weapon works...
Bill: We can’t beat them all!
{ a few waves of guards}
Bill: We’ll be exhausted if this keeps up!
Matt; I’m open to ideas here!
Jason: Hey... this TimeTravel1000 thing is beeping...
Matt: What?! It’s only supposed to react if we’re at the time/space coordinates of the TimeGate2000.
Jason: Well it’s beeping. Should I push the big button?
Matt; Could be dangerous... I have no idea what would make it react.
{more guards appear}
Bill: PUSH THE BUTTON!
Jason: Ok, get close! Here we go! {Presses buttons on the TimeGate1000}
{Bill, Jason, and Matt travel into a Time Gate. They wonder where they are...}
