literature

Quantum Nexus

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Literature Text

Hello New Player!  You can call me Cipher, though my real name is Alex Corso. I was 21 years old, and lived in a crappy apartment in the slums of what used to be Central Park in Manhattan (two decades ago it was redeveloped into a massive apartment complex to suit the needs of an ever growing population.) I dropped out of Med school to get a job to pay a few bills for my ailing father, suffering from the same disease my mother succumbed to eight years ago.  

It was called "Heinrich's Disease" something plaguing those who used Gen I Neural Links for too long. Essentially the synapses of the brain steadily began frying over a seven month period, and was only found in a small percentage of users. My father died as his own brain cooked itself into oblivion.

The issue was resolved when the second generation wetware implants hit the market, but it was too late for a replacement. I personally had a fourth generation Neuro-Nex before the Crash. Why am I playing this game? It started out as an escape from reality. My younger brother told me of some new online game called "Quantum Flux," some MMO that drew in customers by utilizing a class system ranging from Mages to Futuristic inventors. Sky was the limit, and it hit shelves in 2124. A few weeks later marked the beginning of the Crash. I was there, as were you.  

We linked in directly to the servers, and enjoyed what was to be a simple game. The players created avatars and set out into this strange world of magic and technology, and all was well. Until a massive surge crashed the servers, trapping most of us in here. You were among them, and it just so happens that it took awhile for you to awaken. That's why we call your type sleepers.

Of course, nobody is sure how long we've been here, time seems to flow differently than it does in the outside world. I've heard claims stating it's been weeks, all the way into years. There is no real way to account for the passage of time here. You'll get used to it. Or you will go quite mad. Up to you.

That's all I can help you with at the moment, so welcome to Quantum Flux! The game where you try to figure out just what the hell happened to us.



I sigh to myself as I escort the formless wireframe entity to the character creation center. A sad event, most Sleepers crashed immediately after login, and they have no avatar. These folks generally suffer severe amnesia and have quite a few problems down the road. An NPC named Doc Cullings takes over, running the Sleeper through the tutorial.  
I sit on the floor in this starting room, actually a reception center for players. The Nexus is loaded with others who are either to tired or to afraid to venture through one of the many portals to the various zones the game has to offer. Some of us have given in completely and believe the game to be reality. Poor bastards...

The developers went all out on creating a setting where every type of fantasy being can co-exist with even the hardest of science fiction. The Nexus is an enormous waiting room that exists as a linchpin between the many zones in the game. A sort of master portal if you will. I have journeyed to several of them in an attempt to seek out an Agent. Rumors circulate that an Agent is an avatar of one of the game designers who can help us figure out what exactly happened during the Crash.

I have obtained some very useful "loot" in my travels, even stumbling upon an artifact of sorts. It helps to level up and actually play the game, not because I want to, but because it's hard to search for a programmer when various powerful monsters and people try to kill you, especially with the scaling difficulty the further away from a safe zone you get.

Digging through my ultramarine cloak my hand deftly fish out a letter from my younger sibling. It states that he is waiting for me in a tavern in Perdition, a notoriously difficult zone filled with powerful monsters. Must be important to get me to head there, probably something private. He may even have a lead on an Agent.

Scooping up my travel bag, I head out to gate six to Perdition.

It's going to be a long day...
A cyberpunk world in which body augmentations are the norm has been struck by an event known only as the Crash. A game world in which the players of Quantum Flux are trapped mentally as the neural connection to the body is severed, trapping their consciousness into this digital hell. Most have a single choice, Adapt, or Crack.


I couldn't sleep, so I tried something different. Yes I know it has a bit of a Tron Vibe.
© 2013 - 2024 BigBro18
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Tallest-Ariva's avatar
I love scenarios like this. Good job so far, seems like an interesting concept. Even if it's kinda Tronish, but at least they're able to leave the game... right? I dunno, it's been a while since I've seen it.