Day 9

Location: Fourth Moon Quarter East

Time: 8:43 PM

"Good evening, my gentle listeners! I hope you're all doing well on this lovely evening, though I am getting the impression most people aren't. And don't worry, I won't leave any of you out. The more I can do with my words the better. Anyway-."

Darius' eyes flew open and he sat up quickly, looking wildly around the unfamiliar room, in every corner and crack. He heart wads beating out of his chest, and he breathed frantically, feeling fear grip at him. Who was here?

It took an embarrassingly long time for Darius to look down to find his watch screen lit up and still playing the radio station he had clicked earlier.

Darius blinked at it, and then rubbed at his eyes, sighing. Right. Well, that wasn't fun. Yawning, Darius lifted his hand to click it off... and then paused.

"In the downtown of Nightlight city, a large crowd has gathered for yet another protest of the colonies, both on the moon and in the North. So far, they have down it without police interference, which is the longest one of these protests have gone on. So don't be afraid, everyone! Join them! The abuse of these corporations cannot continue! Right now, the protest has gotten the support of about twenty thousand people, but they could always use more. I know it's dangerous, but Nightlight City is still a democracy. The voices of the people are powerful!

"And if that doesn't convince you, or maybe you are reluctant because, according to most 'news' outlets, you think these people are delinquents and criminals, first of all, you're wrong, those are slander that they are just GETTING AWAY WITH, and second, here's a paper that was delivered to me from one of their organizers, detailing exactly what the protesters are planning to accomplish.

"'The moon and northern colonizes are not at all what those advertisements say they are. When Oraple tells you about going to find adventure in the stars and the frozen north, those advertisement posters are exaggerating.

"But, one could say that that's obvious. One could say that all jobs pretend to be better than they really are. But this is different. These colonies actively go against workers rights to the point of their death. Out of all the people that go to these colonies, only about six percent of them have actually came back! And these deaths are preventable! Oraple is one of the biggest and wealthiest corporations in the world, and yet they make sure to pay their employees as little as possible and give them as little safety guidelines and safety measures as possible, just to save a couple bucks!

"And you can't say 'well, why can't they just leave', because I'm telling you, it's impossible. It's company policy that once you're in a colony, YOU have to pay for transit out. For most people, that's impossible, because their paid so little that it's impossible to pay for a way out.

"We need to help these people. We can't just leave them out there, with no support. They deserve to live, they deserve to make their own choices without money being a problem and-' Oh, wait, hold on. I'm getting a message here... Oh. Oh no! If any protesters are listening to this, you need to get out right now! I'm just received a message that the police are on their way, coming down Center Street right towards you. Get out! Hurry! I wish I could help more, but I don't want to tip you off. I... good luck.

There was a sigh, an aggravated, tired sigh that... sounded familiar.

"For right now, there's nothing I can do. As soon as I learn more, I'll jump right back on the radio, but for right now... here's some music."

Darius didn't bother waiting for it, turning the radio off. He had to admit, what the radio announcer had said worried him. If what he (the voice was deep and gruff, so Darius was assuming it was a he) was saying was correct, then did Sandy and Luca lie to him?

...No, Darius didn't want to believe that. But wouldn't they have known? Or was it supposed to be a secret?

Darius had no idea. And there was no way he was going to find out right now, so... he might as well go to sleep.

But even as Darius laid back down, no matter how tired he was, he knew he wasn't going to fall asleep any time soon.

Out of curiosity, Darius lifted his watch, checking the time. Nine o'clock... that wasn't so bad. Plenty of time to force himself to sleep, or Darius didn't have to worry about being tired in the morning...

Darius started lowering the watch, but before he could, something caught it eye. He raised it again quickly, studying it in shock. Was this thing being serious right now?

Primary Objective: Find the Others [6/15]

At breakfast, which was apparently at five thirty in the morning, for some reason, Ai gave Darius a nervous look. Unfortunately, Darius didn't really register it as he sat down. Greg didn't notice anything, either, munching happily on his cereal.

"Um... Darius, are you okay?" Ai asked, hesitantly. Darius looked at her. Their shared bathroom only had one small mirror, and it was dented and busted beyond any use, so he hadn't noticed the heavy bags under his eyes, the deep wrinkles between his furrowed eyebrows or the grim line of his lips pressed together. Still, based on how he felt, he could imagine.

Darius shook his head. He opened his mouth... and then paused, looking at Greg, who wasn't paying attention. But Greg still had ears, so Darius decided to not say anything. Not right then, anyway.

"I'm fine," he lied. He was unsure how much Ai believed him. "Er... what are we doing today? At our job?"

Ai hesitated for a second, giving Darius a once over, before leaning to the side and passing him a bowl of cereal. Darius ate it without much interest.

"Um, basically just basic cleaning and stuff like that," Ai told him. "Or, two of us clean. The other one has to keep lookout."

"Lookout..." Darius repeated grimly. "For 'something'."

Ai shrugged. "We can decide who's doing what after we finish eating. We have to punch in, first."

"What's that?"

Ai shrugged again, but Greg perked up.

"That's when you put a paper in a machine," he explained helpfully. Darius raised an eyebrow at that, but decided not to question it.

"Oh," he said. "Okay."

Apparently, 'punching in' was scanning a finger in a machine in what looked like an equipment room. When Darius, Ai and Greg did so, a little check mark showed up on the screen with a tiny checkmark. Darius asked why were it had gotten their names and fingerprints from, but all she could do was shrug. She had no idea.

Well, creepy as it was, Darius couldn't say it wasn't convenient.

After they call checked in, more letters appeared on the screen, and Darius read them out as they appeared.

"[AI OHTO] - Red circuit and turrets on LE12L need routine checks. Minor task.

[Greg] – Minor disturbance in UW8L needs investigating and possible removal. Minor task.

[Darius Bowman] – Lookout duty.

Tap the screen when finished minor tasks."

Ai frowned, nervous. "Um... Darius, what are those numbers?"

Darius looked up at her. "You don't know? Luya didn't say?"

"I guess she forgot..." Ai mused. She fiddled with her hands, looking uncertainly from the screen to Darius and back. Darius studied it was well, trying to figure out just what it said. But no matter how much he narrowed his eyes at it, and tried to puzzle it out, it remained an elusive mystery.

Finally, he heard Ai take a step back, letting out a determined breath.

"Well, it's okay," she said, softly smiling, but it was twinged with nervousness. "How many turrets can there be? I'll find it."

"Are you sure?" Darius asked, titling his head. As his eyes met hers, he suddenly found that he couldn't help but to doubt her. "Do you want help? Lookout can't be that important-."

Ai shrugged. "Nah, it's fine. You go do your thing, we'll do ours."

Darius looked at Ai carefully, but really, he didn't want to argue with her, so he finally just sighed and shrugged.

"If you're sure," he told her. "You can come get me, though, if you need help with anything."

Ai gave him a thumbs up. Greg was already gone.

Typical.

Darius and Ai turned from each other, and started towards their separate ways: Ai to the basement to start her search, and Darius to the very top of their guard tower, where the lookout post lied. It was only after climbing a couple steps that he paused, the obvious finally occurring to him.

"Why do we need turrets, again?"

Darius looked up into the sky above him, dark and covered in little white pinpricks, twinkling in the sky. He had to admit, it was strange, looking up into the sky in what should be midmorning and seeing complete darkness, with, sometimes, the sun as a very distance star and doing nothing to illuminate the sky around it. Objectively, Darius knew that the colour of the sky was not actually because of the sun, it was because of the water, but it was still strange to see it in action.

Darius stared up at the stars, almost entranced by it. He and his friends, back on Isla Nublar, sometimes would stay up and watch the stars when they couldn't sleep (because, apparently, they kept having NIGHTMARES he didn't know about). Were any of these stars the same, or in the same places? Darius wasn't quite sure; he was never quite good at picking out constellations. Brooklyn and Sammy were always better at that...

Darius turned away from the stars, feeling a pang in his heart. Suddenly, he was feeling a whole lot of awfulness, almost like he had suddenly gotten sick: homesickness, grief, guilt... he needed to get his mind off of that.

Suddenly, he remembered the perfect distraction, and quickly brought up his watch. Quickly flipping through the settings, and ignoring the 'Primary Objective', and brought up the radio.

The radio host wasn't speaking, but that was fine. Darius just leaned back on his uncomfortable chair, and listened to the small music that was playing. It echoed around the space Darius was sitting in, which, thankfully, filled up the space. It made the job feel less weird and creepy.

Folks, there's a choice here,

A revolution is drawing near.

Can they fix any of this,

Or is any hope all remiss.

Suddenly, a loud yell cut through Darius' nice music, and he jumped up, panicked. Was it here? That 'thing' he was supposed to look out for?!

Thankfully, no. Darius easily found the source of the noise, at the bottom of the tower, jumping up and down and frantically waving at him.

Darius' eyes widened. He instantly recognized the girl, as if he could ever forget her, and her strange hair.

"Miko?" Darius asked, confused. She obviously didn't react, as Darius was up way too high to talk to her in his normal voice.

Miko was also yelling something, but no matter how much Darius strained, he couldn't make out a word she was saying. In any case, it looked like it was important.

"Um... hey, wait a moment!" Darius called down, cupping his mouth. "I'll be right there! Don't move!"

Miko paused as he yelled down, but based on her movements, she didn't seem to understand that. Darius paused, and then finally rolled his eyes, moving back from the balcony of the lookout post, running through the door and rushing down the steps. He ran down the steps, three at a time and desperately wondering what Miko had to tell him. His mind brought up millions upon millions of bad scenarios, and by the time he was at the ground floor of the guard tower, he had millions of bad scenarios. Quickly, he jerked open the door to the guard tower, racing towards where Miko had been.

"What is it? What is it?" he gasped, already out of breath. He wheezed, nearly tripping over his own feet as he raced towards the odd girl. He didn't register the surprise on the girl's face until much later.

"Dude!" Miko cried, rushing the last couple of steps towards Darius. "What was that song? That was SO cool!"

Darius paused, momentarily confused as he blinked at the girl. Suddenly, realization struck as he glared at her.

"Wait... WHAT?!" Darius cried. "That's what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well, yeah!" Miko responded, grinning. Either she hadn't noticed Darius' animosity, or she was ignoring it. "So... what song was that?"

Darius stared at Miko fir a minute, and then, deciding she wasn't kidding, sighed. "I have no idea. It was on the radio, and I didn't hear the name."

Miko was not deterred. "Nice! What radio station?"

"Um..." Darius thought for a moment, and then checked his watch. "NL24?"

Miko's eyes widened. "Oh... oh no... um, sorry, but I don't think you're allowed to listen to that. At least not here..."

"They make you not listen to a radio station?" Darius asked, disgusting. But suddenly, he remembered what he'd heard on it. "Actually, that kind of makes sense. Still, though..."

Miko shrugged. "That's the rules! Also, speaking of rules, you're technically not allowed to leave the Guard Tower."

"Well, that one makes sense," Darius sighed. "I'm technically supposed to be on lookout for... something..."

"You're never supposed to leave it, technically," Miko told him, matter of factly, and Darius' eyes widened.

"Wait, what?"

"I heard about it before, the doors check who goes in and out and at what time," Miko told him. "If you didn't ask to go out, you aren't allowed to."

"...WHAT?!" Darius turned to Miko, glaring at her. "Then why'd you make me come out here?!"

Miko looked confused. "I... did?"

"You...!" Darius gave up. "Never mind. I just... well, since I'm out here, I have a question for you."

Miko beamed, seemingly happy for the attention. "Sure thing. Anything!"

Darius opened his mouth, and then hesitated. Well, since he was already in trouble right now, he might as well. "Are you... from another world?"

Miko blinked, and then nodded. "Yep! I'm from Earth!"

"I...no," Darius said. "That's not what I meant! I mean, are you from another universe, like-."

"Oh!" Miko suddenly cried, interrupting him. "That's right, I am! I'm from... I'm not sure, but it's a place where their aren't colonies on the moon and in the bloodsea and in the artic, and-."

Suddenly, Darius' watch started ringing. He raised it, expecting to see Engine on the call sign, but he was surprised to find the caller was someone unknown. Darius was suddenly overcome by curiosity. He'd have to make this quick.

"That's great," Darius told her quickly. "I am, too. And so are Greg and Ai, the other people in the tower. And Luca and Robyn and Molly. Do you know them?"

Miko frowned, thinking. Then, she shook her head. "No, but I can ask around in the barracks. We all live pretty close together, so I'm sure I can find them."

"Great," Darius said again, anxiously. "Listen, I have to go. It was great to meet you, but I'll have to talk to you later, okay?"

Miko tilted her head at him, but nevertheless, she nodded. "Yeah! The pit is just out over there, so I can always drop by on my way over."

Darius paused, looking at her. "What's the... look, never mind. I'll talk to you later, okay? I... we'll figure something out. Okay?"

Miko gave him a firm nod and a thumbs up. "Okay!"

Darius gave her one last nod before turning quickly, running back towards the door. He quickly slipped inside, and then answered the call, which was, thankfully, still ringing after all this time.

"Hello-?"

He barely got the word out before a robotic voice answered. Darius had to admit he was a little disappointed.

"Hello, [Darius Bowman]. Would you like to connect with Oraple Technologies?"

Darius frowned, before shrugging. "Sure. Why not?"

"Perfect. Oraple Technologies thanks you for your subscription. Do you agree to the terms and services?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Perfect. Syncing up The Red Box and Oraple Technologies now. Please wait for the beep."

A melody started playing out from his speakers as Darius started climbing the stairs again. No matter how tiring going down was, he now knew going up was going to be a lot worse. And with annoying, way-too-loud and boring music playing from his speakers... the climb slowly turned tedious.

He really wished he could turn on the radio right now.

Luckily, the music didn't last very long, and soon, the beep sounded, ringing painfully in Darius' ears.

"Thank you for joining Oraple Technologies. We have certain benefits such as: The Fourth Moon Quarter Radio, Fourth Moon Quarter News, Fourth Moon Quarter Entertainment, and Special Items that are found no where else. You're one of us now!"

Well, that was creepy. Darius couldn't stop himself from shuddering. Now, he wished he hadn't ducked out on his conversation with Miko.

"Cool," was all he said in response, with as little enthusiasm as possible. "Anything else?"

"This connection with The Red Box will also connect you with a special database that you can find answers to any questions you have, and will give you access to certain streaming services, radio stations, and websites from earth."

"Oh," Darius said, surprised. He wasn't expecting an actual answer. "Okay."

"We hope you will be satisfied with our service. If you have any more questions, or wish to cancel your subscription, just dial this number again, and we'll be here for you. Are their any questions?"

Darius paused. Was this message really animated, like he thought? "Um... no."

"Good. Enjoy!"

The call ended with a 'beep' and Darius stared at it for a couple seconds, before looking at the main screen.

Quickly, he found what the robotic voice was talking about: a little blue app with a book in the middle of it, right beside the phone symbol. Darius also noticed, however, a little lock on the corner of the app, with a white circle that had a four in the middle. Interesting. Darius had a hunch he knew what that meant.

He clicked onto the app, and it opened up into a similar interface to the internet back in Darius' dimension. He quickly found 'Toutube' (no guesses as to what that was), and clicked on it. Instantly, it opened up something similar to Youtube, except that it was yellow, not red. Also, Darius didn't see anything that he would usually watch, just a bunch of news channels, videos about mining and the history of rocks and the occasional movie trailer. Darius scrolled through them, before finally finding the search bar again and clicking on it. He typed in 'dinosaurs'.

Unfortunately, just as he pressed 'search', he screen flashed red, and a warning message appeared.

"Sorry! This is a restricted topic. As this is your first strike, we'll ignore it for now, but please be more mindful in the future."

"Oh, come on," Darius groaned, rolling his eyes. "How are DINOSAURS restricted?!"

The warning message on the screen did not answer. Eventually, Darius clicked away sighing.

"Great. They made the internet boring and practically useless."

The day went swiftly after that. After a long and boring hour that crawled by after three years, Darius decided that he didn't care if it was 'allowed' or not, he was bored and he was going to listen to the radio anyway, sometimes intercut by the radio host, which Darius quickly was learning was called 'StarSpeaker', talking about the aftermath of the protest.

Except once.

"Well, to the people in Bottleneck City, this won't really be news, but for everyone else, tune in!" StarSpeaker said after one particularly solemn song ended. "We have just received strange news from the newly colonized city on the other side of the badlands!"

Darius sat up in his seat, startled into paying attention. No. This couldn't be... why had he thought this would remain buried?!

StarSpeaker continued easily, unheeding of Darius' shock.

"First, some background for those who might not be aware. Some hundreds of years ago, Bottleneck was a megacity, mainly known for their manufacturing of all sorts of things that would then be shipped out. It was called a 'working city' and had a constant need for jobs and trade.

"However, that city was lost when a plague hit it and wiped most of the people out, and the ones who did survive had to get out because the entire city was infected with an air-born virus. For hundreds, maybe even close to a thousand years, anyone who went into the city, or just walked onto the edge, would contract the virus and die. Even people covering their mouth. Even people in a full hazmat suit. Even people in full, completely covered and air-tight sealed vehicles. No one inhabited Bottleneck city for a long time.

"Six years back, though, that changed. The virus that lived in the air sank, slowly sinking below city levels. Which meant that anyone above the surface would be fine, as long as they didn't venture below.

"That all is to say: people started living in Bottleneck City again. Not many, mind you, and it was mostly gangs from the Badlands, who immediately began fighting, but a lot of communities were set up as well, the biggest being Millory. Cornerstone, Rivermind and Lantoto. Once again, Bottleneck was becoming the City of manufacturing and trade again. And some other stuff, too, like robbery, cons, tourism, poverty and war, but most officials in Night Light City were positive that Bottleneck City might become a shadow of the former Bottleneck City, in time. It still is full of resources that the former people have left behind, including stuff that could only be found in Bottleneck.

"That didn't happen, though. Kin Dred, one of the biggest bosses in Bottleneck City, the one who was supposedly driving the trade, was supposedly murdered by a hired hand, a foreigner from a moon quarter. Dred was the apparently the one driving most of the war, and in turn, most of the trade in Bottleneck. Now, most of the officials call Bottleneck a lost cause, as apparently without a 'unified leader', trade is 'impossible'.

"With the big leader gone, many new gangs are vying to be the next rich man of Bottleneck, and to lead the charge into being the next Night Light City. But Night Light officials aren't positive about any of them. According to them, they don't have the same goals as Kin, was to be equals with Night Light City and to set up Bottleneck as the new, just as safe, partner of Night Light.

"Most of the new 'leaders' of Bottleneck are either trying to get out, kill everyone else in order to establish dominance in Bottleneck, or trying to get at the resources to hoard them, and eventually sell them."

Darius winced, growing more and more panicked with each new piece of information. At the time, he had been completely confident in what he was doing, and he hadn't even thought twice about it. Had he really just... ruined everything, just like the elder had said?

"But..." StarSpeaker continued, and Darius paused. There was something in his voice that cut through Darius' panic and made him focus on what StarSpeaker was saying. "But that's just what the officials are saying, which is, as usual, a whole bunch of negative, pretentious crap. What their saying is that this 'Moon Quarter' guy is a monster, who killed off Night Light Cities partner just to spite them and their new investments. Their saying that Bottleneck is gonna turn into a cesspit, and no better than the rest of the badlands.

"That's what they say. But if you want to know what StarSpeaker says, and I know you do, keep listening: I think this Third Moon Quarter Survivor is a hero. No matter what these 'official' idiots say, there's no denying Kin Dred was a bad person. Sure, he welcomed communities and towns who needed more structure into the abandoned city, but he invited in war. And he only invited the cities that he believed would make him money. The rest, he either left out to dry, or sent his soldiers after them for 'favours'.

"People here speak of Kin Dred's obsession to make Bottleneck just like Night Light as a good thing, but for all of us not living on the top floor (and who haven't fallen into all that garbage propaganda), that sounds like more of a nightmare than a blessing. Under Kin's rule, Bottleneck would have just turned into one giant factory like Night Light, crushing the people below into money for the ones at the top.

"But some people might say that the way Bottleneck is now is worse, and, well, as much as I hate Dred, I can't disagree. It really is just a warzone right now, and more people are dying in this then they did under Dred.

"But here's the thing: it doesn't have to be like that! I have hope, and faith in the better of people in Bottleneck. The badlands are held up by a system of tribes and communities, not gangs, like we've been told. Bottleneck can be like that, too, a place of coexistence and community rather than violence and war. It would probably be more humane like that, especially less than Night Light. I... have hope."

"And lastly, I have a message for that Third Moon Quarter Survivor out there if you're listening," StarSpeaker finished, and Darius perked up. "I have no idea what kind of person who are, or what you were trying to do, but from what I've heard? You got threatened by Dred and then stood up to him and his entire bs way of thinking. And I admire you for that. Maybe it was a one time thing, but, somehow, I don't think so. So, here's this: good luck, please stay alive, and this next song is dedicated to you."

The voice faded out, and was slowly replaced by an slow, but hopeful tune that Darius listened to, closely, stunned. That... so he wasn't bad? He did the right thing?

Suddenly Darius smiled, feeling himself blush. It really did feel good, to be validated, even by a stranger.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, Darius thought, leaning back. Maybe... maybe things would be okay.

The end of the day came when Darius' watch beeped, signalling the end of his shift. Darius wondered if Ai or Greg knew about that, considering neither of them had watches. As he went down the stairs, he decided to check.

He found the answer to that pretty quickly as he saw Ai still looking for turrets, and Greg playing in a room by himself with... something.

Despite meeting his goal in finding Greg, Darius paused, stepping into the room. "Um... hi, Greg, what's that?"

Greg beamed up at him, holding the front paws of the strange creature and leading it in a funny dance. The long mouth of the thing extended all the way down it's body, almost to its tail, which was hairless and ringed with protruding skin. It was nearly hairless, except for some parts around it's neck, shoulders, and knees. It looked bipedal, almost humanoid, but when Greg let go of it, it crawled along the floor on all fours. Darius shuddered.

"It's my new friend!" Greg told him joyfully, looking happier than Darius has ever seen him. "I found him hiding in a corner. His name is gonna be... un... Frog!"

Darius tried to keep the skeptical look off his face. "W-Why? Because it looks like a frog...?"

Greg shook his head. "No. Because he's cool like my OLD frog, Jason Funderburker!"

"...Oh," Darius decided not to ask. "Well, works over now, so go down to that room, ok? I'll meet you there with Ai once I find her."

Darius started moving away, but a strange look that crossed over Greg's face made him pause.

"Huh? What is it?"

After a moment of thought, Greg answered with a question. "We were... supposed to be working?"

It didn't take Darius long to find Ai, mostly because she was looking for him, too.

"Darius!" she cried, spotting him first. "I need your help, I can't find the turrets, and I've been looking all day! Can you-?!"

"Don't worry about that," Darius interrupted quickly, moving towards her. "The work day's over anyway. But, Ai, listen to me. I need to tell you something. It's... important."

Ai froze, and then looked at him intently. Clearly, she understood the importance of what he was saying.

"Okay," Ai gulped, obviously nervous. "What... What is it?"

Footnotes:

You have gained a new skill: Legend 1. Right now, people know of you and what you have done, but they have no idea what you want or what you will do. The more you level up this skill, the more charisma you'll have, and the more people will trust you. To level up this skill, you must continue the main story, as well as do side quests that will gain you reputation points.