Mandibles: Change is Coming by Alex Higgins and Susan Burgess ----------------------------------- You are in a room. [[look around->Look around]] [[scratch your head->Scratch your head]]You notice there is a Gamergate in the room. [[oh god | Gamergate]] [[why why why | Gamergate]]You scratch your head. It feels good. [[look around->Look around]]Thankfully, it is just a [[giant ant]]. [[wipe sweat off brow]] [[wait a second | ant_approach]]You wipe the sweat off your brow. It feels good. The ant finds this culturally insensitive. [[oh shit | ant_approach]]The Gamergate is a reproductively viable female ant. This particular one stands about 8 hands tall. It looks ferociously charming. Interesting. [[back | Gamergate]]The ant approaches. [[move]] [[don't move]]You run. The ant is not pleased. "I am not pleased," the ant says. [["why are you not pleased?"]] [[run]]You hope that the ant only detects movement. This is not the case. [[ugh damnit]] [[move]]The ant is right in front of you. She smells like rosemary. [[oh that's nice]] [[move]]The ant gives you a big ol' hug. [[that's kind of nice actually]]The ant accidentally places her mandibles around your neck and squeezes too hard. [[ugh that's the worst]]Your head pops off like a stunt clown propelled from a cannon. [[shit fuck everything->Start]]"Actually," the ant says, "I just lost my job. I can't pay the rent. My husband snores. Gender and capitalism suck." [["i can relate"->"i can relate."]] [["do you want a hug?"->oh that's nice]]The ant catches up to you. She can move so fast because she has six legs. [[gosh i guess->oh that's nice]]"Want to start a revolution?" [["hell yeah"->"hell yeah."]] [["not really"->"not really."]]Shit's going to go down. Where do you begin? [[take to the streets]] [[let's circulate some petitions]] [[destroy the institution from within]]Oh, come on, you know you want to. [["hell yeah"->"hell yeah."]]Human and ant join together, having developed class/species consciousness, to fight the power. A melody of cacophonous voices overwhelms the status quo. Both shoe'd and exoskeleton'd feet march toward the state house, the corporate headquarters, the home. Change is coming. [[ain't no power like the power of the people->cops coming]] Your popular petitions to dismantle the institution are quickly signed by thousands of disgruntled humans and ants. The ants sign the peitions faster due to their extra limbs. You have never seen such a beautiful feat. Change is coming. [[hear our voices->cops coming]] Sabotage is fun. Thow a bomb. Watch clerks, lawyers, politicians, and CEOs flee into the streets. Change is coming. [[there is no way this could go wrong->cops coming]] The cops have arrived. For some reason, they're sporting assault rifles with grenade launchers and armored trucks. These are normal cops. "Don't move. You're all coming with us." [[comply]] [[fight the power]]You walk toward the cops, hands in the air, firmly believing that your sacrifice will not be in vain. Change is coming. Before the cops take you away, you hear an insectoid voice cry out from the crowd. "You aren't taking that human anywhere!" A pair of mandibles slices open your handcuffs. Cops flee in sheer terror. Their weaponry is ineffective against the mighty insect exoskeleton. You flee to safety. Ants emerge from the ground, descend from the sky, and erupt from office buildings, forming a protective barrier between you and the police. [[change came that day]] You come at the cops swinging. Your fists of justice are too fast for them to track. Ultimately, however, you fall to the might of their armored vehicle. "Any last words, hippie?" the seargant says, his standard issue pistol reflecting the sun into your eyes. You spit in his face. Before he can fire a shot, you hear an insectoid voice cry out from the crowd. "If you're going to kill that human, you'll have to kill me first!" A pair of mandibles grips the gun and crushes it into tiny flakes. Cops flee in sheer terror. Their weaponry is ineffective against the mighty insect exoskeleton. You flee to safety. Ants emerge from the ground, descend from the sky, and erupt from office buildings, forming a protective barrier between you and the police. [[change came that day]]That was years ago. You now bask in the light of your [[perfect utopia]], sipping a glass of cream soda, remembering the sacrifices made for the revolution. You never heard from your friend, the ant, again, but you raise your glass and your fist in the air, in rememberance of her, as the sun sets slowly upon the new world. No more capitalism. No more gender. Cream soda for everyone. We win.