Bob Page begins without pleasantries, and his eyes stare straight ahead as he speaks, unblinking and red. The artificial irises are just a shade off from his hair, and both are punctured with aging electronics, rose gold paint chipping off silver electrodes in the shape of small apples.
[''"Your appointment to the Department of Energy should be finalized within the week. I've already discussed the matter with the Senator."'']<c1|
(click: ?c1)[//''"Has his online dataprint been infected?"''// Page's flat affect is still less unsettling than that of Simons, with his butterfly-blue facial veins and the voice of an animate corpse.]<c2|
(click: ?c2)[Page nods. ''"Oh yes, most certainly. When I mentioned we could put his biometrics on the shielding priority list, he was so willing it was almost pathetic."'']<c3|
(click: ?c3)[//''"The unperson virus -- data corruption is intensifying to the point that we may not be able to contain it."''//]<c4|
(click: ?c4)[''"Why contain it? Let it wash smooth the ledgers, the media feeds. Let the nameless wander the streets. In the end, they'll beg us to save them."'']<c5|
(click: ?c5)[//''"We have other problems."''//]<c6|
(click: ?c6)[''"ETRUSCO?"'']<c7|
(click: ?c7)[//''"The agency is only a formalization of Silicon Valley's old handshake deal with the intelligence agencies. But I'm less than confident in their augmentation project. Especially in light of the Opalware debacle."''//]<c8|
(click: ?c8)[''"Nanoaugmentation has little to do with those old metallic monstrosities. Although I must admit that I've been somewhat disappointed with the primary unit."'']<c9|
(click: ?c9)[//''"The secondary unit should be online within six months. My people will continue to report on its progress."''//]<c10|
(click: ?c10)[Outside, the sun sets over San Francisco. A ragged man settles against the side of the Deep State tower, its true nature hidden behind a bland sign: MAJESTIC REALTY, 12 MARKET STREET. The man pulls a translucent phone with a shattered screen and taps at it sadly, in the manner of a starving seagull pecking an empty shell. He should have no way of knowing that the forces who decide his fate stand twenty floors above him.]<c11|
(click: ?c11)[''"We've had to endure much, you and I, but soon there will be order again. A new age -- and we will be crowned its kings,"'' says Page, as deadpan as ever. ''"Or better than kings: //gods.//"'']<c12|
(click: ?c12)[The man spares a glance upward and sets his phone on the sidewalk, muttering to no one as he wanders away. Its screen flashes a single time, shooting light along the cracks. As it fades into the darkness, the lines assemble themselves into dual, spinning arcs and the text of a title:]<c13|
(click: ?c13)[(link:"DEUS EX: DARK PATTERNS")[(goto:"Starting Base")]]A sharp cut to the New York headquarters of ETRUSCO: the Euroglobal Trust and Safety Council, a front line of defense against online disinformation and antisocial behavior. ETRUSCO works from what was once called the Long Lines building, a windowless high-rise in what was once inland Manhattan -- until superstorms and the inexorable rise of the ocean took their toll, leaving it perched at the edge of the Hudson.
You are rookie ETRUSCO content moderator JC Denton, and it's your first day of work. The aging security guard gestures at your dark glasses, and you slide them down, revealing the glowing blue irises of your nano-augmented eyes.
["So you're one of //those//, huh? Figures." The guard's left hand is half-gone, you realize, as she hits the scanner button. "I had old-school augs back in the day -- fourteen fingers. Great for pianists. Better for mech pilots."]<c1|
(click: ?c1)["So what happened?"]<c2|
(click: ?c2)["Lost the warranty when Opalware went Chapter 11. The neural bonding started to go, and I went to one of those mom-and-pop repair shops to get them defused -- you know, the ones that replace your phone battery or whatever. They should have stuck to phones."]<c3|
(click: ?c3)["I'm sorry."]<c4|
(click: ?c4)["Eh. At least I could get the things off at all. Not like..." She trails off and looks pointedly at your glowing eyes. "Anyway, have a nice day..."]<c5|
(click: ?c5)[(link:"Mr. Denton.")[(set: $gender to "male")(set: $paul to "Paul")(set: $sibling to "brother")(set: $pronoun to "he")(set: $possessive to "his")(set: $pronoun2 to "him")(goto:"Enter HQ")]
(link:"Ms. Denton.")[(set: $gender to "female")(set: $paul to "Paula")(set: $sibling to "sister")(set: $pronoun to "she")(set: $possessive to "her")(set: $pronoun2 to "her")(goto:"Enter HQ")]
(link:"Mx. Denton.")[(set: $gender to "nb")(set: $paul to "Pauli")(set: $sibling to "sibling")(set: $pronoun to "they")(set: $possessive to "their")(set: $pronoun2 to "them")(goto:"Enter HQ")]]The door shuts with a pneumatic wheeze, and you are on the first floor of ETRUSCO HQ. Like the exterior, it's an imposing block of concrete, yet it's strangely empty. All you see is a (link:"vacant desk")[(goto:"Front Desk")] and (link:"a flag")[(goto:"Flag")] in front of (link:"a heavy, broad door")[(goto:"HQ Second Floor")].
(set: $desklock to "locked")
(set: $visitHQ2 to false)
(set: $paulemail to false)
(set: $paultablet to false)
(set: $visitedcarter to false)
(set: $visitedjaime to false)
(set: $visitedmanderley to false)
(set: $visitedalex to false)
(set: $visitedanna to false)
(set: $ductlocked to true)
(set: $showedalexflag to false)The desk is low and angular, its varnished surface dulled to the point of blur. (if: $desklock is "unlocked")[Its drawers are unlocked.] (if: $desklock is "empty")[Its drawers are empty.] (if: $desklock is "locked")[Its drawers are locked.] (if: $haslockpick is true)[(link:"You can unlock it, if you're not afraid of some light burglary.")(goto:"InsideFrontDesk")]
(link:"In any case, it's not very interesting.")[(goto:"HQ First Floor")]It's an old-style, fifty-two-star American Flag, not the American Battle Flag you're used to seeing.
(link:"Pick the flag up.")[(set: $flag to true)(set: $showedflag to 0)(goto:"HQ First Floor")]
(link:"Leave the flag be.")[(goto:"HQ First Floor")](if: $visitHQ2 is false)[A building this tall must have an elevator, but you don't see it. You head through the door and hear it clang shut behind you as you ascend the stairs.(set: $credits to it + 1)]
The second floor is little more than a narrow corridor, floored with carpeting whose abstract pattern suggests rotten fusilli pasta. Names are inscribed on the cement beside each metal door:
(if:$visitedcarter is false)[(link:"S. Carter")[(goto:"Sam Office")]] (if:$visitedcarter is true)[(link:"S. Carter")[(goto:"Sam Visited")]]
(link:"P. Denton")[(goto:"Denton Office")]
(link:"G. Hermann")[(goto:"Gunther Office")]
(if:$hastwofactor is true)[(link:"A. Jacobson")[(goto:"Alex Visited Hacker")]](else-if:$hasdronewhistle is true)[(link:"A. Jacobson")[(goto:"Alex Visited Drone")]](else:)[(link:"A. Jacobson")[(goto:"Alex Office")]]
(if:$visitedmanderley is false)[(link:"J. Manderley")[(goto:"Manderley Office")]] (if:$visitedmanderley is true)[(link:"J. Manderley")[(goto:"Manderley Visited")]]
(if:$visitedanna is false)[(link:"A. Navarre")[(goto:"Anna Office")]] (if:$visitedanna is true)[(link:"A. Navarre")[(goto:"Anna Visited")]]
(if:$visitedjaime is false)[(link:"J. Reyes")[(goto:"Jaime Office")]](if:$visitedjaime is true)[(link:"J. Reyes")[(goto:"Jaime Visited")]]
(if: $showedflag is 5)[(set: $finishedflag to true)(set: $flag to false)You look down at the flag. There's something different about it, but you're not sure what. Maybe it's all in your head. You drop it quietly in the corner and move on.]
(if: $visitedjaime is true and $visitedcarter is true and $visitedalex is true)[Your mission-critical functions here are finished. It's time to (link:"head back downstairs and prepare for your mission.")[(goto:"Demo Ending")]]
(if: $visitHQ2 is false)[A tinny voice bounces against the fine bones of your skull, and a name flashes against the corner of your augmented vision: Alex Jacobson, Information Integrity Information Technician.
"Hey, JC. Glad to see you got in -- I heard a DDoS locked down the subway signals this morning. Normally, you'd have a few days of orientation, but it looks like we've got a situation developing. You should report to Manderley once you've settled in. We don't have a room for you just yet, but you can use your $sibling's office for now. You've got two-factor built into your augmentations, and your voiceprint keyphrase is 'more human than human.' Although between you and me, those little bots in your vocal cords could make you sound like just about anybody."
New objective acquired: Meet Joseph Manderley in his office. (set: $seemanderley to true)]
(set: $visitHQ2 to true)
(link:"Check Objectives")[(display:"Objectives")]You see a biocell and a pack of soylent powder.
(link:"Empty the desk.")[(set $desklock to "empty")(goto:"HQ First Floor")]You are on the first floor of ETRUSCO HQ. Like the exterior, it's an imposing block of concrete, yet it's strangely empty. All you see is a (link:"vacant desk")[(goto:"Front Desk")] (if:$flag is false)[and (link:"a flag ")[(goto:"Flag")]] in front of (link:"a heavy, broad door")[(goto:"HQ Second Floor")].
(if: $flag is true)[For some reason, you sense it is very important that you show everyone at the headquarters this flag.]
(link:"Check Objectives.")[(display:"Objectives")]Check Objectives:
(if:$flag is true)[Show everyone at the base your flag.](if:$finishedflag is true)[~~Show everyone at the base your flag.~~]
(if:$seemanderley is true)[Meet Joseph Manderley in his office.](if:$visitedmanderley is true)[~~Meet Joseph Manderley in his office.~~]
(if: $seejaime is true)[Check in with Jaime Reyes.](if: $visitedjaime is true)[~~Check in with Jaime Reyes.~~]
(if: $seecarter is true)[Check in with Sam Carter.](if: $visitedcarter is true)[~~Check in with Sam Carter.~~]
(if: $seealex is true)[Check in with Alex Jacobson.](if: $visitedalex is true)[~~Check in with Alex Jacobson.~~]
(if: $visitedjaime is true and $visitedcarter is true and $visitedalex is true)[Go to Brighton Yards.]Even without the nameplate, you could guess this office belongs to your $sibling $paul. It's got $possessive particular flavor of organized chaos, stacked with electronics whose makes and models span several continents and at least two decades. Where $pronoun found the chargers for all these, you couldn't say. For now, however, only three are powered up: a (link:"desktop workstation")[(goto:"Paul Computer")]; a white-label ETRUSCO (link:"broadsheet tablet")[(goto:"Paul Tablet")]; and an (link:"aging Opalware Glassphone")[(goto:"Paul Phone")], nearly hidden beneath a (link:"fat paper folder")[(goto:"Paul Folder")] labeled OPPOSITIONAL RESEARCH.
(link:"Leave the office.")[(goto:"HQ Second Floor")]You clear your throat, twitch your finger to trigger a two-factor token, and speak your passphrase into the desktop. It unlocks with an entirely unnecessary animated flourish, revealing a notification:
//You have 5,246 unread messages in your mailbox. Priority messages: 1.//
(link:"Read the email.")[(goto:"Paul Email")]
(link:"Log out.")[(goto:"Denton Office")]From: Joseph Manderley `<jmanderley@etrusco.org>`
To: Trust and Safety Specialists `<staff@etrusco.org>`
Subject: Social Media Policy Update -- PLEASE READ
//Greetings all,
In light of the recent incident with Mr. Hermann, and in keeping with this organization's general mission, I'm sending out a copy of our newly revised social media policy guidelines. Specificaly, please note that dark-pattern interfaces are considered a controlled substance REGARDLESS of source, and may in fact be more dangerous in so-called "designer apps" like Faekbouk than on officially sanctioned platforms, ESPECIALLY for platform-specific mechanical implant recipients. Nanoaugmented agents may speak to Dr. Reyes about potential risks and limitations.//
(link:"Log out.")[(set: $paulemail to true)(goto:"Denton Office")]KNOW YOUR ENEMY
''Wikipode:'' // Wikipode is not to be confused with its legitimate progenitor WikiMedia, a longtime ETRUSCO ally, nor its bastard parent WikiLeaks, though both organizations traffic in the same blend of salacious misinformation and conspiratorial rumor. These fanatical "information liberation" activists have been linked to the murder-by-proxy of several prominent public figures, including one executive who was removed from an organ transplant waitlist by a virulent modified strain of the Unperson virus, which intelligence officials believe was funneled through Wikipode by a Russian cyberwarfare division.//
''Nowheremen:'' //No longer classified as a threat by many analysts, the anarchic Nowheremen were nonetheless instrumental in the catastrophic Opalware data breach of 2044, and were implicated in the creation of the original Unperson virus. Since the rise of state-sponsored hacking, however, the group's freewheeling tactics have been described as "bringing a cyberknife to a cybergunfight," and their successes have rarely reached beyond temporarily redirecting web addresses to 20th-century pop cultural artifacts.//
''White House:'' //ETRUSCO's official position on all branches of the American government is non-adversarial. However, practical considerations may at times necessitate the temporary circumvention of certain executive actions, and public-private information-sharing is enacted on a "need-to-know" basis. This memo is intended for Archangel-level clearances only and should be considered NON-necessary information.//
(link:"Put down tablet.")[(set: $paultablet to true)(goto:"Denton Office")]
You see a stack of cheaply printed copies of an apparent tabloid called //The Great Awakening//. There's too much to read, but you catch a few headlines:
''EXCLUSIVE: Slenderman Summoned by CIA-funded Occult Cronut Shop Cannibals for Child Fear Serum Harvesting Ring''
''2025 Star Wars Re-Release Cut Scenes Featuring 'Slightly Bigger' Luke Skywalker Doppelganger -- Was Kathleen Kennedy Covering Up a George Lucas Body Double Replacement Plot?''
''New Twittergram CEO: Chaos Alien???''
(link:"Carefully put down the papers.")[(goto:"Denton Office")]You haven't seen a Glassphone in ages. It's a beautiful, ethereal device made from a solid block of clear Lucite waveguide -- although this incidentally means that anyone can see what's on your screen from any angle, which would probably have doomed the thing even if Opalware hadn't imploded spectacularly several years ago. Everyone says they want transparency, until it's their data on the line.
$paul apparently didn't mind, though, since $pronoun left it unlocked. A single messaging app appears to be installed, containing a single message from an unknown party:
//P:
THE PATTERNS ARE REAL
- AJ//
(link:"Put the phone back.")[(goto:"Denton Office")]You haven't seen Jaime Reyes since web moderator training. He's filled out since then, and he greets you with a smile, gesturing to the electrical pistol on your hip.
"If it isn't JC -- I might as well get used to your codename. They actually let you point a gun at people these days?"
[//"Come on, Jaime, mods haven't carried real firearms since the Pinterest riots. This stuff's purely non-lethal."//]<c1|
(click: ?c1)["I've seen a few hackers in my time that might call that a technicality, if they were still breathing. But never mind that. How's your first day?"]<c2|
(click: ?c2)[//"I have a feeling it's about to get worse. (if: $visitedmanderley is true)[Manderley's sending me to the docks to bust up a troll farm -- and it sounds like they've got $paul."] (else:)[Manderley wants to see me about a mission."]//]<c3|
(click: ?c3)[(if: $visitedmanderley is true)["My god, really?] (else:)["Already?] Then I'd better get you up to speed on your implants. Applezon and Boston Dynamics pushed a version update yesterday with new sticker packs and a nanoreconstruction unit. Long story short, you can heal anything short of a shotgun blast to the spinal cord, or you can distract your enemies with holographic kittens, as long as they've got glasses -- and these days, most of them do."]<c4|
(click: ?c4)[|pickregen>[(link: "I'll take the reconstruction unit.")[(set: $hasregen to true)(replace: ?pickregen)["I'll take the reconstruction unit."](replace: ?pickkittens)[](replace: ?choseitem)["An excellent choice."]]]
|pickkittens>[(link: "I'll take the kittens.")[(set: $haskittens to true)(replace: ?pickregen)["I'll take the kittens."](replace: ?pickkittens)[](replace: ?choseitem)["An excellent choice."]]]]
[|choseitem)[]]<c5|
(click: ?c5)[(if: $paulemail is false)[//"Anything else I should know before I go out?"//] (else:)[//"By the way, I got an email saying I should ask you about dark patterns. Know anything about that?"//]]<c6|
(click: ?c6)[(if: $paulemail is false)["Nothing that I... ah. Manderley wanted me to warn you about dark patterns -- weaponized UX, addictive interfaces, machines that hide their true intentions behind some banal facade.] (else:)["Ah, dark patterns -- weaponized UX, addictive interfaces, machines that hide their true intentions behind some banal facade.] Most of the worst stuff was designed to hijack mech-aug neural sync signals, so you'll do better than, well, than some people on our staff. But the apps are catching up. Just be careful what you log onto, JC. You never know what might be logging //you//."]<c7|
(click: ?c7)[//"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the help.// (if: $visitedmanderley is false)[//Now I'd better go talk to Manderley."//] (else:)[//Now I'd better find $paul and shut down those punks -- before it's too late."//]
(if: $flag is true)[(set: $showedflag to it + 1)As you turn to leave, you remember your mission and casually hold up your American flag.]]<c8|
(click: ?c8)[(if: $flag is true)[Jaime sighs. "Being a patriot used to be so easy, didn't it? Now you don't know who you can trust."] (else:)["Stay safe, JC."]]<c9|
(click: ?c9)[(link:"Leave the office.")[(set: $visitedjaime to true)(set: $seejaime to false)(goto:"HQ Second Floor")]]
You crack the door to Jaime's office. He appears to be caught up in an argument with his digital assistant, a talking snake wound around a copper rod.
(link:"Close the door.")[(goto:"HQ Second Floor")](set: $credits to it + 1)You've met Joseph Manderley only once before, at your class's accredition ceremony. He struck you as a man who repeats the phrase "avuncular" silently to himself during conversations, but also as one of the few staff members who seemed wholly comfortable with a nano-augmented moderator. His office is decorated in the rococo style of a '20s startup, all applique flowers and razor blades. //He did ten years in Silicon Roundabout before joining ETRUSCO,// your memory implant reminds you. //Acquisitions for Nazgul Pharmaceuticals.//
Manderley looks up from his desk.
["Welcome. Please -- have a seat," he says in clipped Queen's English.]<c1|
(click: ?c1)[You settle on an uncomfortable steel chair. //"Alex Jacobson said you wanted to see me."//]<c2|
(click: ?c2)[Manderley sighs heavily and tents his fingers. "Indeed. We have a matter of some... unpleasantness to discuss. Are you familiar with the Wikipode Confederation?"]<c3|
(click: ?c3)[(if: $paultablet is true)[//"Of course. They're a rogue Wikimedia Foundation faction that split off during the verification wars. Sound like a dangerous bunch."//] (else:)[//"Academy clearance levels can only tell you so much. Refresh my memory."//]]<c4|
(click: ?c4)[(if: $paultablet is true)["Precisely.] (else:)["They defected from the Wikimedia Foundation during the verification wars -- quite a dangerous bunch, if you ask me.] And that may well be common knowledge, but here's something your average Tom and Dick don't know: Wikipode has been reaching into some deep pockets and dropping the change into an unauthorized social media transmission platform. They call it 'Libranet.'"]<c5|
(click: ?c5)[//"What kind of platform are we talking about? Text? Video?"//]<c6|
(click: ?c6)["Oh, I'm afraid it's far worse than that. Libranet is a fully affective immersive simulation -- unvetted and unmoderated. Quite simply, once its electrical signals hit your gray matter... truth is whatever they want it to be."]<c7|
(click: ?c7)[//"Sounds serious. Why hasn't ETRUSCO gone after it?"//]<c8|
(click: ?c8)["That's why you're here, JC. Because we //did// send someone after it: your $sibling. And we haven't heard from $pronoun2 since."]<c9|
(click: ?c9)[Manderley thumbs a button behind his desk fiduciary. A holographic garden settles against its surface, then shrinks to reveal its full shape: a begreened steel iceberg sunk into the south beach of Brooklyn. "We've traced $paul's emergency beacon to the old Brighton Yards development, and if our intelligence is correct, we'll find Libranet's servers there too," he says. "I need you to infiltrate the Yards, find $paul -- and deplatform the hell out of these thugs."]<c10|
(click: ?c10)[//"When do I start?"//]<c11|
(click: ?c11)["As soon as possible. Go see Dr. Reyes and Sam Carter for a checkup and gear, if you haven't already. Alex Jacobson might be able to rustle up some extra computational firepower. And if you have time, check in with Agent Navarre -- I'm assigning her to run backup on this operation. God willing, she'll have a better rapport with you than your $sibling. Any last questions?"]<c12|
(click: ?c12)[(if: $flag is true)[(set: $showedflag to it + 1)"Only one, sir. What do you think of this flag?"](else:)["That's all, sir. It'll be good to see some action."]]<c13|
(click: ?c13)[(if: $flag is true)["If you're attempting to question my loyalty, JC, I think this is hardly the time."] (else:)["Very good. Now if you don't mind, I have some emails to attend to."]]<c14|
(click: ?c14)[(link:"Leave the room.")[(set: $visitedmanderley to true)(set: $seemanderley to false)(if: $visitedjaime is false)[(set: $seejaime to true)](if: $visitedalex is false)[(set: $seealex to true)](if: $visitedcarter is false)[(set: $seecarter to true)](goto: "HQ Second Floor")]]
(if:$ductlocked is false)[(link:"Open the door.")[(goto:"Gunther Office Interior")]](else:)[It's locked. But nobody is watching...
(if: $haslockpick is true)[(link:"Pick the lock.")[(goto:"Gunther Office Interior")]]]
(link:"Leave it alone.")[(goto:"HQ Second Floor")]Sam Carter's graying buzzcut and pristine posture gives away the fact that he's real ex-military -- or ex-LAPD, which amounts to the same thing since Executive Order 392610258-D. Even with the rumors you've heard about his resignation, the police union is probably why he's lasted so long at ETRUSCO, because a sixty-year-old civilian would have gotten an Uber gift certificate and a pink slip years ago. This is no country for old mods.
["At ease, moderator," says Carter with a wry grin. His single artificial eye shines nearly as brightly as yours.]<c1|
(click: ?c1)[//"Sergeant Carter. I read about the Alameda Operation in school. This is a great honor."//]<c2|
(click: ?c2)["I'm not a sergeant anymore -- and you have to take the good with the bad. For every Alameda, there's a Malibu."]<c3|
(click: ?c3)[//"With all due respect, that wasn't your fault, sir, and we all know it. I can't believe they let the swatter get away with manslaughter charges."//]<c4|
(click: ?c4)["Enough of that, Denton. A monster might have tricked us into killing innocents. But should our fingers have been so tight on the triggers in the first place? These days, I'm not sure."]<c5|
(click: ?c5)[//"If anyone is responsible, it's the platforms that allowed anonymous callling in the first place."//]<c6|
(click: ?c6)["I said, that's enough. Manderley tells me you have your own operation, and time is short. Now, I'm authorized to license you a rechargeable nanite lockpick augmentation for physical infiltration. Agent Navarre also uploaded some code for an... unofficially registered plasma flechette emitter, if you're more interested in her way of doing things. I wouldn't ask where she got it."]<c7|
(click: ?c7)[|picklockpick>[(link:"I'll take the lockpick.")[(set: $haslockpick to true)(replace: ?picklockpick)["I'll take the lockpick."](replace: ?pickammo)[](replace: ?choseitem)["A man who uses his head -- I like that. Now move out, moderator."]]]
|pickammo>[(link:"I'll take the emitter.")[(set: $hasgun to true)(replace: ?picklockpick)["I'll take the emitter."](replace: ?pickammo)[](replace: ?choseitem)["A man who means business -- nothing wrong with that. Now move out, moderator."]]]]
[|choseitem>[]]<c8|
(click: ?c8)[You start to salute before catching yourself. (if: $flag is true)[(set:$showedflag to it + 1)Remembering your mission, you position the flag prominently beside you.]]<c9|
(click: ?c9)[(if: $flag is true)["Ten Californias, and no Texas," says Carter. "Always strange how things turn out."](else:)["No need for that, moderator. Those days are long gone."]]<c10|
(click: ?c10)[(link: "Move out.")[(set:$seecarter to false)(set: $visitedcarter to true)(goto: "HQ Second Floor")]]Anna Navarre is a dark legend with a past that no one will speak of -- at least, not to her face. At the academy, you picked up the basics about her stretch in the White Swan prison augmentation trials and her defection from Shadow KGB Cyberkommand. She would probably kill any fool who admitted to poking around in either incident, but she also relies on the rumors: they're the reason nobody calls her on those suspected trolls that die in custody. Because after all, Anna -- and to hear her tell it, Anna alone -- understands the real stakes of platform moderation.
All of this has not, however, gotten her a particularly good office even by the skyscraper's grim standards. She is leaning against the edge of her desk, propped up by one skeletal steel arm, with her metal-streaked face fixed in a dubious frown.
["Are you sure you pressed the right button?" she says, her accent turning every consonent into a knife.]<c1|
(click: ?c1)[You know less about Anna's partner Gunther Hermann, who is standing across from her. He's a nearly solid chunk of German steel maybe a foot taller than her and easily twice as wide, but he seems to take up no space at all, like an unusually deadly lamp. As Navarre speaks, he worries the small rotors of a disposable delivery drone, extracting a packet of soylent gel. "I do not make mistakes of this kind. I wanted orange. It gave me lemon-lime."]<c2|
(click: ?c2)["The machine would not make a mistake."]<c3|
(click: ?c3)[Gunther crushes the drone into powder with one clumsy metal fist. "It's the maintenance man! He knows I like orange."]<c4|
(click: ?c4)[Navarre's red eyes, sunken into the pale skin of her cheekbones, follow the debris. "The system has had no human maintenance for twelve years. You think the delivery algorithm has concocted some kind of plot?"]<c5|
(click: ?c5)["Yes! Perhaps the Russians have hacked it."]<c6|
(click: ?c6)[As an awkward lull descends over the office, you cough conspicuously. //"I just wanted to say that I look forward to working with you, Agent Navarre. (if:$visitedmanderley is true)[Mr. Manderley tells me we'll be moderating in Brighton Beach together.] Forgive my intrusion."//]<c7|
(click: ?c7)[Anna sighs. "My new partner, JC Denton. Tell me: do you share your $sibling's disdain for ethical certainty?"]<c8|
(click: ?c8)[//"I'd like to believe we all have a consistent ethical framework here, Agent Navarre."//]<c9|
(click: ?c9)["//Really.// And perhaps you thought the same of our forebearers -- the ones who could not ban a Nazi frog without censoring the Declaration of Independence."]<c10|
(click: ?c10)[//"I doubt $paul would agree with their conclusions. But a media literacy reeducation facility is a bigger step than taking away someone's verification badge. It's not unreasonable to be cautious with this sort of enforcement."//]<c11|
(click: ?c11)["A difference in degree to our enemies, Agent Denton -- not in kind. What was the old Wikipode Confederation slogan, again? 'First they came for the checkmarks?' I think you will find that their flechettes fly as fast over one moderation tactic as the other. You would do well to keep up."]<c12|
(click: ?c12)[//"I'll keep that in mind, Agent Navarre. (if: $flag is true)[(set: $showedflag to it + 1)In fact, I'm carrying this flag to remind me right now.]"//]<c13|
(click: ?c13)["Very well -- I will see you in the field(if: $flag is true)[. Please do not bring the flag]."]<c14|
(click: ?c14)[(link: "Step outside.")[(set: $visitedanna to true)(goto:"HQ Second Floor")]]As you approach Alex Jacobson's door, it swings open unbidden. The office is larger than you'd expect an IT technician to have -- but then again, ETRUSCO was conceived as a primarily online operation, until the platforms were fully locked down and finding offenders became a matter of finding their illicit data towers and server banks. For most web users today, the platforms are ethereal, omnipresent, and unbreakable. People like Alex keep them that way in rooms like this, lined with bundles of wires and other reminders of the net's fragile physicality.
A locked computer workstation sits to your left. To your right is a hefty (if: $visitedalex is true and $hastwofactor is true)[(link:"stack of datacubes.")[(goto:"Alex Datacubes")]](else:)[stack of datacubes. Someone has marked operating system names on each of them in an old-fashioned black marker, absolutely none of which match your nanites' experimental OS.] Alex herself is sitting on the floor (link: "at the far end")[(goto:"Alex Talk")] of the office, half-hidden by some kind of metal box.
--------------
(link:"^^''Credits''^^")[(display:"Credits3")]You crack the door to Manderley's office. His secretary drone slams it in your face.
(link:"Leave it alone.")[(goto:"HQ Second Floor")](if: $credits is 0)[''Credits''
^^By: Adi Robertson
Editing: Casey Newton
Original concept by: Warren Spector^^"]
(if: $credits is 1)[''Credits''
^^By: A(link:"d")[(set:$extracredits to it + 1)(replace:?creditp1)[D]]i Robertson
Editing: Casey Newton
Original concept by: Warren Spector^^)]
|creditp1>[]CREDITS
(align: "=><==")[
Directed by: A(if:$extracreditD1 is true)[(replace: ?creditsD1)[D]](else-if:$credits is >= 1)[(link:"d")[(set:$extracreditD1 to true)(set:$extracredits to it +1)(replace: ?creditsD1)[D]]](else:)[d]i Rob(if:$extracreditE1 is true)[(replace: ?creditsE1)[E]](else-if:$credits is >= 2)[(link:"e")[(set:$extracreditE1 to true)(set:$extracredits to it +1)(replace: ?creditsE1)[E]]](else:)[e]rtson
Written by: Adi Robertson
Edited by: Tktk Nonperson
Based on an original story by: Warren Spector
Special thanks: Charles Pratt
QA: tktk nonperson
Publisher: Vox Media
Built in: Twine 2
A HIDEO KOJIMA GAME
|creditsD1>[] |creditsA1>[] |creditsR1>[] |creditsK1>[] |creditsP1>[] |creditsA2>[] |creditsT1>[] |creditsT2>[] |creditsE1>[] |creditsR1>[] |creditsN1>[] |creditsS1>[]
(if:$extracredits is 12)[CHAOS ALIENS]](set: $credits to 0)At the center of a vast granite chamber, plasma panels light the ominous "all-enveloping hand" logo of the Deep State: Illuminati splinter cabal, shadow superpower, destroyer of subtext. The year is 2052, and the Deep State's secret headquarters dominates an already crowded San Francisco skyline, neatly dividing the city with a ruler-straight line.
That's what it's supposed to do, at least. In reality, the headquarters has been sinking for years into half-flooded Frisco's fetid mud. It lists enough to slash the city like a misplaced punctuation mark, and its interior decoration, from stone chairs to houseplants, has been bolted to the floor. Two men approach the logo with a tentative, off-balance attempt at a masculine stride: Bob Page, leader of the Deep State, and his lieutenant Walton Simons.
Facing each other awkwardly, ever-conscious of the looming hand behind them, the men (link:"begin to speak")[(goto:"Opening Conversation")].Inventory:
(if: $haslockpick is true)[* a universal lockpick]
(if: $hasgun is true)[*an unlicensed ceramoplasteel plasma flechette emitter]
(if: $hasregen is true)[* a nanorecontruction capacitor]
(if: $haskittens is true)[* a "rare feline breeds of North America" sticker pack]
(if: $hastwofactor is true)[* a two-factor authentication spoofing chip]
(if: $hasdronewhistle is true)[* a drone whisperer]You should make sure you're prepared for your mission.
You crack the door to Carter's office. He flashes a blinding eye and turns back to his work.
(link:"Close the door.")[(goto:"HQ Second Floor")]You don't even bother opening the door. You've got a bad feeling about those two.
(link:"Leave it alone.")[(goto:"HQ Second Floor")]There is a duct in Gunther Hermann's office. To learn more about this room, buy the DEUS EX: DARK PATTERNS Season Pass for $49.99.
(if: $visitedalex is false)[(link:"Crawl into the duct.")[(goto:"Alex From Duct")]] (else-if: $visitedalex is true and $hastwofactor is true)[(link:"Crawl into the duct.")[(goto:"Alex Visited Hacker")]](else-if: $visitedalex is true and $hasdronewhistle is true)[(link:"Crawl into the duct.")[(goto:"Alex Visited Drone")]]
(link:"Go away.")[(goto:"HQ Second Floor")]Alex is back at work, whatever that entails. Her locked computer workstation sits to your left, (if:$fellthroughduct is true or $ductlocked is false)[an (link: "open duct")[(goto:"Gunther Office Interior")] is beside it,](else-if:$ductlocked is false)[an (link: "open duct")[(goto:"Gunther Office Interior")] is beside it,](else-if: $alexcubetrick is true)[a (link: "locked duct")[(goto:"Open Alex Duct")] is beside it,](else-if: $dogsleep is true)[a locked duct is beside it,] and a (link:"stack of datacubes")[(goto:"Alex Datacubes")] is on the right. (if: $dogsleep is true)[The shibe is a quiet box at your feet.](else:)[The shibe has followed you -- maybe programmed curiosity, maybe reflexive surveillance.]
(if:$showedalexflag is false)[(set:$showedalexflag to true)(set:$showedflag to it + 1)As your head clears, you realize you have forgotten to show Alex the flag. You wave it conspicuously from across the room until she nods quizzically and looks away. Thank god.]
(if: $dogsleep is false)[(link:"Pet the shibe.")[(goto:"Log Into Dog")]]
(link:"Leave the room.")[(goto:"HQ Second Floor")]Double-click this passage to edit it.(align:"=><==")[THANK YOU FOR PLAYING //DEUS EX: DARK PATTERNS// FREEWARE EDITION
FOR MORE CHAPTERS PLEASE MAIL $5.98 AND A PRE-PAID ENVELOPE TO
85 BROAD STREET
15TH FLOOR
NEW YORK, NY 10004]Alex is hardwired to a foldout tablet, but not jacked in, you notice -- just decked out with the electrode armband and headset that most ETRUSCO agents have gotten implants to replace. She flicks a finger, and the box refolds itself origami-like into a chromed but oddly familiar four-legged shape. It trots aside, giving Alex space to stand and shake your hand.
["JC Denton. (if:$fellthroughduct is true)[Nice of you to... drop in?"](else:)[Nice to finally meet you,"] she says.]<c1|
[(if:$fellthroughduct is true)["Sorry about that.](else:)["The feeling is mutual.] Is that a drone?"]<c2|
(click: ?c2)["It's called a shibe. Autonomous nanites wrapped around an organic nervous system -- hard outside, squishy inside, sort of the opposite of you. And unlike you, it's not anywhere close to a field operation. So Manderley wants me to flip some switches in your little machines, right?"]<c3|
(click: ?c3)[(if:$visitedmanderley is true)["His exact words were 'computational firepower.'"](else:)["I haven't seen him yet. But I doubt he'd object."]]<c4|
(click: ?c4)[(if:$visitedmanderley is true)["Well, some ETRUSCO agents see everything as some kind of weapon. I'd rather call it overclocking your senses.](else:)["One synaptic overclock coming up. And I do mean //one//.] I'm authorized to patch in one of two upgrades. The first is a jammer that should redirect two-factor tokens for most workstations, coupled with a platonic vocal cord modulator for spoofing audio passphrases. In other words, a hacking kit. The second is a little applet that'll briefly override the priorities of autonomous robotic or cybernetic systems. You might call it a drone whistle."]<c5|
(click: ?c5)[|picktwofactor>[(link:"I'll take the hacking kit.")[(set: $hastwofactor to true)(replace: ?picktwofactor)["I'll take the hacking kit."](replace: ?pickdronewhistle)[](replace: ?choseitem)["Sure thing. This'll be a lot more fun than reinstalling Gunther's skullgun drivers. //Again//."]]]
|pickdronewhistle>[(link:"I'll take the drone whistle.")[(set: $hasdronewhistle to true)(replace: ?picktwofactor)["I'll take the drone whistle."](replace: ?pickdronewhistle)[](replace: ?choseitem)["Sure thing. This'll be a lot more fun than reinstalling Gunther's skullgun drivers. //Again//."]]]]
[|choseitem>[]]<c6|
(click: ?c6)["Skullgun?"]<c7|
(click: ?c7)["If you were going to ask: no, you're not getting one. Turns out taking recoil hits to the head is even less fun than it sounds, and Jaime doesn't need another agent coming in with concussions."]<c8|
(click: ?c8)["I was going to ask what an ETRUSCO agent needs with a permanent firearm implant. I thought our mission here was moderation -- not escalation."]<c9|
(click: ?c9)[Alex adjusts her headset and sits back down, motioning for you to follow. "My dad used to say there were three kinds of people. You've got your peaceful, helpless sheep. You've got your wolves, your nasty vicious sheep-consumers. And the only thing between the two is the sheepdog. Brave, righteous, upstanding -- and ready to tear the throat out of anything that looks a little too wolfish, because some incomprehensibly superintelligent being has spent five thousand years breeding it to think that //nothing else exists.//"]<c10|
(click: ?c10)[You tilt your head up and close your eyes, letting Alex find the nanoprogramming jack beneath your tactical turtleneck. "I'm not sure I understand the analogy."]<c11|
(click: ?c11)["Sorry -- I don't spend a whole lot of time talking to people. But what I'm trying to say is, it's not the skullguns I'm worried about. Now close your eyes, count backwards from five, and try not to imagine that your veins are full of spiders."]<c12|
(click: ?c12)[5]<c13| (click: ?c13)[4]<c14| (click: ?c14)[3]<c15| (click: ?c15)[(link:"2")[(goto:"Alex Talk Finish")]]The grate on the duct is loose. You clamber into the duct, crawl through a narrow passage that smells of aluminum dust, and pop open an identical grate at the other end, sliding gracelessly through a light screen into somebody's office. Judging by all the wires and old electronics, you're guessing it's Alex Jacobson's.
The office is larger than you'd expect an IT technician to have -- but then again, ETRUSCO was conceived as a primarily online operation, until the platforms were fully locked down and finding offenders became a matter of finding their illicit data towers and server banks. For most web users today, the platforms are ethereal, omnipresent, and unbreakable. People like Alex keep them that way in rooms like this, lined with reminders of the net's fragile physicality.
A locked computer workstation sits to your left. To your right is a hefty (if: $visitedalex is true and $hastwofactor is true)[(link:"stack of datacubes.")[(goto:"Alex Datacubes")]](else:)[stack of datacubes. Someone has marked operating system names on each of them in an old-fashioned black marker, absolutely none of which match your nanites' experimental OS.] Alex herself is sitting on the floor (link: "at the far end")[(set: $ductlocked to false)(set:$fellthroughduct to true)(goto:"Alex Talk")] of the office, half-hidden by some kind of metal box. She looks somewhere between startled and impressed.You press the new node at the side of your throat and see a list of names -- well, a single name, "AJACOBSON" -- appear in your retinal waveguide.
["Do you know the password?"]<c1|
(click: ?c1)[The workstation tips upward and fades online. Its desktop background is set to an old photo of a long-since-melted Antarctic research zone with a slightly stretched aspect ratio, icons arranged to cover only the tiny equipment shacks in the picture. You see a series of dull interface screenshots, a logo for //Dwarf Fortress v0.995//, and an email notification widget:
//You have 110,802 unread messages in your mailbox. Priority messages: 1.//
(link:"Read the email.")[(goto:"Alex Email")]
(link:"Log out.")[(goto:"Alex Visited Hacker")]]You pick up a datacube and press a finger to its contact pad. As usual, you're not sure whether you can feel the nanites winding their way to the surface of your skin to transmit their tiny electrical pulses, or if it's purely psychosomatic. (if: $hastwofactor is true)[The first four datacubes give you nothing -- just old cat pictures and several folders labeled //Dwarf Fortress//. But the fifth appears to (link:"hold a message")[(goto:"Alex Datacubes Message")].] (if: $hasdronewhistle is true)[The first five datacubes give you nothing -- just old cat pictures, several folders labeled //Dwarf Fortress//, and a passphrase that's useless without hacking augs. But the sixth appears to (link:"hold a note")[(goto:"Alex Datacubes Message")].](set:$alexcubetrick to true)From: 33 Thomas St. Supervisor `<1s35sklilo14555@oathcast.net>`
To: Alex Jacobson `<ajacobson@etrusco.org>`
Subject: NOREPLY - Maintenance Request #002913628 - RESOLVED
//Dear `$RESIDENT`
Our maintenance algorithms detect no irregularities in HVAC performance. Building records also indicate that your duct's placement (A394xD213) is too high for standard ingress by a human or animal of mean organic strength. Thank you for your concern.
-
>>>An HVAC duct cover in my office
>>>seems to have come loose. Not hanging off or any
>>>thing, but if you squeeze the
>>>diagonal corners, it pops right
>>>open. I know it's been a long
>>>time since this was all NSA
>>>ops, but I assume security doesn't just want
>>>people crawling around in the walls
>>>-- and hell, the other offices might
>>>be worse.//
(link:"Log out.")[(goto:"Alex Visited Hacker")]You open your eyes after, according to your nanoclock, four minutes and thirty-three seconds. The past few lines of conversation are a blur, and you have a strange tickling in your throat. Alex waves a hand in front of your face.
["Feeling augmented yet?"]<c1|
(click: ?c1)["I guess so. How am I supposed to use this thing?"]<c2|
(click: ?c2)[(if:$hastwofactor is true)["Just find a passphrase and say it, same as usual. The modulator adds supervocal static that should freak out voiceprint software, like those turtles AIs think are guns.](if:$hasdronewhistle is true)["Just get close enough to touch a machine, and it's your best friend for thirty seconds.] By the way, I tweaked your system compatibility mode, so you can interface with basically any external storage media. A society loses its data, it loses its past, you know?"]<c3|
(click: ?c3)[Still a little dazed, you nod goodbye and wander (link:"back to the front")[(set:$visitedalex to true)(set: $seealex to false)(if:$hastwofactor is true)[(goto:"Alex Visited Hacker")](if:$hasdronewhistle is true)[(set: $dogsleep to false)(goto:"Alex Visited Drone")]] of the office.]Alex is back at work, whatever that entails. Her computer workstation sits to your left, (if: $alexcubecode is true)[waiting (link:"for a passphrase.")[(goto:"Alex Computer")]](else:)[still inaccessible without a passphrase.]
(if:$fellthroughduct is true)[An (link: "open duct")[(goto:"Gunther Office Interior")] is beside it.](else-if: $ductlocked is false)[An (link: "open duct")[(goto:"Gunther Office Interior")] is beside it.] (else-if: $alexcubetrick is true)[Based on your datalink's blueprint calculations, a (link: "locked duct")[(goto:"Open Alex Duct")] should be located just beside it, under a picture of pre-flood Shanghai.] A (link:"stack of datacubes")[(goto:"Alex Datacubes")] is on the right.
(if:$showedalexflag is false)[(set:$showedalexflag to true)(set:$showedflag to it + 1)As your head clears, you realize you have forgotten to show Alex the flag. You wave it conspicuously from across the room until she nods quizzically and looks away. Thank god.]
(link:"Leave the room.")[(goto:"HQ Second Floor")](if: $hastwofactor is true)[//G:
Please stop attempting to install black-market intrusion countermeasures on my local network. Dark pattern traps are as illegal for us as the hackers, and only an insane sociopath would rather hypnotize someone to death than arrest them. Also, stop telling me your passphrase over commlink every time you want a reset. If you can't be bothered to walk to my office, use an offline datacube. "Do you know the password?" See, that's my secondary account phrase, which I'm comfortable sharing over datacube because I TRUST THE SYSTEM WE HAVE ESTABLI//
The message appears to have been neither finished nor delivered.
(link:"Put the datacube down.")[(set: $alexcubecode to true)(goto:"Alex Visited Hacker")]] (if: $hasdronewhistle is true)[//MAINTENANCE REQUEST: CLIENT COPY
Sender: Jacobson, Alexa Echo
Category: Infrastructure/HVAC
Text: An HVAC duct cover in my office seems to have come loose. Not hanging off or anything, but if you squeeze the diagonal corners, it pops right open. I know it's been a long time since this was all NSA ops, but I assume security doesn't just want people crawling around in the walls -- and hell, the other offices might be worse.//
(link:"Put the datacube down.")[(set: $alexcubetrick to true)(goto:"Alex Visited Drone")]]The shibe's metal exoskeleton contracts slightly when you stroke it, eerily lifelike and artificial at the same time -- although you suspect some people have said the same thing about you. It lifts its head, opens a mouthlike port, and licks your hand.
Your retinal waveguide lights up:
(link:"ACTIVATE THREAT MODELING")[(goto:"Dog Finds Vent")]
(link:"DESYNC")[(goto:"Alex Visited Drone")]The shibe's eyes glow briefly as it scans the room with a faint clicking noise. Its heatmap and executive report spreads across your waveguide.
w o w
m u c h w i r i n g
v e r y a i r d u c t
''s o s e c u r e''
A score in flashing red suggests that this last line is sarcastic.
The shibe seizes up as soon as it's finished and retreats back into box form. You notice a square it's highlighted behind a light screen printing of pre-flood Shanghai. Gently lifting the picture aside, you see the locked entrance to an air duct.
(set: $dogsleep to true)
(if:$alexcubetrick is true)[(link:"Jiggle the sides and crawl into the duct.")[(set: $ductlocked to false)(goto:"Gunther Office Interior")]]
(link:"Leave the duct alone.")[(goto:"Alex Visited Drone")]You carefully jiggle the duct open. As you climb in, you think you see Alex roll her eyes.
(link:"Exit the duct.")[(set: $ductlocked to false)(goto:"Gunther Office Interior")]