I
Insidious Joe
Guest
Original poster
In the year 2284, the world as you and I know it no longer exists. Technology had advanced rapidly to the point that it was considered sci-fi in every sense: Cloning vats, medi-gel that healed most wounds, cybernetic augmentation, androids. Only ten years ago, humans were thriving after they paid the cost of their greed and ignorance in the form of nuclear fire. Their population centers were based around great biodomes which acted as shelter during the brief war, but had long since deactivated and left behind only great walls of steel with only one public entrance in and out through the main doors.
Each biodome had been ruthlessly controlled by mega corporations that had sprouted up in the absence of a formal government, holding a monopoly of critical resources over the heads of its residents: food, water, electricity, medicine. Industrialism was heavy, and so were the prices that the less fortunate paid. Laws consisted of the tiniest infractions, whatever the CEO of the ruling mega corporation thought of, and were enforced by personal thugs with brutal efficiency and extreme prejudice.
And there is no escape from this hell outside the biodomes, which has been reduced to nothing but dirt. No lush rolling plains, no countless acres of trees. Just dirt and pockets of fatal radiation, which has warped the wildlife, rapidly evolving them into creatures that can hunt humans desperate or stupid enough to leave the "protection" of the biodome.
There was one replicant, who held the belief that he was a man, who stood up against the oppression. He openly rebelled against the rulers of the Oppekt biodome, tearing it and its factories down. Freeing the people from tyranny, all seemed well. But he had discovered a terrible secret lurking in the alloy confines of Oppekt's stomach: A supercomputer that revealed the location of biodomes all over pre-fall America. All active. All likely undergoing the same trials and tribulations that the people here suffered.
He couldn't let that happen. Too many people, just here, had suffered too much. The supercomputer revealed to the replicant that there was a self-destruct method available that was to be used in a cataclysm event that threatened pre-fall America. Enough explosives to tear this beast down, and end everyone's suffering in one blow.
Some humans or replicants might have survived. Not all of them lived in the biodomes, it was just harsh and typically fatal. Maybe they could carry on where the rest of humanity had clearly failed.
So he activated the sequence. That was the last thing that he remembered
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December 31st, 2284
Bowels of ruined Oppekt Biodome, post-fall America
1:23 A.M.
The haunting melody of groaning metal reverberated throughout the mostly-destroyed tunnel network that consisted of the underbelly that was Oppekt. An explosion had rocked the infrastructure of the biodome, severely damaging if not outright destroying anything inside the great walls. A beam of light threaded its way through a hole in the ceiling, which had collapsed in on itself and filled the antechamber with dirt and charred debris, pinning most of Buck to the floor. That light rested on the replicant's face.
A replicant's system relied on an internal power supply that ran off of solar and kinetic energy. Since the detonation knocked him offline, he had inadvertently doomed himself to 'death' down here. But the sun still shone, and with the support beams severely damaged, it only took most of the ten years to finally come apart, and two more years of little sunlight to slowly recharge a dead battery. In essence, it was all luck.
One by one, critical components were brought online. Green eyes fluttered open, but the sight Buck was given was grainy at best, and very off-kilter. He tried to stand but his legs were trapped. So he laid there for a moment to think about what had happened. 'I'm alive?' A frown automatically creased his lips. He decided, if he were going to get out of here and figure out what had happened for himself, that he needed to get to work.
Despite the damaged ocular receptors, he started to dig and shove debris off of his body. He spent an hour this way, shoveling aside dirt and such until he could pull himself out from underneath the rest. The synthetic fibers that made up his leather cargo pants held together, it seemed, albeit being very dirty now. He rolled up a pantleg to assess the damage. His leg was crushed and jagged in certain places, but nothing delicate seemed to have been destroyed. Moving about would be annoying, but nothing that could hinder him.
With a little effort, he managed to get on his feet and re-acclimate to standing again. Most of the non-essential systems were damaged and offline, something he'd have to fix once he got out of here. He looked up to see where the light was coming from, and decided he'd try his luck there as he saw no other immediately available exits beyond digging his way out of this substitute tomb.
Buck spent about twenty minutes climbing, falling, and climbing again until he made it to the hole. With a bit of a push against the crumbling ceiling, he managed to widen the gaping exit wound in the earth and pull himself up out of the tunnels. He was now on the street level of Oppekt dome.
What he saw, when compared to his memory banks, shocked him. Once filled with towering skyscrapers and bustling with life, it was nothing now. Nothing but heaps of metal, fire, and ash. He could actually see the sky. It was a murky brown, just like the dirt under his feet. Black clouds were rolling in. It was going to rain soon.
'Is this really all that remained?'
Each biodome had been ruthlessly controlled by mega corporations that had sprouted up in the absence of a formal government, holding a monopoly of critical resources over the heads of its residents: food, water, electricity, medicine. Industrialism was heavy, and so were the prices that the less fortunate paid. Laws consisted of the tiniest infractions, whatever the CEO of the ruling mega corporation thought of, and were enforced by personal thugs with brutal efficiency and extreme prejudice.
And there is no escape from this hell outside the biodomes, which has been reduced to nothing but dirt. No lush rolling plains, no countless acres of trees. Just dirt and pockets of fatal radiation, which has warped the wildlife, rapidly evolving them into creatures that can hunt humans desperate or stupid enough to leave the "protection" of the biodome.
There was one replicant, who held the belief that he was a man, who stood up against the oppression. He openly rebelled against the rulers of the Oppekt biodome, tearing it and its factories down. Freeing the people from tyranny, all seemed well. But he had discovered a terrible secret lurking in the alloy confines of Oppekt's stomach: A supercomputer that revealed the location of biodomes all over pre-fall America. All active. All likely undergoing the same trials and tribulations that the people here suffered.
He couldn't let that happen. Too many people, just here, had suffered too much. The supercomputer revealed to the replicant that there was a self-destruct method available that was to be used in a cataclysm event that threatened pre-fall America. Enough explosives to tear this beast down, and end everyone's suffering in one blow.
Some humans or replicants might have survived. Not all of them lived in the biodomes, it was just harsh and typically fatal. Maybe they could carry on where the rest of humanity had clearly failed.
So he activated the sequence. That was the last thing that he remembered
-------------------------------------
December 31st, 2284
Bowels of ruined Oppekt Biodome, post-fall America
1:23 A.M.
The haunting melody of groaning metal reverberated throughout the mostly-destroyed tunnel network that consisted of the underbelly that was Oppekt. An explosion had rocked the infrastructure of the biodome, severely damaging if not outright destroying anything inside the great walls. A beam of light threaded its way through a hole in the ceiling, which had collapsed in on itself and filled the antechamber with dirt and charred debris, pinning most of Buck to the floor. That light rested on the replicant's face.
A replicant's system relied on an internal power supply that ran off of solar and kinetic energy. Since the detonation knocked him offline, he had inadvertently doomed himself to 'death' down here. But the sun still shone, and with the support beams severely damaged, it only took most of the ten years to finally come apart, and two more years of little sunlight to slowly recharge a dead battery. In essence, it was all luck.
One by one, critical components were brought online. Green eyes fluttered open, but the sight Buck was given was grainy at best, and very off-kilter. He tried to stand but his legs were trapped. So he laid there for a moment to think about what had happened. 'I'm alive?' A frown automatically creased his lips. He decided, if he were going to get out of here and figure out what had happened for himself, that he needed to get to work.
Despite the damaged ocular receptors, he started to dig and shove debris off of his body. He spent an hour this way, shoveling aside dirt and such until he could pull himself out from underneath the rest. The synthetic fibers that made up his leather cargo pants held together, it seemed, albeit being very dirty now. He rolled up a pantleg to assess the damage. His leg was crushed and jagged in certain places, but nothing delicate seemed to have been destroyed. Moving about would be annoying, but nothing that could hinder him.
With a little effort, he managed to get on his feet and re-acclimate to standing again. Most of the non-essential systems were damaged and offline, something he'd have to fix once he got out of here. He looked up to see where the light was coming from, and decided he'd try his luck there as he saw no other immediately available exits beyond digging his way out of this substitute tomb.
Buck spent about twenty minutes climbing, falling, and climbing again until he made it to the hole. With a bit of a push against the crumbling ceiling, he managed to widen the gaping exit wound in the earth and pull himself up out of the tunnels. He was now on the street level of Oppekt dome.
What he saw, when compared to his memory banks, shocked him. Once filled with towering skyscrapers and bustling with life, it was nothing now. Nothing but heaps of metal, fire, and ash. He could actually see the sky. It was a murky brown, just like the dirt under his feet. Black clouds were rolling in. It was going to rain soon.
'Is this really all that remained?'
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