The BLAME! Game

Everyone is suddenly teleported and appear in a massive, dark tunnel. Naturally, your advanced eyes allow you to see, however your attention is focused to the mysterious figures floating in front of you.

"We are the Controller AI, the extended body of all consciousness in the Netsphere. The Netsphere is currently in a state of chaos, and has been thrown into purgatory." He pauses and stretches a long, tendril like arm which appears both transparent and not so. He wraps it in a circle, and in the center appears a picture. "We do not waste time. We only wish for you, who have been randomly chosen, to bring an end to the unending anguish that is existence inside of the Netsphere. Here, I will show you your objective: the planet once called earth." In the floating picture appears a black sphere, covered in massive towers and black metal. Tiny specs of light shoot up, but otherwise it is completely covered in darkness. "As you know, Earth is the planet of origin for all life here. It is at the center of this structure that is known as The City. This is also where the Netsphere is located. You should-" He stops suddenly and stares off into nothing, then resumes in a more frank and easy tone. "Yes, of course, there is no point in continuing knowing that you are of mortal mind. I brought you here abruptly. Before we go any further, I would ask of you your names, and allow you a moment to adjust and ask questions, if you like."

With this the white-faced figure lowers itself to the ground, and you are able to see it more clearly. It strikes an elegant pose, with a thin mid-structure that rises around to attach to it's head. It is not humanoid in shape, but instead seems more ghastly. Small shots of blue electricity occasionally shoot from where it's shoulders would be. The tendril-like arm juts from it's front, and breaks in and out of vision, as if part of it was missing.

Actions: Observe, Talk.

Free talk (post as you like)

"What do you mean we were chosen 'randomly'? How would you have known we were able to save the Net Sphere if you simply drew our names out of hats?" Nathanial asks with more than a touch of sarcasm as he observes the area that they've been drawn into with his, special eyes.

Eva observes the area and the people that surround him, specifically the safeguard.

> Eva sees the safeguard and notes the obvious: A gun and nanobots. However, he does not understand what the gun does specifically, nor the functions of the nanobots.

He sees the 3 augmented humans and notices little about them, only noting their base weapons. He senses gravitational abilities but isn't currently sure from who.

Around him, he sees that the tunnel stretches some 40 feet in width, and he cannot see the roof. All along the walls and ground are small, raised lines, indicating that this was once used as a rail passage. There are two branching paths in the distance in front of him, but he cannot see anything behind him besides darkness.

Startled from the sudden teleportation, unusual surroundings, and strange speech, Milos draws his railgun abruptly and jumps back several yards, nanobots swarming around him. "What the hell! What's going on!" He glances around at the various lifeforms, humans, silicon life, and safeguard. Frantically, he begins charging his railgun, though not aiming at anything in particular. He looks angrily at the 'controller AI.' "And you! Safeguard, here to exterminate me!? What are you!?"

"We simply chose you from a large number of other candidates. In that way, you were random." He looks directly at Nathanial as he says the next part. "However, you could say that in that sense, you were not truly random. Perhaps something led us to pick you without us realizing why. We would not know."

"MAYBE BECAUSE YOU'RE HERE TO EXTERMINATE THE ROGUE--" Something finally clicks in Milos' mind; nobody else is charging their weapons, including the mysterious figure. He releases the charge from his railgun without firing, but now points it at the AI. "Sorry. But what are you and what do you expect us to do, anyway?"

"What were the candidates based off of? Height, ability, power, charm? You've randomly collected us all here and expect us to just comply with your demands... well I'm not having it." Nathaniel then moves to walk away from the apparent super-being.

Max looks around at the people surrounding him. He sees Eva.  wut... It's a giant!
A surprised look comes across Max's face as he sees him.

>Max observes everyone in a similar manner to Eva, seeing their base weaponry but not knowing their function.

The timing on this seems a little too convenient. Right when I decide to do something about the net sphere, this happens? Hmmm... Lloyd observes his surroundings, wary of any sudden threats, aside from the safeguard waving its gun around. Point that gun at me, and you'll regret it. "You. Safeguard. I think you'll be doing everyone here a favor by putting that weapon away. I'd rather not piss this thing off."

"Eh--*sigh* alright..." Having calmed down a little bit, Milos puts his gun back onto his back, and the nanobots around him settle down and quit swarming, returning to their tank. No use struggling anyway... Besides, these guys don't seem all too hostile. Better to try and make friends, seeing as how vulnerable I'd be otherwise.

The Controller looks towards Nathanial, and a second visage of himself appears in front of him. Then he begins to speak.

"Do calm down. We have not communicated in a normal manner in quite some time. Allow us to restate ourselves.

You were chosen because you have the highest chance of success, and are the most motivated to effect the Net Sphere. There were many possible others, so you were chosen randomly among them. As for criteria, this we do not know. There was an old program stored in the Netsphere that was-" He breaks off yet again, and suddenly the voice changes. "Simply understand that you are here to save the Netsphere. Things have been set in motion. Please do comply." The visage then disappears from in front of Nathanial.

Nathanial sighs and turns around, "Fine, since you're obviously intent on keeping us here untill you speak your piece, let's have it."

Eva squats down before leaping into the air, aiming to grab onto the walls as he nears the apex of his jump.

> Eva's flys upwards almost 100ft, however to he does not reach a ceiling. Instead he sees more blackness above, and catches a glimpse of more tunnels in the walls that have rails leading out of them, as well as the evenly spaced rails on the walls.

Milos settles down and begins to take note of the things around him, observing his surroundings and the equipment of his apparently new allies. Tiny lights of the nanomachines buzz around his body in scarce numbers as his electronic mind begins to compute and calculate the parameters of the scenario.

>Due to his high understanding of technology, Milos immediately realizes that the tunnel is a magnetized railway used for transporting good and people. He also senses that the ground and rails themselves are made of an alloy that is highly conductive, and that there is still a slight amount of electromagnetic waves flowing through them. His nanomachines also calculate that the tunnel extends several miles behind and above them, with hundreds of off branching tunnels connecting to this main one.

"So you expect total strangers who have never even met to suddenly cooperate towards this goal of yours? Sounds like a pretty big gamble to me." Lloyd says

"Well I guess there's no getting out of this. We might as well make ourselves known to each other if we are going to be stuck on a team. I'm Max."

Huh... a major EM rail-line junction... fitting for the coming together of many people, and appropriate for deciding where to begin a quest, what with all the different possible destinations...

He looks over at Max. "Good idea. My name is Milos, and I am an expert in nanotechnology."

"The hell is nanotechnology?"

Milos gathers up a small amount (1/6) of nanomachines into a ball floating above his palm, about the size of a softball. "Like this. Watch." He makes a gentle push with his hand in Max's direction, and the flashing blue lights start blinking green as they slowly approach Max. "They don't bite."

Not unless I tell them to, of course.

Eva releases his grip on the wall and falls to the ground.

>Eva slams into the ground an dents it, but the metal does not groan or break.

"Everyone has settled down, so we may begin."

"First, after much deliberation we have decided that it is redundant to refer to ourselves in a plural form, so we will from now on speak in the first person. Second, you must understand that we do not have much time, so I cannot tell you everything now. However, I can tell you what you need to do. If you still feel hesitant to comply, then in a few minutes you might change your mind."

"The Netsphere is the source of all problems in the Megastructure. It is what has caused the safeguard to malfunction and aim to kill everyone, and it has also lead to the builder robots to endlessly construct outwards, at the cost of eating up energy at a destructive pace. People no longer live quietly, but must constantly be in fear, and they have had to augment themselves past human levels to survive."

"The netsphere will not comply with anybody not possessing something called the Net Terminal Gene, which you have probably heard of. The whereabouts of this gene are unbeknownst to even I. However, I have brought you close to a place that may contain it; Toha Industries."

"So we're to simply waltz in and take it? Let's say we all agreed to this. What kind of defenses should we expect?" Lloyd asks before thinking to himself. I usually don't talk this much, but I get the feeling that if I don't ask these questions, no one will. I also suppose that this may be the best chance I will have at changing the net sphere, so I'll probably go along with all of this....as long as I'm not the only one. Doing this solo would be suicide.

Max jumps back away from the nanomachines and draws his sword, saying "I don't believe you. Keep those things away from me."

"Ah. Perhaps, another time." Milos smiles and recalls his nanomachines by pulling his hand back in a gentle motion, and the lights turn blue and disperse all over his body, blending in with the lights already on him. I forget, humans aren't too keen on trusting safeguards. I will have to earn their trust if we are to cooperate successfully on a mission like this. He eyes the silicon behemoth carefully. And this one... Its actions seem random, and it hasn't spoken yet. I wonder what the others think.

Milos turns to the AI. "Why Toha Industries? Why does it seem close? And besides, if you embody the Netsphere, why can't you fix it yourself?"

"He can't fix it because only a human with the net terminal gene can alter the Netsphere. You should know this as a safeguard." Eva says with his deep mechanical voice.