The Fall of Arboria: IC [Open] Reboot

[Benuty]

OOC

Chapter One: The Day the Sun Came out

Day One
Government District
Local Pharmacy
Peter Holmes
6:00 AM.

Life wasn't hard for Peter Holmes, but it wasn't exactly easy for Peter either. He made a decent living ensuring people who got on his bus went to where they needed to quickly. While sometimes it proved a thankless job the fact remained robotics couldn't drive buses yet, and not everyone can get where they need to by walking. People don't realize how big the island is sometimes cloistered away in their areas until returning to their homes in the residential districts. As he sat in the pharmacy his fingers itched, the tell signs of a smoker needing his fix.

He apologized to the nurse saying he was going outside, and to let him know when the flu shot was ready. The pharmacy had just got a new batch from the mainland. Things were getting slower, and slower each day, but supplies still came. For the most part, the city was self-sufficient in a lot of stuff, but not everything. The vices, and luxuries made up a big part of what the port received once a week outside of new people. As Peter lifted up the cigarette he noticed the things were getting smaller, and muttered "pathetic...".

A sight distracted him though as a ray of light broke through the clouds. Normally the weather all day every day was gray with times where it would rain for days on end. Sometimes there would be fog, but the temperature, for the most part, stayed relatively comfortable. Peter looked up and gasped at something he hadn't seen in three years. "Well, its the damn sun...finally breaking through the clouds".

He felt a warm sensation in his hands and reeled back in shock seeing the cigarette dangerously close to burning his fingers. He stomped out the remains as the nurse came out, and told him the shot was ready. The sudden brightness of the outside disorienting her, and she laughed "I haven't felt that since vacationing all those years ago in Australia". Peter nodded saying "It's getting rarer every time...if we see the sun for another six years we will be lucky". The nurse quipped "let the doubters talk, its good luck if the sun is out".

The nurse closed the door behind them, and Peter walked into the doctor's office sitting himself up in the chair. Within seconds he felt a prick from the syringe, and it was over quickly as it began. The doctor walked over to a tub with a biohazard sign and disposed of the syringe. "It's remarkable really these syringes painlessly administer medicine, and efficiently at that...you are the seventh person in thirty minutes to get their shot". Peter began walking over to the door, nodded at the nurse, and said: "Just bill my company for the cost as usual doc".

Peter was going to run late if he wasn't careful, and he hadn't been late in six years. If his boss didn't blister him then his wife sure damn would.
As Peter rushed to the bus depot he was thankful people were too enamored with the sun to notice he was a minute over as he clocked in. Peter sat in the driver's seat, sighed, and thought to himself "maybe this is a good luck sign?". Little did Peter know that a little after the end of the month the corporate model city would be in a nightmarish state. People for a long time remember the day the sun came out.

[Endem]

Aleksander Opolski
Whatever district it was, it was boring

06:00 a.m

Well, another morning shift, another boring patrol, as always he preferred to do it on foot, sometimes he wondered why Arboria, the "Model City" even needs a police force, in this case, Sector Authority, but, both things are pretty much the same. Aleksander was walking having similar thoughts as one before. He never saw any action since he came here, and it was really getting on his nerves, after so many years in the police in a big city he was used to constant phones, not dead silence on the lines. Then suddenly something blinded him, what was it?

Aleksander looked up and saw Sun, how could it be, he only once saw the sun, and it was on some kind of children's book when he was about three years old. Could it be, a real sun? Aleksander stopped dead in his tracks and decided to not walk for as long as the sun was out, it was so rare that only people that hate it would not do something like this.

[Flarbinia]

Guan Cao

The phone rang, Guan Cao answering it. "It's Darren Mitchell from Human Resources again. I know that you do not want to kill Jacques Beaumont, but the board found out that he embezzled millions from the company pension and has green lit his death. I hope that is enough to clear your conscience." The man on the phone said to Guan Cao before hanging up, a smile on his face. "You only smile when you get good news, which is what we haven't gotten in a while." Ming Su said to Guan Cao. "Jacques Beaumont has been discovered to be a traitor and I am going to cut him from the payroll permanently." Guan Cao said to Ming Su before motioning for her and their children to grab what they can before leaving the apartment.

[Labstoska]

Solomon Moreau
A small wisp of condensed breath exited from Solomon's mouth as he shuffled throughout the genral market wearing a heavy overcoat and thick scarf, the nuclear winter had converted what ought to be a sunny morning into a crueller rendition of Norway yet as a man who had lived in the post-fallout Britain he was safely able to say that the time he lived in Aboria were probably some of the warmest years of his life. This was an integral part of the reason that he was one of the few people that didn't mind that he was allocated the afternoon shift, to Solomon the crack of dawn was the best time in which someone was able to get some decent quality food, very few people around and those who few businessmen and woman who had the courage to set up this early were willing to sell their goods cheap.

Eventually after spending a few minutes navigating a labyrinth of abandoned stalls and slowly freezing individuals desperately attempting to grab Solomon's attention his eye fell upon a stand selling steaks, pork and what could only be described as assorted lumps of meat. As he approached the stall the man behind in a slightly two friendly voice "So what can I do for ya?".

Solomon gave a wide smile and said "Ahh I'll take a steak thanks"

The vendor began packaging the steak for Solomon and while he did so he looked up and said "So You're from Britain huh must be hard with that whole plague thing going on" his voice was masked with sympathy yet beneath Solomon was able to pick up a note of suspicion.

Solomon sighed as he began to reply, every two minutes it seemed as if another person would notice his accent and begin to regard him as if he had somehow managed to smuggle himself onto the island diseases and all, of course Solomon could understand why, if he was in their shoes he wouldn't want to take any chances with someone who came from an Island that had been entirely decimated by disease yet still someone with a fine looking suit like himself shouldn't have to be questioned by any old chump of the street. Solomon gave a forced smile and said "Don't worry I left the isles before the outbreak you don't have to treat me like I'm one of the infected".

The vendor simply grunted and handed Solomon the packaged steak, Solomon rolled his eyes and began walking in the opposite direction back towards his apartment. Suddenly a shaft light landed upon Solomon's eyes forcing him to look at his shoes, slowly he began to look up to the sky and what he saw pretty much made up for all the germaphobes of Arboria. The sun. He hadn't seen it in what seemed like years, it was one of those things that helped to alleviate the layers of misery that mired the world, Solomon gave a genuine smile and continued on his way back home, he was going to treat himself to a good breakfast.

[Flarbinia]

Guan Cao
Guan Cao entered his Pontiac Firebird and headed to the Munsin Laundromat, a front for a gambling den that his supervisor frequented. Jacques Beaumont was an addict, borrowing from loan sharks to cover his losses, everyone in the know assuming that he acquired the money needed to pay off the debt by accepting bribes. Now that he knew the truth, he would pick up his supervisor and drive him to a Renault Firms warehouse so that he and his co-conspirators can kill him. Was there security? Yes, but none of the guards would interfere with a board-sanctioned assassination, lest their loved ones end up in a body bag. Were there any employees working in the warehouse that day? Yes, but they were smart enough to keep their mouth shut, as Renault Firms has spies everywhere.

[Benuty]

Day One
Government District
City Hall-Radio Station
6:30 AM.

Alex fiddled with the radio controls as one of the city councils secretaries busted into the room handing him a note reading "the sun is out". The grizzled radio DJ smiled and turned to the singers on the radio stand. He stood up and pressed the note up against the window. A blond woman in a red dress waited for the red light to turn on, and began to speak. "We here at City Hall have a special announcement for all citizens on Arboria today. It appears the sun has decided to pay us a visit, and apparently people all the way from Seattle to San Francisco can see it.

The second woman in the stand by the name of Annie spoke up, she was an African American making her an oddity in the city, but apparently, someone in city hall liked her. "Speaking of the sun, it now means I can visit the park with my family without having to pay for a ticket to have the artificial lights turned on. This reminds me folks that you need sunscreen since a lot of us don't have the luxury of seeing the sun often. As such our corporate sponsor for this next song Lets Go Sunning by Jack Shaindlin is Ackerman Pharmaceuticals. As the song began Darla spoke up one last time saying "remember folks, today, and today only all sunscreen is half off".

Let's go sunning
It's so good for you
Let's go sunning
Beneath the sky of blue
Greet the sun every morn
Feel as free and happy as the day you were born

Let's go native
Sun your cares away
Be creative
Learn to live and play
Pretty flowers need the sun
This applies to everyone

Life's worth living
When nature's giving
Happiness to everyone
So let's go sunning

Let's go native
Sun your cares away
Be creative
Learn to live and play
Pretty flowers need the sun
This applies to everyone

Life's worth living
When nature's giving
Happiness to everyone
So let's go sunning

[Flarbinia]

Guan Cao
Guan Cao arrived at the Munsin Laundromat as a Yugo, a lemon that is now worth its weight in gold due to the nationwide quarantine, drove up to the Laundromat, several men exiting the vehicle and heading towards the backdoor of the Laundromat. Knowing that they were here to collect their interest from Jacques Beaumont, compounded in blood, Guan Cao got out of the Pontiac Firebird and headed inside. "You are early. We usually clean out Jacques by the time you show up." Hwan Bae, the owner of the Munsin, said to Guan Cao as he entered the Laundromat. "My supervisor is needed for a meeting. Some third-party investor looking to move some freight without having to kick up to the Board. The kind of freight that will get the investor twenty-five to life if they get caught. I would normally wait for him to stumble his broke drunk ass towards my car, but some unforeseen complications have come up." Guan Cao said to Hwan Bae, the Laundromat owner simply sighing. "That bastard borrowed money from Three Toed Tsung, didn't he? I will tell Jacques that something important has come up." Hwan Bae said to Guan Cao before heading into the gambling area. After five minutes, Jacques Beaumont had left the table with only thirty bucks left. "Now that you are out of the gambling area, we should head to the warehouse. The money you will get from the third-party investor should be enough to get you squared away with Three Toed Tsung." Guan Cao said to Jacque Beaumont as he escorted his overweight supervisor to the Pontiac Firebird, gunshots ringing out from the gambling area, Hwan Bae switching the sign from "Open" to "Closed".

[Benuty]

A sector authority officer is bored with having nothing to do. A director for robotics sees the fear in peoples eyes. A security guard does his job and something else for the company. What do all these people have in common? For now, nothing, but soon their fate will be tied together as the dance of chaos rings closer, and closer to the model city.

Day Two

The sun had come out yesterday and made people breathe a sigh of relief, but some considered it an omen. Understandably so since the sun coming out isn't viewed as a natural phenomenon anymore. The calenders across the city were changed to read May 2nd. In a few days, a major sports festival will begin and attract people from all companies. The sports festival is a way for people to release some stress built up from constant working.

In truth, such events were more commonplace than people realized. Time in the model city could pass, and people would be entirely unaware of anything happening outside their shift. Some of the executives back in the first days of the city wanted to try out different ways of keeping people from getting too distracted. To some, this meant keeping them too busy to engage in rebellious ideas while others had bizarre ideas of segregation. Not in the traditional sense by race, but by time, as a result, the shift system was invented.

Entire groups of people could go to work in the various districts unaware other shifts existed. This system of constant working as a way to prevent inactivity worked for a year until someone snapped, and beat an office worker to death with a chair. As the executives reviewed the footage of the man holding the chair enraged they realized that the blood dripping from the destroyed chair meant changes had to be made. The expectations of the shifts were scaled back, breaks introduced, and festivals came up district by district. Now each season they host a big sports festival among many others to unite the districts into a glorious spectacle.

While it does serve to give people a break it presents a good show to future employees of the city. Still, if something were to disrupt the festivals them people might just snap. If peoples germaphobia which while justified goes into the extreme sometimes suddenly became valid then the city might break down socially. All it takes is a few screws to pop out, and people might just kill one another. Of course, the incident from those years ago might not happen, and people might band together for the greater good.

Patient Zero

As Peter holmes emerged for his shift he clasped his head rubbing it. He winced in pain as he downed the painkillers the doctor at the pharmacy gave him. He started feeling weird ever since the sandwich he had yesterday afternoon or so he thought. He didn't feel any side effects from the flu shot, and he only started to hurt after that sandwich. He called the doctor, and the robot they sent over to scan him found out it wasn't food poisoning, but severe indigestion.

After the scan, the robot dispensed some painkillers to help so Peter could get to his job. He had always driven buses and being a resident of the ghetto in the morbidly named testing district was for all intents, and purposes better than being on the mainland. His wife Rhonda had always been a cautious soul worried that her Husband might one day have some grievous accident on the job. She worked as a counter for one of the less reputable banks in the financial district, but it paid the bills. As Peter fitted on his work jacket Rhonda kissed him goodbye and presented a calm facade, but deep down she knew this wasn't just "severe indigestion".

It wasn't long until Peter drove all around the island picking people up, and giving them something they never wished for. Bill, the local butcher for a grocery depository sitting in the front seat of the bus whiffed in the corrupted nanites expelling from Peter as he coughed. He would later go on to work his shift in the afternoon and infect an elderly seventy four-year-old librarian who ate lunch with him every day. She had a bit of an alcoholism problem and would sip some of the fine whiskey meant as a gift for her 49-year-old son who earned a first big client in his accounting business. By the time her son Alexander would feel the first sliver of a headache, he would have already infected his client Darla, the local voice of the city radio.

As Darla celebrated lunch with her husband Wesley a school teacher she would unknowingly give him a fatal kiss. He would carry the corruption into his class, one full of vibrant elementary schooler going on a field trip to the agricultural district. Each while adorable would carry within them something horrible back to their families by the end of the day. By the end of the day Peter will have infected over a hundred people without realizing it, and all before the first cough sets in. There will be far more in the days to come.

[Flarbinia]

Guan Cao
Guan Cao arrived at the warehouse, the Pontiac Firebird coming to a halt. There were workers loading and unloading crates. "That's odd. Normally, the warehouse is vacated during these kinds of things." Jacques Beaumont said to Guan Cao as they exited the vehicle and headed inside. "Don't worry. No one is going to talk unless they have a death wish." Guan Cao said to Jacques Beaumont as they walked among the aisles of crates, the workers keeping their distance. Once they were in the center of the warehouse, several men armed with knives, clubs, and daggers approaching them, Guan Cao shooting Jacques in the leg, the supervisor falling to the floor. "There was no deal. Did you honestly believe that you could pay men like Three Toed Tsung with the company pension without someone finding out? Did you really think that the Board would show you mercy when it came time to tie up loose ends? Turns out that you are not untouchable. While I would love to watch your execution, I have a wife and three kids waiting for me back home." Guan Cao said to Jacques Beaumont before turning his back on his supervisor. "Make sure his treasonous corpse is never found." Guan Cao said to his co-conspirators before leaving the warehouse, the men stabbing and pounding away at the fat tyrant, the workers and security guards ignoring his pleas for mercy and cries for help as they returned to their tasks, the last thought on Jacques Beaumont's mind being how insignificant he was in that moment.

[Endem]

Aleksander Opolski
Maybe better if you go to doc

1:49 P.M

His shift was ending soon and he was back at the station, now he was conversing with his fellow officer, by the name of Juan Royo, a son of a Cuban immigrant, his best friend. They were standing near one of the ever-silent phones, Juan operated the line normally, even worse job than patrolling.

"Did you notice a lot of people recently had headaches?"

It was Aleksander trying to start on another topic, the previous one didn't make for a very interesting talk

"Yeah, it's strange just a few days before they were all perfectly healthy..."

"Maybe they are just trying to skip some shifts"

"Better for this to not be true, you know how the higher ups react to such things"

"Yeah"

Than Aleksander finally noticed Juan was very strangely touching his head a lot

"You alright?"

"Seems like they weren't faking the headaches, goddamit, I have one now"

"Better go to the doc, to get some medicine"

"Yeah, oh look at that, our shift ended"

"See you tomorrow"

"See ya"

Then they both went home in separate directions, how lucky Aleksander was he didn't get into any significant contact with Juan, Juan was infected, but by some miracle, Alexander was sparred from such cruel fate that Juan will suffer in next days.

[Flarbinia]

2:30 PM

The Pontiac Firebird came to a halt outside Cherry Blossom, several members of the Triad being dragged into police cars as a pair of detectives approached him. "I'm Detective Mitchell. This is Detective Keene. We would like to ask you a few questions." One of the Detectives said to Guan Cao. "About the Triad hit squad you busted? I saved my supervisor Guan Cao from being killed by the Triad for overdue loan payments. Three Toed Tsung sent his men to kill my wife and kids in retaliation. Got in a shootout with Apartment Security." Guan Cao said to Detective Mitchell. "And what of Jacques Beaumont?" Detective Mitchell asked Guan Cao, Detective Keene writing everything down. "I dropped him off at the warehouse and headed home. If he doesn't show up once the 24 hour waiting period for reporting missing persons is up Three Toed Tsung must have taken him out to sea and weighed down his fat oily carcass with rocks." Guan Cao said to Detective Mitchell, the two detectives heading back to headquarters to report their findings.

[Flarbinia]

Ming Su
Guan Cao entered his apartment, a woman unpacking her bags. "Who is this, Ming Su?" Guan Cao said to his wife. "This is Jessica Fax. She is our new roomate. You must have deleted the message from your boss when you emptied our answering machine of those missed calls you got last week." Ming Su said to Guan Cao as she hugged him. "Don't worry about that. The Board is pleased to know that Jacques Beaumont's account has been closed. Permanently." Guan Cao said to Ming Su as he approached Jessica Fax. "Tell me. What is you job and who sponsored you?" Guan Cao said to Jessica Fax as he made eye contact. "I am a psychiatrist. I was hired by Renault Firms at the recommendation of Darren Mitchell. I had to stay in a temporary apartment thanks to him and his friends bugging you with his proposal." Jessica Fax said to Guan Cao, her tone indicating that she is naturally shy off duty.