introduction log.

[falsitates]

JUNE 1, 2021

The first day of summer - it’s unbearably hot. Temperatures are high and relentless, and without a single cloud in the sky, the sun blazes down heavily on the unlucky few stuck outside.

Weather predictions warn of an intense heatwave that’ll last all week long. The young and elderly are advised to stay indoors and hydrated, and anyone with the symptoms of a heat stroke is urged to head straight to the city hospital. Schools are temporarily closed until new air conditioners can be installed, and businesses come to a slow grind as many call out sick from heat exhaustion.

The city warns that it’s going to be a long seven days.

  NEWCOMERS

You wake up.

You’re left to your own devices. You have a vague memory of the last few moments of your time back in your world, in familiar surroundings, but you’re now somewhere new. Whether you’ve awoken on an unknown rooftop, in a stranger’s bedroom, behind cell bars, or under six feet of water - you know that you’re no longer at home.

You’re on your own for the time being. You must escape whatever predicament that you’ve found yourself in and find answers to your own questions. What brings you here? How did you arrive? What happened to your friends and family? You have an hour to explore and speak with the people of this world before your time runs out.

Something then vibrates in your pocket.

  RESIDENTS & NEWCOMERS

Your phone vibrates.

It buzzes incessantly until you pick it up, but when you look at the screen, it’s blank. It will not turn on, no matter how hard you press the buttons. It’s possible that it overheated and shut down, but it’s unusually cold to the touch, almost as if you’re touching a brick of ice. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, white text appears on a black background.

Decryption confirmed.

Condition green.

Booting program.

The screen goes dark once more. Seconds later, new words are typed.

WELCOME TO [ AVA ]

→ MISSION 001
HEAD TO THE CITY CROSSWALK BY 1500. FIND THE [ OTHERS ]. YOUR REWARD WILL BE ANNOUNCED THEN. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.

  WELCOME TO [ AVA ]

You can't avoid the mission; you don't have any choice. Any attempt to ignore or avoid it is futile, as convenient coincidences occur all around you as a motivator to go.

Did you have work? For some inexplicable reason, your shift has been cancelled. Were you trying to get some rest? The fire alarm went off and you were evacuated from your home. Did you attempt to travel to another part of the city? The sidewalks and roads have been closed due to a sudden blackout.

No matter what you do, you are compelled to head to the city crosswalk.

For the middle of the afternoon, it's unusually quiet and empty. Despite the heat warning, there should still be more than just a handful of you and a few others, but you won't have the time to ponder about it. Your phone finally reboots and appears to be back to normal - or so it seems. You've got a new app.

[ AVA ]

It's an icon with a white eye. It stares at you, and the screen remains frozen until you press it. It then starts the initialization process.

WELCOME TO [ AVA ]

PEACEFUL DAYS ARE OVER

ALEA IACTA EST

The text vanishes, revealing the app's interface. It's an online social media network with public forums and private messaging, but it's completely devoid of content. It currently only contains the user profiles of those who have signed up for the app, and you are one of them. Your full name, date of birth, personal address, height, weight, and a mugshot that you don't recall taking are all listed on your profile.

You quickly discover that you have no way of deleting or even editing your information. You can't even get rid of the app. The option simply does not exist.

Minutes after opening [ AVA ], you receive a notification. There have been two new forum posts. MISSION 002 and MISSION 003 are the names of the new threads. You open them to read.

→ MISSION 002
NEWCOMERS, WELCOME TO VITAE. YOUR GOAL FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS IS TO SURVIVE. IF YOU ARE ALIVE TO SEE THE MIDDLE OF THE MONTH, YOU WILL BE GREATLY REWARDED.

→ MISSION 003
RESIDENTS, BE AWARE OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THIS CITY. ONLY TRUST THE PEOPLE YOU KNOW. YOUR COMPENSATION WILL BE PROVIDED IN TWO WEEKS' TIME.

These threads allow you to leave comments. What do you do now?

Comments

[ape]

I think there might've been something in the last cigarette I had?

[ or maybe his coffee? brownie? kids these days still made edibles, and oh boy did he wish he was just having a crazy episode he could write about later. and then never take brownies from his younger students ever again, and always check his cigarette pack, and—

he's trying to cope, if his awkward chuckle says anything after the offhanded comment of being high, because what else could explain this. ]

That was a joke, I don't actually— [ ahem, ] Anyway, I don't know. It feels like something out of TV.

[curriculumachine]

[Mike's has similar thoughts, because he's currently drunk, and blaming this on substance use is just as valid as other potential explanations.]

I thought... that too. Viral marketing.

[But for what? He may be taking Zeke's TV comment too literally.]

[ape]

You wouldn't happen to know what the fever is this season, would you?

[ speaking of viral marketing; he teachers young people and knows a thing or two about memes in his own area, but . . . he adjusts the bridge of his glasses that keeps sliding off his nose thanks to this damn heat. ]

I don't remember the last time I watched TV.

i've returned late, feel free to drop this thread o/

[curriculumachine]

What?

[He doesn't understand that fever pun, not one for memes and prone to taking things as they're stated; he's now a little confused, but whatever.]

Me either. I don't have one.

no worries!

[ape]

Oh, I meant, [ ah, slightly awkward! he clears his throat and thinks of the next word, something clear to understand. ] never mind, if you don't have a TV.

[ he wouldn't know, anyway. ]

When's the last time you've had water?

[curriculumachine]

[Mike makes a tiny perplexed noise, and his response is slow, because he's trying to retrace this conversation as he's likely missed something if they're suddenly talking about water.]

Just water?... Yesterday?... There's water in beer. I thought we were talking about... apps. Or marketing.

[Or television.]

[ape]

[ ............ suspicions, piqued ]

Beer. You're replacing water with beer during a heatwave. [ mike, why ] Did you have beer earlier?

[curriculumachine]

[He sees nothing wrong with this.]

Yes. Why does it matter?

[This app thing is already irritating, encouraging socialisation with people like this weirdo. Maybe he's a teetotaler out to shame people for their drinking habits.]

[ape]

Oh, no reason.

[ because generally, drinkers react badly to being told they are drunk and shouldn’t be drunk! so, ]

Want some water on the way home?

[curriculumachine]

If you're... paying for it?

[This is a weird proposition.]

[ape]

Sure. I'll even pay you a taxi.

[ go home, you're drunk. ]

[curriculumachine]

[Not a proposition.]

But I live just over there...

[He points vaguely to the more run down apartment building high-rises a few blocks over, looming in the distance. It would take longer to call a cab and wait for it than it would to walk home in his melting flipflops.]

[ape]

[ oh. hm. ezekiel raises his hand. ]

I volunteer myself as taxi.

[ he's joking. what he means is: i'll walk you home. ]