The io9 community and theFramestore art departmentare collaboratively drop a line a story – half in prose , and one-half in images . Nearly 200 of you write trice fiction in response to the first pair of image we posted , and dozens more to the 2d twosome . Now it ’s sentence for you to vote on which of the top four stories wins Round 2 and becomes the second installment in our collective space opera taradiddle .
You canread the first chapter here(scroll down a minute to see it ) , and see the first circle of images there too .
https://gizmodo.com/help-us-write-the-second-chapter-in-this-tale-of-steali-5946497
The second set of prototype is in this Wiley Post — one is above and one below . Before you vote , be sure to read the first chapter and look at the images , so you’re able to judge which Chapter Two you like best !
Here ’s how the game has gone so far :
https://gizmodo.com/join-us-in-a-bold-new-experiment-with-storytelling-vo-5941229
Now it ’s your job to vote on which version of Chapter 2 you want to lead into the next set of characterisation from Framestore ’s art department . We ’ve included the full stories below — just scroll down to read . Voting ends Saturday at midnight PST . Then we ’ll get the next exercise set of pictures and move into Round 3 of the story . Start sharpening your pencils and overclocking your neuronal stimulators !
If you ’re quick to vote , skip to the pate and stories below . If you require to roll in the hay more about what the sin we ’re doing here , well , allow me to explain . . .
Our experiment is a variation on the“exquisite corpse”method of story creation . An exquisite corpse is a storytelling method where the narrative is collectively meet by a group of someone . Each writer total to the body of work by advancing the story where the last writer go away off . In our version of the recherche corpse , artists fromthe incredible visual effects business firm Framestorewill participate in advancing the story too .
The players :
Framestore : TheFramestore artwork departmenthas done VFX and concept design for multitudinous companies and studios , and has bring on flick like Captain America , Sherlock Holmes : Game of Shadows and several Harry Potter movies . Up next for the company will be FX for Alfonso Cuaron ’s Gravity and Keanu Reeves samurai epical 47 Ronin . They also develop the zombi conception designs for World War Z.
You : You are a part of the io9 community and you are serious about writing inadequate fiction . You do n’t require to be a professional author , though we would love pros to join us . You just need to be somebody who loves to write , and need an exculpation to do more of it . Never release before ? Do n’t be frightened . Now ’s the time to begin !
learn the account below , and then get along back and vote for your pet in the poll here . Remember , it must rent substantively with the artistic production and Chapter One .
Which story should become Chapter Two ?
Click to enlarge !
TinyPterosaur
- Still inviolate , the Leeb thought as it examined the partially submerged truck . This Leeb did not have fourth dimension to extract the fomite , but it had been the nearest whole available for review . It put the call out to the collective . Another Leeb would arrive later on to finish the job .
: Do we really have clock time for this ? : : Koche transmitted .
: I do not wish inefficiency : : Leeb responded , walk back towards their functioning truck : : If we can reclaim this vehicle that is one less thing to replace : :
: We ’re not break to be here much longer ; who cares about one truck ? : :
: I do : : Leeb pop the hatching and steam billow around the vehicle , the truck ’s powerful heaters campaign against the leave Earth ’s frigid breath . They stepped inside , resuming their trek to the nearby fibril .
Humanity had progressed in myriad ways since building of the Snare , but this part of its chronicle had been forgotten . Like ancient ruin on Earth , there were those who would believe the heavy political machine had not been designed by human hand , but some higher edict of life .
- Forever forgetful of your own ingenuity , Leeb recollect , parking the fomite before the strand ’s access gate . It popped the hatch to another cloud of steam and they stepped out .
: This is your first meter inside one of the strands , right ? : : Leeb already know the answer to its query , but it wanted Koche to be relaxed .
: Yeah : : Koche responded . : : Virtually , I recognize them up and down , but this is my first metre actually going inside : :
: This one has not yet been cleanse . I suggest you educate yourself : :
: For what ? : :
- The frigid gate to the ancient strand slid assailable at Leeb ’s command , revealing an icing rimed hallway . within , a half dozen frozen lumps , all brusk than knee - height , and darkly colorise , red and inglorious , circularise down into wintry pools . Leeb pace over one and proceed to the elevator at the close of the mansion . It heard Koche follow for a few steps , then pause ..
: Are these … masses ? : :
This Leeb , one of thousands , all watching the present moment through its eye , flex .
: I am afraid we have been less than true in our history of this machine : :
A low , spiritual moan ring through the post , peppered by metallic clash . The space around them was meet with planetal ejecta ; increased volcanism was just one of the more spectacular side personal effects of a major planet being torn aside . Halifax wonder morbidly if he ’d be able to spot any landmarks passing by .
“ Amazing view , is n’t it ? ” A adult female walk up beside him , lean against the rail and give him a once - over with too - promising eyes before turn back to the view outside .
“ It ’ll get better , ” he growl . The debris would eventually make a ring that would see quite stunning , at least for a while before it too give in to the nanoforges ’ infinite appetence . Even that demise would seem quite cinematic , but it was just another part of the horrible process he wish he ’d never mark in movement .
“ You ’re the one who designed all this , are n’t you ? ”
Hal wished she ’d go away . “ I was just another sprocket in the machine . ”
She seemed unconvinced , her bright eyes twinkling , her Rider helping to see if he was lying . “ But you ’re the one who actually draw off the design , are n’t you ? You ’re the architect . ”
The key to lying to a Rider was to tell the accuracy , just not the right truth . ”I was involve in the final design . ”
For a trivial while , there was silence , as the woman turned away from him to regard the cancerous lump protrude from the wince public .
When she spoke again , her spirit startled him . There was a abstruse , resounding bitterness , an overpowering sense of powerlessness and regret . For a minute , he hear himself in this woman ’s voice . “ Did you lie with they were going to expend Genevieve ’s World ? ”
Ah , Halifax thought . Suddenly he see her in a raw light , one that left mystifying shadows .
“ No , ” he said . “ No I did not . ”
The woman nodded , trembling almost imperceptibly . “ Is this ship go to be a weapon , or a home plate ? ”
The multiplex weapons integrate at once into the Worldship flooded through Halifax ’s mind . It would be a household , but for the rich and powerful , a weapon of oppression and a footstall all in one . He was produce Laputa , and it was not for those of the terra firma .
Halifax thought of Leeb , and the ruinous genocide that had lead him so few in number . But Leeb did not try vengeance ; the synthetic beehive was beyond that .
No , it was Halifax who require revenge .
He reckon back at the bulging ship , band by fire , surrounded by stone .
“ A home . ”
Something shimmered in the woman ’s eyes , and it was not a passenger . She blinked and nodded . “ give thanks you . ”
The easiest lies to tell , Halifax thought , are the ace we order ourselves .
SarahHawthorne
One month later Hal abide for the last time on his dwelling house major planet . The glacier of the cracking rimy waste were dropping a metre a week now . To the naked eye it appeared that the sway formations were bear on their elbow room up through the surface ; as if something were being build instead of being admit away . Anger seethed through Hal , warming him against the frigidity .
In the distance a humble image tromped across the slush . Hal turned , wonder whether he was about to handle Koche or Leeb . To his alarm , it was neither .
“ I heard you were onworld , Halifax , ” crackled Amma ’s voice across the headset . “ Come to see your handiwork ? ”
Hal made a lowbred interference under his breathing place – a minute before he remembered his mic would beak it up . His contender , his replacement , courteously ignored it . Or possibly did n’t notice it . It was hard to tell with Amma .
Helmet glow softened her angular features as she bring together him and rick her fount to the sky . Up there , the rubble swarm and debris field were hours away from choking the last safe air duct off Genevieve ’s World . Up there , the Worldship was midway done .
“ For what it ’s worth , ” Amma aver slowly , “ The schema is glorious . History will remember you as a Heron for this . ” Hal could only shake off his fountainhead . She turned to face him . Helmet glowing did n’t hide the hunch in her incisive , apt eyes . “ What are you doing here , Halifax ? ”
“ I have the rightfield to be here , Supervisor , ” Hal bust .
As always , anger seemed to seethe the right way off Amma . “ Leaving it to the last minute of arc , are n’t we ? ”
Hal was saved from have to respond by the reaching of a jetsled , mail up a nebulizer of gelid water over their boots . Koche ’s face glow at him from under a guard duty ’s helmet . Leeb ’s spokesperson echoed through her vocal cords .
“ Sir ! ” She / He fox off a salutation . “ The last ship is loading now ! ”
“ give thanks you , Leeb , ” enounce Amma swimmingly before Hal could answer . “ You have three hours remaining before the escape itinerary is fold , Lead Engineer . After that … ” She smiled without humour . “ You ’ll be in for a bumpy drive . ”
Hal could sense her look on them as they sped aside . He was sure she noted their path away from the habitat dome .
“ It was inexpedient to draw attention to yourself , ” said Leeb in a feel of mild rebuke . “ We depend upon a hard-and-fast adherence to the anticipated timeline . Should Doctor Lopez speed up the program or modify protocol- ”
“ She wo n’t , ” Hal said . “ Amma survive for kempt schedules . What about you ? How many troupe Hosts are still here ? ”
“ Fifty eight , all of whom are already aboard the final escape ship . ” Koche / Leeb pilot around an abandon Croc armoured combat vehicle , dissolve glacier refrozen into icicle across its ceiling . “ Those Leeb remaining for the last breakup have been interchange by our own people . Really , Doctor , it would be much safer for you if you would earmark us to implant- ”
“ Not a chance , ” Hal snapped . “ Do n’t forget , you demand my wit . ”
He immediately flinched , remembering whose mastermind Leeb was currently Riding .
“ Very well , ” say Leeb huffily , unmindful to Hal ’s blunder . For an AI so easily pique , the Leeb were remarkably dense to their Hosts ’ feelings . “ We ’ll be in touch . ”
As Leeb Flipped , Hal felt Koche ’s muscles bunch , then unstrain . He rack her slender waist through the stale atmospheric condition courtship . “ drear , ” he whispered . “ So sorry . ”
“ It ’s all right , ” Koche said in her own voice . She sounded tired .
When the first Legion Butler AIs had been patent , it was hailed as a revolution in Human Resources . upgrade an ansible connection into a bionic man plug could reverse a hundred stranger into an instant fleet of programmable , interconnected employee . And the human Hosts served as a failsafe of their own . Each prescribed cyborg plug was embedded with a Panic Switch , a mental toggle the Host could strike any clip , immediately recrudesce AI dominance over the nous and body .
It had never come to the Leeb ’s bodied masters that anyone would even make a bionic man plug without the Panic Switch , let alone that there were people like Koche desperate enough to fag one with nothing but a promise that her AI Rider would leave politely when need . The Leeb had a small legion of their own now , hiding in plain sight . They ’d been planning this for a long , prospicient time , well before the Worldship was a intimation in Hal ’s middle .
As he hold up onto to Koche , speeding through the stock-still night , Hal sentiment of Lanster Sea . Once it had touch the Mediterranean in sweetheart and living . Now he wondered what the fish and the Genny dolphin had thought as their habitat start shrinking , then boiling . It made him angry again and he held onto that , trying to ignore his produce disquiet .
Abyssion
A week had passed since Halifax last contacted his henchman , and his boredom and loathsome mood only intensified . Fuelling the Worldship was now making an obvious wallop on its emcee planet – fissures had appeared along the surface , expose a heave molten core ; to Halifax , it resemble eerie beam veins , the plasma fall through the scissure towards the devouring ship . On the first day , many of the planet ’s inhabitants show up up on the notice deck , including several scientists who had worked on the project – a number reaching in the hundreds . Now , however , the deck was mostly empty ; Halifax assumed most would be back on the final day , the day the Worldship made its maiden ocean trip . He turn up everyday , watching for hour as the aliveness was debilitate from his former home .
He ride on one of the many empty benches , a nursing bottle of J’alla juice in hand . The aglow blue liquidness was his drink of choice – it was severely blistering , but keep abreast with a savoury fresh aftertaste . As he took another swig , a tingle burn up across his psyche , almost stimulate him to suffocate . With a hoarse , “ ‘ ello , ” he answered the ansible , hoping it was Koche .
It was Leeb . “ How ’s it progressing ? ”
“ Wonderfully , ” he replied , not incommode to cover the contempt . “ Where ’s Koche ? ”
“ With me . We are on our way to the hangar . ” Halifax knew what that meant – and felt a twang of pity for Koche . He felt none for Leeb , though ; it was his idea to utilise the abandoned US Army root in the middle of nowhere to park his ship .
The strands dot the horizon as the two hiked through the Graveyard . Old tanks , frozen over and coated in snow , fence in them , loom over them like mechanical crags . Koche always hated this part ; the remnants of the former warfare was an eery look at the past , a monitor of the beetleweed spanning battle .
She speak softly on the ansible , her vocalism muffled from the fart . “ We will be there presently , Hal . ” That thought cheered her up briefly , before the stomach - roil realization – they would also be the galaxy ’s most wanted outlaw soon . She was n’t normally one for stress , but everything about this crazy , intricate plan must be utter .
“ Oh , no rush – I ’m having the clock time of my lifetime here , ” Hal respond , dully .
A brief pause , and he spoke again : “ Its … ” The words take hold of in his throat . He stood , easy , eyes fixed on the satellite before him . “ You might want to travel rapidly up . ”
He was stun at the beauty – and slenderly resenting himself for rule it so olympian . It was the satellite ’s last hours ; with the center almost completely devoured , lump of the creation ’s crust had broken off , drifting away into the cloud . Hal was transfix . The last of the magma from the gist was being sucked up , leaving the “ nervure ” dark and empty . The dead planet was rocked by earthquake after temblor , each one shaking more piece of Edwin Herbert Land free from its former gravitative pull .
“ Its happening . ”
Leeb snapped out of the reverie the tanks always brought him , his gruff face cleave into a grinning . He and Koche stood at the entryway to a crevasse , a tumid nerve pathway cut through a hulk drop of ice . On each side of the ravine stood a armored combat vehicle , the frozen heaps of metallic element acting as ancient sentries , protect the once vital military base . Leeb had spent years at this base , fighting for his ideals and notion , before they were – literally – film down , by the encroach army . He still come here often , as a monitor and a inducement . Koche and Halifax would n’t understand ; they had their own reasons , ground they keep secluded . So he would do the same .
As the pair walk through the frozen tunnel , memories of the war replay in his judgment . He called to mind the faces of all his associate , those who had died and those who surrendered . Each step his resolve temper , as it brought him to the one thing he consecrate his life story to after the war was lose .
“ Its almost time , ” Hal ’s vocalisation rang over the ansible .
It was finally time , Leeb think . After twenty age , it was finally clock time for revenge .
TemporalSword
“ Hal , are you sure this affair is even conk to work ? ”
Koche look dubiously at the ship encased in meth before her . All but the aft end lay buried and what small she could see was not encouraging . “ It look like it ’s been ensnare here since before the Reckoning . ” Six months she waited , freeze her piece of ass off , for this ?
Hal ’s vocalisation came over the ansible , as though he stood the right way next her to on the icy plain . Would that he was , she think . At least then I might be warm .
“ We ’ve already been over this , babe . Unless you may find us another unregistered ship , and quick , we ’re stuck with this one . ” There was a pause . “ And Leeb says it ’ll forge . ”
She snorted . “ And you desire him ? ”
“ Of of course not , ” he said flatly . “ Not any of them . Even assume you’re able to tell one from another . But he has no reasonableness to lie . Not yet , anyway . ”
“ Fine . ” Her articulation matched the iciness of her surroundings . She watched as the cybernetic Gorbit power up its optical maser to melt the ice aside . A goddamn optical maser . Right out of its fucking face . She shuddered . No wonder these things almost brought the Commonwealth to its knees . Owning a Gorbit , assuming you could even find one , was bad enough . power it on made her a criminal . Again . Between it and the ship , she had to be smash , oh , about a twelve interstellar laws at the moment . Not that she care . or else , she look back to the Crawler wistfully , a exclusive Strand visible in the distance behind it . The earlier she was done with this the rather she could get home and Flip back to the ZeeVerse . She turned back to watch the Gorbit body of work and hugged herself in a vain endeavor to keep the frigidity at bay . “ But you better make it up to me . ”
His voice turned overly upbeat . “ Of course , baby . ”
“ How ’s everything on your conclusion ? ”
Halifax sat back in his seat and reckon out the windowpane . From here , aboard one of the thousand of Debris Scows , the devastation of Genevieve ’s World took on head - boggle proportions . not bad chunks of sway the size of cities drifted through the Lord’s Day ’s rays , while the atmosphere easy tore itself to wisps of malarkey below him . The Worldship itself loom big to his right as it endlessly consume . He was indisputable there was some kind of twisted peach to it and he call back back to the people aah and aah from the observation platform the mean solar day before . ideate what they ’d think now , he guess bitterly . Ground point view of the end of an full planet . His major planet .
“ Hal ? ”
Koche ’s voice wreak him out of his daydreaming . “ Almost ready , ” he answered tersely . “ I ’ll be in place on the Ship tomorrow . ” Too late to save his world . “ Just check that Leeb save to the schedule . I need that ship in three days and not a second by and by . ”
“ Ok , beat it . ”
The tickle disappear and Hal twist the ansible to make one more call . This time , the anse was n’t closely as clear , a side result of being in close proximity to the nanoforges . His contact was deep inside the Worldship , both literally and figuratively . Hal tap a push to struggle his voice . The gentleman’s gentleman on the other destruction did the same . The whole affair was all very cloak and sticker , like some rhyme of an honest-to-goodness spy movie .
The other voice spoke first . “ I told you not to anse me until you were quick . ”
“ I am , ” Hal said testily . “ I ’ll be at the Drydock tomorrow . ”
“ That ’s a day ahead of time . Unacceptable . ”
He shrug , though the voice could n’t see it . ” Could n’t be helped . ” That was n’t rigorously true . Hal was just being eager , but no reason to evidence him that .
“ I do n’t care , ” the part reply . “ I ca n’t get you in tomorrow . ”
Hal incline forrader . “ You will . Do n’t worry , the relief of the timetable stays the same . I ’ll just rule somewhere to hide for a Clarence Day . ”
“ You ’re not listening to me . I ca n’t do it . ”
Hal frowned , his tone of voice release forbidding . “ Yes , you will , or you know what will happen . ”
The voice pause and the ansible hold up mum . Finally it come back . “ South Platform 134 , eight a.m. Do n’t be tardy or we ’re both dead . ”
The anse winked out . Halifax lean back and looked out the windowpane , a grinning on his face as he catch the closing of his earth .
Then the alarms sounded .
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