Ground Zero
No point in spending the Aftermath worrying about shit you can't do anything about, you might as well focus on what little chance you're going to have of female companionship again. You take the opportunity to ask to talk to RockerChick more privately one day, unsurprisingly she agrees.
RockerChick20: Hey! You're the first person to want to talk privately to me!
OmegaMan23: You're kidding; I would've thought the other guys would've been jumping at the chance to talk to you.
RockerChick20: Well I see you're the charming type, that's alright though I like that. But sadly no, the other guys haven't. I think Casey's so busy getting stoned most of the time that any extra effort on his part would be too much for him and Job is too busy complaining about his latest shelter problems. And if Shadow is a guy, he's been pretty tight lipped as usual although MissKitty has been talking with me a lot lately. I get the impression she's been wanting to see a lot more of me if you know what I mean, but she's a bit too self-involved and doesn't seem that interesting. Maybe if I didn't have any other options, she might have a chance.
OmegaMan23: Wow, I guess it's a good thing I made my move then.
RockerChick20: Guess so. So! Are you just going to continue being a faceless entity or do I finally get to see you and learn your real name?
OmegaMan23: Well, okay, but only if you do it too.
RockerChick20: Well of course, we'll do it together! On the count of three! One, two
And true to both of your words you turn on your cameras and see each other for the first time. After telling her your name, she tells you her real name is Becky. She certainly is attractive, but she seems a lot younger than you, like barely out of her teens, if that! You wonder how the hell she could afford one these Shelters since you're probably at least ten years older than her and with your salary you could barely afford the damn thing.
OmegaMan23: If you don't mind me asking how old are you?
RockerChick20: Nineteen! How old are you?
OmegaMan23: Probably old enough to be considered a pervert to be talking to a girl as young as you. How did you afford one of these shelters, I went broke getting into this thing, not that it matters now.
RockerChick20: Oh my parents had a lot of money and they gave me a lot of it. I registered about one during one of my spending sprees; I didn't actually expect to ever use it. I even thought it would be a cool place to gather all my friends where we could party one day.
OmegaMan23: So if you didn't expect to use it, what changed your mind? The slow realization that the world was going to shit on TV?
RockerChick20: Not really, I barely paid attention to the news. I ended up getting into a fight with my parents and ran away from home for the umpteenth time. I usually didn't go far and stayed with friends, but I really wanted to try to worry them, so I figured I'd use this shelter for a little while! Little did I realize that I'd be trapped down here, I couldn't even get my cell phone to work to call out. After panicking for a few days, I resigned myself to thinking that my parent's might figure out that I came here since they knew I registered for one of these and were pissed off about it. As I watched TV in the passing days that's when I started seeing how bad things were then one day the TV displayed nothing but snow and I knew what had happened. The world blew up. Sometimes I wonder if my parents were still looking for me
OmegaMan23: I'm sure they were.
RockerChick20: Maybe. It got really bad the last time. They were control freaks anyway they didn't really care about me; they just wanted to run my life. I don't wanna talk about them, so what about you?
OmegaMan23: What about me what?
RockerChick20: What's your story silly! Surely being as old as you are, you have some interesting stories to tell! All you old guys do.
OmegaMan23: Talk to a lot of old guys do you? Is that before or after they buy you candy?
RockerChick20: Lol. ALWAYS after! I'm not a slut! No, I like older guys they know so much more about everything.
OmegaMan23: Not really, we can just bullshit better than younger guys.
RockerChick20 Lol! You're really funny.
OmegaMan23: See I told you.
RockerChick20: Ha ha! Okay let's be serious for a moment. Tell me about yourself.
You proceed to give some information about yourself, which probably isn't nearly as interesting as some of the stuff she's told everyone when you were talking with her in the public network. Becky seems to be a bit of a free spirit which doesn't really surprise you and the fact that she's into older guys doesn't really surprise you either as most girls her age go through that phase, and given she didn't really have a good relationship with her parents, she's probably sub-consciously looking for a father figure.
About a month passes and you and Becky get comfortable enough to start having "sex" in a fashion. It's not exactly the same being cyber and all, but you'll take a hot naked chick touching herself and typing dirty words to you over nothing. The Shelter is pleased that you are finding a healthy way of releasing your sexual tension, but it really creeps you out that it keeps track of such things.
A few more months pass and it's obvious to the others what's been going on between the two of you. Casey thinks its "cool". You get the impression MissKitty is a bit jealous, but doesn't really say anything. Job, sensing he missed his chance keeps unsuccessfully directing his attention to MissKitty now, and Shadow actually becomes more talkative in general.
Soon you all learn each others names. Casey's is Paul, Job is Mark, MissKitty is Miranda and Shadow (who you finally find out is male) is Xavier. Everyone actually sees what each other looks like except for you who continue to refuse to show yourself to anyone, but Becky in private and Xavier who's a bit hard to see since his lighting is very dim.
In general things are running smoothly and you and Becky have as close of a relationship as you can over a computer. Even you're surprised that such a thing is possible.
A year passes...
Suddenly you all get a distressing message from Paul. He says his food and water dispensers have ceased working and he can't even get his bathroom facilities to work anymore. He says he knows he doesn't have much time left, so he logged on one last time to tell you all good bye. Xavier states how fucked up that is. Mark naturally freaks out worrying that he'll be next to suffer total shelter failure. Miranda gives her sympathy and you ask if he has any tools to fix the problem, but he says he didn't bring any of that kind of stuff with him and there don't seem to be any tools in his shelter either, at least none that he has access to. This incident gets Becky pretty upset, but more so in private with you. She always liked Paul since he was a cool guy. You do your best to try to comfort her. You however are starting to get paranoid again.
While it's certainly possible Paul's shelter failed on its own, lord knows these things are supposed to be experimental and his wasn't working right from the beginning. However, you're starting to wonder if it's possible for someone to maliciously hack into the other ones. When you first started all this "meet the neighbors" shit, you were wondering if Xavier was up to no good when he was being all silent in the beginning, but maybe he was sizing you all up and is beginning his strike now though.
Picking you off one by one.
RockerChick20: Hey! You're the first person to want to talk privately to me!
OmegaMan23: You're kidding; I would've thought the other guys would've been jumping at the chance to talk to you.
RockerChick20: Well I see you're the charming type, that's alright though I like that. But sadly no, the other guys haven't. I think Casey's so busy getting stoned most of the time that any extra effort on his part would be too much for him and Job is too busy complaining about his latest shelter problems. And if Shadow is a guy, he's been pretty tight lipped as usual although MissKitty has been talking with me a lot lately. I get the impression she's been wanting to see a lot more of me if you know what I mean, but she's a bit too self-involved and doesn't seem that interesting. Maybe if I didn't have any other options, she might have a chance.
OmegaMan23: Wow, I guess it's a good thing I made my move then.
RockerChick20: Guess so. So! Are you just going to continue being a faceless entity or do I finally get to see you and learn your real name?
OmegaMan23: Well, okay, but only if you do it too.
RockerChick20: Well of course, we'll do it together! On the count of three! One, two
And true to both of your words you turn on your cameras and see each other for the first time. After telling her your name, she tells you her real name is Becky. She certainly is attractive, but she seems a lot younger than you, like barely out of her teens, if that! You wonder how the hell she could afford one these Shelters since you're probably at least ten years older than her and with your salary you could barely afford the damn thing.
OmegaMan23: If you don't mind me asking how old are you?
RockerChick20: Nineteen! How old are you?
OmegaMan23: Probably old enough to be considered a pervert to be talking to a girl as young as you. How did you afford one of these shelters, I went broke getting into this thing, not that it matters now.
RockerChick20: Oh my parents had a lot of money and they gave me a lot of it. I registered about one during one of my spending sprees; I didn't actually expect to ever use it. I even thought it would be a cool place to gather all my friends where we could party one day.
OmegaMan23: So if you didn't expect to use it, what changed your mind? The slow realization that the world was going to shit on TV?
RockerChick20: Not really, I barely paid attention to the news. I ended up getting into a fight with my parents and ran away from home for the umpteenth time. I usually didn't go far and stayed with friends, but I really wanted to try to worry them, so I figured I'd use this shelter for a little while! Little did I realize that I'd be trapped down here, I couldn't even get my cell phone to work to call out. After panicking for a few days, I resigned myself to thinking that my parent's might figure out that I came here since they knew I registered for one of these and were pissed off about it. As I watched TV in the passing days that's when I started seeing how bad things were then one day the TV displayed nothing but snow and I knew what had happened. The world blew up. Sometimes I wonder if my parents were still looking for me
OmegaMan23: I'm sure they were.
RockerChick20: Maybe. It got really bad the last time. They were control freaks anyway they didn't really care about me; they just wanted to run my life. I don't wanna talk about them, so what about you?
OmegaMan23: What about me what?
RockerChick20: What's your story silly! Surely being as old as you are, you have some interesting stories to tell! All you old guys do.
OmegaMan23: Talk to a lot of old guys do you? Is that before or after they buy you candy?
RockerChick20: Lol. ALWAYS after! I'm not a slut! No, I like older guys they know so much more about everything.
OmegaMan23: Not really, we can just bullshit better than younger guys.
RockerChick20 Lol! You're really funny.
OmegaMan23: See I told you.
RockerChick20: Ha ha! Okay let's be serious for a moment. Tell me about yourself.
You proceed to give some information about yourself, which probably isn't nearly as interesting as some of the stuff she's told everyone when you were talking with her in the public network. Becky seems to be a bit of a free spirit which doesn't really surprise you and the fact that she's into older guys doesn't really surprise you either as most girls her age go through that phase, and given she didn't really have a good relationship with her parents, she's probably sub-consciously looking for a father figure.
About a month passes and you and Becky get comfortable enough to start having "sex" in a fashion. It's not exactly the same being cyber and all, but you'll take a hot naked chick touching herself and typing dirty words to you over nothing. The Shelter is pleased that you are finding a healthy way of releasing your sexual tension, but it really creeps you out that it keeps track of such things.
A few more months pass and it's obvious to the others what's been going on between the two of you. Casey thinks its "cool". You get the impression MissKitty is a bit jealous, but doesn't really say anything. Job, sensing he missed his chance keeps unsuccessfully directing his attention to MissKitty now, and Shadow actually becomes more talkative in general.
Soon you all learn each others names. Casey's is Paul, Job is Mark, MissKitty is Miranda and Shadow (who you finally find out is male) is Xavier. Everyone actually sees what each other looks like except for you who continue to refuse to show yourself to anyone, but Becky in private and Xavier who's a bit hard to see since his lighting is very dim.
In general things are running smoothly and you and Becky have as close of a relationship as you can over a computer. Even you're surprised that such a thing is possible.
A year passes...
Suddenly you all get a distressing message from Paul. He says his food and water dispensers have ceased working and he can't even get his bathroom facilities to work anymore. He says he knows he doesn't have much time left, so he logged on one last time to tell you all good bye. Xavier states how fucked up that is. Mark naturally freaks out worrying that he'll be next to suffer total shelter failure. Miranda gives her sympathy and you ask if he has any tools to fix the problem, but he says he didn't bring any of that kind of stuff with him and there don't seem to be any tools in his shelter either, at least none that he has access to. This incident gets Becky pretty upset, but more so in private with you. She always liked Paul since he was a cool guy. You do your best to try to comfort her. You however are starting to get paranoid again.
While it's certainly possible Paul's shelter failed on its own, lord knows these things are supposed to be experimental and his wasn't working right from the beginning. However, you're starting to wonder if it's possible for someone to maliciously hack into the other ones. When you first started all this "meet the neighbors" shit, you were wondering if Xavier was up to no good when he was being all silent in the beginning, but maybe he was sizing you all up and is beginning his strike now though.
Picking you off one by one.