"You know what? I'm okay," you say, as if placating a door-to-door salesperson. "Thanks anyways."\n\n"Are you sure? I promise you won't regret it," says Chronos. \n\n"I'm sure."\n\n"All right. Have a great day." \n\nThere's another bright flash. Where did that come from? You look down to the bomb in your lap.\n\nThe last light turns green.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|pretend]].

You limp to the rightmost terminal.\n\nThe screen shows a long list of weapon names and classification numbers, most of which mean nothing to you. Knowing only that you're looking for a bomb, you begin scrolling through the list.\n\n >> 2. Liga\n >> 24-KG\n >> BB200\n >> Daow SG\n >> FRSE-45 FRAS\n >> G5 SIMG\n >> G5 SISR\n >> Illyrian\n >> Kindness 2098 Carbine\n >> Kindness 2099 Sniper Rifle\n[[ >> LGBT 660]]\n >> Malzagov KZ3\n >> Oblast Frunzenskaya\n >> Oblast Frunzensky\n >> Rothemühl Grade II\n >> Sayonara TYPE-12\n >> TCH Beetle 2-Flight\n >> TCH Beetle 2-Ground\n >> WWZ ender\n >> Yaa Cannon\n\nMaybe you should look at one of the [[other|terminal 1]] [[terminals|terminal 2]].

You sit down next to Ami. As you do, you notice one of the lights on the bomb in her lap turn green. Then, after a moment, another. You make an inference: once all the lights are green, the bomb will explode. You look away. You don't want to know.\n\n"Is this how you thought you would go?" you ask.\n\n"Well, something like this," she says. "But I didn't want to be last." She is holding the bomb gently, like something precious. "I thought I could protect them, at least for a while. Although, I never thought we would live through this. I just thought I could help them last longer than me."\n\n"It seems to me you're the most capable person of the four of us," you say.\n\n"I know. That's why it was my job to protect them," she says. \n\n"Did you ever think about what you would do if you did get through this? I mean, you guys wanted to change the world. You must have imagined a better future."\n\nShe shakes her head. "Ethan was the visionary, not me. Time's almost up. You ready?" She's been staring at the bomb the entire time. Looking death in the eye.\n\nYou think of Ethan, laying not too far from you, but you don't look. You remember him as you met him, and try to keep that image in your mind as the [[bomb goes off]].

You try to push through, but are bounced back. "Hey, watch it, buddy!" says a guy with a briefcase. "Who do you think you are?!" \n\nYou're certainly no security guard. Perhaps his authority afforded him some privilege you lack. You turn around and head back up the stairs, only to see that same security guard blasted through the chest with a green laser. It's brutal. That part of his body is just gone. He falls and rolls down the stairs, hitting your feet on the way down. You try to hold back vomit. \n\nThe man in the suit now stands in your way. \n\nHe smiles. "That wasn't much of a chase, was it?"\n\n"W-who are you?" you ask.\n\n"Oh, like that matters." He raises the gun and, with no ceremony, fires.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|down]].

The explosion is bright and forces your eyes shut. You feel warm, like stepping out on a summer day, and then the heat's gone and you shiver for the lack of it. \n\nYou can still shiver. You're still alive. You open your eyes. \n\nYou don't see anything. Everything's all white. Maybe you're not alive after all. Maybe this is heaven, or something like it. If it is, you don't get the hype: your body still hurts like hell, and you're alone.\n\n"Hello?" you call into the echoless abyss. "God?"\n\n"Close," comes a reply. The voice is masculine, confident, and cheerful. "I am Chronos, the God of Time!"\n\nIt's about as believable as everything else you've experienced recently. "Where am I?" you ask.\n\n"This isn't really a where, but a when. You see, I've pulled you out of your current time in order to prevent an unprecedented catastrophe. I need you to [[undo what you've done]]."

"I guess I should go back," you say. "Things haven't turned out so well, anyways." If resetting things can give you another chance to see Ethan and to keep him safe, it's worth it. \n\n"I'm so glad you agree," says Chronos. "Wait just one moment. You'll be back at a more reasonable point in time soon enough."\n\nYou still have the nagging sense that none of this is real. It all feels so dream-like and insubstantial. It's like the ground is floating out from under you. You halt, shake your legs out a bit. [[Walking in this heat|Start]] must be getting to you.\s\n\n<<set $loop to "1">>

You press the button, but nothing seems to happen.\n\n"Shit," says Ethan. "I really wish Ami and Ben were here."\n\n"Are those their names?" The voice comes from behind you. You both turn to see the man who nearly killed you back on Earth. "I was wondering," he says. "Not that it matters now."\n\n"Where are they?!" shouts Ethan.\n\n"Dead outside. They tried to escape. That wasn't very brave of them. I figured I'd just leave them there to decompose. That grass hasn't been looking very lively lately. Would you like to join them?" He raises his gun to point it at Ethan. It's not the laser gun from before, just a simple handgun, similar to yours. It's surely just as deadly. Ethan shakes, not in fear but in anger. He looks like he's about to do something stupid. You need to [[stall]].\n\nBut you do have a [[specific question]] in mind...

"Yeah, I could sleep."\n\nEthan smiles. "Cool. Oh, um..." Ethan hesitates, then takes off his shirt. He looks like he's about to go for his pants, but stops. "Not sure what to, uh, sleep in, exactly... Maybe this is fine."\n\nYou remove your shirt and climb into bed with him. The bunk is small, but pressed up against Ethan, you find yourself [[falling asleep quickly]]...\s\n\s\n<<set $sleep to "1">>\s\n<<set $ethan to "1">>\n<<set $bunk to "1">>

As a test, you say, "Take us three minutes into the future."\n\nThe change is immediately evident: you are in the same room, but with multiple other versions--or copies or clones or something--of Ethan and yourself. Within seconds, you are caught up in a multiplying storm of yourself. As more and more versions of you appear, you are given less and less space until you find yourself being pushed up against a wall. At first it is like a Japanese subway train, but as the seconds pass it becomes more like a stampede of bulls. It's getting hard to breathe, and you have no idea which of these hundreds of Ethans is yours. All you can think is that this is time travel, time travel must have done this somehow, and you wish you had never touched that thing.\n\n"It was a mistake!" you shout (at least, you think it's you). "I fucked up! Undo! Undo!"\n\nThere is a [[flash]] so bright it forces your eyes shut.

"Actually, I'm not that tired yet. I think I'll stay up a while longer," you say. \n\n"Suit yourself," says Ethan. He turns away from you, toward the wall of the ship.\n\nAt a loss for what else to do, you climb up to the top bunk and lay down. You stare at the metal ceiling.\n\nEverything's happening so fast. You never expected when you woke up this morning that you would soon be heading to another planet. You try to imagine what it could be like. Soon, images of foreign shores have you [[drifting into sleep|falling asleep quickly]]...

You don't want her snapping at you, so you retreat. Ben is no longer at the bench, so you take his spot. He probably absconded to the sleeping quarters when you weren't paying attention. \n\nThere isn't much to do but wait. Every once in a while you glance in Ami's direction. She's completely silent and stationary. You don't know if she's giving you the cold shoulder because she's pissed at you or if that's how she always is. Either way, she's creeping you out.\n\nFinally, she speaks up. "[[Now entering Gatz's atmosphere|out of the ship]]."

"I've decided to help out," you say. \n\nEthan grins. "Yes! I knew you would!" He jumps out of bed and hugs you tight, wearing only his briefs. "Oh!" He laughs and sits back down on the bed, casually crossing his hands over his crotch. He smiles at you. "Thanks a lot. I just know that we're gonna win. We're gonna save Earth... and Gatz.\n\n"I think I might be too excited to get back to sleep now... but I better try. We don't wanna fuck this up. You should get some rest too, okay?"\n\nAs you go to protest, you yawn. Ethan laughs. "Get to bed!"\n\nYou decide to follow his advice. You climb up the ladder to the second bunk. Once under the covers, you strip down to your underwear and place your clothes at the foot of the bed. When your head hits the pillow, you realize you are drowsier than you thought. Soon you find yourself [[falling asleep quickly]]...\s\n\n<<set $sleep to "1">>

You slowly move the covers off of you and leave the bed so as not to make noise<<if $sleep is "1">>, and get dressed just as carefully<<endif>>. Your eyes are drawn to the solitary window. It's convex, like something at a fast food restaurant play centre, although this one isn't big enough to crawl inside of. Still, you peek your head in.\n\nIt's all black out there, save for a smattering of white dots, most only as big as the head of a pin. They seem stationary, despite how fast you know you must be moving. You can't imagine how far away they must be for that to be the case. You look left and right, but there are no other landmarks. All there is is space.\n\nYou step back. It's a little overwhelming. \n\nYou open the door to the ship's main section and slip through, trying not to let too much light into the sleeping quarters. Ami and Ben are exactly where they were the last time you were in here. Neither of them even glances at you. Ben yawns. Maybe this is a chance to get to know [[Ben]] or [[Ami]] a little better.\s\n\n<<set $ben to "1">>

"What's the point now?" you ask. "I never wanted this. Why should I help you now after what you got me into?"\n\n"You want their deaths to be for nothing?" she says. You're surprised how casually she asks the question. Regardless, you don't have anything else to say.\n\n"Fine," she says. "I knew bringing you was a mistake." She shifts to her knees, puts her right foot on the floor, and uses the nearest cabinet as leverage as she drags herself up. She stumbles from there to the nearest terminal, which she holds onto for balance. Her legs are wobbly. She swipes clumsily at the terminal's screen. She wipes the sweat from her forehead, replacing it with blood.\n\nSoon her movements slow until she's just staring blankly at the screen. She glances across the aisle to the next terminal. She looks pale. Her lips move, but you don't hear anything. She sets out for the other terminal, but with each step she gets lower and lower, like a mime doing stairs. At the end she lies on the floor with one hand touching the terminal's base.\n\nThere goes your ride. \n\nYou close your eyes. A nap would be nice. Maybe when you wake up, things will be better.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|look away]].

Now that you're up here, you have quite a view of the city, and the space ship. The ship looks just like something out of Star Trek, to the point where you have to wonder if Star Trek actually influenced its design. \n\nGoing out to the edge, you can see on the ground the building's panic spilling out onto the street. <<if $police is "1">>You hear a siren, growing ever louder.<<endif>>\n\nThe man in the suit emerges onto the roof. You turn to face him, the only choice left to you. You know you can't jump and survive, but maybe, just maybe, you can fight and win. \n\n"Die quietly!" he shouts, his anger very different from the calm, collected killer he appeared to be before. He fires, and you duck. The green laser goes above you and off into the sky, dissolving. You can feel its heat. What the hell is that thing?\n\nHe fires a few more times, narrowly missing you each time. The last shot singes your sleeve. He tries to fire again but the laser only gets a foot before vanishing. The light on the gun's barrel is fading. \n\n"Shit!" He throws the gun on the ground. "I guess I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way."\n\nHe steps towards you. You would step back, but the edge of the building is behind you. All he has to do is toss you off the edge and you're done. You brace yourself for a fight. \n\nA smaller, sleeker ship flies in and stops a few feet above the ground between you and your pursuer. An automatic door opens, and there stands a tall, handsome man, about your age, with striking stubble and dark brown eyes. He extends his hand to you. "Come on!" he shouts. \n\nWho are you to deny someone that attractive? You jump up and take his hand. He pulls you into the ship, which takes off immediately. As you go you can see the man in the suit shouting and waving his arms. You're safe, [[for now]].

When you open your eyes, everything is white. You think for a second the flash is still happening, but it doesn't hurt your eyes this time. You hold your hand in front of your face and you can see it clearly. Other than that, there is nothing all around you, only white.\n\n"Hello?" you call out.\n\n"Hi," a voice answers, making you jump.\n\n"W-who is it? Where is that coming from? Where am I?"\n\n"Those are kind of tough questions," the voice replies. It sounds male. "I guess, first of all, you're not really anywhere, so forget about that question. And neither am I, so that's two. As for who I am... There have been a lot of conceptions of me over the years, but my favourite has been Chronos, God of Time!" He says it with an air of pride. "So go with that one."\n\n"God of Time?" You are hesitant to believe such a ludicrous claim, but with everything that's happened... You decide to at least go along with it for now. "All right. Why am I here?"\n\n"I'm still trying to figure that out. She must have done something... Oh, sorry, that's not what you asked. I brought you here!"\n\n"Okay. Why? What does the God of Time want with me?" You get an inkling of what the answer could be as you ask the question.\n\n"You seem to be at the [[root of the problem]]."

As a test, you say, "Take us two minutes into the future."\n\nThe change is immediately noticeable: you are in the same room, but you can see yourself, not just once but twice. They seem to be two different versions--or clones or copies or something--of you and Ethan. \n\n"This is strange," says one of the other Ethans, and as if on cue, another pair appears in the room. From there the multiplication rate increases exponentially. As more and more versions of you appear, you are given less and less space until you find yourself being pushed up against a wall. At first it is like a Japanese subway train, but as the seconds pass it becomes more like a stampede of bulls. It's getting hard to breathe, and you have no idea which of these hundreds of Ethans is yours. All you can think is that this is time travel, time travel must have done this somehow, and you wish you had never touched that thing.\n\n"It was a mistake!" you shout (at least, you think it's you). "I fucked up! Undo! Undo!"\n\nThere is a [[flash]] so bright it forces your eyes shut.

"What is it?" you ask.\n\n"They are a really tough enemy. They always seem to be one step ahead of us. Ben seems to think they have psychic powers or something." He looks at you and smiles. "But with you on the team, I'm sure we can do it!"\n\nAre you on the team now? Ethan seems a little shaky, and you're sure if you agreed you would [[reassure him]]. On the other hand, it would be nice to [[think this through]] a little better.

Undone

After a moment you realize that you're not dead, or you don't think you are. You open your eyes. Seeing the empty white space you're now standing in, you start to wonder if maybe you have died after all. You feel some sort of ground beneath you and tap your foot, but there's no sound. "Hello?" you call out, mostly to hear your own voice. No echo.\n\n"Hello," comes a response. A man's voice, you think, but it's not Ethan and it's not Ben.\n\n"Who's there?" You can't even tell where it's coming from. It seems to be everywhere. \n\n"Just your friendly neighbourhood God of Time. Well, my neighbourhood is larger than yours." He chuckles. "You can call me Chronos."\n\n"Okay," you say, doubtful. You start walking in one direction, thinking maybe if you get to a wall you can figure this place out. \n\n"You go ahead and do that while I explain," says Chronos. "I have pulled you out of your time, because you and your friends were about to have caused a rather large problem for me. You wanted to destroy the Gatz war facility, and fine, whatever, but that facility also contains a time machine that they've been using to cause problems all over the timeline. That thing ruins everything already. Destroying it could destroy time itself. If I send you back in time far enough, maybe you won't do that again."\n\nYou don't find any walls, and Chronos's voice never gets further away. You give up and stop moving. "Fine, send me back in time," you say.\n\n"I can't just send you back in time," he says. He sounds exasperated. "I'm not supposed to meddle. Of course, I can't just let this happen, so my compromise is that you get to decide. Do you want to go back in time and save the universe? Or, you know, not?"\n\nYou stop to really consider what he's saying for the first time since you got here. Is the fate of the universe really in your hands? Why, because you were one of four people who helped set off the bomb? What about the others?\n\n"I want my friends here. I can't make this decision alone."\n\nChronos scoffs. "I don't want //their// opinions."\n\n"Well, I do."\n\nHe sighs. "Fine, whatever." Ethan, Ami, and Ben [[appear in a flash]].

You close your eyes and focus in on the sound you think you heard. Where did it come from? You try to listen to that spot. \n\nSoon you are rewarded. You hear just the lightest tap, but you can't tell what it is until it is followed by another, and another, louder each time. They're getting closer.\n\nMoving as quickly and quietly as you can, you approach Ami and signal to her that someone is coming. She nods, and you split up, her going to Ben and you to Ethan. You pull him out of view of the doorway and put a finger to his lips. The touch feels intimate, but this is not the time or place to dwell on that.\n\nThe footsteps enter the room and stop. You resist the urge to look, to give yourself away. "They should be in here," says a voice, a little confused. "Stay on your toes," says another. \n\nYou can see Ami from where you are. She holds up three fingers. You pull out your gun. Two fingers. You put your finger on the trigger. One. You steady your hands.\n\nAll at once the four of you emerge and let loose. Your enemies go down, but like in a firing squad, you're not sure which shots are yours, if you're even landing any. Either way, you're fairly certain Ben's machine gun is doing most of the work. \n\nThe dust has barely settled before Ami is holstering her gun and walking away. "[[Back to work]]," she says, all business.

It isn't long before <<if $ethan is "1">>Ethan<<else>>Ben<<endif>> returns to Ami with a large disc. Red lights blink along its edge. He hands it to her, and she turns it over and fiddles with something on its underside.\n\n"Is that the bomb?" you ask. \n\nShe nods, turns it rightside-up. "It's set." One of the lights turns green, then, after a long moment, another. She sets it on the floor.\n\n"We need to get out of here, then!" says Ethan.\n\nBen retrieves his new gun and holds it in front of him. "Follow me," he says. He leads you and the group out of the room, stepping over corpses as you go, and back down the hall you came from. Ami calls out directions from the back of the line as you proceed through the facility. You reach the secret entrance without issue. Ami steps up, touches a spot on the wall just above her head, and it opens, just like before.\n\nAnd with that, you're out. "Leaving was a lot easier than getting in," you say. You file into the ship. Ami takes her place in the pilot's seat, while you, Ben, and Ethan take the bench. The atmosphere is tense. You don't know how much time you have left to vacate the premises, but you trust Ami to get you out.\n\nThe ship raises itself off the ground, but before you can breathe a sigh of relief there is a [[blinding flash]], right in front of your eyes.

"You travelled through time, didn't you?" you ask.\n\nHe laughs. "Heck yeah." He seems very impressed with himself. You wonder if you can use that to your advantage.\n\n"Since we're obviously going to die anyways, wanna tell us how it works?"\n\nHe shrugs. "You just need a time machine."\n\n"//Just need a time machine//, as if I could buy one at Wal-Mart."\n\n"I don't know what Wal-Mart is, but no, I bet you couldn't."\n\n"So where?"\n\nHe laughs. "There's one in this room, idiot."\n\n"That's all I needed to know."\n\nEthan fires, hitting the guy's hand. He drops his gun. You take the opportunity to tackle him to the ground. His head hits the floor and he falls unconscious.\n\nAs you stand, Ethan asks, "So who is this guy?"\n\n"He's the man we just killed downstairs," you answer. \n\n"Wow, really? So this is what time travel can do... Do you think he knows that he's going to die at our--" He pauses. He leans down and puts his gun to the unconscious man's head. "Do you think this will save my friends?"\n\n"I don't know. Won't that create a paradox or something?"\n\n"I don't know! I don't know how all of this works, and I kind of don't care. Does it matter if he dies a few years earlier?"\n\nDoes it matter if [[he dies now]] rather than later? You have no idea what's going to happen if Ethan pulls that trigger. Maybe you should [[stop him]]...

You put the incident out of your mind and boot up your computer. Your background is still the default Windows-logo-on-a-blue-background wallpaper. You'd like to think your job here is just a quick stop on the way to your glorious future, but that stop has lasted almost a year now.\n\nYou look to your left. Eric has a new wallpaper. It looks like a selfie taken by a young blonde woman. She's certainly much younger than Eric.\n\nHe catches you looking. "Isn't she hot?" he asks. "My new girlfriend." He nods in that broish, straight-guy-getting-laid sort of way. \n\n"Cool," you say.\n\n"I met her at the grocery store, which is weird, because it's supposed to be one of those places where lots of people end up meeting their significant others, but I've sure never heard of it happening to anyone I know, but we were totally going for the same avocado and..."\n\nYou turn to the wall of windows, sure Eric will keep talking without your input. The building across from you only has 12 floors, so it doesn't block the light. The sun shines in at just the right angle to light things up without being [[blinding]].

"Fuck off," you say.\n\n"Fine. Die then!" the voice whines. There's a quick flash like a camera going off, and then you find yourself once again carried by Ben. The two of you are standing in front of that blank wall. You're almost free. You're going to survive. Fuck that guy, whoever he was. Fuck your brain for showing you such a pessimistic hallucination.\n\nBen touches a spot on the wall, which then opens up to the outside. As it does, the rumbling returns. \n\n"Fuck. Come on," says Ben. He takes a step forward, too slowly to avoid the flames that rush down the hall and out the door, taking you with them.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|end of the tunnel]].

"I... I'm not doing it."\n\nEthan's face falls. "Oh. Well, I guess I understand, but..." He won't meet your gaze.\n\n"Doesn't matter," says Ami. "Just don't leave the ship." She storms out. Ben gives you a quick glance before following.\n\nEthan sighs. "We'll be back soon, okay? Stay put. I promise, Earth will be safe." He follows the others. The door closes behind him. Even though you let him down, he's still thinking of you...\n\nYou spend a while feeling bad, wandering around the ship. Soon you run out of space to explore. You were told to [[stay put]], but you sure are bored. [[Leaving the ship]] is becoming quite tempting...

You close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Your allies aren't panicking, so you shouldn't either. You're no good to them as a jittery mess. They're strong and capable, so if you follow their lead you should be just--\n\nA bang sounds right by your ear. It's deafening, and you slide down the wall and away from the source before looking to see what it was. One of the suited gunmen crept in while you weren't paying attention. He fires into the room before a shot to the head takes him down, but three more men dash in to replace him. They don't notice you; they're after Ben, Ami, and Ethan. It's a full-on gunfight that has very little to do with you. You could [[hide]] and no one would notice, or you could use your [[element of surprise]].

"Sure," you say.\n\nEthan leads you through a door in the back. There you find a cramped room with a bunk bed against the back wall. If they tried to fit another bunk bed in, it would scrape up against the other one. Ethan closes the door behind you, sits on the bottom bunk, and pats the space next to him. You join him. \n\n"So why are we here?" you ask.\n\n"I just wanted to explain some things. You're probably wondering what's going on, what with the space ships and laser guns and stuff. That guy who attacked you is from the military, but not Earth's military. Our military, on Gatz, which is where we're heading now. The history of Gatz is kind of weird... It was colonized specifically as a base for the future takeover of Earth. They attacked today partly to get to you, and partly as an open declaration of war against Earth, a war Earth will not win. The higher-ups have set themselves up to become the rulers of Earth. The thing is, Gatz has its own comparable civilization going on. The crew of this ship are all citizens of Gatz. It has its problems, like its leadership, but we like our home, and we don't want to see it abandoned. That's why we, and a militia group on Gatz, are fighting to stop their invasion of Earth. Saving you was our first major action towards this goal. They definitely know who we are now, so we have to ramp it up and finish it quickly. [[Although]]..."

"I hate to say it, but I don't think there's anything here." You sigh. "Then why a keycard for this room in particular...?"\n\n"Because there //is// something here. Not that you'll get a chance to find it." \n\nYou turn to see a man about your age, maybe a little younger, in a dress shirt and black tie, holding a gun. He grins. "Fun's over, boys." He reminds you of someone...\n\nEthan points his gun at the newcomer, who points his gun back. \n\n"No one fire," you say. \n\n"Then tell your friend to drop his weapon," says the new guy.\n\n"As if!" says Ethan. "I'm not that stupid."\n\nOnce again, it's up to you to [[stop this]] very [[familiar]] boy...

As a test, you say, "Take us one minute into the future."\n\nIt takes you a second to notice that anything's changed. You and Ethan are in the same room, but you stand facing yourselves. They look as confused as you do. Soon another identical pair has appeared to your right.\n\n"This is... strange," says your Ethan, just before more versions of you show up. From there the multiplication rate increases exponentially. As more and more versions of you appear, you are given less and less space until you find yourself being pushed up against a wall. At first it is like a Japanese subway train, but as the seconds pass it becomes more like a stampede of bulls. It's getting hard to breathe, and you have no idea which of these hundreds of Ethans is yours. All you can think is that this is time travel, time travel must have done this somehow, and you wish you had never touched that thing.\n\n"It was a mistake!" you shout (at least, you think it's you). "I fucked up! Undo! Undo!"\n\nThere is a [[flash]] so bright it forces your eyes shut.

"I'm not going back in time, Chronos. You will just have to put us back where you found us."\n\nThere is a pause, finally filled by Chronos's sigh. "Really?" he says. "Really? After everything Ethan just said? He told you he's okay with not seeing you again if that's the decision you need to make. And it is! It is the decision you need to make! You are screwing up, you stupid little human! I brought this idiot here because I thought he would convince you, but no! You're both fucked! //Fuck//!"\n\nYou look to Ethan, but he is staring at his feet. You touch his arm but he doesn't respond. Didn't he say he would stand behind whatever decision you made? Was none of that true? You let your hand fall.\n\n"Fine!" says Chronos. "Fine. Who am I to question the decision of a stupid fucking human? You know what, maybe this is the right decision. Maybe the world will be better off without you. Goodbye. It was nice having you."\n\nYou start to feel everything shift. It's too late to change things now. All you can do is shout out "I'm sorry!" before your windpipe is crushed by the weight of your many selves.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|decision]].

"Ami's right," you say. She sighs and relaxes. "We can't leave things the way they are," you continue. "I made so many mistakes. If I could do things differently... Or not be there at all, not get in the way... That's what's best. It's the right thing to do."\n\n"I love it when humans are sensible," says Chronos. "Say your goodbyes or whatever it is you do, not that you'll remember them. And I do hope I don't have to see you again, not that I'll remember this either." His voice fades.\n\nYou turn to Ami. "Thanks for everything. I hope you can succeed this time."\n\n"I'll protect them. Everything else..." She shrugs. \n\n"Hey, you have my planet in your hands!"\n\n"I'll do what I can." She closes her eyes and lays down to wait. You're getting a little sleepy, too. You wipe your eyes, then wipe the sweat from your forehead. [[Walking in this heat|Start]] must be getting to you.\s\n\n<<set $loop to "1">>

You shake your head. "I made my choices. You can't change the past."\n\n"But, you literally can. Or, I can," says Chronos, frustrated.\n\n"It's a fantasy. It's not real."\n\n"Why don't you say, 'Yes, I would like to go back in time,' and find out for sure? What's the worst that could happen, hmm?"\n\n"Not interested," you say. You would turn away if you knew where Chronos was looking at you from.\n\n"Use some damn logic!" he shouts. His voice booms. You realize that perhaps you should be scared of this omnipresent figure, but you stand your ground. He sighs. "Fine," he says. "Carry on."\n\nIn another flash you're back against the wall, truly alone. Abandoned. Even though he left you, you hope Ethan got out all right. \n\n<<if $ethan is "1">>You hear footsteps coming from your left and raise your gun, ready to face down more guards, but instead you see Ethan. He dashes to you and takes you in an embrace.\n\n"I'm sorry I left you!" he says. "I was just upset."\n\n"It's okay," you say.\n\n"It's just, Ben... Ben is..."\n\n"I know," you say. He starts to cry, and you hold him until the bomb takes you.<<else>>More than anything, you want to see him. You wonder if you should have taken Chronos up on his offer after all. You imagine what it would have been like to see Ethan again as the bomb finally explodes and flames rip through the facility, burning you to a crisp.<<endif>>\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|wait]].

You make your selection, and a cabinet pulls itself off the shelf and floats to the floor a few steps away from you. You go over to it.\n\nInside is a plain black machine gun, or at least you think it's a machine gun. You have no idea what LGBT could stand for in this context.\n\nYou press a little green button on the side of the cabinet that sends it floating back to [[where it came from|terminal 3]].

You limp to the middle terminal.\n\nThe screen shows a long list of weapon names and classification numbers, most of which mean nothing to you. Knowing only that you're looking for a bomb, you begin scrolling through the list.\n\n >> 134 Church Bell\n >> 3319 BOOMERANG\n >> Bering 250 Eagle\n >> Bering 250 Hawk\n >> CoLD Assault Rifle\n >> Dark & Light PP22\n >> Elhaym Spark\n >> Flower of London\n >> HELL No. 4\n >> HELL No. 5\n >> Ingal-1\n >> Lunar Model Mk 12 Mod 1\n >> MARS96\n >> MARS96K\n >> MARS96R\n >> Starkiller 50K\n >> USBR 97\n >> USBR 99\n[[ >> Xylariales LAO]]\n\nMaybe you should look at one of the [[other|terminal 1]] [[terminals|terminal 3]].

You break away from Ben. He's a strong guy, but he's just been shot, so he's not exactly at full strength. You sit down beside Ami.\n\n"It isn't right," you say.\n\n"Foolish," says Ami. "It's pointless. You'll die."\n\n"Fine," you say. You've decided to be stubborn.\n\nBen shouts in frustration. "Get up, dumbass! I'm not waiting around to get blown up!"\n\n"Just go. He won't change his mind, and you're running out of time," says Ami. \n\n"Fine," says Ben. He looks at his feet, then up at the two of you with a grin. "It was fun, except for when it wasn't." He turns and takes off.\n\nOnce he's gone, Ami smacks your arm. "You almost got Ben killed," she says.\n\nYou shrug. "I would have slowed him down just as much if I was with him." You look at the bomb. Almost half the lights have turned green. "Do you think he'll be able to get out?" you ask.\n\n"If anyone can, it's Ben."\n\n"Good," you say. You're relieved. You hold on to that feeling; it's a good [[last feeling]] to have.

You sit where Ami was, with the bomb in your lap. You retrieve your gun. You want to be ready in case anyone tries to take the bomb from you. You can't let Ami and Ethan down again. \n\nThe facility seems quiet. You strain your ears, expecting to, but hoping not to, hear gunshots. Nothing. You hope they got out okay. \n\nYou're scared to look at the thing in your lap. How many lights are left? How much time do you have? You don't think you want to know. You'd rather forget, forget that your life is about to end.\n\nYou close your eyes and [[pretend]].

You head for the elevators. You hear the ding that signals an elevator's arrival as you approach. You push through the crowd, knocking people down and out of the way to get to the front. You //need// to be on that elevator, no matter what. You manage to squeeze into the last space in the front of the elevator. When you turn around, you see that guy in the suit, running towards you, his gun pointed. \n\n"Close the fucking door!" you shout.\n\n"I'm trying!" A woman is mashing the button, but nothing is happening. As the man in the suit gets closer, the crowd starts either running in other directions or trying to squeeze in to the already full elevator. \n\n"Come on, come on!"\n\nThe doors start to close just as the man pulls the trigger. The last thing you see is a green light.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|blinding]].

You lay back casually. "What do you usually do for fun on this ship?"\n\n"Oh. Um... Not much, I guess..." Ethan seems discouraged. He yawns, and you're not sure, but it sounds a little bit fake. "Actually, I'm kind of tired. I need to be rested for the operation." He looks at you. "Um, could you...?"\n\n"Oh." You stand up. \n\n"Thanks." Ethan climbs under the covers and starts removing his clothing. "You can sleep too, if you want. There are two bunks, after all."\n\nYou haven't been awake very long, but you did have trouble sleeping last night, and the day's events were pretty exhausting. You could just as easily [[sleep|sleep 2]] as [[not|as not 2]].

The room doesn't seem that different from the control room. You enter cautiously. Somewhere in your gut you feel there must be some sort of trap, but so far there is nothing of the sort. In fact, there appears to be nothing interesting at all.\n\n"None of this seems useful," says Ethan. "What should we do?"\n\nIt looks like [[this isn't the right room]], but you could always [[keep looking around]].

You follow Ami's lead, barely avoiding a bullet to the skull. After only a minute of sprinting to keep up with Ami, you find yourself short of breath and struggling to keep upright. Ben and Ethan beside you are not having the same issue. You realize now how unprepared you were to be thrust into an intergalactic conflict. Despite your best efforts, you start to slow. You can hear the boots of your enemies gaining on you. <<if $ben is "2">>\n\n"I can't... I can't..." you say, or try to, but it comes out in wheezes. Your allies inch ahead of you, and fail to notice when you fall. They round a corner and exit your sight. As the soldiers' bootfall gets closer and closer, you are glad, at least, that you can slow them down. Ami will lead the trio to victory. They don't need you. You weren't meant for this.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|The door opens]].<<else>>You feel your legs fall out from under you, and you close your eyes, sure you've collapsed. You wait for the soldiers' bootfall to overtake you.\n\nBut it doesn't. You open your eyes. You're closer to the ceiling now. You look down to see two big, hairy arms cradling you. \n\n"Don't worry, buddy," says Ben. "I got ya." You aren't slowing him down at all. He carries you through the facility's increasingly winding halls, putting more distance between you and your pursuers with every turn, until you find yourselves in a dim, [[silent room]].<<endif>>

Ethan smiles. "No worries. Hey, Ami! How much longer?"\n\n"We've got about six hours until we land back on Gatz."\n\n"Our mission starts then," says Ethan. "It'll be pretty dangerous. We'll be infiltrating a military base and destroying pretty much everything, reducing their firepower enough for Earth to fight back with an actual chance. We'd like you to decide before then." He stretches. "I think I'm gonna sleep for a while. Feel free to wake me up if you make a decision." He leaves through a door in the back.\n\nYou sit down on the bench next to Ben. You feel as if you were drawn into a dangerous battle that isn't yours for reasons beyond your understanding. However, you sympathize with Ethan and his friends. Even so, joining their fight will mean risking your life. You go back and forth between these two thoughts.\n\nYou check your cell phone. You don't get reception in outer space, but you can check the time. You think you have passed about an hour in thought. You consider going to [[tell Ethan]] what your decision is, but then again, you still have [[plenty of time]] to consider it.

The two of you sit in silence for a while. The disappointment is crushing. It feels like you've failed. Even if you haven't yet, is it even worth it to go on?\n\nAmi is the one who finally speaks. "We're not done yet," she says. Her voice is rough.\n\n"What can we do now?" you ask.\n\n"You're in better shape than I am. I need you to keep looking for the bomb."\n\n"You were looking for a bomb?"\n\n"Of course. The goal is to destroy this facility. That hasn't changed."\n\nYou're not sure that's true for you. It's hard not to regret being dragged into this misery. You're under [[no obligation]] to [[see this through]].

"The bomb?" you ask, at a loss for anything else you've done that would need undoing. "How am I supposed to unexplode a bomb?"\n\n"You've forgotten already," says Chronos. "I am a God of Time."\n\nYou suppose that would open up some options, but... "It's not just my act to undo. It was me and Ami and Ben and... The three of us." \n\n"Pack animals to the end. Look, I didn't invite your friends, I invited you. You're the only one with an opinion I care about-- well, that's not true. I don't care about your opinion, but I do need you to decide to go back in time, because I can't do it without your permission, and you're the only one who can change things."\n\n"Um... why me? I was the least important part of the operation."\n\n"Don't ask me, okay? You're just different. I don't get it either. What matters is that your bomb is about to destroy the time machine in the Gatz war facility, and that--"\n\n"Wait, time machine?!"\n\nChronos sighs. "It's so hard to keep track of what you do and don't know. Yes, they have a time machine. It's really annoying and messes with the timeline all over the place, but blowing it up will only make things worse. So I'm going to send you back in time to before you left Earth and hope you don't screw up again. Okay? Say okay."\n\nIt's kind of confusing, but if you can take what he says at face value, [[continuing like normal]] will cause some sort of time-related disaster. [[Going back]] and making everything you did, all of the hardship, be for nothing doesn't sound great either, though.

You write it down. \n\n"Are we ready?" says Chronos. "And... reveal!"\n\nAmi, once again, is on the ball. She flattens her paper on the ground and you see that she has written //do NOT go back.//\n\n"We worked hard to get here. Our plan succeeded. I won't give it up, and that's that," she says.\n\n"I'm surprised," says Ben. He holds his paper in front of him so you can all read: //GO BACK.// "I knew all along something was fishy about the way they were always one step ahead of us," he explains. "A time machine makes perfect sense. This is way bigger than we thought, and we need a redo so we can do this right. Ethan?" \n\nEthan takes a deep breath, then hands you his paper: <<if $ethan is "1">>//don't go back.// "I wasn't sure," he says, "but when I thought about losing the time we spent together, of maybe never even meeting you, I decided that holding on to those memories was important to me. <<else>>//go back.// "I wasn't sure," he says, "but if Chronos is right and the whole universe is going to be affected by what we did, then those are way bigger stakes than our two planets. <<endif>>I'm sorry if I didn't make the right decision."\n\n"Thanks," you say. You check your vote one more time, then reveal it: //don't do it.// <<if $ethan is "1">>"Ethan, I don't want to lose you, either. I don't care if it's not the best decision, it's what I want."<<else>>"Ami is right. We won. Why should we undo that? We don't know for sure that Chronos is right, so we should stand up for what we've accomplished."<<endif>>\n\n"I hate humans," Chronos grumbles. "And who made these rules, anyway? They're clearly misguided. Well, whatever. Time to die, kids."\n\nEverything goes white. You blink until your vision returns. You're on the bench in the ship, next to Ethan and Ben. You must have zoned out for a second. \n\nThe ship turns suddenly, and you're thrown out of your seat. Your hands touch the floor, and the metal feels hot. You look to Ethan and share a moment of panic, of regret, as you're engulfed in the explosion.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|appear in a flash]].

"Thank you," you whisper. He gives your shoulder a squeeze.\n\n"It doesn't matter," she says. "Just get to work." She turns away. You and Ethan go to your separate posts.\n\nIt isn't long before Ethan returns to Ami with a large disc. Red lights blink along its edge. He hands it to her, and she turns it over and fiddles with something on its underside.\n\n"Is that the bomb?" you ask. \n\nShe nods, turns it rightside-up. "It's set." One of the lights turns green, then, after a long moment, another. \n\n"I guess we should get out of here," says Ethan. \n\n"You go," says Ami. "I'm in no condition to go anywhere. The two of you can help each other escape. The least I can do is make sure this thing does what it's supposed to." She says all this as plainly as if she were reading off a grocery list.\n\n"Ami, no! We already lost Ben, that's enough. Come on." His fists are shaking.\n\n"I won't be persuaded," she says. "I'll be here to see this bomb go off. I suggest you start moving before you suffer the same fate."\n\n"Fuck!" Ethan storms off as fast as his injured body can take him. You struggle to [[keep up]].

You decide to think it through a little more. You try to imagine yourself fighting a tyrranical alien government, but it's difficult to visualize. You close your eyes and picture it...\n\nYou wake up to someone shaking you and shouting your name. You open your eyes to see Ethan with his hands on your shoulders. "What's going on...?" you ask.\n\n"We've landed," says Ethan. "It's time to start the operation. But, um..." He looks to his right. There stands Ami. It's the first time you've seen her face. She seems young, but her forehead is wrinkled. You sense that she's been through a lot in her life.\n\n"We need your answer," she says. "It's happening now, so will you help us or not?"\n\nYou meant to spend your time considering how to answer this very question, but instead you slept... You don't have any more time to decide. Should you [[go with them]] or [[not]]?

Thank you for playing Undone!\n\nThe world cannot be left in such a dangerous state, and so time will continue to loop until a satisfactory conclusion is reached. Perhaps such a state can be achieved the full game.\n\nEven within that loop, however, there is lots to explore: two major branches with countless variations, large and small. I would be very happy if you were to take the loop again. \n\nThis game was made with a genuine love for silly time travel shenanigans, and for games that do something to link story and mechanics. I hope you had some good, gay fun, maybe even enough to play again when I hopefully finish the game sometime in the next year.\n\nAgain, thank you.\n\n - Davis G. See\n\n(You can go [[back to the game|Start]] now.)

You back away further, keeping yourself flat against the wall so you blend in. You settle in to watch the conflict, but it's hard to keep track of what's happening. This isn't like a movie with edits to tell you what to pay attention to. You look to your friends and they all seem fine, so you look to the bad guys as one of them goes down, but you don't know who shot him, you look and you can't see Ethan anymore, where did he go? Is he okay? A voice cries out but you don't know whose. You don't know where to look anymore. A voice cries out and it's yours. You've been shot in the leg.\n\nYou slide to the floor and take a more careful look around. No one seems to be targeting you. It must have been a stray bullet. The sound of gunfire slows as another goon goes down. There's a fair pile of them now. You think that was the last one. \n\nYou get to your feet. Your left leg hurts like hell but your right is fine, so you put all your weight on it and limp towards the middle of the room. "Is everyone all right?" you call out. For a moment you can't see anyone in the dim of the room and the smoke of the gunfight, but you track down Ami when her flashlight comes back on. She's sitting up against a cabinet and her stomach is bleeding. \n\nShe waves away your words before you can say them. Then she shines her light to the right. You see [[Ben|ben hurt]], laying in the aisle, and [[Ethan]], slumped against a cabinet a little further back.

You squeeze Ethan's hand, then let go. "I can't. I can't leave this decision open. I mean, I can't just let time halt. It's too heavy. There's too much on my shoulders."\n\n"All right," says Ethan, "so what are you going to do?"\n\nYou sit. "I don't know. Like I said, it's so... I don't wanna fuck up."\n\nHe sits next to you, puts his hand on your thigh. "If you're asking for my input..."\n\n"Please."\n\n"Okay. You should go back in time to wherever Chronos wants to put you. Our future, where we left off, doesn't seem very promising."\n\n"So you and Chronos agree."\n\n"...Don't you?"\n\n"What if we never meet again?" you say. "If I go back, I'll forget all about you! I don't want to save the world if it means losing you."\n\nEthan sighs. "Look, I... I like you. A lot. I get all flustery and sweaty when I see you, which, if you've been paying attention, means I've been flustery and sweaty about 100% of the time lately. So I get it. I don't want to lose you either. But it also means that I believe in you. Whatever you do, it is fine by me, because I know it will be right for you. So don't worry about me. If you have to forget me to save the world... go for it." He smiles.\n\nIt feels good to know that Ethan has such faith in you. You stand. "Okay, Chronos, I think I know what I want to do."\n\n"Excellent!" his voice booms. "What'll it be?"\n\nYou take a deep breath and pause to make sure you know; will you [[hold on]] to Ethan or is it time to [[let him go]]?

You consider jumping the man closest to you before remembering that you, too, were given a gun. You take your time aiming and snipe your target, and then the one next to him, before they notice you. You're close enough to see your bullets enter their brains, to see the holes you've made, and it's gruesome, but you hold your remorse and keep firing. One panicked adversary tries to take care of you, but his shot soars past you, and then he goes down.\n\nOnce it's done, you let out a little laugh. "That wasn't so bad," you say. Shaking, you put your gun away. You make your way over to the others, and it's only up close that you see blood on Ethan's hand. "Oh, hey, are you okay?" you ask.\n\n"Yeah, this is no big deal," he says with a smile. Ami comes over with a long strip of dark fabric and begins wrapping it around his wound. The moment the two allies share as she holds his hand is almost intimate, and you're kind of jealous. Irrationally, you remind yourself. This isn't a lovers' cruise<<if $ethan is "1">>, and anyway, you and Ethan have already had an intimate moment of your own<<endif>>.\n\n"Okay," says Ami. "[[Back to work]]."

You standby as Ethan pulls the trigger. The guy doesn't move, just dies. At least he died in his sleep this time.\n\nEthan stands and wipes his eyes. "I hope that makes a difference," he says. "It feels like nothing's changed, but..." He shakes his head. "Whatever. Let's find that [[time machine]]."

You speedwalk the next few blocks, scared but trying not to seem too panicked, as if someone could see you and know that you just left what was very likely a crime scene.\n\nYou enter your office building, which is right in the heart of downtown. The security guard at the front desk is doing a sudoku puzzle as you pass by. You're pretty sure he's the only one on duty. Well, it's not like anything ever happens.\n\nYou share desk space with two other people on the 14th floor, which features an open workspace that is designed to get people socializing and sharing ideas, but really just makes everyone, or at least you, feel awkward. One of your deskmates, Eric, greets you with a "'Sup Bro," as you sit down. You don't like these people. You don't want to befriend these people. You are here to work. It's actually a little discouraging to think you spend most of your time with people you have no connection with. You're still kind of sweaty, too. You're not at all motivated to get things done.\n\nYou look to the phone on your desk. Should you [[call the police]], let them know about earlier? It could have been nothing, and you [[don't really want to get involved]].

You let Ben drag you out of the room.\n\n"Don't dwell on it," he says. "Our job now is to survive."\n\n"Right," you say, but you don't feel like much of a survivor. \n\nBen guides you through the facility. You can't go very fast with your injuries, and though Ben is hurt, too, you can tell he's slowing down for you. You know he'd have a better chance of surviving if he'd abandon you, or if you'd stayed. You push yourself so as not to be a burden, but soon you're out of breath and leaving a trail of blood as you go. You stop against a wall to rest.\n\nBen halts a few steps ahead. "Dude, come on. The bomb could go off any time."\n\n"Sorry," you gasp. \n\n"This fucking guy..." He puts your arm around his shoulder and starts off again, half carrying you.\n\n"Thank you," you squeak.\n\nYou're now crawling along even more slowly than before, but you have a hunch that if Ben let go, you wouldn't be able to stay upright. \n\nYou think you hear a rumbling from somewhere in the building. "What was that?" you ask.\n\n"Don't worry about it," says Ben. \n\n"What if it's--"\n\n"Can you shut the fuck up, please? Look, we're almost there. The exit's just down this hall."\n\nYou look, and the hall seems to end with an average, blank wall, which could very well be the exit considering how you got in. It seems a little shiny, and as you get closer that shine gets brighter, like the light at the [[end of the tunnel]].

You approach Ami from behind and peer over her shoulder. In front of her are a multitude of screens, some showing views similar to what you saw out the window. She is tapping and sliding her finger on a lower screen, and it seems to be adjusting something but you can't really tell what's happening, just that there are a lot of numbers.\n\n"You pilot the ship with a touchscreen?" you ask.\n\n"Did you expect a big wooden steering wheel?" she responds.\n\n"Well, no, but..."\n\n"With this, almost everything can be automated. I was just checking our speed and remaining distance." Her voice is cold, and you feel judged for your ignorance. As if it's your fault you don't know anything about deep space travel.\n\nMaybe if you show that you're [[willing to learn]] (and boy are you curious!), she'll warm up to you. On the other hand, maybe it would be easier to avoid confrontation and [[back off]].\s\n\n<<set $ami to "1">>

"Fine," you say. "I don't... I don't want to die..." Your face feels hot. Whimpering, you put your face to the floor, hoping it will cool you down, but its temperature matches yours. \n\n"Good boy," says the voice, and somehow you're comforted by it. You feel a burden being lifted from your shoulders; you've become lighter. It's like the ground is floating out from under you. You halt, shake your legs out a bit. [[Walking in this heat|Start]] must be getting to you.\s\n\n<<set $loop to "1">>

You hesitate, so she continues: "I'll stay. I'm in no condition to go anywhere. The two of you can help each other escape. The least I can do is make sure this thing does what it's supposed to." She says all this as plainly as if she were reading off a grocery list.\n\n"Ami, no! We already lost Ben, that's enough. Come on." His fists are shaking.\n\n"I won't be persuaded," she says. "I'll be here to see this bomb go off. I suggest you start moving before you suffer the same fate."\n\n"Fuck!" Ethan storms off as fast as his injured body can take him. You struggle to [[keep up]].

You feel Ben's support slip away, and without it you end up flat on the floor. When you look up, everything's white. \n\n"My, my. Aren't you in a sorry state."\n\n"Who's there?!" you cry, but it comes out raspy. You try to look around but you can only see so much from the floor.\n\n"Clearly this hasn't worked out for you, which is great because it hasn't worked out for me, either." The voice is condescending and you can't tell where it's coming from. "I can help you if you help me. Would you like go to back in time? I can do that for you. Then maybe you won't die! Not so early, anyways. Everyone dies."\n\n"I have no idea what you're talking about," you say. The blood loss isn't aiding your comprehension, either. \n\n"You're at my mercy," says the voice, "so you either choose and choose correctly or you die. What will it be? Shall I send you back, or will you bleed out?"\n\nYou don't trust him, but it seems you have to either [[listen to him]] or [[face death]].

You nod. \n\n"All right, here we go!"\n\nYou brace yourself for some sort of change, some impact, and as you do, you think about Ami, Ben, and Ethan, three courageous freedom fighters who did everything they could to save you and your planet. You clench your fists as you try to hold onto your memories of them. Maybe you can bring something back, maybe you don't have to let go of them, maybe--\n\nYou can feel everything get a little bit lighter. It's like the ground is floating out from under you. You halt, shake your legs out a bit. [[Walking in this heat|Start]] must be getting to you.\s\n\n<<set $loop to "1">>

You rest your forehead against Ethan's. "Okay," you say. "Let's not worry about it. I don't want to think about time and the end of the world or whatever. I'm just..." You smile. "I'm just happy you're here."\n\nHe takes your face in his hands and kisses you. As his kisses get more fervent, and your hands start to roam, the fate of the world is the last thing on your mind.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|explain everything]].

This time you are more diligent as you listen at the door<<if $shot is "1">>, though the pain is distracting<<endif>>. For the first few minutes you don't hear anything but your allies' shuffling<<if $shot is "1">> and your own heartbeat<<endif>>. \n\n<<if $shot is "2">>For a second you think you hear something else, maybe a voice, maybe a movement, but it doesn't continue. Maybe you're overfocused, tricking yourself into hearing things that aren't there. You should [[calm down]], though you can't help but worry that what you heard was [[real]].<<else>>Your pulse pounds in your head. You give yourself a light slap. You need to get it together. It's so hard to focus on anything outside of your own body. At this rate, if someone snuck up on you, you [[wouldn't even notice]].<<endif>>

Your fate comes to you in a white flash of light. It seems to paint the whole building and wash away the walls until a white space is all that's left. You didn't think this is what dying would be like, but you don't know what else it could be.\n\nYou step forward. Your leg still hurts. You're not sure what that means; that it's not a dream? That you're not dead? There's nothing to see in any direction, nothing you can do, again, but wait.\n\nYou wish Ethan was with you. You wish he hadn't left you behind.\n\n"Oh, look at you, poor thing!" comes a voice. You spin around, but there's no one behind you. "You seem so lost. Abandonded, is it? That's tragic."\n\n"Who's there?" you call. \n\n"I'm a friend, or I can be. You can call me Chronos. Say, don't you wish things didn't turn out the way they did? Don't you wish you could go back in time and fix things? Lucky for you, that happens to be my specialty. If you'd like, I can send you back to before you came to this wretched planet. You can get another chance with that boy, or decide not to go through the pain of it at all. Not that you'll remember what's happened here, but I believe in you. I know you can reach a different outcome."\n\nIt sounds like nonsense, but your regret gets the better of you and you start to imagine a version of events where Ethan doesn't leave you. Could you really [[make that real]], or is it a [[hopeless fantasy]]?

"No," you say. "It is my fault. I could have prevented this. I'm sorry, Ami."\n\n"It doesn't matter," she says. "Just get to work." She turns away.\n\nYou and Ethan share a look, then go to your separate posts. You wish there was more you could do, but what's done is done.\n\nIt isn't long before Ethan returns to Ami with a large disc. Red lights blink along its edge. He hands it to her, and she turns it over and fiddles with something on its underside.\n\n"Is that the bomb?" you ask. \n\nShe nods, turns it rightside-up. "It's set." One of the lights turns green, then, after a long moment, another. \n\n"I guess we should get out of here," says Ethan. \n\n"Someone needs to stay," says Ami. "We need to make sure this bomb goes off." Are you [[imagining things]], or is she talking [[about you]]?

You shrug. "What do you usually do for fun on this ship?"\n\n"To be honest, not a lot. I didn't really think to bring anything." He yawns. "Actually, maybe I should sleep. I'll need to be rested for the operation." He climbs into the bottom bunk, gets under the covers, and starts removing his clothing. "You can sleep, too, if you want. There are two bunks, after all."\n\nYou haven't been awake very long, but you did have trouble sleeping last night, and the day's events were pretty exhausting. You could just as easily [[sleep|sleep 2]] as [[ not|as not 2]].

This is all happening much too quickly for you. You take a moment to think through everything that you've been told. If you don't go back in time, the bomb you and Ami set off is going to do something to the timeline that even the god of time himself wants to prevent. It sounds unbelievable, and you wouldn't entertain it if you weren't already in an unbelievable situation. If you do go back, it will be to before you met your new friends, before you met Ethan. Will you forget them entirely? Even with all the pain, is it worth it to forget everything?\n\n"Is there some way to change things without losing my memories of Ami, Ben, and Ethan?" you ask upwards.\n\n"I'm afraid not," Chronos replies. "I need to set you back a significant amount of time in order for their to be a good chance of things going differently."\n\nAmi turns to you. "I want to go back. Whether or not what he's saying is true, I don't want this to be how things go down. We have a chance to change things." She shouts into the space in front of her: "Take us back!"\n\n"I'm glad you agree with my side of things," says Chronos, "but you're only here to aid //his// decision. You and most other living creatures will always do the same thing no matter how many times you do it over. That's just how time works. Your friend here is different. I don't know why, but time gets a little wonky around him. He could do something completely different the second time around."\n\n"Fine," says Ami. She turns to you, and there's a scary look in her eyes. "He'll make the right decision," she says.\n\nSo it comes down to you. Should you [[go back in time|go back Ami]] and lose everything you did with Ami, Ben, and Ethan? Or would you rather [[hang on]] to what you have?

You watch her as she begins dressing her own wounds using material from a dead soldier's clothing as bandages. Her hands are fast and steady. You wonder if she's had to do this before.\n\nThere's a groaning from her left and you tense up. Your first thought is that one of them survived and they're rising up to take Ami out while her guard's down. When you look, though, you recognize the shape in the dark to be Ben. He groans again as he shifts from crouching to standing, then goes silent and falls like a tree. You can see now, behind him, Ethan, on the floor and grasping out. His reach falls short, and he, too, goes still.\n\nNow you have to get over there, no matter how much it hurts. You crawl, dragging your injured leg behind you, your abdomen burning every inch of the way. You might feel it more if you weren't so distracted by the fates of your comrades. You're reminded of stubbing your toe as a child and crying about the pain, and your mother joking that if you cut off a finger, you wouldn't be thinking about your toe anymore. \n\nYou listen at Ben's mouth for breath, but hear nothing. You go just a short distance further, to Ethan, who is just as still. You think you'd rather have kept your finger. When you look back at Ami, she is staring at you, with a desperation in her eyes you have never seen before. She is waiting for you to tell her that it's okay, but it's not. You [[look away]].

You approach Ami from behind and peer over her shoulder. In front of her are a multitude of screens, some showing views similar to what you saw out the window. She is tapping and sliding her finger on a lower screen, and it seems to be adjusting something but you can't really tell what's happening, just that there are a lot of numbers.\n\n"You pilot the ship with a touchscreen?" you ask.\n\n"Did you expect a big wooden steering wheel?" she responds.\n\n"Well, no, but..."\n\n"With this, almost everything can be automated. I was just checking our speed and remaining distance." Her voice is cold, and you feel judged for your ignorance. As if it's your fault you don't know anything about deep space travel.\n\nA bright yellow notice pops up on the screen with a ding. "We're [[almost there|out of the ship]]," says Ami.\s\n\n<<set $ami to "1">>

You decide to do as you were told, no matter how mind-numbing it is. After thoroughly examining every inch of the ship, masturbating in the lavatory, and resisting the urge to go through the crew's personal belongings, you decide that the only thing to do is sleep the hours away, even if you're not that tired. Climbing into the bottom bunk of the cabin, you try to attain a state as close to being in a coma as possible. After a while, you actually fall asleep.\n\nA while later, you wake up to the sound of the ship's main door opening. At first you think it's the crew returning, but upon fully waking you hear many sets of clacking footsteps, like boots. Hiding under the covers seems both childish and ineffectual, but while you try to think of what else to do, the cabin door opens. In walks the same man in a suit you barely escaped from on Earth.\n\nHe sees you and laughs. "Oh, I just knew I'd see you again." He slowly steps towards you. The only escape route is behind him, so you try to dart past him, but he grabs you by the neck. "Pathetic." He throws you at the ground, then puts his boot on your neck. "Not such a threat after all," he says, then presses down hard.\n\n. . .\n\n<<if $tell is "1">>[[Undo|tell Ethan]].<<else>>[[Undo|plenty of time]].<<endif>>

Davis G. See

You close your eyes and feel the mattress you're on drop out of the spaceship and drift towards the stars. You land on a stream of light and begin drifting down the river. The water's calm, with no rocks, no waves, no turbulence. There's nothing to worry about out here. There's no anxiety, no sorrow, no regret.\n\nAmi's voice fills the room from above. "[[Now entering Gatz's atmosphere|out of the ship]]."\s\n\n<<set $ben to "1">>

"You're right," you say. "I do wish things were different. Not that I was happy just going to work every day, but I never asked to be swept up in all of this danger, either. And if the danger is unavoidable, I at least want it to turn out better than this."\n\n"It will," says Chronos. "It better."\n\nYou can feel everything get a little bit lighter. It's like the ground is floating out from under you. You halt, shake your legs out a bit. [[Walking in this heat|Start]] must be getting to you.\s\n\n<<set $loop to "1">>

"No. No, I can't just wait here to die." You step back on your left foot and remember your injury when pain flares up your leg and makes you stumble against a shelf. Can you really escape?\n\n"I hope you find your way home," Ami says. She closes her eyes.\n\nYou turn down the hall and move as quickly and quietly as you can. You have to make it out of here. You don't think you can find your way home, but maybe you can make a new home. Gatz is a civilized planet, warmongering central government aside, and clearly they speak English. You could make it work, at least for a little while. Until you find another way back. \n\nYou have nothing to guide you but memory, which might be okay if the halls didn't all look the same. You try not to think too hard about it, and hope that you have some sort of survival instinct. You wish you could go faster.\n\nYou stop in front of an ordinary wall. You're not sure, but you think, just maybe, this is the way you came in. All Ami did to open the way was touch a certain spot. You start tapping the metal.\n\n"This way!" A distant voice, and the familiar patter of boots. You tap wildly. There's no time to run, this has to be the exit. //Please open, please open, please open// bounces around in your head for the next twenty seconds.\n\nIt doesn't open.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo| >> Xylariales LAO]].

"Yeah. I, um... I'm not doing it."\n\n"Oh." Ethan gives a shaky smile. "It's okay, I get it. It's not something to be taken lightly. Now, I should get back to sleep, so... I'll see you when I wake up." He turns over abruptly.\n\nYou decide that sleep is probably your best course of action as well, but once you get into the upper bunk, you realize just how terrible you feel for letting Ethan down, even though actually participating in their operation scares you to death. These thoughts float around in your head, allowing you only a few small fits of sleep. When Ethan wakes up, you are already awake, but pretend to continue sleeping. You let him and the other two scamper around, make preparations, and leave, before finally climbing down.\n\nOn the door you find a note:\n\n//We'll be back as soon as Earth is safe! Please don't leave the ship until then. - Ethan//\n\nEven though you let him down, he's still thinking of you...\n\nYou spend a while feeling bad, wandering around the ship. Soon you run out of space to explore. You were told to [[stay put]], but you sure are bored. [[Leaving the ship]] is becoming quite tempting...

You leap towards him, but before you get to him, he turns his gun on you and shoots. You stop and fall to your knees. "Ethan, run!" you manage to choke out, but you're not sure it's heard over the ensuing gunfire. Everything gets blurry, then fades to black.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|flash the card]].

You go down a floor to see that the stairs, too, are crowded. A security guard emerges from the throng and runs past you, presumably to deal with the crisis, though you doubt he will be very successful. \n\nThe stairgoers seem to be stuck in a traffic jam, going only inches at a time. The security guard made it through them, maybe you could [[do the same]]. On the other hand, maybe [[going back]] is a wiser decision.

It's the dead of summer.\n\nLate to work as usual, you climb the hill one painful step at a time. Your shirt is soaked through with sweat, and the sun isn't getting any lower. It watches you from behind, stroking your back like a controlling husband. You should really get your car fixed.\n\nYou can see your office building rising higher and higher above the hill's peak. It's not far now. Maybe you won't be //too// late for work.\n\n<<if $loop is "1">>\s\nSomething catches your eye. A woman runs down an alley. Is she chasing something? Maybe if this were the full game you'd be able to follow her now, but you need to [[get to work|Gunshot]].\n\nOh, but hold on. Is that a developer [[afterword]] you see?\n<<else>>\s\nSomething catches your eye. A woman runs down an alley. Is she chasing something? You're awfully curious, but you need to [[get to work|Gunshot]].\n<<endif>>\s\n<<set $sleep to "2">>\s\n<<set $ethan to "2">>\s\n<<set $pills to "2">>\s\n<<set $reassure to "2">>\s\n<<set $bunk to "2">>\s\n<<set $gun to "2">>\s\n<<set $police to "2">>\s\n<<set $ben to "2">>\s\n<<set $ami to "2">>\s\n<<set $shot to "2">>\s\n<<set $tell to "2">>

"I didn't want to be late," you say.\n\n"But you were late, and anyways, it's not that hard to talk on the phone while you walk to work," says Eric.\n\nYou sigh. "Look, I had other priorities, okay?"\n\n"What if someone died because of you?"\n\n"I doubt there's anything I could have done. And Eric, stop listening in on other people's phone conversations."\n\n"Hey, it's not my fault you--"\n\nYou stand and turn to the window, tuning him out. What an asshat. Although, truthfully, you do feel like you had some sort of responsibility, and you didn't live up to it. Well, the moment has passed. You stare out the window and try not to worry about it.\n\nThe building across from you only has 12 floors, so it doesn't block the light. The sun shines in at just the right angle to light things up without being [[blinding]].

Ethan's eyes flicker open as you kneel next to him. "Did we win?" he asks.\n\n"Yeah, you won," you say. You put your hand on his shoulder. His hand comes up and holds it, but his grip is weak.\n\n"I'm so glad," he says. \n\n"Don't go throwing a party yet. Where are you hurt?" you ask. He lifts up his shirt to show you his wounds. "Give me this," you say. You take his shirt and begin to tear it apart and repurpose it as bandaging.\n\n"You've been hurt, too," he says. He sighs. "I want to say I'm sorry for dragging you into this... but I'm not. I joined this fight because it's something I believe in, but Ben and Ami have been at this much longer than I have. They're better than me. With you here, I felt like there was finally someone on my level, someone as inexperienced as me. Maybe that's a bad reason to want you around, but... Well, it's not the only reason." \n\nYou smile with him, but only for a moment, as something in your peripheral distracts you. You turn to see Ben [[rising to his feet]].

"The bomb?" you ask, at a loss for anything else you've done that would need undoing. "How am I supposed to unexplode a bomb?"\n\n"You've forgotten already," says Chronos. "I am a God of Time."\n\nYou suppose that would open up some options, but... "It's not really my act to undo. It's Ami's, and she did it for a reason."\n\n"Shall we bring her here, then?" One flash of light later, she's beside you again. Her clothes have burn marks on them, but otherwise she is as healthy as she was when you last saw her (which is to say, not very). Her eyes are closed. She probably thinks she's dying. \n\n"Let's get you caught up." He makes a sound like he's clearing his throat, though you're not sure if he actually has a throat or if he's just being theatrical. "I'm Chronos, God of Time, and I've pulled you out of time to ask you not to do what you just did." As he explains, Ami blinks her eyes open and adjusts to what she's seeing, and not seeing.\n\n"What you've done," Chronos continues, "is set off a bomb in a facility containing a time machine. The existence of that thing has screwed up the timeline enough, but blowing it up isn't great, either. I can just feel--"\n\n"Wait," you say. "Time machine?!"\n\n"I thought you knew about that."\n\n"I most certainly did not." Silence. "Hello?"\n\n"So I just checked and it turns out you never found out about that. Huh!"\n\n"Ben," says Ami. "He... He had a hunch they had something like that. So much of what they were doing didn't seem possible. So, he was right."\n\n"Maybe that's why I was confused," says Chronos. "Anyway, if I let this explosion happen it'll cause all sorts of chaos. The thing is, it's sort of against the rules for me to interfere with things, so I'll let you decide to go back in time! I'll put everything back to a point before the two of you even met. [[Sound good]]?"

You lower yourself onto the ground and lay back, stretching out as much as you can.\n\n"What are you doing?" Chronos's voice echoes.\n\n"Thinking."\n\n"I didn't think it requred that much thought. The choice seems pretty obvious to me. I know what I would do."\n\n"But... Those can't be the only two choices."\n\n"Yeah, except they are."\n\n"I can't accept that," you say, almost a whisper. You roll onto your side. "How did I pull the short stick...?"\n\nChronos sighs (odd, considering you don't think he needs to breath). "Theoretically, you have forever to make a decision, but I don't recommend it. You might go crazy waiting in an empty space for an indeterminate amount of time. You won't grow older here, either, and I'm not gonna stay here and play board games with you."\n\n"Why am I here?" you ask.\n\n"I brought you here, I thought I explained that."\n\n"No, but why me? Why not Ethan? Why isn't he here...?"\n\n"That's harder to explain. Time... does something strange around you. Normally, time goes in one direction, period. Things don't change. But it sort of... warps around you. I get the feeling that, if I sent you back, you could make a different decision. You could change events. I don't think Ethan could."\n\n"But it's not like... I mean, you could bring Ethan here. If you wanted."\n\n"I don't know why I would, though. He is entirely unnecessary. Just make a decision."\n\n"I think..." You take a deep breath, then get to your feet. "I want you to bring him here. I want to talk about this with him. It will help me make a decision."\n\n"Hey, I am a God, okay? You can't boss me around, I'm not just gonna do whatever the hell you want me to do. I know, why don't I bring all your friends? Why don't I invite the people who tried to kill you? Why don't I invite the whole fucking world?"\n\nYou clench your fists. "I need to be okay with him. I need to make sure that he's okay with whatever I decide. Please."\n\n"Whatever. Like I give a shit." There is a bright light, and when it dissipates, Ethan is standing there, covering his eyes. You hug him before he gets a chance to open them.\n\n"Ethan!"\n\n"What? What's going on? Where are we? Are we okay? Are we alive? Is this heaven?"\n\n"Not quite." You step back and [[explain everything]] to him, with Chronos's aid.

You wish Chronos was in front of you instead of being some weird voice from nowhere. You keep looking around as he talks, not sure where to keep your eyes.\n\n"What problem?" you ask.\n\n"The timeline! It's all screwed up! You may have noticed, but you were in the room I pulled you from hundreds of times. I stopped time, but I am positive you would have overflowed to the point of completely covering Gatz. Just piles and piles of you and your friend. You'd fill the oceans, displace the water, drown whole cities, and then fill those cities! The Earth already has over 7 billion people, and you would dwarf even that number. I believe this incident has been the result of a long line of screw-ups. Those people on Gatz have fucked around quite enough with their //time travel//. As a result of you being drawn into their mess, you became the catalyst for the critical incident that overwhelms time itself. As the God of Time, I am only supposed to watch, not interfere, but this is the kind of thing I am supposed to be watching for. But I'm still not sure how to fix this, which is why I've stopped time and brought you here."\n\nThinking back, it did seem like your multiplication would never end. Did time really get so screwed up that your one attempt at time travel created the disaster that could destroy a planet? But what if it kept going? What if you filled space? What if you got all the way back to Earth and destroyed it, too?\n\n"What can be done?" you ask.\n\n"I think time needs to go backwards," says Chronos. "The problem is, I'm not sure how far back to go. I'm not sure I could pinpoint the place where whoever started Gatz first came upon time travel anymore. Time travel is so ubiquitous now; it appears everywhere. You see, I'm the God of Time, but I'm just as bound by time as you are. If I send time back, I won't even remember that we had this conversation. Going back to before you use time travel would only be a band-aid fix. Where can I put you where things will go back to normal a little...?" \n\nThe voice trails off. You wait for it to come back, but nothing happens, so you wander for a while. There really is nothing in this place. No matter how far you go, nothing changes.\n\nThe voice comes back after what feels like ten or fifteen minutes. "Sorry," says Chronos, "I was looking back through time. I've decided I need to give you a choice. Just because I'm a god doesn't mean I can interfere with people's lives without their permission. This affects you the most, so you get to decide, but keep the people around you in mind, okay?\n\n"If you go back, I think it has to be to before you meet Ami and Ben and Ethan. Hopefully if you never go to Gatz some of our problems will be solved. I think that spot has the most potential for change. Your other option, as far as I'm concerned, is to not go back at all. I will simply put you back in that room where your existence will multiply to the point of killing you. Maybe I'm wrong and things will stop after a while, but I doubt it. I would not recommend this option. Anyways, take your time thinking about it. We have a while."\n\nThe choice seems obvious: [[go back in time]] and have a chance at fixing things. But if you do, you may not meet Ben and Ami and Ethan. You didn't spend much time with them, but you do feel close to them, especially Ethan. You don't want to forget them. That is the only thing that makes you consider [[not going back]].<<if $ethan is "1">>\n\n...No, that's not right. There has to be a way, there has to be some way you can change things //and// spend more time with Ethan. You don't want your last moments with him to be you both being crushed to death by a time paradox. You felt something with him, and you were barely [[given a chance]].<<endif>>

"...so that's why you're here," you finish. "I need your help. I don't know what to do. It's too much for one person. It's too much."\n\nHe ponders for a moment, then looks you in the eye and says, "I trust you. Whatever you choose, whatever happens, I will stand by your decision."\n\n"Oh God, but both options, I... I may never see you again."\n\nHe takes your hand. "I know, but you..." He smiles gently. "You know, you don't have to choose right now. We have all the time in the world here. We can have our last moments."\n\nHe's right. There is no time limit on this [[decision]]. It felt so urgent, but really, [[you don't ever have to choose at all]].

"I'll do whatever I can," you say. You touch his back.\n\nHe grins at you. "Thanks. I feel so much more confident now that you're here."\n\n"I'm glad, though I'm still not sure why it's me here and not someone else."\n\n"Well, they went after you specifically," says Ethan, "so you must pose some sort of threat to them, though I admit we're not sure why. Either way, I'm sure you will do no less than ensure our success in the upcoming operation!"\n\n"Operation?"\n\n"Oh yeah. We'll be infiltrating a military base and destroying pretty much everything, reducing their firepower enough for Earth to fight back with an actual chance. Based on how long it took for us to get to Earth in the first place, I think we have about six hours left. What do you want to do 'til then?"\n\nYou're not sure, but you think you hear flirtation in his voice. You should [[respond normally]], to be safe, but it sure would be fun to [[flirt back]]...\s\n\n<<set $reassure to "1">>

<<if $gun is "2">>Ami hands you a handgun as you exit the ship. <<endif>>You're in a small clearing surrounded by trees. They're similar to palm trees, but not like palm trees you've ever seen before. Maybe this really is another planet...\n\nAmi leads the group into the trees. There is no path that you can discern, but Ami moves confidently. You are impressed that she can find her way around in this mess. After about 20 minutes of walking, you emerge at a clearing next to a large building with steel walls. It seems impenetrable, but Ami walks up to it, touches a spot just above her head, and the wall spins open like a classic hidden doorway in a mansion library. \n\n"We know someone on the inside," says Ethan in explanation. Ami seems to be in a hurry, so you can't talk for long. You follow her into a hall that looks like something Luke Skywalker could be seen running down. The door closes behind you, and now looks from both sides like an ordinary wall. You wonder how many people in this facility know about it.\n\n"So this is some sort of military facility?" you ask as you walk.\n\n"Yeah," says Ethan. "It's hard to tell, but this place is huge, like the size of a city. It serves a lot of purposes, like armory, factory... Destroying it will completely halt weapon production for at least a little while. It's pretty much the most effective single blow we can deal."\n\n"Here." Ami stops in front of a pair of wide double doors. \n\n"Wow," you say, "you said this place was big, but we didn't have to go far at all, did we?"\n\nEthan smiles. "We chose that entry point for a reason."\n\nAmi takes out a screwdriver and starts taking apart a panel by the door.\n\n"So this room is...?"\n\n"Like a control room," says Ethan. "Everything we need to shut this place down should be here."\n\nSomething beeps. "Ready," says Ami. "Let's go." [[The door opens]].

You run back up the stairs, and when you reach the 14th floor, the man in the suit is standing there waiting, the body of the security guard at his feet. "[[Stop]]!" he commands.\n\nYou keep going, past him and up two floors more. You can hear his shoes clacking against the cement stairs as you open the door to [[the roof]].

"Ethan!" He doesn't respond. You go to him, shake his body. He flops about listlessly. He feels like an expensive doll, the kind that, if you were to play with it too hard, its joints would snap. You set him back down. You don't want to hurt him. You try to ignore the part of your mind telling you that he can't actually be hurt anymore.\n\n"Fuck!" Ben's fist slams the floor, like the floor is the one at fault. \n\n"Ben, stop," says Ami. "Save your strength. We still have work to do. Can you stand?" \n\n"Um... Yeah. Right. The mission." He manages to get to his feet, then returns to searching the terminals. \n\n"You go back to the door," Ami tells you. "Listen more closely this time." As if you needed to be reminded that Ethan's death is on your hands. \n\nIt isn't long before Ben returns to Ami with a large disc. Red lights blink along its edge. He hands it to her, and she turns it over and fiddles with something on its underside.\n\n"Is that the bomb?" you ask. \n\nShe nods, turns it rightside-up. "It's set." One of the lights turns green, then, after a long moment, another.\n\n"So, it's done," says Ben. He looks tired.\n\n"Get him out of here. I'll stay and make sure the bomb goes off."\n\n"Right." Ben returns to where he fell and picks up his discarded gun, then grabs your arm and starts pulling you towards the exit. When you realize what's happening, you struggle against him.\n\n"Ami, no! Come with us! No one else has to die here!"\n\n"I'm in no state to leave here alive," she says nonchalantly. "Go."\n\n"It's what she wants," Ben says.\n\nThat may be, but [[leaving her]] to die alone [[doesn't seem right]].

You begin examining the room's machinery. You don't know what kind of problems messing with it could cause, so for now it is look, don't touch. That ends when you spot what appears to be a metal lock beneath a keyboard. "Ethan, come here."\n\n"What is it?" You show him the lock. "Well, this is suspicious." He puts his gun to the lock and shoots it. "There. Not locked anymore."\n\nYou lift up the keyboard and in the empty space beneath it is a floating, glowing, blue sphere. You reach out to touch it and it backs away, like a magnet. You put your hand a few inches under it and lift the device out of its hiding spot. "Is this the time machine?"\n\n"I wonder how it works," says Ethan. "There are no buttons, not that you can really touch it, anyways."\n\n"It seems like magic," you say. "How the hell did they get ahold of something like this?" It is nothing like the rest of the technology you've seen so far on this planet in terms of design. They didn't really make it, did they?\n\n"Are we going to destroy it?" asks Ethan. "Is that even possible? Maybe we should try using it."\n\nHe has a point, but you don't know where to start. First of all, you have no idea how far into the future [[you]] [[should]] [[go]].

"This is nonsense," you say. "Just put me back, or make me wake up or whatever."\n\n"I promise this isn't a dream," says Chronos. \n\n"Just put. Me. Back."\n\n"Fine. I hate you, you know that? Humans are the worst, you just ruin everything you touch. You've got no sense. I hope you enjoy dying."\n\nYou feel a bit bad hearing a god get so upset, but the feeling only lasts a second.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|amiundo]].

His grip on you is tight, but he can only hold you with his left hand, while his right points a gun at your head. You can't turn around, but you hope his eyes are on the other people with guns, not on you. \n\nYou use your free right hand to smack his right hand away from you. He fires on reflex, but the bullet flies up and is lost in the room. Then you throw your entire body weight to the right, slipping from his grasp. As soon as you're clear, Ben unleashes his new toy, sending a storm of bullets ripping through your would-be captor, who is soon on the ground, unmoving. You release a breath you didn't realize you were holding.\n\n"I'm sorry," you say. "I don't know how I didn't hear him."\n\n"Ah, don't worry. They're slippery bastards," says Ben. \n\n"We're running out of time," says Ami. "Keep looking."\n\nThey return to the search, but Ethan comes to you and places a hand on your shoulder. "You're not hurt?" he asks. You shake your head, and he smiles. "All right. Hang tight." He goes back to looking as well, giving you nothing to do but to [[sit and wait]].

"Um... let's talk here," you say. \n\n"Oh. Oh! I didn't mean to..." Ethan is blushing now. "Right. Well, we can talk here, too.\n\n"I just wanted to explain some things. You're probably wondering what's going on, what with the space ships and laser guns and stuff. That guy who attacked you is from the military, but not Earth's military. Our military, on Gatz, which is where we're heading now. The history of Gatz is kind of weird... It was colonized specifically as a base for the future takeover of Earth. They attacked today partly to get to you, and partly as an open declaration of war against Earth, a war Earth will not win. The higher-ups have set themselves up to become the rulers of Earth. The thing is, Gatz has its own comparable civilization going on. The crew of this ship are all citizens of Gatz. It has its problems, like its leadership, but we like our home, and we don't want to see it abandoned. That's why we, and a militia group on Gatz, are fighting to stop their invasion of Earth. Saving you was our first major action towards this goal. They definitely know who we are now, so we have to ramp it up and finish it quickly."\n\n"Oh, come on," says Ben. "They've known who we are since before //we// knew."\n\n"That's not exactly proven..." says Ethan.\n\n"So the way all our plans seem to come apart before they're even implemented--"\n\n"That didn't happen this time!"\n\n"Yeah, it still could. I'm just waiting to get blown up. It's part of why I feel so queasy..." His gaze returns to the floor.\n\nEthan sighs. "It's true that they are quite the formidable enemy, and they always seem to be one step ahead of us, but we are sure you'll be a valuable asset!"\n\n"Wait, so... You want me to help you overthrow your government and prevent an invasion of Earth?" you ask. "Uh, why me?"\n\n"They went after you specifically," says Ethan, "so you must pose some sort of threat to them, though I admit we're not sure why. I think including you can only help!" He smiles. "Of course, you certainly have a choice."\n\nIt's a lot to take in at once. "I'll have to [[think about it]]," you say.

You take the seat next to Ami. "So how far have we travelled?" you ask.\n\nShe taps something at the bottom of the screen. It turns the unfathomable numbers into a cute diagram of the ship's route, with a dotted line tracking it from Earth out of the solar system. The ship icon is approaching a solitary planet, represented by something that looks a lot like Earth but a little smaller. "We'll reach Gatz soon."\n\n"Wait, I wasn't in a coma, was I?"\n\n"Of course not."\n\n"Then how did we go so far so fast? It's supposed to take a decade just to reach Pluto."\n\nShe places her finger on a blank section of screen and starts idly sliding it back and forth, shifting the diagram left and right. "This is a new model. Space travel used to take quite a bit longer, even just a few years ago. As for the details... I don't really know. Like I said, it's almost all automated. There's no need for me to know how it works." Her voice seems more timid now. You're happy to have found something neither of you knows.\n\nA bright yellow notice pops up on the screen with a ding. "Sit tight," says Ami. "We're [[almost there|out of the ship]]."

You sit on the bench next to Ben. "Still airsick?" you ask.\n\n"Nah, <<if $pills is "1">>I took some meds for it, and anyway, <<endif>>it's not as bad now that we're out of the atmosphere. Not that this feeling has gone away." He puts his hand over his gut, then looks you in the eye. His eyes are dark and intense. "You sure you know what you're getting yourself into?"\n\n"I can't back out now," you say.\n\n"That's true. We're going to Gatz no matter what. No other stops, no turning back. Both our planets depend on it." His face is grim for a moment, but then his eyes crinkle, his mouth opens wide, and he lets out a nearly ten-second yawn. Afterwards, his face is soft and hazy like a big kitten's. "I think it's my turn for a nap," he says. He rises and waddles over to the sleeping quarters. \n\nNow it's just you and Ami in the main room. You could [[talk to her]] as well, but somehow her back emits an [[intimidating aura]].

"I... I'm not sure I want to do this yet," you say. "I mean, it's all so sudden, and I--"\n\n"It's okay," says Ethan. "I understand completely. Just let me know when you've made a decision." He yawns. "Oh boy. I think I should sleep until then. I need to be rested for the operation. Could you...?"\n\n"Oh, right." You stand.\n\n"Thanks." Ethan climbs under the covers and starts removing his clothing. "Just come wake me up when you've decided." He turns over and closes his eyes. \n\nYou go back into the main area and sit down on the bench next to Ben. You feel as if you were drawn into a dangerous battle that isn't yours for reasons beyond your understanding. However, you sympathize with Ethan and his friends. Even so, joining their fight will mean risking your life. You go back and forth between these two thoughts.\n\nYou check your cell phone. You don't get reception in outer space, but you can check the time. You think you have passed about an hour in thought. You consider going to [[tell Ethan]] what your decision is, but then again, you still have [[plenty of time]] to consider it.

Standing behind the door, in a room filled with monitors and flashing lights, is a line-up of men in suits, not dissimilar to the man who nearly killed you back on Earth. The centre man has the definite air of a murderer. His stare is disarming, to the point where you almost forget to duck out of the way when they all pull guns on you.\n\nAmi immediately darts to the left, back the way you came. You wish you knew what was more effective in situations like this, [[splitting up]] or [[sticking together]].

You stand by the door as the other three continue their search. You figure you can at least listen for approaching footsteps. You don't hear anything so far.\n\nNone of them have told you what they're looking for, but you figure it must be some kind of powerful weapon. It's still not clear to you what good you being here even does for you, or for them. If anything, you're a liability. \n\nThis is confirmed for you when you feel a hand on your arm and the cold steel of a gun pressed against your temple. "All right, that's enough," says your captor, loud enough for your allies to turn to you, guns drawn. "Try anything," he says, "and your Earthling friend gets a bullet as a souvenir." It's the man who nearly killed you back on Earth. <<if $ami is "1">>\n\n"Let him go!" shouts Ethan, but of course such a command is pointless. He's telegraphing his emotions, but Ben and Ami are more stoic. You hope they're coming up with some sort of plan. \n\nAmi's finger moves almost imperceptibly towards her gun's trigger, and you think you know what she's thinking. You're expendable. She should just take out both you and your captor and be done with it. \n\nAnd she's right. If you [[encouraged her]], they could get on with their mission without you. Not that you like the idea of getting shot, but if you [[try to escape]] you're liable to be shot anyways.<<else>>You feel a sharp pain in your stomach, like a cramp, but you know that's not it when you look down and see your dress shirt turning pink. You've been shot. You look up and see that it's Ami with the [[smoking gun|encouraged her]].<<endif>>

"All right," you say. "Going back in time doesn't sound like a bad plan."\n\n"Excellent! You'll be on your way before you know it," says Chronos. \n\nYou wonder what it will feel like to travel through time. In the movies, there's usually a big tunnel to fly through, which seems exciting. Nothing like that seems to be happening so far, though.\n\nYour leg hurts. You stop and give it a bit of a shake. [[Walking in this heat|Start]] must be getting to you.\s\n\n<<set $loop to "1">>

"I forgot to charge my cell phone last night," you say.\n\n"Ah." He nods and returns to his computer. You boot up yours and go straight into your emails. You have over 100 waiting in your inbox, even though you cleared it out yesterday. Today is going to suck. Ready for a break already, you turn to the window.\n\nThe building across from you only has 12 floors, so it doesn't block the light. The sun shines in at just the right angle to light things up without being [[blinding]].

Ben opens one eye when you reach him. He chuckles, and there's blood on his teeth. "What's up?" he says.\n\n"You're hurt is what's up. Did you get shot?" you ask.\n\n"Oh yeah. Shot a couple times, I think."\n\n"Don't you have some sort of high-tech alien healing machine?"\n\n"Sorry," he says. "I left mine at home."\n\n"Then we'll have to do this the old fashioned way." You don't know much about first aid, but you think you can handle the basics. You find his wounds, much worse than yours, and use bits of his own shirt, for lack of a better material, as bandages. He talks while you work.\n\n"None of us knew why bringing you along mattered, but I sure don't regret it now. Even if it's just this, it's been worth it. I was prepared to die on this mission, but I didn't want to. On Gatz there's this theory that we're farther away from heaven than Earth is, that it takes longer to get there from here, or maybe that we can't get there at all, we go somewhere else, somewhere worse. I don't really believe it. Don't even believe in heaven to begin with. But I was thinking about it, and, well, I'm just glad I don't have to find out for myself how true it really is. Thanks."\n\n"We're not safe yet," you say. Out of the corner of your eye you see Ethan, who was propped up against a cabinet, [[slide to the floor]].

"I'll help," you say.\n\n"Yes!" Ethan does a victory jump. "Man, I was getting scared. All right, there's no way we can fail now!"\n\n"You'll need this," says Ami. She places something in your hand. It's a handgun! The seriousness of the event is beginning to set in, but you can't back out now.\n\nBen opens the door. "All right everyone, let's kick some ass!" He seems to be excited. You swallow your fear and follow everyone [[out of the ship]].\n\n<<set $gun to "1">>\s\n<<set $ben to "1">>

You slowly move the covers off of you so as not to make noise<<if $sleep is "1">>, and get dressed just as carefully<<endif>>. Your eyes are drawn to the solitary window. It's convex, like something at a fast food restaurant play centre, although this one isn't big enough to crawl inside of. Still, you peek your head in.\n\nIt's all black out there, save for a smattering of white dots, most only as big as the head of a pin. It doesn't look much like your dream. \n\nYou step away from the window, then open the door to the ship's main section and slip through, trying not to let too much light into the sleeping quarters. <<if $bunk is "2">>Ami and Ben are exactly where they were the last time you were in here, although Ben is laying on the bench instead of sitting on it. He opens one eye when you enter, then jumps up and heads towards the sleeping quarters. "I'll be taking that bunk!" he says, giving you a pat on the shoulder as he passes you. Now that he's gone to bed, it's just you and Ami.<<else>>Ami is the only one in here now.<<endif>>\n\nThis could be a chance to [[get to know her|talk to her]], but somehow her back emits an [[intimidating aura]].\s\n\n<<set $ben to "1">>

With determination, you get up and go into that back room. Ethan is fast asleep in the bottom bunk of the bunk bed, snoring quietly. You sit down on the bed and shake him until he wakes up. He rises slowly, the sheets falling off of him, revealing his chest and stomach, both with a light covering of hair. He wipes his eyes and looks around, confused, but perks up when he sees it's you. \n\n"Oh, hey! Have you decided yet?" He seems confident that you have made the decision he wants you to. You were sure of your decision, but now, seeing Ethan and the weight he is placing on your shoulders, you're having trouble making up your mind. Should you [[help him]] or [[turn him down]]?\s\n\n<<set $tell to "1">>

"Let's keep looking," you say. "That guy had a keycard for this room. There must be something of interest here."\n\n"Not that you're gonna find it."\n\nYou turn to see a man about your age, maybe a little younger, in a dress shirt and black tie, holding a gun. He grins. "Fun's over, boys." He reminds you of someone...\n\nEthan points his gun at the newcomer, who points his gun back. \n\n"No one fire," you say. \n\n"Then tell your friend to drop his weapon," says the new guy.\n\n"As if!" says Ethan. "I'm not that stupid."\n\nOnce again, it's up to you to [[stop this]] very [[familiar]] boy...

When you open them again, you find yourself in a completely white space. You think you must have fallen asleep, though it occurs to you that when you're dreaming, you usually don't realize it, meaning this could actually be real.\n\n"Hello?" you call out. Your voice doesn't echo.\n\nYou do get a response. "Hello there." The voice is eerie because you can't tell where it's coming from, but it seems polite enough.\n\n"Where am I?" you ask. \n\n"This isn't really anywhere. I've pulled you out of your normal time and place to somewhere that doesn't really exist. Don't think about it too much."\n\n"And, who are you?" you ask.\n\n"I've had many names, but I'm particularly fond of Chronos. Chronos, God of Time." It's an extraordinary statement, but he makes it with little fanfare. You find yourself, somewhat surprisingly, willing to believe him.\n\n"Why have you brought me here, Chronos?"\n\n"You didn't know this," he says, "but the Gatz soldiers have been keeping a time machine in their war facility. When your bomb goes off, it will destroy that time machine and quite possibly send all of time itself into flux. That's bad news, so I'd like to send you back in time so that hopefully you will make different choices that will lead to a less catastrophic result. I can't send you back without your consent. It is a big request, as everyone would lose their memories of what happened before the rewind, but I would be greatly appreciative."\n\nIt's an unprecedented request made so reasonably that you can't help but consider it. It may be safer to [[refuse him]], in case he's lying or setting some kind of trap, but if he's telling the truth then [[doing what he wants]] seems best.

"You can time travel, can't you?"\n\nBoth Ethan and the man in the suit seem shocked. "How did you-- Who told you that?" asks the man.\n\n"It wasn't hard to figure out, though it does seem a little far-fetched. Why am I a threat when I've never done anything to you? How did you know we were coming? Because this has happened before, with me along for the ride, but now you've manipulated time to stop us."\n\n"Actually," he says, "you were never here, but somewhere else. Still, good deductive reasoning skills. Not that it matters. You still--"\n\nWhile the man is distracted talking to you, Ethan pulls out his gun and shoots the man's hand, making him drop his own gun. Taking your cue, you take out your gun and fire at the man until your clip is empty. He falls to the floor and bleeds.\n\nYou take a moment to take in your first (and hopefully only) kill. You are stunned, but remorseless. It was you or him. You turn to Ethan.\n\n"Time travel is their real weapon," you say. "That's what we need to be destroying."\n\nEthan digs into the dead man's pockets and pulls out two cards. He hands them to you. "These might help with that."\n\nOne appears to be a general keycard, but the other has a specific room number printed on it: [[4001]].

You head to the right, with Ethan close behind, hoping the armed men will follow Ami and Ben or you and Ethan, not both (but preferably Ami and Ben). "Do you know your way around this place?!" you ask Ethan.\n\n"Just that room!" he shouts back. "But we can get out of this! I know we can! You're here, so this has to work out! It has to!"\n\nYou come across a door without a panel like the one that was by the control room. Sure enough, the door is unlocked. You and Ethan go inside and softly close the door behind you so the men don't hear. Soon you hear their footsteps running past. The room is dark, but it seems to be some sort of custodial closet.\n\nAs you try to catch your breath, you ask, "Why are you so sure things will work out because of me?"\n\n"They went after you," explains Ethan. "You must be a threat to them, somehow, though I don't know how they would know that before you've actually done anything. Anyways, we just need to understand why you're a threat to them and utilize that."\n\n"That doesn't make any sense," you say, but Ethan offers no more answers, so you ask, "How did they know we were going to be there?"\n\nEthan hesitates, then says, "Ben thinks they have some... power or something, I dunno, like they... they can see into the future. But it's ridiculous, right? I mean, that's not possible."\n\nYou find you should agree, but something is certainly off. How did they know you were a threat before you knew they existed? Regardless, you cannot stay in the janitor's closet forever.\n\n"What should we do?" asks Ethan. "Should we try and go back to the [[control room]] or figure out a [[different plan]]?"

"How... How did they die?" you ask. \n\nThe man glares at you. "I shot them." He pulls the trigger on Ethan, who collapses to the floor. "Like I just shot him, and am about to shoot you."\n\nYour last futile action is to shield your face with your hands.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|yellow]].

Ami goes to the nearest terminal and begins navigating its screens. After a moment she shakes her head and says, "It might be hard to find what we're looking for. It doesn't seem to be in this one."\n\n"Anything we can use?" Ben asks. \n\nShe messes with the terminal some more and a cabinet towards the top pulls itself out of the shelf and floats down to the floor. She reaches in and pulls out a gun the length of your arm, then passes it to Ben. His eyes light up as he takes it. \n\n"Now start searching the other ones," she says. "And don't get carried away. Remember what we're here for."\n\n"Yes ma'am!" he says and dashes off to a different terminal.\n\n"So it's a weapons store," you say. Being in the presence of so many weapons makes you uneasy.\n\nPerhaps Ethan can sense this. "You hang back," he says. "We'll do the [[searching]]."

"Okay," you say. "What do I do?"\n\n"First, get to a terminal," she says. "They're how we access the weapons in these cabinets. We don't know which one has what we're looking for, so we just have to look until we find it."\n\nThere are three terminals [[at]] [[reasonable]] [[distances]].

Sleep seems easier. You can try to pretend that nothing dangerous and world-changing is happening for a little while.\n\nYou think about the universe outside the ship. It looks just like it always does on Tumblr, so many blues and purples and reds swirling around, the stars being carried to and fro by streams of colour. You reach out and scoop them up in your hands. They're warm.\n\nThe dream doesn't last long. You open your eyes at the sound of the door opening and see the silhouette of a large figure backed by the light of the main room. It must be Ben. <<if $bunk is "1">>He climbs the bunk bed's ladder and then lays down above you, causing a lot of metal creaking. It doesn't seem like the bed will hold, but then everything goes quiet again, so it must be fine.\n\nNow might be a good time to [[get up|get up 2]], although it's tempting to try and [[return to your dream|return to your dream ben]].<<else>>He stands there a moment, then exits the room. Weird.\n\nNow might be a good time to [[get up|get up 2]], although it's tempting to try and [[return to your dream]].<<endif>>

You exit the ship to find yourself surrounded by trees. They're similar to palm trees, but not like palm trees you've ever seen before. Maybe this really is another planet...\n\nLooking around, you can't tell what way the others went at all. You decide to head out in a random direction.\n\n. . .\n\nYou've been wandering for hours, first for exploration, then in an attempt to get back to the ship. You are getting nowhere. Everything looks the same. You stop to rest and reassess your situation when you hear something. Listening closer, it sounds kind of like a scream!\n\nYou run through the brush, following the sound. You emerge at a clearing next to a large building with steel walls. Being held against the wall is Ethan, and holding him there is the same man in a suit you managed to escape from earlier. Ethan notices you and makes strained eye contact before his face goes blank. You notice Ami and Ben on the ground nearby and gasp. Are they...?\n\nThe man hears you and drops Ethan. "Well, well. Look who it is." He grins. You turn to run but trip on a branch and fall. You turn on your back and scramble to get away, but he walks much faster than you can crawl. He slams his foot down on yours and you think you hear a crunch. You cry out. \n\n"Thought you could get away, did you?" He stomps on your other foot. All you can do is drag yourself along, until he steps on your left hand, too. "You would have died much more nicely on Earth." He pulls back his foot, then releases it into your skull.\n\n. . .\n\n<<if $tell is "1">>[[Undo|tell Ethan]].<<else>>[[Undo|plenty of time]].<<endif>>

The inside of the ship is smaller than it looked, about the size of an average 3-star hotel room. Current inhabitants include you, the guy who saved you, someone with long black hair in the captain's seat, and an older guy sitting on a bench opposite the door. He looks up when you notice him, gives a nod, then returns to staring at the floor.\n\nYour saviour is panting. "God, I wasn't sure we'd save you." He smiles at you. "I'm Ethan. You're okay, right?"\n\nYou nod and start to introduce yourself, but Ethan stops you. "Oh, don't worry, we already know who you are. We didn't just save some random guy. You're important to us. Ami?"\n\n"I'm busy." The voice comes from the woman at the helm.\n\nEthan laughs. "That's Ami, this ship's captain, and I guess she's leaving the debriefing duties to us. Right Ben?"\n\nThe guy on the bench grunts. \n\n"Um... I think Ben is a little airsick. He doesn't like flying much. Let's go into the sleeping quarters."\n\nThe sleeping quarters? You hardly know this guy, so you're sure he just wants to talk, but still, you're not sure if you should [[go with this guy]] or [[not|or not]]...

You make your selection, and a cabinet pulls itself off the shelf and floats to the floor a few steps away from you. You go over to it.\n\nInside is a long knife made of a shimmering black metal. You're surprised to see a simple knife in with all the dangerous things you know are here, so you pick it up. When you do, a burst of heat comes off of it, like an oven at 400 degrees. You drop the knife.\n\nYou press a little green button on the side of the cabinet that sends it floating back to [[where it came from|terminal 1]].

This one has a weird name, so it could be anything. You make your selection, and a cabinet pulls itself off the shelf and floats to the floor a few steps away from you. You go over to it.\n\nInside is a large disc, almost the size of a manhole cover, with blinking red lights along the outer edge. You pick it up. It's surprisingly light. On the bottom is a glass screen like the ones on the terminals. You tap it and it lights up with text in some sort of code. \n\n"Bring that here," says Ami. You hobble over to her and hand her the device. She fiddles with it for a minute, then says, "This is it. This is the bomb."\n\n"So we can use it to destroy this place? Is it powerful enough?" The thought brings you some joy. This place is evil, and you'll be glad to be rid of it.\n\n"Yes. I just need to set the timing." She begins programming the device, and says, without looking up, "I don't think we're getting out of here."\n\n"Don't be ridiculous," you say, though you know she's not. \n\n"I'm in no condition to go anywhere, and you're not at your best, either. Even if you could get back to the ship, could you get to Earth? We die here." The bomb beeps. "There. It's done."\n\nYou could still try to [[get away]], you suppose, but you know she's right. You'd be better off not spending your [[last moments]] on the run.

You trust your instincts and go up, but regret it immediately. What escape could you possibly find on the roof? But it's too late to turn back now; you can already hear that man following you.\n\nWith no other options, you open the door to [[the roof]].

You make your selection, and a cabinet pulls itself off the shelf and floats to the floor a few steps away from you. You go over to it.\n\nYou recognize this gun. It's what you were almost killed by back on Earth. You pick it up and, making sure the gun is pointed away from you, flip the switch on its side. The chamber flickers green for a moment, but it doesn't light up like the one you saw. Maybe it's out of juice, or defective. You put it away.\n\nYou press a little green button on the side of the cabinet that sends it floating back to [[where it came from|terminal 1]].

"I'll stay," you say. Ami's expression doesn't change.\n\nEthan takes your face in his hands. "What the hell are you talking about?" he asks, kindly.\n\n"I've been dragging you guys down this entire time. At least this is something I can do."\n\n"It's not your job. You were just dragged along. No one expected you to--"\n\n"I won't be uesless anymore," you say. You knock his hands away, then go to Ami. You help her up, pass her to Ethan, and take the bomb. About a third of the lights are green now. "Get out," you say.\n\n<<if $ethan is "1">>He kisses you on the cheek. <<endif>>"I hate you," he says. You watch their backs as [[they go]].

You climb up the ladder to the second bunk. Once under the covers, you strip down to your underwear and place your clothes at the foot of the bed. When your head hits the pillow, you realize you are drowsier than you thought. Soon you find yourself [[falling asleep quickly]]...\s\n\n<<set $sleep to "1">>

You write it down. \n\n"Are we ready?" says Chronos. "And... reveal!"\n\nAmi, once again, is on the ball. She flattens her paper on the ground and you see that she has written //do NOT go back.//\n\n"We worked hard to get here. Our plan succeeded. I won't give it up, and that's that," she says.\n\n"I'm surprised," says Ben. He holds his paper in front of him so you can all read: //GO BACK.// "I knew all along something was fishy about the way they were always one step ahead of us," he explains. "A time machine makes perfect sense. This is way bigger than we thought, and we need a redo so we can do this right. Ethan?" \n\nEthan takes a deep breath, then hands you his paper: <<if $ethan is "1">>//don't go back.// "I wasn't sure," he says, "but when I thought about losing the time we spent together, of maybe never even meeting you, I decided that holding on to those memories was important to me. <<else>>//go back.// "I wasn't sure," he says, "but if Chronos is right and the whole universe is going to be affected by what we did, then those are way bigger stakes than our two planets. <<endif>>I'm sorry if I didn't make the right decision."\n\n"Thanks," you say. You check your vote one more time, then reveal it: //go back in time.// "I hesitated, too, but the potential consequences are too grave. I can't be responsible for something on that scale."\n\n"Oh good, you decided to be sensible!" says Chronos. "Now hold on tight, you're about to take a very long trip."\n\nYou give one last look to Ami, Ben, and Ethan in turn. You think you'll miss them, but then you realize you won't even remember them, which is even sadder. You wipe a tear from your eye. \n\nYou're crying? Weird. What's that about? [[Walking in this heat|Start]] must be getting to you.\s\n\n<<set $loop to "1">>

You limp to the leftmost terminal. \n\nThe screen shows a long list of weapon names and classification numbers, most of which mean nothing to you. Knowing only that you're looking for a bomb, you begin scrolling through the list.\n\n >> 777F\n >> Astral 80D\n >> Astral 80E\n >> Astral 80F\n >> Astral 81\n >> Beatnik 3000\n >> DuSHku.VS\n >> Fuyumi 1236\n[[ >> Jackal+Fang 11]]\n >> Jackal+Fang 13\n >> Kilmarnock Type AZ\n >> N50 Rat\n >> N51 Shrew\n >> Obschernikat Alpha\n >> Ramesses KV9\n >> STRAIGHT T\n[[ >> Sunburst Model X45]]\n >> YGDA 5.5\n >> YGDA 5.51\n\nMaybe you should look at one of the [[other|terminal 2]] [[terminals|terminal 3]].

"Ethan, don't!"\n\nHe stands. "I want them back!" he shouts. "If he never kills them, then they won't be dead, right?!"\n\n"We don't know for sure that it works that way," you say. "There are too many questions. Maybe when we find the time machine we can figure it out, but for now..."\n\nEthan sighs and pockets his gun. "Fine. Let's find your damn [[time machine]]."

Only now do Ami, Ethan, and Ben take a moment to breathe. Ben puts you down, and thanks to the moment of rest he's given you you're primed and ready to go, but everyone else is panting. Ethan is hunched over with his hands on his knees. They're amazing, but not inhuman. \n\nOnce they've caught their breath, you ask, "Where are we now?"\n\nAmi takes from her pocket a small silver disc. She pinches it with her thumb and forefinger and it expands instantly into a small flashlight. She turns it on and shines a light on the room.\n\nThere are rows and rows of sleek metal cabinets, big enough to hold bodies, like at the morgue. They reach up to the ceiling, which is as tall as a cathedral. There is a console next to each cabinet. It doesn't mean much to you, but Ben bursts out laughing. \n\n"Yes! I was hoping this was where you were leading us!" he says. He pats Ami on the back, and for the first time she smiles, just a bit.\n\n"This is one of our back-up plans," explains Ethan. "It's more difficult, and certainly less elegant--"\n\nBen interjects. "But it's way more [[fun]]!"

You limp to the middle terminal.\n\n >> 134 Church Bell\n >> 3319 BOOMERANG\n >> Bering 250 Eagle\n >> Bering 250 Hawk\n >> CoLD Assault Rifle\n >> Dark & Light PP22\n >> Elhaym Spark\n >> Flower of London\n >> HELL No. 4\n >> HELL No. 5\n >> Ingal-1\n >> Lunar Model Mk 12 Mod 1\n >> MARS96\n >> MARS96K\n >> MARS96R\n >> Starkiller 50K\n >> USBR 97\n >> USBR 99\n[[ >> Xylariales LAO]]\n\nMaybe you should look at one of the [[other|terminal 1]] [[terminals|terminal 3]].

You limp to the rightmost terminal.\n\n >> 2. Liga\n >> 24-KG\n >> BB200\n >> Daow SG\n >> FRSE-45 FRAS\n >> G5 SIMG\n >> G5 SISR\n >> Illyrian\n >> Kindness 2098 Carbine\n >> Kindness 2099 Sniper Rifle\n[[ >> LGBT 660]]\n >> Malzagov KZ3\n >> Oblast Frunzenskaya\n >> Oblast Frunzensky\n >> Rothemühl Grade II\n >> Sayonara TYPE-12\n >> TCH Beetle 2-Flight\n >> TCH Beetle 2-Ground\n >> WWZ ender\n >> Yaa Cannon\n\nMaybe you should look at one of the [[other|terminal 1]] [[terminals|terminal 2]].

You limp to the leftmost terminal.\n\n >> 777F\n >> Astral 80D\n >> Astral 80E\n >> Astral 80F\n >> Astral 81\n >> Beatnik 3000\n >> DuSHku.VS\n >> Fuyumi 1236\n[[ >> Jackal+Fang 11]]\n >> Jackal+Fang 13\n >> Kilmarnock Type AZ\n >> N50 Rat\n >> N51 Shrew\n >> Obschernikat Alpha\n >> Ramesses KV9\n >> STRAIGHT T\n[[ >> Sunburst Model X45]]\n >> YGDA 5.5\n >> YGDA 5.51\n\nMaybe you should look at one of the [[other|terminal 2]] [[terminals|terminal 3]].

You sigh. "I have to go back, right? Seems like the only thing to do."\n\n"Good choice!" says Chronos, remorseless. Then he pauses. "Sorry," he says. "I know this is hard for you. None of this is your fault, okay? You tried to do the right thing, and you're doing the right thing now. It's very admirable, and I wish I could remember you for it.\n\nAll right. Are you ready to [[go back]]?"

"Let's start with this room," you say, holding up the keycard to room 4001. "Do you know where it might be?"\n\n"Well, 4001, so it's probably on the fourth floor, right?" says Ethan. He grips his gun in both hands. "Let's get moving." He seems serious. You wonder how close he was to Ben and Ami...\n\nYou exit the control room. No one seems to have noticed the gunfire. Neither of you know your way around the building, so you just walk until you find an elevator. You press the button to go up and hope no one is inside the elevator when it [[arrives]].

You halt, and stare at the man with trepidation.\n\nHe laughs. "Wow, I didn't think that would work."\n\n"Who are you?!" is all you manage to get out before he raises his gun and fires.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|going back]].

He groans as he rises, and you are reminded of a bear's roar. Perhaps a bear that's been hunted. Ben manages to stand up straight for about two seconds before gravity takes its course and he drops. The bowling ball thud is followed by a silence so thick it chokes you. \n\n"Ben. Ben. Benbenben..." The voice to break it is one you're not sure you've heard before, though you realize quickly that it has to be Ami. You've just never heard her this worked up. She crawls to him, just saying his name, over and over... She touches his wrist, his mouth, his neck, and she doesn't stop saying his name.\n\n"Is he dead?" Ethan asks, monotone. She doesn't answer, which is answer enough. "What do we do?" Emotion is creeping into his voice now. "Ami, what do we do?"\n\n"We keep going," she says. She wipes her eyes before turning to face you. She points to Ethan. "You, keep searching the terminals. And you, go back to the door and actually pay attention this time. We won't survive another ambush."\n\n"Ami, that's not fair. It wasn't his fault," Ethan says. He puts a hand on your shoulder.\n\nEthan [[isn't wrong]]; you're not the one who killed Ben, but you might [[not be blameless]], either.

"We should try and meet up with Ben and Ami," you say. "I don't think we'll know what to do without them. It was safer to split up momentarily, but now that we are apart, I think we have a worse chance of surviving on our own."\n\n"Yeah, Ben and Ami are the heart of this operation. I'm just support," says Ethan. "So should we head back in the direction of the control room and go from there?"\n\n"Yeah. Hopefully we don't run into anything on the way there."\n\nYou listen at the door for a while, and when you're sure no one is nearby, open it and sneak out. You meet no obstacles on the way to the control room. The door is still open, with no one inside. Still, you duck past quickly, like it could be a trap. You make your way to the end of the hall.\n\nYou start tapping the wall, but with no luck. "This was the wall, right?" you ask.\n\n"Yeah, but... Hmm." Ethan taps one place a couple times, but nothing happens. "I thought Ami had told me the place, but maybe I misheard, or..."\n\nYou reach up and start tapping near the top of the wall. "We'll just have to tap the whole thing," you say.\n\nEthan grabs your arm. "Stop! That's not a good idea. It could have an alarm."\n\n"Oh, shit. So what are we supposed to do?"\n\nYou stand there, doing nothing, and feel your hopes sinking.\n\nYou hear steel grating on steel. After a few seconds, the door is open.\n\n"Did we do that?" asks Ethan.\n\n"I don't think so," you say, staring out the door. There stands the man who nearly killed you back on Earth, the one Ethan had to save you from. You wonder if he will have to save you again.\n\n"Well, well," says the man, smiling. "We meet again. What a treat!"\n\nYou and Ethan notice at the same time what is behind the man: two crumpled, bloody bodies, the bodies of your friends. Ethan takes a step forward, but stops almost instantly. The man has a gun pointed at his head.\n\n"Don't," he says. "There's nothing you can do for them now anyway. Actually," he raises the gun, "why don't you go ahead and do whatever the hell you want. Nothing you do can help yourself now, either."\n\nEthan looks to Ami and Ben, back to the man, almost for approval, and then runs out to his friends. He doesn't get far, however, before he gets a bullet in his head. You grit your teeth.\n\nThe man looks to you and grins. "Just us again. How romantic."\n\n"Fuck you."\n\n"Mmm, a bit early for that, maybe." He paces, spinning the gun around his finger. "Tell me, why is everyone here so worried about you? Why do they think you're so dangerous?"\n\n"Wouldn't you like to know."\n\nHe laughs. "You don't know either, do you?"\n\nYou say nothing.\n\n"Well, no matter. You're no threat now." He stops the gun, points it at you, and pulls the trigger.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|splitting up]].

Everything gets a little bit darker, like a cloud has moved in front of the sun. This happens all the time, you just have to wait a few seconds for the cloud to pass.\n\nBut it doesn't pass. Puzzled, you move closer to the window and look up. \n\nSomething--your first instinct is //space ship//--is hovering above the street, blocking the sun. \n\n"What the fuck...?"\n\n"Hm? What? What the hell are you..." Eric comes over, looks up, and goes silent.\n\nYou're not sure what to make of this. You feel a strong urge, once again, to call the cops.\n\nThere is movement from the ship. Something like a cannon points itself at the window and fires a large metal hook on a cord. You step back, shielding yourself and closing your eyes as it smashes through the window. When you look again, the hook is lodged firmly in the floor and covered in blood. Eric is missing a huge chunk of his stomach. He looks at his stomach, looks at you, and collapses to the floor. \n\nThe office erupts with screaming people. They all rush to the elevators, but all you can do is stare. There's a space ship and a hook and a dead Eric and you have no idea how to process all this.\n\nYou don't get a chance to. A large man in a black suit uses the cord like a zipline, then climbs up into the room through the window. He looks to Eric, then to you. "Looks like we missed," he says. "Well, that's fine. There's no problem that can't be fixed." He pulles out a strange-looking gun with a glowing green barrel, and points it at you.\n\n"Oh, fuck no!" You dart out of the way just as the gun fires. It sounded less like a bullet shot and more like some sort of laser, but you're not about to turn around and look. It fires again as you escape through the door. \n\nTo the left are the elevators. There's a crowd around them, frantically pushing the down button, trampling each other to get to the front of the queue so they can get into the [[elevators]] first. The [[staircase]] is down the hall to the right.

"Ami," you say. "We fought hard to do what we did. Ben and Ethan sacrificed their lives. You have a mission. Setting off the bomb was supposed to mean we won. Was that all for nothing? What about Earth? I thought you wanted to make things better."\n\n"So you're gonna let them stay dead," she says. Her gaze is intense.\n\nOf course that's not what you want. You wish they could live on, <<if $ethan is "1">>especially Ethan, <<endif>>but you also know what they died for. "Yes, I am," you say. "It's the right thing to do."\n\nAmi is on top of you before you know what's happening. She puts her hands around your neck and squeezes. "I knew you were a mistake," she spits. She's still hurt, and as she chokes you the colour drains from her like she's being choked herself. You use your good leg and kick her in the stomach. She falls off of you easily. Curled up on the ground, whatever the ground is here, she coughs up blood which vanishes into the ether. \n\nYou look up. "Chronos. Put us back. Please."\n\n"Idiot," he says, and the word is swept away by the blast.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|Sound good]].

You take a moment to fill them in. Once they've gotten over their disbelief, you ask, "So what should we do?"\n\n"We could save lives, but that's what we were trying to do already, and we could lose our memories... I'm not sure what we should do," says Ethan.\n\nChronos clears his throat, or makes a sound like that's what he's doing. "What is this //we//? I told you I don't care about them. //You// get to decide."\n\n"And why am I so special?" you ask.\n\n"I don't think I trust these losers to be able to change the timeline, but you... There's something different about you."\n\nNone of you really get it, and it shows on your faces. \n\n"Okay, how about this: you can vote! Humans like voting, right?"\n\n"Some of us do," says Ben.\n\nThere's another flash, and when it dissipates, you each have a black pen and a small slip of paper. Ami swiftly writes something on hers and folds it. Ben follows suit. Only Ethan hesitates. He looks at you, then sighs and casts his vote.\n\n"What if there's a tie?" you ask.\n\n"Ties go to you, obviously," says Chronos. \n\nThe responsibility is heavy. You touch your pen to paper, unsure whether to [[reset time]] or [[keep things as they are]].

You close your eyes and feel the mattress you're on drop out of the spaceship and drift towards the stars. You land on a stream of light and begin drifting down the river. The water's calm, with no rocks, no waves, no turbulence. There's nothing to worry about out here. There's no anxiety, no sorrow, no regret.\n\nAmi's voice fills the room from above. "[[Now entering Gatz's atmosphere|out of the ship]]."

Luckily, it's empty. You climb on and hit the button for the fourth floor. When the elevator gets there, it opens onto an empty hallway.\n\n"This place has shit security," says Ethan.\n\n"Good for us," you say. \n\nUnlike the first floor, all of the rooms on this floor are numbered. You are able to follow the numbers back to room 4001 without trouble. You [[flash the card]] in front of the panel beside the door. What are you going to find here?

You dash to the right as another shot is fired. Bursting through the door to the stairs, you pause for only a moment to decide whether you are going [[up]] or [[down]].

You wake up to darkness. Other than the light breathing coming from <<if $bunk is "1">>beside<<else>>below<<endif>> you, the ship is quiet. You can't even feel its movement. It's bizarre; you've never felt more still. You should probably [[get up]], but you know if you [[closed your eyes]] you could drift back into sleep and nothing would interrupt you.

You rest your hand on his thigh. He looks into your eyes, puts his hand on your arm, and before you know what's happening, you're kissing. First just light smooches, then tongue gets involved, and pretty soon you're vertical on the bed, rubbing against each other. This goes on for a few minutes, and just when you start to run your hands along his chest under his shirt, the door opens. You both rush to separate and sit normally.\n\nBen laughs. "Wow Ethan, working your charm on the new guy already?" He grabs a small pill bottle from the table by the door. "I just wanted my nausea medicine. You can go back to what you were doing." He leaves the cabin, still laughing.\n\nEthan rubs the back of his head. "Wow, that was embarrassing. Sorry about that. Are you tired? I'm pretty tired, maybe we should just sleep. We can still, um... sleep //together//, though... I mean, to save room, in case Ben or Ami..." He's blushing again.\n\nYou haven't been awake very long, but you did have trouble sleeping last night, and the day's events were pretty exhausting. You could just as easily [[sleep]] as [[not|as not]].\s\n\n<<set $pills to "1">>

You feel safer leaving her alone. \n\nUnfortunately, with Ben and Ethan both asleep, there isn't much to do but wait. Every once in a while you glance in Ami's direction. She's completely silent and stationary. You don't know if she's giving you the cold shoulder because she's pissed at you for some reason or if that's how she always is. Either way, she's creeping you out.\n\nFinally, she speaks up. "[[Now entering Gatz's atmosphere|out of the ship]]."

<<if $ami is "1">>Anything you say would give you away and give your adversary enough time to react, so you just look at Ami and smile. You do your best to put your reservations out of your mind and accept what's coming. \n\nShe nods, then fires. The bullet rips right through you to the other guy, and you stumble forward as he stumbles backwards. More gunshots sound out, but you're not in a position to pay attention to them. You break your fall with your hands, lower yourself to the cold floor, and wait for the fighting to be over. You hurt, but you're glad to still be alive.\n\nEthan is there right away, pressing his hands on both your wounds, front and back, like he's holding you together, like you might fall apart. Ami approaches soon after, and Ethan glares at her. "What the hell was that?!" he says.\n\nShe doesn't respond. Ben comes over and hands her a long, dark piece of fabric, which she ties tight around your torso, covering your bullet holes. <<else>>Your captor's grip on you slackens, and you realize what Ami did: the bullet went right through you to her real target. You push yourself away from him. You stumble forward as he stumbles backwards. More gunshots sound out, but you're not in a position to pay attention to them. You break your fall with your hands, lower yourself to the cold floor, and wait for the fighting to be over. You hurt, but you're glad to still be alive.\n\nEthan is there right away, pressing his hands on both your wounds, front and back, like he's holding you together, like you might fall apart. Ami approaches soon after, and Ethan glares at her. "What the hell was that?!" he says.\n\n"It's fine," you say, though talking isn't painless. "She did the right thing. I'm... expendable."\n\nShe says nothing. Ben comes over and hands her a long, dark piece of fabric, which she ties tight around your torso, covering your bullet holes. <<endif>>\n\n"That should keep you alive for now," she says. "Now, back to work. We don't have much time." Ethan reluctantly leaves you to continue searching with Ben and Ami. Once again, all you can do is [[sit and wait]].\s\n\n<<set $shot to "1">>

"I... I'm going back in time." You look to Ethan, who gives a sad smile. "I have to set things right."\n\n"All right!" says Chronos, clearly pleased. "Let's get this show on the road!"\n\n"Wait!" you say.\n\n"What? What's the hold up?"\n\n"Just give me a minute, okay?"\n\n"All right, fine, whatever. I'll be here."\n\n"Thanks." You look at Ethan.\n\n"You're making the right decision," he says. \n\n"I hope so," you say. \n\nHe puts his arms around you and hugs you tight. You can feel his fingertips digging into your skin. You stroke his back, rest your head on his shoulder.\n\n"I'll miss you," you say.\n\n"No you won't. You're going to forget all about me..."\n\n"I promise," you whisper. "Even if I don't remember you, I will always miss you."\n\nYou feel water on your neck. Ethan sniffles.\n\n"We can go now, Chronos," you say. \n\nHe doesn't respond, but you can feel everything get a little bit lighter. It's like the ground is floating out from under you. You halt, shake your legs out a bit. [[Walking in this heat|Start]] must be getting to you.\s\n\n<<set $loop to "1">>

You take a deep breath. "I... I can't do it. I can't go back in time. After all I've been through with Ami and Ben and... and Ethan... I don't want to forget."\n\nThere is silence. The air feels heavy. There is nothing to do but wait.\n\n"Stupid," Chronos's voice returns. "So stupid, you humans are. All of you, for creating this mess in the first place and now for refusing to fix it! I am so... No. I cannot give you what you want."\n\n"What?! But you said--"\n\n"Okay, I only gave you a choice because I assumed you would pick the right one, but as it turns out, you are too fucking dense to realize what the right one is. Do you know what consequences you have wrought?! For one thing, if I put you back in that room, you will definitely die. You will die! You chose what you did knowing you would die! You are actually the dumbest being! I hate dealing with humans! Don't you care?! I would care, if I could die! Fuck." He pauses. "I don't know what to do with you now. Maybe I should send you back to before you were born and hope you don't grow up to be a giant idiot."\n\n"Stop," you say. "Just stop talking. You have no idea what it's like to be human, to care about people. To me, that easily bypasses any form of intelligent reasoning. The fact of the matter is, I have met these people, and I don't want those memories erased. Even if things go poorly, that's not a life I want to live. I'm standing up for what I believe in. You're just being an asshole."\n\nYou're a little out of breath after talking back to the God of Time, possibly your boldest action ever, but you try not to show it. It takes a moment for him to respond.\n\n"Fine," he says. There is no emotion in his voice. "You get what you want. I'll put you back where I found you. I hope it's worth it."\n\nThere is a sense of bliss at having won, something to hold onto in your very last moments. Your face is pressed against Ethan's, and you can't help but smile.\n\n. . .\n\n[[Undo|root of the problem]].

"Let's head back to the control room. That's where we need to be to shut this place down, right?"\n\n"Right," says Ethan. "We have to stay on track. Focus on the mission."\n\nYou listen at the door for a while, and when you're sure no one is nearby, open it and sneak out. You meet no obstacles on the way to the control room. The door is still open, with no one inside. You enter.\n\nEthan heads for the nearest terminal. "Quick, let's self-destruct this shithole." He stares at all the buttons. "...I wish I knew how. Ben was in charge of that stuff. What should we do?"\n\nYou look at the terminal. There are two buttons that seem like they could be correct to you: a [[yellow]] one and a [[green|yellow]] one.

You wish so badly you hadn't been shot. It's not just the pain. You're going to get these people killed. You wish you had died back on Earth. It would have saved everyone a lot of trouble.\n\nWhen the first shot rings out you aren't even surprised. It is a logical continuation, because of course this would happen. You couldn't have prevented this. Maybe if they'd saved someone smarter, stronger, more capable than you. Maybe that's what it was all along. They were led to believe that you were important, a threat somehow to the would-be galactic conquerors of Gatz, but it was part of their plan the whole time, just a trick. Ethan needed a hero, and instead he got you.\n\nThere's a sharp pain in your leg. You look down to see blood seeping through your dress pants. You've been shot again. Just a stray bullet, you think, or you'd be dead by now. The new hurt clears your head a bit. You notice that the gunfire is slowing, stopping. It must be over. \n\nYou can't see much in the dim of the room and the smoke of the gunfight, but then Ami's flashlight comes back on. She's sitting up against a cabinet and her stomach is bleeding. You try to move but the pain flares up like a fire. You don't think you can [[get to her]].

<<if $loop is "1">>You don't have time for this. <<endif>>You keep moving, but a few steps later you hear a gunshot. Shit. \n\n<<if $loop is "1">>\s\nIf only this were the full game! \s\n<<endif>>\s\nYou [[pick up the pace|Space split]].

"Well, that depends on what you're up for," you say.\n\n"Oh! Well, I mean, we have a lot of time, so, I mean..." Ethan clearly gets the idea, but he seems nervous. Truth be told, so are you. You could still [[encourage him]], or stop where you are, [[no harm, no foul]].

"Actually, I'm not that tired yet. I think I'll stay up a while longer," you say. \n\n"Oh." Ethan looks a bit disappointed, but then says, "You know what? Neither am I. Let's just stay up!" He is suddenly excited, like a kid who gets to stay up until midnight on New Year's. \n\nYou stay up talking for a while, but soon Ethan's eyes begin to droop. Eventually he falls asleep in the middle a story you're telling. Smiling, you tuck him in, then climb in next to him. To your surprise, you find yourself [[falling asleep quickly]]...\s\n\n<<set $bunk to "1">>

"Here we go," says Ami.\n\nThe explosion is bright and forces your eyes shut. You feel warm, like stepping out on a summer day, and then the heat's gone and you shiver for the lack of it. \n\nYou can still shiver. You're still alive. You open your eyes. \n\nYou don't see anything. Everything's all white. Maybe you're not alive after all. Maybe this is heaven, or something like it. If it is, you don't get the hype: your body still hurts like hell, and you're alone.\n\n"Hello?" you call into the echoless abyss. "God?"\n\n"Close," comes a reply. The voice is masculine, confident, and cheerful. "I am Chronos, the God of Time!"\n\nIt's about as believable as everything else you've experienced recently. "Where am I?" you ask.\n\n"This isn't really a where, but a when. You see, I've pulled you out of your current time in order to prevent an unprecedented catastrophe. I need you to [[undo what you've done|amiundo]].

Your leg is not your friend here. You can only limp so fast. You are surprised at how quickly Ethan can move despite his own injuries. You see him turn a corner up ahead. By the time you turn the same corner, he's out of your sight.\n\n"Ethan!" you call, but you get nothing back. You're alone now.\n\nYou do what you can, which is to trudge through the halls, trying to remember which way you came in, shouting Ethan's name as you go. Within minutes you are sure that you've taken more than one wrong turn, and that Ethan is lost to you. \n\nYou reach a four-way fork and stop to re-evaluate. You don't have a clue which way to go, so what's the point of taking any path? If you're not getting out, it's better to wait, to face your fate head on. \n\nYou lean against a wall and [[wait]].

You look up the number for the police (it seems a bit late for 911), then call and let them know what you saw and heard. It is probably too late to prevent a murder, if that's what happened, but it's better if someone's dead that they find the body sooner rather than later.\n\nEric stares at you as you hang up the phone. "Why didn't you call //before// you got to work?"\n\nHmm, what requires the least amount of effort? [[Telling the truth]] or [[coming up with an excuse]] so he'll stop bothering you?\s\n\n<<set $police to "1">>