The Story

Story Synopsis (short)

George:  Short synopsis of the overall story.

In the overall scenario of this story, the Trocara, guided by the Keepers, are planning to “cleanse” Earth of its human stock and reseed it with a new strain of intelligent insectoid stock. Before the cleansing, the Keepers travel to Earth to gather up some “sample” humans for their zoo and further experiments. The Keepers gather up a “sampling” of humans at an Arizona reservation—this inadvertently triggers Talon Brave to hop aboard their shuttle, since he witnesses them dragging off Mary Thunder.

Talon’s first instinct is to survive—he attempts to stay out of reach during the shuttle flight, but ends up being captured and mutilated before he can take control of the ship.

When Talon awakes, his confidence is shattered—only survival instinct leads him on. During his initial wandering, he confronts the Stalene Keeper.

The Stalene Keeper is interested in Earth becoming an insectoid seed world, because that is the way of the games. She is also interested in becoming more than she is-she is interested in becoming a being who can procreate-and from this current inability, her jealousy grows.

The Stalene Keeper is subconsciously jealous of Talon-his passion and energy, and of course his ability to procreate. She is also driven by her own notion of superiority and her own sense of control. She also constantly reminds Talon that he amounts to nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Talon then meets with his great grandfather in spirit form—he is skeptical, but he urges Talon to turn towards the growing mystical feelings inside.

Talon discovers where the other captives are kept—he talks with Mary Thunder, and he is fueled with a desire to save her. Mary wants nothing more than for Talon to succeed and to return to Earth together. Talon cannot free her at the moment, and when he returns, he finds that several have been taken away and Mary is frantic.

Talon then witnesses one of the Indian being mutilated and killed—he is powerless to stop them, and his confidence dips again. At that moment, he meets the Keeper again who tells Talon of the fate of Earth and her plans for a bit of a game, with Earth’s future in the balance.

Attempting to make his way to where Mary is, Talon confronts the humanoid vampire tribe—in a horrible battle, he kills them all but Hataa-skeen. She is beside herself with rage, but also realizes that Talon may be the only hope for a future of her tribe. She provides Talon with information to get to Mary.

Talon encounters the strange insectoid region and the hive queen—he learns of her plans to reseed the world once humans are eliminated—he also learns that she plans on subverting the Keeper’s plans and release the xenocide drones earlier than the rules allow. Secretly, the Keeper knows this, but allows it to happen as part of the test.

Talon’s great grandfather teaches him more, and his powers grow to a new level. Talon must now stop the first drone from crashing to Earth.

As Talon succeeds, the Stalene Keeper grows more jealous and more angry with him.

Talon learns of the insectoids plan to rid the Trocara of the humanoids from Hataa-skeen and the humanoid hegemon.

Talon must fight through a saurian area to get to the arenas—here, he must face his second major test.

Talon succeeds, but is given a third test—an arena gauntlet—he is given time to prepare. Talon’s great grandfather aids him in honing his powers, and he sees Mary, still a captive, once again. As he is preparing, he learns of the second drone ready to be launched—he must battle through the front line of the humanoid/insectoid war to get to the drone and disarm it before it launches.

Getting back to the arena, Talon must battle a humanoid, a saurian and finally, the insectoid that will take over earth. He wins. The stalene keeper says that Talon has nearly won—he must free mary and the captives from the insectoids and meet him at the Keeper hub. Talon, with Hataa-skeen’s help, frees the remaining captives, but then Hataa-skeen has here own plans—Talon must defeat her.

Making their way along to where they should be, Talon encounters a fighting force—he sees his grandfather who hints at the Keeper’s treachery and offers a possible plan. Talon must fight through the flanks, keep his charges alive, and get to the core Keeper room—it is here that Talon must begin shutting down the Trocaran ship before Earth is destroyed.

The stalene keeper finally stops him at the last moment, and says that he has won the game. He opens the portal to Earth to let Mary and the others through—He closes it and talks to Talon, opening another portal along with earth and gives Talon a choice—Talon jumps through the second portal—into the unknown.

The Story (Long)

George:  Long story version.  Some of this was pieced from multiple docs and all I had to go by was the dates on the files for the most current versions.  I think overall it will be fine, but I'm sure there are details missing or wrong.  But all we're really interested in is the broad strokes.

Chapter 1

Night on a reservation in eastern Arizona. The elders sit around a large fire as the G’ans, costumed tribesman representing the mountain spirits, dance before the flame. Talon Brave stands in the shadows of the motor pool garage, watching and pulling on a cigarette. He sees no magic in their rituals, not now, not since he was a boy. He turns his back and disappears into the shadows.

In the sky, the clouds crackle with phosphorescence and the chanting stops for a moment as the elders look skyward. They start in again, raising their arms to the sky. In a hissing of rapidly ionized atmosphere, a column of bluish-white energy bursts from the clouds and engulfs the clan circle. For an instant, the circle of tribal elders are seen in silhouette, first in human form, and then only their bones visible as their flesh vaporizes. In a flash, there is nothing but a settling cloud of desert dust. Seconds count off in silence, and then the alien ship began its final descent.

Talon enters his row-house and flops down on the worn vinyl recliner. He picks up his crescent wrench and wipes the grease from the handle as an explosion rocks the cabin. Talon bolts out the door. From behind the motor pool, a column of flame erupts, then another by the school. Screams fill the air, and Talon runs towards the school. People run towards him, followed by something dark, hulking and incredibly fast. Mary Thunder rushes towards Talon, screaming for him to run as the dark creature leaps forward and jumps upon an old man. In a flash, we see the white of exposed bone, as the old man explodes into geyser of blood.

Talon reaches for Mary, but she too is grabbed by a pair of the dark creatures. Talon swings his wrench, but a third creature jumps at him, knocking him back. He hears Mary scream as she is pulled away. Talon leaps to his feet and runs back to his cabin. He throws back a hidden cellar door, grabs his bolt-action rifle and medallion, and leaps into the darkness.

Talon runs through a wet, dark corridor, the beasts close behind, until he comes to a metal ladder that leads up into the motor pool oil change pit. He leaps up the ladder and throws himself to the cement floor of the garage just as a beast slashes for his ankle. He spins and fires several shots down into the pit then pushes a large tool cart in to cover the opening.

Just as Talon takes in a deep breath, another beast tears though the steel garage door and begins to circle the oil change pit. Talon leaps into the school bus but realizes that he has left the keys on the workbench. He kicks open the emergency door and fires at the beast. He sprints to the front of the bus and leaps out of the door to grab the keys. As he spins around, he slams the butt of his rifle into the charging, wounded creature. He dives into the bus and clambers into the seat as the beast leaps in after him. Talon grabs a crowbar from the dashboard and buries the hook of the bar deep into the creature’s skull as he jams the keys into the ignition and starts up the bus.

With the rear wheels anchored from behind, Talon has no choice but to through the bus into first and stomp on the accelerator. As the bus bursts out of the garage, the two creatures pinned in the oil change pit burst forth and begin to devour their slain cousin. Driving out onto the reservation, Talon sees a landscape decimated by flames and wonton destruction. He speeds ahead, heading for the road.

After a few minutes of screaming down the road, Talon approaches Rico’s, a run-down service station. Several over-turned cars and a few scattered flames indicated that the carnage has reached here as well. Just as Talon slows to look, one of the beasts from the garage, which had been clinging to the front of the bus, starts to claw its way onto the hood. Talon reacts with surprise, jerking the steering wheel, and the bus caroms into the roadside ditch and rolls.

When Talon shakes himself away, he fumbles for his rifle and crawls out of the wrecked bus. The beast is pinned under the wreckage, its mouth opening and closing slowly. Talon walks to the station, gun at the ready. Nothing in the entry save for a spilled case of cigarette cartons and a single pool of round blood. Talon walks towards the garage and looks to his right. There he sees what is left of Rico--mostly just a slab of meat, with several ribs poking through the pool of gore. Talon vomits the contents of his stomach.

He steps towards the oil change pit and looks down—he sees what looks like Rico’s legs, plus the flash of two beastly eyes. Attempting to raise his gun, Talon slips on a smear of blood and pitches into the pit. Four eyes bear down on him and he fires his rifle as he scrambles towards the steel ladder. He lowered his shoulder and slammed into one of the charging beasts as he pulled himself up to the concrete floor.

Talon works through the missile base

The base has ben abandonded for years--grafitti is everywhere.

Talon finds the control center (he’s killed everything by now), thinks the coast might be clear, and works to get the door open again--the controls, while he can activate some, accomplish nothing--in fact, they stat somethingelse in action, sealing off areas of thebase in airtight area--Talon knows this is bad as he hears far away doors seal shut. The btching better gives some hint that there my be another ay out. Talon searches.

Talon discovers the “alien wing” of the base by solving a puzzle and finding the hidden door--his oxygen was gowing dim by then and the lights were beginning to flicker out

Talon explores a very old looking area of the alien wing of the base-Talon comes to the conclusion that the creatures have been here before--he also comes to the indirect (not said literally) conclusion that the governemtn must have known about it.

Talon moves down a long corridor, exploring a light and sound at one end. He does something and a cave in stops Talon from going out the way he came in--the sound of the cave in also alerts the creatures on the other side of the new door. Talon recognizes some of the sounds, but not all.

Talon figures out how to open the door (or, perhaps, it is bown open from the other side). He is faced with a cidely newer section of the alien base, lots of creatures are there--Talon must run. He ges the second pat of the Mod blaster here.

Talon battles some aliens, but avoids most, as he runs twards the sound of wind. He kils a final few beasts as he sees the outside and the canyon walls.

Talon sees the shuttle in the canyon. There is an outropping of rocks (or some crates) that Talon runs to for cover. Talon turns to see aliens carying a few hostages from behind the ship towards the entrace of the shuttle--he recognizes Mary. Several other aliens cary some supplies from the base on floating platforms.

Talon decides that he has nothing left here (the reservation, his only anchor, has ben dstroyed). His only connection at this moment is Mary, and she’s dragged onto the shuttle. He decides that he will try to get onto the shuttle. He waits until the shutle is nearly ready to take off--he hearsthe roa of the ngine and sees some shfting light colors. With his blaster (use destruct mode here?), he blows up some of the supply tanks near the door of the alien facility--this creates a iversion just as the ship is getting ready to take off--Talon runs for the ramp and sneaks aboard the ship.

Cinematic: First, we see Talon hinding in the shadows. We now see the ship, from external view, fire it engines and begin to blast off. It flys up towars the sky, dissappearsin as dawn begins to paint the sky. We hn see the ship from a “traking” view, looking back at the small Earth abd the sun peeking over the horizon. We move along the ship, looking into the bridge, seing the crew at ork. Turning away, we just catch the smallest glimpse of the Troaran motthership

Note: this is a timed level--the player can choose not to get onto the shuttle--if he does’t, we see it blast off, and as it’s up there, it drops some bombs that lay waste to the canyon and kill Talon

Note 2: Talon can enter the shuttle by (preferred) creating a diversion and sneaking aboard or by blasting his way aboard--it ill effect how the next chapter begins

Note 3: Talon catches his first glimpse of a Keeper, in the “away armor” in this chapter

Levels:

Main chapter challenge(s):

Chapter 2

Note: make this bginning have more guards and activity if Talon shot his way in here.

Talon hides in the shadows of some storage crates as the shuttle tkes off. The ship ratles and rumbls as it leaves Earth’s atmosphere. Lights are dim and flshing, crates slide and fall off of each other--the sound is almost unbearable. Once the ship leaves the atmosphere, the lights stop flashing and things calm down a bit.

Suddenly, the storage room door opens and one of the zombies enters with a beast--the beast is sniffing for something. It caches a wiff of Talon and begins wailing a loud, ear piercing sound. Talon fires his gun, but there is only one shot left--the battery has died! Talon must get out of the room and close the door (there is no latch or way to open it from the inside-only a basic com link). If Talon doesn’t want te alarm spread, he will have to destory the comm link as he runs out of the room. With the dor closed, the wails of the beast quietdown significanly.

Talon now stands in a long, empty corridor--very Alien looking. He thinks of Mary and the other captives. He must find them.

Talon hears some other beasts coming and searches the hallway--he finds a trap door down into the bowels of the ship--he hops down as the door opens at the end of the long corridor. Talon follows the conduits and service tunnels until he comes to a thin door wich opens up to an electrical servie bay. He notices ome zombies looking over the service controls. He also notices, to the side, what looks like a locker for weapons. He sneaks over and quietly opens the locker and finds a level 2 mod blaster as well as some energy batteries. He loads them up carefully and takes out the zombies as quietly as possible.

Talon notices a schematic on the contols that seem to indicate the position of what might be cells or some sort of holding container. Talon makes his way along the conduits, but must climb to the hallways of the ship. Talon hunts through the ship and finally comes to a complex series of doors. He must first dispatch several guards, and the figure out the way in whuch to open the doors. After solving the combination, a large round door begins to creak open. Talon runs inside to see another door and another similar series of locks. The door, like the first, has a pane of glass in it--Talon can see figures moving about in the darkness. He calls out.

Before Talon can finish the combination, he hears the grinding of gears and the first door is begining to close. Talon can see several zombies working at the controls. Soon, the door is locked. Talon also notices that he cannot operate thecontrols to the second door. Soor, he hears a hising sound as a strange green gas begins to fill the room. Taking out his blaster, he fires it but it only bounces off the walls and the glass port-holes. Talon is coughing now, the room in a haze of total green--his health is falling. Talon (hearing a clue from his gg?) then pulls out his colt and fires it at the portal, and the glass cracks--a second shot and it shatters. He only has limited shots left (how do we do this?).He doesn’t have shots left to kill th ombies, and shooting the other portal won’t get things working, but he can shoot at the overide switch outside. Talon fires--it takes two shots but he destroys it, and now he has control of the second door. The zombis fire through the glass portal, but Talon dodges the shots and finally gets the second door to open.

When he teps into the holding area, he hears a chilling gurgle--unmistakably the last sound of a dying individual. It dark, only a few floor lights, and Talon nhears the whir of a machine. He fires his blaster into the darkness and it illuminates the freshly killed (and mutilated) bodies of one of the younger tribal males. He also sees a form similar to that which he saw back on Earth (the Keeper, in its “away” prosthetic.). I dissappears into the shadows and Talon hears the clank of a panel slamming shut.

Hearing the zombies trying to get through the first door, Talon hopes to himself that tere is another way out, and blasts the doors control. He also finds a switch that turns on theemergency lights. Talon is hoorified by what he sees: four “pedastals” to his right. On one is simply gore--Talon surmises that it was once human. On the second s the freshly killed body of a man, its head riped nearly in two as a gaping maw exists where the neck once was. There is a trail of wet blood leading of into the darknes. On the other two pedistals are two other men, deply afriad, and tthered to some sort of block with what looks like electical cables.

To his left he sees a cell, holding the remainder of the captivs. Mary is there. The cell has what looks like a low, blue foceield and bars too close together for a human to squeeze through. Talon asks May if she is all right. She is nearly histerical (she couldn’t see, but could hear the vivisection). Taon asks her where the gate or oor is--she says there isn’tone. He presse her and she tells him that that thing simly bend the bars and pushed them through, then bend them back. Talon tries, but the bars are too strong. Talon says that he thinks he knows a way out, and he’ll take the to men to try to ind it--he’ll try to takecontrol of the ship--a long shot, he acknowledges, but their only chace. Talon pauses, unsure as how to leave Mary, he moves closer then spins back (give control back to the player here).

Talon turns to the two mens and shoots the cables from the box. He tells them to follow him. Talon moves to the end of the room and sees a panel slightly ajar--he pulls it open and heads through. He moves through several conduits, following the blood trail. It ends as a strangly ornate door with no dicernable lock mechanism. Whatever came down here went through that door. Talon decides to move on, and eventually, they come up to some stairs that lead them to a main corridor of the ship.

The coast seems clear so the clamber up. Talon peers in a room containing four zombies--he jerks back but then realizes that they are still. They creep in and see that the zombie-men are wired up to some type of power device--they must be recharging.

From some glyphs on the wall, Talon sees wht is obiously the directions to the bridge. Talon is on the right track! Still, the place seems deserted. Talon follows the corridors according to the shematic and up aead, he sees a large double door opened to the bridge. There are a few zombies inside, and Talon gets his blaster ready. They turn down the hall. As soon as they enter the hall, alarms blare and light begin to flash. Talon shouts out to run and there are beasts and zombies behind them Talon fires as he runs towards the bridge.

He hears one of the men get shot but he keeps running, dropping the three higher-up zombies on the bridge. Talon spins around to close the door as the two men stumble in. One is deeply wounded and the other (who is also hit) kneels down to tend to hi. The wounded Aache moans.

Talon struggles to ake sens out of the controls on the bridge. He stops for a moment and looks out the large horizonal window and sees the ominous approaching shape of the the Trocaran mothership, filling the view port.

Talon fiddles with some controls and the ship lurches left, ten right. He must be on the right track. Pounding and blasting is beginning to dent the bridge doors--time is running out. Talon fiddles ith some more control and the ship seems to lurch, then veer, almost in a controlled fashion, to the left.

At that moment, the doors bursts in, the wounded Aaches are the first to be killed by the ire--Talon spins around, gun ready, but he is soon surounded--one of the zombies shoots the gun (or grab) from his hands. The zombies converge on Talon as he fades to red.

Talon awakes as the blur gradually fades--sounds are mufle, but some gures appear to be working bove him. He hears the sound of a whirring blade and then ses a spray of bright red blood. He fades out of consciousness.

Fading in again, Talon’s vision is clearer--the room is quiet--though distant humming and the sounds of huge machines can he heard. No one is in the room. Talon turns left--he sees a door. He turns right and there, on a clean, alien-looking tabl, are one of his legs and one of his arms. Talon lets loose a blood-curddling scream as he passes out once again...

Levels:

Main chapter challenge(s):

Chapter 3

Talon awakes in the darkness, to the sound of blowing breeze and creaking metal. His eyes adjust slowly. He is on some sort of platform, a pedastal really. Some lights flash by in the darkness. The smell is still and musty and not at all Earthly. A small blue light illuminates his pedastal. He sees the very old remains of some sort of creature, not human, on his pedastal.

He stands slowly--unsure about his limbs--they seem there and intact--perhaps it was just a dream. But he looks down, his jeans are torn and he feels the rough ridge of a scar around the meat of his thigh. He vomits dryly.

Talon thinks he is unarmed, but he sees the Colt lying on the platform. He picks it up.

Something is different--his vision seems somewhat clearer and more focused--motion seems to blur. Is he the same as he once was?

Looking over the edge of the platform, he cannot sense how far down it it. Below, he sees faint lights that might be other platforms, but he cannot be sure. He calls out--nothing but an echo. But wait! Did he hear a very distant scream? He cannot be sure.

He hears a whirring sound--something with flashing light skims by, just a few feet from his platform.

He pushes the ancient corpse from the platform and listens to it fall--he cannot hear it hit.

It’s obvious that Talon must get out of here, but how? When the skimming device comes by again, Talon jumps out and leaps on top. It buckles under his weight, but he holds on. (what if the player falls?) He is now skimming through the darkness, dropping in altitude--he jumps off onto another platform. In the distance, he can now make out somesot of wall. Another automated droneskimms by and he jumps off and onto the machine. It turns right, flying closer to the mamoth wall. Things jut out from the wall.

As the machine skims closer, he leaps onto one of the protrusions. He is on some sort of etal protrusion, and there seem infinitely many of them. Talon bgins to climb. He finds a lift that carries him up and he climbs some more. There are leaps to make and ladders to climb. He thinks he hears the ditant scream again and it stops him cold.

He hears the flapping of wings--some strange creaures fly by and try to knock him off. Talon shoots one and then scrambles for cover. Then he sees something strange--a box of bullets for his gun. As he picks them up, he hears a voice in the distance “I knew you would come--it was foretold.”

As he gets higher, he sees some lights and hears activity. He apprahs and climbs quietly. Two guards, looking like large females, roughly human in shape, talk together and look off of the edge. Talon hars alien language interspersed with understandable English, but the English feels like it’s coming from inside of his head.

As he gets closer, they spot him and begin firing (te same sot of weapons he’s used beofre). Talon fires back, kills one, rides a light ou tp the platform, and then kills the second--she teeters at the edge and falls backwards, screaming in the darknes. Talon picks up the weapon she has dropped. There is a door here, and Talon opens it--a whoosh of air nearly pushes him off of the platform.

Talon steps out into the the hallway of the most alien world he can imagine--dimly lit, dark, rusted and decrpit. The smeel is unbearable. The walls creak with age and eakness and vibrate with the hum of distant machines.

It is obvious that Talon is in a prison. The cells are everywhere, and in most, there is either nothing or something long sinse dead. There are rows and corridors full of these cells, with occasional guards. There seems to be no state of general alarm.

After what sems like endless searching, Talon spots a trail of fresh blood. He follows it and comes to a cell. There, in the shadows, something moves. “Talon? Is that you?” asks Mary Thunder. May looks frazzled--she explains that there were a dozen of them, but those things and some other creatures, fine and frail and silnt, came and took the rest of them away. She doesn’t know why they left her. She is in a cell, but Talon can find no way out. He asks how long they have been there--she doesn’t know for sure, but certainly over a week, after the ship landed here (wherever that is). She thought Talon was dead. She grabs his hands through the bars.

Talon hears a scream. He tells Mary that he will be back--he’s got to find a way out. He runs towards the scream. Son, he comes to what looks like a primitive operating room with a glass viewing panl. One of the strange creatures and the other, filagreed creature are working on an Apache strapped to a table. A pool of blood gathers under the table. The Apacheturns towards Talonand Talon regognizes him. He screams out Talon’s name. Talon shoots at the glass, but it does not break--he hears him scream again--he searchs for a way in--finally, he finds one and opens the door, just as another door closes and the two creaures disappear. Talon appraohes his friend, or what’s left of him. Limbs lie on the floor. He turnstowards Talon and whispers “why didn’t you stop them?” and then he dies.

Talon stumbles out into the hall and collapses, beside himself. He is becomming overwhelmed, feeling lost and helpless. He looks up--down the hall, he sees a shadowy figure appear--he turns to run but hears the word “don’t”--he stops and turns around. An old indian, partially transparent, moves close and begins speaking with Talon.

He explains that the moment has come, and they are connected one again. Talon recognizes him as his gg, but can’t believe it. GG explains that he is a spirit, remaining here to help someone complete a journey, and that someone is Talon. He begins to speak, but just then, a door creaks open and the gg vanishes. In pour 3 guard and Talon fights them. When they are dispachd, a srange sound comes from behind him and Talon spins around.

There, floating a meeter off of the flaked metal flooring, the the strangest machine or creature that Talon has ever seen. Wrapped in ornate folds of metal, with appendeages like liquid scultre, yet a strange, nearly human-like face stretched actoss a gas plasme crt screen is the Staleene Keeper.

The Staleene Keeper speaks--in a cold, feminine voice using English. She welcomes Talon to the Trocara. She is impressed with his seeming skills, but he must remeber that he is nothing but a momentary speck--just a fleeting flash of interest for the Keeper to even talk to him--soon, she tells him, even if he survives, he will be but a speciman of an extinct linneage. After, Earth was won, once again, in the games, and this time it was not your stock fathers who succeeded.

As Talon struggles to find meaning in her words, she simply stops speaking, and begins to move rapidly, but silently down the hall. Talon fires, but the shots blast off of some sort of force field. He hears her laughing as she turns the corner.

Talon explores further and finds a rather austere door and opens it--must air wafts past him. Stepping in, he appears in some sort of side entrance coridor to some large area to his right. After a while, he comes to a set of huge and somewhat ornate doors. He opens them--they creak open slowly and reveal a staircase down into a sepuchural chamber--but perhaps it isn’t a tomb at all--in fact, as Talon begins down the stairs, he realizes that is must be a library.

In the library, there are rows upon rows of shelves and kioss--some withold fashioned books like he has seen before--others are starnge and alien. Still others appear electronic. The floor is rife with dust and volumtric lights spill over the still air.

Talon spies several taller, diferent looking humanoids amongst the shelves. They spot him and begin blasting. Their calls crackle both in aline-speak and English. Talon kills the three of them and moves forward to one of the kiosks that they were standing around. It is active and Talon studies it. Here, he sees an outline of the entire Trocaran ship, the information that there are three species on board (no mention of the Keepers) andsome insight into the games.

Talon then explores further--he senses something and looks up-there, on a hight ledge leading into anther area (the stairs have fallen away in disrepair) is Talon’s GG. Talon runs closer as the GG moves into the darkness of a room up on the ledge. Talon moves around some shelves to get a closer look and he sees some stange creaure living there. It leaps out to attack him. Notintelligent, it is very viscious. Talon battles hard and finally dispatches the creature.

Talon then discovers that by movingseveral documentcrates, he can climb atop a shelf unit, leap to an outcropping and get up to the place where hisgg was standing.

Up on the ledge, he steps nto the room--he sees the back of his gg, hunched over and making marks on the floor. The gg ignores hm but stadsup and chants. Soon, a portal opens in front of the GG and he steps into another place. Talon steps in to follow.

Talon finds himself in a cave-like room--sandstone walls, decorated with paintings. The gg still chants and the portal closes. There seem to be no doors.

Talon’s gg explins to Talon tha it is time to bgin his training--time to awaken what has been sleping inside all thse years. He advises Talon that only by his will and focus can he awaken and reconnect to these forces. He also explins that without them, Talon will surely die, and “so will your children and the spirits of your anscestors. It has been foretold.” Talon ties to ask a question, but the gg raises his hand. He sys that it is time to awaken the ulifting force within. The gg claps his hands and vanishes. leaving Talon trapped in the room.

Examoning the images on the wall, one is outcropped and Talon touches it--pat of the wall slides open to reveal steps down. Talon follows. He comes to a small room wih a circle on the floor and a single stone near the wall. Talon steps into the circle and Talon feels an energy well up within himself. The voice of his gg tells him to focus--to connect to the threads of the rock and to pull it close. Talon does and slowly, the rock begins to move.

As therock moves, anothor door opens in the wall. Talon mves down more stairs into another room. Again a ciricle is on the floor (larger now). There is a pedistal and a lager rock. Talon’s gg says he must light the rock and place it on the pedistal. Talon focuses and bgins to lift the rock and guide it on the pedial. Another door opens.

Talon steps down another flight of stis hat end abbruptly. There are several pedtals in a lager room (different heihts), a row of several rocks (different sizes) and several different sized niches on the fa wall. Talon does not hear his gg’s voice, but soon, water begins to flow up from the floor, filling the rooms. He can jump to higher pedastals, but only for so long. Taon thinks that he must lift the rocks and place thm in their niches. Concentrating, he moves the first, then the second--he leaps to a higher pedastal as water pours in, then the third, up again to the highst pedastal. The fourth and final rock, he moves it, drops it, then as the water is nealy up to his chest, lifts it again int the niche. He hars something move under water.

He takes a dep breath and dives down--an opening is in the floor--he swims down, through a lng tunnel and up and out into a smaler cave with a domed ceiling. Here, his granfather sits, and simply nods his head--he says nothing, but ith a wave of his hand, the portal appears aain--Talon steps through.

He is back in the libray now and he hears a srugle--he crep around several shelves to see what looks like an atrative female vamp battling ith one of the tall humanoids and one of the large female guas. The vamp swings a spear and the lices the through of the tall thin humanoid. ext, she aims the spear at the large guard nd something shoots out and imbed in the guard. The guad twitches as nergy seems to flow into the vamp. Soon the guad falls dead. The vamp looks up--she’s sen Talon and turns to run. Talon begins to follow, but grabs the lage gun that has fallen by the guard.

Talon follow the vamp down some stais, through some conduits and into a dak and strange plae beneath the library. He runs into an open room and sdeenly, he finds himself surrounded by the vamps, all aiming the spears at him. He bgins firing the new gun, mowing them down-they shreik and the last one turns to un. Talon follows into another room with vamps--he fiers and drops three ore--more shrieking. He runs out of ammo, but picks up a spear, chasing the lst one down another corridor and into another room--here he finds three more--this looks like some sort of throne room or something like tha, but cobbled together. One vamp has bright blue hair (all the others had oragne hair). The orage hai pair leap infront of the blue haired one and begin to fight--Taon slashes and paries and eventually drops them both. The lue heiad on shrieks in seemingly inconceivable pain and drops her spear and falls back ito he ad hoc throne, weeping. Talon steps forward, and she stands, garing at him.

She begins to shriek and gesture--occasional words come through as Eglish. He has killed them all--all that there were--now there is only hataa sken alone. she shoud die now, she should just fall on her spear. Tlo sayshe disn’t mean it, they attacked him. Swails and shriks--no more--cannot bread, we were bred ad failed our batles and we caehere to hide--nowyou have destroyed us all I should be dead.

She wails bt maages to explain that she must get to the hegemon--he can help--wih Talon’s convincing and force, he can bring back her spcies--that is what she must do. She hates Talon but she needs him. The amera pulls back as she falls to her knees to weep.

Levels:

Main chapter challenge(s):

Chapter 4

Talon feels the pain in his gut—he had no idea that he was doing such harm. He is at a loss for words. But soon, the image of Mary appears in his mind, and he knows that he must try to free her. He agrees to help Hataa, any way he can, but first, he must go see if he can free Mary.

Hataa, through her pain, understands saving those close to the heart—she wipes the moisture from her face and steps back into the shadows and pushes back a rusted panel. It opens to a strange, polished hallway. She steps in and Talon follows.

The hallway seems to curve up into the darkness and snake away an impossible distance. Hataa steps up to the curving area and taps a few times on one of the dark, shiny tiles. All of the sudden, the tile slide of from the wall, revealing a gas-plasma display. She makes several gestures with he finger on the display, saying “we only know a little of their world, and our control is limited, but I can take you back to the prisons.” In a second, a gaseous glow appears before them and seems to pull apart, tearing space with it. Talon looks through the undulating hole in space to another place, very similar to where they are now.

Hataa speaks: “Step through here and find your precious Mary. I shall keep the gate open. Bring her back here, so that we may find the Hegemon together. Perhaps he will help us both. Now, I must attend to the burial of my sisters…” She turns away and leaves Talon standing there.

Talon steps through the gate, and as he passes through, he feels a tingle wash over his body and he notices the slight smell of ozone. Instantly, he is in another place, looking back through the gate at where he just came from.

Talon looks around and sees what looks like some sort of exit. He steps close and it appears as if the walls simply pull apart, opening into the hallway of the prison. He steps out and immediately hears the wall sealing back up. He steps close to try to stop it, but he cannot—the wall closes. As it does, a small, keystone like piece from up above Talon’s reach rattles loose and falls to the ground.

Talon searches the cells and he sees, just down the hall, where Mary was. He runs close and looks into the cell, but it is empty. Only a dead body lies lifeless in the corner. Talon retches instinctively—he’s too late! Mary is dead! But soon he realizes that it is the body of an Indian he knew from the reservation—not Mary. He takes in a deep breath, relieved that it was not Mary but feeling guilty that another from their reservation has died.

Talon is at a loss of what to do. Perhaps if he gets back to Hataa, and takes her to the Hegemon, he might be able to help him find Mary. Just as Talon formulates these thoughts, he hears the rush of guards heading down the corridor, running as a group.

Talon tries to hide behind a beam, firing on the first guard as she approaches. For what seems like an eternity, Talon battle the guards, using their own weapon against them. He dodges, rolls, and gets singed in the shoulder once, but soon, he drops the last guard and picks up what weapon charges he can.

Talon hears more guards coming in the distance… then he looks at the fallen keystone. That might be the key to get back to the gate—but the slot is far too high. The Talon hears the old mans voice, urging him to use his new abilities, telling him “they only grow stronger the more you use them.”

Talon concentrates on the keystone, using his fingers as a focus—with the power of his mind, and slight blue energy crackling at his fingertips, he is able to raise the block and slide it back into the slot. Suddenly, the wall begins to split open. Talon rushes in just as the guards close in—strangely, they see him in the strange hallway, but they do not shoot and they do not fight—almost as if they are scared of this place.

Talon returns to the gate, and just as he is about to step through, it vanishes into nothing but a speck of blue-gray smoke. Suddenly, an eerie light fades up, from no discernable source, and Talon smells ozone again.

He turns around to see the filigreed for of the Staleene Keeper again. First, Talon hears just high pitched static, then she speaks: "Found your way back here, I see. You must be wondering about your stock brothers… we have had them moved. They might prove to be interesting in the game, and not much interesting has come from this gene-stream in a long time. Oh, I nearly forget..."

The keeper stretches out one filigreed appendage and lightly stroked a shiny tile—just like before, it opens to show a gas plasma display. The soft, fractal-like mini appendages of her hand paint complicated patters on the display as she continues to speak,” you might be interested to meet the new governess of your little Earth…” A new gate opens up, far above Talon’s head. Through it, Talon can see part of what looks like a huge, glistening, insect-like creature. “She will earn that position soon, after we rid that planet of your failed gene-strain.”

The Staleene Keeper starts to back away, her appendages doing another dance on the display as another gate opens, at Talon’s level. “You may find this useful…” Her voice trails off as the lights fade towards darkness and Talon is left standing alone between two gates, one to a hideous creature, the other to a dark and abandoned room who knows where…

Talon examines the wall that had opened, but it seemed sealed tight, like there never was an opening there. They only way out seems to be through the lower gateway and Talon takes a deep breath and dives through.

He finds himself in what looks like an urban subway station, but it is not human, not familiar except in function. It also looks abandoned for years—rust dusts the floor and what light is there shines through thick and stagnant dust. That creature has lead Talon here, but why? What is he to do?

Soon, Talon hears a high-pitched wailing sound, like the distant scream of metal upon metal. Soon the station rumbles and shakes and in a few seconds, a strange, almost art-deco looking tram rockets into the station and tops suddenly. The door opens automatically, and it seems as if the interior is floating within some sort of shell, almost like its floating on some type of viscous shock absorbers.

As Talon enters, the door closes behind him, but the tram goes nowhere. There is a control panel—something upon which you tap your destination, but it seems dead—the display membrane is pale. Talon notices a wire that’s pulled out of the box—he grabs both frayed ends and twists them together and the panel flicker to life. From the schematic, Talon recognizes part of the large ship that he witnessed in the library. It seems like he has two destinations—back, only a short way off on the display, or forward, off to another one of the large tower structures. Talon pushes the icon representing the farthest destination.

The tram rumbles for a moment and it seems like the gap between the shell and the interior fills with liquid—through the windows he can see the bluish liquid rise up. In a moment, the shuttle rumbles and then is off. Talon can feel the acceleration, but he can’t escape the feeling that he’s traveling much faster. Soon, the tram bursts out of the tunnel and seems to be flying along in some tunnel on the exterior of the ship. Talon can see the stars, the planet Earth (more distant that he remembers) and other portions of this massive ship. Given the scale of the ship, Talon can’t even begin to imagine the speed of the tram.

After what seems like an eternity (but Talon knows it’s only been a few minutes), the tram decelerates and comes to a stop—the liquid is pumped out and the door screeches open. Talon steps out.

What he sees immediately brings the blood pounding in his temple—an environment far too alien to fully comprehend. The walls curve and twist, looking at one moment like woven blankets of thin metal, at other moments like glistening, wet, mucus-coated surfaces. Talon stumbles backward as he tries to catch his breath.

The narrow corridor twists off to the left and Talon moves forward cautiously, reluctant to touch the strange surface with his hands. He walks and walks and soon sees some light ahead—the corridor opens like a mouth to a gigantic undulating plain. Talon can see many mounds with dark, gaping holes leading down to the dark. He moves cautiously and in a moment, he sees several creatures, looking like some aerodynamic bastardization of an ant mixed with a bee, scuttle out of one hole and down into another. One seemed to be carrying something in his mandibles.

As Talon steps closer to the opening, he sees a sparkle color the air for a moment in the distance and the form of his great grandfather materializes out on the plain. Several more worker insects scuttle about, but they don’t seem to notice him. He raises his staff to Talon and beckons him closer. In a flash, the old man disappears down one of the holes.

Talon darts out onto the plateau—looking back over his shoulder, he can see that he’s on some sort of gigantic outcropping from one of the main Trocaran towers. Talon can clearly see that this plateau is covered by some sort of dome, presumably to keep the air in. In the distance, Talon can see the twinkling of the distant stars.

Immediately, two of the strange worker insects emerge from one of the holes—they’ve spotted Talon and start scuttling towards him. Talon pulls up his weapon and fires at one, blowing off a few legs. He spins as it scuttles past and fires into the abdomen—the creature spurts green goo as it tumbles to the ground. Talon spins around and fires twice into the churning mandibles of the second insect. It drops cold, but Talon can see others coming up out of one of the holes. Talon turns to run and sprints towards the opening where he saw the old man. The tunnel opening is dark and wet and Talon can hear the bugs closing. He keeps running, and he’s not sure if he hears an echo or if more bugs are coming up from this hole. Before he can be certain, a portal opens up and Talon dives for it.

When he brushes himself off, he is on the dusty floor of an Indian lodge, his grandfather waiting. Through the portal, Talon can see the insects scuttling past, but they don’t seem to notice. The portal diminishes into nothing. The old man turns to speak:

“Talon—it is time to continue your teachings. I feel that you other self is growing within. Let’s take things one step farther…” with a wave of his hand, the old man vanishes, leaving Talon alone once again in the strange dream world.

As Talon stands and brushes himself off, he hears the old man’s disembodied voice from above, “in your struggles to come, you will feel much pain, both in your soul and in your body. You must first learn how to heal your body…”

Talon begins to walk along the smooth wall, searching for some hidden trigger as before. Soon, his fingers move over a raised area of the sandstone wall and he presses down—he feels a catch release. He hears a clicking sound, then the whoosh of something flying trough the air—he turns just as three carved wooden darts plunge between his ribs. He gasps for breath and falls to his knees.

“Use your medicine cord… focus your mind…” says the disembodied voice.

Talon, gasping for breath, raises his medicine cord—there, he sees a new marking, freshly carved into the hide and bone. He lifts his right hand and makes the movements signified in the marking… after several passes, Talon can begin to feel a power guiding his hand along the path of the marking, almost like his hand knows how to move without his help.

Blue energy begins to crackle over his right forearm and up towards his chest—the energy crawls across his chest and surrounds the wooden spikes, pulling on them and filling his wounds with healing energy. Talon can feel the breath reenter his lungs as the three spikes fall to the sandy floor. Talon stumbles to his feet.

As soon as he regains his balance, a section of the sandstone and wooden wall seems to melt away, leading into a larger, formalized ritual hall. The wood is painted red, the color of blood, and Talon hesitates before he steps in.

Once in the center of the room, Talon gets the eerie feeling that dangerous rituals have taken place here, wherever here might be.

”First, learn to heal the body… then learn to shield the body,” echoed the voice of the old man.

Talon turns around slowly and once again, he hears the whoosh of something flying through the air. He drops to the ground and rolls left… the darts whistle over his head, but another barrage fires out and one dart lands firm into his thigh. Talon moans and rolls again, pulling the dart and covering the wound with his hand, the blood seeping out between his fingers.

Talon once again raises his medicine cord, concentrates and forms the marking in the air with his fingertips—soon, the blue healing energy crackles over his leg and seals the wound. As Talon concentrates, he notices that another marking has appeared on his medicine cord. As Talon studies the mark, he hears another whoosh of darts—he instinctively rolls left and the darts miss him, but no sooner that the darts bury themselves in the opposite wall that he hears more darts firing. Rolling right, he stares at the medicine cord and works with his right had to make the new marking in the air. As he does so, a dart barely misses his out stretched hand. Soon, the crackling energy from his hand expands outward, growing into a sphere-—Talon concentrates and the sphere grows larger, soon completely surrounding him.

Surrounded by the sphere, Talon feels dozens and dozens of carved wooden darts bounce off of the energized blue membrane. After what seems like hours of intense concentration, Talon can no longer focus, the sphere vanishes and he collapses to his knees. Talon closes his eyes and falls to sleep.

When he awakes, it’s with a start—he’s no longer in the ritual room, but back out in the Insectoid corridor, with no sign of his great grandfather. Talon begins to head out to the surface, but then he remembers the words of the strange creature who showed him the large insect—that she was to be the new ruler of Earth. He must have been told for a reason—he must find the creature. He turns and heads down into the dark tunnel.

Soon, the tunnel is only illuminated by what looks like phosphorous secretions. Soon, he hears the scuttling of the worker bugs. Immediately, talon raises the medicine cord and conjures up the shield sphere—he discovers that he can still walk with the sphere energized. The first bug he sees comes over to investigate the sphere, but finds nothing of interest so it scuttles away. The others just ignore Talon and the sphere—the first one must have sent out some sort of phenerome signal to ignore him.

Soon, Talon comes to a branch in the tunnel—this new passage is smaller and seems completely lined with phosphorescent gel. The bugs that move to and for seem to go out of their way to circle the opening of the tunnel, stopping for a second to take a nibble of the glowing yellow goo.

Talon heads down this new passage, his feet sinking into the goo with each step. Soon, an almost unbearable stench fills the air and the goo gives way to some sort of twisted weaving of the organic and the manufactured—oval CRT monitors are suspended in thick web cording, metal and secretions mix…

Talon sees a membrane with a port-hole-like opening in it, and he knows instantly that the stench comes from beyond that hole. Talon steps close and can partially see the undulating body of the loathsome creature he was shown earlier. The gigantic creature seems to pull itself closer to the opening—Talon can see the CRT light reflected in a pair of glistening black mandibles.

It begins to make some sounds, high pitched whistles and clicks mostly, but to Talon’s uncomfortable surprise, his mind soon begins to translate the alien sounds into intelligible speech…

“sssshe told me that you we coming… that you might be sssomething ssspecial. But I can sssee that ssshe was wrong again.” The creature takes in a deep hiss of stale air, and continues, “You sssee, it no longer matters. We have easily won your sssseed world. Too easily, in fact. Your ssstock fathers were nothing short of pathetic. Now ssshe wants us to wait to claim our prize, to follow the rulesss, but the victory was sssso easy that the rulesss should not apply. Ssso we’ve decided to take your ssseed world now and to release the xenocide drone.”

 

Talon meets again with his great grandfather, who offers him a familiar and teaches him further skills through a second learning dream. When Talon returns to the cells, the captives are gone (several are there dead). Talon curses himself—if only he ran back and didn’t follow the woman (or his great grandfather), he might have made it. Now he must find Mary again. The computerized library kiosks provide some clues. 

Talon finds a seemingly abandoned tram which takes him to another one of the large towers of the Trocaran mothership. Here, he encounters the large and loathsome hive queen of the Insectoid species. She relishes in telling Talon of the demise of his species on Earth, as well as her plan to eliminate the humanoids from the Trocara as well. She tells Talon of her plan to release the extermination drone (to wipe out the Earthly humans) without the Keeper’s consent. She is very proud of herself.

Talon makes his way to the external region of the Insectoid area and rides another tram to where he thinks the drone will launch from. He is too late, and he watches helplessly as the large gas drone launches towards Earth. Talon meets again with Hataa-skeen, and she offers him information in return for his commitment to help. He accepts and she leads him to a shuttle bay. Talon leaps aboard the foreign shuttle and takes off after the drone. He docks with it, boards and disarms the shuttle. He thinks for a moment of attempting to flee back to Earth, but he cannot leave Mary. He returns to the Trocaran mothership.

Levels:

Main chapter challenge(s):

Chapter 5

Talon again meets with the Staleene Keeper, who has been following his progress. She is intrigued by Talon and offers him a challenge—survive three arena contests, and she will take Earth “out of the game,” effectively saving the human species. Talon agrees, but he must first honor his obligation to Hataa-skeen. Together, they track down the royal chamber of the humanoid hegemon.

 *** have the humanoid flying ship here—where the hegemon is—he meets with him—pleads his case, is refused, fights a bit, but then the hegemon’s ship is attacked—Talon agrees to help and save the hegemon’s barge—in return, he admits that the humnaoids can’t help Hataa (they lost the stock and the scientific breeding background), but they will help Talon is he needs it (their seed worlds are getting fewer and far between)****

 They have an audience with the opulent, yet unkempt ruler. He refuses to help, but Talon forces his hand—the ruler reluctantly agrees to help both Hataa and Talon. As they leave, they both know that he has no intention of keeping his word to Hataa.

 *** the hegemon lets Talon take off in an autocraft (hataa stays behind to see if there’s something she can do)—he takes it, but it malfunctions close to the wall—it crashed on the wall—Talon makes his way across the wall, down slopes and to a small base—from here, he takes a tunnel to the saurian underwater seaport (one level), and makes his way up to the saurian city—here he finds the arenas***

 Talon reaches the saurian area of the mothership. Here, he battles first against a specially bred “triplet” raptor. He narrowly wins, and the cheering crowd grows silent. Talon then faces a larger saurapod, and wins using his wits rather than simply brawn and weaponry. Finally, he faces the Insectoid alternate who has won the right to seed Earth. The battle is harsh and brutal, and Talon can only survive by relying on his budding mystical powers, and he ekes out a win by destroying the arena so that it crushes the hulking insectoid.

 As Talon flees the angered crowd of saurians, he confronts Rex, the regal ruler of the saurian species. Rex is very distressed about the numerous chaotic divergences from the “norm.” The actions of the Hive Queen bother him, as well as the games of the Staleene Keeper. In an attempt to put things back on track, he rationalizes that killing Talon is the way to go. A battle ensues, but Talon uses his magic to trick the large saurian and escape.

***Talon battles towards a port where small space fighters are docked—using his powers, he gets in one, controlling the pilot—he flies up and out in space—other saurian ships fight them—finally talon’s ship arrives at a humanoid shuttle dock, high on the tower***

Talon finally confronts the Staleene Keeper. She tells him that he has won—that Earth will indeed be taken from the game. She gives him directions to place where Mary and the others are being held. She will meet him there.

Levels:

Chapter 6

Talon follows the directions, but he has been lead into a trap. Instead of finding Mary, he finds himself on the front lines of a raging skirmish between the Trocaran humanoids and insectoids. Talon makes his way through the battle zone, hiding whenever possible and fighting when there is no choice. He once again runs into Hataa-skeen. Resigned to her fate, she is fighting alongside of the humanoids against the insectoids. She tells him that she has seen Mary and the others.

Talon begins his escape, but a large insectoid skimmer bears down upon him—Hataa leaps in front of the organic tank, screaming for Talon to run. As he flees, he hears the tank fire and Hataa scream.

Talon flees through some deep Insectoid corridors (round and sticky with mucus), and a seeming army of worker insectoids stops him. They lead him into a large chamber where the Hive Queen and her drone queens monitor the progress of the battle. She is furious at Talon for his disarming of the xenocide drone.

Talon locks into fierce battle with the Queen. First, he must destroy her drone queens, who are breeding fast, nimble warriors as fast as he can dispatch them. At last, Talon destroys the Queen and rushes to find Mary.

Talon tracks down the Staleene Keeper, who says that he has won—she give him directions where to go.

Talon runs smack into the front line of attack between the humanoids and the insectoids—the humanoids are only a partial threat, but the insectoids are triggered (by their queen) to get him.

Talon learns that Staleene Keeper isn’t keeping her end of bargain.

During the battle, Talon runs into Hataa-skeen, who tells him where Mary is. She then sacrifices herself to let him go.

Talon tracks down the Hive Queen

Talon battles and kills the Hive Queen

Levels:

Main chapter challenge(s):

Chapter 7

Talon makes his way into the dark folds of the mothership, using his newly heightened mystical senses. He is obviously in the Keeper portion of the ship—it has an old, almost timeless quality about the strange architecture and design. Ahead, there appear to be numerous doors, all in succession, all with multiple locks. Talon watches from the shadows as several lessor Keepers enter and leave. Using his powers, he possesses one of the Keepers and enters the multiple locks—on the inside, he manages to sabotage the locks so as to leave the doors partially open. Talon pulls back from the Keeper, returns to Talon’s form and runs through the slight opening.

Talon finds what looks like a bank of cells, only it looks more like some sort of ancient zoo than a prison. Moving cautiously along, Talon discovers countless bodies of what were once human. Fueled with hate, he enters a large room, octagonal, almost like some sort of lecture hall. He hears Mary’s voice. She is lying on a table in the center, the fragile prosthetic form of the Staleene Keeper above her. Mary is talking incessantly about childhood memories, but the words have a strange cadence about them.

Talon enters the room. Mary’s head turns towards him, and a flash of recognition paints her face. She smiles and says “Talon, I’ve missed you...” Her head continues to turn—Talon notices a clean red line around her throat. Her head rolls towards him, eyes still open, and falls to the floor. The cut is smooth and nearly cauterized.

Talon collapses to his knees, not sure whether to touch her hair or not. In his grief, Talon doesn’t notice the Staleene Keeper silently moving out of the room.

Talon shakes his head clear and rises with dangerous determination. They must pay, the Staleene Keeper must pay! Talon strides forward, energy crackling from his fingertips. He walks deeper into the Keeper’s realm, passing several lesser Keepers. As he passes, he raises his hands and lightning jumps forth, decimating their mechanical prosthetics.

Destruction seems to want to leap from his fingertips, and in his rage, Talon hardly notices the form of his great grandfather appear—he appears been and twisted with pain. He pleads with Talon not to let his anger rise too quickly—it is not the way of the power, and only harm will come from revenge borne of anger rather than true spiritual focus.

Talon trembles as several of the small monkey minions descend into the room—leaping on top of each other to form their large brethren. Talon begins using his lightning power to break apart the large beasts, but the smaller creatures circle around him, dodging his fury. The more Talon fires, the more some ghostly apparitions seem to appear at the end of the room. They seem to be the spirit forms of other Indians—at first, talon sees his fallen friends and Mary Thunder, but soon, they manifest themselves into the forms of the soul stealers—they seem to suck in Talon’s rage and grow brighter and brighter. Talon hears the voice of his great grandfather, begging him to rethink his approach. Soon, the soul stealers begin to turn the energy back on Talon—he hears the panicked screams of souls in pain, and Talon’s only protection is to use all of his remaining energy to raise his circle of protection. As he hides under the veil of power, he hears the soothing voice of his great grandfather, and he gradually lowers his energy.

Soon, his shield falters, but the old man tells him to remain calm and true. Soon, he is exposed and the soul stealers blast their magic upon him—he wants to resist, but the old man tells him to remain strong—his strength pours from him—death seems only moments away as he falls to his knees, yet he notices the soul stealers faltering. Moments before darkness closes in, they vanish and leave behind the ghostly specters of trapped spirits. Talon crawls through these apparitions, and he feels their energy join with him and his strength begin to return. Talon says “I can see your wisdom, old man.”

Moving forward through ancient circular doors, Talon comes to a strange room, the ceiling high and the walls lined with strangely organic machines. The parts begin to peel off the wall and accrete together into a gigantic automation. Talon battles the creature with his magic almost exclusively, shorting out and blowing off parts with his conjured lightning. At last, he delivers a fatal blow and the remains of the machine crash back through a wall.

Talon climbs over the wreckage and through the hole in the wall. He finds himself in the most alien of control rooms. The pictographs on the machines and the walls tell him that this is the control heart of the mothership. He discovers the banks of ancient machines that control the magnetic harness for the manufactured sun at the center of the mothership. He begins to release one, then another of the multitude of magnetic locks. The power flickers as the sun shifts in its magnetic cradle.

****

destroy 1/3 of the trocaran ship

Talon nearly finishes the task as the Staleene Keeper appears. She tries to sound calm, but Talon can clearly notice the fear in her synthesized voice. She tells him to stop, tells him that he has truly won. Earth has already been taken out of the game.

Talon pauses and the Keeper waves one of here fragile prosthetic arms—a portal opens up and Talon sees Earth—it is morning in Arizona. He steps away from the machine and closer to the portal. She waves her arm again and another portal opens up—onto a city, obviously alien in nature, bustling with activity.

She explains to Talon that he has won, and that the choice is now his. He can return to Earth. But on Earth, who will know that he is any different? He won’t be a hero, he won’t be anything at all... Talon looks up, glares steadily at the Keeper, his gaze full of hate and determination. He turns to the Earthly portal and says “screw that pathetic rock” and leaps through the other portal, into the unknown...

Final shot of earth.  END.

Levels:

Main chapter challenge(s):

END.

Quick Story Report for Dark Harvest

George:  This appears to be an output from a program called Dramatica Pro.  There are lots of story/motivation nuggets below that I think are important.  It's messy, but I think it's all here.

Plot Dynamics:

Concern as it relates to The Future:

Range as it relates to Choice vs. Delay:

Problem as it relates to Feeling:

The Main Character Throughline:

StoryGuide Plot Progression Report for Dark Harvest

• Objective Story Signpost #1 as it relates to The Past:

Once aboard the Trocaran ship, Tommy meets with his great grandfather and learns of the past visits of the Trocara and his past abduction. In addition, the great age of the Trocaran mothership and its species is explored.

• Objective Story Signpost #2 as it relates to The Future:

Tommy meets the Stalene Keeper who explains what will happen in the future--humanity will be gone from the Earth and the insectoids will reseed the world.

• Objective Story Signpost #3 as it relates to Progress:

Tommy must battle through a series of tests set up by the Stalene Keeper.

• Objective Story Signpost #4 as it relates to The Present:

Tommy garners an advantage over the Stalene Keeper and threatens to destroy the Trocaran mother ship at that moment--the Keeper gives in and allows Earth to be taken out of the game.

• Objective Story Journey #1 from The Past to The Future:

Our characters learn of the (partial) past of the Trocara and the great grandfather's previous abduction-as they learn more about the ship and explore it, attempting to survive and locate the captives, Tommy meets with the Stalene Keeper, who informs him what will become of Earth in the future.

• Objective Story Journey #2 from The Future to Progress:

Tommy learns of the future, and it stunned by it-he attempts to escape and find the captives, but instead meets with the Stalene Keeper and is given his test-he must progress through a gauntlet of tests in order to save Earth.

• Objective Story Journey #3 from Progress to The Present:

Tommy moves through a series of tests, as well as an unexpected confrontation with the insectoids, until he finally meets up with the Keeper and focuses all attention on that moment-either the Trocaran ship will be destroyed or Earth will be taken from the game.

Main Character Throughline

• Main Character Signpost #1 as it relates to Doing:

Tommy must actively escape from the Trocaran attack of his reservation and gain entrance to the Trocaran shuttle ship. He must then gain entrance to the bridge of that ship.

• Main Character Signpost #2 as it relates to Obtaining:

Tommy attempts to obtain the whereabouts of the human prisoners and to obtain the freedom of Mary Thunder. He fails.

• Main Character Signpost #3 as it relates to Learning:

Tommy must learn to use his reawakening mystical energy in order to harness it into a suite of usable powers.

• Main Character Signpost #4 as it relates to Understanding:

Tommy understands his mystical powers, and he also understands that the Stalene Keeper has been playing him for the fool.

• Main Character Journey #1 from Doing to Obtaining:

Once Tommy wakes up in the cell (after he is captured in the bridge of the Trocaran shuttle and is mutilated), he must survive long enough to learn that the survivors are on this larger ship. Tommy then strives to find their whereabouts and to free Mary (and the others).

• Main Character Journey #2 from Obtaining to Learning:

Once Tommy locates Mary, but fails to free her, he struggles to find another means to free her-he meets with his great grandfather as he begins to feel mysterious pulls at his inner being. His great grandfather explains that it is time to learn to harness his natural energies.

• Main Character Journey #3 from Learning to Understanding:

Once Tommy learns to use his mystical powers, he battles through the challenges put forth by the Stalene Keeper only to come to a full understanding of his mystical powers and the betrayal of the Stalene Keeper.

Obstacle Character Throughline

• Obstacle Character Signpost #1 as it relates to Becoming:

The Stalene Keeper, by capturing Tommy, threatens to keep him from becoming who he imagined he might be.

• Obstacle Character Signpost #2 as it relates to Conceiving:

Tommy begins to imagine the role he must play-as rescuer and as a special being who must come to grips with his mystical powers. As Tommy begins to conceive of the role for himself, the Stalene Keeper reminds him that he is a nothing-that his efforts and energies are irrelevant and that he is not a hero, but an insignificant being.

• Obstacle Character Signpost #3 as it relates to Being:

Tommy, having learned some of the powers taught by his great grandfather, begins actually acting in the role of hero. The Stalene Keeper attempts to thwart him by his series of tests and ultimatums. Unfortunately for the Keeper, Tommy is very effective at being a hero.

• Obstacle Character Signpost #4 as it relates to Conceptualizing:

The Stalene Keeper forces Tommy to think of a way to thwart his plans to destroy Earth-when Tommy succeeds, Tommy begins to consider life back on Earth with Mary at his side-the Stalene Keeper destroys that notion by opening the two portals for Tommy.

• Obstacle Character Journey #1 from Becoming to Conceiving:

The Stalene Keeper, by capturing Tommy, immediately stops him from becoming what he desires-a person with something special to offer (though Tommy would never verbalize it that way). In doing so, the Keeper, forces Tommy to rethink himself-to consider himself in a new light and to conceive of his "specialness" in a way he never though of before. The more the Keeper keeps insisting that Tommy is nothing, the more Tommy is able to envision his transformation into something more.

• Obstacle Character Journey #2 from Conceiving to Being:

The Stalene Keeper drives Tommy into considering his new role, not only by the situation he placed him in, but by the constant reminders that Tommy is "nothing." The Stalene Keeper then poses a bargain for Tommy-a series of tests with the survival of Earth as the prize. The Stalene Keeper merely creates these tests out of amusement and some odd and doomed attraction to Tommy. Yet it is these very tests that force Tommy to grow into the hero and mystic that he imagines and his great grandfather tells him he truly is.

• Obstacle Character Journey #3 from Being to Conceptualizing:

Tommy is finally the hero he must be when he thwarts the Stalene Keeper with the threat of destroying the Trocaran mothership. At that moment, he begins conceptualizing the ramifications of what he has done-both the good and the bad. The good are life on Earth with Mary Thunder and renewed confidence. The bad is that, on Earth, not much has changed-his efforts here will vanish once returned to Earth (who will believe Tommy? No one.). The Stalene Keeper throws another wrench in the gears when he sends Mary and the remaining captives back to Earth, but closes the portal for a moment-offering Tommy the most seductive of choices.

Subjective Story Throughline

• Subjective Story Signpost #1 as it relates to The Preconscious:

Tommy questions his own worth and value-he know he has value, but he has no tangible proof. The Staleene Keeper, on the other hand, has a very real grasp of her value and worth in the ecology of the galaxy, and she also knows, with full confidence, how small a speck Tommy is in the grand scheme of things. Tommy lacks confidence while the Staleene Keeper exudes it. Tommy worries that his life is going nowhere, worries about Mary's safety and worries about his own life. Deep down, the Staleene Keeper worries that things may come to an end if she can never reproduce.

• Subjective Story Signpost #2 as it relates to The Subconscious:

Tommy discovers that his dreams of a "normal" life are forever altered-his only hope is to listen to his great grandfather, who appears as his spirit-guide-almost a form of dream walker. Tommy is in denial about his mystical abilities. Tommy's goal for "closure" is the rescuing of the captives. The Staleene Keeper is in denial that Tommy has any hope of fulfilling the tasks presented to him. For her closure, she will eventually rid the Trocara of Tommy and give Earth to the Hive Queen.

• Subjective Story Signpost #3 as it relates to The Conscious:

Tommy doubts that his mystical abilities are real, yet, after re-appraisal, he grows to feel that there is truly something there. Tommy must use his rational mind and investigative powers, along with his awakening abilities, to pass the Keeper's tests. The Staleene Keeper doubts that Tommy is capable of succeeding in his tasks. After Tommy succeeds, the Keeper must re-appraise her evaluation of Tommy.

• Subjective Story Signpost #4 as it relates to Memory:

After Tommy succeeds in the tests given to him, he has provided the Keeper with hard evidence that he is a worthy being. Yet the Keeper is suspicious, and in fact had no intention of taking Earth out of the game. Tommy grows suspicious, and realizes that the Keeper has been lying all along. It was never meant to be a fair test.

• Subjective Story Journey #1 from The Preconscious to The Subconscious:

With Tommy's hopes for the future shattered, he has no choice but to turn inside, and to turn towards the kind words of his great grandfather as his potential mystical abilities are explained to him. Tommy is plagued by his lack of self-confidence, but he begins to see the task ahead of him: rescuing the captives. The Staleene Keeper knows that she is master of the situation (and that Tommy is a speck), and tells herself that he has no chance to solve the tasks at hand-for her, she thinks she clearly sees her own position as well as the outcome of this little "game."

• Subjective Story Journey #2 from The Subconscious to The Conscious:

Tommy does not believe in the reality of his reawakening mystical abilities, but work with his great grandfather and some success in surviving some dire situations cause him to re-assess his feelings, and he begins to grow towards acceptance. At the same tame, he must keep his mind clear to work through the obstacles in front of him. The Staleene Keeper feels that Tommy has no chance to succeed in her "games," but after Tommy succeeds several times, against incredible odds, she begins to rethink her opinion of him-in fact, though she would never admit it, her respect for him grows.

• Subjective Story Journey #3 from The Conscious to Memory:

Tommy becomes more and more adept at solving the tests put his way, and eventually he succeeds in meeting the Keeper's goals-it is then that he realizes that the Keeper had no intention of following through on her end the bargain. Instead, she throws him to the wolves, so to speak. The Staleene Keeper keeps a more watchful eye on Tommy as he surprises her with his abilities and ingenuity-When Tommy finally succeeds, the Keeper let's Tommy know she was leading him along (and is in control) by rewarding him, not with freedom, but with certain death.

 

Basic Thematics Report

The following items reflect the principal story points that shape the thematic message of "Dark Harvest: A Tommy Hawk Adventure."

Objective Thematic Conflict

From a standpoint of Reason, Dark Harvest explores and analyzes the thematic conflict of choice vs. delay. Of the two, choice is the thematic focus:

Nearly all actions in Dark Harvest revolve around the choices of the central characters. Tommy chooses to get on the Keepers' shuttle to get to Mary. The Staleene Keeper chooses to keep Tommy alive to play with him-she also chooses to allow him to play a game. Mary chooses to put her trust in Tommy. Tommy chooses to believe in his grandfather and the mystical lessons he offers. After Tommy kills Hataa-skeen's tribe, Hataa chooses to ally with Tommy rather than to immediately exact her revenge. The Hive Queen chooses to circumvent the Keepers' authority by releasing the xenocide drones early. Tommy chooses to accept the Keeper's bargain and finally, Tommy chooses to forge his own destiny when he has been betrayed. Choice is advantageous.

This contrasts with the objective thematic counterpoint of delay:

If Tommy delays getting on the Keepers' shuttle, he will lose Mary forever. If the Staleene Keeper delays fulfilling her promise to Tommy, she will lose the entire game. If Tommy's great grandfather delays teaching Tommy the shamanistic arts, Tommy will not survive through his adventure. If the Hive Queen delays sending out the drones, then she risks the possibility of the humans surviving on Earth. Finally, if the Staleene Keeper delays her decision to give in to Tommy, then the entire Trocaran mothership will be destroyed. Delay is disadvantageous in the story.

As these two thematic viewpoints are developed, the disparity between choice and delays becomes apparent:

Tommy often needs to rethink his approach to a new situation, but often, his attitude will bolster him and give him the courage to make the direction change.

 

 

Subjective Thematic Conflict

The passionate argument made in Dark Harvest explores the thematic conflict of dream vs. hope. Of the two, dream is the thematic focus:

Tommy begins the story living through a muted dream that he is something more than he currently is. At times, he even allows himself to dream of life with Mary. Once into the throws of the adventure, Tommy must dream and envision his mystical power before he can utilize it. Indeed, the very presence of his great grandfather is a dream. For the Staleene Keeper, she dreams of what it would be like to procreate-to be alive, genetically. Mary Thunder dreams of life with Tommy and her freedom. Tommy's great grandfather dreamt of Tommy decades before he was born-when he was abducted aboard the Trocaran ship-now he, in a way, lives through a dream. Hataa-skeen dreams of a time when he tribe can reproduce-she dreams that it will be Tommy that will save them--even though she thirsts for revenge, she can't help but be attracted to Tommy. The Hive Queen dreams of a Trocara sans the humanoids.

This contrasts with the subjective thematic counterpoint of hope:

Tommy hopes that he has the will to persevere. He also hopes that his mystical powers will give him the edge he needs. Tommy's great grandfather hopes that Tommy has grown up with the strength to utilize his inner powers, Mary hopes that they will survive and escape. Hataa-skeen hopes that she will be able to save her tribe. The Hive Queen hopes that her plan of releasing the gas drones will eliminate the humanoids on Earth.

As the story develops, all the passionate hopes that come into play revolve around the central issue of dream:

All of the characters in Dark Harvest: A Tommy Hawk Adventure dream of achieving things that seemed impossible to them at the outset of the story. Often, that dreaming pushes them onwards towards action. In this story, though, dreaming is not enough-characters must hope for smaller gains and then utilize their wits and logic and abilities to make what they hoped for spring true.

 

 

Main Character Thematic Conflict

In Dark Harvest Tommy Hawk grapples with the conflict of approach vs. attitude. Of the two, approach is Tommy Hawk's thematic focus:

The way in which Tommy approaches things is key to the story. Tommy's approach to life, just prior to the story beginning, is that of sitting and waiting-he's all but given up on taking on the responsibility of forward momentum. Once Tommy is thrown in with the Trocara, he must take charge of his own momentum. He has to become active for his own survival and to maintain any hopes of rescuing Mary and the others. When his great grandfather confronts Tommy, he learns that he must take a wholly different approach-he must be willing to consider his awakening mystical powers as real. Taking an active approach is advantageous.

This contrasts with his thematic counterpoint of attitude:

Tommy begins the story low on confidence and with almost a meek and defensive attitude. When Tommy is forced to battle through the Trocaran mothership, his attitude, his brazenness, is one of his best assets. When the Staleene Keeper berates Tommy, his new found attitude acts as a shield of confidence. When the final challenge is passed, and the Keeper has betrayed Tommy, his "I can do this" attitude gives him the strength to take on the overwhelmingly difficult task of taking on the entire Trocaran mothership.

As Tommy Hawk grows through his story experiences, he may come to wonder if he is focused on approach or attitude:

Tommy often needs to rethink his approach to a new situation, but often, his attitude will bolster him and give him the courage to make the direction change.

 

 

Obstacle Character Thematic Conflict

In Dark Harvest Staleene Keeper illustrates the impact of the conflict between rationalization vs. obligation. Of the two, rationalization is Staleene Keeper's thematic focus:

The Staleene Keeper becomes a victim of her own rationalizations. She imagines herself as the ultimate authority in the galaxy (which is the known universe for her), and justifies her actions towards Tommy as fully acceptable. She tells herself that it is perfectly all right to "play" with him and deceive him. She tells herself that he is valueless and nothing more than a speck. Finally, she tells herself that she is in complete control of the situation. Her rationalizations are disadvantageous.

This contrasts with her thematic counterpoint of obligation:

The Staleene Keeper is ultimately bound by one obligation-to serve "The One Who Makes"-but this is an abstract obligation, to say the least. She sets herself up with conflicting, mutually exclusive obligations. She also is obligated by the order and rules of her own creation-that Earth has been justly won by the Hive Queen and her newest stock alternate. She is also obligated, by rules of fair play, to honor her wager with Tommy and take Earth out of the game, but she breaks that obligation-in fact, she had never meant to keep it. Obligation proves to be disadvantageous.

As they seek to strike a balance between these two extremes, Staleene Keeper's effect upon others illustrates the relative value of rationalization vs. obligation:

The Staleene Keeper is bound by obligations when they are "convenient" for her. Often, she rationalizes her actions because she believes very firmly in the fact that she has been given dominion over the galaxy-for her, that is an a priori fact.

 

Basic Plot Dramatics

The following items reflect the principal story points that shape events in "Dark Harvest: A Tommy Hawk Adventure."

Objective Domain / Subjective Domain

In Dark Harvest the events that affect people revolve around a situation:

The Trocara have come into our solar system. They have destroyed Tommy's reservation and taken the few remaining survivors hostage. Soon, the entire human species remaining upon Earth will be eliminated, to make room for a "new seeding" of insectoids.

The relationships between people In Dark Harvest are most influenced by fixed attitudes:

Tommy fully believes in his freedom to act, even under these incredible circumstances. The Staleene Keeper fully believes that Tommy is less than a speck--a creature of no value that couldn't possibly have any real impact upon the path of the Trocara.

 

Goal / Requirement

For most characters, the central objective of Dark Harvest has to do with The Future:

Tommy must survive and he must pass the Stalene Keeper's tests in order to save Earth from desruction. If he fails, there will be no future for the human species.

In order to bring about The Future these characters must meet requirements revolving around Progress:

Tommy must first survive, and then progress through the Trocaran mothership, and progress through the Stalene Keepers tests in order to have any chance to save humanity.

Only if efforts directed toward Progress are successful will the desired state of The Future be realized.

 

Goal / Consequence

If the goal-oriented characters of Dark Harvest are unable to bring about the desired state of The Future:

Tommy must survive and he must pass the Stalene Keeper's tests in order to save Earth from desruction. If he fails, there will be no future for the human species.

...circumstances pertaining to The Subconscious will be adversely affected:

Tommy must battle through his nagging self doubt and cynicism if he is to overcome the Trocara. Tommy's subconscious mind wants to believe in the mystical powers, but reality has forced him to block it down. Tommy also has to face the fear of death, not only of himself but of the entire human species, if he fails to stop the Trocara.

 

Requirement / Prerequisites

In order to achieve the goal of Dark Harvest a requirement revolving around Progress must be met:

Tommy must first survive, and then progress through the Trocaran mothership, and progress through the Stalene Keepers tests in order to have any chance to save humanity.

 

Consequence / Forewarnings

If the desired goal of Dark Harvest is not achieved, the characters will suffer a consequence that adversely affects The Subconscious:

Tommy must battle through his nagging self doubt and cynicism if he is to overcome the Trocara. Tommy's subconscious mind wants to believe in the mystical powers, but reality has forced him to block it down. Tommy also has to face the fear of death, not only of himself but of the entire human species, if he fails to stop the Trocara.

There are certain forewarnings that indicate how close the consequence is to actually occurring. In Dark Harvest the imminent approach of adverse affects upon The Subconscious is indicated by changes in Doing:

If Tommy fails in his tasks, if he doesn't activly take on the role of a survivor, then his doubt will build and his mystical powers will never manifest significantly.