Metric is a world that was lost to time. A world full of houses and clans, creators actors and extras We aren't worried about your personal life here, or your past. Time here is fluid and concentrates into drops of stability rather than flowing like a river. Dream Cubes are an adventure and form of currency.
You are Sarah, a female prisms computer programmer in a world called Metric. You have recently started as an apprentice programmer for a large mega-corporation headquartered out of the centre of Metric and you are attending a work event held at a press event at the end of another successful product cycle. You are introduced to a very large amount of people including several powerful representatives from the military and political branches of the government. These men and women are very interesting and cultured, and you can't help but feel like you are among people who should be respected. Even when you get to know them better you are still disappointed by their treatment of women.
While attending this high-profile event, a man approaches you, he says nothing but he has an odd stare you immediately recognize.
Frequency 102.999999 (Fiddler's Green)
You look at this man further and realize he has a very deep scar running from his forehead to his chin. He is otherwise well-groomed and well-dressed, and is in good company even though he looks nervous. This revelation excites you, you've never had a one-on-one conversation with an older member of the opposite or the same gender before.
A moment later and the scarred man approaches you.
Tune into the frequency and brainstorm for a bit. What do you want to see?
This is a programming question, for your friend a computer guru is essential.
You turn to the man and say "I'm not that good at programming, however, I can brainstorm ideas. Where did you get your scar?"
You get an immediate and somewhat creepy vibe from the man and you answer "A life time ago. A sword cut me in a duel. What kind of things are you interested in?"
I'm interested in the slow burn. The long story. The long way home. Staying where I am. Stories. AI. Networks. Divine help outside the lines. Stories, AI and Networks, these sound more fun.
The man has a strange look in his eyes. He is clearly very intelligent, but the glint in his eyes hints that he is disturbed in some way.
You are getting a vibe of distrust here. You like to keep your wits about you and you immediately think of your pistol tucked away in your bag. You reach over and pat the man's arm, only to have him move away very quickly.
We don't know each other. We've been on separate assignments for too long. It is best left that way. It is nothing personal. You are just doing your job. You have nothing to fear from me.
"You might be onto something there. I'd suggest you take up a story-line, networks expand the capabilities of the game dramatically, while storytelling increases your brain's ability to process feedback from the AI, or from the player himself," The man suggests and walks away as much because he is nervous, as because he has somewhere to be.
It isn't until you are seated back down with a cup of coffee that you finally start thinking about all of the information in the conversation you had just taken part in.
That conversation went exactly how he said it would. It wasn't what you expected.
He didn't seem happy. But then again you haven't talked to anyone else yet. Everyone seems happy with you.
What if he wasn't? What if this guy was trying to manipulate you somehow? To try and manipulate you in some way? You wouldn't blame him. You're pretty sure that's why you're so drawn to him.
You think about him, what he wants from you, what could be going through his mind. And you think about how different everything is now, but not how different they used to be, but you can't quite put a finger on why.
You think about him and then you think about yourself and how weirdly similar it feels being next to someone that you thought was fictional.
Chapter 2
It took a few days for you to notice, but the feeling of someone watching you kept coming back. It felt invasive, and you got the uncomfortable feeling that it wasn't just a simple observer.
When you asked one of your co workers how she could tell something was wrong, she explained that she usually sensed when something was going on. She had a sixth sense or something.
You tried asking your friends about it, but everyone told you the same thing: they weren' t sure either. They had never gotten any strange vibes off of you, at least none that they noticed, anyway.
After that, you decided to give this person a little more attention. After that incident, you were cautious around him. And when you noticed him approaching you, even more so. But it wasn't something you could ignore; there was something almost haunting about the way he looked at you.
When he approached you, you were in front of the building. You weren't paying attention as you looked at your phone. You heard him approach, which prompted you to turn around to face him, and your heart nearly stopped beating for some reason. That's when you noticed.
He had black hair that fell around his shoulders and dark green eyes with catlike pupils that seemed to focus on your own as the stared at you intently. When you looked back at him, you saw him staring right at you. You felt frozen. His gaze made your skin crawl and you suddenly felt uneasy. Like you could immediately sense what he would do if he didn't have much more self control.
You couldn't figure out what he wanted. Maybe he wanted to talk to you. Maybe he was simply curious about you. But you were scared to ask questions, especially ones directed at someone you didn't really know. So instead you stood silent and watched him come closer as he moved toward you.
Suddenly a woman walked by you and she turned and looked directly at you. You knew her instantly, because of her appearance, not necessarily because you recognized her from a social media or meeting somewhere. But because of her blue hair and eyes and her height.
You hadn't seen her before today. At first, that's not unusual, people go missing in Metric and the world is a big place and it takes awhile to get from point A to point B, especially if you live near someone else. Usually that happens when you travel a lot.
This situation was different and new. You didn't know what she knew or why she was looking at you with those strange glowing red eyes as she spoke to you. Or maybe she didn't.
She looked at you for a second longer before turning around and walking away.
Your heart was pounding so hard and so fast. You felt hot and cold at the same time. Something about this stranger was very unsettling.
Chapter 3
You wake up late the next morning, the clock reads 7:20 am. Your alarm rings and you groan and roll over, putting your hands over your head as you pull the blanket over your head and continue sleeping.
About an hour after that your alarm rings again. You pull the blankets back off your head and open your eyes and rub them as you stand up in order to turn off your alarm. You grab your phone to check the time, it's 8:30 am. As you put your hand on the bedside table you notice a piece of paper. You pick it up and read it. It's a note in pencil. It tells you that there is a meet at 11 am outside of the main entrance, and your name is on the schedule. You look down at the paper and wonder if this has anything to do with last night's incident.
You get dressed, pack your things up, get ready and leave your apartment. It's early enough that there aren't any tourists in the area. People walk by you as you walk slowly through the streets.
It is quite beautiful in Tokyo. It was very bright, sunny and warm weather, and all around you there were buildings of all kinds, and shops. There are signs everywhere, and advertisements plastered on walls. Some of the places you passed had large billboards featuring some type of advertisement, others had little ads that were just pictures of the various brands, or even just simple images of people smiling.
The city reminds you of London but in another way. It has that unique charm that makes cities like New York or Los Angeles feel less real.
As you walk you glance at the notes on the agenda provided to you. The address given is just off one of the main streets that ran around Tokyo's central shopping area. You make a mental note to follow the instructions and look around the area once you arrive at the meeting.
As you continue you pass by the entrance to another department store. This one has posters for various games, and one for an art museum. There is a sign on the door and your eyes go straight to the bottom where it says, 'Welcome.'
You walk through and look around the room. There is an open space in the middle with a large stage. People are sitting on chairs and tables scattered around.
There are people talking and laughing. Some people are standing and drinking drinks. One woman is talking to someone.
You look around the room again. You notice a tall figure in the corner. Your curiosity is piqued
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