Outside the Box Studios Presents...
A Y-san Puzzleduction...
(Based on the short story The Chromatic Witch that Y-san's real life alter ego was too lazy to actually write...)
The Chromatic Witch
The room was almost completely dark. Around the periphery of the room, the girl could barely make out the outlines of pieces of equipment, stands where pieces of equipment should have been, lab benches with varying degrees of dust cover, drawers brimming with supplies, and cabinets littered with specimen jars that were labeled in a weary hand.
“Are you ready?” asked a voice, muffled by the presence of a light turquoise surgical mask. The man it belonged to, donning the matching attire, adjusted the fluorescent stand light next to him. Then he turned and selected a scalpel and surgical drill from the trolley of tools sitting next to him.
It could have been his imagination, but he thought that, for just a brief moment, he caught a slight wince in the corner of the girl’s eye when her gaze fell upon the drill. But he blinked, and it was gone.
Reclining back onto the vinyl back of the surgical chair, the girl closed her eyes.
“Do it.”
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Welcome to Sector Lambda
Our world is in grave peril. The most nefarious, most maleficent, most devious Chromatic Witch seeks to destroy it through her malevolent tricks and heinous devices.
The Chromatic Witch draws her vile power from her seven Gateways. Each Gateway has the property of being a different color, and each color grants the Chromatic Witch different powers.
Hence, we have gathered you, the best and the brightest agents, here, under the skillful supervision of the most capable and fair Father to form an elite team in the world’s defense.
You and your fellow agents will have to venture into the territory of these Gateways and destroy them, one-by-one, to remove her hold on this world and vanquish her.
There are a few things you must know, though, before you can attend the task at hand.
1. Do not question the word of Father. He is here for your guidance and protection. Father knows best, and has your best interests at heart. Normal human beings such as you and I cannot hope to understand the depth of Father’s knowledge and comprehension.
2. Do not question the above, ever.
3. Some of the challenges the Chromatic Witch will pose will require special knowledge, which should be readily available through the neuro-link to the vast information network implanted into your minds. If your neuro-link is malfunctioning, please contact the BioIT department at SectorLambdaBioIT@gmail.com for help.
4. Some of the challenges the Chromatic Witch will pose may have more than one possible solution. If you discover multiple solutions, then take pride in your savvy as an agent. However, you will have to face the Chromatic Witch in her own domain, and to defeat her power over the domain, you must find the solution to what she has set as the key to her devices and abilities.
5. Some agents will be more readily adapted to certain tasks or easily identify the knowledge needed for certain challenges than others. After all, no man may have complete knowledge, no man except Father, that is, but he is no mere man. Therefore, to be the most effective, you must function as a team and build on each others' strengths. Remember, this is not about you as an individual, this is about protecting our world.
6. Do not question any of the above. It just may cost you or your team their lives.
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Led by a tall, gangly man with scraggly dark hair and close-knit brows, who had introduced himself as “Agent Wraith”, the new agents entered the main operations room of Sector Lambda, burdened by a combination of excitement, anticipation, and anxiousness.
“And this is the main control unit,” Agent Wraith explained, waving his arm towards the an expansive sloped panel covered with back-lit buttons of various shapes and sizes, from which a number of holo-screens protruded. “We use it to coordinate all of our operations in the field. It sends real-time feedback from our agents’ neuro-links, so we can monitor their vitals and receive any information they attain, allowing us to guide them as effectively as possible.” He demonstrated by dragging out a sample schematic on the nearest holo-screen, featuring a rotating representation of a head on one half, which zoomed out and displayed the agent’s infrared signature, and with several panels of scrolling data on the other half.
Most of the group emitted the appropriate oohing and aahing sounds. Wraith nodded acceptingly, ignoring the few holding back. Then he turned and went to stand by a panel with four 12 columns of lights, every other column of which was blinking, and contained 1, 4, 3, 2, 5, and 2 lights, respectively. The non-blinking columns contained 5, 6, 4, 7, 7, and 6 lights.
“That ends the orientation. But before you can start your duties, there is a little test we administer to new Agents to make sure they’re up for the trials ahead.” He swept out his arm at a group of Agents sitting nearby.
“Hi, I’m Janine,” said a pretty, freckled girl with short reddish brown hair and glasses. She gave them a warm smile.
“And I’m Orin,” followed a somewhat tall, muscular blonde with clear blue eyes, a strong jaw ,and prominent cheekbones. He gave them a welcoming nod.
“And that is Umi,” Wraith finished, gesturing towards a small, thin, silver-haired girl with pale skin and sharp eyes. “She doesn’t talk much, but she’s a wiz with computational stuff.” The girl blinked at them and then turned back to her work. “One of the agents here is the squad captain. Did you get the memo? Good. Your test, new agents, is to figure out which one. And no random guessing.” He wagged a finger. “Only answers with appropriate reasoning will be accepted. You must demonstrate your prowess before gaining the right to wear a Sector Lambda uniform.”
Edited by Yoruichi-san, 29 June 2012 - 05:11 AM.
