Story Treatment

Chapters 1-7

Chapter 1.

*** start of Apache reservation level – CH1L1 ***

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 begins 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, his great grandfather’s Colt Peacemaker 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 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 throw 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 onward, heading for the road.

*** start of gas station/trailer park level – CH1L2 ***

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 awake, 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, rifle 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 lowers his shoulder and slammed into one of the charging beasts as he pulls himself up to the concrete floor.

Talon bolts for the outside and heads for the trailer park behind the garage. He ducks behind one of the trailers and spins around, popping two shells into the charging beast. Talon melts into the shadows and backs along the wall of one of the trailers. He can sense creatures in the darkness, hunting. He hears a scream, then two shots, coming from a trailer several lanes over—he sees the light go dark in the window.

Talon sprints and slams into the door of another trailer, breaking through. He ducks down as he hears some creatures outside—he also hears what sounds like some form of synthesized speech, though certainly not English. Peering out of the window, Talon sees a tall creature that looks like some amalgam of flesh and machine. It appears to be communicating to three beasts, two of which are shrinking back. The creature pulls out a weapon and fires, point blank, at the remaining creature, and splatters its brains across the pea gravel.

Soon, Talon hears an explosion, and he dashes out of the trailer into the shadows, shooting at a wandering beast as he dives for more cover. One trailer is now engulfed in flames as it seems like the strange machine-man has discovered the propane tanks near each trailer. One by one, he is blowing the tanks. In a large flash of heat and hot wind, one of the major propane refueling tanks is hit, sending two trailers tumbling into the air.

Silhouetted against the flame, Talon sees an old Chevy pickup truck. He sprints for it and runs right into one of the machine men as it steps around a trailer. Talon falls backward and swings out with his rifle butt. The creature grabs the weapon and yanks it away, twisting the barrel and throwing it into the sand of the playground.

Talon rolls away, scrambles to his feet and sprints for the pickup. In his mind, he prays that whoever owned the vehicle was forgetful enough to leave the keys in.

Throwing open the door, the driver is still inside, head barely attached to the shoulders. Talon looks away as he tosses the body to the ground and dives in, revving the engine just as one of the shots from the machine creature shatters the rear window. Talon accelerates, fishtailing in the gravel, and heads for the road, heart pounding in his throat. As he swerves onto the paved road in the park, one of the machine beasts steps in front of the truck, raising his weapon. Talon swerves left, then a sharp right, into his body, sending the creature crashing to the ground. Talon slams on the breaks and he throws open the door—he reaches down to grab the strange gun from the mangled, but still alive creature. He slams on the accelerator again and guides the truck onto the open road.

*** start of Nike missile base level – CH1L3 ***

As Talon drives on, a large light from above makes him slow and look out the window. Some large alien ship is flying low—Talon watches obvious landing gear lower as the huge ship dips down below the lip of the canyon to the left.

Talon is still watching the glowing lip of the canyon as some small craft appears over the canyon rim—it’s speeding towards him! Talon cuts a hard right and braces himself—the fence surrounding the old Nike base is chained shut, but the chain isn’t too thick. The truck crashes through the gate, but the truck shreds its tires on the tumbling fence and Talon swerves and slams on the brakes and he rolls out the driver’s side of the truck. The truck hits an earth blast embankment and stops. Talon rolls into the shadows as the small alien craft whizzes above. Talon steps out and fires two shots with his new weapon—the blue plasma blasts crackle in the night air and leave the distinct scent of ozone. The craft begins to turn back, and it seems to be dangling some sort of searchlight.

Talon ducks between the rut between blast mounds and makes his way towards the concrete tarmac. Ducking into the shadows again, the craft passes overhead. Talon sprints for one of the silo covers and shoots at the rusted master lock. He flips open the cover and takes a deep gulp—flooded! Through the dark water, Talon can still see the faint outline of the missile shaft, though the warhead is gone. Talon is frozen for a moment until the craft turns back towards Talon and accelerates, firing some sort of yellowish ray at the ground, which chews up the pavement as if it were made of dry crackers.

Talon takes a deep breath and dives into the dark, icy water. As he dives down deep into the darkness, he can he the crackle and sizzle of the shots hitting the doors and the water’s surface. His ears aching, his eyes nearly blind, Talon can see a faint red light below. He swims and feels a curved door opening—swimming through he pulls himself up into a small air pocket—the air tastes stale and old, but at least it’s air.

He is at the landing at the top of a short flight of steps. About half a doorway is exposed above the water. Talon fumbles with the bolt and eventually, it begins to turn. Soon, he has it open enough that the water pressure slams the door open, throwing Talon into an entry dock. The water is rushing in and even through things are nearly dark, and old alarm creaks to life, and Talon hears a creaking “bitching betty” voice say “shaft four breached—beginning automatic lockdown… .” A large blast door ahead begins to close slowly and Talon scrambles to his feet through the rushing water and makes it through the door just as it seals tight. Talon can hear the water filling up outside, but the door is holding tight.

In the dwindling emergency lights, Talon discovers a power panel and pulls back the rocker switch and activates the electricity for the base--it still works, but most lights are burnt out.

Talon works through some of the barley lit corridors. Every few moments, Talon thinks that he hears something close by and he melts into the shadows, but he sees nothing concrete. Once or twice, Talon thinks he sees some hovering machine dart ahead of him, but nothing is there when he takes a look. The base has been abandoned for years (nearly 30)--graffiti is everywhere, and the paint falls off at his touch, reveling nothing but rusty, powdery metal underneath. Talon begins to notice that the air is getting more stale and harder to breathe.

Talon finds what looks like a major control center, thinks the coast might be clear, and works to get the doors to open again. While he can activate some controls, most accomplish nothing--in fact, they start something else in action, sealing off areas of the base in airtight regions--Talon knows this is bad as he hears far away doors seal shut. The “bitching betty” gives some hint that there my be another way out. Talon searches.

Talon discovers the “alien wing” of the base by solving a puzzle and finding a hidden door--his oxygen was growing thin 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 government 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 blown open from the other side). He is suddenly faced with a decidedly newer section of the alien base (or so it appears), lots of creatures are there--Talon must run. He gets the second part of the Mod blaster here.

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

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

Talon decides that he has nothing left here (the reservation, his only anchor, has been destroyed). His only connection at this moment is Mary, and she’s dragged onto the shuttle, screaming. He decides that he will try to get onto the shuttle. He waits until the shuttle is nearly ready to take off--he hears the roar of the engines and sees some shifting 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 diversion 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 hiding in the shadows. We now see the ship, from external view, fire it engines and begin to blast off. It flies up towards the sky, disappearing as dawn begins to paint the sky. We then see the ship from a “tracking” view, looking back at the small Earth and the sun peeking over the horizon. We move along the ship, looking into the bridge, seeing the crew at work. Turning away, we just catch the smallest glimpse of the Trocaran mothership.

Note: This level has 2 timed parts—one, when the oxygen is running out, and also at the end with the shuttle--the player can choose not to get onto the shuttle--if he doesn’t, we see it blast off, and as it’s up there, it drops some bombs that lay waste to the canyon and kills Talon

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

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

Chapter 2.

*** start of Trocaran shuttle level – CH2L1 ***

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

Talon hides in the shadows of some storage crates as the shuttle takes off. The ship rattles and rumbles as it leaves Earth’s atmosphere. Lights are dim and flashing, 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 whiff 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 Comm link). If Talon doesn’t want the alarm to spread, he will have to destroy the Comm link as he runs out of the room. With the door closed, the wails of the beast quiet down significantly.

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 that opens up to an electrical service bay. He notices some 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 controls 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 eventually 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 which 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 beginning to close. Talon can see several zombies working at the controls. Soon, the door is locked. Talon also notices that he cannot operate the controls to the second door. Soon, he hears a hissing 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 portholes. Talon is coughing now, the room in a haze of total green--his health is falling. Talon (hearing a clue from his great grandfather?) 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 the zombies, and shooting the other portal won’t get things working, but he can shoot at the override switch outside. Talon fires--it takes two shots but he destroys it, and now he has control of the second door. The zombies fire through the glass portal, but Talon dodges the shots and finally gets the second door to open.

When he steps into the holding area, he hears a chilling gurgle--unmistakably the last sound of a dying individual. It’s dark, only a few floor lights, and Talon hears the whir of a machine. He fires his blaster into the darkness and it illuminates the freshly killed (and mutilated) body 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.). It disappears 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 there is another way out, and blasts the door’s control panel. He also finds a switch that turns on the emergency lights. Talon is horrified by what he sees: four “pedestals” 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 ripped nearly in two as a gaping maw exists where the neck once was. There is a trail of wet blood leading of into the darkness. On the other two pedestals are two other men, deeply afraid, and tethered to some sort of block with what looks like electrical cables, glistening with their own urine and feces.

To his left he sees a cell, holding the remainder of the captives. Mary is there. The cell has what looks like a low, blue force field and bars too close together for a human to squeeze through. Talon asks May if she is all right. She is nearly hysterical (she couldn’t see, but could hear the vivisection). Talon asks her where the gate or door is--she says there isn’t one. He presses her and she tells him that that thing simply bent the bars and pushed them through, then bent 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 find it--he’ll try to take control of the ship--a long shot, he acknowledges, but their only chance. 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 men 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 at a strangely ornate door with no discernable 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 they 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 what is obviously the directions to the bridge. Talon is on the right track! Still, the place seems deserted. Talon follows the corridors according to the schematic and up ahead, 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 lights 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 him. The wounded Apache moans.

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

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

At that moment, the doors burst in, the wounded Apaches are the first to be killed by the fire--Talon spins around, gun ready, but he is soon surrounded--one of the zombies shoots the gun (or grabs it) from his hands. The zombies converge on Talon as he fades to red.

Talon awakes as the blur gradually fades--sounds are muffled, but some “greys” appear to be working above him. He hears the sound of a whirring blade and then sees 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 table, are one of his legs and one of his arms. Talon lets loose a blood-curdling scream as he passes out once again...

Chapter 3.

*** start of humanoid prison level – CH3L1 ***

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 pedestal 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 pedestal. He sees the very old remains of some sort of creature, not human, upon the ancient metal.

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 is. 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 can’t 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 can’t 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 some sort of wall. Another automated drone skims by and he jumps off and onto the machine. It turns right, flying closer to the mammoth 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 metal protrusion, and there seem infinitely many of them. Talon begins 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 distant scream again and it stops him cold.

The wall slopes upward. The protrusions made of metal and stone. There's a real sense of age and decay in the riveted meal plating. In the occasional flashes of light, Talon can see the rust coming off on his hands. This place seems a large, so empty, so dead. He can feel the rumbling of machinery under his fingertips. Talon slips once and slides, and finally comes to rest on another, lower platform—here, he notices a pile of bones.

It is obvious to Talon that this place is meant to keep things inside. The scope of this room is incredible. Talon cannot see how far the other wall is away. The air is a musty and old. As his eyes adjust to the darkness, he can only make out shadows layered over more shadows. He begins to climb again.

He hears the flapping of wings--some strange creatures 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 approaches and climbs quietly. Two guards, looking like large females, roughly human in shape, talk together and look off of the edge. Talon hears 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 (the same sort of weapons he’s used before). Talon fires back, kills one, rides a light platform up to the ledge, and then kills the second--she teeters at the edge and falls backwards, screaming in the darkness. 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 ledge.

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

The scale of this hallway is immense. It seems to disappear into the fog. Rows and rows of different shaped doors line each side of the corridor. It seems as if no two doors are alike. Some step up into small round openings, while others have large sloping platforms into horizontal doors of huge scale. The lights dim and seemed to do nothing but barely illuminate the heavy, dusty air. He steps forward, fighting back his urged to vomit at the acrid, lingering odor.

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

After what seems 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 silent, 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. Soon, he comes to what looks like a primitive operating room with a glass viewing panel. One of the strange creatures he glimpsed back on Earth and another, filigreed creature are working on an Apache strapped to a table. A pool of blood gathers under the table. The Apache turns towards Talon and Talon recognizes him. He screams out Talon’s name. Talon shoots at the glass, but it does not break--he hears him scream again--he searches for a way in--finally, he finds a hinged grate and kicks it in, just as another door closes and the two creatures disappear. Talon approaches his friend, or what’s left of him. Limbs lie on the floor. He turns towards Talon and whispers “why didn’t you stop them?” and then he dies.

Talon stumbles out into the hall and collapses, beside himself with terror and guilt. He is 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. His steps make it seem as if he is not quite touching the ground, but floating just slightly above it.

He explains that the moment has come, and they are connected one again. Talon recognizes him as his great grandfather (who died when he was 13), but he can’t believe it. The old man 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 old man vanishes in a swirl of green light. In pour three guards and Talon fights them. When they are dispatched, a strange sound comes from behind him and Talon spins around.

There, floating a meter off of the flaked metal flooring, is the strangest machine or creature that Talon has ever seen. Wrapped in ornate folds of metal, with appendages like liquid sculpture, yet a strange, nearly human-like face stretched across a gas plasma CRT screen is the Staleene Keeper.

The Staleene Keeper speaks--in a cold, feminine voice using English (but Talon can tell this isn’t coming from inside of his head). She welcomes Talon to the “folds of the Trocara.” She is impressed with his seeming skills, but he must remember 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 another hour, he will be but a specimen of an extinct lineage and wholly forgotten by her. After all, she enigmatically explains, Earth was won, once again, in the games, and this time it was not Talon’s 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.

*** start of humanoid library level – CH3L2 ***

Talon explores further and finds a rather austere door and opens it--musty air wafts past him. Stepping in, he appears in some sort of side entrance corridor 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 sepulchral 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 kiosks--some with old fashioned books like he has seen before--others are strange and alien. Still others appear electronic. The floor is rife with dust and volumetric lights spill over the still air.

Talon spies several taller, different looking humanoids amongst the shelves. They spot him and begin blasting. Their calls crackle both in alien-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) and some rough insight into the games.

Talon then explores further--he senses something and looks up -- there, on a slight ledge leading into anther area (the stairs have fallen away in disrepair) is Talon’s great grandfather. Talon runs closer as the old man 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 strange creature living there. It leaps out to attack him. Non-intelligent, yet it is very viscous. Talon battles hard and finally dispatches the creature.

Talon then discovers that by moving several document crates, he can climb atop a shelf unit, leap to an outcropping and get up to the place where the old man was standing.

Up on the ledge, he steps into the room--he sees the back of his great grandfather, hunched over and making marks on the floor. The old man ignores him but stands up and chants. Soon, a portal opens in front of the old man and he steps into another place. Talon steps in to follow.

*** start of Talon’s first Dream Quest level – CH3DQ ***

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

Talon’s great grandfather explains to Talon that it is time to begin his training--time to awaken what has been sleeping inside all these years. He advises Talon that only by his will and focus can he awaken and reconnect to these forces. He also explains that without them, Talon will surely die, and “so will your children and the spirits of your ancestors. It has been foretold.” Talon tries to ask a question, but the old man raises his hand. He says that it is time to awaken the uplifting force within. He claps his hands and vanishes, leaving Talon trapped in the room.

Examining 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 with a circle on the floor and a single stone near the wall. Talon steps into the circle and feels an energy well up within himself. The voice of his great grandfather 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 the rock moves, another door opens in the wall. Talon moves down more stairs into another room. Again, a circle is on the floor (larger now). There is a pedestal and a lager rock. Talon’s great grandfather says he must lift the rock and place it on the pedestal. Talon focuses and begins to lift the rock and guide it on the pedestal. Another door opens.

Talon steps down another flight of stairs that end abruptly. There are several pedestals in a lager room (different heights), a row of several rocks (different sizes) and several different sized niches on the far wall. Talon does not hear the old man’s voice, but soon, water begins to flow up from the floor, filling the room. He can jump to higher pedestals, but only for so long. Talon thinks that he must lift the rocks and place them in their niches. Concentrating, he moves the first, then the second--he leaps to a higher pedestal as water pours in, then the third, up again to the highest pedestal. The fourth and final rock, he moves it, drops it, then as the water is nearly up to his chest, lifts it again into the niche. He hears something move under water.

He takes a deep breath and dives down--an opening is in the floor--he swims down, through a long tunnel and up and out into a smaller cave with a domed ceiling. Here, his grandfather sits, and simply nods his head--he says nothing, but with a wave of his hand, the portal appears again--Talon steps through.

*** back to the humanoid library level – CH3L2 ***

He is back in the library now and he hears a struggle--he creeps around several shelves to see what looks like an attractive female vamp battling with one of the tall humanoids and one of the large female guards. The vamp swings a spear and the slices the through of the tall thin humanoid. Next, she aims the spear at the large guard and something shoots out which imbeds within the guard. The guard twitches as energy seems to flow into the vamp. Soon the guard falls dead. The vamp looks up--she’s seen Talon and turns to run. Talon begins to follow, but grabs the large gun that has fallen by the guard.

Talon follows the vamp down some stairs, through some conduits and into a dark and strange place beneath the library. He runs into an open room and suddenly, he finds himself surrounded by the vamps, all aiming the spears at him. He begins firing the new gun, mowing them down--they shriek and the last one turns to run. Talon follows into another room with vamps--he fires and drops three more--more shrieking. He runs out of ammo, but picks up a spear, chasing the last one down another corridor and into another room--here he finds three more--this looks like some sort of throne room or something like that, but cobbled together. One vamp has bright blue hair (all the others have orange hair). The orange haired pair leap in front of the blue haired one and begin to fight--Talon slashes and parries and eventually drops them both. The blue haired one shrieks in seemingly inconceivable pain and drops her spear and falls back into the ad hoc throne, weeping. Talon steps forward, and she stands, glaring at him.

She begins to shriek and gesture--occasional words come through as English. He has killed them all--all that there were--now there is only Hataa skeen alone. She should die now, she should just fall on her spear. Talon says he didn’t mean it, they attacked him. She wails and shrieks--no more--cannot breed, we were bred and failed our battles and we came here to hide—now you have destroyed us all -- I should be dead.

She continues to wail but manages to explain that she must get to the Hegemon--he can help--with Talon’s convincing and force, he can bring back her species--that is what she must do. She hates Talon but she needs him. The camera pulls back as she falls to her knees to weep.

Chapter 4.

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.

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.

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.

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.