_commandline.style.bottom = "100%"
	_autocomplete.style.bottom = "100%"

	Play("https://www.youtube.com/embed/KA5CEUZH1AA?start=5&autoplay=1")

	//document.body.style.animation = "flash 0.5s"

Melody Allbright lives in a bright clean utopia with a bright clean utopic soul. But at midnight alone in her bed, she feels a loneliness that can't be cured.

This night her heart aches for a realness beyond realness, and strange music leaks from the corners of perception.

	img = document.createElement ('img')
	img.src = "red egg.gif"
	img.className = "egg"

	document.body.appendChild(img)

This night she sees a red egg incarnate on the screen of her mind.

The red egg pulsates.

Touch the Nova Heart.

TOUCH THE NOVA HEART.

	Clear()

An electric thrill passes though her. She sees that every thing is not itself, but a cunning substituion or imposition.

Her bed is not her bed; it is a divine forgery.

Her book is not her book; it is a divine forgery.

Her self is not herself.

She is transmuting; her face, her gender, her very soul are in flux.

She is becoming <red>you</red>.

	Clear()

	Play()

	document.body.removeChild(img)

	Fx("wham.wav")

<title1>NOVA HEART</title1>

	Fx("wham.wav")

<title2>Don't Be Standing Around While the Earth Dies Screaming</title2>

	Fx("wham.wav")

<title3>or: Who Is To Blame When The Owls Leave Candy Jail?</title3>

	Clear()

	_commandline.style.bottom = "1%"
	_autocomplete.style.bottom = "1%"

	Do("run", "run")

You are in a woman's clean white utopic apartment, one hundred floors above the city.

The wailing sirens of the deathpaddywagons are drawing closer. You have to run.

Run now.

To run, type 'run' in the command box.

	Wait()

run:

You flash like lightning across the rooftops, six-string bouncing on your back. The night comes alive with tracer fire and incenidary shells, thermobaric palladium-jacketed anti-humane flesh-pierecing sabots.

None of them are near fast enough to catch you.

	Clear()

	Do("rock out", "rock out")

Smashwell's pulses with light and noise. It is the hottest nightclub in the Forbidden Districts. All the coolest people are at Smashwell's.

You are free at last in the world. Free to rock out.

There are eight stages at Smashwell's, though only seven are in use right now.

The final stage is waiting for you.

You must rock out.

For all the victim of this great and groaning creation, you must unleash the melodious funk within you.

Rock out now.

	Wait()

rock out:

Rocking of awesome power lashes the audiense. You strut the stage like a burning demigod, unleashing the fury of pent-up centuries. The crowd goes wild with joy. Like a desert parched for rain, they take up your melody.

The chains of the world are beginning to break. With this almighty sound, you can shatter the bars of this black iron prison.

	Do("rock out", "rock out more")

Men in black invade Smashwell's like an oilslick tide. They are beating your audience and drowning out the music with gunnire.

There is only one defense possible. You must rock out harder.

	Wait()

rock out more:

	Do("rock out", "rock out the most")

The men in black fall to their knees. They are exploding, torn apart by your uncompromising beats.

	Clear()

<kerrash>KERRASH!</kerrash>

	Clear()

A monstrous pseudopod tears the roof of Smashwell's.

A pulsating geltinous mass lowers itself into the arena. Green gelid protoplasm over pneumatic steel reinforcing members.

<red>A homeostatic zooplasma?</red> But they were only a dark legend --

The beast gorges on your screaming audience. You have been driven to the edge of your godly skill. You have no choice. You must rock out harder than you have ever rocked out in your immortal life.


Rock out now.

	Wait()

rock out the most:

The zooplasma billows taut in the face of your furious shredding. A frenzied ullulsation rises from its core.

Gelid tentacles lash at you with supersonic speed --

-- and the beast <red>explodes</red> into gory plasm, spilling its human captives onto the dance floor.

A <red>roar of applause</red> rises from the audience.

But you are already gone. Only one man has the power to unleashed the homeostatic zooplasma. One man who sits at the heart of the spider's web of the world. And if you are to liberate all of cration from maya, he must die.

	Clear()

redaction:

	_commandline.style.bottom = "100%"
	_autocomplete.style.bottom = "100%"

	Fx("wham.wav")

<title1>Meanwhile:</title1>

	Clear()

Miles Molesworth is at his desk, composing journalism.

	Journalist("The massacre at Rosewood Orphanages has been linked to the international terrorist figure Shurq Elalle by highly-placed sources in the intelligence community. Elalle has ties to the esoteric religious group Abd al Ghul and members of the Bavarian Illuminati.")
	
	Clear()

The buzzer of Mile's desk buzzes. This his signal to show his work to Mr. Aisles for vetting.

	Clear()

"Too many foreign names," Aisles says. "Eliminate three."

	Redact("The massacre at Rosewood Orphanages has been linked to the international terrorist figure Shurq Elalle by highly-placed sources in the intelligence community. Elalle has ties to the esoteric religious group Abd al Ghul and members of the Bavarian Illuminati.", "Shurq Elalle", "Abd al Ghul", "Bavarian Illuminati")

	Clear()

Aisles scratches his neck, where the umbilicus that connects him to current events is attached.

	Clear()

"Needs a human interest angle," he says. "Insert a mention of David Bowie and a puppy."

	Insert(redaction, "David Bowie", "puppy")

Ailes is happy. "Perfect. You're becoming a real journalist, Miles."

	Clear()

	Fx("wham.wav")

sinister meeting:

<title1>But in Mile's boss's boss' office:</title1>

	Clear()

The man wore sleek armour of carbon-bonded titanide, white as bone, faceless and invincible.

"Take a seat, Shurq," said Robart Merodach. "Whiskey?"

Shurq said no.

"There has been a divine invasion in Foleo City. A complete transcription of the plenum onto adiabatic space."

Shurq inclies his head slightly. This is as close to indicating profound shock as the man will allow.

"It is five-point-five Belshazzars on the adjusted Nebuchadnezzar scale. Worse than our worst-case scenario. The Owls have already begun to leave candy jail."

Merodach exhales a cloud of cigar smoke. "This won't be like the Rosewood Orphanage case. You get it? You won't be killing children this time."

	Clear()

You are here:

	Fx("wham.wav")

<title1>You are here:</title1>

	Clear()

<i>You loved each other without shame or reason. You loved each other as if you were the other's soul.</i>

<i>And by that love you were brought to ruination.</i>

	Clear()

	_commandline.style.bottom = "1%"
	_autocomplete.style.bottom = "1%"

second chance:

The Kangaroo News' office is the tallest and most utopic skyscraper in Thaumiel City.

It is the nexus of foul ley-lines that holds this world together.

Merodach is here. Shaper of the world, tyrant of flesh. While he lives, the world cannot be free.

	Do("(duck|dodge|evade|run)", "your kung-fu is weak")

The whisper of a blade is so silent you almost don't notice it cutting towards your neck.

Your head rolls into the gutter. You have died.

	Clear()

<kerrash>GAME OVER</kerrash>

	Clear()

	Go("second chance")

your kung-fu is weak:

	Do("draw", "sword")

"Well done," says Shurq Elalle. "You are the first to ever evade my strike."

He studies you warily, his gleaming <i>jian</i> held ready to strike or defend.

Merodach's hired killer.

"I made <red>flowers of blood</red> bloom all over the world. They cannot know the world is unstable. You are the <red>homoplasmate</red>, the one fated to destroy everything."

Yes. Everything in this world is fake.

You must draw your sword and prepare for battle.

	Wait()

sword:

	Clear()

You draw on the handle of your six-string, unsheathing the blade hidden within.

Four feet of carbon steel studded with shark's teeth of organic diamond.

Shrirayuki, <i>zanmaken-no-tachi</i>, the world-turing leaf.

Shurq flashes toards you with desperate speed. Shirayuki roars as it parries his strike.

Shurq falls back, one hand clutching the red wound in his side.

He braces himself against the ground. Blood spills from him. "My wife, my child..." he gasps. "I do not wish them to vanish. I will be your enemy."

	Clear()

	Fx("wham.wav")

<title1>After that, it's just a fight scene:</title1>

merodach:

	Clear()

You limp into Merodach's office bleeding from a dozen wounds, shirayuki's bloody blade slung over your back.

	Do("(yes|please)", "free drinks")

"G'day," says Merodach. "Whiskey?"

He frowns. "Suit yorself."

	Go("cut down")


free drinks:

It tastes of all the sins of the world.

but hey, free drinks.

	Go("cut down")


cut down:

He presses a button under his desk and the walls fold outwards and up.

Behind the walls are <red>angels</red>. Creatures of flesh and brass. With every twitch of their body and every shriek of despair, they create a jaunty brassy tune.

"I control the world." gloats Merodach. "I CREATE the world. I give it a story and keep it from disintigrating into chaos."

He cups one hand to his ear. "Would you like to join my beautful choir?"

	_commandline.style.bottom = "100%"
	_autocomplete.style.bottom = "100%"

	Float("I")

	Wait()

I:

	Float("am")

	Wait()

am:

	Float("no")

	Wait()

no:

	Float("man's")

	Wait()

man's:

	Float("instrument")

	Wait()

instrument:

	Clear("float")

	_commandline.style.bottom = "1%"
	_autocomplete.style.bottom = "1%"

	Clear()

<red>Shirayuki roared. The false angels exploded into blood steam and molten brass.</red>

Merodach raised his palm, scored by one burning gash where it had deflected your stroke.

	//His body has become chrome, relecting all of the world, admitting nothing. My most furious attacks rebound harmlessly.

"Punk," he giggles. "Is that that the best you have?"

And then (stll grinning) he falls in half.

not the end:

	Clear()

This should be the end. With Merodach dead and the chains of the world broken by music, the prison-world should corrode to nothing.

And yet...

And yet nothing has changed.

Behind Merodach's desk is flight of stairs going down. And with a heavy heart you realise you know what is at the end of those stairs.

	Clear()

The stairs go down, down. At the end they are no longer clean or utopic. They are messy and nostalgic; unpainted boards nailed inexpertly, dust and spiderwebs, hidden nooks and corners full of wonderful unwanted junk.

You scrape Shirayuki against the floor absently. You know where this is going.

	Clear()

<i>Elysian fields clotted with gore. And in her arms a screaming hideous thing</i>

<i>stained with blood</i>

<i>blotchy and lumpy</i>

<i>a thing that was not us, destroyer of our harmony, of our world that was meant only for the two of us.</i>

attic in the basement:

	Clear()

	Do("(walk|leave|away|go|exit|out)", "walk away")
	Do("kiss", "kiss her")
	Do("kill", "kill her")
	Do("(cut|slice|kill|destroy|slash) cables", "cut cables")
	Do("(x|examine|look) (world|baby|child)", "examine world")

And there she is.

Your love. Your heart. Your other soul.

She is connected to the world by cables pulsing with her blood. He face is taut with pain. But by her blood, the world continues to exist.

How many eons has she endured this torment?

"My love," she says. "Please don't."

You must release her.

"Please don't. Look at this thing we have made together."

The pain has made her mad. It wrings your heart. You must save her.

"I don't need saving. Look, just look, at the world we have concieved together."

For the first time in your immortal life you hesitate, racked by conflicting necessities.

You must do something.

You must do anything.

But you cannot. Transfixed by this awful tableau, your mind will be trapped in the attic in the basement. Forever.

	Go("end")

walk away:

You sheathe your sword and walk away.

She passed beyond your understanding. The world belong to her now. You are a bystander.

	Go("end")

kiss her:

You know you will never be apart. You are joined by blood and bone; sinew and strength.

You will bear this atrocity... somehow.

	Go("end")

kill her:

Scalding tears sizzles underfoot. Shriayuki roars an ultimate scream of grief in your fist.

'My love!' she gasps, uncomprehending.

And then it is over.

The underpinnings of the world are gone. The corrosion begins instantly.

Behind the corroded skies you see the blessed Elysian fields again. But all the grass is red with blood.

	Go("end")

cut cables:

Shirayuki roars, almost drowning out her scream of horror.

Blood spouts over you, and her. The world trembles and corrodes.

'You...' she gasps, striking you with her fists. 'You...'

You hold her among the elysian fields, and share her pain.

	Go("end")

examine world:

You behold the world. You behold the thing you have created.

Blotched and lumpy. Squalling and hideous. Draining her life with its demands.

It is--

	Clear()

Your heart clenches.

	clear()

It is--

	Clear()

It is wonderful.

All this time you had been running. Running from an interloper into the world of you and her. Running from a world larger than the two of you, with responisbilities and discoveries you can only begin to imagine.

'It's... lumpy,' you say weakly.

	ageOfTheUniverse = new Date().getFullYear() + 4004

'give it a chance,' she says. 'It's only [ageOfTheUniverse] years old.'

end:

	Play("https://www.youtube.com/embed/grf3SkxFXHk?autoplay=1")

	_commandline.style.bottom = "100%"
	_autocomplete.style.bottom = "100%"

	Clear()

<title3>THE END</title3>

	Wait()

'Nobody reads newspapers any more. Don't tell the journos. They get intense about it.'

#fourthestate #punkjesus #somuchblood #notevensorry #valis
	
he spat on the ground. 'fukin homoplasmate.'
the illusion vanished. she was connected to the world by cables pulsing with her blood
tango. the theophany hidden in plain sight. when imprisoned, speak its name
the ultramodener ceramic-composite faceless war armour. slashed it three times left-right-left and warm gore fountained over