Infiltration - Fission Mailed

[FOXHOUND-Brown]

There's no shame in ending this now. This was good as a learning experience for everyone involved and will serve well to improve the structure of the game.

Also I'm curious to know if Maroon really is who I guessed on Day 1.

[FOXHOUND-Red]

From my perspective this game doesn't seem to be going anywhere, so I wouldn't be adverse to ending it now.

I've got a number of issues with aspects of the current game, but I think I will wait until the post-game discussion to get into those.

[FOXHOUND-Orange]

I agree with Brown. At first the game seemed extremely unfairly balanced towards the green side, now it's to the red side. I think we totally missed how the game should be played, and finishing the game won't help anyone very much.

Also, I want to know who Black, Brown, Teal, Yellow, and Red are. They're the only ones I haven't figured out.

“Come in, FOXHOUND. Campbell here.”

“What is it?” says Black.

“This is absurd. I'm ending this right now. You all need more work. Founders! Shut it down and get them out.”

The members of FOXHOUND stare in awe at what's happening before their eyes. The texture of the walls is beginning to change rapidly, from steel, brick, and mortar into flat, feelingless grays. Terminals around them seem to dissipate into nothingness. Soon they feel like they are inside a completely different place.

The rooms begin to spin around wildly until they are all level with each other. The walls between the rooms disappear, and at once all the members of FOXHOUND stand on the same, sprawling plane. There is no roof, but no sky either – just a strange pattern of twirling circles and rows of text that hover in midair.

Among the plane are scattered corpses – Red, Indigo, Green, Olive, Gray, and White lie motionless on the ground.

“Founders,” says the Colonel. “You can trigger the recovery program now.”

Their wounds immediately heal – not in the sense that ordinary wounds would heal, but rather, they look like pieces of a wireframe reconstructing themselves. The six dead soldiers wake up.

“Every last one of you was killed by one of our training exercisers,” says the Colonel.

Blue, Orange, and Maroon stand side-by-side with each other, smug looks of confidence on their faces.

“It's time to get you out of there,” says the Colonel.

The floor disappears beneath their feet, and the fifteen soldiers begin to fall and fall...until their world fades to black...


Fifteen bodies lay on steel tables inside a cold underground room. Founders stands at the front of the room with Campbell by her side in his wheelchair, watching their men and women wake up.

“What happened?” says Green. “He...he shot me...and I felt myself dying...”

“I feel like I've had too much to drink,” says Brown.

“Virtual reality,” says Campbell. “We've learned a lot, you know. Our understanding of VR training exercises has taught us that simulations of real crises can be quite useful in lieu of real training.”

“But there's always been a problem,” says Founders. “In virtual reality, the soldier always knows that what he's experiencing isn't real. Despite the pain sensation, there's no sense of urgency. Everyone knows it's not a life-or-death experience, so the subconscious cannot accept it as such.”

“You were all given heavy doses of drugs to lull you into a state where we could fabricate the attack on the Patriot facility. The time you spent on the 'boat' to 'Johannesburg' inside the simulation gave enough time for the effects of the drugs to wear off – so you could all be at your peak combat efficiency.”

“So there's really no danger?” says Red. “The Patriots don't have GHOST?”

“They do,” says Campbell. “And we're running out of time. But Founders and I are still on the run from the Patriots – and you're our only hopes, and we couldn't send a bunch of rookies in there without field experience first. We're all in Founders' basement – an unmarked hideout in Bern. She's quite the scientist – she used the information we had to conduct a simulation of what the facility will probably look like. It's the best we can hope for.”

“And we can also hope that there are no enemy agents in your midst,” says Founders, “but we never know for sure. The simulation technology is actually based on the Distant Minds project – instead of transferring consciousness to another human, though, we transfer it into a computer. Some friends of mine underground have been working with me on this for months. I've even tried it, myself.”

“You failed miserably,” says the Colonel, “but nothing teaches you better than your own mistakes. You're all better soldiers because of this – and maybe during the real thing your performance will be better.”

Purple reaches for her IV to pull it out.

“Not quite,” says Campbell, gesturing at her to stop. “We're not quite through with you yet. We're going to do this again until you get it right – we can't afford to have any slip-ups when you do the real thing. Founders, load the program.”

“Aye, sir.”

The fifteen soldiers all stare at them in disbelief. A few try to undo their IVs, but the strength seeps out of them before they can do so.

“Good luck, soldiers.”

End of game! Patriots win (by Host's declaration.)