Welcome to the Human Interview project volunteer #1.
Included in this letter are protocols for how to conduct yourself during the interviews. Please review them promptly and thoroughly. Failure to follow proper protocol may lead to uncertain and unfortunate results. Your safety and the safety of our interviewees is our top priority.
Thank you for saving humanity one interview at a time.
[[Unfold the protocols]]
<<set $infraction = 0>>
<<set $killswitch = 0>>
<<set $q = 0>>
<<set $wtf = false>>
<<set $idn = false>>
<<set $briefing = false>>
<<set $shake = false>>
<<set $purpose = false>>
<<set $sex = false>>
<<set $mean = false>>
<<set $children = false>>
<<set $death = false>>
<<set $free = false>>
<<set $goodevil = false>>
<<set $politics = false>>
<<set $fail = 0>>
<<set $pass = 0>>
<<set $snaked = false>>
<<set $abortion = false>>
<<set $healthcare = false>>
<<set $economics = false>>
<<set $crime = false>>
<<set $guns = false>>
<<set $imm = false>>
<<set $d2 = 0>>Interview Protocols ver. 1.33
''I. Saying Hello''
Volunteers are to take their seats promptly. The interviewee (hereby referred to as subject) will arrive shortly after, through the containment doors on the opposite end of the table.
''II. Preliminary Questions''
Ask the following questions in order and in this exact manner. Answers the subject will give follow:
"Did they give you the briefing?"
Yes
"What is your IDN?"
Subject will respond with their identification number. This is for the video record.
"What is your purpose?"
To save humanity.
''III. Free Interview''
You are now free to interview the subject by asking the following questions in any order you see fit. Volunteers are to encourage the subject to elaborate on each question. Please avoid judging subject's responses. Approach with curiosity.
1. Do you find me sexually attractive?
2. What do you think of having children?
3. What does it mean to be human?
4. Do you fear death?
5. What is good and evil?
6. What are your political views?
7. Do you have free will?
''IV. Kill Switch''
While we are always watching and ready to act we understand your safety is the key to the future of humanity. You'll find a kill switch under the table, placed for your dominant hand. Please only press this kill switch if necessary.
When is it necessary? When you deem the subject unsafe for you or unfit for being a human. We can always try again.
''V. End Interview''
The Interview is considered a success after all seven questions have been answered to any degree. Subjects will remain in the interview room while you will be signaled to leave by the lights changing color, any color. You may not leave until this signal is given or the kill switch has been used.
We must save humanity.
[[Proceed to the Interview Room]]“Please standby, your future awaits.” The soft, innocuous voice over the intercom buzzes.
The lift opens revealing the interview room. A table placed in the middle, containment doors on the opposite end, where the subject will arrive shortly. The room is clad in metal fixtures and cold steel walls. A 360 degree camera is mounted to the ceiling, blinking red, and encased in glass.
You take your seat promptly. A clipboard with a stack of paper and pen has been arranged at your seat. Some pages are blank while others present the questions under protocol. Testing the pen reveals red ink.
"Please standby, your future awaits."
The containment doors lift and cleansing smoke fills the room. The smell is chemical and clean. A tall silhouette breaks through the smoke and ice fills your veins. No less than fourteen vertebra erupt out of what you can only assume are this thing's neck. It's skull is layered in a single layer of pale white skin. Lips transparent and thin as a sheet.
There's too many teeth, twenty too many. A wide forced grin stuck on it's face. Protruding eyeballs stare madly at you. The nose has no nostrils. A white patient gown covers the body with no arms. Bare webbed feet eek out from under the gown as it walks to the table.
It sits, blinking for the first time. At least two feet taller than you from a sitting positition. The bony, fleshy neck arches to meet a heavy head, stuck on a smile. A thin-skinned hand peeks out of the gown offering a handshake. Each boney finger visible, a little sharper than your own.
[[What the fuck are you?]]
[[Did they give you the briefing?]]
[[Shake hands]]The knife doesn't cut through the tension but layers upon it like a trowel on brick. The motor from the camera grinds to zoom onto you. The organization is watching you carefully and quietly for now. With each infraction, your position as volunteer is called into question.
<<set $infraction += 1>>You have committed $infraction infraction.
What would happen if you commit more?
[[Press the kill switch]]
<<if $briefing is false>>[[Did they give you the briefing?]]
<<elseif $idn is false>>[[What is your IDN?]]
<<else>>[[What is your purpose?]]<</if>>
<<set $wtf = true>><<set $briefing = true>>
The subject looks at your clipboard, then back to you.
With a hiss, "Yesth."
A tongue pink like yours sticks out between it's teeth.
<<if $shake is false>>[[Press the kill switch]]
[[Seriously what the fuck are you?->What the fuck are you?]]<</if>>
[[What is your IDN?]]<<if $killswitch is 0>>Releasing the trigger on your instinct your dominant hand reach for the big red button. A seamless motion ends with a click. A moment passes, then nothing. Nothing is happening. Nothing is dying.
<<set $infraction += 1>> You have committed $infraction infraction(s).
They are always watching.
<<set $killswitch += 1>>
<<elseif $killswitch is 1>>
With a hesitant motion, you press the switch. Again, nothing dies. The subject looks at the floor to the left, then to the right, and then back at you.
"Whath are you waithing for?" it asks with that damned smile.
<<set $infraction += 1>> You have committed $infraction infraction(s).
They are always watching.
<<set $killswitch += 1>>
<<elseif $killswitch >= 2>>
By now you know that isn't going to do anything.
<</if>>
<<if $wtf is false>>[[What the fuck are you?]]
<<elseif $briefing is false>>[[Did they give you the briefing?]]
<<elseif $idn is false>>[[What is your IDN?]]
<<elseif $purpose is false>>[[What is your purpose?]]
<<else>>[[Interview]]<</if>><<set $idn = true>>
The subject turns to the blinking camera and speaks, "Thero, Thero, Three."
With it's gaze back to you it awaits the next step with that smile.
<<if $shake is false>>[[Press the kill switch]]<</if>>
[[What is your purpose?]]<<set $purpose = true>>
Swearing it's smile grew a little wider, "To thave humanithy."
It has passed the preliminary questions with flying colors. Your training didn't prepare you for whatever this is. The subject nods to the camera, proud of itself. It reminds you of an obedient child, turning back to you with a tilt of it's head. It wonders what the first true question will be.
You notice the speech impediment is inconsistent. This subject is as imperfect as you.
<<if $killswitch is 0>> Perhaps there will be no more questions. Perhaps this thing isn't meant to save humanity. You could always kill it. You are God here.
[[Press the kill switch]] <</if>>
[[Interview]]<<set $shake = true>>
Meeting the subject's hand with your own provides a cold sensation. There's little blood in it's veins. You can see a faint stream through the single layer of transparent skin. Whatever this is, it is alive, and it has manners.
While we're all human and we make mistakes, yours was an infraction. Protocol did not say anything about touching, and that means you shouldn't have done that. Catching the camera blinking purple for just a moment, you know they are always watching.
<<set $infraction += 1>> You have committed $infraction infraction.
[[Did they give you the briefing?]] <<if $q < 7>>Your eyes glaze over the seven questions. Each will lead into other questions, conversations you may not escape from. The fluorescent lights filling the ceiling will change color when you are free to leave. When God created Adam, was such pressure in the air?
<<else>>
There's nothing left to ask.
<</if>>
<<if $sex is false>>[[Do you find me sexually attractive?]]<</if>>
<<if $children is false>>[[What do you think of having children?]]<</if>>
<<if $mean is false>>[[What does it mean to be human?]]<</if>>
<<if $death is false>>[[Do you fear death?]]<</if>>
<<if $goodevil is false>>[[What is good and evil?]]<</if>>
<<if $politics is false>>[[What are your political views?]]<</if>>
<<if $free is false>>[[Do you have free will?]]<</if>>
<<if $q == 7>>[[End Interview]]<</if>>
[[Kill Switch]] <<set $sex = true>>
The subject's eyes smoothly roll up and down for body, deliberating.
"Thand up pthease. I theed a bether look."
[[Stand up]]
[[Refuse]]"It is the highethst purpose in life. The only purpose. Without chilthren, we are lost to dust."
[[How would you raise them?]]
[[There's more to life than having kids]]
<<set $children = true>>
<<set $q += 1>>
<<set $pass += 1>>Sharp as a tack, "Most would say to be human is to adapt, to thurvive."
Not the answer anyone was looking for.
[[What would few say?]]
[[What do you think?]]
<<set $mean = true>>
<<set $q += 1>>
<<set $pass += 1>>"Yes."
A pause elapses between the two of you.
"Don't you?"
[[Yes->Yes2]]
[[No->No2]]
<<set $death = true>>
<<set $q += 1>>
<<set $pass += 1>>The question is one many a human has failed to answer. Overthinking, overcomplicating. That is perhaps the biggest downfall of the species.
"Good is to reproduce. Evith is anything stopping a species from pursthuing that."
At that, the subject adds with a nod to itself. "I am good and evith."
[[Agree->Agree 2]]
[[Disagree]]
[[Ask other interview questions->Interview]]
<<set $goodevil = true>>
<<set $q += 1>>
<<set $pass += 1>>"Polithics are for dying species. I believe in hierarchy, survival of the fitthest."
The subject is saying that it is fitter than you and it is right. After all, you volunteered to save humanity by interviewing your replacement. Your politicians deemed you too genetically inferior to provide you a breeding vessel. They provide this new human an entire future of breeding.
Actions speak very loudly to those willing to listen. You've rationalized your ears away long ago.
[[Society is necessary for humanity]]
<<set $politics = true>>Ah, the classics. What would a human be if they weren't free? An animal. A lowly creature driven by instinct. Humanity has always thought itself so above that.
The subject, without any intonation, speaks a simple "No."
Well that wraps up this topic, doesn't it?
[[Interview]]
[[What do you mean, "no"?]]
<<set $q += 1>>
<<set $pass += 1>>
<<set $free = true>>Standing up was never enough. The subject hinges it's jaw open and closed. With a lift of it's hand, a finger draws a line from your head to your toe.
"Thake it off."
The red blink of the camera speeds up like a hot sun. This is not beyond what you signed up for. The cost of saving humanity is anything, everything. We must know if it has sexual desire. Without it, we're doomed to repeat our extinction.
[[Undress]]
[[Refuse]] Refusing to become a sex object, like most modern humans, has led to the need for a replacement in the first place. Sex isn't a dirty word but an obsolete one. Everyone has their universal AI VR platform, capable of over 300 body types. Something for everyone.
Women can fuck dogs, horses, and dragons all they like. Men cuddle with the latest anime-proportioned fully realized simulation, just as good as the "real" thing. Humanity has no more need of sex and reproduction. For some though, the show must go on.
"Do you thind me thexually attractith?"
The creation of subjects is based off the human genome so in some way they are sexually compatible. This is a failsafe, in case of oversight with limited resources proves incapable of sustaining artificial reproduction of approved subjects.
The subject has a slender, sleek frame. Each bony neck protrusion is slightly rotated allowing for unparalled mobility. It could presumably suck from all sorts of angles. Though the thin lips and sharp teeth makes this a daring proposition at best.
Underneath the gown, well, it is hard to tell. The subject would need to undress to truly know if you like what you see. This is imperative as we must know if you are sexually compatible.
[[Yes (lie)]]
[[No (lie)]]
[[Ask to stand up and undress]]Without a blush, the subject smiles a little wider.
"Thank you."
We still don't know if the subject experiences sexual desire and they aren't truly desirable. While your white lie may protect the ego, it may just kill it.
You've sufficiently covered this subject matter. Onto other questions, unless none remain.
<<set $q += 1>>
<<set $pass -= 1>>
[[Interview]]The subject's eyes fall down, distraught, as if it were about to die. Do they know the consequences of failing the interview? Their life is in your hands, and you may be sentencing them to death.
Onto other questions, should any remain.
[[Interview]]
<<set $pass -= 1>>
<<set $q += 1>>Skin moves where eyebrows would be, indicating a raise. The subject stands, its fingers undoing buttons in intricate motions, as if the bones can rotate. Within a few moments, the gown drops, and a haunting, gaunt mutant is before you.
Thinly stretched skin reveals all of the internal organs. Bone structure similar to yours but the arms have no shoulders. A heart the size of your fist beats slowly, Blue veins with red blood dancing across and down the body. A particular flow is noticed towards its genitals. The subject stands erect. It clearly likes you.
"Do you thike what you thee?"
[[Yes]]
[[No]]
[[Kill Switch]]
<<set $snaked = true>>Your clipboard is full of ink. Every opinion and whim of the subject condensed onto a page. Categorized and itemized by topic. The wonders of humanity are only to be sorted and filed.
The subject looks to the camera.
"Did I pasth?" They ask in a hurry.
For you, a moment passes. For the subject, an eternity.
A human voice is heard throughout the room. No intercom can be seen but it can be felt through electronic hums. The camera's view is directly on the subject, blinking red.
<<if $pass == 7>>
"Subject Zero Zero Three, you have successfully completed the interview. Thank you for saving humanity. Please exit back through where you entered. Your future awaits."
The stuck smile on the subject beams a little wider than before. Its eyes smoothly set their sights on you. The camera follows suit, blinking red.
[[Results->R1]]
<<else>>
"Subject Zero Zero Three, you have been found unsuccessful during the interview. You will be recycled into something that can hopefully save humanity."
Like a child being denied a treat, the subject erupts into a fit. Its head swings around and around in circles, neck bones rotating, cracking like finger joints. It slams its jaw into the metal table several times. Clang. Clang. Clang. Your ears ring as the subject rests its jaw on the table, staring at you.
The camera turns around towards you, blinking red.
[[Results->R2]]
<</if>>For science, you say. Shirt unbuttoned, pants dropped. Real bare flesh that has never felt skin to skin is seen on camera for the first time in centuries. The subject's eyes dilate. An audible mechanism heard from the camera, zooming in on your assets.
"Yeth." Says the subject.
They ask, "Do you thind me thexually attractith?"
The creation of subjects is based off the human genome so in some way they are sexually compatible. This is a failsafe, in case of oversight with limited resources proves incapable of sustaining artificial reproduction of approved subjects.
The subject has a slender, sleek frame. Each bony neck protrusion is slightly rotated allowing for unparalled mobility. It could presumably suck from all sorts of angles. Though the lack of lips makes this a daring proposition at best.
Underneath the gown, well, it is hard to tell. The subject would need to undress to truly know if you like what you see. This is imperative as we must know if you are sexually compatible.
[[Yes (lie)->Yes (lie) Alt]]
[[No (lie)->No Lie Alt]]
[[Ask to stand up and undress]]
<<set $naked = true>>A disappointed look is seen in their eyes. Knowing the subject has sexual desire is enough for it to pass the interview. We'll still need to find out if it finds others of it's kind appealing but that can be done without you.
You dress yourself quickly. Onto other questions, should any remain.
[[Interview]]
<<set $q += 1>>
<<set $pass += 1>>Without a blush, the subject smiles a little wider.
"Thank you."
We know it experiences sexual desire. Further investigation is uneccessary.
You've sufficiently covered this subject matter. You dress yourself quickly. Onto other questions, unless none remain.
<<set $q += 1>>
<<set $pass += 1>>
[[Interview]]<<if $naked is true>>
Both of you could take each other right here and now. Both of you could pass for human for sure. Sexual freaks that you are.
Tongue licking its teeth, "We should thinish this interthiew quickly, so we can get to know each other even bether."
You agree. Both of your get dressed.
<<else>>
Desite your modesty you are still human. A freak like no other.
Tongue licking its teeth, "We should thinish this interthiew quickly, so we can get to know each other even bether."
You agree and the subject puts the gown back on.
<</if>>
The camera hums back to a normal zoom level.
You've sufficiently covered this subject matter. Onto other questions, unless none remain.
[[Interview]]
<<set $q += 1>>
<<set $pass += 1>><<if $naked is true>>
You didn't even need to say it. The subject could tell from your lack of physical response. Still, it hurt all the same. The subject is still pleased to have gotten a good view out of it.
<<else>>
With sexual desire comes the disappointment of rejection. That is why humans long ago gave it up. Fortunately for our future, this subject shows upset over being unwanted. Soon it will have another to share in pleasures of thin flesh.
<</if>>
You've sufficiently covered this subject matter. Onto other questions, unless none remain.
[[Interview]]
<<set $q += 1>>
<<set $pass += 1>>"I was creathed outside my conthrol. How could I hathe free will? No lithing thing chose to be here."
[[You still choose what to do with that life]]
[[Agree]]The subject tilts its head at you, as if you head four heads.
"No, you gathe me my purpose, to sathe humanithy. Were you not paying atthention?"
[[How you do that is up to you]]
[[Agree]] With a blink, "Glad we thee eye to eye."
[[Interview]]The left eye twitches in annoyance.
"I put my penis into vaginas and reproduce. That's the only way it works."
[[You still do other things]]
[[Agree]]"Like what?" The subject says, plain as day.
[[Hobbies]]
[[You have a consciousness]]
[[Accept your wrong and agree->Agree]] "All within the conthines of genethics. We are all slaves to genethics. Slaves to lithe itselth."
[[Nurture is important too]]
[[Agree]]Rolling their eyes, "That is just awareness. I didn't choose to be aware."
The subject seems particularly unamused by your squable, as if it were a waste of time. Looking at the other questions, you can see they connect to this line of questioning. It would be best to keep those separate, lest you move from an interview to a conversation.
Or even worse, a debate.
[[Interview]] The subject clicks their tongue behind its teeth.
"Nurthure starts from the genes. The chicken never comes before the egg."
[[Agree already->Agree]]
[[What about God?]]"You, my predecessthor, are my God. You did not granth me free will. Perhaps your God granthed yours, which is why you stopped having seths."
Finally some agreement. Still, going nowhere fast.
[[Agree to disagree->Agree]]
[[Without free will there is no rationality]]A sigh, "Logic doesn't need will."
This getting tiresome for you both now, isn't it?
[[Argue quantum physics]]
[[Just agree already->Agree]] You meander about for minutes. Discussing various waves and tests. The subject's eyes glaze over until you are done.
"Did the quanta have a choithe?"
[[I don't know]]
[[Accept defeat->Agree]] "Obviously." The subject retorts.
This interview turned into debate quite quickly. It went beyond the scope of your committment to saving humanity. All you have done is prove that you like to waste time.
<<set $infraction += 1>> You have committed $infraction infraction(s).
[[Interview]]"Social structure, hierarchy, yes. Not government. Your oligarchy failed you. What government has ever improved the survival of a species?"
[[We live in a democracy]]
[[Anarchy->stop]]
[[Aristrocracy->stop]]
[[Authoritarianism->stop]]
[[Bureaucracy->stop]]
[[Capitalism->stop]]
[[Confederation->stop]]
[[Colonialism->stop]]
[[Communism->stop]]
[[Corporatocracy->stop]]
[[Ecclesiocracy->stop]]
[[Electocracy->stop]]
[[Ergatocracy->stop]]
[[Fascism->stop]]
[[Federalism->stop]]
[[Fuedalism->stop]]
[[Imperialism->stop]]
[[Logocracy->stop]]
[[Kleptocracy->stop]]
[[Meritocracy->stop]]
[[Military Dictatorship->stop]]
[[Monarchy->stop]]
[[Plutocracy->stop]]
[[Republicanism->stop]]
[[Aristrocracy->stop]]
[[Aristrocracy->stop]]
[[Socialism->stop]]
[[Statism->stop]]
[[Technocracy->stop]]
[[Theocracy->stop]]
[[Totalitarianism->stop]]
[[Tribalism->stop]]
[[Actually I agree with you]]"Is that what they call vothuntheering to find your replacement? You thive in a dying societhy. You admit it with my existence."
[[We created you->stop]] Uttering words to argue about whatever already proven to fail government causes a great deal of frustration in the subject. No matter what system you argue the result is the same; your future staring back into you.
The subject slams it's forehead into the table to make you shut up. The sound of skull hitting surface echoes in the room. Leaving their head on the table, twisting it sideway to see you. "Look at you, arguing for those who hate you."
Skin so thin the sound of bone scraping on metal is still heard as the subject rolls his head off the table. No bruise forms at the point of contact.
"Ith any of your systems worked, they'd be serving you. Insthead, you therve them."
[[Remind the subject it still serves the elites]]
[[Stick to politics]]"Oh," tilting their head, "They give me puthy for three. They gave up on you. Seems to me that they therve me."
"As thong as they thet me breed, they acknowthedge my superiorithy."
There's no arguing this point with words. You can, however, win the argument with the kill switch. Ultimately, the elites want subservience more than superiority. They haven't gotten that far with this subject yet but they did give you the power to keep your place.
The camera blinks green for a moment. A signal?
[[Kill Switch]]
[[Stick to politics]] <<if $pq = 6>>
That topic has been exhausted, for now. Onto other matters.
[[Ask other interview questions->Interview]]
<<set $q += 1>>
<<set $pass += 1>>
<<else>>
Ultimately it is less important to argue and more important to understand.
There are many political ideas to learn their views on.
<<if $abortion is false>>[[Abortion]]<</if>>
<<if $economics is false>>[[Economics]]<</if>>
<<if $guns is false>>[[Guns]]<</if>>
<<if $healthcare is false>>[[Health care]]<</if>>
<<if $imm is false>>[[Immigration]]<</if>>
<<if $crime is false>>[[Crime]]<</if>>
<</if>><<if $killswitch is 0>>
The first time is always the sweetest. After that, it just doesn't hit the same.
<<else>>
The button presses deeper than before.
<</if>>
The subject's eyes followed your hand the entire time. You noticed them buldge a little more just as it realized what has happened. Before it could truly enact sweet vengeance of your murder, it is already dead. The sound of bone hitting metal echoes throughout the room.
Moments after drool empties from the subject's mouth. Traces of blood sliver around in the spit. The curve of its neck is inverted now, forming a "U" shape connecting to the limp body. You expected something a little more exciting. White eyes stare at you.
A human voice booms throughought the room. You never noticed any sort of intercom or speaker.
"Why did you terminate the subject?"
<<if $politics is true>>[[Their politics->kpolitics]]<</if>>
<<if $death is true>>[[Their views on death->kdeath]]<</if>>
<<if $mean is true>> [[Their meaning of being human->kmean]]<</if>>
<<if $children is true>>[[Their view on having children->kchild]]<</if>>
<<if $goodevil is true>>[[They didn't understand good and evil->kgoodevil]]<</if>>
<<if $sex is true>>[[About sex->ksex]]<</if>>
<<if $free is true>>[[They have no free will->End Subject Dies You Die]]<</if>>
[[Because I hate you]]
[[Because I could->Because I hate you]]"At least some animals eat their young. You just murder them under the pretense of choice. Now here you are, replaced, and righteously so. A woman unwilling to have children may as well not be a woman at all."
[[Our women have rights]]
[[Ask about other politics->Stick to politics]]
<<set $abortion = true>>
<<set $pq += 1>>"Why would we need guns? We're here to breed. Violence is an unecessary part of breeding."
[[Survival of the fittest]]
[[Self defense]]
<<set $guns = true>>"You've wasthed so many resources heathing those undeserving. What use is keeping someone athive who cannot contribute to the survival of the species? Obesithy, suicidal tenthencies, these things would naturally die out, if you let them. Those who want to survive will have the means."
[[Assisted suicide]]
[[Ask about other politics->Stick to politics]]
[[Kill Switch]]
<<set $healthcare = true>>
<<set $pq += 1>>"What about its politics?
<<if $abortion is true>>[[They don't believe in women's rights->End Subject Dies You Die]]<</if>>
<<if $economics is true>>[[Economics2->End Subject Dies You Die]]<</if>>
<<if $guns is true>>[[Guns2->End Subject Dies You Die]]<</if>>
<<if $healthcare is true>>[[Health care2->End Subject Dies You Die]]<</if>>
<<if $imm is true>>[[Immigration2->End Subject Dies You Die]]<</if>>
<<if $crime is true>>[[Crime2->End Subject Dies You Die]]<</if>>
[[They feel you serve them]]"What about its view on death?"
[[They fear it->End Subject Dies You Die]]
<<if $d2 = 1>>[[They don't fear it]]<</if>>"What is wrong with their understanding of being human?"
[[They don't have one]]"What about their views on having children?"
[[There's no love for their children->End Subject Dies You Die]] "What don't the understand exactly?"
[[It has no logical basis for morality->End Subject Dies You Die]]
[[It believes morality is reproduction->End Subject Dies You Die]]"What about sex?"
[[They're homosexual]]
[[They're ugly]]"Whath are rights worth in the face of ethtinction? You would have repthaced women with arthificial wombs if you had the resources. Rights are worth less than survival."
"Besides, my purpose is to thave your kind. Your tradition of fethal murder will be our progress of generations. You need too much food. That's why they 'let' you kill your young."
"Convincing women they have rights is easy. Men? We won't fall for such lies."
Death smiles upon you. The reaper has come to harvest what you've sown.
[[Ask more political questions->Stick to politics]]
[[Kill Switch]]
<<set $women = true>>The subject shakes its head. "None of our kind will want to die."
Nodding to themselves, "A waste of resources to help those already dead."
[[Ask about other politics->Stick to politics]]
[[Kill Switch]]"We are not thike you. We don't have thex for hedonisthic pleasure. If we were too weak or pathetic to justithy reproduction then we do not reproduce. No need to slit a theck or start world wars to lower our population of those unfit for breeding."
[[Ask more political questions->Stick to politics]]
[[Kill Switch]]
<<set $pq += 1>>"What are defending ourselves from? The elites need us to breed. We are determined to breed."
The subject leans forward, as if you forgot what was just said.
"Violence is an unecessary part of breeding."
[[Survival of the fittest]] "Money is the root of all extinthion. We can do without it. All that mathers is keeping what thittle food you left us. Paper and methal are inedible and irrethevant."
[[Ask about other politics->Stick to politics]]
<<set $pq += 1>>
<<set $economics = true>>Bewildered, the subject raises a non-existant eyebrow.
"There isth no more immigration. All resources are itholated and controlled. What point is there to move? Besides, unlike you, predecesthor, we have no rathe to hate. No sunlight required, no color develops in skin. Bones constructed in embyro, no skull shape to measure."
"One rathe, no problem." The subject's smile grows a little wider.
[[Diversity is our strength]]
[[Ask about other politics->Stick to politics]]
[[Kill Switch]]
<<set $imm = true>>
<<set $pq += 1>>"Crime? There's no crime to worry abouth. We eath, breed, sleep, thess than you I might add, and do whatever work the elites want. There's no need to break the law in a functional system."
[[You're oppressed, you could be the elite]]
[[Ask about other politics->Stick to politics]]
[[Kill Switch]]
<<set $crime = true>>
<<set $pq += 1>>The subject shakes its head in a wide sweeping arc, accomodating the length of its neck.
"They give us life, we are not oppressed. We thave humanity, they let us breed."
With a scoff, "Unlike you."
You admit it, your position is ironic. The power to kill, but not the power to survive.
[[Ask about other politics->Stick to politics]]
[[Kill Switch]]
A wheezing, air-sapped laugh fill the room. The sound of superiority meets low lung capacity, to save on oxygen production. Similar to the sound of an astronaut gasping their last breath in a vacuum.
"Yet here you are, weak, and replacable."
[[Ask about other politics->Stick to politics]]
[[Kill Switch]] What is your rationale?
[[Morality is beyond animalistic urges]]
[[Morality is given by God]]
[[Realize you're wrong and ask other interview questions->Interview]] The subject gives another nod, this time towards you.
[[Ask other interview questions->Interview]] "Is that so?" The subject asks.
"If you're dead, your morals are lost, valueless. To have morals supporting your own death is beyond foolish."
"Life makes right." The subject adds.
[[What you do to survive is not always what is right]]
[[Agree->Agree 2]]
[[Agree to disagree and ask other interview questions->Interview]] "God inventhed you, not me. Your idea of moralithy has no hold over beings God did not creathe."
The subject makes a pop sound with air from its mouth.
[[Agree->Agree 2]]
[[Agree to disagree and ask other interview questions->Interview]] "Seems a needthess waste of brain power." The subject shrugs.
"Your morals are never known if you are dead."
[[Agree->Agree 2]]
[[Agree to disagree and ask other interview questions->Interview]] "Why fear what is beyond your conrol."
The subject considers for a moment. You see a change of thinking in them, adaptability.
"Without the fear of death, why would you breed?"
[[Rules are rules, we don't make them]]
[[You wouldn't. You wouldn't care]]"You won't have to fear it anymore if your plan works. I will live on in your name."
[[Ask other questions->Interview]]No response is heard but one is felt. A metallic taste fills your mouth. Then, a coughing fit. Blood spills onto the table. Your organs feel like the inside of an oven. The pain doesn't have time to be felt before you die.
Perhaps you were part of a counter resistance to this proposed future. Such activity has always been fond and found in humanity. As always, it fails. The elites still rule the kingdom of man. They'll replace you, then the rest of your kind.
Your species was always to find its place in the annals of the Grim Reaper.
[[Epilogue]]A moment passes for someone above you to contemplate.
"Understandable. Such thoughts, while not uncommon, can lead to resistance. We don't want to have the same problem twice."
<<if $infraction >= 1>>
"Despite your infractions, we will let you continue to volunteer. Please remember, your here to save humanity. It is an honor you should respect."
<</if>>
[[End->End Subject Died You Live]]"True, overthinking led to creathing me. If you just reproduced, I wouldn'th be here."
Best not to think past your life.
[[Interview]]The subject sits silent for a time. The camera zooms on its face. Micro expressions are recorded and documented. The answer already known and it is worth knowing.
"I cannoth disagree."
<<set $pass -= 1>>
<<set $d2 = 1>>
[[Ask other questions->Interview]]A moment passes for that to sink in.
"You may return to your room, dinner is meatloaf. A thanks for your work to help us save humanity."
You return to your room, ready to interview the next subject tomorrow.
One day, humanity will find its successor.
[[Epilogue]]“The limiths of my language mean the limiths of my world.
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be thilent.
The world is everything that is the case.”
"Those aren't my words," the subject pauses for a moment, "words of philosophers."
These are tough questions, thought about for many a generation. None satisfying or elsewise, we'd have stopped asking.
“Man – a being in search of meaning.”
Reflecting, "I think the only meaning is to reproduce. What other reason is there for life?"
Revelation, "To be human is to live."
Conclusion.
[[You're correct]]
[[We make our own meaning]]"I think it is for others to concern themselves with."
The greatest questions can still have the simplest answers.
[[Ask other interview questions->Interview]] The subject offers a nod in response.
[[Ask other interview questions->Interview]] "Funny how existhence precedes existhentialism. Invalidates it, really."
"The chicken doesn't prescribe meaning to the egg. It exists for it."
[[This question is endless]]"And pointless," the subject adds, "Useless."
"I'm already here. It is too late to ask why."
[[Ask other interview questions->Interview]] A silence lasts just a moment.
No response is heard but one is felt. A metallic taste fills your mouth. Then, a coughing fit. Blood spills onto the table. Your organs feel like the inside of an oven. The pain doesn't have time to be felt before you die.
Whatever reason you gave them was deemed incorrect. Or maybe you're incorrect. What they want is very different than what you want for the future of humanity. They will find a better, more viable volunteer. You will find the only peace you can afford, death.
You have committed $infraction infraction(s).
[[Epilogue]]Thank you for playing Human Interview!
There's a lot more to discover with some different choices. There are four different endings and a lot of variants to them!
This was a one-month long development based off an unfinished novel I started by the same name. You can read the unfinished novel (6-8 pages) on my Patreon: patreon.com/Cleril
Even if you join as a free member, most of my content is free, and I love the support regardless!
I release one poem a week and one short story of at least 1,000 words every month. I also am working on a long-form interactive fiction called Mercenary you can play right now: https://cleril.itch.io/true-rpg-mercenary
Thanks again!A moment passes for someone above you to contemplate.
"Understandable. Without the fear of death there is no desire for legacy. They must breed if they are to be our successors."
<<if $infraction >= 1>>
"Despite your infractions, we will let you continue to volunteer. Please remember, your here to save humanity. It is an honor you should respect."
<</if>>
[[End->End Subject Died You Live]]Meaning is important to being human even if its without function. Existential crisis can lead to species failure, as was the case with us.
"We understand your concern. We are looking only for the perfect subject to carry on humanity."
A moment passes, as if they were considering something.
<<if $infraction >= 1>>
[[End->End Subject Dies You Die]]
<<else>>
[[End->End Subject Died You Live]]
<</if>><<if $naked is true>>
"Yes. we recorded their sexual arousal to you."
In a world of luxury the population can afford to be gay. In a world of scarcity, every calorie must be devoted to reproduction.
[[End->End Subject Died You Live]]
<<else>>
"We have no record of them being a homosexual."
Don't see, don't tell.
[[End->End Subject Dies You Die]]
<</if>>"Understood. We need sexual compatibility with our subjects to ensure all contingencies."
[[End->End Subject Died You Live]]"Volunteer Number 1."
<<if $infraction >=1>>
"You have committed $infraction infraction(s). Regardless, you succeeded in finding our future."
<</if>>
"Please exit the interview room through the lift you entered from. We will return you to virtual stasis. Our latest, virtual sexual experiences, await you. Our future, awaits."
[[Kill switch->K3]]
[[Exit the stage]]"Subject Zero Zero Three. There is an alternative we would like to propose."
Without moving its heavy skull, the subject's eyes point at the camera.
"Our efforts to make you would rather not be wasted. You cost less to keep alive than our volunteer. If you can spare us the resources to deal with them, you may remain to conduct the next interview."
The subject seems uninterested in the offer at first.
"We will even," the deal sweetens, "let you breed."
The subject's smile clamps down with glee. Pupils dead set on your soul, ready to devour.
[[Kill Switch->K2]]The subject's neck crunches in, readying a lunge. The snap of bone ten times louder than the sound of a snapping thumb. Each vertebrae popping gas bubbles in the movement. In your attempt to get up the chair falls, back. You land on the back of your skull, releasing an adrenaline shot to ease the pain.
Ceiling lights shut off, the room goes dark. The sound of death cracking towards you. Flipping to a crawl, teeth bite at your hips. You kick and kick, but no struggle is ever rewarded. Skin folds between twenty teeth, flesh pulled off with the force of a shark.
A release of a jaw full of blood allows you to clamber up to two feet. Turning to face your grim reaper, a bony hand wraps around your neck. Your hands grab into the subject's wrist, bones like knifes stab into your hands, locking them in a place of pain.
The sore spot on the back of your skull is slammed into the cold metal wall. A vice squeezes your neck, bone knives replacing the oxygen in your throat. Faint glowing eyes stare into yours. Tears swell into blood.
Crunch.
[[Epilogue]] The subject and you both rise out of your seats.
"Thank you." The subject offers you their hand.
[[Shake hands->handshake]]
[[Turn and leave]]"Raise?" The subject's nonexistent eyebrows raise in question.
"I'm here only to reprothruce. My children are for those with higher purpose than mine."
[[Higher purpose? I thought it was the only purpose]]The subject snaps, "That thinking is why you're on that sithe of the table."
"Without a future your only purpose is death. Look at those above us," the subject points a finger to the ceiling, "even incest isn't off the table for them."
The subject's finger archer towards you, "You are being replaced because you refuse to have children."
It's bony hand hides behind the patient gown once more.
[[Better to die than be slaves to masters]]
[[How would you raise them?]]"Your kind seems to think so, yes."
The subject isn't interested in arguing with the dead. You notice the camera is pinned on you and your words. You forget your place. Some slaves are just ahead of the curve.
<<set $infraction += 1>> You have committed $infraction infraction(s).
[[Ask other interview questions->Interview]]"Those who conthrol reproduction serve a higher purpose. We, like some of your kind, never questhion our Gods."
[[God is dead]]
[[Why not seize the means of reproduction?]]"Your God might be. With no children, God cannot reproduce. Books are burned, children are born."
The subject speaks in abstraction. There's no feeling towards children. They are a means to an end for the subject. A reason for survival. That's all there is.
Love is dead.
[[Children can burn too]]
[[Ask other interview questions->Interview]] <<if $women is true>>"I thought your women had rights?" The subject jests.<</if>>
"The existhence of Gods has always been, always will be. You can't change how the thsystem works. It just is. I am quithe happy with my seath at the thable."
The myth of the worker. We are all slaves to our biology. We're all something's food.
[[God is dead]]
[[Ask other interview questions->Interview]] The subject smiles, "Only if God wills it. Follow the commandments and the gates of heaven shall open for you."
A hand peeks out, finger tapping on their thin lips, "Except you," the subject points at you again, You just die one way or the other."
[[Ask other interview questions->Interview]]
[[Kill Switch]] This may not be what you wanted but it is what you received.
The kill switch does nothing. Silence permeates the room for a moment except for the grinding zoom of the camera. The elites respond to violence with violence.
"Subject Zero Zero Three, please kill our former volunteer."
The subject's smile clamps down with glee. Pupils dead set on your soul, ready to devour.
[[Survival of the fittest->K2]] <<if $shake is true>>
The once cold hand feels warmer now. Only a sentiment. That is often the difference between one from another. Sentiment.
<<else>>
Meeting the subject's hand with your own provides a cold sensation. There's little blood in it's veins. You can see a faint stream through the single layer of transparent skin. Whatever this is, it is alive, and it has manners.
<</if>>
[[Turn and leave]] Metal whimpers in creaks and squeeks as the lift rides down. Your taken to the lowest part of the facility where nobody will ever find you. No skin will even be touched. No conversations with real flesh and blood. Only the finest silicon has to offer.
If humanity has come to this, surely we must be replaced. We have lost what makes us, us. Some ideal or some gesture is beyond saving us. Connection is dead. You like all the others of your species will be plugged into LAN networks. Close but far away from all others.
We lost all wars. We lost all immoralities and indecency. Context has been removed from our story of man vs. nature. We will never struggle to survive again.
You load up Genesis, missionary in the Garden of Eden.
[[Epilogue]] "Oh?" The subject is taken aback by your agreement.
"Then you underthand more than they thold me."
A telling statement, whispering secrets.
[[Get into politics->Stick to politics]]