Encrypted Galaxy (or, Download Now!)

You're sitting on your bed in your bedroom. Alone. You're waiting for your friends to come over and play this new game you downloaded to your PC downstairs. You're thinking of what to do in the meantime.

You COULD watch "Gimmicks & Mr. Nicks", but you're getting kinda old for that. You're cool now. Who wants to watch boring public broadcasting when there's COOL programs on, like "Rad Adam"? Or "My Kids From Hell"? Actually... that one's kinda un-cool too. But you watch it in secret, so your other friends don't notice.

Wait, where were we? Oh yeah. The bedroom. Uh, his friends are coming over in like an hour, or something.

You get on your "toaster" laptop. You call it that because it's slow and it overheats a lot. You need like a REFRIGERATOR to cool it down. No, a FREEZER. Anyway, it asks for your name.

...we haven't gotten to that part yet, have we? What's your name?

> James Morgan

Egg Johnbert

Your first name is Doctor because your parents have unreasonably high expectations of you.

> Video Killedtheradiostar

> Joelhodge Dawson

> Dano Octone

> Jake Randall

> James Morgan

Uh, OK. Your name is James Morgan. You like nerdy stuff, such as computers and what they can do. You also like public broadcasting shows, but only for the "Kids" programs. You like those things in secret.

You were recently the talk of the school, and now you're one of the Cool Kids. You're supposed to like cool stuff, such as Instagram, sports, skateboarding, whatever cool stuff Cool Kids (like you) like these days. You could never get the hang of skateboarding though. You're afraid you might loose your balance and fall.

Anyways, back to the computer. You log in to the computer. Your custom log in text shows, displaying the log in text from the movie WarGames (1983):
GREETINGS, PROFESSOR FALKEN
A STRANGE GAME.
THE ONLY WINNING MOVE IS NOT TO PLAY.
HOW ABOUT A NICE GAME OF CHESS?

You always tell your friends that your dad did it, since he also works with computers, and you kinda look up to him. You have a feeling they don't buy it, though.

The computer displays a bash terminal session. It reads:
JMORGAN12@ubuntu:~$ █
waiting for you to type a command in.

Type a command into it.

Your name, is, of course, CHIP WALKER.
e: oh cool i'm like two minutes late nvm lol

command: display telletubbies

quit

quit

You quit your terminal session.
BYE BYE, MR. FALKEN.
it reads.

What else do you want to do?

Go make sure the downstairs computer area is tidy and suitably trendy for your friends to lounge around it

>James: Quickly retrieve arms from drawer.

Go make sure the downstairs computer area is tidy and suitably trendy for your friends to lounge around it

You go downstairs to do just that.

Yep, your computer seems up and ready to go. You lock the computer from any of your other family members, just in case.

What else do you want to do?

>James: Quickly retrieve arms from drawer.

You already HAVE arms, stupid!

Well that was a waste of time, you think.

What else do you want to do?

Check out you front door to make sure reality beyond the four walls of your house hasn't dissolved

Check out you front door to make sure reality beyond the four walls of your house hasn't dissolved

You check outside to see if the world is... ruined, or anything.

Nope. It's still intact. However, there seems to be no one outside.

You go back indoors.

What else do you want to do?

Can you text a friend and see where they're at?

Can you text a friend and see where they're at?

You open up Meeper and meep a friend.

JMORGAN12 started meeping xXTHE_MASTER_DUDE12Xx at 1:32 GMT.

JMORGAN12: dude where ARE you???
xXTHE_MASTER_DUDE12Xx: I'm almost there. Relax
JMORGAN12: are any of the other friends coming to or...
xXTHE_MASTER_DUDE12Xx: Yah they're coming
JMORGAN12: ok. just making sure

JMORGAN12 ceased meeping xXTHE_MASTER_DUDE12Xx at 1:36 GMT.

You close Meeper, knowing that your buddies are on their way.

In the meantime, what else would you like to do?

> make some snacks?

> make some snacks?

You go ahead and prepare the snacks for your guests-- I mean friends. "Guests" is such an uncool word.

Just as you're setting the last of the snacks down, your friends are knocking at the door. You answer the door and let your friends in. They sit on the couch while you get the controllers. Suddenly a strange feeling flows over you. Something that's... not quite right. You go to check everything is in order, and it is. You go grab a few more snacks, and head back to sit down. You're ready to start the game.

Do you want to start the game up now, or later?

>Is something off about your friends?

>Is something off about your friends?

Nothing seems to be off about them. They're normal, cool people that you like hanging out with after school.

Unless they're imposters... actually, no, they're not. Stop thinking they're not your friends when they are your friends! You've been watching a lot of Sci-Fi shows in secret. Maybe this is what is leading you to think that your friends aren't your actual friends. What a stupid idea.

Anyways, your friends are waiting for you to start it. Want to start it now?

>Yeah sure, we don't want do keep them waiting. Besides, you can check if they're some Alien being that is trying to acquire complete control over your brain by attacking you while you're distracted. That would be really uncool.

>Yeah sure, we don't want do keep them waiting. Besides, you can check if they're some Alien being that is trying to acquire complete control over your brain by attacking you while you're distracted. That would be really uncool.

You look for the game and-- shit. You forgot to install it! What a doofus you are.

You speed through the install to waste less time. When the installation is complete, you start the program. It goes through the normal credits process, then suddenly...

RANSOMWARE!

It appears you have been utterly fooled by a fake download site! A message appears on the ransomware program:

YOUR FILES HAVE BEEN ENCRYPTED!
Your important files (such as videos, pictures, documents, etc) have been encrypted with the strongest encryption available. Don't worry, I haven't deleted them yet!

All you have to do is send $200 in Bitcoin to this address: (bitcoin address link here) and click the "Give me back my files!" button after you're done sending the money.

If you don't, something bad will happen. Something really, REALLY bad will happen. You don't want to know...

Pay the money in 72 hours or you will pay! HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Oh. Shit. It's one of those "pay to unlock files" ransomware programs.

Not. Cool. At all.

You don't have money to pay, and you don't have the heart to tell your parents about it. You try to cheat around it, but the ransomware has cheat-prevention. Looks like you can't get yourself outta this one.

You decide to wait it out in case it's a scare tactic. Your friends come back in 3 days and wait with you to see what happens.

You get sucked inside the TV. It wasn't kidding when it said something bad would happen.

You're now in what appears as an open world game. You have absolutely no idea what's going on, since you're not familiar with this game. You keep falling for a couple of minutes until you plop in some red sand in the middle of nowhere. It sorta tastes like apples. You have no idea why you ate the sand.

Anyways, your friends are there with you.

There's a note buried in the red sand, in a strange looking bottle, almost like a vase, only tiny.

Do you wish to read it?

> Nah. What good would a little note even do in the first place; provide context? Plot? Outdated memes?

> Nah. What good would a little note even do in the first place; provide context? Plot? Outdated memes?

You decide to ignore the previous command and open the bottle. The note is tattered up and torn.

It reads:

rubrum in maledictione reputabitur harenae... key... remedium... consurge duce... auxilium...

You have absolutely no idea what that means.

You wander around with your buddies in the hopes of finding... something, at least.

You eventually find a temple 7 minutes later. It appears to be abandoned. The chests inside are still filled, though. You raid the supplies. There are also other rooms to go in. There's 4 rooms. They probably have stuff inside, you think.

Which room do you want to go in first?