The Paradox Effect - public beta v.0.94
Total Conversion for Quake
Friday, August 29, 1997

Story by:	Stephen "Serapis" Stofko
		Terence "TLC" Choncoff

The field dressing felt tight as you turned your attention back to the
shuttle. Earth's first starship would never make another flight; the
firefights that had erupted amongst the crew had seen to that. The
ventilation system on the shuttle kicks on and tries to deal with the
smell of burnt flesh and blood as you pull away from the HERMES and plot
your course to the alien world. You have nothing to do for the next three
hours and fight a losing battle with your mind as you drift along...
Humanity had made it to several star systems and was colonizing a dozen
worlds. The advance of the sleeper ships could not be stopped now even
if anyone was willing to try. Historians now claimed that nothing could
now stop the human race; it was entrenched on enough real estate that no
disaster could claim everyone. They were proven wrong. Messages from the
most coreward of the colonies took an odd and bizarre turn. they were
filled with an insane chatter, not unlike a thousand voices shouting at
the schizophrenic through every neuron in their brain. Then they went
silent. Eight years later another went beserk. The dominoes continued to
fall until Earth was swept up in this wave of insanity. Within a matter
of weeks, civilization was to go from normal to insane. 'The Effect'
began as the cool breeze before the storm.. Meanwhile, construction had
begun of the first faster-than-light craft at Goddard Station and security
continually purged those most effected from the project. Starship
navigation between the colonies was the first to be affected - spatial
coordinates began to change . . . (how could a planet not be at a
precalculated location?!?) Then, as time passed (slow or fast? one
couldn't tell...), things became different. Objects, structures and
eventually people began to phase, dissappear or warp into unimagineably
grotesque shapes. Finally, during the final few days, the shockwaves hit.
Two-thirds of the Earth's moon was sent careening beyond the solar system
while the devastated planet Earth suffered tremendous earthquakes and
tsunamis. The cries of a billion voices were lost in the vacuum of space
while the entire planet, locked in the violent throes of death, finally
collapsed under the tremendous forces created by 'The Paradox Effect' (TPE).
A scientific study of 'The Effect' had been organized and operated from
Goddard Station. As the Terran Alliance military liason to this project,
you were prone to the latest information - including that of the projected
origin of 'The Paradox Effect'. Just hours before the impending doom which
was to befall your homeworld, you were able to gather a crew and comandeer
the only available starship - the Terran Alliance Star Cruiser 'Hermes'.
As the journey towards the source of the Paradox Effect, as it was now
called, continued you were forced to deal with members of the crew as they
started to exhibit unpredictable and unruly behavior. The mutiny occurred
in the outskirts of the target star system... it was lucky for you that you
proved to be better armed. 

The shuttle touches down and you jump with a start because no time seems to
have passed. You cycle the door open knowing that it seals your doom.
Microbes that your body has never had to repel must be penetrating you from
every direction. You may be a walking dead man, but the obituary hasn't been
written yet. Perhaps, in your final hours of desperation, you can find the
device which has destroyed your entire civilization...maybe even find a way
to reverse the effect... 

Turning back to the shuttle, smoke and the smell of burning flesh fill your
nostrils...the corridors are filled with bloody, twisted bodies - several of
which appear to be uncontrollably twitching. Weapons and ammo are strewn about.
You manage to find a standard laser rifle with a small amount of ammo. The
sounds of an alien creature ring out in the distance. Bloodlust fills your
heart and soul - its either you...or them...

It's going to be a good day... 