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LOCATION: ISLE OF LIGHT – IDYLLIC SCENARIO
CITY: SEYCHELLES
DATE: AUGUST 31, 2026 | TIME: 12:00 PM
Moira Blackwell was enjoying the island. Over the past week and a half, everyone had been able to relax and just let things go.
But at some point, some of them had begun to get antsy. Even Moira started to wonder what her friends back home were up to. She tried calling her neighbor Judy to make sure the house was okay, and found her mobile phone didn't work.
"Rourke, can you have your IT specialist check my phone? I tried restarting it, but I can't get through to Judy. Some of the others have said the same thing."
Maddox didn't miss a beat. He reached for the phone and pocketed it.
"Sure, Moira. I'll go check on that now."
He walked the few hundred feet to the security building and closed the door behind him. The negative pressure in the room kept both the equipment and any occupants cool.
This System really wasted no effort in designing this place, he thought. Everything is exactly the same. Totally accurate.
He looked down at the device in his hand.
"Except for this, I guess," he muttered.
He wondered what to do about it when a new System message appeared.
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System Message
Welcome to Day 10 of [Scenario: Idyllic Isle of Light].
You are in a protected space and cannot be harmed.
External communications are temporarily disabled.
Travel outside of [Scenario: Idyllic Isle of Light] is temporarily disabled.
Special Challenges to stimulate your imagination and grow your mental and physical faculties are available.
Do you wish to commence Special Challenges? [Y/N]
Note: At least 2/3 of those present must agree before Special Challenges can begin.
---
Rourke's jaw dropped. "This shit's about to go off the rails," he muttered.
He stepped outside and walked casually back to the pool. Moira was standing in a small circle with a few of the other women, while the 24 men were walking toward the conference room, talking in hushed whispers.
Rourke handed Moira her phone and said he'd be back soon. Then he jogged up the concrete path and entered the conference building.
The men had just sat down when they saw him enter.
Spencer Brannock stood when Rourke entered. Spencer owned Brannock Industries, a group of five steel mills. One of those mills, Brannock Tubing, produced the casings ultimately used in Blackwell's horrific missiles.
"Rourke, I'm glad you joined us," Brannock said. "We think we might know what's going on here."
Rourke simply nodded and sat down. He'd learned long ago the power of silence. This wasn't even a negotiation, but he wanted to hear their theories before he decided how much to divulge.
Spencer looked at Rourke for a minute. Then, realizing the man wasn't going to start the conversation, he did so himself.
"From what I can tell, even though all of us are complicit in different ways with Gideon's plan, I know I speak for myself and a few of you when I say I was coerced into donating to this cause."
He looked around and most everyone was looking at the floor in shame or nodding along.
"When Gideon proposed this plan to me, I told him to get fucked. And in return, he threatened to kidnap my family and bring them to the island with or without me."
"He did the same to me!" one of the men said, and two more claimed the same experience.
"In the end," Brannock continued, "I wired the two billion he demanded and just told my wife we were going on an extended holiday."
"So what's your theory as to what's going on here?" Rourke asked.
Brannock studied Gideon's head of security for a minute. Maddox was hard to read.
"My theory is that Gideon and the others are far more complicit in this venture than we are."
He looked around the room.
"In fact, I'm certain of it. And I believe they're being punished for it. Right now. Scenario Idyllic Isle of Light implies there's another version that's… less idyllic."
Rourke nodded.
"I believe that too," he said. "And for the record, I would never have authorized the kidnapping of any of your families. I wasn't in the room when he made those threats. And when he told me about them afterward, the things I told him just about got me and my entire team fired."
Brannock appeared to relax quite a bit at that, and so did the others in the room.
"Look," Maddox said, "I don't know a lot more than you do at this point, but here's what I can tell you. We're safe in this space. I guess the Special Challenges are designed to give everyone something to do to keep us occupied."
He paused, trying to decide if he should…
He made up his mind.
"Because I believe we're going to be here for a while. Yeah, I suggest we vote for the challenges. The kids and wives are getting antsy, and when they realize they can't leave the island or communicate with anyone not here right now, their minds will wander in directions I'd prefer to avoid."
They discussed it for a bit and decided to get everyone together to talk openly with them. About everything but Gideon and his compatriots. And their ugly plan to fuck over humanity.
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LOCATION: ISLE OF LIGHT – NIGHTMARE SCENARIO
CITY: SEYCHELLES
DATE: AUGUST 31, 2026 | TIME: 11:45 PM
Gideon Blackwell lost track of how many times he'd died, and how long he'd been stuck in the very aptly named Nightmare of the Deep scenario.
He had died of drowning, stabbing, and pummeling. He had limbs cut off. He had his head cut off.
One time, a particularly huge clam had landed on the shore. It didn't move, and after a long time staring at it, he stepped closer. He decided to check it for pearls, thinking just maybe the gods or System in charge of this torture chamber decided he had enough.
He reached forward with his kitchen knife, ready to pry the clamshell open. When he was inches away, the thing popped open instantly, and a pearl the size of a bowling ball shot out at incredible speed.
It blew a hole right through the center of his chest. He had a split second to look down, admiring the perfect circular opening, before he woke in his bedroom again.
That one got to him the most. He just sat on his bed and started crying. Fifteen minutes later, three Barracuda Spearmen entered his room and ended that round.
It was the longest period of rest he had in ten days, but it was also the first time he'd begun to question his path in life. Until then, Industrialist Extraordinaire Gideon Blackwell made peace with his life choices by telling himself it was all for his family.
He may not have been the best father to his children. The best or most loyal husband to Moira. But he made sure their needs were all met. He never denied them anything, and so therefore it was fine.
Right?
He stood in his bedroom in front of the tall mirror and stared at himself.
No.
Of course it wasn't enough.
I never denied them anything.
Except for my love. My time and my attention.
He knew his son, now 21 years old, was a selfish prick. The kid had already gotten two girls pregnant and paid for their abortions. It happened in the same week, for fuck's sake.
The kid was an idiot and treated everyone around them like they were beneath him.
But was Gideon himself any better?
Not to mention his daughter. Jesus, the way she looked at him. It was like he was the worst man on the planet. In her second year of college, she'd gotten an apartment off campus and had only come home for Christmas. And only when Moira begged her.
At that moment, three more spearmen entered his room. When he saw them pause just a few moments before attacking, he knew he was finally onto something.
Self-reflection wasn't likely going to be enough to get out of this shit, but maybe… just maybe, it would ease the suffering enough that he could figure out what will.