A science fiction interactive novel WIP set in a future of space travel, intersystem politics and somewhat unfortunate protagonists.
Tags: science fiction, mystery, action
Links: [PLAY] [RO info]
Current progress: Chapter 3 (incomplete), ~86 000 words
Latest update: 2023-08-13
Space is colonized. To varying degree and quality, but human ingenuity has spread far and wide.
You are a trained spacecraft pilot in the employ of your alma mater, which is what ended up saving your life. Literally.
Something shook the billion-year order of the Solar system. Something turned Earth into a freezing rock with monumental sculptures of ice. Something forced you to trade your snug apartment in New York for a bunk bed in a glorified closet aboard a carrier ship whose carcass was the academy playground for research projects.
Now stranded somewhere in an indifferent sector, you and those around you slowly work towards a fragile promise of a life somewhere with real gravity (though, to be frank, promises is all you seem to be getting). That is, until one seemingly innocuous assignment — fly around and bother some rocks — kickstarts a chain of events that turns you from a nobody to the most wanted person in the galaxy.
You just need a minute to figure out why.
But it is space. Sometimes things get weird.
Keep your wits about you.
‣ play as male, female or nonbinary
‣ 4 romance options, 2 male and 2 female, or just friends, or simply reluctant acquaintances stuck with you for knowing dangerous information
‣ navigate the remote space whose customs you are yet to learn and introduce your own brand of diplomacy
‣ solve the mystery of what rendered the cradle of humanity uninhabitable (maybe)
‣ visit luxury space yachts and outlaw dens, and decide which ones are more dangerous
‣ find an abandoned (?) hub to call your home away from home away from home
‣ oh, and try not to forget the cat that is now, somehow, your responsibility
Apparently, it is this blog's 2 year anniversary on Tumblr today. Wow. Allow me to just say how grateful I am to have you all here, to have you follow this story! To commemorate the day, here is a snippet from the next update:
Your promotion to New York was a blur. It seemed like a joke that someone would look at your entrance exam replay, deem it impressive and then act upon it of their own volition, suggesting you get a spot not in the Embry–Riddle training program, but at the esteemed NY Space Research Academy, the finest in the States.
It was a joke until it wasn't, documents appearing hot on your account. Paid tuition for the top-of-the-line program in astronautics and extra-terrestrial exploration, the ultimate preliminary to success. You were even contacted for interviews, a breakout star in this tough field.
Stardom, you learned, is a dwelling of very territorial people.
Who knew one look at a pair joined in a reunion hug could trample you so? And exes, at that. Exchanging questions, worries and concerns in the ways that shows effortless familiarity, the unspoken connection elusive to everyone else but them. A real miracle in the absolute, literal middle of nowhere.
And you are...here.
The emergency guidance strips are the only rebels in your small war on light, their neon colors dance around the turns almost in tune to the hum of the ship systems. To turn them off too you need to go into the maintenance room, which will call attention to this innocent sabotage all the way in the cabin, and that is the last thing you need.
You want to be alone. That is what you are. That is what you will be forever.
The world is crumbled, your world is, the little life you have just begun piecing together smashed, and now you have this on your hands, a problem the size of the universe, with nothing to look forward to in the end. Yes, despite everything, you still cling to the silly hope there will be an end. It is just bleak. No light at the end of it.
No one to reunite with. No life to stitch back together. No one who shares your memories of anything. The size of space is immense. The science of it is phenomenal. The views never get boring. And everyone, or maybe just you, is so exhaustingly alone.
You recall watching the reunion as if from behind a one-way glass. Shut off from the rest of the world.
Steps.
Steps tear through the silence and come to an abrupt stop. You do not bother looking up. Maybe they won't notice you. Maybe they will think you are sleeping. Maybe they—
"Hey. What are you plotting?"
Well, no. Of course Kade would not possess enough tact to let it go.
If this is a joke, you aren't laughing. You have found silence to be a good deterrent for bad jokes.
He clicks his tongue and makes a few tentative steps into the room. It barely has space for one, and now you can see his boots.
"What could I possibly be plotting?" you ask, words grinded into dust by your reluctance to let them out.
"Dunno. You left the hangar like you had lots on your mind."
He is paying attention. He always has. First it was guarded, and now it seems to have grown into a habit.
"Lots of things happened."
"Yeah? I didn't think so."
"Figures," you murmur, head still hung to see nothing but the steel floors.
All the invitation he needs.
With his innate agility, he flops right onto the floor, his presence not possible to shut out just as easily now. Lately, you think, he has taken looking at leisure when you talk up a notch, so much that it is obvious how much he tries. Even as he sits now, bent knee propping up his arm, peering up at your face, what should look effortless is instead somehow awkward.
"It's a human emotion," you deflect and pad what you say next with a smile. "You wouldn't understand."
"You are so perceptive," he says, face completely impassive.
"Takes one to know one."
He sighs.
"Which emotion?"
You look right into his eyes, unblinking, and he does the same. One part of you loathes to admit it out loud, still used to keeping all of your soft spots close to chest around him; another just wants to scream it out, admit the truth once and maybe, possibly, likely not, it will stop haunting you. And even you cannot say how tired you are of taking risks anymore.
"You saw that." A small admission would be fine, you tell yourself. The heavy coat of doubt slides off your shoulders at that thought.
"I saw a lot," he says in lieu of asking you to elaborate.
But not everything can be put into words, especially words that do not make one look so small and so weak and so...sad. That's just not something to come up with on the fly. Maybe there are angles.
"What they have," you say, hoping he would not need any more explanation than that. "And you... You have Priscilla, and she has you. And Charis—well, you know."
He frowns, knotting your ramblings together. Maybe from the comfort of having his sister by his side it is not so apparent.
"So..." His mouth opens and closes a few times. "What you're saying is you're—"
"Lonely," you hurriedly spit out, because the idea of him accusing you of this and you being unable to refute stings. Even Ward looks surprised. "Even if we somehow deal with everything and come out alive, I will be alone. Don't even have family to fall back onto..."
"Family," he repeats aimlessly, still absorbing what you have so generously dished out.
"Yes, Kade, family. Because what else can hold in here? It is why people come back for each other."
And they never stop searching.
"I mean," he briefly looks away, working a frown out of his face, "that's not the only reason."
"Is it now?" It feels like he is trying to take something away from you, some pain you feel oddly defensive about. He says that, but he would not have worked so hard to find her were Priscilla not his sister. "A biological family, an almost-family, a family of circumstance. Hm. I wonder what is there in common?.."
You can swear he is pouting—you still have the power of easily riling him up—but it is tough to look away from the overgrown pond in his eyes.
"Okay, fine!" he exclaims, breath hitched. "Then just point at someone and name them your family."
Your mouth cracks into a smile against your will. His jokes are only getting worse.
"Just like that, huh?"
"Just like that."
This back-and-forth finds it easy to bounce inside your chest, nonsensical humor tapping the hollowness left behind by your solitude until it aches a little less. You find it easier to just let him drag you along than pick at the thoughts inside your head.
"And who should I try this fool-proof method on, pray tell?"
You cannot say what it is, maybe because you have shown a smile or two in the past five minutes, but his guards seem to have evaporated.
"Fuck...Me, I guess?"
You repeat the moment inside your head. It does so to a thump coming from somewhere inside you.
And then you repeat it out loud. "You."
He bites his lip before he speaks. You can only hope the drum you hear is not too thunderous.
"I can be your family."
You can picture it vividly. He sees your one-way glass and takes a hammer to it.
"Family?" A throaty chuckle escapes you, long before you can sift the bitter surprise out of it. "Kade, are you proposing or are you adopting me?"
"Don't—Jeez!.." he scoffs, looks away and brings a palm to his forehead. A moment too late: his eyes has always been too expressive, his face too obvious. Of all the moments, he chooses now to dare look vulnerable. "Don't make it weird."
"Oh, for you to be self-aware," you lament with a weak chuckle. Its warmth spreads through you like sunlight.
For better or for worse, it seems like you at least have options.
Hey!! Just played the update and loved it and so glad you’re still continuing this project. I enjoy the idea of getting to know the characters and that they don’t already have solid defined relationships with the MC. The world building so far is interesting and that and the political intrigue kinda remind me of The Expanse a bit (which I love because that show is my fav). Thanks again!!
Thank you so much for such a lovely message! Doubly excited to see my work mentioned in the same sentence as The Expanse [x] 🤩 I really wanted the plot to lean into the corporative future of space travel but without the edge of The Outer Worlds and Borderlands, so I'm glad it is showing through!
i wanted to ask bc i didn’t find it anywhere (or i just suck at searching) do you have a more in depth description or an image of the suit mc wears?
hi, thank you, doing my best given the situation 😓 Hope you're doing great yourself!
I love this question so much! What they wear hasn't actually been detailed anywhere from the visual perspective, but since there are technically three layers to their outfit, behold my essay of a response!
The bottom-most layer is what they wake up already wearing in chapter 1: not a standard but a necessity. By design it is reminiscent of high-tech functional underwear we see in stores, since its purpose is to regulate body temperature and protect skin from possible burns (don't worry about it haha). It hosts a part of Chiron monitoring and processing power (don't worry about it either), but it is generally not obvious or felt by the person wearing it. The typical set is leggings, a tank top and a long-sleeve top, color options are not dictated by anything but the limited available stock: black, dark-gray and brown in order of popularity. The general design is solid base color, on the left side of both the longsleeve and the pants there is a vertical stripe that is about 4 inches (10cm) wide, in a lighter shade and with a honeycomb pattern. This layer is passable sleep- and loungewear in-universe.
Some helpful references:
The one on top of it, "the rustler", comes on for everyday readiness and offers limited protection from cosmic radiation, decent protection from acids, high and low temperatures. The concept of such a layer is widespread but those with money actually care to invest into fashioning it and using a version of the material that behaves like normal fabric. The Academy took a utilitarian approach for crew uniforms since the sound is usually inhibited by the outer space suit anyway. For MC that would be a utility suit similar to fighter pilot ones, but in two-piece and without the respective safety features (i.e. simpler). It is not skin-tight, the jacket has a collar, reinforced shoulder and elbow sections, hugs tightly at its bottom. The pants are a bit baggy with reinforced knees and snap around the ankles. The color is a dusty dark-gray, Academy patches on the front left (above the heart) and on the right upper arm. This is what they would wear on a ship or in the atmosphere, their only option for everyday clothes (currently).
Some helpful references:
The outer space suit maintains pressure and oxygen, as well as offers improved protection from radiation. It is a non-bulky full body suit complete with a detachable helmet. Reinforced by lightweight metal plating, it is made of a thick woven material, ribbed around the joints not to restrict the wearer's movement. The oxygen and the booster systems are located on the back of the wearer and are partially interconnected. The color of the main material is dark gray, metal plates are a shade lighter. Same location of the Academy insignia as the suit beneath it.
Some helpful references:
The crews all wear a detachable wrist system, for which there are attachments on the outer space suit and their "everyday" one. It is a screen roughly 4 by 2 (10x5cm), used for communications and data access.
Certain aspects may change as I keep working on the story, but this is the current state of outfit affairs.
Taking into account the feedback I've gotten about the transition between the morning and evening sections of the day that the update covers, I did a small rewrite to include a conversation where you can lay out your doubts and motivations about the...break-in. The change affects those MCs that saw it necessary to follow the Concord Commissioner's original order in contrast to Ward's refusal to do so (happens on board Azure/Trailblazer still), as well as those more inclined to work with Orion.
I have also improved the pacing for the MCs on the other side of this particular dilemma a bit, but nothing to warrant a replay, really. Should just generally flow better for any new playthrough.
I've also changed wording here and there and took care of the typos and errors you guys have pointed out. Thank you, and I hope you have or you are enjoying the latest piece!
Chop Shop is strictly 18+ for language, themes, and potential explicit content.
🔗 - Game Intro | Bug Report | ko-fi
WE ARE LIVE!!! Chop Shop has officially relaunched on Itch.io! Available to play on desktop, tablet and mobile.
Prologue - EP .02 are ready to play - the same as the previous demo - with a new word count of 120k. The choicescript demo will be taken down at the end of the month.
Thank you so much to those who have helped me during this transition period of development! It has been crazy frustrating but I am so much more in love with the game than ever. And thank you to everyone who has been patiently waiting - hope you enjoy all the new bits and bobs!!
PLAY THE NEW DEMO NOW!
AN: CS has had some significant rejigging and rewriting. You can read the authors notes under the cut.
chop shop now has it's own UI! woohoo! (totally did not kill me) this, of course, will come with teething problems and accessibility issues. i am welcome to constructive feedback!
there are a lot of new dialog boxes to explore, especially the dashboard, which includes the PC's profile, inventory, contacts and a glossary page. (the stat definitions page from the old choicescript demo has been scrapped, too much text that wasn't needed.)
chapters are now called episodes! not a huge change but i prefer the vibe yknow.
there have been some extensive rewrites - especially in ep .01, the bar scene got a lot more fleshing out - so i expect typos and grammar errors have slipped through. this doesn't bother me too much but i appreciate any one who spots them to send them in!
there is now an 'end game' scenario in ep. 01. i won't be providing a walkthrough as i think it's relatively obvious given the scenario but it does give you an achievement!
i've kept achievements like the old choicescript demo but it no longer rewards points. maybe i will think of something to reward the player with later down the line?? who knows
i don't want to explain ALL the new details as i really encourage people to go find all the new flavour text and other things etc!!
next -- if you have not noticed, i have added a bug report to the links list. all issues, bugs, and errors found in the public demo can now be reported via the new bug report form.
in terms of writing, i am now porting episode 3. i have had rewrite plans for this chapter for a while, so i imagine this port will take some time. i was in the middle of writing episode 4 when i decided to make the twine jump lmao, so it hasn't been touched for a LONG time, probably since march. i plan to jump straight back into writing when episode 3 is all done!
like before, ep 3 won't be released until ep 4 has a first draft and i'm happy with the shape and direction. so it will be some time before i am able to release new content. but - we ball!
thank you for reading this far and i hope you enjoy the new and improved demo! happy reading! - becky :^)
Hm... I don't know if I made a wrong choice, if there's some goto error, or I'm just confused by the plotline, but I have absolutely no clue how I got to the part where I'm scoping out security behind a fence and considering using an EMP for some reason? That just seems completely out of the blue, and also totally out of character considering the choices I've made thus far.
It very well might be a misplaced/missing goto somewhere. It would help immensely if you told me what your character did in the morning (colony or flight), so I could trace it.
If it's not goto, it might be unclear from the text alone for certain choices/personalities, though I'll need to take a closer look. Either way it looks like to have a very doable fix, should be up today or tomorrow. Thank you!
