Crystal City

[football_fever]

The story of the survivors of the end of the world |
Updated 7/14 Special Edition - What Happened in Miami?     



This is the same story as the one at ST, but I felt like sharing it here too because this seems like an awesome community already.

I've created 8 regions for the story already, with a few more planned.  They include:

Crystal City (obviously)
Alamosa (based on LA)
San Verona (based on San Francisco)
Paris (mostly props)
Key West
Apiliani (Planet of mostly water)
Tehat Maru (mostly desert)
and three more that are still a secret.

Different regions use Olympic Terrain Mod, one uses Painted Desert, most use Arctic/Snowcapped...there's a lot of variation

BATs include BSC, Cobb, Cerulean, PEG, Simgoober, Jeronij, HK, NDex, and none of the story would be possible without the BATs of KS, 2ch.net Simplayer, SOMY, and many other Japanese BATers.

I guess I should get to the story now, eh?





man in suit:   I'm just getting onto the plane now....it's only for
                                     a couple days...I know....I'll miss you too...bye sweetie...



man in suit (to passenger beside him): there's my new apartment...the blue one by the park...



****FLASH****


BBBBBOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM



Whenever I have that dream, I wake up in a sweat.  I have to check my surroundings.

Was it real? 

Was it a dream? 

Who am I?

Where am I? 

It's happened dozens of times.

Pathetic...I know.  I should know by now.  The knowledge should be burned into
my brain...that everything I knew for the first 28 years of my life is gone.
My home...my family...my wife...the high school I went to...they're gone.
It takes a minute, but it comes back to me.

Yes it was real

I wish it were a dream

I am Alex Davidson

And I am running from the ones that destroyed everything I knew.

[Fred_Ginger]

Football Fever, I'm so glad that you decided to bring Crystal City here too, now I wont have such a hard time finding it and fighting the stupid server errors, just hurry to get to the last part I read, okay?

[emilin]

I liked your CJ over at ST too. Lots of destruction.

[dedgren]

f_f, hey!  Nice to see you over here along with your CJ MD.  I'm behind on the ongoing story, so this will give me the opportunity to catch back up.  I'm sure you'll have folks interested here in watching what happens.

Good luck!


David

[Rayden]

This could interesting to follow Good start

[Fledder200]

OMG!!...now there are two places to read your updates!!
i love it, i love it, i love it!!

good to have you here Football  

[threestooges]

I can't say that I've seen the one at ST (though I should probably look at it now) but I can say that this looks like a great start (or continuation). Interesting character development too. I'll be back to see more.

[Flipside]

Destruction! Calamity!!!   

[bat]

Great start for a md!

[petercintn]

Nice!  Great story, I'm hooked already.

[football_fever]

Thank you for all your comments already!  I love the support of the community here.  I'm bored and at work, so I'm copying another of my updates.  I might be making very minor details, and will definitely be including some cool banners that weren't there on ST (because I wasn't that clever yet).



Fred_Ginger:  Thanks for being my first reply, Vicki!  I take it you were one of my lurkers at ST haha.  I believe I'm at 3200 views, with less than 300 replies now.  I nailed the lurker demographic

emilin:  I'm glad you saw it over there too.  I definitely try for 'tasteful' destruction, and not mindless violence.  Hope to see you around

dedgren:  If it isn't the legend himself!  Thank you for visiting my CJ MD!  I know it's a little discouraging to start reading a CJ when it gets to be too long.  You know all about that with your 30+ pager though haha.  I hope to have you as a fan now that it's nice and short

Rayden:  oooh another legend.  Glad to have you here, and hope you become a fan as well

Fledder200:  As long as you comment both places, my friend...you get the Crystal City Biggest Fan Award

threestooges:  It's quite alright if you haven't seen it on ST, you found it here.  It's a lot easier now that there aren't 50,000 new CJs started each day.  It gets bumped off the front page pretty quickly.  You can read ahead if you like...I have 16 chapters so far there.  Glad to have you here.

Flipside:  oh yes...and lots of it.  In flashbacks, everything builds to the destruction of Earth.  In the present day, everything is building toward...you'll have to see

bat:  Thank you!  I tried to have a nice attention grabbing intro.  No one likes a boring story.

petercintn:  Great that you're hooked!  I hope to see you around some more!


Replies are finished...here is Chapter 1.  I'll make a cool Chapter 1 banner when I get home.  Enjoy!


Alex Davidson
-Present Day


What would you do if everything you ever knew was destroyed? I mean everything.

Your family...house...car...the park you played in as a kid...the gas station with the pretty cashier...

Would you give up?

Would you run away from the problems until they caught up to you again?

Or would you fight? Fight for your right to live. The right that was taken away from the rest of the world.

I don't know what you'd choose, but I can tell you what I did.

I fought...I am fighting...

My name is Alex Davidson, and I am one of the last people of Earth...




Alex: good morning delsa

Delsa: I'm so glad you're here. If I had to stare at blank space for another minute I'd open the hatch and float away.

Alex: great...that makes me look forward to my shift

Delsa: heh...godnight Alex



and so I settled into the chair for another long monotonous shift. If you think going into space is exciting, I'm here to kill your aspirations. Don't get me wrong...it is exciting...for the first few days. Then a week goes by...then a month...then...who knows how long we've been here. There isn't exactly a sun revolving around us anymore to provide a sense of time.

Not falling asleep on a shift was easy. I hated sleeping. Whenever I closed my eyes to sleep...I saw it. The destruction. I didn't want to see it. Ever.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and knew my boredom was broken

Allison

Allison: hey, sleepyhead

Alex: Good morning

Allison: Morning? It's the middle of the night

Alex: For you it is

Allison: You know I'm always right. Plus, don't you owe me a backrub from the bet you lost the other night?

we smiled

Alex: Are you going to make some breakfast?

Allison: Sure, how do you like your eggs?

Alex: Not dehydrated?

Relationships with others in the crew were hot and cold at different times. Not with Allison. We were drawn toward each other somehow. I lost my wife, she lost her husband. We had both moved to San Verona recently, we were on the same flight...we both survived...

Suddenly the computer said something in a language we couldn't understand. There was a lot about the Hyperion we didn't understand.

Allison: What did it say?

Alex: I have no idea. But we'd better find out.

Allison: The first word it said...I think I actually remember it...remember the asteroid we nearly hit?

Alex: yeah...it was an alarm...

Allison: But for what?

Then it appeared



Alex: Oh...no...

Allison hit the alarm as I shouted for the people sleeping to get to stations

Greg: *%^& They found us

Alex: Delsa! You know how to use the weapons best! Fire at that thing!

Delsa: Firing weapons!



Alex: It didn't do anything!

Nick: They're coming closer...

Liz: They're firing!  Hold on!




Nick: we're hit! we need to land on that planet

Alex: Liz, can you get us into the atmosphere without burning up?

Liz: I think heat shieds are still intact

Nick: We'd last longer in the atmosphere without heat shields that we would fighting that damn ship

Alex: Let's do it

Liz guided the ship toward the white planet. I hoped this wasn't the end. We've come so far. Too far to just burn up haplessly in the atmosphere of some random planet.

The intense orange glow was filled the bridge. Everything was shaking violently. I thought maybe if burning up didn't kill us, then surely our brains would vibrate right our our ears.

Liz: 100,000 feet....80,000....60,000....reversing thrust....

The ship felt like it had slammed into the ground...but we were still falling

Liz: Decent is slowing...30,000 feet...10,000 feet...brace for impact




to be continued...

[Rayden]

Nice and easy following story. Very imaginative pictures. Looking forward for the continuation of that
Btw, thanks for considering me a legend, but that is something for David, Jer, John or Choco, just to mention a few of the real legends. I'm not yet up to their standards.

[thundercrack83]

Very interesting storyline you've got there, I can't wait to see how everything develops!

[Antoine]

Wow your city is impressive, your building very beautiful !!!

[threestooges]

And once again, another update well done. On a technical note (if I may): the last pic, the one with the crash, was that the meteor disaster? If so, it really show the scale of the project about to come as those mountains behind it would have to be huge. I may read ahead at ST, but it's just as good here.

[petercintn]

Ah, the sound of satisfaction.  But if you don't keep this going... I'll . 

[kimcar]

 :thumbsup:Great story and pics. I like science fiction story very much and your is well done . keep going

[Fledder200]

wow what does that award involve? some hugs? freebees? a new manslave?
great stuff football!!
i see that you redid your "first"pics!!
the look ten times better now!!

[Naryanna]

Hey hey! Looking good sweety, looking good.

[football_fever]

Sorry I haven't updated in a bit.  I've been working at both of my jobs, and when I have any free time, I've been trying to make an new update for this CJ at ST (where I'm on update 22) or working on a new side project called SHT - The Simtropolis Humor Team.  Our CJ at ST is called The SHT Show, and is meant to bring humor and fun back to a site that has seen increasing turmoil the last few months.  Now that all the main members are members here (fledder200, Schulmanator, jacqulina, Archangel9, Narya) we're thinking of launching it here at sc4d, as we like to spread the love around, and not stash it in any one place.
Anyway, here are some replies

Rayden:  you are too a legend...if not, getting there.  I used to see you around EVERYWHERE at ST.  Now I'm seeing you everywhere here...

thundercrack83:  Can't wait?  Just grab a Snickers...

Antoine:  Thank you.  I recently built a new city for the first update, because the one I used to have in those pictures was a griddy, abandonded mess.  My city-building is much better now, and I'm glad you like it

threestooges:  Yeah, I thought of that when I was making the new updates (I updated my first three updates a couple months ago).  The meteor looked good before, but now it would have to be much bigger for the same effect.  It's good that you're paying such close attention though...you might need it later when the story gets all loopy

petercintn:  Don't worry, I'm keeping this going here too.  Keeping the entire CJ at ST is like keeping your prize piece of art on a rickety swing bridge over a canyon that's on a fault line that might quake at any time and cause a volcano to open up right under the bridge.  Ok, maybe that bad, but I don't want my stuff over there getting deleted.

kimcar:  Ooooh kimcar visiting my CJ.... ()stsfd()I feel all special now.  I'm glad you like my sci-fi story.  I try to keep everything as realistic and believable as possible.  I don't like stories that treat audiences like the Lethal Weapon movies did...(Me:  Whaa?  How did that happen??)

fledder200:  Yah, man, I redid those pics like...months ago.  You're stipped of your title as CC's #1 fan, and it is given to...

Narya:  THIS GIRL!!   I suppose I call you Naryanna here, eh?  How about just Karin?   No?  Ok...I'm giving the award back to Ferry..



Chapter 2 - Where is Here?


Alex Davidson
-Present Day



As soon as I came back to conciousness, I could feel the chill of a panic flowing up my spine.

Once I looked around I noticed it could be the chill of just plain cold.

The instant I opened my eyes I was blinded by a bright light.  Is this death?
Cold and bright?  No, I wasn't dead.  I was still in the ship.  Wait...I was still in the ship
and there was bright sunlight shining in my eyes?  That's not a good thing


I noticed two people awake trying awaken the others.  It was a violent impact.
Who was unconcious, and who was dead?


Theresa: Alex, you're alive!

Alex: Yeah...ow, what happened?

Theresa: We're alive.  All of us except Paula and Ryan.

Alex: Oh my god...where are they?

Theresa:  Still in their seat.  We need to get everyone out of here that's still alive before
          something happens.

Alex: You mean the ship explodes?

Theresa: Or worse



I knew what she was talking about.  I didn't know how long I was out, but there couldn't be
much time to lose.


I went to the closest person to me, a middle aged man named David.



Alex:  David....David wake up...David....

David: oh...

Alex: David, you need to get up

David: are we alright?

Alex: For now we are, but we need to get out of here



I started to wake up the next person when it hit me...wasn't Allison next to me?

This time the chill was worse than when I didn't know if I was dead or alive...I
didn't know if she was dead or alive.




After a short time we were all awake.

Nick: Alex...glad to see you're alive

Alex: You too, Nick


Although Nick and I had many disagreements, we respected each other a lot.  The rest of
the group looked to the two of us for leadeship.  Why me, I don't know.  Apparently
I give good advice.  We didn't see eye to eye on many things, but one thing is for sure.
If one of us was gone, this cold place was sure to get a lot colder.


Nick: I saw something up on that hill.  It looked like it was made of stone.
      We should head there since the Hyperion won't keep up warm very long.

Alex: Good plan.

I addressed the crew

Alex: Everyone!  We're going to head up to the stone structure on the top of that hill.
      Grab whatever food and supplies you can, we need to leave as soon as possible.  You have 5 minutes


On the back of my mind was Allison.  Where had she gone?

I walked along the hull of the Hyperion.  Time to grab whatever food I could.


"You really inspired the troops there, William Wallace.  Nice Speech"

The voice came from the food storage....Allison


Alex:  Where the hell have you been?

We hugged

Allison: Well, I figured this is what we'd be doing eventually, so I started packing while you
         were still napping.


She had all the food packed into storage bins...all ready for transport

Alex: you're a genius.


The remaining 8 members of the Hyperion hiked up the hill to the stone structure.  As we arrived we found
the ruins of what looked like a castle.  It seems there was life on this ice cube at one point.




We found part of the ruin that went underground...perfect shelter from the cold.  Who knows how cold it
gets here at night.

Delsa: That was quite a hike Mr. Boyscout leader.  Is there any water in there?

Alex: Yeah, here


She took a drink and set it down on part of the stone wall.

Delsa: So what do we do next?  Live here until our food runs out?

Nick: We're not sure yet.  Today was kind've a lot to absorb.

Liz: Look...Delsa's water...


The surface of Delsa's water was shaking like Jurassic Park when the T-Rex was approaching.
I'd hate to see what a T-rex looked like on this planet.

But it wasn't an animal at all.  Pretty soon the entire place was shaking.  Delsa's water fell onto the floor




Liz: it's them...

Nick: They're going for the Hyperion




Theresa: They're going to find us!

Nick: You don't know that

Theresa: What about the tracks in the snow?

Alex: Maybe they don't see us

Everyone knew that was a lie, but we all lied to ourselves that it might be true.
If they could find our tiny ship in the middle of billions of miles of space, they could find us
Huddled less than a mile away in a stone castle

Miraculously they took off...after what seemed like an hour or more...


Alex: How did they miss us?

Nick: I don't know...but it seems we might be safe here for a little while.

Allison: I hope so...the only question...




where is here?