Young Writers Society

Part 1: Project Artemis - A Stand Alone Complex

My story takes place in a future world (2102) where cybernetic augments have become very common. My MC "The Clock" is an asset working for a mysterious cabal known as "The Players". "The Players" are a group of hyper-intelligent metahumans from the early 20th century, created by the government to help with strategic planning and tactical strategy during WWII. The Players were all children at the time of their experimentation. Of 100 subjects, only 13 survived. They were granted extreme intelligence, as well as becoming biologically immortal. They possess limited telepathy as well.

After the War, the government dispersed The Players to their allies and some even were stolen by the Russians and Chinese. The Players consider themselves to be above humanity, being far smarter than even the most advanced savants.

At the turn of the century, one of The Players, known only as X-3, suggested that in light of the coming millennia that The Players celebrate with a game. He called it "The Thousand Year Game" and it had one goal. To see which of The Players was the smartest.

The game supposed to be a multiplayer chess game, having all The Players take turns simultaneously. However, another player X-7 thought the stakes were too low. Once, they had guided the course of human history. Their celebration should be no different. He suggested that the game is played in the real world, with humans as the pieces. The Players all quickly agreed. For the last 102 years, The Players have been using governments, proxies, and human assets to fight amongst themselves.

However, The Game will often leave collateral damage. This is where The Clock comes in. The Clock's job is to tie up loose ends and clean up the mess left over from certain moves and plays. The job is called The Clock because using The Clock to clean up a scene means that move is over and another one is beginning.

In the story, The Clock is a cyborg with no defined gender. The Clock will sometimes assume a male or female outer shell. The personality of The Clock is gender neutral.

The story follows the Clock's work to clean up "Project Artemis" when it discovers that the moves made by The Players are being sabotaged by a group known as the Unum Solum. Fearful that the nature of their game has been discovered, The Players dispatch The Clock to eliminate this group and protect their game.

However, the task is much harder than it appears. Unum Solum is seemingly everywhere and nowhere. None of its agents know anything about the activities of the others and all the while, the mastermind behind Unum Solum, called the Vultus Oculus seems to be getting closer and closer to exposing The Game to the world.

Let me know what you think of the story so far!

Jimmy