View topic - [UPDATE] May 12th: Path of Least Time

unforum
a.r.g.b.b

Welcome!

New users, PLEASE read these forum guidelines. New posters, SEARCH before posting and read these rules before posting your killer new campaign. New players may also wish to peruse the ARG Player Tutorial.

All users must abide by the Terms of Service.

Website Restoration Project

This archiving project is a collaboration between Unfiction and Sean Stacey (SpaceBass), Brian Enigma (BrianEnigma), and Laura E. Hall (lehall) with
the Center for Immersive Arts.

Announcements

This is a static snapshot of the
Unfiction forums, as of
July 23, 2017.

This site is intended as an archive to chronicle the history of Alternate Reality Games.

Our Esteemed Contributors

The time now is Sun Nov 24, 2024 9:23 am
All times are UTC - 4 (DST in action)

View posts in this forum since last visit
View unanswered posts in this forum

Calendar

Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: General/Updates

[UPDATE] May 12th: Path of Least Time - Over the Bride

Page 1 of 1 [1 Post]

Author

Message

neopuff34
Decorated

Joined: 27 Sep 2004
Posts: 163

[UPDATE] May 12th: Path of Least Time - Over the Bride

Quote:

Over the Bridge
Friday, May 12 2006, 05:18 PM

The closest I got to seeing Miranda today was a blip on a screen.

The problem with pattern matching with algorithms is that it's all about probabilities. You can never be sure if someone really is the person you're looking for. The 'local global search' I set up this morning found a huge number of possible matches for Miranda in Stone Mills, although most of them were very low probability; you'll have noticed that I set the system to only display matches scoring more than 50%.

Even then, there were a few matches. One of them appeared in the east of the town at about 11:30am and then slowly wound its way through the streets heading west. The person was moving so slowly and openly that I was sure she must have been a shopper, despite the high probability of a match. Another match also appeared at 11:30am at the station in the northwest of town, and was slowly working their way west. I wasn't particularly worried about this match either, because the person appeared to have come out from the station, in which case they would've been picked up by the surveillance cameras if they were indeed Miranda.

Still, I couldn't leave this to chance - I had to check for myself. My leg had healed well enough for me to walk on, albeit carefully, so I left the walking stick in my hotel room and headed for the lift. I don't know whether this is the case for mall towns on Earth, but essentially the entirety of Stone Mills - not just the mall - is covered with moving walkways (we call them slidewalks) and escalators. They have various bands of walkways that move at different speeds, and while it's very fun travelling on them for the first day or so, they get intensely annoying when you realise they mostly take you places that you don't want to go to.

I started cruising the slidewalks at about 2:30pm when I was convinced, with the help of your emails, that there appeared to be at least two possible Mirandas, both of whom were heading for the mall. If they crossed paths, it would be very confusing to follow them both. To make matters worse, there was some sort of town-wide sale going on, sponsored by the chamber of commerce, so there were even more people out than usual. For about half an hour, I limped along until I intercepted the woman who came from the station. I only saw her for a second as we sped past each other on the slidewalks, but it was enough to tell me she definitely wasn't Miranda - this woman was pregnant.

My next target was the woman who'd appeared on the eastern edge of the city. By now, she was somewhere north of the mall, possibly heading towards the bridge. I spent a fruitless hour going back and forth on the slidewalks, gathering some odd looks from the shop assistants nearby and making myself dizzy. It was at 3:31pm when a high probability blip appeared further north that I realised she'd changed direction and was dangerously close to the station. I immediately hopped onto the high speed slidewalk and went to intercept her, barging past people in front of me.

Fifteen minutes later, I was there, and the blip was right outside the station. I managed a broken jog and caught up with the red-headed girl who was walking briskly towards the station. Just as I reached the doors, I grabbed her on the shoulder and spun her around. It wasn't Miranda. She said something sharp, I don't remember what, then continued into the station. My key beeped again, notifying me of a new match. Someone had been sighted - with a 96.4% probability of being Miranda - south of the mall, minutes from the bridge. I stood there, with a feeling of utter fear and realisation. I'd been following a doppelganger for over an hour while Miranda had been hiding south of the city and sprinted towards the bridge.

I took a high speed slidewalk to the bridge, but five minutes later another beep told me what I knew had happened - she was on the bridge, heading south over the river, out of Stone Mills and out of my reach.

EDIT: Bah. Curse my eagerness. This has already been posted in this topic. Sorry, everyone. Can a mod delete this please?

(Self-trout. The sweetest kind)

Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 7:18 pm

Display posts from previous: Sort by:

Page 1 of 1 [1 Post]

Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: General/Updates

Jump to:

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
You cannot post calendar events in this forum