text: [Themes: Science Fiction, aliens, space, male protagonist, strong NPCs, music, science fiction]
  
  Down on the horizon, thunderstorms cloud the sky. But the sea is fresh, and the air has taken on that orange hue.
  
  It's just a perfect day.
  
  Korhos is setting. Its outer halo burns with no warmth. Loud waves splash on the sand half a dozen meters from your feet. The deep blue of the ocean steals a bit of the sky's orange glow.
  
  The morning is brilliant.
  
  You can see Uncle Oren here.
  
  From the south, a thunderstorm is approaching.
  
  [Author's Note: Floating in space on a strange vessel, sole survivor of a world... and maybe of the entire human race, Ektor Mastiff must find a way through the cosmos, on a voyage that can change the history of mankind forever.]
  
  > look at Oren
  He used to be your mentor at the University Radiation Technology Division, during your first year of assignment as a teacher and researcher. A man well in his seventies, he always looked sturdy and healthy.
  
  Lately, his retirement seems to have struck him quite a blow. His hair has gone completely white, his posture slouched and his voice has got that sad croaking. He is staring at the horizon like a bird in search of a migratory route.
  
  > look at the thunderstorm
  Black, dense clouds expand above the southern horizon, growing by the minute. Inside them, thunder sparkles and growls.
  
  > examine ocean
  The deep blue is infected by shades of orange, reflecting from the sky. Waves come and go, peacefully.
  
  A white electric arc paints the southern sky.
  
  > ask Oren about the hyerotrope
  You prefer following the flow of the conversation.
  
  "It is so beautiful, isn't it, Ektor?" Uncle Oren says, pointing at the landscape. "It looks like Paradise."
  
  "It does," you reply.
  
  Oren sends a glance to the west, towards Grey Cape, saying: "I wonder what a man who was born here -- I mean here, on Monarch -- would think, looking at this place. The sun, the sea going orange, the endless sky."
  
  > talk to Oren
  "I was born here," you point out.
  
  "Yeah. So what do you think?" He turns to face you but stops, distracted by the impending storm.
  
  "It is breathtaking."
  
  > talk to Oren
  "Yeah. That's what I thought. This place is unbelievable to all of us. Indigenes or sat-born." That said, he sits on his heels and grabs a handful of sand. From it, picking lightly, he extracts a small, green crab and puts it on his other hand. "I don't know if I deserve an afterlife. I haven't done much evil in my days, but maybe our god has another point of view. What I know is: if I have to have a life after death, I hope it is in a place like this." He gets near the shore and neatly drops the crab into the water.
  
  "Hell," he exclaims. "I'd stay here for the rest of eternity, if you asked me!"
  
  Thunder rumbles from the horizon.
  
  > examine the beach
  Kilometers of white sand, running east-west as long as your eyes can see.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You're carrying nothing. You are wearing some clothes.
  
  > About yourself
  Shirt untucked from the shorts, just one button holding it closed. No shoes. And you forgot the belt at home.
  
  The thunderstorm is getting closer.
  
  > talk to Oren
  Somehow, you suddenly feel the urge to reveal your knowledge.
  
  "You know, Andy and I found something last week. It's a sort of... discovery."
  
  He turns to face you. He looks extremely tired, and you notice it for the first time. "Your research?"
  
  "Yes."
  
  "If it's Uni work, then," he says, banishing the subject with the back of his hand, "it's best discussed at Uni. Don't waste the moment, son. There will be time. This sunset won't last forever, and the next one is due in eighty weeks."
  
  > examine the storm
  Black, dense clouds expand above the southern horizon, growing by the minute. Inside them, thunder sparkles and growls.
  
  > talk to Oren
  "But..."
  
  "No buts," he says. "One can't live in his work, son. One must learn how to savor the moment."
  
  His eyes wander off, in the distance, towards the end of the world. For almost a minute he stays silent.
  
  Then, when you begin to think he's done, he says: "The wind is growing stronger. It's a hell of a storm, that one incoming."
  
  I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
  Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
  I've watched C-beams glitter in the dark
  near the Tannhauser Gate.
  All those moments will be lost in time,
  like tears in rain.
  
  --Roy Batty, Blade Runner
  
  You are floating away, drifting on the last raft the universe has given you. Even the stars provide no light.
  
  A crumpled, alien wreckage lays at your feet.
  
  [You have earned the A Hell of a Storm achievement]
  
  > About yourself
  You look battered and tired, but at least you're still alive. Although it doesn't make a lot of sense, lately.
  
  > Achievements
  Achievements for Andromeda Apocalypse:
  
  A Hell of a Storm    (You watched the sky turn dark)
  A Dark Omen    ( -???- )
  The Leaper    ( -???- )
  Invisible Killer    ( -???- )
  The Dweller    ( -???- )
  To Shed a Light    ( -???- )
  Ticketless Ride    ( -???- )
  The Fisher    ( -???- )
  The X Marks the Spot    ( -???- )
  Play It Again, Ektor    ( -???- )
  Communication Breakdown    ( -???- )
  A Matter of Time    ( -???- )
  A Matter of Size    ( -???- )
  Archaeologist    ( -???- )
  Cuboctahedron    ( -???- )
  Flying the Egg    ( -???- )
  To Be a Scientist    ( -???- )
  Sinking the Ship    ( -???- )
  The Shining    ( -???- )
  Hellen Ripley    ( -???- )
  Indiana Jones    ( -???- )
  Survivor    ( -???- )
  Gettare Rinors    ( -???- )
  
  > check your inventory
  You're carrying an useless railway ticket. You are wearing some clothes.
  
  > look at the ticket
  A worn railway ticket. It bears yesterday as its expiry date.
  
  [You can find a copy of the ticket in your original game's package (Ref. 1)].
  
  > examine wreckage
  The crumpled, alien wreckage -- the thing the Ancients have named "the Beacon" -- is a mess of distorted metal and crumpled debris. It did not survive the Monarch onslaught.
  
  Among the useless metal you find two special things, surprisingly unscarred. You pick up both.
  
  > look at what you're carrying with you
  You're carrying a golden disc, a cubic object and an useless railway ticket. You are wearing some clothes.
  
  > look at the disc
  A thin disc, made in copper and gold-plated. On it someone has carved interesting graffiti.
  
  [You can find a picture of the disc in your original game's package (Ref. 2)].
  
  > examine cubic
  A cubic object, ten centimeters wide. There is an image on the side, depicting a sort of six-legged spider.
  
  This is a battery, you mumble. And if I'm not mistaken, a radioactive one, even. Maybe plutonium-powered.
  
  > examine the image
  A cubic object, ten centimeters wide. There is an image on the side, depicting a sort of six-legged spider.
  
  > examine the clothes
  A dirty shirt, tucked inside dirty trousers. Dirty shoes. And you forgot the belt at home. Forever.