Schrödinger's Prisoners

Schrödinger's Prisoners is a story written by LettuceBacon&Tomato. It was posted from July 30, 2009 to August 8, 2009 and can be found here.
It takes place before the first RP.
==Synopsis==
The story starts with Dr. Bruce Tinner giving a presentation to Dr. Ian Branston explaining the significance of his new invention; a virtual reality machine which immerses the users in an ultra-realistic virtual environment. His goal is to clear for use in military bases, for training purposes. A team composed of Dr. Rudyard Shelton, soldiers Compton, Ridgeway, Finney, and civilian Biff Carlo are hooked up to the machine. Tinner then hooks himself up, to serve as their guide
Shelton and the soldiers wake up in a Pelvanida seemingly identical to the one they just left, but it is a virtual building constructed by Tinner. Tinner explains that to escape the machine successfully, they have to accomplish a set of three exercises under the time limit of three hours.
The team successfully completes the first exercise, clearing the hangar of enemy AI units, but Pvt. Finney is killed, and Tinner explains that when you die, you are put in a state of unconsciousness, and cannot continue to help in the exercises.
The second exercise involves a poisonous gas spreading throughout the base. Compton reaches auxiliary control, but Ridgeway and Shelton are distracted by a virus which turns the auto-turrets against them. They neutralize the virus and lock themselves in a freezer just before the gas reaches them.
The third task begins; four AI staff members have been generated in the base. One of them is an enemy spy; Shelton and Ridgeway have to find which one. They locate Dr. Zenarchis who threatens them with a pistol, so Ridgeway shoots him. They attempt to travel through the air vents, but the seal breaks and Ridgeway is killed.
Shelton travels alone, locating an emergency station and getting a gas mask to protect him from the gas. He finds that Compton died of gas in auxiliary control, and decides to head for the control room. Along the way, he meets Tinner and forces him to come with him.
In the control room, they see James Zanasiu setting a bomb. Shelton relieves him of the bomb and disposes of it using a Small Hadron Collider. Carlo comes on the radio and taunts Tinner, explaining that he took over the base and is using it to kill Shelton and Tinner, so he can be alone in his machine. Tinner is killed, but Shelton travels to Carlo's office, convinces him to stand down, and successfully guesses the password to shut the machine down, freeing everyone in the machine.
==Characters==
*Rudyard Shelton
*Bruce Tinner
*Compton
*Ridgeway
*Finney
*Biff Carlo
*Ian Branston
*Smithson
*Bruce's unnamed second assistant
*James Zanasiu (AI)
*Johnson Zenarchis (AI)
*Martin Ng (AI)
==Trivia==
*This is the second Darwin's Soldiers story to be started, after Card of Ten, and the first to be finished.
*This is the quickest story to be completely posted, taking only 9 days from start to finish.
**This record was finally broken over nine years later, with Next of Kin taking only 4 days despite being significantly longer. 
*This is the first story to have a title following the format of "{Scientist}'s {Noun}". Future stories would continue this trend with Pavlov's Checkmate, Kinsey's Mimic and the Nietzsche's Soldiers stories.
*Dr. Tinner, his unnamed assistant, and the James AI will appear again in Nietzsche's Soldiers. Dr. Kerzach, who was referenced occasionally in this story's dialogue, plays a major part in Nietzsche's Soldiers.
*The AI who spawned in the infirmary was never seen.
**The unfinished video game project Prototype would have revealed the AI to be Robin Kyle. The infirmary would have served as the game's tutorial level, with the rest of the game starring the actual Kyle in an unrelated storyline.
Category:Stories
Category:Real-world articles