Screamers story
Scientists create a futuristic weapon with the purpose of destroying all enemies. The situation changes when their invention becomes a threat to everyone, including the inventors. It is based on Philip K. Dick's 1953 short story "Second Variety".
14 total · 8 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| android | major | The Screamers androids were virtually impossible to distinguish from human beings. |
| diplomacy | major | Commander Hendricksson took it upon himself to negotiate a peace with the rival New Economic Bloc forces. |
| emergently intelligent being | major | The Screamer self-replicating killbots evolved to become sentient. |
| human vs. sentient machine | major | Commander Hendricksson and his team were fighting for their lives against the Screamer sentient killbots. |
| interplanetary war | major | The year is 2078 and a group of former miners, known as The Alliance, is fighting a multi-planet encompassing war against their former company, the New Economic Bloc mining corporation. |
| self-replicating machine | major | The titular Screamers are self-replicating, blade-wielding, burrowing robots that while originally built to kill enemy combatants, went about trying to kill everybody after having acquired sentience. |
| sentient machine | major | The Screamer self-replicating killbots evolved to become sentient. |
| unethical business practices | major | The backdrop to the story was that New Economic Bloc mining corporation pushed the Berynium it was mining as a solution to an ongoing energy crisis even after it had become apparent that the substance was a dangerous source of radiation and pollution. |
| hologram | minor | A hologram of Secretary Green relayed a message to Commander Hendricksson and his team. |
| nuclear weapons | minor | It was explained in the intro scroll text how the New Economic Bloc mining corporation had conducted nuclear bombing raids against Alliance rebels. |