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Alive 6
UMD8730 HIDDEN TEXT

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Here's a  "disk filler" mixed  with some egotrip :) Indeed I've spent quite 
some time  working on UMD's - lame :) - gfx  and really I  enjoyed working with 
Grazey a LOT, he's surely a nice guy ! When he told me about a hidden part that 
need some filling, I offered to write  some crap which turned imho  into a nice 
modern fairy tale. I guess few of you have actually waited till the end of that 
scroller (or even found it ?) so I thought it would only  take 6 more Kb adding 
this master piece to this issue. Remember, I told you about the egotrip :)
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 It was one in the morning and the hairy guy was sitting in front of his 11 year
 old black STe, smoking some weed and enjoying a  glass of white wine with berry
 syrup. He streched his arm  to grab the  glass and took it to his mouth when he
 noticed  something  glowing at the  bottom. He  looked  around seeing  no other
 light source but a small bed lamp and his  monitor. Amazed he had a closer look
 at the strange light and  was suddenly swallowed  by the glass ! All went black
 for less than a second  and he found  himself in a strange place :  the sun (or
 what could  be taken  for such)  looked like some  blob wobbling, while the sky
 was made of a colorful  plasma. Damn, he  tought, where am I ? He  searched for
 known things and spotted some trees that had an ATARI logo shape.

 A small creature made of blocky polygons walked to him and said : don't panic
 fellow, this is YOUR world, don't you recognize it ?. At that moment, a flock
 of dotbirds flew by him. Our guy said nothing  but bent down and noticed that
 the  ground  seemed  to  be a 16  color  texture, quite nicely done btw. Nice
 dithering technique, he thought. He  also spotted environment  mapped flowers
 and suddenly knew he was in Demoland !

 Right, you ARE in  demoland, said the blocky  creature as if  it had been able
 to read the  man's mind. He  went on  and added : you  and your fellow Sceners
 have created us, you  are our makers. We have  existed for more than 15 years.
 Of course at the beginning the place wasn't like that. Our vision was smaller,
 the size of a  regular ST  window  but  pioneers  broke that  limit. They also
 brought  more  colors and  nice  melodies  as  well. As  the  creature stopped
 talking, our  Scener  turned  back  and  listened  to  the sound  of a dotbird
 standing on a branch. Yes, this is a nice chiptune, he said to himself.

 The blocky creature  spoke  again : then, flowers  started to  wither  and the
 place grew like a desert. We thought  you had all  forgotten about us and left
 for a better land... A more  promising one, or at least a more glowing one. We
 all thought  it was  our end  but... we still had  the faith... and  newcomers
 arrived. They created more wonders. Can you see that blob sun merging with the
 moon, is there a more beautiful show in your world ? Everything was wrapped up
 with textures of all kinds, springs of  distorting ones, bumpmapped  mountains
 and, well, 3D creatures  like me. Oh, you  know I am one  of the  oldest here.
 Others are  more  complex  and the  sun  shines  on  them, creating  waves  of
 reflections on their mapped bodies. Still I've been here  for a long time. I'm
 the Faith Keeper.

 the Faith Keeper ? What do you mean ? (Uh that weed was extra strong, I really
 need to get more !) Is there some sort of  religion here ? The little creature
 answered : no, there is no religion  here, no boundaries  or language barriers
 either. We all know  and respect each other here, whatever some do or are made
 of. We live here in perfect harmony. Sure some  there were some conflicts with
 the Accelerated ones, but we've  come to accept them as our evolution. Besides
 we soon realized  that they didn't look  down on us, merely  considering us as
 their ancestors or something.

 Hey, I really love that place, said our  Scener while  starring at a shadebob
 caterpillar struggling its way thru the mapped grass. Are you telling me that
 we have BUILT that p lace, creating  demos ? In  the bull's eye man ! Look at
 these, they  are mirage  pictures. I even  think  you painted  this one  over
 there. We  also have  huge libraries  that enclose  all  articles  that  were
 written in magazines. The singing  creatures deliver chiptunes  or modules of
 all sorts ! And we also have playgrounds with so many different games !!

 Why are you telling me this ? And what the  heck am I doing here ?? Well, said
 the blocky creature suddenly looking sad, we are all a bit concerned about our
 survival. See, back in 99 (in your earth years), many wonders popped up and we
 had a great deal  of fun thinking of what else would come. Then, things became
 less promising, activites  seemed to slow  down and we  realized that we could
 lose everything our world is made of ! Most of you are, naturally, growing old
 and think  of having a family  life. We agreed  with that, but  why should you
 leave us at  all ? Without  you, we cannot  survive  for long !!! Remember the
 dotbirds ? They  are a  dying  species ! Vector  lines  frogs  have long  time
 disappeared and the same goes for glenz vectors butterflies. We are aware this
 is part of the cycle  of life, but what if... we ALL disappear  and... NOTHING
 replaces us ??

 Then what  do you  want  from me ? and  why me ? The  chunky creature  stepped
 forward and said : We saw that your heart was bleeding from our dying and then
 why not you ? We know  you want  to keep  the scene alive  and we are aware of
 your concern and will. Our goal ? Stay alive !!! Every  day as I walk around I
 can see dark  spots marking the land like  graveyards. There used to be things
 there. Okay evolution takes  things off the  way it spawned  them but why  are
 there so many empty holes ?

 Yes, you're so right. I'm  trying to get  things tied  up, but I feel  like my
 grasp isn't  tight  enough. Things are taken  from me in  spite of my efforts.
 Still, I can promise you that you'll get plenty to read from me and from other
 people. As for demos, I can't tell. There are still delayed  demos I'd like to
 enjoy some day but it doesn't depend  on me. But you  can be sure that I'm not
 alone, there are still many  Atarians fighting for this realm. I'll  tell them
 your story, well -our- story and  hopefully  they'll  understand how vital our
 activities are !

 A shy smile  showed  on the  creature's face. He said : you're  not our first
 visitor and maybe you can see why  some of your fellows feel so motivated and
 active. I'm pretty sure you can keep it up too. Before you leave, there's one
 thing I need to unveil : you see, actually you created us, right ? Then don't
 be surprised if I tell you that WE created...

 All went black  all of  a sudden  and our  Scener was brutally  taken back to
 reality, erm his reality. He woke up in his bed, his alarm reading 10:37. Uh,
 that was a  dream (what else anyway ?). Well  let's try to  get a lesson from
 that (no, not "weed isn't good" :). I'll make some coffee and turn my STe on,
 I feel like doing  things today ! As he  walked away, he  couldn't notice the
 tiny dotbird that escaped from the sheet and flew to the window...

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That's the end of it... I hope you liked it as much as I did when writing 
it ! Maybe it will even make your heart go faster... Well it does to me :)
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Alive 6