Kwon Ji-Woo tapped furiously at the keypunch device, inputing her choice and the justification for it, as well as comments that she hoped would preempt the inevitable arguments from her fellow readers. She had to be as brief as possible, however, as there was a limit as to how much she could put into her message. As advanced as the program was, the operating system's messaging feature could only process so much in a single entry.
As she went over her message, her mind began to wander as to how this recent obsession of hers started.
Questnight had been an attempt at alleviating the boredom inherent to being confined in a compound for months at a time as a matter of information security. With no contact to the outside world, they needed to make do with whatever distraction they had available to them. And the new network made possible by the Iron Tiger project gave them just that.
Two men had started Questnight. Dr. Henry Smith had been one of the original experts employed at the Institute of Sexual Sciences in Germany. It was even rumored that he'd been the one to help the previous Great Leader make contact with them, for whatever reason. Meanwhile, Smith himself was from the British Isles, having taken interest in the Sexual Sciences early in his career as a psychologist. He had fled back to England before the Second World War, and then had migrated here in Guangchou once he'd gotten word that the Institute had reestablished itself after fleeing Germany. And now, he was one of the resident shrinks at the compound, on loan from the institute as he completed another thesis.
An enthusiast of historical and mythical tales, he'd made a wonderful storyteller, writing the stories or "quests" that gave Questnight its name. He had started with stories of knights and dragons, from legends in Europe. Then had moved on to tales from China, then Japan, gaining complexity as he varied his tales.
On the technical side, Engineer Otto Bermann was a native of Munich, in Germany. He had fled his own country when the Nazis grew in power. He had even helped smuggle some German Jews as the the discrimination escalated and pogroms started, then had followed the institute as it moved to Guangchou.
With a history in electrical engineering, Bermann had taken a keen interest in computer electronics as well. He helped set up the network and then assisted Dr. Smith in working out Questnight.
Now, the two were but one of the already near dozen solo authors, paired writer and groups facilitating the current stories on the network.
The big draw into the whole thing had been the ability to vote for actions and choices presented throughout the 'quests' that each lead to various outcomes and paths in the story. Naturally, this had sparked constant arguments and debates as to what course of action should be taken at every junction. Something Ji-Woo had obsessively joined in on.
For voting, the authors would gather and tally the votes before sending a mass message to all the readers to show the results and winning choice. All features made possible by the innovative technology found in the laufpanzers, not to mention the experts gathered in the compound.
Currently, the most popular quest was by an anonymous solo author going by the moniker 'catgirllover69'. She or He had devised a quest where she and the other readers were to vote on the yearly plan a small communist nation in Asia would take as it navigated the decades and centuries amidst more powerful nations.
That it reminded the readers so much of their own homeland only made the debates even more passionate.
Right now, the nation's leader had discovered a potentially powerful secret project hidden by his predecessor, and so they voted for what kind of project it would be. And as she finally approved the message and cast in her vote, Ji-Woo could only hope that her fellow readers would see that her choice was clearly the right one.
After all, who doesn't like catgirls?
Note: Well I brought it up, so I may as well take responsibility. Enjoy. 👀
Edit: Why is a scientist from the Institute of Sexual Sciences in the compound? Why, to study the effects of prolonged confinement to a military facility on the sexuality of the personnel, of course! Also, possibly any effects of prolonged exposure to mechas to one's sexuality as well.
