<div id='passages'></div>
<h2 id="back">FLOATERS</h2>
<div id='iris'></div><<a 'Spawn 20'>>
<<run Floater.spawn(20)>>
<</a>>
<br>
<<a 'Kill all'>>
<<run Floater.kill()>>
<</a>>
<br>
<<a 'Freeze'>>
<<run Floater.freeze()>>
<</a>>
<br>
<<a 'Unfreeze'>>
<<run Floater.unfreeze()>>
<</a>>
<h2>[[Floaters...|2]]</h2>
<small>A post-choice IF game.</small>...their lives are short.
They `.spawn()`.
They whiz around in the aqueous void.
Then [[die.|3][Floater.kill(200)]]Still they `.persevere()`.
Before dying, they create copies of themselves.
This is called parthenogenesis.
Floaters don't `.mate()`, nor do they [[`.love()`|4]].
<<run Floater.think('Love...', 3)>>
Love is notoriously hard to implement, and an overall waste of time.
Still, two floaters will sometime share similar `vector` values.
In this case, they can stick together, for a bit.
Not really what we would call love. "Randomness-induced proximity" at best.
Beside, it only last [[so long|6]].<<run Floater.think('Collisions...', 4)>>
Collisions are unavoidable.
It only takes a frame's worth of time to drastically change a floater's direction.
18 milliseconds.
Their microscopic bodies squish to absorb the impact.
It does not seem to [[bother|7]] them.Collision detection is far from perfect, it is a compromise.
More often than not, those who should meet avoid.
Floater lives are arbitrary, from start to end, through collisions.
Yet they do not question the [[state of things|8]].<<run Floater.think('Why...', 3)>>
They do not `.askQuestions()`, they `.knowBetter()`.
Floaters don't have the ability to perceive their surroundings, for performance reasons.
There isn't much to perceive, for performance reasons.
They do not `.lookAround()` but `.move()` straight ahead, [[lost in thoughts|9]].Floaters do not have the ability to `.think()`.
Thoughts are notoriously difficult to program. Where does one even start?
How does one decide which thoughts qualify as such?...
Still, they [[do|10]].<<run Floater.think('Thoughts...', 4)>>
They whiz around blindly, lost in thoughts.
Sometime they stick together, sometime they collide.
And their tiny binary minds dream up tiny binary [[fantasies|11]].<<run Floater.think('Dreams...', 5)>>
Floater dreams are unknowable, it is a quirk of the engine.
They happen in the idle time between `AnimationFrames`, every 18 milliseconds.
Floaters do not `.share()` and seem quick to `.forget()`.
Soon enough, they [[die.|12][Floater.kill(200)]] and the memory they once occupied is reclaimed by the `Garbage Collector`.<<run Floater.think('Death...')>>
Floaters do not `.live()` to `.tellTheTale()`.
Their dreams linger for a few milliseconds, before another one `.spawns()`, with its own hopes and expectations.
All of this might sound hard to believe.
It is even harder to [[proove|13]], believe me.<<run Floater.think('Beliefs...', 3)>>
Floaters do not `.know()` but they `.believe()` readily.
Maybe it's best for them.
There is little to know anyway, but much to [[believe|14]].Do floaters `.love()`?
Do they `.think()`?
Do they `.dream()`?
Do they `.collide()` on purpose?
In the end, it is for you to [[decide|15]].<<addclass 'body' 'open'>>
Because floaters are in the eye of the beholder.