Bioshock: The Story of Henry Walker

Chapter 1: The Letter

After pondering on the many new inventions he would make, and how the government would keep stealing them, Henry decided to return to his house. His house was not big, yet it was not small. It was a tall and thin house with faded blue paint, cracked floor boards and windows that wouldn't fully close.

Henry looked at his home and smiled "Ah, no place like home." he whispered. He walked up the pathway to his house, he looked over to his lawn, dry, burnt and withered grass covered his property. "Maybe it's time I cut the grass." Henry shrugged and walked up the steps, he was about to open the door when something caught his eye, he turned his head to look at the rickety, rusted mailbox that sat crooked on top of his porch. There was something sticking out of it. A letter. Henry was puzzled. "That's strange, I only get the government letters at the end of the month, and I just got my last letter two days ago!" Henry realized that this letter was not from the government. "But who else would send me something?" He didn't know the answer but he was about to find out. He reached over and pulled the mailbox handle, the mailbox creaked and cracked, rust flaked out onto Henry's hands, he then pulled the letter out of the mailbox, actually he pulled the mailbox along with the letter. The mailbox clattered and fell right onto Henry's big toe. Pain shot up Henry's leg, "God damn it! " he yelled and kicked the mailbox which only worsened the pain. Red face, palms sweaty and foot throbbing, Henry turned his gaze to the sealed envelope. "Man this is one fancy envelope!" he said, and indeed it was. The material looked as if it was melded with gold and shining silver engravings marked the letter. Their was nothing on the front of the envelope, no address, postal stamps, or names, except for a giant R. Henry walked inside opening the envelope as he went. If people thought the outside of Henry's house was sloppy, the inside was a complete mess, rooms crammed with boxes of metal, wires, and all sorts of gadgets were piled high, scematics and papers were strewn all over the floors with barely any room to walk yet Henry easily made his way through all the clutter and mess, his kitchen was the smallest room, all that resided in their was a small table, one chair with three broken legs, a rusted kettle, cracked tea pot and a defective stove. Henry sat down at the table, the chair swayed back and forth and threaten to give way, but Henry maintained his balance, this all was normal to him. Hands trembling, he opened the letter " What could it be? he thought. " And who could it be from?" He took the letter from the envelope, the paper was thicker than the usual government standard issue letters, the letter was hand written, and in ink! " Strange" Henry started to read.

Mr. Walker,

First might I say that by receiving this letter you have already taken one small step on your journey to greatness. The people of this world are born with talents, each and every person has their own set of unique talents, talents that show the progress and industry of humanity. Yet, their are those who wish to shun those talents, keep them hidden from the world. The so called United States Government would fall under those people. It has been made very clear to me that you have many talents, talents that are unique to you and to you alone, and yet they are locked up, pushed back, forced down by the tyrannical government that holds the key to the shackles of industry and progress. You have many skills, skills that can be of great use, you cannot see this yet because of those who hide it away from you. I write to you to make you understand and help you to see the truth. I am working on a project, a project that will change this world forever, it will show that anything is achievable through hard labour and industry, a project that will put aside all morals, all conflicts of the mind. A project that will allow the scientist to be free from morality, where the artist can express himself free from censorship, where the engineers and inventors can let their imaginations run forever, and they will claim their rights through industry and progress. I speak of a great chain, with the combined help of talented individuals like yourself, we pull this great chain and will accomplish the impossible. I urge you to put aside your life of imprisonment, I now invite you to join me and many other individuals like yourself to help me create this utopia, this paradise, free from the parasites of the world. If you decline, I will not contact you again, I will not go chasing after you, the choice is yours to make. If you accept, one week from now there will be a plane to pick you up at Pier 42, just outside of town. The plane will take you to an ocean liner where myself and many other talented individuals await your arrival. Think hard on this Mr. Walker, this could be your greatest triumph of life, I promise we will change the fabrics of this world, together.

- A.R.

Henry could not believe what he was reading. This made about as much sense as his spoon bending machine. Yet, he felt drawn towards the call. "Dad had always told me to go with my gut, right now my gut feels gnarled and strange, as if theres more to this than the letter is leading on, I don't trust it, but I can't ignore the fact that the government has cheated me for the all these years." He paused for a moment. "Fuck the government, I'm going on that plane, this might be the one chance I get to turn things around, a week from now I'll be high in the sky, meeting with complete strangers, and this guy sounds like a regular nutcase!" Henry looked around the room, rusted kitchen, broken furniture, stolen inventions, the message was very clear to Henry. He chuckled and shook his head. "Ah hell, what have I got to lose?"