ClubFloyd Transcript:
Till Death Makes a Monk-Fish Out of Me
by Jon Ingold & Mike Sousa

As played on ifMUD on May 30, 2009

The idea behind ClubFloyd is that each week at a pre-arranged time, a group of people meet online to cooperatively play a game of interactive fiction.

Below is a transcript of Till Death Makes a Monk-Fish Out of Me, written by Jon Ingold & Mike Sousa. Till Death Makes a Monk-Fish Out of Me was originally released as part of the 2002 Interactive Fiction Competition, where it took second place. It went on to be nominated for foud Xyzzy Awards, including Best Game, Best Individual Puzzle, Best Story, and Best Writing. You can learn more about the game, including how to download it, by visiting the ifWiki.

WARNING! Below you will find a transcript of people playing this game, and it goes without saying that the transcript is full of spoilers. So, if you've never played this game, and think you might like to at some point, I do not recommend reading any further. Instead, you might want to return to the interactive fiction page.


ToyShop & Floyditorium
#ClubFloyd Discussion
 
inky says, "so apparently this took 2nd place in the 2002 comp, and was then nominated for a couple xyzzy awards" Fang asks, "who's played?"
Fang says, "(I haven't)"
inky says, "it's also yet another of Mike Sousa's collaborations, and yet another of Jon Ingold's games" Nitku says, "not me"
TJSay says, "Neither have I"
djfletch says, "I haven't either"
inky says, "here we go!"
inky says (to Floyd), "load tildeath"
Floyd | Welcome to the Cheap Glk Implementation, library version 0.9.0.
Floyd |
Floyd | tadsr - A text-only TADS 2.5.10 Interpreter.
Floyd | Copyright (c) 1993, 2006 by Michael J. Roberts.
Floyd |
Floyd |

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |

Floyd | "After you, Professor," Zak says, holding open the door.  "Think - if
Floyd | this works you'll be standing on the surface in no time!"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yes, Zak, I know."
Floyd |
Floyd | TILL DEATH MAKES A MONK-FISH OUT OF ME

Floyd | Interactive Fiction
Floyd | Copyright (c) 2002, 2003 by Michael J. Sousa and Jon Ingold.
Floyd | (First-time players should type HELP)
Floyd | Release 1.1 / Serial number 021103 / TADS 2.56
Floyd |
Floyd | Machine Room

Floyd |    The floor is a tangle of cables running from the bank of heavy
Floyd | machinery to the man-sized glass cylinder in the corner; it's like a
Floyd | blender plugged into a car-battery in a giant's world.  The whole
Floyd | arrangement looks suspiciously haphazard.
Floyd |
Floyd | Dr. Kurner is already here, looking like he only just got out of bed.

Floyd |
Floyd | The others enter behind you.  "All set, Professor?" asks Zak, clapping
Floyd | you on the back.  Taking your arm he helps you into the glass tube.
Floyd | You don't need help, but this is a Momentous Occasion.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says, "oh, Ingold eh? All bets are off"
inky says (to Floyd), "help"
Floyd | Welcome to TILL DEATH MAKES A MONK-FISH OUT OF ME.  Below is a brief
Floyd | list of some of the special commands that this game recognizes.  If
Floyd | you're new to interactive fiction, please type INSTRUCTIONS for a

Floyd | detailed introduction to text adventures.
Floyd |
Floyd | The game was coded and primarily tested by the authors using HTML TADS
Floyd | -- though testing was performed on other platforms.
Floyd |
Floyd |    SAVE        - Save the current game position

Floyd |    RESTORE     - Restore a saved game position
Floyd |    UNDO        - Take back the previous turn
Floyd |    QUIT        - End the game
Floyd |
Floyd |    CREDITS     - Show the game's credits
Floyd |    COPYRIGHT   - Copyright information

Floyd |    ABOUT       - Show some background information about the game
Floyd |    VERSION     - Show the current version of the game
Floyd |    RELEASE     - Show release history of game
Floyd |    HINT        - Hint system
Floyd |    REVIEW      - Perform a "LOOK" without affecting time or turn count
Floyd |    WINNABLE    - Is the game still in a winnable state?

Floyd |
Floyd |    SCRIPT      - Start recording a transcript of your moves to a file
Floyd |    UNSCRIPT    - Stop recording the current transcript
Floyd |
Floyd |    AMUSING     - A list of amusing things to try
Floyd |    SPAG        - Reprint of the SPAG interview

Floyd |    NOTES       - Collaboration emails between Jon and I
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl asks, "I know I should remember this, but which games are his?"
DavidW says, "Make It So, Insight, Fail-Safe."
Fang says (to Floyd), "x cylinder"
Floyd | I don't see any cylinder here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "winnable"
Floyd | This game is in a perpetual winnable state.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky | http://www.ifwiki.org/index.php/Jon_Ingold
Fang says, "heh"
inky says, "ha ha"
inky says (to Floyd), "review"
Floyd | (Review mode - time does not pass)
Floyd |

Floyd | Inside the glass cylinder
Floyd |    Cables feed away from the base of the glass to the bank of machinery
Floyd | outside, around which the scientists huddle and confer.  Inside is your
Floyd | own little fish-tank; there's a grille to put your feet on, and some
Floyd | machinery at the top, and the Emergency Door Release Switch just about
Floyd | where your left hand is.  They're all looking at you expectantly,

Floyd | perhaps waiting for a final speech before the glass slides shut...
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang asks, "isn't All Roads Ingold too?"
DavidW says, "yes"
inky says (to Floyd), "say"
Floyd | What do you want to say?
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "talk"
Floyd | "Friends!  This is a momentous day!  I have prepared just a few words
Floyd | to be said on this occasion, if you will bear with me.  There is a
Floyd | saying in my country: he who eats of the plum tree must wonder why he
Floyd | ..."
Floyd |

Floyd | The glass door slides quickly shut.  Your view of the scientists is
Floyd | somewhat obscured by a note, taped to the inside.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x note"
Floyd | (first taking the note)
Floyd | "Well, Professor.  I suspect that from now on you will not prove a
Floyd | problem in my life any more.  Your machine is under my control.  Shall
Floyd | we say: if you are reading this, you are already dead."
Floyd |
Floyd | "FIVE," booms the automated countdown voice.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says, "Oh, Muldoon."
Nitku says, "REVIEW is interesting"
Nitku says (to Floyd), "about"
Floyd |
Floyd | Written over several months, hundreds of emails, a good few feet of
Floyd | bandwidth, and a distance of several thousand miles, this is Mike's
Floyd | second collaboration (the first was "No Time To Squeal", written with
Floyd | Robb Sherwin) and Jon's third IFcomp game.  Inspired by Roger Corman,
Floyd | Isaac Asimov and Evans' the Fishmongers; it was written "on location",

Floyd | in Cambridge, Istanbul, Galway, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, with the
Floyd | programming mostly done on a laptop in Massachusetts.
Floyd |
Floyd | Bugs and feedback should be emailed to jonnyingold@netscape.net and
Floyd | mjsousa@attbi.com.  Testers are listed in the CREDITS.  Type HELP for
Floyd | in-game assistance.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "SAVE"
Fang says (to Floyd), "cf1"
Floyd | File to save game in >
Floyd | Saved.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "credits"
Floyd | TILL DEATH MAKES A MONK-FISH OUT OF ME
Floyd | Release 1.1 / Serial number 021103 / TADS 2.56
Floyd |
Floyd |        Mike Sousa          Programmer
Floyd |        Jon Ingold          Writer
Floyd |

Floyd |        John Bichard        Testers
Floyd |        Vincent Lynch
Floyd |        J.D.  Berry
Floyd |        Philip Dearmore
Floyd |        Dave Gatewood
Floyd |        Diana Shalmi

Floyd |
Floyd | A huge thanks to John Bichard, tester extraordinaire.  His timely
Floyd | reports and incredible attention to detail has made this game so much
Floyd | better.  Thank you!
Floyd |
Floyd | Any bugs, typos, grammar gaffes or run-time errors are solely my fault.

Floyd | I probably added some "finishing touches" and neglected to have
Floyd | somebody else take a look.
Floyd |
Floyd | Special thanks to Mike Roberts for TADS.  I am so looking forward to
Floyd | working with T3.
Floyd |

Floyd | A big thank you to Stephen Granade -- I can't envision the comp without
Floyd | him.
Floyd |
Floyd | Most of the code is home grown, or taken from my other works.  I did
Floyd | need to borrow a couple of modules so thanks to Dan Schmidt for his
Floyd | disambig.t module.

Floyd |
Floyd | Because this was the first game that required some parsing hacks, I
Floyd | needed to borrow code there too.  A very big thanks to Suzanne Britton
Floyd | for her Chatter library.  Her parseAskobjIndirect routine saved me a
Floyd | lot of time and frustration.
Floyd |

Floyd | Last, but definitely not least, thanks Jon.  You were a pleasure to
Floyd | work with -- I'm in awe of your uncanny ability to write, create and
Floyd | problem solve.  I hope I didn't ruin the writing by adding some default
Floyd | responses here and there.  :)
Floyd |
Floyd | Release 2 notes

Floyd |
Floyd | Thanks to Paul O'Brian for his insigtful script file(s) -- numerous
Floyd | typos and default responses tweaked.  Thanks to Andrew Plotkin for
Floyd | providing different options for manipulating the Metal Rod.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW asks, "jonny?"
ParserGirl asks, "Have we inventoried yet?"
inky says (to Floyd), "i"
Floyd | You have a note.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
zarf arrives, full of fun, but no funk. zarf says, "late, whee"
Fang says (to Floyd), "push release switch"
Floyd | It's a pull switch.
Floyd |
Floyd | Outside all the scientists gather around the machinery, intent; tapping
Floyd | gauges and nodding seriously.  All except Dr. Kurner, that is, who
Floyd | stands off to one side, leaning heavily on a counter, staring at you.
Floyd |

Floyd | "FOUR."  There's a slight snigger sound just at the end; you remember
Floyd | laughing when you recorded that last week.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "we're just like two turns in"
Fang says (to Floyd), "pull release switch"
Floyd | You tug the release.  Nothing results but a grating noise.  It's
Floyd | broken!
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey - do you suppose it should be sparking like that?" Zak pipes up.

Floyd | The others tut and mutter.
Floyd |
Floyd | "THREE."  Power begins to build.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
zarf says, "I've played Monkfish, anyhow. I mean, way the hell back in time"
inky says (to Floyd), "x kurner"
Floyd | A sour man, five years your senior, but lower than you in rank.  You
Floyd | vaguely remember him from college but don't think you ever spoke.
Floyd | Otherwise - he was down here when you arrived.

Floyd |
Floyd | "And then there's quite a bit of smoke too, isn't there?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "TWO."  The cables on the floor wriggle like a squid.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

olethros says, "oh monkfish"
olethros arrives, full of neither funk nor fun.
djfletch says (to Floyd), "pull cables"
Floyd | The cables aren't important.
Floyd |

Floyd | "Maybe we should open it up and take a look?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's attention is taken briefly by a school of fish passing by
Floyd | the window.  No dedication, that man.
Floyd |
Floyd | "ONE."  The coils at the top of the cylinder make a searing noise.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "scream"
Floyd | Your words are muffled by the glass; which steams up as you shout.  You
Floyd | could probably write in the condensation with a fingertip, though.

Floyd |
Floyd | "Anyone got a screwdriver?"  A few pat their pockets, and shrug.
Floyd |
Floyd | "ZER-OH!"  The machine blasts a spurt of searing white light, as though
Floyd | your head has come off.  The scientists outside barely seem to notice
Floyd | as they hunt around for a coin to use in the screw-head.  Just as

Floyd | everything fades fuzzily to black, you see Kurner stumble himself; then
Floyd | the world slides away...
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Consciousness projection.  They'd not said it couldn't be done, but
Floyd | they had said it was pretty unlikely.  They'd not said you were mad,

Floyd | but they had said you were a little unusual, especially in your taste
Floyd | for sushi.  But you knew, if anyone down in AtlantisLab needs anything,
Floyd | it's a holiday on the surface.  Preferably a holiday as a
Floyd | twenty-two-year-old beach dweller.
Floyd |
Floyd | Which is where you should be right now.  It feels colder than Hawaii

Floyd | should this time of year.  You have a slight headache.  It's dark - so
Floyd | you open your eyes.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
olethros asks, "I played that too back then. Is this version the same as the original release?"
Fang asks, "shall we restore and try the condensation thing?"
DavidW says, "Looks like we could've written HELP on the glass, there."
inky says (to Floyd), "version"
Floyd | TILL DEATH MAKES A MONK-FISH OUT OF ME
Floyd | Release 1.1 / Serial number 021103 / TADS 2.56

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "this is the post-comp release"
DavidW says, "yay"
inky says (to Floyd), "RESTORE"
inky says (to Floyd), "cf1"
Floyd | File to restore game from >
Floyd | Restored.
Floyd |
Floyd | Inside the glass cylinder

Floyd |    Cables feed away from the base of the glass to the bank of machinery
Floyd | outside, around which the scientists huddle and confer.  Inside is your
Floyd | own little fish-tank; there's a grille to put your feet on, and some
Floyd | machinery at the top, and the Emergency Door Release Switch just about
Floyd | where your left hand is.  Their voices are muffled by the sealed glass
Floyd | cover.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "scream"
Floyd | Your words are muffled by the glass; which steams up as you shout.  You
Floyd | could probably write in the condensation with a fingertip, though.

Floyd |
Floyd | Outside all the scientists gather around the machinery, intent; tapping
Floyd | gauges and nodding seriously.  All except Dr. Kurner, that is, who
Floyd | stands off to one side, leaning heavily on a counter, staring at you.
Floyd |
Floyd | "FOUR."  There's a slight snigger sound just at the end; you remember

Floyd | laughing when you recorded that last week.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "write in condensation"
Floyd | When typing or writing, you need to surround the target word in quotes;

Floyd | ie, write "in".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "write "help""
Floyd | (on the glass door)

Floyd | You write "help".
Floyd |
Floyd | Zak notices your message.  "I think he's talking to you, Dr. Kurner,"
Floyd | he says.  "Do you fancy lending a hand here?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey - do you suppose it should be sparking like that?" Zak pipes up.

Floyd | The others tut and mutter.
Floyd |
Floyd | "THREE."  Power begins to build.
Floyd |
Floyd | The condensation on the glass door evaporates away.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "write "kurner""
Floyd | (on the glass door)
Floyd | You breathe on the glass door and a pool of condensation forms.  Your
Floyd | previous message "help" is now visible on the glass door.

Floyd | You write "kurner" instead.
Floyd |
Floyd | "And then there's quite a bit of smoke too, isn't there?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "TWO."  The cables on the floor wriggle like a squid.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "write "get me out""
Floyd | [One word at a time please]
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "write "redrum""
Floyd | (on the glass door)
Floyd | You write "redrum" instead.
Floyd |
Floyd | Zak notices your message.  "Hey, guys!  I'm guessing the problem's with

Floyd | the Redrummation Mechanism!"  He winks at you.  "I learnt to read
Floyd | mirror writing in the Army, you know."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Maybe we should open it up and take a look?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's attention is taken briefly by a school of fish passing by

Floyd | the window.  No dedication, that man.
Floyd |
Floyd | "ONE."  The coils at the top of the cylinder make a searing noise.
Floyd |
Floyd | The condensation on the glass door evaporates away.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
zarf says, "hee hee"
Fang says, "haha"
DavidW says, "heh"
Fang says (to Floyd), "write xyzzy"
Floyd | When typing or writing, you need to surround the target word in quotes;
Floyd | ie, write "xyzzy".
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "write "xyzzy""
Floyd | (on the glass door)
Floyd | You breathe on the glass door and a pool of condensation forms.  Your
Floyd | previous message "redrum" is now visible on the glass door.
Floyd | You write "xyzzy" instead.

Floyd |
Floyd | "Anyone got a screwdriver?"  A few pat their pockets, and shrug.
Floyd |
Floyd | "ZER-OH!"  The machine blasts a spurt of searing white light, as though
Floyd | your head has come off.  The scientists outside barely seem to notice
Floyd | as they hunt around for a coin to use in the screw-head.  Just as

Floyd | everything fades fuzzily to black, you see Kurner stumble himself; then
Floyd | the world slides away...
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Consciousness projection.  They'd not said it couldn't be done, but
Floyd | they had said it was pretty unlikely.  They'd not said you were mad,

Floyd | but they had said you were a little unusual, especially in your taste
Floyd | for sushi.  But you knew, if anyone down in AtlantisLab needs anything,
Floyd | it's a holiday on the surface.  Preferably a holiday as a
Floyd | twenty-two-year-old beach dweller.
Floyd |
Floyd | Which is where you should be right now.  It feels colder than Hawaii

Floyd | should this time of year.  You have a slight headache.  It's dark - so
Floyd | you open your eyes.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "l"
Floyd | In a drawer, sitting up
Floyd |    You are sitting up in a long metal drawer, halfway up a large wall
Floyd | of metal drawers.  Most of the others are closed; yours is open.  Below
Floyd | - about ten feet or so - is the floor of an unfamiliar room, with a
Floyd | door at the far end.  The main features seem to be metal:  metal
Floyd | ceiling, metal walls, metal piping along one side.  Coupled with the

Floyd | dim lighting, this is definitely not Waikiki Beach, by any stretch of
Floyd | the imagination.
Floyd |
Floyd | Your foot is itching.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says, "oh wait, I might have played some of this"
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x foot"
Floyd | Tied tightly around your big toe is a tag.  It reads "John Doe."  Well,
Floyd | at least you know what name you should answer to.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
ParserGirl says, "Ack."
DavidW says (to Floyd), "remove tag"
Floyd | The toe tag is firmly attached.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "x me"
Floyd | Well, you seem to be naked.  This isn't your body either.  So
Floyd | everything's gone to plan; except this doesn't look a lot like Hawaii.
Floyd |

Floyd | Tied around your toe is a tag.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "get up"
Floyd | You stand up.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x drawers"
Floyd | Your drawer is empty bar you, without even a sheet, and is labelled
Floyd | "John Doe" at the front.  Looking around the others you see they're all

Floyd | labelled too - there's Jeremy Doe off to one side; Jack Doe a few
djfletch says (to Floyd), "i"
Floyd | levels up, and the lowest down you can read is Ms. Jenny Doe; who's
Floyd | about halfway to the ground.  The surrounding drawers are all closed.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Floyd | You have nothing, absolutely nothing.  And you're cold as a
Floyd | consequence.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

ParserGirl asks, "What's the floyd shortcut command?"
inky says, "just 'f command'"
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "open drawer"
Floyd | Your drawer is already open.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "out"
Floyd | The ground is too far to jump!
Floyd |
Floyd | >

ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "open drawers"
Floyd | One at a time, please.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "open jenny"
Floyd | It's too far below for you to reach the handle.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "open jeremy"
Floyd | You slide open Jeremy's drawer.  He's inside, asleep.  He seems to have
Floyd | a peg-leg.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says, "ha ha"
Fang says (to Floyd), "x peg-leg"
Floyd | The peg-leg is a tapering pole the length of one leg - more like a
Floyd | strut, really, or half a flamingo.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "get leg"
Floyd | Taken.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "x jeremy"
Floyd | Jeremy is a large round-faced man, almost tubby, almost jovial in fact;
Floyd | apart from the missing leg which adds a sinister touch to the
Floyd | proceedings.  He is naked, and asleep, and looks very comfortable
Floyd | somehow.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "open jack"
Floyd | You stand up, and can easily reach Jack's drawer to slide it open.
Floyd | Jack is inside, but he appears to be asleep.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x jack"
Floyd | You can only really make out his feet from down here, but they're very
Floyd | still, so he must be fast asleep.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "wake jack"
Floyd | Don't wake him.  He looks like he's sleeping real deeply.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x leg"
Floyd | The peg-leg is a tapering pole the length of one leg - more like a
Floyd | strut, really, or half a flamingo.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "poke jeremy"
Floyd | Poking Jeremy Doe doesn't seem to have any effect.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "open jenny"
Floyd | (with the peg-leg)
Floyd | Hooking the drawer with Jeremy's leg, you slide it open.  Poor old
Floyd | Jenny rolls into view.  She looks positively knackered.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "wake jeremy"
Floyd | Don't wake him.  He looks like he's sleeping real deeply.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Nitku says, "The facts were these..."
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "x jenny"
Floyd | Jenny is a red-head, and a good-looking one too.  If you weren't both
Floyd | naked, and lying in cold metal drawers halfway up a wall, you'd
Floyd | consider asking her out; just to irritate your wife.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "openning jenning sounds TSD"
ParserGirl says, "Woah, marital drama."
Fang says, "*opening"
DavidW says (to Floyd), "get in jenny's drawer"
Floyd | The peg is far too cumbersome for this manoeuvre, so you first give it
Floyd | back to good old Jeremy next door.
Floyd |
Floyd | It's a fair way down - so first you get a solid grip on the edge of

Floyd | your pallet, and then very gradually you slide off it.  There's a
Floyd | moment of flailing before one toe meets her drawer.  Slight kick in the
Floyd | ribs - you freeze - but she hasn't noticed.  Lucky.  Next foot, you
Floyd | can't see where it's going - oops, that felt like her head; you feel
Floyd | certain her eyes must open any second, you'll hear a complaint... no,
Floyd | no, somehow you get away with it.  The next time you put it down it's

Floyd | more or less onto a clear space - bar some hair.
Floyd |
Floyd | You let go of your drawer, now firmly astride Jenny's, and rub your
Floyd | hands.  There's a deep shadowed groove in either palm from holding up
Floyd | your weight.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "search jenny"
Floyd | You find nothing of interest.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "x jenny"
Floyd | Jenny is a red-head, and a good-looking one too.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x floor"
Floyd | It lies beneath you.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "kiss jenny"
Floyd | She'd no doubt appreciate it, of course, given that she's probably
Floyd | quite lonely here.  But you refrain, on grounds of hygiene.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "down"
Floyd | You make the final fall to the ground.
Floyd |
Floyd | Bottom of ramp
Floyd |    This is a thin room then, between the wall of square drawers like a

Floyd | tiling and another side of sheer metal, east and west respectively.
Floyd | The floor is split-level; from where you stand a ramp leads up and
Floyd | northward, and light from a window there tumbles back down.
Floyd |
Floyd | The drawers stop about five feet from ground-level; below are four
Floyd | compartments.

Floyd |
Floyd | There is a smooth hatch set into the south wall.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to PG), "you're no fun"
ParserGirl says, "Although I could undo if you weren't done playing"
Fang says, "kidding"
ParserGirl says (to Fang), "Was already typing before you said anything."
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x window"
Floyd | You can't see much from here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
TJSay says (to Floyd), "x hatch"
Floyd | The hatch is about three foot square and flush with the floor.  Just by

Floyd | it is a circular recess in the wall.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "x compartments"
Floyd | The names read: Kathleen, Victoria, Charlotte and Rosalind.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x recess"
Floyd | It's roughly ten centimeters wide and deep, and is barely a meter off
Floyd | the floor.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "look in recess"
Floyd | There is nothing in there.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "open kathleen"
Floyd | You slide open the compartment.  Inside is a trolley on which lies what
Floyd | is clearly a corpse.  A transparent sheet covers face down to ankles,
Floyd | like it was wrapped in cling-film.  Only the feet protrude - no tag.  A

Floyd | little horrified, you slam the compartment closed.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "open Victoria"
Floyd | You quickly slide it open and shut -- same story as the other

Floyd | compartment.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "open charlotte"
Floyd | You quickly slide it open and shut -- same story as the other

Floyd | compartment.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "open rosalind"
Floyd | Inside the compartment is an empty trolley.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x trolley"
Floyd | The trolley is inside the compartment.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "take trolley"
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "take trolley"
Floyd | You can't reach it from here.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Floyd | You can't reach it from here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says, "hmm"
Fang says (to Floyd), "enter rosalind"
Floyd | You enter Rosalind's compartment.
Floyd |
Floyd | Inside Rosalind's compartment

Floyd |    A metal box, seven foot by four foot by five, arranged such that you
Floyd | could lie down spread-eagled but stoop when you stand.  The west wall
Floyd | is missing.  In the middle of the floor is a low flat trolley.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "enter rosalind"
Floyd | You're already in the compartment.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says, "Rosalind's strolling around somwehter."
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "look west"
Floyd | I don't understand that sentence.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Bottom of ramp
Floyd |    This is a thin room then, between the wall of square drawers like a
Floyd | tiling and another side of sheer metal, east and west respectively.
Floyd | The floor is split-level; from where you stand a ramp leads up and
Floyd | northward, and light from a window there tumbles back down.

Floyd |
Floyd | The drawers stop about five feet from ground-level; below are four
Floyd | compartments.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a smooth hatch set into the south wall.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | You enter Rosalind's compartment.
Floyd |
Floyd | Inside Rosalind's compartment

Floyd |    A metal box, seven foot by four foot by five, arranged such that you
Floyd | could lie down spread-eagled but stoop when you stand.  The west wall
Floyd | is missing.  In the middle of the floor is a low flat trolley.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "exits"
Floyd | I don't know the word "exits".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x trolley"
Floyd | Six feet long, three feet wide, it is essentially a tray on wheels.
Floyd | The only additions are a rubber bumper at one end and a flat metal
Floyd | rectangle at the other.  This is like the registration plate of a car,
Floyd | only blank.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "push trolley west"
TJSay says (to Floyd), "x bumper"
Floyd | You push the trolley west.

Floyd |
Floyd | Bottom of ramp
Floyd |    This is a thin room then, between the wall of square drawers like a
Floyd | tiling and another side of sheer metal, east and west respectively.
Floyd | The floor is split-level; from where you stand a ramp leads up and
Floyd | northward, and light from a window there tumbles back down.

Floyd |
Floyd | The drawers stop about five feet from ground-level; below are four
Floyd | compartments.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a smooth hatch set into the south wall.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Floyd | An arc of thick rubber, designed for shock absorbance.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
TJSay says (to Floyd), "x rectangle"
Floyd | It is just smooth metal.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "touch rectangle"
Floyd | It is just smooth metal.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "x window"
Floyd | You can't see much from here.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "x hatch"
Floyd | The hatch is about three foot square and flush with the floor.  Just by
Floyd | it is a circular recess in the wall.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "open hatch"
Fang says (to Floyd), "push trolley n"
Floyd | The hatchway will not open, will not budge and will not slide either.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Floyd | You start pushing, but with the trolley so heavy it rolls back, and
Floyd | with it so low it's hard to get more weight behind.  In the end, you
Floyd | give up.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "get on trolley"
Floyd | You lie on the trolley.  It's cold.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "l"
Floyd | Bottom of ramp, on the trolley
Floyd |    This is a thin room then, between the wall of square drawers like a
Floyd | tiling and another side of sheer metal, east and west respectively.

Floyd | The floor is split-level; from where you stand a ramp leads up and
Floyd | northward, and light from a window there tumbles back down.
Floyd |
Floyd | The drawers stop about five feet from ground-level; below are four
Floyd | compartments.
Floyd |

Floyd | There is a smooth hatch set into the south wall.  In the middle of the
Floyd | floor is a low flat trolley.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says, "Perhaps go north without the trolley for now."
Fang says (to Floyd), "get off"
Floyd | (the trolley)
Floyd | You get off the trolley.
Floyd |
Floyd | Bottom of ramp

Floyd |    This is a thin room then, between the wall of square drawers like a
Floyd | tiling and another side of sheer metal, east and west respectively.
Floyd | The floor is split-level; from where you stand a ramp leads up and
Floyd | northward, and light from a window there tumbles back down.
Floyd |
Floyd | The drawers stop about five feet from ground-level; below are four

Floyd | compartments.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a smooth hatch set into the south wall.  In the middle of the
Floyd | floor is a low flat trolley.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | Top of ramp
Floyd |    This is a small stage, facing the stalls below down a ramp to the
Floyd | south, with the royal boxes on the wall above, reserved it seems for
Floyd | the Doe family.  You could take your bow, lit by the spotlight-glow

Floyd | through the window, or slip offstage through the door just beside it.
Floyd | Just left of the door is a small device.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
TJSay says (to Floyd), "take a bow"
Floyd | An article must be followed by a noun.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "bow"
Floyd | Anything for a little credit.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "x window"
Floyd | Across the glass in arcing letters is emblazoned:  "YRAUTROM" (though

Floyd | the R's are a little strange).  Which is - you're quite sure - a place
Floyd | in Jordan; and not a place in Hawaii.
Floyd |
Floyd | It is bright in the corridor beyond, which smarts your eyes a little.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

ParserGirl says, "I was entirely confused about where we had acquired a bow."
Fang says (to Floyd), "x device"
Floyd | It's rectangular in shape and the words
Floyd |
Floyd | ** ERROR - Reset Required **

Floyd |
Floyd | are printed on the tiny display.  Near the display is a button.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "it's a joke about 'stage'"
Fang says (to Floyd), "push button"
Floyd | The display is cleared.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x device"
Floyd | It's rectangular in shape and the words
Floyd |
Floyd | SYSTEM - Active
Floyd |
Floyd | are printed on the tiny display.  Near the display is a button.

Floyd |
Floyd | At the bottom of the ramp, a robot appears through the hatch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | Bottom of ramp
Floyd |    This is a thin room then, between the wall of square drawers like a
Floyd | tiling and another side of sheer metal, east and west respectively.
Floyd | The floor is split-level; from where you stand a ramp leads up and
Floyd | northward, and light from a window there tumbles back down.
Floyd |

Floyd | The drawers stop about five feet from ground-level; below are four
Floyd | compartments.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a smooth hatch set into the south wall.  In the middle of the
Floyd | floor is a low flat trolley.
Floyd |

Floyd | The robot positions its hexagonal tube by the trolley base with a
Floyd | muffled clang.  It then powers away up the ramp, pushing the trolley
Floyd | ahead of it.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | >

ParserGirl says, "Hmm."
Fang says (to Floyd), "get on trolley"
Floyd | It's too far away.
Floyd |
Floyd | At the top of the ramp, the robot does something to make the door open,

Floyd | and slips through, pushing the trolley in front of it.  Then the door
Floyd | slams shut.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says, "Looks like we can get a ride."
ParserGirl says, "Or could"
DavidW says (to Floyd), "winnable"
Floyd | This game is in a perpetual winnable state.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "winnable"
Floyd | This game is in a perpetual winnable state.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | Top of ramp
Floyd |    This is a small stage, facing the stalls below down a ramp to the
Floyd | south, with the royal boxes on the wall above, reserved it seems for
Floyd | the Doe family.  You could take your bow, lit by the spotlight-glow

Floyd | through the window, or slip offstage through the door just beside it.
Floyd | Just left of the door is a small device.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "enter door"
Floyd | The door is sealed shut.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says, "Hail another taxi, I guess."
Fang says (to Floyd), "l"
Floyd | Top of ramp
Floyd |    This is a small stage, facing the stalls below down a ramp to the
Floyd | south, with the royal boxes on the wall above, reserved it seems for
Floyd | the Doe family.  You could take your bow, lit by the spotlight-glow
Floyd | through the window, or slip offstage through the door just beside it.
Floyd | Just left of the door is a small device.

Floyd |
Floyd | At the bottom of the ramp, a robot appears through the hatch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "x door"
Floyd | It is locked, it seems.  By the side, at shoulder height, is a black
Floyd | glass palm-scanner.  Three feet below is a circular recess and to the
Floyd | left is a small device.
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot - whose name appears to be Kathleen - rumbles up the ramp.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "x robot"
Floyd | This Hansome is Kathleen.  It is shaped like a square coffee-table
Floyd | resting on one side.  The two legs - or rather, arms - at the top each
Floyd | boast a shining disc, like eyes; though only one is a camera lens and

Floyd | the other is a stubby protrusion like a hockey puck.  The two bottom
Floyd | prongs are run with caterpillar tracks.  Slung between them is brown
Floyd | hexagonal tube.
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot inserts its hockey puck into the circular recess and opens
Floyd | the door long enough for it to power through.  Then the door slams

Floyd | shut.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | Bottom of ramp

Floyd |    This is a thin room then, between the wall of square drawers like a
Floyd | tiling and another side of sheer metal, east and west respectively.
Floyd | The floor is split-level; from where you stand a ramp leads up and
Floyd | northward, and light from a window there tumbles back down.
Floyd |
Floyd | The drawers stop about five feet from ground-level; below are four

Floyd | compartments.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a smooth hatch set into the south wall.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "open victoria"
Floyd | You quickly slide it open and shut -- same story as the other
Floyd | compartment.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Nitku says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | The hatch slides open long enough to spit out an orange robot.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "get on robot"
Floyd | There's no surface to clamber on.
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot - whose name appears to be Victoria - rumbles up the ramp.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "get on robot"
Floyd | There's no surface to clamber on.
Floyd |

Floyd | At the top of the ramp, the robot does something to make the door open,
Floyd | and slips through.  Then the door slams shut.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | You enter Rosalind's compartment.
Floyd |
Floyd | Inside Rosalind's compartment
Floyd |    A metal box, seven foot by four foot by five, arranged such that you
Floyd | could lie down spread-eagled but stoop when you stand.  The west wall
Floyd | is missing.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says, "Victoria, hmm"
Fang says, "hmm, maybe we shouldn't have pushed out the trolley"
Fang says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Bottom of ramp
Floyd |    This is a thin room then, between the wall of square drawers like a
Floyd | tiling and another side of sheer metal, east and west respectively.
Floyd | The floor is split-level; from where you stand a ramp leads up and
Floyd | northward, and light from a window there tumbles back down.
Floyd |

Floyd | The drawers stop about five feet from ground-level; below are four
Floyd | compartments.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a smooth hatch set into the south wall.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "Is it the button at the top of the ramp we need to fiddle with? Maybe the peg leg should be retrieved."
Fang says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | Top of ramp
Floyd |    This is a small stage, facing the stalls below down a ramp to the
Floyd | south, with the royal boxes on the wall above, reserved it seems for

Floyd | the Doe family.  You could take your bow, lit by the spotlight-glow
Floyd | through the window, or slip offstage through the door just beside it.
Floyd | Just left of the door is a small device.
Floyd |
Floyd | Through the hatch appears first a trolley, then a robot shepherd.  In a
Floyd | deft volley of whirrs and flicks, it opens the Charlotte compartment

Floyd | with its extending arm and shoves the trolley inside, moving forward
Floyd | itself.  The trolley bounces off the one already inside the compartment
Floyd | and comes to a rest in the room, behind the robot.  The compartment
Floyd | door swings shut.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says, "good idea"
Fang says, "oooh wait"
Fang says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | Bottom of ramp
Floyd |    This is a thin room then, between the wall of square drawers like a

Floyd | tiling and another side of sheer metal, east and west respectively.
Floyd | The floor is split-level; from where you stand a ramp leads up and
Floyd | northward, and light from a window there tumbles back down.
Floyd |
Floyd | The drawers stop about five feet from ground-level; below are four
Floyd | compartments.

Floyd |
Floyd | There is a smooth hatch set into the south wall.  In the middle of the
Floyd | floor is a low flat trolley.
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot - whose name appears to be Charlotte - rumbles up the ramp.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "get on trolley"
Floyd | You clamber on.
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot inserts its hockey puck into the circular recess and opens

Floyd | the door long enough for it to power through.  Then the door slams
Floyd | shut.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "wait"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "SAVE"
Fang says (to Floyd), "cf2"
Floyd | File to save game in >
Floyd | Saved.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "zf z"
Floyd | I don't know the word "zf".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "x compartments"
Floyd | The names read: Kathleen, Victoria, Charlotte and Rosalind.
Floyd |
Floyd | The hatch open long enough to spit out Kathleen, again.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | Kathleen positions its hexagonal tube by the trolley base with a
Floyd | muffled clang. It then powers away up the ramp, taking you with it.

Floyd |
Floyd | Top of ramp, on the trolley
Floyd |    This is a small stage, facing the stalls below down a ramp to the
Floyd | south, with the royal boxes on the wall above, reserved it seems for
Floyd | the Doe family.  Above you is a circular recess which is attached to a
Floyd | door.  Just left of the door is a small device.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "sing"
Floyd | What do you want to sing to?
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "sing to kathleen"
Floyd | You can't reach that from the trolley.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "x kathleen"
Floyd | This Hansome is Kathleen.  It is shaped like a square coffee-table
Floyd | resting on one side.  The two legs - or rather, arms - at the top each
Floyd | boast a shining disc, like eyes; though only one is a camera lens and

Floyd | the other is a stubby protrusion like a hockey puck.  The two bottom
Floyd | prongs are run with caterpillar tracks.  Slung between them is brown
Floyd | hexagonal tube.
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot extends its hockey puck to an absurd length, reaching over
Floyd | the trolley in front, to clip into the recess by the door.  The

Floyd | entrance slides open, and it passes through, taking you with it.
Floyd |
Floyd | Once in the corridor outside, you leap from the trolley before it, and
Floyd | the robot, power away.
Floyd |
Floyd | Corridor

Floyd |    The corridor curves southeast to southwest, smooth metal walls low
Floyd | and merging over your head.  Portholes splatter the north side like
Floyd | bullet-holes.  A neon striplight runs the length of the corridor,
Floyd | lighting round the bends on either hand, but right now your eyes are
Floyd | elsewhere - drawn to the window of the room you have just left.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x window"
Floyd | Here it is light, and there it is dark, and the glass acts as a mirror
Floyd | over which your haggard face looms.  Only it is not your face.  It is
Floyd | the face of Dr. Kurner.  A moment of staring is not enough, and you

Floyd | stare some more.  His nose is your nose, his eyes, wet and squinting,
Floyd | are your eyes, they move as you look over them.  You feel the tightness
Floyd | of his skin around your mouth and cheekbones.  And worse: his face is
Floyd | framed, like an advert for a circus clown, by an arcing title in large
Floyd | letters:
Floyd |

Floyd | MORTUARY
Floyd |
Floyd | Dead!  Ridiculous!  You're not dead!  You're standing upright.  Indeed,
Floyd | you're breathing!  Aren't you?  There - you blow a long breath onto the
Floyd | glass, and a pool of condensation smokes it over.  Alive.  You're
Floyd | alive.  And the sooner you can get back to your machine and get

Floyd | yourself back into your own skin, the better.
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot pushes the trolley through the hatch in the southwest wall
Floyd | and disappears.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "x portholes"
Floyd | Through the portholes swim a variety of underwater fish, lit in the
Floyd | half-glow leaking from this dome.
Floyd |
Floyd | The condensation on the window evaporates away.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "write "fuck""
Floyd | What do you want to write it on?
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch asks, "underwater fish?"
Fang says (to Floyd), "write "fuck" on window"
Floyd | You breathe on the window and a pool of condensation forms.  You write
Floyd | "fuck".

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "ha ha"
Fang says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | The robot's hatch is closed.

Floyd |
Floyd | The condensation on the window evaporates away.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | The airlock is closed.  And it doesn't look in good repair, either.
Floyd |
Floyd | Through the door appears Victoria.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | You can't go that way.
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot opens the hatch and rumbles through.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x airlock"
Floyd | The airlock is circular, and damaged, with loose wiring hanging from
Floyd | the frame. Set in the centre is the access mechanism, above is a small
Floyd | square spyhole.  The sight beyond it is not good - you can make out

Floyd | twisted metal, bent panels and wiring dripping from the ceiling like
Floyd | thick seaweed.  It appears not to have been breached, though, as there
Floyd | is no water.  Something moves about within: something large and orange.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "mechanism"
Floyd | There's no verb in that sentence!
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x mechanism"
Floyd | The mechanism is a large button marked ACCESS MECHANISM.  Its functions
Floyd | are probably impaired by the sparking wiring hanging from the
Floyd | doorframe.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "x wiring"
Floyd | Two wires, crudely torn.  They spark occasionally - and are quite
Floyd | possibly live!
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "connect wiring"
Floyd | Of course!  If you electrocute yourself - if you die - then your
Floyd | consciousness will flip back to your original body!  It's bound to,
Floyd | after all!  And then your problem is solved! ... Though you'll still
Floyd | have to help Dr. Kurner, somehow, wherever he is.  Excellent idea.

Floyd |
Floyd | You steel your courage, raise your hand... and have a moment of doubt.
Floyd | Are you sure you want to do this?
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "yez"
Floyd | I don't know the word "yez".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
TJSay says (to Floyd), "yes"
Floyd | You close your eyes, and close your hand around the two ends of the
Floyd | wires.  There is a terrible sparking as electricity leaps between them,
Floyd | flowing blue lightning between your fingers, along your skin, down your
Floyd | palm!
Floyd |

Floyd | However, due to Dr. Kurner's plastic prosthetic wrist replacement, it
Floyd | doesn't get much further than that.  Your hand comes away, a little
Floyd | blackened.
Floyd |
Floyd | The airlock door slides open.
Floyd |

Floyd | The robot opens the hatch and rumbles through.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "yes"
Floyd | It's good that you're feeling so positive.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "ha ha"
Fang says (to Floyd), "x hand"
Floyd | Your hand is the colour of your wife's baked potatoes.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
zarf says, "lick it"
Fang says (to Floyd), "lick wiring"
Floyd | I don't know the word "lick".

Floyd |
Floyd | >
zarf says, "damn"
DavidW says (to Floyd), "lick hand"
Floyd | I don't know the word "lick".

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "taste wiring"
Floyd | I don't know the word "taste".
Floyd |

Floyd | >
TJSay says (to Floyd), "eat wiring"
Floyd | The wires don't appear appetizing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "x orange"
Floyd | I don't see any orange here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | You slip through the airlock, into a mangle of metal.
Floyd |
Floyd | Collapsed Corridor
Floyd |    This was the eastern quadrant of the dome, but something has fallen

Floyd | away and it is now a mangle of sheets of metal, intersecting skew-like.
Floyd | About halfway along, the roof is so low to the floor as to admit a mere
Floyd | few centimeters of space between.  Wiring hangs from the neon light,
Floyd | but only the first segment is still lit.  Where the corridor is most
Floyd | crumpled, one of the panels underfoot is loose, rippling out from the
Floyd | floor.  A large orange robot is whirring back and forth here.  It is

Floyd | Rosalind.
Floyd |
Floyd | You hear the rumbling sound of another robot in the corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "x panel"
Floyd | One of the panels of flooring at the southern end of this area has
Floyd | stuck up from the floor, like the bone protruding from a broken leg;
Floyd | like a wafer in an ice-cream.
Floyd |

Floyd | From the corridor outside you hear the swish-snap of the robot hatch.
Floyd |
Floyd | Rosalind edges forward once more, away from the airlock.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "look under panel"
Floyd | There's nothing under the panel.
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot moves on down the corridor, until it hits the fallen roof.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x rosalind"
Floyd | She has not survived the impact, either.  Poor thing - you wonder how
Floyd | long she has been trapped here, whirring forward along the corridor
Floyd | until she can go no further, then back until caught in the pinched

Floyd | walls by the airlock.
Floyd |
Floyd | Rosalind whirrs slowly across the corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x puck"
Floyd | I don't see any puck here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "get panel"
Floyd | The panel is heavy, and one end is stuck in a pinch of metal, but this
Floyd | acts neatly as a hinge.  You prop it with a clang against the wall.
Floyd |
Floyd | Beyond is a dark hole in the flooring.  Who knows how far a drop it
Floyd | might be, how long one might tumble before finally crunching to certain

Floyd | death on the floor?
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot reaches the airlock, but cannot quite fit through the gap.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
TJSay says (to Floyd), "enter hole"
Floyd | You cross yourself once.  This is it - a long jump - air whipped from
Floyd | your mouth - certain death on a solid flooring, who knows how far down.
Floyd | You can see nothing in there, it is black.  Will they ever find this
Floyd | body?  Who can say?  You close your eyes and leap into the dark.

Floyd |
Floyd | And land, an instant later, in a waist-deep hole.
Floyd |
Floyd | In a Hole
Floyd |    You are waist-high in a hole in the floor, in the middle of a
Floyd | corridor of mangled metal walls.

Floyd |
Floyd | You hear Rosalind's trudging footsteps.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "d"
Floyd | The only exit is up.
Floyd |
Floyd | You hear Rosalind's trudging footsteps.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says (to Floyd), "search hole"
Floyd | You find nothing of interest.
Floyd |
Floyd | You hear Rosalind's trudging footsteps.  With a loud rumble, the robot
Floyd | looms over your head, filling your vision the way a cloud can blot out

Floyd | the sun.  You cower, raising your arms instinctively over your eyes, as
ParserGirl says, "I hope she's not headed this way"
Floyd | Rosalind pitches forward into the hole...
Floyd |
Floyd | But it seems the centre of those robots is just a sheet of orange

Floyd | paper, as it rips easily when it hits your head.  A crash-smash later,
Floyd | you are standing in the debris of shattered robot, half filling the
Floyd | pit.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "haha, timing"
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "x robot"
Floyd | Rosalind is in at least twelve parts, most bright orange, a few black,
Floyd | with wires spilling from several fissures.  The debris is four inches
Floyd | deep.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says, "what the"
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x orange paper"
Floyd | I don't see any orange paper here.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "search debris"
Floyd | Amongst the orange parts you find the robot's hockey-puck arm, which
Floyd | you take.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "mourn rosalind"
Floyd | I don't know the word "mourn".
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x arm"
Floyd | It's a two-inch long black cylinder, as wide as your prosthetic wrist.
Floyd | One end is marked with concentric ridges - that's the end that fits the
Floyd | hatch-locks.  It must be telescopic, somehow, but you can't see a

Floyd | mechanism.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "repair rosalind"
Floyd | I don't see any rosalind here.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says, "so few games implement mourning"
Fang says, "alas"
Nitku says (to Floyd), "repair debris"
Floyd | You're not skilled enough.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "pray"
Floyd | You pray and feel a bit better.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "die"
Floyd | I don't know the word "die".

Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says, "I guess we have our 'key'."
Fang says (to Floyd), "up"
Floyd | You scramble out of the hole.

Floyd |
Floyd | Collapsed Corridor
Floyd |    This was the eastern quadrant of the dome, but something has fallen
Floyd | away and it is now a mangle of sheets of metal, intersecting skew-like.
Floyd | About halfway along, the roof is so low to the floor as to admit a mere
Floyd | few centimeters of space between.  Wiring hangs from the neon light,

Floyd | but only the first segment is still lit.  The loose panel is propped
Floyd | against the wall, revealing a promising, deep hole into the bowels of
Floyd | the dome.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "x wrist"
Floyd | I don't know the word "wrist".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x wiring"
Floyd | The wiring is dark and dead, like the hair of a drowned mermaid.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "pull it"
Floyd | The wires slip through your hands.
Floyd |
Floyd | You hear the rumbling sound of another robot in the corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "l"
Floyd | Collapsed Corridor
Floyd |    This was the eastern quadrant of the dome, but something has fallen
Floyd | away and it is now a mangle of sheets of metal, intersecting skew-like.
Floyd | About halfway along, the roof is so low to the floor as to admit a mere

Floyd | few centimeters of space between.  Wiring hangs from the neon light,
Floyd | but only the first segment is still lit.  The loose panel is propped
Floyd | against the wall, revealing a promising, deep hole into the bowels of
Floyd | the dome.
Floyd |
Floyd | From the corridor outside you hear the swish-snap of the robot hatch.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | The only exit is west.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Corridor
Floyd |    The corridor curves southeast to southwest, smooth metal walls low
Floyd | and merging over your head.  Portholes splatter the north side like

Floyd | bullet-holes.  A neon striplight runs the length of the corridor, light
Floyd | leaking round the bends until it is cut on the west side by a
Floyd | robot-hatch, and on the east by an airlock door, which is open.
Floyd |
Floyd | To the south is the door back to the mortuary, a black glass panel by
Floyd | its side.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl asks, "How many robots can we destroy today?"
Fang says, "maybe we should investigate the recess in the mortuary"
Fang says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | The robot's hatch is closed.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "open hatch with pole"
Floyd | I don't see any pole here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "open hatch with stick"
Floyd | I don't understand that sentence.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says, "Oh yeah"
Fang says (to Floyd), "open hatch"
Floyd | The hatchway will not open, will not budge and will not slide either.

Floyd |
Floyd | Through the door appears Victoria.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "put arm in recess"
Floyd | The hatch slides open for a brief moment, then slams shut.  You put the
Floyd | arm in once more, and this time, slip through.
Floyd |
Floyd | Curving Corridor
Floyd |    The western side of the dome, and an area not designed for human
Floyd | personnel.  Robot hatches stand secure at the north and southern ends,

Floyd | the latter a little dented, perhaps in the same explosion that damaged
Floyd | the east side.  Portholes peer out in the dark, their ring broken by a
Floyd | passage to the west, opposite an open archway to the east.
Floyd |
Floyd | The norhern hatch flips open and out pops Victoria.  She slowly lumbers
Floyd | southward, disappearing through the southern hatch.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "oh hm"
Fang says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | The hatch is shut.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "put arm in recess"
Floyd | Which recess do you mean, the dented recess, or the circular recess?
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "put arm in circular recess"
Floyd | The hatch opens; you dart through.
Floyd |
Floyd | Corridor

Floyd |    The corridor curves southeast to southwest, smooth metal walls low
Floyd | and merging over your head.  Portholes splatter the north side like
Floyd | bullet-holes.  A neon striplight runs the length of the corridor, light
Floyd | leaking round the bends until it is cut on the west side by a
Floyd | robot-hatch, and on the east by an airlock door, which is open.
Floyd |

Floyd | To the south is the door back to the mortuary, a black glass panel by
Floyd | its side.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "put arm in recess"
Floyd | The hatch opens; you dart through.
Floyd |
Floyd | Curving Corridor
Floyd |    The western side of the dome, and an area not designed for human
Floyd | personnel.  Robot hatches stand secure at the north and southern ends,
Floyd | the latter a little dented, perhaps in the same explosion that damaged

Floyd | the east side.  Portholes peer out in the dark, their ring broken by a
Floyd | passage to the west, opposite an open archway to the east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "put arm in dented recess"
Floyd | There is a dull click.  It seems not to want to work.  There could be a
Floyd | hundred finicky mechanical reasons why.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "w#"
Floyd | I don't understand the punctuation "#".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | By Airlock
Floyd |    This is just a short vestibule, from the airlock to the west to the
Floyd | main corridor back east.  The airlock door is sealed, but looking
Floyd | through its panel, you can see a long corridor, leading off into the
Floyd | distance.  This must be the umbilical to the rest of the lab.
Floyd |

Floyd | You spot a robot trudging along the curving corridor, disappearing
Floyd | through the southern hatch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "open airlock"
Floyd | You can't quite reach the catch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x airlock"
Floyd | The door is sealed shut.  You can make out the opening mechanism - on
Floyd | this door it's near the top, out of reach for stumpy Dr.  Kurner and
Floyd | probably your old self too.  Set into the centre of the door is a
Floyd | viewing panel.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "x mechanism"
Floyd | Nothing fancy, just a large button that you'd need to jab.  You just
Floyd | can't reach it, that's all.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "Get the peg leg"
Fang says (to Floyd), "push button with arm"
Floyd | The catch is a little embedded into the wall, so the arm hits spot on
Floyd | but it isn't able to push it.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang asks, "wanna drive?"
DavidW says, "no. I have to afk again"
Fang says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Without something to poke that catch with - a broom handle, or
Floyd | something - there's no way through that airlock.  Hopefully you can
Floyd | find something, though; as that's the way back to the lab.
Floyd |
Floyd | Curving Corridor
Floyd |    The western side of the dome, and an area not designed for human

Floyd | personnel.  Robot hatches stand secure at the north and southern ends,
Floyd | the latter a little dented, perhaps in the same explosion that damaged
Floyd | the east side.  Portholes peer out in the dark, their ring broken by a
Floyd | passage to the west, opposite an open archway to the east.
Floyd |
Floyd | Kathleen slips through the northern hatch and moments later exits to

Floyd | the south.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | That hatch is sealed to you, and likely to remain so.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | The hatch is shut.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "put arm in circular recess"
Floyd | The hatch opens; you dart through.
Floyd |
Floyd | Corridor

Floyd |    The corridor curves southeast to southwest, smooth metal walls low
Floyd | and merging over your head.  Portholes splatter the north side like
Floyd | bullet-holes.  A neon striplight runs the length of the corridor, light
Floyd | leaking round the bends until it is cut on the west side by a
Floyd | robot-hatch, and on the east by an airlock door, which is open.
Floyd |

Floyd | To the south is the door back to the mortuary, a black glass panel by
Floyd | its side.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch asks, "have we been east from here?"
Fang says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | The door is closed and locked.
Floyd |
Floyd | Through the door appears Victoria.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x mortuary door"
Floyd | I don't recognize that sentence.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "x door"
Floyd | It is locked, it seems.  By the side, at shoulder height, is a black
Floyd | glass palm-scanner.
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot opens the hatch and rumbles through.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
zarf walks off through the wall; vivid gold light flares briefly around him. Fang says, "that's the airlock"
Fang says (to Floyd), "x scanner"
Floyd | Flat black glass, a panel that uses all manner of fancy beams to read
Floyd | over your palm-print and check you are who you think you are.
Floyd | Unfortunately, it's not clever enough to realise you now think you are
Floyd | someone that you actually aren't.  Or you think you are someone who
Floyd | you're not, but really are.  Or something like that.  Anyway, it's a
Floyd | pig-ignorant machine.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "touch scanner"
Floyd | It bleeps red, displaying "PATTERN NOT IN DATABANK".
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "l"
Floyd | Corridor
Floyd |    The corridor curves southeast to southwest, smooth metal walls low
Floyd | and merging over your head.  Portholes splatter the north side like

Floyd | bullet-holes.  A neon striplight runs the length of the corridor, light
Floyd | leaking round the bends until it is cut on the west side by a
Floyd | robot-hatch, and on the east by an airlock door, which is open.
Floyd |
Floyd | To the south is the door back to the mortuary, a black glass panel by
Floyd | its side.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x panel"
Floyd | Flat black glass, a panel that uses all manner of fancy beams to read
Floyd | over your palm-print and check you are who you think you are.

Floyd |
Floyd | Through the door appears Charlotte.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "hmm"
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "x arm"
Floyd | It's a two-inch long black cylinder, as wide as your prosthetic wrist.
Floyd | One end is marked with concentric ridges - that's the end that fits the
Floyd | hatch-locks.  It must be telescopic, somehow, but you can't see a
Floyd | mechanism.

Floyd |
Floyd | The robot opens the hatch and rumbles through.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "think about doctor"
Floyd | I don't know the word "think".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "touch panel with arm"
Floyd | I don't recognize that sentence.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "pull arm"
Floyd | You waggle and flip the cylinder, but it refuses to extend to its full

Floyd | length.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "twist arm"
Floyd | That accomplishes nothing.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x arm"
Floyd | It's a two-inch long black cylinder, as wide as your prosthetic wrist.
Floyd | One end is marked with concentric ridges - that's the end that fits the

Floyd | hatch-locks.  It must be telescopic, somehow, but you can't see a
Floyd | mechanism.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "push arm"
Floyd | That accomplishes nothing.
Floyd |
Floyd | Through the door appears Kathleen.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says (to Floyd), "wear arm"
Floyd | You can't wear the robot arm.
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot opens the hatch and rumbles through.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "remove hand"
Floyd | Your hand is firmly attached to you.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says, "wait, let's see how the robots get in the mortuary"
Fang says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | Through the door appears Victoria.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot opens the hatch and rumbles through.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "x wrists"
Floyd | I don't know the word "wrists".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "z.z.z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | Through the door appears Charlotte.
Floyd |
Floyd | Time passes...

Floyd |
Floyd | The robot opens the hatch and rumbles through.
Floyd |
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang asks, "wait, how are they getting back in the mortuary?"
RootShell arrives, full of neither funk nor fun. djfletch says, "not sure"
RootShell says, "Helo"
djfletch says, "not sure if my map is right"
RootShell asks, "are we already playing?"
Fang says, "yes"
Fang says, "we are stuck, though"
RootShell exclaims, "damn... :!"
ParserGirl says, "We're not terribly far in."
olethros says, "this is just a test run, we will start playing for real later"
RootShell says, "haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
djfletch asks, "ok if I explore a bit to get my bearings?"
RootShell asks, "in about how much time?"
Fang says, "sure"
Nitku says, "He's joking"
ParserGirl says (to djfletch), "I think I got a bit lost so I don't mind."
djfletch says (to Floyd), "l"
Floyd | Corridor
Floyd |    The corridor curves southeast to southwest, smooth metal walls low
Floyd | and merging over your head.  Portholes splatter the north side like
Floyd | bullet-holes.  A neon striplight runs the length of the corridor, light
Floyd | leaking round the bends until it is cut on the west side by a
Floyd | robot-hatch, and on the east by an airlock door, which is open.

Floyd |
Floyd | To the south is the door back to the mortuary, a black glass panel by
Floyd | its side.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
RootShell asks, "what are "we" playing?"
DavidW says (to Floyd), "version"
Floyd | TILL DEATH MAKES A MONK-FISH OUT OF ME
Floyd | Release 1.1 / Serial number 021103 / TADS 2.56
Floyd |

Floyd | >
ParserGirl says, "Till Death Makes A Monk Fish Out of Me"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | You slip through the airlock, into a mangle of metal.
Floyd |

Floyd | Collapsed Corridor
Floyd |    This was the eastern quadrant of the dome, but something has fallen
Floyd | away and it is now a mangle of sheets of metal, intersecting skew-like.
Floyd | About halfway along, the roof is so low to the floor as to admit a mere
Floyd | few centimeters of space between.  Wiring hangs from the neon light,
Floyd | but only the first segment is still lit.  The loose panel is propped

Floyd | against the wall, revealing a promising, deep hole into the bowels of
Floyd | the dome.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to RootShell), "the regular starting time is an hour ago!"
RootShell says, "hehehe funny title :)"
RootShell says (to inky), "Hi (and thanks)"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | The only exit is west.
Floyd |

Floyd | You hear the rumbling sound of another robot in the corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "d"
Floyd | You leap into the dark and land, an instant later, in a waist-deep

Floyd | hole.
Floyd |
Floyd | In a Hole
Floyd |    You are waist-high in a hole in the floor, in the middle of a
Floyd | corridor of mangled metal walls.  It's filled with the mangled rubble
Floyd | of robot parts, all a lurid orange.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl asks, "Did we ever see if we could crawl around in the hole?"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | The only exit is up.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "x hole"
Floyd | You are waist-high in a hole in the floor, in the middle of a corridor
Floyd | of mangled metal walls.  It's filled with the mangled rubble of robot

Floyd | parts, all a lurid orange.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "u"
Floyd | You scramble out of the hole.

Floyd |
Floyd | Collapsed Corridor
Floyd |    This was the eastern quadrant of the dome, but something has fallen
Floyd | away and it is now a mangle of sheets of metal, intersecting skew-like.
Floyd | About halfway along, the roof is so low to the floor as to admit a mere
Floyd | few centimeters of space between.  Wiring hangs from the neon light,

Floyd | but only the first segment is still lit.  The loose panel is propped
Floyd | against the wall, revealing a promising, deep hole into the bowels of
Floyd | the dome.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Corridor
Floyd |    The corridor curves southeast to southwest, smooth metal walls low
Floyd | and merging over your head.  Portholes splatter the north side like
Floyd | bullet-holes.  A neon striplight runs the length of the corridor, light

Floyd | leaking round the bends until it is cut on the west side by a
Floyd | robot-hatch, and on the east by an airlock door, which is open.
Floyd |
Floyd | To the south is the door back to the mortuary, a black glass panel by
Floyd | its side.
Floyd |

Floyd | Through the door appears Victoria.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...

Floyd |
Floyd | The robot opens the hatch and rumbles through.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "put arm in hatch"
Floyd | You can't put anything into the hatch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | The door is closed and locked.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "put arm in recess"
Floyd | The hatch opens; you dart through.

Floyd |
Floyd | Curving Corridor
Floyd |    The western side of the dome, and an area not designed for human
Floyd | personnel.  Robot hatches stand secure at the north and southern ends,
Floyd | the latter a little dented, perhaps in the same explosion that damaged
Floyd | the east side.  Portholes peer out in the dark, their ring broken by a

Floyd | passage to the west, opposite an open archway to the east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Computer Core And Coffin Room

Floyd |    This appears to be the hub of the Hansome's world.  Along one wall
Floyd | runs a large computer bank, over which soft lights play in colours
Floyd | tailored for electric eyes.  The far corner of the room contains a
Floyd | large glass cylinder that disappears through the ceiling; it is open at
Floyd | the bottom, where a coffin waits. The centre of the floor is taken up
Floyd | by a circular hatch marked "Waste Disposal".  The juxtaposition is

Floyd | quite unpleasant, and if too much so, you could leave back west.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl asks, "Woah, have we been here before?"
djfletch says, "don't think so"
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "x coffin"
Floyd | The coffin is a smart black number of regular height.  It is unmarked,
Floyd | open, and waiting with a depressing certitude.
Floyd |
Floyd | From the corridor, you hear the sound of the robot hatch opening and

Floyd | closing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x computer"
Floyd | The computer has one main screen, a circular recess to serve as a

Floyd | monodigital keyboard, and a flat black palm scanner.  However, your
Floyd | gaze is taken by one larger switch, marked with beautiful portent:
Floyd | PERSONAL DETONATION DISPENSEMENT.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
RootShell says, "Who is mapping? we have to map"
djfletch says, "I am mapping now"
Nitku asks, "Who's this Hansome character?"
DavidW says, "Hansomes are the type of robot."
inky says, "hmm"
RootShell says (to Floyd), "i"
Floyd | You have a robot arm.
inky asks, "so can we kill ourself with the personal detonation whatsit?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "x switch"
Floyd | That switch should dole out swifter death than cyanide.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "open coffin"
Nitku says (to Floyd), "switch switch"
Floyd | It's already open.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | I don't know how to switch the switch.
Floyd |
Floyd | From the corridor, you hear the sound of the robot hatch opening and
Floyd | closing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "look in coffin"
Floyd | The coffin is empty.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x cylinder"
Floyd | It's glass, and stretches upwards.  During a funeral, the base seals,
Floyd | it fills with water and coffins are flushed out to be found and buried
Floyd | on land.  You'd seen it before on the designs for this place, but never
Floyd | realised they'd been so heartless as to actually build the thing.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "get in coffin"
Floyd | You made that mistake when you joined AtlantisLab.  You're not doing it
Floyd | again.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
RootShell says (to Floyd), "enter clinder"
Floyd | I don't know the word "clinder".
Floyd |

Floyd | >
RootShell says (to Floyd), "enter cilinder"
Floyd | I don't know the word "cilinder".
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "enter cylinder"
Floyd | The coffin is in the way.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
RootShell says (to Floyd), "move coffin"
Floyd | You can't move the coffin.
Floyd |
Floyd | The familiar swish-snap sound of the robot hatch gets your attention.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "pull switch"
Floyd | You tug the switch.  It sticks halfway, and a message appears on the
Floyd | screen: DISPENSEMENT SET.  PROCEED VIA PERSONAL SETTING.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x hatch"
Floyd | Ah, the eco-friendly waste system.  A hatch, with a short tunnel,
Floyd | another hatch, and then the sea.  Waste goes into through one door and
Floyd | is ejected into the water.  Simple, effective, and self-cleaning.  The

Floyd | waste disposal hatch is closed, and there is no immediately obvious
Floyd | control to change that.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x computer"
Floyd | The computer has one main screen, a circular recess to serve as a
Floyd | monodigital keyboard, and a flat black palm scanner.  The switch for
Floyd | the PDD is stuck half-way down.  The screen is flashing something about
Floyd | setting a PERSONAL.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "touch scanner"
Floyd | Of course, it probably won't be happy with your print.  But you put
Floyd | your palm on the glass anyway.
Floyd |
Floyd | The computer heaves and splats.  You barely notice a squat oblong fire

Floyd | out from its base, because of a searing pain that shoots across your
Floyd | palm.  You pull back your hand, to find you have been branded!
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says, "another recess"
inky says, "oops, maybe that was a mistake"
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "x palm"
Floyd | Your palm contains a brand.  Beneath it is inscribed "Press for
Floyd | detonation."
Floyd |

Floyd | From the corridor outside you hear the swish-snap of the robot hatch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "hmmm"
djfletch says, "well, we can't make it unwinnable"
Allen arrives, full of neither funk nor fun. RootShell says, "lets blow things up?"
Fang says (to Floyd), "press hand"
Floyd | Pushing your hand doesn't do anything.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "press brand"
Floyd | Your finger hovers over the contact.  Eyes to palm, eyes to bomb.  You
Floyd | can't help feeling it's a slightly extreme way to go.  But you press
Floyd | the button anyway.

Floyd |
Floyd | "!ERROR - PERSONAL WITHIN BLAST RADIUS!" screams a siren from just
Floyd | above your wrist.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl asks, "Personel?"
inky says, "I'm not sure"
Fang says (to Floyd), "enter coffin"
Floyd | You made that mistake when you joined AtlantisLab.  You're not doing it
Floyd | again.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW asks, "Did we inject a bomb into our hand?"
RootShell www.ifreviews.org
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x brand"
Floyd | The brand is a small black button - a tattoo just left of your
Floyd | lifeline.  Beneath it is inscribed "Press for detonation."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "I think so, yeah"
djfletch asks, "oh do we have to clear all the robots away so they are not within blast radius?"
djfletch asks, "or go somewhere else further away ourselves first maybe?"
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x computer"
Floyd | The computer has one main screen, a circular recess to serve as a
Floyd | monodigital keyboard, and a flat black palm scanner, slightly stained

Floyd | with your blood.  The switch for the PDD is stuck half-way down.  The
Floyd | screen is blank.
Floyd |
Floyd | From the corridor outside you hear the swish-snap of the robot hatch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "x pdd"
Floyd | I don't know the word "pdd".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x computer"
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "x blood"
Floyd | The computer has one main screen, a circular recess to serve as a
Floyd | monodigital keyboard, and a flat black palm scanner, slightly stained
Floyd | with your blood.  The switch for the PDD is stuck half-way down.  The

Floyd | screen is blank.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Floyd | You didn't think Dr. Kurner had any left.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "l"
Floyd | Computer Core And Coffin Room
Floyd |    This appears to be the hub of the Hansome's world.  Along one wall
Floyd | runs a large computer bank, over which soft lights play in colours
Floyd | tailored for electric eyes.  The far corner of the room contains a

Floyd | large glass cylinder that disappears through the ceiling; it is open at
Floyd | the bottom, where a coffin waits. The centre of the floor is taken up
Floyd | by a circular hatch marked "Waste Disposal".  The juxtaposition is
Floyd | quite unpleasant, and if too much so, you could leave back west.
Floyd |
Floyd | Sitting in the middle of the floor is a black oblong, with a single red

Floyd | light on top which blinks intermittently.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x oblong"
Floyd | Of course, "black oblong" is a marketing euphemism.  It means

Floyd | "container capable of violent explosive self-destruction" or "Bomb".
Floyd |
Floyd | It's small, black, and judging by the way it slid across the floor,
Floyd | very heavy. There is a single red light on top which blinks
Floyd | intermittently.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says, "no, I think our hand triggers this"
DavidW says, "oh"
Fang says (to Floyd), "take bomb"
Floyd | It's small, but it's heavy, and flat on the flat floor so you can't get
Floyd | your fingers underneath.  (That's not helped, of course, by the fact
Floyd | you can barely bend your left palm thanks to the brand.)
Floyd |
Floyd | From the corridor outside you hear the swish-snap of the robot hatch.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
ParserGirl says, "We could try leaving and then pushing the button, yeah"
Fang says (to Floyd), "push bomb w"
Floyd | You can't seem to do that.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x hatch"
Floyd | Ah, the eco-friendly waste system.  A hatch, with a short tunnel,
Floyd | another hatch, and then the sea.  Waste goes into through one door and
Floyd | is ejected into the water.  Simple, effective, and self-cleaning.  The

Floyd | waste disposal hatch is closed, and there is no immediately obvious
Floyd | control to change that.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "l"
Floyd | Computer Core And Coffin Room
Floyd |    This appears to be the hub of the Hansome's world.  Along one wall
Floyd | runs a large computer bank, over which soft lights play in colours
Floyd | tailored for electric eyes.  The far corner of the room contains a
Floyd | large glass cylinder that disappears through the ceiling; it is open at
Floyd | the bottom, where a coffin waits. The centre of the floor is taken up

Floyd | by a circular hatch marked "Waste Disposal".  The juxtaposition is
Floyd | quite unpleasant, and if too much so, you could leave back west.
Floyd |
Floyd | Sitting in the middle of the floor is a black oblong, with a single red
Floyd | light on top which blinks intermittently.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Curving Corridor
Floyd |    The western side of the dome, and an area not designed for human
Floyd | personnel.  Robot hatches stand secure at the north and southern ends,

Floyd | the latter a little dented, perhaps in the same explosion that damaged
Floyd | the east side.  Portholes peer out in the dark, their ring broken by a
Floyd | passage to the west, opposite an open archway to the east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "ok, here goes"
Fang says (to Floyd), "push brand"
Floyd | You press the small black button.
Floyd |
Floyd | "!ERROR - PERSONAL WITHIN BLAST RADIUS!" screams a siren from just

Floyd | above your wrist.
Floyd |
Floyd | The norhern hatch flips open and out pops Charlotte.  She slowly
Floyd | lumbers southward, disappearing through the southern hatch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | That hatch is sealed to you, and likely to remain so.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | The hatch is shut.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
TJSay says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | By Airlock
Floyd |    This is just a short vestibule, from the airlock to the west to the
Floyd | main corridor back east.  The airlock door is sealed, but you recall
Floyd | that a long corridor leads off into the distance.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
TJSay says (to Floyd), "push brand"
Floyd | You press the small black button.
Floyd |
Floyd | "!ERROR - PERSONAL WITHIN BLAST RADIUS!" screams a siren from just

Floyd | above your wrist.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says, "ok so the robots go south from that corridor, but we can't"
Fang says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Curving Corridor
Floyd |    The western side of the dome, and an area not designed for human
Floyd | personnel.  Robot hatches stand secure at the north and southern ends,
Floyd | the latter a little dented, perhaps in the same explosion that damaged
Floyd | the east side.  Portholes peer out in the dark, their ring broken by a
Floyd | passage to the west, opposite an open archway to the east.

Floyd |
Floyd | The norhern hatch flips open and out pops Kathleen.  She slowly lumbers
Floyd | southward, disappearing through the southern hatch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "put arm in circular recess"
Floyd | The hatch opens; you dart through.
Floyd |
Floyd | Corridor
Floyd |    The corridor curves southeast to southwest, smooth metal walls low

Floyd | and merging over your head.  Portholes splatter the north side like
Floyd | bullet-holes.  A neon striplight runs the length of the corridor, light
Floyd | leaking round the bends until it is cut on the west side by a
Floyd | robot-hatch, and on the east by an airlock door, which is open.
Floyd |
Floyd | To the south is the door back to the mortuary, a black glass panel by

Floyd | its side.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | You slip through the airlock, into a mangle of metal.

Floyd |
Floyd | Collapsed Corridor
Floyd |    This was the eastern quadrant of the dome, but something has fallen
Floyd | away and it is now a mangle of sheets of metal, intersecting skew-like.
Floyd | About halfway along, the roof is so low to the floor as to admit a mere
Floyd | few centimeters of space between.  Wiring hangs from the neon light,

Floyd | but only the first segment is still lit.  The loose panel is propped
Floyd | against the wall, revealing a promising, deep hole into the bowels of
Floyd | the dome.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW asks, "Have we been in the airlock?"
Fang says (to Floyd), "push brand"
Floyd | You press the small black button.
Floyd |
Floyd | "!ERROR - PERSONAL WITHIN BLAST RADIUS!" screams a siren from just

Floyd | above your wrist.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "hm"
TJSay says, "What"
Fang says (to DavidW), "we couldn't open it"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "i"
Floyd | You have a robot arm.
Floyd |
Floyd | Your left palm has been branded with a button.

Floyd |
Floyd | You hear the rumbling sound of another robot in the corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
TJSay says, "What's the farthest place away"
Fang says (to Floyd), "enter hole"
Floyd | You leap into the dark and land, an instant later, in a waist-deep
Floyd | hole.
Floyd |
Floyd | In a Hole

Floyd |    You are waist-high in a hole in the floor, in the middle of a
Floyd | corridor of mangled metal walls.  It's filled with the mangled rubble
Floyd | of robot parts, all a lurid orange.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "bush brand"
Floyd | I don't know the word "bush".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "push brand"
Floyd | You press the small black button.
Floyd |
Floyd | "!ERROR - PERSONAL WITHIN BLAST RADIUS!" screams a siren from just
Floyd | above your wrist.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang asks, "maybe we need to put the bomb in the coffin?"
djfletch says, "I think we need to get into the other airlock"
djfletch says, "which we needed a stick for"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "x parts"
Floyd | Rosalind is in at least twelve parts, most bright orange, a few black,
Floyd | with wires spilling from several fissures.  The debris is four inches
Floyd | deep.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch asks, "or could we redirect some more robots into this hole?"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "x arm"
Floyd | It's a two-inch long black cylinder, as wide as your prosthetic wrist.
Floyd | One end is marked with concentric ridges - that's the end that fits the
Floyd | hatch-locks.  It must be telescopic, somehow, but you can't see a

Floyd | mechanism.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "twist arm"
Floyd | That accomplishes nothing.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "pull arm"
Floyd | You waggle and flip the cylinder, but it refuses to extend to its full
Floyd | length.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "remove hand"
Floyd | Your hand is firmly attached to you.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "cut off hand"
Floyd | I don't recognize that sentence.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "push arm"
Floyd | That accomplishes nothing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "stretch arm"
Floyd | You waggle and flip the cylinder, but it refuses to extend to its full
Floyd | length.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "search arm"
Floyd | You find nothing of interest.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "shake arm"
Floyd | You waggle and flip the cylinder, but it refuses to extend to its full
Floyd | length.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says (to Floyd), "u"
Floyd | You scramble out of the hole.
Floyd |
Floyd | Collapsed Corridor
Floyd |    This was the eastern quadrant of the dome, but something has fallen

Floyd | away and it is now a mangle of sheets of metal, intersecting skew-like.
Floyd | About halfway along, the roof is so low to the floor as to admit a mere
Floyd | few centimeters of space between.  Wiring hangs from the neon light,
Floyd | but only the first segment is still lit.  The loose panel is propped
Floyd | against the wall, revealing a promising, deep hole into the bowels of
Floyd | the dome.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Corridor
Floyd |    The corridor curves southeast to southwest, smooth metal walls low

Floyd | and merging over your head.  Portholes splatter the north side like
Floyd | bullet-holes.  A neon striplight runs the length of the corridor, light
Floyd | leaking round the bends until it is cut on the west side by a
Floyd | robot-hatch, and on the east by an airlock door, which is open.
Floyd |
Floyd | To the south is the door back to the mortuary, a black glass panel by

Floyd | its side.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "x door"
Floyd | It is locked, it seems.  By the side, at shoulder height, is a black

Floyd | glass palm-scanner.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says, "oh. We missed something in the computer room (according to my notes)."
TJSay says (to Floyd), "touch palm-scanner"
Floyd | It bleeps red, displaying "PATTERN NOT IN DATABANK".
Floyd |
Floyd | Through the door appears Victoria.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | The door is closed and locked.
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot opens the hatch and rumbles through.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | The robot's hatch is closed.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says (to Floyd), "put arm in recess"
Floyd | The hatch opens; you dart through.
Floyd |
Floyd | Curving Corridor
Floyd |    The western side of the dome, and an area not designed for human

Floyd | personnel.  Robot hatches stand secure at the north and southern ends,
Floyd | the latter a little dented, perhaps in the same explosion that damaged
Floyd | the east side.  Portholes peer out in the dark, their ring broken by a
Floyd | passage to the west, opposite an open archway to the east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "x portholes"
Floyd | Through the portholes swim a variety of underwater fish, lit in the
Floyd | half-glow leaking from this dome.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Computer Core And Coffin Room
Floyd |    This appears to be the hub of the Hansome's world.  Along one wall
Floyd | runs a large computer bank, over which soft lights play in colours
Floyd | tailored for electric eyes.  The far corner of the room contains a

Floyd | large glass cylinder that disappears through the ceiling; it is open at
Floyd | the bottom, where a coffin waits. The centre of the floor is taken up
Floyd | by a circular hatch marked "Waste Disposal".  The juxtaposition is
Floyd | quite unpleasant, and if too much so, you could leave back west.
Floyd |
Floyd | Sitting in the middle of the floor is a black oblong, with a single red

Floyd | light on top which blinks intermittently.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "maybe we should seek a hint"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "break cylinder"
Floyd | You'll have to tell me how to do that.
Floyd |
Floyd | From the corridor outside you hear the swish-snap of the robot hatch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says (to Floyd), "x computer"
Floyd | The computer has one main screen, a circular recess to serve as a
Floyd | monodigital keyboard, and a flat black palm scanner, slightly stained
Floyd | with your blood.  The switch for the PDD is stuck half-way down.  The
Floyd | screen is blank.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x recess"
Floyd | Much like the others you've seen.  Around the circumference are marked
Floyd | small lines.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "put arm in recess"
Floyd | You clip the robot arm into the circular recess.  The screen lights up
Floyd | with a list of names.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "pull switch"
Floyd | It doesn't budge.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x screen"
Floyd | The list on the screen reads:
Floyd | DOE, JACK
Floyd | DOE, JENNY

Floyd | DOE, JEREMY
Floyd | DOE, JOSEPHINE
Floyd | DOE, JULIA
Floyd | DOE, JOHN
Floyd |
Floyd | Jack's name is currently blinking.

Floyd |
Floyd | The familiar swish-snap sound of the robot hatch gets your attention.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "touch john"
Floyd | It's not a touch screen.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "type "john""
Floyd | What do you want to type it on?
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "keyboard"
Floyd | I don't know how to type anything on the recess.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x computer"
Floyd | The computer has one main screen, a circular recess to serve as a
Floyd | monodigital keyboard from which protrudes a broken robot arm and a flat

Floyd | black palm scanner, slightly stained with your blood.  The switch for
Floyd | the PDD is stuck half-way down.  The screen is displaying a list of
Floyd | names.  One - "JACK" - is flashing.
Floyd |
Floyd | The red light on the black oblong winks.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "touch scanner"
Floyd | You gather once is more than enough.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "push switch"
Floyd | It doesn't budge.
Floyd |
Floyd | From the corridor outside you hear the swish-snap of the robot hatch.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "put arm in recess"
Floyd | The robot arm is already in the recess!
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says, "hrm"
ParserGirl says, "We haven't seen Julia or Josephine."
inky asks, "do we have to, I dunno, cut off jack's hand?"
djfletch says, "we don't have a way back to the mortuary any more"
inky says, "I'm sure we have to cut off *somebody's* hand in this game"
inky says, "given all these palm scanners"
DavidW says, "Jeremy was the odd one out. He had the peg leg."
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x recess"
Floyd | The arm protrudes from the recess like a broken spur from a wrecked

Floyd | ship.  Around the circumference are marked small lines.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "x lines"
Floyd | I don't know the word "lines".

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "pull arm"
Floyd | You unclip the arm from the recess.  The screen flashes: "PROCESSING...
Floyd | PROCESSING...  READY", then falls dark.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says, "ooh"
djfletch asks, "what did that mean?"
ParserGirl says (to Floyd), "i"
Floyd | You have a robot arm.
Floyd |
Floyd | Your left palm has been branded with a button.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "You've selected Jack, and you probably can pull the switch now."
djfletch says (to Floyd), "pull switch"
Floyd | It doesn't budge.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says (to Floyd), "press button"
Floyd | You press the small black button.
Floyd |
Floyd | "!ERROR - PERSONAL WITHIN BLAST RADIUS!" screams a siren from just
Floyd | above your wrist.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "put arm in recess"
Floyd | You clip the robot arm into the circular recess.  The screen lights up
Floyd | with a list of names.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x screen"
Floyd | The list on the screen reads:
Floyd | DOE, JENNY

Floyd | DOE, JEREMY
Floyd | DOE, JOSEPHINE
Floyd | DOE, JULIA
Floyd | DOE, JOHN
Floyd |
Floyd | Jenny's name is currently blinking.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "hmm"
djfletch says, "jack has gone"
Fang says (to Floyd), "l"
Floyd | Computer Core And Coffin Room
Floyd |    This appears to be the hub of the Hansome's world.  Along one wall
Floyd | runs a large computer bank, over which soft lights play in colours
Floyd | tailored for electric eyes.  The far corner of the room contains a
Floyd | large glass cylinder that disappears through the ceiling; it is open at
Floyd | the bottom, where a coffin waits. The centre of the floor is taken up

Floyd | by a circular hatch marked "Waste Disposal".  The juxtaposition is
Floyd | quite unpleasant, and if too much so, you could leave back west.
Floyd |
Floyd | Sitting in the middle of the floor is a black oblong, with a single red
Floyd | light on top which blinks intermittently.
Floyd |

Floyd | You hear the familiar snap of the robot hatch echo in the corridor.
Floyd | You turn and spot Kathleen, connected to trolley, trudging along the
Floyd | corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "is that good? I can't tell"
Fang says (to Floyd), "x trolley"
Floyd | I don't see any trolley here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says (to Floyd), "get arm. put arm in recess"
Floyd | You unclip the arm from the recess.  The screen flashes: "PROCESSING...
Floyd | PROCESSING...  SYSTEM BUSY", then falls dark.
Floyd |
Floyd | Kathleen enters the room, pushing a trolley in front of it.  On the

Floyd | trolley lies Jack Doe.
Floyd |
Floyd | You clip the robot arm into the circular recess.  The screen lights up
Floyd | with a list of names.
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot pushes the trolley over to the coffin, performs an ingenious

Floyd | twist, and the body slides in.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says, "aha"
djfletch asks, "so we asked for jack to be delivered to us?"
inky says, "I guess so"
inky says, "into the coffin, for disposal or something"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "pull switch"
Floyd | It doesn't budge.
Floyd |

Floyd | The robot flips the coffin shut.  The glass cylinder seals, and in a
Floyd | great spiral of water rather too much like a submarine toilet, the
Floyd | coffin is ejected outwards and upwards.  You can't help noticing its
Floyd | panel was never engraved.  An empty coffin slides into place, by some
Floyd | mechanism too fast for your watery eyes to follow.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | Kathleen turns tail and leaves the room, pushing its empty trolley

Floyd | before it.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |

Floyd | From the corridor outside you hear the swish-snap of the robot hatch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | The red light on the black oblong winks.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x computer"
Floyd | The computer has one main screen, a circular recess to serve as a
Floyd | monodigital keyboard from which protrudes a broken robot arm and a flat

Floyd | black palm scanner, slightly stained with your blood.  The switch for
Floyd | the PDD is stuck half-way down.  The screen is displaying a list of
Floyd | names.  One - "JENNY" - is flashing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says, "not sure if they are going to deliver another one"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | The familiar swish-snap sound of the robot hatch gets your attention.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "get arm"
Floyd | You unclip the arm from the recess.  The screen flashes: "PROCESSING...
Floyd | PROCESSING...  READY", then falls dark.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z.z.z.z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |

Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | You hear the familiar snap of the robot hatch echo in the corridor.
Floyd | You turn and spot Kathleen, connected to trolley, trudging along the

Floyd | corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | Kathleen enters the room, pushing a trolley in front of it.  On the
Floyd | trolley lies Jenny Doe.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says, "looks like it starts operating when you take the arm out and keep it out for a while"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...

Floyd |
Floyd | The robot transfers the body to the coffin.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | The robot flips the coffin shut, and it is ejected, presumably into the
Floyd | sea above.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | Kathleen turns tail and leaves the room, pushing its empty trolley
Floyd | before it.

Floyd |
Floyd | You hear a great rumbling under the floor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "listen"
Floyd | You can hear the low hum emanating from the computer bank.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW asks, "Can I spoil very slightly?"
Fang says, "yes"
djfletch says, "ok"
DavidW says, "The 'circular' and 'circumference' properties of the recess were mentioned for a reason."
djfletch says, "hmm"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "put arm in recess"
Floyd | You clip the robot arm into the circular recess.  The screen lights up
Floyd | with a list of names.
Floyd |
Floyd | From the corridor, you hear the sound of the robot hatch opening and
Floyd | closing.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x recess"
Floyd | The arm protrudes from the recess like a broken spur from a wrecked
Floyd | ship.  Around the circumference are marked small lines.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "x screen"
Floyd | The list on the screen reads:
Floyd | DOE, JEREMY
Floyd | DOE, JOSEPHINE

Floyd | DOE, JULIA
Floyd | DOE, JOHN
Floyd |
Floyd | Jeremy's name is currently blinking.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "turn arm"
Floyd | You turn the arm one notch, and the name JOSEPHINE in the list begins
Floyd | to blink.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "turn arm"
Floyd | You turn the arm one notch, and the name JULIA in the list begins to
Floyd | blink.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "turn arm"
Floyd | You turn the arm one notch, and the name JOHN in the list begins to
Floyd | blink.
Floyd |
Floyd | The familiar swish-snap sound of the robot hatch gets your attention.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "push arm"
Floyd | The arm goes no further in, but it is free to rotate.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch says, "we can get the pegleg delivered to us"
DavidW says, "I think so, yes."
Fang says, "oooh"
djfletch asks, "was it Jeremy that had it?"
DavidW says, "yes"
Fang says (to Floyd), "turn arm"
Floyd | You turn the arm one notch, and the name JEREMY in the list begins to
Floyd | blink.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "yes"
Fang says (to Floyd), "take arm"
Floyd | You unclip the arm from the recess.  The screen flashes: "PROCESSING...

Floyd | PROCESSING...  READY", then falls dark.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | The red light on the black oblong winks.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | You hear the familiar snap of the robot hatch echo in the corridor.

Floyd | You turn and spot Victoria, connected to trolley, trudging along the
Floyd | corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "x trolley"
Floyd | I don't see any trolley here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | Victoria enters the room, pushing a trolley in front of it, on which
Floyd | lies Jeremy and Jeremy's peg-leg.  It is heading for the coffin, but
Floyd | there is a sudden loud grumbling from under the floor and the robot
Floyd | stops dead.  Before you spot the connection between the trolley's

Floyd | position and the waste-disposal hatch, the trolley has been tipped up
Floyd | by a neat shudder of Victoria's lower limbs and Jeremy has slid down in
Floyd | the compartment in the floor.  The coffin remains empty, and appears
Floyd | not to have noticed that's its snack has been thrown away by the
Floyd | waiter.
Floyd |

Floyd | The robot motors quietly out of the room westward, leaving the trolley
Floyd | behind, lolling flat on the floor once more.  The waste-disposal hatch
Floyd | slides shut.  Or, well, almost shut.  Jeremy's peg-leg protrudes,
Floyd | obstructing the closing of the cover.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "get leg"
Floyd | The hatch has gripped it obliquely, and it's trapped on something
Floyd | inside the compartment (an armpit, perhaps).
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "leg it"
Floyd | There's no verb in that sentence!
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "open hatch"
Floyd | You pull at the hatch, but don't have quite enough strength to move it
Floyd | with your hands.  Jeremy's peg-leg slides a bit toward you.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "get leg"
Floyd | You lever open the hatch with the peg-leg, which finally comes free in
Floyd | your hands.
Floyd |
Floyd | Inside, your eyes are met by an appalling sight.  Jeremy is crumpled in

Floyd | the bottom of the compartment, whose lower door is not sealed, but
Floyd | rather filled by a thick green sludge, which oozes between his splayed
Floyd | limbs.
Floyd |
Floyd | And as you look down, the sludge looks up.  You leap back.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says, "eeeagh"
djfletch says, "hehe"
Fang says, "yikes"
Fang says (to Floyd), "x sludge"
Floyd | You lean back toward the hole.
Floyd |
Floyd | There is a surge of movement from inside the hatch, and then an
Floyd | eruption of cobalt goop as a tentacle surges out.  It feels at the air,
Floyd | back and forth like the foil of a fencer, swiping toward your face.

Floyd | You recoil, stumble, fall back flat upon the trolley.  The suckers,
Floyd | blood-tipped already, follow the sound, soon hovering mere inches from
Floyd | your face.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW asks, "Maybe it's time to leave?"
Fang says, "leave and use the bomb"
inky says (to Floyd), "push tolley"
Floyd | I don't know the word "tolley".
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "push trolley"
Floyd | You try to jerk the trolley to move, but to do so without moving nearer
Floyd | the squid.  The net effect - fear and no motion.
Floyd |

Floyd | From the corner of your eye you see water bubbling in through the
Floyd | hatch, the tunnel beneath which is now held open on both ends by the
Floyd | enormous arm of the squid.  This arm sweeps the room, an inch from your
Floyd | nose, unable to find you.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "undo"
Floyd | (Undoing one command)
Floyd |
Floyd | Computer Core And Coffin Room, on the trolley
Floyd |    This appears to be the hub of the Hansome's world.  Along one wall

Floyd | runs a large computer bank, over which soft lights play in colours
Floyd | tailored for electric eyes.  The far corner of the room contains a
Floyd | large glass cylinder that disappears through the ceiling; it is open at
Floyd | the bottom, where a coffin waits. The centre of the floor is taken up
Floyd | by a circular hatch marked "Waste Disposal".  The juxtaposition is
Floyd | quite unpleasant, and if too much so, you could leave back west.

Floyd |
Floyd | Sitting in the middle of the floor is a black oblong, with a single red
Floyd | light on top which blinks intermittently.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "SAVE"
inky says (to Floyd), "cf3"
Floyd | File to save game in >
Floyd | Saved.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "push brand"
Floyd | You press the small black button.
Floyd |
Floyd | "!ERROR - PERSONAL WITHIN BLAST RADIUS!" screams a siren from just

Floyd | above your wrist.
Floyd |
Floyd | From the corner of your eye you see water bubbling in through the
Floyd | hatch, the tunnel beneath which is now held open on both ends by the
Floyd | enormous arm of the squid.  This arm sweeps the room, an inch from your
Floyd | nose, unable to find you.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "get in coffin"
Floyd | You are flat out on the trolley and not moving an inch higher.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "push floor with leg"
Floyd | That has no effect.
Floyd |
Floyd | The tentacle swoops back a little, like a hawk soaring to survey.  It

Floyd | seems to have lost you.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "push trolley with leg"
Floyd | You'll have to get off of the trolley first.

Floyd |
Floyd | The light on the black oblong winks.
Floyd |
Floyd | In a flash the tentacle has descended, enfolding and embracing the bomb
Floyd | and dragging it down through the hatch with it.  You breath a sigh of
Floyd | relief as it slides out of sight.

Floyd |
Floyd | But the waste hatch is still open, still broken, and as the tentacle
Floyd | leaves the only obstacle between the room and the sea has left too.  A
Floyd | fountain jets up into the room, catching the trolley as it splashes
Floyd | down.  You start to roll, out of the door westwards.
Floyd |

Floyd | Curving Corridor
Floyd |    You are flat out on the trolley, which is building speed as the
Floyd | crashing water from the computer room powers behind.  You clutch
Floyd | Jeremy's peg-leg for comfort, as though it'll steer you, though you're
Floyd | clearly in the lap of luck now.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says, "ah, there goes the bomb"
djfletch asks, "can we detonate it now?"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "push button"
Floyd | You press the small black button.
Floyd |
Floyd | "!ERROR - EXPLOSIVE OUT OF RANGE!" screams a siren from just above your
Floyd | wrist.
Floyd |
Floyd | From the computer room comes a roar, and you see the trunk of the

Floyd | tentacle erupt once more, heading toward the only moving object it can
Floyd | find - you.
Floyd |
Floyd | The trolley fires further.
Floyd |
Floyd | By Airlock

Floyd |    The trolley is cannoning westward.  The sealed airlock door
Floyd | approaches like the last view of a crash-test dummy.  You can just spot
Floyd | the opening catch, way out of reach, waiting to be pushed.
Floyd |
Floyd | The squid is hot on your tail, a huntsman with the waves his hounds.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch says, "aw"
inky says (to Floyd), "push catch with leg" Fang says, "worst bomb ever"
Floyd | You jab wildly for the opening catch with the peg-leg as you approach

Floyd | it.  The airlock hisses, and slides open just in time for the head of
Floyd | the trolley to shoot through.
Floyd |
Floyd | Long Tunnel
Floyd |    This is a tunnel joining the modules of the lab.  It is long,
Floyd | unmarked, a solid steel umbilical with dim lighting and no windows.

Floyd | And the floor slopes downward.
Floyd |
Floyd | You accelerate.  Sirens wind into life all about the corridor, and far
Floyd | ahead a flood door is beginning to lower.
Floyd |
Floyd | Hmm.  Someone's left a computer hotwired into a wall panel, just lying

Floyd | around in the corridor.  That's no way to access, at a guess, the
Floyd | robot's systems stored in the Mortuary block.
Floyd |
Floyd | You just notice these things, that's all.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "use computer"
Floyd | Trolley-very-fast-squid-flood, remember?
Floyd |
Floyd | Behind you the tentacle is still coming.  It's almost upon you.  The
Floyd | flood door is now half-way to the floor.

Floyd |
Floyd | In a final surge, you crash toward the flood door, and sweep through
Floyd | just before it rams home.  There is a colossal thud from behind as the
Floyd | squid hammers into it.  But it holds.  The trolley rockets calmly into
Floyd | a wall, and you are thrown painfully, rolling further down the corridor
Floyd | where it bends to the north, head spinning with legs.  It is a while

Floyd | before you take in your surroundings once more.
Floyd |
Floyd | Intersection
Floyd |    You're in the main module, and that means you know your way around
Floyd | with your eyes shut.  With your eyes open you can also comment on the
Floyd | decor; and note that it improves substantially to the east where the

Floyd | General has his office, to the west it probably disimproves (Kurner's
Floyd | hole is over there) and north leads toward the centre of the dome which
Floyd | means one thing - toward the room with your machine.
Floyd |
Floyd | Back south is a long corridor.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "SAVE"
Fang says (to Floyd), "cf4"
Floyd | File to save game in >

Floyd | Saved.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "I wonder if we should check out kurner's place or go into the machine room"
DavidW says, "Both, I suppose."
inky says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Outside Kurner's Room
Floyd |    The corridor continues around the curve of the base to the
Floyd | northwest, to the rooms of the various scientists.  This one is of
Floyd | interest though, perhaps - it is the door to Kurner's room - chosen by

Floyd | lottery, it is the nearest to all the machinery and so the loudest to
Floyd | be in.
Floyd |
Floyd | The door itself is quite a sight if you like hybridised tech - Kurner
Floyd | being the paranoiac he is has fitted it with a Russian retinal scanner,
Floyd | a thumb-reader and a voice tag detector.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "unlock door"
Floyd | There's a pretty formidable array of locks on the thing!
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "put hand on reader"
Floyd | The door chimes happily.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "look in scanner"
Floyd | The door pings happily.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "talk to detector"
Floyd | You can't talk to the microphone.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "say "hello" to microphone"
Floyd | Nothing happens.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x voice"
Floyd | I don't know the word "voice".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x microphone"
Floyd | Just a microphone to read in a code-word.  Known to be temperamental
Floyd | most people don't trust these to anything you actually want to be able
Floyd | to get into.  Kurner himself always has problems because he insists on
Floyd | whispering his password.  Eventually he'll just yell "SCARECROW" and
Floyd | pretend it was a curse at the door's failures.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "yell "scarecrow""
Floyd | The door fleeps happily.  It swings open.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | The corridor continues northwest and Kurner's room is directly north.
Floyd | The intersection lies east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | Ironic, really, that if he'd just had a keyhole you'd never have broken
Floyd | in.
Floyd |
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's Office

Floyd |    - is also his room, and it's a tip.  A bed in one corner looks
Floyd | utterly pristine, under forty or fifty large books.  The desk, facing
Floyd | onto a ubiquitous porthole, has a computer screen and keyboard set into
Floyd | it but is otherwise empty.  The floor is a seaweed-sludge of screwed-up
Floyd | paper and dirty clothing.  A door leads out south, and there's a
Floyd | bathroom annex to the west.

Floyd |
Floyd | From the floor one fragment of paper catches your eye.  It reads: "If
Floyd | you are reading this, then, by Jove, it's all up with you!"
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x paper"
Floyd | There are about a hundred scraps of paper littered around.  You pick
Floyd | one at random to read:
Floyd |
Floyd |    "If you are reading this, death is imminent!!!"

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x paper"
Floyd |    "By the time you read this, my dear friend, death is your only
Floyd | alibi!!!"

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x paper"
Floyd |    "If you are reading this, you are quite simply doomed!"
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x paper"
Floyd |    "When you wrap your head round this, your doom approaches!!"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "x books"
Floyd | 80% are "Physics for Beginners", 18% are "Biochemistry for Beginners"
Floyd | and 1 book is a biography of Judy Garland.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "x computer"
Floyd | "Type password:"
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "type "scarecrow""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "type "death""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says, "hmm"
DavidW says (to Floyd), "read biography"
Floyd | No, don't.  You really don't want to know what Kurner's hidden behind
Floyd | that appalling dust-jacket.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "type "dorothy""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "type "judy""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |

Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x bio"
Floyd | I don't know the word "bio".
Floyd |
Floyd | >

ParserGirl goes home.
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x biography"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "type "lion""
Floyd | It's a biography of Judy Garland.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "search books"
Floyd | You've read most before.  And they're mostly trash.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "search bed"
Floyd | You find books...
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "search bed"
Floyd | You find books...
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "type "tinman""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "look under bed"
Floyd | The morass of paper continues that way.  Perhaps in the darkness it is
Floyd | growing more slowly.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "type "tin man""
Floyd | [One word at a time please]
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "get biography"
Floyd | No - someone might see you with it.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "search paper"
Floyd |    "If you are reading this, death is your only alibi!"

Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "l"
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's Office
Floyd |    - is also his room, and it's a tip.  A bed in one corner looks

Floyd | utterly pristine, under forty or fifty large books.  The desk, facing
Floyd | onto a ubiquitous porthole, has a computer screen and keyboard set into
Floyd | it but is otherwise empty.  The floor is a seaweed-sludge of screwed-up
Floyd | paper and dirty clothing.  A door leads out south, and there's a
Floyd | bathroom annex to the west.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "type "death""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |

Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x desk"
Floyd | The desk is cleared but for the computer, the screen and keyboard built
Floyd | into the surface.  There is also a drawer, with a small metal lock.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x drawer"
inky says (to Floyd), "x computer"
Floyd | It's locked.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Floyd | "Type password:"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "x keyboard"
Floyd | Standard.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says, "I think we need the key to the desk drawer."
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x clothing"
Floyd | It's all about your (current) size.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "search clothing"
Floyd | You hunt around, hoping to find a drawer key.  But it's likely to be
Floyd | small, and, well, you don't find it.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear clothing"
Floyd | The phrase "fate worse than death" springs to mind, and plain death
Floyd | would do just fine right now.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "wear clothing"
Floyd | The phrase "fate worse than death" springs to mind, and plain death
Floyd | would do just fine right now.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says, "ha ha"
inky says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | (Opening the bathroom door)
Floyd | Bathroom
Floyd |    Standard cubby-hole bathroom really.  A sink, toilet, and a greasy

Floyd | mirror reflecting the steam-stained beige walls in all their smudged
Floyd | glory.  The door - should you tire of such an atmospheric locale - is
Floyd | back east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "flush toilet"
Floyd | You flush the toilet.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x mirror"
Floyd | Kurner's harassed and ugly mush looks back at you.  You can't help
Floyd | noticing he looks a little pale - but then everyone here does, it's
Floyd | lack of sunlight.  Once again you curse your machine for not having put
Floyd | you sea-side.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "open mirror"
Floyd | I don't know how to open the mirror.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "break mirror"
Floyd | You'll have to tell me how to do that.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "pee"
Floyd | You don't have the urge.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x walls"
Floyd | The beige walls compliment the room nicely.  No, really...
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "write "xyzzy" on mirror"
Floyd | You breathe on the mirror and a pool of condensation forms.  You write
Floyd | "xyzzy".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "break mirror"
Floyd | You'll have to tell me how to do that.
Floyd |
Floyd | The condensation on the mirror evaporates away.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Nitku says (to Floyd), "hit mirror"
Floyd | I don't know how to hit the mirror.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "breathe on mirror"
Floyd | You breathe on the mirror and a pool of condensation forms.  Your
Floyd | previous message "xyzzy" is now visible on the mirror.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "x mirror"
Floyd | Kurner's harassed and ugly mush looks back at you.  You can't help
Floyd | noticing he looks a little pale - but then everyone here does, it's
Floyd | lack of sunlight.  Once again you curse your machine for not having put
Floyd | you sea-side.  You can make out "xyzzy" scribbled in big chunky

Floyd | fat-child finger-writing in the condensation.
Floyd |
Floyd | The condensation on the mirror evaporates away.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW asks, "perhaps we should explore elsewhere?" inky says, "yeah true"
inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's Office
Floyd |    - is also his room, and it's a tip.  A bed in one corner looks

Floyd | utterly pristine, under forty or fifty large books.  The desk, facing
Floyd | onto a ubiquitous porthole, has a computer screen and keyboard set into
Floyd | it but is otherwise empty.  The floor is a seaweed-sludge of screwed-up
Floyd | paper and dirty clothing.  A door leads out south, and there's a
Floyd | bathroom annex to the west.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | Outside Kurner's Room
Floyd |    The corridor continues around the curve of the base to the
Floyd | northwest, to the rooms of the various scientists.  This one is of

Floyd | interest though, perhaps - it is the door to Kurner's room - chosen by
Floyd | lottery, it is the nearest to all the machinery and so the loudest to
Floyd | be in.
Floyd |
Floyd | The door itself is quite a sight if you like hybridised tech - Kurner
Floyd | being the paranoiac he is has fitted it with a Russian retinal scanner,

Floyd | a thumb-reader and a voice tag detector.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Intersection

Floyd |    You're in the main module, and that means you know your way around
Floyd | with your eyes shut.  With your eyes open you can also comment on the
Floyd | decor; and note that it improves substantially to the east where the
Floyd | General has his office, to the west it probably disimproves (Kurner's
Floyd | hole is over there) and north leads toward the centre of the dome which
Floyd | means one thing - toward the room with your machine.

Floyd |
Floyd | Back south is a long corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "undo"
Floyd | (Undoing one command)
Floyd |
Floyd | Outside Kurner's Room
Floyd |    The corridor continues around the curve of the base to the
Floyd | northwest, to the rooms of the various scientists.  This one is of
Floyd | interest though, perhaps - it is the door to Kurner's room - chosen by

Floyd | lottery, it is the nearest to all the machinery and so the loudest to
Floyd | be in.
Floyd |
Floyd | The door itself is quite a sight if you like hybridised tech - Kurner
Floyd | being the paranoiac he is has fitted it with a Russian retinal scanner,
Floyd | a thumb-reader and a voice tag detector.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "nw"
Floyd | The other rooms are of no interest to you.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Intersection
Floyd |    You're in the main module, and that means you know your way around
Floyd | with your eyes shut.  With your eyes open you can also comment on the

Floyd | decor; and note that it improves substantially to the east where the
Floyd | General has his office, to the west it probably disimproves (Kurner's
Floyd | hole is over there) and north leads toward the centre of the dome which
Floyd | means one thing - toward the room with your machine.
Floyd |
Floyd | Back south is a long corridor.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Outside the General's Office
Floyd |    A familiar waiting room - when you first joined AtlantisLab you'd be

Floyd | here every month as you worked your way up the security clearances.
Floyd | Ironic, in a way, that you were only two chevrons from finding out what
Floyd | all that electro-plasma and virus engineering was for when you'd mooted
Floyd | your Project and been booted into a whole new department.  Just goes to
Floyd | show, it seems, that even the most dedicated people need a holiday, and
Floyd | the General himself was no doubt very much looking forward to stepping

Floyd | inside your machine and spending a fortnight on a beach in someone
Floyd | else's head.
Floyd |
Floyd | Of course he, like all the others, and yourself, was expecting it to
Floyd | work.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | There is no exit in that direction.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | The General's door is closed.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "open door"
Floyd | It's locked, very heavily, with many a large key.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x door"
Floyd | The door isn't important.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Intersection
Floyd |    You're in the main module, and that means you know your way around
Floyd | with your eyes shut.  With your eyes open you can also comment on the
Floyd | decor; and note that it improves substantially to the east where the
Floyd | General has his office, to the west it probably disimproves (Kurner's
Floyd | hole is over there) and north leads toward the centre of the dome which

Floyd | means one thing - toward the room with your machine.
Floyd |
Floyd | Back south is a long corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | You walk along a fairly long stretch of corridor, until it opens out.
Floyd |
Floyd | Bottom of Spiral
Floyd |    The designers of this place clearly had something to prove to the

Floyd | gods of pressure - this room, unlike the cramped corridors and tight
Floyd | bunkrooms, is a wide cathedral-like dome, held up by one fat pillar in
Floyd | the centre of the floor. A smooth ramp snakes around it on a gentle
Floyd | incline up to the higher levels - no stairs here, the robots not being
Floyd | that adept - and on a normal day the floor around would be crowded with
Floyd | scientists, like worshippers at a standing stone.  However today - for

Floyd | some reason, it seems - is not a normal day.  Where is everyone?
Floyd |
Floyd | Corridors leave the space in all directions - Kurner's room is down the
Floyd | passage further south.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | There's nothing of great interest there.  Besides, you don't really
Floyd | want to bump into anyone, you look terrible.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | There's nothing of great interest there.  Besides, you don't really
Floyd | want to bump into anyone, you look terrible.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "up"
Floyd | You climb the great spiral of the ramp, round and round until you're
Floyd | sure the ground is screwing in and you're not going anywhere...
Floyd |
Floyd | Floor One

Floyd |    You know you're in favour when your personal lab is put on the first
Floyd | level of the building.  It's behind that door to the south, the one
Floyd | only you have the key to.  Except, of course, you haven't got it,
Floyd | because you're inside the room. Or you might be.  Anyway, the door
Floyd | seems to still be open, which is handy.
Floyd |

Floyd | A loose panel hangs from the doorframe - it seems it's incurred some
Floyd | damage since you were last here.
Floyd |
Floyd | The ramp which leads back down to the main room is north.
Floyd |
Floyd | There's a screwdriver lying on the floor.

Floyd |
Floyd | A lab coat is crumpled in the corner.  You're shivering, and quickly
Floyd | put it on.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "get screwdriver"
Floyd | You pick it up, noting the yellow plastic handle seems to be slightly
Floyd | charred at one end.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "x coat"
Floyd | It's pretty standard, though you note one cuff is heavily blackened and
Floyd | burnt, and there's a long slash along the back as though it had once
Floyd | been removed by a pathologist.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang disappears through an invisible gap in the MUD. You think you may have heard the sounds of chatting before the gap closed again.
Nitku says (to Floyd), "x handle"
Floyd | The yellow plastic handle is charred, and a little deformed.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x panel"
Floyd | The panel is about two inches by four, and hangs from one screw
Floyd | revealing the wiring inside.  Which, now you look, is certainly not how

Floyd | is should be.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang arrives, full of funk, but no fun. Fang says, "hmm"
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x wiring"
Floyd | There are two wires running under the panel, down to the keyhole.  They
Floyd | have been ripped up from their sockets, the ends bared; presumably they
Floyd | were then twisted together to make the door unlock.
Floyd |

Floyd | Whoever did this has since tried to repair the damage - the first wire
Floyd | is jammed back into their socket.  But with one wire connected the
Floyd | other would have been sparking with a lot of electricity.  It's
Floyd | strangely dead, now.  Perhaps the fuse was blown by a surge.
Floyd |
Floyd | More importantly though, someone has hotwired your door whilst you've

Floyd | been away.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "review"
Floyd | (Review mode - time does not pass)

Floyd |
Floyd | Floor One
Floyd |    You know you're in favour when your personal lab is put on the first
Floyd | level of the building.  It's behind that door to the south, the one
Floyd | only you have the key to.  Except, of course, you haven't got it,
Floyd | because you're inside the room. Or you might be.  Anyway, the door

Floyd | seems to still be open, which is handy.
Floyd |
Floyd | A loose panel hangs from the doorframe - it seems it's incurred some
Floyd | damage since you were last here.
Floyd |
Floyd | The ramp which leads back down to the main room is north.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang asks, "what did I miss?"
inky says, "well, he examined the door"
Fang says, "I lost my connection at the junction after the squid"
DavidW asks, "If the door's open, we can go in, yes?"
inky says, "oh"
DavidW says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | You enter your lab.
Floyd |

Floyd | Machine Room
Floyd |    The room is much as you left it; a porthole above a bank of heavy
Floyd | machinery. The glass cylinder stands in one corner, aloof and empty.
Floyd |
Floyd | You can't help noticing with something verging on a nervous tick above
Floyd | one eye that a terminal case has had its lock smashed open.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "hmm, I think we poked around in the guy's office"
inky says, "and then wandered through the complex a bit"
inky says (to Floyd), "x terminal"
Floyd | The terminal lock has been broken, shattered off, with a few dents in
Floyd | the metal left behind.  These dents are about a half-centimeter long,
Floyd | and thin, like the blade of a screwdriver.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "look in it"
Floyd | (opening the case first)
Floyd | Inside the case is all the familiar circuitry and wiring - and then one
Floyd | addition to the family.  A black plastic box sits on the base of the
Floyd | terminal, with a multi-strand wire coming out of the side, its

Floyd | connections soldered onto the circuit boards.  You recognise the
Floyd | manufacture.  It's exactly like the modules Dr.  Kurner was building
Floyd | for you, it's his characteristic habit of hiding all his work inside
Floyd | moulded boxes so no-one can see it and criticise.
Floyd |
Floyd | But what's it doing here?  You last checked over the machine last

Floyd | night, it wasn't here then.  In the morning - well, Kurner was already
Floyd | here, wasn't he?  So whatever happened to your machine - whatever
Floyd | you're doing in this non-sunshine state - it's his doing.  And you're
Floyd | not going to be able to get back to your own body with this machine
Floyd | unless you find out what he's done.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "get box"
Floyd | The box is firmly soldered into the machine.  You'd need proper tools
Floyd | if you were going to remove it.  Probably easier, then, to get it open
Floyd | and rewire it inside.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "open it with screwdriver"
Floyd | I don't know how to open the black box.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x cylinder"
Floyd | The cylinder is all rigged up and ready from the experiment, the door
Floyd | open.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x box"
Floyd | The box gives no clues, it's a smooth firm black.  They'll be a catch
Floyd | on it, somewhere, that's how Kurner designs these things, but quite
Floyd | where - well.  You could hunt for several hours or you could go and

Floyd | find a design plan and work it out.  That'd tell you what it was for,
Floyd | too.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "hrm"
olethros disappears through an invisible gap in the MUD. You think you may have heard the sounds of chatting before the gap closed again. inky says, "we need a password for the computer in his room"
Fang says, "or guess it"
inky says, "well yeah"
djfletch says, "I want to guess some more Oz references"
inky says (to Floyd), "x cylinder"
Floyd | The cylinder is all rigged up and ready from the experiment, the door
Floyd | open.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "enter cylinder"
Floyd | You step inside the cylinder.
Floyd |
Floyd | Inside the glass cylinder
Floyd |    Cables feed away from the base of the cylinder.  Inside, there's the

Floyd | grille for your feet, and the Emergency Door Release Switch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x grille"
Floyd | The grille has no functional purpose.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x switch"
Floyd | The Emergency Release Switch - provided in the terrible off-chance that
Floyd | the door release cover might fail, or be sabotaged, or any such.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "pull switch"
Floyd | The switch does nothing - the door does not slide shut.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "out"
Floyd | You step out of the cylinder.
Floyd |
Floyd | Machine Room

Floyd |    The room is much as you left it; a porthole above a bank of heavy
Floyd | machinery. The glass cylinder stands in one corner, aloof and empty.
Floyd |
Floyd | One terminal case is violently unlocked.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | Floor One
Floyd |    You know you're in favour when your personal lab is put on the first
Floyd | level of the building.  It's behind that door to the south, the one
Floyd | only you have the key to.  Except, of course, you haven't got it,

Floyd | because you're inside the room. Or you might be.  Anyway, the door
Floyd | seems to still be open, which is handy.
Floyd |
Floyd | A loose panel hangs from the doorframe - it seems it's incurred some
Floyd | damage since you were last here.
Floyd |

Floyd | The ramp which leads back down to the main room is north.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "d"
Floyd | You make your way down the ramp...

Floyd |
Floyd | Bottom of Spiral
Floyd |    The designers of this place clearly had something to prove to the
Floyd | gods of pressure - this room, unlike the cramped corridors and tight
Floyd | bunkrooms, is a wide cathedral-like dome, held up by one fat pillar in
Floyd | the centre of the floor. A smooth ramp snakes around it on a gentle

Floyd | incline up to the higher levels - no stairs here, the robots not being
Floyd | that adept - and on a normal day the floor around would be crowded with
Floyd | scientists, like worshippers at a standing stone.  However today - for
Floyd | some reason, it seems - is not a normal day.  Where is everyone?
Floyd |
Floyd | Corridors leave the space in all directions - Kurner's room is down the

Floyd | passage further south.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | You walk back down the corridor.

Floyd |
Floyd | Intersection
Floyd |    You're in the main module, and that means you know your way around
Floyd | with your eyes shut.  With your eyes open you can also comment on the
Floyd | decor; and note that it improves substantially to the east where the
Floyd | General has his office, to the west it probably disimproves (Kurner's

Floyd | hole is over there) and north leads toward the centre of the dome which
Floyd | means one thing - toward the room with your machine.
Floyd |
Floyd | Back south is a long corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Outside Kurner's Room
Floyd |    The corridor continues around the curve of the base to the
Floyd | northwest, to the rooms of the various scientists.  This one is of
Floyd | interest though, perhaps - it is the door to Kurner's room - chosen by

Floyd | lottery, it is the nearest to all the machinery and so the loudest to
Floyd | be in.
Floyd |
Floyd | The door itself is quite a sight if you like hybridised tech - Kurner
Floyd | being the paranoiac he is has fitted it with a Russian retinal scanner,
Floyd | a thumb-reader and a voice tag detector.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's Office
Floyd |    - is also his room, and it's a tip.  A bed in one corner looks

Floyd | utterly pristine, under forty or fifty large books.  The desk, facing
Floyd | onto a ubiquitous porthole, has a computer screen and keyboard set into
Floyd | it but is otherwise empty.  The floor is a seaweed-sludge of screwed-up
Floyd | paper and dirty clothing.  A door leads out south, and there's a
Floyd | bathroom annex to the west.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "type "kurner" on computer"
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "type "password" on computer"
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW asks, "er, was there any machinery we could've searched in the machine room?"
Fang says (to Floyd), "type "gos" on computer"
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "type "god" on computer"
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
olethros arrives, full of neither funk nor fun. inky says, "not that I saw, but maybe I missed it"
Fang says (to Floyd), "x computer"
Floyd | "Type password:"
Floyd |

Floyd | >
djfletch says, "we have scarecrow and Judy Garland - it has to be Wizard of Oz related"
inky says, "there was the terminal case that had the box in it"
Nitku says (to Floyd), "type "monkfish""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "look under bed"
Floyd | You hunt some more - no success.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "type "dorothy""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "type "glinda""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
olethros says (to Floyd), "type password"
inky says (to Floyd), "type "ozma""
Floyd | I don't know the word "password".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Floyd | (on the keyboard)

Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "type "garland""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)

Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "search desk"
Floyd | A glint catches your eye, but it turns out to be the silver button on a

Floyd | particularly hideous shiny-purple shirt.  You toss it aside.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says, "I don't think guessing will work."
olethros says (to Floyd), "type "password""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "search bed"
Floyd | You continue your needle-in-a-haystack search in the obvious and
Floyd | fruitless fashion.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "ok, it sounds like we just need to search a bunch of stuff--"
olethros says, "hm I forget"
inky says, "hrm, or maybe not"
Fang says (to Floyd), "search floor"
Floyd | Books, clothes, papers -- a mess, really.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "review"
Floyd | (Review mode - time does not pass)
Floyd |
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's Office

Floyd |    - is also his room, and it's a tip.  A bed in one corner looks
Floyd | utterly pristine, under forty or fifty large books.  The desk, facing
Floyd | onto a ubiquitous porthole, has a computer screen and keyboard set into
Floyd | it but is otherwise empty.  The floor is a seaweed-sludge of screwed-up
Floyd | paper and dirty clothing.  A door leads out south, and there's a
Floyd | bathroom annex to the west.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says, "break the drawer with the screwdriver"
inky says (to Floyd), "search papers"
Floyd | You continue your needle-in-a-haystack search in the obvious and

Floyd | fruitless fashion.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "search bed"
Floyd | You continue your needle-in-a-haystack search in the obvious and

Floyd | fruitless fashion.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "search books"
Floyd | You continue your needle-in-a-haystack search in the obvious and

Floyd | fruitless fashion.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "look under bed"
Floyd | You continue your needle-in-a-haystack search in the obvious and

Floyd | fruitless fashion.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "x drawer"
Floyd | It's locked.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "break lock"
Floyd | You'll have to tell me how to do that.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says, "ok, it sounds like we need a metal detector or something"
[cfspoilers] DavidW says, "If I recall, we need a specific tool to search with."
inky says (to Floyd), "i"
Floyd | You have a lab coat (being worn) and a screwdriver.
Floyd |
Floyd | Your left palm has been branded with a button.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x drawer"
Floyd | It's locked.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "break lock with screwdriver"
Floyd | You can't use the screwdriver to break anything.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "look"
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's Office
Floyd |    - is also his room, and it's a tip.  A bed in one corner looks
Floyd | utterly pristine, under forty or fifty large books.  The desk, facing
Floyd | onto a ubiquitous porthole, has a computer screen and keyboard set into
Floyd | it but is otherwise empty.  The floor is a seaweed-sludge of screwed-up
Floyd | paper and dirty clothing.  A door leads out south, and there's a

Floyd | bathroom annex to the west.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says, "boo"
inky says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Bathroom
Floyd |    Standard cubby-hole bathroom really.  A sink, toilet, and a greasy
Floyd | mirror reflecting the steam-stained beige walls in all their smudged
Floyd | glory.  The door - should you tire of such an atmospheric locale - is
Floyd | back east.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says, "I guess we need to get in the drawer"
inky says (to Floyd), "search toilet"
Floyd | You find nothing of interest.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's Office
Floyd |    - is also his room, and it's a tip.  A bed in one corner looks
Floyd | utterly pristine, under forty or fifty large books.  The desk, facing

Floyd | onto a ubiquitous porthole, has a computer screen and keyboard set into
Floyd | it but is otherwise empty.  The floor is a seaweed-sludge of screwed-up
Floyd | paper and dirty clothing.  A door leads out south, and there's a
Floyd | bathroom annex to the west.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | Outside Kurner's Room
Floyd |    The corridor continues around the curve of the base to the
Floyd | northwest, to the rooms of the various scientists.  This one is of
Floyd | interest though, perhaps - it is the door to Kurner's room - chosen by

Floyd | lottery, it is the nearest to all the machinery and so the loudest to
Floyd | be in.
Floyd |
Floyd | The door itself is quite a sight if you like hybridised tech - Kurner
Floyd | being the paranoiac he is has fitted it with a Russian retinal scanner,
Floyd | a thumb-reader and a voice tag detector.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Intersection
Floyd |    You're in the main module, and that means you know your way around

Floyd | with your eyes shut.  With your eyes open you can also comment on the
Floyd | decor; and note that it improves substantially to the east where the
Floyd | General has his office, to the west it probably disimproves (Kurner's
Floyd | hole is over there) and north leads toward the centre of the dome which
Floyd | means one thing - toward the room with your machine.
Floyd |

Floyd | Back south is a long corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | You walk along a fairly long stretch of corridor, until it opens out.

Floyd |
Floyd | Bottom of Spiral
Floyd |    The designers of this place clearly had something to prove to the
Floyd | gods of pressure - this room, unlike the cramped corridors and tight
Floyd | bunkrooms, is a wide cathedral-like dome, held up by one fat pillar in
Floyd | the centre of the floor. A smooth ramp snakes around it on a gentle

Floyd | incline up to the higher levels - no stairs here, the robots not being
Floyd | that adept - and on a normal day the floor around would be crowded with
Floyd | scientists, like worshippers at a standing stone.  However today - for
Floyd | some reason, it seems - is not a normal day.  Where is everyone?
Floyd |
Floyd | Corridors leave the space in all directions - Kurner's room is down the

Floyd | passage further south.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "enter bathroom"
Floyd | I don't see any bathroom here.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "wait"
inky says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | There's nothing of great interest there.  Besides, you don't really

Floyd | want to bump into anyone, you look terrible.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "oops, sorry"
Fang says, "get us back to the bathroom"
inky says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | You walk back down the corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | Intersection
Floyd |    You're in the main module, and that means you know your way around

Floyd | with your eyes shut.  With your eyes open you can also comment on the
Floyd | decor; and note that it improves substantially to the east where the
Floyd | General has his office, to the west it probably disimproves (Kurner's
Floyd | hole is over there) and north leads toward the centre of the dome which
Floyd | means one thing - toward the room with your machine.
Floyd |

Floyd | Back south is a long corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Outside Kurner's Room

Floyd |    The corridor continues around the curve of the base to the
Floyd | northwest, to the rooms of the various scientists.  This one is of
Floyd | interest though, perhaps - it is the door to Kurner's room - chosen by
Floyd | lottery, it is the nearest to all the machinery and so the loudest to
Floyd | be in.
Floyd |

Floyd | The door itself is quite a sight if you like hybridised tech - Kurner
Floyd | being the paranoiac he is has fitted it with a Russian retinal scanner,
Floyd | a thumb-reader and a voice tag detector.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's Office
Floyd |    - is also his room, and it's a tip.  A bed in one corner looks
Floyd | utterly pristine, under forty or fifty large books.  The desk, facing
Floyd | onto a ubiquitous porthole, has a computer screen and keyboard set into

Floyd | it but is otherwise empty.  The floor is a seaweed-sludge of screwed-up
Floyd | paper and dirty clothing.  A door leads out south, and there's a
Floyd | bathroom annex to the west.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Bathroom
Floyd |    Standard cubby-hole bathroom really.  A sink, toilet, and a greasy
Floyd | mirror reflecting the steam-stained beige walls in all their smudged
Floyd | glory.  The door - should you tire of such an atmospheric locale - is

Floyd | back east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "breathe on mirror"
Floyd | You breathe on the mirror and a pool of condensation forms.  Your

Floyd | previous message "xyzzy" is now visible on the mirror.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "yeah, we'd written that previously"
Fang says, "oh, doh"
inky says, "I guess it was possible there was a messgae there we had erased"
inky says, "though that would be sucky of the game"
Fang says, "and I was thinking that was the trick"
inky says (to Floyd), "winnable"
Floyd | This game is in a perpetual winnable state.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
[cfspoilers] DavidW says, "There's a porthole in the other room. Try breathing on that." djfletch says, "it probably would have told us that we were overwriting something"
[cfspoilers] DavidW says, "ilac"
Nitku says (to Floyd), "write "plugh" on mirror"
Floyd | You write "plugh" instead.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says, "or maybe not"
DavidW says, "There's a porthole in the other room. Try breathing on that."
Fang says (to Floyd), "x toilet"
Floyd | You can learn about those things yourself.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's Office
Floyd |    - is also his room, and it's a tip.  A bed in one corner looks
Floyd | utterly pristine, under forty or fifty large books.  The desk, facing

Floyd | onto a ubiquitous porthole, has a computer screen and keyboard set into
Floyd | it but is otherwise empty.  The floor is a seaweed-sludge of screwed-up
Floyd | paper and dirty clothing.  A door leads out south, and there's a
Floyd | bathroom annex to the west.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "breathe on porthole"
Floyd | You breathe on the portholes and a pool of condensation forms.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x portholes"
Floyd | Through the portholes swim a variety of underwater fish.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "type "qwerty" on computer"
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | You can exit Kurner's room by going south.  The bathroom is west.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
olethros says (to Floyd), "press enter"
Floyd | I don't understand that sentence.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
olethros says (to Floyd), "type nothing"
Floyd | When typing or writing, you need to surround the target word in quotes;

Floyd | ie, type "nothing".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "I guess we need to keep looking"
olethros says (to Floyd), "clap with one hand"
Floyd | I don't know the word "clap".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says, "funny to bother having the bathroom if we can't do anything in there"
DavidW says, "yet"
djfletch says, "ah"
[cfspoilers] DavidW says, "We need to look outside the General's. It's not a spartan hallway, according to my notes."
inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | You can exit Kurner's room by going south.  The bathroom is west.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | Outside Kurner's Room
Floyd |    The corridor continues around the curve of the base to the
Floyd | northwest, to the rooms of the various scientists.  This one is of

Floyd | interest though, perhaps - it is the door to Kurner's room - chosen by
Floyd | lottery, it is the nearest to all the machinery and so the loudest to
Floyd | be in.
Floyd |
Floyd | The door itself is quite a sight if you like hybridised tech - Kurner
Floyd | being the paranoiac he is has fitted it with a Russian retinal scanner,

Floyd | a thumb-reader and a voice tag detector.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Intersection

Floyd |    You're in the main module, and that means you know your way around
Floyd | with your eyes shut.  With your eyes open you can also comment on the
Floyd | decor; and note that it improves substantially to the east where the
Floyd | General has his office, to the west it probably disimproves (Kurner's
Floyd | hole is over there) and north leads toward the centre of the dome which
Floyd | means one thing - toward the room with your machine.

Floyd |
Floyd | Back south is a long corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Outside the General's Office
Floyd |    The door to the General's office itself is to the east.  This room
Floyd | isn't really a room, it's more just an expansion of the corridor
Floyd | westwards, with the walls hung with deep curtains and a couple of
Floyd | leather sofas stuck in the middle of the floorspace.  In one corner
Floyd | there used to stand a potted plant, but as budget cuts meant saving on

Floyd | electricity it quickly died in the glow of forty-watt bulbs.
Floyd |
Floyd | In place of the plant is a Stat machine.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x curtains"
Floyd | They're deep blue, like the sea, and hung to cover the otherwise
Floyd | utilitarian walls.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "look behind curtains"
Floyd | Behind the curtains is propped what you assume are a few cleaning tools
Floyd | - a floor waxer and a metal rod with a plate on the end.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "get metal detector"
Floyd | Taken.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "get waxer"
Floyd | It's far to heavy.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x machine"
Floyd | A panel for your hand, and then once read it'll tell you on a
Floyd | need-to-know basis all you need to know.  By one side is a notice
Floyd | listing all the current clearances: "1 - General Huffing.  2 - Dr.
Floyd | Kurner, Prof. Taylor".  3 is your old group, and contains most of the
Floyd | established members of the team.  Zak still loiters in a class by

Floyd | himself, no. 12, mainly due to his mother being Ukrainian and the
Floyd | General being somewhat old-school.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "touch panel"
Floyd | Clearance 2: CONFIRMED
Floyd |    *Plasma virus-injection complete
Floyd |    *Virus tests on rodent subjects complete
Floyd |    *Results show 250% growth - see Dr. Taylor for details.
Floyd | WARNING - CONTAINER LOSS REPORTED
Floyd |

Floyd | Container loss!  Well, that would explain why Taylor had that "car keys
Floyd | down the gutter" expression all last week.
Floyd |
Floyd | The screen falls dark as you remove your hand.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says, "hrm"
inky says, "I assume this is important plot-wise"
inky asks, "is this what caused a giant giant squid?"
djfletch says, "it sounds like there will be giant rats someehere at least"
[cfspoilers] DavidW says, "joy"
inky says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Intersection
Floyd |    You're in the main module, and that means you know your way around
Floyd | with your eyes shut.  With your eyes open you can also comment on the

Floyd | decor; and note that it improves substantially to the east where the
Floyd | General has his office, to the west it probably disimproves (Kurner's
Floyd | hole is over there) and north leads toward the centre of the dome which
Floyd | means one thing - toward the room with your machine.
Floyd |
Floyd | Back south is a long corridor.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says, "joy"
inky says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Outside Kurner's Room

Floyd |    The corridor continues around the curve of the base to the
Floyd | northwest, to the rooms of the various scientists.  This one is of
Floyd | interest though, perhaps - it is the door to Kurner's room - chosen by
Floyd | lottery, it is the nearest to all the machinery and so the loudest to
Floyd | be in.
Floyd |

Floyd | The door itself is quite a sight if you like hybridised tech - Kurner
Floyd | being the paranoiac he is has fitted it with a Russian retinal scanner,
Floyd | a thumb-reader and a voice tag detector.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's Office
Floyd |    - is also his room, and it's a tip.  A bed in one corner looks
Floyd | utterly pristine, under forty or fifty large books.  The desk, facing
Floyd | onto a ubiquitous porthole, has a computer screen and keyboard set into

Floyd | it but is otherwise empty.  The floor is a seaweed-sludge of screwed-up
Floyd | paper and dirty clothing.  A door leads out south, and there's a
Floyd | bathroom annex to the west.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Allen has had his fill of playing for now, and goes back to the Lounge.
inky says (to Floyd), "use metal detector on clothing"
Floyd | I don't recognize that sentence.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "x detector"
Floyd | It's called a "Cosmetic" apparently, in another one of those horribly
Floyd | garbled nicknames that are currently all the range.  (Anyone for a
Floyd | Coocla?  Or a game of Bammon?)  It has a switch on one side, a
Floyd | four-foot handle pole and a rounded plate at the base.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "wave it"
Floyd | You could take someone's eye out with that!  (If their eye was about a
Floyd | foot wide).

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "turn it on"
Floyd | Bleep!
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "wave it"
Floyd | You could take someone's eye out with that!  (If their eye was about a
Floyd | foot wide).
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "point it at clothes"
Floyd | Nothing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "point it at bed"
DavidW says (to Floyd), "point it at books"
Floyd | Bleep!
Floyd |
Floyd | Hunting more thoroughly leads you to locate a small key under the dust

Floyd | jacket of a hideous looking volume.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Floyd | You find nothing else.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says, "hurrah"
inky says, "excellent"
inky says (to Floyd), "unlock drawer with key"
Floyd | Unlocked.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "open drawer"
Floyd | Opened.
Floyd |
Floyd | In the drawer you see a pill-bottle and a notepad.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x notepad"
Floyd | The notepad is scribbled on - but you can't make out the handwriting,
Floyd | it just looks like a scrawl.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x pill-bottle"
Floyd | It's labelled in gibberish: "TAXI MALLO BALUO:"  and so forth.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "get bottle"
Floyd | Taken.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "get notepad"
Floyd | Taken.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "read notepad"
Floyd | The notepad is scribbled on - but you can't make out the handwriting,
Floyd | it just looks like a scrawl.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

[cfspoilers] inky says, "oh yeah, I remember this puzzle"
DavidW says (to Floyd), "open bottle"
Floyd | Of course!  An overdose on strange medicines!  That'd take you out
Floyd | faster than it did your aunt!  (Who was rushed to hospital, revived,
Floyd | but then died of food-poisoning from a bunch of grapes).

Floyd |
Floyd | You open the bottle, to reveal a large number of pink tablets.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
olethros says, "food poisoning is one of the leading causes of death in developed nations!"
DavidW asks, "Anyone have a class of water?"
DavidW says, "er glass"
inky says (to Floyd), "eat tablets"
Floyd | You swallow a fistful, noting they are cherry flavoured.  Then you
Floyd | wait.

Floyd |
Floyd | One.
Floyd |
Floyd | Two.
Floyd |
Floyd | Zmigra.

Floyd |
Floyd | Chank.
Floyd |
Floyd | Zis qua!  Lil betite monkrane follo!  Ze chafi lighan mucho blanchos, y
Floyd | ca merhaba ftang flivaro-toaster.  Milcha!  San omb-bomba ze anse le
Floyd | tabbycat-rrr.

Floyd |
Floyd | >ANSE TABBYCAT-RRR
Floyd |
Floyd | La ranja se: "ProtoFrench lessons.  Dosage: one tablet last five
Floyd | minutes.  Try to avoid taking more than twenty a day.  Do not take with
Floyd | alcohol or whilst in control of aircraft or heavy equipment.  Do not

Floyd | feed to children.  Do not use as fertiliser, or vitamin supplement.  Do
Floyd | not sue the manufacturer for misunderstandings."
Floyd |
Floyd | The shock of comprehension lasts well after the severe nausea and
Floyd | stomach cramp has passed, and you come around, feeling well.  The drug
Floyd | - a ProtoFrench class, presumably imported from Europe itself - has

Floyd | slackened its grip on the language centres of your brain leaving you
Floyd | with just a mild dyslexia when you look around.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x notepad"
Floyd | "He is there.  He was there.  He will be there.  He has been there.  He
Floyd | might well be there.  He shall be there.  The password is dog.  The
Floyd | password was dog. The password will be dog.  The password has been..."
Floyd |
Floyd | And so on.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "look"
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's Office
Floyd |    - is also his room, and it's a tip.  A bed in one corner looks
Floyd | utterly pristine, under forty or fifty large books.  The desk, facing

Floyd | onto a ubiquitous porthole, has a computer screen and keyboard set into
Floyd | it but is otherwise empty.  The floor is a seaweed-sludge of screwed-up
Floyd | paper and dirty clothing.  A door leads out south, and there's a
Floyd | bathroom annex to the west.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "x computer"
Floyd | It's unreadable.
Floyd |
Floyd | You feel a slight shadow pass across your eyes as your brain is
Floyd | repaired to Native Tongue once more.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "type "dog" on computer"
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |

Floyd | That takes a moment to register.  But of course, the password may be
Floyd | "DOG" but it isn't D - O - G.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says, "We need the gibberishian word for 'dog'."
djfletch says (to Floyd), "type "chien" on computer"
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "type "dog""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "type "god""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says (to Floyd), "type "tabbycat-rrr" on computer"
Floyd | "Incorrect password."
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Bathroom
Floyd |    Standard cubby-hole bathroom really.  A sink, toilet, and a greasy
Floyd | mirror reflecting the steam-stained beige walls in all their smudged
Floyd | glory.  The door - should you tire of such an atmospheric locale - is

Floyd | back east.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "write dog"
Floyd | When typing or writing, you need to surround the target word in quotes;

Floyd | ie, write "dog".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says, "That was the word for pill-bottle"
Fang says (to Floyd), "write "dog""
Floyd | (on the mirror)
Floyd | You breathe on the mirror and a pool of condensation forms.  Your
Floyd | previous message "plugh" is now visible on the mirror.
Floyd | You write "dog" instead.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "x mirror"
Floyd | Kurner's harassed and ugly mush looks back at you.  You can't help
Floyd | noticing he looks a little pale - but then everyone here does, it's
Floyd | lack of sunlight.  Once again you curse your machine for not having put
Floyd | you sea-side.  You can make out "dog" scribbled in big chunky fat-child

Floyd | finger-writing in the condensation.
Floyd |
Floyd | The condensation on the mirror evaporates away.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "hmm"
Fang says (to Floyd), "eat pill"
Floyd | You swallow a pill, and wait a second until the pain in your brain
Floyd | indicates effect.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "write "dog""
Floyd | (on the mirror)
Floyd | You breathe on the mirror and a pool of condensation forms.  The
Floyd | writing now visible on the mirror isn't what you remember writing

Floyd | there, certainly.  In fact, it looks like another language entirely.
Floyd | You close your eyes and write as automatically as you can.  There:
Floyd | "dog"
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x mirror"
Floyd | Kurner's harassed and ugly mush looks back at you.  You can't help
Floyd | noticing he looks a little pale - but then everyone here does, it's
Floyd | lack of sunlight.  Once again you curse your machine for not having put
Floyd | you sea-side.  You can make out "dog" scribbled in big chunky fat-child

Floyd | finger-writing in the condensation.
Floyd |
Floyd | The condensation on the mirror evaporates away.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "z.z.z.z"
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | The brain-pain subsides.
Floyd |

Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |
Floyd | Time passes...
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x mirror"
Floyd | Kurner's harassed and ugly mush looks back at you.  You can't help
Floyd | noticing he looks a little pale - but then everyone here does, it's
Floyd | lack of sunlight.  Once again you curse your machine for not having put

Floyd | you sea-side.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "breathe on mirror"
Floyd | You breathe on the mirror and a pool of condensation forms.  The word

Floyd | "CHYNE" is now visible on the mirror.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "tada"
DavidW says, "hooray"
Fang says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's Office
Floyd |    - is also his room, and it's a tip.  A bed in one corner looks
Floyd | utterly pristine, under forty or fifty large books.  The desk, facing
Floyd | onto a ubiquitous porthole, has a computer screen and keyboard set into

Floyd | it but is otherwise empty.  The floor is a seaweed-sludge of screwed-up
Floyd | paper and dirty clothing.  A door leads out south, and there's a
Floyd | bathroom annex to the west.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "type "chyne""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Password accepted"
Floyd |
Floyd | The screen changes.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x screen"
Floyd | It's changed to white, just plain white.  There should be a selection
Floyd | of program buttons - and a logout - which you'd touch to activate the

Floyd | applications.  (The "mouse" went out of fashion as soon as people were
Floyd | willing to have fine enough electrodes implanted in their index
Floyd | fingers).  But there's nothing visible here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "touch screen"
Floyd | You jab the screen randomly and eventually hit the logout button at the
Floyd | bottom left of the screen, which you spot by the way it blinks blue
Floyd | before returning the screen to
Floyd |

Floyd | "Enter password:"
Floyd |
Floyd | It must have been white-on-white.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "type chyne"
Floyd | When typing or writing, you need to surround the target word in quotes;
Floyd | ie, type "chyne".
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "type "chyne""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Password accepted"
Floyd |
Floyd | The screen changes.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "adjust contrast"
Floyd | I don't know the word "adjust".
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "touch top left"
Floyd | The screen changes.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "x screen"
Floyd | On the screen is a collection of Dr.  Kurner's documents - mostly
Floyd | uninteresting; work reports, one is apparently the first draft of a
Floyd | novel called "Vengeance is my Sister".  There is one open already - and
Floyd | it catches your eye.

Floyd |
Floyd | It is the design for a black-box module with a multistrand wire feed
Floyd | that looks not a whole lot unlike the one plugged into your beloved
Floyd | upstairs.  You skim over the opening mechanism and make a note of it,
Floyd | before ploughing into the circuits themselves.
Floyd |

Floyd | Quickly the patterns form.  The search processes have been altered - no
Floyd | longer the first-mind-in-set-location pattern you'd programmed, but
Floyd | rather a nearest-to-base scan.  And the criteria - you'd demanded a
Floyd | certain age, fitness, and suntan level for your subject.  Kurner's
Floyd | level is set for ... good grief...
Floyd |

Floyd | That explains it then.  That box must have been in place this morning,
Floyd | when you stepped into the machine.  It's set up to find the nearest
Floyd | dead body it can and transfer.  Thinking back - didn't Kurner collapse
Floyd | when the machine fired?  Maybe he had a heart attack or something, then
Floyd | machine transferred you in.
Floyd |

Floyd | Only one thing to do then.  Get back to the machine, and reprogram that
Floyd | box to get you back.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "read vengeance"
Floyd | I don't know the word "vengeance".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "touch vengeance"
Floyd | I don't know the word "vengeance".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "touch sister"
Floyd | I don't know the word "sister".

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "DAMMIT"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "read novel"
Floyd | I don't know the word "novel".

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "this is why this game only came second place in the comp"
DavidW says, "I wonder what's in the other three corners of the white screen."
Fang says (to Floyd), "touch screen"
Floyd | Nothing else happens.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "touch bottom left"
Floyd | The screen changes to
Floyd |
Floyd | "Enter password:"
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "type "chyne""
Floyd | (on the keyboard)
Floyd | "Password accepted"
Floyd |
Floyd | The screen changes.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "touch top right"
Floyd | Nothing happens.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "touch bottom right"
Floyd | Nothing happens.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "touch center"
Floyd | Nothing happens.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "well, I guess that's it"
DavidW says, "I guess so"
inky says, "hmm ok"
inky says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | Outside Kurner's Room

Floyd |    The corridor continues around the curve of the base to the
Floyd | northwest, to the rooms of the various scientists.  This one is of
Floyd | interest though, perhaps - it is the door to Kurner's room - chosen by
Floyd | lottery, it is the nearest to all the machinery and so the loudest to
Floyd | be in.
Floyd |

Floyd | The door itself is quite a sight if you like hybridised tech - Kurner
Floyd | being the paranoiac he is has fitted it with a Russian retinal scanner,
Floyd | a thumb-reader and a voice tag detector.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Intersection
Floyd |    You're in the main module, and that means you know your way around
Floyd | with your eyes shut.  With your eyes open you can also comment on the
Floyd | decor; and note that it improves substantially to the east where the

Floyd | General has his office, to the west it probably disimproves (Kurner's
Floyd | hole is over there) and north leads toward the centre of the dome which
Floyd | means one thing - toward the room with your machine.
Floyd |
Floyd | Back south is a long corridor.
Floyd |

Floyd | Joe the janitor saunters in from the east corridor.  "Well, there it
Floyd | is!" he exclaims.  "I've been looking for that."  He removes the
Floyd | Cosmetic from your hand with a frown of reproach.  "I know you
Floyd | scientists are the bigwigs here, but I wish you'd ask first."
Floyd |
Floyd | "Say, Dr. Kurner, are you ill?"  He smiles.  "I guess you're nervous

Floyd | about the Big Day.  I'll let you get on."  With that - and with the
Floyd | metal detector - he whistles his way off westwards.
Floyd |
Floyd | Big Day?
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | You walk along a fairly long stretch of corridor, until it opens out.
Floyd |
Floyd | Bottom of Spiral
Floyd |    The designers of this place clearly had something to prove to the

Floyd | gods of pressure - this room, unlike the cramped corridors and tight
Floyd | bunkrooms, is a wide cathedral-like dome, held up by one fat pillar in
Floyd | the centre of the floor. A smooth ramp snakes around it on a gentle
Floyd | incline up to the higher levels - no stairs here, the robots not being
Floyd | that adept - and on a normal day the floor around would be crowded with
Floyd | scientists, like worshippers at a standing stone.  However today - for

Floyd | some reason, it seems - is not a normal day.  Where is everyone?
Floyd |
Floyd | Corridors leave the space in all directions - Kurner's room is down the
Floyd | passage further south.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "whoa"
inky says, "whoops"
inky says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | You walk back down the corridor.
Floyd |

Floyd | Intersection
Floyd |    You're in the main module, and that means you know your way around
Floyd | with your eyes shut.  With your eyes open you can also comment on the
Floyd | decor; and note that it improves substantially to the east where the
Floyd | General has his office, to the west it probably disimproves (Kurner's
Floyd | hole is over there) and north leads toward the centre of the dome which

Floyd | means one thing - toward the room with your machine.
Floyd |
Floyd | Back south is a long corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | Outside Kurner's Room
Floyd |    The corridor continues around the curve of the base to the
Floyd | northwest, to the rooms of the various scientists.  This one is of
Floyd | interest though, perhaps - it is the door to Kurner's room - chosen by

Floyd | lottery, it is the nearest to all the machinery and so the loudest to
Floyd | be in.
Floyd |
Floyd | The door itself is quite a sight if you like hybridised tech - Kurner
Floyd | being the paranoiac he is has fitted it with a Russian retinal scanner,
Floyd | a thumb-reader and a voice tag detector.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | The corridor continues northwest and Kurner's room is directly north.
Floyd | The intersection lies east.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | Intersection
Floyd |    You're in the main module, and that means you know your way around

Floyd | with your eyes shut.  With your eyes open you can also comment on the
Floyd | decor; and note that it improves substantially to the east where the
Floyd | General has his office, to the west it probably disimproves (Kurner's
Floyd | hole is over there) and north leads toward the centre of the dome which
Floyd | means one thing - toward the room with your machine.
Floyd |

Floyd | Back south is a long corridor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | You walk along a fairly long stretch of corridor, until it opens out.

Floyd |
Floyd | Bottom of Spiral
Floyd |    The designers of this place clearly had something to prove to the
Floyd | gods of pressure - this room, unlike the cramped corridors and tight
Floyd | bunkrooms, is a wide cathedral-like dome, held up by one fat pillar in
Floyd | the centre of the floor. A smooth ramp snakes around it on a gentle

Floyd | incline up to the higher levels - no stairs here, the robots not being
Floyd | that adept - and on a normal day the floor around would be crowded with
Floyd | scientists, like worshippers at a standing stone.  However today - for
Floyd | some reason, it seems - is not a normal day.  Where is everyone?
Floyd |
Floyd | Corridors leave the space in all directions - Kurner's room is down the

Floyd | passage further south.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "up"
Floyd | You climb the great spiral of the ramp, round and round until you're

Floyd | sure the ground is screwing in and you're not going anywhere...
Floyd |
Floyd | Floor One
Floyd |    You know you're in favour when your personal lab is put on the first
Floyd | level of the building.  It's behind that door to the south, the one
Floyd | only you have the key to.  Except, of course, you haven't got it,

Floyd | because you're inside the room. Or you might be.  Anyway, the door
Floyd | seems to still be open, which is handy.
Floyd |
Floyd | A loose panel hangs from the doorframe - it seems it's incurred some
Floyd | damage since you were last here.
Floyd |

Floyd | The ramp which leads back down to the main room is north.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | You enter your lab.

Floyd |
Floyd | Machine Room
Floyd |    The room is much as you left it; a porthole above a bank of heavy
Floyd | machinery. The glass cylinder stands in one corner, aloof and empty.
Floyd |
Floyd | One terminal case is violently unlocked.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "I'm guessing Kurner did a body swap with us"
inky says (to Floyd), "x box"
Floyd | You kneel down by the terminal case and begin to feel for the various

Floyd | catches which control the opening mechanism.  There's one - the next -
Floyd | you feel one side start to pivot round, which is a good sign.
Floyd |
Floyd | Suddenly there is a noise from the door.  You stand up sharply, wheel
Floyd | around.
Floyd |

Floyd | "Oh, hi there, Dr. Kurner!" exclaims Zak cheerily, from the doorway.
Floyd | He has a screwdriver held between his teeth and is working on something
Floyd | in the doorframe.  "Something went wrong with the door; I'm just
Floyd | refusing it.  Be with you in a second."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "Joe seemed to act as if the experiment hadn't happened yet."
inky says (to Floyd), "ask zak about big day"
Floyd | I don't know the word "big".
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "ask zak about today"
Floyd | I don't know the word "today".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "tell zak about me"
Floyd | "Hold on a sec Doc -- almost done here," says Zak.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "ask zak about experiment"
Floyd | I don't know the word "experiment".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang asks, "why does no one realise we are supposed to be dead?"
DavidW says, "I think... we haven't died yet."
inky says (to Floyd), "open box"
Floyd |
Floyd | You freeze as Zak shouts "Morning, Professor!"  And sure enough,
Floyd | through the door enters yourself, looking spritely, excited, well.  You

Floyd | stagger back in shock against the machine, in front of the damaged
Floyd | terminal case.  There is a moment of eye-contact, but the Professor -
Floyd | you - don't seem to react.
Floyd |
Floyd | The others on the project enter the room and start to fiddle with the
Floyd | machinery.  As the Professor pauses to gaze in proud awe at his

Floyd | construction, Zak winks your way and whispers "Good thing I got that
Floyd | door fixed, eh?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "All set, Professor?"  Zak takes his arm - your arm is supporting your
Floyd | weight against the terminal due to the weakness entering your body as
Floyd | suddenly it all comes become clear.  "Nearest-search".  Any physicist

Floyd | knows "near" isn't just a three-dimensional concept.
Floyd |
Floyd | "FIVE".  "FOUR".
Floyd |
Floyd | "Hey - do you suppose it should be sparking like that?"  Zak pipes up.
Floyd |

Floyd | It is sparking, too, but you're not thinking about that, you're
Floyd | desperately trying to work out what happens next.
Floyd |
Floyd | "And then there's quite a bit of smoke too, isn't there?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Dr. Kurner's box wasn't well programmed enough to cope with this - with

Floyd | an empty mind-sack next to a host containing its mind.  Not only that
Floyd | but the machine is still performing it's primary search too, just
Floyd | secondary to Kurner's implanted approach.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Maybe we should open it up and take a look?"
Floyd |

Floyd | And to cap it all - you've just seen a cable at the top of the machine
Floyd | which is plugged into completely the wrong socket.
Floyd |
Floyd | A school of fish swims past the window.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Anyone got a screwdriver?"  A few pat their pockets, and shrug.

Floyd |
Floyd | "ZERO."
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Your eyes flip open, to a flash of your face in glass.  Then the air
Floyd | sears once more.  Bug in my program, you think.  What happens now?

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Blue
Floyd |    No other way to put it.  Our myriad eyes see it a hundred different
Floyd | ways; a million little angles on the same rocks below, the same lights
Floyd | distant and near.  It all spins sickly, too much information, too much

Floyd | speed, every bit of changing direction constantly.  We are swimming,
Floyd | around in and about each other.
Floyd |
Floyd | A snuttlenose swims by.
Floyd |
Floyd | The school flicks about and swims northeast.

Floyd |
Floyd | Blue
Floyd |    From way above trickles light.  To the south is the dome.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "yeek"
Fang says (to Floyd), "diagnose"
Floyd | We don't understand.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "Lemme guess. We are now a monkfish."
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x me"
Floyd | We are multiple, all seeing.  We see ourself and the world at once, it
Floyd | is all placed out.  We are fish.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
Fang says, "we are all monkfish"
Fang says (to Floyd), "frolic"
Floyd | We don't understand.
Floyd |

Floyd | The school flicks about and swims southward.
Floyd |
Floyd | Blue
Floyd |    To the south is the bulging dome.  All around us is the blue.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | In a pulse we move south.
Floyd |
Floyd | Blue
Floyd | To the south is the bulging dome.  All around us is the blue.

Floyd |
Floyd | Jagged rocks blade from the sand here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x rocks"
Floyd | They are rugged and ripped, protruding like spines through the sand.
Floyd |
Floyd | An allamander passes us in eerie silence.
Floyd |
Floyd | The school flicks about and swims westward.
Floyd |

Floyd | Blue
Floyd |    To the south is the bulging dome.  All around us is the blue.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | The dome blocks us swimming.
Floyd |
Floyd | A squid passes us in eerie silence.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Fang says (to Floyd), "x dome"
Floyd | The dome is a huge bulge of copper on the seabed.  We do not understand
Floyd | it, it is just rock, shape of land, movement of speed of water.  A
Floyd | metal corridor snakes out of it eastward toward a smaller dome, with a
Floyd | glass chimney at its top.  It is the mortuary block and near it

Floyd | blackness moves.
Floyd |
Floyd | Floating through the blue comes a finn.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "x finn"
Floyd | The finn swims out of reach -- and not to our disappointment.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says, "oh gee. That squid is still around."
Fang says (to Floyd), "x hand"
Floyd | We don't see any hand here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says, "That must be the 'blackness'."
djfletch says, "let's go and eat it or something"
Fang says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | The school trails eastward.
Floyd |
Floyd | Blue

Floyd | To the south is the bulging dome.  All around us is the blue.  We are
Floyd | near a window in a large metal dome just to the south.
Floyd |
Floyd | Floating through the blue comes an angel.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says, "It'll eat us, more likely."
Fang says (to Floyd), "x angel"
Floyd | The angel swims out of reach -- and not to our disappointment.
Floyd |
Floyd | The school flicks about and swims northwest.

Floyd |
Floyd | Blue
Floyd |    To the south is the bulging dome.  All around us is the blue.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | We fin south.
Floyd |
Floyd | Blue
Floyd | To the south is the bulging dome.  All around us is the blue.  We are

Floyd | near a window in a large metal dome just to the south.
Floyd |
Floyd | A cuttlesprout swims by.
Floyd |
Floyd | With a snap one of our school is gone.  Suddenly we can't remember our
Floyd | father's face.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says, "oh shit"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "x window"
Floyd | We see our reflection.

Floyd |
Floyd | A calarta swims by.
Floyd |
Floyd | The school flicks about and swims in many directions before joining us
Floyd | again.
Floyd |

Floyd | Blue
Floyd |    The dome is south.  We are in blue.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Fang says (to Floyd), "write "help""
Floyd | We don't understand.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says, "We're fish."
inky says, "if we all take a little bite we can totally eat that squid"
DavidW says, "No hands."
Fang exclaims, "we can use our noses!"
Fang says, "I guess breathing on the window would be troublesome"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | We fin east.
Floyd |
Floyd | Blue
Floyd | To the south is the bulging dome.  All around us is the blue.
Floyd |
Floyd | This is ridiculous.  We can't spend our life as a shoal of fish.  We

Floyd | need to get back, and fast.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW asks, "Portholes? Any coffins lying about?"
djfletch says (to Floyd), "x dome"
Floyd | The dome is a huge bulge of copper on the seabed.  We do not understand
Floyd | it, it is just rock, shape of land, movement of speed of water.  A
Floyd | metal corridor snakes out of it eastward toward a smaller dome, with a
Floyd | glass chimney at its top.  It is the mortuary block and near it
Floyd | blackness moves.
Floyd |

Floyd | The school flicks about and swims westward.
Floyd |
Floyd | Blue
Floyd |    From way above trickles light.  To the south is the dome.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

djfletch says (to Floyd), "x blackness"
Floyd | We don't know the word "blackness".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | The school trails eastward.
Floyd |
Floyd | Blue
Floyd | The dome is south.  We are in blue.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | We swim east.
Floyd |

Floyd | Blue
Floyd | The dome is south.  We are in blue.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Nitku says (to Floyd), "u"
Floyd | We are up and down as well.  We are a school, and wide, and shape
Floyd | changing always.
Floyd |
Floyd | The school flicks about and swims northward.
Floyd |
Floyd | Blue

Floyd |    The dome is south.  We are in blue.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "x chimney"
Floyd | The Mortuary dome is broken, some walls have collapsed under a great

Floyd | dark weight we cannot see clearly, with moving eyes and confusion.
Floyd |
Floyd | An angel passes us in eerie silence.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "enter chimney"
Floyd | We are fish, there is no door for us.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x weight"
Floyd | It is blackness over the mortuary.
Floyd |
Floyd | A shrake swims by.
Floyd |
Floyd | The school is fished, we are piece-eaten.  Strangely our name has gone

Floyd | missing.
Floyd |
Floyd | There are a good few hundred in this school.  It will take forever to
Floyd | be eaten by other fish.
Floyd |
Floyd | The school flicks about and swims northwest.

Floyd |
Floyd | Blue
Floyd |    To the south is the bulging dome.  All around us is the blue.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "eat ourselves"
Floyd | We don't know the word "ourselves".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
djfletch says (to Floyd), "eat me"
Floyd | We are too many.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "eat weight"
Floyd | We try but we just don't know how.
Floyd |
Floyd | An octopus swims by.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

DavidW says (to Floyd), "x porthole"
Floyd | We don't see any porthole here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "x eyes"
Floyd | We don't know the word "eyes".
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | We swim south.
Floyd |
Floyd | Blue
Floyd | From way above trickles light.  To the south is the dome.  We are above
Floyd | a long corridor of metal leading toward the mortuary.

Floyd |
Floyd | A calarta swims by.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | We fin over the dome of mortuary, where the metal turns black with a
Floyd | heaving darkness.
Floyd |
Floyd | Our motion sets a rustle in the water like the waving of seaweed and
Floyd | some of the shoal tries to leave in a panic.  The darkness below is
Floyd | moving.  It's coming nearer.  It's rushing from the seabed in a motion

Floyd | like the unfolding of the earth.  It is a giant, wrapping hand, that
Floyd | our kaleidoscope eyes see from all sides and form into a huge rounded
Floyd | trunk in our mind.  The whole object encompasses us until a mouth is
Floyd | doing the same.  The rest try to swim away, finning back madly over the
Floyd | corridor toward the dome.  The shadow follows, boiling out of the sand,
Floyd | revealing its shadow full.  Sweeps over the corridor, more of us are

Floyd | lost.  We try to out-shake it.  We fail.  Flitter, flurry, fade, in
Floyd | blackness.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Eyes open.  You feel somewhat dizzy.  You can't remember how to tie a
Floyd | tie, you note, which at least means one got away.

Floyd |
Floyd | Inside the Cylinder
Floyd |    The glass door has slid open.  Outside, the room is empty bar for
Floyd | smoking machinery and Dr. Kurner's body, slumped out on the floor.
Floyd |
Floyd | Somewhere, an alarm is blaring.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says, "oh, right, I forgot we were trying to die"
djfletch says, "oh I didn't think we were actually moving"
DavidW asks, "Are we us again?"
inky says (to Floyd), "x me"
Floyd | You are yourself, once more.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "SAVE"
inky says (to Floyd), "cf5"
Floyd | File to save game in >
Floyd | Saved.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
DavidW says, "The detonator will still be in Kurner's hand, I suppose. Could be relevant."
inky says (to Floyd), "n"
Floyd | You can't go that way.
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "s"
Floyd | You can't go that way.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "w"
Floyd | You can't go that way.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "e"
Floyd | You can't go that way.
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "look"
Floyd | Inside the glass cylinder
Floyd |    Cables feed away from the base of the cylinder.  Inside, there's the
Floyd | grille for your feet, and the Emergency Door Release Switch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

inky says (to Floyd), "out"
Floyd | You step out of the cylinder.  From here you can see the screen in the
Floyd | corner of the room, which shows a giant multi-tentacled creature
Floyd | growing from over the mortuary dome, coming closer.
Floyd |

Floyd | Machine Room
Floyd |    Your machine is in one corner, forgotten.  Dr. Kurner slumps on the
Floyd | floor, quite dead, almost forgotten too.
Floyd |
Floyd | The alarm is blaring.  A voice over the intercom shrieks "What are we
Floyd | going to do?  General?  WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?"

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "x screen"
Floyd | The squid is coming closer, ever closer.  In a matter of minutes it
Floyd | will crush the lab.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
DavidW says (to Floyd), "push button" inky says, "oh yeah"
Floyd | You jab the button on Dr. Kurner's palm and for two seconds everything

Floyd | shakes.  A stream of bubbles, like a jet passing, rips outside the
Floyd | window.  The water there turns deep red, then slowly back to blue, and
Floyd | the room falls still.
Floyd |
Floyd | Moments later Zak dives in.  "Professor!  You're awake!  You'd never
Floyd | believe what happened!"

Floyd |
Floyd | "Attacked by a giant squid?"
Floyd |
Floyd | "Yeah!  Um."  He frowns a bit.  "I guess you saw it on the screen.
Floyd | Hey!  Is Dr. Kurner alright?  What happened to him?"
Floyd |

Floyd | "He laid down his life," is your reply.  "To save the lab."
Floyd |
Floyd | Zak hears this, and his frown deepens.  "I guess you'd know," he
Floyd | replies uncertainly.
Floyd |
Floyd | *** All's well that ends well ***

Floyd |
Floyd | *** Except for Kurner, that is ***
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | You may restore a saved game, start over, quit, or undo the current
Floyd | command.  Amusing is now also available to you.

Floyd | Please enter RESTORE, RESTART, QUIT, UNDO or AMUSING:  >
inky says, "hooray"
djfletch says, "woot"
Fang says, "woo"
K-Y says, "hey, got back just in time"
Fang says (to Floyd), "amusing"
Floyd |
Floyd | Amusing Things to Try
Floyd |

Floyd | o  In the cylinder, after creating condensation on the glass, have you
Floyd | tried to write
Floyd |        "SOS" (after the smoke) and "REDRUM"
Floyd |
Floyd | o  When in Jenny's drawer, sitting on jenny
Floyd |

Floyd | o  Reading your palm, before and after it's been branded
Floyd |
Floyd | o  Waving your hand at different times (near the squid, in the
Floyd | cylinder, etc...)
Floyd |
Floyd | o  Faking the parser out when trying to touch the live wires by the

Floyd | Airlock
Floyd |
Floyd | o  Jumping in the hole before Rosalind does
Floyd |
Floyd | o  Smelling or Listening in the computer room, with Jeremy or the squid
Floyd | present

Floyd |
Floyd | o  Entering the coffin in the Computer Room
Floyd |
Floyd | o  Examining Julia on the trolley
Floyd |
Floyd | o  Attacking the squid with the peg-leg

Floyd |
Floyd | o  Searching and looking under the sofa
Floyd |
Floyd | o  Running into the Janitor before finding the lab coat
Floyd |
Floyd | o  Examing the seaweed sludge in Kurner's office

Floyd |
Floyd | o  Taking/Washing/Searching Kurner's clothes
Floyd |
Floyd | o  Finding "Till Death..." source code (easter egg)
Floyd |
Floyd | Please enter RESTORE, RESTART, QUIT, UNDO or AMUSING:  >

DavidW asks, "sofa?"
DavidW says, "I guess that was outside the General's."
Fang asks, "wanna go back through and do the amusing?"
inky says, "I am too lazy to replay the whole thing but I want to see the notes"
inky says (to Floyd), "undo"
Floyd | (Undoing one command)
Floyd |
Floyd | Machine Room
Floyd |    Your machine is in one corner, forgotten.  Dr. Kurner slumps on the
Floyd | floor, quite dead, almost forgotten too.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "notes"
Floyd | I don't know the word "notes".
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "help"
Floyd | Welcome to TILL DEATH MAKES A MONK-FISH OUT OF ME.  Below is a brief
Floyd | list of some of the special commands that this game recognizes.  If
Floyd | you're new to interactive fiction, please type INSTRUCTIONS for a

Floyd | detailed introduction to text adventures.
Floyd |
Floyd | The game was coded and primarily tested by the authors using HTML TADS
Floyd | -- though testing was performed on other platforms.
Floyd |
Floyd |    SAVE        - Save the current game position

Floyd |    RESTORE     - Restore a saved game position
Floyd |    UNDO        - Take back the previous turn
Floyd |    QUIT        - End the game
Floyd |
Floyd |    CREDITS     - Show the game's credits
Floyd |    COPYRIGHT   - Copyright information

Floyd |    ABOUT       - Show some background information about the game
Floyd |    VERSION     - Show the current version of the game
Floyd |    RELEASE     - Show release history of game
Floyd |    HINT        - Hint system
Floyd |    REVIEW      - Perform a "LOOK" without affecting time or turn count
Floyd |    WINNABLE    - Is the game still in a winnable state?

Floyd |
Floyd |    SCRIPT      - Start recording a transcript of your moves to a file
Floyd |    UNSCRIPT    - Stop recording the current transcript
Floyd |
Floyd |    AMUSING     - A list of amusing things to try
Floyd |    SPAG        - Reprint of the SPAG interview

Floyd |    AUTHOR      - Collaboration emails between Jon and I
Floyd |
Floyd | >
inky says (to Floyd), "author"
Floyd | Don't you mean "NOTES"?  I thought so...

Floyd | From Here to There -- a Brief Time-Line
Floyd |
Floyd |    The collaboration between Jon and I started on November 21, 2001
Floyd | when Jon responded to my personal ad on RAIF.  For the next two weeks,
Floyd | we bounced ideas back and forth and on December 11, 2001, Jon sent over
Floyd | the first script (opening scene).  By this time, we already had signed

Floyd | up for Adam Cadre's Spring Thing, with the full intention of finishing
Floyd | up this game for that comp.  We never made it.
Floyd |
Floyd |    I started coding on 12/11/01 and we worked through the holidays.  By
Floyd | mid January we had 3 written scripts -- and two weeks later, the first
Floyd | version of the game was sent to Jon for review/testing.  It ended with

Floyd | the PC leaving the mortuary.  Apart from a small post-holiday lag, we
Floyd | were firing on all cylinders.
Floyd |
Floyd |    Both Jon and I then, inexplicably, stopped.  We stopped emailing,
Floyd | writing and coding.  Weird.  On April 16, 2002, I sent Jon a note that
Floyd | said we should scrap the Spring Thing and possibly re-focus for the

Floyd | fall comp.  Jon agreed.  We decided to touch base in a month or so.
Floyd | For those of you keeping score, there were things going on, in both our
Floyd | worlds, that caused delays -- so we did understand how we ended up
Floyd | missing the May deadline.  Anyway...
Floyd |
Floyd |    Did I say a month?  I meant three.  In early July, Jon and I hooked

Floyd | up again and came up with a game plan to finish this.  It had been a
Floyd | long time since the original story was discussed/created and we needed
Floyd | to re-acquaint ourselves with the premise.  I had finished
Floyd | coding/testing the game which at that point, ended with the "chase"
Floyd | scene near the computer room.  The end script was all that was left --
Floyd | well, what I thought was the end script.  Unbeknownst to me, there was

Floyd | a lot of game left to be written/coded.
Floyd |
Floyd |    By mid July, I lined up some beta testers so that we could get a
Floyd | head start on the testing.  John Bichard and Dave Gatewood helped quite
Floyd | a bit at this point.  While waiting for Jon's final script, I was busy
Floyd | fixing bugs, typos and errant daemons.  They also questioned some of

Floyd | the story which allowed Jon to make some changes with the final script.
Floyd | They were invaluable.
Floyd |
Floyd |    By early August, Jon had sent over the script containing Kurner's
Floyd | Office followed by the end script.  Yikes.  I had a lot of coding to
Floyd | do.  On 9/1, I finished coding the end script supplied by Jon.  For the

Floyd | next 3 1/2 weeks, we tested, tested and tested.  The hint system was
Floyd | added as an afterthought and didn't get much testing, or in the very
Floyd | least, read by the grammar police.  :)
Floyd |
Floyd |    So there you have it -- an abridged version of how a comp game came
Floyd | to be.  Definitely took a bit longer in duration, but thinking back,

Floyd | the effort seemed about right.
Floyd |
Floyd | (Note that the following emails have been slightly edited so that they
Floyd | contain only references to the collaboration -- I doubt anyone is
Floyd | interested in Jon's and I personal thoughts on sex, drugs and rock &
Floyd | roll.)

Floyd |
Floyd | Initial contact
Floyd |
Floyd | Jon Responds to my personal ad on RAIF
Floyd |
Floyd | -------- Original Message --------

Floyd | Subject:  Collaboration
Floyd | Date:  Wed, 21 Nov 2001 12:33:28 +0000
Floyd | From:  "J.  Ingold"
Floyd | To:  mjsousa@mediaone.net
Floyd |
Floyd | Hi Mike -

Floyd |
Floyd | I'm a stupidly busy person at present, but one with a hankering to
Floyd | Write Stuff, and I read that your collaboration with Robb was a
Floyd | writer/programmer split...  which I find kinda tempting, so if you'll
Floyd | have me I'd be interested.
Floyd |

Floyd | If you say a "storyboard", how much work is there left for writing?
Floyd | Just get the text to fill the gap, or is there design still to do?
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheers,
Floyd | Jon
Floyd |

Floyd | Mike responds to Jon for first time
Floyd |
Floyd | -------- Original Message --------
Floyd | Subject:  Re:  Collaboration
Floyd | Date:  Wed, 21 Nov 2001 23:02:12 -0500
Floyd | From:  Mike Sousa

Floyd | To:  "J.  Ingold"
Floyd |
Floyd | Jon,
Floyd |
Floyd | Where to begin...heh...
Floyd |

Floyd | <snip>
Floyd | With that said, how's Make It Good and your other puzzle game going?  I
Floyd | wouldn't want conflicts skewing your schedule with those games --
Floyd | that's if you had a timetable in mind.  I was looking for a spring
Floyd | release and just like that, Adam announces his Spring Thing.
Floyd |

Floyd | During the first collaboration note (which ended up being the NTTS
Floyd | project), I had come up with several rules of engagement that was
Floyd | needed for the project (in terms of my part) to be successful.
Floyd |
Floyd | I had to code it.  Writing is not my thing so what else would I do if I
Floyd | didn't code it?  The other author did most/all of the writing -- see

Floyd | point one.  It had to be in TADS.  I don't know Inform, nor do I care
Floyd | to learn another language -- I'm sorta saving that for TADS 3.  It had
Floyd | to be NTTS because it was inspired by my daughter.
Floyd |
Floyd | Other than that, the collaboration just grew and came to be pretty
Floyd | successful.

Floyd |
Floyd | With this collaboration, point 1, 2 and 3 will still be true.  I
Floyd | obviously have a different game in mind and would like to implement it,
Floyd | but I'm not closing any doors with other ideas.  And my idea of a
Floyd | storyboard is probably a lot different from that of a good writer.  I

Floyd | have a plot/theme (a hook, if you will) along with several puzzles.  I
Floyd | have an ending, but I don't care for it and it will probably change.
Floyd | It's a puzzle game.  The storyboard probably fits on one sheet of a
Floyd | legal pad.  Heh...  Are you still interested?
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheers,

Floyd | -- Mike
Floyd |
Floyd | (by the by, I can't believe you wrote AR in the time it takes my three
Floyd | year old daughter to eat a piece of toast...  That timeline couldn't
Floyd | possibly happen for this one, Jon.  I have a full time job, a wife and
Floyd | twin daughters...  ..  :)

Floyd |
Floyd | We're still trying to decide if we can work together
Floyd |
Floyd | -------- Original Message --------
Floyd | Subject:  Re:  Collaboration
Floyd | Date:  Thu, 22 Nov 2001 10:21:50 +0000

Floyd | From:  "J.  Ingold"
Floyd | To:  Mike Sousa
Floyd |
Floyd | Hi Mike -
Floyd |
Floyd | > With this collaboration, point 1, 2 and 3 will still be true.  I

Floyd | > obviously have a different game in mind and would like to implement
Floyd | it,
Floyd | > but I'm not closing any doors with other ideas.  And my idea of a
Floyd | > storyboard is probably a lot different from that of a good writer.  I

Floyd | > have a plot/theme (a hook, if you will) along with several puzzles.
Floyd | I
Floyd | > have an ending, but I don't care for it and it will probably change.
Floyd | > It's a puzzle game.  The storyboard probably fits on one sheet of a

Floyd | > legal pad.  Heh...  Are you still interested?
Floyd |
Floyd | Hmm...  I don't have a vast amount of time, and I do have several
Floyd | projects; but that said, I am interested.  I guess the next question is
Floyd | - how long do you expect the game to be?  If we're talking Comp length

Floyd | then yeah, okay, let's do it, I can commit myself to that.  If we're
Floyd | talking longer, it might be a good idea if I pull out.  But -- but I've
Floyd | had a terrible desire to write a puzzle game ever since Mulldoon ended,
Floyd | and although I'm sort of working on one at the moment it's still
Floyd | gestating.  So having some worked out I've no objection to.
Floyd |

Floyd | -------- Original Message --------
Floyd | Subject:  Re:  Collaboration
Floyd | Date:  Thu, 22 Nov 2001 09:42:48 -0500
Floyd | From:  Mike Sousa
Floyd | To:  "J.  Ingold"
Floyd |

Floyd | > Hmm...  I don't have a vast amount of time, and I do have several
Floyd | projects;
Floyd | > but that said, I am interested.  I guess the next question is - how
Floyd | long do
Floyd | > you expect the game to be?  If we're talking Comp length then yeah,

Floyd | okay,
Floyd | > let's do it, I can commit myself to that.  If we're talking longer,
Floyd | it might
Floyd | > be a good idea if I pull out.  But -- but I've had a terrible desire
Floyd | to

Floyd | > write a puzzle game ever since Mulldoon ended, and although I'm sort
Floyd | of
Floyd | > working on one at the moment it's still gestating.  So having some
Floyd | worked
Floyd | > out I've no objection to.

Floyd |
Floyd | Yes, I'm thinking/planning Comp length game that would be entered into
Floyd | this year's Spring Thing, so that's the timeline.  I just didn't want
Floyd | to give you the impression that I could manage an aggressive schedule
Floyd | (like AR) and I didn't want multiple projects impacting everything.
Floyd | So, I guess we're ready for the next step?

Floyd |
Floyd | I have to do a couple of things.  One, is get through this Thanksgiving
Floyd | holiday (it's today, and for a lot of my family, tomorrow as well).
Floyd | Then I need to put the storyboard in an email and shoot it off to you
Floyd | (it's currently scribbled across several pieces of paper in my work
Floyd | folder).  Once you get the plot/theme and what I'm trying to

Floyd | accomplish, we can then see if it's a match.  (Maybe you'll hate the
Floyd | idea...heh...)
Floyd |
Floyd | Sound like a plan?
Floyd |
Floyd | -- Mike

Floyd |
Floyd | We're almost on the same page...
Floyd |
Floyd | -------- Original Message --------
Floyd | Subject:  Re:  Collaboration
Floyd | Date:  Thu, 23 Nov 2001 10:21:50 +0000

Floyd | From:  "J.  Ingold"
Floyd | To:  Mike Sousa
Floyd |
Floyd | Hi Mike -
Floyd |
Floyd | Right, yes.  That's the only other sticking point as I see it - if it's

Floyd | something I *can* write, and something I *want* to write.  Otherwise,
Floyd | this sounds like fun!
Floyd |
Floyd | Things I should perhaps note - no aggressive schedule is likely.  AR
Floyd | was an accident like that; not one I intend to repeat if I can help it.
Floyd | The chances are you'll receive text from me in binges - great piles and

Floyd | lulls - because that's how I do things, hopefully there'll always be
Floyd | enough for you to keep to your schedule.  I usually do half of the
Floyd | writing by playing back the game-so-far and seeing what's missing (that
Floyd | is, I play like a player, to try and see what players are likely to do)
Floyd | so I'd appreciate mid-versions as they appear.  I don't know TADS at
Floyd | all, so I may miss a few verbs completely.  ;)

Floyd |
Floyd | But I look forward to seeing your idea and if we can make a go of this!
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheers, and have a good Thanksgiving,
Floyd | Jon
Floyd |

Floyd | First discussion of "Till Death..."
Floyd |
Floyd | Mike pitches the idea to Jon...
Floyd |
Floyd | -------- Original Message --------
Floyd | Subject:  Re:  Collaboration

Floyd | Date:  Fri, 23 Nov 2001 08:46:18 -0500
Floyd | From:  Mike Sousa
Floyd | To:  ji207@cam.
Floyd |
Floyd | Okay, here I go.  Before I get into the story, let me shed some light
Floyd | as to how I came up with the idea.  Also, I *hope* it's sorta unique --

Floyd | I've only been around for less than two years and haven't played all
Floyd | the recent games.  I've also written three and that has taken up a lot
Floyd | of 'play time' so to speak, so I typically give a game a short spin but
Floyd | rarely do I finish it.  Case in point, I *still* haven't finished
Floyd | Anchorhead, even though I've been playing it for over a year.  But
Floyd | anyway...

Floyd |
Floyd | I think I was playing the opening of Hunt the Wumpus and kept dying.  I
Floyd | then thought about all the games I wrote and how dying was to be
Floyd | avoided at all risk -- it was, in fact, a failure that needed to be
Floyd | undone/restored.  (heh, NTTS -- scene 1, aside).  I then thought that
Floyd | certain games won't allow you to die (you do a good job of this, by the

Floyd | way, at least from what I've seen) and come up with clever messages to
Floyd | keep the player from reaching the dreaded "You have died" screen.
Floyd |
Floyd | That's when I thought of a game that its primary goal was to try and
Floyd | kill yourself (and fail, multiple times).  Now, I don't want a suicide
Floyd | type of game -- that is not me, I'm an optimist by nature.  But I

Floyd | struggled to find the hook.  Why would the player want the PC to kill
Floyd | himself?  It needs to be worthwhile, because why would a player want to
Floyd | continue to try to harm the PC?  By the by, the 'puzzle' aspect comes
Floyd | in with different ways the PC tries to kill himself and because of
Floyd | Murphy's Law, he fails.  A simple example is taking sleeping pills but
Floyd | because of food poisoning (from the lunch he had several hours ago), he

Floyd | ends up throwing everything up and the suicide attempt fails.  The
Floyd | writing needs to be upbeat and have humor sprinkled in (including the
Floyd | puzzles) to keep it going.
Floyd |
Floyd | The hook is this:  (or some variation -- this was just the first
Floyd | attempt)

Floyd |
Floyd | The player character was part of a science project to clone
Floyd | consciousness.  He was supposed to go back into his own body, but the
Floyd | project was sabotaged and he was sent to the body of a corpse instead
Floyd | (with The Bad Guy presuming that would kill him).  You awake from the
Floyd | morgue / whatever and need to kill yourself in order to shunt yourself

Floyd | back to where you belong.  So starts the journey of returning to your
Floyd | body -- your wife and kids miss you, ya know!
Floyd |
Floyd | Here's how the story lays out:
Floyd |
Floyd | Opening text (needs to be well done in order for the player to 'want'

Floyd | to kill the PC so that he can return to whatever and know that the PC
Floyd | is really the consciousness and not the 'body' of the PC.)
Floyd |
Floyd | First puzzle is the only puzzle to the player.  Should be easy, well
Floyd | clued and set the tone for the rest of the game.
Floyd |

Floyd | Middle game consists of x number of puzzles (death attempts, if you
Floyd | will) that will lead to solving the final puzzle in the end.  This can
Floyd | be inventory items that appear from failed attempts or just wisdom
Floyd | gained from the failed attempts.  All puzzles can/should be accessed by
Floyd | the PC at the same time -- avoiding the linear 'thing'.
Floyd |

Floyd | End game is the final puzzle that gets you 'back'.  I want it to be
Floyd | elaborate, multi-staged and fit into the overall theme of the game.
Floyd |
Floyd | Well, there you have it.  Again, it's not a 'Jump' type of game.
Floyd | Suicide is not the message and that's an important distinction.  I just
Floyd | wanted to play with the standard 'avoid death at all costs, because

Floyd | that means you failed!'.  In this game, 'avoid staying alive at all
Floyd | costs, that means you failed!'.
Floyd |
Floyd | I haven't written anything yet nor do I have 1 line of code written.
Floyd | What I do have is this email and 3 or 4 death attempts with solutions
Floyd | as to how they fail along with a list of other ways that the PC could

Floyd | try and kill himself -- it just needs a solution to the 'puzzle'.
Floyd |
Floyd | Now, before you respond, please note that I have extremely thick skin.
Floyd | I take criticism the way it should be taken -- use it to one's
Floyd | advantage.  If you don't like the idea, the theme, or the direction, a
Floyd | simple "Not what I had in mind" can do.  Obviously, I'm interested in

Floyd | what you think and whether you see the need for any subtle/drastic
Floyd | changes to the plot or if you have something totally different in mind.
Floyd | I guess what I'm saying is that just speak what you feel and it'll be
Floyd | put to good use.
Floyd |
Floyd | Have a good weekend, Jon.

Floyd |
Floyd | -- Mike
Floyd |
Floyd | (couple of side notes on your email)
Floyd |
Floyd | As with Robb, I'll send you the complete source code directory when the

Floyd | game is released.  It'll be copyright Jon Ingold and Mike Sousa.  I'll
Floyd | probably come up with a rough project plan so we can both see the
Floyd | milestone dates and have targets to shoot for.  I like/agree with your
Floyd | playing/writing approach and that's how it worked for NTTS.
Floyd |
Floyd | Email exchange -- collaboration in motion...

Floyd |
Floyd | -------- Original Message --------
Floyd | Subject:  Re:  Collaboration
Floyd | Date:  Fri, 23 Nov 2001 11:35:16 -0500
Floyd | From:  Mike Sousa
Floyd | To:  "J.  Ingold"

Floyd |
Floyd | J.  Ingold wrote:
Floyd |
Floyd | >Hi Mike -
Floyd |
Floyd | >Heh...  I read your "hook" with a growing grin - this is exactly (give

Floyd | or
Floyd | >take a backstory) the idea I came up with a while back; a game where
Floyd | death
Floyd | >is the solution to a puzzle (mine was a "nine lives" game,
Floyd | incidentally,

Floyd | >and is currently one/ninth written).  So -- hmmm -- I like the idea.
Floyd | I like
Floyd | >the tone as well, black comedy is fun, and the attempted-death
Floyd | resulting
Floyd | >in a step forward is a very neat and tidy idea indeed; as your player

Floyd | will
Floyd | >slowly begin to realise that he _has_ to try every available method of
Floyd | >death, and even though the PC will think maybe this one will work,
Floyd | there's
Floyd | >a certain inevitability about the failure each time.  So eventually we

Floyd | >have, say, the player wants the hook from the ceiling, which he pulls
Floyd | down
Floyd | >with the rope, but if you just tug at the rope the PC responds "But if
Floyd | you
Floyd | >pull out the hook, you won't be able to use it as a noose!"  -- and

Floyd | when
Floyd | >you do try to hang yourself, out comes
Floyd | >the hook.
Floyd |
Floyd | Excellent!  We're on the same page...

Floyd |
Floyd | >Which would suggest to me that in the final stage, the solution is not
Floyd | >actually to kill yourself at all, but to do something cunning with
Floyd | what
Floyd | >you've collected so far.  That would need the backstory working out,

Floyd | so:
Floyd |
Floyd | Yes, exactly.
Floyd |
Floyd | >Obvious thing needed - some sort of rigourous logic behind the
Floyd | >conciousness transfer, to ensure players aren't left going "but

Floyd | exactly
Floyd | >why would killing myself make any difference?"  That needs to be nice
Floyd | and
Floyd | >tight.
Floyd |

Floyd | Yes.  The opening text is critical here and we can then either sprinkle
Floyd | more info during the game by flashbacks (I know, done to death at
Floyd | times, but in this case, has some merit) or supply some type of 'doc'
Floyd | that allows the PC to learn more about it...  Just throwing ideas
Floyd | out...
Floyd |

Floyd | >So, yeah, this sounds like a nice idea.
Floyd |
Floyd | >Things that spring to mind:- first puzzle is to escape from inside a
Floyd | >coffin, then escape from the morgue, and should be done using the most
Floyd | >number of comic-book-style body-parts possible.  Lever things open

Floyd | with
Floyd | >arms, that sort of thing.  Something macabre, but intrinsically silly.
Floyd |
Floyd | >I take it this game is supposed to be a little twisted?  ;)
Floyd |

Floyd | First hint at working title
Floyd |
Floyd | -------- Original Message --------
Floyd | Subject:  Re:  Collaboration
Floyd | Date:  Fri, 23 Nov 2001 11:39:24 -0500
Floyd | From:  Mike Sousa

Floyd | To:  "J.  Ingold" Further thoughts running around my head from your
Floyd | idea...
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Floyd | >A nice framing story might be:  you are about to get married to your

Floyd | >beloved, when you are murdered by your best friend/arch rival for her
Floyd | >affection.  Given one chance to set things right as a restless spirit
Floyd | you
Floyd | >inhabit a body - but to your horror you find you've not got your old
Floyd | body,

Floyd | >but the body of someone else!  So to get your old body back, you must
Floyd | leave
Floyd | >the one you're in and possess the right one.  (Admittedly; this allows
Floyd | for
Floyd | >no possibility of a truly "happy" ending).

Floyd | >
Floyd | >...the reason I suggest this is I just had a neat idea for a title:
Floyd | "Till
Floyd | >Death Do Us Part."
Floyd | >

Floyd | I'm going to like this collaboration.  :)
Floyd |
Floyd | -- Mike
Floyd |
Floyd | Tweaking the main premise...
Floyd |

Floyd | -------- Original Message --------
Floyd | Subject:  Re:  Collaboration
Floyd | Date:  Sun, 25 Nov 2001 22:02:11 -0500
Floyd | From:  Mike Sousa
Floyd | To:  "J.  Ingold"
Floyd |

Floyd | Hi Jon.
Floyd |
Floyd | I gave more though to the zombie like example you had below and I don't
Floyd | know if the 'kill' yourself theme can survive the whole game.  My
Floyd | original thought was that the PC's consciousness (known as spirit going
Floyd | forward -- much easier to type) was transferred to somebody who was

Floyd | freshly dead, so to speak.  So I had visions of laying on a metal
Floyd | table, naked (save for a sheet), prep'd for an autopsy, with a tag on
Floyd | your toe that read "Jon Doe", uh, I mean, "John Doe", time of death, nn
Floyd | hours.  By taking this body over you could then be bound by 'normal'
Floyd | rules of physics when it came to attempting death.  I still like/want
Floyd | the morbid humor that can be brought, though.  So the first puzzle, as

Floyd | you mentioned, was escape from the coroner's 'office', but the
Floyd | puzzle(s) would be concentrating on finding out who you are/were
Floyd | (maybe), getting some clothes, and exiting the building without being
Floyd | noticed.  During this 'stage', a daemon/timer/trigger/whatever would
Floyd | unfold more of the story and set your goal. End this life so that your
Floyd | consci, uh, spirit can be channeled back to your body.

Floyd |
Floyd | Now, the framing of being murdered is good (best friend/arch rival) and
Floyd | if done by the spirit transfer science project, it lends itself to a
Floyd | happy ending because you can go back to your original body --- and it
Floyd | allows us to contemplate alternate endings in which you go back to the
Floyd | body of your arch rival or something...

Floyd |
Floyd | Anyway, once you leave the building, you start your journey of trying
Floyd | to kill yourself (sorta like the 9 lives things) except each death
Floyd | attempt fails because of some silly/stupid reason of murphy's law.
Floyd | That's how we (um, you) can keep the writing light and not let the
Floyd | 'suicide' theme ever enter anybody's mind.

Floyd |
Floyd | In this scenario, the big part missing is how do you go back to your
Floyd | body.  Do you finally succeed in a suicide attempt?  Do you consult a
Floyd | psychic?  Do you find a way to send a message to your lab partner or do
Floyd | you end up visiting your 'lab' and figure it out yourself?  (yeah, just
Floyd | throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks)

Floyd |
Floyd | But, if you think the only way this can be pulled off is the unreal
Floyd | nature (losing limbs, macabre plot that bring teh funny, etc...)  then
Floyd | we'll need to come up with a different middle game because if the
Floyd | player knows the PC is already 'dead', they probably wouldn't want to
Floyd | continue killing it...  maybe?

Floyd |
Floyd | Anyway, we should decide on the angle and the resulting end story for
Floyd | it.  Then we can figure out what's the best way to work together and
Floyd | start working on the opening text/scene with the flow of the first
Floyd | puzzle(s).
Floyd |

Floyd | Sound like a plan?
Floyd |
Floyd | -- Mike
Floyd |
Floyd | Jon comes up with time travel twist...
Floyd |

Floyd | To:
Floyd | Fr:  Jon
Floyd | Subject:  Game plans
Floyd |
Floyd | Hi Mike -
Floyd |

Floyd | Bouncing ideas back and forth is good - generates good games, generates
Floyd | *enthusiasm*.  So here are a few more.
Floyd |
Floyd | I like the metal table vision - actually, I like the tag-on-the-toe
Floyd | vision, that's funny; especially if we don't tell the player they've
Floyd | woken up as a corpse.  At some point maybe we could have a puzzle where

Floyd | teh PC needs to sign in somewhere/rent a car/that sort of thing, but he
Floyd | can't speak (because dead people don't breathe) so he hands over the
Floyd | tag with his name on.  Or rather, he sticks his foot on the counter
Floyd | because he can't untie the string.
Floyd |
Floyd | One thought I had which would be nice design wise, was a gradual shift

Floyd | in what how the player sees the game; so, to start with, he sees a
Floyd | guillotine and sticks his head inside, hoping to lop his block off
Floyd | (which fails, but somehow opens up a door somewhere else).  However,
Floyd | our player will soon realise each time is going to fail which leads to
Floyd | the nice situation of the player having to convince the PC that what
Floyd | he's being asked to do is actually a suicide attempt, when in truth the

Floyd | player doesn't expect it to work.  (so, the hook-and-noose example from
Floyd | earlier).  I think that would be nicely comic.
Floyd |
Floyd | I quite like the idea of coming back as the arch-rival; in fact, I was
Floyd | thinking - if we have the PC wake up as a freshly dead body, and
Floyd | scatter through the game (and maybe a short intro sequence in which the

Floyd | experiment happens, I'm a fan of run-in's in games) clues (conflicting
Floyd | + red herrings) as to who the body is.  Eventually it is revealed that
Floyd | you've woken up as who died, say, two days ago; and you have in fact
Floyd | gone back in time slightly.  You reverse your experiment, land up in te
Floyd | body of your arch rival, just in time to heft a hatchet and swing it
Floyd | into the machinery before the experiment starts...  (actually, I liked

Floyd | having a straight ghost/murder idea, just because I like the idea of
Floyd | the game ending with the PC 'coming to' dizzyily, looking around,
Floyd | seeing his former self enter the room, spotting the fire-axe on the
Floyd | wall...  game stops.  It's a cheeky ending, but quite fun.)  This would
Floyd | also open standard time-travel riffs:- our PC must fix the final step
Floyd | of the machinery which no-one knew needed doing, because when they

Floyd | arrived teh next morning it'd just been done by the PC, that sort of
Floyd | thing.  Which is to say - I'd like the time travel idea just so the
Floyd | game can end neatly, happily, but not-so-happily.  Bad guy (arch-rival)
Floyd | gets his comeuppance; only he's not really such a bad guy, as he didn't
Floyd | really do anything (we could sprinkle the game with the PC remembering
Floyd | what the arch-rival did actually do, and they could be a series of

Floyd | pathetic attacks, which have left the PC rather surprised by being
Floyd | murdered).
Floyd |
Floyd | Jon
Floyd |
Floyd | Trying to gather my arms around it...

Floyd |
Floyd | To:  "J.  Ingold"
Floyd | cc:
Floyd | Subject:  Re:  Game plans
Floyd |
Floyd | Let me see if I can try to recap/extrapolate what the story looks like

Floyd | now, it's probably wrong, but it's a starting point...  :)
Floyd |
Floyd | Short intro scene where the spirit experiment fails.  You see 'stuff',
Floyd | hints of what to do.  Your spirit is sent backwards in time to a dead
Floyd | body.  We need to validate this with some date doc in the game -- some
Floyd | world event in the newspaper or something.

Floyd |
Floyd | Opening scene is now limited, you wake up on the metal table with a toe
Floyd | tag.  The Player will most likely think "heh, they *thought* I was
Floyd | dead, but I'm apparently not, but who am I?"  PC solves some easy
Floyd | puzzle(s) to get into the game (editorial to start -- I'm a huge fan of
Floyd | rewarding the player right away in the opening scene so that they feel

Floyd | as if they've accomplished something and gives them an edge to continue
Floyd | playing -- nothing turns me off more than wandering around in nn rooms,
Floyd | accomplishing nothing for 30 minutes -- maybe it's just my short
Floyd | attention span.  editorial ends)
Floyd |
Floyd | Once the first puzzle(s) are done, the game opens up and the Player

Floyd | should know that he needs to (get back?  kill himself?  unknown -- go
Floyd | figure stuff out?)
Floyd |
Floyd | The middle game will consist of attempts to end one's life that fails
Floyd | or did we switch gears to something else?  (I'm trying to stay with you
Floyd | but I'm getting the feeling I drive at 80KPH and you're approaching

Floyd | 100KPH!)
Floyd |
Floyd | The end solution is to get back to the experiment and sabotage the
Floyd | machine that sent you back.  But if this is the goal, why would the
Floyd | Player (or PC) want to continually try and kill the PC?
Floyd |

Floyd | I like your last paragraph in your last email, about the PC figuring
Floyd | out what to do, sorta gives the Player the "aha" moment which is one of
Floyd | the coolest things us authors can make the Player do.
Floyd |
Floyd | See if you can lay down the plot in terms of intro text/sequence,
Floyd | 'opening scene', middle game and how it all ties up at the end.  I've

Floyd | tried to do it here but there's some confusion on my part.  Before I
Floyd | can start contributing to a story, I need to have a firm grasp of the
Floyd | story -- call it a character flaw...  :)
Floyd |
Floyd | Great stuff, Jon...
Floyd |

Floyd | -- Mike
Floyd |
Floyd | The Plot Takes Shape
Floyd |
Floyd | An email from Jon which is the genesis of script 1
Floyd |

Floyd | Sent by:  jon
Floyd | To:  sousa
Floyd | Subject:  Re:  Game plans
Floyd |
Floyd | Hi Mike -
Floyd |

Floyd | Right, I was thinking this through, here's where I'm at.  I have an
Floyd | idea for something building in my head, here's the backstory but below
Floyd | I explain how it's drip-fed to the player.  You may need to print this
Floyd | out and read it carefully, I think it's quite dense, and it's pretty
Floyd | long.
Floyd |

Floyd | The body the PC transfers into is that of his arch-rival.  There is
Floyd | time-travel as before, but the arch-rival has died, unbeknownst to the
Floyd | player, before the start of the game.  The events run:
Floyd |
Floyd | The experiment proceeds.  Just as the player enters we see the
Floyd | Arch-rival putting down a fire-axe.  The experiment goes wrong.  The

Floyd | player is zapped [to the evening of the previous day] into the body of
Floyd | the arch-rival-saboteur.  He breaks into the machine's room, in time to
Floyd | sabotage the machine just as the ORIGINAL PLAYER enters.  As the
Floyd | machine kicks in, the man in the machine slumps, you slump, and you
Floyd | wake up back in your own body.  The technicians look around in a panic
Floyd | as [it seems to them that] the Arch-rival has just dropped dead

Floyd | spontaneously (because they weren't aware of the fact he was a dead guy
Floyd | wandering around).  In fact, it seems to them that the machine
Floyd | malfunctioned and killed him.  So - the player succeeds in killing the
Floyd | BODY as we originally claimed he should.  We have a happy ending.  We
Floyd | have someone, a little confused by the fact one body has died twice.
Floyd | We end the game.

Floyd |
Floyd | Follows a more detailed series of events/puzzles.
Floyd |
Floyd | ---
Floyd |
Floyd | Game begins with the doors sliding shut on the player's

Floyd | machine-experiment thing.  As it hisses closed an irreversible
Floyd | countdown is begun ("5...  4...")  There is a note taped to the inside
Floyd | of the (transparent) door.  The note, when the player examines it
Floyd | reads:  "I'll get you now" or somesuch.  [If we run with the plot
Floyd | detailed above, there are two choices at this point - one, we craft a
Floyd | note which can be read two ways, one is "I'll get you sonny" but it can

Floyd | also be read in its intended way; and it wasn't in fact written by any
Floyd | enemy at all.  This may be impossible, but then, it would be very neat
Floyd | if such a phrasing exists.  Two - the note was pinned before, by the
Floyd | rival himself, before he was killed.  This is a little unlikely, as why
Floyd | would he do that _before_ sabotaging the machine?  Maybe he did
Floyd | sabotage it, before he is killed, just not very well.  This is fine,

Floyd | and can be easily told to the player near the end.]  The player tries
Floyd | to escape, but cannot, tries to talk to his lab-technicians, but they
Floyd | can't hear.  If he bangs on the glass they wave excitedly.
Floyd |
Floyd | On count of four a lab boy says "Hey, look at this."  They all gather
Floyd | round, and very stupidly, and very slowly, speak in obvious sentences

Floyd | "Do you suppose that wire is supposed to be hanging out and sparking
Floyd | like that?".  It is made clear that some damage has been made to the
Floyd | machine, but that they're unable to do anything about it.  The player
Floyd | is forced to sit and watch, looking at his taped note, with no way out
Floyd | until he is ZAPPED.  (I think this sequence could be very funny.  I
Floyd | like the doors sliding shut with a polite note saying "You're about to

Floyd | die" -- ooh, better "If you are reading this, you are already dead.").
Floyd |
Floyd | Player comes to, lying in a long metal drawer in a wall of 'filing'
Floyd | cabinets (mortuary slabs, freezers, think the X-Files or that bit in
Floyd | Men In Black), where the corpse he's now in has been stored away.  On
Floyd | his toe-tag is written "Jack Doe".  We are several feet up from the

Floyd | floor, and attempting to jump down responds that it's far too far.  If
Floyd | you look around the cabinets, a few other drawers are labelled and
Floyd | mentioned:  "John Doe", "Jim Doe", "Jenny Doe"; just a handful though
Floyd | (we're not modelling an entire cabinet here, there's no need, just
Floyd | enough for the absurd image of a wall of Doe-family metal-pallets).
Floyd |

Floyd | The solution to getting to the ground is to pull open Jenny's cabinet
Floyd | which is below you, climb onto that, and then drop to the floor.  When
Floyd | you do, the PC comments that Jenny appears to be fast asleep, and you
Floyd | are "very careful" when you climb onto her pallet; only accidentally
Floyd | kicking her in the head when your foot slips and sitting on her chest.
Floyd | However, you stands gingerly, and "you don't seem to have woken her up.

Floyd | Phew!"  Of course, our player will quickly realise he is dead, she is
Floyd | dead, everybody's dead; but the PC continues to chatter about how they
Floyd | must have moved him here for observation after the experiment went a
Floyd | bit wrong.  (Our PC is dense, for comic value).
Floyd |
Floyd | We end up on the floor of the room - one wall is filing cabinet

Floyd | drawers; there's a door and a large window.  The corridor beyond the
Floyd | window is dark, so the glass acts as a mirror - and you see your
Floyd | reflection - fat, old, long grey hair.  Crucially - not as you were
Floyd | (indeed, much as your arch-rival appeared in fact.  Those players who
Floyd | recognise this similarity will smile knowingly, the rest will not have
Floyd | the resemblance pointed out.  I think it's fair to have the PC not

Floyd | comment; or perhaps just say "you look a lot like someone, but can't
Floyd | put your finger on who".  Or maybe we should just say:  "You are your
Floyd | arch-rival's clone!!!").  The PC is a little confused by this generally
Floyd | though (see note below about What The Machine Does Anyway).  At the top
Floyd | of the window is written, as spelt out by the PC, YRAUTROM.  The PC
Floyd | comments that he thought this was a place in Brazil.

Floyd |
Floyd | So we escape from the room, by some device available - maybe smash the
Floyd | window with something, maybe just tug the door open, something simple
Floyd | anyway (I'm tempted by a finger-print scanner and a jar of pickled
Floyd | fingers, but it's a little too-sick I think).  He leaves, the door
Floyd | swings to behind him, and he reads "Oh - MORTUARY.  That would explain

Floyd | the large bullet-hole in your chest, then."  (Or however the PC's body
Floyd | died, see note below Slight Logical Flaw).
Floyd |
Floyd | Now we find ourselves in a room, with an obvious device of lethal
Floyd | capability - say, an extremely large pounding machine, with a circular
Floyd | pad and a touch button that makes it go, right next to the pad.  You

Floyd | can't touch the button from the ground (it's on the other side), player
Floyd | types "Stand on pad", we move the player to the pad and have him look
Floyd | up and take a look at the incredibly large metal smashing ball hovering
Floyd | a fair distance above your head.  Any player worth his salt is going to
Floyd | push the button, there and then.  The ball is deflected somehow,
Floyd | smashing open a wall through which you can go.  But the PC comments (as

Floyd | I said before in previous email) that "maybe if you destroy this body,
Floyd | you'll go back!"
Floyd |
Floyd | There's a problem here though; in that I'd rather have the player
Floyd | _want_ to kill himself already, not because he is led to believe it
Floyd | will wrap up the plot, but rather he is led to believe it will take him

Floyd | somewhere new (no player will fall for the idea of such a short game as
Floyd | the "here's the shotgun.  Kill yourself and win"; but if we convince
Floyd | the player he's about to leap somewhere new, then the Murphy's-Law
Floyd | effect will be a surprise when it occurs, and funny).  To this end, we
Floyd | make the map look like it's a dead-end, so that players don't wonder
Floyd | "what's through this door, along this corridor, up this air vent?", and

Floyd | decide that exploration is reversible and death is not.  The problem
Floyd | here is suggesting that killing yourself will do anything at all
Floyd | positive, though.  I've not got an answer to that yet, something
Floyd | clue/info needs to be dropped but I don't know what.
Floyd |
Floyd | So an attempt fails, and the player is offered another (similarly

Floyd | restricted, we are still linear here).  On the third, I think our
Floyd | player will have realised that killing himself is not going to happen;
Floyd | and that he is being toyed with, so on the third failure we open the
Floyd | game world up and let the player into a larger area to explore.
Floyd |
Floyd | Now; the rules have shifted - the PC is quite convinced that he wants

Floyd | to do nothing so much as stick his head in an oven, but the player will
Floyd | be certain that it's not going to work (after all, why should it work
Floyd | now, why would the author allow it _now_, when he didn't earlier?)  So
Floyd | the aim here is for the player to come up with solutions to problems
Floyd | under the rule that they involve certain death - eg.  the gun-corridor:
Floyd | the player wants to solve it just to get through.  The PC wants to die.

Floyd | Together, we have a puzzle.  This area should be nice and wide,
Floyd | puzzle-wise, and now we drop some information as to where you are, who
Floyd | you are, and when you are.  Somewhere along the way you acquire a
Floyd | lab-coat to cover your (a) nakedness and (b) gaping hole in chest.
Floyd |
Floyd | The main feature of this area is a window, through which you can see

Floyd | the Experimental Machine - you are in the basement of your own lab,
Floyd | which the PC can comment he did know about, he had heard rumours they
Floyd | kept bodies for inspection here, but only ones they'd caused to be die.
Floyd | --- So we mention that the PC had heard a rumour that ARCH-RIVAL had
Floyd | been killed but he didn't believe it, especially what with him being in
Floyd | the experiment room at the start of the game.  We drop a load of hints

Floyd | about time-travel:  the day of the week, maybe, or the world event like
Floyd | you said:  someone mentions something in the first scene (and the PC
Floyd | mentions it again in passing, "Like that carnival yesterday night")
Floyd | which contrasts with a newspaper headline somewhere in the game ("The
Floyd | carnival planned for tonight...")  As before - the game tells us, but
Floyd | it is never stated.  --- I always feel, as soon as you state stuff, it

Floyd | becomes cheesier.  But then, I'm a little pathological like that, I'm
Floyd | told.  ;) Anyway, the player may realise that he is the ARCH-RIVAL'S
Floyd | dead Body, but the PC does not realise this for a second, he just
Floyd | carries merrily along, eyeing everything up in terms of its lethal
Floyd | capacity.  (eg.  "The newspaper is made of glossy paper, with almost
Floyd | razor-sharp edges".)  b Anyway, this gives the player something to aim

Floyd | for - that room with the machine in.  We have a succession of problems
Floyd | which come together to get you there; and then once there you are on a
Floyd | tight timer:
Floyd |
Floyd | The PC comments that one of the major circuit boards is gone - "Someone
Floyd | must have sabotaged it!  ...  but it's okay, that board is backed up

Floyd | elsewhere..."  People are arriving through the door; people including
Floyd | your former self.  There is a fire-axe against the wall.
Floyd |
Floyd | I don't know how we convince the player to smash the machine with the
Floyd | axe.  If he remembers the beginning like a true time-travel junkie
Floyd | he'll do it on instinct, and it'll be a nice

Floyd | player-guesses-random-thing-that-works-moment.  Otherwise, we could
Floyd | contrive something:- the people open the door, you instinctively duck
Floyd | to hide, knocking the fire axe off the wall.  It hits the machine,
Floyd | breaking it, bounces and as you pick it up they enter, seeing you with
Floyd | axe.  Then the machine is operated (in a chunk of text, there's nothing
Floyd | left for the player to do) and we have our ending.

Floyd |
Floyd | So, how does this hold up?  Problems?  Things you don't like?  The
Floyd | important design ideas are:  We drip-feed information to the player and
Floyd | change his view throughout, rather than setting up a "here's the idea.
Floyd | go play" situation.  We make the PC quite dumb, for comic value.  We
Floyd | pull a last punch.  ;)

Floyd |
Floyd | Main problems I see:  How do we insinuate that suicide might prove
Floyd | useful in a continuation-sense rather than a concluding-sense?  How do
Floyd | we make the player want to sabotage his own machine at the end?
Floyd |
Floyd | Jon

Floyd |
Floyd | -----
Floyd |
Floyd | A few further notes:
Floyd |
Floyd | What The Machine Does Anyway:- I'd like the player not to be told what

Floyd | the experimental machine is actually _for_.  There's no reason to
Floyd | include it in the intro - it can just be a "generic science artefact"
Floyd | and then come the end the player will have assumed we have conciousness
Floyd | transferal going on.  Then we could have a nice joke with PC casually
Floyd | mentioning toward the end that the machine's purpose is much more
Floyd | mundane - say, it fixes colour-blindness, perhaps.  Whatever.  It need

Floyd | not make too much sense; it's effectively just a one-liner.  There's no
Floyd | reason to be too pedantic on "realism"/"explanation", so long as the
Floyd | player is given adequate guidance at each stage of the game.
Floyd |
Floyd | Slight Logical Flaw:- The player wakes up in a body which has died.
Floyd | Now, we ask what's killed it?  If it's anything external (so, as above,

Floyd | a bullet-wound in the heart) then the player is not going to think of
Floyd | killing the body because the body is clearly _not alive anyway_.  He's
Floyd | only going to consider hanging himself/poisoning himself/etc if the
Floyd | body actually has some appearance of functioning biologically.  In
Floyd | which case, what the hell did our body die of?  It ought to be clear
Floyd | that it _was dead at some point_ I think.  Perhaps we have a bullet

Floyd | wound, with the rest of the body "alive around it - you can feel a
Floyd | pulse, you're breathing, it's just that at some point in your chest
Floyd | pink fades to grey and there's this ragged hole.  Weird."
Floyd |
Floyd | The setting is, uhm, set.
Floyd |

Floyd | To:  "J.  Ingold"
Floyd | Subject:  Re:  Game plans
Floyd |
Floyd | Okay, sounds like a plan.  I'll send Adam an email and follow it up
Floyd | with
Floyd | the $5.  I don't remember seeing any requirement for a synopsis, but

Floyd | I'll
Floyd | check his site again.
Floyd |
Floyd | >PS.  Not meaning to deluge, but I was thinking:  the one thing the
Floyd | game is
Floyd | >missing in its plans which is serious is some *sparkle*.  I think

Floyd | having a
Floyd | >unique setting is really important for making a game memorable and
Floyd | stick
Floyd | >in the head.  I usually make this up as I go along, but that's no good
Floyd | >under a collaborative setup, so I think we should try to think of

Floyd | >something.  You know - set it on a lab under the sea, or on another
Floyd | planet,
Floyd | >or make all the characters telepaths, trying to invent machines to
Floyd | "Turn
Floyd | >off" their telepathy because they can't stand it any more.  Just

Floyd | something
Floyd | >to give the world a 'flavour', a shape and a look of its own.
Floyd |
Floyd | When I read the 'lab' under the sea I had an immediate positive
Floyd | response.
Floyd | Plus we can invent a cool underwater vehicle for a scene and/or

Floyd | puzzle...
Floyd |
Floyd | -- Mike
Floyd |
Floyd | Final email thread -- Is Till Death...  the name of the game?
Floyd |

Floyd | To:  Jon Ingold
Floyd | Subject:  Dup email and another thought...
Floyd |
Floyd | Sorry for the duplicate email, server issues at work...
Floyd |
Floyd | We never did brainstorm on the title of the game.  It stands now as

Floyd |
Floyd | Till Death Makes a Monk-Fish out of Me (or, TDMAMOOM).
Floyd |
Floyd | I'm thinking the game needs a smaller title.  No, I don't have one ;)
Floyd | -- but I could start thinking of one.  I'm thinking about the last 5
Floyd | winners, most had one or two word titles (All Roads, Kaged, Winter

Floyd | Wonderland, Photopia, The Edifice) -- okay, that has *nothing* to do
Floyd | with them winning, but still...
Floyd |
Floyd | I guess it goes to how our game will be reference in short (TDMAMOOM,
Floyd | Till Death, Monk-Fish, Death, that Squid game, etc...)
Floyd |

Floyd | Thoughts?
Floyd |
Floyd | To:  mjs@rss.com
Floyd | Subject:  RE:  Dup email and another thought..
Floyd |
Floyd | Hi Mike -

Floyd |
Floyd | Congrats on finishing...  excellent stuff...  mail me a copy and I'll
Floyd | take a look on, um, Tuesday when I have a day free.
Floyd |
Floyd | Title:  Hmm...  I must confess I've being thinking of the game as "till
Floyd | Death..."  and more ...  but I have a particular affinity with overlong

Floyd | titles (everywhere except IF that is, my edinburgh play is called
Floyd | "Abraham Lincoln and the Art of Faking It", for instance).
Floyd |
Floyd | So...  I'll have a think and see what I come up with.  Something eight
Floyd | letters long or less has always been my yardstick, just for classic
Floyd | filename purposes (I always felt one problem with "Spider and Web" was

Floyd | no-one could find it in the archive!)
Floyd |
Floyd | Jon
Floyd |
Floyd | *** End of Emails ***
Floyd |

Floyd | >
inky says, "oops, sorry, that was huge"
djfletch says, "too much for my scrollback"
djfletch says, "anyway, good game"
DavidW says, "I see that 'Make It Good' was already being worked on then."
inky says, "oh yeah, good point"
Fang says, "heh"
inky says, "ok, that's all folks"



[ TOP OF THIS PAGE | MORE CLUBFLOYD TRANSCRIPTS | HOME ]