Plan 6 from Inner Earth
by Adrien Saurat (2010)


action: %
response: So here you are, alone, again, in this vast subterranean laboratory dug deep under the peaceful town of Lubbock, Texas. Christmas time, holidays for almost everyone but you and a few other slaves... Nah, heroes. Working for the government is nothing but a privilege to be cherished.
You're sitting in a steel chair, watching a small TV. Sitting in a way only apes would be believed to be able to sit, but hey, boredom has killed your ability to keep your back straight a long time ago. Your favorite show, "You bet your life", is about to begin but you still have to run the safety check with the computer terminal, like you've been doing every hour since the beginning of your shift.

So, let's roll!

Concrete walls, gray for the most part. Some panels here and there, covered with a plethora of buttons and lights. The place has nothing to be liked for. It's nothing more than one of the biggest Boondoggle of the century!
Here lies your desk and your favorite chair, and a frozen alien twenty meters ahead of you, protected by several security devices.
The main exit is south, but you're supposed to stay here the whole night!
There are some other rooms east and west, but without any TV they are just boring and useless places.
action: About yourself
response: Your first weeks here were very exciting. Working on classified files, alien abductions, secret weapons, a real dream job.
Until you discovered that here, like in any other place, you have to spend countless hours filling boring documents, reading reports and shaking damp hands.
action: You examine the alien
response: A strong, cold, modern creature from outer space in a strong, cold, modern sarcophagus from inner earth.
Made in the USA, as far as you know.
The coffin, I mean.
action: You look at desk
response: On your desk sits the powerful terminal which allows you to command the computer.
action: You look at the terminal
response: With this terminal you can give orders to the computer and unleash its terrific power. Switch it on, and the magical black screen gets all... well... black, but with little green characters dancing on it.
action: You turn on the terminal
response: ***
LOCOMOTIVE BASIC 0.23b
COMPUTER ACCESS AUTHENTIFICATION

USER : bigboy

PASSWORD : longpinkbeard

AUTH OK.

ORDERS?
action: You turn on the terminal
response: We've got one nearly every week, I can't stand this anymore!"

I beg your pardon?
action: Look around
response: Concrete walls, gray for the most part. Some panels here and there, covered with a plethora of buttons and lights. The place has nothing to be liked for. It's nothing more than one of the biggest Boondoggle of the century!
Here lies your desk and your favorite chair, and a frozen alien twenty meters ahead of you, protected by several security devices.
The main exit is south, but you're supposed to stay here the whole night!
There are some other rooms east and west, but without any TV they are just boring and useless places.
action: You examine the laser
response: They are red. Doesn't look like a "Don't touch me" warning?
action: You take the laser
response: They're hardly portable.
action: You ask the alien about the suzie perkins
response: You can only do that to something animate.
action: You examine the devices
response: Several layers of security are meant to prevent the alien from escaping, killing numerous employees on his way.
The first device is a gas bomb, close to the coffin.
The second one is a glass wall, five meters from the coffin.
The third one in a full set of powerful laser beams, ten meters from the coffin. They cross, giving birth to a permanent hellish wall. Yeah, they are really impressive.
action: You look at the glass wall
response: This bomb will explode automatically if the alien were to get out of his coffin. This gas incapacitates him in a few seconds.
action: Examine tv
response: This magical box just saves the day.
action: You get the tv
response: That's hardly portable.
action: You go to the east
response: This room is maybe the more useless in the whole base. It contains an old emergency generator, to be used when the main power supply AND the secondary generator are failing. How the hell could this happen?
Thus your team used this place as a junk room. There could be some fun stuff to get there, but right now it's better to watch your favorite show on TV.
action: You go west
response: Well, nobody goes there, that's the secondary generator room. This is supposed to be used when the main power supply is out. This never happened... Why would that happen today?
action: You get all
response: The lab computer: That's hardly portable.
lights: That's hardly portable.
The computer terminal: That's hardly portable.
desk: That's hardly portable.
TV: That's hardly portable.
posters: They're hardly portable.
alien coffin: That's not exactly a good idea.
security devices: They're hardly portable.
gas bomb: That's hardly portable.
glass wall: That's hardly portable.
laser beams: They're hardly portable.
christmas tree: That's hardly portable.
action: You look at the tree
response: Your colleagues gave this to you. That's nice.
Scumbags!
action: You look at desk
response: On your desk sits the powerful terminal which allows you to command the computer.
action: You examine computer
response: A small computer really, marvel of the technology. Stuck in the east wall, it's only six meters wide, thus allowing some room for a few more posters. There are some lights on it, here and there, but you don't know exactly what they could mean. Well, in fact, you don't at all what they could mean, but as long everything is not flashing red, you can suppose the calculator is fine.
action: You examine posters
response: Mostly pin-ups...
action: You look at lights
response: Blip... clic... blip... every annoying light here seems to be related to some even more annoying noise.
action: You turn off the computer
response: Certainly not. This computer handles everything here. Without it, you're toast!
action: You remove posters
response: (first taking the posters)
They're hardly portable.
action: Hug tree
response: You can only do that to something animate.
action: Sing
response: Your singing is abominable.
action: You get laser
response: They're hardly portable.
action: You look at the terminal
response: With this terminal you can give orders to the computer and unleash its terrific power. Switch it on, and the magical black screen gets all... well... black, but with little green characters dancing on it.
action: You touch the terminal
response: There's a bug somewhere. But in the computer for sure, the terminal won't help.
action: You touch the computer
response: Looking closely at the main components, you finally find some kind of coackroach stucked in a magnetic reader. You remove it carefully and crush it under your mighty foot. Good riddance, the computer should work now. No bugs!
action: You turn on the computer
response: It's already running, but you can control it through the terminal.
action: You turn on the terminal
response: ***
ORDERS?

.....start procedure ok

CHECK TERMINAL INTEGRITY...OK

CHECK MINIMAL SYSTEMS BATTERIES...OK

CHECK COMPUTER SYSTEM...OK

CHECK SECURITY DEVICES...OK
CHECK PRIM...!!ALERT!!

SECURITY CHECK ABORTED. REASON : problem with main power supply.

SECONDARY GENERATOR AUTOMATIC LAUNCH...FAILURE
!!ALERT!! !!ALERT!! !!ALERT!!
Coffin temperature rising. Creature will wake up at -40 degrees Fahrenheit.
***
"What the..."
Indeed, the main power supply is in trouble... most of the lights just went off, as did the TV. Hopefully, a few batteries were ready and are now delivering minimal power to the computer, the terminal, and a few lights to see what you're doing.
The only problem is this alien which won't stay frozen for long if you can't start the secondary generator, located in the western room.
action: You go to the west
response: The only purpose of this room is to host the huge secondary generator, very useful when the main power of the town is having problems.
To the east you'll get back to the laboratory.

You can't go that way.
action: Examine generator
response: This huge generator uses the power of the Atom, nothing less. It is a small nuclear power plant, of the highest available top secret technology.
action: Search generator
response: You see a form on the generator. It should give you the date of the last maintenance routine.
action: Examine form
response: Written on this, with very small and in an ugly writing, the date of the last maintenance routine. Here it goes...
Last maintenance date : HEY GUYS WHERE THESE SCREWS WERE SUPPOSED TO GO ?? Mike
action: You get the book
response: This HUGE blue book contains thousands of pages explaining everything you should know to repair this baby.
Alas, the pages you need, like in fact half of the total amount of pages, have been taken out of the book. Looks like another consequence of last year's shortage of toilet paper.

This generator won't work today. You just push the button supposed to send the information to the lab computer. RIP secondary generator.

You already have that.
action: You go east
response: This place has been mostly used by your team as a junk room. And it shows.
To the west you'll get back to the laboratory.

A wooden crate lies in a corner.
action: Open crate
response: You open the crate, revealing dozens of empty bottles. Yeah, you remember now this birthday party. Well, at least you remember the fact that there was a birthday party, but you don't remember anything of it.
Well. You won't find vodka anywhere else in this lab, and without this precious liquid this generator won't start. Better find some way to change the power distribution of the batteries with the computer. Who needs air conditionning anyway?

That's already open.

That's already open.
action: Examine generator
response: This power generator is a very sturdy and efficient piece of machinery. It was made in the USSR, and you don't understand the instructions and labels written on it, but that's not too much of a problem, you know the basics: it consumes fuel and creates electricity. Well, oddly enough, it uses vodka as a fuel.
action: You take the bottles
response: Sadly, they won't help you...
action: You look under the crate
response: In the wooden crate are some vodka bottles.
You find nothing of interest.
action: You look under the generator
response: You can't work in such a mess!
You find nothing of interest.
action: You search the junk
response: You can't just take all of this, but at least you quickly remove what prevents you to correctly access the generator.
Oh, just you found the red book explaining how this generator works. Good.
action: You search the junk
response: You don't need anything of this right now, and everything is out of the way. No problem.
action: You read the book
response: Which do you mean, the red manual or the blue manual?
action: Red
response: This is the emergency generator documentation. In russian. Without drawings.
action: You get red manual
response: You already have that.
action: Search generator
response: It looks totally okay, except that the fuel tank is empty. You should find some vodka.
action: Go west
response: Concrete walls, gray for the most part. Some panels here and there, covered with a plethora of buttons and lights. The place has nothing to be liked for. It's nothing more than one of the biggest Boondoggle of the century!
Here lies your desk and your favorite chair, and a frozen alien twenty meters ahead of you, protected by several security devices.
The main exit is south, but you're supposed to stay here the whole night!
There are some other rooms east and west, but without any TV they are just boring and useless places.
action: You turn on the terminal
response: *CLANG*

It's... definitely coming from the coffin.
*CLANG*

"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! I'M DEAD! OH MY GOD!"
Yeah, you sort of missed the "remain calm in all circumstances" course.

For sure, it's big trouble. But you'll eventually find a way to survive! Won't you?

*CLANG*

*CLAAAANG*

Please give one of the answers above.