Midair Madness
by Paul J. Furio (2010)

You're on a private jet owned by your Uncle Doug, flying east over the Great Plains. At least, it was flying until Uncle Doug, in an act of madness, magically stopped the plane in midair for reasons difficult to summarize or believe. Can you find a way to get the jet moving again?

action: %
response: A train ride led to a taxi ride, which lead to a ride in the cleanest elevator you've ever seen, and ended with you here, in a plane over plains. The Great Plains, to be exact, heading east in a private jet owned by your eccentric Uncle Doug.

Now, after spending what seemed like hours watching a collection of even more eccentric talking people in the in-flight movie (something named "GET LAMP"), you find yourself wondering how a jet traveling near the speed of sound could be so completely silent.



Written remotely from Seattle, WA

The aft end of the aircraft. The cabin continues foreward, which, based on the direction of travel, is also east.

A small storage box is tucked away under one of the seats.
action: About you
response: As good-looking as ever.
action: You take the storage box
response: That's fixed in place.
action: You open the box
response: You open the storage cabinet, revealing a red bulb, a green bulb, a purple bulb, a left arrow card, a straight arrow card and a right arrow card.

That's already open.
action: You examine the red bulb
response: A small, red tinted light bulb
action: You take all
response: A business card sized piece of plastic with a few notches in one side, and the image of a left-turn arrow upon it

storage cabinet: That's fixed in place.
jet plane: That's hardly portable.
action: You take all from the box
response: red bulb: Removed.
green bulb: Removed.
purple bulb: Removed.
left arrow card: Removed.
straight arrow card: Removed.
right arrow card: Removed.
action: Rotate left arrow
response: Nothing obvious happens.
action: You examine straight
response: A business card sized piece of plastic with a few notches in one side, and the image of a straight arrow upon it
action: You check your inventory
response: You are carrying:
a right arrow card
a straight arrow card
a left arrow card
a purple bulb
a green bulb
a red bulb
action: You examine plane
response: A very nice personal jet plane. Looking through the windows, you can notice that the landscape far below you is not moving. In fact the engines are not even spinning, explaining the eerie silence. It seems that the jet is simply stuck stationary in midair, tens of thousands of feet above the ground.
action: You go east
response: The fore end of the aircraft. The cabin continues aft, which, based on the direction of travel, is also west.

You can see a refrigerator (which is closed) here.

The oddly empty cockpit is completely devoid of controls. Only a solitary label reads "Autopilot", and a red light is blinking madly beneath it.

Uncle Doug is standing here, looking out the windows nervously.

You can also see a black box (in which are a tray (which is empty) and a socket (which is empty)) and a mechanical mouse here.
action: Look around
response: The fore end of the aircraft. The cabin continues aft, which, based on the direction of travel, is also west.

You can see a refrigerator (which is closed) here.
action: You open the fridge
response: You open the refrigerator, revealing a cooked lobster tail, a mango, a Fetuccini and a piece of black plastic.
action: You take all from the fridge
response: cooked lobster tail: Removed.
mango: Removed.
Fetuccini: Removed.
piece of black plastic: Removed.
action: You look at the black
response: An 8 1/2" by 11" piece of paper-thin black plastic, with "450nm" inscribed in a tiny font in one corner.
action: You examine Fetuccini
response: Ah, Fetuccini. Uncle Doug's favorite pasta dish, which is very much like fettuccini, but with less tea.
action: Go east
response: The oddly empty cockpit is completely devoid of controls. Only a solitary label reads "Autopilot", and a red light is blinking madly beneath it.

Uncle Doug is standing here, looking out the windows nervously.

You can also see a black box (in which are a tray (which is empty) and a socket (which is empty)) and a mechanical mouse here.
action: You examine the red light
response: A small, red tinted light bulb
action: You ask doug about the plane
response: "I had to turn off the engines and cast an Anti-Gravity spell to keep us in the air! We can't land this jet! It's crazy down there! It's like the Revolutionary War and the Irish Potato Famine had a crazy loony baby and that baby made crazy baby poop all over the place! Who's going to clean up the crazy revolutionary potato baby poop? Not me, that's for sure!"
Perhaps the high altitude is having a bad effect on Uncle Doug.
action: You examine mouse
response: A tiny robot mouse, with three business card shaped slots on the top, each labeled "first", "second", and "third".
action: You examine the tray
response: The tray is empty.
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You are carrying:
a piece of black plastic
a Fetuccini
a mango
a cooked lobster tail
a right arrow card
a straight arrow card
a left arrow card
a purple bulb
a green bulb
a red bulb
action: You look at the autopilot
response: A red light. It's blinking. Madly.
action: You put black on the tray
response: You can't see any such thing.

(the piece of black plastic on the tray)
Putting things on the tray would achieve nothing.
action: You put black in the tray
response: (the piece of black plastic in the tray)
You put the piece of black plastic into the tray.
action: You look at the black plastic
response: An 8 1/2" by 11" piece of paper-thin black plastic, with "450nm" inscribed in a tiny font in one corner.
action: You examine the red light
response: A small, red tinted light bulb
action: You examine mouse
response: A tiny robot mouse, with three business card shaped slots on the top, each labeled "first", "second", and "third".
action: You get the red light
response: You already have that.
action: You take the mouse
response: Taken.
action: You get the red light from the autopilot
response: The socket is empty.

You can't see any such thing.
action: You put the mouse on the black
response: (the black box)
Putting things on the black box would achieve nothing.
action: Examine box
response: A two foot square cube, with a mouse-shaped platform on top, and a chute at the bottom. A gooseneck extends above the box, with a light-bulb type socket at the end. Below the box is a paper sized tray.
action: You look at the gooseneck
response: The socket is empty.
action: You put the purple in the socket
response: You screw the purple bulb into the socket, casting a purpleglow across the black box.You hear a brief sizzling sound from the tray, but it ends quickly.
You put the purple bulb into the socket.
action: You examine tray
response: In the tray is a developed film.
action: You examine the film
response: An 8 1/2" by 11" piece of paper-thin clear plastic, with the following image imprinted upon it:

*F* *
*   *
**S**
action: You put the straight card in the first slot
response: You put the straight arrow card into the first slot.
action: You put the left card in the second slot
response: You put the left arrow card into the second slot.
action: You put the right card in the third slot
response: You put the right arrow card into the third slot.
action: You put the mouse in box
response: You put the mechanical mouse into the black box.
action: You examine mouse
response: A tiny robot mouse, with three business card shaped slots on the top, each labeled "first", "second", and "third".
action: You get the mouse
response: Taken.
action: You look around
response: The oddly empty cockpit is completely devoid of controls. Only a solitary label reads "Autopilot", and a red light is blinking madly beneath it.

Uncle Doug is standing here, looking out the windows nervously.
action: You look in the socket
response: You can also see a black box (in which are a tray (in which is a developed film) and a socket (in which is a purple bulb)) here.

In the socket is a purple bulb.
action: You turn the mouse on
response: Nothing obvious happens.

That's not something you can switch.
action: You take red light
response: You already have that.
action: You look at what you're carrying with you
response: You are carrying:
a Fetuccini
a mango
a cooked lobster tail
a green bulb
a red bulb
action: You put the green bulb in the socket
response: You screw the green bulb into the socket, casting a purpleglow across the black box.You put the green bulb into the socket.
action: You take the purple
response: Taken.
action: You put the purple in the socket
response: You screw the purple bulb into the socket, casting a purpleglow across the black box.You put the purple bulb into the socket.
action: You take the purple
response: You can't see any such thing.

Taken.
action: You look around
response: The oddly empty cockpit is completely devoid of controls. Only a solitary label reads "Autopilot", and a red light is blinking madly beneath it.

Uncle Doug is standing here, looking out the windows nervously.

You can also see a black box (in which are a mechanical mouse, a tray (in which is a developed film) and a socket (which is empty)) here.
action: You put the red in the socket
response: You screw the red bulb into the socket, casting a redglow across the black box.You put the red bulb into the socket.
action: Examine box
response: A two foot square cube, with a mouse-shaped platform on top, and a chute at the bottom. A gooseneck extends above the box, with a light-bulb type socket at the end. Below the box is a paper sized tray.
action: You examine the chute
response: The chute is empty.
action: You put the mouse on platform
response: The platform descends into the black box, taking the mechanical mouse with it. From within the box, you hear a series of whirs and bumping noises, followed by a triumphant bell ringing. A scroll is deposited into the chute below the box.
action: You read the scroll
response: The scroll reads "Know ye that if Gravity's Grasp has been released from an object, to restore it one must speak the spell GNILLAF at thine object"
action: You take all from the socket
response: Removed.
action: Gnillaf plane
response: You cast the Gnillaf spell on the jet plane. As Gravity once again takes hold, the autopilot kicks in, firing up the jet engines and guiding piloting the plane safely on to it's final destination at Boston's Logan International Airport.
Uncle Doug calms down once he exits the plane, and is met by another extremely tall bearded man. "Steve!" shouts Uncle Doug. The two friends embrace, and then Doug turns to you. "Steve, I want to introduce you to a very clever relative of mine..."