Pailer Air

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A large circular room filled with desks, screens, and busy secretaries. One that is particularly nicely-dressed and wearing a fixed smile comes up to you as soon as you enter. <<if $suit>>The smile fades quickly. //What are you doing? You are not authorized to wear that vacuum suit! Return it immediately or I will have to call security!// Since this seems to be the only person up in arms about it, you decide to [[leave them in peace.|Gardens]]<<else>>//What can I help you with today? Have you come to report any suspicious activity? Do you need any [[informational pamphlets?|Propaganda Office]] Do you need to [[update your job file?|Planning Department]] You're the boy from the Nest, aren't you? I can also put you in touch with [[Inter-Compound Affairs]] if you want to talk about the survival training program.// In addition to the [[exit,|Gardens]] you notice a particularly prominent door that must surely be the [[President's Office.|President's Office]]<<endif>>

No one notices you slip into the pantry. Drying carcasses of some strange animal hang from hooks on the walls, and baskets of fruits and vegetables supplement the rows upon rows of canned foods stuffed into floor-to-ceiling shelves. You even notice a familiar brand of beans - [[they remind you of home.|Kitchen]]

Your nose recoils slightly at the pungent musk filling the gymnasium. Weights are piled in the corners, hand-holds trace climbing trails along the walls, and fixed bicycles and benches and other devices that hardly look made for the human body. In an [[adjoining chamber|Dojo]] you see a raised section of floor covered in woven matts. Mist forms a translucent veil separating the sweaty gym from the [[calming baths.|Baths]]

The world becomes a throbbing silence, close around you, enveloping your skin and pressing on your eyeballs. It threatens to tear down your throat, but you clamp your mouth shut. Cables and pipes from above converge on a large, squat cylinder sitting at the bottom of the pool, the source of the furious blue light. The heart of Los Alamos. You can feel is watching you with infinite patience. Your hands grab at the viscous fluid - you have never been submerged in water before - trying to [[push yourself towards the surface.|Nuclear Reactor Pool Surface]] But a darkness below catches your eye, like [[the mouth of a cave.|Weapons Manufacturing Passage]] So much less struggle to simply let yourself sink down into it...

Pailer Air

You back your way up the stairs, and <<insertlink 'the lights of the underground room fade before you.'>> The bright lights of the gym mock your return to the surface. You push the vase back against the wall, and you wait for the rumbling of gears to stop before you <<insertlink 'turn around.'>> The only thing that remains are [[training mats.|Dojo]]<</insertlink>><</insertlink>>

You stand in a long turning, sloping passageway, its walls intricately decorated with inlays of copper and stone. It takes several revolutions to get from end to end, but time passes quickly as you try to decipher the story in the walls and guess at the histories of the people passing by. <<if $garden_passage_last_visited eq 'gardens'>>You walk up until you reach large [[cathral doors, light eminating from beyond.|Sun Plaza]]<<else>>You walk down until you reach large [[copper doors, patterns carved on their massive surface.|Gardens]]<<endif>>

You enter a stark, sterilized room. Informational posters plaster the wall, with lists of rules. The main door exits to the [[plaza|Sun Plaza]], and there is also a smaller one with a large lever on it marked [['jail'|Jail]]. A short hallway leads off to the [[court room|Court]].<<set $coming_from_interrogation = false>>

<<if $fell_in_pool>>The engineers all look up from their control panels when they notice you come in. //The diving boy!// Honestly, they seem kind of impressed. But when you step over to the glass door with a view to the glowing reactor pool, they start to look concerned. //You looking to take another swim?// No, [[just visiting.|Engineering]]<<else>>Eight engineers in sleek grey suits work busily at control panels, monitoring the reactor and its network of power radiating throughout the compound. You eye the glass door with a view to the glowing reactor pool. When you walk up to it, though, one of the engineers steps in front of you. //Better not go in there. It's no place for a kid.// You sigh and [[go back through the door you came in.|Engineering]]<<endif>>

You run back through the passageway to the <<insertlink 'red lever.'>> Realizing what you mean to do, the people in white suits begin to panic and chase after you. They form a wave of rage behind you, but the water in your ears makes them seem distant, a thunder that cannot penetrate the closeness of your family's nest, <<insertlink 'the strength of your father's resolve.'>> It is not what it was supposed to be. A great and peaceful civilization at the end of humanity, no more wars. The wave of hate bears down on you as you turn, taking one last decisive breath as <<insertlink 'you yank down the lever.'>> For a moment the glowing sea seems to halt, pondering the white-clad humans. Then it falls, crushing them, wrapping you up in its arms, as crazed and <<insertlink 'loving as your mother.'>> You do not think yourself a hero. You are merely running away.<</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>>

<<display 'Oxygen Limit'>><<if $oxygen gte 0>><<if $walking_distance eq 1>>You trudge through the broken snow. [[Continue towards the Compound.|Outside]] [[Turn around.|Walking Out]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 2>>The lights of the Compound brighten in front of you. [[Continue towards the Compound.|Walking Back]] [[Turn around.|Walking Out]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 3>>You are surrounded by stars. [[Continue towards the Compound.|Walking Back]] [[Turn around.|Walking Out]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 4>>The mountains, dark and jagged, stand like teeth in the middle distance. [[Continue towards the Compound.|Walking Back]] [[Turn around.|Walking Out]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 5>>You reach the edges of the oxygen mining. Where will Los Alamos get air when they can no longer reach the blue snow? [[Continue towards the Compound.|Walking Back]] [[Turn around.|Walking Out]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 6>>Oxygen-snow crumples underfoot. [[Continue towards the Compound.|Walking Back]] [[Turn around.|Walking Out]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 7>>You move away from the Dark Star, forging ahead towards an unknown future. [[Continue towards the Compound.|Walking Back]] [[Turn around.|Walking Out]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 8>>What is out here in these wastelands, under the watchful stars? [[Continue towards the Compound.|Walking Back]] [[Turn around.|Walking Out]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 9>>There is nothing. For hundreds, maybe thousands of miles, there is nothing. [[Continue towards the Compound.|Walking Back]] [[Turn around.|Walking Out]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance gte 10>>You keep walking... until you starve... until the fuel-cell in your suit runs out... until the world ends...<<endif>><<endif>><<set $walking_distance -= 1>>

The matts seem to be made of an organic material. They smell fermented, like the alcohol your mother used to drink. An alcove in the corner contains a [[vase of flowers.|Dojo Alcove]] They look fresh, drops of dew still on their petals. Opposite the alcove is the way to the rest of the [[gym.|Gym]]

<<set $suit_in_airlock = true>><<set $suit = false>>You wriggle out of the suit and hang it up, feeling suddenly naked as you [[walk back inside.|Ring Level]]

<<if $shipyard_door_is_open>><<display 'Oxygen Limit'>><<if $oxygen gte 0>>The jets lie still and cunning on the cold, polished floor, <<if $mech>>promising adventure. There is a [[strange pattern of seams|Opening the Missile Chute]] running along the ground... The small inner door is sealed against the vaccuum. But the large bay doors [[open wide to the stars.|Outside]]<<else>>[[promising adventure.|Jet]] There is a strange pattern of seams running along the ground...<<endif>><<endif>><<else>>Gleaming jets lie still and cunning on the cold, polished floor. There is a strange pattern of seams running along the ground... The bay doors are locked. The only way to go is [[back the way you came.|Ring Level]]<<set $visited_shipyard = true>><<endif>>

You push against the door now timidly, now with more force. It's heavy but well-oiled, and <<insertlink 'swings open silently.'>> On the other side is a veritable factory. Loud machine noises, the squeals of laser saws, the barking of orders, the rumble of industrial equipment... it sounds so far away through your water-logged ears. You search through the confusion for some sense, <<insertlink 'some anchor.'>> You only find the tall gunmetal-black missiles in the center of the room. The cruel logic <<insertlink 'falls into place.'>> More lie half-made, people in white suits operating on their guts, inserting life-destroying equipment. Glowing blue fuel rods sit in <<insertlink 'rows along the walls.'>> The heart of Los Alamos, <<insertlink 'its blood transfused into weapons.'>> Someone notices you and shouts. Behind you is a [[dead end...|Weapons Manufacturing Passage 2]] in front of you is [[trouble.|Weapons Manufacturing 2]]<</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>>

This appears to be a meeting room of sorts. There are consoles around the room, their screens displaying maps, each with a clock overhead showing a different time. In the back there is a broad conference table facing a large view-screen, and two officious looking people are engaged in a tense conversation with an equally officious - if foreign-looking - person on the screen. [[You had better not disturb their negotiations.|Central Command]]

A large hall filled with round tables and comfortable-looking chairs. A dozen people are sitting around, contemplating food they picked up from a buffet of hearty stews and pilafs, carrying on conversations with their friends and families. A server in slightly stained white cover-alls carries dishes back and forth from the buffet to [[the kitchen.|Kitchen]] A shiny coffee machine sits near the [[entrance,|Sun Plaza]] where a small group of people gossips amicably. <<if $env_controls_altered>>Gosh, it seems so cold these days. I hope we find a new oxygen source soon...<<endif>>

You jam the shovel into the grooves of the door and lean on it with all the might of your mech. You feel strong as the panels give way, twisting open. Vibrations go through your suit as some mechanism takes over, and you almost fall off balance as the portal opens up in front of you, revealing the [[gleaming jets.|Shipyard]]<<set $shipyard_door_is_open = true>>

Behind a few large dangling branches amongst the [[garden|Gardens]], you find two doors, [[one small|Seed Room]] and decorated with vines, and [[one wide|Feed Lot]] and bleeding rust onto the ground.

You breach the surface with a gasp, the standing waves pushing you forcefully this way and that. Engineers on the platform above start shouting and running around. Someone throws you a floating ring attached to a rope, and <<insertlink 'pulls you to the side next to metal rungs.'>> After a few minutes of panicked gasping on your hands and knees your lungs stop burning quite so badly. Getting to your feet, you lean on one of the concerned, hovering engineers, and take a few steps to get your bearings. What happened? Can we take you to Medical? No, no. [[You'll be fine now.|Engineering]] <</insertlink>><<set $fell_in_pool = true>>

Half the white-suits stop what they are doing and gather around you. There is half-heard discussion about what to do with you, and a hand lands heavily on your shoulder, <<insertlink 'locking you in place.'>> A video panel lights up across the room. A familiar face resolves on its surface: the Los Alamos President. She looks beleagered. You can't hear what she is saying to the person who activated the comm channel, but her face only gets more severe. For half a second you think <<insertlink 'she looks straight at you.'>> <<insertlink 'With something like love, and something like hatred.'>> The person she was talking with turns around and <<insertlink 'barks a signal.'>> A wetness runs from your ears as the water finally <<insertlink 'trickles out.'>> That is the last thing you can recall.<</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>>

Several desks with industrial sewing machines on them sit amidst stacks of folded fabrics and racks of half-finished clothes. Mostly soft and utilitarian pieces, with a few sharp-looking uniforms done in woven metal. There are also a series of auto-wash cubbies near the entrance, to clean the clothing of [[bathers.|Baths]]

You duck into the kitchen while the server is busy putting in a fresh batch of pilaf. Several people are absorbed over sinks and cutting boards and steaming pots, and a flavorful smoke pervades the air even as a loud venting fan hums overhead. A [[pantry door|Food Storage Room]] lies ajar, and the swinging [[entrance to the dining hall|Dining Hall]] lets in the sounds of banter and laughter.

The room is jam-packed with people, buzzing with determined energy. Everyone is typing at consoles or engaged in heated conversations or running around with flimsies. Large panel displays on the walls keep flashing images of smiling, good-looking people, or of machines brightly lit and doing the hard work of the compound. Most incorporate a luminous blue glow, which is reflected in the eyes of all the workers here. [[You dodge out of the way to keep from being trampled in the activity.|Central Command]]

Geometric scaffolding erupts from a rubber surface, swings swaying gently as if recently abadonded. You can hear murmurs and giggling and chairs being slid across metal floors. Two large frosted-glass doors abut this playground. [[One is labeled with a large A|Classroom A]], and [[one is labeled with a large B|Classroom B]]. There are also two smaller doors, [[one without windows|School Office]] and one that returns to the [[plaza.|Sun Plaza]]

As you brush your fingers across the smooth surface of the vase, a plain ceramic object, you notice that it is attached to the back of the alcove [[with a rod.|Enter Combat Training Room]] Perhaps it is to keep it from being knocked over [[during practice.|Dojo]]

The secretary takes you to a room with a table-screen and a couple people shifting colored labels around a map of Los Alamos. //I see here that you are awaiting your ID card and work assignment. We are having difficulty placing you in our social matrix... [[perhaps if you come back later...?|Central Command]]//

Giant gears turn silently and almost imperceptibly under your feet, matching the slow march of an artificial sun overhead. The large domed plaza is the brightest you've ever known on this dark planet - and dozens of people are walking about, talking, laughing, noses buried in flimsies, crossing the great expanse on their way to and from whatever their business is. Your eyes try to find comforting darkness, but the perfectly circular place has no corners, only a series of doors and a large industrial staircase leading up to a [[second ring level.|Ring Level]] The most impressive egress is a large set of [[cathedral doors.|Garden Passage]]<<set $garden_passage_last_visited = "sun plaza">> The others are all labeled in writing done in fine metal inlays: [[Residences|Residence Halls]] [[Dining|Dining Hall]] [[Baths]] [[Medical|Medical Center]] [[Education|School]] [[Library]] [[Chapel]] [[Justice|Department of Justice]] [[Engineering]]

//<<insertlink "You.">>// <<insertlink "The President is suddenly standing beside you, her arms poised behind her back.">> <<insertlink "You do not see what is in her hands.">> //<<insertlink "You are only a child.">>// You do not think she means that you are innocent. You search her cold and sad eyes for meaning, but they only <<insertlink "distract you from her hands.">> Something icy against your mouth, filling your throat, <<insertlink "weighing down all the air in your lungs.">> [[Your mind descends.|White Noise]]<</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>>

It really is easy. You guide the joystick in the direction you want to move, and the jet <<insertlink 'glides smoothly across the shipyard floor.'>> A bit of fiddling and you find the <<insertlink 'vertical take-off switch.'>> Rising out of the hemispherical bay doors, the Los Alamos Compound becomes progressively smaller beneath you. Someone in a pressure suit runs out onto the deck, and waves up in anger. <<insertlink 'Or warning.'>> These are not your people. You half smile as you turn the low-orbit vehicle out towards the horizon, in some direction that might lead back to the little nest <<insertlink 'where your family still lives.'>> Or perhaps someplace else entirely.<</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>>

//The strength of our people is in our unity. We are the survivors, and our history is the true history of the human race. As with other species before us, we become more fit through facing adversity: only the strong, the clever, the resourceful can overcome great difficulty, and where others failed, we find ways to thrive. By working together, for the greater good, there is no reason for our civilization not to be as wonderous as that of the Egyptians, the Romans, the Aztecs, or the People's Republic.// After that it's pages of history notes and a stack of exams. Soon enough, this will all be yours - the knowledge of other people, the understanding of the whole world and your place in it - not just a tiny mammal buried in a hole somewhere [[with no past and no future.|Classroom A]]

The door is locked, but through the small window you see people in woven metal overalls and goggles working around a large black box with laser lights occassionally shooting through it. On the wall panels, pictures of colliding atoms slowly develop, before a sudden flash makes you [[reflexively jump back.|Engineering]]

It is a door. It opens when you brush it with your hands, and a rush of water through the opening <<insertlink 'pulls you in.'>> The door closes fast behind you and the water drains away through the floor. You lie, gasping for breath, in the cool and dimly lit <<insertlink 'passageway.'>> When your lungs finally slake their lust, you crawl to your knees. The walls here are stained, a row of with caged lanterns overhead swing gently and cast odd shadows. The entrance is now a seamless facade, a dull red lever the only hint of the deluge beyond. At the other end of the passage is a [[rusty metal door.|Weapons Manufacturing]]<</insertlink>><</insertlink>>

The room appears to be an office, with a large but empty desk in the center and several unfriendly-looking chairs around it. Shelves lining the back wall are filled with fading children's artwork, rendered in charcoal - many seem to be depicting happy families under the Dark Star. As you [[turn to leave,|School]] you notice a poster on the inside of the door, done in white block letters on black background: Conserve Oxygen! Keep Los Alamos Breathing Easy.

Sarah Gould

You open the hatch of one of the jets and climb in. You pretend you are flying, scouting for survivors, finding your little sister, your mother before she went mad, your father before he lost everything... Somehow you a hit a button that turns the thing on. The control panels light up and jolt you out of your fantasy. Could you really [[fly this thing?|Flying Home]] Your finger hesitates over the button to <<continuelink 'turn the thing off.'>> turn the thing off, to [[climb out of the jet before you get carried away.|Shipyard]]

You cautiously <<insertlink 'step down into the void.'>> There are small indiciator lights on a raised dias. Putting your hand gently over their slightly warm surface, low lighting gradually <<insertlink 'illuminates the space before you.'>> A rusted metal table is in the center of the room. It has rubber straps attached to it, wrist- and ankle-sized. Next to it is a rolling medical table, a collection of scalpels, pliers, and other surgical instruments lined up next to a shallow dish filled with <<insertlink 'dark liquid.'>> It is the same darkness staining the floor, dried rivulets traveling from a small grate to the edges of the walls, where clinical-steel <<insertlink 'manacles are bolted.'>> A poster, done in white block letters on black background, hangs on the wall: Report any suspicious activity! [[Keep Los Alamos safe.|Exit Combat Training Room]]<</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>>

//<<insertlink 'Welcome to the Los Alamos Compound!'>> Ever since the Dark Star stole our planet away from the sun, we have been living here, underground, under the blanket of snow that covers the surface <<insertlink 'since the atmosphere has precipitated out.'>> I know you grew up with only your parents and your little sister, somehow surviving in a makeshift tent, collecting oxygen-snow in buckets and <<insertlink 'burning it for air.'>> I am glad we found you, and that you decided to join us here. Perhaps someday, after you have seen the wonders of this reborn humanity, experienced the cooperation between our Compound and the other remaining enclaves of life on Earth, you will return and convince them <<insertlink 'to come settle in Los Alamos as well.'>> For we have a chance to rebuild civilization from scratch. Do away with war and suffering. We may no longer have the Sun, but we can <<insertlink 'triumph under the light of our own vision!'>>// There was a cheer and much clapping from the audience. You stare into the crowd and try to smile, so unused to all these faces, so unfamiliar with everything around you. The President, waving to her citizens, her promise for the future, <<insertlink 'holds up your hand for another vigorous round of applause.'>> Finally she turns to you and says something that you can't hear. She strides off her stage - back to important work, you suppose. The crowd slowly dissipates, a few people stopping to welcome you, and then you are just another soul in a sea of a living underground city. No more frozen dead, no more fear of sudden annihilation. [[Here lies hope.|Sun Plaza]]<</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>>

You already feel guilty. Rows of pews reverantly face a central dias, metal rings bolted to the cold surface. On the opposite side of the room from [[the door|Department of Justice]] is an ornately decorated podium, emblazoned with the flag of Los Alamos. The walls have a stone banding at eye level all the way around, in relief depicting the arrival of the Dark Star, the creation of the Los Alamos compound, the burning off of the atmosphere, and the deaths of those less fortunate... [[or less worthy.|Dark Sun Detail]]

<<set $whichbook to random(0,2)>><<if $whichbook is 0>>"You pick up one of the heavy leather-bound tomes. It is a history of wars fought a century ago, analyses of tactics and the impact of new weaponry. [[People are mostly numbers.|Library]]"<<endif>><<if $whichbook is 1>>"You pick up a flimsy paper-bound book, nearly falling apart. It seems to be a story about a private investigator, tracking down a murderer. Skipping to the end, it turns out that the murder was an accident, and the investigator loses his job [[covering for his best friend.|Library]]"<<endif>><<if $whichbook is 2>>"You pick up a spiral-bound survival guide, done in durable plastic. Black and white line drawings illustrate the stages of oxygen deprivation, [[the dying figures trapped amidst the snow-white pages.|Library]]"<<endif>>

You stand in front of an elevator door with a card slot. It appears to take people directly to their rooms, and [[you don't have a ID card or a room assignment yet.|Sun Plaza]]

White noise.

The materials in question seem to be various metal and ceramic objects set on work benches, alongside some large manufacturing equipment, three-dimensional fabricators with various attachments and control panels. You pick up a few samples, surprisingly heavy or unnervingly light, including several vessels and tubes that seem to be filtering devices. [[You're probably not supposed to be in here.|Engineering]]

<<display 'Oxygen Limit'>><<if $oxygen gte 0>>/% %/<<set $walking_distance += 1>>/% %/<<if $walking_distance eq 1>>You trudge through the broken snow. [[Continue into the void.|Walking Out]] [[Turn around.|Walking Back]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 2>>The lights begin to fade behind you. [[Continue into the void.|Walking Out]] [[Turn around.|Walking Back]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 3>>You are surrounded by stars. [[Continue into the void.|Walking Out]] [[Turn around.|Walking Back]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 4>>The mountains, dark and jagged, stand like teeth in the middle distance. [[Continue into the void.|Walking Out]] [[Turn around.|Walking Back]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 5>>The mountains loom closer. [[Continue into the void.|Walking Out]] [[Turn around.|Walking Back]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 6>>Finally there is oxygen-snow! The pale blue is a welcome sight. <<if $mech>><<replacelink 'It means air, and life.'>>It means air, and life. You shovel it hurriedly into your mech's cylindrical fuel container, breathing easier as it melts into air.<<set $oxygen = 10>><</replacelink>><<else>>It means air, and life. Or it would, if there was fire to melt it.<<endif>> [[Continue into the void.|Walking Out]] [[Turn around.|Walking Back]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 7>>You move towards the Dark Star, as if it might guide you home. [[Continue into the void.|Walking Out]] [[Turn around.|Walking Back]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 8>>What is out here in these wastelands, under the watchful stars? [[Continue into the void.|Walking Out]] [[Turn around.|Walking Back]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance eq 9>>There is nothing. For hundreds, maybe thousands of miles, there is nothing. [[Continue into the void.|Walking Out]] [[Turn around.|Walking Back]]<<endif>> <<if $walking_distance gte 10>><<insertlink 'You keep walking.'>> <<insertlink 'Until you starve...'>> <<insertlink 'until the fuel-cell in your suit runs out...'>> until the world ends.<</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><<endif>> <<endif>>

Looking down on the busy plaza below, you feel as though you are flying. No one is around, and you can see the infinite expanses of snow and stars beyond the thick glass that surrounds you. A [[staircase decends|Sun Plaza]] into the mess of humanity below. A circular glass door enters the [[airlock.|Airlock]] <<if $shipyard_door_is_open>>A smaller door leads to the shipyard, but it appears to be locked.<<else>>A smaller door leads to the [[shipyard.|Shipyard]]<<endif>>

The cross is actually in pieces, each individually affixed to the wall. Once made of wood, but now not even that close to being living. <<if $cross_key>>At its center is a small, empty cavity.<<else>>A small rod of bronze or brass is inset into its center<<if $suit>>.<<else>>, tarnished but for the end, which seems to have [[odd scratch marks on it.|Cross Key]]<<endif>><<endif>> [[Nothing much to look at.|Chapel]]

<<if $coming_from_interrogation>>You climb the stairs back into the cell, taking the steps two at a time. <<insertlink 'But the barred door at the top is closed.'>> Your breath quickens and <<insertlink 'you grab at it as panic begins to rise in your throat.'>> ... and, to your vast relief, it opens. Swinging on its hinges <<insertlink 'without even a whisper.'>> [[It's time to go.|Department of Justice]]<</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><<else>><<if $jail_switch>>Pulling the lever starts a cascade of mechanical sounds from behind the wall. The door lifts, and you enter into a foul-smelling dark room, the walls lined with barred doors. You are thankful they are empty... [[except that one of the doors is ajar.|Interrogation Chamber]] [[Best to leave this place.|Department of Justice]] It was clearly not meant for you.<<else>>Pulling the lever starts a cascade of mechanical sounds from behind the wall. The door lifts, and you enter into a foul-smelling dark room, the walls lined with barred doors. You are thankful they are empty... [[at least you hear no sounds from any occupants.|Department of Justice]]<<endif>><<endif>>

<<display 'Oxygen Limit'>><<if $oxygen gte 0>>A half-enclosed building that seems to be the entrance to a long underground chute, leading to the bowels of the Compound. The ground all around has been scraped down to the white water-snow, though in a few spots you can almost see bare rock. Outside [[the stars beckon.|Outside]]<<endif>>

As you did with the shipyard doors, you wedge the shovel into the seams. At first it doesn't seem like anything is happening, but an instant later you realize your <<insertlink 'terrible mistake.'>> The whole ground shakes viciously as the panels come apart, and you move backwards as quickly as you can. The darkness below gapes and swallows one of the jets that sat on the once-solid floor. It crashes against the sides <<insertlink 'on its way down.'>> Your mech is too slow, and you lose your footing. You grab the edge of the now-circular opening in the floor of the shipyard, hanging with all the strength in your fingers, <<insertlink 'letting the mech fall.'>> Alarms begin to flash. Somewhere at the bottom of the shaft, something is triggered. A roaring trembles through your bones, and you scramble up just in time to avoid the <<insertlink 'bubbling flames that come shooting up.'>> Nearly blinded by the explosion, you bring your hands to your visor and stare into the after-image as rocket missiles blast out of the depths and launch themselves into the sky. One... two... <<insertlink 'three...'>> each one with a concussion that nearly stops your heart... four... five... six... <<insertlink 'ten...'>> The vibrations could very well be your own shaking. The trails the missiles leave in the sky arc in many directions, but as each one passes over the horizon, it is shortly followed by a [[mushroom of light.|Father]]<</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>>

You take out the small rod in your pocket and place it, groove-end down, <<insertlink "into the hole.">> Before the secretary can react, the desk and chair and the floor surrounding them begin sinking, <<insertlink "taking you with them.">> The door to the office slams shut, and the lights go out. You continue to <<insertlink "feel the floor descend.">> There is a loud click, and the floor rotates slightly in place and then <<insertlink "stops moving.">> A new light source appears, illuminating a room clad in dark metal, the light itself transforming into a holographic globe spinning slowly over a monolithic table. Imposing chairs march down the line. <<insertlink "The President's desk marks the head of the table.">> [[You notice faded trails of dots arcing around the globe. All eminating from one position.|Missile Launch Pad]]<</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>>

<<display 'Oxygen Limit'>><<if ($oxygen gte 0) or ($mech)>>A half-enclosed building that seems to be the entrance to a long underground chute, leading to the bowels of the Compound. Pale blue oxygen-snow is piled up around it. <<if ($oxygen lt 4) and ($mech)>>You shovel some into the cylinder on the back of your mech, and feel a welcome relief as a built-in heater melts the stuff into breathable air and pipes it into your suit.<<set $oxygen = 10>><<else>>You pick up a handful of the stuff and watch it fall through your fingers into the dark hole, and you suspect that this is really not enough for a thousand people to breath.<<endif>> Just inside the entrance are a half-dozen [[utility mechs,|Mining Mech]] large mechanized suits with cylinders attached to their backs and equipped with shovels. Probably used to mine snow. Outside [[the stars beckon.|Outside]]<<endif>>

<<display 'Oxygen Limit'>><<if $oxygen gte 0>>With no atmosphere or glass dome to disrupt the view, each star and distant galaxy comes into sharp focus. Only an arc of black space on the horizon indicates the presence of the Dark Star. The <<if $mech>>[[Los Alamos compound dome|Mech Is Too Big]]<<else>>[[Los Alamos compound dome|Airlock]]<<endif>> seems to sit on the surface of the planet like a fallen piece of the long-forgotten Sun, the <<if $shipyard_door_is_open>>[[scratched metal shipyard dome|Shipyard]]<<else>>[[scratched metal shipyard dome|Shipyard Door]]<<endif>> beside it like the Moon of your father's stories. The snow around the compound is lumpy and disturbed as far as you can see. Mostly nitrogen-snow, with a few piles of carbon-dioxide-snow set aside to avoid contamination, and deeper patches where they dug all the way to water-snow near one of the [[out-buildings.|Water Chute]] The only oxygen-snow you see is the small stock-pile outside [[another out-building.|Oxygen Chute]] <<set $walking_distance = 0>>Somewhere, [[beyond the distant mountains,|Walking Out]] is your family and the tiny haphazard nest where you once expected to spend your entire life. But now you are not all that remains of humanity, and the world is full of possibilities...<<endif>>

Nowhere on this planet can be as miraculous as this room. While digital databases can be accessed on the terminals sitting on desks in nooks, most of the large and labyrinthine space is taken up with shelves and shelves of old-fashioned [[paper books|Library Book]] containing all the knowledge left from a species that grew up under the warmth of a star. Now all that is left is a [[subterranean simulacrum.|Sun Plaza]] New stories can be written.

You walk up to get a closer look. The topography of the location is familiar from your jet ride to Los Alamos. <<insertlink "You had your face glued to the small window the whole time.">> <<insertlink "You reach across the table and brush your hand over the holographic Los Alamos.">> A gap forms in the wall across from the table and the President's desk. Two invisible panels slide open, revealing another, <<insertlink "larger room beyond.">> The room is behind a thick layer of glass. You can see small circles of light on the floor, regularly spaced like a honeycomb. Sitting on top of about half of them are large, slim cylinders, standing like spears ready to spring into [[an impossibly dark sky.|Confronting the President]]<</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>>

You enter a hallway lined with doors and screens, displaying work orders and metrics and calendars. The doors are helpfully labeled: [[Materials Lab]] [[Environmental Controls]] [[Mechanics Lab]] [[Central Maintenance]] [[Research Lab]] At one end of the hallway is the entrance to the [[exit.|Sun Plaza]] At the other end is a [[heavy-duty metal door with rivets and a blue glow eminating from beneath.|Reactor Control Room]]

The air is thick with steam. Circular pools contain <<replacelink 'gently lapping water,'>> a rare substance of warmth and calm,<</replacelink>> and you can even make out a few relaxing bodies within the mists. The room seems almost boundless, but for the darkness of passageways leading away. One has [['gym' stenciled above it|Gym]] and one has [['tailor'|Tailor]]. All the same, you linger for a moment in the luscious humidity. There is also a door, dripping with condensation, that leads to the [[plaza.|Sun Plaza]]

<<set $oxygen -= 1>><<if $oxygen eq 3>>//Your suit begins to beep at you: you're running low on oxygen.// <html><br/></html><<endif>>/% %/<<if $oxygen eq 2>>//Your suit continues beeping. Your oxygen supply is dangerously low.// <html><br/></html><<endif>>/% %/<<if $oxygen eq 1>>//The beeping becomes insistant. You're getting light-headed.// <html><br/></html><<endif>>/% %/<<if $oxygen eq 0>>//The beeping begins to match your increasingly shallow heartbeats. Your head is swimming...// <html><br/></html><<endif>>/% %/<<if $oxygen lt 0>>You collapse on the snow, feeling the millions of crystals crush under your weight. As you fall into an irrevocable sleep, the stars seem to retreat and fade away. Until all is dark and still and quiet.<<endif>>

As you guide your mech to the airlock, you find it is too large to fit through the door. You suppose it is only meant to be used [[outside.|Outside]]

You look over the side of the railing. Below you can see a distant pool, the reactor that powers the whole of Los Alamos. Its blue glow radiates up a long shaft and even casts your face in its pale light. Wave patterns flicker on the sides of the shaft's reflective walls. It is so elegantly framed and prominantly placed, you know that the residents of Los Alamos feel it to be the source of life. It is sacred. [[The grove|Gardens]] is merely an offering. <<if (not $suit)>>Something in the reactor pool catches your eye. You [[lean in|Falling]] for a closer look.<<endif>>

Your father refused to tell you what it was like when the Dark Star first came to Earth. He said he was too busy. Perhaps he saw something then that tore him away from humanity. And when the visitors arrived from Los Alamos, his eyes lit up with recognition as he gripped the ice pick harder. Perhaps he knew there were others the whole time. Perhaps that is why he ran away from them in the end.

This door is locked and windowless, but when you try to jiggle the handle, you hear [[a disconcerting concussive sound from the other side.|Engineering]]

You stride into the office before the secretary has a chance to realize your breach of protocol. The President is not here, but in her absense is her ornate wooden desk and upholstered winged armchair - relics from another age and another world - and shelves of ancient objects and books in forgotten languages. The floor is covered in carpets, muted in color but woven with finely detailed battle scenes. //[[Excuse me, but you're not allowed in there!|Central Command]]// The secretary hovers nervously at the door, the smile faltering a little.<<if $cross_key and not $suit>> As you turn around to go, you notice a small tarnished bronze or brass five-pronged cross on the corner of the President's desk, [[with a hole at the center.|War Room]] <<endif>>

The door is locked. All you can see behind it are white curtains with stochastically-moving shadows playing on them. The medical staff member [[gives you a stern glance.|Medical Center]]

You tumble over the side, your gangly limbs <<insertlink 'unable to get a grasp on the railing.'>> <<insertlink 'Flailing...'>> <<insertlink 'Falling...'>> <<insertlink 'The pool of the reactor moves towards you like a train...'>> [[...crashing into you with tremendous force.|Nuclear Reactor Pool]]<</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>>

A circular room with a tall desk in the middle, with a person in a white smock standing behind it. <<if $suit>>They look up as soon as you walk in and look at you strangely.<<else>>They look bored, but take a second before asking you if you need any help.<<endif>> You shake your head dismissively<<if $env_controls_altered>> and glance at the nervous and shaky people waiting on benches off to the side<<endif>>. Semi-circular glass doors allow you to see into a [[surgical room,|Surgery Room]] [[cryogenics chamber,|Cryogenics Chamber]] [[recovery room,|Recovery Room]] an [[apothecary,|Apothecary]] and back into the [[plaza.|Sun Plaza]]

Thankfully no one appears to have been badly sick or injured recently. There are just empty beds here, crisp and almost shiny linens neatly laid out. The brightness is blandly cheerful, but there is a very human atmosphere here: people are born and die in this room. It is limbo. Yet no one who passes through [[leaves a trace of themselves behind.|Medical Center]]

<<set $suit_in_airlock = false>><<set $suit = true>>Carefully adjusting each joint and fastening the helmet, you make yourself immune to the [[vaccuum of space.|Airlock]] At least until you run out of air.

The room is dark and cool, with a faint smell of spices. A spinal in the center of the room, going from floor to ceiling, holds thousands of vials in spiralling rows. When you look closely at them, you see tiny seeds of all shapes and sizes contained within. Seeds just [[waiting to grow.|Behind the Banyans]]

As the doors open, a dozen faces turn to you at once. Some of the children are younger than you, not many are older; they look excited when they recognize who you are. The teacher, however, is in the middle of a lesson on quantum physics. //Excuse me - but our unit on Surface Survival does not start until next week!// Feeling suddenly out of place, you step back and [[let the doors close between you and your peers.|School]]

The smell of feces threatens to overwhelm you. Flickering bulbs illuminate almost two dozen creatures packed into pens, shuffling slightly at your presence, eyes wide and bloodshot. A few more are hanging from hooks attached to the ceiling, tendrils of red tracing their way to floor drains. One of the fat, fleshy creatures opens its mouth to scream... but no sound comes out. You [[back out|Behind the Banyans]] as they all begin noiselessly yelling.

Looking closer, you see a family of four, faces contourted in misery: a father, a mother, a baby, and a small child. They are fleeing the Dark Star, depicted as inset black marble with subtle veining. It is horrible, but you <<insertlink 'dare yourself to touch it.'>> <<if $jail_switch>>You feel the stone sucking the warmth out of your fingers and palm. [[You draw back and leave the room at once.|Court]]<<set $jail_switch = false>><<else>>Suprisingly it warms to your touch. The material is almost soft, even, like petrified skin. You stand there for a moment, unmoving... but the hairs on the back of your neck begin to rise and [[you abruptly leave the room.|Court]]<<set $jail_switch = true>><<endif>><</insertlink>>

The doors slide open to reveal an empty classroom. Long tables with chairs behind them face a screen and the teacher's desk. [[Pieces of paper|Curriculum Notes]] lie on the surface. [[The doors|School]] silently close behind you.

<<if $suit>>The snow and stars call to you. There are other, artificial gleams of light, too. You have only to [[cycle the doors.|Outside]]<<set $oxygen = 10>> Or maybe... maybe you'll go [[inside|Ring Level]] to the warmth and light. You can [[leave your suit|Leave Suit in Airlock]] on one of the hangers.<<else>>/% %/Without a suit, you would die out there. But somehow the snow and darkness are the only things that truly feels like home. <<if $suit_in_airlock>>If you wanted, there's a [[suit|Wear Suit in Airlock]] hanging on the airlock wall.<<endif>> There are also gleams of light, other parts of the Los Alamos complex peaking up from below the pale blanket. When you feel calm once more, you return to your [[newfound civilization.|Ring Level]]<<endif>>

Light from the artificial sun streams through the colored glass of the [[plaza-facing door|Sun Plaza]] and windows, casting the space in kaleidoscopic patterns. The walls seem to be inset with threads of metal, which seem to glow in mirroring the colors. The ceiling is high and domed, the walls curved. Nothing marks the space except rows of small cushions on the floor and a raised platform at the far side of the room, a [[petrified five-pronged cross|Cross]] hanging above it.

Tools of all shapes and sizes, looking almost like weapons with their pointed screw-ends and solid metal-alloy clubs, line tables and hang from the walls. Everything seems to have a custom-fit place. <<if (not $suit_in_airlock) and (not $suit)>>There is even a vaccuum suit hanging from one of a row of hooks. <<replacelink 'No one is here right now. Only you and this lovely suit.'>>You pull it on. It's a bit large, but the many adjustable bits keep it fitting like a second skin.<<set $suit = true>><</replacelink>><<else>>There are a row of empty hooks, presumably for work gear currently being used.<<endif>> [[Maybe someday you will learn what all these things are for.|Engineering]]

<<if $mech>> <<set $mech = false>>You guide the lumbering beast of a machine back to the lineup of mechs against the wall. Turning the key, it winds itself down, and you step out, back to [[walking with your own two feet.|Outside]] <<else>> <<set $mech = true>>You climb into one of the mechs and hook up your oxygen supply. Someone has left a key in the machine, and when you turn it, the thing hums slowly to life. The controls seem intuitive enough to [[move around.|Outside]] <<endif>>

You reach out to touch it... and the rod falls into your hand. The tip with the scratches also has grooves on the other side. Looking around to make sure no one saw, you [[shove the rod into your pocket.|Chapel]]<<set $cross_key = true>>

When you try pulling the vase, it pulls the rod out from the wall with <<insertlink 'the sound of gears clicking together.'>> With a low mechanical rumble, the whole of the raised portion of the floor slides over, revealing an opening and a set of stairs leading into [[the darkness below.|Combat Training Room]]<</insertlink>> You nervously [[look back.|Dojo]] No one is around.

The very air is filled with a soft green glow. Everywhere you look are giant white tree trunks, all connected into a cloud of leaves overhead. They seem to be part of the same individual, a giant banyan tree, living underground as the last remnant of the forests of Earth. Yet more than this you can hardly imagine. It is already [[a maze to get lost in.|Behind the Banyans]] Vines and shrubs grow so densely that you cannot see the walls or the ceilings. The ground is spongey, compacted soil, springy under your feet, with orderly patches of dark and fragrant leaves here and there. To think that canned rations came from such living things! In the center of the... can you call it a room? well, the garden, then... is a [[large hole,|Reactor Hole]] with railings of interlaced metal surrounding it. On one side are large [[copper doors.|Garden Passage]]<<set $garden_passage_last_visited = "gardens">> On the opposite side is a grand staircase, leading up to equally [[grand doors|Central Command]] emblazoned with the Los Alamos Compound symbol of the five-pronged cross.

Tall canisters with frosted glass windows are disturbingly human-sized. Yet when you peer in, no one seems to be in need of deep-freeze at the moment. You wonder what kind of situation would require a cryogenics tube at all... or one that would only use the dozen or so tubes present, in contrast with the hundreds of people in Los Alamos. It's getting a bit cold in here. You turn around to the [[door.|Medical Center]]

A dim light somewhere illuminates a set of <<insertlink 'rough-hewn stairs in the back of the cell.'>> You follow them down into <<insertlink 'a pit of nightmares.'>> Everything is scratched and dented metal: the table with hardened leather straps, the chair with the high back with tendrils of red wires coming off of it, the small rolling table with a neat array of <<insertlink 'hooks and scalpels.'>> The flickering, naked bulbs overhead buzz incessantly. The sound seems to get louder [[the longer you stay.|Jail]]<<set $coming_from_interrogation = true>><<set $jail_switch = false>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>><</insertlink>>

Large screens display slowly shifting animations of data, some with color-coded maps of the Compound and little dots moving between rooms. Along the walls are a density of intricate control panels. <<if $env_controls_altered>>Something is blinking, but no one seems to notice.<<else>><<replacelink 'You place your hand over a shiny metal knob with a piece of blue glass set into it.'>>Something starts blinking, but no one seems to notice.<<set $env_controls_altered = true>><</replacelink>><<endif>> Perhaps [[you should leave|Engineering]] before you mess with something //important.//

The walls here are lined with shelves and tiny drawers, a few sliding ladders attached to the higher levels. The fluids are in every hue, wiping out the sanitary white with pools of color. A central table seems to have tools for mixing and administering these chemicals and medicines. The only door leads back to the [[waiting room.|Medical Center]]

<<display 'Oxygen Limit'>><<if $oxygen gte 0>><<if $visited_shipyard>>The outside panels of the shipyard dome form a strangely familiar pattern of grooves. It must be how the bay doors open.<<if $mech>> You suddenly notice your mech's shovel has a keen edge, [[a brute-force key.|Opening the Shipyard Door]]<<endif>><<else>>The rough metal of the shipyard dome distorts the constellations in a scattered reflection of the sky.<<endif>> But [[the stars beckon.|Outside]]<<endif>>