ACTIVATING AND WEARING THE GOGGLES RESEARCH LAB >give wrench to ben You give the allen wrench to Ben. Ben gives the small flathead screwdriver to Ken. Ken gives the wire stripper to Glen. Glen gives the soldering iron to Sven. Sven gives the small Phillips screwdriver to Jen. Jen gives the long-nosed pliers to you. >e DEPARTMENT RECEPTION AREA Mellow elevator music is playing here in the reception area. There's no one sitting at the desk. The fishbowl is gone too. The east door is closed. The north door is open. The west door is open. The south door is closed. >open south door The south door squeaks as you open it. >s NORTH END OF THE LONG HALLWAY To the north, through an open door, is the reception area for department 15-G. A long hallway leads south. >s The security cart appears and prevents you from walking past it. The voice of the cart says, "Please board the security cart if you wish to be escorted to the Employee Parking Area." >get on cart You get on the security cart. A seatbelt fastens itself automatically across you, and the cart takes you back down the long hallway. As you pass Department 9-C, Phouthavong Bochandilay steps into the hallway and presses a note into your hand, whispering, "Give this to Martin." The security cart takes you through the same passages, tunnels, doorways, and gates that you saw on the way in. It stops in the Employee Parking Area near the phone booth. The seat belt releases and you get off the cart. The cart then drives away and disappears from sight. EMPLOYEE PARKING AREA You're in the Employee Parking Area, which is inside of a parking structure that is mostly underground. To the west you see the phone booth, which is parked in one of empty parking spots. You don't see any people here. The entrance to the building complex lies in the distance to the north. >w PHONE BOOTH, in the Employee Parking Area You hear the computerized voice tell you (somewhat faintly since the receiver is hanging down on its cord) ... "Press "1" to be enlightened. Press "3" to be cleansed. Press "9" to be returned. If you do not have access to a touch tone phone, please remain on the line and an operator will assist you." >press "9" You pick up the receiver. You press "9". You hear the sound of a motor grinding, the door slams closed, and the phone booth suddenly rises upwards very quickly, flying high into the air. The telephone voice tells you, "Estimated travel time for this ten mile trip is five minutes, using standard travel speed." The phone booth flies north. After about five minutes of flying it drops down through an opening Martin's roof and comes to an abrupt halt in the pantry. The phone booth door opens. PHONE BOOTH, in the pantry You see the kitchen to the east. >e You drop the receiver. KITCHEN The train is stopped at the platform above the Black Box. >i You are carrying: some khaki trousers (being worn) a short brown sock (being worn) a short black sock (being worn) a pair of brown shoes (being worn) a flannel shirt (being worn) an envelope a large stack of catalogs a phone bill a gold key a pocket watch "The Bedtime Story Book" "The Boy Who Had No Words" a yellow feather a security badge (being worn) a small phone book a yellow dart a short white sock a short blue sock a long black sock a sink stopper a fifty dollar bill a mug some black coffee a lab coat (being worn) some goggles some long-nosed pliers a handwritten note >drop envelope, catalogs, phone bill envelope: The envelope is now on the floor. large stack of catalogs: The large stack of catalogs is now on the floor. phone bill: The phone bill is now on the floor. >drop key, bedtime book, boy book gold key: The gold key is now on the floor. bedtime book: "The Bedtime Story Book" is now on the floor. boy book: (closing the boy book first) "The Boy Who Had No Words" is now on the floor. >drop feather, phone book, blue sock yellow feather: The yellow feather is now on the floor. small phone book: The small phone book is now on the floor. short blue sock: The short blue sock is now on the floor. >drop black sock The long black sock is now on the floor. >read note The note reads: Martin: I thought that my little riddle would be as easy as cake for someone like you, but then I realized that I forgot to specify how many digits to use. So feel free to use both hands except for those opposable thumbs of yours, which always seem to get you into trouble! And don't forget the decimal point. Regards, Bo P.S. May I have a large container of coffee? Agador-Spartacus crawls out from under the kitchen sink. The sink cabinet doors swing shut. Agador-Spartacus stands before you, wagging his tail affably. >drop note The handwritten note is now on the floor. Agador-Spartacus stands before you, wagging his tail affably. >s DINING ROOM (by the china cabinet) You see Agador-Spartacus in the kitchen. He's lying down. >sw DINING ROOM (by the west end of the table) On the west end of the table you see a plate, a fork, a knife, a spoon, and a glass. >w You go through the strands of beads. LIVING ROOM (front half) You see three empty boxes and three cans of spam here. >n LIVING ROOM (back half) On the music stand you see some sheet music. You see two empty boxes and two cans of spam here. >sit on desk chair You're now sitting on the desk chair. Agador-Spartacus crawls out from under the desk. Agador-Spartacus stands before you, wagging his tail affably. >type "3.1415926" You type "3.1415926" on the computer. The password is accepted! You read the message from Mr. Bochandilay: Martin, are you ever coming back to work? I finished replacing the neural interface braid on your optical filter. I used the revised specs that you sent me, but it wasn't easy! I found out that your boss had pulled the plug on your project and voided the Sub-Project Authorization Code. When the investigator from Purchasing called to ask why I was requesting materials for a discontinued sub-project, I told him that I must have transposed some numbers in the Auth Code. They ended up booking it to a visual impairment aid, the one that 17-A is using to try to do an optical nerve bypass. But Martin, why didn't you listen to me when I warned you not to show the early prototype to your boss? Old "Spam for Brains" Pendergast never did have any imagination, so of course it wouldn't work properly for him. Besides, your sub-project had strayed so far from the overall project specs that even a spam-head like Pendergast could figure out that you had just made up the whole thing on your own. Sometimes you are just too straightforward for your own good, my friend. ------------- Press space bar to continue ----------------- So I did some grapevine investigating and heard that you stopped showing up for work the day after your project was nixxed. I also heard that by the time Pendergast decided to confiscate your materials he couldn't find anything. Your filter was down in 9-C with me, of course. But where did you put the goggles? And more importantly, where are you? Anyway, I managed to slip the filter to your department receptionist before Pendergast came snooping down to 9-C. I told Mrs. McGillicuddy to hide it in a safe place where Old "Spam for Brains" wouldn't find it until she could give it to you. I think she understood most of what I told her. But she's still waiting for you to bring her a new battery for her hearing aid, so I'm not really sure what she thought I said. She was nodding her head and doing something with package delivery labels, and then I had to skip out before the security cart went back online and saw me down in the wrong department. Did you know that the security cart was designed by Mr. Pendergast? No wonder it's so clueless. Regards, Bo" Agador-Spartacus stands before you, wagging his tail affably. >turn off spam filter The spam filter is now turned off. The doorbell rings. You stand up. You go into the front half of the living room and walk to the front door. You open the front door to see a package delivery man in a light brown uniform standing on the doorstep. He's carrying a small package. You sign for the package and take it. Then you close the door. You return to the back half of the living room and sit down again. Agador-Spartacus stands before you, wagging his tail affably. >x package The small package is addressed to Martin. The return address shows that the package is from K. McGillicuddy at SED Limited. Agador-Spartacus stands before you, wagging his tail affably. >open package You open the package and take out the can of spam. You wonder why you're getting so much spam. The empty box is now on the floor. Agador-Spartacus stands before you, wagging his tail affably. >x can At first glance it like an ordinary can of spam. But upon closer examination you notice that it has a hinged lid! Since you've never seen a can of spam with a hinged lid before, you assume that this must be a fake. There probably isn't even any spam inside! Agador-Spartacus stands before you, wagging his tail affably. >open lid The fake can of spam is now open. In the fake can of spam you see a piece of plastic (folded). Agador-Spartacus stands before you, wagging his tail affably. >take plastic You take the piece of plastic out of the fake can of spam. Agador-Spartacus stands before you, wagging his tail affably. >x plastic (unfolding it first) It's is a flexible piece of plastic, basically rectangular but with rounded edges. The plastic is mostly transparent with a slight hint of shiny green specks. Judging from its shape and transparency, you conclude that this is some sort of optical filter. Around the edges is a braid of plastic that glistens with a pale green tint. Agador-Spartacus stands before you, wagging his tail affably. >put filter in goggles The optical filter is now in the goggles. Agador-Spartacus stands before you, wagging his tail affably. >stand You stand up. You're no longer on the desk chair. Agador-Spartacus stands before you, wagging his tail affably. >wear goggles You put on the goggles. Agador-Spartacus stands before you, wagging his tail affably.