You squint. "What cracks?"
"On the right, along the hinge. There's a black crack in the steel."
You see what he's describing: from so far away it looks like someone drew a line in sharpie across the shiny steel. "What does that mean?"
"Well, it's not good, young mister Heller. We'll worry about it after we get Penny. Come on."
Instead of going straight, you turn left down another corridor which leads to the Observation Lounge. This route was created so any important people or investors could see the blast door to the Reactor, as a way to impress them. But right now all you feel is uneasy.
And with good reason. As you turn left down that corridor you see a wall of rock ahead. Jay frowns. "Oh man. The Causality Neutrino really did a number on this place. A real number."
"Can we get through?"
Jay grabs some of the rocks and tries to move them. The rubble is too huge, a giant boulder blocking the entire route. "If we had a few hours, maybe. No point in doing that, though. Come on, let's go the other way."
He leads you back into the Control Room and then through the door towards the Engineering Bay.
Follow Jay TO PAGE 31
16
You think you know the right one. "Here goes nothing," you say.
Without waiting to consult Jay, you jump into the puddle with the white wire. There's a small splash, and then you stand there, frozen.
You turn back to Jay. "Whew! Glad I knew which one was safe."
Jay smiles and nods. "Me too." He follows you through the puddle to the other side.
You reach the end of the room, where the door leads to the hallway toward the Particle Beam staging area. Something out of the corner of your eye catches your attention. It's the strangest visual sensation you've ever seen. The air seems to warp, the way the desert heat drifts off the ground in waves, distorting everything behind. Then the strange object begins to materialize, thickening into mist, then into some strange sort of light. It's vaguely human-shaped, but made of what look like shards of light, angular and sharp, like chunks of jagged glass swirling in a small tornado.
"That," Jay says, "is a Phase Being."
"A what?"
"It's complicated," Jay says. "Now, we have a few options..."
If you have the CS Rifle, you can shoot it ON PAGE 58
Or, you can simply avoid it ON PAGE 20
17
You retrace your steps back to the Control Room. Jay looks up, surprised.
"No luck," you tell him. "Maintenance Room #1 had the radiation monitoring system. Not networking."
Jay shakes his head. "We need the networking system up!"
"I know, I know. We're going to try Maintenance Room #3 next."
Jay points to the wall. There's a square metal grate screwed into the wall at the corners. "We're running out of time. You guys need to take the air ventilation shaft. It will be quicker than walking."
Penny smirks. "The air vents? Seriously?"
Jay shrugs. "Why not? It worked in Die Hard. Come on, in you go."
You remove the screws and the grating. It's just big enough for you guys to crawl inside. "Just head in that general direction," Jay suggests, pointing. "You should reach the maintenance room at the end."
You lead the way, shimmying on all fours. The air shaft goes for about ten feet before splitting off. You pick the direction toward the third maintenance room.
Your wrists and knees make an awful lot of noise, banging hollowly on the metal as you move through the facility. There are grates spaced every ten feet or so, which provide enough light for you to see where you're going. You ignore the spiderwebs and piles of rat droppings that constantly brush against your arms.
The first ten grates you peer into don't look like the Maintenance Room. You pass the Recreation Room, one of the bathrooms, the Kitchen. Finally you come to a grate looking into a space that is identical to the first Maintenance Room. This has to be it!
Since it's screwed in from the other side, you kick the grate with your foot until it flies off, banging onto the floor below. It's not very far, about a fifteen foot drop. You and Penny peer into the room together.
"I can't see anything from up here," she says.
"Me neither. We need to drop down inside."
"How will we get back up here if it's the wrong room?"
It's a good question, but you don't have much of a choice. "We'll just have to be lucky."
You don't want Penny to think you're scared, so you swing your legs over and drop into the room.
Find out if it's the right room ON PAGE 18
18
You land on nimble feet inside the room. A moment later Penny drops next to you. She gives you a smug grin.
The room is identical to the previous one, with computer banks of dials and knobs covering three walls. You begin examining the instruments, looking for any clue as to what system this is for, but everything really does look the same.
"Let's just turn it on," Penny says. Before you can say anything, she throws the lever.
One light next to the switch flashes green for three seconds. Then more lights join it, and then the hum of computer fans and the clicking of hard drives, until the entire room is operational.
"Okay," Penny says, looking expectantly. "Figure out if this is the right one."
You squint at the measurements on the nearest screen. They don't really look familiar. Another screen doesn't give much data either. You move to the other side of the room and examine the data there. It's all just numbers!
Finally one dial sticks out. It says: O2 Percentage, and the needle is hovering around 30 percent. Next to it is another dial that says: N2 Percentage. That one is about 70 percent.
"O2 is oxygen, and N2 is nitrogen," you say. "The two most common elements in the air we breath. That means this is the Maintenance Room for the oxygen system!"
"Aww, man," Penny says. "Two in a row!"
"Only one place left to look," you say cheerfully. You stride over to the door. "Can't go wrong this time!"
The door handle won't move.
You try it again, but it doesn't budge. It's locked, and there's no way to open in from the inside.
Penny realizes what's wrong. She tilts her head back to look up at the vent. "Can we get back up there?"
You try lifting Penny up to the vent, but even on your tip-toes you can't reach it. She tries the door herself next, putting her foot up against the frame for leverage. It's no good. You're stuck.
Maybe Jay will eventually come looking for you. Hopefully that will be before the laboratory suffers a meltdown. But even if it is, for now you have reached...
THE END
19
You click on the word BEHEAD. A new line appears, then another, tapping out one letter at a time:
INCORRECT INPUT
CORRECT CHARACTER MATCH: 3
SYSTEM LOCKDOWN IN: ONE ATTEMPT
"Dang it," you say.
"But look, it has three characters in common!" Penny elbows you. "Come on, don't give up so easily."
"Okay, okay."
The screen now shows three options:
THREAD SHREWD RACKET
Which is it? This is your last attempt!
To guess THREAD, HEAD TO PAGE 33
To guess SHREWD, TRY PAGE 107
To guess RACKET, OPEN PAGE 116
20
"A Phase Being, young mister Heller, is a person who has been transplanted in time," Jay says. "The rogue Causality Neutrino we created is causing instability among the atoms in their bodies. So their atoms don't know when they are supposed to be."
"Hold on a second. Are you saying that thing is a person?"
Jay nods. "Someone working at the Heidelberg Physics Laboratory. Poor guy is stuck outside of time. Well, there's nothing we can do for him now. We can deal with him--and anyone else like him--later. For now let's focus on Penny."
You know Jay is right, but you can't help but feel sorry for the Phase Being. It has
no eyes, but seems to stare at you pleadingly. Hopefully you can help it later.
As you slip past it, you notice something taped to the wall. It's torn, and all you can read is:
...THIRD PART OF THE SEQUENCE IS TO EXTEND FLOOD TUBES...
"Hey, look at this." You tear it off the wall and hold it up for Jay.
He reads the paper. "Huh. This is part of the emergency shutdown sequence. Hold onto it, we might need it later."
You now have PART THREE of the shutdown sequence! Be sure to write it down.
Leave the Engineering Bay ON PAGE 80
21
Thinking fast, you raise the CS Rifle and fire. It hits the middle of the three mice perfectly. It shifts and mutates and then disappears with a satisfying PLOP.
But the other two are still coming, and they've almost reached you. There's no time.
"What do we do?" Penny says. She's waiting for you to make a decision.
To try running to the Maintenance Room, head for the door ON PAGE 43
To jump onto an animal cage for safety, HOP TO PAGE 96
22
Just outside the door to the Control Room, the air begins to warp in an unfortunately familiar way. The three of you jump back just as the Phase Being finishes appearing.
Although it's difficult to tell since it has no face, it appears the Phase Being is staring at the door instead of you. It seems confused, and doesn't move.
Jay nudges you in the ribs. "You know what to do."
It would be embarrassing to miss from so close, so you raise the gun to your head and look down the barrel. You pause to exhale and then squeeze the trigger.
A beam of light flashes and strikes the Phase Being. It's frozen there as the light that makes up its body begins to flicker and tumble, turning into a recognizable shape. The image of a white-haired physicist in a lab coat smiles gratefully at you just before blinking out of existence, returning to his own time.
"Nicely done," Jay says.
You step forward. Something dropped from the Phase Being after it disappeared. You pick up a torn piece of paper that looks like it's from a textbook, or instruction manual:
...FIFTH, AND FINAL STEP IN THE SEQUENCE, IS TO PERFORM A FULL COOLANT DUMP. WHEN THIS IS DONE...
You show Jay. "Oh yes, we'll be needing this," he says.
"For what?"
"Follow me to the Control Room and I'll explain everything."
You now have PART FIVE of the shutdown sequence! Be sure to write it down.
Follow Jay TO PAGE 137
23
It's a long way down the hall, and the light is playing tricks with your vision. The rifle shakes in your hands, the pressure of the moment getting to you.
With a final deep breath you squeeze the trigger.
PA-TEW.
The shot rings out with a flash of light. It strikes the door just over the Phase Being's shoulder, turning the metal black and leaving smoke dissipating in the air.
You lower the rifle. Shoot!"
"Come on, try again!" Penny whispers.
The Phase Being shifts. You get the impression it's turning around. You raise the rifle again and squeeze the trigger, but nothing happens, just a disapproving muted deep.
You look at the rifle. There's a small dial that says, "Recharge time." The needle is rotating down slowly. Oh no!
Penny asks, "What's wrong?"
"Come on, we need to go another way!" You grab her arm and turn right, rushing toward another door. Down the hall you go, quickly pressing the button to open the next door, throwing caution to the wind. You burst inside a dark room, and the door closes behind you.
There's a strange shifting sound in the room, but you know it's not a Phase Being because it's too dark. You feel around on the wall, looking for a light switch.
Penny finds it before you. The room suddenly brightens as the emergency lights on the walls come on.
"Ohh," you say, looking around. There are stacks of cages lining the walls. "This is the Animal Enclosure."
Check the room out OVER ON PAGE 35
24
You follow a narrow tunnel into the core of the Backup Reactor. It's a round room, with a circular hole in the floor in the center, about two yards across. You walk to the edge and peer inside. There's a metal floor on the bottom of the hole, with a series of long rods sticking out of it. A robotic arm holds one, slowly moving it deeper into the core.
"The main reactor will look something like this, but on a bigger scale," you explain.
"If we can find the missing sequence!" She shakes her head. "I still don't understand how a physicist like Jay could not remember what it is. That seems awfully strange."
You smirk. "A lot of what has happened down here is strange. I'm not surprised his memory is fuzzy."
Penny takes a step back from the core. "So where do you think we should--"
The speaker in the ceiling crackles with static. "Hey you two, I think I miscalculated. We have less time than I thought."
"How much time do we have, then?"
"Maybe ten minutes. We need to begin the core abort sequence soon. Have you found it?"
You and Penny share a look. "We haven't. But if we keep looking I know we can..."
"You've got ten minutes, max. Hurry up!"
"I don't think it's in here." You point to the far door. "The Engineering Bay is through there. We could check there again, I guess?"
Try the Engineering Bay ON PAGE 28
25
The main Control Room of the laboratory is busier than usual. A dozen of the Senior Physicists scurry from one computer station to another, checking instrument readings and making notes on their clipboards. The entire far wall is glass, giving a view into a tube-like room beyond. The rest of the walls are filled with computer screens showing various graphs of data and video feeds.
"What's that?" Penny points to the glass wall.
"That's a section of the particle accelerator," you explain. "It's like a giant oval track, five kilometers long. See those ridges inside? With the coils? Those are powerful electromagnets, used to speed up the particles faster and faster."
"Ohh, cool," Penny says.
You lead her over to a corner of the room, where a single computer screen sits at a lonely computer desk. "This is where I work."
She blinks. "This is all you do?"
"Hey, I'm just an intern. I'm new. It may not look like much, but I still have an important job."
"Which is?"
"I'm in charge of monitoring the power levels for the facility," you say. "The particle accelerator has its own nuclear reactor. When we're performing our tests, the accelerator draws a lot of power. My job is to monitor this power level, make sure it's not drawing too much, and to notify anyone if the drain gets too high."
Penny raises an eyebrow. "That's it?"
"Hey, it's important," you say weakly.
"Heller!" someone yells across the room. It's your boss, Doctor Almer. He comes storming over. "Heller, what are you doing?"
"I'm just showing Penny around."
He swings his eyes toward her. "Who?"
"This is Doctor Kessler's daughter."
"Ohh." His entire demeanor changes. "Miss Kessler! Your father is wonderful to work with. Simply wonderful. You should be in the observation lounge with the other visitors." He glances at you, as if it's your fault.
Penny makes a face. "Can't I stay here with Jeremy? I don't want to be stuck with all those investors..."
Almer is dragging her away. What do you do?
If you want to let her go, TURN TO PAGE 36
Or, insist that she stays ON PAGE 44
26
"The living quarters is the only side we haven't been in. That's the plan."
Penny nods. "Let's do it."
You head east out of the Control Room, down a long corridor which opens up into the Recreation Room. There are couches in front of a television, a ping pong table, and a bookshelf in the corner. The wall to the left has
a bulletin board and a jukebox. The room is pretty clean. No damage occurred here.
You point to the bookshelf. "See if there's any documentation in there."
While she does that, you head to the bulletin board. It's covered with personal fliers: one engineer is looking to rent out his spare bedroom in Zurich. A used 2003 Peugeot GTI is for sale. There's a safety notice about evacuation procedures, instructing employees to hide in the blast shelter underneath the Sleeping Quarters in the event of a meltdown. An order sheet for some scientist's daughter, selling Girl Scout cookies. You didn't even know the girls scouts were in Switzerland.
But there's no emergency abort sequence. "Any luck over there?"
Penny shakes her head without looking away from the bookcase. "Nope. It's all books for entertainment. Mark Twain, Michael Crichton. Lots of bestsellers..."
Suddenly there's a voice, coming from everywhere at once. "Fifteen minutes, you guys."
It takes you a second to recognize it. "Jay?" you ask the air.
"Neat, huh? I've got the PA system online. I can talk to you from here, and vice versa. But seriously, you have fifteen minutes to find the last sequence. So stop chatting with me!"
Penny rolls her eyes. "I don't think there's anything here. Let's search another room."
The Strange Physics of the Heidelberg Laboratory (Ultimate Ending Book 6) Page 2