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[iceball3]

The doctor is controlling us right now. We just haven't done anything we have regretted yet.

[Soadreqm]

The doctor is controlling us right now. We just haven't done anything we have regretted yet.

I'm sure there's a punchline to be had here.

[iceball3]

The doctor is controlling us right now. We just haven't done anything we have regretted yet.

I'm sure there's a punchline to be had here.

Really? I'm not seeing it either...

[Ottofar]

So, uh...

[Retro]

we should probably go unlock that beam door in the chem lab.

You return to the lab and punch in PASS155. The lasers fizzle out and allow you to pass. Time to find out what’s so important in here.



The room is black, with weak lights alongside its walls revealing silhouettes. Too dark to see, though.



You step a bit further into the room and the lights turn on with a mechanical clunk. Giant oculoid mouth-appendages hang on hooks from a conveyor track on the ceiling. Some are withered and wrinkled. Some are full, and you cannot help but get a sense of ‘ripeness’ about them as well. One has a grey tube hooked into it.

In the center of the room is a small podium with a circle and handle in place, and a small, familiar-looking key sitting on it. There is a jug of ‘SOLVENT’ on the ground as well.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So, uh...

Yeah, sorry. Classes being back on means that when I get home I'm often a little tired to draw. And I'm back in essay season as well. We're almost done with this round, and then I'll get everything in order for Round 16 before starting it so that there won't be any little bumps like this throughout its run.

Go back downstairs and remove that rod from the hole in the ground. It seems to power the ships interface and we don't want to waste it's energy. Add to inventory.

I don't think it's going to run out of power inside a reasonable timeframe. It's some kind of futuristic space power source. Feringus expected it to be connected to the ship and still working.

Generally when people disagree about something I don't do it until somebody gets more insistent, so I'm leaving the rod for now.

[Evergod41]

Turn the crank, take the key, pour the bleach out on the floor.

[Soadreqm]

What? No! We need that bleach!

>Pour solvent into acid goop
>Fish out medallion
>Well, turn the crank and get the key first. Assuming that even is a crank.

Wait, I just got what it controls. It'll rotate the hooks on the wall, so we can attach the bloated oculoid chunk to the hose, probably to do something with the chemistry setup in the next room.

>Also that looks like a locker key. Unlock locker.

[Retro]

Turn the crank

You attempt to turn the handle but it refuses to turn very far. The hose is still in one of the appendages and is keeping the entire wheel in place.

take the key

Unlock locker.

You unlock the final sun locker and find… a note. It’s in Les’ handwriting.

Never was much of a fan of self-reflection. Not really my sorta thing. I figure you do things right the first time, you never have to worry, and if you think things through well enough before you do ‘em, you do it right every time.

We didn’t think things through well enough.

You ever been in… well, it don’t feel like a daze at the time, but you look back and you can’t for the life of you remember why you did it that way? Ain’t no point in bothering with all that inner turmoil and asking ‘What was I thinking?’ and that sort of spiritual emotional bullcrap. I knew exactly what I was thinking. I was thinking ‘Hot dog, I’m gonna have books written about me!’ What I can’t figure out is why. I never once in my life before cared about fame or fortune or glory or all that crap. We came out here because we had a hunch, and if that hunch was right, we had a fair shot of fixing up the entire human race for the better. We risked everything on this. Leased out some bots we knew we couldn’t repay the interest on. Sold my house to help cover my half of the ship cost. We called it an educated guess, but it was never more than a hunch.

And it was right, god damn it. No progress for damn near a year, then we find these creatures. And we…

No tiptoein’ around it. It was tough on the buggers, and hell, it was tough on us slaving away month after month, but it was all worth it. We found it. We could come home, be heroes, bring back a fully-funded expedition, figure out how to extract or maybe locate it in larger quantities. Whoever found the motherload would get the king’s share of the credit, but that was all right with me. Don’t need no name recognition. Not like I’d have to worry about research grants again anyhow.

But we didn’t stop there. And that’s where the haze starts to seep in. Why’d we keep going? Why didn’t we go back? Maybe we could just work a little harder and find the source ourselves. Maybe we wouldn’t get taken seriously without something more to show for a year and a half’s toil. Any number of reasons. But we stayed. And we pressed the creatures past any scientific search for understanding, and damn it, it bit us in the ass.

Going to head down to the generator and shut it down, finish the system lock-up, then head up to the mobile lab with Feringus. Too hot for the creatures in the volcano. We can plan a proper escape from there. Caves down by the generator are too small for the big’uns to get into, but the little ones have been getting more and more riled up since the breakout. Can’t say I feel safe, but what’s coming’s coming. Probably worse now that I spent half an hour writing this goddamned pour-my-guts-out self-reflective love letter to a shrink’s office. Certainly don’t feel any better about this mess after writing it down. But it felt like the right thing to do.

Leaving this here to appease my own conscience. Or maybe my guilt, can’t say for certain. Only thing I can say for sure these days is that I’m the only one with either left.

Doctor P. A. Les
Preston

Pour solvent into acid goop

You dump the solvent out into the acidic sewage basin.



It clears! You can see the water medallion lying beside the drainage grate. The meter near the basin clicks up to the other end.

Fish out medallion

You pick up the medallion and add it to your inventory. It’s not shimmering or anything, so this solvent-plus-melty-goo stuff probably isn’t exactly water.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

e- Buggered up the font formatting. Damn it. Should be fixed now.

[iceball3]

Pop open our head hatch and stick the medallion in what little open space is left. We might need to hide it from someone.

[USEC_OFFICER]

Anybody remember the song that makes it rain? Or did FACADE only clear the weather?

[Terrahex]

ooohh ooooooh me me!!! put the medalion in the water in the room that's up the fireplace's chimney.

[SHAD0Wdump]

Or just take it to the sink...

[Soadreqm]

The song that makes it rain was the one from the music box that Feringus is repairing. Worth a shot, if the other water sources fail to work for some reason.

Also, we'd probably get an actual emotional response from Feringus by showing her the letter. Can anyone think of a reason we shouldn't?

[iceball3]

Good idea.
Show Fernigus the letter, also showing a great deal of emotion. Doff your hat and show some sense of grief, what you can best mach to how you feel.

[Retro]

put the medalion in the water in the room that's up the fireplace's chimney.

You take the water medallion to the spring and splash it in. It gets all sparkly like the others.

Pop open our head hatch and stick the medallion in what little open space is left.

It’s a pretty slim hatch, and the medallion isn’t exactly soft enough to squish in. You slip it under your hat instead.

Show Feringus the letter

You lower the water level and head back into the volcano, but the sub hasn’t come back yet, and you don’t really have a way of contacting it. You guess Feringus is going to alert you when she’s ready? Geez, how long did she expect you to take picking up those chemicals?