text: [Themes: Espionage, Science Fiction, science fiction, sidekick NPC]
  
  You're just starting to doze off when a jerking motion brings you back to alertness. You look over to see your boss, Mr. Teeterwaller, struggling to steer the car onto the shoulder as the engine dies. You can see that all of the dashboard lights are on as the car jerks to a stop.
  
  This is turning into a fine business trip. First Mr. Teeterwaller insists on making the five-hour car trip in the middle of the night so the company won't have to pay for a hotel, then you spend an hour stuck behind a convoy of slow trucks on Teeterwaller's two-lane supposed short-cut, and now his aging bargain-basement car strands you out in the middle of nowhere.
  
  Teeterwaller turns off the headlights and turns on the hazard lights. "I just had this thing in the shop," he mumbles.
  
  Copyright ©1998 Michael J. Roberts.
  
  The Toyunchknisk Piglet was imported from Blottnya during the brief period between the fall of the old iron-fisted regime and the ethnic unrest that divided the tiny country into several even tinier countries whose names you can't recall, since the press lost interest several years ago. The car is almost comically spartan, so it's just like your boss to own one. The only amenity the dashboard offers is a glove compartment; no radio, no air conditioner, no console armrest, no cup-holders.
  You're sitting in the rather uncomfortable passenger's seat. The driver's door is closed, and your door is closed.
  Sitting on the back seat is a jacket, a map, a Project Tyche manual, and a magazine. The ignition seems to contain a car key.
  Your boss Mr. Teeterwaller is here.
  
  You're carrying your temporary ID card.
  
  [Author's Note: You're on a business trip with your boss, driving down a deserted highway in the middle of nowhere, when the car breaks down. You set off on foot seeking help, but you soon find yourself in the middle of a shocking conspiracy in a dangerous industrial complex. Can you penetrate the decades-old cover-up and reveal the secrets that might forever change the world?]
  
  > About you
  You look about the same as always.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  > look at Teeterwaller
  He's about five-foot-six, with graying black hair that he keeps cut in a short business-like style, and a neatly trimmed mustache. He's wearing a dull brown slacks that are part of a suit (although he's not currently wearing the jacket), a beige shirt and a brown striped tie.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller mumbles something to himself.
  
  > check your inventory
  You have your temporary ID card.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller watches you expectantly.
  
  > look at the glove
  The glove compartment is closed.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  > attack Teeterwaller
  That would not look good on your performance review.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller seems to be lost in thought.
  
  > examine the jacket
  It's a dull brown suit jacket, matching Teeterwaller's pants.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  > wear the jacket
  The jacket is too small for you.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  > look at the tie
  It's a medium-width tie with brown stripes.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  Teeterwaller looks through his pockets for something.
  
  > search the teeterwaller's pockets
  "Hey!" Teeterwaller protests, moving away from you.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller looks around.
  
  > examine the manual
  It's a stack of photocopied pages, bound with a plastic spiral. The cover page reads "Project Tyche Specification" at the top, and "Omegatron Corporation - Copyright 1972 - Confidential" at the bottom. You glance through it, and find page after page of electronic diagrams and schematics interspersed with dense blocks of technical information and parts lists. None of it is familiar to you, since you're in the software part of the company.
  
  It occurs to you that you should ask Mr. Teeterwaller about the project some time, since you're always interested in hearing stories about the early days at the company.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller starts telling you some office gossip, but stops, a little disappointed, when he realizes you don't know the people involved in the embarrassing parts.
  
  > Examine magazine
  The cover has a photo of a streak of light in the dusk sky above a wooded hilltop, with the caption The Milltown Sighting: A New Re-Examination, Part III.
  
  You thumb through the magazine. There's an article by an expert on official cover-ups, insisting that the government open an investigation into a previous investigation of an alleged cover-up. Another article describes the many revelations that have come out of Blottnya since the break-up of the old government, including photos from Blottnya's old space program that show that the "face" on Mars bears an uncanny resemblance a famous Eastern European television star, raising the possibility that the ancient Martians not only were capable of space travel but time travel as well.
  
  The interesting thing about the journal is that they're obviously quite serious; it's not a supermarket tabloid.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  Teeterwaller looks around purposefully.
  
  > ask Teeterwaller about Project
  "I worked on that project, oh, twenty-five years ago or so. We were building an embedded controller system for some industrial equipment; it would be quite routine today, but it had some amazing technology for those days. There were a couple of parts in particular, some logic chips, that seemed to come out of nowhere... without them the project would have been nearly impossible. I got a copy of the old specification document from the corporate archives people a couple of months ago, because I wanted to figure out the history of those logic chips, but for some reason that section of the spec is missing."
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller mumbles something to himself.
  
  > get the map
  Taken.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller looks around.
  
  > examine it
  "Excellent idea," Teeterwaller says. The two of you unfold the map and inspect it.
  
  You find state route 142 on the map. You don't know exactly how far you are from Bakerton, but you'd guess that it's at least fifty miles west, which puts you in this big empty expanse out in the valley. The nearest city is Conners City, which is perhaps twenty miles east. The map shows a couple of crossroads that could be a short distance to the east; it doesn't depict any businesses, but it's possible that one of the crossroads has a service station or at least someone with a phone.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  Teeterwaller looks around purposefully.
  
  > open the door
  Which door do you mean, the driver's door, or the passenger's door?
  
  > open the passenger's door
  Opened.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  > examine the iD
  It's your temporary employee identification card; it's just a worn piece of cardboard with the Omegatron logo and the word TEMPORARY stamped in red letters. It's amazing how inefficient the company's bureaucracy is; you've worked at Omegatron for three months now, and you're still stuck with this temporary badge, which doesn't have the little magnetic stripe that opens doors, so you constantly have to call Security to come unlock doors for you.
  
  The hazard lights click on and off in a steady rhythm.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller looks around.
  
  > Open glove
  Opening the glove compartment reveals a garage opener.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller looks around.
  
  > look at the garage
  Taken.
  
  Teeterwaller notices you taking the opener. "That isn't mine," he offers. "I think it belonged to the previous owner of the car. I've never been able to return it, of course, since I bought the car at an estate sale."
  
  (the garage opener)
  It's a small plastic box with a large button. On the back is a small compartment, which is currently closed.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller seems to be lost in thought.
  
  > turn ignition key
  Turning the car key doesn't have any effect.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller looks around.
  
  > take key
  Mr. Teeterwaller looks at you sharply, wondering if you've forgotten whose car this is.
  
  Teeterwaller looks through his pockets for something.
  
  > open compartment
  Opening the garage opener compartment reveals a battery.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller mumbles something to himself.
  
  > look under the seat
  Which seat do you mean, the driver's seat, the passenger's seat, or the back seat?
  
  > About yourself
  You look about the same as always.
  
  > look under the passenger's seat
  There's nothing under the passenger's seat.
  
  Teeterwaller looks around purposefully.
  
  > look under the driver's seat
  There's nothing under the driver's seat.
  
  Teeterwaller looks through his pockets for something.
  
  > look under the back seat
  There's nothing under the back seat.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller mumbles something to himself.
  
  > look at the back seat
  On the back seat you see a jacket, a Project Tyche manual, and a DUFON journal.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller looks around.
  
  > take the jacket
  Taken.
  
  Teeterwaller looks through his pockets for something.
  
  > wear the jacket
  The jacket is too small for you.
  
  Mr. Teeterwaller mumbles something to himself.
  
  > open the door
  Opened.