text: > look around
  1) "I have a question about the Brain Guzzlers."
  2) "A 'perforated silver membrane'? Where am I supposed to find one of those?"
  3) "Where can I find fructonium?"
  4) "I guess I won't bother you any more right now!"
  
  > 2
  ["A 'perforated silver membrane'? Where am I supposed to find one
  of those?"]
  
  "If it helps, the perforation doesn't have to be neat. You can even do the job yourself if necessary. But the membrane must be quite large." The professor holds out his hands. "Imagine this, but much, much larger. At least the size of a wall, or the side of a house."
  
  1) "I have a question about the Brain Guzzlers."
  2) "A 'perforated silver membrane'? Where am I supposed to find one of those?"
  3) "Where can I find fructonium?"
  4) "I guess I won't bother you any more right now!"
  
  > 3
  ["Where can I find fructonium?"]
  
  "Why, that's the atomic element which makes up fruit! Of course, we would need it in highly purified form, broken down to its most basic elemental state--difficult for all but the most talented botanical chemists. Good luck!"
  
  1) "I have a question about the Brain Guzzlers."
  2) "A 'perforated silver membrane'? Where am I supposed to find one of those?"
  3) "Where can I find fructonium?"
  4) "I guess I won't bother you any more right now!"
  
  > 4
  ["I guess I won't bother you any more right now!"]
  
  "I appreciate that, young lady."
  
  A dome covers the roof of the laboratory, converting this top floor into a vast circular workspace with a view of the surrounding mountains  beneath a sky full of brilliant stars. In the center of the room is some sort of half-completed machine. Near it is a cluttered desk, with a blackboard looming over it.
  
  Professor Barrabas Rudolph Minsky is up to his elbows in the machine, tinkering away.
  
  > Go west
  Generations of garbage have been piled here in haphazard stacks, rusting and slowly sinking into the earth under the weight of tons of scrap. The only way out is to the east.
  
  McDillingfitty's "house", a rusting metal silo, stands empty, slowly falling apart under the weight of the ages.
  
  > look at the silo
  It's a little taller than a one-story house, but too narrow to have much living space. There's an open hatch on the side where a door probably used to be. You never noticed it before, but there are numbers printed on the side: "X271 -- Minsystems Labs."
  
  > look at the pines
  They're tough little can-do trees with a lot of spirit. They've got to be, to make it out here in the desert!
  
  > examine the screen
  There's a ragged hole in the middle where your car crashed through. Other than that, it's in good condition.
  
  > take the screen
  You carefully yank the screen down and roll it up neatly. Yippee! You just found a perforated silver membrane!
  
  > Go south
  The look of this part of Saguaro Road has changed drastically since this morning. A line of tanks blocks the street to the south, and the air echoes with the sound of explosions and the tromp of busy artillery teams. To the east, the Yoshidas' flower shop seems to have been transformed into some kind of makeshift military headquarters.
  
  > go east
  The humble flower shop has been transformed into a military command base. A large tabletop map of the town has been set up where the discount gardenia bin used to be, and a clump of officers surround it, gesturing at the diagram and shouting at each other.
  
  Jenny Yoshida is sitting on the stairs, looking miserable.
  
  > talk to Jenny
  [Picture number 14 here.]
  
  "Oh--Bonnie, you're alive!" Jenny tries to force a smile. "Well, that's--that's good."
  
  1) "Are you okay? What happened to your arm?"
  2) "Are you okay? Why are all these soldiers here?"
  
  > 1
  ["Are you okay? What happened to your arm?"]
  
  "Somebody, uh, kind of stepped on it. When we were all running. It's not broken or anything, I just--I just--I can't, uh, I can't deal with all this! Everything's gone all to heck, I don't know where anybody is, I can't even phone Mary Jane's house to find out if she's even alive because the phones are down..."
  
  1) "Oh, Her Royal Highness is alive, all right, and having a temper tantrum fit for a queen."
  2) "She's alive, and she's just about worried sick about you!"
  3) "Well, she was alive when I left her..."
  
  > 2
  ["She's alive, and she's just about worried sick about you!"]
  
  "She is?" Jenny's face lights up. "Oh, thank goodness! I'm been--I've been going just about nuts imagining all kinds of horrible things. Where is she? I have to find her!"
  
  1) "She's safe at home. Uh, you sort of have to shimmy up an air vent to get in--"
  
  > 1
  ["She's safe at home. Uh, you sort of have to shimmy up an air
  vent to get in--"]
  
  "Oh yes, I've been up that vent before." Jenny notices your expression. "What? She's got a ten o' clock curfew. It's ridiculous! Listen, I, uh, I really can't thank you enough for telling me this. I need to see her right now."
  
  1) "Gee, let's get back to the lab, then."
  
  > 1
  ["Gee, let's get back to the lab, then."]
  
  You and Jenny enjoy what is by current standards a relaxing walk back to the lab, during which neither of you dies. Soon you're standing at the door of Mary Jane's room.
  
  "We have a secret knock," Jenny explains, which turns out to be two barely audible taps. "See, it stands for 'haircut', because at first it was going to be 'shave and a haircut' because we get our hair done together sometimes but we don't shave, or, er, at least we don't shave at a barbershop or anything like that, uh, so we dropped that part--"
  
  The door jerks open and Mary Jane launches herself at Jenny like a puffy-eyed pink cobra. "Jenny! You're ALIVE!" she squeals. "I thought your poor little brain had been guzzled!"
  
  "I thought yours had!"
  
  After the tearful reunion, Mary Jane turns to you. "Well, gosh, now I feel like a real goony bird for crying over Jenny dying when she's not even dead. I ought to be pitching in and helping you and Dad stop those awful things. I'm going to the lab to see what's what!"
  
  Jenny gives her a peck on the cheek. "Have fun!" Then you and Mary Jane climb the stairs to the Tomorrowdome.
  
  "Oh, it's a BUBU," Mary Jane observes, grabbing a lab coat. "Or, well, gee, it's most of one at least. I can make it better!"
  
  A dome covers the roof of the laboratory, converting this top floor into a vast circular workspace with a view of the surrounding mountains  beneath a sky full of brilliant stars. In the center of the room is some sort of half-completed machine. Near it is a cluttered desk, with a blackboard looming over it.
  
  Mary Jane Minsky is working on the BUBU.
  
  Professor Barrabas Rudolph Minsky is up to his elbows in the machine, tinkering away.
  
  The BUBU giggles. "Gosh, Dave, your hands are so tickley inside me!"
  
  > talk to Professor
  [Picture number 10 here.]
  
  "Ah, greetings again, my young chum."
  
  1) "I have a question about the Brain Guzzlers."
  2) "Where can I find fructonium?"
  3) "I found an, uh, perforated membrane for you!"
  4) "I guess I won't bother you any more right now!"
  
  > 3
  ["I found an, uh, perforated membrane for you!"]
  
  "The screen from the drive-in! Excellent! Without those creature features playing through the kitchen window at all hours my daughter will be able to get through the dishes without dropping half of them because she was startled by the Moon Men or the Swamp Woman. And as a bonus, I can use this for the BUBU, too!"
  
  1) "I have a question about the Brain Guzzlers."
  2) "Where can I find fructonium?"
  3) "I guess I won't bother you any more right now!"
  
  > 3
  ["I guess I won't bother you any more right now!"]
  
  "I appreciate that, young lady."
  
  A dome covers the roof of the laboratory, converting this top floor into a vast circular workspace with a view of the surrounding mountains  beneath a sky full of brilliant stars. In the center of the room is some sort of half-completed machine. Near it is a cluttered desk, with a blackboard looming over it.
  
  Mary Jane Minsky is working on the BUBU.
  
  Professor Barrabas Rudolph Minsky is up to his elbows in the machine, tinkering away.
  
  > talk to Mary Jane
  [Picture number 12 here.]
  
  Mary Jane looks up. "Hi, Bonnie!" she says brightly.
  
  1) "You're a scientist?"
  
  > 1
  ["You're a scientist?"]
  
  "Sure, silly! I'm a little rusty, though. Cheerleading keeps me awful busy lately!"
  
  1) "Where can I find fructonium?"
  2) "I should go!"
  
  > 1
  ["Where can I find fructonium?"]
  
  "I'm not the one to talk to about plant stuff!" Mary Jane lets out of a self-deprecating giggle. "Outside of physics, engineering, and cheerleading and such, I'm pretty much useless!"
  
  1) "Where can I find fructonium?"
  2) "I should go!"
  
  > 2
  ["I should go!"]
  
  Mary Jane nods. "Go get "em!"
  
  A dome covers the roof of the laboratory, converting this top floor into a vast circular workspace with a view of the surrounding mountains  beneath a sky full of brilliant stars. In the center of the room is some sort of half-completed machine. Near it is a cluttered desk, with a blackboard looming over it.
  
  Mary Jane Minsky is working on the BUBU.
  
  Professor Barrabas Rudolph Minsky is up to his elbows in the machine, tinkering away.