text: > describe your surroundings
  The cyanotic, vibrating light of the station stands as a formal counterweight to the usual pink of the open air. People from all the country crowd the hall, piling up like chickens in stocks. The loud whistle of the incoming and departing trains dopplers through the place and drills into your ears. The rails cut the earth in two, further south, while a more breathable atmosphere breaks in through the entrance, northwest from here.
  
  A man wearing a funny yellow coat is reading the railways map, puzzled.
  
  A steel gate stands between you and the trains. A ticket obliterator blinks silently at its side.
  
  On the west wall is a ticket vending machine.
  
  > Examine backpack
  A purple backpack, the sort of which you usually see worn by the students at the University.
  
  From a pocket of the backpack you see poking a freshly printed ticket.
  
  > examine the gate
  A maze of sturdy steel bars, which runs from the floor to the ceiling. It looks very dense.
  
  > Exits
  [From here you can go northwest and south, beyond the steel
  gate].
  
  > go to the south
  The gate stands closed between you and the rails.
  
  > Research university
  User 5,835 is chief researcher at the Radiations and Microwave
  Survey in the Monarch State University. The University is located in Brouguoise.
  
  > talk to the man
  "Need help?"
  
  The man turns to see you, a bit startled. "Uhm," he says, pointing at the map, "I'm just looking for the next stop in this... erm... maze."
  
  > talk to the man
  "I know, it's always a nightmare the first time you try and read one of those. Let me help."
  
  A fresh smile of relief paints his face, as the man moves a step to the left to let you check the map. In the movement, unseen, the ticket that was hanging from the open pocket of his backpack flies over the edge, landing a mere step from your right foot. You notice it but avoid dropping your sight to the ground.
  
  > Step on ticket
  (the new railway ticket)
  Ok, you are finally persuaded. He won't need this as much
  as I -- or the whole of Monarch -- do.
  
  Subtly, you hide the fallen ticket under your foot, hoping to go unnoticed. And it works. The man follows your instructions on the map up to the last letter:
  
  "There, you know," you say, pointing at the map in the place where Cardinal Park would be. "There is the station you might look at for your departure, sir. South Fork is only southbound, and you have to go north.
  
  "It's just a couple of kilometers," you grin, depicting in your mind the Park, the farthest place in all Monarch to a railway.
  
  With a sigh, the man thanks you and heads out of the station. You grab the ticket and pitch the old, useless one.
  
  > put the ticket in the slot
  (the new railway ticket in the obliterator)
  The obliterator blinks vigorously. A green exclamation mark appears on its glossy surface. The gate reacts with but a faint buzz. You remove the ticket.
  
  > go south
  You pass through the gate which admits you, silently opening around you.
  
  You are standing by the bay of the railways, where trains arrive and depart. The light gets dimmer, here, but it is still strong enough to let you see the nearest surroundings. It then fades away in the intricate maze of the other platforms. A series of gates opens north into the main hall of South Fork Station. Through the bars you can see hundreds of people passing by, like ants in a sand castle.
  
  A deep sense of claustrophobia gets to your nerves as you stare at the long tunnels winding everywhere from this place. The intricate maze carves so deep and so far that now it could easily count more surface than on the open air...
  
  It digs so deep that you are quite certain it opened entrances -- or outages -- to things you'd better have seen left undisturbed. The Report files in your hands, the ones you are going to explain to your colleagues at the University, vibrate as if animate, trying to catch your attention.
  
  Your train is not here, yet. This could be a chance to study them again.
  
  > look at the files
  "Reports to the Council".
  
  > read the files
  You open the files at random. Your eye is quickly caught by one of the first reports:
  
  (...)The volcanic crust separating what was once the glacial layer from the lower halls cannot possibly be thick enough to hold those energies at bay. Nor can it be trusted to keep a region larger than one third of Monarch's surface area hidden from whatever may be resting down there. In my humble opinion, the chances that former colonizations could have gotten in there before the glacial age (trapped? self-defending?) are quite high, especially now that we have discovered the Alpha Radiation.
  
  In the end, we know nothing about Monarch before the first
  settlements from the outer galaxies came into Andromeda more than one thousand years ago. Technology back then was not sufficient to dig as far as we have recently. The glacial layer was only partially melted and covered by the constructs. I suggest further investigation before we start -- as we should -- to probe the source of the
  radiation.(...)
  
  The thought of something ancient sleeping under your very feet is more than your mortal brain can handle.
  
  Eventually, your train arrives.
  
  The doors open silently and you enter its bright intestines with but a second thought, powerfully relieved by leaving the dark recesses of the underground rails.
  
  The wagon is enlightened by several fluorescent lamps, spanning along all its roof. The yellow, vibrating light paints each surface with the colors of death and decay. The train moves swiftly on its rails.
  
  A man sitting beside you is reading his newspaper.
  
  > examine the lamps
  Tubes of light, inside tubes of glass.
  
  > research Alpha Radiation
  (Inserted by user 5,835 -- not present in general database)
  
  Radiation which pulsates from a specific point under Monarch's capital. Discovered on 25th/3rd/9,855. Generator or source: unkn. Z-position: unkn. Magnitude: feeble, but growing. ---- Warning: same kind of the Event residues. ----.
  
  > look at the man
  He must be your age, a small man that looks like the average white collar worker from somewhere in the government. He's holding his newspaper like it was the only thing valuable in the world.
  
  You realize with surprise it is the same man who had the nice words at the vending machine, earlier.
  
  An unforeseen tremor shakes the train. You grab a handle before falling. The man beside you grips his seat.
  
  "Woha!" he laughs. "That was something."
  
  You notice small bits of the tunnel walls crumbling as you pass them by.
  
  > look at the newspaper
  The part you can see is about the weather and a few of other unimportant things.
  
  > read it
  The part you can see is about the weather and a few of other unimportant things.
  
  A second, much stronger quake shakes the train. You are bounced once to the back, where you hit the doors with a faint sound, then forward. This time you go swimming through the air like some sort of flying fish.
  
  But it is not over.
  
  Another shock rocks the train to its core, sending it off the rails. Cracks like razor wounds open the car one by one, ripping it apart like a tube of crumpling paper. The windows shatter with a fierce boom! that grinds into your ears like a thousand needles. The
  next second, you are smashed against the end of the wagon, your head trying its resilience against solid steel.
  
  The last thing you see, before your eyes are closed forever, is the man who was reading his newspaper beside you being engulfed by a dark abyss that has opened under your feet -- and below the collapsing train --  like the maw of an ancient creature.
  
  > examine man
  He's trapped. There is no way of pulling him out of the wreckage. Blood is pouring violently from a wound in his chest, where an iron crank has opened a new way in.
  
  The train rattles and screams, slowly slipping further into the abyss where it is being inexorably pulled.
  
  > talk to the man
  "You will be fine," you say. "Soon enough help will come. I will stay here till then."
  
  You look out of the shattered glass of the train windows, hiding your sore eyes to the man you lied to with your last words.
  
  Another rattle and the wagon is pulled further into oblivion.
  
  > Exits
  [From here you can go nowhere].
  
  The shrieking sound of metal against metal fills your ears as the last part of the train sinks. Another meter. One more shake and all will fall inside the open chasm.
  
  > go south
  "Don't leave me," cries the trapped man. "Please!"
  
  One final, sinister noise shakes the wagon. Before you can understand what's happening, the weight of the rest of the train causes it all to fall into the enormous crack that opens below.
  
  You have just enough time to jump through the wide crack before it all disappears into darkness, landing to safety on a hard ledge.
  
  In the end, you fail to turn your eyes from those -- praying, pleading -- of the man trapped in the wreckage, his last goodbye a terrorized wailing into the unknown. You gaze into the blackness, speechless. The same words cycle into your forehead like a grinding echo: It will
  be ok. Just relax. It will be ok.
  Ledge
  You are on a hard ledge, over a kilometers-deep chasm opening directly in front of you. There are no visible ways out, except for a trail cut in stone to the northwest. Now that the train has disappeared into oblivion, you realize there is no light, anywhere, apart from the orange glow coming up from the deep, like a disaster movie scenography. The faint green light from the screen of your E-Pad catches details for only a few meters around.
  
  What comes to your mind next sends a blow to your stomach.
  
  The Fatimah Initiative, you think in horror. No lights
  means no energy.
  
  And no energy means the tides.
  
  > Research fatimah initiative
  Monarch to counterweight the one caused by the approaching of the orbiting star Fatimah. Every ten days, all non-emergency power sources on the planet are redirected to the Initiative. The Initiative was the Second Bound by the Interstellar Agreement and was signed by all the thirteen members of the Council.
  
  If the Fatimah initiative is stopped, for any reason, the whole planet would be submerged in water. This must be avoided at any cost.
  
  > Research tides
  Monarch to counterweight the one caused by the approaching of the orbiting star Fatimah. Every ten days, all non-emergency power sources on the planet are redirected to the Initiative. The Initiative was the Second Bound by the Interstellar Agreement and was signed by all the thirteen members of the Council.
  
  > Research bounds
  The sum of the 237 rules by which the ASA Republican Worlds work.
  They are divided into seven sections, each made up by at least 20 so-called "initiatives". Only the first two Bounds contain just one Initiative each. Those were written in the Ancient Days before the reforming of the Republic.
  
  > research ancient Days
  The third age spanned between 3,000 and 8,140 (YotG). The first
  two centuries after its end are called "the Ancient Days", as opposed to the modern ones, lasting up to now.
  
  > Research first bound
  This unit was not allowed to download resources on the matter.
  Sorry.
  
  > Research asa
  Andromeda Solar-spatial Agreement.
  
  It is the set of rules which binds the interstellar space of the Andromeda Galaxy. The whole library is held in the Monarch Manuscript, under the Humanitas Mementos, closed from light and cryogenized at the Terracentral station in Phelios. It can be fully accessed from any ASA reports in the nearest Police station, Government hall or University. Excerpts can be found under the topic "excerpts" in this device.
  
  > Research excerpts
  The E-Pad prints at least 763 pages before stopping its listing of the "excerpts". You think it's best to study them another time. Like never, maybe.
  
  > Research phelios
  The small asteroid-satellite orbiting Monarch VII, Phelios, is
  home to the Terracentral fortress, where the Quintessential Library and the Humanitas mementos are stored.
  
  > Go northwest
  With much effort, you manage to pull yourself over the ledge.
  
  These are the remains of the tunnel which would have taken you to the University if the quake hadn't swallowed its walls. Cascades of dirty water wash the sides of the black pit, flowing towards the giant crack. The fiery curtains of orange smoke that originate a few meters from you are the only light source for a span that goes on for kilometers. A thick web of twisted rails cuts its way across the darkness to the southwest. A small gap in the hulking walls of the tunnel leads north towards the unknown. Then it's only concrete and stone and a shattered world tangling together in every direction.
  
  What is the magnitude of this disaster? you ask yourself,
  while trying to put together the pieces of the splintering ground around you. What could have caused such a devastating
  earthquake?
  
  In the darkness of Monarch's deepest recesses, only the thickest silence stands as an answer. The rest is black.
  
  > examine the rails
  The rails can be walked on, although with a certain care.
  
  > go north
  The earth shattering event has done much more damage here than in the near tunnel. A gigantic river of molten rocks and magma slowly cuts its way in a wide crack running before your eyes. You stand uncomfortably over a small stony step which looks like a building's cornice and serves as the only walkway at the side of the underground cliff, off to the east and west. Pieces of building sink into the ground and pop out from the ceiling of the enormous cave, like steel crosses in an abandoned cemetery. In the middle of the crack, to the north, bathing in magma, rests the crippled half of one of the Construct pillars, the remaining structure lost.
  
  A thin rain of small debris drops constantly from the crumbling sky. You look upon the decay of the human last resort and close your eyes in fear and torment.
  
  There it goes, you sink into sorrow. We are late. We
  always have been late.
  
  You feel the weight of your E-Pad and remember downloading something about the Constructs in it.
  
  > Research constructs
  The foundations of Monarch's Republican World. Digging deep into
  the earth where the glacial layer has been molten, pillars of steel and concrete serve as supports for the above cities. In fact, the Monarch nation is but a floating continent built by the first colonies above the icy layer. Nowadays, a mere 10 percent of that layer is still solid, the rest being transformed into vast oceans covering more than half the world.
  
  > examine the pillar
  About fifteen meters wide, the pillar must have been torn in two by the quake. The lower part still sinks into the ground, inside and below the flowing magma, its alloy slowly surrendering to the heat. In a few hours it will be consumed. Something shines on the oblique surface of the pillar, in the spot where its has been cut in half.
  
  > go north
  It is a jump of twenty meters. There is no way to reach the pillar without falling into the fiery pit.
  
  > examine the shine
  You can't quite discern it from here. It is a metallic pole of sorts.
  
  > Exits
  [From here you can go south, east and west].
  
  > go east
  If it wasn't so dramatic, the view from here would be breathtaking. The immense magma river flows below effortlessly, although slow and patiently. The whole cave is lit by its fiery belly. From here you can see the broken pillar rising from the flames like a finger pointing the sky -- a sky made of crumbling rocks and metal -- and the stony walls surrounding the sight like the steps of a giant arena. Below, the thin cornice cuts a distinct line on the side of it, losing itself in the distance inside a small passage to the west. The piece of quartz you are standing on has resisted the quake's onslaught and is now holding itself onto the rock like a cat on a tree trunk. Something like steps rise from here to an alcove, up above and near the ceiling. A faint cyanotic light pulsates inside it. You can reach it to the northwest.
  
  > go to the north-west
  A grim mouth dug into the span's wall starts here and crawls inside the earth, disappearing after a twist to the south. A bright blue light pulsates there, faint. In front of you, the molten span is still visible, although the curve of the collapsing ceiling covers your sight. The cliff then dives deep into the roaring lava, debris dropping from its edge now and then. You can reach the quartz outcropping walking -- carefully -- southeast.
  
  A lesser tremor splinters the cliff, sending pieces into the fiery pit below.
  
  > Exits
  [From here you can go south and southeast].
  
  A small chunk of rock falls into the magma from the edge of the cliff.
  
  > Research Hyerotrope
  The moving motor of the Tidal Initiative.
  
  Discovered during the Ancient Era, its meaning or purpose is yet unknown. Apart from a huge power surge (all in the geo-gravitational spectrum), a Hyerotrope seems utterly inactive. Its "breathing" has been hypothesized as a remnant of a former energy outbreak, the likes and size of which are not computable. Although "dead" in many ways, it was soon discovered that its gravitational pull could be altered by igniting it with an immense plasma shock. Thus far, the seventeen Hyerotropes discovered have been used to counterweight Fatimah during the tidal outbreaks.
  
  > Research tidal initiative
  Monarch to counterweight the one caused by the approaching of the orbiting star Fatimah. Every ten days, all non-emergency power sources on the planet are redirected to the Initiative. The Initiative was the Second Bound by the Interstellar Agreement and was signed by all the thirteen members of the Council.
  
  > examine the carvings
  They are one centimeter wide (and you could bet all you have it is exactly one centimeter) and one deep. Inside it, an
  unsubstantial essence flows like a river of light. Although twisty and maze-like, they all wrap up at the base of the dome, some of them continuing over its round surface.
  
  > examine the door
  There is no way of telling how this "door" can be opened.. On it, four small dots draw a perfect line, in its center.
  
  The dots look like tiny holes in the center of the "door", one above the other in a linear sequence. Light pulsates inside four of them.
  
  > look at the dots
  The dots look like tiny holes in the center of the "door", one above the other in a linear sequence. Light pulsates inside four of them.
  
  > Examine dome
  The dome is made of a substance that looks solid, but it is actually pulsating like an human belly. It reflects almost no light, apart from the thick web of luminescent cracks that cover its ancient skin.
  
  > touch the dot
  They are cold.
  
  > Inventory
  You're carrying a new railway ticket, some Report files and an E-Pad.
  
  > go to the north
  A stronger tremor opens a crack near the edge of the cliff.
  
  > go southeast
  You approach the cliff's edge, ready to get back to the quartz platform, when a sudden tremor stops you on your feet.
  And it's a rather fortunate event, as your step ends up just a centimeter from a sinister crack opening on the cliff itself.
  
  A second later, a more intense shock cuts the crack open and a large section of the cliff face goes crumbling down right in front of you. You had taken another half step you would have fallen into the fiery pits below.
  
  You hold yourself to the cave walls, panting loudly, waiting for the affright to vanish.
  
  A stronger tremor opens a crack near the edge of the cliff.
  
  > Exits
  [From here you can go south and southeast].
  
  A lesser tremor splinters the cliff, sending pieces into the fiery pit below.
  
  > Go north
  You walk over the crumbled wall, finding your way to the Construct pillar. The heat is almost unbearable.
  
  The broken pillar seems sturdy enough to resist the flowing magma for a long time. Were it not for the quake, it could have survived in the molten rocks for ages. The alloy is sturdy and elastic at the same time, its interiors glittering like a salt mine. At its center, a hollow section opens into a net of tangled steel bars that worked as a skeleton for the whole structure. Wires of every kind run deep inside, like a circulatory system. You can't tell what kind of machinations were designed for the Construct and what served what inside here.
  
  From the center of the pillar, where it has been torn in two by the disaster, a steel bar pops out, loose from the others of its own family. It looks like you can pull it out without much effort.
  
  You start fainting from the excessive heat. Your eyes are sore and you can barely breathe.
  
  > take the bar
  You pull the steel bar out of the tangle in which it rests.
  
  Everything around you is becoming red and black, like in a sort of twisted nightmare. The intense heat is killing you.
  
  > Go south
  A gigantic river of molten rocks and magma slowly cuts its way in a wide crack running before your eyes. You stand uncomfortably over a small stony step which looks like a building's cornice and serves as the only walkway at the side of the underground cliff, off to the east and west. Pieces of building sink into the ground and pop out from the ceiling of the enormous cave, like steel crosses in an abandoned cemetery. In the middle of the crack, to the north, bathing in magma, rests the crippled half of one of the Construct pillars, the remaining structure lost.
  
  A bridge of sedimentary stone has fallen from above, and now rests in a scarce equilibrium above the fiery canyon between here and the pillar's broken surface.
  
  > Examine bar
  One meter and a half long, three centimeters wide. Enough to break a man's skull with just one hit.
  
  > go to the north
  You walk over the crumbled wall, finding your way to the Construct pillar. The heat is almost unbearable.
  
  The broken pillar seems sturdy enough to resist the flowing magma for a long time. Were it not for the quake, it could have survived in the molten rocks for ages. The alloy is sturdy and elastic at the same time, its interiors glittering like a salt mine. At its center, a hollow section opens into a net of tangled steel bars that worked as a skeleton for the whole structure. Wires of every kind run deep inside, like a circulatory system.
  
  The fumes coming from the lava under the pillar are so hot you can feel your skin burn. You must get out of here before you catch fire.
  
  > Exits
  [From here you can go south].
  
  Everything around you is becoming red and black, like in a sort of twisted nightmare. The intense heat is killing you.
  
  > go west
  The walk over the tiny ledge is painstaking. After several minutes, you leave it for the first opening, a tight crack in the wall, large enough to let a man pass through.
  
  The wide room is lit only by the fiery pits opening east beyond the crack in the wall. The rest is immersed in darkness. All you can discern are piles and piles of boxes and stuff put together who knows when and for who knows what. Glimmering in the reflections of your E-Pad's green light, you discover a lonely hut, made from plastic wreckage and held together by iron wires, its door sprung open to the north. The warehouse goes on to the northwest, beyond more piles of stock.
  
  A huge switch hides behind some dust in the west wall.
  
  > examine the switch
  It is encrusted with rust, grinning like a sardonic smile made in steel and plastics.
  
  > look at the boxes
  Piles and piles of once useful objects, now reduced to rubbish. The plastic cans make them unopenable and unmovable. A pity.
  
  > go to the north
  Darkness gets thicker in here. Shelves line up along the interior, but they are all empty. An old wire dangles from the ceiling with no lamp on it. The only exit is south, to the warehouse.
  
  A blade of light comes from the back of the hut, to the north, where it penetrates a cut in the plastic casing.
  
  > Examine cut
  The plastic has been damaged -- by the quake? --  and lets some light come in from beyond the hut's shoulders.
  
  > look at the wire
  It comes from a pre-plasmatron era. Better leave it alone.
  
  > pry cut with the bar
  You push the steel bar inside the crack and press all you weight against it. After a while, the cut gives and a new, human-sized scar now smiles in the north wall.
  
  > Go north
  Pale walls run east-west in this blank passage. No doors or windows open in the underground, but light fills the corridor, blown in through the roof. A crack breaks the southern wall like a black scar.
  
  What kind of place is this, you mutter, looking around
  puzzled. A subway service area?
  
  You remember having read something about this kind of structure. One of your fellow teachers once called it an "underground settlement".
  
  > research underground settlement
  During the era when the Constructs were built, a large underground vault, known as the "settlement", was used for R&D and to store artifacts and knowledge found while digging through the icy crust and the upper layers. Aseptic walls run relentlessly for kilometers, along with a vast number of laboratories and facilities. These places are a sort of gigantic city-under-the-city, where the researchers and the workers spent their time together in a closed environment. Due to the extremely long times before resurfacing, many were captivated in the settlements for months until their duty schedule expired. The seclusion proved too much for the inhabitants of the settlements, who started showing signs of paranoia and of claustrophobia. After only three years since the first humans entered the vault, a fierce riot took the pale halls, leaving more than three hundred civilians dead. The settlements were closed and all the work was handed over to automated machines and robots.
  
  still visitable: the Museum of the Vaults, near the Central Station. There, visitors can witness the "magic" of the white corridors lighting system, some of the remaining labs (only a handful are still functioning -- even if for mere demonstrational purposes) and the thrilling experience of the disappearing walls.
  
  > research disappearing walls
  One of the best shows in the Museum of the Vaults.
  
  Properly stimulated (via an input device or by remote control),
  what looks like a regular settlement wall blinks and disappears, working as a door for hidden or particularly dangerous rooms.
  
  > Exits
  [From here you can go south, east and west].
  
  > Go east
  Pale walls run west from here in this blank passage. No doors or windows open in the underground, but light fills the corridor, blown in through the roof.
  
  A darker spot seems to mark the north wall, almost in the exact center.
  
  > look at the spot
  A darker spot marks a rectangular area. It looks like once it hosted... a painting, maybe?
  
  > Exits
  [From here you can go west].
  
  > Go west
  Pale walls run east-west in this blank passage. No doors or windows open in the underground, but light fills the corridor, blown in through the roof. A crack breaks the southern wall like a black scar.
  
  > go west
  Pale walls run east from here in this blank passage. No doors or windows open in the underground, but light fills the corridor, blown in through the roof.
  
  Whatever this is, it looks like a cul-de-sac.
  
  A darker spot seems to mark the west wall, almost in the exact center.
  
  > look at roof
  The plastic of the ceiling is glowing unnaturally. It doesn't look like light shines from behind but rather from the very
  surface.
  
  > touch the bottom
  It is cut from a single piece of vibertron alloy. It is unopenable and unbreakable.
  
  > go east
  Pale walls run east-west in this blank passage. No doors or windows open in the underground, but light fills the corridor, blown in through the roof. A crack breaks the southern wall like a black scar.
  
  > Go south
  Darkness gets thicker in here. Shelves line up along the interior, but they are all empty. An old wire dangles from the ceiling with no lamp on it. The only exit is south, to the warehouse.
  
  Where the light came in from a small cut in the wall, a wide crack opens, revealing an escape route to the north.
  
  > go to the south
  The wide room is lit only by the fiery pits opening east beyond the crack in the wall. The rest is immersed in darkness. All you can discern are piles and piles of boxes and stuff put together who knows when and for who knows what. Glimmering in the reflections of your E-Pad's green light, a lonely hut, made from plastic wreckage and held together by iron wires, its door sprung open to the north. The warehouse goes on to the northwest, beyond more piles of stock.
  
  A huge switch hides behind some dust in the west wall.
  
  > pull the switch
  As you lower the switch, a burst of energy breaks loose, exploding in a loud pop! Fuses, wires and the very handle of the switch
  are now melted together. Apart from this, there's no evident outcome. You can only guess lights have been turned off somewhere.
  
  > Go north
  Pale walls run east-west in this blank passage. No doors or windows open in the underground, but light fills the corridor, blown in through the roof. A crack breaks the southern wall like a black scar.
  
  A faint crumbling sound breaks the silence of the place, somewhere.
  
  > Go east
  Pale walls run west from here in this blank passage. No doors or windows open in the underground, but light fills the corridor, blown in through the roof.
  
  A darker spot seems to mark the north wall, almost in the exact center.
  
  > Go west
  Pale walls run east-west in this blank passage. No doors or windows open in the underground, but light fills the corridor, blown in through the roof. A crack breaks the southern wall like a black scar.
  
  > take the wire
  That's hardly portable.
  
  > go to the south
  The wide room is lit only by the fiery pits opening east beyond the crack in the wall. The rest is immersed in darkness. All you can discern are piles and piles of boxes and stuff put together who knows when and for who knows what. Glimmering in the reflections of your E-Pad's green light, a lonely hut, made from plastic wreckage and held together by iron wires, its door sprung open to the north. The warehouse goes on to the northwest, beyond more piles of stock.
  
  A huge switch hides behind some dust in the west wall.
  
  > pull the wire
  It is fixed in place.
  
  > go to the northwest
  The stocks are too tight together to let you pass. Some make a climbing route to the ceiling, which unfortunately ends there with no hope for trespassing.
  
  > examine the shelves
  Dust covers the shelves, a witness of decay.
  
  > go to the south
  The wide room is lit only by the fiery pits opening east beyond the crack in the wall. The rest is immersed in darkness. All you can discern are piles and piles of boxes and stuff put together who knows when and for who knows what. Glimmering in the reflections of your E-Pad's green light, a lonely hut, made from plastic wreckage and held together by iron wires, its door sprung open to the north. The warehouse goes on to the northwest, beyond more piles of stock.
  
  A huge switch hides behind some dust in the west wall.
  
  > Inventory
  You're carrying a steel bar, a new railway ticket, some Report files and an E-Pad.
  
  > hit switch with the bar
  It would probably ruin both the steel bar and the power switch.
  
  > go east
  The immense magma river flows below effortlessly, although slow and patiently. The whole cave is lit by its fiery belly. From here you can see the broken pillar rising from the flames like a finger pointing the sky -- a sky made of crumbling rocks and metal -- and the stony walls surrounding the sight like the steps of a giant arena. Below, the thin cornice cuts a distinct line on the side of it, losing itself in the distance inside a small passage to the west. The piece of quartz you are standing on has resisted the quake's onslaught and is now holding itself onto the rock like a cat on a tree trunk. Something like steps rise from here to an alcove, up above and near the ceiling. A faint cyanotic light pulsates inside it. You can reach it to the northwest.
  
  A large chunk of rock from the cave mouth, up above, has fallen into the molten span and now looks like a bridge of sorts between it and the Construct pillar.
  
  > Go northwest
  A grim mouth dug into the span's wall starts here and crawls inside the earth, disappearing after a twist to the south. A bright blue light pulsates there, faint. In front of you, the molten span is still visible, although the curve of the collapsing ceiling covers your sight. The cliff then dives deep into the roaring lava, debris dropping from its edge now and then. You can reach the quartz outcropping walking -- carefully -- southeast.
  
  A small chunk of rock falls into the magma from the edge of the cliff.
  
  > go north
  A grim mouth dug into the span's wall starts here and crawls inside the earth, disappearing after a twist to the south. A bright blue light pulsates there, faint. In front of you, the molten span is still visible, although the curve of the collapsing ceiling covers your sight. The cliff then dives deep into the roaring lava, debris dropping from its edge now and then. You can reach the quartz outcropping walking -- carefully -- southeast.
  
  A stronger tremor opens a crack near the edge of the cliff.
  
  > go south
  Cascades of dirty water wash the sides of the black pit, flowing towards the giant crack. The fiery curtains of orange smoke that originate a few meters from you are the only light source for a span that goes on for kilometers. A thick web of twisted rails cuts its way across the darkness to the southwest. A small gap in the hulking walls of the tunnel leads north towards the lake of magma. Then it's only concrete and stone and a shattered world tangling together in every direction.
  
  > go to the south-west
  Moving very carefully, you manage to put one step in front of the other, above the deep, until you get to...
  
  The chasm is under you. Its teeth close on the rails like the mouth of an all-devouring creature. You balance above nothing, an acrobat clinging to his own life, the only reasonable exit awaiting to the northeast.
  
  A broken wagon is dangling from the last of the rails, to the west. Light buzzes inside.
  
  A gust of smoke fills your nostrils, leaving you stunned.
  
  > look at the wagon
  The wagon clings to the last straw of rails. It has been ripped in half by the quake deflagration and now looks like the decaying body of a dead pet. Sparks light its interiors.
  
  > Go west
  One step at a time. Very, very carefully.
  
  The crumpled floor rests inclined by forty degrees, making it very hard to stay on foot. You hold on to a bench, its metal handles your last resort against a fall. Light buzzes inside broken fluorescent lamps and sparks ignite the emptiness with futile effort. You are overwhelmed by... the gravity of the situation.
  
  There is no sign of life. All is fallen. Dead.
  
  A glimpse of light reflects on something, hidden under the last bench before the chasm.
  
  > look under the bench
  Something is holding itself over the chasm, above the last metal rung.
  
  The crumpled floor rests inclined by forty degrees, making it very hard to stay on foot. You hold on to a bench, its metal handles your last resort against a fall. Light buzzes inside broken fluorescent lamps and sparks ignite the emptiness with futile effort. You are overwhelmed by... the gravity of the situation.
  
  A black metal box pops out from under the last bench before the chasm.
  
  > Examine box
  You see nothing special about the black box.
  
  A howling comes from the chasm, like a human crying.
  
  > take it
  You pull yourself to your stretching limit, a hand grasping for the box under the bench. As you catch it, debris -- and a square meter of the wagon's floor -- fall into the void with a noise like the one of nails on a blackboard.
  
  They disappear down under never hitting the bottom.
  
  > open the box
  You open the black box, revealing an Elektron and a metal weight.
  
  > examine Elektron
  A glossy side, a sticky side and no power. On the lower part of the sticky side, a slot is open, revealing nothing.
  
  > go to the east
  The chasm is under you. Its teeth close on the rails like the mouth of an all-devouring creature. You balance above nothing, an acrobat clinging to his own life, the only reasonable exit awaiting to the northeast.
  
  A broken wagon is dangling from the last of the rails, to the west. Light buzzes inside.
  
  A howling comes from the chasm, like a human crying.
  
  > Research elektron
  A portable interface. It connects to a receiving surface and works
  as an input device for commands and other tasks. Upon connection, it analyses the target and gives out: a) a fast signature recap; and b) the default commands to be executed (when provided). It usually needs a resonating crystal as a power stabilizer.
  
  > look at the weight
  A kilogram. Almost perfect.
  
  > go to the northeast
  Cascades of dirty water wash the sides of the black pit, flowing towards the giant crack. The fiery curtains of orange smoke that originate a few meters from you are the only light source for a span that goes on for kilometers. A thick web of twisted rails cuts its way across the darkness to the southwest. A small gap in the hulking walls of the tunnel leads north towards the lake of magma. Then it's only concrete and stone and a shattered world tangling together in every direction.
  
  A howling comes from the chasm, like a human crying.
  
  > Go north
  A gigantic river of molten rocks and magma slowly cuts its way in a wide crack running before your eyes. You stand uncomfortably over a small stony step which looks like a building's cornice and serves as the only walkway at the side of the underground cliff, off to the east and west. Pieces of building sink into the ground and pop out from the ceiling of the enormous cave, like steel crosses in an abandoned cemetery. In the middle of the crack, to the north, bathing in magma, rests the crippled half of one of the Construct pillars, the remaining structure lost.
  
  A bridge of sedimentary stone has fallen from above, and now rests in a scarce equilibrium above the fiery canyon between here and the pillar's broken surface.
  
  > examine the quartz
  It shines and reflects the molten span below. Here and there, small chunks popped off of the cracked crystal.
  
  A perfect splinter rests upon the others, waiting to be picked up.
  
  > take the splinter
  Taken.
  
  > put the splinter in Elektron
  The quartz perfectly fits the slot on the back of the Elektron. The display comes to life, showing some text.
  
  > read Elektron
  It reads: No source. Expected link missing. Check status and connection.
  
  > go north
  Pale walls run east-west in this blank passage. No doors or windows open in the underground, but light fills the corridor, blown in through the roof. A crack breaks the southern wall like a black scar.
  
  The light from the ceiling vibrates randomly, then it calms down.
  
  > Go east
  Pale walls run west from here in this blank passage. No doors or windows open in the underground, but light fills the corridor, blown in through the roof.
  
  A darker spot seems to mark the north wall, almost in the exact center.
  
  > put Elektron on the spot
  You link the Elektron to the north wall. The display on the device blinks twice: Some text appears on it.
  
  It reads: Gamma section port found. Tap display to open.
  
  > tap the display
  The Elektron blinks twice, then the whole north wall blinks too. It shines in a brilliant purple and seconds later it disappears, folding into itself. A gap now opens where the wall stood.
  
  You take the Elektron and put it back among your belongings.
  
  > Go north
  You go into the gap.
  
  Darkness falls. The faint, sterile light coming from the opening to the south is devoured by the walls of this twisted tunnel, a cut in the earth running diagonal and scattered in every direction. You can find no exits: the E-Pad is not enough to shed a light on this obscure womb.
  
  > Go south
  Pale walls run west from here in this blank passage. No doors or windows open in the underground, but light fills the corridor, blown in through the roof.
  
  A gap opens where the north wall once stood.
  
  > Go west
  Pale walls run east from here in this blank passage. No doors or windows open in the underground, but light fills the corridor, blown in through the roof.
  
  A darker spot seems to mark the west wall, almost in the exact center.
  
  > put Elektron on the spot
  You link the Elektron to the west wall. The display on the device blinks twice: Some text appears on it.
  
  It reads: Alpha section port found. Tap display to open.
  
  > tap the display
  The Elektron blinks twice, then the whole west wall blinks too. It shines in a brilliant purple and seconds later it disappears, folding into itself. A gap now opens where the wall stood.
  
  You take the Elektron and put it back among your belongings.
  
  > Go west
  You go into the gap.
  
  The gap in the eastern wall opens into a narrow room. Light vibrates and sends shimmering glances all over the place. The floor seems to be made from plain, levigated rock. The walls are of the same plastic material of the near corridor. To the west, a metal door bears the sign "storeroom" while, to the north, stands a more relieving vibertron portal.
  
  Light? You mutter to yourself. Where's the source? Maybe
  there is power, somewhere, after all.
  
  A power strong enough to activate the Tidal Initiative, maybe?
  
  > look at the portal
  An automatic door. This means a power source must be near.
  
  > go west
  (first opening the storeroom door)
  
  Whatever power source lightens the near corridors, its is nowhere to be found in here. The blank closet in which you stand, a bare two-by-two meters with no furniture except for a decaying plastic shelf in a corner, is covered in old and cracked tiles, the likes of which you only remember having seen either in hospitals or in public toilets. The acrid smell that fills the room points toward the latter.
  
  On the plastic shelf is a wax soap.
  
  > examine the soap
  A remarkably old wax soap, one of the kind momma used to wash clothes when you were but a child. A sort of relic these days.
  
  > examine the tiles
  Old and cracked tiles, the likes of which you only remember having seen either in hospitals or in public toilets.
  
  > go to the east
  Light vibrates and sends shimmering glances all over the place. The floor seems to be made from plain, levigated rock. The walls are of the same plastic material of the near corridor. To the west, a metal door bears the sign "storeroom" while, to the north, stands a more relieving vibertron portal.
  
  A distant dripping sound echoes somewhere.
  
  > Go north
  You walk past the vibertron door, which silently opens around you.
  
  When the heavy door hides in the surrounding walls, the buzzing lights of the corridor drop down to a mere spark. Whatever the power source is, its is obviously not enough to feed both the lights and the door.
  
  The door opens into another disaster scenario. Chunks of rock have emerged from the broken floor, piercing through the roof. From there, massive blocks of concrete and steel hang, remnants of the city above.
  
  The quake has indeed been tremendous and you wonder how much of the surface is still standing.
  
  A tunnel cuts its way into the earth to the north, beyond reach.
  
  An ice spike the size of a bus has been thrusted into the room from below. It shines, the light coming from a source underneath it, and it is illuminating the area. The color and shape of the chunk betray the ice as very, very old, the likes of which you studied from the Monarch's glacial era.
  
  Above the spike, near the roof, sparkles fall down from a broken piece of machinery.
  
  > examine the spike
  Its surface is rough and cracked. Shards of light glow everywhere. It looks sturdy enough to sustain your weight.
  
  > Climb spike
  You climb up the spike, finding enough grip to reach the roof.
  
  Cold Pyramid (on the ice spike)
  Chunks of rock have emerged from the broken floor, piercing through the roof. From there, massive blocks of concrete and steel hang, remnants of the city above.
  
  A tunnel cuts its way into the earth to the north, beyond reach.
  
  Near the roof, sparkles fall down from a broken piece of machinery.
  
  > examine the machinery
  It seems the quake has exploded in here, sending all upwards, toward the surface. The machinery (the likes of which you've never seen before) has been pushed into the ceiling by a shattering force.
  
  Now that you are near, you can carefully analyze it. It is a sort of metal cylinder, levigated beyond perfection by unknown forces. On it, four dots identical to the ones on the door of the Hyerotrope blink faintly. The exposed edge of the cylinder is a tangle of tiny cuts, each twisted into the other in an unique pattern. A smooth, plain surface is visible just a few centimeters near the dots.
  
  > put Elektron on the surface
  You link the Elektron to the machinery. The display on the device blinks twice: Some text appears on it.
  
  It reads: Radio wave emissions. Geo-gravitational pull. Very low response. Tap display to activate.
  
  > read Elektron
  It reads: Radio wave emissions. Geo-gravitational pull. Very low response. Tap display to activate.
  
  > take the cylinder
  It is firmly stuck in the stone.
  
  > look at cylinder
  It seems the quake has exploded in here, sending all upwards, toward the surface. The machinery (the likes of which you've never seen before) has been pushed into the ceiling by a shattering force.
  
  The Elektron is connected to the machinery.
  
  Now that you are near, you can carefully analyze it. It is a sort of metal cylinder, levigated beyond perfection by unknown forces. On it, four dots identical to the ones on the door of the Hyerotrope blink faintly. The exposed edge of the cylinder is a tangle of tiny cuts, each twisted into the other in an unique pattern. A smooth, plain surface is visible just a few centimeters near the dots.
  
  > examine Elektron
  A glossy side, a sticky side and some text on the display. On the lower part of the sticky side, a slot welcomes a heart-shaped quartz, now pulsating with life.
  
  > check your inventory
  You're carrying a wax soap, a black box, a steel bar, a new railway ticket, some Report files and an E-Pad.
  
  > look in the box
  In the black box are an Elektron and a metal weight.
  
  > look at the weight
  A kilogram. Almost perfect.
  
  > Exits
  [From here you can go south].
  
  > Go outside
  Before leaving, you remove the Elektron from the machinery.
  
  You get off the ice spike.
  
  Chunks of rock have emerged from the broken floor, piercing through the roof. From there, massive blocks of concrete and steel hang, remnants of the city above.
  
  A tunnel cuts its way into the earth to the north, beyond reach.
  
  An ice spike the size of a bus has been thrusted into the room from below. It shines, the light coming from a source underneath it, and it is illuminating the area. The color and shape of the chunk betray the ice as very, very old, the likes of which you studied from the Monarch's glacial era.
  
  Above the spike, near the roof, sparkles fall down from a broken piece of machinery.
  
  > Go north
  The massive ice spike is in the way.
  
  > look at the machinery
  It seems the quake has exploded in here, sending all upwards, toward the surface. The machinery (the likes of which you've never seen before, although it is hard to tell from here) has been pushed into the ceiling by a shattering force.
  
  > examine Elektron
  A glossy side, a sticky side and some text on the display. On the lower part of the sticky side, a slot welcomes a heart-shaped quartz, now pulsating with life.
  
  > read the text
  It reads: No source. Expected link missing. Check status and connection.
  
  > Yes
  cheapglulxe quit with exit status: 0
  
  Morning comes, in Monarch. An eerie light permeates the room.
  
  It's been a hard night...
  
  A bed, a table, a bathroom. This is all that's left of your colleague, Professor Re's. Some dust, an eerie atmosphere and just a memory.
  
  > go east
  Pale walls run east from here in this blank passage. No doors or windows open in the underground, but light fills the corridor, blown in through the roof.
  
  A gap opens where the west wall once stood.
  
  > go east
  Pale walls run east-west in this blank passage. No doors or windows open in the underground, but light fills the corridor, blown in through the roof. A crack breaks the southern wall like a black scar.
  
  > put Elektron on the door
  You link the Elektron to the door of the dome. The display on the device blinks twice: Some text appears on it.
  
  It reads: Geo-gravitational pull. Alert. Peaks at 13.6x10^12 gamma epsilon. Reading off scale. Process terminated.
  
  Wow. There must be a power source of gigantic proportions in there.
  
  > open the door
  There is no evident way of doing that. There must be a trick of sorts to open the door. If it is a door, of course.
  
  > Research elektron
  A portable interface. It connects to a receiving surface and works
  as an input device for commands and other tasks. Upon connection, it analyses the target and gives out: a) a fast signature recap; and b) the default commands to be executed (when provided). It usually needs a resonating crystal as a power stabilizer.
  
  > Light soap
  This dangerous act would achieve little.
  
  > eat the soap
  That's plainly inedible.
  
  > go to the north
  Before leaving, you remove the Elektron from the door of the dome.
  
  A grim mouth dug into the span's wall starts here and crawls inside the earth, disappearing after a twist to the south. A bright blue light pulsates there, faint. In front of you, the molten span is still visible, although the curve of the collapsing ceiling covers your sight. The cliff then dives deep into the roaring lava, debris dropping from its edge now and then. You can reach the quartz outcropping walking -- carefully -- southeast.
  
  A small chunk of rock falls into the magma from the edge of the cliff.
  
  > put Elektron on the wall
  The surface of Walls_dark is not good for that.
  
  > go to the north
  By touching the walls, you discover an exit on the north wall.
  
  Again, disaster struck.
  
  The walls of what once was a sort of laboratory are but piles of debris and distorted laminas. The only passage large enough for your shoulders is west, through broken rocks. To the south, darkness marks the way to the corridors.
  
  The only surviving piece of equipment, amidst the crumbled universe that is now this old planet, is a glass cabinet which batteries still power. A fluorescent light shines on its pale interior.
  
  > look at the cabinet
  Inside the cabinet you can see a disc that someone labeled "Alpha" and a disc labeled "Beta".
  
  > examine Alpha
  It has two plain surfaces. One is smooth and polished. The other is marked by an astonishing number of protruding lines, like a maze of sorts.
  
  > open the cabinet
  You open the surviving glass cabinet.
  
  > take the batteries
  You can't tell where they are. And you don't really need them, after all.
  
  > go west
  Another lab, where light is just a thick, yellow smoke at nose-height. All seems in place: the cabinets, the tables, the displays. Even a terminal, which sits on the northeast corner of the room, seems real enough to push the thought it could actually be functional. But: there's something more, something you couldn't have honestly anticipated.
  
  Something like a talon has cut this room in two. Its three meter long, shiny carapace is dripping with horror and malevolence. In from the west wall, it has crushed everything and splintered stone and metal together with no effort. You cannot fathom what -- or who -- it must belong to.
  
  The nail seems nerveless.
  
  > look at the nail
  It looks metallic, although you are certain it must be a
  beast's nail. It is still as a statue, but you are convinced
  life still runs through it.
  
  > touch it
  It is cold as ice. Still, you know warm blood must run in
  there.
  
  > Research dragon
  You discover nothing of interest in the E-Pad.
  
  The light from the ceiling vibrates randomly, then it calms down.
  
  > examine terminal
  A keyboard and a screen. It sits silently, seemingly turned off.
  
  > turn on the terminal
  The screen comes to life. What comes up appears to be a diagram of sorts.
  
  > examine the screen
  (the old terminal)
  The screen shows a diagram, indicating what seems to be a comparison between energy spectrums, a kind of measurement you and Andy have been doing a lot, lately. Infact, it takes you but a second to recognize the waveforms and the patterns depicted.
  
  On the left, a vivid pink line indicates the remnants of the Event onslaught, that waveform that still can be picked up well beyond the Omega waves array. On the right, a similar (but much stronger) curve, printed in light blue, almost replicates the first one. There are no labels under the diagrams, still it's beyond any doubt the latter is what you and Andy called the Alpha Radiation.
  
  Ironically, the two lines look like the output of a... quake measurement device.
  
  The Event, you murmur. As a conditioned reflex, you find
  yourself holding tight to the E-Pad.
  
  > Research event
  "The Event" a.k.a. "Event Primeval" or "the Crunch".
  
  During the Third Age, around year 7,892 of the Galaxy, the Event begun, spanning over 300 years as calculated from Korhos revolutionary times. At first just a mere brilliance in the night sky, as luminescent as any supernova effect, it was described as soon "enlarging and becoming more and more intense". Records from the era recount how something, inside the neighboring galaxy, grew so big that it actually devoured 90 percent of the stars in it. In time, the brilliance became less invasive, returning darkness to the night. In the end, on the third day of the fourth month of the year 8,140, the Event exploded, obliterating the sky on the southern hemisphere of Monarch. The lesser sun of the trinary system KFS, Fatimah, was actually involved in the deflagration. It was dislocated enough to enter the Korhos gravitational orbit, thus becoming its bigger satellite. The Event also wiped almost all life on the Andromeda galaxy: just the more technologically advanced inhabitants of the Monarch Republic survived the onslaught, by hiding underground and in the Mechanosatellites.
  
  > Research mechanosatellites
  Structures orbiting Monarch at a very long range. Build as solid
  space stations, they were meant to be used as bunkers against the Event onslaught. Upon serving their purpose, they have been since left abandoned.
  
  A distant dripping sound echoes somewhere.
  
  > research Alpha Radiation
  (Inserted by user 5,835 -- not present in general database)
  
  Radiation which pulsates from a specific point under Monarch's capital. Discovered on 25th/3rd/9,855. Generator or source: unkn. Z-position: unkn. Magnitude: feeble, but growing. ---- Warning: same kind of the Event residues. ----.