text: > Examine
  Instructions and Hints for "The Best Man"
  N = next subject                                        P = previous RETURN = read subject                                Q = resume game
  
  > Credits
  Hints
  
  > Go north
  You'll have to get off Seat 4B first.
  
  > About you
  As good-looking as ever.
  
  > look at what you're carrying with you
  You are carrying:
  a sport coat (being worn)
  a small velvet box (which is closed)
  
  > open the box
  You open the small velvet box, revealing a diamond ring.
  
  The plane shudders slightly.
  
  > eat the ring
  (first taking the diamond ring)
  That's plainly inedible.
  
  > examine the ring
  What a rock! How did Jack ever afford such a thing?
  
  *** PING ***
  
  "Ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing some minor turbulence. Please return to your seat and fasten your seat belts."
  
  > Scream
  Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
  
  Feel better now? Good.
  
  The passenger next to you awakes with a start.
  
  > wear the ring
  You put on the diamond ring.
  
  "I hate flying," your seat-mate bemoans.
  
  > examine the passenger
  He's wide awake, gripping the armrests with white-knuckled fear. You find his fixed-forward stare somewhat disturbing.
  
  The plane lurches hard to the left. Your stomach churns.
  
  "I always wonder if I'll ever see my daughter again."
  
  > kill yourself
  Violence isn't the answer to this one.
  
  "What would my wife do if I were to die?"
  
  > ask the passenger about the flying
  He's too busy babbling to pay any attention to you.
  
  A bright blue flash illuminates the entire west side of the airplane, followed by the noise of a tremendous explosion. The wing is on fire!
  
  For a brief moment, everything is silent as the situation slowly sinks into the minds of the passengers. Then pandemonium breaks out in the cabin as the plane goes into a near-vertical dive.
  
  "It's all your fault, you know."
  
  Your traveling companion turns to face you, and you recoil in horror. The left side of his face is horribly mutilated, the skin torn and burnt. The empty eye socket stares at you accusingly.
  
  "Why did you have to survive? I had a family, a child... they depended on me! You had nothing! You were nothing, and you still are nothing!"
  
  He leans forward, and you can smell the horrid odor of burnt flesh.
  
  "Nothing..."
  
  Crash positions be damned! You struggle at your seat belt, but the mechanism is jammed.
  
  He's moving closer... reaching out... reaching toward you... the stumps of his fingers... twitching... touching you... shaking you...
  
  > give the ring to Man
  ...and you find yourself wrestling the station attendant.
  
  "Sorry about that! Didn't mean to startle you, but by the sound of it you were having a dilly of a nightmare!
  
  "Anyway, you best be going. I've written a note explaining the situation to the conductor; it's on the back of your ticket. Better hurry."
  
  You take the ticket and a copy of the schedule and make your way out to the platform.
  
  > examine ticket
  Sole survivor syndrome.
  
  That's what they call it. Psychological trauma after surviving an accident that killed so many others.
  
  You still can't look at a plane without hearing the screaming or smelling the blood. The last time you tried to visit an airport-- just to pick up someone-- you left in an ambulance, catatonic.
  
  Things were looking bad when the old rust bucket died this morning. The mechanic said that the earliest he could get to it was first thing Monday morning, and the rental agency just laughed when you asked if you could get a car on short notice for the weekend. Flight was out of the question for obvious reasons, but rail had existed far earlier than planes. So you found yourself pleading your case to a sympathetic station manager, who managed to squeeze you onto a special charter train direct to San Diego.
  
  Two years ago, the wedding was postponed indefinitely by your accident. You are determined that that will not happen again. The sun is shining, the tracks are clear, and in a few hours you'll be the star of the show. Come Hell or high water, nothing is going to stop you from being...
  
  An Interactive Action-Adventure
  
  Car 3 (on seat 4B)
  Trains haven't changed much in the last 40 years. You could just imagine a furtive Cary Grant slipping from car to car or a diabolic Robert Walker plotting fiendishly in some corner.
  
  You can see the conductor here.
  
  > hit the conductor
  Violence isn't the answer to this one.
  
  "Ticket, please."
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a sport coat (being worn)
  a small velvet box (which is closed)
  a train schedule
  a ticket
  
  > read the ticket
  It's a hastily scrawled message:
  
  John,
  
  The kid needs a ride down to San Diego. There should be a seat open on the Special. Just keep quiet about it and no one will be the wiser.
  
  The conductor is getting impatient.
  
  > Examine
  (the conductor)
  He's a handsome man, about 50, with an immaculate uniform. He stands straight and proud, driven by the conviction that he has an important job and that he does it very well.
  
  A small twitch near the side of his mouth hints at impatience.
  
  > open the box
  You open the small velvet box, revealing a diamond ring.
  
  The conductor is getting very impatient.
  
  > give ring to the conductor
  (first taking the diamond ring)
  The conductor politely refuses your offer of marriage. Besides, it's not your ring to give.
  
  "Very well, you leave me no choice."
  
  He blows his whistle three times. Suddenly you are surrounded by burly security guards, who escort you unceremoniously off the train.
  
  All for the best, it turns out. Only a few hours later, all of southern California is irradiated in a nuclear accident.
  
  > show ring to him
  Please give one of the answers above.
  
  > give the ticket to the conductor
  (first taking the ticket)
  The conductor reads the back of the ticket quickly. "Ah, that explains why you're not on my list."
  
  CLUNK. The conductor punches the ticket and returns it you.
  
  He walks north to the next car.
  
  > give the ticket to the conductor
  You can only do that to something animate.
  
  > read the ticket
  It's a hastily scrawled message:
  
  John,
  
  The kid needs a ride down to San Diego. There should be a seat open on the Special. Just keep quiet about it and no one will be the wiser.
  
  > go inside
  You'll have to get off seat 4B first.