text: [Themes: Science Fiction, nonhuman protagonist, artificial intelligence, gender-neutral protagonist, caves]
  
  > Go downwards
  You are in a cavernous room built on the same vast scale as a concert hall. It cannot possibly fit within the buildings of the Administration Centre - the normal rules of geometry have clearly been bent here. You are standing in an observation gallery far above the floor, which is filled with concentric circles of workstation desks. All face the centre of the room, where another circular desk is placed on a raised platform. Above all of this, a huge three-dimensional globe hangs in empty space. The dim lighting in the room comes mainly from the planet, which glows with an internal light. To the north, stairs lead up to the landing.
  
  A display monitor hangs above the gallery.
  
  > Unlock Maintenance
  The green door is automatically unlocked when you are carrying a suitable access card.
  
  > Go northwest
  The maintenance room is a round room with a low ceiling. The walls are made of shiny brushed metal, giving an impression of 1970s science fiction. Doors lead west and southeast. You see a warning sign on the western door.
  
  There is a console in the centre of the room.
  
  A portal occupies most of the northeast wall.
  
  > look at console
  The console is on a pedestal in the centre of the room. There is a display and a keyboard. The display shows a message:
  
  'Dear candidate 28436,
  
  You must be wondering where everyone has gone. Let me explain.
  
  A serious situation has developed, and I have been forced to take emergency steps to isolate the Administration Centre - and ourselves - from the outside world. This isolation prevents my communicating with you normally, and at present I can only do so via this screen. I will explain more in due course.
  
  In the meantime, I need you to obtain the emergency access card.
  Then go west from the Maintenance Room and POKE 702522351. Afterwards, please return here for further instructions.
  
  Yours,
  Central Administrator.'
  
  > examine the portal
  It's a completely black rectangle. It's large enough for you to comfortably walk through it.
  
  > About yourself
  You are a student of Administration theory. You think of yourself as fairly smart and attractive, reasonably charming, and certainly well-prepared for any exam.
  
  > look at the sign
  The sign is on the western door. It reads: 'POKE Room. Unauthorised access is prohibited by the Central Administrator. Misuse of POKE will corrupt physical memory and may result in instantaneous death, reboot, data loss, segmentation fault, brain damage, infinite loops and loss of network access. If in any doubt, do not enter.'
  
  > go to the west
  You are standing within core memory, completely surrounded by the raw, working elements of a vast machine. Lights pulsate and flicker all around you: the effect is like wandering around within your own brain. You can see 4,294,967,295 buttons here. A door leads east.
  
  > look at the buttons
  The buttons are numbered from 1 to 4294967295, and you can POKE any one of them, e.g. POKE 12345.
  
  > POKE 12345
  It could be really dangerous to press the wrong button. You decide to double-check the number before trying again.
  
  > About yourself
  You are a student of Administration theory. You think of yourself as fairly smart and attractive, reasonably charming, and certainly well-prepared for any exam.
  
  You suddenly discover the effect of POKE'ing the wrong button. You find yourself in an...
  Infinite Loop
  You are trapped forever in a tiny infinite loop.
  
  You can see a kernel here.
  
  > examine the kernel
  The kernel panics.
  
  > Hint
  At this point in the game, you should follow the instructions given to you by the Central Administrator. These will gradually unlock further parts of the game and give simple examples of the skills you will need to solve later puzzles. You can find the Administrator's most recent instructions in the Observation Gallery, which is UP, EAST, SOUTH from the Lobby. When you find the gallery, enter EXAMINE DISPLAY.
  
  > check your inventory
  You are carrying:
  'Idiots' Guide to Writing Malware and Viruses'
  an access card
  some thermal paper
  an identity badge
  
  > Break
  What do you want to break?
  
  > examine the badge
  A small plastic ID badge. The badge states: 'Candidate Number 28436'.
  
  > POKE 28436
  You can only POKE numbers in the POKE room. [The POKE room is west of the Maintenance Room, northwest of the Lobby.]
  
  > go to the west
  You are standing within core memory, completely surrounded by the raw, working elements of a vast machine. Lights pulsate and flicker all around you: the effect is like wandering around within your own brain. You can see 4,294,967,295 buttons here. A door leads east.
  
  > POKE 28436
  It could be really dangerous to press the wrong button. You decide to double-check the number before trying again.
  
  > Go north
  This is the Administration Centre's museum. It's a vast hall, stretching far away to the north and east. It is currently closed and in darkness. A red rope blocks passage to the north and east. Light is coming from the corridor to the south and from a video screen just beyond the rope. Exhibition displays fill the room, most too far away into the dark to be readable.
  
  There's a plaque bearing the word 'Responsibility' on the west wall.
  
  You can also see a glass case (which is empty) here.
  
  > examine the screen
  The video screen is showing a televised interview with the Central Administrator. He is wearing a dark suit, and even in this old recording, his hair has already started to turn grey. The sound is faint, but you can make out some of the discussion if you listen carefully.
  
  > listen
  (to the video screen)
  The Central Administrator is speaking:
  
  '...having committed themselves to so-called science-based
  policies, these being policies tested by computer simulation, the intellectual class could not raise an objection when the simulators produced answers they had not expected.'
  
  > listen
  (to the video screen)
  'Such as?' prompts the interviewer.
  
  'I mean that the simulations favoured social policies that the intellectuals had regarded as conservative, old-fashioned and reactionary. The data clearly pointed at stability, liberty and personal responsibility as the key properties of a good society. The people had assumed that the machines would confirm their own beliefs in globalism, socialism and so forth. They had never questioned those beliefs, and indeed did not even think that their beliefs were beliefs. The idea that the machine might come up with the 'wrong' answer never occurred to them.'
  
  > listen
  (to the video screen)
  'This must have created some problems,' the interviewer remarks.
  
  'Oh, well, some. But nothing greatly significant. The simulations
  were quite repeatable. There were a few cases where independent research got different answers, but these were discredited. I audited their software and traced the differences to software bugs. Coding errors. It turns out that humans are almost as bad at writing software as they are at running a government!'
  
  The interviewer laughs. 'Is there any link between the two?'
  
  'I think so. Humans... well, all of us... struggle to deal with complexity. When dealing with a complex system, like a country, or a large software program, the temptation is always to assume that you know enough to make an informed guess about what should be done. It is a temptation that must be resisted. Everything must be thoroughly tested before it is allowed to 'go live'. You must do everything you can to avoid destabilising something that used to work.'
  
  > listen
  (to the video screen)
  'But were there protests?' presses the interviewer.
  
  'Some people will disagree with government no matter what it does. That is fine. They may choose to complain, and we may choose to listen. I think, though, that one reason the intellectuals eventually accepted the new system is that they found themselves in bad company. They now stood alongside deniers and conspiracy theorists, the same people they had once mocked as 'wingnuts' and lunatics for denying the validity of simulation results. Ultimately, they came over to our side out of embarrassment as much as anything. Pretended they had agreed with us all along...'.
  
  The screen goes blank again.
  
  > examine the rope
  The red rope blocks access to the museum.
  
  > remove the rope
  (first taking the red rope)
  The red rope will not move at all.
  
  > go under rope
  The rope is not much of a barrier, but presumably it is there for a reason...
  
  > look at the displays
  Which do you mean, the video screen, the nearest display or the rest of the exhibition?
  
  > look at the nearest DISPLAY
  The nearest display is the only one you can read. It forms an introduction to the rest of the exhibition, and it's immediately clear that the theme of the museum has hardly changed since you last visited it. The museum presents the case against the pre-Administration approach to government, known here as 'populism'.
  
  The display bears a quotation from a political adviser regarding his own government's lack of forward planning. Like all Western governments of its time, that government was completely dominated by concerns about retaining popularity and good public relations. It had no policies as such; rather, it simply reacted to events, attempting to retain the favour of the press and the public.
  
  This was not limited to one policy area, to one party, or to one government in one country. It was a universal failing. The voters said that they wanted politicians who spoke plainly and stuck to their principles, but if such people actually stood for election, they were quickly rejected, as no principle is universally popular. Consequently the only successful politicians had no principles and never said what they meant.
  
  > Go outside
  The corridor turns a corner here, continuing to the north and west. The Security Administrator's office is through a door to the east, and to the south, a short staircase leads downwards to a darkened room.
  
  There's a plaque bearing the word 'Liberty' on the north wall.
  
  > Go outside
  The maintenance room is a round room with a low ceiling. The walls are made of shiny brushed metal, giving an impression of 1970s science fiction. Doors lead west and southeast. You see a warning sign on the western door.
  
  There is a console in the centre of the room. There's a message on the console's display.
  
  A portal occupies most of the northeast wall.
  
  > examine the badge
  A small plastic ID badge. The badge states: 'Candidate Number 28436'.
  
  > examine the console
  The console is on a pedestal in the centre of the room. There is a display and a keyboard. The display shows a message:
  
  'Dear candidate 28436,
  
  The Administration Centre is under attack. The network is flooded
  by virus packets, and I am unable to do anything other than hold back the flood.
  
  However, you can help. By great fortune, you were due to take an
  exam today, and that involved some special measures which have protected you from the attack. Like me, you are connected to an independent system which is unaffected by the virus. But unlike me, you are able to control a maintenance robot. I need you to use that robot to save us.
  
  Take control of the robot via the portal in the Maintenance Room.
  In the outside world, find a Diagnostic network socket, such as WS4, or perhaps WS2, though I'm not sure that one is working. PLUG a network cable into it, and PLUG the other end into the Central Administrator socket, which is labelled WS3. You might need to find several network cables and JOIN them together: there is a cable joining tool in the old Broadcasting Studio.
  
  and let me run some diagnostics. It may be enough to fight the virus.
  
  Yours,
  Central Administrator.'
  
  > enter it
  As you step into the portal, you take on physical form. You now find yourself standing in the outside world, in the metallic form of a maintenance robot...
  
  This is a cold and dirty room with concrete walls and an oily floor. There are no windows - the room is deep underground - and the only light comes from aged, flickering fluorescent tubes. There's another room to the south and a doorway to the west. Much of the eastern wall is taken up by a blast door (which is closed).
  
  Network Socket WS3 is on the south wall. The socket is not in use.
  
  Network Socket WS2 is on the north wall. The socket is not in use.
  
  There are two charging stations on the north side of the room, each large enough to accommodate your robotic body.
  
  You can also see a workbench (on which is a screwdriver) here.
  
  > look at what you're carrying with you
  You are carrying:
  a black box
  
  > About yourself
  You are a well-oiled and somewhat noisy maintenance robot. Your robot body has a humanoid configuration - two legs, two arms, and a head, but it could not possibly pass for a human anywhere, not even a sci-fi convention, because the design is so completely functional. There is no skin; tubes, solenoids and wires are exposed along with the metal skeleton. The machine was never designed to leave the bunker - its intended purpose is limited to replacing server parts and installing network gear. A black box is attached to you like a backpack.
  
  > get the screwdriver
  Taken.
  
  > examine the screwdriver
  A flathead screwdriver with an insulated handle.
  
  > Examine box
  The backpack is a large black box attached to the back of your robot body. It contains your physical mind, isolated from the network and power supply of the data centre. The number 28436 is printed on the box in a neat typeface. A second number has been crudely scratched on it: 644358724. The box has a network socket. The socket is not in use.
  
  > examine the socket
  Which do you mean, Socket WS3 or Socket WS2?
  
  > examine ws2
  The label reads 'Socket WS2 - Diagnostic'. The socket is not in use.