text: [Themes: Superhero, combat, female protagonist, kids]
  
  > Describe the surroundings
  This small chamber is an adjunct to the materials handling room, designed to allow observation and some degree of remote control over the equipment in that room. On the north wall is the long, rectangular pane of thick glass that separates the two rooms, and below that is a control panel. Opposite the edges of this large window, on the south side of the room, a couple of tall window-slats let in the sunlight. To the west is the door out to the hallway.
  
  > examine the buzzer
  Austin invented this gizmo. It's a plastic device, about the size and shape of a pencil, with a button on one end. When you push that button, the buzzer sends a signal to Austin, and the button flashes until he acknowledges the message. Then he'll come running to find you, following the buzzer's GPS signal. He asked you to take the buzzer this morning so that you could notify him immediately after you talk to Aunt Nina about the letter, or in case anything unusual comes up.
  
  > examine the panel
  This control panel rivals an airplane cockpit for complexity, and Aunt Nina hasn't trained you on a whole lot of its functions. The only controls you really know are a horizontal lever, a vertical lever, and a pale green switch. There is also a speaker and microphone built into the control panel so that people in the two rooms can talk to each other.
  
  > look at horizontal
  The horizontal lever controls the containment chamber where samples are kept before transfer. Pulling the lever opens the chamber, and pushing it closes the chamber.
  
  > look at vertical
  The vertical lever activates the security door for the materials handling room. If you pull it, a thick plate of lead alloy slides over the outside of the door, serving both as warning and protection for anyone outside.
  
  > examine the pale green
  Once a sealed container has been placed within the transfer chamber, the pale green switch activates a sterile transfer to the desired receptacle. The switch is currently in the OFF position.
  
  One of the double-doors to the materials handling room opens, and in strides Aunt Nina. She's looking as beautiful as ever today, even with her dark hair pulled back into a severe bun.
  
  "Hi Emily," she says, her voice sounding tinny through the control panel speakers. Her attention is focused on the containment chamber, and you get the sense that she's only barely aware of your presence. "How are you today?"
  
  Please select a reply:
  
  1) "I'm fine, thanks."
  2) "Actually, I'm kind of reeling. Can I talk to you about it?"
  3) "I'm over here, Aunt Nina. That's the containment chamber you're talking to."
  4) "Aunt Nina, I want to talk to you about this letter I found. It says you know something about Mom and Dad's disappearance."
  
  > 2
  "Good, good, I'm glad to hear it," says Aunt Nina distractedly.
  
  > talk to Nina
  "Aunt Nina, I really need to talk to you about something," you venture.
  
  "Can it wait, please? Finishing this procedure is my top priority today, then we can talk."
  
  "Well, I'd rather not wait..."
  
  "I need to ask you to wait today, Emily. Thanks for understanding."
  
  "But Aunt Nina, I found a letter from Mom last night saying that you have information about where Mom and Dad are!"
  
  "I don't have time to write you a recommendation letter right now, Emily. Let's talk about it after the transfer," she says, her eyes on the transfer chamber controls.
  
  "No, Aunt Nina, I said--"
  
  "Emily, please!"
  
  You lapse into silence rather than continue the fruitless conversation.
  
  This is really very odd. Aunt Nina is always a little out of it when she's focused on a procedure, but you've never seen her quite this out of it.
  
  Aunt Nina walks over to the containment chamber and starts inspecting it, talking to you all the time. You recognize this behavior -- you and Austin call it her Lecture Mode, and once it starts rolling, it's about as easy to stop as a speeding train.
  
  "So, as I'm sure you remember, Emily, these experiments deal with bacteria that I'm convinced are at least 250 million years old. These guys were around millions of years before the first dinosaurs evolved, back when all the continents were in one smushed-together landmass called Pangaea. The bacteria have been trapped in a deposit of salt crystals since that time, and today's procedure is the next step in extracting the bacteria so that we can study them."
  
  > Blast nina
  You can't blast anything until you put the skysuit back on.
  
  "People have found living bacteria trapped in salt before," continues Aunt Nina, "but their reports have been rejected because they couldn't prove that the microbes weren't actually contaminants from the lab. This time, though, we've taken extraordinary precautions -- everything has been in a sterile environment from the outset, and we've washed the salt crystals with both caustic bleach and acid. Then once the crystals are in the transfer chamber, we'll use sterilized equipment to drill inside them."
  
  > talk to Nina
  It's clearly pointless to even try talking to Aunt Nina right now.
  
  Aunt Nina walks over to the transfer chamber and starts typing on the attached keyboard, double-checking the programming of its internal equipment. "The bacteria actually live in tiny pockets of brine inside the crystals, so we'll extract that fluid and add some nutrients to see what grows. I think they've been able to survive this long because they were in a spore state, essentially shut down. But preliminary testing indicates that once these bacteria leave the spore state, they may be able to multiply astonishingly quickly."
  
  > examine the switch
  Once a sealed container has been placed within the transfer chamber, the pale green switch activates a sterile transfer to the desired receptacle. The switch is currently in the OFF position.
  
  "Of course, there is a danger that the radiation emitted by nearby rocks might have damaged the DNA of this bacteria sometime during its 250 million year journey, but without a metric for comparison, it may be hard to tell. In any case, it certainly raises interesting questions about the limits of life. Knowing that bacteria can survive for this long in such an unforgiving environment has even begun to make me wonder whether it's possible that they can hop from one planet to another -- who knows, perhaps these microbes have an extraterrestrial origin?"
  
  > Wait
  Time passes.
  
  Aunt Nina is still staring at the transfer chamber screen and typing furiously. She says, "Alright Emily, let's get started. Please close the security door so that we can safely open the containment chamber."
  
  Please select a reply:
  
  1) "Activating security door."
  2) "Um... how do I do that again?"
  3) "Would you please stop talking for just a minute so I can ask you something?"
  
  > 3
  Aunt Nina gets up from the transfer chamber and starts leafing intensely through one of the notebooks she brought in with her. She doesn't answer you.
  
  A prickling feeling is creeping up the back of your skull. Something is definitely wrong with Aunt Nina.
  
  > pull vertical
  You hear a hum of servos, followed by a resonant thump. The red bulb lights up, indicating that the security door is closed.
  
  "Excellent," says Aunt Nina. She sets the notebook down and walks over to the containment chamber. "Now open the containment chamber, please."
  
  Please select a reply:
  
  1) "Opening containment chamber."
  2) "That's the horizontal lever, right?"
  3) "That's the pale green switch, right?"
  4) "That's the chartreuse trackball, right?"
  5) "It really doesn't matter what I say, does it?"
  
  > 5
  "Right, that's right," mumbles Aunt Nina, running a finger over one of her written calculations.
  
  > pull horizontal
  With a hydraulic hiss, the containment chamber slides open.
  
  Aunt Nina's eyes light up as the containment chamber reveals its prize. She reaches in to retrieve it, a circular steel platter sealed by a glass dome. Beneath that hemisphere of glass sits a milky crystal, about the size of both your fists held together.
  
  Gingerly, she steps away and turns to face the transfer chamber, her eyes never leaving the crystal. She takes one step towards the transfer chamber, then stops.
  
  She lifts her head as if listening for something, a confused look on her face. Then you hear it, too.
  
  It sounds almost like distant thunder, but also wrong, and even as this thought reaches you, the walls are swaying and the ground bucking like ocean waves.
  
  "EARTHQUAKE!" you manage to shout, looking over at Aunt Nina. She is gripping the platter tightly, her face consumed by utter panic. Then a particularly violent tremor throws her from her feet, the glass dome shattering next to her face. Finally, with a tremendous KER-CHUNK, a piece of equipment falls between you and Aunt Nina, blocking your view of her as the tremors subside.
  
  > examine Nina
  The view through the window is blocked by a huge rectangle of black metal.
  
  Now you hear a new sound, a deep animal growl. It's quiet at first, but quickly crescendos into a mind-shatteringly loud RRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRR!
  
  Then with a FA-FOOOOM! the ground is shaking again. The equipment that was blocking the large window falls onto its face, and you can see the materials handling room again. Except Aunt Nina isn't there. What's there is a monstrous leg the size of a redwood tree.
  
  And here you'd thought this day couldn't get any worse.
  
  > look at the leg
  [Please press a key to continue.]
  
  Part 3: Monster Mash
  
  > press the green
  The earthquake has left its mark on the observation booth. A hole large enough to walk through has opened in the east wall, and a long crack has appeared in the large window pane to the north. The control panel beneath it seems relatively unscathed, as does the hallway door on the west side of the room.
  
  > examine the leg
  All you can see from here is the monster's leg, but that's more than enough to terrify you. It's green, and appears to be covered by thick, spiky shell plates. Even the toenails are obscenely huge and terrifying, five-foot cones tapering to lethally sharp points.
  
  Breathlessly, Austin arrives in the observation booth, wearing the earthsuit. "Emily, thank goodness you're OK," he says, hugging you.
  
  "Thanks for buzzing me," he says. "I got suited up and came as soon as I got the message. What the hell is that thing?"
  
  Please select a reply:
  
  1) "I wish I knew -- Aunt Nina was transferring the salt crystal to the containment chamber when the quake happened. After the dust settled, this thing suddenly appeared!"
  2) "Would you believe... a really bad case of the prehistoric flu?"
  3) "What does it look like? It's a freaking huge green monster!"
  
  > 1
  "Wait, she had the crystal in her hands when the quake happened?" You nod.
  
  "Aha," says Austin, a look of comprehension dawning on his face. "Then I'll bet it cracked open next to her face, she inhaled those microbes, and here we have the results.
  
  "So if we can kill the bacteria, we might get rid of the monster and get Aunt Nina back at the same time!" concludes Austin. "Well, I'm no microbiologist, but I've spent enough time in the lab with Aunt Nina that I may be able to whip up some kind of rapid antibiotic. But I'll need to use the equipment in Aunt Nina's lab. In the meantime, find a way to stop tall, green, and ugly from wrecking the campus -- knock her out if you can. I'm not sure we'll be able to medicate her while she's still conscious."
  
  Austin thrusts something into your hands. "You'll probably need this," he says. "I know you said you didn't want to, but I really can't see any other way. I'll be back as soon as I can!"
  
  With that, Austin sprints out through the hole in the wall, and you see him leaping over the biology building, heading towards Aunt Nina's lab on the other side of the building.
  
  Looks like it's up to you now.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a skysuit
  a letter
  a buzzer
  an access card
  your sneakers (being worn)
  a pair of sweat pants (being worn)
  a sweatshirt (being worn)
  a legal pad
  
  > wear the suit
  [first removing the sweatshirt]
  
  [first removing the sweat pants]
  
  [first removing the sneakers]
  
  You get back into the skysuit. Again, you feel the tingling in your scalp as you don the cowl.
  
  > remove the pants
  You take off the sweat pants.
  
  > About you
  You're in the midst of changing clothes.
  
  > wear the suit
  [first removing the sweatshirt]
  
  [first removing the sneakers]
  
  You get back into the skysuit. Again, you feel the tingling in your scalp as you don the cowl.