text: [Themes: Horror]
  
  > Go downward
  Cupboards are hanging open and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot left. The counters are strewn with broken glass and pieces of broken lab equipment. There are doors to the north, east and south. A closet lies to the west.
  
  The end of the ladder dangles from a hole above.
  
  The cat arrives from above.
  
  > look at the glass
  Broken bits are strewn about. There really is nothing of value.
  
  > Author
  Scene 8, "Music and Words", was written by Tom Blawgus.
  
  > Go west
  It is not much more than a small room. There are shelves lining the walls. The Laboratory is back to the east.
  
  On the shelves is a sledgehammer.
  
  Various bottles of cleaning supplies are scattered on the floor.
  
  The cat arrives from the east.
  
  > take the sledgehammer
  Taken.
  
  The billowing cat climbs into the excrutiating giant backpack, digging around for something.
  
  You cough once more.
  
  > examine the cleaning supplies
  Various shapes, sizes, and colors. If the warning labels are any indication, this is some powerful stuff.
  
  You hear what sounds like a scream, coming from somewhere outside.
  
  > take cleaning
  Taken.
  
  The cat emerges from the giant backpack once more.
  
  > examine the shelves
  You can see dust, dust, and more dust.
  
  The cat climbs into the giant backpack, digging around for something.
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  some cleaning supplies
  a sledgehammer
  a musical box
  a white something
  a ballerina
  a hooded jacket combo
  a strange device
  a giant backpack (being worn, and open)
  a cat
  some survival supplies (running low)
  a gleaming collapsible tent (closed)
  
  > Go east
  Cupboards are hanging open and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot left. The counters are strewn with broken glass and pieces of broken lab equipment. There are doors to the north, east and south. A closet lies to the west.
  
  The end of the ladder dangles from a hole above.
  
  > go south
  This doorway leads to a staircase that spirals down, eventually opening out into a cavernous area below the test chamber.
  
  This is a very wide cylindrical room, apparently built to the same dimensions as the test chamber above. A dozen or so columns support the ceiling, arranged in a circular pattern. The stone walls almost look carved from natural stone. Stairs lead back up to the lab.
  
  Something is dripping into a large basin in the center of the room from a hole above.
  
  The cat emerges from the giant backpack once more.
  
  > examine the basin
  A squat, wide cylindrical basin, made of something like smoothed white cement, with a huge bowl cut into the top of it. You have no idea why someone would put this thing here, directly under the test chamber.
  
  In the catchment basin is a scintillating dark pool of liquid.
  
  You gasp once more.
  
  > examine the liquid
  A thin layer of some dark liquid has stained the bottom of the bowl.
  
  > touch liquid
  It's some kind of dark, sticky, viscous liquid, but too thin to be worth collecting.
  
  > go to the north
  Cupboards are hanging open and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot left. The counters are strewn with broken glass and pieces of broken lab equipment. There are doors to the north, east and south. A closet lies to the west.
  
  The end of the ladder dangles from a hole above.
  
  There's something sinister about the cupboards.
  
  The cat arrives from below.
  
  > go east
  (first opening the solid metal door)
  It doesn't budge. Stuck?
  
  There is a faint ticking sound coming from a distant part of the base.
  
  > look at the metal door
  This is a solid, heavy metal door, apparently made of something like burnished steel.
  
  Your arm itches unbearably. You pull up your sleeve to scratch it, and the feeling stops immediately.
  
  > listen
  You hear nothing unexpected.
  
  There's something sinister about the cupboards.
  
  You hack once more.
  
  > hit the door with the sledgehammer
  The tremendously loud sound of a sledgehammer striking the solid metal door echoes throughout the base. However, it's also accompanied by a cracking sound, and you hear something metal hitting the concrete floor on the other side. You've managed to open the door about half a foot, enough for you to fit through.
  
  On the other side is a gruesome sight.
  
  You have found the missing Antarctic research team. The dark shapes visible within are human bodies... or, at least, they once were.
  
  The cat climbs into the perturbed giant backpack, digging around for something.
  
  > Go east
  No.
  
  > look at the shapes
  Misshapen and broken bodies, distorted into sometimes unrecognizable shapes, all covered in black pustules, dripping, all with the same manic grin on their faces.
  
  You notice a hand, propped up against the door, clutching some kind of paper.
  
  > get paper
  (the scrawl)
  You manage to pull the paper from the locked fist, careful not to touch what remains of its oozing skin. The arm flops to the floor.
  
  The oblong cat emerges from the giant backpack once more.
  
  > read the paper
  (the scrawl)
  Despite its ragged and stained appearance, you recognize this as a page cut neatly from the leatherbound diary.
  
  Dannerham's gone crazy. He must have sabotaged the last
  experiment. He locked us in this room. He says we brought this on ourselves, that we've created something too terrible to escape, that there's no cure.
  
  He's wrong, damn it! If I had access to the original carrier, with
  a few simple blood diagnostics I'm sure I could identify the mutations that make this strain unique and develop a vaccine, or at least antibodies, within days. Days! And with cold storage, I believe the progression of the disease can be greatly slowed or even halted indefinitely. The imbecile will kill us all for nothing, he doesn't listen to the audio comms system the observ.n. window is too high
  to
  I just need sth.g. wh.ch
  
  ybe destroy the comm. consol. autom.tic send a distr.s signal
  t
  
  If I coud only j.st get out i want get.out.ineedineed
  ineedgetoutGET OUT GET OU
  
  The scrawl becomes illegible beyond this point.