text: [Themes: Science Fiction, caves, bunker, science fiction, gender-neutral protagonist, nonhuman protagonist]
  
  > look at your surroundings
  This is very like the room you were assigned for this year's exam season. There are dozens of them in the Administration Centre's residential block, all more or less identical. But it cannot be your room, because all of your stuff is gone, and the room looks like it did when you first moved in. It's clean, tidy, and almost completely empty, just with basic furnishings: desk, chair, bed and washbasin. There's a window in the north wall and a door leads south.
  
  > examine the window
  Even at night, you'd expect to see something. The gardens of the Administration Centre, and beyond them, the amphitheatre, the hedge maze and ornamental lake, lit by street lights and moonlight. It never gets completely dark. But today, there's nothing at all. Just total blackness, as if there is a smooth black wall just beyond the window.
  
  > Go outside
  You walk through a few deserted corridors. There is nobody here; the building is completely silent. You cross the Administration Centre's quadrangle, also deserted, and end up in...
  
  This is the main entrance to the sprawling Administration Centre. Large doors to the south would lead to the driveway and surrounding parkland, but you cannot see anything through the windows in the south wall. A grand staircase leads upwards. Doors lead east and west to the wings of the main building, while a smaller exit leads north to the quadrangle. There is a green door in the northwest corner of the room. There's a mural on the western wall, and a portrait and a mirror on the eastern wall.
  
  On the reception desk is a fax machine.
  
  > examine the machine
  It's on the reception desk, where it seems quite out of place next to the modern computer workstations. It's not a printer or a scanner: it's an old-fashioned fax machine that prints onto thin thermal paper. You notice some paper hanging out of the machine.
  
  > look at door
  Which do you mean, the large doors or the green door?
  
  > examine the green door
  It's a small green door in the northwest corner of the room, under the staircase. The word 'MAINTENANCE' is written faintly on the door.
  The fax machine bleeps.
  
  > examine paper
  Poor-quality paper from a fax machine. It reads:
  
  'Dear candidate 28436, please go upstairs to the Observation Gallery where you will find further instructions.'
  
  > look at the mural
  The mural shows the construction of a gigantic Gothic cathedral by medieval craftsmen. The cathedral, which is half finished, is covered in both primitive scaffolding and workmen, each of whom is busily engaged in creating some small part of the whole. It is already a thing of great beauty on both a micro and macro scale, though it may be a century before the work is done. A tiny caption reads 'The Rebuilding of Civilisation'.
  
  > look at the mirror
  Somehow, your reflection looks older than you remember. The exam stress must be causing some premature aging!
  
  > examine staircase
  The wide staircase leads up to a mezzanine.
  
  > examine the windows
  Even at night, you'd expect to see something. The driveway and surrounding parkland, lit by street lights and moonlight. It never gets completely dark. But today, there's nothing at all. Just total blackness, as if there is a smooth black wall just beyond the window.
  
  > 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.
  
  > take the mirror
  It is securely attached to the wall.
  
  > examine large
  The doors to the south are the main entrance to the Administration Centre. They are tall, wide, and extremely locked. Other, smaller doors lead east, west, northwest and north.
  
  > open the maintenance door
  The green door remains locked.
  
  > open east
  (the mural)
  That's not something you can open.
  
  > Go east
  The door in that direction is locked. Exits lead:
  north to the Quadrangle.
  up to the Mezzanine.
  
  > look
  This is the main entrance to the sprawling Administration Centre. Large doors to the south would lead to the driveway and surrounding parkland, but you cannot see anything through the windows in the south wall. A grand staircase leads upwards. Doors lead east and west to the wings of the main building, while a smaller exit leads north to the quadrangle. There is a green door in the northwest corner of the room. There's a mural on the western wall, and a portrait and a mirror on the eastern wall.
  
  On the reception desk is a fax machine.
  
  > examine the portrait
  The painting hangs on the eastern wall. It is an enormous portrait of Edmund Burke, the 18th century writer and politician. The Central Administrator is said to be a fan.
  
  > look up
  Seen through the window, the sky is completely black.
  
  > Exits
  Exits lead:
  north to the Quadrangle.
  up to the Mezzanine.
  
  > Go north
  The quadrangle is completely surrounded by Administration Centre buildings. It's a large, square outdoor space with well-tended lawns and flowerbeds and paths leading in all directions. The place is unnervingly quiet. Though the buildings, paths and gardens are well-lit, the sky is completely black.
  
  There is a sundial in the centre of the quadrangle.
  
  > examine the sundial
  As there is no sun, the sundial isn't working. You notice a quotation on the brass dial. It reads: 'What we do here matters somewhere else.'
  
  > look up
  The sky is completely black. Except for a message printed in white text, apparently floating far above you. The text reads: 'Safe Mode'.
  
  > Exits
  The only exit leads south to the Lobby.
  
  > take the dial
  That's fixed in place.
  
  > look at the buildings
  The quadrangle is surrounded by Administration Centre buildings. The style is palatial and 18th century: two storeys of grand, ornamental stonework, with attic windows peeking through the tiled roof above that. The buildings seem to be deserted.
  
  > look at the sky
  (the up above)
  The sky is completely black. Except for a message printed in white text, apparently floating far above you. The text reads: 'Safe Mode'.
  
  > examine text
  The text reads: 'Safe Mode'.
  
  > examine the badge
  A small plastic ID badge. The badge states: 'Candidate Number 28436'.
  
  > Go south
  On the reception desk is a fax machine.
  
  > examine the machine
  It's on the reception desk, where it seems quite out of place next to the modern computer workstations. It's not a printer or a scanner: it's an old-fashioned fax machine that prints onto thin thermal paper. You notice some paper hanging out of the machine.
  
  > take the paper
  Taken.
  
  > Up
  As you walk up the stairs, you recall the first time you were here. It was a school trip when you were very young: a day out at the Administration Centre! You remember the sense of excitement at being so close to the great and powerful.
  
  The first floor landing forms a mezzanine here, overlooking the lobby below. It's a sort of waiting room, placed right outside the Central Administrator's office, which is through the double doors to the west. A corridor leads east, and a grand staircase leads down. Like the rest of the building, the mezzanine is deserted, but if anyone was waiting here, they would be able to sit on the sofa and read the papers on the coffee table. Or they might look at the rather Administratively-themed artwork on the walls.
  
  There's a plaque bearing the word 'Stability' on the north wall.
  
  On the coffee table are a memo and a newspaper.
  
  > look at the newspaper
  It's one of the few newspapers that still has a printed edition, though for obvious reasons, this is an electronic copy. The front page story is all about an African dictator named Mugaffi. It is illustrated with pictures of children being treated for chemical burns outside a school. A few days ago, chemical weapons were used in the rebel city of Morgazi. 'Sources' blame Mugaffi's forces for the attack.
  
  According to the newspaper, this is the latest horrible incident of the full-blown civil war in Assadia. Though the protests against the corrupt Mugaffi regime began peacefully enough, the regime retaliated brutally - first with riot police, then with soldiers - and the situation rapidly escalated into war between rebels and regime forces. Last week, Mugaffi launched airstrikes against rebel-held cities. Now he uses chemical weapons against unarmed civilians, in contravention to all law, decency and sanity. But Mugaffi is afraid of the usual fate of deposed dictators, and he will do anything to cling to power.
  
  You recall that Assadia is an independent country outside of the Administration. As such, Mugaffi is free to do as he pleases, with no authority to restrain his gangster government. Strange, though, that the situation should have developed so quickly. You had thought that Mugaffi only won his presidency last year, as an anti-corruption candidate with much acclaim in the media, and was generally thought to be doing a good job in hard circumstances. But the newspaper reports imply that he's been in power for years.
  
  > examine the sofa
  A large and comfortable leather sofa. You notice a book underneath the sofa.
  
  > look at the book
  The book is 'Notopia', by Perry Simm. Some of the book is a biography of the Central Administrator. But mostly, the book concerns how the Administration rose to power. The title refers to the Administration's approach to government, rejecting ideology and Utopian idealism, and focusing instead on stability and rational pragmatism. The result, according to the back cover, is 'the sort of society in which people would actually like to live'.
  
  > examine the artwork
  Which do you mean, the portrait of Edmund Burke or the twelve pictures?
  
  > Twelve
  There are twelve pictures, each representing a key advancement in the development of human civilisation as seen by the Administrators. Some are obvious, like the discovery of fire, and the development of writing and agriculture. Others are more controversial, such as the institutionalisation of religion and the English revolution of 1688. The most recent pictures show the development of the Internet and the creation of the Administration.
  
  > take the book
  Taken.
  
  > examine the portrait
  The painting hangs on the eastern wall. It is an enormous portrait of Edmund Burke, the 18th century writer and politician. The Central Administrator is said to be a fan.
  
  > look behind the portrait
  [In Final Exam, 'LOOK BEHIND' is synonymous with 'EXAMINE'.]
  The painting hangs on the eastern wall. It is an enormous portrait of Edmund Burke, the 18th century writer and politician. The Central Administrator is said to be a fan.
  
  > Exits
  Exits lead:
  east to the Corridor.
  down to the Lobby.