text: > look around
  Observation Room (on the chairs)
  This must be where the researchers carried out their work.The southern wall is dominated by a giant window overlooking the test chamber. One side of the room features a console with a few chairs in front of it. Stairs lead back down to the west.
  
  The cat is here. She blinks at you contently.
  
  The cat rubs against your leg.
  
  > pour the cleaning on the console
  You dump the contents of the bottles of cleaning supplies onto the console, which begins to spark and smoke.
  
  Fire licks at the edges of the destroyed part of the console.
  
  Somewhere in the base, an alarm begins to sound.
  
  > hit the console with the hammer
  You bash another section. The flames grow higher.
  
  You gasp once more.
  
  > Continue
  You bash another section. The flames grow higher.
  
  Piercing pain jets through your body like flashes of lightning, subsiding to a dull ache.
  
  > continue
  You bash another section. The flames grow higher.
  
  > keep going
  You bash another section. The flames grow higher.
  
  The cat climbs into the giant backpack, digging around for something.
  
  There's something sinister about the console.
  
  Hot. Hot. Burning up.
  
  > Go west
  (first getting off the chairs)
  
  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.
  
  > go to the east
  No!
  
  > Go west
  It is not much more than a small room. There are shelves lining the walls. The Laboratory is back to the east.
  
  There is a faint ticking sound coming from a distant part of the base.
  
  The cat arrives from the east.
  
  You wheeze once more.
  
  > 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.
  
  The blunt cat arrives.
  
  Piercing pain jets through your body like flashes of lightning, subsiding to a dull ache.
  
  > go to the 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 arrives from above.
  
  Hot. Hot. Burning up.
  
  > Up
  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 below.
  
  > Go east
  Piercing pain jets through your body like flashes of lightning, subsiding to a dull ache.
  
  > Go east
  Your arm itches unbearably. You pull up your sleeve to scratch it, and the feeling stops immediately.
  
  > go east
  ~no~
  You hear what sounds like a scream, coming from somewhere above.
  
  You cough up ropy black spatters of blood.
  
  You hack once more.
  
  > look through the door
  You find nothing of interest.
  
  Hot. Hot. Burning up.
  
  > examine the shadows
  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 catch a fleeting scent of cinnamon and cloves.
  
  You slump to the floor, coppery drool oozing from your lips. Blindly you reach out and pet the cat with a trembling hand. It licks your fingers. "There there, kitty kitty." You stay that way until the end. Kind of peaceful.
  
  > pour the cleaning on the console
  You dump the contents of the bottles of cleaning supplies onto the console, which begins to spark and smoke.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You are carrying:
  a note
  a flippant scrawl
  a sledgehammer
  a blunt hooded jacket combo
  a strange device
  a illuminating giant backpack (being worn, and open)
  some survival supplies (running low)
  a delicious collapsible tent (closed)
  
  You shiver uncontrollably once more.
  
  > Go west
  (first getting off the chairs)
  
  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.
  
  Hot. Hot. Burning up.
  
  > Up
  A small and cramped space, with no exits except the one you came through. It's cavelike, damp, dusty and unpleasant. Crude markings adorn the walls. A secret panel in the ground is open, and a ladder leads down.
  
  There's something sinister about the excrutiating ladder.
  
  The cat arrives from below.
  
  Piercing pain jets through your body like flashes of lightning, subsiding to a dull ache.
  
  > Go north
  The dodgy light panel from the basement to the west bathes the corridor in an anemic glow. Beneath your feet the cable runs eastwards to the utility room.
  
  The south wall hangs open, revealing a space beyond.
  
  More obviously, a dark doorway leads north.
  
  The cat arrives.
  
  Hot. Hot. Burning up.
  
  > Go east
  Just a dingy, empty supply room, containing little of note.
  
  Hold on... wasn't there a power generator here before?
  
  The cat arrives from the west.
  
  Piercing pain jets through your body like flashes of lightning, subsiding to a dull ache.
  
  > Go west
  Dark and bare with a corridor leading east.
  
  The cat arrives from the east.
  
  Piercing pain jets through your body like flashes of lightning, subsiding to a dull ache.
  
  > Up
  Light shines in through the kitchen door as you take in the room. The shelves are bare and show signs of vandalism, and you cannot see anything of interest left on the shelves. You can see a trap door in the floor.
  
  The cat arrives from below.
  
  You cough up ropy black spatters of blood.
  
  You gasp once more.
  
  > Go east
  You can't go that way.
  
  You have a pounding headache.
  
  Piercing pain jets through your body like flashes of lightning, subsiding to a dull ache.
  
  > Go west
  Everything is strewn about in here as well. The cupboards have been left open and there appears to not be anything left in them. A refrigerator stands forlornly in the corner. Doorways lead to the east and southwest.
  
  On the kitchen counter is a moldy block of cheese.
  
  You are suddenly overcome by an extreme sense of vertigo. You steady yourself, and the dizziness passes as quickly as it came.
  
  The cat arrives from the east.
  
  > Go southwest
  Claustrophobia gropes at your mind with feral claws in this corridor. It leads northeast and west from here. The functional, bolted metal of the walls continues from the airlock. It's warm in here, far too warm. The bloody trail leads to the west.
  
  The cat arrives from the northeast.
  
  Hot. Hot. Burning up.
  
  > go to the south
  The airlock is a cool dank chamber, with metal walls, floor, and ceiling. The fresh snow that blew in with you is now a puddle on the stairs that lead up to the outer door above. To the north is the inner door that leads into the research center proper.
  
  A red smear is splattered beneath the inner door.
  
  You can also see a serious leatherbound diary and an fulminating arctic gear here.
  
  The cat arrives from the north.
  
  Black smoke oozes in from the north.
  
  Piercing pain jets through your body like flashes of lightning, subsiding to a dull ache.
  
  > Close inner
  You close the inner door.
  
  You cough up ropy black spatters of blood.
  
  > wear the gear
  (first taking the arctic gear)
  It's too warm to bother with the arctic gear.
  
  The cat climbs into the ecstatic giant backpack, digging around for something.
  
  > open outer
  You close the giant backpack.
  
  There is a rumbling from somewhere to the north.
  
  There is a rustling, bumping sound coming from the elysian giant backpack.
  
  You slump to the floor, coppery drool oozing from your lips. After listening to your fever-distorted moans echo through the base for what feels like an eternity, you finally die a lonely death.
  
  > open outer
  You open the outer door, and are met by a fierce breeze.
  
  You hear what sounds like a scream, coming from somewhere to the north.
  
  This sudden chill makes you feel strangely at ease.
  
  > wear the gear
  (first taking the arctic gear)
  You put on the arctic gear.
  
  You hear a single, tentative scratching sound from inside the giant backpack.
  
  > Up
  You stagger out into the wilderness, smoke billowing from the surface structure behind you. You hear the distant whining drone of the extraction team's transport approaching. Looking up to try to make them out in the sky, you lose your balance and fall back onto the snow.
  
  Cool, calming, comforting snow.
  
  You're barely conscious when the team arrives, but are vaguely aware of coughing as the team attempts to move you. Then, only blackness.
  
  The cat, clinging to your body, protected inside the arctic gear, is the second and last to be rescued from the Antarctic Research Center. By isolating the sample taken from her, the team is soon able to find a treatment for the plague. You and Kira may not be so lucky, but at least, perhaps, your efforts were not in vain.