It's a bomb.
It's clearly a bomb.
Explosives. A timer. Wires.
Good job you're a bomb disposal expert.
Although if you weren't someone else would be here.
Looking at a bomb.
Trying to decide [[which wire to cut]].Red. Green. Blue.
Which one?
You assume one.
One would be normal right?
Are there bombs when you have to cut more than one wire?
You probably should have paid more attention in training.
Actually attending training also would have been good too.
Red LED lights flicker as [[the timer]] ticks down.
(if: $been_round)[PSA: In case you hadn't twigged it yet.
This is a loop.
It's the same as last time.
Probably.
You can still go around.
What [[else]] are you going to do?]Two minutes.
TWO minutes.
That's not long.
To decide.
Which wire.
At least it will be over soon.
You could [[try to run]] of course.
That's what a sane person would do.
But you are a bomb disposal expert.
You should probably try to do [[something more constructive]].(set: $tried_to_run to true)The door behind you is locked.
Who would do that?
That's dangerous.
It's almost like someone wants you to focus.
You rattle the door handle.
Perhaps someone locked it by accident.
With you inside.
With a bomb.
With two minutes to go.
[[Nobody comes]]
You examine the wires.
Still red, green and blue.
Inscruitable.
They disappear into the mechanism.
Time is literally running out.
In the same way that you (if: $tried_to_run)[tried to before.](else:)[did not.
Good job on that one.]
But you probably should [[pick up the cutters]].
(if: not $tried_to_run)[Unless you [[changed your mind]] about the running away thing.]I'm not sure who you were expecting.
But they don't come.
Whoever they were.
They probably are a good, safe, distance away.
Unlike you.
You could spend some more time [[wiggling that handle]] or grab the wire cutters and do [[your freeking job!]]You pick up the wire cutters.
Like someone who means business.
Bomb business.
{(if: $tried_to_run)[Not running away business, like before.<br>]
(if: $shook_the_bomb)[Not maddly shaking it like there's no tomorrow business.<br>]}
You turn your attention to the wires.
You know I say they were Red, Green and Blue?
There are two of them.
Both black.
You have been lied to by me and the movies.
I can only apologise.
And hope to do better next time.
Bet that training is souding pretty good now isn't it.
You could [[just wing it]] or [[Investigate some more]]
(set: $tried_to_run to true)Yeah, running is a good idea.
You can get quite a long way away in the minute and a half you have left.
Shame the door is locked.
That's another 10 seconds of your life you wasted.
I guess you just have to do your job.
You are, after all, a bomb disposal expert.
The [[cutters->pick up the cutters]] would be something useful to have in your hand.It's a handle.
Cold and unfeeling.
It rejects your futile interaction.
Much like your family.
And friends.
Feeling sorry for yourself is a good strategy.
How is it working out for you?
As the timer counts down to your obliteration.
You could continue the [[pity party]] or try [[something more constructive]] Yes, good idea.
Let's get to the disposal of bomb thingy.
You probably want to [[pick up the cutters]] right next to you.
Or perhaps you have a [[more creative]] solution.There was that one time ...
At school ...
And everybody laughed at you ...
Yeah, you are so right to be mad about that.
That's definitely in the top three things in your life to be thinking about.
Right now.
Right behind the big ticking bomb in front of you.
But yeah, defo in the top three.
Good job.
You can [[crawl up in the corner]] or, you know, get back to that pesky [[little job->your freeking job!]] you've been putting off.
(set: $took_pity_party to true){
(if: $running is 0)[
(set: $tried_to_run to false)
(set: $shook_the_bomb to false)
(set: $got_creative to false)
(set: $took_pity_party to false)
(set: $been_round to false)
(set: $running to 1)
]
}Congratulations!!
You win!
At life.
Yep, that's it.
You found the secret ... good ending.
All those pieces of you scattered on the floor are certainly evidence of that.
Your impact on the world multiplied a thousand times.
Like the bomb multiplied you.
Or did it divide you?
You do the math.
Oh that's right.
You can't.
Because you're DEAD.(set: $got_creative to true)You pick up the bomb and look underneath.
There's a piece of paper under there saying "nothing to see here".
No there isn't.
But there might as well be.
Because there's nothing to see here.
The bomb feels light in your hands.
Maybe it's not a real bomb.
You could [[try shaking it]] or, you know, take the obivous route related to [[those wires->pick up the cutters]].Shake the bomb?
I mean.
You're the expert.
Right?
Specifically the bomb expert.
Shaking is like bombs 101, right?
They love that.
Little scamps.
Nothing happens by the way.
During your shaking stunt.
You could try [[REALLY shaking the bomb]].
Or take the hint and use [[the cutters->pick up the cutters]] instead.
(set: $shook_the_bomb to true)In the annals of bomb disposal history this is a first.
Congratulations.
You are right up there with "set fire to it" guy.
And "find out what it tastes like" woman.
They are both DEAD too.
Say hello to them.
Yes.
That's the ticket.
You've got a 50/50 chance right?
You never got better than 50% in school anyhow.
Except [[that one time]].
But that was a fluke.
You've still got to decide on the Left or the Right.
Which will it be?
[[Left]], [[Right]], [[Probably poke around a bit first|Investigate some more]]
{(if: $took_pity_party)[You really like flashbacks don't you?<br><br>]}That one test where you scored 100.
Maths wasn't it?
Algebra.
101.
You felt so proud.
Along with everyone else.
Who also got 100.
'cos the teacher got sick or something.
Coincidentally 100 is about the number of seconds you have left.
To live.
If you don't ...
You know ...
[[Pick a freaking wire]]Left.
Gauche.
Sinistra.
левая сторона.
That's <i>left</i> in different languages.
I don't understand them.
Just like I don't understand how you decided.
To just randomly hack a wire.
On a bomb.
It's like you just want to [[Die]]
Which is good because you don't have time to do anything else.
[[Make the cut]].
Right.
Right!
You thought that by choosing <i>right</i> you would be ...
Right!
Life doesn't work like that.
At least not yours.
What litte of it there is left.
Did you spend it well?
Perhaps you will [[Die]] better than you lived.
Time to find out.
[[Make the cut]] Ah, yes, sanity at last.
You are really starting to act like a bomb disposal person.
Not before time I may add.
I probably shouldn't add.
Given you only have.
I wanna say.
Sixty.
Yep, sixty.
Seconds to go.
Where would the mighty bomb disposal expert like to start:
- the big flashing [[red lighty thing]]
- the super important looking [[battery pack thingumy]]
- or the [[button that says DETONATE]] on it.OK, this isn't hard.
It's important.
But not hard.
Like butter that's melted a bit.
Only more important.
It's multiple choice.
Two options.
[[Left]] or [[Right]]
Oh, and it will soon be too late to [[Investigate some more]] You think this is some kind of game.
Where you get three lives.
Die once and try again.
You little rogue.
No, it's not like that at all.
You get one.
So don't screw it up.
Oh, I see you already did.
That's why you are in this room.
Daydreaming about death.
When you could have just [[cut the wire|Make the cut]] and found out.
This really is your last chance to [[Investigate some more]].Snippy snip snip!
Good on you.
You showed heart.
You stuck to your guns.
Much like the small bits of your heart.
Will be sticking to the wall of this room.
In about 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
YEP
There they go.
All over the place.
You made kind of a mess.
Jackson Pollock would be proud.
He's DEAD too.
You should ask him.
Remember that Bomb Disposal training?
Every explosive needs three things.
1. A source of power
And two other things.
This is that thing #1 above. The rest of the device is probably providing the other two.
It looks like a battery but in a rectangular slab.
On the side is a picture of the Energiser bunny.
It connects to the rest of the device via a wire harness.
You could [[gently lift the battery up]] or [[disconnect the wire harness]]. It's red.
It's a light.
It's on.
It's off.
It's on again.
Nope, it went off.
Yeah, you get the concept right?
Flashing.
Presumably it gets its power from the [[battery pack thingumy]].It's a button.
Yellow.
With black lettering.
Arial font if I'm not mistaken.
It says "DETONATE".
From the latin, "detonat".
Meaning "thundered down or forth".
Those forward thinking Romans came up with a word for how to explode a bomb centuries before the Chinese invented gunpowder.
Good job!
You could, you know, [[Press the button]] or look at the [[red lighty thing]] or take a peek at the [[battery pack thingumy]].Press the button?
Yeah.
That's seems like an excellent course of action.
Did they teach you that in Bomb Disposal School?
I mean.
It will dispose of the bomb.
And you.
Quite neatly.
Well, probably not neatly.
But if it's what you want to do, [[go ahead and press it]].
People like you, but with functioning brain cells, looked at the [[red lighty thing]] or the [[battery pack thingumy]].You press the button.
It goes in with a satisfying click.
It is well made.
As is the rest of the device.
Which functions as you would expect.
You are torn limb from limb.
An ignominous end.
But at least you did it on your terms.
Making a positive choice.
You are certainly DEAD.
And of that you can be proud.You carefully prise the wire harness off.
Disconnecting the battery.
The devices only power source.
Or at least what you thought was the only source.
But the bomb maker is ahead of you.
Sneaky bomb maker.
It turns out that of the two other things a bomb needs.
One of them is a second battery.
Which this thing has.
The clock jumps down to 10s.
As a punishment for your hubris.
Just long enough to [[regret your actions]] or perhaps [[look up the definition of hubris]].
Like the seasoned pro that you demonstrably are not, you gently take hold of the pack and lift it out of the device.
It feels weighty.
The wire harness pulls at it as the wires become taught.
Like your nerves.
If you pull it any further then you might [[accidentally disconnect|accidentally disconnect the wire harness]] it.
You could, of course, deliberately [[disconnect the wire harness]] to give yourself more room.
Or you could try to [[gently rotate the battery in place]].You gently rotate the battery pack.
Careful not to [[accidentally disconnect the wire harness]].
Using all your fine honed skills.
On the back is [[a small sticker]].
Underneath it is a [[small panel]].Congratulations!
You accidentally disconnected the battery pack.
There was an option to do this deliberately.
Or not at all.
But you went in a different way.
You are your own person.
At least for 10 more seconds.
Because that's the length of time now on the clock.
It seems the device didn't like it.
When you disconnected it.
So it accelerated.
Your demise.
Now would be a good time to [[regret your actions]].
They say regret is a dish best served cold.
Or is that revenge?
What is the correct temperature for regret?
It turns out it is hot.
Very hot.
Quite unbearably hot.
Hot, hot, hot.
Your body disolves in the incinerating heat of the blast.
Now you know what toast feels like.
You are most certainly DEAD.You pull out a dictionary.
Start thumbing through it.
Hardly ...
Hearty ...
Hue ...
Huge explosion.
Oops you have gone past it.
You need to back track.
But unfortunately you left it a bit.
Late.
You are DEAD.
It means excessive self confidence by the way.
But you probably thought you knew that already.
It says "£4.50".
"Pack 1 of 4".
"Not to be sold separately."
The bomb maker will be embarassed.
Like leaving the price on a Birthday gift.
Or a surgeon leaving some tools in you.
You could [[continue thinking of things it is like]] or take a look at the [[small panel]] that you can see beneath the battery.
You carefully prise the panel up.
Trying hard not to [[accidentally disconnect the wire harness]].
It pops off in your hand.
Revealing a small enclosure.
Inside are three buttons.
Conveniently labelled.
[[Defuse the bomb]]
[[Don't defuse the bomb]]
[[Call a friend]]
Press away ...Yes, this was a solid choice.
Instead of focussing on the bomb.
You instead think of silly mistakes.
That other people make.
Not the giant one.
You are making.
Right now.
You have just enough time to look at the [[small panel|not enough time]] beneath the battery.Oops.
Speaking of small mistakes.
There I go.
I said there was enough time to look at the panel.
But there wasn't.
You used it all up.
And now the bomb has gone off.
And torn your body to shreds.
So I do apologise.
For giving you that faint hope.
Now that you are DEAD.
I hope that this apology.
Gives you some small iota of comfort.
In your eternity of emptiness.Surprisingly this is a good choice.
You might just make it as a bomb disposal expert.
Yet.
You hear a clunk.
A faint whirring noise.
Several beats of silence.
Then nothing.
The counter isn't.
Counting that is.
Or maybe time just slowed.
Does that happen?
When [[your life flashes in front of you]].
Good idea.
Don't trust the labels.
Labels lie.
Just like everyone else in your life.
Leaving you alone.
Like that one time, [[at the swimming pool]].
You press the button.
A small flag pops up.
On one side it says "BANG".
On the other it says "IMMINENT".
Maybe it's not too late to press the [[Defuse the bomb]] or [[Call a friend]] buttons?
Phone a friend?
As if.
Do you even have friends?
As you pull out your phone you hear a rapid beeping.
From the bomb.
You know that thing in front of you.
Demanding your attention.
While you phone fiddle.
A modern day Nero.
You are about as alive as him now.
Because the bomb went off.
Blowing you straight into the history books.
The world's best bomb disposal.
DEAD.
But still an expert.
"It's not too deep", they said.
As you plummetted.
Headfirst.
In the definitely-too-deep end.
"Why would they lie?" you thought.
As you flailed around.
Thrashing pointlessly.
Much like now.
As you spiral into your memories.
A much nicer place then the reality.
Which has become hot.
White hot.
From the exploding bomb thingumy.
You may have found a way out of that pool.
But you didn't find one here.
You are DEAD now.
And that's no lie.
That didn't take long.
Perhaps it was just the edited highlights.
Of which there are few.
On the plus side.
You are still alive.
The bomb didn't go off.
You can chalk this up as a W.
You hear a [[click from behind you]].You get up and go over to the door.
It is unlocked.
How does that work?
Was the bomb connected to it?
Or was someone pulling the strings?
Gepettoing.
Behind the curtain.
You could try [[going through the door]].
Or, you know, just [[hang out here for a while]].
You go through the door.
It is just a door.
Like all other doors.
It separates the past.
From the future.
It closes behind you.
Locking.
Innevitably.
There's something on a table.
In the [[middle of the room|Start]]
(set: $been_round to true)You sit down on the sofa.
Relax.
Did I mention there was a sofa?
Oops.
That's a bit late.
Must look like a continuity error.
Please fill out a comment card as you are [[going through the door]].
Or, you know, [[continue to sit in aimless contemplation]].You make the self-affirming decision to stay sitting.
Staring blankly into space.
Waiting for life to happen.
It doesn't.
Life is like that.
You have to live it.
Or it just goes away.
I'm kind of affraid to remind you of the [[door|going through the door]].
You seem so content.
To just [[just sit quietly]].
Quietness happens.
To you.
You have reached a state.
Of oneness.
Zenlike.
[[Unchanging|just sit quietly]] Thanks for playing.
No seriously.
Thanks.
I'm not the narrator now.
No more sarcasm.
Just thanks.
If you wait a bit then some soothing music will play.
And then the credits.
Just [[give me a minute]].OK.
It seems that you don't have a minute.
That's a shame.
The music was super relaxing.
Now you'll just have to imagine it.
As you get on with your day.
It was in A Flat Minor.
Or is that what you get if you drop a piano down a coal mine?
Thanks anyway!
This was fun.