Slouching Towards Bedlam — 46 of 76

Section 5(a) The central panel and room buttons

A panopticon button is a kind of thing. A panopticon button has a text called label. A panopticon button has a text called room direction. A panopticon button has a room called the viewed room. A panopticon button has an object called the paper code. A panopticon button has a text called the sound. A panopticon button has a text called the listentext. The description of a panopticon button is "[if the item described is the pressed button of the panopticon panel]It is currently depressed and glowing.[otherwise]Embossed simply with the letter ['][label]['], it is unpressed and dark." The analysis of a panopticon button is "CAT:NONLIVING.TO[line break]OL.UTIL:PANOPTIC[line break]ON.BLUEPRINT.PAR[line break]T:ACTIVATE.VIA.P[line break]ROPER.KEY.CHOOSE[line break]CELL.VIA.BUTTONS[line break]A-F.REPRESENTING[line break]SAME.NAMED.CELLS".

The console is scenery in the Circular Chamber. The description of the console is "It is complex, divided into several discrete sections. Set on a panel is a diagram - a blueprint. A small slot for the dispensing of paper tape lies beside it. Set above the diagram is a prism-viewer complete with two handles. A set of brass listening-tubes terminate on either side of the viewer." The analysis of the console is "CAT:NONLIVING.TO[line break]OL.UTIL:PANOPTIC[line break]ON.MAIN.CONSOLE.[line break]CAPABLE.OF.VIEWI[line break]NG.ANY.CELL.IN.H[line break]OSPITAL.WITH.BOT[line break]VISUAL&AUDIO.OUT[line break]PUT+CODE.STORAGE"

The panopticon panel is scenery in the Circular Chamber. Understand "blueprint" or "diagram" as the panopticon panel. The description of the panopticon panel is "Intricate in its detail, it depicts a series of twenty-four corridors set about a circular room like the spokes of a wheel. Each corridor opens onto six rooms, three on each side, with one exception: a hall at 3 o'clock instead connects to a building labeled 'Administration.'[paragraph break]At the center of the circular room is a keyhole. Beside it is a two-headed arrow, pointing up and down.[paragraph break]Beneath the blueprint is a series of buttons: six labeled A through F and one with an inverted triangle from which six small lines emerge. [if the pressed button of the panopticon panel is nothing]None of the buttons is currently depressed.[otherwise]The button labeled ['][the label of the pressed button of the panopticon panel]['] is depressed and glowing.[paragraph break]A corridor at twelve o'clock is lit and its [the room direction of the pressed button of the panopticon panel] room are lit up from beneath, as is the upward head of the two-headed arrow.[end if]". The analysis of the panopticon panel is "CAT:NONLIVING.TO[line break]OL.UTIL:PANOPTIC[line break]ON.BLUEPRINT.PAR[line break]T:ACTIVATE.VIA.P[line break]ROPER.KEY.CHOOSE[line break]CELL.VIA.BUTTONS[line break]PRINT.PATIENT.CO[line break]DE.VIA.TRIANGLE." Some panopticon buttons that are part of panopticon panel are defined by the Table of Available Panopticon Buttons. The panopticon panel has an object called the pressed button. The pressed button is usually nothing.

The keyhole is a container part of the panopticon panel. Understand "hole" as the keyhole. The keyhole is open. The keyhole has a truth state called activated. The activated of the keyhole is usually false. Instead of examining the keyhole, say "It is set at the center of the blueprint within a circular room. [if the keyhole contains the rod]It currently contains a long, flanged rod."

The arrow is part of the panopticon panel. The description of the arrow is "It sits beside the keyhole at the center of the blueprint, its two arrows pointing up and down."

Table of Available Panopticon Buttons

Instead of inserting the brass rod into the keyhole:

now the pressed button of the panopticon panel is the B button;

now the displayed room of the prism viewer is Room 6B;

now the brass rod is in the keyhole;

now the activated of the keyhole is true;

if the used of the brass rod is false:

now the used of the brass rod is true;

say "The brass rod slip easily into the keyhole. Then, of its own accord, it begins to turn - first clockwise, then counter-clockwise.[paragraph break]The floor rumbles for a moment. There is an odd sense of movement.[paragraph break]The light beneath the Administration and its connecting corridor goes out.[paragraph break]A corridor at twelve o'clock lights up as the key stops moving, as does its north-east room. The button labeled 'A' clicks down and begins to glow.[paragraph break]The room seems to have subtly cha...[paragraph break]";

say "[bold type]/(pain)\[roman type][paragraph break]";

say "A cacophony fills the room - a hideous screeching echo.[paragraph break]";

say "[bold type]/(chaosrandomhurt)\[roman type][paragraph break]";

say "It continues - emanating from the listening-tubes - a metallic repetitive thrum, the sound of an insect grown to the size of a lion...[paragraph break]";

say "[bold type]/(nosensenonsenserandomrandomnosensenonsense)\[roman type][paragraph break]";

say "...echo on top of echo on top of echo - resounding through the tubes, the room, the halls. A numbness spreads from arm to hand to finger...[paragraph break]";

say "[bold type]/(stopnostopmake)\[roman type][paragraph break]";

say "A solid *thunk* makes itself barely heard above the noise and then - silence.[paragraph break]";

say "[bold type]/(stop)\[roman type][paragraph break]";

say "The button 'B' is now depressed and glowing - the one beside it now dark - as is the eastern room of the lighted corridor.";

otherwise:

say "The brass rod slip easily into the keyhole. Then, of its own accord, it begins to turn - first clockwise, then counter-clockwise.[paragraph break]The floor rumbles for a moment. There is an odd sense of movement.[paragraph break]The light beneath the Administration and its connecting corridor goes out.[paragraph break]A corridor at twelve o'clock lights up as the key stops moving, as does its north-east room. The button labeled 'A' clicks down and begins to glow.[paragraph break]Horrible. A noise...[paragraph break]No...[paragraph break]Numbness. Cold. Arms, hands...finger...No...wait - it is 'B' which is glowing, as is the eastern room of the lighted corridor.[paragraph break]The room seems to have subtly changed.[paragraph break]";

Instead of inserting something which is not the brass rod into the keyhole, say "That does not appear to fit."

Instead of taking the rod:

if the rod is in the keyhole:

move the rod to the player;

now the pressed button of the panopticon panel is nothing;

now the activated of the keyhole is false;

now the displayed room of the prism viewer is nothing;

say "As the rod slides from its home, the floor rumbles for a moment. There is an odd sense of movement.[paragraph break]All of the lights on the blueprint go out, then the light beneath the Administration and its connecting corridor flickers back to life.[paragraph break]The room seems to have subtly changed.";

otherwise:

continue the action;

Instead of pushing the A button, say "[bold type]/(no)\[roman type][paragraph break]The cold again. And a numbness of the hands. And an inability to resist."

Instead of pushing a panopticon button:

if the activated of the keyhole is true:

if the pressed button of the panopticon panel is the noun:

say "The button is already pressed";

otherwise:

say "The button clicks downward and begins to glow. On the blueprint, the corridor's [room direction of the noun] room also lights up.";

now the pressed button of the panopticon panel is the noun;

now the displayed room of prism viewer is the viewed room of the noun;

otherwise:

say "The button clicks downward, then returns to its original state when released. Nothing more happens."

After deciding the scope of the player while in the Circular Chamber:

if the displayed room of the prism viewer is not nothing:

place the displayed room of the prism viewer in scope.

Every turn:

if the player is in the Circular Chamber and the activated of the keyhole is true:

if the sound of the pressed button of the panopticon panel is not "nothing" and a random chance of 1 in 4 succeeds:

say "[the sound of the pressed button of the panopticon panel][paragraph break]".

Instead of listening when the player is in the Circular Chamber:

if the pressed button of the panopticon is not nothing and the listentext of the pressed button of the panopticon panel is not "nothing", say "[the listentext of the pressed button of the panopticon panel][paragraph break]";

otherwise

continue the action.