SECURITY SHELTER Custom Cables Incorporated, 1983 ================================ Solution by Exemptus - August 2022 Overview and general hints: --------------------------- In this game we are sent by the "seekers" to explore a ruin of the "past timer" civilization, half buried beyond the glowing wastes. Our objective is not well defined, so this is one of these adventures where we need to find out what the deal is. If you have read "By the Waters of Babylon" by Stephen BĂ©net, you know what's coming. The game is short and easy, following the same patterns as other Elfin Software games. Directions follow GO and are one of NESWUD, EXAMINE is allowed and SEARCH too, being different, QUESTION can be used with characters, and there are six inventory slots. We also seem to be some kind of a cyborg, as we are told that POINT FINGER will emit an electrical discharge as a weapon, but we can only use this four times. Walkthrough: ------------ [We begin in the outskirts of our village. There is a seeker here.] QUESTION SEEKER [Says to go S,E,S when we reach the glowing wastes] GO E [Inside cave] GET ROPE [We can ignore the sword] GO W GO S [At the edge of the Glowing Desert. We can heed the directions given to us, but we will need some objects that are hidden around the area. First, if we go into the desert, we'll be told it's too bright to see clearly, and we won't be able to go places.] SEARCH ROCKS [Some sunglasses appear] GET SUNGLASSES GO W GO W [Ruined village] SEARCH RUINS [There's a blue armband and a cone here] GET BLUE ARMBAND GET CONE EXAMINE CONE [It makes a faint humming sound] GO E GO E GO E GO S SEARCH SAND [A building is visible] EXAMINE BUILDING [A panel starts glowing] SHOW BLUE ARMBAND [The door opens] GO S [We are in a reception area. We don't need the sunglasses anymore, though the armband can still be useful.] EXAMINE DESK [There is a notebook here] GET NOTEBOOK READ NOTEBOOK [It's a diary by a former security officer written in 2398 AD that tells of the "history of the downfall". Not needed, but relevant to the narrative.] DROP NOTEBOOK [E from here are some locations we don't need to visit at all, but we'll some things found W.] GO W [There is a food dispenser here] [The food dispenser works with the armband and will produce a meal which can be safely eaten, only that's not needed for anything.] GO W [Pool area] EXAMINE POOL [There is a pistol here] GET PISTOL EXAMINE PISTOL [Correction: it's a toy water pistol] [If we SEARCH the rubble here, we'll find a hole that can be climbed up and goes outside, where a yellow bush attacks us (!). We can fry it, but it serves no purpose to do so, or even to go up at all.] GO E GO E GO S [We are attacked by a mutated rat] [Despite the alarm, all these creature attacks are incapable of hurting us unless we do something silly. They are there just to bar further passage or to be a red herring. In this case, the rat cannot be dealt with by any other means than frying it.] POINT FINGER [The rat rushes off and a way down appears] GO D [A lizard attacks] SQUIRT PISTOL [The water terrifies the lizard] DROP PISTOL GO S [A two-headed man attacks, another candidate for crisping] POINT FINGER [Zapped] [W of here is a medical centre with a cabinet containing a book and a capsule, none of which are relevant for anything.] GO E [An utility droid attacks us] [Tempted as we are to zap it as well, there's no need, this is a red herring. We only need the steel bar that is here. The droid will not do anything to us in spite of its aggressiveness.] GET STEEL BAR GO W GO S [Living quarters] [There are several locations W of here with rubbish that can be SEARCHed, none of which has anything remotely useful.] GO E [At the top of a lift shaft] WEDGE STEEL BAR [The bar is wedged in the entrance] TIE ROPE [It's safe to go down now] CLIMB ROPE [Bottom of shaft] GO N [Attacked by a bald dog now] POINT FINGER [Our third blast, but we won't need a fourth one] GO N [We are attacked by a security droid now] POINT CONE [The droid salutes and goes away] [Clearly the cone is some kind of security device that identifies us as legit. From here there are other different command centres with respective droids. We don't need to go through them though.] GO N [Viewing room] EXAMINE SCREEN [An exit W is revealed] EXAMINE PROJECTOR [The glow panel shows up] SHOW BLUE ARMBAND [The projector starts showing images] [We are told of the true story: the world is post-apocalyptic and the result of a nuclear war. The glowing wastes are a radioactive wasteland, and the info will shake the foundations of society. Even we may not be a normal human being (apparently the finger zapping is normal between gatherers).] GO W [We have found a horde of past timer's artifacts, which was our goal, so this fulfils our purpose in the adventure.] GO W [We are outside and finished. Of course, the narrative leaves things in the air; shall we tell the village of what we know? Or should we go back and destroy the film? In any case, the game does not allow us to exercise a choice, as it ends this very instant.] [End of game.]