01 Wake Up: Revision, formatting
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@ -3,9 +3,10 @@
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<h1> Wake Up! </h1>
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<!-- perspective: Jack -->
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<p>
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<span class="quote speech">Awh fuck!</span> Jack exclaims in pain as he
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wakes up. He has a terrible headache. While moving his hands up to hold
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his head, he realizes that his entire body hurts.
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<span class="quote speech">Awh fuck!</span><br />
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Jack exclaims in pain as he wakes up. He has a terrible headache.
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While moving his hands up to hold his head, he realizes that his entire
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body hurts.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Owowowww... Ouch!</span><br />
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An automated voice comes on: <span class="quote speech">Emergency
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defrost complete. Entering low power mode.</span><br />
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@ -29,19 +30,19 @@
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air, and looks around. The light shining out of his chamber reveals a
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dirty floor. The table and chairs in front of him as well as the kitchen
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area across the room are covered in dust and all exposed bits of metal
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have rust. The paint is starting to flake off of the walls. Red night
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are rusty. The paint is starting to flake off of the walls. Red night
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lights on the ceiling are dimly illuminating the rest of the bunker.
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He looks to the left: The wall is lined with other preservation chambers,
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all but one of them being powered down. In the corner is the minicomputer
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controlling the bunker, a half-height rack filled to the brim with
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devices, and next to it a teleprinter, a computer-controlled typewriter.
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Along the rear wall are desks holding a radio and a terminal, a device
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comprised of a keyboard and monitor, and on the wall above them is a
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Along the rear wall are desks holding a radio and a terminal (a device
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comprised of a keyboard and monitor), and on the wall above them is a
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phone; nothing out of the ordinary here – apart from a few paint
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crumbs sprinkled on everything. He looks to the right: More preservation
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chambers. Instead of a wall, there's the bunker door – door
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is a bit of an understatement, it's a massive gate. A small slither
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of light passes under it.
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of light passes under it.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">These fucking idiots... They didn't
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reseal it properly.</span>
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</p>
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@ -52,54 +53,55 @@
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banging on the panel later, he turns back to the inside of the bunker,
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looking for tools, contemplating the tradeoff between waking up a couple
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years too soon and getting slowly poisoned by the air, and being locked
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inside a bunker due to a bunch of apparent troglodytes unable to close a
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door properly... Doesn't matter, too late now.
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inside a bunker due to a bunch of apparent troglodytes being unable to
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close a door properly... Doesn't matter now, too late.
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</p>
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<p>
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As he passes each of the preservation chambers, he looks into them. Empty,
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empty, empty - nothing unexpected here. The others would have been woken
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up over time. His own chamber... He presses a few buttons to fully shut
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it down. The lamp in the ceiling turns off, the door closes, the status
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it down. The lamp in its ceiling turns off, the door closes, the status
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lights turn off. After passing two other empty preservaton chambers, he
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reaches the one that remains active.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Hello Michelle.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Hello Michelle</span>, he says more to himself
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than to the frozen person inside.<br />
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He checks the status lights of her chamber.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">I think I'm gonna leave you in there
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until I find a way out of here — should be fine...</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Looks good to me — I think I'm
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gonna leave you in there until I find a way out...</span><br />
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He continues past the remaining empty chambers to the back of the bunker.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack opens the cabinets under each of the desks while talking to himself:
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<span class="quote speech">Where is that fucking toolbox?</span>
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<span class="comment">Do we have an alternative expletive to use?</span>
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<span class="quote speech">Where is that fucking toolbox?</span><br />
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Well, it isn't there. He continues with the kitchen area. Still
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nothing. He enters the bathroom through a door next to the kitchen area.
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Nope, not here either. <span class="quote speech">Welp, time to
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improvise.</span>
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Nope, not here either.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Welp, time to improvise.</span>
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack returns to the kitchen area and rummages through the drawers to find
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anything useful. He grabs a fork. <span class="quote speech">Works as a
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screwdriver, I guess...</span> He proceeds to jam the handle into a
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screw on one of the kitchen cabinets to see if it will turn. It does
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– barely. Using a slightly rusty knife sharpener
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<span class="comment">sharpening rod?</span> he begins the long and
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arduous process of making the fork handle more suitable as a screwdriver,
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grinding the end over the sharpener over and over and over. After a
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while, he stops to inspect his work. <span class="quote speech">Meh,
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could work.</span> He tests it on the kitchen cabinet again.
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Jack returns to the kitchen area and rummages through the drawers
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to find anything useful. He grabs a fork.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Works as a screwdriver, I guess...</span><br />
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He proceeds to jam the handle into a screw on one of the kitchen cabinets
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to see if it will turn. It does – barely. Using a slightly rusty
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sharpening rod he begins the long and arduous process of grinding the
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fork handle flat, dragging it across the rod over and over and over
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again. After a while, he stops to inspect his work.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Meh, could work.</span><br />
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He tests it on the cabinet again.
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</p>
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<p>
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His newly gained screwdriver in hand, Jack walks back to the control panel
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for the door and unscrews it. After a bit of fiddling, the panel lifts
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out of the niche in the wall, pulling cables out of the box under it.
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He grabs the fork by the handle and bends the <span class="comment">
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middle? inner?</span> prongs out of the way to bridge the control
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panel's switches using the outer ones. Nothing happens.
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His newly gained screwdriver in hand, Jack walks back to the control
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panel for the door and unscrews it. After a bit of fiddling with it,
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the panel lifts out of its niche in the wall, pulling cables out of the
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box under it. He grabs the fork by the handle and bends the inner prongs
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out of the way. Then, he bridges the switch contacts using the two outer
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prongs. Nothing happens.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Of course it wasn't gonna be that easy.</span>
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<br />
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He starts to dig into the wires, attempting to find what's wrong,
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but realizes after a moment that the wiring is more complex than expected
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and he has no idea what he's doing.
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and he has no idea what he's doing.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Guess I need the manual for this
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thing...</span>
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</p>
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@ -110,51 +112,65 @@
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Bonk! At least this seems to work. While waiting for the picture tube to
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warm up, he walks over to the rack and sits down on the floor in front
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of it. He inspects the status lights on the various devices, thinking
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aloud: <span class="quote speech">CPU is idle, serials are idle,
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one active cryogenic chamber, primary hard drive is spinning –
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all good. Secondary hard drive is powered down, let's change
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that...</span> He pushes the power button and hears the fans blow air
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through the drive. The spin-up button starts blinking. He waits for a
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moment to let the fans blow away any dust that may have settled inside
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the drive, then he pushes the button. The spindle motor kicks on. There
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is some intermittent rattling from the drive, probably a shot bearing.
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He hears the platters inside accelerate unusually slowly. Impatiently
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sitting there, Jack waits for the drive to be ready. Clicking from the
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mechanism unlocking the heads followed by a ringing scratching noise.
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<span class="quote speech">Of course...</span> He quickly presses the
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power button again. The scratching stops and the spindle motor turns off,
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the spindle still rattling occasionally as the platters spin down.
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aloud:<br />
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<span class="quote speech">CPU is idle, serials are idle, one active
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preservation chamber – all good. Primary hard drive is up, second
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hard drive is ... powered off? Let's change that...</span><br />
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He pushes the power button and hears the fans blow air through the drive.
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The spin-up button starts blinking. He waits for a moment to let the fans
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blow away any dust that may have settled inside the drive, then he pushes
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it. The button lights up solid and the motor inside kicks on. There
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is some intermittent rattling from the drive,
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<span class="quote non-speech">probably a shot bearing</span>, he thinks.
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He hears the spindle inside accelerating unusually slowly. Impatiently
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sitting there, he waits for the drive to be ready. Clicking from inside
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the drive followed by a ringing scratching noise.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Of course!</span><br />
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He quickly presses the power button again. The scratching stops and
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the motor turns off, the spindle still rattling occasionally as it spins
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down.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">That's gonna be an ugly head crash.
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No manuals for me, I guess...</span>
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</p>
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<p>
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He gets up and returns to the terminal. Maybe, there is a backup copy or
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anything useful on the primary hard drive. He sits down in front of it
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and logs on.
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He gets up and returns to the terminal, thinking there might be
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something useful, maybe even a backup, on the primary drive.
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He pulls a nearby chair in front of it and sits down.
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</p>
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<pre class="terminal">
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Tue, 2106-06-01, 18:01
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EARTH-53 INUX v8.4 SMP
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EARTH-53 Login: jack
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Login: █
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</pre>
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<p>
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Jack logs on and issues a command:
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</p>
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<pre class="terminal">
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EARTH-53 INUX v8.4 SMP
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Login: jack
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Password:
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Welcome to INUX!
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Last login Wed, 1994-07-20 11:34:08
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$ date
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Tue, 2106-06-01 18:01:55
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$ █
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</pre>
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<p>
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<span class="quote speech">So it's been over a hundred years.
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Hm...</span><br />
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He goes through the files but to no avail, no backup turns up. Nothing
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useful either. He does, however, find a note from 2030 saying that the
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inhabitants of Sunside Cove have proven to be unhelpful when asked
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for assistance. Too bad they are the ones that have a backup of the
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secondary hard drive – assuming there is anyone still living there.
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<span class="quote speech">So it's been over a hundred years...
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Hm.</span><br />
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He goes through the files but nothing useful turns up. He does, however,
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find a note from 2030 saying that the inhabitants of the dome city
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have proven to be unhelpful when asked for assistance. Too bad they are
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the ones that have a full backup of everything – assuming there is
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anyone still living there.
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</p>
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<p>
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He gets up and reaches for the phone. It lifts off the cradle with a
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quiet click. Jack holds it to his ear and starts dialing but there is no
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dial tone.
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dial tone.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Welp, that's that.</span>
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</p>
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