Library At Night

11:30 PM – Isabelle and Annie find themselves at the side entrance to the library. They try a couple keys before finding the right one and the door swings open with a quiet squeaking noise. The air inside is warm and dry. They close the door behind themselves and turn on their flashlights.

Following the description Lucas had given, the two find their way down to the basement and into a small room. They close the door behind themselves and look around. To the left is a desk holding a terminal and a bunch of small devices. Across from the door is a row of five racks almost as tall as the room itself, filled with computer equipment. A thick trunk of cables comes out of a hole in the ceiling and leads to the center rack where it splits up and the cables connect to a few panels in the top. To the right is a shelf holding various boxes, stacks of flat, round cases, and other random things.

I guess this is it. Let's take a look at Karl's notes, Isabelle says in a hushed voice.
Annie pulls it out of her bag.
It says to find a terminal connected to the computer first. I guess this one will do... By the way, Lucas said something about taking a new floppy disk from the shelf, he described it as an eight inch square thing. Can you search for that?
Annie goes over to the terminal; Isabelle turns to the boxes. Annie puts the keys on the desk and inspects the terminal for cables.
There's a box with cookies back here.
She pulls it out from behind the terminal.
Isabelle says: I want one.
They giggle. Both end up taking a cookie before stashing the box behind the terminal again.

Annie reaches around the side and flips the power switch. The terminal makes a bonk sound and a crackling noise. She feels the hairs on her arm stand up as she inadvertently moves it in front of the screen.
Whoa!
The screen begins to light up.
... I guess this is supposed to happen.
Annie looks back at the notes.
Computer main power switch to RST..., she mumbles to herself.
She looks at the racks. They are mostly filled with what looks like large drawers with buttons on them. The one in the center is different. It has a bunch of panels with all sorts of cables plugged into them, most of which are part of the trunk from the ceiling. Below that are a couple panels with buttons and lights, and a few other devices.

I found you a floppy disk. Isabelle interrupts her.
She pulls a large, square, floppy thing, half-wrapped in a paper sleeve, out of one of the boxes. She removes the sleeve. Turns out, it's another sleeve made of thin plastic with openings that were previously covered by the paper. The openings reveal something black and shiny.
Annie notices: Someone has written om the sleeve, I guess this one has been used.
Isabelle puts it back and grabs an identical box that's still shrink-wrapped. She opens it and takes a disk out.
There we go.
Lucas said to put it in the computer and push a lever down.
They look back and forth between the floppy disk and the computer until Isabelle points to a device in the center rack with a large, flat slot.
Could fit in there.
She walks up to it and pushes the disk into it. It fits perfectly. Then, she pushes on the mechanism in the center of the slot. It latches in place.
What's next?
The notes say to flip the main power switch to RST – Annie repeats while inspecting one of the panels with buttons – Maybe this one? She points at a key switch with multiple positions.
Only one way to find out.
Isabelle grabs the keys and hands them to her. One of them fits and turns.

Fans come on; they hear the loud noise of air rushing through the computer. Some of the lights and buttons light up. Annie looks at the notes again:
Spin up boot drive... Lucas has also written here: HDD number two
The two look back at the racks.
These drawer thingies here have numbers on them, maybe that's what they mean?
Isabelle presses the power button on number two. It lights up, some more fans come on, and the button next to it starts blinking. She presses it. The device makes a loud clonk noise followed by a motor accelerating inside. Clicking and more mechanical noises. The button stops blinking and stays lit up.
The last step in the notes says hold LOAD, main power switch to RUN and to enter something into the terminal. And then there's a list of hints and commands that might help us, and Good luck!...
Isabelle pushes the buttons and they walk over to the terminal.

After a lot of typing into the terminal and figuring things out the hard way – and maybe a couple more cookies disappearing – they manage to find the manual on one of the hard drives and somehow get it onto the floppy disk. They follow the instructions to turn the computer off and Annie takes the disk out of the computer.

Shhh.
Isabelle gestures for Annie to be quiet. She whispers:
Do you hear that?
Footsteps. Annie nods. Someone is in the building – and probably heard them. Quickly, she puts the disk into her bag.

Opening and closing the door as quietly as possible, they sneak out of the room and back towards the stairs. The footsteps are coming closer.
Shit, Isabelle whispers.
They turn around and sneak to the other end of the hallway. It opens up into a room filled with crates that has a small window near the ceiling. The footsteps are making their way down the stairs. Annie reaches for the window and opens it as quietly as possible while Isabelle pushes one of the crates under it - not quite as quietly. The person on the stairs starts running. Isabelle jumps onto the crate and quickly climbs through the window. Annie, trying to follow her example, struggles for a moment to get onto the crate. After she finally manages to get up, Isabelle pulls her through the window - not a moment too soon.
You, stop!, rephrase!! a man yells at them from inside, Stay where you are!
They start running.
I'm gonna catch you.

Isabelle runs ahead, leading Annie into a dark alley. She climbs onto a ledge on the side of a building, helping Annie up after herself. They continue running on the ledge until reaching a wall at the end of the alley. Isabelle jumps, grabs hold of the railing at the top, pulls herself up, and climbs over it.
Wait here. She disappears.
Annie looks around nervously. What if she was caught now?
A moment later, Isabelle returns with a ladder. Annie climbs up and pulls it up after herself. Isabelle takes it and stashes it on the other side of the embankment. They find themselves on the metro tracks. Annie looks around nervously.
We need to get off of here.
It's fine, we'll hear any approaching train long before we see it. Isabelle points towards a close by station and says Central Square.
They run towards it along the tracks. Just as they make their way onto the platform, the rails start ringing.
Isabelle says with a smirk on her face: I don't think he expects us to have a getaway vehicle...