post_apocalypse_story/06 Library At Night.md

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*Outline:*
* *Annie and Isabelle go to library*
* *enter the place, find computer*
* *turn it on (following rough instructions and figuring it out)*
* *figures out how to CLI (using instructions)*
* *copy the file to a floppy disk*
* *One of them trips some sort of alarm before leaving? Idk.. Something has to happen tho.*
* *Annie drops the floppy and a note with Jacks number off at Karls place*
* *Annie goes home and falls asleep*
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. The door swings open with a quiet squeaking noise. The air inside is warm and dry. The door closes and latches behind them. They turn on their flashlights.
Following the description Lucas had given, they find their way into a small room in the basement. They close the door behind themselves and look around. To the left is a desk with a terminal and a bunch of small devices that are connected together using many cables. The wall in front of them is lined with racks that are almost as tall as the room itself and filled with computer equipment. To the right is a shelf with boxes.
"I guess this is it. Lets take a look at the instructions Karl gave you." Isabelle says in a hushed voice.
Annie pulls the note out of her bag.
"First step is turning on the terminal... Hey, Lucas said something about using a new floppy disk, can you search for that?"
Annie walks over to the terminal; Isabelle looks at the boxes on the shelf.
Annie inspects it for a power switch.
"Theres a box with cookies back here."
She pulls it out from behind the terminal. They giggle.
"I want one." says Isabelle.
Both end up taking a cookie before stashing the box behind the terminal again.
Annie flips the power switch. The terminal makes a bonk sound and a crackling noise. She feels the hairs on her hand stand up as she inadvertently moves it in front of the screen.
"Next step..."
Annie looks at the note again.
"Turn on main power switch on computer..."
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 empty panels, some panels with buttons and lights on them, and some other devices.
"I found you a new floppy disk." Isabelle interrupts her.
She pulls a large, square, floppy thing in a paper sleeve out of one of the boxes. She pulls it out of the paper sleeve. Turns out, its another sleeve made out of thin plastic with some openings and a black, glossy circle inside. They look back and forth between it and the computer for a moment until Isabelle says:
"This could fit in here."
She walks up to the center rack and inserts it into one of the devices that have a large, flat slot.
*missing: Reaction from Annie*
"The note says to turn on the main power switch..." Annie says while inspecting one of the panels with buttons.
"Maybe this one?"
Isabelle points at a key switch.
"Lets try."
Annie grabs the keys. 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 note again:
"Spin up boot hard drive... Lucas has also written here: Its drive two."
The two look back at the racks.
"These drawer thingies here have numbers on them, maybe thats what they mean?"
Isabelle walks up to number two and presses the power button. It makes a loud clicking noise and they hear a large motor accelerating inside. More clicking and mechanical noises. A light on the drive comes on.
"The last step on the note is to press reset and load and to enter something into the terminal. They also wrote down a list of commands that might help us to find and copy the manual, and Good luck!..."
Isabelle pushes the buttons and they walk over to the terminal.
*Note: I originally planned to have a section about figuring out the terminal here, assuming I could make it somehow interesting. That said, at this point Im not sure of the benefit to the story.
I tried to do an experiment to see how people who arent familiar with the CLI would go about it, but I dont have any results. Ill decide if I still want to include something like that when I actually have results.*
After a lot of figuring things out and typing into the terminal - and maybe a couple more cookies disappearing - they somehow manage to find the manual on one of the hard drives and get it onto the floppy disk. They follow the instructions to shut down the computer and Annie puts the floppy disk into her bag.
*What immediately follows: One of them has to trip some sort of alarm or they do something stupid that gets the police called on them. Whatever happens, they will have to run and/or take an unconventional way out.*