Counterfeit Monkey — 154 of 292

Section 2 - Basement Middle

North of Bureau Basement South is Bureau Basement Middle. It is indoors and forbidden. The description of Bureau Basement Middle is "The hallway continues both [north] and [south], flanked by doors painted immutable col[our]s: hyacinth, celadon, chartreuse."

The hyacinth door, the celadon door, and the chartreuse door are scenery in Bureau Basement Middle.

Rule for listing exits while looking in Bureau Basement Middle:

do nothing instead.

The description of the hyacinth door is "A small plaque on the door reads 'Internal Security.' [door-quip for the item described]."

The description of the celadon door is "A small plaque on the door reads 'Liaison to Homeland Business Interests.' [door-quip for the item described]."

The description of the chartreuse door is "A small plaque on the door reads 'Overseer of Business Abroad.' [door-quip for the item described]."

To say door-quip for (N - a thing):

say "[one of][The N] is impervious even to N-insertion, should someone develop it[or]I don't even recogn[ize] the kind of lock on this thing[at random]".

The cute security door is a locked lockable door. "The [cute security door] at the [if the location is Bureau Basement Middle]north[otherwise]south[end if] end is solidly shut[if Cold Dilemma has happened]; there's no sign of anyone still waiting on this side of it[end if]." It is north of Bureau Basement Middle and south of Bureau Basement Secret Section. The description is "A thick iron door, decorated with Hello Kitty stickers. There is no handle and no access to the locking mechanism (though it is certainly locked). The door can only be activated by guards in another room, watching through a video camera."

[Here I compromised narrative plausibility in order to make the game winnable. It seems highly unlikely to me that anyone would be allowed to visit this area without an escort of guards. However, the multiplication of doors, and the trick of the guard controlling a second door by watching for it through a video camera, are based on memories and stories about the facility where my mother did some classified work back in the 80s.]

The adorable video camera is a thing in Bureau Basement Middle. "[An adorable video camera] hangs in the left corner above the door." It is fixed in place. The description is "It has a lens, certainly, but it is also made of pink plastic and has cat ears. And it looks like it will recognize us if we approach, perhaps?"

A ranking rule for the adorable video camera:

decrease the description-rank of the adorable video camera by 100.

[handles approach camera, go to camera, etc]

Sanity-check finding the video camera:

try entering the cute security door instead.

Instead of waving to the video camera:

say "[You] raise a hand and wave to the camera. Its ears swivel in acknowledgement.";

try entering the cute security door.

Sanity-check going through the cute security door when cold dilemma has happened:

say "That way will be guarded. If [you] [are] going to escape, it will have to be by some back way." instead.

Before going through the cute security door:

let N be the number of entries in the path so far of the player;

if N is greater than 1:

say "[path-walked so far]";

say "[You] come to a cutely decorated security door. ";

otherwise:

clear the path-walked for the player;

say "The guards have apparently been instructed to allow us in, because as [you] approach, the door slides open.";

now the cute security door is open.

After going through the cute security door:

now the cute security door is closed;

say "The door seals behind us as soon as [you] [are] through.";

continue the action.

Some Hello Kitty stickers are part of the cute security door. The description is "They're here to ensure that this door is unlike any other door, and will not respond well even to advanced custom-language devices."