The Innermost Project by Nathan Summers

The Innermost Project

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"The Innermost Project" by Nathan Summers.

The story headline is "An interactive conspiracy".

Use American dialect.

Section - General

 Instead of going down when the player is on a supporter (called the supporter): try getting off the supporter.  Instead of going up in the presence of exactly one enterable supporter (called the supporter):  try entering the supporter.  Instead of climbing an enterable supporter (called the supporter), try entering the supporter.

To decide if (scene - a scene) just began:  decide on whether or not the time of day is the time when the scene began.

Understand the command "read" as something new.  Reading is an action applying to one visible thing and requiring light. Understand "read [something]" as reading.

Section - Beginning

The time of day is 11:47 PM.

When play begins: say "Time is running out. Patience is a virtue that a magazine editor quite simply cannot afford. Printing presses can only print so fast, even in the face of contractual deadlines.

Every year, [italic type]Practical Skeptic[roman type] magazine does a special issue devoted to critically examining elements of the UFO mythos. It always ends up being by far the most popular issue, selling more copies and inspiring more reader mail than any other topic.

This year, you assigned the feature story to your friend Unnamed Freelancer, a freelance journalist who has done excellent work in the past, but is seriously behind at this point. Unnamed Freelancer has already once sent a brief and hurried request for more time, which you reluctantly granted, but at this point, all the other stories are in, and you are running out of options."; now the command prompt is "[time of day]> ".

Your Office is a room. "The room is a little messy, as it often is at times like this." Instead of listening to your office, say "You hear the sound of time you don't have passing." Instead of waiting in your office, say "Time you don't have passes."

Leaving work is an action applying to nothing.  Instead of exiting when the container exited from is your office, try leaving work.  Last instead of going nowhere in your office: try leaving work. Check leaving work: say "You are not quite ready to go home yet." instead.

Your desk is here. 

Your desk is enterable. After entering your desk: say "You get on top of your desk, but it does not make you feel better."

Instead of pushing your desk, say "That would unplug your computer and make a real mess of things."  Instead of smelling the desk, say "A bit dusty."
 
Your computer is a switched on device that is fixed in place on your desk. Instead of taking your computer, say "It is not a laptop." Instead of switching off your computer, try leaving work. Instead of taking something that is part of your computer, say "Now is not a good time to disassemble your computer." After listening to the computer: say "It hums slightly."

Your keyboard and your mouse are parts of your computer.  Your keyboard and mouse have the description "It is the standard model that comes with that kind of computer." 

Your screen is a part of your computer. On your screen is your email and some articles. The description of your computer is "It is a reasonably current model of the same kind of computer all the editors use.[paragraph break]On the computer is [a list of things supported by the screen]."

The articles have the printed name "articles for the next edition of [italic type]Practical Skeptic[roman type]". 

Some data is a kind of container. [This works better than you might think.]  Data is always fixed in place. Email and articles are data. [Before printing the name of some data, omit contents in listing.]

Understand "inbox" as email. There are 10 messages marked important in your email. They are plural-named data.

The office wall is here and scenery. A B-movie poster is on it. The description of the wall is "[if the wall supports the poster]It looks the same as usual.[otherwise]The rectangle where the poster used to be is noticeably lighter.[end if]". Check putting something that is not the poster on the wall: say "The law of gravity objects." For printing a locale paragraph about a thing (called the item) when the item is the wall and the poster is supported by the wall: say "[A B-movie poster] is taped to the wall.[paragraph break]"; now the wall is mentioned; increment the locale paragraph count.
	

The description of the poster is "It is for Unnamed B-movie, a spectacle of mediocrity!" Instead of taking the poster when the poster is supported by the wall: say "You carefully take the poster down."; continue the action. After putting the poster on the wall: say "You carefully put the poster back where it was." [Instead of reading the poster, say "It stars Unnamed Star."]

Frustrated Editor is a scene. Frustrated Editor begins when play begins.

Section - New Email

New Email is a scene. "Your computer chimes, indicating a new email message."  New Email begins when the time of day is 11:53 PM.  

After reading a command when New Email just began during New Email: say "[first time]It is probably yet another message from some philosophy student about to graduate somewhere, making the 'clever' observation that 'practical skeptic' is an oxymoron. 

Such tiresome electronic treatises never fail to end with the sender making a solicitation for employment.[only]"

Check leaving work during New Email: say "You probably should read that email message before you leave anyway.  It might be from Unnamed Freelancer." instead.
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The Innermost Project

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