The Simple Tale An Interactive Tale Through A Twisted Universe by Harvey Release 4 / Serial number 210306 / Inform 7 build 6G60 (I6/v6.32 lib 6/12N) SD Studio Apartment Bedroom (on your bed) You are laying on your bed in your fine apartment bedroom having yet again been awoken by your neighbours and their music. Perhaps today is the day that you should go upstairs and deal with your neighbours and their magnificent stereo once and for all. Looking around your apartment bedroom you can't help but relish the fine view of London you have that overlooks the London eye and various govenment buildings. This view just echoes your anger and you cannot allow your fellow neighbours to infringe on your privacy anymore and it must end today. Due to the price of your home, your furnishings are currently fairly poor and within this room you simply have a wardrobe and a bed. Your bedroom is adjacent to a room to the east while a huge window spans the southern wall. A letter has been left on the floor. Your pyjamas lay on your bed as if you have hurriedly discarded them. >examine window The window is a fantastic piece of craftsmanship and spans from the ceiling to the floor and is the thickest glass that you have ever seen. This is designed in such a way to prevent poor fools falling through and landing several stories below onto the ground below. No part of this window opens. You hear the music playing from one of your neighbours... It's a God awful small affair To the girl with the mousey hair, But her mummy is yelling, "No!" And her daddy has told her to go, But her friend is no where to be seen. >read letter Dear David, This letter confirms that your mortgage is now two months in arrears and you need to make arrangements to pay the outstanding debt. Please call us on Hyde 2612 and ask for Frank Morgan and he will be able to assist. You will need to quote "g/n/3-David" as a reference. Failure to call us within 44 days will result in legal action. Yours sincerley, Mrs Benne. Branch Manager. ...the music continues and you really should go and turn it off... Now she walks through her sunken dream To the seats with the clearest view And she's hooked to the silver screen, But the film is sadd'ning bore For she's lived it ten times or more. >open window Due to health and safety regulations rule #1973 that states "All windows fitted and installed above ground level should have no external openings" you find you have no way of opening it. Remember this is for your safety. She could spit in the eyes of fools As they ask her to focus on Sailors Fighting in the dance hall. Oh man! Look at those cavemen go. It's the freakiest show. >e (first getting off your bed) Studio Apartment Room You are in the central room of your apartment. A small kitchen area is here so you can prepare your food from the fridge and the microwave that are also present. There is a sofa that rests along the side of one of the walls and that is about that. It's times like this you wish you'd payed less for your apartment, not been mortaged to the hilt and had money to buy some decent furnishings and perhaps you would have had enough money to have brought a television. To the west is your bedroom, to the east is your bathroom which is blocked by a door while a closed front door sits in the northern wall. A safety notice has been pushed under your door and is laying on the floor. Your mobile phone lays discarded on the sofa. Take a look at the lawman Beating up the wrong guy. Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know He's in the best selling show. Suddenly your whole apartment is rocked and for the moment the sound of the music is dulled by the sound of something exploding not too far away as the building shakes in it's foundations and dust falls from dusty places around your room. >read notice The safety notice is from the Fire Brigade. It warns of danger and suggests that smoke alarms should be installed at all times and that you should also have a clear passage of escape from your property in case of fire. Is there life on Mars? You hear screams from your neighbours and hear shouts of "fire", "gas" and "turn that damn music down" seconds before a second explosion rocks the building. Smoke is starting to fill your apartment. >e (first opening the bathroom door) Studio Apartment Bathroom You are in your bathroom which certinally has no room to swing a cat in nevermind hold a bathroom party. That being said, due to the mess of this room it looks like your last visit was either drink inspired or the result of too much drink. The floor has a large puddle of sick that was clearly meant for the toilet but hit the floor instead. A shower unit and a sink offer basic cleaning facilities. To the west is the main apartment room through the open bathroom door. Some clothes from last night lay strewn across the floor. It's on America's tortured brow That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow. Now the workers have struck for fame "Cause Lennon's on sale again. Noise seems to be coming from everywhere as well as smoke, thick dirty smoke. >examine clothes The clothes were the height of fashion once for fat people who live in fields. Now the only kind of people that would find them fashionable would be Linux users and Greenpeace protesters. See the mice in their million hordes From Ibeza to the Norfolk Broads. Rule Britannia is out of bounds To my mother, my dog, and clowns, Smoke continues to pour into your apartment. You hear the sobs of your neighbours and also the continued music. Don't some people have any respect? >examine sick A combination of lamb kebab, carrots (although you have no idea how they got in there) and vodka. But the film is a sadd'ning bore "Cause I wrote it ten times or more. It's about to be writ again Your chest is becoming heavy and you find it hard to beathe with the smoke. Above the chaos and constant wall of sound, you hear sirens in the distance... >w Studio Apartment Room You are in the central room of your apartment. A small kitchen area is here so you can prepare your food from the fridge and the microwave that are also present. There is a sofa that rests along the side of one of the walls. To the west is your bedroom, to the east is your bathroom through the open door while a closed front door sits in the northern wall. A safety notice has been pushed under your door and is laying on the floor. Your mobile phone lays discarded on the sofa. As I ask you to focus on Sailors Fighting in the dance hall. Oh man! Look at those cavemen go. It's the freakiest show. Your head feels like it is about to explode and you can bearly breathe with the smoke. >open door Which do you mean, the bathroom door or the front door? >front door It seems to be locked. Your head starts to spin as the music fades and you fall to the floor... Take a look at the lawman ...your eyes start feel heavy... Beating up the wrong guy. ...wild images flash before your mind as your life flashes before your eyes, but this is something different. You see a glimpse of a trophy room that looks like it belongs in ancient Egypt with what is clearly an empty space where something should be... ...you see a bearded man look up to the sky and scream an unearthly scream silhouetted by a blackened sky with thunder and lightening... Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know He's in the best selling show. ...you sense a feeling of loss and sadness... Is there life on Mars? You fall into the darkness as the smoke overcomes your frail body. Darkness It is pitch dark, and you can't see a thing. >z.z.z.z. Time passes. Although you cannot see, you feel like your body is floating... Time passes. ... the sensation of movement around your body continues and you feel something swirling around you... Time passes. ...your chest and your head feel lighter and clearer... Time passes. ...suddenly the sensation of upwards movement around your body stops and without warning your body feels like it is plummeting towards the ground and you are a helpless rag doll... >look Darkness It is pitch dark, and you can't see a thing. ...moments before you think you are about to hit the ground you body awakes with spasm and a jerk. All of a sudden your heart misses a beat as you cannot believe that you are alive, but you also cannot believe what you can see as you get up... Studio Apartment Room You are in a room that could have once been the main area of your apartment. Now it is totally bare and an empty shell. Exposed concrete is everywhere and the building feels like it's in the early stages of being built. To the east and west are rooms. To the north you can see a hole in the wall where the front door should be and daylight is streaming through. >e Studio Apartment Bathroom You are in your ruined apartment bathroom. It is cold and dark here and there is still no room to swing any cats or hold any bathroom parties. Exposed concrete is everywhere and there is simply no furnishings of any nature in this room. A larger and better lit area is to the west of this room. >w Studio Apartment Room You are in a room that could have once been the main area of your apartment. Now it is totally bare and an empty shell. Exposed concrete is everywhere and the building feels like it's in the early stages of being built. To the east and west are rooms. To the north you can see a hole in the wall where the front door should be and daylight is streaming through. >w Studio Apartment Bedroom You are in a room that could have once been your bedroom, apart from the fact it is totally bare. Exposed concrete gives a feeling that this room is actually under construction and the building is barely built. To the east lays another room and to the south is a hole in the wall where your window should be which is clearly now leads directly outside. What the hell is happening here? Gone is the view that you expected of the River Thames and various government buildings, in place is a huge forest as far as the eyes can see to the south. You appear to be several stories up as your apartment should be, but just not in London anymore. Why or how things are as they are, you have no idea as to what has happened or what is happening. Your body seems to have no damage or side effects from the devastating events that had previously happened in your apartment, yet how can you possibly be in the shell of your apartment nowhere near London? >s You step through southern hole in your apartment wall and you body drops downwards... They say in a dream that when you fall you will wake up, you don't. Instead your body bounces through twigs, leaves and branches as the canopy foilage protects you from the ground and slows your body to reasonable decent stopping what would have been an expected near fatal fall to the ground far below. Gravity finally catches up with the ground and your body smacks into the forest below causing you slight pain in your left ankle as you land awkardly. You dust yourself down and stand up, looking around. Dense Forest Thicket You are in a thick overgrown area of forest which gives you a surreal and uneasy feeling. Tall trees are all around. High up in the canopy above you rests like a giant tree house although impossible to climb back up to, the dark barren shell of what as your former apartment. An oversized leaf lays on the forest floor. >