TERMINAL_ (a text-based adventure)

[Bushido]

welcome to TERMINAL_

you (and other users who have logged into the same simulation) control a simulated, virtual, state-of-the-art TURT-TECH 700 RECONTRON. classic text-based commands like LOOK, EXAMINE, GO, OPEN, etc are quickly and easily recognized by our TURT-TECH super-computer, but more complex commands like "bust down the door with crates" will be accepted too, since our AI is just that good

complete your mission, pay attention to detail, and of course, have fun

actually i guess since you're a robot you can't really, but still

[end introduction]

a warm (?) light glows from a window on the WEST wall. several small metal crates litter the otherwise dimly-lit room, along with other assorted litter: your robotic instincts tell you that searching the junk and crates might be a good idea, but they are not quite certain

this room is so small. as a robot, you feel nothing, but you are almost certain if you were human you would be feeling very claustrophobic right now

optical lens indicate that there is a door to the EAST
perceptive sensors sense movement behind the door to the EAST

a dim light is glowing from your left arm: if memory serves (and it does. solid state drive, bitches!), that wasn't there before

>examine left arm_
the monitor on your left arm seems to have gone into overbright mode while you were powered down. but, upon closer inspection (and the proper recalibration of your optical lenses) it seems that it has been entirely stripped of it's original useful features (alas, poor hammerspace. i knew thee well) and the display seems to have been glitched: the only remaining GUI is a straight line running horizontally across the screen

your TURT-TECH senses are tingling.

>examine east door_
the door won't budge! but, it doesn't seem to be locked

maybe something's blocking it?

>examine litter_
a closer look at the litter reveals many things that you didn't notice initially... which is weird, given that you're a robot.

a metal bar, several bottles of beer, a strap of some sort, assorted screws, a small toolkit, many, many papers, a few bits of cloth and a package of batteries are among the things that might be genuinely useful to you: everything else is mostly just dirt or splinters or something

hey, wait! you don't actually have anything to hold these things in!

>bash door : take down light_
BOING.

the door has a rather small dent in it now. judging from the fact it's made from solid metal and you weigh about 200 pounds i don't think you're gonna break through any time soon

what light?

>drink beer_
you open one of the bottles of beer, sit back, relax, and pour it all down the front of your chassis

you're a robot, silly. you can't drink!

>quit_
a message plays through your head

NEVER SAY DIE
NEVER SURRENDER
THE WHITE FLAG IS FOR THE WEAK
TURT-TECH FOREVER

well, that was annoying

>examine toolkit_
finally, back to important stuff!

you open the toolbox (which could probably easily hold alot of the stuff lying on the ground) and see a screwdriver, a small hammer, a wrench, more screws, more batteries, several bobby pins, superglue, an entire BAG of rubber bands, and a note

since you're already looking at the toolbox, you decide "why not"

it reads "GET OUT"

>_you create a little toy robot buddy out of spare circuitry that was previously used for things like your multi-dimensional inventory terminal and your plasma cannons (but aren't now, due to the whole flatlined monitor thing), a battery, a few bits of debris (metal, mostly, but there's glass in there) and one of your spare eyes

as you switch it on, it looks up with big optical lenses and says
"01000100 01000001 01000100 01000001!"

since you don't really have anything to do with him at the moment, you let him amble around the room a bit. since you're a robot you don't really feel anything bu- wait. no! you do feel something

is this... compassion?



no, never mind. just a screw loose

>check door for doorknob: pick lock_
you examine the door to the east

looks like it's mostly made of steel 'n such: logically, it would be very, very sturdy. it seems to be operated by a push bar, which seems to have jammed. if you had something small enough (or someONE small enough) you could probably check inside, but there might not be enough light to operate properly

dammit, turt-tech. why'd you have to skip on the nightvision?

>assorted 'crash' commands_
without your most basic operating files in place, you have essentially committed robotic Self Delete!

...

...


SYSTEMIC FAILURE DETECTED
DIAGNOSIS: MISSING OPERATING SYSTEM; MISSING PRIMARY FOLDERS

PROCEEDING WITH ANTI-CRASH MEASURES
INTERNET UPLINK INITIATING...
DOWNLOADING FILE "system64"...
DOWNLOADING FILE "cmprhns"...
DOWNLOADING FILE "sensev3"...
DOWNLOADING FILE "gui"...
DOWNLOADING FOLDER "metalmind"...
DOWNLOADING APPLICATION "reality.exe"...
FAILSAFE COMPLETE

whoa! failsafe.

>use robot friend to unjam door_
"_{01111001 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110011 01101001 01110010 00100001}!" your little robot friend chirps, as he hops up into the push bar

he promptly pops back out though, and beeps _{"01101001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101111 01101111 00100000 01100100 01100001 01110010 01101011 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00101100 00100000 01101001 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110011 01100101 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01111001 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100001!"} before going to sit on a crate in the corner

you kinda wish you had a binary translator installed: windicx is entirely programmed on willpower, twos, and threes. apparently it allows for 'creative' thinking on the robot's part, but you just consider it an inconvenience

>mess with the little robot's voicebox_
your little robot friend's custom voicebox, made from spare parts and your extra circuits, is basically just a metal bar vibrating back and forth really loving quickly. Tampering with it at all would probably make your little robot friend totally unable to communicate!

you try it anyway.

...

nothing seems to happen.

>bust down the door with crates_
DING!

DINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDING!

you seem to have broken more crates then you have doors. on the bright side, a few of the crates seem to actually have something in them!

>reboot_
you reboot

...back to business!

>search crates_
you search the crates thoroughly

in one of the bigger crates, there's a small hammer and a wrench: the other ones mostly have scrap metal, superglue, a few more batteries, more bobby pins, a box of wires, and a flashlight

>closely examine door_
you've already looked at this thing, remember?

it uses a push bar, it's solid steel, and it won't open: but it's definitely not locked

there's a small gap between the push bar and the door itself: you're pretty sure that something's jammed in there, but it's just too dark to see. in fact, if you were to wiggle the push bar a bit, you can hear something moving around in there

and even if you could see, your big ol' robot hands are just a bit too large to get through the gap. something smaller would work, though

>examine the push bar with your little robot buddy and flashlight
you ask the little robot to check out the gap, and he nods excitedly and clambers into the gap, as you turn on the flashlight...

which emits a small shower of sparks.

upon closer inspection the stupid thing doesn't even have a bulb: just a spark plug

ROOOOOOOOOOOAR

eric e. shmidt!

the room shakes a bit under the sheer bass of whatever-that-was. little robot dude panics a bit, as dust kicks up from a few corners of the room and wafts around

you are too, actually: gotta get out of here!

>_
Progression!

you turn up the light on your arm-monitor to an overbright mode, shine it into the gap, and ask your robot friend to get back inside. he reaches inside, his little arm easily getting through the difference between the bar and the door, and grabs something

_{roooooooar...}

it re-emerges with a small hunk of metal. seriously, how'd that get in there?

you successfully open the door, and are greeted with another (far longer) ruined room. probably a hallway of some kind. 2 doors litter either side, except for the one furthest from you, just one

there is also a skylight, revealing a slightly overcast (but still obviously very sunny) sky. a few shelves and crates are strewn all over. what, did this place get hit by an earthquake?

a lens gleams between one of the doors. you're being watched!

>_

[Ad Bot]

[Flamecannon]

Go DENNIS
Examine left arm

[King of losers]

Go DENNIS

Examine left arm
>_

[Bushido]

the monitor on your left arm seems to have gone into overbright mode while you were powered down. but, upon closer inspection (and the proper recalibration of your optical lenses) it seems that it has been entirely stripped of it's original useful features (alas, poor hammerspace. i knew thee well) and the display seems to have been glitched: the only remaining GUI is a straight line running horizontally across the screen

your TURT-TECH senses are tingling.

>_

[Kalphiter]

ls /

[mrlolop]

This looks promising.

>Head towards Eastward door; Examine

[Kalphiter]

ls /

[Bushido]

the door won't budge! but, it doesn't seem to be locked

maybe something's blocking it?

>_

[Flamecannon]

Examine litter

>_

[Bushido]

a closer look at the litter reveals many things that you didn't notice initially... which is weird, given that you're a robot.

a metal bar, several bottles of beer, a strap of some sort, assorted screws, a small toolkit, many, many papers, a few bits of cloth and a package of batteries are among the things that might be genuinely useful to you: everything else is mostly just dirt or splinters or something

hey, wait! you don't actually have anything to hold these things in!

>_

[mrlolop]

>EXAMINE; Toolkit

[stuntman021]

>drink beer

[blitz9100]

>quit

[Packer]

[SeventhSandwich]

Terminal is a mac-based/linux thing.

Not windows you bum.