Ruby Quest: Chapter 11

Ruby enters the back room through the Z- Hatch.

Say hello!

>Say hello! Ruby cautiously says hello and introduces herself. The man greets Ruby and introduces himself as "Red".

Ruby asks Red a number of questions. He responds very calmly and briefly to each one. He doesn't know how he got here. He doesn't know how long he's been here. He doesn't know what this place is. He hasn't seen anyone by Tom's description.

Ask Him if he'd like to escape with her.

>Ask Him if he'd like to escape with her. Red shakes his head. Red tells Ruby there's nothing to escape from. He's not trapped anywhere.

Red is very uninterested in all of Ruby's questions. >ask him for help pulling the lever Ruby asks Red to help pull the lever. Red smiles and agrees to go with Ruby.

Red obligingly follows Ruby to the other room, and offers to pull the lever himself. He stands on his toes on the barrel and uses his cane to latch the lever.

Red smiles, his action successful. The lever again snaps back into the ceiling and a loud shifting sound comes from upstairs.

we are missing the little eye disk thingy ask Red... (Dozens of various questions like “if he knows of any secret doors” or “if he remembers anything”)

>we are missing the little eye disk thingy Ruby never picked that up. >ask Red... Red says he is getting very tired of Ruby's questions. Red tells Ruby that if she doesn't stop asking questions he might have to bite her throat out.

Red smiles at Ruby's reaction. He says he is just kidding.

give him some FISH as a gift of our appreciation. ask Red (even more questions) thank Red, and go upstairs.

>give him some FISH as a gift of our appreciation. There are no more fish, Ruby used the last ones to test the sample. All that remains is the painted fish on the back wall of the aquarium tank. >ask Red Ruby decides maybe it's best not to ask Red anything more right now. >thank Red, and go upstairs. Ruby returns upstairs.

Ruby enters the other room. The screens have changed. Perhaps restoring power brought this system back online. The eye-marked disc is on the floor where Ruby knocked it after opening the chest earlier.

Pick up monocol examine screens closer.

>Pick up monocol There is no "monocol" here! >examine screens closer. There's text on the monitors.

Ruby pockets the wooden disc with the eye on it and the triangle on one end. Several small, difficult to see images appear on the secondary monitors. Ruby presses Y. A larger, clearer image appears on the main monitor.

Ruby presses "C". A new image comes up.

Tom.

The system doesn't seem to show any more cameras.

Ruby heads to the maintenance room. Red isn't in the cell room anymore.

Ruby returns to the maintenance room.

Yell "Tom" into the tube?

>Yell "Tom" into the tube? There's no answer. The tube must not work that way.

Tie the button diagram around the tube with the string to see if we can restore some suction.

>Tie the button diagram around the tube with the string to see if we can restore some suction. The thick paper of the diagram curves around the pipe and suddenly gets stuck over the hole as the suction is restored. The hole is sealed with the makeshift patch, but it might not last very long. Ruby ties it in place with string just to be safe.

Place vial in the tube

Ruby puts the ARSENIC ANTIDOTE in the pneumatic tube, and on closing the door, it shoots up and out of sight.

Ruby returns to the room with the monitors.

Tom drinks the ARSENIC ANTIDOTE.

now to examine everything everywhere, and see what else we can unlock, lets start with the room we are in, examine the door, the bottom of the door, the symbol on the wall for any changes, and the thingy on the wall near the toolbox.

The bottom of the door is warped and rusted, as if from water damage. Neither the symbol on the wall nor its inset cross-shaped socket have changed. The panel in the lower- right features five familiarly-labeled buttons.