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Progress-bar.jpg

When all else fails ... uh, you can, too?

After you punch the orange F with a virtual hand, a progress bar appears along with the words "Debugger loading." A blue line slowly begins filling a white box, while a timer underneath estimates that it will take 999,999,999 minutes. But in no more than the time it takes for you to roll your eyes it jumps to 99% complete, and the estimate jumps down to 2 seconds. Naturally, it takes a full minute for those "two seconds" to pass. Then the bar kicks into motion ... sliding backwards of all things. Eventually it does kick forward again, shooting to the end and then beyond the bounds of the white box, zipping somewhere far off screen.

Moments later the whole mess is replaced by the image of some sort of futuristic pub--half Mos Eisley cantina and half Quark's, with a burble of wandering puppets and Ferengi in the background. Gee, wonder where the programmers got their inspiration? A vaguely familiar human bartender leans up against the counter and addresses you. "Welcome to The Progress Bar. Looks like you could use a nice tall glass of debugging. What's your order?"

Confusing. The bartender looks at you expectantly. Apparently he's a quirky metaphor for the computer interface, and you're supposed to tell him what you want to do. Knowing the programmers, it probably only recognizes one word commands.


Ask for help


Location(s)


Notes

Word Result
bug, debug, virus, trojan, worm You plug in the debugging data, and are brought directly to the nearest bug.
Fight Anatolian mule or Silk Worm or D-bug.
load Fight General Protection Fault.
exe,run Fight Green Horseshoe of Death or data police.
kill, quit Cancel failed. An unrecoverable error has occurred. Cancel? Okay/Cancel

You look closely at those buttons. Do you want to cancel the cancel in order to continue, or okay the cancel to stop? Or are you canceling the first cancel, in which case okay continues, where canceling the canceled cancel really does cancel it? Argh!

You solve the issue by closing your eyes and hitting a few keys at random, figuring whatever you get would be better[sic] from pure chance would be better than choosing it yourself.

After a little more fiddling you get some part of the game working and manage to explore for a little while. You gain X XP.

download Secret file download complete. Files downloaded on the down-low. Stored in top secret location.

Great. You have no idea where the top secret location is.

You get an effect: DownLowDed. (Added for 65 minutes.)

delete Cannot delete file. There is not enough free disk space. Delete one or more files to free disk space, and then try again.</code?

Classic.

After a little more fiddling you get some part of the game working and manage to explore for a little while. You gain X XP.

reboot <code>Cannot reboot, because a restart command has already been issued. Please wait for the restart to complete before you reboot.

Man, that doesn't look good.

You get an effect: Rebooting. (Added for 65 minutes.)

boolean Invalid variable type.

Hey! Who does it think it's calling an invalid?

You get an effect: Boolean. (Added for 65 minutes.)

word you mispeled a keywurd

You spend a little time with the dictionary, increasing your vocabulary.

You get an effect: Word!. (Added for 65 minutes.)

echo, ping Network failure. Card experiencing limited or no connectivity. Commencing ping test.

Unlike your average network ping, this one is audible. It leaves your ears ringing so badly even people around you can hear the echo of the ping.

You get an effect: Pinging. (Added for 65 minutes.)

megahertz If an undetectable error occurs, the processor continues as if no error had occurred.

Ouch. Talk about making your brain hurt.

You get an effect: Mega Hurts. (Added for 65 minutes.)

defrag A wild-eyed man runs up from one side of the bar, his glasses slighly[sic] askew and his curly hair a few steps beyond tousled. He appears to be panting slightly. "Did you say 'defrag'? I am the DiskKeeper, are you the MasterKey?"

"Uh, no," you reply. You say this not because honesty is the best policy, but because the best policy generally involves absolute denial of everything.

The man looks disappointed. "Oh, well, if you see her, would you give her this?" and hands you a small metal device like a magnet with wire wrapped around it. He sniffs the air and shuffles off, snuffling to himself.

You got an item: degausser Degausser.gif

floppy Non-system disk or disk error

Replace and strike any key when ready

Well, you'd replace the any key, but you can't even find it. There's no way you'll be able to strike it if you can't complete those first steps. Oh, wait, there's a floppy disk in the drive. Of course. You pull out the floppy, at which point the whole system crashes, and you climb out.

You get an effect: Floppy. (Added for 65 minutes.)

distro Configuration error. Update failed. Critical files missing from /etc/bin/.

Lovely.

You get an effect: Distroed. (Added for 65 minutes.)

ssh
rm
cd
ls
remove
scan
grep
sudo
dir
file
zip
false
gin, rum Sorry, but the cards subroutine is broken. How about a nice drink instead?

After a little more fiddling you get some part of the game working and manage to explore for a little while. You gain X XP.

drink That's pretty vague, you know. Why don't you come back when you've got something more specific in mind?

After a little more fiddling you get some part of the game working and manage to explore for a little while. You gain X XP.

beer You're going to have to go on a murderous rampage before I can give you one of those, and you don't look like the sort to go on a murderous rampage.

After a little more fiddling you get some part of the game working and manage to explore for a little while. You gain X XP.

Anything else The computer just asks Sorry? and sits there until you give up.

or

The computer just asks What? and sits there until you give up.

After a little more fiddling you get some part of the game working and manage to explore for a little while. You gain X XP.

References

  • The text on "defrag" refers to the defragmenter Diskeeper. The man refers to "The Gatekeeper" and "The Keymaster" from the movie Ghostbusters.