Bus station is a Z-machine interactive fiction short story written with Inform 6 and is © 2009 by Alex Mitchell. It was a participant in the Interactive Fiction Writing Month event of February 2009.
In this short story, you are waiting at the bus station for the last bus to Montreal to visit your parents. But there's a blizzard outside and you don't have your ticket or any money. Three possible endings.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1, Serial number 090316 of the short story. This is the version released in Week 4 as Bus station v4.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction short story. Please make an honest effort to play the short story before reading this walkthrough.
Waiting room
If you try to leave the station via the entrance to the north, the blizzard convinces you to stay here instead.
Also, you're unwilling to go south to the bus stands until you hear the bus arrive.
> x me. i. x ipod. x key. take newspaper.
After 5 turns, the PA system announces that the last bus to Montreal will arrive at Stand 2 in 10 minutes.
> stand. w.
Lockers
> unlock locker with key. open locker.
> take diary. (no: foreboding)
> take diary. (done)
> open it. (Something slips out.)
> look. take ticket. x it.
You hear the bus arrive.
> e. s.
Bus stands
I live in Ontario, and "bus stands" isn't a phrase I'd use, although I see that Google Maps uses the term. I'd refer to those as bus platforms or bus bays, where the platform is where the passengers stand (even it's just an outlined area on the pavement), and the bay is where the bus parks.
> x bus. enter bus. x driver. give ticket.
While the bus is at the station, there's nowhere to go or sit. After 21 turns from the start, the PA announces the bus will depart in 5 minutes.
> read newspaper. (sticky)
> look up storm in newspaper. (worst ice storm since 1997)
> look up family in newspaper. (no mention)
> z. z. z. (waiting until bus leaves the station)
In the front of the bus (on the way to Montreal)
Now that the bus is moving, you're actually in a new location, and new options are available. In a real Canadian bus, there's a sign saying not to talk to the driver while the bus is in motion, but I don't see any sign here, do you?
> talk to driver. g. g.
The driver suggests sitting in the back of the bus and reading a book or something to pass the time.
> s.
In the back of the bus (on the way to Montreal)
Oh, here's where the seat is.
> sit. x seat. (seatbelt??)
> turn on ipod. listen.
> read diary.
*** The End ***
> restart
Waiting room
> stand. x payphone. call home. (You need a coin.)
> e.
Men's toilet
> x urinals. x cubicle.
> x glint. take coin.
> w.
Waiting room
> put coin in phone.
> call home. z. z. z. z.
Your mom answers! Your parents missed their flight and are safe.
*** You have won ***
There is a third ending where the bus leaves without you, but no one needs a walkthrough for that. Just WAIT twenty-seven times.
Mentioned:
There are no formal credits. However, the associated ahlec_4_about.txt file contains the following text:
My attempt at the week 4 submission. Incremental addition to previous weeks, not much added but attempted to polish it a bit.
Alex
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