In this homage to James Bond, you play as Jon Doe, an MI5 operative. Your new assignment is to investigate the suspicious death of Edulard, an elderly scientist at Wildcard Inc and a secret informant. Your leads are the scarred and monocle-wearing Adolf von Bolzplatz, who is Wildcard's CEO, and Edulard's beautiful daughter, Valerie, who is engaged to Bolzplatz.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
> sit.(You're shown a slide of Edulard, an 60-ish Belgian computer scientist at Wildcard Inc.)
> yes —or— no.
> ask Z about the suicide.
> yes —or— no.
The room descends. Z tells you to see Robert about equipment.
> x Z. z.
A passage north is now open.
> n.
Mainframe
> x Robert. x printout.(ASCII art of a face)
> x computer. x door. x button.
> talk to Robert.(He puts some papers on the bench.)
> x papers. take papers.
> talk to Robert.
> ask Robert about Wildcard. ask Robert about System.
> ask Robert about button.(He pushes it; the door opens.)
> e.
Car Park
> x Jaguar. enter car.
Robert gives you a wristwatch with an angle grinder inside it.
> x watch.
> e.
Front of Wildcard Inc
> x cars. out. n.
Big Hall
> x elevator. x button. x aquarium. x fish.
> x guard. talk to guard. show papers to guard.(He says to use the elevator.)
> enter elevator. push button. out.
Upper Gallery
> x surface. x plastic. x door.
> knock on door.(A bald young woman opens it, and greets you by name.)
> in.
Von Bolzplatz' Office
> x desk. x Adolf. x woman.
> talk to Adolf.(He looks over your documents.)
> ask Adolf about Wildcard.
> ask Adolf about Edulard.
After you ask about Edulard, Valerie enters.
> x Valerie.(Miss Mimikri pushes you out the door.)
Upper Gallery
New goal: Search Edulard's home.
> d. d. out. s.
Front of Wildcard Inc
> enter car. e.
Front of Edulard's House
> out. x mailbox. open mailbox. read leaflet.
> x door. x doormat. look under it.(no key)
> e.
Terrace
> x slabs. x garden. x Thames. x door.
> s.
Kitchen
> open drawer. take opener.
> open fridge. x can. take it. close fridge.
> open can with opener. look in can.(crab meat)
> put meat in bowl.
If the cat isn't here, it rushes in. The cat starts eating immediately.
> x cat. z.
Once the cat has fully eaten the meat, you may examine its collar and even pet the cat if it stays still long enough. As near as I can tell, the cat's name isn't randomized, but I can't prove it.
> x collar.("Orion")
> s.
Entrance
> x lamp. w.
Bedroom
> x tape. take tape.
> x photo. x bed. x table. x windows.
> n.
Bathroom
You don't need the towel.
> x washbasin. x toilet. x shower. x towel.
> s. e. e.
Study
> x books. x journals. x notes. x desk. x computer.
> turn on computer. type orion on computer.
> type nucleus on computer.(An AI that needs a large energy source.)
> type valerie on computer.(Letter to her in case Bolzplatz kills him.)
> put tape in computer. type save on computer.
You hear a car arriving.
> take tape. z. z.(Valerie arrives, angry at you.)
> talk to Valerie.
> tell Valerie about computer.
New goal: Search Bolzplatz's office. Valerie will help you.
> w. s.
Front of Edulard's House
Oddly, there's no second car. Perhaps Valerie was dropped off here by Bolzplatz.
> enter car. w.
Front of Wildcard Inc
A guard is now patroling outside with a flashlight.
> x guard. ask Valerie about guard.("Distract him somehow")
> out.(Not until the guard is gone.)
> kiss Valerie.(She protests, but tells the guard you're her brother, and he leaves.)
> out. n. u. u. out.
Upper Gallery
> open door.(Valerie unlocks the door with her bracelet.)
Von Bolzplatz' Office
> x folder.(Mentions NUCLEUS and WINDSCALE power plant.)
> take folder.(Valerie says it's time to go.)
> w.
Upper Gallery
Of course, von Bolzplatz and Miss Mimikri are here. He takes the folder from you. In the following turns, he'll leave with Valerie, and Mimikri takes your gun, cuffs you to the statue, and kicks the statue into the aquarium.
CAUTION: If you try to fight at all during this sequence, you die.
> z. z. z. z. z.
Inside the Aquarium, Bottom
> cut handcuffs with watch. u. u.
Upper Gallery
New goals: See Robert about the tape and find out where Bolzplatz has taken Valerie.
> d. d. out. s.
Front of Wildcard Inc
> enter car. w. out. w.
Mainframe
> talk to Robert. give tape to Robert.
New goal: Go to the Windscale power plant and destroy Nucleus.
> e. enter car. n.
Parking Lot
> x fence.(It's electrified...)
> x fence.(...and tall with barbed wire.)
> out. n.
Entrance Gate
> x gate. x gatehouse. x gatekeeper. x key.
> talk to gatekeeper.(Civilians aren't allowed in.)
> s. w.
By the Western Fence
> x shed. cut padlock with watch.
> in.
Work Shed
> x calendar. x multimeter. x gloves. x binoculars. x wedge.
> take all.
> out. n.
By the Northern Fence
> x cable. measure cable with multimeter.(The insulation is in the way.)
> look through binoculars.(Note that part of the yard is in darkness.)
> e.
By the Eastern Fence
> look through binoculars.(You see Bolzplatz and Valerie.)
> w.
By the Northern Fence
> wear gloves. cut cable with watch.
> measure cable with multimeter.(Voltage on one end, not on the other.)
> measure fence with multimeter.(No more voltage)
> cut fence with watch.
> look through binoculars.(Repeat until you see the guard go south.)
> se.
Northern Yard
CAUTION: Don't wander away until you're disguised as a guard.
> hide.(You get into the shade.)
> z.(Repeat waiting until the patrol guard returns.)
> hit guard. x guard. take uniform and gun.
> remove suit. wear uniform.
> out. s. e. s.
Entrance Gate
> take key.(The gatekeeper is annoyed but gives you the key.)
> n. w. n.
Northern Yard
> unlock door with key. e. s.
Stockroom
> x boxes. x tank. open tap.
> ne.
Nucleus Chamber
> x minicomputers.
> open door. wedge door with wedge.
> ne.
Control Center
> cut rope with watch.(You cut Valerie loose; she takes your gun.)
> z.(At gunpoint, Valerie takes Adolf south.)
From this point, just follow Valerie directly to your car.
> s.
Main Entrance
Alas, you may not take your Beretta back from Mimikri.
> open door. s.
Valerie pushes Adolf back inside and clamps the gun into the door handles so they can't open them.
Central Yard
> s.
The main building explodes. The gatekeeper is knocked out.
Entrance Gate
> s.
Parking Lot
> enter car. s.
You both escape. Headlines about the "Atom Plant" from October 11th to 14th, 1957 are displayed.
*** The End ***
Extras
Characters
Jon Doe, the player-character, is a secret agent similar to James Bond.
Miss Bestbeforedate is the spy agency's secretary. She's in the office, and is obviously based on Miss Moneypenny.
Z is the head of the spy agency. He's in his bureau, and is obviously based on M. He gives you your mission.
Mr Robert is the spy agency's technical support guy, and probably based on Q. He gives you a couple tools for the first phase of your mission.
A security guard is on duty inside Wildcard during the day.
A patrol guard is on duty outside Wildcard during the night.
Some fish are swimming in Wildcard's aquarium.
Adolf von Bolzplatz is the owner of Wildcard Inc., and clearly the main villian of this story.
Miss Mimikri is a bald woman who is Bolzplatz's bodyguard and assistant. She is also an assassin. Her name suggests that she might be an android.
Valerie is a woman in her thirties, Edulard's daughter, and Bolzplatz's fiancée.
A black cat wanders in Edulard's home. It's probably hungry. You wonder what it's name is.
A gatekeeper is on duty at the gate of the Windscale Nuclear Power Plant.
Another patrol guard patrols the grounds inside the fence of the Windscale Nuclear Power Plant.
Mentioned:
Monsieur Edulard was a Belgian computer scientist at Wildcard Inc. until he was strangled to death by Miss Mimikri. He was also an informant for the spy agency. His death was made to look like suicide, but Z doesn't believe it.
Chloé was Valerie's mother, according to the framed photo.
Tennessee Ernie Ford is mentioned on the tape label.
Credits
The credits are included as part of the response to ABOUT:
Credits I would like to thank Saskia Eckhardt, Patrick Amelung, Oskar Köhn, Annette Köhn and Philipp Ritschel very much for testing and indispensable feedback. I would also like to thank the mysterious Guy Incognito for his very valuable answers on stackoverflow.com.
Cover art is by Annette Köhn.
The game is using Secret Doors by Gavin Lambert, Exit Lister by Eric Eve and Punctuation Removal by Emily Short and was written in late summer 2019 by Olaf Nowacki, using Inform 7.
Feedback and transcripts of your games are very appreciated and can be sent to to my eMail (email redacted).
Endings
All endings end with The End, but only one ending is the winning one. All losing endings are deadly ones.
You die if you attack Miss Mimikri after you're caught with the folder.
You die if you don't escape from inside the aquarium after several generous turns underwater.
You die if you're caught by the patrol guard in any of the power plant's yards. Miss Mimikri shoots you with your own gun.
You die if you enter Entrance Gate from Central Yard out of uniform. The gatekeeper points his weapon at you, but it's Miss Mimikri who kills you.
You die if you enter Main Entrance in uniform, but when Valerie isn't there. Miss Mimikri takes an extra moment to recognize you, then kills you.
You die if you enter Control Center out of uniform.
You win if you and Valerie escape from the burning power plant.
Inventory
In the approximate order that you'd likely acquire them:
a hat.
You're wearing it. You should put your hat on the office's hatstand before entering Z's bureau.
You don't need the hat, but if you really want to keep it, just remove it before entering Z's bureau. As long as you're not wearing the hat, you may enter.
a dressy grey suit.
You're wearing it. You won't be willing to remove it until you have the uniform. You will need to remove the suit before you can wear the uniform; you can't wear both at once.
For the lolz, try removing the suit when you're alone with any female character.
a Beretta 418.
You're carrying it. Unfortunately, you can't call it "gun" and you'll also never use it. There's no shoot command in this game.
During your second visit to Wildcard, Miss Mimikri will take your Beretta. And if you're caught inside the Windscale power plant, Miss Mimikri will shoot you with your own Beretta. The indignity!
a printout.
It's on the lab bench in Mainframe. It has some ASCII art, of a photograph of a man's face, I think. but at a very low resolution. You don't need the printout.
a bundle of application documents.
In Mainframe, Robert puts them on the lab bench when you first talk to him. Take the documents.
Give the documents to the security guard in Wildcard's big room, and he'll let you go up the elevator.
Give the documents to Boltplatz when you first meet him in his office. This concludes your initial interview.
an angle grinder wristwatch.
Robert gives it to you when you first enter your Jaguar in the car park. You can cut things with it, as it it were a hacksaw.
When you're handcuffed at the bottom of the aquarium, cut the handcuffs with the watch.
When you're by the western fence, cut the padlock with the watch.
When you're by the northern fence, wear the gloves and cut the cable with the watch.
Still by the northern fence, after the cable is cut, verify that the fence is no longer electrified (measure the fence with the multimeter), then cut the fence with the watch.
In the countrol center, cut the rope with the watch to free Valerie.
a leaflet.
It's inside the mailbox at the front of Edulard's house. Read it, if you like, but you don't need it.
Note: Having a leaflet in a mailbox is a recurring IF trope originating with Zork.
a tin opener.
It's in Edulard's kitchen drawer. Open the food can with it.
a food can (containing crab meat).
The can is in Edulard's kitchen fridge. Open it with the tin opener.
Put the crab meat in the food bowl that's also in the kitchen. Wait for the cat to fully eat the crab meat, then examine its collar to learn the cat's name. (Whenever I played, the cat's name was always "Orion", but it may be randomized.)
a cassette tape.
It's on Edulard's bedroom table. In his study, put the tape in the computer.
After you've successfully logged onto the computer, type save on computer. Take the tape.
After you're successfully escaped from drowning in the Wildcard aquarium, return to Mainframe and give the perfectly-dry totally-undamaged tape to Robert.
a framed photo.
It's on Edulard's bedroom table. Look at it, but you don't need to take it.
an used towel.
It's in Edulard's bathroom. You don't need it.
a document folder.
Very conveniently, it's on Boltplatz' desk during your second visit to his office. Read it and take it. However, Boltplatz will take it from you when you leave his office.
a broken padlock.
It's by the western fence after you cut the padlock with your watch. You don't need the broken padlock.
a multimeter.
It's in the work shed.
At the fences, you can measure the cables or fences with the multimeter to test their voltages.
a pair of rubber gloves.
They're in the work shed. Wear them to protect you from electrocution when, at the northern fence, you cut the cable with the watch.
a binoculars.
They're in the work shed.
When by the eastern fence, look through the binoculars to learn that Boltplatz and Valerie are in the control center.
When by the northern fence, look through the binoculars to see if the patrol guard is leaving or arriving. You want to keep checking until he's leaving because only then can you safely enter the northern yard via the hole you cut in the fence.
a wedge.
It's in the work shed. In either the storeroom or the Nucleus chamber, wedge the swing door with the wedge to keep it from closing.
a blue uniform.
It's worn by the unconscious patrol guard in Northern Yard. To knock out the guard, first hide when he's not there, then attack him when he is there.
Remove your suit and wear the the uniform. You can't wear both at the same time.
While wearing the uniform, you can wander safely everywhere in the power plant except the main entrance where Miss Mimikri is. She won't be fooled by your disguise.
a submachine gun.
It's carried by the unsconscious patrol guard in Northern Yard. Take it, but you won't be able to shoot it any more than you could the Beretta.
When you cut Valerie's rope with the watch in the control room, she'll silently take the gun from you.
Valerie will first use the gun to force Boltplatz into the main entrance. Now open the door and go south. Valerie will follow, but use the gun to bar the door, locking both Boltplatz and Mimikri inside the doomed building.
a security key.
It's in the gatehouse at the power plant's entrance gate. When in uniform, take it.
In Northern Yard, the key unlocks the back door to the main power building.
Note: Although the gatekeeper tells you to return the key when you're done with it, you can't actually do that. The gatekeeper doesn't want any of your inventory, including his own key.
Honorable mention:
handcuffs.
During your second visit to Wildcard, Miss Mimikri will cuff you to the heavy sculpture, then kick it into the aquarium, dragging you deep underwater. Cut the handcuffs with your watch.
Note: While this is a clever bit of business, perfectly in keeping with genre expectations, one wonders how Mimikri planned to remove the sculpture and your corpse from the aquarium before any other employees could see it the next day.
the support of Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mark Musante, Phil Tatro, Mitch, Astringer, and Vivienne Dunstan;
the generous support of Janice M Eisen and Matthew Foxley;
