Sugarcane

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 2>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nThe moment you shift, the floor becomes translucent and starts rising around your ankles and knees.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>a filled syringe<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Staircase3 appearance]]\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Staircase3 detached]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 1>>\n<<set $visited = "yes">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou focus and slip into your detached state, but there is nothing you can do against the hard concrete and glass of the tower. In this state, you can't even ruffle the evergreen leaves of the flower-beds.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift back to your normal state|Resolve]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 3>>\n<<set $injected = "yes">>\n<<set $syringe = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou find a vein and insert the needle.\n\nThe world explodes around you, but you don't feel any pain - you're still breathing, there is no blood. The tower has dissolved to a branch of crystal flowers suspended under the starry sky.\n\nYou sense Berrick's top floor office, even though there is nothing in this world that resembles the old perceptions of your senses. Berrick is there. You can tell him from the other humans in the building, as if there were a slight difference to the flavour of his mind.\n\nYou can bypass everything else and [[move to the office|Office of blue]].\n\nInventory:\na swipe card

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nGlancing around and seeing no-one, you shift back to normal and open the door.\n\nYou are on the first floor landing. The fluorescent light is so faint, there is little difference against your detached mode.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Staircase1 detached]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Staircase1 hyperdense]]\n\n[[up|Staircase2 normal]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 1>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nThe doctor stands there, unsure what to do, as you vanish before her eyes.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[slip past her|Sanctum corridor detached]]

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<else>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou slip up to a window and scrabble at the lock mechanism, but in this state you are not strong enough to manipulate anything. You punch the glass. You don't feel any pain, but the glass doesn't give way.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift back|Open]]\n\n[[back to corridor|Corridor free]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 1>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are on the second floor landing. The fluorescent light is faint. You see nothing through the glass doors leading to dark corridors.\n\n<<if $doctor eq "yes">>You hear the click of a door below you. A woman is heading up the stairs, carrying what appears to be a medical kit.<<endif>>\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Staircase2 appearance]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Staircase2 hyperdense]]\n\n[[up|Staircase3 detached]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 3>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nAs you take out the syringe and find a vein, Berrick's eyes widen. "Where did you g--"\n\nYou push the plunger down, and his voice fades with everything else. The building around you blasts open. You see the fragments of it floating around you in the night air, or perhaps they are stars. The stars above you are so close, they will orbit your fingers if you reach up.\n\nIf you wanted to, you could [[walk out of here on the layered planes of the sky|Ascent]]. Or you could use your new-found state to [[shape his mind|Reform]].

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<else>>Normal<<endif>>\n\n<<if $windowed eq "yes">>The glass shatters around your back and shoulders as you throw yourself backwards out into the cold air.<<else>>You scramble onto the sill and leap.<<endif>>\n\nThe sky is black around you. It feels as if you could wake up from this any moment. You hear the air hurtling past.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift into detached state|On the run]]\n\n[[do nothing|Death3]]

Layers

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 2>>\n<<silently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nThe moment you switch, you can feel yourself being dragged down to the distant ground.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>a filled syringe<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Sanctum corridor normal]]\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Sanctum corridor detached]]\n\n[[pass through the office door|Office entry]]

body { font-size:100% }\n\n#storyMenu{display:none}\n\n#sidebar { display: none }\n\n#passages { border-left: 0; padding-left: 0 }\n\na.internalLink,a.externalLink,a.back,a.return{color:#BF00FF}\n\na.internalLink:hover,a.externalLink:hover{color:white;text-decoration:none;font-size:110%}

<<silently>>\n<<set $doctor = "no">>\n<<set $visitedb = "yes">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou only need to wait for a couple of minutes. The door unlocks from the other side, and the doctor returns to the staircase, without her kit. She nods at you and heads downstairs, the sound of her steps fading.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Staircase4 shock]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Staircase4 hyperdense]]

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are standing at the top of the staircase. The security door stands so slightly open that you first fear that it has slid shut.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>[[a filled syringe|inject4]]<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[enter|Sanctum corridor normal]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\n<<if $visited eq "no">>If you tell the police, it will be months before they deal with the Order, if at all; most of the authorities follow powerful interests nowadays. You are going to have to take care of it yourself.\n\nUnder cover of the next night, you slip back to the dilapidated office building that is Chairman Berrick's Order of Liberation. You keep well away from the two guards by the floodlit entrance. Most of the windows are black: the cult isn't big enough to fill all the storeys.\n\nYou have to lean your head back to see the glimmer of light in the uppermost windows. You were always told that Berrick had his office up there, and you see no reason to disbelieve that. He used to move among his congregation, almost chatty: I'm just a man, he would say. Not the chosen one, I'm just here to help you choose the way.<<else>>You are standing in a dark, unwatched area below the tower. Above you, the building is a sparse pattern of lit windows against the sky.<<endif>>\n\nYou walk around the parking lots and rain-gleaming shrubberies under the tower, but of course there is no way in that is not guarded.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[smash a window|Break]]\n\n[[slip into the detached state|Outside detached]]\n\n[[slip into matter-bypassing state|Outside hyperdense]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $syringe = "yes">>\n<<set $card = "yes">>\n<<set $doctor = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou launch yourself at her. The two of you struggle, but you manage to knock her backwards. She hits her head on the steps and lies unconscious. You have to assume she will survive.\n\nYou search her belongings. The kit contains a syringe full of a fluid in a strange colour, almost indigo. You also find a swipe card in her coat pocket.\n\nThe security door stands so slightly open that you first fear that it has slid shut.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>[[a filled syringe|inject4]]<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[enter|Sanctum corridor normal]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $syringe = "yes">>\n<<set $card = "yes">>\n<<set $doctor = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou launch yourself at her. The two of you struggle, but you manage to knock her backwards. She hits her head on the steps and lies unconscious. You have to assume she will survive.\n\nYou search her belongings. The kit contains a syringe full of a fluid in a strange colour, almost indigo. You also find a swipe card in her coat pocket.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>[[a filled syringe|inject3]]<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[up|Staircase4 normal]]

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou stalk into the reading-room to the left. This room is in good order, with a carpeted floor and bookshelves lining the walls.\n\nA young man, barely out of his teens, is sitting at a table, reading a [[book|Book excerpt]].\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|First floor library normal]]\n\n[[move right|First floor corridor detached]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 1>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are standing in an unlit corridor on the first floor. It turns to the front of you and continues to the left.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|First floor corridor normal]]\n\n[[move ahead|First floor corridor1 detached]]\n\n[[move left|First floor library detached]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 1>>\n<<set $doctor = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nThe woman jolts, but slowly, when she realises that you disappeared. She will no doubt call for help, but right now you are faster. You will have time to make it to the top of the stairs.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[up|Staircase4 detached]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 1>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are standing in a dusty office. The only exit is the locked door behind you.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Inside normal2]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Inside hyperdense2]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 1>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou slip back to the smoky world of your detached state, just before the face of a guard. He stares straight ahead.\n\nYou are in the lobby, floodlit through the entrance doors and with carpeting worn bare. Ahead of you is the glass cage of the stairwell.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Death6]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Inside hyperdense1]]\n\n[[enter stairwell|Staircaseground detached]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are standing in a corridor on the first floor. Ahead, you see the light falling through the glass doors of the stairwell.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to detached state|First floor corridor1 detached]]\n\n[[Shift to hyperdense state|First floor corridor1 hyperdense]]\n\n[[open door|Staircase1 normal]]\n\n[[move left|First floor corridor normal]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 2>>\n<<set $visited = "yes">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou lay your hands on the freezing cold of the façade and focus. It seems to take an hour before you can force your mind into the pattern that allows you to enter a new state.\n\nThe world changes more radically. The walls of the building fade out until you can barely tell where they are. You could blast through them. The ground under your feet becomes pale mist.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[enter the tower|Inside hyperdense]]\n\n[[Shift to normal|Resolve]]\n\n[[Shift to detached|Outside detached]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 2>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou stumble through the office door and flounder in a room you can't see.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>a filled syringe<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Office normal]]\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Office detached]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are standing in an unlit corridor on the first floor. Some orange light falls in through the windows, but it is too dark to see the ends of the corridor.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to detached state|First floor corridor detached]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nA steel security door blocks the staircase leading to the fifth floor. <<if $doctor eq "yes">>The doctor swipes her card, punches in four numbers and opens the door.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>[[a filled syringe|inject4]]<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Staircase4 shock]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Staircase4 hyperdense]]\n\n[[walk in with her|Staircase4 confrontation]]\n\n[[wait in the stairs|Staircase4a]]<<else>>You test it, but it doesn't give.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>[[a filled syringe|inject4]]<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>[[a swipe card|card frustration]]<<endif>>\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Staircase4 detached]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Staircase4 hyperdense]]<<endif>>

There is nothing for you here. You spend one last night in your apartment, then pack up and use your remaining money to get transport out of the city. Perhaps you'll find a family member to stay with. Perhaps you'll find a job. The Order of Liberation are unlikely to spend money and effort tracking down a low-ranking former member.\n\nIt's out of your hands now.\n\n[[try again?|Corridor]]\n\n<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<set $windowed = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nLooking ahead, you see the lobby with its armed guards. If you go out there, they will see you.\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Inside detached1]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Inside hyperdense1]]\n\n[[back|Inside normal]]

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\n<<if $visiteda eq "no">>You zip through the matter of the walls and don't even feel them. It would be effortless as in a dream, except that you have to struggle to keep on ground level, a bit like treading water. Gravity still pulls at your phased body.<<else>>You calculate that you are back at the spot where you entered the building. You have to expend considerable energy to stay afloat on the incorporeal ground.<<endif>>\n\nBetween the shadowy quality of the world and your faint memories of the layout of the building, you are not certain where the stairwell is. You believe it is somewhere to the right, closer to the entrance, but the material world has too little impact on your senses for you to be able to perceive it.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift back to normal state|Inside normal]]\n\n[[Shift back to detached state|Inside detached]]\n\n[[move right|Inside hyperdense1]]\n\n[[move ahead|Inside hyperdense2]]\n\n[[swim upwards|Climb]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are on the second floor landing. The fluorescent light is faint.\n\nYou hear the click of a door below you. A woman is heading up the stairs. She glances at you, but doesn't react. You are still wearing the plain white shirt and dark trousers of the Order members; she must be assuming that you are another member.\n\nShe is carefully carrying a plastic box that appears to be some sort of medical kit.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Staircase2 shock]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Staircase2 hyperdense]]\n\n[[attack her|Staircase2 fight]]\n\n[[continue upward|Staircase3 normal]]

You return to your visible form and find that you are in the stairwell, all glassy walls and artificial stone flags.\n\nThe guards in the lobby see you take shape. Within minutes, they have hunted you down.\n\n[[start from the beginning|Corridor]]\n\n[[return to outside of tower|Resolve]]\n\n<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<set $windowed = "no">>\n<<set $visited = "no">>\n<<set $visiteda = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>

Colours and light return. You are standing a few steps away from a guard, and they shoot you before you have the time to react.\n\n[[start from the beginning|Corridor]]\n\n[[return to outside of tower|Resolve]]\n\n<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<set $windowed = "no">>\n<<set $visited = "no">>\n<<set $visiteda = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>

You solidify. The guards regain their composure soon enough to shoot you before you've run more than a few steps.\n\n[[start from the beginning|Corridor]]\n\n[[return to outside of tower|Resolve]]\n\n<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<set $windowed = "no">>\n<<set $visited = "no">>\n<<set $visiteda = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>

You fling yourself at the guards, but a moment later they have bowled you to the floor and are twisting your arms behind your back.\n\nThey drag you to the shock administration room, and you are strapped down.\n\nWhen they release you later that night, you are sobbing and thanking them and loyal again.\n\n[[try again?|Corridor]]\n\n<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<set $windowed = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>

Your hands become solid and the colours of the door and the walls become crisp.\n\nYou've barely pulled the handle when the bullets ratchet into your body and the glass. You slump against the door, warmth pouring out of you.\n\n[[try again?|Corridor]]\n\n<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<endsilently>>

The fall isn't high enough to kill you, but you break both your legs on the tarmac below.\n\nWithin minutes, the guards posted at the front of the Temple of Liberation come around the corner, drawn by your screams. You see the flash of a gun barrel before it is over.\n\n[[try again?|Corridor]]\n\n<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<set $windowed = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 1>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nThe corridor leading to Chairman Berrick's office is no more luxurious than the rest of the building, but a few paintings and drawings hang on the flaking walls. They seem to be mostly portraits of people, but that is all you can make out in this state.\n\n<<if $visitedb eq "no">> The woman goes up to a heavy wooden door at the far end of the corridor, and slides the box through a flap at the bottom. She walks past you, opens the security door and descends the comparative brightness of the staircase. The security door slides shut behind you.<<else>>At the far end of the corridor is a heavy wooden door.<<endif>>\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>a filled syringe<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Sanctum corridor normal]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Sanctum corridor hyperdense]]\n\n[[open door|Door frustration]]

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<else>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou sprint to the end of the corridor, but there is a glass door. Through it, you can dimly see the staircase. Your body is too faint to operate the door-handle in this state.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift back|Death2]]\n\n[[back|Corridor free]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<set $greeted = "yes">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nThe office is cluttered with furniture and antiques, lit by a couple of table lamps with silken shades.\n\nThe man who would lead the new and enlightened mankind sits almost dwarfed behind his heavy desk, plate glass windows behind him. Several of his fingers are unusable polished bone. You and the other faithful are all missing one or two fingers, or more. No-one else went as far as he.\n\nBerrick lets go of the thick book he has been reading and reaches for something under his desk. His expression never changes.\n\n"What do you have to say?" he says, his gaze meeting yours.\n\nYou can hear the distant howling of an alarm.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>[[a filled syringe|inject office]]<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[reason with him|Diplomacy]]\n\n[[kill him|Victory]]

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou try putting the card in, but the door doesn't open. You also need to enter a passcode.\n\n[[back|Staircase4 normal]]

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou try to kick your way up through the fog of the wall, but the effort leaves you dizzy. You have only made it a few yards up when you are forced to shift or return to the ground floor.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to detached state|First floor corridor detached]]\n\n[[Sink back|Inside hyperdense]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<endif>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nThe boy notices your presence in the room. He runs out, screaming for help.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[run|First floor corridor normal]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<set $windowed = "yes">>\n<<endsilently>>\nState: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<else>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nThe guards jolt as if waking from a dream. You still have time to act.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[throw yourself through the window|Free]]\n\n[[fight them|Death1]]

Your gaze slips around in search for a way out, or at least something else to focus on. Outside the windows, you see black sky and the broken glitter of the street lights below.\n\nThey've given you the compliance treatment once before.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[struggle|Corridor4]]\n\n[[go quietly|Corridor5]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 1>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are standing in an abandoned corridor with the doors to unused offices.\n\nThe staircase is to your right.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Inside normal]]\n\n[[Shift to matter-bypassing state|Inside hyperdense]]\n\n[[move right|Inside detached1]]

You can see the door ahead, under one of the undamaged fluorescent lights. Your gaze slips to the floor, as if even that might give you a few more seconds.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[SHIFT NOW|Burst]]\n\n[[struggle|Death]]\n\n[[go quietly|Death]]

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou tell him that the violence he and his closest circle have inflicted on the faithful is inhuman.\n\nBerrick smiles at you, an understanding smile.\n\n"But they all agreed to the mortifications. You--" his gaze flicks to your left hand with its missing finger, "you agreed, as well."\n\nYou tell him that you will kill him unless he lets the members go.\n\n"So it comes down to brutality. You are not really disproving my point here."\n\nHe leans forward slightly, not in order to attack you. You hear faint running footsteps in the corridor.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>[[a filled syringe|inject corridor]]<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[destroy him|Victory]]\n\n<<if $injected eq "yes">>[[reshape his mind|Reform]]<<endif>>

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou roll the syringe between your fingers. The doctor was carrying no instructions. You don't know what the drug is supposed to do.\n\n[[inject it|World of blue]]\n\n[[put it away|Staircase4b]]

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nShe turns around and looks straight at you, with an apologetic smile.\n\n"I'm sorry, but you don't have access here. I'm sure there's somewhere else you need to be."\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[wait|Staircase4a]]\n\n[[attack her|Staircase4 fight]]

Christina Nordlander

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 2>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nThe moment you shift, the floor becomes translucent and starts rising around your ankles and knees.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Staircase1 normal]]\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Staircase1 detached]]

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are standing in a corridor on the first floor. Ahead, you see the light falling through the glass doors of the stairwell.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|First floor corridor1 normal]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|First floor corridor1 hyperdense]]\n\n[[open door|Stair frustration]]

The light in the shock administration room is too bright. It flickers. They strap you to the chair and put a piece of rubber hose between your teeth.\n\nWhen it's over, you're not really you any more.\n\n[[try again?|Corridor]]

You slip into the labyrinths of Berrick's brain like a liquid. He doesn't even perceive your presence enough to resist.\n\nThe sky is brightening outside the window when you shift back to your physical state. Berrick looks up at you. His face is flushed; perhaps he has cried at some point.\n\n"You're right," he responds to something. "There is much to do. Will you stay here and help me?"\n\nYour body is tired after a stressful night. You find a free chair and sit down.\n\nThe Order of Liberation will be a better place for its members from now on.\n\nIt is over.

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 2>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nThe moment you shift, the floor becomes translucent and starts rising around your ankles and knees.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Staircase2 appearance]]\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Staircase2 detached]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 1>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are on the first floor landing. The fluorescent light is faint. You see nothing through the glass doors leading to dark corridors.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Staircase1 normal]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Staircase1 hyperdense]]\n\n[[up|Staircase2 detached]]

[[Layers|Corridor]]\n\nA dimensional adventure by Christina Nordlander\n\nCreated in Twine for Mini-LD 48

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 3>>\n<<set $injected = "yes">>\n<<set $syringe = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are floating in a tangle of galaxies. Berrick is in front of you. He is visible as a snake of light, like yourself.\n\nBerrick's presence dances like a flame, as if delighted to challenge you to battle.\n\nInventory:\na swipe card\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Office normal]]\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Office detached]]\n\n[[change his mind|Reform]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<set $windowed = "no">>\n<<set $visited = "no">>\n<<set $visiteda = "no">>\n<<set $syringe = "no">>\n<<set $card = "no">>\n<<set $injected = "no">>\n<<set $visitedb = "no">>\n<<set $doctor = "yes">>\n<<set $greeted = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>Two of the Warriors of Liberation are dragging you down the badly lit corridor to the shock administration room. The air smells of damp construction materials. You pass window after window.\n\nYou know the man to your left. His name is Albert. He joined the Order around the same time as you did, and you used to sit at the same table and talk in the cafeteria. The woman to your left is very young, her face set against the orange light from the windows.\n\nYou pass one of the doors. It's not the one. You can feel the room approaching as if it were something in your flesh.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[struggle|Corridor2]]\n\n[[go quietly|Corridor3]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou try the door, but it is locked.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>[[a filled syringe|inject corridor]]<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Door frustration]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Office entry]]

You pick a piece of broken-up tarmac off the ground and smash one of the basement windows. You hear the distant keening of the alarm while you brush the glass splinters out of the frame and slip down.\n\nThe guards find you almost immediately.\n\n[[start from the beginning|Corridor]]\n\n[[return to outside of tower|Resolve]]\n\n<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<set $windowed = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<set $visitedb = "yes">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nThe corridor leading to Chairman Berrick's office is no more luxurious than the rest of the building, but on the walls hang a few paintings and drawings, presumably done by his faithful. Most of them are portraits of people. The quality is varying, but even the most skilful ones have a skewed, frozen quality to their expression, as if the models were caught trying not to scream.\n\nAt the far end of the corridor is a deeply profiled wooden door.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>[[a filled syringe|inject corridor]]<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Sanctum corridor detached]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Sanctum corridor hyperdense]]\n\n[[open door|Door frustration1]]

<<silently>>\n<<if $state lte 0>>\n<<set $state = $state +1>>\n<<endif>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<else>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are standing in the unclear, greyed-out corridor. The guards are moving slowly towards the end, neither of them seeing you.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift back|Urgency]]\n\n[[climb out a window|Frustration]]\n\n[[run to the stairway|Stairway]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $syringe = "yes">>\n<<set $card = "yes">>\n<<set $doctor = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou launch yourself at her. The two of you struggle, but you manage to knock her backwards. She hits her head on the steps and lies unconscious. You have to assume she will survive.\n\nYou search her belongings. The kit contains a syringe full of a fluid in a strange colour, almost indigo. You also find a swipe card in her coat pocket.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>[[a filled syringe|inject2]]<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[up|Staircase3 normal]]

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou can't manipulate the door in your state.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Stair opened]]\n\n[[back|First floor corridor1 detached]]

Your socks get no purchase on the lino floor. Your guards barely slow their pace.\n\nYour gaze slips around in search for a way out, or at least something else to focus on. Outside the windows, you see black sky and the broken glitter of the street lights below.\n\nThey've given you the compliance treatment once before.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[struggle|Corridor4]]\n\n[[go quietly|Corridor5]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 2>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nThe moment you shift, you feel the floor rising around you like a sluggish marsh.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|First floor corridor1 normal]]\n\n[[Shift to detached state|First floor corridor1 detached]]

<<if $greeted eq "yes">>You switch into your detached state, leap across his desk and zoom into your matter-bypassing state, only long enough to stick your hand through his skull.<<else>>You lean over him and zoom into your matter-bypassing state, only long enough to stick your hand through his skull. You blink back to the physical state.<<endif>>\n\nA sharp pain of skull shards bites into your lower arm. There is blood. Berrick slumps in his office chair, his head just a ruin.\n\nYou collect all you can find of Berrick's scriptures and tear them up until they become illegible, then open the window and spread them on the evening air. Perhaps this won't be enough to break the cult. Perhaps, with luck, it will be the start of a rebellion.\n\n<<if $greeted eq "yes">>You hear the guards kicking in the door.<<endif>> You step onto the window-sill, lean back and let yourself drift to the dark ground.\n\nIt is over.

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nIn this state, the light is fainter, but you lean over the boy's shoulder and get close enough to see the text.\n\nYou read this one, or something like it, back when you still belonged to the Order.\n\n"The disordered and piecemeal pain of a material life, and the regulated pain of life in the Order, are so different that they should not even merit the same words. As we proceed to give of our flesh and bodies for the purpose of Liberation, the physical enjoyment of compliance will heighten just as will the mental."\n\nThe boy still has all his fingers, but his hands have a rash of cigarette burns.\n\n[[back|First floor library detached]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = $state +1>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<else>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nSomething in your neurons jumps to life. You feel your brain lighting up.\n\nThe grasp on your arms becomes so faint, you can barely feel it. Your vision dims, but you're not feeling faint. You can still see, but the darkness is greyer and the light is almost colourless.\n\nYou glance back and forth between Albert and the woman. Neither of them is looking at you. Their eyes are still focused on the corridor ahead. Their movements appear to have slowed down slightly.\n\nYou move your arm slightly, pulling it free. Their hands offer no more resistance than dreams.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift back|Urgency]]\n\n[[run|Corridor free]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<set $doctor = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nShe stumbles back as you materialise next to her. She pulls up a mobile phone and calls for help.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Staircase2 detached]]\n\n[[fight her|Staircase2 fight]]\n\n[[run upstairs|Staircase3 normal]]

You try to twist your arms free of their grip. You might as well try to tear your way through concrete.\n\nYou can see the door ahead, under one of the undamaged fluorescent lights. Your gaze slips to the floor, as if even that might give you a few more seconds.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[SHIFT NOW|Burst]]\n\n[[struggle|Death]]\n\n[[go quietly|Death]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<else>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYour fingers feel warm and clumsy as you tear at the handle. It gives way. You hear the click as the window opens, and cool air leaks in.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[JUMP|Free]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 1>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nThe office is cluttered with furniture and antiques, probably opulent, but it is all too washed-out and monochrome to be able to tell.\n\nThe man who wants to lead the new and enlightened mankind sits almost dwarfed behind his heavy desk, jovial with his thinning yellow hair. <<if $syringe eq "yes">>He is injecting something from a syringe, the medical kit standing open next to him.<<else>>He has a thick book in front of him, but his mind seems elsewhere.<<endif>> Several of his fingers are unusable polished bone from some of his spiritual exercises. You and the other faithful are all missing one or two fingers. No-one else went as far as he.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>a filled syringe<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[Show yourself|Office normal]]\n\n[[destroy him|Victory]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = $state +1>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<else>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nAlmost unconsciously, you slip into the muted grey state. You feel the impact when you hit the ground, but so faintly that there is no pain. When you get to your feet, you can't feel or see anything wrong with your body.\n\nYou slip back through the streets. The surrounding traffic is viscously slow, and no-one pays any attention to you.\n\nYou don't have a lot of time. Once Chairman Berrick realises that you have escaped, he will send the Warrior Circle to your flat: you gave them all your information when you joined.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[leave the city|End]]\n\n[[bring an end to the Order|Resolve]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are standing in an abandoned corridor with the doors to unused offices.\n\nThe staircase is somewhere to your right.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Inside detached]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Inside hyperdense]]\n\n[[move right|peek]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 1>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nA steel security door blocks the staircase leading to the fifth floor. <<if $doctor eq "yes">>You stop as the doctor switches the kit to her left hand and pulls a swipe card out of her pocket. She puts the card in the slot and punches in four numbers, then pushes the door open.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>a filled syringe<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[slip in behind her|Sanctum corridor detached]]<<else>>You test it, but there is no way for you to open it.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>a filled syringe<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Staircase4 normal]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Staircase4 hyperdense]]<<endif>>

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 2>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou jump through the security door and try to keep yourself afloat.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>a filled syringe<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Sanctum corridor normal]]\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Sanctum corridor detached]]

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou slide through the fuzzy greyness of the walls.\n\nYou believe that you are standing in the stairwell.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Death4]]\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Staircaseground detached]]\n\n[[move left|Inside hyperdense2]]\n\n[[move back|Inside hyperdense1]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 1>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou find yourself at the bottom of the stairwell, glassy walls and artificial stone flags. Guards are posted outside in the lobby, their gaze passing through you.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Death4]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Inside hyperdense4]]\n\n[[up|Staircase1 detached]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $visiteda = "yes">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou slide through the fuzzy greyness of the walls.\n\nYou guess that the staircase is to the right.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Inside normal2]]\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Inside detached2]]\n\n[[move right|Inside hyperdense4]]\n\n[[move back|Inside hyperdense]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $visiteda = "yes">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou slide through the fuzzy greyness of the walls.\n\nYou guess that the staircase is ahead.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Death5]]\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Inside detached1]]\n\n[[move left|Inside hyperdense]]\n\n[[move ahead|Inside hyperdense4]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 1>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are on the third floor landing. The fluorescent light is faint. You see nothing through the glass doors leading to dark corridors.\n\n<<if $doctor eq "yes">>Outside your state, in the shadowy viscous air, the Order doctor is climbing the staircase.<<endif>>\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>a filled syringe<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Staircase3 appearance]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Staircase3 hyperdense]]\n\n[[up|Staircase4 detached]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<set $doctor = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nShe stumbles back as you materialise next to her. She pulls up a mobile phone and calls for help.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Staircase3 detached]]\n\n[[fight her|Staircase3 fight]]\n\n[[run upstairs|Staircase4 normal]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are on the first floor landing. The fluorescent light is so faint, there is little difference against your detached mode, but the floor feels firmer through the soles of your shoes, and the smells in the air are sharper.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Staircase1 detached]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Staircase1 hyperdense]]\n\n[[up|Staircase2 normal]]\n\n[[head into the corridor|First floor corridor1 normal]]

State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYour fingers slide off the door, unable to interact with it.\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>a filled syringe<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[Shift to normal state|Door frustration1]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Office entry]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 3>>Burst open<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nYou are on the third floor landing. The fluorescent light is faint.\n\n<<if $doctor eq "yes">>The Order doctor is keeping up with you, the soles of her shoes clicking on the steps. She doesn't look at you.<<endif>>\n\nInventory:\n<<if $syringe eq "yes">>[[a filled syringe|inject3]]<<endif>>\n<<if $card eq "yes">>a swipe card<<endif>>\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Staircase3 shock]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Staircase3 hyperdense]]\n\n<<if $doctor eq "yes">>[[attack her|Staircase3 fight]]<<endif>>\n\n[[up|Staircase4 normal]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<endsilently>>State: <<if $state eq 1>>Detached<<endif>><<if $state eq 2>>Matter-bypassing<<endif>><<if $state eq 0>>Normal<<endif>>\n\nComplete darkness around you, and the itchy smell of old paper. You try moving and nearly stumble over something hard.\n\nInventory:\n\n\n\n[[Shift to detached state|Inside detached2]]\n\n[[Shift to phasing state|Inside hyperdense2]]

The cult, Berrick, your friends, all those concerns matter as little as if they belonged to a dream. You step out of the office and let the winds sweep you across the sky.\n\nIt is only later, when you shift back to your physical state, that you remember that there were more things to do.\n\n[[start from the beginning|Corridor]]\n\n[[return to outside of tower|Resolve]]\n\n[[return to staircase|Staircase1 normal]]\n\n<<silently>>\n<<set $state = 0>>\n<<set $windowed = "no">>\n<<set $visited = "no">>\n<<set $visiteda = "no">>\n<<set $doctor = "yes">>\n<<set $visitedb = "no">>\n<<set $greeted = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>