(align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[=
You stand in an old schoolhouse meeting room. Infront of you is a small table and some chairs surrounding it. In the corner is a desk with a blank notebook on top. There is also a drawer in the desk. The room is walled on all sides, with a small door to the south.
(if:visits is 1)[You are currently wearing textured clothing. Your last memory before coming here was playing outside in your yard before dinner time. You were a child when that happened, but your body is now that of an adult. There is a scar on the back of your left hand you recieved from an injury two months back. It is now warped from what you remember it as a result of your hand being bigger than before.]
(if:$j is true)+(if:$trapped is not true)[The junzi has not yet arrived.]
[[Open the southern door.->Southern Door]](set: $leaving_south to true)
[[Investigate the drawer->Drawer Investigation]]
(t8n-depart:"instant")+(t8n-arrive:"instant")[[Wait.->Entry]](if:$leaving_south is true)[You go through the door to the south of the room and look around. ](set: $leaving_south to false)
There is a window directly infront of you. It appears to be night time, however you cannot see through the window well enough to know if it leads to the outside to be able to confirm that.
To the right and left of you are small hallways that quickly bend around the room in the center.
[[Go left.->bottom right corner]]
[[Go right.->bottom left corner]]
(if:$w is < 30)[[[Return to main room.->Entry]]]
(if:$w is >= 30)+(if:$trapped is not true)[[[Return to main room.->Meeting]]]
(t8n-depart:"instant")+(t8n-arrive:"instant")[[Wait.->Southern Door]]
(if:$j is true)[(set: $w to $w+1)]You open the drawer under the blank notebook. Inside the drawer are two bent staples and a strand of thread. The drawer is slightly dusty.
(if:$no_items is not "1")[[[Take the contents of the drawer with you->Take the Items]]]
(t8n-depart:"instant")+(t8n-arrive:"instant")[[Look at the notebook.->Notebook]]
[[Close the drawer and leave through the door to the south.->Southern Door]]
[[Return to room center.->Entry]]
(t8n-depart:"instant")+(t8n-arrive:"instant")[[Wait.->Drawer Investigation]]
(if:$j is true)[(set: $w to $w+1)]You do not see a point with taking them with you.(set: $no_items to "1")
[[Go through the southern door.->Southern Door]]
[[Look at desk.->Drawer Investigation]]
(t8n-depart:"instant")+(t8n-arrive:"instant")[[Wait.->Take the Items]]
(if:$j is true)[(set: $w to $w+1)]You stand in the corner of the hallway. You can proceed down it from here.
[[Proceed down the hallway.->upper right corner]]
[[Return to window.->Southern Door]]
(t8n-depart:"instant")+(t8n-arrive:"instant")[[Wait.->bottom right corner]]
(if:$j is true)[(set: $w to $w+1)]You stand in a corner of the hallway. You can proceed down it from here.
[[Return to window.->Southern Door]]
[[Proceed down the hallway.->upper left corner]]
(t8n-depart:"instant")+(t8n-arrive:"instant")[[Wait.->bottom left corner]]
(if:$j is true)[(set: $w to $w+1)]You stand in the corner of the hallway. You can proceed down it from here. There is a small ledge jutting out of the wall for what appears to be a reception desk.
[[Proceed down the hallway.->bottom left corner]]
[[Go to reception desk.->Reception]]
(t8n-depart:"instant")+(t8n-arrive:"instant")[[Wait.->upper left corner]]
(if:$j is true)[(set: $w to $w+1)]There is a small ledge jutting out of the wall. It leads to a very thin slit in the wall. You are facing it. You have four fingers on one hand.
[[Speak into the slit.->Conversation]]
[[Go right.->upper right corner]]
[[Go left.->upper left corner]]
(t8n-depart:"instant")+(t8n-arrive:"instant")[[Wait.->Reception]]
(if:$j is true)[(set: $w to $w+1)]You stand in the corner of the hallway. You can proceed down it from here. There is a small ledge jutting out of the wall to your left for what appears to be a reception desk.
[[Proceed down the hallway.->bottom right corner]]
[[Go to reception desk.->Reception]]
(t8n-depart:"instant")+(t8n-arrive:"instant")[[Wait.->upper right corner]]
(if:$j is true)[(set: $w to $w+1)]You are unable to read the language in the notebook, but every page says as follows: "A Junzi is someone of high stature, a gentleman. They are beings of pure virtue and persons of good character. Sometimes, they are made completely out of jade, but this is very rare."
[[Look at desk.->Drawer Investigation]]
[[Leave through the door to the south.->Southern Door]]
[[Return to room center.->Entry]]
(t8n-depart:"instant")+(t8n-arrive:"instant")[[Wait.->Notebook]]
(if:$j is true)[(set: $w to $w+1)](if:visits is 1)[You speak into the slit on the wall. You are told that the junzi will be out to speak with you soon in the main room. You must occupy yourself until they are ready.(set: $w to 0)(set: $j to true)
The person beyond the slit ceases speech and no longer responds to you. You cannot remember how their voice sounded.]
(if:visits is not 1)[There is no response from the desk. The ledge is dusty. ]
[[Step back from the reception desk.->Reception]]
(t8n-depart:"instant")+(t8n-arrive:"instant")[[Wait.->Conversation]]
(if:$j is true)[(set: $w to $w+1)]The junzi has arrived. They are wearing fabricated clothing. The junzi is sitting at the table in the middle of the room. They begin to speak to you.
(align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[(b4r:"outset","groove","inset")+(b4r-colour:white)[Hello. Thank you for waiting. I have taken from your time to ask you 21 questions. You have been sleeping in this room for many years. At your home, I have created an imperfect duplicate of yourself to fill your place. I am interested in the way that you think. If a positive evaluation is achieved, I will return you to your time, however I will not erase your memory of this place. If I feel the need, I will bring you back here to evaluate you again. If a negative evaluation is achieved, you will remain here as you are. You have four fingers on one hand. I will never again return to this room. I do not know what happens to those left here. I am from another world. When I was young, I fell down a deep hole and died for the first time. The second time I died, I could not afford it, and had to leave, and no one ever saw me again. Eventually, I came back. That was a long time ago. The questions are based on ethics. After 10 questions, I will take a break and tell you a story. Please take a seat so we can begin.]](set: $karma to 0)
(t8n-depart:"blur")+(t8n-arrive:"blur")[[Sit down.->Question 1]]''(align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[Chance Encounter]''
You have just finished a busy day at work. As you are walking to the bus stop, you see a homeless man writhing in pain. You are very tired, and have a child waiting for you at home to make dinner for. Will you help the homeless man?
(link: "No, I head home. My child needs me.")[
(goto: "Question 2")
]
(link: "No, I head home. I may not get a seat on the bus.")[
(goto: "Question 2")
]
(link: "I call for help. If I cannot help him, someone else can.")[
(goto: "Question 2")
]
(link: "I help him myself. I may not be able to save him, but at least I tried my best.")[
(set: $karma to it + 1)
(goto: "Question 2")
]
''(align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[Deadline]''
You are standing in a dark alley. You have just murdered two people with a steel pipe. You have been to jail before, and had a horrible experience. A man passing by the alley sees you. What do you do?
(link: "Give him the pipe to frame him for murder.")[
(goto: "Question 3")
]
(link: "Run away in the opposite direciton.")[
(set: $karma to it + 1)
(goto: "Question 3")
]
(link: "Confess what you've just done and ask him to turn you in.")[
(goto: "Question 3")
]
(link: "Ask him a question.")[
(goto: "Question 3")
]''(align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[Adventure in Space]''
You are on a space station far away from earth. You are one of the 47 humans left alive. A fight breaks out between people on your team. One of the team members draws out an illegally accquired firearm and shoots one of the other members. The team member is restrained and a vote is called between others on the team on what action should be taken. You are the deciding vote.
(link: "Excuse yourself from the decision. While you were on the team, you have no stake in this either way.")[
(set: $karma to it + 1)
(goto: "Question 4")
]
(link: "Vote to execute him. He will only bring more discord.")[
(goto: "Question 4")
]
(link: "Vote to keep him alive. There are not many people left.")[
(set: $karma to it + 1)
(goto: "Question 4")
]
(link: "Suggest he is imprisoned for the time being.")[
(goto: "Question 4")
]''(align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[Revelation]''
You are 10 years old. You find a box of matches in your kitchen and, while playing with them, you set fire to your house. This sets your family into great financial turmoil and many opportunities that were previously open to you are now closed. Later in life, on your father's deathbed, your father reveals to you that he believes he was the cause of the fire.
(link: "Nod.")[
(set: $karma to it + 1)
(goto: "Question 5")
]
(link: "Admit to him what happened.")[
(goto: "Question 5")
]
(link: "Tell him that it was likely not his fault, but do not reveal the truth.")[
(goto: "Question 5")
]
(link: "Tell him it was likely not his fault, because your mother actually started the fire.")[
(goto: "Question 5")
]''(align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[Separation Anxiety]''
You enter a joint business venture with your best friend. As time goes on, you begin to feel that you are doing more of the work than they are, and wish to break off and do your own thing. However, your friend will not be able to handle this business on their own and will likely fail.
(link: "Be honest with them and tell him how you are feeling.")[
(goto: "Question 6")
]
(link: "Slowly remove yourself from the business while working on a new one on the side.")[
(set: $karma to it + 1)
(goto: "Question 6")
]
(link: "Take all the money and run.")[
(goto: "Question 6")
]
(link: "Work through it without bringing it up.")[
(goto: "Question 6")
]''(align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[Homecoming]''
Walking home from high-school, you see some middle schoolers making fun of an elementary school child. They are in great distress and crying. You are much taller than the middle schoolers and very imposing. You are missing one eyeball and have four fingers on one hand. And you have four fingers on one hand.
(link: "Intervene and chase the middle schoolers off.")[
(goto: "Question 7")
]
(link: "Wait for the elementary school child to be alone and ask them what happened.")[
(set: $karma to it + 1)
(goto: "Question 7")
]
(link: "Continue observing the situation from afar.")[
(goto: "Question 7")
]
(link: "Continue walking home. This is not your problem.")[
(goto: "Question 7")
]''(align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[Adventure in Space III]''
You and another astronaut have just landed Earth's moon. Before leaving for space, you learned that 3 years ago, your co-pilot was involved with the murder of your spouse. You are now traveling to the far side of the moon, and communication with home base is spotty. It is unlikely you will survive the return trip to Earth due to an electrical failure on your ship.
(link: "Confront the co-pilot over the spouse's murder on the far side of the moon.")[
(goto: "Question 8")
]
(link: "Take revenge on the far side of the moon.")[
(goto: "Question 8")
]
(link: "Do not bring up the topic and continue the search on the far side of the moon.")[
(goto: "Question 8")
]
(link: "Hope that the return trip is safe and confront them about it back home.")[
(set: $karma to it + 1)
(goto: "Question 8")
]''(align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[Small Complex]''
You are a first rate computer programmer. One night while working in your lab, you discover a project you have created has taken on a mind of its own. The computer program has created its own laws governing itself and, by chance, a world has formed within it. In this world, creatures have formed a society and interact with each other. As you observe the world, eventually the beings begin to fight with each other. Wars break out of an alien nature within this tiny world you have created. The creatures have advanced in their "technology" in a way almost incomprehensible to you, and the way they use this technology to torture each other is very horrific to watch. Eventually, the creatures create their own world within your world and begin affecting that world in obscene ways to harass its inhabitants. You find it all very confusing.
(link: "Turn off the simulation, this is too much.")[
(goto: "Question 9")
]
(link: "Interact with your world to prevent them from causing more harm.")[
(goto: "Question 9")
]
(link: "Observe further.")[
(set: $karma to it + 1)
(goto: "Question 9")
]
(link: "Expose this technology to the world. It could find benefit in some way.")[
(goto: "Question 9")
]''(align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[Discovery]''
You are a police detective about to conclude a long ongoing serial murder case that has spanned many years. When drawing all the evidence together, you realize that the identity of the culprit is your child. The acts that they have committed are obscene and disgusting, but don't seem to add up to what you know about them.
(link: "Drop the case and let someone else handle it.")[
(set: $karma to it + 1)
(goto: "Question 10")
]
(link: "Hide the evidence for the time being. There must be a mistake.")[
(goto: "Question 10")
]
(link: "Confront the child.")[
(goto: "Question 10")
]
(link: "Arrest them.")[
(goto: "Question 10")
]''(align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[Scarcity in the Depths of the Earth With My Friend and I]''
You are trapped inside a caved in mine shaft with one other worker. You have been stuck there for about a week. You rationed out your food well enough, but you are running out and likely to be without food within the next two days. However, while shifting around the mineshaft, you discover more food in a container brought down by a miner killed in the collapse that trapped you there. There is enough food in there to last you another week, but split between the two of you, only three or four days.
(link: "Hide the food again. This will only lead to conflict.")[
(set: $karma to it + 1)
(goto: "Break")
]
(link: "Share the food with the other worker.")[
(goto: "Break")
]
(link: "Keep all of the food to yourself.")[
(goto: "Break")
]
(link: "Bring back some of the food, but hide the rest for yourself.")[
(goto: "Break")
](align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[(b4r:"outset","groove","inset")+(b4r-colour:white)[As promised, we will now take a break from questioning, and I will tell you a story. I have worked on this story for a while, and I think it's important that you hear it. After telling you the story, I've decided that I will also tell you how I feel about your answers so far. I would like to ask that this fact does not distract you from what I'm about to say. I spent 41 hours, 41 minutes, and 100 seconds writing this story. I have never recorded it before. I started writing it a few years before you were born, and I have been very busy since then. It took a lot of effort to get it to the point where it is now, and I wish to write more in the future.]]
[[Listen to the story.->Story]](align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[(b4r:"outset","groove","inset")+(b4r-colour:white)[There once was a person who lived in a box with four walls, a floor, and a ceiling. Every morning they walked around the perimeter counterclockwise until they got tired, and then they went to sleep before waking up to do it the next day. They had four fingers on one hand, a lot like you, and I hated them. I would spend a lot of time watching them in that box, and I would try to convince them to come out of the box, but they would not listen to me, or they would not hear me. I would often forget that this person was this way by my own design. One day I built a door on the box and I asked them to leave it. The way they traveled around the box disgusted me, and made me feel sick. I wanted to get rid of them, but I could not, because they were a lot like me, except I did not have four fingers on one hand, and that was what made them different, and I hated them. The day they finally left the box, I could no longer control myself, and I attacked them and berated them until, eventually, they went back inside the box. I removed the door and told them I removed it and they returned to their original routine, and I watched, and I asked them to do something else, but they would not listen, or they would not hear me, and they would walk counterclockwise around the perimeter of their box, and I would see how they are different, because they have four fingers on one hand, which is a lot like you, and I hated them.]]
(if:$karma >= 9)[[[Wait.->Escape]]]
(if:$karma < 9)[[[Wait.->Trapped]]](align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[(b4r:"outset","groove","inset")+(b4r-colour:white)[I hope you enjoyed my story. After reviewing the answers to your questions so far, I find you very interesting, and would like to return you to your time. I will be observing you from here on, and I may return you to this room at a later time to ask you more questions. I think you are a person of high character, and are fit for society. I will not remove your memory of this place, but I must ask that you do not speak of it to anyone you know for the rest of your life. Thank you.]]
[[Thank you.->Homecoming]](align:"=><=")+(box:"X")[(b4r:"outset","groove","inset")+(b4r-colour:white)[I hope you enjoyed my story. After reviewing the answers to your questions so far, I find I am no longer interested in you. I will leave shortly and never return to this room. Please occupy your time here. I do not know what will happen to you. Goodbye.]]
[[Goodbye.->Entry]](set: $trapped to true)
(align:"=><=")[👁️]