Disaster Report Diaries (SOS: The Final Escape) Part Five

This is my exploration of the Disaster Report series where I will chronicle my playthrough like a text-based Let’s Play. Now let’s continue SOS: The Final Escape…

After retrieving Karen’s dog Gen, we had stumbled across the Town Crier newspaper offices and met William Hardy, Keith’s boss…

I had been tasked with “borrowing” the Manmade Island Construction Report from the 12th floor of Christophe Construction, the building next door. Before leaving, however, I ducked into a bathroom and had a drink then used the key I had just acquired to access the document room. I found Town Crier News 1, 2 and 4, a Daruma Compass, and a Flashlight. I also found a Bandage and Flare but had no space for them in my bag. In fact, to fit the Flashlight I had to first dispose of a Bottle M (containing just water), and combine the Purifier and Water Filters I had picked up earlier. I was then able to combine the Flashlight and my Helmet to make a Lamp Helmet, though in an effort to save battery, I switched to my Driver’s Hat and put the helmet away.

Or, I would have if it would have fit, the helmet being bigger than the hat… I had to dispose of my Bandage, though I still had a First Aid kit for emergencies! With that sorted, I checked out the documents I had grabbed, which dated back to 1985 when it was decided that due to overpopulation in the capital, the various governmental functions would be split into multiple locations. In 1989, it was decided that Stiver Island would be one of them, and it would be constructed by Christophe Construction’s Honeycomb-Caisson Construction Method, which the notes said required less material to create the hollow hexagonal frames.

While Town Crier News 4 didn’t relate directly to Stiver Island, as it was dated 1980, it told of FK Industries being sued for dumping human waste into an area which contaminated The Kiser River. It had reportedly caused the bedrock to crack, which resulted in earthquakes, though the case was dismissed. The documents also mentioned a landslide in San Johnson, Calipoolnia, which took place in 1995 and resulted in three deaths, and some blamed the government for causing it by rushing excavation for soil for the Stiver Island construction. There was also a lawsuit filed by David Silviera claiming the government caused an earthquake which damaged his wine cellar in 2001, destroying some expensive wines.

With all of that reading done, I headed downstairs and rounded the corner to head for Christophe Construction. However, I spotted someone standing near a barrier overlooking a canal, so I walked over. It was the woman I met in the jewellery store, and curiously she offered me something. Since she was chuckling to herself as she handed it over, I cautiously took it from her and she walked off. My backpack was full, so she had put it on the floor, and when I examined it it was an Emerald Ring! I decided to equip it, to save space in my backpack.

Looking around the area, I found a Carton Compass and a map for Christophe Construction, though the way in was blocked by a shutter that was mostly closed. Luckily, I eventually managed to find a van being held up by a car jack, so I emptied some space so that I could grab the Jack. This included getting rid of my Hangers, and my Flare. I would come to regret that later on.

Using the Jack, I gained access to the building and went into the lobby, taking a quick look around in the dark thanks to my helmet. There was a model of Stiver Island, and some plaques explaining how it was constructed using the Honeycomb-Caisson Construction Method, which could help solve overpopulation. A panel mentioned that construction of Stiver Island had finished in 2001, four years prior.

Since the elevators were obviously out of order, I used the emergency stairs to reach the 12th floor. Mysteriously, the lights were on in what I assumed was the CEO’s office, despite power to the rest of the building being nonexistent. Even the photocopier was lit up, assuming I needed to make copies. The CEO’s desk had an Admin key and a Family Photo, both of which I took, and to the left of it was a safe that I didn’t have the combination for. The photo was taken in 1995 and showed three kids, a husband, and a wife — one of the kids looked familiar… It was Karen!

Since I had encountered a locked door in the hallway, I went out and unlocked it with the key I’d just grabbed, but it was blocked and still wouldn’t open. A second door around the corner let me gain access, though, and I found a few rows of desks in a space that could have been utilised better, there was a lot of empty room…

One of the desks off to the side had a list of where each employee was sitting and their phone extensions, and on the one marked as Frank’s desk, I found some books. He had Health book, Dictionary, Novel, and Documentary, and when I picked up the novel (titled Moore’s the Pity), I found a piece of paper and “voice data” between the pages. I popped it into the voice recorder and heard a man conversing with a Terry — presumably Terry Stiver, Karen’s uncle. They were planning something to begin on 21st of June — the day of the earthquake. Was that what they planned, or was the earthquake a handy way to hide whatever they were really up to?

The piece of paper had a number written on it, 8762, which I assumed was for the safe so I went back to the CEO’s office and voila, I opened the safe. It contained a Worker’s Report, but as I nabbed it the elevator dinged! I quickly dove under the desk just before they entered the office, talking on their mobile phone before they took a seat on one of the sofas. They joked to whomever was on the other end of the call that perhaps more people should have died, but sadly most survivors had already evacuated. The other person asked about Terry, who they assured was still alive, because otherwise “killing his family would mean very little”.

They started to pace around and even stood by the desk, with my feet basically sticking out on show, but they missed seeing them and continued walking and talking. “It”, he said, would be “done tomorrow”, which I really didn’t like the sound of. I had been recording the whole time using the voice recorder, so needed to get out of there. They went onto another phone call and began circuiting the room again, so I crawled out using the sofas as cover before managing to escape. Into the waiting sights of the man with a gun who I had seen catching a helicopter…

He bound my wrists and took me to the roof where a helicopter was waiting. However, I wasn’t going to board that, no, I was being left to the tender mercies of the earthquake. Which was honestly a step up from being shot, which the Eastern European-sounding man with the gun wanted to do. The guy in charge even mulled it over for a few seconds… They both got aboard the helicopter and it left, and I was still able to shuffle as well as reach everything in my backpack — which included my P Lighter! I burned through the ropes and headed down to the ground floor.

By this point, I was almost dying of thirst, so I drank some juice from my Bottle M. Upon exiting the lobby I saw smoke billowing out from the news bullpen window! I grabbed the Jack and hurried around to the Town Crier entrance, dodging fiery debris which rained down onto the road. In the bullpen, I saw Karen standing next to William, and a fire close to them. I ran over and he said that his leg was hurt and he couldn’t walk, but since we had to stay low because of the smoke, that wasn’t really an issue right then.

We managed to crawl out of the bullpen and to the stairs, reaching street level before any of us blacked out. With William on my back, he pointed us towards Windrunner Park and we set out, crossing the canal thanks to fallen trees. This was going to take a while, since I couldn’t walk very fast with a grown man on my back…