You wait a minute.\n\n"Sarah?"\n"Thank god you're still here! There's a man here."\n"A man? How did he get in?"\n"He... he came through the computer."\n\n[[Tell her to wait while you go to her office|Go to her office to investigate]]\n[[Tell her to ask the man what he wants]]
You ask Sarah to check the display settings.\n\n"It says it's set to maximum brightness. Hmm wait a second..."\n"What is it?" you ask.\n"I don't know. Kind of silly but I thought the room got darker too for a second."\n\nYou look at the window. Well, you like to call it a window but actually it's a tiny hole. Probably the smallest possible size to get away with calling it a "window". The sun was shining brightly through and there was no sign of clouds.\n\nYou tell her "I thought maybe it's starting to cloud over but there are no clouds on this side of the campus!"\n"It does seem cloudy here. Sort of oppressive. I can't see any clouds either though. Am I dreaming?"\n"Hah, often dream about me, do you?"\n"I'm serious! This feels really wrong. What the! There's something here, brb"\n\nYou wait a while but she didn't seem to be replying any more.\n\n[[Go to her office to investigate]]\n[[Wait a little longer|Wait longer]]
You ask Sarah to wiggle the cables behind the screen.\n\n"What the hell?"\n"What is it Sarah?"\n"I got a shock! From the cable!"\n"Which cable was it??"\n"A blue one."\n"That's the VGA cable. It shouldn't be able to give you a shock."\n"Well it bloody did! My arm hurts now, I can feel it sort of pulsing."\n"That's weird."\n...\n\nYou wait a while, but don't hear anything back from Sarah.\n\n[[Go to her office to investigate]]\n[[Wait a little longer|Wait longer after shock]]
From: John.Ratchet@cam.ac.uk\nSubject: Lost Password\n\nHi IT Nerds!\n\nYou'll never guess what? I lost my password again! I know you only reset it yesterday but I'm pretty sure I had the right one written on the post-it attached to my screen.\n\nIt was "liverpool" right? No wait, was it "password"? I use "liverpool" for my gmail so it might be that one but it's not working!\n\nPlease help because I have to finish preparing for tomorrow's lecture on theoretical physics.\n\nCheers! I'll buy you a drink on Friday!\n\nJohn\n\n-------------------\n\nYou sigh. John is always doing this.\n\n[[Reset John's password]]\n[[Back to inbox|Anyway, those emails]]
You start to make your way to Sarah's office. As you're leaving you get cornered by Clive. He wants to know if you've fixed his computer yet.\n\nYou frustratedly try to get past him, when you finally decide to push Clive out the way you are both stopped when a massive explosion rocks through the campus.\n\n"Jesus! That was where Sarah was!" you shout, barely able to hear yourself over the ringing in your ears.\n\nYou slump down to the ground.\n\nThe end.
You wait a little longer, finally Sarah gets back to you.\n\n"My arm..."\n"What about it?"\n"It's turning green! Right where it shocked me"\n\nThis is just getting weird!\n\n"Turning green? What do you mean turning green?"\n"My hand is green, and smells of burning. My arm too. All the way up to my elbow. I can't unlock my door. Help me!"\n"OK, just wait there!"\n"Wait! There's something in here with me!"\n\nYou wait a minute.\n\n"Are you still there? There's a man here."\n"A man? I thought you said your door was locked?"\n"He didn't come through the door... he came through the computer."\n\n[[Tell her to wait while you go to her office|Go to her office to investigate]]\n[[Tell her to ask the man what he wants]]
You close the email and continue to work on the computer that was scheduled for repair.\n\nThe end.
From: amy.march@real-remedies.com\nSubject: Enlarge now! (spam)\n\nNOTE: this email has been marked as spam\nto view this email contact IT support\n\n-------------------\n\nWait... you are IT support and have no idea how to read this email. Not that you need to, of course!\n\n[[Back to inbox|Anyway, those emails]]
From: Sarah.Allen@cam.ac.uk\nSubject: Screen too dark\n\nHey! :)\n\nI know you're always super busy, and I wouldn't email you unless I really had to but my computer is really freaking me out.\n\nI got in early this morning and the computer was already on which is weird because I always remember to turn it off every afternoon before I leave off.\n\nThat's not the half of it though! When I looked on the screen it was reflected back. Can screens do that? Act like mirrors I mean. I understand that when they are switched off you can sort of see your reflection in the blackness, but... this was so clear.\n\nAs soon as I got really close to it, the thing just turned off again. This isn't one of your practical jokes is it? I first thought maybe you had set up a webcam to record me and show it back, but nope, I couldn't see a camera!\n\nNow I've got the computer back on there's no sign of a reflection. The screen is really dark now though. How do I turn it back up?\n\nI'll be available on instant message chat for most of the morning if you want to talk me through it.\n\nThanks as always!\nSarah\n\n-------------------\n\nWell that's weird! You should really check it but you've got a computer scheduled for repair this morning.\n\n[[Close the email]]\n[[Start a chat with Sarah]]
You open your inbox. Wow, only 3 emails since last night. A new record!\n\n1 - John Ratchet - [[Subject: Lost password]]\n2 - Amy March - [[Subject: Enlarge now! (spam)]]\n3 - Sarah Allen - [[Subject: Screen too dark]]
You take a sip of your coffee and grimace. When will they fix that coffee machine? you think to yourself. You've worked as tech support in the basement of this company for nearly 4 years now and the coffee has never changed. As terrible as the day you started.\n\nYou sit down at your computer. Might as well take a look at your emails as Facebook is down. Wait! Facebook is down? That feels a little... post apocalyptic. Facebook is never down! [[Anyway, those emails]]
As you look outside the window you hear a massive explosion rock through the campus.\n\nJesus, that looks like the end where Sarah's office is.\n\nYou quickly check the chat, it's showing she's still online!\n\n"Sarah? Are you there?"\n...\n"Sarah??"\n"I'm here!"\n"How? There was an explosion!"\n"Was there? I don't think I'm on the campus anymore."\n"What do you mean??"\n"Well, I'm in the office... but... outside the window... it looks like another world!"\n"Is the man still there?"\n"Yes! He said that I am now on his home planet, and he wants to share the technology with us to connect our two worlds together."\n\nYou stare at the screen as binary numbers start appearing. He's sending information faster than the computer can handle.\n\nSuddenly you look up and Sarah is standing next to you. No wait. You are standing next to Sarah. You look outside her office window...\n\nThe End\n\n(And that's the correct ending, well done!)
The IT Support
You reset John's password again. You guess nothing starts the week off better than a password reset.\n\n[[Back to inbox|Anyway, those emails]]
Gavin Mills
You type "Recent appearances of strange men" into the search bar at the top of your browser...\n\n"Request timed out"\n\nWhat the hell? First Facebook, now Google is down. You quickly cycle through your bookmarks. Twitter, down! Doctor Who forums, down! Reddit... request took a while, but down!\n\nIf all those are down then why can you still skype chat with Sarah? Bloody typical if there's an apocalypse and it doesn't take skype with it!\n\n[[Look outside the window]]
You ask Sarah if she's tried turning her computer off then on again. You imagine her frowning.\n\n"Of course I've tried that!"\n\n[[Ask her to check display settings]]\n[[Ask her to wiggle the cables behind the screen]]
You tell her to ask the man what he wants.\n\n"He said he came here by accident."\n"From where?"\n"Another world!"\n"Oh god, ask him if he's a scientologist!"\n"Stop joking around! This is serious."\n\n[[Google recent appearances of strange men]]\n[[Look outside the window]]
You take another sip of your bitter coffee while logging onto the chat programme that everyone in the workplace is forced to use.\n\n"Hello Sarah." you write.\n"Oh hello!" she replies\n"Is your computer still dark?"\n"Yes it is! It's starting to hurt my eyes."\n\n[[Ask her if she's turned her computer off then on again]]\n[[Ask her to check display settings]]\n[[Ask her to wiggle the cables behind the screen]]