> look
An entirely too cheerful calendar hangs on the far wall. A desk seems to take up half of this narrow space and filing cabinets make up the entire left wall. The space is simply too cramped for comfort. Fresh air ventilates the room from the overhead grate.

> open desk
You open the wooden desk. Your briefcase is inside the wooden desk.

> get briefcase
You take your briefcase from the wooden desk.

> open briefcase
You open your briefcase. The bottom and some sticky tape are inside your briefcase.

> get tape
You take the sticky tape from your briefcase.

> out
You move out.
The floor is made of hard cement and the ceiling is very high above your head. The walls are cement blocks painted a pale green. There's a small doorway on the eastern wall of the hall. North the hall branches off into a confusing maze of passages.

> east
You move east.
The kitchen is obviously used to prepare meals for the occupants of this compound. The usual accessories of kitchen tools are in this room. Most prominent is a long table marked by a wooden sign which reads, "PICK UPS." Charlie is bustling about, putting food on trays.

> wait
Time passes...

> wait
Time passes...

> wait
Time passes...

Nerisa walks briskly in from the west. "CHARLIE!" Nerisa barks at the unsuspecting cook. "Have you been talking too much again?"

"Who me?" asks Charlie. "Well, I never!" The two are so absorbed in their exchange of word that they don't realize you can hear them from across the room.

Nerisa frowns at Charlie. "I told you that if something like this happened again I would not fail to report you to The Man. The Man doesn't tolerate nonsense like this. Not a smart move, Charlie!"

> wait
Time passes...

With a emphatic gesture, Charlie shakes his head and his pencil sails from behind his ear and rolls onto the floor. "I'm telling you! Didn't tell anyone a thing about the V fellow or any of the others. I just make the food. That's all."

> wait
Time passes...

"That's just about enough out of you, Charlie!" Nerisa exclaims. "Go take 5 and then get back here and make your deliveries." Charlie throws food down on one last tray and rushes to follow her instructions. Nerisa storms out after him. You're left alone in the room. You know you have at least ten minutes (10 turns) to use what's here to SEND a MESSAGE to Sydney.

> get pencil
You pick up the red pencil.

> x table
The table is made of yellow oak with a hard stone surface on top. A dinner tray and a white napkin are on the long table.

> get tray
You take the dinner tray from the long table.

> get napkin
You take the white napkin from the long table.

> x tray
Just an ordinary brown tray with a card attached to it which someone has written on. A plate is on the dinner tray.

> get plate
You take the plate from the dinner tray.

> send message
You take your pencil and the napkin, using it to scribble a short message including the word, "Ampule." Then, you take the sticky tape, and, balancing the plate carefully, stick the napkin to the underside of plate out of sight..

Whew! Sure hope that works, you think. Better put the plate back on the tray before Charlie takes the tray to its destination! You hear Charlie's whistle coming down the hall.

> put plate on tray
You put the plate onto the dinner tray.

> put tray on table
You put the dinner tray onto the long table. Charlie sidles in from the west. Charlie picks up the dinner trays.

> wait
Time passes...

Charlie sidles off to the west.

> wait
Time passes...

> wait
Time passes...

> wait
Time passes...

Charlie sidles in from the west.

> x napkin
Half of the napkin has been torn, but there's a quickly scrawled message on it. Look under table~Freelancer.

> look under table
At first, you see nothing extraordinary about the table but you pick up one end of it and something rolls out from under it.

> look
The kitchen is obviously used to prepare meals for the occupants of this compound. The usual accessories of kitchen tools are in this room. Most prominent is a long table marked by a wooden sign which reads, "PICK UPS." Also here is a handy screwdriver and a dinner tray.

> get screwdriver
You pick up the handy screwdriver.

> west
You move west.
The floor is made of hard cement and the ceiling is very high above your head. The walls are cement blocks painted a pale green. There's a small doorway on the eastern wall of the hall. North the hall branches off into a confusing maze of passages.

> in
You move in.
An entirely too cheerful calendar hangs on the far wall. A desk seems to take up half of this narrow space and filing cabinets make up the entire left wall. The space is simply too cramped for comfort. Fresh air ventilates the room from the overhead grate.

> stand on desk
You stand on the wooden desk.

> unscrew grate
You pry open the grate with your screwdriver, take a small leap, and pull yourself up into the air vents. The ventilation ducts are only one inch wider than your shoulders. This makes turning around impossible. Alternating between shimmying and crawling you see the vent branches off to the south. The ceiling is so low in here that in order to move you have to crawl.

> south
You move south.
Soft light from a grate just ahead shines on the wall here.

> unlock grate
You unlock the grate with the handy screwdriver.

> open grate
You open the grate.

> out
You move out.
A sparse collection of light bulbs cast illumination into the gloom. There is a single chair here alongside an uncomfortable looking cot. Sydney Bristow is here.

> ask sydney bristow about anything
"What's the code word?"

> ampule
Sydney looks at you and smiles. Sydney is sitting on the edge of her cot relating her story to you. There are dark circles under her eyes, signs of the emotional strain this captivity has caused her. She doesn't look like she's had much sleep.

"Dad must have called in the cavalry. You probably know why I'm here...but if you don't...let me fill you in on a few details."

"I completed most of my mission as planned. All accept the getting captured part. The circumference has been destroyed. We also came here to rescue Will...but, if my moth--my captor is to be believed, then at least he's safe. I also discovered the identity of The Man." Sydney takes a deep breath and then shakes her head. "I suppose we can leave the debriefing for later. What's your name, by the way?"

"Davidw" you reply.

Sydney repeats the name once to herself and nods. Then, she continues her story.

"She came after Will because he was vulnerable. She knew she could use him to get to me. The Man is Laura Bristow, yes...my mother."

She pauses to let that sink in for a moment and then continues. "She had some idea that I was destined to work with her to fulfil that stupid prophecy. I played along for awhile but when she realized I was trying to escape, I was thrown in here.

"So...was this mission just to rescue me or was it also for Agent Vaughn? Do you know about Vaughn? Is he...alive? I leave it up to you. We can FIND VAUGHN or EXTRACT."

> find vaughn
"Okay," says Sydney. "Here's the plan. I'm coming with you now and we're going to break into The Man's Office. You couldn't get there by yourself, but I know where it is. Just go to the Main Hall. No time to waste. Let's move!"

> in
You move in.
The ventilation ducts are only one inch wider than your shoulders. This makes turning around impossible. Alternating between shimmying and crawling you see the vent branches off to the south.

> down
You move down.
An entirely too cheerful calendar hangs on the far wall. A desk seems to take up half of this narrow space and filing cabinets make up the entire left wall. The space is simply too cramped for comfort. Fresh air ventilates the room from the overhead grate.

> open safe
The safe's tumblers click into the correct places revealing the long awaited file.

Sydney pulls out the file which will reveal Vaughn's location and smiles. "Good work, Davidw. I can't thank you enough for your help."

Will Sydney be able to rescue Vaughn ? Will she need your help? Find out when you play the next Alias adventure. And keep that combination in your head.