The Incorrect Art of War [Episode 33] – The Terminal Phase
10.
You decide to go with option one, Trinh Thi Ngo and press the button accordingly. There is a small chiming sound and the screen display changes as the machine processes.
"Yes! You did it!" Doctor Sinister beams one of his inane grins at you as you wipe the sweat from your brow. You stare nervously at the screen to await the next question…
…but it does not come. Instead, the screen flashes a series of jarring colours and static before eventually settling down to display a deactivation code for the Terminal Phase.
"That was it! The last question! We did it!"
{default}Doctor Sinister jumps to his feet in triumph.
"I knew I couldn’t be defeated! I knew I was destined for greater things! To think that I have managed to stop that which could not be stopped!"
But the smile covering your face soon disappears as the screen once again changes to static.
"Uh-oh…"
+++ERROR. THERE IS AN ERROR. ENEMY UNITS CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO SUCCEED. TERMINAL PHASE NOW OVERRIDES ALL SECURITY CODES – TWO MINUTES UNTIL FINAL SIGNAL+++
"Damn you H.A.T.E.! He’s overridden the deactivation code – we’re still heading for the Terminal Phase!"
"NO!" you cry, jumping to your feet.
Suddenly, Doctor Sinister drops to the floor and begins groping around inside the panel.
"My Lord? What are you doing?"
"General, there’s one last thing we can do, well, two last things we could do actually, but we’ve only got time for one of them."
"And…?"
"The final signal is emitted from the rear of this laptop, if I can wrench it out from this panel we can destroy it. The only problem with that is that H.A.T.E. seems to have wired up the frame of the computer to the mains…"
"So it’s booby-trapped. Terrific. What’s the other option?"
"Have you got a hand grenade?"
If you decide to blow the computer to pieces with high explosive, go to page 12.
If you decide to assist Doctor Sinister in removing the computer from its housing, go to page 13.
[continued on next page]
