The Day the Air Turned to Fire — 1 of 1

"The Day the Air Turned to Fire" by Chad Senesac with scenes adopted from Ibuse's BLACK RAIN

Release along with an interpreter.

Release along with the source text.

Include Introductions by Emily Short.

When play begins, say "You wake to the sound of rushing wind. You wake on..."

Pinned to the Ground is a room. The introduction of Pinned to the Ground is " It pins you to the floor. Perhaps some leverage would free you and allow you to breath." In Pinned to the Ground is a thing called a desk. The description of Pinned to the Ground is "It's your office, you think, but with the headache you're unsure, even of your own name...Hideki."

After pushing the desk: now the player is in The Second Floor Office.

Deskdeath is a number that varies. When play begins: now Deskdeath is 1.

Every turn when in Pinned to the Ground:

Choose row Deskdeath in the table of background;

Say "[if the player is in Pinned to the Ground][sentence entry][otherwise]";

If Deskdeath is less than the number of rows in the table of background begin;

Increase Deskdeath by 1;

End if;

If Deskdeath is the number of rows in the table of background begin;

End the game in death;

End if.

Table of background

The Second Floor Office is a room. "You have overturn the desk; dazed, you stand, your legs are wobly and instantaneous nauseau nearly drives you back to your knees. The office. It's a disaster. The place you've come for a long time because you... your profession is...was... There is an open window to the east."

In the Second Floor Office is a thing called your papers in disarray. A description of your papers in disarray is "...papers fly like...

leaves in the sky...casting shadows and strange colors.

Your receipts for service...what service...the service of your business...what business...logistics...

Bless the Emperor! HIDEKI TRUCKS."

After taking papers: say "You're not sure what good they might do now. They are government invoices. War goods. Civilian goods. What good...?"

In the Second Floor Office is a thing called the exterior window. The description of the exterior window is "[first] This window is where you gazed upon your hometown for years, especially when business was slow; now, the beautiful drapes and the glass frame has been completely shattered; only a gaping hole is left. It faces eastward. [after] You are tempted to look out, and so you tread apprehensively over the shattered glass. As it crunches beneath your feet, you reach the maw of that space and look out upon...Hiroshima. Fires her and there, smoke billowing, electrical lines insanely criss-cross into black webs spun by a drunken spider. Something rises in you. Fear, Hideki? It is an emotion you've only felt deeply once before. Has it been the earthquake? You vomit."

Instead of going east in the Second Floor Office:

say "The horror overwhelms you; it is too much to bear to see your country, your people suffer. You step out into the air..."; end the game in death.

Instead of taking window, say "Its frame is firmly lodged in place. Why would you take the window?"

Instead of taking the metal cabinet, say "It's far too heavy and made of metal."

In the Second Floor Office is a thing called your desk turned on its side. A description of your desk turned on its side is "Your big desk. Hours and hours spent. But none of it matters now."

After touching your desk turned on its side:

say "The desk feels grainey and worn from all the scribbles. You feel four equidistant circular impressions from where your...typewriter sat for years."

Instead of taking your desk turned on its side, say "It's too heavy to lift."

After smelling your desk turned on its side:

say "The desk is well-oiled; you've taken such care over the years..."

Instead of eating the papers: say "The nauseau is intense."

In the Second Floor Office is a thing called shattered glass. After taking glass, say "You are unsure whether or not to take a shard of glass. But you do so anyway." After touching glass, say "It slices you." Instead of eating glass, say "That would be unwise."

In the Second Floor Office is a container called the metal filing cabinet. The metal filing cabinet is locked. A description of the metal filing cabinet is "The new metal tank your business partner had sent from Tokyo. The movers simply brought it up and put it right between you and your window."

The Emergency Stairway is west of the Second Floor Office and above the First Floor Landing. A description of the Emergency Stairway is "Smoke drifts up the darkened stairwell. You are woozy, not sure you can stand now. The steps you've climbed everyday for twenty years are too arduous. Faint light breaks in from the bottom doorway just below you. The first floor door is completely unhinged, lying askew, partially blocking the way." A description of the First Floor Landing is "The metal door partially blocks your way through the doorway at to the First Floor Offices." The landing door is a thing in the First Floor Landing.

Instead of taking the landing door, say "Why would you want to try to haul a door around?"

Instead of going up in the Emergency Stairway,

say "The office building is modest and only has two floors."

The Hideki Trucking front office is a room. The Hideki Trucking front office is east of the First Floor Landing.

A description of the Hideki Trucking front office is "Your front office. It faces the main street at Kamiya-cho. In the front here is where Keyoko works at the front desk - she's not there. In fact, nothing is there; you barely recognize it as your office. And what of Keyoko. Her desk is completely upside down, papers everywhere. It should be close to the window where she would greet associates, but it lies towards the back of the room towards the corner. You can't see the corner, and you're not sure you want to look at the corner."

In the Hideki Trucking front office is Keyoko's desk, a stack of papers, filing cabinets, and a book. A description of the book is "A children's book about a crane and a panda who are friends."

A description of Keyoko's desk is "You peer over the desk. There she is, broken and burned, her neck easily snapped at the force of being thrown agains the wall. Much as you had been...but her skin, her face, all black...and you...

You feel your face. Although your hands are partially numb, you can tell that you aren't burned like Keyoko."

A description of filing cabinets is "These cabinets are against the wall, far from Keyoko's desk. Your metal cabinet on the second floor stood between you and the open window. It blocked your view...and saved your life by standing between you and...

Your eyes begin to hurt.

It's not the smoke."

Kamiya-cho is a room. Kamiya-cho is east of the Hideki Trucking front office.

A description of Kamiya-cho is "The road of Kamiya-cho is littered with debris. You can barely recognize the streetcar stop one block up the street. The face of one building has collapsed, or melted, and covered over it. Wires and cables criss-cross through the air and hang loose into the street. Some of the wires flash and pop with dangerous electrical sparks. To your left, northward, is the Aioi Bridge to Sakan-cho, but burning rubble fills the way with flame and smoke. To the right, southward, the street offers some navigable space. It is hot here; the wind is hot with fury. You know you must move. Go somewhere for relief. The bridge would be the fastest way to get out of Hiroshima."

South Kamiya-cho is a room. South Kamiya-cho is south of Kamiya-cho. North Kamiya-cho is a room. North Kamiya-cho is north of Kamiya-cho. Aioi Bridge is a room. It is north of North Kamiya-cho. Burning rubble is a thing in North Kamiya-cho.

A description of North Kamiya-cho is "There is an enormous mass of debris blocking the way. Beyond it should be Aioi Bridge."

Understand "climb over [something]" as climbing.

Understand "search" as looking.

Instead of searching the burning rubble:

say "Over the rubble, through the haze you think you can see Aioi Bridge that would take you to Sakan-cho, if only you could climb the formidable pile of rubble. It smokes and flames."

Instead of climbing the burning rubble,

end the story saying "You try, sticking your face in your shirt and gasping for breathe against the billows of smoke. You move up and up, higher and higher. The bricks appeared firm...at first. Then you get onto some framing and beams that open up; below you is a greater fire, hell. You try to go back, but can't. The rubble gives way, collapse, enveloping you in fire and darkness."

Instead of going north in North Kamiya-cho,

end the story saying "You try, sticking your face in your shirt and gasping for breathe against the billows of smoke. You move up and up, higher and higher. The bricks appeared firm...at first. Then you get onto some framing and beams that open up; below you is a greater fire, hell. You try to go back, but can't. The rubble gives way, collapse, enveloping you in fire and darkness."

A description of South Kamiya-cho is "A great surge of heat blows from some mysterious distance; it subsides for a few moments; you are disheartened but still you press on. Into the middle of the road, for that space is the only clear path as the rubble from the western-style buildings on either side have avalanched into the street. Charred wood, remnants of great lumber framing, fall to your right, littering more obstacles which you avoid. You come to a stop."

In South Kamiya-cho is a thing called a stick. In South Kamiya-cho is a thing called live electrical wires. A description of the stick is "A stick juts out from among the rubble; it doesn't look out of the ordinary; still..." A description of the live electrical wires is "More wires, sparking with life and promising death, block your way from continuing any further... To your right, two charred bodies sprawl among tangles of these wires."

Instead of going south in South Kamiya-cho, end the story saying "You decide that maybe the wires aren't electrified in one place. Unfortunately, you decision was hasty."

Instead of taking the live electrical wires, end the story saying "There must have been a better way to move the wires. You experience the last sensation before you die: intense, mad pain."

End of the road is a room. End of the road is south of South Kamiya-cho. A description of End of the road is "You wisely take the stick from the rubble and use it to move aside the live electrical wiring. It allows you to move safely to the end of the road. Beyond, south, is the West Parade Ground that will take you to the Misasa Bridge. To your right, west, is a place you think you recognize. Isn't that Omuro's place, his great home?"

Understand "using" as taking.

Instead of taking the stick, now the player is in End of the road.

Omuro residence is a room. Omuro residence is west of end of the road. The description of the Omuro residence is "A once-great mansion and garden is leveled to the ground. Clay tiles litter an otherwise unidentifiable mass of devestation." In the Omuro residence a granite rock is a thing. A description of a granite rock is "An ornamental rock that once was covered in moss, you remember. Now, only bare stone remains, the moss having been somehow burned away by some powerful weapon." In the Omuro residence is a thing called an ornamental pond. The description of the ornamental pond is "The pond is nothing, but a smear of black tar now." In the Omuro residence is a thing called pine trees. The description of the pine trees is "The trees are thin slivers, charred and smoking. They once stood tall." In the Omuro residence is a thing called a pillar of stone. A description of a pillar of stone is "This pillar, ten feet tall, seems to be the only thing left standing in the entire garden. Mr. Omuro, you remember, was very proud of it. He spoke of it when you made a business visit. Omuro was in textiles, you in trucking. It was a hopeful arrangement; Omuro boasted of this pillar, set in place by his ancestor. Its incription simply reads, incongruous with the present situation - Dream...

It is a nightmare."

Instead of taking a granite rock, say "You can't move it."

Instead of taking an ornamental pond, say "What?"

Instead of taking a pillar of stone, say "It's much to heavy. It is, or was, sacred to Omuro."

Instead of taking pine trees, say "Why?"

South of the end of the road is a room called the West Parade Ground. A description of the West Parade Ground is "The western hill of the ground is sand where there was once grace. The trees have been left leafless and appear to have been painted black from the lowest truck to the topmost branch." In the West Parade Ground is a thing called black balls. A description of the black balls is "These orbs littered the sand just where they dropped... from the sky. Thousands of them were raining from the mushroom cloud. You get closer and realize: they are lumps of tin sheeting, ripped from the buildings of Hiroshima, sucked up, and melted by the heat of that great stem, the mushroom cloud with ferocious heat, the remainder which you feel surge around you from time to time even now. The heat that burnt Keyoko's face, burnt those bodies in the road, dashed these lumps of black metal from high in the air."

South of the West Parade Ground is the Goku Shrine. A description of the Goku Shrine is "A wonderful Shrine, unidentifiable from the wreckage." In the Goku Shrine is a thing called a soldier on guard. A description of the soldier is "You approach the soldier, hoping for help.

Hope is in vain. The man stands dead, slumped back on the wall. The blast struck him dead, instantly."

Understand "speaking to" as taking.

Instead of taking a soldier on guard, say "You call out to the man, but he does not answer. Instead, he faces forward, wide-eyed and gapping-mouth. He is dead where he stands."

South of the Goku Shrine is the Misasa Bridge. A description of the Misasa Bridge is "The middle of this bridge has been wiped away from the blast. It is impassable. Perhaps heading east along the river bank will allow you to work back towards the Aioi Bridge. It seemed still intact last you saw it."

The River Bank is east of the Misasa Bridge. A description of the River Bank is "..."

A child is a thing in the River Bank. A description of a child is "A baby girl plays over the corpse of a woman. Her blouse is open and the child plays with her breasts. When you apprach, the little girl clutches the breats and looks fearfully at you."

After taking the child, say "You lift the child, crying, into your arms."

Instead of going north in the River Bank, now the player is in Aioi Bridge. A description of Aioi Bridge is "..."

Tera-machi is a room. Tera-machi is east of Aioi Bridge. A description of Tera-machi is "..."

Yokogawa Bridge is a room. Yokogawa Bridge is northeast of Tera-machi. The Yokogawa River Bank is southeast of Tera-machi. A description of the Yokogawa River Bank is "..."

The River Shallows is a room. The River Shallows is east of the Yokogawa River Bank. A description of the River Shallows is "..."

The River Shoals is north of the River Shallows. A description of the River Shoals is "..."

The paddy field is a room. The paddy field is northeast of the River Shoals. The bamboo shoots is a room. The bamboo shoots is east of the paddy field.

Understand "reading" as searching.

Instead of going east in the paddy field,

if the player carries a child, end the story finally saying "[if the player carries a child] The child falls asleep in the cool of the bamboo. [otherwise] You've reached place that seems cool, a haven from the filthy heat bathing Hiroshima. He fall asleep quickly."