By Kevin Hwang and Hubert Hwang
Art by Ryan Veeder
Answer: TRUST NO ONE

In this runaround, you need to follow the path provided. At certain points, you will need to match up the drawings with your surroundings, answer the paranoid question given, and extract a particular letter given the enumeration and index on the drawing. There is also one point where solvers must jump two stories using the EXOSKELETON in order to proceed with the directions.

Putting together the letters given provides you with the runaround answer: TRUST NO ONE.

Detailed explanation of the path follows:

Directions Explanation Image
Start in lobby 7. Enter the elevator and go up to the second floor. Exit the elevator… You will end up on 7-2, and will see the image at right. This is a BOOK RETURN, from which you extract a T.
…and follow the path to the right. Turn left as soon as you can, passing through the double doors. Continue straight down the corridor, and turn right as soon as you can. At this point, you are at the intersection of 7, 11, and 3, on the second floor.
You’ll pass a stairway on your left. Walk straight ahead down the hallway. You are in the 3-2 hallways. This is the GEORGE & DAPHNE HATSOPOULOS MICROFLUIDS LABORATORY, from which you extract an R.
(At some point, you’ll pass a display case with animals in it.) Then, you’ll reach a park. Do not enter the park. Do not take the stairs. Follow the hallway on the same floor instead as it bends, until you reach a T intersection. The "park" is the Park Lecture Hall, or room 3-270. The T intersection is roughly where buildings 1, 3, and 5 meet.
Turn left at the T. Follow that corridor as it zig-zags, and pass through two sets of double doors. In building 1-2, just before that second double door, you will see the image at right. This is the Course 1.00 Drop Box, and therefore the answer is COURSE 1.00, from which you extract a U.
Then immediately turn left. Continue down the corridor… A little further on in building 1, you will see the image at right near 1-271. This is an ELECTRICAL CLOSET, from which you extract an S.
…until you reach another double door, but do not pass through it. Instead, take the stairs down one floor. Take the stairs at the end of 1-2, before you enter the room at the very end of the hallway.
Take the left door to exit the stairs. Then, pass through the single door. Walk forwards through another single door. Ignore the stairs on your left and the exit on the right and continue (mostly) straight… On 1-1, you will see the image at right. This is an Athena printer, which is "controlled" by IS&T, from which you extract a T.
…and follow the corridor as it turns right. Continue straight ahead until you pop. Don’t stop, though -- turn right and then immediately turn left. You turn right in building 1-1, and walk straight ahead until you reach a UPOP bulletin board. Then you walk into the intersection of 5 and 1, where you will see the image at right. The sign over the door reads BUILDING 5, from which you extract an N.
Continue straight ahead, ignore the stairs, and continue on the same floor. Keep going until you find yourself in an open area, beneath a massive eye. [EXOSKELETON JUMP HERE] Continue straight ahead. You end up in Lobby 7. When continuing straight, you need to jump up two stories to the third floor of building 7 to make the next clue work.
Pass into a hallway with a red wall on the left. Walk straight ahead through the glass doors (press the button on the left wall if necessary.) The hallway with a red wall is the 7-3 hallway leading into 9-4. You will see the image to the right before you enter the red hallway. Then, proceed into 9-4.
Take the first right, then the first left, then the first left, then the first right. This sends you on a big loop through 9-4 that is equivalent to walking straight ahead.
Walk straight ahead and turn right. Press your face into the glass and look down. You are now in the hallway between 9-4 and 33-4. If you press your face into the glass and look down, you will see the image at right. This is the WRIGHT BROTHERS WIND TUNNEL, from which you extract an O.
Then remove your face from the glass and continue down the hallway. At the end of the hallway, take a quick left, then a right. Turn right at the airport, then left. Continue down the hallway as straight as possible, passing through a set of double doors. This gets you into 33-4. Along the way, you will see the freight elevator at right. The labeled sign is the Bernard M. Gordon MIT Engineering Leadership program, so BERNARD M. GORDON let this happen, from which you extract an N
Pass straight through the archway. Look left… You will enter 35-4 and see the image at right. The middle section of the alarm is the amber light, which is an ENCLOSED GAS ALARM, from which you extract an E.
…but then turn right and go to the end of the hallway. Turn right. Go up a flight of stairs and look through the window at your domain. You end in the 35-4 stairwell with a nice view of the Great Dome. Congratulations!