Part 8

Our righteous path to the rest of New Washington is blocked at the first turn by a nonfunctioning elevator. I guess this explains why Ian was looking so undernourished.

Fortunately there's a replacement fuse directly below, in a mutant's foetid grotto.

This mutant thinks he's such hot shit because he's got a force field that interrupts my first shot.

Well, little does the mutant know that Ian gave me a force field of my own just before I left, so the playfield is levelled again. Delphine veterans will note that the single vertical line shield is returning after its first showstopping appearance in Out Of This World.

Know your place, fucker.

The matter of the blown fuse is hastily resolved.

The elevator takes us up to what passes for the surface, where Ian's identical twin brother loiters nonchalantly.

Nice place you've got here. Welcoming in a dystopian kind of way.

Let's see... the 'cafe' is in the America quadrant. It's probably a Starbucks, then. Off we go.

If you've ever played Delphine's point and click adventure Future Wars you may find the tumbledown dystopian subway system familiar. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who ever played that game, though.

We ride the rather minuscule tram to station America, where most of the population carry guns and get angry very easily.

Shortly we arrive at the cafe. It's a special kind of cafe that only sells coffee in glass bottles and shot glasses, and where the waiter stands behind a waist-high bar-like piece of furniture.

I'm sensing a little hostility to strangers in this delightful coffee shop. Let's try a little name dropping.

Ian's name carries a lot of weight, it seems. He's either the local mafia don or everyone wants a go on his Total Recall chair.

"Outside" means "two screens to the right".

This is Jack. He is physically distinguishable from Ian because they are in different rooms.

Also, he's a dick.

A decrepit old fatty stole all the money I stole from some other guy.

Great, I'll just check the want-ads while the aliens come and lay eggs in your chest or something.

The job center's over in Europa. 'Europe' would have made more sense but the council wanted a nice 'words ending in A' theme.

Welcome to Europe Europa, where everyone eats disgusting cheese and communicates through a series of arrogant snorts.

Conrad entertains a small fantasy to keep his spirits up.

'Admin Center' isn't on the map but I'm guessing they mean City Hall, in Africa. It's right next door but we have to take the longest possible tram journey to get there.

Welcome to Africa, where one in 3 residents test positive for HIV.

This would seem to be the place. New Washington, incidentally, is run by bearded dwarves.

Conrad entertains another small fantasy to keep his spirits up.

What is this, Blind Date?

We seem to have stumbled into the wrong thread.

Conrad entertains another small fantasy, smiling wistfully to himself.

Oh isn't there now.

Will this ID card I stole from a dying man do?

Evidently so.

Conrad returns to the job agency in Europa and finally gains access to the job computers. Finally we're through to the meat of the New Washington level, which seems as good a time as any to stop this update.

Next update: Cops Hate Sandwiches