Part 16: DON'T PANIC

(Music: DARKNESS)



: So! How is it going?! With the generator! In the basement?!

Wait, what was Bailey doing? Stop talking, I want to see this.



No seriously what is he doing?

: They're trying to fix it now. It's gonna take a while, they said. They haven't even gotten the internal phone back up yet.
: I just hope! The rowdies! Don't rush the guard room!
: Uh, we don't have any "rowdies" here. And, what's more...the one who committed the most atrocious crime isn't even here anymore at all.
: You promised! Not to talk! About that!



: Look, would ya knock it off with that weird flippin' and floppin' around? I can't stand lookin' at it. If you don't stop, I just might hafta pound ya...
: This?! This is a glorious dance! That has been passed down! In my family for generations! "When you don't know! What else to do! Dance! Dance! Dance!"





Alas, the dance is interrupted again, this time by a phone call.



???: It's pitch-black down here, though, until they get the generator running again. How's it going up there?
: The phone's been ringing off the hook from headquarters.
???: Oh boy. We can't let the existance of this prison become known to the outside world. We'll have to round up the prisoners somehow...is Bailey dancing?
: Yup. You should see him.
???: Take a video of it. We can all watch it together when we're done.
: Once the generator is back up, I'll record it with the security camera.



: Despite how it looks, this situation seems pretty serious. Bailey's dance is, uh, certainly intriguing. But that telephone call that came in is even more interesting. (That man said he was calling from the death chamber, eh?) Now that I have the extension number, I should go check it out.

Nonsense. What's most important is that we stay right here and see...

The full Panic Dance!

Oh wait, Bailey has more to say, too. Better see what it is.

: Generator! Still not up?! I can't! Keep this up! Much longer!
: Believe me, nobody is askin' you to. Why doncha just stop?
: Will you dance! Instead, then?!
: Me?! You kiddin' me?!
: Somebody! Has to do it! If that somebody! Is me! I'll keep dancing! Until I drop!

...and then Bailey decides to speed up his dance. The man's got stamina.



But now, it's phone time.



: How goes it with your quest?
: Somehow, I find myself roped into saving the life of a death-row prisoner now. But this prisoner apparently knows me...I don't know if saving him is the right thing to do, or the wrong thing.
: Here, let me share something with you.
: What's that?
: When you don't know whether something is right or wrong, go with what you believe deep down, and you'll find out in the end if you were right. Remember that.
: (This is kind of turning into a lecture series...)
: When you get old like me, you start wanting to show off your wisdom.



: It doesn't look like Detective Rindge will be coming back. My best guess is, he's out looking for the little lady.



: I guess the little lady hasn't turned up yet. The detective must've gone to look for her.



: The Chief is wiggling his itchy toes with a troubled look on his face.
: The Chief here. Of course I'm working. I'm right here at headquarters. You've got it all wrong! You're just being silly now. Yeah, I love you too, honey.
: Hmm, I guess he was radioing his wife. (It sounds like a complicated relationship...)



And this scene...plays out exactly like the one in the mini-update I posted. Guess it's here again just in case you didn't go back to the kitchen after leaving it in the last chapter. At any rate, that's all the bonus scenes from other locations for now - everywhere else doesn't even get a "I should be going now" from Sissel. I suppose at this point you're expected to just be advancing the plot already. But returning to the guard's room after leaving once gets you another extra scene...



: To dance! In the dark! With nobody watching!
: Well, there's one thing ya don't have to worry about.
: What's! That?!
: Even if the lights come back on, the "nobody watching" part ain't gonna change.
: What! Did you! Say to me?! That! Does it! Now you've made me! All the more! Determined to dance!

Okay, it's finally time to head into the prison proper...



: I have to look for Detective Jowd...but should I try to do something about this situation first?

If you take a look around, you'll notice that something's...missing...







Apparently it's not just a power outage - it's a jailbreak too! Quick, sound the alarm!



: The inside of my head is already in a state of emergency as it is...

Or not.



Okay, the only place left to go is the Special Detention line.





: But what's going on? I can't see anything...is this what they call "darkness"? (I'd better do something about this situation.)

There are also two guards talking here. They're so unimportant that they have identical portraits!

: This is not good. Not good at all.
: Yeah. I feel like a ghost is gonna show up any minute now.
: Hey, come on. Show some respect. There's a dead man here.
: That's right. Me.
: But, whew! I never saw that one coming, did you?
: Who could've? Anyway, the generator is going to be fixed soon, so I guess we hang tight.
: Generator, eh? Once that's restored, this darkness will be gone. (It seems like that's the first thing that has to be done.)



: Even without light, I can still see what's going on. I can use the Ghost World to help me find that generator.

Convenient. Well, let's get started. There's a pretty obvious lever near the phone, so let's flip it!



: ...but nothing happened. It's too dark to really tell, though.



However, we can get to another room from here. Perhaps that will be more fruitful.



: Without it, I can't tighten the last bolt on the generator. I sure wish I could see in the dark like a cat!
: ...or like a ghost.

So he needs a wrench? Well, obviously the solution to that problem is for Sissel to fiddle with the control panel he's currently possessing.



: Hmm, but it doesn't seem to be responding. It's too dark to really tell, though.

And if we jump down to the wrench(which is, of course, in the one spot the guard's not looking)....



: It's leaning up against the wall. If I knock it over, I wonder if he'll notice? Darn...it's too heavy. It won't budge.

I suppose this had to be an actual puzzle somehow. Well, let's look around and...wait, what's that I see above this room?





: I doubt my paltry powers are enough to wake him. Rest in peace, curry-lover. (Hmm. It's kind of spooky when a ghost says it...)



Okay, back to the main room. See that water getting ready to drop to the floor?



Yeah. That has a core. It's also the only way to get to the bottom-right corner of the room, so let's hop on!



And then we can go possess that toolbox & force it open, like so:









(Music: COMPLICATION)



: But what happened here...? The answer is still shrouded in darkness. I'd better see if I can pick up some more information. (I can't seem to shake this bad feeling I've got...)



And it turns out that getting out of here is also a puzzle. You have to wait for the grounding bulb(the yellow one) of the generator wheel to be near the bottom...



And then wait until it's up here at the same time a drop of water has collected on the ceiling. From there, we can get back to the other room.



: It's like there was some kind of explosion in here or something. And it looks like the center of the explosion was that thing, that chair.
: Hey...do you think this execution was really the right thing to do...?
: Wh-what the heck are you saying?!
: I mean, I know this country has the death penalty...but how many years has it been since we used this chair?
: Yeah, I dunno. It had quite a bit of dust and dirt on it...I bet that's what happened. All the debris damaged the wiring...
: Well, I think it was divine retribution.
: D-Don't be stupid! The prisoner wanted to be executed, you know!

(Music: Towards Nothingness...)



: So when are they gonna pick up his body?
: They'll be sending over a car from the public cemetary pretty soon. After we hand over the body and clean up the mortuary, we're done.
: Yeah, okay.

: So Detective Jowd has already been executed...looks like there was a reason for that bad feeling I was getting...but that's okay. This isn't a big problem, for me. (But if the body is taken from the mortuary, that'll be bad...I have to use my ghost tricks to save him before that happens.)

Hm, but what can we do? There's no path over there. Looks like it's puzzle time again. First, let's try pulling the lever!



: But nothing happened. Kind of disappointing, really.

Hm. Let's go back to the other room and try fiddling with that control panel again.



But before we try the lever again, the guards have something new to say.



: Who knows when it's gonna blow up again?
: Or let loose with the juice...
: Yikes. Shut up, man.
: Accidents can happen with anything, after all. But let's just get this thing fixed. C'mon.
: If I'm "executed" by an accident, I'm gonna come back and haunt you.
: Haunt ME? Why me?

Pulling that lever is sounding like a better idea every minute! Let's do it!





That was fun! Let's do it again!

*ZAP*

: That was quite a zap!

Again! *ZAP*

: That woke me up!

AGAIN! *ZAP*

: This is getting addictive.

*ZAP*

: I thought I was a goner.

...and after that, he starts repeating himself. Booooring. But while he's sitting over near the lever post-zap...



Sissel can possess that wrench!



And...we can't quite reach anything from here. Or can we? That ceiling's pretty drippy...



Now we can get to that head piece and rock it off the chair.





And then he tosses the headpiece onto the cart of stuff behind us. Rock that cart and...





The helmet gets tossed over to where we can reach the next room.



And Sissel lets us know that once again, this is only an internal phone.



That's quite a list of places for one building. ...maybe we should see how the guards upstairs are doing now that the lights are back on.



: There's just! One problem! With it!
: ......
: Hey! Quit acting so bored! And ask me! Ask me! "What's the problem, Bailey?!"
: Yeah, yeah. What's the problem, Bailey?
: The problem is! It's hard to know! When to stop!
: ......
: Hey! Quit acting so bored! And pay attention!
: Guess it's hard for you to know when to stop talkin', too.

And Bailey keeps on dancing.

Meanwhile, back in the cells...



: The only difference is, I don't see any of the inmates. And of course, our death-row inmate isn't here either. Did the curry-lover ever find his curry? My time will soon be locked away from me as well. I can't waste what I have left. I'd better be going.



Okay, let's save Jowd already.

(Music: The World of the Dead)



: ......where...am...I...?
: This is the Ghost World, the land of the dead, Detective Jowd.
: Detective...Jowd...? Who is that...? Is that me...?
: Oh, boy. Not you too? (This is getting old.)



: Oh...so I'm...dead, am I? I didn't realize that.
: That's why you can't remember anything right now.
: That's fine with me.
: Huh?
: I don't like a messy room. But I hate cleaning up even more. Not having my memories is a welcome thing. Now I don't have as much trash to take out.
: (Memories are like trash...?)
: Now that I'm dead, what do I need with memories? And things I don't need are just trash.
: Not to me. I need your memories! Besides...I promised Lynne I'd try to stop your execution.
: "Lynne"...? ......hmm. It looks like I still have a few bits and pieces of garbage left laying around.

(Music: Jowd ~ A Captive of Fate)



: About "Lynne"..."Jowd"...and the "execution"...and what about you? Who are you?
: I'm Sissel. I'm looking for my memories...or "trash", as you call it.
: "Sissel"...?
: Does my name ring a bell? I think you know me.
: Sorry. It must not have been a very big piece of trash to me.
: That's all right. I guess you'll find out when you get your memory back. But, for now, I'd like you to come back with me...back to four minutes before your execution.







: This is the past? Four minutes before my death...?
: That's right. You'll get to see your own execution. And then we're gonna change your fate.
: But first, can I ask you a question? Lynne told you, didn't she? About what I did?
: Yeah, she did.
: Then is it really the right thing to do, to save a guy like me?
: I don't know. But Lynne believes it is.
: ......
: Okay, let's get started.

Four Minutes Before Jowd's Execution



: It seems to me there's gotta be a safer way to do it...
: Ha ha ha! It must be nice to have no memory like that. It makes things more interesting. I envy you. I really do.
: (It's no laughing matter to me.)
: That was an example of a failed execution...although the outcome was the same.
: Failed...?
: They haven't carried out an execution in a long time. They dragged that old chair out from under some mothballs, and I guess it had a short.
: (So I guess that means if I can stop the explosion...)
: Hmm, I don't know about that. Then I'd just be executed as planned, and I'd still wind up just as dead.
: ......so what should I do?
: Beats me. You're the one who came to save me. You figure it out.
: (He's not making this easy.)

Yeah, he's really not. But saving him will have to wait for next time.