Part 20: 9: Deserted Village

Chapter 3-9: Deserted Village





-Remains of Rubora, Zimbabwe-


Angie: The sky's so clear. Mmm, breathe in that air! ...And it's deserted.

Derek: I think we're looking at the results of a GUILT outbreak.

Angie: Ohh, I wish we weren't so far away from home.

Angie is surprisingly whiny. I expected Derek to be complaining and her to be yelling at him for it.

Derek: Hey, don't talk like that.

"Over here!"

Angie: Who's that?



Derek: Oh, Director Miller, sir! This is Langston Miller, from Caduceus Europe.

Miller I was getting worried. You're a little late. You see, one of our coordinators is sick, and we don't know exactly where the research lab is. There's been a lot to worry about.



Old art:



JOHNSON: We searched sectors B-2 through 4, but could not locate the target.

Miller: In that case, expand your search into the C areas, as well.

JOHNSON: Yes sir!

Miller: The jungle makes a bird's-eye search impossible. We tried to narrow it down back home, but we still have a lot of ground to cover.

Derek: Must be frustrating.

Angie: I have a bad feeling about this.

Miller: You may as well join the search. Report back if you find anything. Here's a map of the area. We've sent teams out here... and here.

Angie: What kind of map is this? I can't make out any landmarks or anything.

Derek: Well, let's get started, I guess.

~6 long hours later~



Helpful car noises let you know that, despite the background not changing, they are definitely in a jeep now.

Angie: I'm glad we can drive, but this jeep sure is a bumpy ride.

JOHNSON: Well, there aren't any roads in this area, but at least we're not in the jungle. It's been a long time-let's head back to camp for a breather.

Angie: I didn't mean- ...Huh? Stop the jeep! There's someone in that house!

Derek: It's a little kid. I thought they said this area was abandoned!

~One hour after that~



Angie: Nice to meet you, Reuben!



Another new art:



Derek: What was he doing in there?

Miller: We think he used to live there. His family actually lives not far from here.

Derek: Shouldn't we take him home?

Miller: Perhaps, but... The boy seems to know the location of the research lab. Apparently his brother worked there, and Reuben got to tag along once or twice. It's more of a lead than we've found out here so far, don't you agree?

Reuben: ......

Derek: It's as good a plan as any.

Angie: Thank you, Reuben!

Reuben: ......!

-Abandoned Delphi Research Lab-


Derek: What exactly are we looking for?

Angie: Let me take samples from the walls and floor, just in case.

Miller: Thank you, young lady. We'll need to undergo decontamination procedures after this, but hopefully we'll find something to make it worthwhile. ...This is no place for a child, I'm afraid. Could you wait outside?

Reuben: * nod *

Miller: There's a good lad. * sigh * Cross your fingers, yes?

End of Chapter 3-9


Chapter 3-10: Pandora's Box

Note: In Under the Knife, this chapter's title was "Forbidden Knowledge."





Derek: The African GUILT victims are being transferred to Caduceus Europe, right? Hopefully that will lead to something.

Angie: * sigh * Yeah, but this was all so tiring. Doctor Miller is late. I wonder who he was speaking with on the radio.

"Dr. Stiles!"

Derek: What is it?



Derek: What!? How?



Reuben actually gets his name from a woman: Gloria Reuben, who plays Jeanie Boulet on ER.

Miller: The boy's Chiral results just came back.

Angie: He tested positive for GUILT. The spectral analysis indicates this is a different strain. We found an abnormality near his pancreas, but that's all.

Miller: His vitals are dropping quickly. If we tried to reach a hospital, he would probably die on the way. I think we should open him up and do what we can, but it's your call, Dr. Stiles.

Derek: I understand. We can't just sit here and watch him die.





OPERATION VIDEO
Gamevee
Viddler

If you ever saw someone bitching about Trauma Centers difficulty on the internet, it was probably this type of GUILT that they were bitching about.



Miller What? Could they have known about...?

Angie: What is it, Dr. Miller?

Miller: Stiles, I think that membrane is responsible for the disease. An organ covered by that membrane will be slowly petrified. We need to detach it immediately.

Meet Triti. It's the Greek word for Tuesday, and it also means "third." It is also horrible to operate on, and made worse so by the lack of explanation the game gives you. For starters, you need the forceps.

Angie: Hold on. You won't be able to detach it that way. Don't you see the thorns? They've fastened the membrane to this organ.

Miller: I think you're right.

Angie: If we can remove all three thorns on one segment, excision should be possible.

Miller: That's quick thinking, Angie! You should consider looking into Caduceus Europe.

Angie: ...Anyway, try pulling the thorns out with your forceps.



Now that those two have finally shut up, we can discuss the catch.



Removing three thorns and the triangle are both easy. However, if you try to do it as shown here...



Miller: I see. Those thorns are causing the GUILT to spread.

Angie: They are? How can you tell?

Miller: A while ago, our country tried using similar technology to fight cancerious tissue; shards which vibrate at high frequencies to stabilize the cancer for easy removal. It creates a hardened membrane exactly like this one. This strain of GUILT seems to be modeled after our treatment. The thorns are releasing high-frequency waves to essentially petrify his organs. Dr. Stiles, we need to try removing them all at once. There must be some pattern to it.

So what happened? Let's get a better look at how it spread.



Triti works like this: A triangle will multiply if it is not touching any others, or if you just removed one. However, there are two restrictions. First, there needs to be room for the new triangle, and secondly, both thorns on that side need to be intact. In other words, there must be two thorns next to each other. There is one other way for it to regenerate, which I'll cover later.

So, how do you deal with this? One way is to back it into a corner, where it has less room to grow. This is an option if you aren't fast enough for a better solution, but it isn't the best for score, and it's not the easiest. The "proper" way of doing things is to think of Triti as a puzzle, and figure out how to solve it. I think of each series of removals as a "step" or "move." My strategy for this Triti takes three steps, and it's probably not possible to go lower than that.

By the way, the Wii version of Triti is easier to remove than the DS version. In Under the Knife, you needed to use the scalpel to excise the membranes in addition to removing the thorns. Having said that, this operation has more membranes than it's DS counterpart, which could be solved in just two steps.



This is step one. We'll be removing the two middle membranes, leaving two separate groups of three. The upper-left group doesn't have room to multiply as long as that one thorn is removes, but you'll notice I removed two extra thorns from the lower-right to prevent it from growing there.



Between steps, stop and let any thorns regenerate while you pump vitals. When a membrane turns blue, it will flash and drain vitals periodically, so watch out for them. The next step is going to involve removing it as part of the whole lower group.



Every once in a while a thorn will turn into vapor when you touch it. This vapor will go to another section of the pancreas and turn into a new group of membranes unless you drain it, but it moves slowly enough that this is easy to avoid.

When you get interrupted, you might be able to finish the step, but it's always safe to let the thorns regenerate and try again.



For step two, make sure to remove that thorn from the top-left, so it won't grow. For the lower group, try to start at one end and work your way up when removing the thorns, then go back and follow the same pattern for the membranes. The idea is that you want to start with the triangles whose thorns you removed first, as those thorns will be closer to regeneration when you finish. I hope that makes sense.



The last step is simply to remove the second group of three, which is trivial if you already did the first. I got interrupted by Angie taking time to explain the blue membranes, which threw me off, so I had to wait for the thorns to grow back.



Miller: Amazing! You really can operate successfully against GUILT!



Miller: I'm afraid this GUILT... was derived from one of my country's past sins. As I said earlier, we were trying to create a cure for cancer using high-frequency vibrations. But... there were complications. Our treatment couldn't differentiate between cancerous cells and healthy tissue, so it simply attacked them both. We wanted a way to help people, but we found a way to kill them instead. And apparently, Delphi found out about it. That's what I meant.

[I]So the English committed the sin of "doing a bad job curing cancer" or something.



Angie: I'd say you've more than earned your place in Caduceus.



There's another effective strategy for Triti, which will not get you a very good score, but will result in an easy victory if you can pull it off. I'll show you next time we encounter it.



With all the thorns you have to remove, getting No Mistakes can actually be a bit difficult, but all you can do for it is practice. The time requirement is fairly lax, though, assuming you don't let any multiply.



Assuming you did everything right, you should get S/XS.



Angie: Try not to move, okay Reuben?

He seems to have stood up, so that's going to be a problem.

Derek: You're going to be alright.

Angie: Your mother's waiting just over there, so you'll be able to see her soon, okay?

Derek: Director Miller might be able to send him to England for further treatment. Maybe we should ask him.

Angie: No. There's a Red Cross outpost in the next town over. I think it's best to keep his treatment local to avoid any complications.

Reuben: ......

Angie: A gift for us? But... isn't this your book? Can we accept this, Dr. Stiles? He wants us to, I think. Wait, this isn't a book.

Derek: It's a file folder. It's in some kind of code, but... yeah, read this part. ...GUILT.

Good thing they didn't write that in code. Wait, wasn't GUILT the name that the WHO came up with? Why would Delphi be using it?

Angie: His brother must have given it to him.

Derek: Thank you, Reuben. This is going to save a lot of people!

"Dr. Stiles!"



Derek: Director Miller, we have good news! Reuben gave us this-

Miller: That can wait. We just received an urgent telegram from America.

Derek: Urgent? I wonder... No way...

Angie: What's wrong?

Derek: Doctor Kasal from Hope Hospital was just admitted to Caduceus USA.

Angie: Caduceus? Don't tell me he-

Derek: Dr. Kasal's been infected with a new strain of GUILT!

End of chapter 3-10

End of Chapter 3

Z-3 is next!