Part 24: 5: Foreboding Clues

Chapter 4-5: Foreboding Clues



-Angeles Bay, City Hall-


Anderson: ...everyone's... ugh...

"Mr. Secretary, what's wrong?"





"We need help here! Somebody call an ambulance!"



Sidney: "...but who will take record of the sins of our modern age?" Is this some kind of prank? Wait, could this be a-

Angie: Chief!

Sidney: What is it?

Angie: It's Richard Anderson!

Sidney: Then this... "Pempti - Thursday. As each death is sacrificed, man furnishes his dwelling in hell, but who will take record of the sins of our modern age?" Does this mean... What's the secretary's condition!?

Well, this letter follows the format of all the GUILT letters. Guess it must be a prank! * Is surprised when someone gets GUILT *

Angie: We haven't gotten test result back yet, but it's most likely GUILT.

Sidney: How could this happen? How could they get close enough to infect Secretary Anderson!? We need to formulate a plan with Victor. Call in the entire staff. I hate interrupting his day off, but we need Derek here as well.

Angie: Yes sir!

End of Chapter 4-5

That was actually the last story episode for awhile. The next five chapters have operations in them.

Chapter 4-6: The First Step

Note: This chapter has a slightly different title in Under the Knife: "Taking the First Step"





Sidney: It's another new strain of GUILT. We've tried a number of treatments, but nothing works. Dr. Clarks has been with Anderson since he arrived. You'll be taking his place.

Derek: I undestand.

Sidney: Victor, we need instructions.

Victor: Okay, we'll working together on this one, Stiles.



Anderson: I should have been more careful. Sorry about all this.

Sidney: Don't strain yourself, Mr. Secretary.

Anderson: What are my chances, Victor. Tell me the truth; I can take it.

Victor: I'd say around 25%, but even that's being generous.

Sidney: Victor!

Anderson: It's alright, Sidney. I want to know all the facts about my condition. Otherwise, how can I make informed decisions? No matter what condition I'm in, I'm still the Secretary of Health and * cough * ...Victor, will you be able to figure out some way to treat this?

Victor: I can't make any guarantees, but I'm trying. After all, you're the first Victim of this particular strain.

Anderson: I see. So I'm the first one. Then, my treatment is even more crucial. Sidney, use me as a guinea pig. Find a way to stop this GUILT! I give Caduceus full discretion over my treatment.

Sidney: But Richard, that's-

Victor: Are you sure? I can't promise any of the treatments will actually work.

Anderson: Yes, I understand. Worst case, you can use my results to find a cure for others. Can you do that?

Victor: ...I accept your challenge, Mr. Secretary. I've decided that I will save you, but it might sting a little.

Anderson: Heh. Do what you must.

Victor: As long as your prepared for the worst, then I'm going to find a cure. I'm too smart not to!



Pempti: the fifth GUILT, corresponding to Thursday. It's a nasty one, as you'll learn.

Victor: There's a new GUILT called Pempti inside the Secretary's chest. I've done enough tests to know how bad this bastard can be, but I have no idea how to treat it. Honestly? I think it's hopeless. But hey, every disease has to have a cure, right? So it's up to us to find one. That's how medicine advances. But, you know that. That's why you joined Caduceus. Anderson said worst case, at least his illness can be used to advance our understanding of GUILT. I assumed he was just some crusty old bureaucrat, but when you think about that, I guess he really understands what we're about. So, we kind of owe it to the guy to make sure this works out. I'd say you have one main objective:



Heart Victor

Derek: What kind of objective is that!?

Victor: There's no known treatment yet. Would YOU like to think one up? I'm the one who's done all the research, so just listen to me.

Derek: (We'll see about that.)

Victor: What's wrong?

Derek: Nothing. Let's just do our job.

Victor: That's a good attitude. I hope you can handle this.





OPERATION VIDEO
Gamevee
Viddler

Today's operation features a lot of subtle difference between versions and difficulties.



Victor: This gelatinous fluid is filling the Secretary's left lung. Anyway, you're going to have to do exactly what I tell you.



Since Victor doesn't know what the hell to do, and you happen to have a sharp instrument, the first thing he makes you do it try and slice it open. It doesn't work.



Next, we try the laser, which has proven effective against GUILT in the past. It also doesn't work.



Finally, we go with the gel because, hey, it works on practically everything else. It does nothing.

Victor: Still no use!? drat, this is starting to annoy me. This time we mean business. I have one last trick up my sleeve. It's effective, but it's still being researched and adjusted. It's not very good for the human body, so be careful.



The real meat and potatoes of this operation is injecting fluids into the core of the Pempti. The core itself is marked by that circle, and changes position often. As always, this was much harder to do in Under the Knife, in which the core was harder to see and more prone to moving around, even in the middle of an injection. The rules for injecting were also a little stranger (You needed to inject only a little over half a vial, but you had to inject it all at once, and it wouldn't count if you didn't inject everything in the vial, no matter how much that actually was).

You'll inject the blue and pink fluids first, after which it becomes clear that this treatment won't work, either. To gather data, you'll inject the yellow one.



Unfortunately, the yellow one causes the Pempti to start pulsating and draining vitals, which you can only stop by injecting the white fluid. You actually want to wait for vitals to drop below 70 before you do that, for reasons I'll explain in a moment. On hard, you probably won't be able to stop it before vitals go below 70 anyway, unless you maxed out vitals beforehand, or used the Healing Touch.



The reason for waiting is that Victor will tell you to raise vitals at this point if they are below 70. This doesn't seem like a big deal, but realize that your objective is to follow Victor's orders, so having him give you one more order means you did a better job.

Yes, I know how stupid that sounds.



The next step involves double-injections. You alternate between blue and yellow, and pink and white. You have to inject the second one soon after the first. On hard, you won't have enough time if the core moves in between injections, so you should wait for it to move, and attack as soon as it reappears.



Finally, you snag a sample of the core so Victor can research it.





This isn't a tough operation to beat, but the high ranks can be a bit tricky.



On easy, you only need to follow 9 orders, so you don't have to concern yourself with letting the vitals drop below 70. On any other difficulty, you should get it if you get ten orders and don't make any mistakes.





Sidney: We're depending on you, Victor...

End of Chapter 4-6