CYOA: Stars Beyond

"How do we get to the CORE hall?" You say, looking wildly around.

"That's where we are now. See?" 6 says while pointing at a message spray-painted on the wall, probably through a stencil.

"O...kay then. You say."

"We have to save the others!" 4 exclaims. "There are still like, three people unaccounted for!"

I doubt anyone'd know. No talk Time for action. Volunteer only. Five minutes out, 5 minutes to try to help, 5 minutes back. No "just one more minutes." Split up. Break.

"Look, 4's right," You say, nodding at her. "No more talk. We all need to try and save the others. Five minutes there, five minutes helping, five minutes back. Don't put yourself in danger."

"There are nine of us, and three missing. How will we split up?"

"I'm not going with this loser!" 6 says, pointing at 2.

How do you split them?

Group A - Number 3

Group B - Number 9

Group C - Number 12

Candidates: 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 10 11

"Okay, 5, 6, and 10 go after 3. Me, 1, and 4 will try and help 9, and 2, 8 and 11 will go get 12. No time to argue! Try not to run, and tire yourself out, or hurt yourself. Move it, people!"

"You can't—!" 1 cries out as you grab his arm and force him along with you.

His protests eventually dwindle away, and despite your warning, 4 sprints ahead of you.

You arrive at the door in good time. As you arrive, it occurs to you that you don't have much of an idea how you can actually help. The door's locked from the other side.

Putting your ear against the door, hyperventilation suddenly becomes audible.

You can see slightly orange, glowing objects through the door by virtue of your moose mask. What's your first move?

Ask what the situation is as well.

Hey. Hey, calm down and tell us what's in there. We'll help you figure out how to get out.

HELP US HELP YOU.

"Calm down. We managed to get out of our respective rooms, we can help you, but first, you need to calm down." You said, trying to reassure whoever it is.

Hearing the weird, high pitched, distorted breathing slow, 4 pipes up. "What's in there? Can you see anything?"

"I'm in—I'm in a big bathroom. The bath is big, and it's got twelve knobs. Six knobs on top, six on the bottom. There's... there's two thermometers. One in the bath, one in the... toilet. There's a toilet too. There's a... pH reading next to the thermometers. Other than that, there's twelve toothbrushes, two switches on the wall, and... various medicines."

Number 1 shifts about, waving his fingers in the air. "I can feel the position of some of those things, but without a reference point, it's too difficult."

An announcement suddenly blares out. "Ten minutes remaining."

"What do the switches do?" You ask Number 9. "Oh, and are the meds real or fake?"

"This one... turns the lights on and off. And this one... turns the fan on and off." Number 9 replies, clearly on the verge of breaking down. "I don't know if the medicine is real or fake, but all the pills have numbers on the top, and letters on the bottom."

"Seven!" 1 says suddenly. "Give me your moose mask! I'll be able to see what's in the room as well as feeling it!"

"Sure." You say, taking off your mask, and proffering it to 1.

He presses the indentation with his ring finger, and his mask folds into his suit. He has a slightly wrinkled face with a sallow complexion, long, spiked grey hair, and seemingly red eyes, although he opens them to reveal that the red version of his eyes are just tattooed onto his eyelids. The eyes underneath are green and bloodshot. He has three thick vertical lines of stubble, having shaved between them.

He wastes no time in grabbing the mask, and sliding it onto his own face. While he is doing this, 4 surveys your own face, curiously.

"There!" 1 jabs a finger at a seemingly nondescript wall. "In the cistern! One of the pieces of the flusher is key-shaped!"

Number 9 yells through the door, "I can't get the lid off!"

"There's some kind of mechanism, attached to both thermometers..." 1 says. "Are you sure they're thermometers? They look different... anyway, the pipe from the bath's drain runs into the same main pipe as the toilet. There's also twelve tiny slots in the side of the bath."

"How can you see all that?" 4 exclaimed. "7 could only see blurry images!"

"7 has a longer nose than me, it moves it out of focus."

"Hey!" You yelp, "I do not have a long nose! Your nose is just... short!"

"Plus it makes a real difference being able to feel where they are. I believe we have a life on the line, by the way?" 1 drawls. "And I get the feeling we'd rather not lose someone this early on?"

What do you decide to do now?