The Name's Oliver - Ben Oliver. Ch. 159: Duty vs Ethics, Pt. II

[Magz from Oz]

Hurrah! I myself cannot wait for you all to see what we're up to!

Ditto.  I hope they really fix the problem and that you are glitch free for years to come.  Fingers crossed. 

[Schipperke]

Blood Island, Part XVII

Diary Entry

The phone had barely started ringing when De Luca's voice roared in my ear, "Oliver!  How very kind of you to finally get around to checking in!  That nice Warden Blue called and told me you never turned up at the prison!  Where in blazes are you?  By the Watcher, if I find out you've been swanning around with some woman -"

I cut her off.  There wasn't time for that.  I told her that nice Warden Blue had locked me in a cell and that there was a prison escape in progress.

"Locked you in a cell?!" De Luca's voice exploded in my ear.  "What in blazes is going on in that prison?  Locking up one of my officers?!  That warden is in for a mess of grief, I can tell you!"  Then she was quiet for a moment, taking in what I had said.  "Why do I have the feeling I know the person who's leading this prison escape?" De Luca asked rhetorically.  "Oliver, all I can say is, you'd better have a VERY good explanation for all this."  She sighed.  "All right, what do you need?"

I asked her to contact the Barnacle Bay Police force and get officers over to the prison on the double.  "And check your email for a bunch of files.  I sent them to you and Carl.  They should explain everything," I said and rang off.

Luther and I went back into the building.  Darren and Conrad were guarding the warden and the other guard.  Warden Blue and his guard appeared totally cowed by the prisoners with their fierce red dragons armed and ready to attack again.  Luther sat down at the table with the others. 



Things appeared to be under control so I went to stand outside by the gate and wait for the police to arrive.



I filled the police officers in.  They were busy taking statements from everyone when I returned to the Warden's office and removed the large key from its case.  It was time for me to go and let poor Ewen out of the SHU.  Dreading what I would find, I started down the stairs to the basement.



Diary Entry Ends.

Dear Readers, I apologize for giving you such a short update today.  But I felt I needed to warn you that the next update is actually going to show the dreaded SHU - the place where poor Yorick met his untimely end, the source of Conrad's emotional disturbance, the fearsome SHU that Darren was too traumatized to even talk about.  Readers with sensitive stomachs may wish to skip tomorrow's update.  It is definitely going to be a shocking sight.  Proceed at your own risk.  You have been warned.

[Swirl-Girl]

Is it really that bad?
I hope that when ole' Bennie boy comes out, he isn't too traumatized. But yay for fixed computers!

[Audren]

Eek. This SHU sounds like a pretty awful place. I can't even imagine what might be going on in there. Vampiric stuff, I guess? 

[RaiaDraconis]

<purchases Simmunity LTR> I'm ready to see the SHU. I have a feeling though that Ben might be rather taken aback by what he is about to see...

Glad to see that your computer is back in working order!

[ladybug53]

Proceed with caution .... The SHU is up next .    I can't even begin to imagine the work involved for the next update . No wonder it took a bit of time . Happy to see our buddy Ben once again ! 

[Magz from Oz]

I think I'm already traumatised.  May as well get it over with.     Bring on the SHU!

[chetanhaobijam]

Great update. Glad that your computer is working and safe and sound. I have decided that I will skip the update because I will not like the horror within.

[Danielle Haydis]

Yay, Ben is back! . Like everyone else, I'm happy to see your computer is back to working order.

I'm really curious as to what's in the SHU. So I say: Bring it on!

[Louise56]

I'm so glad your computer is fixed! I missed Ben. I can't wait to see tomorrow's update.

[Schipperke]

Thanks, everyone.  I have to say, I am so relieved to have my computer back finally and - apparently - working the way it's supposed to.  I haven't gone into the game yet (I'm using the screenshots that were taken before) and have been having trouble with downloading some of my things from Origin.  Origin keeps giving me the message that the SPs that were purchased as downloads are not compatible with my base game (but they were before?).  The only suggestion Origin help came up with was to reinstall everything, which I just don't want to do because it's just been reinstalled.  For some reason I didn't have any problem downloading University or Island Paradise, just the 70's, 80's and 90's and Katy Perry SPs.  So I guess I'll just do without them.  And I don't think I'm going to buy anything on download again, if they have  compatibility issues like this.

Bottom line, some things are going to be missing in my game because of those two SPs not being installed, so things may look a little different, but hopefully not too much.  No cupcake bra in Ben's future, I'm afraid. 

[kent91blaze]

Glad to see Ben back in action! We wouldn't mind the lack of cupcake bra in Ben's future. Hopefully he doesn't mind it too.

Kent

[Schipperke]

I don't believe this.  My computer just crashed, exactly the same way it was doing before I took it to the shop.  Grrr!  So here we go again, sigh.  At least it won't go to the end of the line this time, but it's annoying when they don't seem to have any idea what the problem is. 

Anyway, I've uploaded my screenshots and I'll hope to be able to at least do a couple of updates, not just leave the story hanging like last time.

And so, without further ado, here is the SHU, as promised.

[Schipperke]

Blood Island, Part XVIII

Diary Entry

I steeled myself and started down to the basement.   At the foot of the stairs were doors to four rooms. 



I pulled out the warden's big key and unlocked the nearest door. 



... pink.  The whole room was a particularly florid shade of pink*.  Including the thing with the big gaping mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.



Ewen rushed at me, anxiously exclaiming, “Thank the Watcher!  You've come to let me out?  Please say you're here to let me out!” 



I told him I was indeed there to let him out, and he babbled, “You don't know what it's like, being locked in here with no company except that thing,” he gestured at the pink thing with the teeth.  “And pink!  Everything pink, day in and day out.  You start seeing pink in your dreams, you know.  And when that happens, it won't be long.” 

Long until what, I wondered.

By way of reply, Ewen grabbed my hand and pulled me along after him to the room next door.  “There!” he said, gesturing.  “That's what's left of poor Yorick.”



I gazed at the skeleton on the floor.  “But what caused his death?” I asked Ewen.

“The Pink Death!” he exclaimed.  First the madness takes you, then you stop eating, then you start thinking that thing with the teeth is your friend – it's a long, horrible death.  Poor Yorick.”

“Well, you're safe now,” I told him as I gently led him up the stairs. 

The police were ready to take the guards away.  I went outside with the other prisoners to watch.



It had been a long night, but as the police car pulled away, dawn was starting to break over the Blood Island Penitentiary.



I called De Luca again to fill her in and asked her to send someone to pick me up.



“Someone to pick you up?!” she exclaimed.  “How can I do that – everyone's out on manoeuvres.”  She sighed.  “All right, Oliver, I guess after what you've been through, you deserve a ride.  I'll call in a favour and get someone to come pick you up.  It probably won't be anything fancy, though.  You'll have to take whatever vehicle is available.”

I didn't care.  I just wanted to get out of that place.   As I waited for my ride to arrive, I said goodbye to the prisoners and wished them well.  The police had told them they were all free to go, and they were busy making plans. 

Then I heard a loud whooshing sound and ran outside to see what was going on.



“Commander Oliver?” the vision in the captain's hat asked.  She was gorgeous.  She was a sight for sore eyes.  After all these weeks in a prison cell, I just stood and gawked at her.



“Uh ... I was sent to pick up Commander Oliver?” she said uncertainly.  “Are you -”

“Ben Oliver, at your service, lovely lady!” I exclaimed, jumping on board.  “And is that real champagne I see in the bucket?  A full bottle?”



 “Commander Oliver, I'll have you know I'm a full-fledged Captain in the Balloon Corps,” she said indignantly.  “My equipment is first-class.  Of course it's a full bottle!”

“In that case, Captain, I'm all yours!  Fly me to the moon!”





Diary Entry Ends.

And so ends (finally) the tale of Blood Island Prison.  Thank you all for your patience.

* The pink SHU was inspired by a book I saw one day at my favourite bookstore.  The book was titled “Drunk-Tank Pink.”  The name intrigued me, so when I came home I looked for more information.  Baker-Miller Pink, as it is also known, has in fact been used in real-life prisons, where it is used to calm violent prisoners.  However, the results have been mixed.  It seems that the calming effect of Baker-Miller Pink is temporary only.  Nevertheless, you can find pictures online of a pink jail.

Here's what I found in Wikipedia:  “Results of the use of this colour to paint the interiors of commercial institutions has been mixed.  Some prisoners have been calmed by the colour, but others have been agitated and disturbed by it.” (Italics mine.)

In terms of their reactions to the colour, the Sims in this story are definitely in the group that reacts negatively to it.  Personally, I don't mind pink, but I do think being locked up with no company other than that pink freezer bunny with the gaping jaws and enormous teeth would probably give me nightmares.  If anyone's interested, the hex code for Baker-Miller Pink is FF91AF.

[RaiaDraconis]

Hah! No wonder why you warned us--that shade of pink is most definitely nauseating.

A fantastic ending to a harrowing adventure. Ben could use a good vacation after this!

But man oh man...your poor computer! Clearly they didn't fix a darn thing. That's no good...