[001]

[luke_triton]

[The best way to figure out the ups and downs of a puzzling situation is to explore! Right? Luke thinks so, and he's wandering up and down the streets of Luministi Greens East to get an idea of the lay of the land, so to speak, in his new neighborhood. It's weird to think about so he's trying not to; walking felt more familiar, prompting him to leave his bicycle at home.

"Home", rather.

After a while of sorting things out (the layout is nothing complicated, but he wants to sit down with a map anyway and start getting things all noted down in his notebook) he starts fiddling with the CAT again. The video function is pretty useful!]

The food they left out for us was sort of disappointing, wasn't it? I've got something less unimpressive, if anyone wants to hear a puzzle.

Comments

[manicurious]

That should do just fine. I'm not actually much of a gambler myself - I just used to work in a casino - in any case cards are familiar enough.

[luke_triton]

All right! Just hold on a second...

[TEXT]

You have one Joker and the four Aces of each different suit in a deck of cards facedown on the table in front of you. Using these hints, tell me what order the cards follow.

1. The club is to the immediate right of the heart.
2. Neither the diamond nor the joker is next to the spade.
3. Neither the joker nor the diamond is next to the club.
4. Neither the diamond nor the spade is next to the heart.

[manicurious]

[Smugly:] Obviously the Joker and the diamond are an end pair, since the diamond won't touch anything else. If the Joker won't touch the spade or the club and it's already touching the diamond, it's touching the heart which is to the left of the club, which puts the diamond to the far left and the spade on the far right.

So from right to left I have the spade, the club, the heart, the Joker, and then the diamond on the far left.

[luke_triton]

[Give him a minute, he has to write out the thing again and solve it himself in his notebook.

Aha!]

You've got it!

[manicurious]

But of course!

I'd offer to cook you some sort of treat as a thank-you for the diversion, but I'm currently trapped in this secret laboratory with no foreseeable means of escape. Hard luck, kid.

[luke_triton]

You'll cook something for-

[FULL STOP Luke pay more attention.]

Secret laboratory? What do you mean?

[manicurious]

I mean exactly what I said. Secret laboratory. A laboratory that's also a secret.

Except it's not really secret because I'm telling everyone about it.

[luke_triton]

Well how did you get stuck there? I thought the idea was that everyone moved into these houses here.

[manicurious]

I do have a house which is the same-- no, wait, mine's better than everyone else's. But only because I put a great amount of time into decorating it.

Anyway, I've lived in Luministi for about a year and most of that time was spent all by myself. In the laboratory there's this window where you can get a stunning view of the stars, which I think you can see behind me...

[He turns his head to glance out the window with a solemn look.]

It's stupid and pathetic, but after a few months of having the whole place to myself I started coming to the lab every night and sometimes during the day just to stare at whatever's out there until I fell asleep, right here on the floor.

Then when I woke up this morning there was a deluge of communications and the exit was sealed off.

[luke_triton]

A whole year? ...How are you going to get out, then?

[manicurious]

I'm not going to get out. I don't want to get out. I've had the opportunity and have turned it down every time.

[luke_triton]

So...you're going to stay locked in that secret lab forever?

[manicurious]

[The incorrect response induces a creepy giggle.]

No, not the lab! Look at the big picture, kid! This lab and that town are all part of the same structure! I'll be perfectly content if I can freely access both, as I've been able to for most of the last year. Being trapped in the laboratory alone is extremely distressing!