The machine in Flash Boredom
FLASH BOREDOM has a big machine with a booth (the red arch on the left) and a switch: "I WONDER WHAT THIS SWITCH DOES?….". It whirrs, then stops. Two little spaceships patrol the room too.
Nudge 1Where to look
The booth is a transporter. When the machine stops, it sends whatever is in the booth somewhere else, including Seymour.
Nudge 2A stronger push
Where it sends you, the floor is deadly. Something has to make it safe first, by going through the machine on its own.
Nudge 3Almost there
Put something soft and absorbent in the booth: the machine can't analyse it, and it soaks up the danger at the other end.
What you needOther problems to solve first
Solve these first (each opens its own page, no answers on the way):
Show the solutionThe whole answer, with a video
- Put the bath towel from Dorothy (Dorothy's friends are depressed) down inside the booth.
- Press the switch. Stand in the booth before the machine stops.
- When it stops it reads the towel ("UNABLE TO ANALYSE MOLECULAR STRUCTURE"), uses it up, and sends Seymour to THE SPACE BASE, whose floor is now safe.
The clockwork heart lying in this room is one of Dorothy's presents; time your moves to the spaceships' patrols to fetch it.
Why it works
When the machine stops, it checks what lies in the booth: the towel sets the flag that makes the space base's floor harmless. Without it that floor takes all of Seymour's energy at once.