“MAXIMUM CAPACITY: 0 PEOPLE. Out of that whole floor, that was the only one that added up.”
Safety notices are the official plaques found in any office: emergency exit, fire extinguisher, assembly point. In Level 0 they are still there, but every one has a part erased or wrong. They look so much like the real thing that the brain reads them without thinking, and that is when they fail you.
What people report
Wanderers talk about seven plaques that keep repeating. Where each one is seen changes depending on who tells it, and for some nobody brings a location.
| Text | Where it's said to have been seen |
|---|---|
| EMERGENCY EXIT, with the pictogram running toward a wall | end of corridors, beside the exit sign |
| FIRE EXTINGUISHER, INSPECTED __/__/19__ | beside an extinguisher |
| ASSEMBLY POINT, FOLLOW THE ARROWS | large room with no arrows |
| IN CASE OF FIRE DO NOT USE THE ELEVATOR | upper area of the building, where there is no elevator |
| SMOKE DETECTOR, DO NOT COVER | under a ceiling detector |
| WATER AREA, CAUTION WET FLOOR | beside a puddle or a water dispenser |
| MAXIMUM CAPACITY: 0 PEOPLE | door of a meeting room |
Where each one fails
- Emergency exit: the figure that should point to the exit runs straight at a wall.
- Extinguisher: the inspection date is half missing, “__/__/19__”, and nobody knows which year.
- Assembly point: it tells you to follow arrows where there are none.
- Elevator: it warns about something that doesn't exist. It goes with the descent through the floors.
- Smoke detector: every detector in the ceiling seems to have its own plaque, as if someone was afraid you'd cover it. See Signs and Ceiling Fixtures.
- Water area: the only one with good reason. Water is the one thing that is always wet.
- Maximum capacity: zero people, in a room where sometimes there is somebody.
How to survive them
Don't use a notice to find your way. Use it to check that the room in front of you is the one you think it is. If it lies about one thing, it lies about the whole corridor. Only the water plaque, the one about the wet floor, deserves your attention.
See also
Found Texts, Office Signs, Floor Notes, Almond Water.