In the basement of the hotel, I found the locked grey door Johnny Smith had mentioned, which unsurprisingly led to the government lab. Near that door though, there was a pile of items that, when moved, revealed a secret warehouse.

You could find the weirdest things in the hotel if you looked hard enough, I swear.

I dropped the mummified aliens off in the lab before checking out the warehouse. I was hoping to find books to improve my mechanical skill, and once I did, I would get Xizzle to help me figure out how to get the elevator functioning properly again.

As I descended the stairs into the surprisingly well-lit room, I took a look around to see what was down here. Indeed, I found bookshelves that were completely filled with books of all kinds, several boxes and containers which surely contained more books as well as other things, and a fortune-telling machine.

But the most important thing I found down there was--

"You have rescued Bigfoot from his imprisonment!" I whirled around, startled by the overjoyed voice that had spoken behind me. "Oh joyful day! Bigfoot thanks you so much!"

I was shocked. "Wait, you're--you're real?"

"Of course, miss! And he will be happy and a friend to you and your guests so long as you give him food. One meagre feeding a day is all Bigfoot needs."

I smiled. Bigfoot seemed sweet. "I think that can be arranged," I replied, "although I was wondering if I could borrow some of the books down here? I need to get into the penthouse, but a robot has made it impossible for me to get in since my mechanical skills aren't that great. I'll probably have to hack my way in, but I don't know how."

"Absolutely! Bigfoot is always happy to help!" Bigfoot said, rushing over to the bookshelf and scanning the titles, searching for something that could help me. I joined him, and together we found several books that we figured would be of good use.

"I'm going to put these aside so I can look into them. In the meantime, why don't we go over to the Saloon and get you something to eat?" I offered, "You must be hungry."

"Thank you so very much, miss...?" Bigfoot trailed off.

Oops...I'd forgotten to tell him my name.

"Alessa," I said, "My name is Alessa."

I led him out of the warehouse and together he and I got burgers from Mamma's Place, which he seemed to really enjoy. I introduced him to some of Strangetown's citizens, and he was so friendly and easygoing that he got along with pretty much everyone he met.

Even Xizzle, who began to join us down in the warehouse to research methods of getting that door open, began to take a liking to Bigfoot.

And, very surprisingly, to me. 

That was something I would never have expected to happen in all my time as manager of the hotel. After all, this was a guy who, time and time again, had attempted to take over this planet and who constantly seemed to look down upon most humans. It was a nice change, to tell the truth. I found he could be very pleasant when he wasn't zapping you with a ray gun or sending other aliens to invade Strangetown.

We tried a few different methods of getting the elevator doors open throughout the next couple of days or so, and we were even able to enlist the help of Lord Mole, who fortunately forgave me pretty fast for the whole spraying-him-with-water incident on the sun deck before. 

These first attempts failed, which was unfortunate for us, but at the same time I was actually improving my mechanical skills through all of this, so there was somewhat of a bright side, at least. Another was that I now had an idea of what not to do if this ever happened again.

It took us just over a week to find the correct method of fully reactivating the elevator. But when we got it working, we were presented with a new problem. I took the now-working elevator up to the penthouse in hopes that Alfred would be away and I could sneak in, get the blueprints, and get back out before I was caught.

But here was the issue: Alfred was there when I arrived.

"What are you doing in my room?!" he snapped as soon as he saw me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw where the blueprints were laid out. But clearly they would have to wait, since there was no way in hell I was getting around the robot. "Don't you know how strict Strangetown's landlord laws are?" he continued, and before I could point out the fact that yes, I knew the laws due to my status as mayor, he yelled, "Take this!"

And suddenly, I found myself in the manager's suite, curled into a ball near the door. How the hell had me brought me here?!

Now I was getting really frustrated. How was I supposed to get the blueprints now? 

I immediately left the manager's suite, and upon doing so I heard Cory say, "Psst!"

I headed over to his desk. "Yeah?"

"For your information," he said, "It seems Alfred has been sneaking out of his room every night from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM to recharge his batteries. Just thought you should know."

With that, my frustration vanished, instantly replaced by hope. "Thanks, Cory. You have no idea how big of a help that is to me."

"I think I do," he replied, "Good luck, Alessa."

"Thank you."

I relayed this information to Xizzle, Bigfoot and Lord Mole and then decided to resume doing the rest of my job since I was falling behind a bit. checking guests in and out, running errands, doing some paperwork over at City Hall, all in order to pass time until I knew Alfred would be away from the penthouse.

And at exactly 6:45, I left the penthouse, blueprints in hand.