Coming from the depths of space, Let’s Play Starcross!

Well they are crystal, I would assume I could look through it, or at least try. Let me see.

>look through black rod
You can see dimly through the black rod.

Oh, this might just work!

>look into projector through black rod
The light is very bright, but the black rod filters it enough so that you are not blinded.
Inside the projector is a clear crystal rod, which has a prismatic effect on the light being emitted.

>take clear rod
Taken. The image displayed is now clear and correctly colored.

Woot, rod get, and a few more points for my score. That was a wonderful idea voices in my head, thank you for suggesting it. Now what to do next?

Wait, I can get Wikipedia on this thing? Damn, I’ve just been using it to look up po------p music… yeah pop music. I didn’t realize it was that complete, let’s see if the spider likes it, but I had better clear my browser history first.

And while I’m heading back to the blue airlock, can I just ask… a tape library, really? I meat this the future! Well more so then the present is the future, and we’re still using tapes? Really, even in the 21st century tapes were pretty much dead, so why do I have them in the 22nd? What else is on this thing, the plans to the Death Star?

Still, spider-man, care to have a , a compendium of human knowledge and culture?

>give tape library to spider
The spider examines the tape player and discovers the controls. A random song begins playing. Agitated, he fiddles with the controls again, and a lecture begins. He becomes even more agitated. "What a wonderful gift, human! This will alleviate my boredom for a while. Your culture is young, but you have amassed enough of interest to keep me sane for a few more years. I thank you." He fishes in a pouch and comes up with something. "Perhaps you may find some use for this; I long ago grew bored with such baubles." He tosses a yellow crystal rod at your feet.

>take crystal rod
Taken.
The spider, oblivious to all else, is fiddling with the tape player. Every so often, he makes a happy little noise.

Two rods in one go… and you know there is that yellow slot back in the repair room and it’s on the way to the silver slot, so let’s try dropping this off, maybe it will do something cool.

Repair Room
This room is taken up by two large pieces of machinery. The leftmost has a symbol depicting the emission of rays beside a yellow slot. The other machine bears a symbol in three parts: the first two parts, in black, are a solid block and a fluid level. The third, in red, is a series of parallel wavy lines. Beside it are three diagrams; under each one is a red slot. The first diagram shows four single dots equally spaced around a six-dot cluster. The second shows two eight-dot clusters in close proximity. The third has three single dots equally spaced around a seven-dot cluster. The only exit is up some stairs.

>put yellow rod in yellow slot
The yellow rod disappears into the slot.

Now I wonder what that did?

Drive Bubble Entrance
You are floating (clinging?) outside the drive bubble, a crystalline half-sphere covering the aft end of the artifact's axis of rotation. Small knobs like handholds lead up the surface of the bubble, away from the end of the cylinder. The drive bubble is transparent and through it you can see the controls for the main engines of the artifact, which must be aft of here. The only way in is a hatch which is closed. Beside the hatch is a silver slot.

>put silver rod into silver slot
The silver rod slides into the slot and the hatch opens.
The lights come on: it is now full daylight.

Oh, this place has a day night cycle. I guess that makes some sort of sense with all the plant life in this place, though I guess not enough to provide proper oxygen recycling. This was just great timing, I don’t believe it has anything to do with the rods.

>in
Drive Bubble
The drive bubble is on the axis of rotation at the aft end of the artifact, so there is no "gravity" here. It is transparent and you can see the tips of the tallest trees of the forest beyond. Far off, at the opposite end of the axis, is another bubble much like this one. The room is a featureless gray except for one small white slot. One way out is the hatch, which is open.
Floating near a white slot in the wall is a white rod.

I think we know all know what to do here.

>take white rod
Taken.

>put white rod into white slot
As you insert the rod, the walls come alive with a white tracery of controls, dials, and gauges. In addition, a black slot surrounded by an ominous dead-black circle appears.

Hum… you know, I don’t like the look of that block slot. Should I try putting the black rod in anyways?

Of course!

>put black rod in black slot
As the rod rod slides easily into the slot, the lights go out in the bubble. Outside, you can see dead black night settling over everything. An expressionless voice speaks inside your head: "Emergency shutoff mechanism activated..." The voice gets quieter and quieter, and finally silence rules over all.
Your score would be 175 (total of 400 points), in 292 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Lieutenant.

Not only was that a bad idea the game booted me out for it… I had better not try that again.

Puzzles:
* A dark hallway
* A broken computer
* Getting through the warren to the green airlock
* The empty room on ring four
* Reaching the crystal sphere

Unexplored Areas:
--None--

Inventory:
A clear rod
A metal and ceramic square
A ray gun
A black rod
A safety line
A mass detector output

Score:
Your score would be 175 (total of 400 points), in 292 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Lieutenant.

Deaths: 4 (Squashed by sudden G-forces, Jumping to my doom, Blinding by science, Turning off the ship)

the yellow rod probably turned on the lights somewhere. Maybe in the dark area?

also examine the controls.

That seems like a good idea, maybe there is something I can flip or twist or something. Just as long as I don’t accidently activate a self-destruct it should probably be okay.

Drive Bubble
The drive bubble is on the axis of rotation at the aft end of the artifact, so there is no "gravity" here. It is transparent and you can see the tips of the tallest trees of the forest beyond. Far off, at the opposite end of the axis, is another bubble much like this one. The room's gray walls are covered with traceries of white outlining controls, buttons, dials, and indicators. In addition, a black slot surrounded by an ominous dead-black circle is next to a white slot containing a white rod. One way out is the hatch, which is open.

>look at controls
You can't see any controls here.

>look at buttons
You can't see any buttons here.

>look at dials
You can't see any dials here.

>look at indicators
You can't see any indicators here.

Ah, thwarted by the low memory limit of the early Z-Machine games. Well I guess there isn’t anything in here I can fiddle with. Okay then, let’s go check out the dark hallway and see what I can find.

Yellow Hall (3)
This is the intersection between the yellow hall and a large ring corridor. The airlock for the yellow dock is down from here. The plant boxes are empty.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.

Well look at that, the voices in my head were right on, that yellow rod turned on the lights. Now let’s see what’s around here. Let’s see, fore, aft or down? Well I’m standing right here so let’s start with the yellow airlock.

>open inner door
The yellow inner door opens.

>d
Yellow Airlock
This is the main airlock of the yellow docking port. The inner door leading up to the interior is open, and the outer door leading down to the surface is closed.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.
Discarded here is a metal basket with a small pocket.

Now what’s this?

>take basket
Taken.

>look at basket
The metal basket is empty.

>look at pocket
The metal basket is empty.

>put clear rod in basket
The clear rod is inserted, and immediately another hole opens beside it.

Oh nice, it’s a basket of holding! Not that I’ve had to worry too much about juggling my inventory, but it’s nice to know I have a place for all the rods now. Alright, let’s get back down to the yellow dock.

>close inner door
The yellow inner door closes.

>open outer door
The door appears to be jammed. There may be debris outside blocking it. Perhaps if you pushed again.

If you say so!

>open outer door
The outer door opens and air rushes out of the airlock.

Didn't they teach you anything in the Academy? You can't breathe vacuum! The process of dying in this way is very painful but at least relativley short.

**** You have died ****

Oh, right, my space suit! I had completely forgotten about that. Kind of a dumb thing for a spacer to forget really, but I guess after fixing the air and the blue airlock not needing it I guess I just plum forgot. I had better try that again.

>restore
Ok.

>put on suit
You are now wearing the space suit, breathing internal oxygen.

>closer inner door
I don't know the word 'closer'.

>close inner door
The yellow inner door closes.

>open outer door
The door appears to be jammed. There may be debris outside blocking it. Perhaps if you pushed again.

>open outer door
The outer door opens and air rushes out of the airlock.

>out
Yellow Dock
This dock area is severely scorched and damaged where other docks have rope housings. There was apparently a major explosion here, or possibly a chemically fueled rocket attempted to leave without taking proper precautions. There is a hook beside the airlock.
Entangled in debris at the edge of the dock, to port, is what might be a body. It is out of reach from here.

Yikes, I guess someone didn’t like hanging around on the ship, but that might explain why the yellow hall was in the dark. I guess it’s a good thing it didn’t blow up the ship, that would have been bad for everyone else on board, though it would have been a good way to kill the rat-ants.

Let’s see if I can reach that body.

>p
You crawl across the dock area, your magnetic boots holding you safe. Unfortunately, the metallic area ends short of the tangle of debris. If you went further, you would be thrown into space by centripetal force.

Hum, I guess not. I’ll have to work out how to get to the dang thing. For now though, there is a few more places to explore.

>in
Yellow Airlock
This is the main airlock of the yellow docking port. The inner door leading up to the interior is closed, and the outer door leading down to the surface is open.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.

>close outer door, open inner door
The outer door closes and air rushes into the airlock.

The yellow inner door opens.

>u
Yellow Hall (3)
This is the intersection between the yellow hall and a large ring corridor. The airlock for the yellow dock is down from here. The plant boxes are empty.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.

>fore
Yellow Hall (2)
A junction between the yellow hall and a brightly-lit ring corridor. The planters have been removed.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.

>fore
Yellow Hall (1)
This is the fore end of the yellow hall. The planters hold dry, dead plants. The usual ring corridor joins the main hall.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.

Nothing up here, lets head the other way.

>aft
Yellow Hall (2)
A junction between the yellow hall and a brightly-lit ring corridor. The planters have been removed.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.

>aft
Yellow Hall (3)
This is the intersection between the yellow hall and a large ring corridor. The airlock for the yellow dock is down from here. The plant boxes are empty.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.

>aft
Yellow Hall (4)
This is a wide hall whose maintenance has been neglected. The planters are untended. A ring corridor leads port and starboard.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.

>aft
Yellow Hall (4.5)
The yellow corridor continues fore and aft, but a well-lit passage leads starboard.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.

Oh, now that in interesting!

>sb
Laboratory
This is a glaringly lit room filled with strange devices, most completely incomprehensible. For example, a huge projector of some sort points menacingly at a silvery globe floating in midair in the center of the room. The silvery globe is the size of a basketball. Beneath the projector is a dial with four positions.
A thin red disk the size of a manhole cover hangs on the wall.
A thin blue disk the size of a manhole cover hangs on the wall.

All right, now we are talking! More alien gizmos and doodads. First off, the manhole covers!

>take red disk
Taken.

>take blue disk
Taken.

>look at red disk
There is nothing on the red disk.

>look at blue disk
There is nothing on the blue disk.

I guess they would be more interesting if they were chocolate covered manhole covers.

>look at dial
The dial has four positions. It is currently set to 2.

That looks more promising!

>set dial to 4
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, expanded. The silvery globe is the size of four feet and seems embedded in the floor.

>set dial to 3
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, shrunken. The silvery globe is the size of a beachball.

>set dial to 1
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, shrunken. The silvery globe is the size of an orange. Imbedded in the silver globe is a blue crystal rod.

Now look at that, I’m sure that will come in handy for fixing the ship. Let me just grab it there.

>get blue rod
The blue rod is solidly held by the silvery globe.

Now how am I going to fix that?

Puzzles:
* A broken computer
* Getting through the warren to the green airlock
* The empty room on ring four
* Reaching the crystal sphere
* Reaching the body in the Yellow Airlock
* Getting the Blue Rod

Unexplored Areas:
--None--

Inventory:
A blue disk
A red disk
A space suit (being worn)
A metal basket
The metal basket contains:
A clear rod
A metal and ceramic square
A ray gun
A black rod
A safety line
A mass detector output

Score:
Your score would be 175 (total of 400 points), in 340 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Lieutenant.

Deaths: 5 (Squashed by sudden G-forces, Jumping to my doom, Blinding by science, Turning off the ship, Forgetting my space suit)

Fire your ray gun!

That hook outside the yellow airlock looks interesting. Can we attach ourselves to it with the safety line and go spacewalking?

I’m never one to begrudge violence, even if it’s only worked once so far!

>shoot globe
The blast washes over the globe, which grows brighter and brighter as it overloads, then with a sinister shiver, it disappears! The blue rod is destroyed by the blast! Moments later, the projector builds up enough energy to restore the globe, and it reappears.

Well that kind of work… maybe if it was bigger?

>restore
Ok.

>turn dial to 2
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, expanded. The silvery globe is the size of a basketball.

>shoot globe
The blast washes over the globe, which grows brighter and brighter as it overloads, then with a sinister shiver, it disappears! A blue rod drops to the floor from the globe's center! Moments later, the projector builds up enough energy to restore the globe, and it reappears.

Wow, that actually worked. I have to say I really didn’t think it would. Still, woo-hoo! I got me a blue rod!

Unfortunately that also makes the game unwinnable, so no you don’t.

Awe….

Well that sounds like something that may just work, let’s give it a try.

Yellow Dock
This dock area is severely scorched and damaged where other docks have rope housings. There was apparently a major explosion here, or possibly a chemically fueled rocket attempted to leave without taking proper precautions. There is a hook beside the airlock.
Entangled in debris at the edge of the dock, to port, is what might be a body. It is out of reach from here.

>attach line to hook
Attached to the hook.

>attach line to suit
Attached to the space suit.

>p
You crawl across dock area, your magnetic boots overcoming the effect of centripetal force. The metal area they can cling to ends before you reach the edge of the dock, but thanks to your safety line you make it successfully to the tangle of debris.

Among Debris
You are among the blackened and twisted metal left by a huge explosion. The tentacle housings have been destroyed. To starboard is the airlock dome.
Entangled in the wreckage is the scorched body of a creature resembling a large reptile, almost a miniature allosaurus, clad in the remains of a space suit.
Clutched in the reptile's claw is a pink rod.

Wow, I guess you’re a worse pilot then I am, and that’s saying something. I once crashed into a moon, I mean it was only Deimos, but still that was pretty bad. On the other hand the pink rod survived the explosion, that’s kind of which is odd if you think about it. I can destroy them with the ray gun but a exploding ship doesn’t even scratch it. How odd. Still it’s mine now, glad I could finally get one without the narrator butting in.

Hey! I’m just trying to save you from having to go back a few saves. Trust me, you’ll thank me for it, but for now I’ll just pretend like I didn’t hear that.

Yeah you had better pretend like you didn’t heard it. It was a perfectly fine solution you know, dumb wrong solution to the wrong puzzle. It really should have worked. Alright, let’s get this rod then, that’s going to be okay, right?

It’s fine.

Good.

>take rod
Oh, no. The red disk slips from your arms while taking the pink rod and both tumble to the ground.

*snickers*

You’re an ass, you know that? Luckily I have the basket of holding.

>put rod in basket
The black rod is inserted, and immediately another hole opens beside it.

>take pink rod and put it in the basket
Taken.

The pink rod is inserted, and immediately another hole opens beside it.

>take disk
Taken.

Might as well take a look at the body while I’m at it.

>look at reptile
The scorched alien is empty.

Well that wasn’t very helpful. Okay, moving on. Lets head back to the lab, I might be able to do something more there.

Yellow Hall (4.5)
The yellow corridor continues fore and aft, but a well-lit passage leads starboard.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.

A maintenance mouse buzzes into the room, intent on trash.
The mouse is diligently cleaning the floor and looking for garbage.

Well hello there little mouse, nice to see you again. You know, you’re looking for garbage I have this old output here you might want.

>drop output
Dropped.

>wait
Time passes...
The maintenance mouse, buzzing happily, picks up some refuse.
The maintenance mouse glides happily away, looking for new dirt to conquer.

Not going to let you out of my sight this time!

>follow mouse
Laboratory
This is a glaringly lit room filled with strange devices, most completely incomprehensible. For example, a huge projector of some sort points menacingly at a silvery globe floating in midair in the center of the room. The silvery globe is the size of an orange. Imbedded in the silver globe is a blue crystal rod. Beneath the projector is a dial with four positions.
There is a maintenance mouse here, cheerfully scouring the area for garbage. It has already collected a mass detector output.
The silver sphere contains:
A blue rod

>wait
Time passes...
The maintenance mouse sits in the middle of the room, buzzing contentedly.

>wait
Time passes...
The maintenance mouse glides happily away, looking for new dirt to conquer.

>follow mouse
Yellow Hall (4.5)
The yellow corridor continues fore and aft, but a well-lit passage leads starboard.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.
There is a maintenance mouse here, cheerfully scouring the area for garbage. It has already collected a mass detector output.

>wait
Time passes...
The maintenance mouse glides happily away, looking for new dirt to conquer.

>follow mouse
Yellow Hall (3)
This is a wide hall whose maintenance has been neglected. The planters are untended. A ring corridor leads port and starboard.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.
There is a maintenance mouse here, cheerfully scouring the area for garbage. It has already collected a mass detector output.

>wait
Time passes...
The mouse disappears into a heretofore unnoticed hole in the wall, which closes and becomes nearly invisible.

Well what do you know, I never even noticed that little thing. I wonder if I can squeeze though?

>follow mouse
You can't go through the hole.

Yeah, I didn’t think so…

Puzzles:
* A broken computer
* Getting through the warren to the green airlock
* Reaching the crystal sphere
* Getting the Blue Rod
* Where the mouse went

You are carrying:
A red disk
A blue disk
A space suit (being worn)
A metal basket
The metal basket contains:
A pink rod
A black rod
A clear rod
A metal and ceramic square
A ray gun
A safety line (tied to the suit)

Score:
Your score would be 200 (total of 400 points), in 383 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Lieutenant.

Deaths: 5 (Squashed by sudden G-forces, Jumping to my doom, Blinding by science, Turning off the ship, Forgetting my space suit)

Can we examine those disks more closely? They've got to be more than alien Frisbees.

I think I can solve a problem based on visualizing the overall ship and learning my lessons from Ender's Game.

From the opening of the game, the artifact is a very large cylinder that rotates to create an artificial gravity. From the moving around we've been doing, we know that there are concentric rings of rooms and gravity gets lower toward the center.

From Ender's Game, we know that at the axis of rotation, there should be zero gravity.

The drive bubble is located on the axis of rotation. There is another bubble at the other end of the axis of rotation, but there is not tree in that location to climb up. This is not a problem though because there is no gravity between the two points, so we should be able to float right over to the other end.

We tried jumping off the bubble toward the tree and we fell to our death, which made sense because we were jumping toward gravity. From the Drive Bubble Entrance, go up to On Drive Bubble and then jump.

If the disks are as big as manhole covers, they're probably big enough to stand on. So, try standing on one of them to see what happens.

Sure, let me see if I can see anything.

>look at blue disk
There is nothing on the blue disk.
A maintenance mouse emerges from a hitherto unnoticed hole in the wall. The hole slides shut and becomes practically invisible.

Hello again mouse, I’ll just ignore you for now. Well it say there is nothing ON the blue disk, so maybe I should try to put something on it? That couldn’t hurt, right?

>put basket on blue disk
Nothing happens.

Well… maybe the other way around?

>put blue disk on basket
The blue disk doesn't fit.

Yeah, I didn’t think it would work either. Not quite sure what else I can do with these manhole sized disks, but at least they aren’t too much of a pain to hold.

Hum… that is a very interesting idea! I like it, let’s give it a try and see what happens!

Base of Tree
You are in a primeval forest, near the base of a giant tree. The trunk is thick, perhaps 40 meters in diameter, and the height is incredible. The forest is dense, so you can't see exactly how tall it is, but extending all the way to the axis isn't out of the question. The bark is so rough that climbing would be no problem.

>drop suit
You'll have to take it off first!

>take off suit
You have removed the space suit. The air here is quite breathable and slightly sweet.

Wow, I guess fixing the air really helped a lot! It’s quite the change from when we first got on board.

On Drive Bubble
You are floating near and clinging to a large crystalline bubble covering the aft end of the axis of rotation of the artifact. There is no weight here. Small knobs resembling handholds cover the bubble; you could use them to climb back down. Far away at the fore end of the axis you can see another bubble very similar to this one

Alright, let’s see how well physics holds up in this place.

>jump
You push against the surface of the bubble, and because there is no weight here, you shoot into the air and away along the axis!

Floating in Air
You are floating at the axis of rotation of the cylinder, near the drive bubble. There are enormous trees "below." There is no gravity here.

Woo hoo! Physics for the win! Though curse that air resistance for slowing me down so I couldn’t go all the way along the axis. Either way I’m closer of my goal of getting to the other bubble… over there. Um… how to I get over there?

Okay, I can work with this, first law of motion and all that jazz. I just need to send something in one direction so I can go in the other. Should be simple, I can just throw… um… well I guess the disk for now?

>throw blue disk at drive bubble
Throwing the blue disk provides some impulse away from the drive bubble, but air resistance slows you quickly.

Well, that didn’t get me anywhere. I really don’t think I can throw anything far enough to really move myself more than a few inches. Curse you physics! I also don’t have any food, or water, or a way down. I think I better say the magic words and try this again.

>restore
Ok.

Puzzles:
* A broken computer
* Getting through the warren to the green airlock
* Reaching the crystal sphere
* Getting the Blue Rod
* Where the mouse went

You are carrying:
A red disk
A blue disk
A space suit (being worn)
A metal basket
The metal basket contains:
A pink rod
A black rod
A clear rod
A metal and ceramic square
A ray gun
A safety line (tied to the suit)

Score:
Your score would be 200 (total of 400 points), in 389 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Lieutenant.

Deaths: 5 (Squashed by sudden G-forces, Jumping to my doom, Blinding by science, Turning off the ship, Forgetting my space suit)

A couple quick hints, take a closer look at the original description of the disks and the description of the computer.

Maybe you could try opening the computer's access panel? Also, my suggestion to try standing on one of the disks still stands.

Huh, I missed that one. You must have posted it just as I was doing the update for the LP, sorry about that.

Well, they are manhole sized, so could be worth a try.

>drop blue disk
The blue disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.

>step on blue disk
Nothing happens.

Well that didn’t help any, maybe if I try stepping on the red disk?

>drop red disk
The red disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.

>step on red disk
There is a loud click as you step on the disk, and then a moment of disorientation.
You reappear in the same room, but on the other disk!

Oh, nice, stepping disks! Good thing it didn’t work when I was holding the red one otherwise I might have accidently tried to teleport into myself. That would have been embarrassing, not to mention messy. Of course I’m not sure what I can do with these, I don’t want to just leave them laying around you know?

>take all.
red disk: Taken.
blue disk: Taken.

Okay, back to the computer room, maybe we’ll see something behind the access panel?

Computer Room
This is the main computer room. The builders of this ship were obviously still wedded to large mainframes: this one fills the room and is thirty meters high. There is an overlarge switch at about eye-level and an access panel below it, which is closed. The power seems to be off.

>open access panel
Opening the access panel reveals rack upon rack of metallic cards. There is one slot that has no card in it.

Well alright then…

Puzzles:
* A broken computer
* Getting through the warren to the green airlock
* Reaching the crystal sphere
* Getting the Blue Rod
* Where the mouse went

You are carrying:
A red disk
A blue disk
A space suit (being worn)
A metal basket
The metal basket contains:
A pink rod
A black rod
A clear rod
A metal and ceramic square
A ray gun
A safety line (tied to the suit)

Score:
Your score would be 200 (total of 400 points), in 406 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Lieutenant.

Deaths: 5 (Squashed by sudden G-forces, Jumping to my doom, Blinding by science, Turning off the ship, Forgetting my space suit)

Does our metal and ceramic square fit in the slot? It's worth a try.

Yes, I suppose that could be would it. Let’s give it a try!

>put card in slot
The card slides snugly into the slot.

>turn on computer
The lights in the room come on and there is a deafening FOOOOM! noise as the computer starts up.
The main display blinks twice, a bell rings, and a gold rod falls from the output hopper onto the floor! A moment later, a previously unseen enunciator panel comes on.
The panel has three banks of four colored lights: red, yellow, green, and blue. The first is labelled with a symbol of the emission of rays: of the lights underneath, the red one is flashing and the yellow one is brightly lit. The second bank is labelled with a stylized docking port and the third with an airlock. Of these two banks, the first yellow one is brightly lit and the other yellow one is flashing. The panel also contains six other lights, each bearing a stylized picture. The first four, all dark, represent navigation, engine, library, and defenses. A fifth, picturing a cage, is brightly lit. The sixth is flickering dimly. It bears a symbol in three parts: the first two parts, in black, are a solid block and a fluid level. The third, in red, is a series of parallel wavy lines.

Woo hoo, success! Hum, this looks sort of familiar really. We have the statues of the light, the air locks and the docking bays. Some core system are down, though the zoo is still working (which is for the best, the last thing I want is for those damn rat ants to get out into the rest of the ship). The last bit seems to be the same as the ones we saw in the repair room.

Not to mention we get a gold rod for turning on the computer. I’m starting to feel a bit like a trained monkey, I solve I puzzle and I get a rod.

>take gold rod
Taken.

>put rod in basket
The gold rod is inserted, and immediately another hole opens beside it.

Still, if the shoe fits!

You know what, why I’m here I’m going to play around with the disks a bit more, see what their limitations are. First off, if we have something on the destination disk can we still use it?

>drop blue disk
The blue disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.

>drop suit on blue disk
Nothing happens.

>n
Room on Ring One
A passage leads aft from this point on the ring corridor.

>drop red disk
The red disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.

>step on red disk
There is a loud click as you step on the disk, and then a moment of disorientation.

Computer Room
This is the main computer room. The builders of this ship were obviously still wedded to large mainframes: this one fills the room and is thirty meters high. There is an overlarge switch at about eye-level and an access panel below it, which is open. The power seems to be on.
There is a thin blue disk the size of a manhole cover here.
Sitting on the blue disk is:
A space suit (being worn)

Now… can it teleport something other than myself?

>get suit
Taken.

>put basket on disk
Nothing happens.

Hum…. That’s odd….

>take disk
The stuff on the disk falls to the ground.
Taken.

>n
Room on Ring One
A passage leads aft from this point on the ring corridor.
There is a thin red disk the size of a manhole cover here.

>take disk
Taken.

>drop blue disk
The blue disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.

>s
Computer Room
This is the main computer room. The builders of this ship were obviously still wedded to large mainframes: this one fills the room and is thirty meters high. There is an overlarge switch at about eye-level and an access panel below it, which is open. The power seems to be on.
There is a metal basket here.

>drop red disk
The red disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.

>put basket on red disk
(Taken)
There is a loud click from the red disk and the metal basket disappears!

Looks like once the disks are used they need to be moved before they can be used again, but it does seems like I can just drop stuff on them to get them to work, so that’s a plus.

>drop blue disk on red disk
The red disk activates as the blue disk touches it. It disappears for a fraction of a second, then a flash of light fills the room as both disks explode!

Yipe! Okay that wasn’t the right thing to do at all!

I wonder, if there’s something on one disk will it activate if I set the other disk down? Let’s try it out.

>restore
Ok.

>drop blue disk
The blue disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.

>put basket on blue disk
Nothing happens.

>n
Room on Ring One
A passage leads aft from this point on the ring corridor.

>drop red disk
The red disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.

>s
Computer Room
This is the main computer room. The builders of this ship were obviously still wedded to large mainframes: this one fills the room and is thirty meters high. There is an overlarge switch at about eye-level and an access panel below it, which is open. The power seems to be on.
There is a thin blue disk the size of a manhole cover here.
Sitting on the blue disk is:
A metal basket

>put suit on disk
There is a loud click from the blue disk and the space suit disappears!

>n
Room on Ring One
A passage leads aft from this point on the ring corridor.
There is a thin red disk the size of a manhole cover here.
Sitting on the red disk is:
A metal basket
The metal basket contains:
A gold rod
A pink rod
A black rod
A clear rod
A space suit (being worn)

Okay, so it won’t automatically activate, but it will teleport a pile of stuff if I put everything on it before I start. Well that’s been pretty enlightening don’t you think?

Puzzles:
* Getting through the warren to the green airlock
* Reaching the crystal sphere
* Getting the Blue Rod
* Where the mouse went

You are carrying:
A blue disk
A space suit (being worn)
A metal basket
The metal basket contains:
A gold rod
A pink rod
A black rod
A clear rod
A red disk
A ray gun
A safety line (tied to the suit)

Score:
Your score would be 225 (total of 400 points), in 429 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Lieutenant.

Another clue for you guys, think with portals.

Try giving one of the disks to the mouse, wait a while, then use the other one to teleport to wherever the mouse goes.

Well I guess the mouse picks up everything, so that should work! I guess the first thing I could do is find one of those robot mouse things. I guess I could just stand around in one place and wait for one to show up, but that could take a long time. That is to say, I waited 500 turns in one place and one didn’t show up!

[COLOR="DimGray"]Yellow Hall (4.5)
The yellow corridor continues fore and aft, but a well-lit passage leads starboard.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.
There is a maintenance mouse here, cheerfully scouring the area for garbage.

Hello there mouse, I have a gift for you!

>drop red disk
The red disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.
The maintenance mouse, buzzing happily, picks up some refuse.
The maintenance mouse glides happily away, looking for new dirt to conquer.

follow mouse
Yellow Hall (5)
The yellow hall ends here and a ring corridor curves away to port and starboard.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.
There is a maintenance mouse here, cheerfully scouring the area for garbage. It has already collected a red disk.

Okay mouse, I’m going to follow you around until you vanish so I know you’ve taken it wherever you go.

Wait, who’s playing Yakety Sax?

Green Hall (5)
Outskirts of Village
Green Hall (5)
Red Hall (5)
Red Hall (4)
Red Hall (5)
Red Hall (4)
Red Hall (5)
Red Hall (4)
Red Hall (5)

>follow mouse
Blue Hall
The blue corridor goes no further aft, but a ring corridor leads away to port and starboard.
There is a maintenance mouse here, cheerfully scouring the area for garbage. It has already collected a red disk.

>wait
Time passes...

The mouse disappears into a heretofore unnoticed hole in the wall, which closes and becomes nearly invisible.

Well, I’ll give the mouse a few minutes to get to wherever it’s going and we’ll see what we find on the other side.

>drop blue disk
The blue disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.

You know, I just had a terrible idea, what if the mouse is just spacing all of the debris? I could find myself standing outside the ship in hard vacuum, that wouldn’t really be the sort of thing that is good for my long term health, more so as I have to move the disks to use them again.

[COLOR="DimGray"]>step on blue disk
There is a loud click as you step on the disk, and then a moment of disorientation.

Garage
This is the garage for Maintenance Mice. There are several stalls in which non-functional mice are rusting away. Other stalls are empty. There is a chute into which trash could be dumped, and a large bin nearby. A maintenance-mouse-sized door is in the forward wall.
There is a thin red disk the size of a manhole cover here.
There is a maintenance mouse here.
There is a trash bin full of junk of all sorts here. Someone appears to have been dumping things for years (decades? centuries?) and never cleaning them out.
Among the trash near the top of the bin you see:
A mass detector output
The mouse rolls up to the trash bin and dumps some stuff into it.

I’m still alive, that was almost unexpected. Hum… looks like the cleaning room needs a good cleaning. Let me grab the disk just to be safe, you can keep the output.

>take disk
Taken.

I wonder what else they might have collected over the years.

>look in trash bin
The bin is filled with all sorts of flotsam and jetsam. Bones, clothing, and broken spears are just some of the items visible on the top layer. The bin also contains: a mass detector output.

Wow, looks like there should be more under all of that.

>search bin
You have searched through part of the bin, but have found nothing of interest.

>search bin
You continue sifting through the junk; nothing of interest turns up.

>search bin
Ahah, there's something! It appears to be a green crystal rod.

You don’t really mind if I take this do you? It’s not like you guys need it and it is in the trash. It’s not like you’re using it are you? Just speak up if you don’t want me to take this. Alright then.

>take green rod
Taken.

>put green rod in basket
The green rod is inserted, and immediately another hole opens beside it.

Let’s see what else is around here. Well there is that chute in the corner, let’s go check that out.

>look at chute
The chute seems bottomless and warm air rises from it.

Interesting, I wonder what’s down there.

>enter chute
The chute leads straight to the input hopper of a fusion reactor which gets some of its power from trash. It's now getting some of its power from you.

**** You have died ****

Wee!!!! Oh Sh--!! Okay, I think I should try that again and ignore the chute.

>restore
Ok.

>n
Room on Ring Four
You are between the red and blue halls on a ring corridor. The corridor looks damaged to port. The illumination dims to starboard.

Oh, hey, it’s that empty room. Nice. Let’s go back and get the disk.

>w
Blue Hall (4)
Another junction, the ring corridor curving away to port and starboard. The hall is damaged and bare rock protrudes in spots.

>s
Blue Hall (5)
The blue corridor goes no further aft, but a ring corridor leads away to port and starboard.
There is a maintenance mouse here, cheerfully scouring the area for garbage.
There is a thin blue disk the size of a manhole cover here.
The maintenance mouse, buzzing happily, picks up some refuse.
The maintenance mouse glides happily away, looking for new dirt to conquer.

Hey, you can’t take that. Come back here!

>follow mouse
Yellow Hall (5)
The yellow hall ends here and a ring corridor curves away to port and starboard.
The room is lit by an emergency lighting system.
There is a maintenance mouse here, cheerfully scouring the area for garbage. It has already collected a blue disk.

>take blue disk
The maintenance mouse buzzes briefly, then rotates its "ears" in your direction as you take the blue disk. It seems profoundly puzzled at your behavior.
Taken.
The maintenance mouse sits in the middle of the room, buzzing contentedly.

Mine! Yes, I know I’m steeling your trash, but it’s not really trash. I’m sure you’ll understand some day. Okay you probably won’t but we can still hope, right?

Wait, why am I talking to a robotic mouse?

Puzzles:
* Getting through the warren to the green airlock
* Reaching the crystal sphere
* Getting the Blue Rod

You are carrying:
A blue disk
A red disk
A space suit (being worn)
A metal basket
The metal basket contains:
A green rod
A gold rod
A pink rod
A black rod
A clear rod
A ray gun
A safety line (tied to the suit)

Score:
Your score would be 250 (total of 400 points), in 494 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Planetary Commodore.

Deaths: 6 (Squashed by sudden G-forces, Jumping to my doom, Blinding by science, Turning off the ship, Forgetting my space suit, Down the trash chute)

I think we need to fiddle with the blue rod puzzle.

I've never known how these disks work, but I think it would help us with the blue rod puzzle....

On the smallest setting, the rod is bigger than the sphere, but lodged in it. On the larger settings, we can't see the rod, so I assume it is in the same place, inside the sphere. On the largest setting, the sphere makes contact with an area of the floor. We could put the red disk under the sphere on a small setting, turn it up to large and put the blue disk down to get inside the sphere and collect the rod.

The imediate problem i see is how do we get back out. The disks aren't two way, which is a big deal. Unless there's a secret hatch or something inside the sphere... which I kinda doubt.

So, I'm thinking your experimentation with the disks was a subtle hint about how to work out this puzzle. Put the dial on the smallest sphere setting. then put the BLUE disk under the sphere. Turn the dial to the largest setting. The rod, no longer lodged in the sphere, will fall to the floor, where the blue disk is and pop out o the red disk.... right?

Unless the blue rod won't fall. If it would, then it would hit the floor, you'd change the settign to small and the rod would be on the floor. If the blue rod does fall, but somehow the sphere changing sizes keeps the rod inside of it, then placing the disk on the floor may result in the blue disk being trapped inside the sphere... But that would have made the mouse puzzle unsolvable if you did them in reverse order...

My suggestion is to save, put the red disk under the sphere, turn the dial drop the blue disk, step on the disk and see what's inside. i assume we'll be trapped, but we can restore and see if that gives us a clue. If the blue rod is on the red disk when we come through, restore, follow my suggestion about the blue disk above.

You know mister robot mouse, that is a good idea. Wait, that wasn’t the mouse that was the voices in my head! Still, that is an interesting idea there. It might just work!

Laboratory
This is a glaringly lit room filled with strange devices, most completely incomprehensible. For example, a huge projector of some sort points menacingly at a silvery globe floating in midair in the center of the room. The silvery globe is the size of an orange. Imbedded in the silver globe is a blue crystal rod. Beneath the projector is a dial with four positions.
The silver sphere contains:
A blue rod

>put blue disk under sphere
The blue disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.
The blue disk slides under the globe.

>drop red disk
The red disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.

>turn dial to 4
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, expanded. The silvery globe is the size of four feet and seems embedded in the floor.

Well it didn’t fall, so I guess the rod is suspended in the air inside of it. Well let’s see if we can go in, maybe we could even get out?

>put self on red disk
You don't have the you.

>step on red disk
There is a loud click as you step on the disk, and then a moment of disorientation.
You reappear amidst the sphere. Unfortunately, parts of you are inside it and parts of you are outside it. Very untidy.

**** You have died ****

Yikes! That is going to leave a mark.

>restore
Ok.

You know, I think we’re starting to get close here… Really, we’ve got this one about half way solved. Now, I’m going to be away from the board for a long weekend, if there are no suggestions by Sunday night I’ll spoil it for you.

Puzzles:
* Getting through the warren to the green airlock
* Reaching the crystal sphere
* Getting the Blue Rod

You are carrying:
A space suit (being worn)
A metal basket
The metal basket contains:
A green rod
A gold rod
A pink rod
A black rod
A clear rod
A ray gun
A safety line (tied to the suit)

Score:
Your score would be 250 (total of 400 points), in 501 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Planetary Commodore.

Deaths: 7 (Squashed by sudden G-forces, Jumping to my doom, Blinding by science, Turning off the ship, Forgetting my space suit, Down the trash chute, Transported in Pieces)

That's very zen.

Well, time to give away the answer to this one. Play along and see if you can work it out as I go!

Laboratory
This is a glaringly lit room filled with strange devices, most completely incomprehensible. For example, a huge projector of some sort points menacingly at a silvery globe floating in midair in the center of the room. The silvery globe is the size of an orange. Imbedded in the silver globe is a blue crystal rod. Beneath the projector is a dial with four positions.
The silver sphere contains:
A blue rod

Okay, lets thing about this one here. I think using the disks is the right way to go about getting the rod out of the globe, but we’re still missing a step. First off, let’s get everything in possition.

>put blue disk under globe
The blue disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.
The blue disk slides under the globe.

>drop red disk
The red disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.

So, what I need to do is somehow activate the disk so it can take out the blue rod. Now I can’t just step on the red disk unless I want to be telefragged, but maybe I could trigger the blue disk while it’s under the globe?

>drop line on blue disk
There is a loud click from the blue disk, and the safety line disappears for a fraction of a second, then reappears resting comfortably on the red disk.

Well, it didn’t teleport the blue rod. I guess the shield is too strong for it. Maybe if the disk was inside the globe with the rod?

>turn dial to 2
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, expanded. The silvery globe is the size of a basketball.

>turn dial to 3
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, expanded. The silvery globe is the size of a beachball.

>turn dial to 4
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, expanded. The silvery globe is the size of four feet and seems embedded in the floor.

Looks like the only way to get the disk inside the globe with the rod is on setting four, but then It’s too big for me to actually put anything on the disk. Well the globe is flashing in and out of existence when I turn the dial. Maybe I can throw something into the globe right then?

>turn dial to 3
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, expanded. The silvery globe is the size of a beachball.

>turn dial to 4 and throw line at globe
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, expanded. The silvery globe is the size of four feet and seems embedded in the floor.

You should detach it first.

Well if you insist.

>turn dial to 3
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, shrunken. The silvery globe is the size of a beachball.

>unhook line
Detached from the space suit.

>turn dial to 4 and throw line at globe
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, expanded. The silvery globe is the size of four feet and seems embedded in the floor.

Thrown.

Okay, so I have a safety line laying on the floor. Hum… I wonder the globe is pretty big maybe I can just put the safety line on it before turning the dial? There wouldn’t be any issues with the timing after that.

>turn dial to 3
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, expanded. The silvery globe is the size of a beachball.

>put line on globe
The safety line is now on the globe.

>turn dial to 4
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, expanded. The silvery globe is the size of four feet and seems embedded in the floor.
You hear the hum of the transporter disk activating.
There is a loud click, and then the safety line appears resting comfortably on the red disk. The blue rod must have been in range of the disk, because it appeared as well!

Yes! Logic wins the day again! So, anyone work that out before I showed you how to do it? Let’s get our swag and the points!

>take blue rod
Taken.

>put blue rod in basket
The blue rod is inserted, and immediately another hole opens beside it.

>turn dial to 3
The globe flickers out for an instant and then reappears, shrunken. The silvery globe is the size of a beachball.

>take red disk
The stuff on the disk falls to the ground.
Taken.

>take blue disk
Taken.

>take line
Taken.

Well, there are only a couple of places left to look, so I think it’s time to go check out the village again and see if I can make my way to the green airlock. Or at least get a clue how to do that!

Outskirts of Village
This is the edge of a populated area, growing denser as you move starboard. Primitive huts line the corridor, which is blocked ahead by a palisade built of mud and wood. An open gate, guarded by several spear-bearing aliens, leads into the structure. A small crowd of aliens has gathered to watch you.
They gesture in a way intended to show friendship (they bare their huge razor-sharp teeth).

>save
Ok.

Saving, just to be safe!

>sb
Village Center
This section of the hall is filled with primitive huts of various sizes. They are so close they almost form a single large warren with many entrances. The only way to continue down the corridor is through this warren. Many aliens are milling about, of all sizes and colors of fur.
From down a passage between the hovels appears a large, almost all-grey alien.
He is dressed in the tattered remains of a space suit of alien manufacture. Only the helmet and scraps of the body material remain.
Around his neck hangs a brown crystal rod!
The crowd parts to let him through.
He looks at you in awe, staring at your space suit. He points to it, and then at himself, and brandishes his spear menacingly.

Okay… I think he’s trying to say something, but I have no idea what he’s trying to say. I knew I should have read that chapter on first contact. What was I supposed to do, something about prime numbers?

Puzzles:
* Getting through the warren to the green airlock
* Reaching the crystal sphere
* Getting the Brown Rod

You are carrying:
A space suit (being worn)
A metal basket
The metal basket contains:
A green rod
A gold rod
A pink rod
A black rod
A clear rod
A ray gun
A safety line (tied to the suit)

Score:
Your score would be 250 (total of 400 points), in 467 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Planetary Commodore.

Deaths: 7 (Squashed by sudden G-forces, Jumping to my doom, Blinding by science, Turning off the ship, Forgetting my space suit, Down the trash chute, Transported in Pieces)

It seems pretty clear what he wants -- our shiny new suit. I say we try to bargain for it. Point to the brown rod and then to ourselves. If he agrees, give him the suit.

the solution to the globe puzzle makes a lot of sense now that you've done it. i was pretty close though...

the aliens are using aggressive motions to indicate frendliness, like bearing their teeth and brandishing their weapons. We have a weapon...

try "brandish ray gun" or maybe just "point ray gun at alien" or something...

Yeah, the blue rod puzzles is probably the least fair and clued in the game. You can kind of see the pieces of it, but there really are no hints to how to solve it.

Hum, so threatening violence as a form of communication. I think I could get behind that one. Let’s give it a try.

>brandish ray gun
Waving the ray gun does nothing.

>point ray gun at alien
The chief seems puzzled.
The chief gestures impatiently at your space suit.

Hum, guess it’s not the sort of thing he understands. That’s a pity, a language where you break legs just to say hello would have been interesting to speak… but not to learn.

>point at brown rod
The chief looks at you shrewdly, then points at your space suit.

>point at brown rod
The chief looks at you shrewdly, then points at your space suit.
The chief gestures impatiently at your space suit.

So… I guess that’s a yes then? I guess it might be but it’s really hard to tell as you’re just being all shrewd like, whatever that might actually be. Fine then, you can have the suit.

>give chief space suit
The chieftain removes his suit and dons yours. He is clearly delighted with the gift, and his people are truly impressed by his new wardrobe. He moves about, pointing at various objects (including some of his lesser wives and children) and glancing at you quizzically.
He tries (somewhat sheepishly) to conceal the brown rod in the space suit, hoping you won't notice it.

Oh, now you start trying to be clever, but I won’t have any of that, we had deal and you know it.

>point at brown rod
The chief hesitates, understanding you all too well, then reluctantly removes the rod from its string and hands it to you.
Glancing back at you, the chief leaves the room.

Thank you chief, this will probably come in handy at some point in time. I’m sure of that. Still I guess it’s a fair trade for my space suit, though where did you get that old suit anyways. I mean, really where the heck did it come from? Maybe the last airlock, did your people--

Hey, come back here!

>follow chief
In the Warren
This is an earth and reed burrow within the warren. There are many aliens here, going about their business. The younger ones stare at you and make funny noises. There are passages all over the place, and a constant traffic in and out.
The chief alien, wearing your space suit, is here.
The chief slips through a crowd, which parts deferentially.

Come on, I just want to talk to you. Come on guy, get out of my way!

>follow chief
In the Warren
This is an earth and reed burrow within the warren. There are many aliens here, going about their business. The younger ones stare at you and make funny noises. There are passages all over the place, and a constant traffic in and out.
The chief alien, wearing your space suit, is here.
Glancing back at you, the chief leaves the room.

>follow chief
In the Warren
This is an earth and reed burrow within the warren. There are many aliens here, going about their business. The younger ones stare at you and make funny noises. There are passages all over the place, and a constant traffic in and out.
The chief alien, wearing your space suit, is here.
Dodging several youngsters, the chief enters a hovel.

>follow chief
In the Warren
This is an earth and reed burrow within the warren. There are many aliens here, going about their business. The younger ones stare at you and make funny noises. There are passages all over the place, and a constant traffic in and out.
The chief alien, wearing your space suit, is here.
The chief slips through a crowd, which parts deferentially.

>follow chief
In the Warren
This is an earth and reed burrow within the warren. There are many aliens here, going about their business. The younger ones stare at you and make funny noises. There are passages all over the place, and a constant traffic in and out.
The chief alien, wearing your space suit, is here.
Dodging several youngsters, the chief enters a hovel.

>follow chief
In the Warren
This is an earth and reed burrow within the warren. There are many aliens here, going about their business. The younger ones stare at you and make funny noises. There are passages all over the place, and a constant traffic in and out.
The chief alien, wearing your space suit, is here.
The chief slips through a crowd, which parts deferentially.

>follow chief
Center of the Warren
This burrow is deep within the warren and the aliens seem to avoid it. An exit to port leads back into the warren. The walls are covered with crude but vibrant paintings depicting a huge spider, a gigantic mouse, man-sized lizards, and in the center, a being in a space suit. You realize that this room is the center of the green hall's junction with the ring corridor. In fact, a ladder leads down to the green airlock.
The chief alien, wearing your space suit, is here.
The chief grins, exposing his pointy teeth, and points portentiously at the ladder. He curls up on the dirt floor and waits, watching you with interest.

Okay, now that I finally have you pinned down, about that airlock… oh, well, thank you then. I’ll just go down here and see what’s there.

>d
Green Airlock
This is the main airlock of the green docking port. The inner door leading up to the interior is open, and the outer door leading down to the surface is closed.

>close outer door
It's already closed.

>close inner door, open outer door
The green inner door closes.

The green outer door opens.

>d
Green Dock
A plastic umbilical leads away to port from the green airlock. There is a hook next to the airlock.

>d
Umbilical
You are in a plastic umbilical about two meters in diameter which connects the green airlock to starboard with a spaceship about ten meters to port. The plastic is cloudy, obscuring your view of the outside.

>p
Cargo Hold
This was once the cargo hold of a spaceship, and is filled with fetishes of wood and clay, totems in the shape of strange beasts, and a great deal of withered fruit and grain. Openings lead fore and aft, and the umbilical tube is to starboard. There is dim illumination from ancient glow bulbs.
A large fragment of black smoked glass from the chief's helmet visor lies on the floor.

The visor isn’t that important to us, but does provide a slightly more obvious way to get the clear crystal rod.

Wow, these guys must have been here for centuries. They clearly have forgotten what all of this is here for and instead are treating it as a shrine or something. Well, I guess the ship did bring them here so I guess it’s kind of correct. Still this place would be a field day for an anthropologist.

>aft
Guard Room
Once a guard room or barracks, this room is now dusty and unused. The only exit is back the way you came. A large door that may have led to the engine room is fused shut, as if by enormous heat.

Interesting, but not helpful.

>fore
Control Room
This was the control room of the ship which originally carried the now-primitive aliens to the artifact. The control panel was obviously destroyed by a fire or explosion long ago, although the lights here still glow dimly.
Outside you can see the surface of the artifact. Gazing longingly at that view are the empty eyesockets of a skeleton; the skeleton of an aliens weasel. It is dressed in the shreds of a space suit and sitting in the control couch. Scattered around the couch are fresh offerings of fruit and vegetables.

More offerings. Poor guy, must have died trying to get his people off this place. Well they will be in good hands with me, I’m not going to do anything to needless hurt them. Not my style really, I’m not needless cruel.

>touch skeleton
When you touch the skeleton, its arm falls off the armrest. Something slides out of the space suit and onto the floor.

Oh hey, what was that.

>look
Control Room
This was the control room of the ship which originally carried the now-primitive aliens to the artifact. The control panel was obviously destroyed by a fire or explosion long ago, although the lights here still glow dimly.
Outside you can see the surface of the artifact. Gazing longingly at that view are the empty eyesockets of a skeleton; the skeleton of an aliens weasel. It is dressed in the shreds of a space suit and sitting in the control couch. Scattered around the couch are fresh offerings of fruit and vegetables.
There is a violet rod here.

>take rod
Taken.

Nice. Once more rod for me! I don’t think there is much else in here for me to borrow unless I want to take the skeleton itself, and really I don’t.

>aft
Cargo Hold
This was once the cargo hold of a spaceship, and is filled with fetishes of wood and clay, totems in the shape of strange beasts, and a great deal of withered fruit and grain. Openings lead fore and aft, and the umbilical tube is to starboard. There is dim illumination from ancient glow bulbs.

>sb
Umbilical
You are in a plastic umbilical about two meters in diameter which connects the green airlock to starboard with a spaceship about ten meters to port. The plastic is cloudy, obscuring your view of the outside.

>sb
Green Dock
A plastic umbilical leads away to port from the green airlock. There is a hook next to the airlock.

>u
Green Airlock
This is the main airlock of the green docking port. The inner door leading up to the interior is closed, and the outer door leading down to the surface is open.

>close outer door, open inner door
The outer door closes and air rushes into the airlock.

The green inner door opens.

>u
As you re-enter the warren an alien approaches, spear in hand. Initially he looks friendly but becomes suspicious and rushes past you into the ship. There is a loud roar as he realizes you have desecrated the altar! Other aliens surround you, spears at the ready.

**** You have died ****

Yeah… I really should have seen that coming.

Puzzles:
* Reaching the crystal sphere
* Getting out of the alien ship without being killed

You are carrying:
A space suit (being worn)
A metal basket
The metal basket contains:
A green rod
A gold rod
A pink rod
A black rod
A clear rod
A ray gun
A safety line (tied to the suit)

Score:
Your score would be 250 (total of 400 points), in 467 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Planetary Commodore.

Deaths: 8 (Squashed by sudden G-forces, Jumping to my doom, Blinding by science, Turning off the ship, Forgetting my space suit, Down the trash chute, Transported in Pieces, Desecration)

I think it's time for those teleporter pads to shine again.

I do believe that it is! Those are really use full, they’ve solved three puzzles or so already. They are very handy to have around really. Though I hope we get rid of that whole having to move both sides after each use thing. It’s an annoying limitation.

Okay, let’s get back to the alien ship. Time for a wall of text!

>drop blue disk
The blue disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.

>sb
Village Center
This section of the hall is filled with primitive huts of various sizes. They are so close they almost form a single large warren with many entrances. The only way to continue down the corridor is through this warren. Many aliens are milling about, of all sizes and colors of fur.
From down a passage between the hovels appears a large, almost all-grey alien.
He is dressed in the tattered remains of a space suit of alien manufacture. Only the helmet and scraps of the body material remain.
Around his neck hangs a brown crystal rod!
The crowd parts to let him through.
He looks at you in awe, staring at your space suit. He points to it, and then at himself, and brandishes his spear menacingly.

>give suit to chief
The chieftain removes his suit and dons yours. He is clearly delighted with the gift, and his people are truly impressed by his new wardrobe. He moves about, pointing at various objects (including some of his lesser wives and children) and glancing at you quizzically.

>point at brown rod
The chief hesitates, understanding you all too well, then reluctantly removes the rod from its string and hands it to you.
Dodging several youngsters, the chief enters a hovel.

>follow chief
In the Warren
This is an earth and reed burrow within the warren. There are many aliens here, going about their business. The younger ones stare at you and make funny noises. There are passages all over the place, and a constant traffic in and out.
The chief alien, wearing your space suit, is here.
The chief slips through a crowd, which parts deferentially.

>follow chief
In the Warren
This is an earth and reed burrow within the warren. There are many aliens here, going about their business. The younger ones stare at you and make funny noises. There are passages all over the place, and a constant traffic in and out.
The chief alien, wearing your space suit, is here.
The chief slips through a crowd, which parts deferentially.

>follow chief
Center of the Warren
This burrow is deep within the warren and the aliens seem to avoid it. An exit to port leads back into the warren. The walls are covered with crude but vibrant paintings depicting a huge spider, a gigantic mouse, man-sized lizards, and in the center, a being in a space suit. You realize that this room is the center of the green hall's junction with the ring corridor. In fact, a ladder leads down to the green airlock.
The chief alien, wearing your space suit, is here.
The chief grins, exposing his pointy teeth, and points portentiously at the ladder. He curls up on the dirt floor and waits, watching you with interest.

>d
Green Airlock
This is the main airlock of the green docking port. The inner door leading up to the interior is open, and the outer door leading down to the surface is closed.

>closer inner door, open outer door
The green inner door closes.

The green outer door opens.

>d
Green Dock
A plastic umbilical leads away to port from the green airlock. There is a hook next to the airlock.

>d
Umbilical
You are in a plastic umbilical about two meters in diameter which connects the green airlock to starboard with a spaceship about ten meters to port. The plastic is cloudy, obscuring your view of the outside.

>p
Cargo Hold
This was once the cargo hold of a spaceship, and is filled with fetishes of wood and clay, totems in the shape of strange beasts, and a great deal of withered fruit and grain. Openings lead fore and aft, and the umbilical tube is to starboard. There is dim illumination from ancient glow bulbs.
A large fragment of black smoked glass from the chief's helmet visor lies on the floor.

>take visor
Taken.

>fore
Control Room
This was the control room of the ship which originally carried the now-primitive aliens to the artifact. The control panel was obviously destroyed by a fire or explosion long ago, although the lights here still glow dimly.
Outside you can see the surface of the artifact. Gazing longingly at that view are the empty eyesockets of a skeleton; the skeleton of an aliens weasel. It is dressed in the shreds of a space suit and sitting in the control couch. Scattered around the couch are fresh offerings of fruit and vegetables.

>touch skeleton
When you touch the skeleton, its arm falls off the armrest. Something slides out of the space suit and onto the floor.

>look
Control Room
This was the control room of the ship which originally carried the now-primitive aliens to the artifact. The control panel was obviously destroyed by a fire or explosion long ago, although the lights here still glow dimly.
Outside you can see the surface of the artifact. Gazing longingly at that view are the empty eyesockets of a skeleton; the skeleton of an aliens weasel. It is dressed in the shreds of a space suit and sitting in the control couch. Scattered around the couch are fresh offerings of fruit and vegetables.
There is a violet rod here.

>take violet rod
Taken.

>put brown rod in basket
The brown rod is inserted, and immediately another hole opens beside it.

>put violet rod in basket
The violet rod is inserted, and immediately another hole opens beside it.

Okay, I’m back where I was before. Now I just need to get back out without being eaten alive. I hope the range on the disk are long enough, otherwise I might find myself stuff here, or stuck in the vacuum of space. That would be embarrassing.

>drop red disk
The red disk drops to the ground. There is an almost inaudible click as it comes to rest.

>step on red disk
There is a loud click as you step on the disk, and then a moment of disorientation.

Outskirts of Village
This is the edge of a populated area, growing denser as you move starboard. Primitive huts line the corridor, which is blocked ahead by a palisade built of mud and wood. An open gate, guarded by several spear-bearing aliens, leads into the structure. A small crowd of aliens has gathered to watch you.
They gesture in a way intended to show friendship (they bare their huge razor-sharp teeth).
There is a thin blue disk the size of a manhole cover here.

Nice, safely made it out of there will my skin intact. Sadly I had to leave the disk behind, I can’t exactly go back to move it again. I’m just glad I managed to solve all the other teleportation related puzzles before this one, otherwise I would be really sunk.

Only one place to go now!

On Drive Bubble
You are floating near and clinging to a large crystalline bubble covering the aft end of the axis of rotation of the artifact. There is no weight here. Small knobs resembling handholds cover the bubble; you could use them to climb back down. Far away at the fore end of the axis you can see another bubble very similar to this one.

And there it is, the last place we need to go, the other bubble on the far end of the ship. The question is how I’m supposed to get there, I know I can jump some of the way, but the air resistance slows me down even if I am in zero-G. There just has to be a way over there. I know it.

Puzzles:
* Reaching the crystal sphere

You are carrying:
A black visor fragment
A safety line
A metal basket
The metal basket contains:
A violet rod
A brown rod
A blue rod
A green rod
A gold rod
A pink rod
A black rod
A clear rod
A ray gun

Score:
Your score would be 325 (total of 400 points), in 571 moves.
This score gives you the rank of System Captain.

Deaths: 8 (Squashed by sudden G-forces, Jumping to my doom, Blinding by science, Turning off the ship, Forgetting my space suit, Down the trash chute, Transported in Pieces, Desecration)

Use the safety line for maximum safety!

the only thing that is not a rod left is the ray gun. It kind of figures that they give you a gun and the solution is to not shoot anything with it...

So if I have a normal earth gun, and I fire it at a target, the force is powerful enough to go right through someone. The laws of motion state that for that action, there is also an opposite reaction. We don't go flying because we're a lot heavier than a bullet.

Now, change it to a ray gun and we're in zero-g, so only wind resistance to prevent the opposite reaction we're after.

Jump just like last time and then fire the ray gun at the drive bubble. Considering we've already had one "F you if you do this in the wrong order" with the disks, I'm guessing it will take three shots to make it across. A forgiving game would give us one shot over, one shot back and one to make it the final time, but i doubt a text adventure would be that friendly...

Well, older text adventures games were always meant to have a good deal of save scrumming to work out the dead ends. Though it’s annoying if you can go a long while before working out you botched it up.

Interesting, so a combination of process of elimination plus an application of physics? Interesting, and that just might work, assuming off course the ray gun isn’t recoilless, but I doubt that. It has to have some sort of force related to it, right?

>jump
You push against the surface of the bubble, and because there is no weight here, you shoot into the air and away along the axis!

Floating in Air
You are floating at the axis of rotation of the cylinder, near the drive bubble. There are enormous trees "below." There is no gravity here.

>shoot drive bubble
A blast of orange flame issues from the gun, and the recoil propels you at an impressive speed through the air. Eventually, air resistance slows you down, but you are still in the weightless area near the center of the cylinder.

Floating in Air
You are floating at the axis of rotation of the cylinder. There is grassland "below." There is no gravity here.

Okay, that was just FUN all around. Come on, blasting off guns in zero gravity to rocket myself all around a huge alien space ship. I fell just like Walter Koenig!

>shoot drive bubble
A blast of orange flame issues from the gun, and the recoil propels you at an impressive speed through the air. Eventually, air resistance slows you down, but you are still in the weightless area near the center of the cylinder.

Floating in Air
You are floating at the axis of rotation of the cylinder. There is a metal band "below." There is no gravity here.

>shoot drive bubble
A blast of orange flame issues from the gun, and the recoil propels you at an impressive speed through the air. Eventually, air resistance slows you down, but you are still in the weightless area near the center of the cylinder.

On Control Bubble
You are floating outside a 100 meter crystal bubble which protrudes from the fore end of the cylinder. Inside, you can make out shadowy mechanisms and odd constructions. There are odd knobs of some sort which you could use to pull yourself down the bubble. At the other end of the cylinder you can see the drive bubble in the midst of enormous trees.

Made it! And just in time too, I don’t think the ray gun had another shot left in it. I would hate to have gotten stuck up here… of course now I’m suck over HERE, so I’m not sure it’s much better.

>d
Control Bubble Entrance
You are floating outside a 100 meter crystal dome which protrudes from the fore end of the cylinder. Inside, you can discern shadowy mechanisms and odd constructions. Near you is an entrance which is closed. A small slot surrounded by gold crystal is next to the hatch. Small knobs which might make good handholds dot the surface of the bubble from the axis to the hatch.

Ah, an easy one.

>put gold rod into gold slot
The gold rod slides into the slot and the hatch opens.

>in
Control Bubble
This room must be the main control room of the artifact. The control bubble itself is transparent and you can look out upon the interior of the artifact. Far off, hidden among the tallest trees of the forest, is the matching drive bubble. One way out is the hatch, which is open.
The walls are gray except for a single small slot surrounded by clear crystal.

More Rod-A Slot-B tricks. Who build this thing, Ikea?

>put clear rod in clear slot
As you insert the clear rod, five other slots appear evenly ranged around the clear one. These are colored brown, green, blue, violet and pink respectively.

Would you look at that, five slots and five rods and all color coded. I’m am going to have to go with Ikea.

>put brown rod in brown slot
When the brown rod is inserted into the brown slot, a ghostly image appears on the wall alongside it, but the clear slot and its contents fade from view.
The image is a brown spot which almost seems to project out of the wall.

>put green rod in green slot
When the green rod is inserted into the green slot, a ghostly image appears on the wall alongside it.
The image is a green spot which almost seems to project out of the wall.

>put blue rod in blue slot
When the blue rod is inserted into the blue slot, a ghostly image appears on the wall alongside it.
The image is a blue spot which almost seems to project out of the wall.

>put violet rod in violet slot
When the violet rod is inserted into the violet slot, a ghostly image appears on the wall alongside it.
The image is a violet spot which almost seems to project out of the wall.

>put pink rod in pink slot
When the pink rod is inserted into the pink slot, a ghostly image appears on the wall alongside it.
The pink screen includes a small square, a large square, and a display showing nearby space. This view shows an empty area with a stylized depiction of the artifact itself.

Now we are cooking with gas! Okay, lots of spots that look touchable and some pink squares. Let’s see what they do.

>touch brown spot
The spot flashes briefly.

>touch green spot
The spot flashes briefly.

>touch blue spot
The spot flashes briefly.

>touch violet spot
The spot flashes briefly.

>touch small square
The view is unchanged.

Apparently taunt me.

>touch large square
The view screen now shows the inner solar system, from the sun out to Jupiter.

>touch large square
The view screen now shows the entire solar system, including the cometary halo.

>touch large square
The view screen now shows the region near the solar system, not including nearby stars.

>touch large square
The view screen now shows the local interstellar region, including a few nearer stars.

>touch large square
The view is unchanged.

Huh, I didn’t see that one coming. It looks like some sort of zoom control, so maybe the small one work in the other direction?

>touch small square
The view screen now shows the region near the solar system, not including nearby stars.

>touch small square
The view screen now shows the entire solar system, including the cometary halo.

>touch small square
The view screen now shows the inner solar system, from the sun out to Jupiter.

>touch small square
The view screen now shows an empty area with a stylized depiction of the artifact itself.

>touch small square
The view is unchanged.

Well then, what should I set this too?

Puzzles:
* Flying the Ship

You are carrying:
A black visor fragment
A safety line
A metal basket
The metal basket contains:
A black rod
A ray gun

Score:
Your score would be 350 (total of 400 points), in 600 moves.
This score gives you the rank of System Captain.

Deaths: 8 (Squashed by sudden G-forces, Jumping to my doom, Blinding by science, Turning off the ship, Forgetting my space suit, Down the trash chute, Transported in Pieces, Desecration)