Boldly going where angels fear to tread! Let's play Planetfall!

I didn't notice that, but now that you mention it...

Anyway, last time, I promised to show off how to get a better ending than just abandoning Resida to a fiery death. First, I'll restore to before miniaturizing, drop off some useless junk, and pick up the teleportation access card. Then, I'll go pick up the good 90Ω bedistor and pliers. And please don't ask how many command snafus and inventory-juggling acts I didn't record here.

>n
Computer Room
There is a pile of computer output here.

>i
You are carrying:
A miniaturization access card
A red spool
A laser
The laser contains:
A new battery
A lab uniform (being worn)
The lab uniform contains:
A piece of paper
A lower elevator access card
A canteen
A kitchen access card
An upper elevator access card
A chronometer (being worn)

>drop red spool, lower card
red spool: Dropped.
lower elevator access card: Dropped.

>restore

Please supply a filename for restore
Ok.

>n
Computer Room
There is a pile of computer output here.

>drop red spool, lower card, upper card
red spool: Dropped.
lower elevator access card: Dropped.
upper elevator access card: Dropped.

>n
Project Corridor East

>n
Library Lobby
There is a teleportation access card here.
On the table is a computer terminal.

>get card
Taken.

>e
Booth 3

>slide teleportation card through slot
Nothing happens for a moment. Then a light flashes "Redee."

>press 2
You experience a strange feeling in the pit of your stomach.

>w
Elevator Lobby

>w
Corridor Junction
There is an oil can here.
There is a towel here.
There is a curved metal bar here.
There is a pair of wide-nosed pliers here.
There is a cardboard box here.
The cardboard box contains:
A cracked seventeen-centimeter fromitz board
A good ninety-ohm bedistor
A K-series megafuse
A B-series megafuse

>get pliers, bedistor
pair of wide-nosed pliers: Taken.
good ninety-ohm bedistor: Taken.


And now back to Lawanda!

>e
Elevator Lobby

>e
Booth 2

>slide teleportation card through slot
Nothing happens for a moment. Then a light flashes "Redee."

>press 3
You experience a strange feeling in the pit of your stomach.

>w
Library Lobby
On the table is a computer terminal.

>n
Systems Corridor East

>n
Course Control
The large metal cube contains:
A fused ninety-ohm bedistor

I have a feeling that there's a guess-the-verb puzzle here, so I checked a walkthrough for the correct syntax, which is...

>get fused bedistor with pliers
With a tug, you manage to remove the fused bedistor.


I guess that makes sense. Now to fix the last of the broken systems!

>put good bedistor in cube
Done. The warning lights go out and another light goes on.

>close cube
The lid swings closed.


I don't think I actually had to close the cube, but I figured that I might as well.

Anyway, after going back to Kalamontee, getting back the canteen that I left there, and getting in some sleep, I did everything necessary to complete the game. However, now that all three systems are fixed, we'll get a new ending, as follows:

Cryo-Anteroom
The elevator closes as you leave it, and you find yourself in a small, chilly room. To the north, through a wide arch, is an enormous chamber lined from floor to ceiling with thousands of cryo-units. You can see similar chambers beyond, and your mind staggers at the thought of the millions of individuals asleep for countless centuries.

In the anteroom where you stand is a solitary cryo-unit, its cover frosted. Next to the cryo-unit is a complicated control panel.

A door slides open and a medical robot glides in. It opens the cryo-unit and administers an injection to its inhabitant. As the robot glides away, a figure rises from the cryo-unit -- a handsome, middle-aged woman with flowing red hair. She spends some time studying readouts from the control panel, pressing several keys.

As other cryo-units in the chambers beyond begin opening, the woman turns to you, bows gracefully, and speaks in a beautiful, lilting voice. "I am Veldina, leader of Resida. Thanks to you, the cure has been discovered, and the planetary systems repaired. We are eternally grateful."

"You will also be glad to hear that a ship of your Stellar Patrol now orbits the planet. I have sent them the coordinates for this room." As if on cue, a landing party from the S.P.S. Flathead materializes nearby. Blather is with them, having been picked up from deep space in another escape pod, babbling cravenly. Captain Sterling of the Flathead acknowledges your heroic actions, and informs you of your promotion to Lieutenant First Class.

As a team of mutant hunters head for the cryo-elevator, Veldina mentions that the grateful people of Resida offer you leadership of their world. Captain Sterling points out that, even if you choose to remain on Resida, Blather (demoted to Ensign Twelfth Class) has been assigned as your personal toilet attendant.

You feel a sting from your arm and turn to see a medical robot moving away after administering the antidote for The Disease.

A team of robot technicians step into the anteroom. They part their ranks, and a familiar figure comes bounding toward you! "Hi!" shouts Floyd, with uncontrolled enthusiasm. "Floyd feeling better now!" Smiling from ear to ear, he says, "Look what Floyd found!" He hands you a helicopter key, a reactor elevator card, and a paddleball set. "Maybe we can use them in the sequel..."


Your score would be 80 (out of 80 points). It is Day 4 of your adventure. Current Galactic Standard Time (adjusted to your local day-cycle) is 3523.
This score gives you the rank of Galactic Overlord.

And that's the real ending. Next time, fun things to do from the Invisiclues!

I know Floyd's death was very emotionally affective for a lot of people, but honestly, he's too annoying for me to really get attached to, and the game has too many goofy undertones for the brief swing to drama to work for me.

The 1980s were a simpler time, I suppose.

Is it too early to start clamoring for the sequel?

Next time: Let's play Stationfall?

Probably, seeing as I haven't covered the bonus material, and I'm going to want to wait a while after finishing this before starting a new LP. I do plan to do Stationfall, though, just not right away. Anyway, sorry for taking a while, but here are Infocom's official fun things to do!

These two things are connected, since you can't really get to the brig without beccing off Blather. By the way, since we haven't really seen Blather outside of the ending, he's our superior officer on the Feinstein and takes pleasure in giving us demerits for pretty much everything. We didn't see him in the playthrough proper since he randomly shows up in the intro on the ship. So, after restarting umpteen times and cleaning the deck repeatedly...

>g
The floor is a bit shinier now.

Ensign First Class Blather swaggers in. He studies your work with half-closed eyes. "You call this polishing, Ensign Seventh Class?" he sneers. "We have a position for an Ensign Ninth Class in the toilet-scrubbing division, you know. Thirty demerits." He glares at you, his arms crossed.


Oh, yeah? Well...being a jerk! A million demerits!

>attack blather
Blather removes several of your appendages and internal organs.


Guess that you don't make it to Ensign First without some combat skills. After restoring and waiting for the B-man again...

>g
The floor is a bit shinier now.

Ensign First Class Blather swaggers in. He studies your work with half-closed eyes. "You call this polishing, Ensign Seventh Class?" he sneers. "We have a position for an Ensign Ninth Class in the toilet-scrubbing division, you know. Thirty demerits." He glares at you, his arms crossed.

>talk to blather
Blather shouts "Speak when you're spoken to, Ensign Seventh Class!" He breaks three pencil points in a frenzied rush to give you more demerits.

>throw brush at blather
The Patrol-issue self-contained multi-purpose scrub brush bounces off Blather's bulbous nose. He becomes livid, orders you to do five hundred push-ups, gives you ten thousand demerits, and assigns you five years of extra galley duty.


Now, I thought that if you attacked Blather, he'd just send you to the Brig, rather than killing you, which is why I connected these two items. The way to the Brig to investigate the graffiti mentioned is much simpler. Just go to a place where you aren't assigned and wait for a while, like this:

>u
Gangway
This is a steep metal gangway connecting Deck Eight, above, and Deck Nine, below.

>u
Deck Eight
This is a featureless corridor leading port and starboard. A gangway leads down, and to fore is the Hyperspatial Jump Machinery Room.

Ensign Blather, his uniform immaculate, enters and notices you are away from your post. "Twenty demerits, Ensign Seventh Class!" bellows Blather. "Forty if you're not back on Deck Nine in five seconds!" He curls his face into a hideous mask of disgust at your unbelievable negligence.

>z
Time passes...

"I said to return to your post, Ensign Seventh Class!" bellows Blather, turning a deepening shade of crimson.

>z
Time passes...

"I said to return to your post, Ensign Seventh Class!" bellows Blather, turning a deepening shade of crimson.

>z
Time passes...

"I said to return to your post, Ensign Seventh Class!" bellows Blather, turning a deepening shade of crimson.

>z
Time passes...

Blather loses his last vestige of patience and drags you to the Feinstein's brig. He throws you in, and the door clangs shut behind you.

Brig
You are in the Feinstein's brig. Graffiti cover the walls. The cell door to the south is locked.


And now, my entire purpose for coming here.

>read graffiti
All the graffiti seem to be about Blather. One of the least obscene items reads:

There once was a krip, name of Blather
Who told a young Ensign named Smather
"I'll make you inherit
A trotting demerit
And ship you off to those stinking fawg-infested tar-pools of Krather."

It's not a very good limerick, is it?


No, but at least it's not far from the truth. Unfortunately, entering the brig means that you're in a walking-dead situation, since there's no way out and, as you already know, the ship is doomed.

>attack ambassador
The ambassador is startled, and emits an amazing quantity of slime which spreads across the section of the deck you just polished.

The ambassador remarks that all humans look alike to him.

>talk to ambassador
The ambassador taps his translator, and then touches his center knee to his left ear (the Blow'k-bibben-Gordoan equivalent of shrugging).

The ambassador asks if you are performing some sort of religious ceremony.



>touch slime
It feels like slime. Aren't you glad you didn't step in it?

The ambassador inquires whether you are interested in a game of Bocci.

>eat slime
It tastes like slime. Aren't you glad you didn't step in it?

The ambassador grunts a polite farewell, and disappears up the gangway, leaving a trail of dripping slime.

>smell slime
It smells like slime. Aren't you glad you didn't step in it?

>look at slime
It looks like slime. Aren't you glad you didn't step in it?


Hmm, I wonder...

>step in slime
That's a silly thing to do.


Well, that's disappointing.

Zork Zero had a similar joke, but it also included a response to stepping in the substance in question. But then, this game is older than me, so...yeah. :P

>scrub slime
Whew. You've cleaned up maybe one ten-thousandth of the slime. If you hurry, it might be all cleaned up before Ensign Blather gets here.


I'd say that that about makes up for the generic response to "step in slime," but your mileage may vary.

>examine games
All the usual games -- Chess, Cribbage, Galactic Overlord, Double Fannucci...

>examine tapes
Let's see...here are some musical selections, here are some bestselling romantic novels, here is a biography of a famous Double Fannucci champion...


Not much to say about this, other than the fact that it references Double Fanucci, a possible hint that this is part of the Zork universe.

Wow!!! Under the table are three keys, a sack of food, a reactor elevator access pass, one hundred gold pieces ... Just kidding. Actually, there's nothing there.


kicking, attacking, rubbing, or kissing Floyd?

>kick floyd
"Why you do that?" Floyd whines. "I think a wire now shaken loose." He goes off into a corner and sulks.

>attack floyd
Floyd starts dashing around the room. "Oh boy oh boy oh boy! I haven't played Chase and Tag for years! You be It! Nah, nah!"

>rub floyd
Floyd gives a contented sigh.

>kiss floyd
You receive a painful electric shock.
[/Color]

Hmm, this one will take a while. But here goes. After getting a flask of acid and getting to the mutants...

>throw chemical fluid at biped
The mutants lap up the chemical, howling with delight. One immediately grows three new mouths.
The air is filled with mist, which is affecting the mutants. They appear to be stunned and confused, but are slowly recovering.


If you're wondering, I had to specify "chemical fluid" to disambiguate it from the protein-rich fluid and because the game doesn't know the word "acid," and I had to specify the biped because the game will ask for disambiguation if you just say "mutants."

I'll do both of these together, since I can just restore to having gotten a fresh flask of acid.

>read chronometer
It is a standard wrist chronometer with a digital display. According to the chronometer, the current time is 5011. The back is engraved with the message "Good luck in the Patrol! Love, Mom and Dad."

>remove chronometer
You are no longer wearing the chronometer.


Removing it doesn't seem to have any effect, from what I've seen. It does seem to cause the status-bar clock to become a bit less precise, but I'm not entirely sure of that.

>pour chemical fluid on chronometer
The chronometer seems to undergo some damage as a result of your action.


And this causes the status bar timer to no longer increment at all.

>enter bed
You climb into the bed. It is soft and comfortable. After a few moments, a previously unseen panel opens, and a diagnostic robot comes wheeling out. It is very rusty and sways unsteadily, bumping into several pieces of infirmary equipment as it crosses the room. As the robot straps you to the bed, you notice some smoke curling from its cracks. Beeping happily, the robot injects you with all 347 serums and medicines it carries. The last thing you notice before you pass out is the robot preparing to saw your legs off.

**** You have died ****
[/Color]

Well, that's kind of a dick move. The jury is out on whether it's more of a dick move than the ambassador's celery. All I can say is, good thing that I had the teleportation card so I didn't have to sleep in the Death Bed of Death.

>scrub me
If only you'd done that before the last inspection, you wouldn't have gotten 300 demerits.

>read towel
"S.P.S. FEINSTEIN
Escape Pod #42
Don't Panic!"


Nice little reference there.

Blather:
>remove uniform
You have removed your Patrol uniform. "Removing your uniform while on duty? Five hundred demerits!"


Floyd:
>remove uniform
You have removed your Patrol uniform. You suddenly realize how warm it is. You also feel naked and vulnerable. Floyd giggles. "You look funny without any clothes on."


>show lower card to floyd
"I've got one just like that!" says Floyd. He looks through several of his compartments, then glances at you suspiciously.


First of all, a bit of explanation here. You might recall Floyd mentioning his friend Lazarus a few times. Now, if you examine the shelves in the Infirmary with Floyd present, this happens. Actually, it might happen if you spend a turn in there with him, but this is how I found it.

>examine shelves
The shelves are pretty dusty.
Floyd, rummaging in a corner, finds something and carries it to the center of the room to examine it in the brighter light. It seems to be the breast plate of a robot, along with some connected inner circuitry. The entire piece is bent and rusting. Floyd stares at it in complete silence. A moment later, he begins sobbing quietly, awkwardly excuses himself, and runs out of the room. You look at the breast plate, and notice the name "Lazarus" engraved on it.


Now, here's the actual "amusing thing" to do.

>give plate to floyd
At first, Floyd is all grins because of your gift. Then, he realizes what it is, begins weeping, drops the breastplate, and rushes out of the room.


Kind of cruel, actually, but I bet someone who doesn't like Floyd would probably like it.

Next time, the rest of the computer library, and waiting for the disease to take its toll!

It's been a while, but here's the rest of the bonus material! First of all, the rest of the entries in the computer library (excluding the ones on The Project, which we've already seen), painstakingly translated from Galalingua by yours truly.

History - Racial Origins
History - Great Hiatus
History - Rise of the New Technocracy
Culture - Literature
Culture - Art
Culture - Music
Technology - Medicine
Technology - Agriculture
Technology - Transportation
Technology - Robotics
A possible reference to Suspended?

Technology - Planetary Systems
Geography - Planet Landmasses
Geography - Undersea Regions
Geography - Space Colonies
Interlogic Games - Zork
As a side note, if Floyd is present when you look up Zork, he'll respond as follows:

Floyd, peering over your shoulder, says "Oh, I love that game! Solved every problem, except couldn't figure out how to get into white house."


Not really significant, but I love little details like this.

Interlogic Games - Deadline and Witness
Interlogic Games - Starcross and Suspended
They certainly have the "nightmare" part right...Anyway, that was quite a bit of info, but the main thing I learned from it is that the planet isn't called Residia. Guess that you really do learn something new every day.

Anyway, now for the rest of this update. As you may recall, we contracted the Disease sometime after arriving on Resida, and said Disease is fatal. Fortunately, we were cured regardless of which ending we got. But what if we hadn't been able to fix the computer and get to the cryo-chamber in time? Well, our symptoms would have gotten worse, as follows:

Day 4: You notice that you feel unusually weak, and you suspect that you have a fever.
Day 5: You are now feeling quite under the weather, not unlike a bad flu.

Day 6: Your fever seems to have gotten worse, and you're developing a bad headache.
Day 7: Your health has deteriorated further. You feel hot and weak, and your head is throbbing.

Day 8: You feel very, very sick, and have almost no strength left.


Then, when you go to sleep on day 8, the dream sequence will be followed by this rather chilling dream sequence and message:
...At last, the Feinstein has arrived at the historic Nebulon system. It's been five months since the last shore leave, and you're anxious for Planetfall. You and some other Ensigns Seventh Class enter the shuttle for surfaceside. Suddenly, you're alone on the shuttle, and it's tumbling out of control! It lands in the ocean and begins sinking! You try to clamber out, but you are stuck in a giant spider web. A giant spider crawls closer and closer...
Unfortunately, you don't seem to have survived the night.

And it's game over.

Actually, I'm not sure if you always get this dream sequence when you die from the Disease, but seeing as I haven't seen it anywhere else, and a dream where you die seems appropriate for waking up dead, that's just my guess.

Of course, seeing as this LP completed the game with the best ending on day 4, if you haven't finished by day 9, you're probably doing something very wrong. Anyway, that's all I can think of for bonus material. Based on the fact that there are three optional systems to fix, there are probably six endings that I haven't gotten, but I just don't have the patience to check out each potential ending permutation. So, see you in a few months for Let's Play Stationfall!

Thanks for another great LP, Kahran! I'm looking forward to the next one.

FYI there is at least one more ending, which is when you have repaired the computer and course control but not defense system. In which case you save the planet and its residents but you are stranded on the planet with no way to return to the Galactic Union fleet. However Veldina is so grateful for what you've done to save the planet she offers you a house to live along with lifetime pension.
There may be more endings, but I haven't found it.
Anyway, thank you for a good LP! Meet you at Stationfall!