  
 
The idea behind ClubFloyd is that each week at a pre-arranged time, a group of people meet online to cooperatively play a game of interactive fiction. Below is a transcript of Another Earth, Another Sky, written by Paul O'Brian. Another Earth, Another Sky was originally released as part of the 2002 IF Competition, where it took first place. It received Xyzzy nominations for Best Game, Best Individual NPC, Best Puzzles, Best Setting, and Best Writing, and ultimately took the Xyzzy for Best Use of Medium. You can learn more about the game, including how to download it, by visiting the ifWiki. WARNING! Below you will find a transcript of people playing this game, and it goes without saying that the transcript is full of spoilers. So, if you've never played this game, and think you might like to at some point, I do not recommend reading any further. Instead, you might want to return to the interactive fiction page. |
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| Paul arrives, full of fun and funk. | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Hiya, Paul." | ||||
| Paul says, "Hey" | ||||
| Nitku arrives, full of neither funk nor fun. | ||||
| crumple arrives, full of funk, but no fun. | Lucea says, "I haven't played the sequel, so I'm excited" | |||
| D arrives, ready to play with the toys. | ||||
| Otto arrives, full of fun, but no funk. | Otto says, "Hello" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Hello, Otto and Lucea and my... lots of people today. Hooray." | ||||
| Otto says (to Jacqueline), "I won't stay for long. I wanted to play earth and sky, and I haven't finished yet (I was sick last week so I couldn't come). Besides I don't have much time this evening, so I just come to say hello before you start" | ||||
| crumple says, "unfortunately, work demands mean i will only be keeping one eye on my monitor." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Ah... glad you are feeling better, Otto. And that was sweet of you to come say hello." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Okay, folks. Let's get started... refrain from chatter in the room and keep it on #ClubFloyd..." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to floyd), "load eas2" | ||||
Floyd | >Are you sure you want to quit? Welcome to the Cheap Glk Floyd | Implementation, library version 0.9.0. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | E A R T H Floyd | Floyd | A N D Floyd | Floyd | S K Y Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Episode 2: Floyd | ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | [Please press a key to continue] Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | It's been quite a week. Floyd | Floyd | Was it just two nights ago that you found the suits? You were Floyd | searching through your parents' lab as usual, desperate for clues to Floyd | explain their recent disappearance, when you found a latch on one of Floyd | the machines. It opened, revealing two bodysuits crammed inside. One Floyd | fit you perfectly. The other seemed to be made for your sister Emily. Floyd | Hers, the "skysuit", gives her the power to fly, to generate thick Floyd | fog, and to fire blasts of intense electrical energy, while your Floyd | "earthsuit" has granted you the strength of a giant, and the Floyd | invulnerability of a mountain. Floyd | Floyd | The powers came in handy the next morning, when your parents' best Floyd | friend, Dr. Nina Icolari, found herself transformed into a raging, Floyd | hundred-foot-tall monster. Aunt Nina had been working with some Floyd | ancient bacteria, trapped for eons in a salt crystal, when an untimely Floyd | earthquake shattered the crystal. She inhaled the microbes, became a Floyd | behemoth, and only the power of your suits and your brains saved the Floyd | campus from destruction. Floyd | Floyd | You employed a fast-acting antibiotic to reverse the transformation, Floyd | and when she changed back, Aunt Nina realized that her memories of Floyd | your parents' disappearance had been mysteriously altered... and that Floyd | the trauma of metamorphosis had somehow restored them. Those memories Floyd | have led you here, to a remote cabin in the Sierra Nevadas. Here, you Floyd | hope that where the police have failed, Earth and Sky may succeed. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY Floyd | Earth And Sky: Episode 2 Floyd | Serial interactive fiction by Paul O'Brian Floyd | First-time players should type INFO or read the eas2info.txt file Floyd | Release 2 / Serial number 030112 / Inform v6.21(G0.36) Library 6/10 Floyd | Floyd | Outside the Cabin Floyd | The air is vivid and cold here, deep in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Floyd | Evergreens surround you, except to the north, where a gravel driveway Floyd | leads back to the main road, and to the south, where a small cabin Floyd | occupies a clearing. Beyond the cabin, and above it, the observatory's Floyd | domed roof casts a long, round shadow. Floyd | Floyd | Emily is here, having just hiked up the driveway with you. "Thanks for Floyd | driving us up here, Austin," she says. "Remember, though: I get Floyd | control of the CD player on the way back down!" Floyd | | Bert says, "Recap... complete." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "To be fair, it didn't save the campus from destruction, merely from *total* destruction." | ||||
| Nitku asks, "Is Paul coming tonight?" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "He's here." | ||||
| Paul waves | ||||
| Nitku says, "Oh, oops. Hi." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask emily about cd player" | ||||
Floyd | >"Our agreement still holds -- don't you try to weasel out of it." Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x emily" | ||||
Floyd | >Like you, Emily is decked out in her superhero regalia, a blue Floyd | skysuit with cloudy white streaks. Floyd | | DavidW asks, ">?" | |||
| Jacqueline asks, "Huh. What's the >?" | ||||
| Alex says (to Jacqueline), "Awwwk! Word on the street is that > is a right angle bracket. Furthermore, ascii 62 is >." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Timing." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Alex, ever-helpful and yet not." | ||||
| Nitku says, "It prints the prompt in the wrong place." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "ask emily about cabin" | ||||
Floyd | >You are carrying: Floyd | an earthsuit (being worn) Floyd | a cabin key Floyd | Floyd | >"Pretty tiny, when you look at it." Floyd | | Paul asks, "Glulx thing maybe? Has clubfloyd ever done a glulx game before?" | |||
| DavidW says, "Must be how the game gets rendered in this terp." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Yes, we've done Glulx games, and I don't remember seeing it." | ||||
| DavidW says, "We've played Glulx games here before." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I mean, it's no big deal, I was just curious." | ||||
| Paul says, "Okay then, I'm all out of theories." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "heh" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Some scientist YOU'd be." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x earthsuit" | ||||
Floyd | >It's a form-fitting grey bodysuit, peppered with black speckles and Floyd | shot through with streaks of yellow and orange, and it grants you Floyd | immense strength and near-invulnerabilty to impact. The earthsuit is Floyd | made of a thick, flexible material that you suspect must conceal an Floyd | amazing array of enhancer circuitry. A combination cowl and mask rises Floyd | from the collar to cover your head and eyes. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "emily, blast me" | ||||
Floyd | >"I'd better not. We don't know that your suit's electrical resistance Floyd | is working, remember?" Floyd | | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "ask emily about my suit" | ||||
Floyd | >"I have to say I prefer mine. I'm sure super-strength is great, but Floyd | your colors are just a little too drab." Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "heh" | |||
| Lucea says, "aw." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "ask emily about her suit" | ||||
Floyd | >"The superpowers are great and everything, but I'd really prefer Floyd | something a little less... skintight." Floyd | | Lucea says, "I like my suit." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask emily about nina" | ||||
Floyd | >"Seems like she's recovering OK. I know she really wants to look into Floyd | how that bacteria was able to do what it did, but I'm not sure if she Floyd | has any other samples." Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x cabin" | ||||
Floyd | >When an alum of modest means and solitary habits bequeathed this Floyd | cabin and its small parcel of mountain land to the University, Floyd | Administration was faced with a choice. They could either sell off the Floyd | land and put the money into the general fund, or they could try to Floyd | find some use for it. Enter Dr. Thaddeus Andrews, who offered to use Floyd | his own inheritance to build an observatory on the land, and to Floyd | christen it the High Sierra Research Station. Indeed, that's what the Floyd | sign on this humble little cabin reads. The cabin's door is closed. Floyd | | ||||
| Roger arrives, full of fun and funk. | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "lift cabin" | ||||
Floyd | >That's hardly portable. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "lift emily" | ||||
Floyd | >"Hey. Hey!" protests Emily. "Hands off!" Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "unlock cabin" | ||||
Floyd | >(with the cabin key) Floyd | You unlock the wooden door. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask emily about cabin" | ||||
Floyd | >"Pretty tiny, when you look at it." Floyd | | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "read sign" | ||||
Floyd | >HIGH SIERRA RESEARCH STATION Floyd | | Jacqueline asks, "Go in?" | |||
| DavidW says, "sure" | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "enter cabin" | ||||
Floyd | >[first opening the cabin door] Floyd | You step into the relative dimness of the small cabin. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | [Please press a key to continue] Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | E A R T H Floyd | Floyd | A N D Floyd | Floyd | S K Y Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Episode 2: Floyd | ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY Floyd | Floyd | Part One Floyd | Floyd | "The Owner of this House Floyd | A Stranger He must be -- Floyd | Eternity's Acquaintances Floyd | Are mostly so -- to me." Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | [Please press a key to continue] Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Emily follows you. Floyd | Floyd | Main Room Floyd | Some people might describe the interior of this cabin as "cozy", but Floyd | you're more inclined to face facts and call it what it is: cramped. Floyd | Furnishings are minimal: a table, a few chairs, a hotplate, and a Floyd | television that probably hasn't worked since the mid-1980s. The back Floyd | door is south and the front door north, and two doors on the eastern Floyd | wall lead northeast and southeast, to the bedroom and bathroom Floyd | respectively. Floyd | Floyd | Emily stands here, looking around. Floyd | Floyd | On the table are some loose papers. Floyd | Floyd | Emily takes a quick glance at the papers on the table, and exhales. Floyd | Floyd | "Listen, Austin," she says, "I find all these diagrams and Floyd | observatories and whatnot a bit exhausting, so I'd like for you to Floyd | take the lead for a while, if that's OK. Let me know if there's Floyd | anything specific you'd like me to do -- otherwise I'm just going to Floyd | follow you around and offer my help if I think of anything that seems Floyd | significant." Floyd | Floyd | Please select a reply: Floyd | Floyd | 1) "No problem." Floyd | 2) "Don't sell yourself short. Just because you're not a scientist Floyd | doesn't mean you can't comprehend this stuff." Floyd | 3) "Oh sure. When it comes to flying around and fighting monsters, Floyd | you're all over it, but things like diagrams just tucker you out." Floyd | | DavidW says, "Shame we don't get the cool graphics this way." | |||
| Otto goes home. | Paul says, "I'm glad that at least the alt text is showing up, though" | |||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "3" | ||||
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 3 Floyd | Floyd | She laughs. "Well, I could probably do diagram-reading and then Floyd | monster-fighting, but for some strange reason I find the other way Floyd | round just a wee bit more taxing." Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | >Outside the Cabin Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "2" | ||||
Floyd | >That's not a verb I recognize. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Aw." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "I meant to be nice and say 2 in the first place." | ||||
| DavidW says, "We undo'ed all the way outside." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Oh, speaking of which..." | ||||
| Jacqueline clears the save counter. | DavidW says, "Go in, and you'll get the choice again." | |||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "enter cabin" | ||||
Floyd | >[first opening the cabin door] Floyd | You step into the relative dimness of the small cabin. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | [Please press a key to continue] Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | E A R T H Floyd | Floyd | A N D Floyd | Floyd | S K Y Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Episode 2: Floyd | ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY Floyd | Floyd | Part One Floyd | Floyd | "The Owner of this House Floyd | A Stranger He must be -- Floyd | Eternity's Acquaintances Floyd | Are mostly so -- to me." Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | [Please press a key to continue] Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Emily follows you. Floyd | Floyd | Main Room Floyd | Some people might describe the interior of this cabin as "cozy", but Floyd | you're more inclined to face facts and call it what it is: cramped. Floyd | Furnishings are minimal: a table, a few chairs, a hotplate, and a Floyd | television that probably hasn't worked since the mid-1980s. The back Floyd | door is south and the front door north, and two doors on the eastern Floyd | wall lead northeast and southeast, to the bedroom and bathroom Floyd | respectively. Floyd | Floyd | Emily is here, watching you. Floyd | Floyd | On the table are some loose papers. Floyd | Floyd | Emily takes a quick glance at the papers on the table, and exhales. Floyd | Floyd | "Listen, Austin," she says, "I find all these diagrams and Floyd | observatories and whatnot a bit exhausting, so I'd like for you to Floyd | take the lead for a while, if that's OK. Let me know if there's Floyd | anything specific you'd like me to do -- otherwise I'm just going to Floyd | follow you around and offer my help if I think of anything that seems Floyd | significant." Floyd | Floyd | Please select a reply: Floyd | Floyd | 1) "No problem." Floyd | 2) "Don't sell yourself short. Just because you're not a scientist Floyd | doesn't mean you can't comprehend this stuff." Floyd | 3) "Oh sure. When it comes to flying around and fighting monsters, Floyd | you're all over it, but things like diagrams just tucker you out." Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "2" | ||||
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 2 Floyd | Floyd | "I never said I couldn't comprehend it, just that it annoys and tires Floyd | me to mess with it. I need a break, okay? I had a pretty rough day Floyd | yesterday -- it's your turn to be the leader of this outfit." Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "She's punny." | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "read papers" | ||||
Floyd | >These papers are torn from a legal pad, and you recognize your Floyd | father's handwriting and his extremely minimalist notation style on Floyd | them. Most of them contain diagrams and equations that look quite Floyd | similar to those you found with the suits, but there is one paper that Floyd | seems to have notes on an unrelated topic: Floyd | Floyd | WWK: [This you recognize as Dad's abbreviation for "What We Know" -- Floyd | he's in the habit of making "What We Know" lists when trying to figure Floyd | out a problem.] Floyd | Floyd | 1) Al. thru port. Floyd | 2)T gone Floyd | 3)T cont. by Al. (4 help?) Floyd | 4)Al. prob. OK, but ??? Floyd | 5)N's mic. maybe invol.? Floyd | Floyd | Must purs. -- Claire agr. Floyd | Floyd | Claire is your mom's name, but that's all you can say for sure about Floyd | this note. Floyd | | Roger says, "and no T" | |||
| DavidW says, "Obviously we must acquire both T and not T." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "show papers to emily" | ||||
Floyd | >(first taking the loose papers) Floyd | "I'm horrible at figuring out Dad's notes, but I bet this last word is Floyd | 'agree.' I wonder what Mom agreed to?" Floyd | | Nitku says, "We should ask Dr. Schr?dinger about that" | |||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "ask emily about papers" | ||||
Floyd | >"That's pretty definitive proof that at least Dad was here." Floyd | | Jacqueline asks, "Must pursue, Clair agrees?" | |||
| DavidW says, "yeah" | ||||
| Lucea asks, "N's...microphone?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "N is Nina, I think." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Nina's Microbes maybe involved, I think." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x tv" | ||||
Floyd | >This dilapidated old wreck of a TV appears to have been cannibalized Floyd | for spare parts some time ago. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x table" | ||||
Floyd | >This battered table looks like it's seen many a meal. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x hotplate" | ||||
Floyd | >Here you thought it was only college students whose only culinary Floyd | equipment consisted of a hotplate and a saucepan. Turns out at least Floyd | one college professor shares the predilection. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "look under table" | ||||
Floyd | >Dust. Ancient scraps of food. The occasional ant. In short, nothing Floyd | interesting or useful. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "kill ant" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "heehee" | |||
| DavidW asks, "Northeast or southeast?" | ||||
| Jacqueline asks, "Also, man. Why do people hate insects so much?" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to DW), "I care not." | ||||
| DavidW says, "They BUG us." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ne" | ||||
Floyd | >Emily follows you. Floyd | Floyd | Bedroom Floyd | Dusty, golden light seeps in through the closed curtains, further Floyd | highlighting the various earth tones that adorn this sparse room. The Floyd | wallpaper is brownish-orange, the nightstand is dark oak, the Floyd | bedspread burnt sienna, and so on. The cabin's main room is west. Floyd | Floyd | "Wow," says Emily. "Somebody hasn't redecorated since the 1970s." Floyd | Floyd | Emily is alongside you, resplendent in blue and white. Floyd | Floyd | The nightstand has a drawer, which is closed. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open drawer" | ||||
Floyd | >The drawer is locked. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "break drawer" | ||||
Floyd | >CRRASH! You hammer your fist on the oak tabletop, and the nightstand Floyd | splinters into pieces. A notepad and a legal pad appear to be lying Floyd | amid the debris. Floyd | Floyd | "If I ever open an antique store," says Emily, "you aren't allowed Floyd | in." Floyd | | DavidW says, "ha" | |||
| Bert says, "I see that the usual tendency to attempt to Get It On with NPCs apparently does not extend to incest." | ||||
| Bert says, "Unless that happened last time, and I missed it." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x notepad" | ||||
Floyd | >From the unfamiliar handwriting and the nature of the notes, you Floyd | surmise that this notepad must belong to Dr. Andrews. Amid pages of Floyd | detail about the orbital periods of various planets, telescope Floyd | azimuths and elevations, spectroscope readings, and suchlike, you find Floyd | a crude drawing of an apparently artificial sphere, with a Floyd | cross-section showing an inner circle connected to its outer shell by Floyd | two long columns. Floyd | Floyd | Beneath these pictures is a swarm of equations, some of which appear Floyd | to be calculations of density, gravitational pull, and surface Floyd | temperature. The temperature equations in particular are interesting, Floyd | as it appears that Dr. Andrews was either unable to come up with a Floyd | solution, or unable to settle on one of many. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take notepad and legal pad" | ||||
Floyd | >notepad: Taken. Floyd | legal pad: Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x debris" | ||||
Floyd | >These are the remains of a once-proud nightstand. Well, maybe not Floyd | proud. A once-intact nightstand. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "search it" | ||||
Floyd | >You find nothing of interest. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x legal" | ||||
Floyd | >This is one of those legal pads that your Dad is known for filling Floyd | with his cryptic notations, and indeed, this one bears his signature Floyd | style. The notes are for a process that looks utterly unfamiliar to Floyd | you. The most you can piece together is that it takes the Floyd | dumbbell-shaped wave function of an electron at a particular energy Floyd | state and splits it into two bubbles (though how a wave function can Floyd | even be treated as a physical entity, let alone split, is left Floyd | unexplained), allowing "half-electrons" to jump instantaneously from Floyd | one bubble to the next along some extra-dimensional quantum pathway. Floyd | Dad's laconic note-taking style doesn't make clear whether this is Floyd | just a thought experiment, but knowing him, he's probably found some Floyd | physical use for it. Floyd | | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "mourn nightstand" | ||||
Floyd | >That's not a verb I recognize. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "repair nightstand" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "show legal to emily" | ||||
Floyd | >"The scary thing is, this could be his grocery list and I still Floyd | wouldn't understand it." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "show notepad to emily" | ||||
Floyd | >She scratches her head. "Yikes," she says. "That thing looks like a Floyd | hamster wheel." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x bed" | ||||
Floyd | >The bed is unmade, and you suspect that's its natural state. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "look under bed" | ||||
Floyd | >Peering under the bed, you discover... that Thaddeus Andrews Floyd | apparently was not big on the concept of "dusting." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask emily about andrews" | ||||
Floyd | >"I never met him. Small wonder, really, considering how much time he Floyd | spent up here." Floyd | | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "dust" | ||||
Floyd | >What do you want to dust? Floyd | | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "under bed" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "break bed" | ||||
Floyd | >It may be clobberin' time, but there's no reason to clobber that. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open curtains" | ||||
Floyd | >You open the curtains, letting light through the window. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "look through window" | ||||
Floyd | >You see the driveway and evergreens outside. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x bedspread" | ||||
Floyd | >This bedspread is rumpled and messy, and obviously many years old. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take it" | ||||
Floyd | >It's chilly up here in the mountains, but not so chilly that you'd Floyd | need to drape a comforter around yourself. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Huh. Dust is a default verb? Surely not." | |||
| DavidW says, "I think we're done in this room." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to DW), "Carry on..." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Dust is not a default verb." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "out" | ||||
Floyd | >Emily follows you. Floyd | Floyd | Main Room Floyd | Some people might describe the interior of this cabin as "cozy", but Floyd | you're more inclined to face facts and call it what it is: cramped. Floyd | Furnishings are minimal: a table, a few chairs, a hotplate, and a Floyd | television that probably hasn't worked since the mid-1980s. The back Floyd | door is south and the front door north, and two doors on the eastern Floyd | wall lead northeast and southeast, to the bedroom and bathroom Floyd | respectively. Floyd | Floyd | Emily stands here, looking around. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "se" | ||||
Floyd | >You take a quick look around the bathroom, but since you find nothing Floyd | out of the ordinary and don't require the facilities at the moment, Floyd | you return to the main room. Floyd | | Nitku says, "I'm impressed with the thoroughness of the implementation" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x chairs" | ||||
Floyd | >You see nothing special about the chairs. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "I like the bits about dust and ants and stuff." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Yeah." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ceiling" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't think of a compelling reason to wreck the ceiling. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x ceiling" | ||||
Floyd | >You see nothing special about the ceiling. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x floor" | ||||
Floyd | >You see nothing special about the floor. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "search tv" | ||||
Floyd | >This TV doesn't even have enough parts left for you to MacGyver some Floyd | clever device out of it. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "out" | ||||
Floyd | >There are several ways out. Please specify a direction. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't go that way. Floyd | | DavidW asks, "Where's the main door?" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | >[first opening the back door] Floyd | It seems to be locked. Floyd | | ||||
| ParserGirl arrives, full of fun and funk. | DavidW says, "hold on" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "break back door" | ||||
Floyd | >Given that you have the key, that seems needlessly destructive. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "unlock back door" | ||||
Floyd | >You unlock the back door from the inside. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open it" | ||||
Floyd | >You open the back door. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | >Emily follows you. Floyd | Floyd | Behind The Cabin Floyd | The view from behind the cabin is spectacular. The research station Floyd | isn't situated in the highest part of the mountain range -- it isn't Floyd | even above timberline -- but it's high enough to afford an expansive Floyd | panorama of the valley below. The observatory is a little further up Floyd | the incline to the south, and the cabin stands to the north, its back Floyd | door open. Floyd | Floyd | Emily is nearby, waiting for you to do something interesting. Floyd | | DavidW says, "Perhaps we need to go to the observatory" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "emily, fly" | ||||
Floyd | >Emily rockets upward, swooping out over the valley. "Whooooooo!" she Floyd | cries. "It's just beautiful up here!" After a few more aerial fillips, Floyd | she returns to earth. "I didn't see anything alarming, but it is a Floyd | heckuva view." Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "That sounds reasonable." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask emily about roof" | ||||
Floyd | >"It keeps the rain out, I guess." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | >Emily follows you. Floyd | Floyd | Observatory Entrance Floyd | A rocky path ends here, just north of the door to the concrete, Floyd | rectangular portion of the observatory. Unlike the small observatory Floyd | on the main campus, this one makes no particular concessions to Floyd | aesthetics, and its door wouldn't be out of place on a bank vault. The Floyd | path leads back down and north to the cabin. Floyd | Floyd | Emily is nearby, waiting for you to do something interesting. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Man. Emily even has something to say about the roof." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't, since the steel door is in the way. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x door" | ||||
Floyd | >The observatory door is an imposing affair, with a large U-shaped Floyd | handle and a very serious-looking lock. It's hard to be sure, but Floyd | you're guessing the door's made of solid steel, no doubt with a Floyd | massive deadbolt. It's currently shut tight. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "unlock door" | ||||
Floyd | >(with the cabin key) Floyd | That doesn't seem to fit the lock. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x handle" | ||||
Floyd | >The observatory door is an imposing affair, with a large U-shaped Floyd | handle and a very serious-looking lock. It's hard to be sure, but Floyd | you're guessing the door's made of solid steel, no doubt with a Floyd | massive deadbolt. It's currently shut tight. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "emily, fly" | ||||
Floyd | >She nods, and floats upwards. When she alights on the ground again, Floyd | she says, "The telescope dome is closed, and there are a bunch of Floyd | solar panels on the roof, but that's about all I noticed." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "break door" | ||||
Floyd | >BANG! You slam your fist into the door, denting it a little. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "g" | ||||
Floyd | >BANG! You slam your fist into the door, denting it a little. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "g" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "break lock" | ||||
Floyd | >BANG! You slam your fist into the door, denting it a little. Floyd | Floyd | >BANG! You slam your fist into the door, denting it a little. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "emily, zap door" | ||||
Floyd | >"Yeah! I'll give it my fastball," says Emily. She goes into an Floyd | exaggerated windup, and as her hand comes forward for the pitch, Floyd | brilliant blue electricity crackles between her fingertips and the Floyd | steel door. An explosive KER-POW splits the air, and the steel door is Floyd | left standing, scorched but unmoved. Floyd | Floyd | "Well, that was anticlimactic," she says. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "lift observatory" | ||||
Floyd | >That's hardly portable. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "pull door" | ||||
Floyd | >SKREEEEEEEK! Planting your feet firmly, you pull at the handle. The Floyd | door strains, then buckles, and the handle comes partway detached. But Floyd | by then you can grip the door itself, and a mighty heave pulls it the Floyd | rest of the way free, tearing it right off its hinges. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Sweet. We're in." | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "give door to emily" | ||||
Floyd | >(first taking the mangled steel door) Floyd | You've already rendered the door useless. Let it go. Floyd | | DavidW says, "I shouldn't hog the controls. Someone else venture in." | |||
| Bert asks, "Who else hasn't played yet?" | ||||
| Roger says, "A Mighty Heave" | ||||
| ParserGirl says, "My fingers are greasy from tacos." | ||||
| Nitku says, "I haven't" | ||||
| D goes home. | DavidW says, "I've played before." | |||
| DavidW says (to Nitku), "so take us in" | ||||
| Nitku says, "Don't mind if I do" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "in" | ||||
Floyd | >Emily follows you. Floyd | Floyd | Inside the Observatory Floyd | The observatory is astonishing. It's not the desk, or the computer, or Floyd | the other laboratory accoutrements that make it so, but rather the Floyd | staggeringly complex mass of ornate machinery that smothers every Floyd | wall. Tubes, readouts, and gleaming metal plates swarm together in a Floyd | lunatic collage, every lever and dial shouting your parents' design Floyd | influence as surely as if they had autographed their work. You've Floyd | known these sights all your life, but their presence here is a shock Floyd | -- clearly, Mom and Dad were collaborating far more closely with Dr. Floyd | Andrews than they ever revealed. The newly opened entranceway leads Floyd | back north, and a doorway leads east to the telescope dome. Floyd | Floyd | Emily leans against the wall here. Floyd | Floyd | In front of the dome doorway, seemingly generated by the room's Floyd | prodigious gadgetry, is a curious projection: a curtain of light, Floyd | within which coruscate ever-shifting patterns and colors. The curtain Floyd | covers the doorway completely -- there doesn't seem to be any way to Floyd | cross the threshold into the dome without first crossing the Floyd | flickering barrier. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "I've played, but so long ago I remember nada." | |||
| DavidW says, "I love it when IF uses words like 'coruscate'." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "jump" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't think of a compelling reason to wreck the ceiling. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x projection" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x curtain" | ||||
Floyd | >The patterns of light that define the curtain refuse to stay still. Floyd | Symmetrical fluorescent squiggles travel from the edges to the center, Floyd | only to dissolve into sparkling dots that dance in Brownian ecstasy, Floyd | adhering into gentle pastel waves, which in turn become spinning Floyd | geometric designs, and so on. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | >You are carrying: Floyd | a legal pad Floyd | a notepad Floyd | some loose papers Floyd | an earthsuit (being worn) Floyd | a cabin key Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | >Gingerly, you reach out to touch the sparkling curtain, and feel a Floyd | force pull sharply on your fingers, drawing you further into the Floyd | light. Startled, you yank your hand out and back away from the Floyd | curtain, with a clammy suspicion that it was only the power of the Floyd | earthsuit that allowed you to break free of that inexorable pull. Floyd | | DavidW says, "I'd suggest throwing something through first." | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "ask emily about the curtain" | ||||
Floyd | >"Freaky, isn't it? I feel like the Jefferson Airplane should be Floyd | playing in front of it." Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "throw emily through curtain" | ||||
Floyd | >I only understood you as far as wanting to throw Emily. Floyd | | DavidW says, "Perhaps the key" | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "throw emily at curtain" | ||||
Floyd | >(first taking Emily) Floyd | "Hey. Hey!" protests Emily. "Hands off!" Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "throw key at curtain" | ||||
Floyd | >The cabin key sails toward the curtain of light, and disappears. The Floyd | barrier is only semi-transparent, but you don't see the cabin key land Floyd | on the other side. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x equipment" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "emily, go e" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x desk" | ||||
Floyd | >"I think I'd prefer to stick together." Floyd | Floyd | >Unlike the corporate, modular furniture popular in university Floyd | offices, this is an honest-to-goodness desk: huge, made of wood, big Floyd | file drawer... the works. There is a computer on the desk. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x computer" | ||||
Floyd | >A cursory examination of the computer reveals that it is Floyd | password-locked, and you haven't got a clue what Andrews' password Floyd | might be. Looks like this is one lock that you won't be able to tear Floyd | open. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x file drawer" | ||||
Floyd | >The drawer is closed, but doesn't appear to have a lock. Apparently Floyd | Dr. Andrews thought that the immense steel door was security enough. Floyd | So much for that theory! Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open it" | ||||
Floyd | >You open the drawer, revealing a headset. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x headset" | ||||
Floyd | >It's clear that this device is meant to be worn on the head, but Floyd | that's the only obvious thing about it. It's got one piece that seems Floyd | intended to fit over the ear, and another that arcs over the head and Floyd | balances out the other side. The earpiece bristles with electronics. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Oh, I'll bet it's written down around here somewhere, that password." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take it" | ||||
Floyd | >Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "wear it" | ||||
Floyd | >You put on the headset. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "listen" | ||||
Floyd | >You hear nothing unexpected. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "turn headset on" | ||||
Floyd | >You don't see an on/off switch on the headset. Unless you miss your Floyd | guess, Mom and Dad probably outfitted it with a permanent, Floyd | long-lasting power supply, so it's always on. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x machinery" | ||||
Floyd | >Sometimes, growing up, you suspected that Mom and Dad's designs were Floyd | deliberately ornate, exposing their complexity in order to impress or Floyd | intimidate. As you've gotten older, though, and learned more from Floyd | them, you've realized that the reason the complexity isn't covered is Floyd | because neither one of them wants to waste time on making things Floyd | pretty. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x readouts" | ||||
Floyd | >Sometimes, growing up, you suspected that Mom and Dad's designs were Floyd | deliberately ornate, exposing their complexity in order to impress or Floyd | intimidate. As you've gotten older, though, and learned more from Floyd | them, you've realized that the reason the complexity isn't covered is Floyd | because neither one of them wants to waste time on making things Floyd | pretty. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x notepad" | ||||
Floyd | >From the unfamiliar handwriting and the nature of the notes, you Floyd | surmise that this notepad must belong to Dr. Andrews. Amid pages of Floyd | detail about the orbital periods of various planets, telescope Floyd | azimuths and elevations, spectroscope readings, and suchlike, you find Floyd | a crude drawing of an apparently artificial sphere, with a Floyd | cross-section showing an inner circle connected to its outer shell by Floyd | two long columns. Floyd | Floyd | Beneath these pictures is a swarm of equations, some of which appear Floyd | to be calculations of density, gravitational pull, and surface Floyd | temperature. The temperature equations in particular are interesting, Floyd | as it appears that Dr. Andrews was either unable to come up with a Floyd | solution, or unable to settle on one of many. Floyd | | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "x temperature equations" | ||||
Floyd | >From the unfamiliar handwriting and the nature of the notes, you Floyd | surmise that this notepad must belong to Dr. Andrews. Amid pages of Floyd | detail about the orbital periods of various planets, telescope Floyd | azimuths and elevations, spectroscope readings, and suchlike, you find Floyd | a crude drawing of an apparently artificial sphere, with a Floyd | cross-section showing an inner circle connected to its outer shell by Floyd | two long columns. Floyd | Floyd | Beneath these pictures is a swarm of equations, some of which appear Floyd | to be calculations of density, gravitational pull, and surface Floyd | temperature. The temperature equations in particular are interesting, Floyd | as it appears that Dr. Andrews was either unable to come up with a Floyd | solution, or unable to settle on one of many. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "type "andrews"" | ||||
Floyd | >I didn't understand that sentence. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "type andrews" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "search notepad" | ||||
Floyd | >What do you want to type that on? Floyd | Floyd | >You find nothing of interest. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "type andrews on computer" | ||||
Floyd | >Nice try. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "type thaddeus on computer" | ||||
Floyd | >Nice try. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "type claire on computer" | ||||
Floyd | >Nice try. Floyd | | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | > Floyd | Inside the Observatory Floyd | The observatory is astonishing. It's not the desk, or the computer, or Floyd | the other laboratory accoutrements that make it so, but rather the Floyd | staggeringly complex mass of ornate machinery that smothers every Floyd | wall. Tubes, readouts, and gleaming metal plates swarm together in a Floyd | lunatic collage, every lever and dial shouting your parents' design Floyd | influence as surely as if they had autographed their work. You've Floyd | known these sights all your life, but their presence here is a shock Floyd | -- clearly, Mom and Dad were collaborating far more closely with Dr. Floyd | Andrews than they ever revealed. The newly opened entranceway leads Floyd | back north, and a doorway leads east to the telescope dome. Floyd | Floyd | Emily leans against the wall here. Floyd | Floyd | The patterns of light flicker hypnotically in front of the dome Floyd | doorway. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "ask emily about computer" | ||||
Floyd | >"It'd probably have lots of useful info, but I don't know the Floyd | password any more than you do." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask emily about password" | ||||
Floyd | >"A good question. A very good question. Okay, I actually have no idea Floyd | what you mean." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask emily about headset" | ||||
Floyd | >"Looks like one of Mom and Dad's gadgets to me. Not that I have a Floyd | clue what purpose it might serve. Still, might be good to have along." Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x lever" | ||||
Floyd | >Sometimes, growing up, you suspected that Mom and Dad's designs were Floyd | deliberately ornate, exposing their complexity in order to impress or Floyd | intimidate. As you've gotten older, though, and learned more from Floyd | them, you've realized that the reason the complexity isn't covered is Floyd | because neither one of them wants to waste time on making things Floyd | pretty. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "look through curtain" | ||||
Floyd | >There is only the doorway beyond. Floyd | | Bert asks, "I forget, does this game require saving?" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x doorway" | ||||
Floyd | >The doorway seems to twist and flash behind the translucent light Floyd | patterns. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf1" | ||||
Floyd | >Enter saved game to store: Ok. Floyd | | Bert says, "(That is, is there anything that would require a restore?)" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Dunno, but it's easy enough to save whenever." | ||||
| DavidW says, "I believe this game is very forgiving." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "EAS1 was very forgiving." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "touch doorway" | ||||
Floyd | >Not after last time. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "We mostly used restore to explore alternatives." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "emily, fog curtain" | ||||
Floyd | >"You got it," says Emily, and stares intently at the curtain of Floyd | light. Nothing happens at all, and her face scrunches in frustration. Floyd | "It's not working," she says. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "I suspect this is similar." | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "emily, blast curtain" | ||||
Floyd | >Emily nods, and extends her hand towards the curtain of light. Floyd | Nothing happens. "Well, that's a gyp," she says. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "turn off curtain" | ||||
Floyd | >That's not something you can switch. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "say open sesame" | ||||
Floyd | >(to Emily) Floyd | There is no reply. Floyd | | DavidW says, "I think, unless we can find the password, we'll have to go through the curtain. Deliberately." | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | >You take a decisive step towards the curtain of light, and Emily Floyd | catches your arm. "Austin, wait!" You turn to face her. Floyd | Floyd | "We don't know what will happen when you try to cross that curtain," Floyd | she says. "I think we should stop and think a moment before we do it. Floyd | Do you think we should really take the risk?" Floyd | Floyd | Please select a reply: Floyd | Floyd | 1) "I think we have to, Em. I think this curtain has everything to do Floyd | with Mom and Dad's disappearance." Floyd | 2) "You're right. Let's back off for now and I'll consider what else Floyd | we can do here." Floyd | | Jacqueline asks, "Did we try throwing something through the curtain?" | |||
| DavidW says, "yes. The cabin key. It disappeared." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Oh, right." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x ceiling" | ||||
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "2" | ||||
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 2 Floyd | Floyd | "Fair enough." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take door" | ||||
Floyd | >Not after last time. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take steel door" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x wall" | ||||
Floyd | >Which do you mean, the north wall, the south wall, the east wall or Floyd | the west wall? Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "throw emily through curtain" | ||||
Floyd | >I only understood you as far as wanting to throw Emily. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "throw emily" | ||||
Floyd | >Emily is already here. Floyd | | DavidW says (to Jacqueline), "Nitku tried that." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Ah, sorry." | ||||
| Nitku says, "Let's try going through." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I was away. I shall hold off on trying more snarky things." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf2" | ||||
Floyd | >Enter saved game to store: Ok. Floyd | | Jacqueline says (to Nitku), "Go ahead..." | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | >You take a decisive step towards the curtain of light, and Emily Floyd | catches your arm. "Here we go again," she says. "Look, let's talk Floyd | about this instead of you just charging off. Do you really think it's Floyd | worth the risk to cross this curtain?" Floyd | Floyd | Please select a reply: Floyd | Floyd | 1) "I think we have to, Em. I think this curtain has everything to do Floyd | with Mom and Dad's disappearance." Floyd | 2) "You're right. Let's back off for now and I'll consider what else Floyd | we can do here." Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "1" | ||||
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 1 Floyd | Floyd | "I guess you're right," she says, "but shouldn't we make a team Floyd | decision about it? We have no idea what it does, or if it even does Floyd | anything. Austin, what if it's broken, or a trap, or something? It Floyd | could kill us to go through there!" Floyd | Floyd | Please select a reply: Floyd | Floyd | 1) "And what are the alternatives? Call the police, or the Army or Floyd | something, and have them charge through there? If Mom and Dad have Floyd | been kidnapped, we could be putting them in greater danger by doing Floyd | that. And they did say not to involve the authorities unless Floyd | absolutely necessary. No, I'm going to try it." Floyd | 2) "My god, that's true. You're right. I need to take a little more Floyd | time to think this over." Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "1" | ||||
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 1 Floyd | Floyd | "Okay, I accept all that," says Emily. "Still, if it is dangerous, Floyd | should I go through with you, or stay here in case you don't come Floyd | back?" Floyd | Floyd | Please select a reply: Floyd | Floyd | 1) "I can't make that decision for you, Em. But if you're asking my Floyd | opinion, I think we should go through together. It might take all the Floyd | power both of us can muster to face whatever's across that barrier." Floyd | 2) "I can't make that decision for you, Em. If it were my call, I'd Floyd | say you should stay here. No sense both of us taking such a huge risk, Floyd | and maybe if I don't come back, you can go ahead and get the Army or Floyd | whatever, and send the cavalry my way." Floyd | 3) "I can't make that decision for you, Em. I see pros and cons either Floyd | way. But I'm walking through that curtain, and whether or not you Floyd | follow me is up to you." Floyd | | Nitku says, "I'd choose 3" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "mmkay" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "We saved, in any case." | ||||
| Lucea says, "yeah, good plan" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "3" | ||||
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 3 Floyd | Floyd | Emily sets her jaw. "Then I'm coming with you. We may need all the Floyd | power that both of us possess to face whatever's on the other side of Floyd | that curtain." Floyd | Floyd | "Watch," you say. "We'll walk right through and nothing will happen at Floyd | all." Floyd | Floyd | "That would be great," she replies grimly, "but somehow I doubt it." Floyd | She grabs your hand, and the two of you step into the light together. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | [Please press a key to continue] Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | E A R T H Floyd | Floyd | A N D Floyd | Floyd | S K Y Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Episode 2: Floyd | ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY Floyd | Floyd | Part Two Floyd | Floyd | "How soft this Prison is Floyd | How sweet these sullen bars Floyd | No Despot but the King of Down Floyd | Invented this repose" Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | [Please press a key to continue] Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | . . . Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | . . . Floyd | Floyd | Sleepily, you open your eyes. What's that pinkish glow? Sunrise? Did Floyd | you leave the bedroom window open? Wait, this isn't your bedroom. Floyd | Where...? Floyd | Floyd | Wait -- the curtain! You stepped through with Emily, and that's the Floyd | last thing you remember before awakening on this... floor. And Emily Floyd | -- she's gone! Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Cell Floyd | You find yourself in a small, square room, perhaps eight feet on a Floyd | side. The ceiling is high, maybe fifteen feet above your head, but Floyd | what's even stranger is that it and all the walls are glowing with a Floyd | bright pink energy field. Floyd | Floyd | You can see a cabin key here. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "get key" | ||||
Floyd | >Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x field" | ||||
Floyd | >A bright pink field of energy glows from the walls and ceiling, Floyd | radiating about six inches from them. It hurts your eyes to look at Floyd | the field too long, but it's also sort of hard not to. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "IRTA 'sullen bears,' of course." | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "touch field" | ||||
Floyd | >The energy yields momentarily to your touch, then repels your fingers Floyd | as gently as you applied them. Floyd | | Paul asks, "You read what as that?" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "'sullen bars'" | ||||
| Jacqueline | How sweet these sullen bars | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "hit field" | ||||
Floyd | >Picking a wall at random, you aim a punch at the energy field. The Floyd | field slows your fist, stops it, and then propels it back outward with Floyd | kinetic force equal to that of your blow. You never penetrated the Floyd | field more than an inch or two. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "But, y'know, I live in Alaska." | |||
| Paul says, "Ah -- my eyes skipped right over the epigram" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Hence 'sullen bears.'" | ||||
| Paul says, "Where the bears are exceptionally sullen" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x floor" | ||||
Floyd | >The floor here seems to be made of some sort of polymer, a type you Floyd | don't recognize. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "hit floor" | ||||
Floyd | >THOOM! You bring your mighty foot down on the polymer floor, causing Floyd | a minor tremor. The floor seems completely unaffected. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Well, when we use bear-proof trashcans, yeah." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | >You are carrying: Floyd | a cabin key Floyd | a headset (being worn) Floyd | a legal pad Floyd | a notepad Floyd | some loose papers Floyd | an earthsuit (being worn) Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "shout" | ||||
Floyd | >AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Floyd | | DavidW says, "heh" | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "dig floor" | ||||
Floyd | >Digging would achieve nothing here. Floyd | | DavidW says, "Hitting the floor was probably on the right track. It's the only surface not protected with a force field." | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "hit floor" | ||||
Floyd | >THOOM! You bring your mighty foot down on the polymer floor, causing Floyd | a minor tremor. The floor seems completely unaffected. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Hm. More coffee required for this puzzle..." | |||
| DavidW says, "o/~ Might as well ... o/~" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x headset" | ||||
Floyd | >It's clear that this device is meant to be worn on the head, but Floyd | that's the only obvious thing about it. It's got one piece that seems Floyd | intended to fit over the ear, and another that arcs over the head and Floyd | balances out the other side. The earpiece bristles with electronics. Floyd | | ||||
| Qfwfq arrives, full of fun and funk. | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "jump" | ||||
Floyd | >You crouch, then launch yourself at the ceiling. As you expected, the Floyd | energy field absorbs your momentum, then propels you back downward Floyd | with equal force. You hurtle towards the floor, hitting it with a Floyd | tremendous CRRUNCH! Beneath your feet, a spiderwebbed network of Floyd | hairline cracks radiates from the point of impact. Floyd | | Nitku says, "hooray" | |||
| DavidW says, "hee" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "g" | ||||
Floyd | >Once again, you leap upwards, bouncing off the ceiling's energy field Floyd | to smack into the floor with a resounding CRRUNCH! The cracks have Floyd | grown larger, and light filters through some of them. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "g" | ||||
Floyd | >Bracing yourself for a final assault on the weakening floor, you Floyd | vault upward, then plummet down again. This time, when your feet slam Floyd | into the polymer, there is a deafening KA-THUNKK! as the floor splits, Floyd | and you find yourself falling. Floyd | Floyd | And falling. Air buffets your face and whistles past your ears, as you Floyd | try to take in the situation. You appear to be falling to Earth, from Floyd | a great height, as if you had just jumped out of a plane, sans Floyd | parachute. The ground below you, though... there's something strange Floyd | about it. You can see its curvature, as if you were much farther away Floyd | from the planet than you seem to be. Or as if the planet itself had Floyd | shrunk. Floyd | Floyd | As the ground comes closer, you can see that the planet itself seems Floyd | demarcated into clearly defined zones -- a bluish-white Arctic, a Floyd | sandy desert, a blue-green ocean, and others -- all tidily encased in Floyd | separate regions of the globe. Even stranger, you're catching glimpses Floyd | of a huge metal cylinder that rises up from the ground and far into Floyd | the sky above you. This isn't Earth you're falling towards. Either Floyd | that, or Earth has changed a lot since the last time you were above Floyd | it. Gravity feels about the same, though -- the ground is still Floyd | rushing towards you at alarming speed. Actually, you're rushing Floyd | towards it. Funny, how many thoughts can pass through your brain in a Floyd | situation like this. The suit is supposed to make you invulnerable to Floyd | impact, but will it really protect you from this kind of fall? Guess Floyd | you're about to find-- Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Sweet." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "I have my coffee now, but I see that you solved this without coffee." | ||||
| Nitku pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | [Please press a key to continue] Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | W H A M M O ! Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | E A R T H Floyd | Floyd | A N D Floyd | Floyd | S K Y Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Episode 2: Floyd | ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY Floyd | Floyd | Part Three Floyd | Floyd | "I saw no Way -- The Heavens were stitched -- Floyd | I felt the Columns close -- Floyd | The Earth reversed her Hemispheres -- Floyd | I touched the Universe --" Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | [Please press a key to continue] Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Arctic (in the ice hole) Floyd | You remember the ground, blinding white, reaching up to clobber you. Floyd | Then blackness. Then cold. Serious cold. As you gather your senses Floyd | back to you, several things become clear. One, you're not dead -- in Floyd | fact, not even hurt, though a little dazed. Two, you've landed in a Floyd | cold place. And three, your landing has created a deep pit with icy Floyd | walls, and you're at the bottom of it. Floyd | | DavidW says, "yay. We landed on some soft ice." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Ah... home." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "up" | ||||
Floyd | >You spring upwards and fly out of the hole more quickly than you Floyd | expected. Landing softly in the snow, you estimate that gravity must Floyd | be around 0.8G on this planetoid. Floyd | Floyd | Arctic Floyd | Icy monoliths, ridged with frozen rivulets, rise up around you. Your Floyd | suit's insulation feels distressingly meager in the freezing, stinging Floyd | wind, and the light glistens white as the snow reflects the distant Floyd | sun. For all you know, you're at the pole of this little world, so Floyd | compass directions don't mean much, but you invent some just to keep Floyd | your bearings. The faraway blue-green smudge is north, the faraway tan Floyd | smudge south. Your views east and west are blocked by huge, rugged Floyd | breccia hills. Floyd | Floyd | A deep crater is here, which is what happens when an immovable object Floyd | like this glacier meets an irresistible force like a plummeting Floyd | superhero. Floyd | Floyd | Beside the crater, a long metal tube reaches into the sky. The bottom Floyd | of the tube has been entirely dislodged from its base, no doubt Floyd | wrecked by your recent impact. Floyd | Floyd | That impact also appears to have exposed some sort of access panel. Floyd | | DavidW asks, "hm. How long a tube? Cannon? Space elevator?" | |||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x tube" | ||||
Floyd | >A metal cylinder, wide enough that you could comfortably fit inside Floyd | it -- if you could figure out how to enter it, that is. As your eyes Floyd | follow it upward, you can see that it terminates alongside a glowing, Floyd | pink hole in the sky. Its other end, at your feet, has been wrenched Floyd | free from the ground, exposing a base rife with wrecked machinery. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x access panel" | ||||
Floyd | >The panel is set directly into the ground. It's acquired a light Floyd | dusting of snow, leading you to conclude that your cataclysmic Floyd | entrance probably removed the panel's cover. Its only control is a Floyd | square touchplate, colored indigo and emblazoned with an Floyd | upwards-pointing triangle. Floyd | | DavidW says, "Sounds like an elevator to me." | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "push touchplate" | ||||
Floyd | >You put a finger on the pad, but nothing happens. However, when you Floyd | lay your whole hand on it, it lights up briefly, and you hear a series Floyd | of whines and clicks from the cylinder's base. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x base" | ||||
Floyd | >The base of the tube contains a great deal of intricate machinery, Floyd | some of it obviously crushed or torn by its forced separation from the Floyd | tube proper. Floyd | Floyd | In the distance, you can see a rookery of penguins waddling blissfully Floyd | around the ice. Or, wait. Are they penguins? They appear to be Floyd | throwing snowballs at each other. Penguins can't throw, can they? Floyd | Taking a closer look, you fancy that their heads are larger than those Floyd | of normal penguins, and that you can make out gripping fingers at the Floyd | edge of their wings. Floyd | | DavidW says, "Arctic penguins! Hooray!" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Very rare." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Very, very rare." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Also, different planet, so." | ||||
| DavidW says, "This is a different Arctic, of course, yes." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x penguins" | ||||
Floyd | >They're too far away to make out many details, but they appear to be Floyd | normal penguins, with the notable exceptions of the outsized heads and Floyd | the wing-fingers. Floyd | | DavidW says, "Shame our inventory doesn't include chopsticks. I'd love to see penguins try to use them." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "That's a sentence I never anticipated hearing during my lifetime, David." | ||||
| Lucea says, "heh" | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | > Floyd | Arctic Floyd | Icy monoliths, ridged with frozen rivulets, rise up around you. Your Floyd | suit's insulation feels distressingly meager in the freezing, stinging Floyd | wind, and the light glistens white as the snow reflects the distant Floyd | sun. For all you know, you're at the pole of this little world, so Floyd | compass directions don't mean much, but you invent some just to keep Floyd | your bearings. The faraway blue-green smudge is north, the faraway tan Floyd | smudge south. Your views east and west are blocked by huge, rugged Floyd | breccia hills. Floyd | Floyd | A deep crater is here, which is what happens when an immovable object Floyd | like this glacier meets an irresistible force like a plummeting Floyd | superhero. Floyd | Floyd | Beside the crater, a long metal tube reaches into the sky. The bottom Floyd | of the tube has been entirely dislodged from its base, no doubt Floyd | wrecked by your recent impact. Floyd | Floyd | That impact also appears to have exposed some sort of access panel. Floyd | | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "x crater" | ||||
Floyd | >The hole is probably twenty feet deep. If you were Wile E. Coyote, it Floyd | would be shaped like an outline of your body, but instead it's more Floyd | generally crater-like, though a deep crater rather than a wide one. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x pink hole" | ||||
Floyd | >Like a punctured eggshell, the sky is missing a piece, letting pink Floyd | light shine through. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x sky" | ||||
Floyd | >Like a punctured eggshell, the sky is missing a piece, letting pink Floyd | light shine through. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | >You begin trudging northwards for a few minutes, but the landscape Floyd | changes little. This planet may be much smaller than Earth, but it'll Floyd | still take you ages to get anywhere on foot. So you head back to where Floyd | you stared from, thinking that there's got to be an easier way. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "leap n" | ||||
Floyd | >You take a running start, get up to top speed, and then vault Floyd | upwards. The ground drops away beneath you -- gravity is definitely Floyd | less than 1G on this planetoid, though your mind boggles to think how Floyd | dense the core must be in order to even come close. Your thoughts Floyd | return to the present as the border of the arctic area approaches -- Floyd | the demarcation between it and the adjoining areas is distinct and Floyd | sharp. Incredibly, you've traveled almost 45 degrees across the sphere Floyd | already, and your trajectory will take you another 45, to the side of Floyd | the sphere, before you land. Always assuming, of course, that the Floyd | borders are permeable. Floyd | Floyd | As the border passes beneath you, a momentary nausea sweeps over you, Floyd | gone as soon as you enter the next area. Floyd | Floyd | You've reached the arc of your parabola, and have begun to descend. An Floyd | ocean sloshes below you, uncluttered by islands or land masses. As the Floyd | water approaches, you suddenly realize that some of the things you're Floyd | carrying will be ruined if they get wet. Frantically running your Floyd | hands along your costume searching for a pouch, your finger slides Floyd | over a line that splits into an opening. Thinking quickly, you stuff Floyd | the items inside, and run your finger along the line to close it Floyd | again. Just in time, too, because you hit the water with a massive Floyd | SPLOOSH! Floyd | Floyd | Once your head is submerged, a plastic sheath emerges from the sides Floyd | of your cowl, covering your nose and mouth. You take a hesitant Floyd | breath, and realize that the suit must be filtering oxygen from the Floyd | water. Mom and Dad sure planned ahead when they made this thing! Floyd | Unfortunately, they apparently weren't able to make it very Floyd | lightweight, and you quickly sink to the ocean floor. Floyd | Floyd | Ocean Floyd | You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, Floyd | but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from Floyd | plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent Floyd | sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet Floyd | below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such Floyd | extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow Floyd | motion, you're experiencing no discomfort. Floyd | Floyd | A large circular door, apparently a hatch, is set in the ground here. Floyd | Floyd | Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a Floyd | glassy eye in the sand. Floyd | Floyd | You also notice a beige touchplate embedded in rock about ten yards Floyd | away from the hatch. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Whoa." | |||
| DavidW says, "Puny planet no stop Hulk. Er, Earth." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x hatch" | ||||
Floyd | >The hatch is of a rather generous diameter, and appears to be made of Floyd | the same polymer as the floor of your former cell. In its center is a Floyd | turquoise touchplate. The hatch is closed. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "push touchplate" | ||||
Floyd | >Which do you mean, the turquoise touchplate or the beige touchplate? Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "turquoise" | ||||
Floyd | >When you lay a finger on the touchplate, nothing happens, but when Floyd | you press it with your whole hand, it lights up briefly, and the hatch Floyd | slowly swings open, releasing a huge bubble of air that floats lazily Floyd | upwards. Floyd | | Nitku asks, "Should we go in? Or try the beige plate first?" | |||
| DavidW says, "go in" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "in" | ||||
Floyd | > Floyd | Waterlock Floyd | The walls are close and smooth in this utterly nondescript, Floyd | cylindrical room, currently filled with water. The only noteworthy Floyd | feature is that a couple of touchplates adorn one wall, one crimson Floyd | and one turquoise. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "push turquoise" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, and the hatch swings smoothly Floyd | closed. Water begins to drain from the room, hidden pumps rapidly Floyd | replacing it with air. Your suit returns to normal, and an entrance Floyd | slides open beside you, in a direction you capriciously decide to call Floyd | east. Floyd | Floyd | Now that you're dry again, you unzip the suit pouch and retrieve your Floyd | delicate items. Floyd | | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | >You are carrying: Floyd | a cabin key Floyd | a headset Floyd | a legal pad Floyd | a notepad Floyd | some loose papers Floyd | an earthsuit (being worn) Floyd | | DavidW says, "ah. Not wearing the headset." | |||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "wear headset" | ||||
Floyd | >You put on the headset. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "in" | ||||
Floyd | > Floyd | Ocean Observatory Floyd | You're now standing beneath the mirrored bubble. The air in this room Floyd | feels rather stale, and the only light comes from the plants outside Floyd | the bubble. That bubble gives an excellent view of the ocean floor, Floyd | and you surmise that this room must have been built for observation of Floyd | that area. The waterlock is west of here. Floyd | | DavidW asks, "The plants glow?" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x plants" | ||||
Floyd | >You see the ocean floor, dimly illuminated by bioluminescent plants. Floyd | | DavidW says, "Always nice to find a lightsource." | |||
| Nitku says, "Yeah, that was established when we sank in the ocean" | ||||
| Bert RTA, of course, 'pants'. | ||||
| DavidW says, "heh" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x ocean" | ||||
Floyd | >You see the ocean floor, dimly illuminated by bioluminescent plants. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x bubble" | ||||
Floyd | >The bubble must act as a sort of one-way glass, though it's clearly Floyd | made from something much tougher than glass. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Yeah, they're conveniently bioluminescent." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | > Floyd | Ocean Observatory Floyd | You're now standing beneath the mirrored bubble. The air in this room Floyd | feels rather stale, and the only light comes from the plants outside Floyd | the bubble. That bubble gives an excellent view of the ocean floor, Floyd | and you surmise that this room must have been built for observation of Floyd | that area. The waterlock is west of here. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "In the grand tradition established by zork." | |||
| DavidW asks, "hm. Nothing in the room itself?" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "For the record, I have seen plants which glow, but never bright enough to see by." | ||||
| (from DavidW) Jacqueline says, "I've also seen penguins play canasta, but they aren't very good at it." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "snrk" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I think it's time to explore elsewhere." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "That would be cool, but unfortunately on this planet, penguins don't exist in the arctic." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to DW), "Explore away." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | > Floyd | Waterlock Floyd | The walls are close and smooth in this utterly nondescript, Floyd | cylindrical room. The only noteworthy feature is that a couple of Floyd | touchplates adorn one wall, one crimson and one turquoise. There's Floyd | also an exit to, oh let's call it the east. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put headset in pocket" | ||||
Floyd | >Because the suit is skintight, it's not terribly comfortable to have Floyd | things stuffed inside it, so you'd prefer not to do that unless it's Floyd | absolutely necessary. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push crimson" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, and a field of crimson energy Floyd | materializes in the cylinder! The floor opens, and the energy field Floyd | carries you downwards, hurtling through darkness until you reach Floyd | the... Floyd | Floyd | Nexus Floyd | You hang suspended within a translucent crimson bubble of energy, with Floyd | nothing but inky darkness beyond. Also suspended by the energy field Floyd | are six touchplates, each bearing an icon. The icons are: a snowflake, Floyd | ocean waves, a cactus, a broad leaf, an evergreen tree, and one you Floyd | don't recognize, which looks a bit like an abstract rendition of a Floyd | cat's face. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Wow, Dan Shiovitz cameo." | |||
| DavidW says, "hm. Sounds like we've got six ecosystems to explore, two of which we've already been to." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Yeah." | ||||
| Jacqueline asks, "Do 'em in order?" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf3" | ||||
Floyd | >Enter saved game to store: Ok. Floyd | | Jacqueline asks, "Cactus next?" | |||
| DavidW says, "I don't care which order, as long as we don't forget the beige touchplate in the ocean rock." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Cactus is fine." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Well, we could do the touchplate." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Some of these plates might even be broken." | ||||
| DavidW says, "I bet the snowflake one is broken, for example." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "push cactus" | Jacqueline says, "Try it and see." | |||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the cactus touchplate, and the bubble begins Floyd | spinning smoothly. You have the sensation of swift movement, Floyd | effortless at first, then stuttering and jerking violently. The Floyd | surface of the bubble wavers, and for a moment your blood freezes with Floyd | the thought that it will dissolve before finishing the journey. Floyd | Finally and suddenly, the bubble dumps you on sandy ground just before Floyd | dissolving around you. Floyd | Floyd | Sandy Dome Floyd | You're in a dome, probably about ten feet high at its zenith and Floyd | twenty feet in diameter at its base. The wall is transparent, but Floyd | that's not too useful, since the entire dome appears to be buried in Floyd | sand. There are several platforms on the ground, reaching to your hip Floyd | and covered with a soft bedding on top, and to one side of these is a Floyd | pedestal with a crimson touchplate. You can see no exits. Floyd | Floyd | On one side of the dome, a large pile of sand covers the floor, Floyd | drifting to its highest point at a junction of dome wall and floor. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Ah, Nitku makes the executive decision." | |||
| Jacqueline smiles. | ||||
| Nitku says, "Less yappin', more ... uh.. playin'" | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "a sand" | ||||
Floyd | >That's not a verb I recognize. Floyd | | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "x sand" | ||||
Floyd | >Looking more closely at the sand, it becomes clear that it's here Floyd | because of a rupture between the dome's wall and its floor -- the dome Floyd | isn't flush with the ground, and sand has flowed into the gap. Floyd | | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "move it" | ||||
Floyd | >You push some of the sand more toward the center of the dome, but Floyd | more flows in through the gap. Floyd | | Jacqueline says (to Nitku), "Given the big game this afternoon, I am all for that." | |||
| vimes says, "more tappin' (on the keyboard) (to play, instead of yap)" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Not that this isn't *also* a big game, of course." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x platforms" | ||||
Floyd | >If you had to guess, you'd say these platforms serve as furniture for Floyd | whoever built this dome. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x pedestal" | ||||
Floyd | >This is just a small, cylindrical pedestal, about four feet high. Floyd | Atop its angled surface is a crimson touchplate. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x bedding" | ||||
Floyd | >If you had to guess, you'd say these platforms serve as furniture for Floyd | whoever built this dome. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x dome" | ||||
Floyd | >You see nothing special about the dome wall. Floyd | | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "search bedding" | ||||
Floyd | >You find nothing of interest. Floyd | | Nitku says, "I guess there's not much here to do." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "huh" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "take sand" | ||||
Floyd | >There's no particular reason to carry around a bunch of sand. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "touch crimson" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, but nothing happens. Floyd | | DavidW says, "oops" | |||
| ParserGirl goes home. | Jacqueline asks, "Does that mean that we're... stuck here?" | |||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | > Floyd | Sandy Dome Floyd | You're in a dome, probably about ten feet high at its zenith and Floyd | twenty feet in diameter at its base. The wall is transparent, but Floyd | that's not too useful, since the entire dome appears to be buried in Floyd | sand. There are several platforms on the ground, reaching to your hip Floyd | and covered with a soft bedding on top, and to one side of these is a Floyd | pedestal with a crimson touchplate. You can see no exits. Floyd | Floyd | On one side of the dome, a large pile of sand covers the floor, Floyd | drifting to its highest point at a junction of dome wall and floor. Floyd | | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "search sand" | ||||
Floyd | >Looking more closely at the sand, it becomes clear that it's here Floyd | because of a rupture between the dome's wall and its floor -- the dome Floyd | isn't flush with the ground, and sand has flowed into the gap. Floyd | | DavidW says, "I think we can escape." | |||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "dig" | ||||
Floyd | >(the pile of sand) Floyd | The pile of sand is fairly shallow, and there's nothing buried in it. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x gap" | ||||
Floyd | >There's about a six-inch gap between the dome wall and floor, through Floyd | which has spilled an impressive quantity of sand. Floyd | | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "enter sand" | ||||
Floyd | >That's not something you can enter. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "hit gap" | ||||
Floyd | >Satisfying though it would be, that's probably not productive. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "eat sand" | ||||
Floyd | >(first taking the pile of sand) Floyd | There's no particular reason to carry around a bunch of sand. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "hit dome" | ||||
Floyd | >Your punch bounces ineffectually off the dome wall, though you do Floyd | hear a creak, and the sound of the sand shifting. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "g" | ||||
Floyd | >Your punch bounces ineffectually off the dome wall, though you do Floyd | hear a creak, and the sound of the sand shifting. Floyd | | Paul says, "That's how Matter-Eater Lad would solve the problem" | |||
| inky arrives, full of neither funk nor fun. | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open gap" | ||||
Floyd | >You bend your knees, work your fingers into the gap, and heave. You Floyd | can feel the earthsuit augmenting your muscles, its amazing strength Floyd | struggling against the weight of the dome and the sand surrounding it. Floyd | You feel it give, just a little, and you redouble your efforts, Floyd | shaking with the strain. Sand flows between your feet as the dome edge Floyd | inches ever higher, and finally, with a mighty CREEEAK!, the rest of Floyd | the seal gives way, and a tsunami of sand smacks you in the face. Floyd | Spluttering and coughing, you dig yourself out of the dune, and pull Floyd | the dome the rest of the way free. The pedestal and platforms are Floyd | buried -- all that's left of the dome is its shell, upended into the Floyd | big bowl beside you. Floyd | Floyd | Desert Floyd | The first thing you notice is the heat. It is punishing, astonishing, Floyd | like standing inside an inferno that burns without flames. Your suit Floyd | insulates you somewhat, and a lucky thing, too, because otherwise you Floyd | wouldn't last long under a sun that feels like it's just a few feet Floyd | away. It's hard to tell which direction is which, since you emerged Floyd | from the dome rather than landing here -- you'll need to invent some Floyd | directions based on gut instinct and hope they work out. So let's say Floyd | that the cool, distant greenness is east, and the gentler, golden hue Floyd | is west. Sand dunes block your view north and south. Floyd | Floyd | A large, Y-shaped cactus stands nearby. Floyd | Floyd | You can also see an enormous bowl (which is empty) here. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Mr. Shiovitz." | |||
| inky says, "atsa me" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x bowl" | ||||
Floyd | >Once it was the Desert area's dome, but since you upended this huge Floyd | piece of concave polymer, it's now a huge, transparent bowl. Floyd | | DavidW says, "Now we need a T-Rex to adopt as our puppy, and this can be its bowl." | |||
| Nitku says, "Or a sandworm." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x cactus" | ||||
Floyd | >This sturdy cactus looks like a headless, prickly, green referee Floyd | signaling a touchdown. Hmm, maybe extreme heat affects your brain's Floyd | ability to come up with good metaphors. The sun is shining directly Floyd | between the arms of the cactus. Floyd | | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "climb it" | ||||
Floyd | >I don't think much is to be achieved by that. Floyd | | Lucea says, "I like that metaphor." | |||
| DavidW says, "okay, that cactus description demands something like a magnifying glass or mirror be wedged in it." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "heehee" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to DW), "Hm, possibly." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Unless you have a giant ACME rubber band handy instead." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "beep beep" | ||||
Floyd | >That's not a verb I recognize. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "meep" | ||||
Floyd | >That's not a verb I recognize. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "get bowl" | ||||
Floyd | >The bowl is too big and awkward to carry while you're holding Floyd | anything else. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "drop all" | ||||
Floyd | >cabin key: Dropped. Floyd | legal pad: Dropped. Floyd | notepad: Dropped. Floyd | loose papers: Dropped. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "get bowl" | ||||
Floyd | >You heft the bowl over your head. Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "put bowl on cactus" | ||||
Floyd | >The bowl is way, way, way too big to fit between the cactus' arms. Floyd | | DavidW asks, "er, any reason we want the bowl right now?" | |||
| DavidW says, "oh, I see." | ||||
| Nitku says, "I was going with the magnifying glass idea" | ||||
| Nitku says, "Though it probably wouldn't do any good at this point" | ||||
| DavidW says, "Perhaps it'll become clearer later on." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "drop bowl. get all" | ||||
Floyd | >You set the bowl down near the cactus. Floyd | enormous bowl: You heft the bowl over your head. Taken. Floyd | loose papers: You can't pick up anything else while you're carrying Floyd | the bowl. Floyd | notepad: You can't pick up anything else while you're carrying the Floyd | bowl. Floyd | legal pad: You can't pick up anything else while you're carrying the Floyd | bowl. Floyd | cabin key: You can't pick up anything else while you're carrying the Floyd | bowl. Floyd | cactus: You can't pick up anything else while you're carrying the Floyd | bowl. Floyd | | Nitku says, "grr" | |||
| DavidW says, "ha" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "drop bowl" | ||||
Floyd | >You set the bowl down near the cactus. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "get all except bowl" | ||||
Floyd | >loose papers: Taken. Floyd | notepad: Taken. Floyd | legal pad: Taken. Floyd | cabin key: Taken. Floyd | cactus: Somehow, you don't have the heart to uproot the only sign of Floyd | life you see here. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "I don't even want to say how my mind read 'loose papers: You can't pick up anything else while you're carrying the bowl.'" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Suffice it to say that the words 'loose' and 'bowl' were close to each other due to the placement of the hard return." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I need to get more sleep or something." | ||||
| Paul says, "Or less coffee" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "heehee" | ||||
| Lucea says, "heh" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I think we need to visit either the green or the gold area next." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Green probably means a jungle or savannah." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "mmkay" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf4" | ||||
Floyd | >Enter saved game to store: Ok. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | > Floyd | Desert Floyd | The first thing you notice is the heat. It is punishing, astonishing, Floyd | like standing inside an inferno that burns without flames. Your suit Floyd | insulates you somewhat, and a lucky thing, too, because otherwise you Floyd | wouldn't last long under a sun that feels like it's just a few feet Floyd | away. It's hard to tell which direction is which, since you emerged Floyd | from the dome rather than landing here -- you'll need to invent some Floyd | directions based on gut instinct and hope they work out. So let's say Floyd | that the cool, distant greenness is east, and the gentler, golden hue Floyd | is west. Sand dunes block your view north and south. Floyd | Floyd | A large, Y-shaped cactus stands nearby. Floyd | Floyd | You can also see an enormous bowl (which is empty) here. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump east" | ||||
Floyd | >Once again, you get a running start and launch yourself upwards. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | From the zenith of your jump, it looks like a lush, green carpet is Floyd | spread below you, but as you fall, the landscape soon resolves itself Floyd | into treetops, with occasional glimpses of tall, thick trunks below Floyd | the canopy, and one clearly artificial tower that is even taller than Floyd | the surrounding forest. By now, you've gotten the hang of steering Floyd | your descent a little, so you aim towards that tower, crashing through Floyd | the branches and landing solidly at its base. Floyd | Floyd | Forest Floyd | The air is cool and quiet down here, far beneath the treetop canopy. Floyd | On every side of you, massive trunks rise majestically. These trees Floyd | are enormous, like old-growth redwoods but growing higher than Earth Floyd | gravity would ever permit. The trees completely block the horizon, and Floyd | you feel quite disoriented as to where the compass directions are. Floyd | Floyd | Beside you is the base of a tower that's even taller than the trees. Floyd | | DavidW says, "ah. Forest" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x trees" | ||||
Floyd | >The sheer height of these trees is absolutely breathtaking. Their Floyd | bark is smooth and tan, and even their lowest branches are a hundred Floyd | feet above your head. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x tower" | ||||
Floyd | >This tower appears to be made of the same familiar polymer from the Floyd | floor of your cell, and its sides are perfectly smooth. It rises well Floyd | out of sight, past the treetops. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "u" | ||||
Floyd | >You launch yourself straight upward, shooting above the treetops and Floyd | hanging in space above the forest for a moment. You catch a glimpse of Floyd | icy whiteness -- the Arctic area -- so that's where north is. Then Floyd | you're hurtling down once more, landing heavily at the tower base. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "climb tree" | ||||
Floyd | >Not a chance -- even the lowest branches are far above you. Also, Floyd | since these trees grew in a low-grav environment, you have your doubts Floyd | that their branches would support you all that well. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "climb tower" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't get a grip on the smooth polymer. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "search tower" | ||||
Floyd | >You find nothing of interest. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x ground" | ||||
Floyd | >You see nothing special about the ground. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "search trees" | ||||
Floyd | >You find nothing of interest. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "hit tower" | ||||
Floyd | >The tower seems utterly impervious to your hammering fists. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "listen" | ||||
Floyd | >You can make out the sounds of complex, varied birdsong from high Floyd | above you. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x birds" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "smell" | ||||
Floyd | >The air smells crisp and clean here. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "dig ground" | ||||
Floyd | >Digging would achieve nothing here. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "find touchplate" | ||||
Floyd | >That's not a verb I recognize. Floyd | | DavidW says, "Not much to do here yet, I guess." | |||
| crumple is over | Jacqueline says, "Hm." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump east" | ||||
Floyd | >There isn't a great deal of room to run, but you do your best, and Floyd | launch yourself upwards. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | You've reached the arc of your parabola, and have begun to descend. An Floyd | ocean sloshes below you, uncluttered by islands or land masses. As you Floyd | fly through the air, you tuck your non-waterproof possessions into the Floyd | suit pouch. Soon, you hit the water with a massive SPLOOSH! Floyd | Floyd | As you sink, the suit begins supplying oxygen to you. Floyd | Floyd | Ocean Floyd | You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, Floyd | but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from Floyd | plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent Floyd | sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet Floyd | below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such Floyd | extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow Floyd | motion, you're experiencing no discomfort. Floyd | Floyd | A large circular door, apparently a hatch, is set in the ground here. Floyd | Floyd | Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a Floyd | glassy eye in the sand. Floyd | Floyd | You also notice a beige touchplate embedded in rock about ten yards Floyd | away from the hatch. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push beige" | ||||
Floyd | >When you lay a finger on the touchplate, nothing happens, but when Floyd | you press it with your whole hand, it lights up briefly, and once Floyd | again, nothing happens. At least, nothing happens at first, but in a Floyd | moment, you hear a rumbling, and suddenly the bit of ocean floor Floyd | you're standing on begins to rise! Soon, you find yourself shooting Floyd | upward on a small plot of land, spearing through tons of water that Floyd | would surely crush you if not for the earthsuit. Floyd | Floyd | You break the surface with a terrific SPLOOSH! And then it's over. You Floyd | find yourself standing on a small island as water sluices off its Floyd | surface and back into the ocean. By all rights, you should have a Floyd | serious case of the bends after such a rapid ascent from deep Floyd | underwater, but you feel fine -- the earthsuit must somehow have Floyd | fooled your body into thinking it was still at one atmosphere of Floyd | pressure, thus preventing nitrogen absorption. The plastic sheath over Floyd | your nose and mouth retreats back into the cowl. Floyd | Floyd | Island Floyd | In the funnies, all deserted islands are barely large enough to fit Floyd | two people, and always have a palm tree in the middle. This island is Floyd | just like that, except without the palm tree. Floyd | Floyd | Now that you're at the surface again, you try to orient yourself. The Floyd | whitish smudge in the distance must be the Arctic area, so let's call Floyd | that north. That would make the Forest west, the beige smudge east, Floyd | and the bright green smudge south. Floyd | Floyd | Now that you're dry again, you unzip the suit pouch and retrieve your Floyd | delicate items. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "heehee room description" | |||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | > Floyd | Island Floyd | In the funnies, all deserted islands are barely large enough to fit Floyd | two people, and always have a palm tree in the middle. This island is Floyd | just like that, except without the palm tree. Orienting yourself by Floyd | the distant smudges, you decide that the Forest is west, the beige Floyd | smudge is east, and the bright green smudge is south. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x green" | ||||
Floyd | >From this distance, you can make out no details at all. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x island" | ||||
Floyd | >That's not something you need to refer to in the course of this game. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Seems... empty." | |||
| DavidW says, "At least we can land on land in the ocean now. That might be useful." | ||||
| DavidW says, "I guess 'broad leaf' was Forest, so the bright green smudge = 'evergreen tree' and beige might be either 'cat's face' or 'cactus'." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump south" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't get much of a running start in such a tiny area, but you Floyd | crouch and launch yourself upwards, and that seems to provide Floyd | sufficient momentum. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | Your landing spot is entirely obscured by thick, grey clouds, pierced Floyd | by a long, metal tube that reaches far into the sky. You fall into the Floyd | clouds, soaked in rain, thinking of Emily -- please, let her be okay. Floyd | Suddenly a thick, broad leaf strikes you across the face, and you're Floyd | crashing through slick, wet vegetation. One bouncing, awkward, and Floyd | destructive fall later, you pick yourself up from damp ground, brush Floyd | the mud off your costume, and look around. Floyd | Floyd | Rainforest Floyd | You stand amidst a symphony of green. Deep jade moss covers the trunks Floyd | of trees, whose leaves far above filter mottled avocado light over Floyd | emerald bushes and green grass -- adjectives run out long before the Floyd | shades of green do. The air is warm, muggy, and filled with the sounds Floyd | of wildlife. Floyd | Floyd | Beside you is the bottom of a long steel tube that rises into the sky Floyd | and past the clouds. Floyd | Floyd | One small square at your feet appears free of moss, or at least it Floyd | might, if you could see past the swarming mass of slugs that infest Floyd | it. Floyd | Floyd | A closed metal canister sits next to the slug-infested square. Floyd | Floyd | In a rare patch of foliage-free ground near you, the mirrored surface Floyd | of a dome reflects the surrounding greenery. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Good thing it wasn't a devil's club broadleaf, since we were smacked in the face with it." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Hahaha 'adjectives run out long before the shades of green do.'" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I guess I was wrong. Broad leaf must be here, and evergreen was the Forest." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x canister" | ||||
Floyd | >This is a small canister, about twice the size of a beer can. Floyd | Floyd | You hear voices in conversation above you -- no language you've ever Floyd | heard, but clearly a dialogue -- and look up to see two parrots on a Floyd | nearby branch, vocalizing to each other with occasional glances at Floyd | you. Their tones make you feel like you've just crashed a very Floyd | exclusive party, and are terribly underdressed to boot. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "listen to parrots" | ||||
Floyd | >You hear nothing unexpected. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x parrots" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't be sure that these birds are actually parrots, of course, Floyd | but that's what they most resemble, with perhaps somewhat larger Floyd | heads, and feet that more closely resemble articulated fingers. One of Floyd | the birds sports the sort of blue, yellow, and green plumage that Floyd | accompany your mental default image of a parrot, while the other is a Floyd | uniform shade of grey. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask parrots about emily" | ||||
Floyd | >There is no reply. Floyd | Floyd | You hear a crashing, thumping sound from above, and jump out of the Floyd | way. No one falls, though, and in a moment it becomes clear that one Floyd | of the parrots was imitating the sound of your galumphing descent Floyd | through the rainforest vegetation. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "heh" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take canister" | ||||
Floyd | >Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x slugs" | ||||
Floyd | >You've never seen this behavior in slugs before -- they're crawling Floyd | over, under, and around each other in a slimy, pale mass. They're Floyd | covering the panel almost completely. Floyd | Floyd | You hear a crashing, thumping sound from above, and jump out of the Floyd | way. No one falls, though, and in a moment it becomes clear that one Floyd | of the parrots was imitating the sound of your galumphing descent Floyd | through the rainforest vegetation. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x panel" | ||||
Floyd | >What with the slugfest, it's difficult to discern anything about the Floyd | square. You do occasionally see a tiny corner of indigo underneath the Floyd | slimy swarm. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x tube" | ||||
Floyd | >This tube is an exact duplicate of the one from the Arctic area, with Floyd | one salient difference: it hasn't been wrecked by a massive impact. It Floyd | looks easily wide enough to fit yourself into -- if you can figure out Floyd | how to enter it, that is. Floyd | Floyd | One of the parrots squawks loudly and indignantly, but you're not sure Floyd | whether its outrage is directed at you, at the other parrot, or at the Floyd | world in general. Floyd | | DavidW says, "This must be the 2nd space elevator, as per the diagram we found earlier." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x moss" | ||||
Floyd | >Water runs down the sides of these trees in a continual trickle, Floyd | feeding the moss that grows on every trunk. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x trees" | ||||
Floyd | >Water runs down the sides of these trees in a continual trickle, Floyd | feeding the moss that grows on every trunk. Floyd | Floyd | In unison, the parrots fly to a different branch, and resume their Floyd | conversation from there. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x parrots" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't be sure that these birds are actually parrots, of course, Floyd | but that's what they most resemble, with perhaps somewhat larger Floyd | heads, and feet that more closely resemble articulated fingers. One of Floyd | the birds sports the sort of blue, yellow, and green plumage that Floyd | accompany your mental default image of a parrot, while the other is a Floyd | uniform shade of grey. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open canister" | ||||
Floyd | >You open the canister, revealing a few crystal grains. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x grains" | ||||
Floyd | >These are a few grains of a white, crystalline substance. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "taste grains" | ||||
Floyd | >A bit reluctantly, you shake the grains onto your tongue, and Floyd | swallow. They were common table salt. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "pour salt on slugs" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put salt on slugs" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "pour salt" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | Nitku exclaims, "Remarkable birds! Lovely plumage!" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "pour grains on slugs" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x salt" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x grains" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "pour canister on slugs" | ||||
Floyd | >That's not something that will have a particularly harmful effect on Floyd | the slugs. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "close canister" | ||||
Floyd | >You close the canister. Floyd | | DavidW says, "well. A plan begins to form." | |||
| DavidW says, "Perhaps we need a somewhat larger supply of salt." | ||||
| DavidW says, "And since we haven't found a salt mine or salt lick, I'm thinking of ocean water." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Which might be evaporated in the desert sun." | ||||
| DavidW says, "We still need a lens, I think, to put in the cactus's arms." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Hm." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "look in canister" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't see inside, since the canister is closed. Floyd | Floyd | You hear a crashing, thumping sound from above, and jump out of the Floyd | way. No one falls, though, and in a moment it becomes clear that one Floyd | of the parrots was imitating the sound of your galumphing descent Floyd | through the rainforest vegetation. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "open canister" | ||||
Floyd | >You open the canister. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "look in canister" | ||||
Floyd | >The canister is empty. Floyd | | Jacqueline asks, "Did we eat *all* the salt?" | |||
| DavidW says, "There was only a few grains left, I guess." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Although, this game is usually forgiving, so you're probably right about a new source." | ||||
| DavidW says, "We need a full canister's worth, I think." | ||||
| Jacqueline asks, "So, ocean water, then desert?" | ||||
| Jacqueline asks, "Have we explored everywhere and not found a lens?" | ||||
| Jacqueline scrolls back to see what's left, maybe. | ||||
| DavidW says, "We have not explored everywhere. The cat's face / beige area." | ||||
| DavidW says, "We haven't been inside the tower yet, either." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | >You are carrying: Floyd | a canister (which is open but empty) Floyd | a cabin key Floyd | a legal pad Floyd | a notepad Floyd | some loose papers Floyd | a headset Floyd | an earthsuit (being worn) Floyd | | DavidW says, "We can probably enter the tower via the Nexus." | |||
| Jacqueline asks, "That bowl was opaque, or clear?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "Clear, of course." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "So..." | ||||
| Jacqueline asks, "Maybe a lens?" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear headset" | ||||
Floyd | >You put on the headset. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "listen" | ||||
Floyd | >The parrots are silent at the moment, but even when they're talking, Floyd | you can't understand a word they say. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "listen to parrots" | ||||
Floyd | >You hear nothing unexpected. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Or was that tried? (Sorry, someone I know showed up in the coffee shop and has distracted me.)" | |||
| DavidW says, "we haven't found a lens yet." | ||||
| Bert says, "Someone tried putting the bowl on the cactus." | ||||
| Jacqueline asks, "No, I mean could the bowl serve that purpose?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "The bowl can hold the ocean water to start with." | ||||
| Bert says, "It was too big." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "ah" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I think if a lens was put in the cactus, we'd have a beam that the dome/bowl could be put in." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump" | ||||
Floyd | >If this is the opposite pole from the Arctic area, everything is Floyd | north of here, in a sense. However, that doesn't do you much good -- Floyd | you'll need to decide on some arbitrary directions, preferably ones Floyd | that correspond with the ones you've been using so far. So you launch Floyd | yourself straight upward, punching through the rainclouds and hanging Floyd | for a moment in the sunshine above them. Quickly, you look around: the Floyd | sand dunes of the Desert area are visible from here, so that would be Floyd | north. You fall back through the clouds and trees, with an improved Floyd | sense of direction. Floyd | | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "eat key" | ||||
Floyd | >You're Earth, not Matter-Eater Lad. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump west" | ||||
Floyd | >There isn't a great deal of room to run, but you do your best, and Floyd | launch yourself upwards. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | You're descending towards a broad savannah, sparsely dotted with tall Floyd | trees. For a second, you think you spot movement, the grasses parting Floyd | and dark shapes darting away over the gentle hills, but once you land Floyd | and look around, everything seems perfectly still. Floyd | Floyd | Veldt Floyd | Tall grasses of faded gold reach past your knees, swaying; here and Floyd | there, baobab trees pose elegantly against a brilliant blue sky. Soft Floyd | hills ripple through this prairie, and the hot, thick air buzzes with Floyd | the sounds of distant insects. You can see blue-whiteness in one Floyd | direction -- the Arctic area -- so that's north, and the Rainforest Floyd | area is south. Far on the eastern horizon is the tan haze of the Floyd | Desert area, and the blue-green Ocean shimmers in the distant west. Floyd | Floyd | Beside you is a dome, its mirrored surface reflecting the sun. Floyd | | inky says, "heh" | |||
| Paul says, "Ha, Matter-Eater Lad joke already in the game. Apparently I have not changed at all in 7 years." | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "search grass" | ||||
Floyd | >You find nothing of interest. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "heh" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x dome" | ||||
Floyd | >The dome is about ten feet high at its zenith, and perhaps twenty Floyd | feet in diameter at its base. Its surface is reflective, but you don't Floyd | recognize the material it's made of -- no doubt another miracle Floyd | polymer from the same technology that produced your cell floor. Floyd | | Paul says, "Gotta sign off for a bit. Be back soon, I hope." | |||
| Paul has disconnected. | ||||
| Paul goes home. | Jacqueline says, "Bye -" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "- Paul." | ||||
| DavidW says, "I think we should visit via the Nexus." | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "dance" | ||||
Floyd | >You briefly boogie to music only you can hear. Floyd | | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "sing" | ||||
Floyd | >Your singing is abominable. Floyd | | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "xyzzy" | ||||
Floyd | >You're a superhero, not a magician. Floyd | Floyd | Something tickles your peripheral vision, and you turn. A feline face Floyd | is peeking over one of the ridges, and its eyes lock with yours for a Floyd | moment. Then it disappears, leaving the tall grass rocking behind it. Floyd | The moment passed quickly, but you did notice that the head was more Floyd | oval than triangular, and that the space between the eyes and ears was Floyd | enough to contain a brainpan larger than that of any earth cat. In Floyd | fact, the size of the head seemed to imply a rather large creature Floyd | overall. Floyd | Floyd | You stealthily approach the ridge and look over. About a hundred yards Floyd | away, there are perhaps a half-dozen cat-creatures, feline bodies Floyd | covered with fur but walking upright on their hind legs, and with Floyd | articulated gripping fingers on their front paws, from which you can Floyd | see claws occasionally extending. They are indeed large, probably Floyd | about eight feet tall and impressively muscled. The cat-people notice Floyd | you immediately, and retreat to a safe distance, but from there regard Floyd | you with equal curiosity. Floyd | | Jacqueline says (to Bert), "Only you." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Except that because you do that, it has caught on." | ||||
| Bert asks, "Dancing, singing, xyzzying, or eating keys?" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Dancing." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x cats" | ||||
Floyd | >These creatures are definitely feline, but don't appear to derive Floyd | from any animal you recognize. They stand about eight feet tall, Floyd | walking upright without awkwardness. Each wears a crude skin loincloth Floyd | and has a small, apparently vestigial tail. The patterns in their fur Floyd | are unique to each, but you suspect you can see some genetic Floyd | inheritance among two or three of them. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "I heard you started that trend." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear headset" | ||||
Floyd | >You're already wearing that! Floyd | Floyd | You hear the cats speaking to each other in a series of growls, Floyd | trills, and vocalizations that is occasionally overridden by your Floyd | mother's voice in the headset, whispering in your ear words like Floyd | "food", "stranger", and "child." Floyd | | Bert says, "Huh. I had no idea I was a trend-setter." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "talk to cats" | ||||
Floyd | >You'd have to shout, and they almost certainly wouldn't understand Floyd | you anyway. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "listen to cats" | ||||
Floyd | >You hear nothing unexpected. Floyd | | DavidW says, "The headset appears to translate the cat language." | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "talk to headset" | ||||
Floyd | >You can only do that to something animate. Floyd | | inky says, "sure that's one theory" | |||
| inky says, "maybe it makes you schizophrenic" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I want to get inside the dome via the Nexus." | ||||
| Bert says (to inky), "Ha ha." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to inky), "heehee" | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "meow" | ||||
Floyd | >Nice try, but making convincing cat sounds isn't one of your Floyd | superpowers. Floyd | | DavidW says, "ha" | |||
| inky says, "ha ha" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "purr" | ||||
Floyd | >Nice try, but making convincing cat sounds isn't one of your Floyd | superpowers. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "yay" | |||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "bark" | ||||
Floyd | >That's not a verb I recognize. Floyd | | DavidW says, "Let's get back to the Nexus, please." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump west" | ||||
Floyd | >Once again, you get a running start and launch yourself upwards. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | You've reached the arc of your parabola, and have begun to descend. An Floyd | ocean sloshes below you, dotted by just one tiny island. As you fly Floyd | through the air, you tuck your non-waterproof possessions into the Floyd | suit pouch. Soon, you hit the water with a massive SPLOOSH! Floyd | Floyd | As you sink, the suit begins supplying oxygen to you. Floyd | Floyd | Ocean Floyd | You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, Floyd | but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from Floyd | plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent Floyd | sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet Floyd | below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such Floyd | extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow Floyd | motion, you're experiencing no discomfort. Floyd | Floyd | A large circular door, apparently a hatch, is set in the ground here. Floyd | Floyd | Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a Floyd | glassy eye in the sand. Floyd | Floyd | You also notice a beige touchplate next to a towering silver cylinder Floyd | about ten yards away from the hatch. Floyd | | ||||
| Lucea says (to floyd), "x bubble" | ||||
Floyd | >The bubble is made of a substance you don't recognize, and reflects Floyd | your face back at you, distorted into shapes that would startle Floyd | Chester Gould. Floyd | Floyd | You sense a presence behind you. Whirling, you find yourself Floyd | face-to-eye with an enormous squid, at least fifty feet long. The Floyd | squid is regarding you, not with aggression, but with curiosity. Floyd | | Lucea says, "uh oh" | |||
| DavidW asks, "oh, we didn't land on the island, huh?" | ||||
| inky says, "squids are our friends!" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "quid, hello" | ||||
Floyd | >You seem to want to talk to someone, but I can't see whom. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x squid" | ||||
Floyd | >This squid is one of the most astonishing living creatures you've Floyd | ever seen. Its dark, mesmerizing eye is as big as a hubcap. Eight long Floyd | tentacles and two even longer feeding arms trail from its maroon, Floyd | torpedo-shaped body, and at the center of that body is a Floyd | formidable-looking beak. The squid is keeping a safe distance from Floyd | you, examining you and your possessions with keen interest. Floyd | | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "squid, hello" | ||||
Floyd | >"Uh, hi there." you begin gamely. "I'm Austin Colborn." Floyd | Floyd | The squid just looks at you, its tentacles swaying slowly. Floyd | Floyd | "You, uh, come here often?" you say. Floyd | Floyd | The squid continues to look at you. Floyd | Floyd | "Hey wait," you say, "I'm encased in a suit. I'll bet you can't even Floyd | hear me. Tell you what, if you can't hear me, or can't understand me, Floyd | just stare at me and do absolutely nothing." Floyd | Floyd | The giant squid just stares at you. It does absolutely nothing. Floyd | Floyd | The squid taps you, then points one tentacle at the beige touchplate Floyd | while waving the others in an urgent but uninterpretable pattern. Floyd | | Jacqueline needs to check on her squid. | |||
| inky says, "oh hey yeah" | ||||
| Bert says, "I think it's trying to communicate with us." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to inky), "What's the address for that again? I'm not at my home computer." | ||||
| Bert says, "Perhaps it's wondering if we're intelligent." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "touch beige" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, and it lights up briefly. The Floyd | silvery column begins sliding downward, retreating back into the Floyd | ground. Soon, the ocean floor is flat once again, looking as Floyd | undisturbed as if nothing had ever happened. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "touch beige" | ||||
Floyd | >When you lay a finger on the touchplate, nothing happens, but when Floyd | you press it with your whole hand, it lights up briefly, and once Floyd | again, nothing happens. At least, nothing happens at first, but in a Floyd | moment, you hear a rumbling, and suddenly the bit of ocean floor Floyd | you're standing on begins to rise! Soon, you find yourself shooting Floyd | upward on a small plot of land, spearing through tons of water that Floyd | would surely crush you if not for the earthsuit. Floyd | Floyd | You break the surface with a terrific SPLOOSH! And then it's over. You Floyd | find yourself standing on a small island as water sluices off its Floyd | surface and back into the ocean. By all rights, you should have a Floyd | serious case of the bends after such a rapid ascent from deep Floyd | underwater, but you feel fine -- the earthsuit must somehow have Floyd | fooled your body into thinking it was still at one atmosphere of Floyd | pressure, thus preventing nitrogen absorption. The plastic sheath over Floyd | your nose and mouth retreats back into the cowl. Floyd | Floyd | Island Floyd | In the funnies, all deserted islands are barely large enough to fit Floyd | two people, and always have a palm tree in the middle. This island is Floyd | just like that, except without the palm tree. Orienting yourself by Floyd | the distant smudges, you decide that the Forest is west, the Veldt Floyd | area is east, and the Rainforest is south. Floyd | Floyd | Now that you're dry again, you unzip the suit pouch and retrieve your Floyd | delicate items. Floyd | | inky says, "[LINK]" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "dive" | ||||
Floyd | >Before diving in, you tuck your non-waterproof possessions into the Floyd | suit pouch. Then you dive into the water, and sink like a cinderblock Floyd | until you reach the bottom. Floyd | Floyd | Ocean Floyd | You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, Floyd | but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from Floyd | plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent Floyd | sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet Floyd | below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such Floyd | extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow Floyd | motion, you're experiencing no discomfort. Floyd | Floyd | An incredible giant squid floats alongside you, just out of reach. Floyd | Floyd | A large circular door, apparently a hatch, is set in the ground here. Floyd | Floyd | Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a Floyd | glassy eye in the sand. Floyd | Floyd | You also notice a beige touchplate next to a towering silver cylinder Floyd | about ten yards away from the hatch. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "touch turquoise" | ||||
Floyd | >When you lay a finger on the touchplate, nothing happens, but when Floyd | you press it with your whole hand, it lights up briefly, and the hatch Floyd | slowly swings open, releasing a huge bubble of air that floats lazily Floyd | upwards. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "in" | ||||
Floyd | > Floyd | Waterlock Floyd | The walls are close and smooth in this utterly nondescript, Floyd | cylindrical room, currently filled with water. The only noteworthy Floyd | feature is that a couple of touchplates adorn one wall, one crimson Floyd | and one turquoise. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "touch turquoise" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, and the hatch swings smoothly Floyd | closed. Water begins to drain from the room, hidden pumps rapidly Floyd | replacing it with air. Your suit returns to normal, and an entrance Floyd | slides open beside you, in a direction you capriciously decide to call Floyd | east. Floyd | Floyd | Now that you're dry again, you unzip the suit pouch and retrieve your Floyd | delicate items. Floyd | | inky says, "I just passed a giant squid" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | > Floyd | Ocean Observatory Floyd | You're now standing beneath the mirrored bubble. The air in this room Floyd | feels rather stale, and the only light comes from the plants outside Floyd | the bubble. That bubble gives an excellent view of the ocean floor, Floyd | and you surmise that this room must have been built for observation of Floyd | that area. The waterlock is west of here. Floyd | | inky says, "and that squid .. was .. ME" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x squid" | ||||
Floyd | >You see the ocean floor, dimly illuminated by bioluminescent plants. Floyd | A giant squid floats calmly near the bubble, exploring its environment Floyd | with tentacles and enormous eyes. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | > Floyd | Waterlock Floyd | The walls are close and smooth in this utterly nondescript, Floyd | cylindrical room. The only noteworthy feature is that a couple of Floyd | touchplates adorn one wall, one crimson and one turquoise. There's Floyd | also an exit to, oh let's call it the east. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "touch crimson" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, and a field of crimson energy Floyd | materializes in the cylinder! The floor opens, and the energy field Floyd | carries you downwards, hurtling through darkness until you reach Floyd | the... Floyd | Floyd | Nexus Floyd | You hang suspended within a translucent crimson bubble of energy, with Floyd | nothing but inky darkness beyond. Also suspended by the energy field Floyd | are six touchplates, each bearing an icon. The icons are: a snowflake, Floyd | ocean waves, a cactus, a broad leaf, an evergreen tree, and one you Floyd | don't recognize, which looks a bit like an abstract rendition of a Floyd | cat's face. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "touch cat" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the cat touchplate, and the bubble begins Floyd | spinning smoothly. You have the sensation of swift, effortless Floyd | movement. With surprising suddenness, the energy transport deposits Floyd | you elsewhere, then dissolves around you. Floyd | Floyd | Veldt Dome Floyd | You're in a dome, probably about ten feet high at its zenith and Floyd | twenty feet in diameter at its base. The wall is transparent, and on Floyd | the other side of it is a wide grassland, creased with gentle hills Floyd | and the occasional baobab tree. There are several platforms inside the Floyd | dome, reaching to your hip and covered with a soft bedding on top, and Floyd | to one side of these is a pedestal with a crimson touchplate. You can Floyd | see no exits. Floyd | Floyd | A white cylinder sits atop one of the platforms. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x white cylinder" | ||||
Floyd | >This cylinder is about the size and shape of a paint can. Its entire Floyd | surface is white except for a small black button on one of its flat Floyd | faces. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take it" | ||||
Floyd | >The device is surprisingly heavy, as if its core is quite dense. Floyd | Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x black button" | ||||
Floyd | >The black button bears the icon of an oval with some indecipherable Floyd | scribbles inside. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "listen" | ||||
Floyd | >You hear nothing unexpected. Floyd | | Jacqueline says (to inky), "My squid has made friends with a ... giant sea pig. I have no idea what that is; it sounds made up." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear headset" | ||||
Floyd | >You put on the headset. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "But back to the game." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "listen" | ||||
Floyd | >You hear nothing unexpected. Floyd | | inky says, "ha ha" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x cats" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | inky | * Scotoplanes, a genus of deep-sea holothurians (sea cucumbers) commonly called Sea pigs | |||
| inky | * some species of porpoise or dolphin or dugong | ||||
| inky | * an animal in medieval texts with uncertain identity (porcus marinus) | ||||
| inky says, "so basically it could be anything" | ||||
| inky says, "but you are totally friends with it" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "hahah" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Excellent." | ||||
| Jacqueline asks, "Indecipherable squiggles as in language, eh?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I dunno what this cylinder is. I'm gonna assume 'bomb' for now." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to DW), "Heh. Always the safest assumption." | ||||
| DavidW asks, "maybe the cats can read it. Who knows?" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x touchplate" | ||||
Floyd | >This crimson touchplate sports the icon of a circle from which six Floyd | spokes radiate. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "touch it" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, and a field of crimson energy Floyd | materializes next to the pedestal, surrounding you in a glowing shell. Floyd | The floor beneath you opens, and the energy field carries you Floyd | downwards, hurtling through darkness until you reach the... Floyd | Floyd | Nexus Floyd | You hang suspended within a translucent crimson bubble of energy, with Floyd | nothing but inky darkness beyond. Also suspended by the energy field Floyd | are six touchplates, each bearing an icon. The icons are: a snowflake, Floyd | ocean waves, a cactus, a broad leaf, an evergreen tree, and one you Floyd | don't recognize, which looks a bit like an abstract rendition of a Floyd | cat's face. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "touch evergreen" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the tree touchplate, and the bubble begins Floyd | spinning smoothly. You have the sensation of swift, effortless Floyd | movement. With surprising suddenness, the energy transport deposits Floyd | you elsewhere, then dissolves around you. Floyd | Floyd | Forest Dome Floyd | You're in a dome, probably about ten feet high at its zenith and Floyd | twenty feet in diameter at its base. The wall is transparent, and Floyd | through it you can see that you're about twenty yards above the Floyd | treetops of a magnificent forest. There are several platforms on the Floyd | ground, reaching to your hip and covered with a soft bedding on top, Floyd | and to one side of these is a pedestal with a crimson touchplate. You Floyd | can see no exits. Floyd | Floyd | In the center of the dome, an odd device rests atop an eight-foot Floyd | pole. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x device" | ||||
Floyd | >You're not sure exactly what this device is, but given that it has a Floyd | large lens on one end and a face-shaped indentation on the other, Floyd | you're inclined to believe it's somehow intended for long-distance Floyd | viewing -- a "viewscope", you decide provisionally. Sadly, it's at the Floyd | top of an eight-foot pole in the center of the dome, and the Floyd | indentation doesn't appear to be shaped to accommodate a human face, Floyd | so it's not exactly tourist-friendly. Floyd | | ||||
| Paul arrives, full of funk, but no fun. | DavidW says, "Anyway, we seem to have a lens here." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x lens" | ||||
Floyd | >This is a large, convex lens meant for focusing light to view distant Floyd | objects. It is currently screwed onto the viewscope. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "unscrew lens" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't reach it. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump" | ||||
Floyd | >Even at its highest point, the ceiling isn't far out of reach, and Floyd | there's nothing on it. Floyd | | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "look in viewscope" | ||||
Floyd | >It's too far above you. Floyd | | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "climb pole" | ||||
Floyd | >It would probably be easier just to climb up on one of the platforms. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "climb platform" | ||||
Floyd | >You climb onto the platform nearest the viewscope. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "unscrew lens" | ||||
Floyd | >It takes a fair amount of strength, but you unscrew the lens from the Floyd | viewscope. Floyd | | inky says, "it gives you a funny feeling, like when you used to climb the pole in astronomy class" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take lens" | ||||
Floyd | >You already have that. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "down" | inky says, "wait, you didn't look through it" | |||
Floyd | >You get off the platform. Floyd | Floyd | Forest Dome Floyd | You're in a dome, probably about ten feet high at its zenith and Floyd | twenty feet in diameter at its base. The wall is transparent, and Floyd | through it you can see that you're about twenty yards above the Floyd | treetops of a magnificent forest. There are several platforms on the Floyd | ground, reaching to your hip and covered with a soft bedding on top, Floyd | and to one side of these is a pedestal with a crimson touchplate. You Floyd | can see no exits. Floyd | Floyd | You can see a viewscope here. Floyd | | inky says, "there might have been something awesome" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | >Forest Dome Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | >Forest Dome Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | >Forest Dome Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "look through lens" | ||||
Floyd | >Try looking through the eyepiece instead. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "look through eyepiece" | ||||
Floyd | >It's hard to get a steady view, and it's a bit blurry looking through Floyd | only one eyepiece, but you can see creatures in the treetops. They're Floyd | humanoid, in fact almost human-like -- mostly standing upright but Floyd | crouching occasionally, large front teeth tearing into their food, Floyd | interacting with each other in what appear to be fairly social ways. Floyd | In fact, if you didn't know that you were in the present, staring at a Floyd | world that isn't Earth, you'd have identified them as Floyd | Australopithecus. Floyd | | DavidW says, "good catch" | |||
| DavidW says, "I was expecting to be in the tower, though, not a dome. I didn't note a dome in the Forest." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I recall none of this. Maybe I didn't finish this one..." | ||||
| inky says, "you can't see the dome for the trees" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Isn't that always the way." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x australopithecines." | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x figures" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x humanoids" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | inky says, "australopithecines, you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Okay." | ||||
| DavidW says, "We should get the lens and check out the Rainforest dome as well." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "unscrew lens" | ||||
Floyd | >It takes a fair amount of strength, but you unscrew the lens from the Floyd | viewscope. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take lens" | ||||
Floyd | >You already have that. Floyd | | Jacqueline says (to inky), "I thought we said you were going to quit doing crazy, mind-altering drugs." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "d" | ||||
Floyd | >You get off the platform. Floyd | Floyd | Forest Dome Floyd | You're in a dome, probably about ten feet high at its zenith and Floyd | twenty feet in diameter at its base. The wall is transparent, and Floyd | through it you can see that you're about twenty yards above the Floyd | treetops of a magnificent forest. There are several platforms on the Floyd | ground, reaching to your hip and covered with a soft bedding on top, Floyd | and to one side of these is a pedestal with a crimson touchplate. You Floyd | can see no exits. Floyd | Floyd | You can see a viewscope here. Floyd | | inky says, "hee hee" | |||
| inky says, "right after I come down off this one" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Okay then." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "touch touchplate" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, and a field of crimson energy Floyd | materializes next to the pedestal, surrounding you in a glowing shell. Floyd | The floor beneath you opens, and the energy field carries you Floyd | downwards, hurtling through darkness until you reach the... Floyd | Floyd | Nexus Floyd | You hang suspended within a translucent crimson bubble of energy, with Floyd | nothing but inky darkness beyond. Also suspended by the energy field Floyd | are six touchplates, each bearing an icon. The icons are: a snowflake, Floyd | ocean waves, a cactus, a broad leaf, an evergreen tree, and one you Floyd | don't recognize, which looks a bit like an abstract rendition of a Floyd | cat's face. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "touch leaf" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the leaf touchplate, and the bubble begins Floyd | spinning smoothly. You have the sensation of swift, effortless Floyd | movement. With surprising suddenness, the energy transport deposits Floyd | you elsewhere, then dissolves around you. Floyd | Floyd | Rainforest Dome Floyd | You're in a dome, probably about ten feet high at its zenith and Floyd | twenty feet in diameter at its base. The wall is transparent, and Floyd | through it you can see a verdant jungle, its colors only a little bit Floyd | muted by the interposing dome. There are several platforms inside the Floyd | dome, reaching to your hip and covered with a soft bedding on top, and Floyd | to one side of these is a pedestal with two touchplates. You can see Floyd | no exits. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x pedestal" | ||||
Floyd | >This is just a small, cylindrical pedestal, about four feet high. Floyd | Atop its angled surface are two touchplates, one crimson and one Floyd | indigo. The indigo one has a very thin sponge attached to it. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x sponge" | ||||
Floyd | >Depending on how you look at it, this is either a very thin sponge, Floyd | or a fairly thick piece of spongy paper -- it certainly wouldn't be Floyd | useful for absorbing much of anything, except perhaps odor. In any Floyd | case, it's white and adorned with patterned ink scrawls. You surmise Floyd | that these scrawls may be some sort of writing, but you haven't a clue Floyd | how to decipher them. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "smell sponge" | ||||
Floyd | >You don't smell anything, so if the sponge is retaining an odor, Floyd | it'll take a sharper nose than yours to detect it. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take it" | ||||
Floyd | >The sponge peels smoothly off the touchplate, leaving no trace of Floyd | adhesive. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x indigo" | ||||
Floyd | >The icon on this indigo touchplate is an upward-pointing triangle, Floyd | identical to the one you saw in the Arctic area. Floyd | | DavidW says, "hm." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "More scrolly squiggles." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "cf5" | ||||
Floyd | >Enter saved game to store: Ok. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push indigo" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, but nothing happens. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push crimson" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, and a field of crimson energy Floyd | materializes next to the pedestal, surrounding you in a glowing shell. Floyd | The floor beneath you opens, and the energy field carries you Floyd | downwards, hurtling through darkness until you reach the... Floyd | Floyd | Nexus Floyd | You hang suspended within a translucent crimson bubble of energy, with Floyd | nothing but inky darkness beyond. Also suspended by the energy field Floyd | are six touchplates, each bearing an icon. The icons are: a snowflake, Floyd | ocean waves, a cactus, a broad leaf, an evergreen tree, and one you Floyd | don't recognize, which looks a bit like an abstract rendition of a Floyd | cat's face. Floyd | | Jacqueline asks, "Can we stick it on something else?" | |||
| DavidW says, "possibly" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push cactus" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the cactus touchplate, and the bubble begins Floyd | trembling, first gently, then with more and more violence. For a Floyd | moment, you fear it's about to shake itself apart and leave you Floyd | stranded in this abyss, but then the tremors calm down once more. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push snowflake" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the snowflake touchplate, and the bubble begins Floyd | trembling, first gently, then with more and more violence. For a Floyd | moment, you fear it's about to shake itself apart and leave you Floyd | stranded in this abyss, but then the tremors calm down once more. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push ocean" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the waves touchplate, and the bubble begins Floyd | spinning smoothly. You have the sensation of swift, effortless Floyd | movement. With surprising suddenness, the energy transport deposits Floyd | you elsewhere, then dissolves around you. Floyd | Floyd | Waterlock Floyd | The walls are close and smooth in this utterly nondescript, Floyd | cylindrical room. The only noteworthy feature is that a couple of Floyd | touchplates adorn one wall, one crimson and one turquoise. There's Floyd | also an exit to, oh let's call it the east. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push turquoise" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, and the room rapidly fills with Floyd | water. With the water rising rapidly, you tuck your non-waterproof Floyd | possessions into the suit pouch so that they won't be damaged. As Floyd | before, your suit starts processing the water through its gills, and Floyd | then the hatch opens, releasing the last of the air. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "u" | ||||
Floyd | > Floyd | Ocean Floyd | You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, Floyd | but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from Floyd | plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent Floyd | sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet Floyd | below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such Floyd | extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow Floyd | motion, you're experiencing no discomfort. Floyd | Floyd | An incredible giant squid floats alongside you, just out of reach. Floyd | Floyd | A large, open hatch leads downward. Floyd | Floyd | Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a Floyd | glassy eye in the sand. Floyd | Floyd | You also notice a beige touchplate next to a towering silver cylinder Floyd | about ten yards away from the hatch. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "u" | ||||
Floyd | >You spring upwards, shooting through the water like a torpedo, but Floyd | it's no good. By the time you reach the surface, the water resistance Floyd | has drained your jump of its inertia, leaving you to sink back down to Floyd | the ocean floor. Floyd | Floyd | Ocean Floyd | You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, Floyd | but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from Floyd | plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent Floyd | sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet Floyd | below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such Floyd | extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow Floyd | motion, you're experiencing no discomfort. Floyd | Floyd | An incredible giant squid floats alongside you, just out of reach. Floyd | Floyd | A large, open hatch leads downward. Floyd | Floyd | Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a Floyd | glassy eye in the sand. Floyd | Floyd | You also notice a beige touchplate next to a towering silver cylinder Floyd | about ten yards away from the hatch. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push beige" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, and it lights up briefly. The Floyd | silvery column begins sliding downward, retreating back into the Floyd | ground. Soon, the ocean floor is flat once again, looking as Floyd | undisturbed as if nothing had ever happened. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push beige" | ||||
Floyd | >When you lay a finger on the touchplate, nothing happens, but when Floyd | you press it with your whole hand, it lights up briefly, and once Floyd | again, nothing happens. At least, nothing happens at first, but in a Floyd | moment, you hear a rumbling, and suddenly the bit of ocean floor Floyd | you're standing on begins to rise! Soon, you find yourself shooting Floyd | upward on a small plot of land, spearing through tons of water that Floyd | would surely crush you if not for the earthsuit. Floyd | Floyd | You break the surface with a terrific SPLOOSH! And then it's over. You Floyd | find yourself standing on a small island as water sluices off its Floyd | surface and back into the ocean. By all rights, you should have a Floyd | serious case of the bends after such a rapid ascent from deep Floyd | underwater, but you feel fine -- the earthsuit must somehow have Floyd | fooled your body into thinking it was still at one atmosphere of Floyd | pressure, thus preventing nitrogen absorption. The plastic sheath over Floyd | your nose and mouth retreats back into the cowl. Floyd | Floyd | Island Floyd | In the funnies, all deserted islands are barely large enough to fit Floyd | two people, and always have a palm tree in the middle. This island is Floyd | just like that, except without the palm tree. Orienting yourself by Floyd | the distant smudges, you decide that the Forest is west, the Veldt Floyd | area is east, and the Rainforest is south. Floyd | Floyd | Now that you're dry again, you unzip the suit pouch and retrieve your Floyd | delicate items. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Hm, wait a tick. I definitely rememeber the squid." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump west" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't get much of a running start in such a tiny area, but you Floyd | crouch and launch yourself upwards, and that seems to provide Floyd | sufficient momentum. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | Once again, you hurtle through the canopy of leaves and land more or Floyd | less at your previous arrival point. Floyd | Floyd | Forest Floyd | The air is cool and quiet down here, far beneath the treetop canopy. Floyd | On every side of you, massive trunks rise majestically. These trees Floyd | are enormous, like old-growth redwoods but growing higher than Earth Floyd | gravity would ever permit. The trees completely block the horizon, and Floyd | you can only keep yourself oriented by remembering the direction you Floyd | were facing when you jumped up and saw the Arctic area. Floyd | Floyd | Beside you is the base of a tower that's even taller than the trees. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump west" | ||||
Floyd | >There isn't a great deal of room to run, but you do your best, and Floyd | launch yourself upwards. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | Once again, you land in the sandy, sweltering desert. Floyd | Floyd | Desert Floyd | The first thing you notice is the heat. It is punishing, astonishing, Floyd | like standing inside an inferno that burns without flames. Your suit Floyd | insulates you somewhat, and a lucky thing, too, because otherwise you Floyd | wouldn't last long under a sun that feels like it's just a few feet Floyd | away. Orienting yourself based on the direction you came from, you can Floyd | see enormous sand dunes rising north and south of you, creating no Floyd | shade but blocking your vision. Through the heat haze, you can barely Floyd | perceive the Forest to the east, and the Veldt to the west. Floyd | Floyd | A large, Y-shaped cactus stands nearby. Floyd | Floyd | You can also see an enormous bowl (which is empty) here. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put lens in cactus" | ||||
Floyd | >You wedge the lens between the arms of the cactus, and it fits Floyd | perfectly, catching the sunlight and creating an intense, concentrated Floyd | beam aimed directly at the bowl. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take bowl" | ||||
Floyd | >The bowl is too big and awkward to carry while you're holding Floyd | anything else. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "drop all" | ||||
Floyd | >very thin sponge: Dropped. Floyd | white cylinder: Dropped. Floyd | canister: Dropped. Floyd | cabin key: Dropped. Floyd | legal pad: Dropped. Floyd | notepad: Dropped. Floyd | loose papers: Dropped. Floyd | headset: Dropped. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take bowl" | ||||
Floyd | >You heft the bowl over your head. Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump east" | ||||
Floyd | >Once again, you get a running start and launch yourself upwards. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | Once again, you hurtle through the canopy of leaves and land more or Floyd | less at your previous arrival point.CRRASH! The bowl upends when it Floyd | hits the trees, and you just manage to grab its lip and drag it down Floyd | with you so it doesn't get stuck in the treetops. Floyd | Floyd | Forest Floyd | The air is cool and quiet down here, far beneath the treetop canopy. Floyd | On every side of you, massive trunks rise majestically. These trees Floyd | are enormous, like old-growth redwoods but growing higher than Earth Floyd | gravity would ever permit. The trees completely block the horizon, and Floyd | you can only keep yourself oriented by remembering the direction you Floyd | were facing when you jumped up and saw the Arctic area. Floyd | Floyd | Beside you is the base of a tower that's even taller than the trees. Floyd | Floyd | You can also see an enormous bowl (which is empty) here. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump east" | ||||
Floyd | >There isn't a great deal of room to run, but you do your best, and Floyd | launch yourself upwards. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | You've reached the arc of your parabola, and have begun to descend. An Floyd | ocean sloshes below you, dotted by just one tiny island. You hit the Floyd | water with a massive SPLOOSH! Floyd | Floyd | As you sink, the suit begins supplying oxygen to you. Floyd | Floyd | Ocean Floyd | You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, Floyd | but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from Floyd | plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent Floyd | sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet Floyd | below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such Floyd | extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow Floyd | motion, you're experiencing no discomfort. Floyd | Floyd | An incredible giant squid floats alongside you, just out of reach. Floyd | Floyd | A large, open hatch leads downward. Floyd | Floyd | Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a Floyd | glassy eye in the sand. Floyd | Floyd | You also notice a beige touchplate next to a towering silver cylinder Floyd | about ten yards away from the hatch. Floyd | Floyd | A sizable fish floats by, and the squid conceals itself behind an Floyd | outcropping. Then, with startling speed, one of its feeding arms darts Floyd | out and ensnares its prey. The squid takes the fish into its Floyd | tentacles, tearing and crunching with its sharp beak, and then returns Floyd | its attention to you. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push beige" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, and it lights up briefly. The Floyd | silvery column begins sliding downward, retreating back into the Floyd | ground. Soon, the ocean floor is flat once again, looking as Floyd | undisturbed as if nothing had ever happened. Floyd | | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "shake tentacle" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push beige" | ||||
Floyd | >When you lay a finger on the touchplate, nothing happens, but when Floyd | you press it with your whole hand, it lights up briefly, and once Floyd | again, nothing happens. At least, nothing happens at first, but in a Floyd | moment, you hear a rumbling, and suddenly the bit of ocean floor Floyd | you're standing on begins to rise! Soon, you find yourself shooting Floyd | upward on a small plot of land, spearing through tons of water that Floyd | would surely crush you if not for the earthsuit. Floyd | Floyd | You break the surface with a terrific SPLOOSH! And then it's over. You Floyd | find yourself standing on a small island as water sluices off its Floyd | surface and back into the ocean. By all rights, you should have a Floyd | serious case of the bends after such a rapid ascent from deep Floyd | underwater, but you feel fine -- the earthsuit must somehow have Floyd | fooled your body into thinking it was still at one atmosphere of Floyd | pressure, thus preventing nitrogen absorption. The plastic sheath over Floyd | your nose and mouth retreats back into the cowl. Floyd | Floyd | Island Floyd | In the funnies, all deserted islands are barely large enough to fit Floyd | two people, and always have a palm tree in the middle. This island is Floyd | just like that, except without the palm tree. Orienting yourself by Floyd | the distant smudges, you decide that the Forest is west, the Veldt Floyd | area is east, and the Rainforest is south. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x bowl" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | >You are carrying: Floyd | an earthsuit (being worn) Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | >Island Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | >Island Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | >Ocean Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x bowl" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | DavidW asks, "er, did I drop the bowl?" | |||
| Paul says, "Yep. In the Forest." | ||||
| DavidW says, "drat" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push beige" | ||||
Floyd | >When you lay a finger on the touchplate, nothing happens, but when Floyd | you press it with your whole hand, it lights up briefly, and once Floyd | again, nothing happens. At least, nothing happens at first, but in a Floyd | moment, you hear a rumbling, and suddenly the bit of ocean floor Floyd | you're standing on begins to rise! Soon, you find yourself shooting Floyd | upward on a small plot of land, spearing through tons of water that Floyd | would surely crush you if not for the earthsuit. Floyd | Floyd | You break the surface with a terrific SPLOOSH! And then it's over. You Floyd | find yourself standing on a small island as water sluices off its Floyd | surface and back into the ocean. By all rights, you should have a Floyd | serious case of the bends after such a rapid ascent from deep Floyd | underwater, but you feel fine -- the earthsuit must somehow have Floyd | fooled your body into thinking it was still at one atmosphere of Floyd | pressure, thus preventing nitrogen absorption. The plastic sheath over Floyd | your nose and mouth retreats back into the cowl. Floyd | Floyd | Island Floyd | In the funnies, all deserted islands are barely large enough to fit Floyd | two people, and always have a palm tree in the middle. This island is Floyd | just like that, except without the palm tree. Orienting yourself by Floyd | the distant smudges, you decide that the Forest is west, the Veldt Floyd | area is east, and the Rainforest is south. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Yeah." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump west" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't get much of a running start in such a tiny area, but you Floyd | crouch and launch yourself upwards, and that seems to provide Floyd | sufficient momentum. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | Once again, you hurtle through the canopy of leaves and land more or Floyd | less at your previous arrival point. Floyd | Floyd | Forest Floyd | The air is cool and quiet down here, far beneath the treetop canopy. Floyd | On every side of you, massive trunks rise majestically. These trees Floyd | are enormous, like old-growth redwoods but growing higher than Earth Floyd | gravity would ever permit. The trees completely block the horizon, and Floyd | you can only keep yourself oriented by remembering the direction you Floyd | were facing when you jumped up and saw the Arctic area. Floyd | Floyd | Beside you is the base of a tower that's even taller than the trees. Floyd | Floyd | You can also see an enormous bowl (which is empty) here. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take bowl" | ||||
Floyd | >You heft the bowl over your head. Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump east" | ||||
Floyd | >There isn't a great deal of room to run, but you do your best, and Floyd | launch yourself upwards. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | You've reached the arc of your parabola, and have begun to descend. An Floyd | ocean sloshes below you, dotted by just one tiny island. You hit the Floyd | water with a massive SPLOOSH! You can't manage to hang onto the bowl, Floyd | and leave it floating at the surface while you sink downward. Floyd | Floyd | As you sink, the suit begins supplying oxygen to you. Floyd | Floyd | Ocean Floyd | You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, Floyd | but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from Floyd | plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent Floyd | sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet Floyd | below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such Floyd | extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow Floyd | motion, you're experiencing no discomfort. Floyd | Floyd | An incredible giant squid floats alongside you, just out of reach. Floyd | Floyd | A large, open hatch leads downward. Floyd | Floyd | Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a Floyd | glassy eye in the sand. Floyd | Floyd | You also notice a beige touchplate next to a towering silver cylinder Floyd | about ten yards away from the hatch. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Oh, I see that Paul filled you in. I was still scrolling back to find it..." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x bowl" | ||||
Floyd | >Sorry, but that's either not here or not important. Floyd | | DavidW asks, "Now where is it?" | |||
| DavidW says, "oh. On the surface. Bother." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push beige" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, and it lights up briefly. The Floyd | silvery column begins sliding downward, retreating back into the Floyd | ground. Soon, the ocean floor is flat once again, looking as Floyd | undisturbed as if nothing had ever happened. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push beige" | ||||
Floyd | >When you lay a finger on the touchplate, nothing happens, but when Floyd | you press it with your whole hand, it lights up briefly, and once Floyd | again, nothing happens. At least, nothing happens at first, but in a Floyd | moment, you hear a rumbling, and suddenly the bit of ocean floor Floyd | you're standing on begins to rise! Soon, you find yourself shooting Floyd | upward on a small plot of land, spearing through tons of water that Floyd | would surely crush you if not for the earthsuit. Floyd | Floyd | You break the surface with a terrific SPLOOSH! And then it's over. You Floyd | find yourself standing on a small island as water sluices off its Floyd | surface and back into the ocean. By all rights, you should have a Floyd | serious case of the bends after such a rapid ascent from deep Floyd | underwater, but you feel fine -- the earthsuit must somehow have Floyd | fooled your body into thinking it was still at one atmosphere of Floyd | pressure, thus preventing nitrogen absorption. The plastic sheath over Floyd | your nose and mouth retreats back into the cowl. Floyd | Floyd | Island Floyd | In the funnies, all deserted islands are barely large enough to fit Floyd | two people, and always have a palm tree in the middle. This island is Floyd | just like that, except without the palm tree. Orienting yourself by Floyd | the distant smudges, you decide that the Forest is west, the Veldt Floyd | area is east, and the Rainforest is south. Floyd | Floyd | The bowl is floating just a few yards away, and you manage to swim out Floyd | and retrieve it before the weight of your suit drags you back down to Floyd | the ocean floor. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "fill bowl" | ||||
Floyd | >You dip the bowl in the ocean, filling it with thousands of gallons Floyd | of salt water, though not so much that it will sink as soon as you let Floyd | go of it. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take bowl" | ||||
Floyd | >You heft the bowl over your head (which is significantly harder now Floyd | that it's full of water.) Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump east" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't get much of a running start in such a tiny area, but you Floyd | crouch and launch yourself upwards, and that seems to provide Floyd | sufficient momentum. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | You land in the tall grasses once again. A few hundred gallons of Floyd | water slosh from the bowl before you can steady it, but your landing Floyd | in the grass is soft enough that you don't lose too much. Floyd | Floyd | Veldt Floyd | Tall grasses of faded gold reach past your knees, swaying; here and Floyd | there, baobab trees pose elegantly against a brilliant blue sky. Soft Floyd | hills ripple through this prairie, and the hot, thick air buzzes with Floyd | the sounds of distant insects. You can see blue-whiteness in one Floyd | direction -- the Arctic area -- so that's north, and the Rainforest Floyd | area is south. Far on the eastern horizon is the tan haze of the Floyd | Desert area, and the blue-green Ocean shimmers in the distant west. Floyd | Floyd | Beside you is a dome, its mirrored surface reflecting the sun. Floyd | Floyd | The cat-people startle as one for no apparent reason, and retreat a Floyd | little further from you. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | >You are carrying: Floyd | an enormous bowl Floyd | a massive quantity of salt water Floyd | an earthsuit (being worn) Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump east" | ||||
Floyd | >Once again, you get a running start and launch yourself upwards. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | Once again, you land in the sandy, sweltering desert. A few hundred Floyd | gallons of water slosh from the bowl before you can steady it, but Floyd | your landing in the sand is soft enough that you don't lose too much. Floyd | Floyd | Desert Floyd | The first thing you notice is the heat. It is punishing, astonishing, Floyd | like standing inside an inferno that burns without flames. Your suit Floyd | insulates you somewhat, and a lucky thing, too, because otherwise you Floyd | wouldn't last long under a sun that feels like it's just a few feet Floyd | away. Orienting yourself based on the direction you came from, you can Floyd | see enormous sand dunes rising north and south of you, creating no Floyd | shade but blocking your vision. Through the heat haze, you can barely Floyd | perceive the Forest to the east, and the Veldt to the west. Floyd | Floyd | A large, Y-shaped cactus stands nearby, with a lens between its arms, Floyd | creating a beam of concentrated sunlight aimed at the ground. Floyd | Floyd | You can also see a headset, some loose papers, a notepad, a legal pad, Floyd | a cabin key, a canister (which is empty), a white cylinder and a very Floyd | thin sponge here. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put bowl in beam" | ||||
Floyd | >Just dropping the bowl here will put it in the path of the beam. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "drop bowl" | ||||
Floyd | >You set the bowl down near the cactus, intercepting the beam. Within Floyd | minutes, you can see bubbles forming on the sides of the bowl. Floyd | Floyd | With the beam hitting the water like this, it's sure to boil sometime Floyd | soon. On the other hand, as overheated as you feel right now, you're Floyd | not at all certain you can handle standing around waiting for it. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take all but bowl and cactus" | ||||
Floyd | >headset: Taken. Floyd | loose papers: Taken. Floyd | notepad: Taken. Floyd | legal pad: Taken. Floyd | cabin key: Taken. Floyd | canister: Taken. Floyd | white cylinder: The device is surprisingly heavy, as if its core is Floyd | quite dense. Taken. Floyd | very thin sponge: Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump west" | ||||
Floyd | >Once again, you get a running start and launch yourself upwards. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | You land in the tall grasses once again. Floyd | Floyd | Veldt Floyd | Tall grasses of faded gold reach past your knees, swaying; here and Floyd | there, baobab trees pose elegantly against a brilliant blue sky. Soft Floyd | hills ripple through this prairie, and the hot, thick air buzzes with Floyd | the sounds of distant insects. You can see blue-whiteness in one Floyd | direction -- the Arctic area -- so that's north, and the Rainforest Floyd | area is south. Far on the eastern horizon is the tan haze of the Floyd | Desert area, and the blue-green Ocean shimmers in the distant west. Floyd | Floyd | Beside you is a dome, its mirrored surface reflecting the sun. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear headset" | ||||
Floyd | >You put on the headset. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "show sponge to cats" | ||||
Floyd | >The cat people are unimpressed. Floyd | Floyd | You notice that one of the cats is obviously female, and carries a Floyd | child. (Or kitten, perhaps.) She licks the child clean with obvious Floyd | affection, and coos to it. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "listen" | ||||
Floyd | >You hear the hum of insects, but you can't tell from where. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "listen to cats" | ||||
Floyd | >You hear nothing unexpected. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "show button to cats" | ||||
Floyd | >(first taking the black button) Floyd | That seems to be a part of the white cylinder. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "I teek thinking of TOOKiE'S SONG" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "show cylinder to cats" | ||||
Floyd | >The cat people are unimpressed. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "dance" | ||||
Floyd | >You briefly boogie to music only you can hear. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "talk to cats" | ||||
Floyd | >You'd have to shout, and they almost certainly wouldn't understand Floyd | you anyway. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x sponge" | ||||
Floyd | >Depending on how you look at it, this is either a very thin sponge, Floyd | or a fairly thick piece of spongy paper -- it certainly wouldn't be Floyd | useful for absorbing much of anything, except perhaps odor. In any Floyd | case, it's white and adorned with patterned ink scrawls. You surmise Floyd | that these scrawls may be some sort of writing, but you haven't a clue Floyd | how to decipher them. Floyd | | DavidW asks, "Any ideas what to do with the sponge or cylinder? Dare we push the button?" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Save is our friend." | ||||
| DavidW says, "If the cats can't help, maybe the penguins or other creatures can." | ||||
| DavidW asks, "Maybe the squid can read a sponge?" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push button" | ||||
Floyd | >The cylinder emits a series of sounds, with tones varying from fierce Floyd | to plaintive. You have absolutely no idea what they mean, but you hear Floyd | your mother's voice in your ear through the headset, choppily Floyd | translating the sounds into English: Floyd | Floyd | "Light-half 2, 5740. Construction nearly finished on the project, and Floyd | preparing to move in. This record will track overall impressions, and Floyd | may be distributed later in expanded form. Nervous but excited to see Floyd | large-scale results." Floyd | Floyd | As soon as the cylinder starts playing, the head of every cat-creature Floyd | turns to look at it, pupils dilated and ears rotated forward. As soon Floyd | as it finishes, their fur is raised, and they let out hissing chorus. Floyd | Then they are in motion, streaking across the grassland and away from Floyd | you with children and possessions in tow, faster than you could ever Floyd | hope to pursue them. It's unlikely you'll see them again anytime soon. Floyd | | inky :XC | |||
| Jacqueline says, "uh-oh" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | >Veldt Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | DavidW says, "So. Not a bomb but a tape recorder." | |||
| DavidW says, "But in cat-speak." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump east" | ||||
Floyd | >Once again, you get a running start and launch yourself upwards. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | Once again, you land in the sandy, sweltering desert. Floyd | Floyd | Desert Floyd | The first thing you notice is the heat. It is punishing, astonishing, Floyd | like standing inside an inferno that burns without flames. Your suit Floyd | insulates you somewhat, and a lucky thing, too, because otherwise you Floyd | wouldn't last long under a sun that feels like it's just a few feet Floyd | away. Orienting yourself based on the direction you came from, you can Floyd | see enormous sand dunes rising north and south of you, creating no Floyd | shade but blocking your vision. Through the heat haze, you can barely Floyd | perceive the Forest to the east, and the Veldt to the west. Floyd | Floyd | A large, Y-shaped cactus stands nearby, with a lens between its arms, Floyd | creating a beam of concentrated sunlight aimed at the bowl. Floyd | Floyd | You can also see an enormous bowl (in which is a pile of sea salt) Floyd | here. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "wear headset" | ||||
Floyd | >You're already wearing that! Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push button" | ||||
Floyd | >The cylinder emits a series of sounds, with tones varying from fierce Floyd | to plaintive. You have absolutely no idea what they mean, but you hear Floyd | your mother's voice in your ear through the headset, choppily Floyd | translating the sounds into English: Floyd | Floyd | "Light-half 2, 5740. Construction nearly finished on the project, and Floyd | preparing to move in. This record will track overall impressions, and Floyd | may be distributed later in expanded form. Nervous but excited to see Floyd | large-scale results." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open canister" | ||||
Floyd | >That's already open. Floyd | | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "z" | ||||
Floyd | >Time passes. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put salt in canister" | ||||
Floyd | >You scoop up the sea salt with the canister. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "close canister" | ||||
Floyd | >You close the canister. Floyd | | DavidW says, "I still think the squid might help with the sponge" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "I say slugs first." | ||||
| DavidW says, "ok" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "But you have been The Man, so I defer to your judgment." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump south" | ||||
Floyd | >Once again, you get a running start and launch yourself upwards. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | This time, you're a little more ready for the rainclouds and Floyd | vegetation, but that doesn't stop your fall from being a careening, Floyd | wet one. Floyd | Floyd | Rainforest Floyd | You stand amidst a symphony of green. Deep jade moss covers the trunks Floyd | of trees, whose leaves far above filter mottled avocado light over Floyd | emerald bushes and green grass -- adjectives run out long before the Floyd | shades of green do. The air is warm, muggy, and filled with the sounds Floyd | of wildlife. Floyd | Floyd | Beside you is the bottom of a long steel tube that rises into the sky Floyd | and past the clouds. Floyd | Floyd | One small square at your feet appears free of moss, or at least it Floyd | might, if you could see past the swarming mass of slugs that infest Floyd | it. Floyd | Floyd | In a rare patch of foliage-free ground near you, the mirrored surface Floyd | of a dome reflects the surrounding greenery. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | >You are carrying: Floyd | a very thin sponge Floyd | a white cylinder Floyd | a canister (which is closed) Floyd | a cabin key Floyd | a legal pad Floyd | a notepad Floyd | some loose papers Floyd | a headset (being worn) Floyd | an earthsuit (being worn) Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open canister" | ||||
Floyd | >You open the canister, revealing a pile of sea salt. Floyd | Floyd | You hear a crashing, thumping sound from above, and jump out of the Floyd | way. No one falls, though, and in a moment it becomes clear that one Floyd | of the parrots was imitating the sound of your galumphing descent Floyd | through the rainforest vegetation. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "pour salt on slugs" | ||||
Floyd | >You pour the salt onto the slugs, and they shrivel in droves. More Floyd | rush in to replace them, but you keep pouring, and they keep Floyd | desiccating. In the end, it takes all the salt you have, but you get Floyd | rid of all the slugs, and no others arrive. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "woo" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "cf6" | ||||
Floyd | >Enter saved game to store: Ok. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "I mean, ewww, but woo" | |||
| inky says, "ha ha" | ||||
| DavidW says, "Salt always banish slugs in IF." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x touchplate" | ||||
Floyd | >The touchplate is indigo and emblazoned with an upwards-pointing Floyd | triangle. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "touch it" | ||||
Floyd | >The pad lights up briefly, and the tube's once-seamless face splits; Floyd | a ten-foot tall section slides open, revealing a clean, lighted Floyd | interior. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "crikey" | |||
| DavidW says, "I bet this is a one way way, however." | ||||
| inky says, "hmm" | ||||
| inky says (to Floyd), "score" | ||||
Floyd | >I'm not keeping score, but you're probably doing fine. Floyd | | DavidW says, "er, one way trip" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Well, you saved." | ||||
| DavidW says, "I wanna visit the squid one last time." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push touchplate" | ||||
Floyd | >Nothing else happens. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump south" | ||||
Floyd | >There isn't a great deal of room to run, but you do your best, and Floyd | launch yourself upwards. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | You've reached the arc of your parabola, and have begun to descend. An Floyd | ocean sloshes below you, dotted by just one tiny island. As you fly Floyd | through the air, you tuck your non-waterproof possessions into the Floyd | suit pouch. Soon, you hit the water with a massive SPLOOSH! Floyd | Floyd | As you sink, the suit begins supplying oxygen to you. Floyd | Floyd | Ocean Floyd | You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, Floyd | but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from Floyd | plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent Floyd | sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet Floyd | below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such Floyd | extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow Floyd | motion, you're experiencing no discomfort. Floyd | Floyd | An incredible giant squid floats alongside you, just out of reach. Floyd | Floyd | A large, open hatch leads downward. Floyd | Floyd | Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a Floyd | glassy eye in the sand. Floyd | Floyd | You also notice a beige touchplate next to a towering silver cylinder Floyd | about ten yards away from the hatch. Floyd | | ||||
| Lucea disappears through an invisible gap in the MUD. You think you may have heard the sounds of chatting before the gap closed again. | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "show sponge to squid" | ||||
Floyd | >The squid takes the very thin sponge and examines it with great Floyd | interest, passing it from tentacle to tentacle and even biting down Floyd | tentatively with its beak. Finally, its curiosity satisfied, it gently Floyd | deposits the very thin sponge back at your feet. Floyd | Floyd | Apparently startled, the squid jets away, only to return in a few Floyd | seconds. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take sponge" | ||||
Floyd | >Taken. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Sponge: nibbled." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put sponge on beige" | ||||
Floyd | >Putting things on the beige touchplate would achieve nothing. Floyd | Floyd | The squid taps you, then points one tentacle at the beige touchplate Floyd | while waving the others in an urgent but uninterpretable pattern. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | >You are carrying: Floyd | a very thin sponge Floyd | a white cylinder Floyd | a canister (which is open but empty) Floyd | a cabin key Floyd | a legal pad (stashed inside your costume) Floyd | a notepad (stashed inside your costume) Floyd | some loose papers (stashed inside your costume) Floyd | a headset (stashed inside your costume) Floyd | an earthsuit (being worn) Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push button" | ||||
Floyd | >The cylinder is probably emitting sounds, but sealed off as you are, Floyd | you can hardly hear anything at all. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push beige" | ||||
Floyd | >You lay your hand on the touchplate, and it lights up briefly. The Floyd | silvery column begins sliding downward, retreating back into the Floyd | ground. Soon, the ocean floor is flat once again, looking as Floyd | undisturbed as if nothing had ever happened. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push beige" | ||||
Floyd | >When you lay a finger on the touchplate, nothing happens, but when Floyd | you press it with your whole hand, it lights up briefly, and once Floyd | again, nothing happens. At least, nothing happens at first, but in a Floyd | moment, you hear a rumbling, and suddenly the bit of ocean floor Floyd | you're standing on begins to rise! Soon, you find yourself shooting Floyd | upward on a small plot of land, spearing through tons of water that Floyd | would surely crush you if not for the earthsuit. Floyd | Floyd | You break the surface with a terrific SPLOOSH! And then it's over. You Floyd | find yourself standing on a small island as water sluices off its Floyd | surface and back into the ocean. By all rights, you should have a Floyd | serious case of the bends after such a rapid ascent from deep Floyd | underwater, but you feel fine -- the earthsuit must somehow have Floyd | fooled your body into thinking it was still at one atmosphere of Floyd | pressure, thus preventing nitrogen absorption. The plastic sheath over Floyd | your nose and mouth retreats back into the cowl. Floyd | Floyd | Island Floyd | In the funnies, all deserted islands are barely large enough to fit Floyd | two people, and always have a palm tree in the middle. This island is Floyd | just like that, except without the palm tree. Orienting yourself by Floyd | the distant smudges, you decide that the Forest is west, the Veldt Floyd | area is east, and the Rainforest is south. Floyd | Floyd | Now that you're dry again, you unzip the suit pouch and retrieve your Floyd | delicate items. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "jump south" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't get much of a running start in such a tiny area, but you Floyd | crouch and launch yourself upwards, and that seems to provide Floyd | sufficient momentum. Floyd | Floyd | The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | This time, you're a little more ready for the rainclouds and Floyd | vegetation, but that doesn't stop your fall from being a careening, Floyd | wet one. Floyd | Floyd | Rainforest Floyd | You stand amidst a symphony of green. Deep jade moss covers the trunks Floyd | of trees, whose leaves far above filter mottled avocado light over Floyd | emerald bushes and green grass -- adjectives run out long before the Floyd | shades of green do. The air is warm, muggy, and filled with the sounds Floyd | of wildlife. Floyd | Floyd | Beside you is the bottom of a long steel tube that rises into the sky Floyd | and past the clouds. Floyd | Floyd | The newly slug-free access panel winks up at you from the ground. Floyd | Floyd | In a rare patch of foliage-free ground near you, the mirrored surface Floyd | of a dome reflects the surrounding greenery. Floyd | Floyd | The parrots jabber some more, and you could swear you just heard one Floyd | of them snicker. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put sponge on panel" | ||||
Floyd | >Putting things on the panel would achieve nothing. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "enter tube" | ||||
Floyd | >You can't see any obvious way into the tube. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x tube" | ||||
Floyd | >This tube is an exact duplicate of the one from the Arctic area, with Floyd | one salient difference: it hasn't been wrecked by a massive impact. It Floyd | looks easily wide enough to fit yourself into -- if you can figure out Floyd | how to enter it, that is. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "touch tube" | ||||
Floyd | >You feel nothing unexpected. Of course, you're wearing gloves, but Floyd | you probably wouldn't feel anything unexpected anyway. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "touch panel" | ||||
Floyd | >You feel nothing unexpected. Of course, you're wearing gloves, but Floyd | you probably wouldn't feel anything unexpected anyway. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push panel" | ||||
Floyd | >The pad lights up briefly, and the tube's once-seamless face splits; Floyd | a ten-foot tall section slides open, revealing a clean, lighted Floyd | interior. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "enter tube" | ||||
Floyd | >You step into the tube and it closes around you. A second later, your Floyd | stomach lurches and your feet leave the ground -- this isn't an Floyd | elevator whose floor lifts you to your destination, it's some sort of Floyd | levitation device. What's more, although it's opaque from the outside, Floyd | from in here the tube is perfectly transparent, so you see yourself Floyd | punching through the clouds of the rainforest and hurtling upward at Floyd | an alarming rate. Just as it's crossing your mind to be grateful that Floyd | Emily got the flying power instead of you, the barrier of the sky Floyd | passes, and the tube expels you into new surroundings. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "huh" | |||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | [Please press a key to continue] Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | E A R T H Floyd | Floyd | A N D Floyd | Floyd | S K Y Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Episode 2: Floyd | ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY Floyd | Floyd | Part Four Floyd | Floyd | "Perhaps I asked too large -- Floyd | I take -- no less than skies -- Floyd | For Earths, grow thick as Floyd | Berries, in my native town -- Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | [Please press a key to continue] Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Corridor Floyd | The walls of this corridor reflect your image back at you, mazed with Floyd | the outlines of machinery built into their surfaces. After the tube Floyd | ride, your sense of direction is confounded once again, so you posit Floyd | that the tube entrance is west, the corridor continues east, and the Floyd | large door is to your south. There is also a pink touchplate next to Floyd | the door. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | >I beg your pardon? Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Oh, thought there was no prompt for some reason." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Well done, Daveed." | ||||
| DavidW says, "thanks" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x pink" | ||||
Floyd | >The icon on this touchplate exactly matches the shape of the door Floyd | beside it. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x door" | ||||
Floyd | >This isn't a traditional door, with knob and hinges and such, but its Floyd | outline in the wall makes its function plain. It is currently closed, Floyd | and pink light seeps around its edges. Floyd | | DavidW says, "I suspect another cell." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push pink" | ||||
Floyd | >The large door slides open. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "z" | ||||
Floyd | >Time passes. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | > Floyd | Cell Floyd | This cell is exactly identical to the one that imprisoned you, with Floyd | three critical differences. First, there's no pink energy field -- the Floyd | walls are simply bare. Second, there's an open doorway in the north Floyd | wall. And finally, there's no giant, gaping hole in the floor. Floyd | Floyd | Your sister is here, sitting in a corner and looking dejectedly at the Floyd | floor. Floyd | Floyd | Emily scrambles to her feet. "Austin!" she shouts. "Woo hoo! Boy, am I Floyd | glad to see you!" She rushes over and hugs you. Floyd | Floyd | Please select a reply: Floyd | Floyd | 1) "Likewise! So have you been in here ever since stepping through the Floyd | curtain?" Floyd | 2) "Well, considering you'd probably be trapped in there forever if Floyd | not for me, I'm not surprised at the warm reception." Floyd | 3) "Thanks. You have no idea what I had to go through to get here." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "1" | ||||
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 1 Floyd | Floyd | "Pretty much," she replies. "What happened to you?" Floyd | Floyd | Please select a reply: Floyd | Floyd | 1) "Well, actually, it was quite interesting. I was in a cell just Floyd | like this one..." Floyd | 2) "Oh, you know... stuff." Floyd | 3) "I'll tell you the whole story, but not right now." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "3" | ||||
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 3 Floyd | Floyd | "Now there's a plan I can support. Let's get to work." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | >Emily follows you. Floyd | Floyd | Corridor Floyd | The walls of this corridor reflect your image back at you, mazed with Floyd | the outlines of machinery built into their surfaces. After the tube Floyd | ride, your sense of direction is confounded once again, so you posit Floyd | that the tube entrance is west, the corridor continues east, and the Floyd | large door is to your south. There is also a pink touchplate next to Floyd | the door. Floyd | Floyd | Emily stands a few feet away from you, looking bored. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "tell emily about cylinder" | ||||
Floyd | >"Um... right! Good point! Okay, I actually have no idea what you Floyd | mean." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "give headset to emily" | ||||
Floyd | >Emily takes the headset from you. "Looks like one of Mom and Dad's Floyd | gadgets to me. Not that I have a clue what purpose it might serve. Floyd | Still, might be good to have along." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "emily, wear it" | ||||
Floyd | >"Hey, just because I'm 18 months younger doesn't mean you get to boss Floyd | me around." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "emily, please wear it" | ||||
Floyd | >"Um, I know I'm an English major and everything, but I didn't follow Floyd | you there." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take headset" | ||||
Floyd | >That seems to belong to Emily. Floyd | | inky says, "oh, incidentally, if you're playing this on floyd, you missed that every time austin smashes something there is a big SMASH illustrated sound effect" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "emily, give headset to me" | ||||
Floyd | >"Sure," she says, handing you the headset. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push button" | ||||
Floyd | >The cylinder emits a series of sounds, with tones varying from fierce Floyd | to plaintive. You have absolutely no idea what they mean, but they Floyd | sound something like this: Floyd | Floyd | "mrreow rr uaowuaowmr ftf aow mrr dr m ieu ssmfiao rrm uoowueimrrff mr Floyd | iumr m mrrmrriao eae ia iim rreueiuaowaow uooia<cough>mrrrruaow eow " Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "He totally should have used the Invisible Argonaut effect as alt text." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "tell emily about headset" | ||||
Floyd | >"Looks like one of Mom and Dad's gadgets to me. Not that I have a Floyd | clue what purpose it might serve. Still, might be good to have along." Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "But sadly, that game was not as trend-setting as I had hoped." | |||
| Paul asks, "What's the Invisible Argonaut effect?" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "tell emily about cats" | ||||
Floyd | >"Interesting. I wonder why that touchplate had the creature rather Floyd | than the landscape inscribed on it?" Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "tell emily about cylinder" | ||||
Floyd | >"Um... right! Good point! Okay, I actually have no idea what you Floyd | mean." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "tell emily about squid" | ||||
Floyd | >"Yow. I'm glad it was you and not me -- that would have freaked me Floyd | out a bit." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "tell emily about penguins" | ||||
Floyd | >"Aww, that sounds cute! Then again, the whole 'oversized head' thing Floyd | cuts down on the cuteness factor quite a bit." Floyd | | Jacqueline says (to Paul), "I guess you shall have to play it and find out... heehee" | |||
| Jacqueline | [LINK] | ||||
| inky says, "hee hee" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "It will take you all of four minutes." | ||||
| Paul says, "Oh, ha. Okay." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "tell emily about parrots" | ||||
Floyd | >"That sounds irritating. I probably woulda blasted 'em." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "tell emily about slugs" | ||||
Floyd | >"Ew. Next topic, please." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | >Emily follows you. Floyd | Floyd | Corridor Floyd | This section of corridor shows the signs of a recent battle. Scorch Floyd | marks mar the gleaming machinery, and the grey carpet is distressed by Floyd | bloodstains and rips. The hallway continues east to an intersection Floyd | and west to the tube entrance. Floyd | Floyd | Emily is nearby, waiting for you to do something interesting. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x marks" | ||||
Floyd | >The machinery inset into the metal walls appears still functional, Floyd | but somewhat the worse for wear, assailed by dents and scorch marks. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x machinery" | ||||
Floyd | >The machinery inset into the metal walls appears still functional, Floyd | but somewhat the worse for wear, assailed by dents and scorch marks. Floyd | | DavidW says, "hm. We may want to blast that. Dunno yet." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | >As you enter the intersection, a shrill alarm begins to peal Floyd | throughout the halls, bright lights flash, and polymer walls slam down Floyd | on either side of you, leaving only small niches to the north and Floyd | south. Matters deteriorate quickly from bad to worse as a portal opens Floyd | in the corridor east of here, releasing a stream of broad, tall Floyd | security robots that cut off the corridor completely. The robots see Floyd | you, and are advancing menacingly towards you! Floyd | Floyd | Emily follows you. Floyd | Floyd | Intersection Floyd | This intersection appears to have borne the brunt of the earlier Floyd | fighting, with its walls dented, its carpet decimated, and even its Floyd | ceiling showing a mark or two. Moments ago, passageways led north and Floyd | south here, but they have just been closed off by impenetrable polymer Floyd | walls, leaving just a small niche on either side of the corridor, Floyd | which continues east and west. Floyd | Floyd | Emily hovers a few feet above the ground here. Floyd | Floyd | A piercing alarm shrieks through the hallways, accompanied by bright, Floyd | flashing lights. Floyd | Floyd | Security robots are advancing on you from the east in an imposing Floyd | column. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "emily, zap robots" | ||||
Floyd | >"It would be my pleasure," says your sister, and blue lightning arcs Floyd | from her fingers with a shattering KER-POW, frying the circuits of the Floyd | robotic regiment and scattering them like bowling pins. As more robots Floyd | emerge from the portal, you jump in to do your part, sending sentinels Floyd | flying with the SKRANG of your fists and feet colliding with their Floyd | more frangible bodies. Finally, the two of you have cut a wide swath Floyd | through the mechanical guardians, and find yourself east of the Floyd | intersection, fried and smashed robots littering the ground at your Floyd | feet. Floyd | Floyd | Corridor Floyd | The hallway dead-ends here at the portal that released the robots. It Floyd | has since closed, and its robots litter the ground, soundly defeated Floyd | by you and your sister. A doorway leads north, and the intersection is Floyd | west. Floyd | Floyd | A piercing alarm shrieks through the hallways, accompanied by bright, Floyd | flashing lights. Floyd | Floyd | Emily stands a few feet away from you, looking smug. Floyd | Floyd | "Woo hoo! Yeah!" shouts Emily, and pumps her fist several times for Floyd | good measure. Floyd | | inky says, "hee hee" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | >Emily follows you. Floyd | Floyd | Observation Center Floyd | This room appears to serve several purposes, at least one of which is Floyd | to be an observation center for the various environments below. You Floyd | draw this conclusion from the six large panels arranged along the Floyd | north wall, four of which display rotating views of the Ocean, Veldt, Floyd | Forest, and Rainforest environments, while the other two are blank. On Floyd | the western wall, a transporter curtain shimmers through its endless Floyd | pattern changes, and to the east, a lavish arrangement of cushions Floyd | suggests sleeping quarters of some sort. Control panels of various Floyd | sorts dot the walls, and the only exit is to the south. Floyd | Floyd | Emily is nearby, waiting for you to do something decisive. Floyd | Floyd | You can also see a giant, catlike alien here. Floyd | Floyd | As you enter, the huge, humanoid cat-creature stabs a button, and the Floyd | alarm falls into sudden, tense silence. The creature glowers at you, Floyd | oval-slitted eyes burning with a combination of fury, frustration, and Floyd | fear. Its toothy mouth gapes, and a stream of angry, hissing syllables Floyd | flows forth: "mr mrrowuoiiaow ssao aow urr mrr iaow<throat-clearing Floyd | sound>eowff uaoweeoom<hiss> mrrm rr rrrrmrreou aowmrr rrmrao Floyd | fffteeaouw !" Floyd | Floyd | Seeing the look of incomprehension on your face, it stalks over to the Floyd | other side of the room and twists a dial. When it speaks again, a Floyd | hidden speaker broadcasts an English translation over its words. Floyd | Floyd | "You stupid, clumsy, vomit-brained, simian cub!" it resumes, "You did Floyd | this, didn't you?" It gestures angrily at one of the blank screens. Floyd | "You wrecked my Arctic equipment, and tramped your filthy body through Floyd | every other environment! You've destroyed my work!" Floyd | Floyd | Please select a reply: Floyd | Floyd | 1) "Uh, well... You don't... I mean... That is..." Floyd | 2) "Hey, back off Sylvester! All I did was escape from a prison cell! Floyd | What was I supposed to do, just sit there and rot away?" Floyd | 3) "Um... I'm sorry." Floyd | 4) "What? I don't know what you're talking about!." Floyd | 5) "Hello. My name is Austin Colborn. You killed my father. Well, Floyd | maybe not, but do you know where he is?" Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "heehee" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Also, uh-oh." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf7" | ||||
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> | Jacqueline says, "Oh, that doesn't work. bleargh" | |||
| DavidW says, "You can't save in mid-converse, no." | ||||
| Bert says, "I like #2, personally." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "2" | ||||
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 2 Floyd | Floyd | The creature seems to deflate under the sting of your tirade. It Floyd | slumps against the wall and begins preening its fur nervously. "Oh, Floyd | stink. You're right, apeling. Owrr was right to insist that the Floyd | transport channels be shunted to security cells. I ignored you from Floyd | impatience and must take the blame of destruction." Floyd | Floyd | Please select a reply: Floyd | Floyd | 1) "Well, I'm sorry all the same. I had no idea what would happen when Floyd | I broke through the floor of that cell. What is this place, anyway?" Floyd | 2) "You see how I had no choice. Still, those environments are Floyd | fascinating -- are you trying to evolve intelligent species?" Floyd | 3) "Who is Owrr? What are you? What is this place? What in the world Floyd | is going on?" Floyd | 4) "Fine. Have you seen any other 'simians' around here lately?" Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "That was unexpected." | |||
| Jacqueline asks, "2?" | ||||
| inky says, "their one weakness, being called sylvester" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I was considering 1, 3, or 4." | ||||
| Bert says, "Ha ha." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to inky), "Evidently." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to DW), "Aw." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "2" | ||||
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 2 Floyd | Floyd | The creature tilts its head, giving you an odd look. "Not exactly, Floyd | cub. Not for its own sake. I study the origin of my species, called Floyd | iueeoorr. We have a gap in our fossil record, between feline ancestors Floyd | and proto-iueeoorr." Floyd | Floyd | "We have the same problem in ours," you say. "We call it the missing Floyd | link." Floyd | Floyd | "I know, cub. Quiet, now. I found ancient bacteria in salt deposits, Floyd | and extracted it. Those beasts you saw were ordinary before infection. Floyd | There is no missing link -- infection moves a species to sentience. Floyd | Such is my theory, and this environment is to test it, but my rival Floyd | Esrrua has sabotaged it with his spy-creature. That creature killed Floyd | my... my pridemate, Owrr, escaped to your planet, and now endless Floyd | strings of apes tramp through here to chase it." Floyd | Floyd | Please select a reply: Floyd | Floyd | 1) "Wait, are you telling me that some alien creature is on my world, Floyd | and that my parents and their friend are chasing it?" Floyd | 2) "I'm sorry for your loss. This spy-creature... it's on my planet? Floyd | Is it dangerous?" Floyd | 3) "That's all I needed to know, and since you're obviously so eager Floyd | to be rid of me, I'm going to go find my parents." Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "1" | ||||
Floyd | Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 1 Floyd | Floyd | "Yes," says the cat-creature, still preening its fur. "Probably Esrrua Floyd | as well." Floyd | Floyd | "Could they be dangerous to the people on my world?" Floyd | Floyd | "Very likely. That's why those others pursued it. Myself, I have more Floyd | important priorities, like repairing the damage you caused." Floyd | Floyd | "Yeah, you work on those priorities," snarls Emily, "and we'll work on Floyd | ours. Okay, Austin, this curtain takes us one step closer to Mom and Floyd | Dad. Let's head back home, shall we?" Without waiting for an answer, Floyd | she grabs your hand and pulls you into the curtain with her. The Floyd | familiar, sleepy feeling of teleportation engulfs you immediately. Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | [Please press a key to continue] Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | E A R T H Floyd | Floyd | A N D Floyd | Floyd | S K Y Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Episode 2: Floyd | ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY Floyd | Floyd | Watch for Episode Three of EARTH AND SKY Floyd | Floyd | Coming in 2003 to an IF Archive near you! Floyd | | ||||
| Ellison arrives, full of fun, but no funk. | ||||
| Bert says (to Floyd), "press space" | ||||
Floyd | [Please press a key to continue] Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | *** Earth awaits *** Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game or QUIT? | Jacqueline says (to Ellison), "Just in time!" | |||
| Ellison says, "woo, I win!" | ||||
| Bert says, "Congrats." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Ellison), "Well done." | ||||
| inky says, "hee hee" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Normally I would encourage us to stay and play if we so desire, to look at other outcomes, but I need to be somewhere quite soon." | ||||
| Jacqueline asks, "Would there be any upset feelings if I end the transcript here?" | ||||
| Jota wonders if everyone has now worked out what the cryptic notes at the beginning were about | ||||
| Paul says, "Well thanks again for playing through this series. I am having super fun watching." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Paul), "Excellent." | ||||
| Jota asks (of Paul), "Is there anything you'd like to say about it?" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Jota), "I'd have to look at them again." | ||||
| Paul says, "Only that I cringe when I see things I could/should have implemented better." | ||||
| Qfwfq concentrates, and disappears. | inky says, "also that we missed the whole bonus area with the squid civilization" | |||
| Jacqueline asks (of inky), "Wha?" | ||||
| DavidW says (to inky), "aw man" | ||||
| Paul says, "That's only if you bought the expansion pack" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Paul), "heehee" | ||||
| Bert has disconnected. | ||||
| Bert goes home. | ||||
| Jacqueline | Floyd | 1) Al. thru port. | ||||
| Jacqueline | Floyd | 2)T gone | ||||
| Jacqueline | Floyd | 3)T cont. by Al. (4 help?) | ||||
| Jacqueline | Floyd | 4)Al. prob. OK, but ??? | ||||
| Jacqueline | Floyd | 5)N's mic. maybe invol.? | ||||
| Jacqueline | Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline | Floyd | Must purs. -- Claire agr. | ||||
| Jota asks, "Next week, Luminous Horizon?" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I have to admit I don't get it all." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Jota), "Yeah." | ||||
| Paul asks, "Should I explain those?" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Hm. DW might want to puzzle it out himself first." | ||||
| Jota says, "I think they're fairly self-explanatory at this point." | ||||
| inky says, ""purs" is obviously a misspelling of "purrs"" | ||||
| Paul says, "hee" | ||||
| Ellison says, "hehe" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "he" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "er, +e" | ||||
| DavidW says, "T might be Thaddeus Andrews." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Oh, right." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "That was what was hanging me up." | ||||
| DavidW asks, "Al. = Aliens?" | ||||
| DavidW asks, "I don't get 'cont.' get. Contaminated? Continued?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "er yet" | ||||
| Jota says, "I'm assuming 'contacted'." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Contacted, I thought." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "And yeah, Aliens was my guess there." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "But that one I feel less certain about." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Paul could explain, I guess." | ||||
| Paul says, "DING! "Contacted" is correct." | ||||
| Paul says, "Okay, I must dash now. Thanks again, and I'll see you next week." | ||||
| DavidW says, "bye Paul. Thanks for the games!" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Bye, Paul." | ||||
| Paul has disconnected. | ||||
| Paul goes home. | Jacqueline says, "Okay, this transcript prolly won't go up until late tonight or (more likely) tomorrow." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "(Due to football party to which I am now headed...)" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Fare thee well, all." | ||||
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