  
 
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 Floatpoint, written by Emily Short. Floatpoint was originally released as part of the 2006 Interactive Fiction Competition, where it took first place. It went on to be nominated for five Xyzzy Awards, including Best Game, Best Writing, and Best Individual Puzzle, and ultimately winning the Xyzzies for Best Setting and Best NPCs. 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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| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "load floatpoint" | ||||
Floyd | Are you sure you want to quit? Welcome to the Cheap Glk Implementation, Floyd | library version 0.9.0. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | It is night on this side of the planet. Settled areas are lit: a jagged Floyd | crescent in the tropics, lining the inland sea. The bright splatter Floyd | along the top of the curve is Tanhua, as bright from space as New York. Floyd | The north continent is darker, sprinkled finely with small lights, Floyd | where the failing climate makes it hard to survive a winter. And the Floyd | northernmost point, almost lost on the slope of Mt. Cordia, is the Floyd | original Aleheart Colony, where the first settlers from Earth landed. Floyd | It is your destination as well. Floyd | Floyd | Altogether, the population comes to two hundred and thirty-seven Floyd | million not-quite-humans, most likely doomed if they stay here. The ice Floyd | comes faster every year. It would have been more convenient if they had Floyd | had this crisis twenty years ago, but Earth can still use it. Floyd | Floyd | Your job is to make an arrangement acceptable to both sides, to bring Floyd | the Aleheart population home. Floyd | Floyd | The shuttle drops. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Please press SPACE to continue. | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Please press SPACE to continue. | ||||
| Nitku arrives, ready to play with the toys. | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floatpoint Floyd | An Interactive Fiction by Emily Short Floyd | Release 1 / Serial number 060930 / Inform 7 build 3Z99 (I6/v6.31 lib Floyd | 6/11N) Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "y" | ||||
Floyd | Have you played interactive fiction before? > Floyd | If you have not played Floatpoint before, you may still want to type Floyd | HELP to learn about special commands unique to this game. Floyd | Floyd | Lakeshore Floyd | When Aleheart Colony was choosing landing spots, Cordia Peak was deemed Floyd | a good source of geothermal and hydroelectric energy. This lake, snug Floyd | under the mountain, is the oldest manmade thing on the planet; you have Floyd | a poster of it at home. Floyd | Floyd | In the early pictures, the lake is whitish, silty water in a bowl of Floyd | bare rock, fed by a trickle of glacial runoff, and dammed at the south Floyd | end with concrete. Now it is deep blue. The glacier has progressed so Floyd | far that it forms a wall across the north end of the lake, tall enough Floyd | to block any view of Cordia Peak except the summit. Icebergs float on Floyd | the water. Fine black grass, rippled like velvet, grows on the bank. At Floyd | the south end, the concrete too is gone; the water simply seems to Floyd | stop. Floyd | Floyd | The arc of Aleheart's ring system crosses the southern sky, much the Floyd | same pale white as the moon in daytime. Floyd | Floyd | A narrow path climbs west through a low point in the ridge and Floyd | continues along the face of the glacier towards town. Floyd | | ||||
| schep arrives, full of neither funk nor fun. | ||||
| Bert arrives, ready to play with the toys. | ||||
| Fang pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | I beg your pardon? Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "help" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | > Introduction to Floatpoint Floyd | Instructions for Play Floyd | Special Commands Floyd | Hints Floyd | Authorship Credits Floyd | Art Credits | ||||
| Fang presses the yellow enter button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | It is night on this side of the planet. Settled areas are lit: a jagged Floyd | crescent in the tropics, lining the inland sea. The bright splatter Floyd | along the top of the curve is Tanhua, as bright from space as New York. Floyd | The north continent is darker, sprinkled finely with small lights, Floyd | where the failing climate makes it hard to survive a winter. And the Floyd | northernmost point, almost lost on the slope of Mt. Cordia, is the Floyd | original Aleheart Colony, where the first settlers from Earth landed. Floyd | It is your destination as well. Floyd | Floyd | Altogether, the population comes to two hundred and thirty-seven Floyd | million not-quite-humans, most likely doomed if they stay here. The ice Floyd | comes faster every year. It would have been more convenient if they had Floyd | had this crisis twenty years ago, but Earth can still use it. Floyd | Floyd | Your job is to make an arrangement acceptable to both sides, to bring Floyd | the Aleheart population home. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Please press SPACE to continue. | Jacqueline says, "The prompts won't show up the way they normally do, I think." | |||
| Fang says, "okay" | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | > Introduction to Floatpoint Floyd | Instructions for Play Floyd | Special Commands Floyd | Hints Floyd | Authorship Credits Floyd | Art Credits Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | > Introduction to Floatpoint Floyd | Instructions for Play Floyd | Special Commands Floyd | Hints Floyd | Authorship Credits Floyd | Art Credits | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "q" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Lakeshore Floyd | The glacier forms a wall across the north end of the lake, tall enough Floyd | to block any view of Cordia Peak except the summit. Icebergs float on Floyd | the water. Fine black grass, rippled like velvet, grows on the bank. At Floyd | the south end, the water simply seems to stop. Floyd | Floyd | The arc of Aleheart's ring system crosses the southern sky, much the Floyd | same pale white as the moon in daytime. Floyd | Floyd | A narrow path climbs west through a low point in the ridge and Floyd | continues along the face of the glacier towards town. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "So, I feel as though I should mention why I chose Floatpoint for this week." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "I'm moving back to near the glacier that was part of the inspiration for this game." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x glacier" | ||||
Floyd | Where the glacier moves over land, the leading edge crumbles into a Floyd | slope; but here, where it is moving into water, icebergs are carried Floyd | away, leaving a sheer cliff face. The ice is pale blue in Floyd | cross-section, with striations of dirt, and, in a few layers, something Floyd | blacker that looks like ash. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a comfortable outfit of chronometer, grey undersuit, shoes, and socks Floyd | Floyd | You have a little time to look around, but you shouldn't drag this out Floyd | for long: you're supposed to meet your predecessor, Ambassador Valenti, Floyd | in the center of town, as soon as possible. Floyd | | Fang asks, "so, who's played this before?" | |||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x icebergs" | ||||
Floyd | Weathered into odd shapes, some small enough to pick up, some as large Floyd | as a yacht. A few are implausibly top-heavy above water, having melted Floyd | into a barbell shape. Floyd | | zarf says, "not me" | |||
| Fang says, "I have" | ||||
| Nitku says, "I have" | ||||
| dhakajack says, "nor I" | ||||
| djfletch says, "me" | ||||
| Taleslinger says, "I didn't. Not sure I'm really here." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I tested it, years ago, but honestly don't recall much of it these days." | ||||
| DavidW says, "I've only played some of it. And I think I'd prefer to watch today." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "As we have a couple of people who've never played, let's defer to them." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take iceberg" | ||||
Floyd | You're too far away to do anything but look. Floyd | | zarf says, "I can steer, I gess" | |||
Floyd | You've been warned you'll hate the ring come winter, when it forms a Floyd | dusty shield between you and the sun, when the snow comes in sudden Floyd | fierce storms and then refuses to melt, when there are no stars to be Floyd | seen. Floyd | Floyd | Now, in summer, it is a gleaming, moon-colored arc, the skeleton of a Floyd | rainbow. Floyd | Floyd | You remind yourself about the waiting Valenti. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x rings" | ||||
Floyd | You've been warned you'll hate the ring come winter, when it forms a Floyd | dusty shield between you and the sun, when the snow comes in sudden Floyd | fierce storms and then refuses to melt, when there are no stars to be Floyd | seen. Floyd | Floyd | Now, in summer, it is a gleaming, moon-colored arc, the skeleton of a Floyd | rainbow. Floyd | Floyd | With a roar, a big chunk of the glacier calves off and falls into the Floyd | lake -- it seems in slow motion -- and water sprays up around it, Floyd | surprisingly high. Floyd | | Taleslinger asks (of jacq), "So you made a decision?" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x glacier" | ||||
Floyd | Where the glacier moves over land, the leading edge crumbles into a Floyd | slope; but here, where it is moving into water, icebergs are carried Floyd | away, leaving a sheer cliff face. The ice is pale blue in Floyd | cross-section, with striations of dirt, and, in a few layers, something Floyd | blacker that looks like ash. Floyd | Floyd | The ripples from the far end of the lake reach your shore and die out. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x town" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | You climb the gravel pathway. On Earth you would be struggling more Floyd | with this slope; the lighter gravity and richer air are a great help. Floyd | Even so, it's a trip of some minutes. Floyd | Floyd | Aleheart's Edge Floyd | This is as far north as you can come without ice-climbing. The glacier Floyd | is chunks and patches of ice at first, but soon solid beyond that. Floyd | There are rocks on the face of it, and twisted metal, and scraps of Floyd | buildings, which were formerly the northern part of town. Floyd | Floyd | You can feel the frigid air coming off of it, and hear the rumble of Floyd | breaking and shifting ice -- the danger is obvious -- but somehow it Floyd | gives the impression you could start walking now and in an hour come to Floyd | the summit; stand at the top of Cordia and turn around, and see the Floyd | rings filling the sky and the visible curvature of the world, the Floyd | western ocean green with engineered algae, the patches of land made Floyd | fertile and those still barren rock. Floyd | Floyd | From this direction the rings frame the outline of town, off toward the Floyd | south. Floyd | Floyd | A narrow path descends east along the side of the glacier towards the Floyd | lakeshore. Floyd | Floyd | Aleheart's Edge Floyd | This is as far north as you can come without ice-climbing. The glacier Floyd | is chunks and patches of ice at first, but soon solid beyond that. Floyd | There are rocks on the face of it, and twisted metal, and scraps of Floyd | buildings, which were formerly the northern part of town. Floyd | Floyd | You can feel the frigid air coming off of it, and hear the rumble of Floyd | breaking and shifting ice. The initial inclination to climb the face of Floyd | Cordia has worn off, but there's still something intriguing about it. Floyd | Floyd | From this direction the rings frame the outline of town, off toward the Floyd | south. Floyd | Floyd | A narrow path descends east along the side of the glacier towards the Floyd | lakeshore. Floyd | | Fang says, "oops" | |||
| Jacqueline says (to Taleslinger), "Yes. We're moving back to Yakutat in a couple of months." | ||||
| zarf says, "no problem" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x mountain" | ||||
Floyd | Cordia Peak dominates the northern horizon. The perfect symmetry Floyd | reminds you of Fuji, though this mountain is wider, bulked out by the Floyd | layers of glacial ice. But it could erupt at any time, turning all that Floyd | ice into floodwater. Floyd | Floyd | It was self-indulgence to have the shuttle set you down at the Floyd | Lakeshore, since you wanted to have a look at the part of the Colony Floyd | you would recognize from pictures, before going on to the part that Floyd | would be strange to you. But you shouldn't drag this out. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | You walk about half a mile. There are now some buildings along the east Floyd | side of the street, though most of them are abandoned. Floyd | Floyd | Broad Street Floyd | To the northwest is a public building with a deep portico; to the east, Floyd | one with a conical roof. The others are private houses, but, except one Floyd | or two, they don't look lived in. There is a general atmosphere of Floyd | neglect. Floyd | Floyd | The street continues south into the heart of town, or north towards the Floyd | mountain and the glacier. A track for a floating train cuts southeast Floyd | between the buildings. Floyd | Floyd | The rings in the southern sky are partly obscured by the buildings on Floyd | the horizon, but are still bright enough to catch the eye. Floyd | | Taleslinger says, "Was Yakutat the place with the social opportunities?" | |||
| Fang asks, "is aleheart the name of the city or the planet?" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | After a few minutes of walking, you reach an area with Colonists Floyd | around. You carefully don't stare at them as they carefully do not Floyd | stare at you. But from the sides of your eyes you watch how they float Floyd | a few inches off the ground; how they do not touch things. Floyd | Floyd | Clearing Floyd | The street runs north/south, so that you have an uninterrupted view of Floyd | Cordia Peak, and the leading edge of the glacier at the northern edge Floyd | of town. Floyd | Floyd | Both sides of the street are built up. A substantial building of metal Floyd | and glass lies to the east, houses to the west. Floyd | Floyd | The ring system is mostly obscured by the grand solarium to the south, Floyd | accessible through the insulating doors. The solarium is a huge domed Floyd | structure to keep in as much heat and warmth as possible; the Earth Floyd | embassy is inside. Floyd | Floyd | At the center of the open space here is a monument shaped like a tusk Floyd | or tooth. This is the landmark: Ambassador Valenti is going to meet you Floyd | here -- in fact, he was supposed to be waiting. Floyd | Floyd | Mentally you check off "go to the Clearing to meet Valenti" on your Floyd | list of remaining tasks. You run over the things you still need to get Floyd | done before you can settle in: Floyd | find out what Valenti wanted Floyd | show up at the Embassy Floyd | Floyd | (To stop receiving reminders of your schedule, try REMINDERS OFF. You Floyd | may still view them manually with THINK.) Floyd | | djfletch says, "I always wondered if Aleheart was pronounced ale-heart or al-uh-heart or something" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x monument" | ||||
Floyd | It has look of force-grown bone, monolithic and taller than a man. Floyd | Floyd | The symbolic lettering of the current language has been painted on the Floyd | side, but the original carving is in Chinese and English: "To those Floyd | who, in the name of the Company and for the advancement of knowledge, Floyd | were killed, modified incorrectly, or born unfit." Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | A flash of memory: Kruger has turned his chair toward the window and Floyd | was looking out over the water. "They want to send some colonists back Floyd | to Earth," he says. "To repopulate. They're losing climate control, and Floyd | they're afraid they can't turn it around. And we could use them, to be Floyd | honest." Floyd | Floyd | You start to comment, but he goes on. "And your future boss is insane Floyd | and a genius and needs watching. I know you're too senior to be Floyd | someone's lackey. But these are not normal circumstances." Floyd | Floyd | What you heard on the way here was more worrying: anecdotes that Floyd | Valenti had gone native; that he had stopped answering official mail; Floyd | that he was in love with a native woman; that a native man was in love Floyd | with him. That he abused his assistants. That he was concealing a Floyd | sinister truth he had learned about the Colony. That he was not human. Floyd | That he was human, but had been talking with a native scientist about a Floyd | genetic retrofit. Floyd | Floyd | Kruger's last message didn't reach you until you were in orbit here: Floyd | that you were not to be a lackey after all; that you were to take over Floyd | the job of ambassador yourself. "Valenti has been notified," he said. Floyd | Floyd | So this is the man you're waiting to meet, and all you know of his Floyd | character is that he is not punctual. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "I always read it as Ale-heart in my head, and I believe it's the name of the colony." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "think about valenti" | ||||
Floyd | I only understood you as far as wanting to think. Floyd | | zarf says, "not that, then" | |||
| Jacqueline says (to Taleslinger), "No, Yakutat isn't the one in a 'big' city, it's the really beautiful one with millions of acres of wilderness and mountains and glaciers and wildlife." | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x solarium" | ||||
Floyd | It's a huge dome and encloses not only gardens but also a good number Floyd | of buildings. The Embassy is inside, you gather, but not visible from Floyd | here. Floyd | Floyd | Out of the doors to the south comes a short, balding man, walking Floyd | briskly for someone so late. So this will be Valenti, then. Floyd | Floyd | "Ambassador Moskin. Welcome to Aleheart," he says, shoving both hands Floyd | deep in his pockets. Perhaps it would be uncouth to shake hands in Floyd | public. "I read your file." Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "greet valenti" | ||||
Floyd | "Pleasure to meet you," you begin, but you get no further than that Floyd | before he interrupts. Floyd | Floyd | "You're out of your depth." He kicks a spray of gravel into the bushes. Floyd | A young female coming along the path lifts her head in surprise and | DavidW says, "perhaps 'remember' instead of 'think about'" | |||
Floyd | floats to the side before passing him. (A heressa: the female colonists Floyd | are called heressa when they have reached the age of maturity.) Floyd | Floyd | "Your previous assignment was New Zealand?" He bounces on the balls of Floyd | his feet, getting in your face. "New Zealand has humans. Who speak Floyd | English." Floyd | | Taleslinger says, "Yay." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x valenti" | ||||
Floyd | His eyes are black. His hair, if he had much, would be black. He Floyd | reminds you of nothing so much as a plutonium ball: small, dense, Floyd | packed with malignant energy. Floyd | Floyd | "There's only one reason High Command would replace me with you," he Floyd | says. "You'll do what they say." He takes something out of his pocket Floyd | and tosses it to you. It is, you see, the size and shape of a skipping Floyd | stone, a widget that can be turned on. "You'll need this." Floyd | Floyd | "What is it?" Floyd | Floyd | He laughs, waves, and begins walking swiftly down the gravel path. Floyd | "Don't lose it!" he calls back. "You'd better hurry. My feckless Floyd | assistant Liam is waiting for you. Your feckless assistant now, I Floyd | suppose." Floyd | Floyd | You consider chasing him, but it's obvious that he's in such a mood Floyd | that he will be no help to you anyway. Instead you weigh the stone in Floyd | your hand, frowning. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "x stone" | ||||
Floyd | A plain grey device, fitted to the shape of the hand, and turned off at Floyd | the moment. There is an inscription on the back, and it is in English: Floyd | To LV from A3205. Floyd | Floyd | Mentally you check off "find out what Valenti wanted" on your list of Floyd | remaining tasks. You run over the things you still need to get done Floyd | before you can settle in: Floyd | show up at the Embassy Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "turn stone on" | ||||
Floyd | You tap the widget and it warms in your hand -- more waking up than Floyd | being switched on, somehow. After a moment, three numbers appear on Floyd | its... skin? The later digits flicker: SOC 15.7759, POW 20.00197, INT Floyd | 11.2261. Below this, in smaller letters: SQUEEZE TO SUMMON AIDES. Floyd | | zarf says, "go for it" | |||
| olethros says, "squeeeeze" | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "squeeze stone" | ||||
Floyd | The surface has a give to it, and it squeaks once. Small regretful Floyd | letters read: AIDE CURRENTLY OUT OF RANGE. Maybe in the embassy proper, Floyd | then. Floyd | Floyd | The chronometer chirps, indicating that you have a new message waiting Floyd | to be read in the Embassy communications room. You should get inside Floyd | and check your mail. This will be important. Floyd | | Taleslinger says, "I like how you can instantly tell this is Em's writing." | |||
| Taleslinger says, "Does she know we're playing this?`" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Probably." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I e-mailed her." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "But I was slow in picking it, and then there were some technical issues that had to be ironed out to make it play, so I didn't get to e-mail her until last night." | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "think" | ||||
Floyd | You run over the things you still need to get done before you can Floyd | settle in: Floyd | check your messages Floyd | show up at the Embassy Floyd | | ||||
| K-Y arrives, full of fun, but no funk. | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | The air inside is thicker, denser, more humid: more like Earth. The Floyd | paths are crowded with people coming and going, brightly-clothed. As Floyd | they glide around, their feet move, just a little, as though they were Floyd | slowly treading water: not striding, not skating, not quite hovering Floyd | either. Floyd | Floyd | Grand Solarium Floyd | The Grand Solarium is an enormous dome with an oval roof of glass and Floyd | grown metalwork. Inside is a botanical garden, which, on this planet, Floyd | is a kind of art museum. Each plot displays some invented shrub that Floyd | would be illegal on Earth. Floyd | Floyd | The southern end of the dome, where they grow edible crops, is hidden Floyd | by a decorative screen of hanging flowers. The garden also continues to Floyd | the east; away to the west is the front of the Earth Embassy, now your Floyd | home. Floyd | Floyd | A double set of insulating doors leads north to the outdoors. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "x garden" | ||||
Floyd | Shrubs with fur. Shrubs with ears. Best not to think too hard about Floyd | that. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x flowers" | ||||
Floyd | Flowers with all the color bred out, translucent buds clustered on grey Floyd | vines. They separate you from the southern part of the dome. Floyd | Floyd | A heressa approaches the curtain. The air shimmers around her and her Floyd | green gardening robe, and then the vines draw aside to let her through. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | You wander between plots: what catches your eye this time is a grass Floyd | that grows silver and then dies off, leaving an intricate metal fence. Floyd | Floyd | Reflecting Pool Floyd | You stand at the eastern end of a shallow rectangular pool -- no doubt Floyd | part of the reason the air is softer and more humid here than it was Floyd | outside. The Embassy is just west of here, at the far end of the pool. Floyd | Floyd | If you look down, you catch the reflection in the surface, and a number Floyd | of small red fish swimming around, in formation, making symbols which Floyd | you cannot read. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x herring" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | | zarf says, "pfff" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x fish" | ||||
Floyd | They have red-gold scales and fat round bodies, and are about two Floyd | inches long. The formations are symbols from the syllabary, but you Floyd | can't read them. Floyd | | Fang says, "haha" | |||
| DavidW says, "heh. I thought herring as well" | ||||
| Fang says, "I didn't" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "heehee" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Front Stairs Floyd | The Embassy proper is directly west. The entrance is flanked by orange Floyd | trees, familiar and earthly. Floyd | Floyd | From the top of the Front Stairs you have an excellent view of the Floyd | whole interior of the Solarium, the sunlight catching in the curved Floyd | triangular panes of glass. Floyd | Floyd | East, at the bottom of the stairs, is the mirror-glass of the pool. Floyd | Beyond it the botanical garden has a structure invisible from the Floyd | inside. Floyd | | Fang says, "clearly you guys should have beta tested this" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x garden" | ||||
Floyd | The paths are a knot-work, the plots arranged to diversify shape and Floyd | unify color. If you stare long enough, you even start to get the Floyd | impression that the movement of the colonists through the garden is Floyd | itself choreographed so that groups meet and pass each other at the Floyd | nodes -- but it's impossible to be sure. Floyd | | ||||
| Taleslinger says (to Floyd), "xyzzy" | ||||
Floyd | I didn't understand that sentence. Floyd | | zarf says, "the funny thing is, it reminds me of *my* writing. If I can say that." | |||
| Jacqueline hides her head in shame. | ||||
| Fang says, "dum dum duum" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I tested this; guess I should have caught the red herring." | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Embassy Foyer Floyd | Your first impression is of a large space, luxuriously built; of many Floyd | textures of wood and metal and colored enamel; of four corner pillars Floyd | with the shape and height of oak trunks. There is a staircase up, and Floyd | some other exits north and west, which look more like things to Floyd | investigate later. Floyd | Floyd | At the south end is a door to what looks like a private room. Floyd | Floyd | A young ayamet is waiting at the center of the room -- studiedly Floyd | looking at something in his hand, trying to wait without seeming to do Floyd | so. This will be Liam the assistant, then. Floyd | Floyd | He turns: his face is elfin and slightly furred. "Greetings, Floyd | ambassador. Welcome to Aleheart." His English is oddly accentuated, Floyd | almost sung. He does not extend a hand, but you would not have expected Floyd | him to touch you: some things are too much a taboo to overcome, even in Floyd | deference to Earth manners. Floyd | Floyd | "You've just been meeting Ambassador Valenti, I think?" he adds. "I Floyd | hope it was a productive encounter. You must have had questions for Floyd | him." Floyd | Floyd | The smile is so bland. This might be a dart at your inexperience, or at Floyd | Valenti for being naturally unhelpful. Or it might be nothing at all. Floyd | But the grey widget trembles eagerly in your hand. It catches Liam's Floyd | eye, and his expression grows, if anything, blander still. Floyd | Floyd | Mentally you check off "show up at the Embassy" on your list of Floyd | remaining tasks. You run over the things you still need to get done Floyd | before you can settle in: Floyd | check your messages Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "ask liam about widget" | ||||
Floyd | This is awkward. Floyd | Floyd | Your assignment was sudden, and you have only the phrases you learned Floyd | on the voyage by skulking outside the engine room. You are therefore Floyd | restricted to a) insulting your listener's parentage, diet, and sexual Floyd | practices, or b) suggesting that he is damaged in the antigravitic Floyd | propulsion unit. Floyd | Floyd | It would be dangerous to let on that Earth sent a diplomat who doesn't Floyd | even know the language, so it is best to rely on gestures and silence Floyd | until you can (quickly!) finish a linguistic hypnosis program. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "point at widget" | ||||
Floyd | Liam looks at it and then at you. He says something, which naturally is Floyd | meaningless. Then he makes a gesture of hiding something in his sleeve. Floyd | So maybe you're not supposed to be showing it off...? Floyd | Floyd | It would be nice if you'd been properly trained for this assignment, Floyd | instead of half-trained for the position of your own assistant. It Floyd | would be nice if Valenti weren't using you in some power play. And it Floyd | would be nice if you could work, privately, in your office for a while Floyd | until you'd had a chance to figure out the situation here. But that's Floyd | looking less and less likely. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x widget" | ||||
Floyd | A plain grey device, fitted to the shape of the hand, on whose surface Floyd | are three constantly flickering numbers: SOC 15.26018, POW 20.26726, Floyd | INT 11.14011. SQUEEZE TO SUMMON AIDES. There is an inscription on the Floyd | back, and it is in English: To LV from A3205. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a grey widget saying SOC 15.99781, POW 20.45966, INT 11.3811 Floyd | a comfortable outfit of chronometer, grey undersuit, shoes, and socks Floyd | | Jacqueline says (to DW), "You said you found the game to be pushy... is that because of the mental checklist? I personally found it clever and useful." | |||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "insult liam's parentage" | ||||
Floyd | I only understood you as far as wanting to insult Liam's clothing. Floyd | | zarf says, "no no no" | |||
| DavidW says (to Jacqueline), "not exactly." | ||||
| zarf says, "be nice to the furry" | ||||
| Fang says (to Jacq), "well, we can turn the checklist off" | ||||
| Fang says, "and use THINK" | ||||
| djfletch says (to Floyd), "insult me" | ||||
Floyd | With concentration, you manage a tolerably accurate rendition of the Floyd | chief engineer's favorite insult, complete with pitch and accent. A Floyd | strange look crosses yourself's face; then open laughter. Floyd | Floyd | Evidently you got it wrong. Floyd | | zarf says, "oop" | |||
| Fang says, "haha" | ||||
| zarf says, "this is release 1, mind you" | ||||
| djfletch says, "heh wasn't expecting that" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "heehee" | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "squeeze stone" | ||||
Floyd | The surface has a give to it, and it squeaks once. Liam winces and puts Floyd | a finger to his temple. Summoning him at short range is possibly a Floyd | little unfair. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | You approach the door; Liam watches you uncomfortably and speaks a few Floyd | hesitant words of his own language. The phrase is unclear but the Floyd | meaning is not: he is embarrassed to stop you, but he very much does Floyd | not want you to go in there; it would be inappropriate. Probably this Floyd | is his own private room, in fact. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "u" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Hall Floyd | At the top of the shallow stairs there is a spacious landing, with Floyd | windows giving a view east across the Grand Solarium garden. Apparently Floyd | past ambassadors have found this a pleasant place in which to read, Floyd | because there is a small library of Earth books, otherwise impossible Floyd | to get here. Floyd | Floyd | The entry to your bedroom is to the north, and an office area to the Floyd | south. Floyd | Floyd | Liam follows you upstairs, floating without any apparent motion of the Floyd | legs even on the incline. "This floor is the Earth Ambassador's," he Floyd | says, as you reach the top. "The office--" and he points to the south Floyd | door. "And the personal quarters." He indicates the north. "I believe Floyd | Valenti left some clothing behind." He looks you up and down as though Floyd | trying to guess whether it would fit you. "I do not know whether you Floyd | will have a use for it, but I am sure that no one else will, so Floyd | please..." Floyd | Floyd | This speech is halting enough to suggest that he memorized all these Floyd | remarks. Floyd | | DavidW says (to Jacqueline), "It's that there's a *lot* of unusual things thrown at the player from the start, and attempts to ground oneself seem to be discouraged by forcing the player to make choices in a state of ignorance." | |||
| Jacqueline asks, "Well, isn't that what the character is going through?" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Office Floyd | You take in perfunctorily the Earthish surroundings: two paintings, a Floyd | plain floor, a shipment crate that probably arrived on the same vessel Floyd | as your own. Floyd | Floyd | Valenti has of course left you his handheld computer -- useful, though Floyd | not able to send and receive messages. The secure mail line must be in Floyd | the next room, off to the west. Floyd | Floyd | Liam is out of sight, though you can presumably summon him back at Floyd | need, or find him again. Floyd | | DavidW says, "Not to the extent the *player* is." | |||
| Taleslinger has had his fill of playing for now, and goes back to the Lounge. | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "get computer" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x it" | ||||
Floyd | The computer is portable, and is able to scan and interpret the meaning Floyd | of the colonists' symbolic writing. It has also been programmed to Floyd | respond to search terms, to sift through data files and the personal Floyd | logs of the ambassadors before you, assuming all the relevant disks are Floyd | loaded. At the moment the slot for adding an extra data disk is empty, Floyd | which looks ominous. Floyd | | DavidW says, "The PC knows about Earth and the colonists and all sorts of things that the player doesn't understand yet." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Communications Room Floyd | With all the machinery in here, the space remaining for you is little Floyd | larger than a closet, except that the room extends upward a good Floyd | fifteen or so feet, widening at the top into a bell of tinted glass. Floyd | Floyd | The comm terminal itself could be an invention out of Jules Verne. The Floyd | keypad is arranged in the standard way, except that all the keys are Floyd | slightly too small for the fingers of a normal human, and the pad Floyd | itself stands up from the floor on a metal stalk. Floyd | Floyd | The comm screen, meanwhile, is round and surrounded by a copper ring, Floyd | porthole-like. The whole arrangement is aesthetically pleasing and Floyd | completely inconvenient. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "check messages" | ||||
Floyd | You key in your pass-code to activate the terminal. Floyd | Floyd | The following messages are available for you to read or reply to: Floyd | Floyd | 11:21 am: Instructions Floyd | 10:02 am: Hello From Ivory Coast Floyd | 9:34 am: Shuttle Departure Plans Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Oh, I don't know... seems we're underqualified for this assignment. I felt like the PC tells us when he knows more than we do, to bring us up to speed, and that the rest of the doggy paddling is what allows us to relate to the PC's predicament.'" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "But, y'know, YMMV." | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "read instructions" | ||||
Floyd | You select the message and read: Floyd | Floyd | Greetings, ambassador. Sorry for the sudden change of plan. One day Floyd | I'll tell you the whole story with Valenti, it'd be a good read. For Floyd | now, you've got to do the Gift Day ritual, which means receiving their Floyd | ambassador and handing over a present. There are two main points here Floyd | -- what you give her and what you wear. Get the gift box that we Floyd | shipped. It should have come in a crate, on the same ship as you. Floyd | You're going to want to give them a vaccine sample; there should be one Floyd | among Earth artifacts in our Museum in the Embassy. Floyd | Floyd | Wear something red and keep the rest of your clothes (if any) neutral. Floyd | Black and white are also meaningful to them, so avoid those. Grey is Floyd | fine. Floyd | Floyd | If you can get a float unit, get one: you'll want it for the meeting, Floyd | so you can be as tall as the others. Floyd | Floyd | That's it. Don't give offense, don't look weak, and remember that they Floyd | need us. -- Kruger. Floyd | Floyd | Mentally you check off "check your messages" on your list of remaining Floyd | tasks. You run over the things you still need to get done: Floyd | acquire a gift box from the goods shipped Floyd | acquire vaccine from the Museum (HC's orders) Floyd | prepare gift for Ambassador Aylene Floyd | wear something red(dish) (High Command's instruction) Floyd | find a working float unit Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "read hello" | ||||
Floyd | Seeing this message makes you almost too impatient to read it. Floyd | Floyd | Your situation with Jane is odd. She is not much older than yourself, Floyd | but prematurely grey, with mannish features. Her braying laugh is a Floyd | liability in quiet restaurants. But she is smart and dependable, and Floyd | sensitive to the times when you're best left alone. In the past year Floyd | you've rarely been out of message contact for more than a week, and Floyd | during the voyage over you missed her correspondence intensely. Floyd | Floyd | You were beginning to wonder about your feelings toward her -- a Floyd | worrying idea that can be put aside now. She would probably be as Floyd | appalled by the thought as you are. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "read hello" | ||||
Floyd | You select the message and read: Floyd | Floyd | Trust you're settled into UNDESERVED post with minimum fuss/maximum Floyd | floating handmaidens. Wish I were there. Ivory Coast still rustic. Floyd | Marsh risen two feet in floods. Cannot leave research post. Cannot buy Floyd | liquor. Cannot reach you on transport ship. About to kill self from Floyd | tedium and bug bites. Write at once. Jane. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "read shuttle plans" | ||||
Floyd | You select the message and read: Floyd | Floyd | Ship scheduled for departure 9:30 PM -- pls advise if any further Floyd | shuttle contact is needed before that time. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "reply to jane" | ||||
Floyd | You try to rest your hands on the odd keypad and type normally, but the Floyd | keys are too small for that to feel right, and the keypad bounces on Floyd | its stupid metal stalk with every stroke. Eventually you settle on a Floyd | vicious two-fingered approach. Floyd | Floyd | Dear Jane, Floyd | Floyd | Arrived to news Kruger assigning me as Valenti's replacement rather Floyd | than assistant. Understood mystery when I met Valenti, who has less Floyd | diplomatic skill than bowl of chopped liver. Floyd | Floyd | Am thus ambassador without language training. Would be content to Floyd | switch places, if you wish. No liquor here, nor any floating Floyd | handmaidens either. Understand through channels that I will be living Floyd | on diet of tan ration bars fabricated in vat. Disgusting. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "heh" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "l" | zarf asks, "?" | |||
| Fang pushes the green 'space' button. | schep asks, "uh-oh, is it in some menu mode?" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "hrm" | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "q" | Jacqueline says, "I'm going to guess here." | |||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "y" | ||||
Floyd | Send message? Y/N> Please answer yes or no.> Please answer yes or no.> Floyd | Please answer yes or no.> Floyd | You fire it off. Soon she will write back, and be sane and not related Floyd | to all of this mess. Floyd | | zarf says, "good guess." | |||
| Fang says, "ah ha" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "That's what I figured it was asking. If you want, you can undo." | ||||
| zarf says, "that's fine" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Communications Room Floyd | With all the machinery in here, the space remaining for you is little Floyd | larger than a closet, except that the room extends upward a good Floyd | fifteen or so feet, widening at the top into a bell of tinted glass. Floyd | Floyd | The comm terminal itself could be an invention out of Jules Verne. The Floyd | keypad is arranged in the standard way, except that all the keys are Floyd | slightly too small for the fingers of a normal human, and the pad Floyd | itself stands up from the floor on a metal stalk. Floyd | Floyd | The comm screen, meanwhile, is round and surrounded by a copper ring, Floyd | porthole-like. The whole arrangement is aesthetically pleasing and Floyd | completely inconvenient. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "out" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Office Floyd | Adjusted by your predecessors, and more like an Earth room than any Floyd | other you've seen here. There are two paintings, a serious tax on Floyd | someone's luggage limit. There is a plain floor that doesn't assume you Floyd | can hover in midair. The foyer is back out to the north, and there's a Floyd | child-sized Communications Room west of here. Floyd | Floyd | A crate, marked with shipping and import seals from Earth, sits in the Floyd | middle of the room. It is still sealed. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x crate" | ||||
Floyd | It is scuffed from its time in the cargo bay, but otherwise Floyd | uncompromised. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "open crate" | ||||
Floyd | You open the shipment crate, revealing a quantity of packing material, Floyd | a mail packet, and a gift box. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "get box, packet" | ||||
Floyd | gift box: Taken. Floyd | mail packet: Taken. Floyd | Floyd | Mentally you check off "acquire a gift box from the goods shipped" on Floyd | your list of remaining tasks. You run over the things you still need to Floyd | get done: Floyd | acquire vaccine from the Museum (HC's orders) Floyd | prepare gift for Ambassador Aylene Floyd | wear something red(dish) (High Command's instruction) Floyd | find a working float unit Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "x mail" | ||||
Floyd | (first heading for the communications room) Floyd | Floyd | Communications Room Floyd | With all the machinery in here, the space remaining for you is little Floyd | larger than a closet, except that the room extends upward a good Floyd | fifteen or so feet, widening at the top into a bell of tinted glass. Floyd | Floyd | The comm terminal itself could be an invention out of Jules Verne. The Floyd | keypad is arranged in the standard way, except that all the keys are Floyd | slightly too small for the fingers of a normal human, and the pad Floyd | itself stands up from the floor on a metal stalk. Floyd | Floyd | The comm screen, meanwhile, is round and surrounded by a copper ring, Floyd | porthole-like. The whole arrangement is aesthetically pleasing and Floyd | completely inconvenient. Floyd | Floyd | The following messages are available for you to read or reply to: Floyd | Floyd | 11:21 am: Instructions Floyd | 10:02 am: Hello From Ivory Coast (R) Floyd | 9:34 am: Shuttle Departure Plans Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Office Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "x packet" | ||||
Floyd | It's mail meant for Valenti. Floyd | Floyd | You read it anyway. Floyd | Floyd | Unsurprisingly, there's nothing to hint at close ties back on Earth. Floyd | But there are a number of demands from people who wanted Valenti to Floyd | research what happened to some family member who came over in the Floyd | colony ships. Apparently these people don't understand how much time Floyd | has passed in Aleheart terms. One or two even threaten to sue the Floyd | Aleheart Colony at large for damages for "illegal exploitation of Floyd | genetic material" from their relatives -- a claim viable only on Earth, Floyd | and only where High Command has something to say about it. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x gift box" | ||||
Floyd | A decorative box, obviously made on Earth, enameled like a Faberge Floyd | piece. The exterior is covered in a design of leaves and morning Floyd | glories. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "open it" | ||||
Floyd | You tilt open the lid of the gift box, but it's tantalizingly empty. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x packing material" | ||||
Floyd | Soft and tightly-wadded. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "eat it" | ||||
Floyd | (first taking the quantity of packing material) Floyd | It would leave little fuzzy bits everywhere. You've done enough. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x paintings" | ||||
Floyd | They are not restful paintings, and look as though they were created by Floyd | Van Gogh's angrier, more demented relation. As near as you can tell, Floyd | one is of a circus performer about to fall off his unicycle, and the Floyd | other is an extremely severe rainstorm. But still. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Hall Floyd | At the top of the shallow stairs there is a spacious landing, with Floyd | windows giving a view east across the Grand Solarium garden. Apparently Floyd | past ambassadors have found this a pleasant place in which to read, Floyd | because there is a small library of Earth books, otherwise impossible Floyd | to get here. Floyd | Floyd | The entry to your bedroom is to the north, and an office area to the Floyd | south. Floyd | | DavidW asks, "How... how'd you know there was packing material?" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Bedroom Floyd | Everything is on a smaller scale in the private quarters. There's no Floyd | real bed, only a stone platform, too short to accommodate your full Floyd | height, in the center of the room. The sole gesture towards comfort is Floyd | a pillow of Earth style, perhaps left here by Valenti. A rich person's Floyd | bedroom. People who paid for space would tuck the bed against the wall, Floyd | and not let it waste the whole room. Floyd | Floyd | A refreshment room is visible to the west, and the hallway is back to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | Your suitcase sits on the floor. Floyd | | zarf says, "*magic*" | |||
| Fang says, "zarf has skills" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "open suitcase" | ||||
Floyd | You open the suitcase and experience a sudden deflation. There used to Floyd | be a dozen new undersuits in different colors (or shades of grey, Floyd | anyway); two carefully pressed jackets; hats and gloves for the cold Floyd | climate; a parka; another pair of shoes. Floyd | Floyd | Now there're only few things, and one of them is a yellow paper, the Floyd | kind you get when it's made of multiply-recycled fibers. Someone has Floyd | written on it by hand. The letters have sunk in and blurred, but Floyd | they're still legible. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "read yellow paper" | ||||
Floyd | DUE TO MASS LIMITATIONS ON THIS TRIP ITEMS DEEMED TO BE OF LESSER VALUE Floyd | OR PERSONAL SIGNIFICANCE WERE RECYCLED TO EARTHBOUND CHARITY. HAVE A Floyd | NICE TRIP! DOCKWORKER 175. Floyd | Floyd | Which is funny, because with labor shortages you wouldn't have guessed Floyd | there were a whole 175 people working at the space dock. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "look in suitcase" | ||||
Floyd | Out of all you couldn't bear to give away when you left Earth -- the Floyd | Bach cello suites recorded by your great-grandfather, seven years of Floyd | your parents' love letters while your father died in quarantine, your Floyd | school medal for life-saving action -- here's what they deemed to be of Floyd | personal significance: a yellow paper note, some fuzzy bunny slippers, Floyd | and a silver kiddush cup. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "x slippers" | ||||
Floyd | They have rabbit ears and are a collector's item from before the plague Floyd | years. They are also pink. Your friend Jane gave them to you, motivated Floyd | by inscrutable Jane-like humor; they still bear the stamp of Salvage Floyd | and Reclamation on the soles. Presumably your felonious dockworker Floyd | recognized their worth and decided it was better not to steal them, but Floyd | under the circumstances you'd rather have some of the clothing you Floyd | actually intended to wear. Floyd | Floyd | It occurs to you that you left your old black sweater aboard the Floyd | shuttle. Irritating. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x cup" | ||||
Floyd | Your mother's silver kiddush cup. Most likely the only reason you got
Floyd | to keep it is the Star of David on the base, alerting the dockworker to
Floyd | its significance.
Floyd |
Floyd | Much of your time, the last days before departure, was spent getting
Floyd | rid of things. Jane helped, though no longer officially employed by
Floyd | Salvage and Reclamation. ("If you don't want to take the slippers with
Floyd | you, I won't be offended," she said, standing over a cardboard box,
Floyd | hands on hips. "It was just a present for fun." But you insisted on
Floyd | keeping them.)
Floyd |
Floyd | Getting rid of Katie: you hadn't been dating long, and neither of you
Floyd | pretended to consider maintaining a relationship at long distance.
Floyd | "It's been nice getting to know you, David," she said, before she hung
Floyd | up.
Floyd |
Floyd | Getting rid of obligations: you will not be home when your mother's
Floyd | yahrzeit comes around, and there is no one else. You have no brothers
Floyd | and no sisters. You had to look up the right words online; went to her
Floyd | grave with a flimsy print-off, and sang the Kaddish in a thin rain,
Floyd | though no one was listening to your prayers but a groundskeeper in a
Floyd | flap-eared hat. He watched with his arms folded from the next plot.
Floyd | When you were two-thirds through, he snorted and went away.
Floyd |
Floyd | So you still have the cup, at least. But you rarely use it, and what
Floyd | would it mean to do so here? Your music would have been more use.
Floyd |
| ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Bedroom Floyd | There's no real bed, only a stone platform, too short to accommodate Floyd | your full height, in the center of the room. The sole gesture towards Floyd | comfort is a pillow of Earth style, perhaps left here by Valenti. Aside Floyd | from this, the place is unfurnished. Floyd | Floyd | A refreshment room is visible to the west, and the hallway is back to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | Your suitcase lies open on the floor, displaying a yellow paper note, Floyd | some fuzzy bunny slippers, and a silver kiddush cup. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x bed" | ||||
Floyd | It is deep red stone, decorated with bands of small colorful tiles. Floyd | There's no attempt to accommodate a body either human or otherwise. And Floyd | no sheets or blankets, which is discouraging. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Refreshment Room Floyd | Divided into several sections for hygienic purposes. To one side are Floyd | the toilet facilities; on the other side, the food cabinet. Eating is Floyd | considered a disgusting bodily function, here: something to be done out Floyd | of sight and only when necessary. Floyd | Floyd | A long scarlet robe in the native style hangs from a clothing stand. Floyd | Floyd | Slightly raised from the floor by the door is a round grate, evidently Floyd | the output vent for something-or-other. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x robe" | ||||
Floyd | The purpose of clothes here is to keep a person warm while disguising Floyd | as much as possible the presence of a solid body. They're made of light Floyd | but tightly-woven material, generously cut, and studded with floatpins, Floyd | allowing the cloth to hover, drift, and swirl perpetually without Floyd | coming into indecent contact with the flesh. Floyd | Floyd | The robe is designed to drape from the shoulders, with several shorter Floyd | layers of floatpinned cape at the back. It must billow magnificently Floyd | when a person walks, and double as a sail in a strong wind. Floyd | | zarf says, "ha" | |||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "x grate" | ||||
Floyd | A pipe comes up an inch or two from the floor and, like a trunk sawn Floyd | off near the ground, ends in a round brass-colored grating about nine Floyd | inches in diameter. The only reasonable thing for it to be in this Floyd | climate is a heating outlet. It is ideally placed for stubbing the toes Floyd | of sensitive, non-floating Earth feet, so you'll have to keep an eye Floyd | out when you go by. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "open it" | ||||
Floyd | The grate is secured in place. Floyd | | zarf says, "you go for a while" | |||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Refreshment Room Floyd | Divided into several sections for hygienic purposes. To one side are Floyd | the toilet facilities; on the other side, the food cabinet. Eating is Floyd | considered a disgusting bodily function, here: something to be done out Floyd | of sight and only when necessary. Floyd | Floyd | A long scarlet robe in the native style hangs from a clothing stand. Floyd | Floyd | Slightly raised from the floor by the door is a round grate, evidently Floyd | the output vent for something-or-other. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "open food" | ||||
Floyd | You open the food cabinet, revealing a squashed unripe seed and some Floyd | ration bars. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "x seed" | ||||
Floyd | Once upon a time, this appears to have been a partially ripe seed or Floyd | fruit. The skin is streaked in orange and green, like an unready Floyd | tomato. Then someone squashed it, and now it's gooey and possibly Floyd | fermenting. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "x bar" | ||||
Floyd | High Command provided example ration bars to show the locals what Floyd | nutrition was required. Apparently they took these instructions Floyd | literally, and now all Embassy food comes in tasteless tan squares. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "take bar" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "take seed" | ||||
Floyd | You pick up the seed by the least drippy part. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Refreshment Room Floyd | Divided into several sections for hygienic purposes. To one side are Floyd | the toilet facilities; on the other side, the food cabinet. Eating is Floyd | considered a disgusting bodily function, here: something to be done out Floyd | of sight and only when necessary. Floyd | Floyd | A long scarlet robe in the native style hangs from a clothing stand. Floyd | Floyd | Slightly raised from the floor by the door is a round grate, evidently Floyd | the output vent for something-or-other. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "take robe" | ||||
Floyd | It is disorienting to pick up something you can't touch: you pull on Floyd | the air around the long scarlet robe, but never come in contact with Floyd | the surface because of the floatpoints. Floyd | Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | The chronometer chirps, indicating that you have a new message waiting Floyd | to be read. Floyd | | Fang says, "sorry, pack rat instincts" | |||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "x toilet" | ||||
Floyd | They are mercifully straightforward, but you have no need of them at Floyd | the moment. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Bedroom Floyd | There's no real bed, only a stone platform, too short to accommodate Floyd | your full height, in the center of the room. The sole gesture towards Floyd | comfort is a pillow of Earth style, perhaps left here by Valenti. Aside Floyd | from this, the place is unfurnished. Floyd | Floyd | A refreshment room is visible to the west, and the hallway is back to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | Your suitcase lies open on the floor, displaying a yellow paper note, Floyd | some fuzzy bunny slippers, and a silver kiddush cup. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "close suitcase" | ||||
Floyd | You close the suitcase. Floyd | | DavidW says, "I think packrat instincts are of some value in this game; I'm not sure how good a fit they are, though." | |||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "take it" | ||||
Floyd | It's too large and unwieldy to carry around casually -- as a matter of Floyd | fact, you probably spent a considerable amount of your mass allowance Floyd | on the suitcase itself. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "open it" | ||||
Floyd | You open the suitcase, revealing a yellow paper note, some fuzzy bunny Floyd | slippers, and a silver kiddush cup. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "take all from suitcase" | ||||
Floyd | yellow paper note: Taken. Floyd | fuzzy bunny slippers: Taken. Floyd | silver kiddush cup: Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Hall Floyd | At the top of the shallow stairs there is a spacious landing, with Floyd | windows giving a view east across the Grand Solarium garden. Apparently Floyd | past ambassadors have found this a pleasant place in which to read, Floyd | because there is a small library of Earth books, otherwise impossible Floyd | to get here. Floyd | Floyd | The other interesting item is a chute in the wall, looking (like Floyd | everything else here) as though it had grown as metal or bone into the Floyd | wall. Floyd | Floyd | The entry to your bedroom is to the north, and an office area to the Floyd | south. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "x chute" | ||||
Floyd | It leads down into darkness, possibly meant for laundry or garbage, Floyd | possibly for something else. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Office Floyd | Adjusted by your predecessors, and more like an Earth room than any Floyd | other you've seen here. There are two paintings, a serious tax on Floyd | someone's luggage limit. There is a plain floor that doesn't assume you Floyd | can hover in midair. The foyer is back out to the north, and there's a Floyd | child-sized Communications Room west of here. Floyd | Floyd | A crate, marked with shipping and import seals from Earth, sits in the Floyd | middle of the room. It has been broken open. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Communications Room Floyd | With all the machinery in here, the space remaining for you is little Floyd | larger than a closet, except that the room extends upward a good Floyd | fifteen or so feet, widening at the top into a bell of tinted glass. Floyd | Floyd | The comm terminal itself could be an invention out of Jules Verne. The Floyd | keypad is arranged in the standard way, except that all the keys are Floyd | slightly too small for the fingers of a normal human, and the pad Floyd | itself stands up from the floor on a metal stalk. Floyd | Floyd | The comm screen, meanwhile, is round and surrounded by a copper ring, Floyd | porthole-like. The whole arrangement is aesthetically pleasing and Floyd | completely inconvenient. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "read mail" | ||||
Floyd | The following messages are available for you to read or reply to: Floyd | Floyd | 12:19 pm: RE Hello Floyd | 11:21 am: Instructions Floyd | 10:02 am: Hello From Ivory Coast (R) Floyd | 9:34 am: Shuttle Departure Plans Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "read re" | ||||
Floyd | You select the message and read: Floyd | Floyd | Sorry to hear about Valenti. Sounds bad. Congrats on the promotion, Floyd | though. Floyd | Floyd | To point: rumors say High Command has issued orders for you to Floyd | negotiate, colonists are returning, will be given Africa under terms. Floyd | You MUST NOT DO THAT. Human population gone, rain forest beginning to Floyd | recover. Better than expected. Gene-splicers would ruin it. If they Floyd | want a laboratory, let them stay there, fix existing planet. Was a Floyd | reason they went away in the first place. Survived plague without them Floyd | (sort of), don't need them now. Unless they can RESURRECT dead, it Floyd | won't do any good. Floyd | Floyd | Didn't think so. Floyd | Floyd | That is all. Return to delicious ration bar, ruminate. Jane. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "taste bar" | ||||
Floyd | You chew and chew and with difficulty swallow a small corner thereof, Floyd | which will now probably keep you nourished until next month. Floyd | Floyd | Somewhere on this planet there is probably something worth eating, but Floyd | you could no more ask for details than you could inquire into favorite Floyd | forms of contraception. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang says (to Floyd), "think" | ||||
Floyd | You run over the things you still need to get done: Floyd | acquire vaccine from the Museum (HC's orders) Floyd | prepare gift for Ambassador Aylene Floyd | wear something red(dish) (High Command's instruction) Floyd | find a working float unit Floyd | | Fang says, "gotta go for a bit" | |||
| zarf says, "ok" | ||||
| zarf says, "wear robe" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "wear robe" | ||||
Floyd | You settle the robe around your shoulders, where it is much lighter Floyd | than it has any right to be considering the amount of material. Still, Floyd | it lends you a sense of authority, of moral weight. Floyd | Floyd | Or possibly makes you look like Little Red Riding Hood. Floyd | Floyd | Mentally you check off "wear something red(dish) (High Command's Floyd | instruction)" on your list of remaining tasks. You run over the things Floyd | you still need to get done: Floyd | acquire vaccine from the Museum (HC's orders) Floyd | prepare gift for Ambassador Aylene Floyd | find a working float unit Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "put cup in box" | ||||
Floyd | You put the cup into the box -- luckily it is just short enough to fit, Floyd | though it rolls back and forth slightly inside. Floyd | Floyd | A flash of memory: Your mother is sitting up in bed. "Your father Floyd | wanted another child," she says to you abruptly. "But I told him, no. Floyd | If we had another, we couldn't afford to send both to a quarantined Floyd | school. One, we could afford to keep safe. Two would both be in danger Floyd | and might both die." Floyd | Floyd | "Mother, you shouldn't have--" Floyd | Floyd | "Of course," she says, with the dry little chuckle of her last days. "I Floyd | thought you would grow up to have Jewish sons and daughters, later, Floyd | when it was safe. I thought the number of my grandchildren would make Floyd | up for the number of my children." Floyd | Floyd | There is nothing to say. Coming out of the room, you run smack into Floyd | Jane. "That was completely unfair," she whispers to you. "You shouldn't Floyd | let her make you feel--" Floyd | Floyd | "You were listening?" you say. Floyd | Floyd | "I was in the hall and overheard part and it didn't seem like the right Floyd | time to walk in," Jane answers, putting something cold into your hand. Floyd | "I brought you more pain meds." Floyd | Floyd | "I know you get curious, but don't ever listen at the door again," you Floyd | say. Floyd | Floyd | The blood creeps up her cheek. "It was hard to avoid hearing," she Floyd | says, which is probably a legitimate point. You look down at the Floyd | bottles and say nothing. Floyd | Floyd | Mentally you check off "prepare gift for Ambassador Aylene" on your Floyd | list of remaining tasks. You run over the things you still need to get Floyd | done: Floyd | acquire vaccine from the Museum (HC's orders) Floyd | find a working float unit Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Communications Room Floyd | With all the machinery in here, the space remaining for you is little Floyd | larger than a closet, except that the room extends upward a good Floyd | fifteen or so feet, widening at the top into a bell of tinted glass. Floyd | Floyd | The comm terminal itself could be an invention out of Jules Verne. The Floyd | keypad is arranged in the standard way, except that all the keys are Floyd | slightly too small for the fingers of a normal human, and the pad Floyd | itself stands up from the floor on a metal stalk. Floyd | Floyd | The comm screen, meanwhile, is round and surrounded by a copper ring, Floyd | porthole-like. The whole arrangement is aesthetically pleasing and Floyd | completely inconvenient. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "out" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Office Floyd | Adjusted by your predecessors, and more like an Earth room than any Floyd | other you've seen here. There are two paintings, a serious tax on Floyd | someone's luggage limit. There is a plain floor that doesn't assume you Floyd | can hover in midair. The foyer is back out to the north, and there's a Floyd | child-sized Communications Room west of here. Floyd | Floyd | A crate, marked with shipping and import seals from Earth, sits in the Floyd | middle of the room. It has been broken open. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "put packing material in gift box" | ||||
Floyd | The quantity of packing material will not fit in the gift box. Floyd | Floyd | The chronometer chirps, indicating that you have a new message waiting Floyd | to be read. Floyd | | zarf says, "it's like twitter" | |||
| dhakajack says, "too bad we have a chronometer and not a blackberry" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "read mail" | ||||
Floyd | (first heading for the communications room) Floyd | Floyd | Communications Room Floyd | With all the machinery in here, the space remaining for you is little Floyd | larger than a closet, except that the room extends upward a good Floyd | fifteen or so feet, widening at the top into a bell of tinted glass. Floyd | Floyd | The comm terminal itself could be an invention out of Jules Verne. The Floyd | keypad is arranged in the standard way, except that all the keys are Floyd | slightly too small for the fingers of a normal human, and the pad Floyd | itself stands up from the floor on a metal stalk. Floyd | Floyd | The comm screen, meanwhile, is round and surrounded by a copper ring, Floyd | porthole-like. The whole arrangement is aesthetically pleasing and Floyd | completely inconvenient. Floyd | Floyd | The following messages are available for you to read or reply to: Floyd | Floyd | 12:37 pm: Apology Floyd | 12:19 pm: RE Hello Floyd | 11:21 am: Instructions Floyd | 10:02 am: Hello From Ivory Coast (R) Floyd | 9:34 am: Shuttle Departure Plans Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "read apology" | ||||
Floyd | You select the message and read: Floyd | Floyd | My dear unfortunate successor: Floyd | Floyd | Possibly Kruger didn't tell you the importance of Gift Day. What you Floyd | offer shows our intentions towards the colony. To date, Earth has made Floyd | inappropriate or deceptive gestures thirteen times. They do employment Floyd | here by running vote, and Ambassador Aylene is about to be removed Floyd | because she hasn't gotten a good result out of us. You guess whose Floyd | fault that is. Floyd | Floyd | Fate of negotiations is now in your hands. Ultimate responsibility: Floyd | yours. Kruger can't control what you do from Earth. Floyd | Floyd | He's probably told you to wear red. This is a mistake: it would allow Floyd | the colonists to come to Earth as our adoptees and put us in a position Floyd | of power over them. This is neither morally nor pragmatically Floyd | defensible. Floyd | Floyd | Recommend that you wear white -- it is a color associated with Floyd | equality. I have a white jacket; it's possible Liam has taken it away, Floyd | in which case you should get it back from him. I threw out the receipt, Floyd | but it may still be in the recycling chute, if that helps communicate Floyd | your needs. Floyd | Floyd | Do not know what Kruger will have told you to give in the gift box, but Floyd | if you haven't already done so, recommend you look up "gifts" in the Floyd | computer. It has an etiquette guide. This should give some idea what Floyd | he's getting you into. Floyd | Floyd | When you are ready to present your gift, summon Liam and show him the Floyd | gift box. He will arrange the meeting for you. Floyd | Floyd | Yours in haste, Valenti Floyd | Floyd | Mentally you check off "check your messages again" on your list of Floyd | remaining tasks. You run over the things various people have decided Floyd | you ought to do: Floyd | find jacket receipt in the recycling chute (Valenti's suggestion) Floyd | acquire vaccine from the Museum (HC's orders) Floyd | wear white jacket (Valenti's idea) Floyd | look up gifts in the computer (Valenti's suggestion) Floyd | find a working float unit Floyd | summon Liam and show him the gift box Floyd | meet with Ambassador Aylene to present your gift Floyd | | zarf says, "oy" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Yeah" | ||||
| djfletch says, "the plot thickens" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "reply to apology" | ||||
Floyd | Dear Honored Former Ambassador Valenti, Floyd | Floyd | Thank you very much for your valuable advice. It is, of course, Floyd | somewhat unlikely that I will disobey orders merely on the basis of Floyd | your uncertain instructions. If you had tried more persuasion and less Floyd | condescension, I might be more inclined to listen. Floyd | Yours, etc... Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "yes" | ||||
Floyd | Send message? Y/N> Floyd | You press the send button sharply. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "out" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Office Floyd | Adjusted by your predecessors, and more like an Earth room than any Floyd | other you've seen here. There are two paintings, a serious tax on Floyd | someone's luggage limit. There is a plain floor that doesn't assume you Floyd | can hover in midair. The foyer is back out to the north, and there's a Floyd | child-sized Communications Room west of here. Floyd | Floyd | A crate, marked with shipping and import seals from Earth, sits in the Floyd | middle of the room. It has been broken open. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Hall Floyd | At the top of the shallow stairs there is a spacious landing, with Floyd | windows giving a view east across the Grand Solarium garden. Apparently Floyd | past ambassadors have found this a pleasant place in which to read, Floyd | because there is a small library of Earth books, otherwise impossible Floyd | to get here. Floyd | Floyd | The other interesting item is a chute in the wall, looking (like Floyd | everything else here) as though it had grown as metal or bone into the Floyd | wall. Floyd | Floyd | The entry to your bedroom is to the north, and an office area to the Floyd | south. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "search chute" | ||||
Floyd | The chute descends into darkness. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x books" | ||||
Floyd | An illustrated cookbook, useless here except as an object of fantasy. A Floyd | few volumes in Japanese: you can't read them, but at least they're a Floyd | familiar kind of foreign. A custom-printed poetry anthology. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x poetry" | ||||
Floyd | You expect possibly a collection of lyrics from popular hits, but the Floyd | names come up Donne, Hopkins, Christopher Smart. It is all religious, Floyd | imagery of divinity and the soul's subordination, and very alien. The Floyd | plague years brought in plenty of reactionary movements, plenty of Floyd | scourging and prayer, but they didn't look like this. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about gifts" | ||||
Floyd | You turn on the computer. It starts up a screen inviting you to look up Floyd | some search term of your choosing. Floyd | Floyd | You key in your request and wait hopefully... Floyd | Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | Gift day: Three times per local year you are expected to exchange gifts Floyd | with a representative of the Aleheart government. These days are keyed Floyd | to the anniversary of first Earth contact and are not celebrated by the Floyd | rest of the population in general. Floyd | Floyd | gift symbolism: draft proposal: According to the etiquette files, those Floyd | proposing marriage or cooperative scientific ventures may do so by Floyd | creating a sample of the kind of project they hope to undertake. In the Floyd | case of marriage, these are usually representations of the offspring Floyd | that might be engineered from the two parents; for purely business Floyd | relationships, other kinds of model, sample, or technical proposal are Floyd | appropriate. A superior looking to employ or adopt an inferior may give Floyd | a sample of the kind of work the inferior will be expected to produce Floyd | as a condition of the employment. Floyd | Floyd | gift symbolism: personal token: Etiquette files reveal that an object Floyd | personally significant to the giver is an appropriate gift when Floyd | establishing a relationship of friendship in which no joint work or Floyd | project is intended. Also sometimes used for marriages not intended to Floyd | produce offspring. Floyd | Floyd | gift symbolism: knife: Apparently, according to the etiquette files, Floyd | any edged instrument is a symbol of restrictions, living under strict Floyd | controls imposed by someone else, and dating back to clinical trials in Floyd | which new genetic lines deemed to be failing their intended purpose Floyd | were slaughtered with a knife. This practice is now called flushing and Floyd | does not require a blade, but the associations remain. Floyd | Floyd | There isn't any personal data available from logs or annotations. Floyd | Floyd | Mentally you check off "look up gifts in the computer (Valenti's Floyd | suggestion)" on your list of remaining tasks. You run over the things Floyd | various people have decided you ought to do: Floyd | find jacket receipt in the recycling chute (Valenti's suggestion) Floyd | acquire vaccine from the Museum (HC's orders) Floyd | wear white jacket (Valenti's idea) Floyd | find a working float unit Floyd | summon Liam and show him the gift box Floyd | meet with Ambassador Aylene to present your gift Floyd | | zarf says, "so, the kiddush cup probably means 'fuck off and die'." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "take cup" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about float" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about floatpoint" | Fang says, "well, I guess it'd be a personal token" | |||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | Float technology: After extended scrutiny, you decide the complicated Floyd | jargon means Earth scientists don't understand floatpoints at all. Floyd | There is some handwaving about a force that weakly attracts things at a Floyd | distance and strongly repels those close up. Floyd | Floyd | There isn't any personal data available from logs or annotations. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about food" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | Aleheart eating habits: Little or no information is available about Floyd | Aleheart eating habits, since this eating apparently takes place Floyd | entirely in private. Floyd | Floyd | There isn't any personal data available from logs or annotations. Floyd | Floyd | The chronometer chirps, indicating that you have a new message waiting Floyd | to be read. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x computer" | ||||
Floyd | The computer is portable, and is able to scan and interpret the meaning Floyd | of the colonists' symbolic writing. It has also been programmed to Floyd | respond to search terms, to sift through data files and the personal Floyd | logs of the ambassadors before you, assuming all the relevant disks are Floyd | loaded. At the moment the slot for adding an extra data disk is empty, Floyd | which looks ominous. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "read mail" | K-Y says, "yeah, I don't see why it would be that" | |||
Floyd | (first heading for the communications room) Floyd | You hurry toward the office, and then the communications room. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Communications Room Floyd | With all the machinery in here, the space remaining for you is little Floyd | larger than a closet, except that the room extends upward a good Floyd | fifteen or so feet, widening at the top into a bell of tinted glass. Floyd | Floyd | The comm terminal itself could be an invention out of Jules Verne. The Floyd | keypad is arranged in the standard way, except that all the keys are Floyd | slightly too small for the fingers of a normal human, and the pad Floyd | itself stands up from the floor on a metal stalk. Floyd | Floyd | The comm screen, meanwhile, is round and surrounded by a copper ring, Floyd | porthole-like. The whole arrangement is aesthetically pleasing and Floyd | completely inconvenient. Floyd | Floyd | The following messages are available for you to read or reply to: Floyd | Floyd | 12:50 pm: Undeliverable Mail Floyd | 12:37 pm: Apology (R) Floyd | 12:19 pm: RE Hello Floyd | 11:21 am: Instructions Floyd | 10:02 am: Hello From Ivory Coast (R) Floyd | 9:34 am: Shuttle Departure Plans Floyd | | DavidW says, "heh, ominous disk slot" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "read undeliverable" | ||||
Floyd | You select the message and read: Floyd | Floyd | The message you sent to EARTH AMBASSADOR L VALENTI is currently Floyd | undeliverable because service does not reach ships in transit. Your Floyd | message will be held and delivered when HE arrives at HIS destination Floyd | EARTH in approximately TWENTY-SIX days. Floyd | Floyd | This is an automated response program. Do not reply. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "time" | ||||
Floyd | It is 12:54 pm -- here, anyhow. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "out" | dhakajack says, "I dare you to reply :-)" | |||
Floyd | Floyd | Office Floyd | Adjusted by your predecessors, and more like an Earth room than any Floyd | other you've seen here. There are two paintings, a serious tax on Floyd | someone's luggage limit. There is a plain floor that doesn't assume you Floyd | can hover in midair. The foyer is back out to the north, and there's a Floyd | child-sized Communications Room west of here. Floyd | Floyd | A crate, marked with shipping and import seals from Earth, sits in the Floyd | middle of the room. It has been broken open. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Hall Floyd | At the top of the shallow stairs there is a spacious landing, with Floyd | windows giving a view east across the Grand Solarium garden. Apparently Floyd | past ambassadors have found this a pleasant place in which to read, Floyd | because there is a small library of Earth books, otherwise impossible Floyd | to get here. Floyd | Floyd | The other interesting item is a chute in the wall, looking (like Floyd | everything else here) as though it had grown as metal or bone into the Floyd | wall. Floyd | Floyd | The entry to your bedroom is to the north, and an office area to the Floyd | south. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "d" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Embassy Foyer Floyd | Like most buildings here, the Embassy is built with an eye for organic Floyd | color and form: windows and doorways framed with curved ironwork, Floyd | accents of bright enamel, wooden floors grown in place. All Floyd | conspicuously wasteful of both materials and labor. It might be Floyd | intended to make Earth representatives uncomfortable, or it might be Floyd | meant as an honor, or it might be an advertisement for a standard of Floyd | living that Earth lost some time ago. Too hard to tell. Floyd | Floyd | There's a large Receiving Room to the west. Less prominent rooms lie Floyd | north and south -- the south with a locked private door, the north an Floyd | archway. Shallow stairs, almost a ramp, rise to a second story. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum Floyd | The Museum is a presentation on Earth -- geography, culture, and Floyd | everything else. The selection is idiosyncratic, but apparently Floyd | compelling, to judge by the healthy crowd currently looking it over. Floyd | Floyd | To one side there is a ramp leading down. The studious way the crowd Floyd | ignores this ramp suggests that they consider it private space. Floyd | Floyd | A map of Earth covers the east wall, so large that you can barely reach Floyd | across South America with both arms outstretched. It has attracted Floyd | several groups of interested visitors, who are pointing out to each Floyd | other details of the topography of Mongolia and making excited gestures Floyd | at the Sahara. Floyd | Floyd | There is a display case in the middle of the room. Floyd | Floyd | There's a most peculiar noise, like TOK TOK TOK TOK TOK, coming from Floyd | all around. You eventually work out that it's a clicking or clucking Floyd | they're making with their mouths because, what, you have food in Floyd | public? A few of these fine folks should ride a subway one day. Ideally Floyd | the Manhattan/Brooklyn train nicknamed Charnel Line. Floyd | Floyd | The widget readout changes to SOC 13.02265, POW 20.7061, INT 11.8837. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "hide food" | ||||
Floyd | I didn't understand that sentence. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Embassy Foyer Floyd | Like most buildings here, the Embassy is built with an eye for organic Floyd | color and form: windows and doorways framed with curved ironwork, Floyd | accents of bright enamel, wooden floors grown in place. All Floyd | conspicuously wasteful of both materials and labor. It might be Floyd | intended to make Earth representatives uncomfortable, or it might be Floyd | meant as an honor, or it might be an advertisement for a standard of Floyd | living that Earth lost some time ago. Too hard to tell. Floyd | Floyd | There's a large Receiving Room to the west. Less prominent rooms lie Floyd | north and south -- the south with a locked private door, the north an Floyd | archway offering a mercifully limited view of the "Museum". Shallow Floyd | stairs, almost a ramp, rise to a second story. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "u" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Hall Floyd | At the top of the shallow stairs there is a spacious landing, with Floyd | windows giving a view east across the Grand Solarium garden. Apparently Floyd | past ambassadors have found this a pleasant place in which to read, Floyd | because there is a small library of Earth books, otherwise impossible Floyd | to get here. Floyd | Floyd | The other interesting item is a chute in the wall, looking (like Floyd | everything else here) as though it had grown as metal or bone into the Floyd | wall. Floyd | Floyd | The entry to your bedroom is to the north, and an office area to the Floyd | south. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "drop seed" | ||||
Floyd | Dropped. Floyd | | zarf says, "yes, in the middle of the floor" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a silver kiddush cup Floyd | some fuzzy bunny slippers Floyd | a yellow paper note Floyd | some ration bars Floyd | a mail packet Floyd | an empty gift box Floyd | a handheld computer (data slot currently empty) Floyd | a grey widget saying SOC 13.6234, POW 20.52288, INT 11.92473 Floyd | a magnificent ensemble of flowing scarlet robe, chronometer, grey Floyd | undersuit, shoes, and socks Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "drop bars" | ||||
Floyd | Dropped. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "d" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Embassy Foyer Floyd | Like most buildings here, the Embassy is built with an eye for organic Floyd | color and form: windows and doorways framed with curved ironwork, Floyd | accents of bright enamel, wooden floors grown in place. All Floyd | conspicuously wasteful of both materials and labor. It might be Floyd | intended to make Earth representatives uncomfortable, or it might be Floyd | meant as an honor, or it might be an advertisement for a standard of Floyd | living that Earth lost some time ago. Too hard to tell. Floyd | Floyd | There's a large Receiving Room to the west. Less prominent rooms lie Floyd | north and south -- the south with a locked private door, the north an Floyd | archway offering a mercifully limited view of the "Museum". Shallow Floyd | stairs, almost a ramp, rise to a second story. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum Floyd | The Museum is a presentation on Earth -- geography, culture, and Floyd | everything else. The selection is idiosyncratic, but apparently Floyd | compelling, to judge by the healthy crowd currently looking it over. Floyd | Floyd | To one side there is a ramp leading down. The studious way the crowd Floyd | ignores this ramp suggests that they consider it private space. Floyd | Floyd | A map of Earth covers the east wall, so large that you can barely reach Floyd | across South America with both arms outstretched. It has attracted Floyd | several groups of interested visitors, who are pointing out to each Floyd | other details of the topography of Mongolia and making excited gestures Floyd | at the Sahara. Floyd | Floyd | There is a display case in the middle of the room. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x map" | ||||
Floyd | A detailed geographical map which omits political boundaries of any Floyd | kind. While High Command doesn't lie about the political situation, it Floyd | tends towards discretion -- as Kruger puts it, "You don't talk about Floyd | ex-girlfriends on the first date." Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x case" | ||||
Floyd | Designed for a viewer with an Earth-average eye level, which is to say, Floyd | several inches lower than is ideal. It contains only a pink card. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "read pink card" | ||||
Floyd | The display case isn't open. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x pink card" | ||||
Floyd | The pink card appears to say cure/serum fatal-sickness primitive Floyd | borrowed -- research center room 58 -- card-that-grants-access. Floyd | Floyd | With a great deal of luck, that will mean that you can go to this Floyd | research facility and collect the vaccine without too much hassle. That Floyd | is, assuming Colonist scientists are less fussy about interrupting Floyd | their experiments than the Earth scientists you've met. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "d" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Basement Floyd | Unlike the upper levels of the Embassy, the basement is built for Floyd | practical purposes, and resembles the inside of a concrete cigar box. Floyd | It continues to the south, dimly lit and cold. Floyd | Floyd | Along the west wall, a chute from above empties into a large metal Floyd | container. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "search container" | ||||
Floyd | You push up the lid to reveal a receipt and a data disk. Well, well, Floyd | well. Valenti may have been a criminal and an ass, but at least he was Floyd | incompetent. Floyd | Floyd | Very interesting. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "get receipt, disk" | ||||
Floyd | receipt: Taken. Floyd | data disk: Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x receipt" | ||||
Floyd | The receipt appears to say disguise/costume/funny clothing for Floyd | proposal-of-marriage white large. Floyd | Floyd | Mentally you check off "find jacket receipt in the recycling chute Floyd | (Valenti's suggestion)" on your list of remaining tasks. You run over Floyd | the things various people have decided you ought to do: Floyd | give the jacket receipt to Liam Floyd | acquire vaccine from the research facility (HC's orders) Floyd | wear white jacket (Valenti's idea) Floyd | find a working float unit Floyd | summon Liam and show him the gift box Floyd | meet with Ambassador Aylene to present your gift Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "I love the frank commentary in this game." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x disk" | ||||
Floyd | An Earth-style computer disk an inch and a half on a side, and labeled Floyd | "JOURNAL, TRANSLATIONS" in spiky unfriendly handwriting. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "put disk in computer" | ||||
Floyd | You put the data disk into the spare data slot. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about journal" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | --: Valenti's data disk contains a variety of data entries, article Floyd | annotations, translations of this and that, etc., and is more easily Floyd | approached by trying to extract a single topic of information than by Floyd | straight reading. Hence the need to look things up. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about gifts" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | Gift day: Three times per local year you are expected to exchange gifts Floyd | with a representative of the Aleheart government. These days are keyed Floyd | to the anniversary of first Earth contact and are not celebrated by the Floyd | rest of the population in general. Floyd | Floyd | gift symbolism: draft proposal: According to the etiquette files, those Floyd | proposing marriage or cooperative scientific ventures may do so by Floyd | creating a sample of the kind of project they hope to undertake. In the Floyd | case of marriage, these are usually representations of the offspring Floyd | that might be engineered from the two parents; for purely business Floyd | relationships, other kinds of model, sample, or technical proposal are Floyd | appropriate. A superior looking to employ or adopt an inferior may give Floyd | a sample of the kind of work the inferior will be expected to produce Floyd | as a condition of the employment. Floyd | Floyd | gift symbolism: personal token: Etiquette files reveal that an object Floyd | personally significant to the giver is an appropriate gift when Floyd | establishing a relationship of friendship in which no joint work or Floyd | project is intended. Also sometimes used for marriages not intended to Floyd | produce offspring. Floyd | Floyd | gift symbolism: knife: Apparently, according to the etiquette files, Floyd | any edged instrument is a symbol of restrictions, living under strict Floyd | controls imposed by someone else, and dating back to clinical trials in Floyd | which new genetic lines deemed to be failing their intended purpose Floyd | were slaughtered with a knife. This practice is now called flushing and Floyd | does not require a blade, but the associations remain. Floyd | Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | six months ago: ...Mealy-mouthed third-rate translation of a Floyd | traditional courtship greeting. Not sure whether High Command is so Floyd | dumb that they don't know this, or so dumb that they don't tell their Floyd | emissaries. Not sure which would be dumber. What do they think Gift Floyd | Day is about? Hostess presents? Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about red" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | color symbolism: red: Red is the color of superior power, requiring Floyd | relatively expensive dyes. It is worn by parties offering conditional Floyd | adoption. Floyd | Floyd | Conditional adoption: An agreement by which one party becomes Floyd | responsible for the needs of another party, in exchange for some Floyd | concessions -- usually part or all of that party's work. Somewhere Floyd | between hiring and slavery. Usually offered with red clothing and a Floyd | token of the sort of work required. Cannot seriously be offered by Floyd | someone without the credible appearance of power, however. Floyd | Floyd | There isn't any personal data available from logs or annotations. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about white" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | color symbolism: white: White is the color of balance, being the color Floyd | of the rings in summer sky. It is worn to offer marriage, equitable Floyd | business, or cohabitation in shared house under non-hierarchical terms. Floyd | Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | 15 days ago: Got suited for white jacket today for wedding proposal. Floyd | Not quite sure what the tailor thought. Charged it to personal funds Floyd | since do not want it on HC bill. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about black" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | color symbolism: black: The color of termination, worn to refuse an Floyd | agreement; to propose corporate splits or divorce. Floyd | Floyd | There isn't any personal data available from logs or annotations. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about grey" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | color symbolism: grey: Grey is considered neutral and signifies a lack Floyd | of decision. Floyd | Floyd | There isn't any personal data available from logs or annotations. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about purple" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | DavidW says, "Floatpoint might have the best computer in IF." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about widget" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | six months ago: Aylene gave me a live rock! Which, in theory, Floyd | calculates what everyone thinks of me, to many decimal places of Floyd | accuracy (!). Don't think she realized what negative reinforcement Floyd | this would be. Can't help experimenting with ways to make numbers go up Floyd | and down. Bet I could crash all three to zero if I ran through the Floyd | Solarium bareassed. Apparently the thing corresponds to a portion of Floyd | the alien brain. I admit (if only to myself) that I find the concept Floyd | disgusting. But I admit a lot to myself lately. I gather my predecessor Floyd | talked to herself as well. I need some recordings of human speech or Floyd | may go insane... Floyd | Floyd | three months ago: I tried asking her whether she can factor in my Floyd | thoughts the same way her little live rock tracks everyone else's. She Floyd | said no, I don't broadcast. She looked tremendously uncomfortable. I Floyd | cannot say how smug this makes me. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about aylene" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | eight months ago: Met my counterpart, the ambassador Aylene, today. Floyd | Frankly, High Command should have left Yamashita here -- they probably Floyd | did wonderfully having tea parties together and comparing fashion Floyd | notes. Have never met another human -- no, strike that, because she Floyd | isn't human. Have never met any person with so little emotional affect Floyd | in speech and behavior. Not sure what gene modifications they made to Floyd | her, but it is frightening. Floyd | Floyd | five months ago: Coming to terms with the bowing. When Aylene bows, Floyd | when she smiles, when she says polite formulas, the etiquette system Floyd | doesn't seem stupid. She's not bowing to show how well-bred she is. Floyd | It's a liturgy of respect. You bow to show that you respect someone Floyd | but also to remind yourself of this fact. Sincerity can work inward as Floyd | well as outward. You don't have to like someone to treat them well. If Floyd | you practice this sometimes leads to liking. Floyd | Floyd | Then again, sometimes not. Floyd | Floyd | five weeks ago: Is it possible that Liam is jealous of me because of Floyd | Aylene? I find him lurking around after she's been here, looking sniffy Floyd | and grim. Naturally Aylene's live rock doesn't offer any sort of data Floyd | analysis function. That might be dangerously useful. Floyd | Floyd | four weeks ago: Another long, long talk with Aylene. She may be coming Floyd | around on the cohabitation idea, of shared resources and an integrated Floyd | society. But there are concessions involved on both sides, and she is Floyd | more afraid of her people than I am of mine. There's no way they're Floyd | going to be able to live on Earth and preserve their daintiness about Floyd | eating, for instance. Which in my opinion would be no bad thing, but Floyd | one can hardly say that... Floyd | Floyd | 28 days ago: Naturally after I read that I asked Aylene about it (if Floyd | we're modeling our alliance on a marriage I'd rather not have Floyd | "marriage" mean "eugenics program"). She says in practice there's Floyd | hardly any "flushing". I still have some serious questions about this, Floyd | but I think inasmuch as it applies to the current occasion we're Floyd | looking rather at a joint stewardship of the resources available to Floyd | both planets. HC should be able to live with that. I don't know Floyd | whether the general population would be so enthusiastic, but the Floyd | general population seems to think it's a point of principle not to make Floyd | any concessions or in fact live in the real world in any way. Floyd | Floyd | 25 days ago: And, well, the personal component of all this. I very Floyd | nearly put it to Aylene as an offer based on symbolism and political Floyd | expediency. She would have understood that, but... I would like to Floyd | marry her, in truth, and not simply as a means to an end. She was Floyd | silent after I raised the possibility. I think I went about it wrong, Floyd | but it's damned difficult to know what "right" looks like here. How Floyd | the hell would I know? Floyd | Floyd | 24 days ago: She won't talk to me today. Floyd | Floyd | 23 days ago: They voted her out. I cannot believe they voted her out. Floyd | What kind of employment system is that, anyway? Floyd | Floyd | 5 days ago: News from Kruger: I am out. No explanation. Replacement Floyd | already en route. Pack bags, prepare to leave. Can't bring myself to Floyd | contact Aylene. Floyd | | DavidW asks, "The 'three numbers', are those the stats on the widget? SOC, etc?" | |||
| zarf says, "I assume" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about doc" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about soc" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | six months ago: Aylene gave me a live rock! Which, in theory, Floyd | calculates what everyone thinks of me, to many decimal places of Floyd | accuracy (!). Don't think she realized what negative reinforcement Floyd | this would be. Can't help experimenting with ways to make numbers go up Floyd | and down. Bet I could crash all three to zero if I ran through the Floyd | Solarium bareassed. Apparently the thing corresponds to a portion of Floyd | the alien brain. I admit (if only to myself) that I find the concept Floyd | disgusting. But I admit a lot to myself lately. I gather my predecessor Floyd | talked to herself as well. I need some recordings of human speech or Floyd | may go insane... Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Basement Floyd | Unlike the upper levels of the Embassy, the basement is built for Floyd | practical purposes, and resembles the inside of a concrete cigar box. Floyd | It continues to the south, dimly lit and cold. Floyd | Floyd | Along the west wall, a chute from above empties into a large metal Floyd | container. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "u" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum Floyd | The Museum is a presentation on Earth -- geography, culture, and Floyd | everything else. The selection is idiosyncratic, but apparently Floyd | compelling, to judge by the healthy crowd currently looking it over. Floyd | Floyd | To one side there is a ramp leading down. The studious way the crowd Floyd | ignores this ramp suggests that they consider it private space. Floyd | Floyd | A map of Earth covers the east wall, so large that you can barely reach Floyd | across South America with both arms outstretched. It has attracted Floyd | several groups of interested visitors, who are pointing out to each Floyd | other details of the topography of Mongolia and making excited gestures Floyd | at the Sahara. Floyd | Floyd | There is a display case in the middle of the room. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Embassy Foyer Floyd | Like most buildings here, the Embassy is built with an eye for organic Floyd | color and form: windows and doorways framed with curved ironwork, Floyd | accents of bright enamel, wooden floors grown in place. All Floyd | conspicuously wasteful of both materials and labor. It might be Floyd | intended to make Earth representatives uncomfortable, or it might be Floyd | meant as an honor, or it might be an advertisement for a standard of Floyd | living that Earth lost some time ago. Too hard to tell. Floyd | Floyd | There's a large Receiving Room to the west. Less prominent rooms lie Floyd | north and south -- the south with a locked private door, the north an Floyd | archway offering a mercifully limited view of the "Museum". Shallow Floyd | stairs, almost a ramp, rise to a second story. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | The floor of the Receiving Room is decorated with broken glass. It's Floyd | not conducive to strolling around without a float unit. Floyd | | ||||
| K-Y says (to Floyd), "time" | ||||
Floyd | It is 1:31 pm -- here, anyhow. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Front Stairs Floyd | The Embassy proper is directly west. The entrance is flanked by orange Floyd | trees, familiar and earthly. Floyd | Floyd | From the top of the Front Stairs you have an excellent view of the Floyd | whole interior of the Solarium, the sunlight catching in the curved Floyd | triangular panes of glass. Floyd | Floyd | East, at the bottom of the stairs, is the mirror-glass of the pool. Floyd | Beyond it the botanical garden has a structure invisible from the Floyd | inside. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Reflecting Pool Floyd | You stand at the western end of a shallow rectangular pool -- no doubt Floyd | part of the reason the air is softer and more humid here than it was Floyd | outside. The garden paths open at the east end of the pool; the Embassy Floyd | is west, at your back. Floyd | Floyd | If you look down, you catch the reflection in the surface, and a number Floyd | of small red fish swimming around, in formation, making symbols which Floyd | you cannot read. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | You wander between plots: what catches your eye this time is a Floyd | writing-desk-tree, spreading to a flat surface at about three feet. Floyd | Floyd | Grand Solarium Floyd | The Grand Solarium is an enormous dome with an oval roof of glass and Floyd | grown metalwork. Inside is a botanical garden, which, on this planet, Floyd | is a kind of art museum. Each plot displays some invented shrub that Floyd | would be illegal on Earth. Floyd | Floyd | The southern end of the dome, where they grow edible crops, is hidden Floyd | by a decorative screen of hanging flowers. The garden also continues to Floyd | the east; away to the west is the front of the Earth Embassy, now your Floyd | home. Floyd | Floyd | A double set of insulating doors leads north to the outdoors. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | You head out of the Solarium and down a brief slope, into the clearing Floyd | at the center of town. Floyd | Floyd | Clearing Floyd | The street runs north/south, so that you have an uninterrupted view of Floyd | Cordia Peak, and the leading edge of the glacier at the northern edge Floyd | of town. Floyd | Floyd | Both sides of the street are built up. A substantial building of metal Floyd | and glass lies to the east, houses to the west. Floyd | Floyd | The ring system is mostly obscured by the grand solarium to the south, Floyd | accessible through the insulating doors. The solarium is a huge domed Floyd | structure to keep in as much heat and warmth as possible; the Earth Floyd | embassy is inside. Floyd | Floyd | At the center of the open space here is a monument shaped like a tusk Floyd | or tooth. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x monument" | ||||
Floyd | It has look of force-grown bone, monolithic and taller than a man. Floyd | Floyd | The symbolic lettering of the current language has been painted on the Floyd | side, but the original carving is in Chinese and English: "To those Floyd | who, in the name of the Company and for the advancement of knowledge, Floyd | were killed, modified incorrectly, or born unfit." Floyd | | DavidW says, "I remember a woman in a green robe was able to go south through the vines." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | A repulsion field prevents you from entering the building without the Floyd | proper security device. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | From here, you can go south (to grand solarium), east, or north (to the Floyd | broad street). Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Grand Solarium Floyd | The Grand Solarium is an enormous dome with an oval roof of glass and Floyd | grown metalwork. Inside is a botanical garden, which, on this planet, Floyd | is a kind of art museum. Each plot displays some invented shrub that Floyd | would be illegal on Earth. Floyd | Floyd | The southern end of the dome, where they grow edible crops, is hidden Floyd | by a decorative screen of hanging flowers. The garden also continues to Floyd | the east; away to the west is the front of the Earth Embassy, now your Floyd | home. Floyd | Floyd | A double set of insulating doors leads north to the outdoors. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | You approach the curtain of vine; it draws away, then begins to repel Floyd | you. Your face feels hot, as though sunburnt. You step away. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x vine" | ||||
Floyd | Flowers with all the color bred out, translucent buds clustered on grey Floyd | vines. They separate you from the southern part of the dome. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "consult computer about vine" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about green" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "consult computer about solarium" | ||||
Floyd | You're already in Grand Solarium, so further directions are needless. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "think" | ||||
Floyd | You run over the things various people have decided you ought to do: Floyd | give the jacket receipt to Liam Floyd | acquire vaccine from the research facility (HC's orders) Floyd | wear white jacket (Valenti's idea) Floyd | find a working float unit Floyd | summon Liam and show him the gift box Floyd | meet with Ambassador Aylene to present your gift Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "squeeze rock" | ||||
Floyd | The surface has a give to it, and it squeaks once. Small regretful Floyd | letters read: AIDE CURRENTLY OUT OF RANGE. Maybe in the embassy proper, Floyd | then. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | You wander between plots: what catches your eye this time is a wispy Floyd | groundcover exuding fog. Floyd | Floyd | Reflecting Pool Floyd | You stand at the eastern end of a shallow rectangular pool -- no doubt Floyd | part of the reason the air is softer and more humid here than it was Floyd | outside. The Embassy is just west of here, at the far end of the pool. Floyd | Floyd | If you look down, you catch the reflection in the surface, and a number Floyd | of small red fish swimming around, in formation, making symbols which Floyd | you cannot read. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Front Stairs Floyd | The Embassy proper is directly west. The entrance is flanked by orange Floyd | trees, familiar and earthly. Floyd | Floyd | From the top of the Front Stairs you have an excellent view of the Floyd | whole interior of the Solarium, the sunlight catching in the curved Floyd | triangular panes of glass. Floyd | Floyd | East, at the bottom of the stairs, is the mirror-glass of the pool. Floyd | Beyond it the botanical garden has a structure invisible from the Floyd | inside. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "squeeze rock" | ||||
Floyd | The surface has a give to it, and it squeaks once. Small regretful Floyd | letters read: AIDE CURRENTLY OUT OF RANGE. Maybe in the embassy proper, Floyd | then. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Embassy Foyer Floyd | Like most buildings here, the Embassy is built with an eye for organic Floyd | color and form: windows and doorways framed with curved ironwork, Floyd | accents of bright enamel, wooden floors grown in place. All Floyd | conspicuously wasteful of both materials and labor. It might be Floyd | intended to make Earth representatives uncomfortable, or it might be Floyd | meant as an honor, or it might be an advertisement for a standard of Floyd | living that Earth lost some time ago. Too hard to tell. Floyd | Floyd | There's a large Receiving Room to the west. Less prominent rooms lie Floyd | north and south -- the south with a locked private door, the north an Floyd | archway offering a mercifully limited view of the "Museum". Shallow Floyd | stairs, almost a ramp, rise to a second story. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "squeeze rock" | ||||
Floyd | The surface has a give to it, and it squeaks once. COMING, reads the Floyd | skin lettering tersely. Floyd | Floyd | Liam slips through the locked barrier from the south. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "show receipt to liam" | ||||
Floyd | Liam takes the receipt numbly and looks at it, then back at you. "You Floyd | are... seeking this apparel?" he asks. You nod curtly in a manner you Floyd | hope suggests decisiveness rather than an inability to speak his Floyd | language. Floyd | Floyd | The silence becomes uncomfortable. You realize after a moment what has Floyd | changed: he is now floating at the same height as you, looking you in Floyd | the eye directly. For some reason he is not at all pleased with this Floyd | request. Floyd | Floyd | Mentally you check off "give the jacket receipt to Liam" on your list Floyd | of remaining tasks. You run over the things various people have decided Floyd | you ought to do: Floyd | acquire vaccine from the research facility (HC's orders) Floyd | wear white jacket (Valenti's idea) Floyd | find a working float unit Floyd | summon Liam and show him the gift box Floyd | meet with Ambassador Aylene to present your gift Floyd | Floyd | A moment later -- more quickly than you expected -- he returns with the Floyd | white jacket, and something else: a pale pink fruit. He puts the fruit Floyd | into your hand firmly so that it is squeezed. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x fruit" | ||||
Floyd | It is one of those recording fruits into which information is put. Floyd | Floyd | The pink fruit hisses sparks and juice, but then it begins to play, a Floyd | projection hovering in the middle of the air: Floyd | Floyd | Liam is standing in the foyer next to Aylene. The Ambassador has Floyd | ordered a white jacket, he says. Floyd | Floyd | It is not a surprise. Her hands are clasped in front of her, the Floyd | sleeves almost covering them. We are discussing a treaty of Floyd | cohabitation. Floyd | Floyd | Liam frowns. It pleases me that they admit they are wrong to exile us Floyd | from Earth... Floyd | Floyd | But you prefer not to mix cultures, Aylene finishes. Floyd | Floyd | I would prefer that they beg us to return and we refuse. Floyd | Floyd | She smiles affectionately. Like an angry lover! But Valenti has not Floyd | guessed how you felt toward him when he arrived here. Floyd | Floyd | | K-Y says, "you know, implementing a mechanic that summons someone must be a fun part of making any game" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "show fruit to liam" | ||||
Floyd | Liam is entirely occupied with the recording he wants to show you, and Floyd | you find you have a hard time looking away either. Floyd | Floyd | In the recording, Liam turns pink. Unlikely that he would guess any Floyd | social thing that is not told to him three times in English! And I only Floyd | admired -- he seemed to have energy, much purpose. Floyd | Floyd | He has. Her own tone is wistful. But I know you, Liam. You are not Floyd | unjust to the Earth folk because Valenti disappoints you. If the right Floyd | thing is cohabitation, you judge the possibility fairly. Floyd | Floyd | What good will come of it? he asks. They are not-- The subtitling Floyd | flickers here, flashing through a half-dozen words: social nice Floyd | adjusted sane-minded obedient easily-understood. They do not design Floyd | new lines. They will probably forbid us designing ourselves. Floyd | Floyd | Aylene answers: In a year ice will break the dam and the Solarium wall. Floyd | We will all take the train to Tanhua to be retired. We have few Floyd | choices. Floyd | | djfletch says, "saves trouble if the person doesn't have to be anywhere the rest of the time" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x fruit" | ||||
Floyd | It is one of those recording fruits into which information is put. Floyd | Floyd | The TY line are bred for winter survival. Fur, hibernation, slow Floyd | metabolism. He runs a finger over the fuzz on the backs of his wrists. Floyd | Floyd | I've followed your designer's experiments, Aylene says. They move too Floyd | slowly. Floyd | Floyd | We wasted time on Earth compatibility, he replies, bitter. I commented Floyd | this on design proposals, but everyone is mad with wanting to go Home. Floyd | Earth songs sung again, the Sanctuary of Earth plants restored, people Floyd | laugh with teeth showing. Does Valenti like the almost-humans? No, he Floyd | takes no interest. And if we do not go to Earth, they are trouble -- Floyd | retrograde stock, badly socialized, expensive to feed. Floyd | | DavidW says, "There's so much happening in this game, I really don't understand it." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x fruit" | ||||
Floyd | It is one of those recording fruits into which information is put. Floyd | Floyd | She turns to him abruptly. Be careful. When I am removed after Gift Floyd | Day, you will be Ambassador. Floyd | Floyd | His mouth opens, but he recovers. Then let Earth also send a different Floyd | speaker. Valenti has no respect for us. I cannot talk to him. Floyd | Floyd | He has no respect for groups, only individuals. You see the bad; there Floyd | is also good. He does not expect us to sacrifice any lines of stock-- Floyd | Floyd | If we go to Earth, the TY are useless. If we stay, the Floyd | Earth-compatibles... Floyd | Floyd | She puts up a hand, hushing him. Valenti is at the door. His eyes go to Floyd | Aylene; he moves towards her, barely sparing a glance for Liam, who Floyd | smiles wryly. Floyd | Floyd | The recording flickers out. Floyd | Floyd | The images over, Liam seems to feel that you have seen whatever he Floyd | wanted you to see, so he puts the white jacket you demanded over your Floyd | arm. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a puffy white jacket Floyd | a pale pink fruit Floyd | a silver kiddush cup Floyd | some fuzzy bunny slippers Floyd | a yellow paper note Floyd | a mail packet Floyd | an empty gift box Floyd | a handheld computer (in which is a data disk) Floyd | a grey widget saying SOC 13.08113, POW 20.7639, INT 11.61016 Floyd | a magnificent ensemble of flowing scarlet robe, chronometer, grey Floyd | undersuit, shoes, and socks Floyd | Floyd | Liam waits for your instructions, though with a faint air of Floyd | impatience. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x white jacket" | ||||
Floyd | The jacket is loosely cut, as you would expect, with floatpins Floyd | throughout. The cuffs have two narrow stripes of gold and red, like a Floyd | uniform. It looks very fresh and crisp. Possibly Valenti never wore it, Floyd | and that's why he didn't bother to keep it. It looks as though you Floyd | might be able to wear it, though you may look strange. Floyd | Floyd | Liam waits for your instructions, though with a faint air of Floyd | impatience. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x slippers" | ||||
Floyd | They have rabbit ears and are a collector's item from before the plague Floyd | years. They are also pink. Your friend Jane gave them to you, motivated Floyd | by inscrutable Jane-like humor; they still bear the stamp of Salvage Floyd | and Reclamation on the soles. Presumably your felonious dockworker Floyd | recognized their worth and decided it was better not to steal them, but Floyd | under the circumstances you'd rather have some of the clothing you Floyd | actually intended to wear. Floyd | Floyd | Liam slips through the locked barrier to the south. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about research center" | ||||
Floyd | The computer shows you how to go to the research facility. You'd start Floyd | with east, from here. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about security" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about security device" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | dhakajack asks, "maybe pink slippers would convey a meaning half way between red and white?" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Front Stairs Floyd | The Embassy proper is directly west. The entrance is flanked by orange Floyd | trees, familiar and earthly. Floyd | Floyd | From the top of the Front Stairs you have an excellent view of the Floyd | whole interior of the Solarium, the sunlight catching in the curved Floyd | triangular panes of glass. Floyd | Floyd | East, at the bottom of the stairs, is the mirror-glass of the pool. Floyd | Beyond it the botanical garden has a structure invisible from the Floyd | inside. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about research center" | ||||
Floyd | The computer shows you how to go to the research facility. You'd start Floyd | with east, from here. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Reflecting Pool Floyd | You stand at the western end of a shallow rectangular pool -- no doubt Floyd | part of the reason the air is softer and more humid here than it was Floyd | outside. The garden paths open at the east end of the pool; the Embassy Floyd | is west, at your back. Floyd | Floyd | If you look down, you catch the reflection in the surface, and a number Floyd | of small red fish swimming around, in formation, making symbols which Floyd | you cannot read. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about fish" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about symbols" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | gift symbolism: draft proposal: According to the etiquette files, those Floyd | proposing marriage or cooperative scientific ventures may do so by Floyd | creating a sample of the kind of project they hope to undertake. In the Floyd | case of marriage, these are usually representations of the offspring Floyd | that might be engineered from the two parents; for purely business Floyd | relationships, other kinds of model, sample, or technical proposal are Floyd | appropriate. A superior looking to employ or adopt an inferior may give Floyd | a sample of the kind of work the inferior will be expected to produce Floyd | as a condition of the employment. Floyd | Floyd | gift symbolism: personal token: Etiquette files reveal that an object Floyd | personally significant to the giver is an appropriate gift when Floyd | establishing a relationship of friendship in which no joint work or Floyd | project is intended. Also sometimes used for marriages not intended to Floyd | produce offspring. Floyd | Floyd | gift symbolism: knife: Apparently, according to the etiquette files, Floyd | any edged instrument is a symbol of restrictions, living under strict Floyd | controls imposed by someone else, and dating back to clinical trials in Floyd | which new genetic lines deemed to be failing their intended purpose Floyd | were slaughtered with a knife. This practice is now called flushing and Floyd | does not require a blade, but the associations remain. Floyd | Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | six months ago: Have been making progress with the translations of Floyd | etiquette guide... much appears to center upon proposals of various Floyd | kinds. I have gathered the formal proposal system they're using on us Floyd | is not (contrary to what they might say) a frequent feature of daily Floyd | life for them either, but is rather some archaic bit of hazing they got Floyd | out of mothballs. As a test, maybe. Or maybe because the symbols and Floyd | terms of it are actually, God help us, simpler than communicating all Floyd | the nuances in their language. Floyd | Floyd | seven weeks ago: Liam told me about the flint knife in the Earth Floyd | Sanctuary. Turns out it wasn't brought by us (always thought that a Floyd | really odd thing to send) but they brought it here from Earth Floyd | themselves. There's some sort of gloomy symbolism there which, as Floyd | usual, he couldn't bring himself to explain directly. A less useful Floyd | assistant would be difficult to find. Floyd | Floyd | 25 days ago: And, well, the personal component of all this. I very Floyd | nearly put it to Aylene as an offer based on symbolism and political Floyd | expediency. She would have understood that, but... I would like to Floyd | marry her, in truth, and not simply as a means to an end. She was Floyd | silent after I raised the possibility. I think I went about it wrong, Floyd | but it's damned difficult to know what "right" looks like here. How Floyd | the hell would I know? Floyd | | zarf says, "whoops" | |||
| zarf says, "damn tag clouds" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x symbols" | ||||
Floyd | They have red-gold scales and fat round bodies, and are about two Floyd | inches long. The formations are symbols from the syllabary, but you Floyd | can't read them. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x symbols with computer" | ||||
Floyd | I only understood you as far as wanting to examine the fish. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "translate symbols" | ||||
Floyd | With a computer, you can read the writing system here, but that is Floyd | about all. Floyd | | zarf says, "meh" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about research center" | ||||
Floyd | The computer shows you how to go to the research facility. You'd start Floyd | with east, from here. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | You wander between plots: what catches your eye this time is a Floyd | thorn-tree with black fruit smelling of oil. Floyd | Floyd | Grand Solarium Floyd | The Grand Solarium is an enormous dome with an oval roof of glass and Floyd | grown metalwork. Inside is a botanical garden, which, on this planet, Floyd | is a kind of art museum. Each plot displays some invented shrub that Floyd | would be illegal on Earth. Floyd | Floyd | The southern end of the dome, where they grow edible crops, is hidden Floyd | by a decorative screen of hanging flowers. The garden also continues to Floyd | the east; away to the west is the front of the Earth Embassy, now your Floyd | home. Floyd | Floyd | A double set of insulating doors leads north to the outdoors. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about research center" | ||||
Floyd | The computer shows you how to go to the research facility. You'd start Floyd | with north, from here. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | You head out of the Solarium and down a brief slope, into the clearing Floyd | at the center of town. Floyd | Floyd | Clearing Floyd | The street runs north/south, so that you have an uninterrupted view of Floyd | Cordia Peak, and the leading edge of the glacier at the northern edge Floyd | of town. Floyd | Floyd | Both sides of the street are built up. A substantial building of metal Floyd | and glass lies to the east, houses to the west. Floyd | Floyd | The ring system is mostly obscured by the grand solarium to the south, Floyd | accessible through the insulating doors. The solarium is a huge domed Floyd | structure to keep in as much heat and warmth as possible; the Earth Floyd | embassy is inside. Floyd | Floyd | At the center of the open space here is a monument shaped like a tusk Floyd | or tooth. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about research center" | ||||
Floyd | The computer shows you how to go to the research facility. You'd start Floyd | with east, from here. Floyd | | zarf says, "naturally" | |||
| DavidW asks, "I think you need that card from the case?" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | A repulsion field prevents you from entering the building without the Floyd | proper security device. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x research center" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x building" | ||||
Floyd | Which do you mean, the substantial building or the houses? Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x substantial building" | ||||
Floyd | Large enough to contain hundreds of apartment dwellings, or to provide Floyd | considerable office space. There is a sign on the wall. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x sign" | ||||
Floyd | The sign appears to say <proper name you can't pronounce> Colonist and Floyd | Alien Bioengineering Facility. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | You walk along the crunching gravel for some time, noticing here and Floyd | there a few gravel walkways off to the east and west, but nothing open Floyd | to visitors. There are fewer Colonists at this end of town. Floyd | Floyd | Broad Street Floyd | To the northwest is a public building with a deep portico; to the east, Floyd | one with a conical roof. The others are private houses, but, except one Floyd | or two, they don't look lived in. There is a general atmosphere of Floyd | neglect. Floyd | Floyd | The street continues south into the heart of town, or north towards the Floyd | mountain and the glacier. A track for a floating train cuts southeast Floyd | between the buildings. Floyd | Floyd | The rings in the southern sky are partly obscured by the buildings on Floyd | the horizon, but are still bright enough to catch the eye. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x portico" | ||||
Floyd | The facade has been renovated, but the original walls of the building Floyd | are old, made of blocks of cut stone brought down from the mountain a Floyd | long time ago. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "nw" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Ruined Vineyard Floyd | Once this was a kind of hothouse, but the glacier has knocked out Floyd | loadbearing portions of the north wall. The roof is buckled at that end Floyd | and gives a view of patchy sky; only a steel scaffold prevents it from Floyd | falling in completely. Gusts of warm air from the wall vents quickly Floyd | turn to cloud. Floyd | Floyd | A pamphlet lies discarded near kiosks that line the west wall. The bulk Floyd | of the area, though, is full of plant lines, growing on frames as in a Floyd | vineyard. Floyd | | K-Y asks, "portico?" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "read pamphlet" | K-Y says, "this does read like zarf's writing" | |||
Floyd | The pamphlet appears to say Greetings noble companion. Welcome to data Floyd | compression and storage tree! Designed by (long string of letters and Floyd | numbers, constituting some colonist's unique personal identification). Floyd | Floyd | Data compression tree analyzes/presses recording and finds Floyd | correspondences/similarities/relations to known/studied narrative/story Floyd | structures! Content re-expressed as combination of known/studied Floyd | structures! Output significantly more compact than original! Floyd | Floyd | SCIENTIFIC mode best suited for compacting very long meetings with Floyd | scientific content into brief precis; STORY mode captures plot events; Floyd | SOCIAL mode includes both dialogue and emotion-projection data. More Floyd | advanced version of Data compression tree available for large projects Floyd | -- contact designer! Floyd | Floyd | (Output fruit has similar function to other recording fruits. Squeeze Floyd | output fruit to display content!). Floyd | | DavidW says, "There hasn't been an atelier yet." | |||
| zarf says, "oh, I totally stole 'atelier' from Haruhiko Shono." | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x kiosks" | ||||
Floyd | Blond-wood cabinets just big enough for someone to stand inside and do Floyd | something. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "frames" | ||||
Floyd | I didn't understand that sentence. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x frames" | ||||
Floyd | They're recordings: the fruits store data. Or they did. The skins are Floyd | frosted over now. Floyd | | K-Y says, "Japanese games love their ateliers" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "get fruits" | ||||
Floyd | That's fixed in place. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "squeeze fruits" | ||||
Floyd | You pinch one of the fruits at random. A tiny woman appears in Floyd | hologram, singing a soprano part. Her voice is staticky and broken. The Floyd | flesh of the fruit is bruised from being pinched when it was Floyd | half-frozen. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "enter kiosk" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Kiosk Floyd | The kiosk is no larger than a contamination testing booth back on Floyd | Earth. It briefly evokes the old fear that somehow, despite every Floyd | reasonable precaution, this time you will turn out to be infected, and Floyd | you'd have to tell your mother, and she would be so upset. That would Floyd | be the worst thing: having to tell your mother. Floyd | Floyd | The only thing of note here is a metal box, mounted on the wall at Floyd | about shoulder-height, with a bonzai-sized tree growing out of the top. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x tree" | ||||
Floyd | (the tree machine) Floyd | A machine titled DATA COMPRESSION AND STORAGE. There is a miniature Floyd | tree growing out of the top, naked of foliage. On the front of the Floyd | metal box are green and blue push-knobs, and a movable bronze pointer. Floyd | Floyd | On the left side of the machine there is a funnel, the right size for Floyd | inserting a recording fruit. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x pointer" | ||||
Floyd | The four settings of the pointer are ORIGINAL, SCIENTIFIC, STORY, Floyd | SOCIAL. Floyd | Floyd | The pointer is currently set to original. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x blue knob" | ||||
Floyd | The blue knob appears to say PREVIEW. Floyd | | K-Y says, "oh, this is a fun toy" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x green knob" | ||||
Floyd | The green knob appears to say RECORD. Floyd | | DavidW says, "I didn't see this." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "put pink fruit in funnel" | ||||
Floyd | The pale pink fruit rolls down inside the machine. There is a whirr Floyd | like your mother's juicer on the first day of a new diet. Floyd | | DavidW says, "ha" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "set pointer to story" | Jacqueline says, "Ha" | |||
Floyd | The pointer turns with a heavy click. The selector now points to story. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "push preview" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "push blue knob" | ||||
Floyd | The projection plays, bringing on stage Aylene and Liam in similar, Floyd | bright-colored costumes. Floyd | Floyd | Aylene sings: I AM PLEASED TO TELL YOU I AM BEING WED. Floyd | Floyd | Liam: MY DEAR FRIEND, IT IS THE PUREST DELIGHT TO HEAR IT. WHO IS THE Floyd | FORTUNATE GROOM? Floyd | Floyd | Aylene: IT IS VALENTI! THE HANDSOME AND MOST ADMIRABLE VALENTI! THE Floyd | HONORABLE AND WELL-GROOMED VALENTI OF SUPERIOR GENETIC INHERITANCE! Floyd | (And so on in this mode for some stanzas, endowing Valenti with such Floyd | virtues as reinforced femurs and multiple rows of sharklike teeth.) Floyd | Floyd | Liam: THIS CANNOT BE! Floyd | Floyd | Aylene: WHY NOT? Floyd | Floyd | Liam: THIS CANNOT BE! Floyd | Floyd | Aylene: I ASK AGAIN: WHY NOT? Floyd | Floyd | Liam: HE WAS PROMISED TO ME! OH PERFIDIOUS WRETCHED MAN, OH WRETCHED Floyd | LYING MAN, OH (etc. for a number of verses), AND WHAT IS MORE I WOULD Floyd | BE DELIGHTED TO LIVE WITHOUT HIM, AND I WISH YOU JOY OF HIM, AND MAY Floyd | YOU BOTH PERISH OF THE POX Floyd | Floyd | Then the compression system gave up, apparently, because the music Floyd | splutters out and the antagonists stand glaring at one another, their Floyd | sequined sleeves glittering in the faux light, until the projection Floyd | stops. Floyd | | zarf says, "dying here" | |||
| K-Y says, "yep" | ||||
| DavidW says, "ha ha ha" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "set pointer to scientific" | ||||
Floyd | The pointer turns with a heavy click. The selector now points to Floyd | scientific. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "push blue knob" | ||||
Floyd | The projection plays. Aylene and Liam are meeting in some sort of glass Floyd | and steel boardroom. I have chosen a new collaborator, says the Floyd | cartoonish scientist Aylene. It is your boss. Floyd | Floyd | Liam: I do not approve of his project idea. I was hoping you would Floyd | prefer mine. Floyd | Floyd | Aylene: There are pragmatic reasons to favor his design. Floyd | Floyd | Liam: Drat. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "set pointer to social" | ||||
Floyd | The pointer turns with a heavy click. The selector now points to Floyd | social. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "push blue knob" | ||||
Floyd | The projection plays. Aylene and Liam stand shoulder to shoulder, not Floyd | actually talking. How difficult this is, Aylene thinks, in squiggly Floyd | symbols. I care for Valenti, and what is more I have no choice but to Floyd | accept his proposals, whatever they might be. All the same, there are Floyd | those who will be wounded by my decision, including Liam here. Though Floyd | he is not appreciated by his employer, I have come to value his advice. Floyd | Floyd | Meanwhile Liam thinks: What a disappointment that Valenti has not Floyd | proven to be a more decisive man, and to better effect! And alas that Floyd | we do not make more progress in our experiments... Floyd | Floyd | Aylene, Liam, aloud together: It is a pity, since we are friends, that Floyd | we take different sides of this matter. Floyd | | zarf says, "so, emily wrote this entire game in order to put this scene in, did she" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "heeheehee possibly" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "set pointer to story" | ||||
Floyd | The pointer turns with a heavy click. The selector now points to story. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "push green knob" | ||||
Floyd | You push the green knob in: it resists, proving the solidity of the Floyd | machine. Floyd | Floyd | Nothing happens. Floyd | Floyd | Then a small flower blooms on the tree, hurrying in seconds through a Floyd | spring and summer, until the petals drop away. It swells into a fruit Floyd | the size of a kumquat. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "get fruit" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "get kumquat" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x it" | ||||
Floyd | There is a symbol reading STORY COMPRESSION on the skin of the kumquat. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "out" | djfletch says, "I don't think I saw all this when I played it" | |||
Floyd | (heading east, since that is the only direction available) Floyd | Floyd | Ruined Vineyard Floyd | Once this was a kind of hothouse, but the glacier has knocked out Floyd | loadbearing portions of the north wall. The roof is buckled at that end Floyd | and gives a view of patchy sky; only a steel scaffold prevents it from Floyd | falling in completely. Gusts of warm air from the wall vents quickly Floyd | turn to cloud. Floyd | Floyd | A pamphlet lies discarded near kiosks that line the west wall. The bulk Floyd | of the area, though, is full of plant lines, growing on frames as in a Floyd | vineyard. Floyd | | zarf says, "I don't think I haev the nerve to try double-compressing" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "I don't recall all this either, actually." | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x glacier" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | | DavidW asks, "huh. So squeezing the kumquat will evoke the story version of the data?" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "out" | ||||
Floyd | You will have to be more specific about which direction you want to go. Floyd | From here, you can head southeast and west. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Nor does maga, and we were both testers. Not good testers, obviously." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "squeeze kumquat" | ||||
Floyd | The projection plays, bringing on stage Aylene and Liam in similar, Floyd | bright-colored costumes. Floyd | Floyd | Aylene sings: I AM PLEASED TO TELL YOU I AM BEING WED. Floyd | Floyd | Liam: MY DEAR FRIEND, IT IS THE PUREST DELIGHT TO HEAR IT. WHO IS THE Floyd | FORTUNATE GROOM? Floyd | Floyd | Aylene: IT IS VALENTI! THE HANDSOME AND MOST ADMIRABLE VALENTI! THE Floyd | HONORABLE AND WELL-GROOMED VALENTI OF SUPERIOR GENETIC INHERITANCE! Floyd | (And so on in this mode for some stanzas, endowing Valenti with such Floyd | virtues as reinforced femurs and multiple rows of sharklike teeth.) Floyd | Floyd | Liam: THIS CANNOT BE! Floyd | Floyd | Aylene: WHY NOT? Floyd | Floyd | Liam: THIS CANNOT BE! Floyd | Floyd | Aylene: I ASK AGAIN: WHY NOT? Floyd | Floyd | Liam: HE WAS PROMISED TO ME! OH PERFIDIOUS WRETCHED MAN, OH WRETCHED Floyd | LYING MAN, OH (etc. for a number of verses), AND WHAT IS MORE I WOULD Floyd | BE DELIGHTED TO LIVE WITHOUT HIM, AND I WISH YOU JOY OF HIM, AND MAY Floyd | YOU BOTH PERISH OF THE POX Floyd | Floyd | Then the compression system gave up, apparently, because the music Floyd | splutters out and the antagonists stand glaring at one another, their Floyd | sequined sleeves glittering in the faux light, until the projection Floyd | stops. Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "Admittedly this has been a few years ago, but still." | |||
| K-Y says, "I didn't remember this part until now" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "se" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Broad Street Floyd | To the northwest is a public building with a deep portico; to the east, Floyd | one with a conical roof. The others are private houses, but, except one Floyd | or two, they don't look lived in. There is a general atmosphere of Floyd | neglect. Floyd | Floyd | The street continues south into the heart of town, or north towards the Floyd | mountain and the glacier. A track for a floating train cuts southeast Floyd | between the buildings. Floyd | Floyd | The rings in the southern sky are partly obscured by the buildings on Floyd | the horizon, but are still bright enough to catch the eye. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Meeting Chamber Floyd | A grand, hexagonal room with a tiled floor of intricate design. Around Floyd | the outside of the room runs a bench, divided by carving into seats -- Floyd | perhaps ten seats on a side -- and there is a label on each seat, Floyd | except for a few blank ones left at the south-east side of the room. Floyd | Floyd | But it can't have been used for some time. The glass is knocked out of Floyd | the windows, the tiles broken. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "read labels" | ||||
Floyd | The seating label appears to say A3 representative... TY Floyd | representative... RA.... Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about ty" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about liam" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | Liam: All that's available is a brief dossier about Liam's former Floyd | employment and job rankings, which are cryptic in format and convey Floyd | almost nothing to you. Floyd | Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | seven months ago: God. Where to begin? Liam would not be assigned this Floyd | -- as I discover -- extremely low-ranking position as my assistant if Floyd | he had turned out to be good at any of the traditional skills, such as Floyd | manufacturing birds that fly backwards, or engineering climatic Floyd | disasters. He is sensitive, petty, and desperate for my approval, since Floyd | only my approval will improve his rank and get him out of here. He has Floyd | some good points, such as tolerance for boredom, but this is not enough Floyd | to prevent me wanting to strangle him. Floyd | Floyd | seven weeks ago: Liam told me about the flint knife in the Earth Floyd | Sanctuary. Turns out it wasn't brought by us (always thought that a Floyd | really odd thing to send) but they brought it here from Earth Floyd | themselves. There's some sort of gloomy symbolism there which, as Floyd | usual, he couldn't bring himself to explain directly. A less useful Floyd | assistant would be difficult to find. Floyd | Floyd | five weeks ago: Is it possible that Liam is jealous of me because of Floyd | Aylene? I find him lurking around after she's been here, looking sniffy Floyd | and grim. Naturally Aylene's live rock doesn't offer any sort of data Floyd | analysis function. That might be dangerously useful. Floyd | Floyd | 22 days ago: Fight with Liam. Not my finest hour. Sometimes am almost Floyd | glad they're getting me out of here. Filched the recording, that not Floyd | being something I want anyone else to have a copy of. And I used to Floyd | have such high ideas about what diplomacy could be. Floyd | | DavidW says, "hm. TY was mentioned before." | |||
| zarf says, "I think Liam is a TY" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Meeting Chamber Floyd | A grand, hexagonal room with a tiled floor of intricate design. Around Floyd | the outside of the room runs a bench, divided by carving into seats -- Floyd | perhaps ten seats on a side -- and there is a label on each seat, Floyd | except for a few blank ones left at the south-east side of the room. Floyd | Floyd | But it can't have been used for some time. The glass is knocked out of Floyd | the windows, the tiles broken. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about lines" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | two months ago: Funny sort of personal conversation with A. Turns out Floyd | that she is descended from Peter and Charla herself -- the whole A line Floyd | is. This is such a strange thought to me. Apparently they're among the Floyd | most human-like of the remaining lines (though with certain obligatory Floyd | modifications, of course), which I suppose is why she was assigned to Floyd | deal with us. Floyd | | DavidW asks, "Is that a regional designation?" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "out" | ||||
Floyd | (heading west, since that is the only direction available) Floyd | Floyd | Broad Street Floyd | To the northwest is a public building with a deep portico; to the east, Floyd | one with a conical roof. The others are private houses, but, except one Floyd | or two, they don't look lived in. There is a general atmosphere of Floyd | neglect. Floyd | Floyd | The street continues south into the heart of town, or north towards the Floyd | mountain and the glacier. A track for a floating train cuts southeast Floyd | between the buildings. Floyd | Floyd | The rings in the southern sky are partly obscured by the buildings on Floyd | the horizon, but are still bright enough to catch the eye. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x track" | ||||
Floyd | The tracks run away between the houses, heading southeast towards Floyd | southern settlements and eventually to Tanhua. They stop at the edge of Floyd | Broad Street, so this must be the end of the line for any supplies or Floyd | visitors being brought up from the south -- though presumably there is Floyd | a larger station and a proper loading and unloading dock elsewhere. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about tanhua" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | After a few minutes of walking, you reach an area with Colonists Floyd | around. You carefully don't stare at them as they carefully do not Floyd | stare at you. But from the sides of your eyes you watch how they float Floyd | a few inches off the ground; how they do not touch things. Floyd | Floyd | Clearing Floyd | The street runs north/south, so that you have an uninterrupted view of Floyd | Cordia Peak, and the leading edge of the glacier at the northern edge Floyd | of town. Floyd | Floyd | Both sides of the street are built up. A substantial building of metal Floyd | and glass lies to the east, houses to the west. Floyd | Floyd | The ring system is mostly obscured by the grand solarium to the south, Floyd | accessible through the insulating doors. The solarium is a huge domed Floyd | structure to keep in as much heat and warmth as possible; the Earth Floyd | embassy is inside. Floyd | Floyd | At the center of the open space here is a monument shaped like a tusk Floyd | or tooth. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Grand Solarium Floyd | The Grand Solarium is an enormous dome with an oval roof of glass and Floyd | grown metalwork. Inside is a botanical garden, which, on this planet, Floyd | is a kind of art museum. Each plot displays some invented shrub that Floyd | would be illegal on Earth. Floyd | Floyd | The southern end of the dome, where they grow edible crops, is hidden Floyd | by a decorative screen of hanging flowers. The garden also continues to Floyd | the east; away to the west is the front of the Earth Embassy, now your Floyd | home. Floyd | Floyd | A double set of insulating doors leads north to the outdoors. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Sanctuary Floyd | This area is set aside from the rest of the Solarium by a stone wall. Floyd | There are no engineered plants that you recognize, only green grass. It Floyd | smells like the Chicago suburbs in August. Floyd | Floyd | At the center of the grass is a hexagonal stone dais large enough to Floyd | elevate one person above the crowd. Floyd | Floyd | A few Colonists stand facing the center with the silent attitude of Floyd | worshippers. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x dais" | ||||
Floyd | It is carved. It's also old. Along one edge of the hexagon it reads (in Floyd | English): "RIP Peter Long, Director of High-Risk Research". Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about peter" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: More research. My Charla seems to have been married to Floyd | Peter Long. Wish I had a clearer idea of what Peter Long was up to. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: So. Put together the archive files on Charla and her Floyd | companion Peter Long here. I have what appear to be six versions of the Floyd | same events, recorded in distinctly stylized and different forms -- Floyd | including what looks like an opera. (Or some perversion thereof.) I'd Floyd | say they were literary reworkings but no, they seem actually to be a Floyd | convention-based compression of some original, now-lost data recording. Floyd | The weird thing is that they don't all end the same way -- apparently Floyd | the conventions of recording are allowed to override, for instance, Floyd | matters of fact. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: Oh my. Cross-comparing the data and the compression Floyd | algorithm information I could find I think I have worked my way to a Floyd | fuzzy but more-accurate version of the original. Spent a good while in Floyd | the archive building messing with the kiosks. Got to talk to A about Floyd | this, find out if it is really true. If it is, we may end scuttling the Floyd | whole treaty if I report what I found on Charla and Peter Long. Long is Floyd | really the issue; it's just our bad bad bad bad bad luck that Charla's Floyd | relatives are still alive and, worse, pushy about finding out what Floyd | became of her. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: Amazing it never occurred to me to wonder exactly what Floyd | happened when they lost Earth contact here. Peter Long's solution seems Floyd | obvious. In retrospect. Floyd | Floyd | three months ago: Long talk with A, and she essentially confirmed for Floyd | me what I had already pieced together, though with some bits that I Floyd | hadn't quite understood about Peter and Charla. And then I got rid of Floyd | the recordings. The destruction of data, a slippery slope. This was Floyd | much bigger than getting rid of Yamashita's correspondence disc but it Floyd | felt less awful, somehow. This is something I cannot, cannot report Floyd | back if I want these people saved. And increasingly I do. Even my Floyd | infuriating assistant. Floyd | Floyd | two months ago: Funny sort of personal conversation with A. Turns out Floyd | that she is descended from Peter and Charla herself -- the whole A line Floyd | is. This is such a strange thought to me. Apparently they're among the Floyd | most human-like of the remaining lines (though with certain obligatory Floyd | modifications, of course), which I suppose is why she was assigned to Floyd | deal with us. Floyd | Floyd | 27 days ago: Went to the Earth Sanctuary and heard a few songs. Floyd | Strangely moving. One of them was in fact about old Peter. Felt like it Floyd | was the play to catch the conscience, etc., except of course in this Floyd | case I'm not the murderer and it's everyone else's conscience that Floyd | really ought to be bothered, not mine. It was a good song, though. They Floyd | got out the flint knife at the end -- it's a prop of this performance, Floyd | I gather. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about charla" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | seven months ago: Huge wad of demands from Earth that I do research to Floyd | find people's missing ancestors. In my spare time from carving out a Floyd | treaty, I am to look for someone's great-aunt Charla. Floyd | Floyd | five months ago: More background research. Think I found the files on Floyd | this Charla character, but they're very strange. All their historical Floyd | data is preserved in severely lossy formats. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: More research. My Charla seems to have been married to Floyd | Peter Long. Wish I had a clearer idea of what Peter Long was up to. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: So. Put together the archive files on Charla and her Floyd | companion Peter Long here. I have what appear to be six versions of the Floyd | same events, recorded in distinctly stylized and different forms -- Floyd | including what looks like an opera. (Or some perversion thereof.) I'd Floyd | say they were literary reworkings but no, they seem actually to be a Floyd | convention-based compression of some original, now-lost data recording. Floyd | The weird thing is that they don't all end the same way -- apparently Floyd | the conventions of recording are allowed to override, for instance, Floyd | matters of fact. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: Oh my. Cross-comparing the data and the compression Floyd | algorithm information I could find I think I have worked my way to a Floyd | fuzzy but more-accurate version of the original. Spent a good while in Floyd | the archive building messing with the kiosks. Got to talk to A about Floyd | this, find out if it is really true. If it is, we may end scuttling the Floyd | whole treaty if I report what I found on Charla and Peter Long. Long is Floyd | really the issue; it's just our bad bad bad bad bad luck that Charla's Floyd | relatives are still alive and, worse, pushy about finding out what Floyd | became of her. Floyd | Floyd | three months ago: Long talk with A, and she essentially confirmed for Floyd | me what I had already pieced together, though with some bits that I Floyd | hadn't quite understood about Peter and Charla. And then I got rid of Floyd | the recordings. The destruction of data, a slippery slope. This was Floyd | much bigger than getting rid of Yamashita's correspondence disc but it Floyd | felt less awful, somehow. This is something I cannot, cannot report Floyd | back if I want these people saved. And increasingly I do. Even my Floyd | infuriating assistant. Floyd | Floyd | two months ago: Funny sort of personal conversation with A. Turns out Floyd | that she is descended from Peter and Charla herself -- the whole A line Floyd | is. This is such a strange thought to me. Apparently they're among the Floyd | most human-like of the remaining lines (though with certain obligatory Floyd | modifications, of course), which I suppose is why she was assigned to Floyd | deal with us. Floyd | | zarf says, "I really like this browsing model for storytelling." | |||
| zarf says, "it's like what Portal (the old one, not the new one) was trying to do and failing" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about knife" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | gift symbolism: knife: Apparently, according to the etiquette files, Floyd | any edged instrument is a symbol of restrictions, living under strict Floyd | controls imposed by someone else, and dating back to clinical trials in Floyd | which new genetic lines deemed to be failing their intended purpose Floyd | were slaughtered with a knife. This practice is now called flushing and Floyd | does not require a blade, but the associations remain. Floyd | Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | seven weeks ago: Liam told me about the flint knife in the Earth Floyd | Sanctuary. Turns out it wasn't brought by us (always thought that a Floyd | really odd thing to send) but they brought it here from Earth Floyd | themselves. There's some sort of gloomy symbolism there which, as Floyd | usual, he couldn't bring himself to explain directly. A less useful Floyd | assistant would be difficult to find. Floyd | Floyd | 27 days ago: Went to the Earth Sanctuary and heard a few songs. Floyd | Strangely moving. One of them was in fact about old Peter. Felt like it Floyd | was the play to catch the conscience, etc., except of course in this Floyd | case I'm not the murderer and it's everyone else's conscience that Floyd | really ought to be bothered, not mine. It was a good song, though. They Floyd | got out the flint knife at the end -- it's a prop of this performance, Floyd | I gather. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about sanctuary" | ||||
Floyd | You're already in Sanctuary, so further directions are needless. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Sanctuary Floyd | This area is set aside from the rest of the Solarium by a stone wall. Floyd | There are no engineered plants that you recognize, only green grass. It Floyd | smells like the Chicago suburbs in August. Floyd | Floyd | At the center of the grass is a hexagonal stone dais large enough to Floyd | elevate one person above the crowd. Floyd | Floyd | A few Colonists stand facing the center with the silent attitude of Floyd | worshippers. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x colonists" | ||||
Floyd | Quiet and thoughtful. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | From here, you can go west (to grand solarium). Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Grand Solarium Floyd | The Grand Solarium is an enormous dome with an oval roof of glass and Floyd | grown metalwork. Inside is a botanical garden, which, on this planet, Floyd | is a kind of art museum. Each plot displays some invented shrub that Floyd | would be illegal on Earth. Floyd | Floyd | The southern end of the dome, where they grow edible crops, is hidden Floyd | by a decorative screen of hanging flowers. The garden also continues to Floyd | the east; away to the west is the front of the Earth Embassy, now your Floyd | home. Floyd | Floyd | A double set of insulating doors leads north to the outdoors. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about crops" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | You wander between plots: what catches your eye this time is vines Floyd | growing tablet-like medicinal berries. Floyd | Floyd | Reflecting Pool Floyd | You stand at the eastern end of a shallow rectangular pool -- no doubt Floyd | part of the reason the air is softer and more humid here than it was Floyd | outside. The Embassy is just west of here, at the far end of the pool. Floyd | Floyd | If you look down, you catch the reflection in the surface, and a number Floyd | of small red fish swimming around, in formation, making symbols which Floyd | you cannot read. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | From here, you can go west (to the front stairs) or east (to grand Floyd | solarium). Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Front Stairs Floyd | The Embassy proper is directly west. The entrance is flanked by orange Floyd | trees, familiar and earthly. Floyd | Floyd | From the top of the Front Stairs you have an excellent view of the Floyd | whole interior of the Solarium, the sunlight catching in the curved Floyd | triangular panes of glass. Floyd | Floyd | East, at the bottom of the stairs, is the mirror-glass of the pool. Floyd | Beyond it the botanical garden has a structure invisible from the Floyd | inside. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x orange" | ||||
Floyd | Short orange trees growing in tubs next to the staircase. They have Floyd | glossy dark leaves and orange fruit. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Embassy Foyer Floyd | Like most buildings here, the Embassy is built with an eye for organic Floyd | color and form: windows and doorways framed with curved ironwork, Floyd | accents of bright enamel, wooden floors grown in place. All Floyd | conspicuously wasteful of both materials and labor. It might be Floyd | intended to make Earth representatives uncomfortable, or it might be Floyd | meant as an honor, or it might be an advertisement for a standard of Floyd | living that Earth lost some time ago. Too hard to tell. Floyd | Floyd | There's a large Receiving Room to the west. Less prominent rooms lie Floyd | north and south -- the south with a locked private door, the north an Floyd | archway offering a mercifully limited view of the "Museum". Shallow Floyd | stairs, almost a ramp, rise to a second story. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | The floor of the Receiving Room is decorated with broken glass. It's Floyd | not conducive to strolling around without a float unit. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "consult computer about float unit" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | Float technology and human adaptation: The article describes, with Floyd | pictures, the float units built for humans who want to replicate the Floyd | colonists' natural floating abilities. A supply of these were Floyd | apparently built for the use of ambassadors and stored in the basement Floyd | of the Embassy, since it was observed that humans tended to break them Floyd | at a high rate. Floyd | Floyd | There isn't any personal data available from logs or annotations. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "d" | ||||
Floyd | From here, you can go south, east (to the front stairs), west, up (to Floyd | the hall), or north (to the museum). Floyd | | DavidW says, "I think I remember seeing a float unit in the basement somewhere." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum Floyd | The Museum is a presentation on Earth -- geography, culture, and Floyd | everything else. The selection is idiosyncratic, but apparently Floyd | compelling, to judge by the healthy crowd currently looking it over. Floyd | Floyd | To one side there is a ramp leading down. The studious way the crowd Floyd | ignores this ramp suggests that they consider it private space. Floyd | Floyd | A map of Earth covers the east wall, so large that you can barely reach Floyd | across South America with both arms outstretched. It has attracted Floyd | several groups of interested visitors, who are pointing out to each Floyd | other details of the topography of Mongolia and making excited gestures Floyd | at the Sahara. Floyd | Floyd | There is a display case in the middle of the room. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "d" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Basement Floyd | Unlike the upper levels of the Embassy, the basement is built for Floyd | practical purposes, and resembles the inside of a concrete cigar box. Floyd | It continues to the south, dimly lit and cold. Floyd | Floyd | Along the west wall, a chute from above empties into a large metal Floyd | container. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Utility Room Floyd | Little more than a chilly concrete box. It continues some distance to Floyd | the north. Floyd | Floyd | Something resembling the root system of Yggdrasil covers the south Floyd | wall; from close up it appears to be a complex heating system with Floyd | pipes and tubes. Floyd | Floyd | A personal float unit hovers three inches off the floor at the middle Floyd | of the room. Floyd | Floyd | Mentally you check off "find a working float unit" on your list of Floyd | remaining tasks. You run over the things various people have decided Floyd | you ought to do: Floyd | acquire vaccine from the research facility (HC's orders) Floyd | wear white jacket (Valenti's idea) Floyd | summon Liam and show him the gift box Floyd | meet with Ambassador Aylene to present your gift Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "get unit" | ||||
Floyd | It is not designed to be lifted, only ridden. The outer shell is Floyd | extremely dense. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "ride unit" | ||||
Floyd | Reminding yourself that you have never yet broken your neck on one of Floyd | these things, you put your left foot onto the float unit and attempt to Floyd | take your right foot off the floor. Floyd | Floyd | Naturally, being frictionless, it glides away, and you fall into a Floyd | painful split. Floyd | Floyd | The good thing about this, remember, is that you're alone down here. Floyd | Plenty of opportunity to try again. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "ride unit" | ||||
Floyd | You circle the float unit a few times, sizing it up. When it looks most Floyd | helpless and unsuspecting, you hop on. Floyd | Floyd | It dips, wobbles, tries to dodge -- but you master it. Yes. You are Floyd | aboard. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x unit" | ||||
Floyd | The purpose of the float unit is to allow you to do awkwardly what the Floyd | natives do well: hover a few inches off the ground (or water). It Floyd | consists of an oval platform four or five inches thick and made of Floyd | dense material, with a reservoir for floatpoints inside. There is also Floyd | a dial on one side. The unit currently hovers three inches off the Floyd | floor. Floyd | | ||||
| Fang's last breath is also his mintiest. | DavidW asks, "It's Calvin's bicycle, isn't it?" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x dial" | ||||
Floyd | A small dial, unlabeled but presumably meant to control the floatation Floyd | of the unit. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Utility Room (on the personal float unit) Floyd | Little more than a chilly concrete box. It continues some distance to Floyd | the north. Floyd | Floyd | Something resembling the root system of Yggdrasil covers the south Floyd | wall; from close up it appears to be a complex heating system with Floyd | pipes and tubes. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x system" | ||||
Floyd | A curious combination of metal and organics. A potbellied brass shell Floyd | contains a living organism with pinkish, sparsely-furred flesh visible Floyd | at the openings. Metal pipes lead out of the shell into the walls, and Floyd | a metal switch controls whether it is on or off. There's an intake gill Floyd | along the front, also made of metal. Floyd | Floyd | The only thing not protected by metalwork is the heater's mouth, which Floyd | has a black beak as long as your hand. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Basement (on the personal float unit) Floyd | Unlike the upper levels of the Embassy, the basement is built for Floyd | practical purposes, and resembles the inside of a concrete cigar box. Floyd | It continues to the south, dimly lit and cold. Floyd | Floyd | Along the west wall, a chute from above empties into a large metal Floyd | container. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "u" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum (on the personal float unit) Floyd | The Museum is a presentation on Earth -- geography, culture, and Floyd | everything else. The selection is idiosyncratic, but apparently Floyd | compelling, to judge by the healthy crowd currently looking it over. Floyd | Floyd | To one side there is a ramp leading down. The studious way the crowd Floyd | ignores this ramp suggests that they consider it private space. Floyd | Floyd | A map of Earth covers the east wall, so large that you can barely reach Floyd | across South America with both arms outstretched. It has attracted Floyd | several groups of interested visitors, who are pointing out to each Floyd | other details of the topography of Mongolia and making excited gestures Floyd | at the Sahara. Floyd | Floyd | There is a display case in the middle of the room. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | The widget readout changes to SOC 15.8891, POW 20.19617, INT 12.0329. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Embassy Foyer (on the personal float unit) Floyd | Like most buildings here, the Embassy is built with an eye for organic Floyd | color and form: windows and doorways framed with curved ironwork, Floyd | accents of bright enamel, wooden floors grown in place. All Floyd | conspicuously wasteful of both materials and labor. It might be Floyd | intended to make Earth representatives uncomfortable, or it might be Floyd | meant as an honor, or it might be an advertisement for a standard of Floyd | living that Earth lost some time ago. Too hard to tell. Floyd | Floyd | There's a large Receiving Room to the west. Less prominent rooms lie Floyd | north and south -- the south with a locked private door, the north an Floyd | archway offering a mercifully limited view of the "Museum". Shallow Floyd | stairs, almost a ramp, rise to a second story. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Receiving Room (on the personal float unit) Floyd | None of the rooms of the Embassy are ordinary, but this one is Floyd | spectacular: the floor glittering with blue and gold glass, the vault a Floyd | basketry of interwoven branches of interwoven branches. The lower half Floyd | of the wall is covered with feathers, yellow and deep blue, like a Floyd | parrot's. Floyd | Floyd | Something like a glass flower grows from the wall, a disguised bracket Floyd | for holding a recording machine. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x flower" | ||||
Floyd | It looks like a glass tulip with a round red seed in it. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x seed" | ||||
Floyd | It looks like a round red seed. You've seen these before, on the ship Floyd | over: they're recording devices that mature as they fill up with data, Floyd | and will show their contents when squeezed. It is around the size of an Floyd | apricot pit. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x feathers" | ||||
Floyd | They have the gloss of real feathers, and that doesn't change the Floyd | complete strangeness of having them there. The whole room seems like a Floyd | thematic allusion to a lost Amazonian jungle, as interpreted by Floyd | aesthetes with no experience of a natural biome of any kind. Which is Floyd | true. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "think" | ||||
Floyd | You run over the things various people have decided you ought to do: Floyd | acquire vaccine from the research facility (HC's orders) Floyd | wear white jacket (Valenti's idea) Floyd | summon Liam and show him the gift box Floyd | meet with Ambassador Aylene to present your gift Floyd | | zarf asks, "you think this is enough to get us into the research center?" | |||
| DavidW says, "I thought you needed the card." | ||||
| zarf asks, "was that it?" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Embassy Foyer (on the personal float unit) Floyd | Like most buildings here, the Embassy is built with an eye for organic Floyd | color and form: windows and doorways framed with curved ironwork, Floyd | accents of bright enamel, wooden floors grown in place. All Floyd | conspicuously wasteful of both materials and labor. It might be Floyd | intended to make Earth representatives uncomfortable, or it might be Floyd | meant as an honor, or it might be an advertisement for a standard of Floyd | living that Earth lost some time ago. Too hard to tell. Floyd | Floyd | There's a large Receiving Room to the west. Less prominent rooms lie Floyd | north and south -- the south with a locked private door, the north an Floyd | archway offering a mercifully limited view of the "Museum". Shallow Floyd | stairs, almost a ramp, rise to a second story. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum (on the personal float unit) Floyd | The Museum is a presentation on Earth -- geography, culture, and Floyd | everything else. The selection is idiosyncratic, but apparently Floyd | compelling, to judge by the healthy crowd currently looking it over. Floyd | Floyd | To one side there is a ramp leading down. The studious way the crowd Floyd | ignores this ramp suggests that they consider it private space. Floyd | Floyd | A map of Earth covers the east wall, so large that you can barely reach Floyd | across South America with both arms outstretched. It has attracted Floyd | several groups of interested visitors, who are pointing out to each Floyd | other details of the topography of Mongolia and making excited gestures Floyd | at the Sahara. Floyd | Floyd | There is a display case in the middle of the room. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "open case" | ||||
Floyd | You open the display case. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "get card" | ||||
Floyd | Picking the pink card up is challenging because, you discover, it's Floyd | embedded with a couple of floatpoints -- probably a security-override Floyd | device. You can grasp it by the edges, though. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x it" | ||||
Floyd | The pink card appears to say cure/serum fatal-sickness primitive Floyd | borrowed -- research center room 58 -- card-that-grants-access. Floyd | | zarf says, "so I see." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Embassy Foyer (on the personal float unit) Floyd | Like most buildings here, the Embassy is built with an eye for organic Floyd | color and form: windows and doorways framed with curved ironwork, Floyd | accents of bright enamel, wooden floors grown in place. All Floyd | conspicuously wasteful of both materials and labor. It might be Floyd | intended to make Earth representatives uncomfortable, or it might be Floyd | meant as an honor, or it might be an advertisement for a standard of Floyd | living that Earth lost some time ago. Too hard to tell. Floyd | Floyd | There's a large Receiving Room to the west. Less prominent rooms lie Floyd | north and south -- the south with a locked private door, the north an Floyd | archway offering a mercifully limited view of the "Museum". Shallow Floyd | stairs, almost a ramp, rise to a second story. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a pink card Floyd | a kumquat Floyd | a puffy white jacket Floyd | a silver kiddush cup Floyd | some fuzzy bunny slippers Floyd | a yellow paper note Floyd | a mail packet Floyd | an empty gift box Floyd | a handheld computer (in which is a data disk) Floyd | a grey widget saying SOC 15.6347, POW 20.42796, INT 12.0493 Floyd | a magnificent ensemble of flowing scarlet robe, chronometer, grey Floyd | undersuit, shoes, and socks Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Front Stairs (on the personal float unit) Floyd | The Embassy proper is directly west. The entrance is flanked by orange Floyd | trees, familiar and earthly. Floyd | Floyd | From the top of the Front Stairs you have an excellent view of the Floyd | whole interior of the Solarium, the sunlight catching in the curved Floyd | triangular panes of glass. Floyd | Floyd | East, at the bottom of the stairs, is the mirror-glass of the pool. Floyd | Beyond it the botanical garden has a structure invisible from the Floyd | inside. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | You urge the float unit east down the stairs: quickly it gathers speed Floyd | and sends you shooting across into the middle of... Floyd | Floyd | Reflecting Pool (on the personal float unit) Floyd | On the float unit, you are able to float above the water. The water Floyd | underneath the float unit goes flat. The fish bump into the surface and Floyd | bounce off as if from a sheet of aquarium glassthe western end of a Floyd | shallow rectangular pool -- no doubt part of the reason the air is Floyd | softer and more humid here than it was outside. The garden paths open Floyd | at the east end of the pool; the Embassy is west, at your back. Floyd | Floyd | If you look down, you catch the reflection in the surface, and a number Floyd | of small red fish swimming around, in formation, making symbols which Floyd | you cannot read. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | You wander between plots: what catches your eye this time is purplish Floyd | moss several inches deep but with no identifiable purpose. Floyd | Floyd | Grand Solarium (on the personal float unit) Floyd | The Grand Solarium is an enormous dome with an oval roof of glass and Floyd | grown metalwork. Inside is a botanical garden, which, on this planet, Floyd | is a kind of art museum. Each plot displays some invented shrub that Floyd | would be illegal on Earth. Floyd | Floyd | The southern end of the dome, where they grow edible crops, is hidden Floyd | by a decorative screen of hanging flowers. The garden also continues to Floyd | the east; away to the west is the front of the Earth Embassy, now your Floyd | home. Floyd | Floyd | A double set of insulating doors leads north to the outdoors. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | You head out of the Solarium and down a brief slope, into the clearing Floyd | at the center of town. Floyd | Floyd | Clearing (on the personal float unit) Floyd | The street runs north/south, so that you have an uninterrupted view of Floyd | Cordia Peak, and the leading edge of the glacier at the northern edge Floyd | of town. Floyd | Floyd | Both sides of the street are built up. A substantial building of metal Floyd | and glass lies to the east, houses to the west. Floyd | Floyd | The rings in the southern sky are partly obscured by the buildings on Floyd | the horizon, but are still bright enough to catch the eye. Floyd | Floyd | A double set of insulating doors leads south into a huge glass and Floyd | metal dome, a greenhouse and Solarium where most of the local Floyd | population now lives; the Embassy is inside. Floyd | Floyd | At the center of the open space here is a monument shaped like a tusk Floyd | or tooth. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Research Facility (on the personal float unit) Floyd | The lobby of the building is surprisingly open: you would have expected Floyd | security and a receptionist. But there are no industrial secrets to Floyd | protect. Floyd | Floyd | Mounted on the east wall are colorful project proposals. Floyd | Floyd | A baffling number of doors lead out to smaller rooms around the Floyd | perimeter of the central space. They are all protected by security Floyd | fields, so that you can't even approach them without a way to breach Floyd | the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | A glance around reveals a Door 58 to the northeast. Floyd | | DaveC says, "FYI, there is a GO TO <room> command in this game." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x proposals" | ||||
Floyd | Several different proposals of varying complexity: at one end, in Floyd | childlike handwriting, is a proposal with sketches of fish; at the Floyd | other, something about colonist eye color and brain function, with many Floyd | pages of additional notes. You also note one with what looks like a map Floyd | of Africa. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "d" | ||||
Floyd | The float unit lets you hover off the ground. It does not let you pass Floyd | through walls or give you access to restricted areas. From here, you Floyd | can go west (to the clearing) or northeast. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "ne" | ||||
Floyd | You walk to the door and hesitate. The etiquette of the situation is Floyd | unclear. On the one hand, it's impolite to knock. On the other, you do Floyd | have a card which grants you the right to enter, and which deactivates Floyd | the security field. So it must be all right... Floyd | Floyd | You step through the field, which here is translucent grey... Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Private Laboratory (on the personal float unit) Floyd | A room outfitted with lab desk, lab drawer, a recycling chute, and Floyd | assorted equipment. It's immediately obvious what kind of Floyd | experimentation that takes place here. The walls are a shrine to humans Floyd | -- and not to the human genome, which would be comprehensible, but to Floyd | human society. Some still shots from Chinese television, a sketch of Floyd | Stonehenge, a landscape recognizably New Zealand... Floyd | Floyd | The door out leads southwest. Floyd | Floyd | Beside the lab desk is a female scientist, perhaps in her teens. Floyd | Floyd | She greets you with a stream of words you don't understand, and bows Floyd | deep. Floyd | Floyd | She greets you with a stream of words you don't understand, and bows Floyd | deep. Floyd | Floyd | She greets you with a stream of words you don't understand, and bows Floyd | deep. Floyd | Floyd | She greets you with a stream of words you don't understand, and bows Floyd | deep. Floyd | Floyd | She greets you with a stream of words you don't understand, and bows Floyd | deep. Floyd | Floyd | She greets you with a stream of words you don't understand, and bows Floyd | deep. Floyd | >--> The scene change machinery is stuck. Floyd | Floyd | She greets you with a stream of words you don't understand, and bows Floyd | deep. Floyd | Floyd | She greets you with a stream of words you don't understand, and bows Floyd | deep. Floyd | Floyd | She greets you with a stream of words you don't understand, and bows Floyd | deep. Floyd | Floyd | She greets you with a stream of words you don't understand, and bows Floyd | deep. Floyd | Floyd | She greets you with a stream of words you don't understand, and bows Floyd | deep. Floyd | Floyd | She greets you with a stream of words you don't understand, and bows Floyd | deep. Floyd | >--> The scene change machinery is stuck. Floyd | | zarf says, "whoopso" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "um" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Research Facility Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | DavidW says, "This is the bug where I stopped playing." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "huh" | ||||
| djfletch says, "I got this bug I think - try getting off the float unit" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "get off" | ||||
Floyd | You get off the personal float unit. Floyd | Floyd | Research Facility Floyd | The lobby is an open oval room, with no security or reception desk. Floyd | Floyd | Mounted on the east wall are colorful project proposals. Floyd | Floyd | A baffling number of doors lead out to smaller rooms around the Floyd | perimeter of the central space. They are all protected by security Floyd | fields, so that you can't even approach them without a way to breach Floyd | the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | A glance around reveals a Door 58 to the northeast. Floyd | Floyd | A personal float unit hovers three inches off the floor at the middle Floyd | of the room. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "ne" | ||||
Floyd | You walk to the door and hesitate. The etiquette of the situation is Floyd | unclear. On the one hand, it's impolite to knock. On the other, you do Floyd | have a card which grants you the right to enter, and which deactivates Floyd | the security field. So it must be all right... Floyd | Floyd | You step through the field, which here is translucent grey... Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Private Laboratory Floyd | A room outfitted with lab desk, lab drawer, a recycling chute, and Floyd | assorted equipment. It's immediately obvious what kind of Floyd | experimentation that takes place here. The walls are a shrine to humans Floyd | -- and not to the human genome, which would be comprehensible, but to Floyd | human society. Some still shots from Chinese television, a sketch of Floyd | Stonehenge, a landscape recognizably New Zealand... Floyd | Floyd | The door out leads southwest. Floyd | Floyd | Beside the lab desk is a female scientist, perhaps in her teens. Floyd | Floyd | She greets you with a stream of words you don't understand, and bows Floyd | deep. Floyd | | zarf says, "thanks" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "show pink card to scientist" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "y" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to z), "You're on the channel." | ||||
| zarf says, "rar" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "show pink card to scientist" | ||||
Floyd | Someone, someone must have made this creature on purpose to attract Floyd | humans. It is what makes sense. Perhaps because they knew that it would Floyd | be that much harder to refuse help to a colonist who looked like Floyd | this... Ignoring your less respectable urges, you hand the pink card Floyd | over to her. Floyd | Floyd | She holds up a finger as though to say: wait. And reaching into her Floyd | cleavage, she removes a tiny man, whom she sets down on the desk. It Floyd | looks alive, after a fashion. You have heard of these things, little Floyd | living models with almost no intelligence -- but you'd never seen one Floyd | before. Floyd | Floyd | She gets out some small ration bars and feeds them to the tiny man, who Floyd | eats ravenously, making faces. "See?" her expression seems to say. "It Floyd | is just like one of you people." Floyd | Floyd | But of course it isn't: it is like a human who has been a bit modified. Floyd | He floats a bit over the table, for all that he looks like a little Floyd | person. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x scientist" | ||||
Floyd | Lolita is your first thought. She has the long sweet limbs, the Floyd | faunlike brown eyes that meet yours and dart away. The most alien Floyd | features of the Colonists are subdued in her, leaving only a subtle Floyd | exoticism you can hardly stop looking at. And the longer you look, the Floyd | less sure you are whether she's really that young, or just some Floyd | perfectly tuned ideal of innocence. Floyd | Floyd | They made her like that on purpose. Floyd | Floyd | Having eaten to the point where his stomach is distended, the model man Floyd | lies down, curls up, and begins to snore a tiny, insect-like snore. Floyd | Floyd | The girl -- no, scientist -- turns to you and says something Floyd | long-winded. Though you can't understand the words, the gist is plain Floyd | enough: do you like it? Are you interested? Do you want one of your Floyd | very own? How about we install some floatpoints in your kind? Floyd | Floyd | An offer of what they might do if you let them come back to Earth, Floyd | perhaps -- if a very naive one. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x model" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Private Laboratory Floyd | A room outfitted with lab desk, lab drawer, a recycling chute, and Floyd | assorted equipment. It's immediately obvious what kind of Floyd | experimentation that takes place here. The walls are a shrine to humans Floyd | -- and not to the human genome, which would be comprehensible, but to Floyd | human society. Some still shots from Chinese television, a sketch of Floyd | Stonehenge, a landscape recognizably New Zealand... Floyd | Floyd | The door out leads southwest. Floyd | Floyd | Beside the lab desk is a female scientist, perhaps in her teens. Floyd | Floyd | On the lab desk is a tiny man. Floyd | | K-Y says, "wait, this is the part where the sun climbs higher" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x tiny man" | ||||
Floyd | A small man, only about six inches tall. He looks uncannily like Floyd | Valenti. He also has tiny floatpoints in his hands and feet, like a Floyd | Colonist. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "point at tiny man" | ||||
Floyd | She responds with a short explanation which, of course, you do not Floyd | follow. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "point at pink card" | ||||
Floyd | You hand the pink card over to her. Floyd | | zarf says, "very helpful" | |||
| DavidW asks, "hm. undo?" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "point at pink card" | Jacqueline asks, "Have you guys saved at all?" | |||
Floyd | You hand the pink card over to her. Floyd | | zarf says, "saved? ha" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a kumquat Floyd | a puffy white jacket Floyd | a silver kiddush cup Floyd | some fuzzy bunny slippers Floyd | a yellow paper note Floyd | a mail packet Floyd | an empty gift box Floyd | a handheld computer (in which is a data disk) Floyd | a grey widget saying SOC 15.1968, POW 20.3036, INT 12.83424 Floyd | a magnificent ensemble of flowing scarlet robe, chronometer, grey Floyd | undersuit, shoes, and socks Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Private Laboratory Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Private Laboratory Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a kumquat Floyd | a puffy white jacket Floyd | a silver kiddush cup Floyd | some fuzzy bunny slippers Floyd | a yellow paper note Floyd | a mail packet Floyd | an empty gift box Floyd | a handheld computer (in which is a data disk) Floyd | a grey widget saying SOC 15.4096, POW 20.55699, INT 12.5532 Floyd | a magnificent ensemble of flowing scarlet robe, chronometer, grey Floyd | undersuit, shoes, and socks Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Private Laboratory Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Private Laboratory Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a kumquat Floyd | a puffy white jacket Floyd | a silver kiddush cup Floyd | some fuzzy bunny slippers Floyd | a yellow paper note Floyd | a mail packet Floyd | an empty gift box Floyd | a handheld computer (in which is a data disk) Floyd | a grey widget saying SOC 15.62523, POW 20.2845, INT 12.8258 Floyd | a magnificent ensemble of flowing scarlet robe, chronometer, grey Floyd | undersuit, shoes, and socks Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Private Laboratory Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Private Laboratory Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a kumquat Floyd | a puffy white jacket Floyd | a silver kiddush cup Floyd | some fuzzy bunny slippers Floyd | a yellow paper note Floyd | a mail packet Floyd | an empty gift box Floyd | a handheld computer (in which is a data disk) Floyd | a grey widget saying SOC 15.45731, POW 20.5972, INT 12.7031 Floyd | a magnificent ensemble of flowing scarlet robe, chronometer, grey Floyd | undersuit, shoes, and socks Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Private Laboratory Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Private Laboratory Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Private Laboratory Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a kumquat Floyd | a puffy white jacket Floyd | a silver kiddush cup Floyd | some fuzzy bunny slippers Floyd | a yellow paper note Floyd | a mail packet Floyd | an empty gift box Floyd | a handheld computer (in which is a data disk) Floyd | a grey widget saying SOC 15.0602, POW 20.42245, INT 12.39727 Floyd | a magnificent ensemble of flowing scarlet robe, chronometer, grey Floyd | undersuit, shoes, and socks Floyd | | zarf says, "forget it" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Private Laboratory Floyd | A room outfitted with lab desk, lab drawer, a recycling chute, and Floyd | assorted equipment. It's immediately obvious what kind of Floyd | experimentation that takes place here. The walls are a shrine to humans Floyd | -- and not to the human genome, which would be comprehensible, but to Floyd | human society. Some still shots from Chinese television, a sketch of Floyd | Stonehenge, a landscape recognizably New Zealand... Floyd | Floyd | The door out leads southwest. Floyd | Floyd | Beside the lab desk is a female scientist, perhaps in her teens. Floyd | Floyd | On the lab desk is a tiny man. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x tiny man" | ||||
Floyd | A small man, only about six inches tall. He looks uncannily like Floyd | Valenti. He also has tiny floatpoints in his hands and feet, like a Floyd | Colonist. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take pink card" | ||||
Floyd | That seems to belong to the female scientist. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x drawer" | ||||
Floyd | You can't get it open. No authorization. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x chute" | ||||
Floyd | A chute for the disposal of wastes from the lab. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "ask scientist for pink card" | ||||
Floyd | Anything you might say in English -- or any other language you know, Floyd | for that matter -- would be pretty much incomprehensible here. Unless Floyd | you found a scholar of ancient languages, but as far as you can tell, Floyd | they don't go in for that. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "think" | ||||
Floyd | You run over the things various people have decided you ought to do: Floyd | acquire vaccine from the research facility (HC's orders) Floyd | wear white jacket (Valenti's idea) Floyd | summon Liam and show him the gift box Floyd | meet with Ambassador Aylene to present your gift Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask scientist for vaccine" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "consult computer about vaccine" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | High Command: An extremely circumspect article describing how, in the Floyd | later years of the plague, the international quarantine authority in Floyd | North America became a de facto government and managed the distribution Floyd | not only of vaccine (once available) but also of other essential Floyd | resources. All hints of controversy are omitted. Floyd | Floyd | plague: Billions of deaths, infection rates most severe in the less Floyd | developed countries; revolutions and crumbling infrastructure; the Floyd | regress of technology. This is why High Command wants back the Floyd | Aleheart population. Fear of contaminating the environment with Floyd | engineered flora and fauna seems insignificant now in the face of such Floyd | medical sophistication -- an insurance against the same ever happening Floyd | again. The vaccine exists, of course, and is produced in great Floyd | quantity still, though it is very expensive to make. Floyd | Floyd | There isn't any personal data available from logs or annotations. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask tiny man about vaccine" | ||||
Floyd | Anything you might say in English -- or any other language you know, Floyd | for that matter -- would be pretty much incomprehensible here. Unless Floyd | you found a scholar of ancient languages, but as far as you can tell, Floyd | they don't go in for that. Floyd | | DavidW asks, "Perhaps we're to either reject or take the tiny man before the scientist automagically gives us the vaccine?" | |||
| zarf says, "or else the plot machinery broke when I gave the scientist the card on turn one" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "take tiny man" | ||||
Floyd | You gingerly pick up the tiny man, thinking that Kruger would have an Floyd | aneurysm if he saw this thing. The girl seems to read this as Floyd | encouragement, though. Perhaps this is her research project, her final Floyd | thesis. Depressing thought. Floyd | Floyd | The little man is warm in the palm of your hand, like a hamster. Floyd | Floyd | Evidently feeling that she need not keep you any longer, she also gets Floyd | out the vaccine sample and hands it over to you. Floyd | Floyd | Mentally you check off "acquire vaccine from the research facility Floyd | (HC's orders)" on your list of remaining tasks. You run over the things Floyd | various people have decided you ought to do: Floyd | wear white jacket (Valenti's idea) Floyd | summon Liam and show him the gift box Floyd | meet with Ambassador Aylene to present your gift Floyd | | zarf says, "or what you said." | |||
| zarf says, "x vaccine" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x vaccine" | ||||
Floyd | You recognize this -- and how could one not? The writing on the outside Floyd | of the glass bottle has faded, and the contents perhaps degenerated Floyd | with time, but the bulbous bottle shape, the sigil of High Command on Floyd | the cap, the blue-black tint of the liquid like ink, all are iconic Floyd | now. Floyd | | zarf says, "well, it seems we can now pick a gift and get to the showdown" | |||
| zarf says, "and a costume" | ||||
| zarf asks, "suggestions?" | ||||
| DavidW asks, "What if you gave a seed to that beaked pipes thing in the basement?" | ||||
| DavidW asks, "Would it grow into a squeezefruit?" | ||||
| zarf says, "the heating system? that can't be how it's *meant* to be used" | ||||
| DavidW says, "It mentioned pink and fuzz, just like the fruit." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Even the laundry chute was described in organic terms." | ||||
| zarf says, "like a hamster, too, but that doesn't mean I want to run inside it" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "out" | ||||
Floyd | (heading southwest, since that is the only direction available) Floyd | Floyd | Research Facility Floyd | The lobby is an open oval room, with no security or reception desk. Floyd | Floyd | Mounted on the east wall are colorful project proposals. Floyd | Floyd | A baffling number of doors lead out to smaller rooms around the Floyd | perimeter of the central space. They are all protected by security Floyd | fields, so that you can't even approach them without a way to breach Floyd | the barrier. Floyd | Floyd | A glance around reveals a Door 58 to the northeast. Floyd | Floyd | A personal float unit hovers three inches off the floor at the middle Floyd | of the room. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "ride unit" | ||||
Floyd | You climb back on the float unit, increasingly confident. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Clearing (on the personal float unit) Floyd | The street runs north/south, so that you have an uninterrupted view of Floyd | Cordia Peak, and the leading edge of the glacier at the northern edge Floyd | of town. Floyd | Floyd | Both sides of the street are built up. A substantial building of metal Floyd | and glass lies to the east, houses to the west. Floyd | Floyd | The rings in the southern sky are partly obscured by the buildings on Floyd | the horizon, but are still bright enough to catch the eye. Floyd | Floyd | A double set of insulating doors leads south into a huge glass and Floyd | metal dome, a greenhouse and Solarium where most of the local Floyd | population now lives; the Embassy is inside. Floyd | Floyd | At the center of the open space here is a monument shaped like a tusk Floyd | or tooth. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Grand Solarium (on the personal float unit) Floyd | The Grand Solarium is an enormous dome with an oval roof of glass and Floyd | grown metalwork. Inside is a botanical garden, which, on this planet, Floyd | is a kind of art museum. Each plot displays some invented shrub that Floyd | would be illegal on Earth. Floyd | Floyd | The southern end of the dome, where they grow edible crops, is hidden Floyd | by a decorative screen of hanging flowers. The garden also continues to Floyd | the east; away to the west is the front of the Earth Embassy, now your Floyd | home. Floyd | Floyd | A double set of insulating doors leads north to the outdoors. Floyd | | DavidW says, "okay. Put the food bar in the chute, to get it past the tok-tokkers, and feed that to the beak." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | You wander between plots: what catches your eye this time is a Floyd | writing-desk-tree, spreading to a flat surface at about three feet. Floyd | Floyd | Reflecting Pool (on the personal float unit) Floyd | On the float unit, you are able to float above the water. The water Floyd | underneath the float unit goes flat. The fish bump into the surface and Floyd | bounce off as if from a sheet of aquarium glassthe eastern end of a Floyd | shallow rectangular pool -- no doubt part of the reason the air is Floyd | softer and more humid here than it was outside. The Embassy is just Floyd | west of here, at the far end of the pool. Floyd | Floyd | If you look down, you catch the reflection in the surface, and a number Floyd | of small red fish swimming around, in formation, making symbols which Floyd | you cannot read. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Front Stairs (on the personal float unit) Floyd | The Embassy proper is directly west. The entrance is flanked by orange Floyd | trees, familiar and earthly. Floyd | Floyd | From the top of the Front Stairs you have an excellent view of the Floyd | whole interior of the Solarium, the sunlight catching in the curved Floyd | triangular panes of glass. Floyd | Floyd | East, at the bottom of the stairs, is the mirror-glass of the pool. Floyd | Beyond it the botanical garden has a structure invisible from the Floyd | inside. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Embassy Foyer (on the personal float unit) Floyd | Like most buildings here, the Embassy is built with an eye for organic Floyd | color and form: windows and doorways framed with curved ironwork, Floyd | accents of bright enamel, wooden floors grown in place. All Floyd | conspicuously wasteful of both materials and labor. It might be Floyd | intended to make Earth representatives uncomfortable, or it might be Floyd | meant as an honor, or it might be an advertisement for a standard of Floyd | living that Earth lost some time ago. Too hard to tell. Floyd | Floyd | There's a large Receiving Room to the west. Less prominent rooms lie Floyd | north and south -- the south with a locked private door, the north an Floyd | archway offering a mercifully limited view of the "Museum". Shallow Floyd | stairs, almost a ramp, rise to a second story. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "save" | DavidW says, "Also, there must be a black outfit item, somewhere." | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "foobar" | ||||
Floyd | Enter saved game to store: Ok. Floyd | | zarf says, "the black sweater in the shuttle" | |||
| DavidW asks, "The shuttle is in the game?" | ||||
| zarf says, "probably you can resummon it from the mailroom" | ||||
| K-Y says (to Floyd), "time" | ||||
Floyd | It is 4:20 pm -- here, anyhow. Floyd | | zarf says, "I'm going to go forward with some random choices" | |||
| DavidW says, "go ahead. I haven't a clue what will happen." | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "remove red robe" | ||||
Floyd | You take off the long scarlet robe. Floyd | | ||||
| Allen arrives, full of fun and funk. | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "wear white jacket" | ||||
Floyd | You pull Valenti's white jacket on. The effect could be more Floyd | flattering: the float-pins make it stand out around your torso as Floyd | though inflated. You can't see, but it feels as though all your chest Floyd | hair is being forced to lie flat. Breathing in is a challenge. Floyd | Floyd | Mentally you check off "wear white jacket (Valenti's idea)" on your Floyd | list of remaining tasks. You run over the things various people have Floyd | decided you ought to do: Floyd | summon Liam and show him the gift box Floyd | meet with Ambassador Aylene to present your gift Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "put kumquat in box" | ||||
Floyd | The kumquat will not fit in the gift box. Floyd | | zarf says, "damn" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | a vaccine sample Floyd | a tiny sleeping man Floyd | a kumquat Floyd | a silver kiddush cup Floyd | some fuzzy bunny slippers Floyd | a yellow paper note Floyd | a mail packet Floyd | an empty gift box Floyd | a handheld computer (in which is a data disk) Floyd | a grey widget saying SOC 15.14945, POW 20.9361, INT 12.9797 Floyd | a flowing scarlet robe Floyd | a humiliating outfit of puffy white jacket, chronometer, grey Floyd | undersuit, shoes, and socks Floyd | | Allen says, "but kumquats are tiny" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "vaccine in box" | ||||
Floyd | I didn't understand that sentence. Floyd | | dhakajack says, "Could you put the little man in the box? He's a kind of "model"" | |||
| zarf says (to floyd), "put vaccine in box" | ||||
Floyd | You tuck the vaccine into the box. Floyd | Floyd | A flash of memory: A long line of people standing, closer together than Floyd | strangers ever stand. Holding hands, sometimes kissing. Everyone wears Floyd | their sleeves rolled up, their upper arms bare. Out in the middle of Floyd | the square, two old men in drag are dancing a tango. A ring of girls Floyd | has gathered to watch. Floyd | Floyd | Your mother stands beside you, periodically squeezing your elbow. "Your Floyd | father would have loved this," she says each time. She does not sound Floyd | wistful, just overwhelmingly glad. Floyd | Floyd | Far off at the front of the line is a white pavilion with a blue-black Floyd | logo stitched into the roof. Floyd | | zarf says, "yes, but I don't want to try that yet" | |||
| DavidW says (to dhakajack), "I'm sure the tiny man is an option." | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "squeeze stone" | ||||
Floyd | The surface has a give to it, and it squeaks once. COMING, reads the Floyd | skin lettering tersely. Floyd | Floyd | Liam slips through the locked barrier from the south. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "show gift box to liam" | ||||
Floyd | Liam takes in your clothing, then looks into the box. "Equal Floyd | partnership, with a shared work in medical enterprises?" he says. "This Floyd | is what you desire to propose to our Ambassador?" Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "yes" | ||||
Floyd | Liam bows and departs to make a few arrangements. You wait, and cool Floyd | your heels. People come and go. Messages are sent. When everything is Floyd | ready, you gather... Floyd | Floyd | Receiving Room (on the personal float unit) Floyd | None of the rooms of the Embassy are ordinary, but this one is Floyd | spectacular: the floor glittering with blue and gold glass, the vault a Floyd | basketry of interwoven branches of interwoven branches. The lower half Floyd | of the wall is covered with feathers, yellow and deep blue, like a Floyd | parrot's. Floyd | Floyd | The heressa who must be Ambassador Aylene stands at the far end of the Floyd | hall. The approach to her is flanked by two rows of witnesses. You Floyd | hadn't anticipated that, somehow, though surely you should have. As for Floyd | Liam, he is carefully in the corner, aligning himself neither with you Floyd | nor with his own people. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x aylene" | ||||
Floyd | You had been expecting someone slight and ephemeral-looking, but she is Floyd | a tall woman and built proportionally, and reminds you of the pictures Floyd | you have sometimes seen of proud African women from before the bad Floyd | years. Only her eyes are wrong, not brown but something closer to Floyd | golden. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "greet aylene" | ||||
Floyd | Anything you might say in English -- or any other language you know, Floyd | for that matter -- would be pretty much incomprehensible here. Unless Floyd | you found a scholar of ancient languages, but as far as you can tell, Floyd | they don't go in for that. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "give gift box to aylene" | ||||
Floyd | Aylene receives the box and looks at the vaccine sample for a moment. Floyd | She looks at you -- surprised, a little concerned, perhaps? Floyd | Floyd | Then she faces her audience and begins to speak. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Please press SPACE to continue. | ||||
| zarf pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | *** Some weeks later *** Floyd | Floyd | "I take it, then, that you support this decision?" Floyd | Floyd | It's not unpleasant to see Kruger grilling Valenti for a bit, rather Floyd | than you. Though there's plenty of grilling to go around. Floyd | Floyd | "It was always a bad idea to invite them to Earth as our inferiors," Floyd | says Valenti stolidly. "I would have arranged things differently if I Floyd | had been the ambassador at the time, but I do believe this is the best Floyd | thing David could have done with the options available to him." Floyd | Floyd | "The idea that the Colonists work in collaboration with human Floyd | scientists will not be received well at home," says Kruger. Floyd | Floyd | "To understatement," Valenti replies, lifting his glass. He is drinking Floyd | an anise liqueur he favors. You and Kruger watch him take another Floyd | yellow sip. "Are you going to change the deal? I should warn you that Floyd | alteration to a contract is viewed with extreme disfavor in their Floyd | society." Floyd | Floyd | "Which is why you and David should have followed my advice in the first Floyd | place!" Kruger yells. "I pulled Yamashita because she expressed Floyd | reservations of conscience about what I was asking her to do, and I Floyd | pulled you because I didn't trust you to follow orders, but I never Floyd | thought David would go native on his first day there. What's wrong with Floyd | you?" Floyd | Floyd | Valenti frowns into his glass, swirling the ice around. "With respect, Floyd | sir, you a few hours on Aleheart itself would have been enough to Floyd | change your plans." Floyd | Floyd | Kruger's face gradually loses the beet color. "We gave the matter a Floyd | great deal of thought," he says. "Thought, study, polls, moral Floyd | consultations. Also prayer, meditation, even a tarot reading or two, Floyd | I'm told. Those were off the meeting record and on a strictly Floyd | individual basis. But there is a female member of the commission who Floyd | claims that a good tarot spread focuses her thinking." Floyd | Floyd | "There are things you cannot reason out," Valenti says. "When you're Floyd | face-to-face with the colonists, you see how much they long to be back Floyd | on Earth. They are afraid of our bad opinion, conscious that they are Floyd | our descendants, and embarrassed by how primitive we seem to be. But Floyd | they are also infatuated. There are some dissenters, but most would do Floyd | whatever they could to be with us again. They will bend themselves to Floyd | fit Earth. We do not have to force them to do anything." Floyd | Floyd | Kruger glares out the window. He does not say anything. Floyd | Floyd | Valenti catches your eye and raises his glass in a small salute. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | *** End *** Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, or QUIT? | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "restore" | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "foobar" | ||||
Floyd | > Enter saved game to load: Ok. Floyd | | zarf says, "I relinquish the con" | |||
| Jacqueline asks, "How do you feel about your outcome?" | ||||
| K-Y says, "hmm, I didn't try this combo" | ||||
| zarf says, "I would definitely date this outcome again" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "heehee" | ||||
| DavidW says, "This outcome was acceptable. I feel, though, there were too many mysteries unanswered." | ||||
| zarf says, "I'm not sure what gift options there are, besides vaccine and model man" | ||||
| DavidW says, "The cup." | ||||
| zarf says, "I was hoping to share the gift of soap opera" | ||||
| zarf says, "oh right" | ||||
| DavidW says, "Maybe the slippers." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask computer about black" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | color symbolism: black: The color of termination, worn to refuse an Floyd | agreement; to propose corporate splits or divorce. Floyd | Floyd | There isn't any personal data available from logs or annotations. Floyd | | zarf says, "you're probably right that something is buried in the heating system -- maybe another computer disk" | |||
| djfletch says, "convey a shared message of fuzzy bunnies" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "go to receiving" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Receiving Room (on the personal float unit) Floyd | None of the rooms of the Embassy are ordinary, but this one is Floyd | spectacular: the floor glittering with blue and gold glass, the vault a Floyd | basketry of interwoven branches of interwoven branches. The lower half Floyd | of the wall is covered with feathers, yellow and deep blue, like a Floyd | parrot's. Floyd | Floyd | Something like a glass flower grows from the wall, a disguised bracket Floyd | for holding a recording machine. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take seed" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put kumquat in bracket" | ||||
Floyd | The bracket is precisely shaped to hold only a small round recording Floyd | machine. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "go to basement" | ||||
Floyd | You hurry toward embassy foyer, the museum, and then the basement. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Basement (on the personal float unit) Floyd | Unlike the upper levels of the Embassy, the basement is built for Floyd | practical purposes, and resembles the inside of a concrete cigar box. Floyd | It continues to the south, dimly lit and cold. Floyd | Floyd | Along the west wall, a chute from above empties into a large metal Floyd | container. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "s" | DaveC asks, "what about the spoiling seed from our quarters?" | |||
Floyd | Floyd | Utility Room (on the personal float unit) Floyd | Little more than a chilly concrete box. It continues some distance to Floyd | the north. Floyd | Floyd | Something resembling the root system of Yggdrasil covers the south Floyd | wall; from close up it appears to be a complex heating system with Floyd | pipes and tubes. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "give seed to beak" | ||||
Floyd | You can only do that to something animate. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put seed in beak" | ||||
Floyd | The heater tentatively opens its beak to admit the recording machine. Floyd | Then it begins to chomp away. There are at first some sparks, droplets Floyd | of flying juice, abortive beginnings of projections, but soon it is Floyd | thoroughly destroyed and reduced to pure food form. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Utility Room Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x seed" | ||||
Floyd | It looks like a round red seed. You've seen these before, on the ship Floyd | over: they're recording devices that mature as they fill up with data, Floyd | and will show their contents when squeezed. It is around the size of an Floyd | apricot pit. Floyd | | ||||
| DaveC says (to Floyd), "squeeze seed" | ||||
Floyd | An image begins to play, projecting itself: Floyd | Floyd | The room is a mess, bits of things scattered around. The camera begins Floyd | on a heressa you assume must be Aylene, a beautiful woman of apparently Floyd | African descent, who floats as still as if she were anchored. Floyd | Floyd | "Things like this," says Valenti forcefully, "you don't predict. You Floyd | choose without full knowledge, and make the choice good." He picks up a Floyd | silvery streamer from the floor and plays at crumpling it. Floyd | Floyd | She answers in her language, and the subtitle says: If it were me only. Floyd | Floyd | He stuffs his hands into his pockets, streamer and all. "It could be Floyd | you only. With or without the treaty of cohabitation, I would still Floyd | marry you." Floyd | Floyd | Your genes are bad. Why would I marry you? Floyd | Floyd | "For pleasure." Floyd | Floyd | The recording plays on: Valenti has stopped pacing and is watching her. Floyd | She meets his eye and smiles a small smile. I do not know if I can walk Floyd | all the rest of my life on dirt, even for you. Floyd | Floyd | "It's mostly floors, really," Valenti says, fists held rigidly in Floyd | pockets. "The once-popular custom of walking barefoot in the dirt is a Floyd | few hundred years behind us." Floyd | Floyd | Our greatest art is a disgusting offense on Earth. Do we go where we Floyd | are despised? Floyd | Floyd | "I know," he says. "There are concessions I cannot make. If I tried, Floyd | they would not be honored." Floyd | Floyd | He gives the tormented streamer another pull, and it breaks apart in Floyd | his hands with a flash of grey light; here the recording ends. Floyd | | zarf says, "now compress *that*" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "go to bedroom" | ||||
Floyd | You hurry toward the basement, the museum, embassy foyer, the hall, and Floyd | then the bedroom. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Bedroom (on the personal float unit) Floyd | There's no real bed, only a stone platform, too short to accommodate Floyd | your full height, in the center of the room. The sole gesture towards Floyd | comfort is a pillow of Earth style, perhaps left here by Valenti. Aside Floyd | from this, the place is unfurnished. Floyd | Floyd | A refreshment room is visible to the west, and the hallway is back to Floyd | the south. Floyd | Floyd | Your suitcase lies open on the floor. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take seed" | ||||
Floyd | You already have that. Floyd | | DavidW says, "Where was the other seed" | |||
| zarf says, "south" | ||||
| DaveC says, "south of here" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Hall (on the personal float unit) Floyd | At the top of the shallow stairs there is a spacious landing, with Floyd | windows giving a view east across the Grand Solarium garden. Apparently Floyd | past ambassadors have found this a pleasant place in which to read, Floyd | because there is a small library of Earth books, otherwise impossible Floyd | to get here. Floyd | Floyd | The other interesting item is a chute in the wall, looking (like Floyd | everything else here) as though it had grown as metal or bone into the Floyd | wall. Floyd | Floyd | The entry to your bedroom is to the north, and an office area to the Floyd | south. Floyd | Floyd | There are some ration bars and a squashed unripe seed on the floor. Floyd | | dhakajack says, "There's that grating in the refreshment room -- I wonder if you could drop the seed down the grating." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take unripe seed. squeeze it." | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | You squeeze the thing tentatively and it hisses sparks and juice, but Floyd | then it begins to play, a projection hovering in the middle of the air: Floyd | Floyd | Liam is standing in a group with some others, in the Receiving Room, Floyd | when Valenti walks in. DID YOU VOTE IN THIS MATTER? say projected Floyd | English subtitles shakily. Floyd | Floyd | Liam shivers. Replacing the ambassador heressa? Everyone voted, my Floyd | lord. We determined she does not make progress. Floyd | Floyd | Then Valenti grabs him by the middle of his robes where there are no Floyd | floatpoints, and shoves violently. Liam falls hard on the sharp floor, Floyd | mortified and astonished. Progress, Valenti repeats, dusting his hands. Floyd | Floyd | She stays until Gift Day, Liam says, not trying to get up. Floyd | Floyd | Valenti nods curtly and goes out; the other people in the group Floyd | tactfully turn aside. Liam wipes the back of his mouth with his hand. Floyd | After a moment he crawls to the corner and is sick. Floyd | Floyd | The image flickers out, leaking warm juice from the recorder. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "go kiosk" | ||||
Floyd | You aren't in Kiosk. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "go to kiosk" | ||||
Floyd | You hurry toward embassy foyer, the front stairs, the reflecting pool, Floyd | grand solarium, the clearing, the broad street, ruined vineyard, and Floyd | then kiosk. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Kiosk (on the personal float unit) Floyd | The kiosk is no larger than a contamination testing booth back on Floyd | Earth. Floyd | Floyd | The only thing of note here is a metal box, mounted on the wall at Floyd | about shoulder-height, with a bonzai-sized tree growing out of the top. Floyd | | DavidW says, "I don't remember how this thing worked." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x box" | ||||
Floyd | (the empty gift box) Floyd | A decorative box, obviously made on Earth, enameled like a Faberge Floyd | piece. The exterior is covered in a design of leaves and morning Floyd | glories. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x metal box" | ||||
Floyd | A machine titled DATA COMPRESSION AND STORAGE. There is a miniature Floyd | tree growing out of the top, naked of foliage. On the front of the Floyd | metal box are green and blue push-knobs, and a movable bronze pointer. Floyd | Floyd | On the left side of the machine there is a funnel, the right size for Floyd | inserting a recording fruit. Floyd | | ||||
| zarf says (to floyd), "x green knob. x pointer" | ||||
Floyd | The green knob appears to say RECORD. Floyd | Floyd | The four settings of the pointer are ORIGINAL, SCIENTIFIC, STORY, Floyd | SOCIAL. Floyd | Floyd | The pointer is currently set to story. Floyd | | zarf says, "and the blue knob is preview" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put unripe seed in funnel" | ||||
Floyd | The damaged recorder rolls down inside the machine. There is a whirr Floyd | like your mother's juicer on the first day of a new diet. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "set pointer to story" | ||||
Floyd | The bronze pointer is already aligned in that direction. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push preview" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push blue knob" | ||||
Floyd | The projection plays. It is Liam and Valenti in the Receiving Room Floyd | again, but a Receiving Room that looks sketchy and animated, many of Floyd | the details blurred out and replaced with a schematic representation. Floyd | Liam and Valenti face each other, in a semi-circle of nondescript Floyd | onlookers. Floyd | Floyd | YOU HAVE OPPOSED MY WISHES! sings the angry cartoon Valenti, AND CAUSED Floyd | HARM TO ONE OF MY ALLIES. Floyd | Floyd | Cartoon Liam bows his head. IT WAS IN FULFILMENT OF MY CIVIC DUTY, he Floyd | sings meekly, leading into a monody about the needs of the colony being Floyd | more important than personal considerations. Nonetheless, his posture Floyd | is apologetic rather than defiant. Tears run freely from his cartoon Floyd | face. Floyd | Floyd | Valenti bursts into a lyrically agitated reply, vocally quite complex; Floyd | the translation, which you feel must not do justice to the poetry of Floyd | the original, is Floyd | Floyd | YOU BETRAYED US YOU RUINED OUR PLANS Floyd | YOU BETRAYED US YOU WEASEL Floyd | Floyd | Whereupon cartoon Valenti walks out of the room. Cartoon Liam takes out Floyd | a bottle from somewhere in his robes and sings a sad song of Floyd | explanation: it is a poison keyed to his genetic makeup, which he has Floyd | had ready in case he failed to please his creators. He drinks it off Floyd | and falls dead. Floyd | Floyd | The assembled company, which has been silent up to this point, ends the Floyd | scene with a few platitudinous choruses on the subject of divided duty, Floyd | and the scene flickers out. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "set pointer to scientific" | ||||
Floyd | The pointer turns with a heavy click. The selector now points to Floyd | scientific. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push blue knob" | ||||
Floyd | The projection plays. It is Liam and Valenti in the Receiving Room Floyd | again, but a Receiving Room that looks sketchy and animated, many of Floyd | the details blurred out and replaced with a schematic representation. Floyd | Liam and Valenti are inspecting some diagrams, unreadable. Floyd | Floyd | I propose we replace technician Aylene, says Liam. I do not believe she Floyd | has the required skills to complete this task. Floyd | Floyd | I disagree, says Valenti. Floyd | Floyd | Let us compromise, Liam remarks. Floyd | Floyd | Valenti: We will give her a deadline. Floyd | Floyd | Liam: If she does not meet it-- Floyd | Floyd | Valenti: -- then I will send her away, wearing black. But if she Floyd | succeeds by Gift Day-- Floyd | Floyd | Liam: -- then she will have honor for her achievement. Floyd | Floyd | Liam, Valenti: This compromise is sufficient for us both. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "set pointer to social" | ||||
Floyd | The pointer turns with a heavy click. The selector now points to Floyd | social. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push blue knob" | ||||
Floyd | The projection plays. It is Liam and Valenti in the Receiving Room Floyd | again, but a Receiving Room that looks sketchy and animated, many of Floyd | the details blurred out and replaced with a schematic representation. Floyd | Liam and Valenti are standing together, a little apart from the rest of Floyd | the group. Floyd | Floyd | YOU VOTED AGAINST AYLENE! says Valenti. Floyd | Floyd | This was not intended as a personal insult! replies Liam, Indeed I am Floyd | very sorry you should be distressed by her removal when you have come Floyd | to stand on terms of friendship with her. But I fear that those Floyd | qualities which you value in her, not least her desire to give pain to Floyd | no one, are causing a delay which may prove disastrous to all. Floyd | Floyd | Valenti grunts. YOU ARE VERY STUPID. Floyd | Floyd | Cartoon Liam looks pale. Perhaps you are aware that the ambassador is Floyd | not to be removed until after Gift Day; thus there remains some Floyd | opportunity for her to conclude this business expeditiously, and retire Floyd | with honor. If this is your desire, then it certainly lies in your Floyd | power to assist her! Floyd | Floyd | Valenti walks out of the room. Floyd | Floyd | Liam turns to one side. A thought caption appears above his head: How Floyd | distressing it is to be in the employ of one with so little Floyd | understanding of the proprieties! And how much worse to have Floyd | disappointed one whose capacities are so far inferior to one's own! Floyd | | DaveC asks, "What happens if you set the pointer to original and push green?" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "set pointer to blue" | ||||
Floyd | The pointer turns with a heavy click. The selector now points to Floyd | original. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push blue knob" | ||||
Floyd | A flashing silver symbol dances in the air, saying NO GENRE SELECTED; Floyd | then fades out. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "set pointer to original" | ||||
Floyd | The bronze pointer is already aligned in that direction. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push green knob" | ||||
Floyd | The green knob clunks in. There's a pause, and then a silver floating Floyd | symbol-message comes up saying ORIGINAL FRUIT DAMAGED. Floyd | Floyd | A moment later the damaged fruit comes flying out of the funnel. The Floyd | designer must have put a lot of love into the eject button. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x damaged fruit" | ||||
Floyd | It is evident (now) that this is one of those recorders that grows Floyd | riper as it gets more full of information, and that something happened Floyd | to it at a primitive stage of its growth. Probably Valenti could think Floyd | of no place where people would be less likely to pry than his food Floyd | cabinet. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take it" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "squeeze it" | ||||
Floyd | You squeeze the thing tentatively and it hisses sparks and juice, but Floyd | then it begins to play, a projection hovering in the middle of the air: Floyd | Floyd | Liam is standing in a group with some others, in the Receiving Room, Floyd | when Valenti walks in. DID YOU VOTE IN THIS MATTER? say projected Floyd | English subtitles shakily. Floyd | Floyd | Liam shivers. Replacing the ambassador heressa? Everyone voted, my Floyd | lord. We determined she does not make progress. Floyd | Floyd | Then Valenti grabs him by the middle of his robes where there are no Floyd | floatpoints, and shoves violently. Liam falls hard on the sharp floor, Floyd | mortified and astonished. Progress, Valenti repeats, dusting his hands. Floyd | Floyd | She stays until Gift Day, Liam says, not trying to get up. Floyd | Floyd | Valenti nods curtly and goes out; the other people in the group Floyd | tactfully turn aside. Liam wipes the back of his mouth with his hand. Floyd | After a moment he crawls to the corner and is sick. Floyd | Floyd | The image flickers out, leaking warm juice from the recorder. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "squeeze red fruit" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "squeeze red seed" | ||||
Floyd | An image begins to play, projecting itself: Floyd | Floyd | The room is a mess, bits of things scattered around. The camera begins Floyd | on a heressa you assume must be Aylene, a beautiful woman of apparently Floyd | African descent, who floats as still as if she were anchored. Floyd | Floyd | "Things like this," says Valenti forcefully, "you don't predict. You Floyd | choose without full knowledge, and make the choice good." He picks up a Floyd | silvery streamer from the floor and plays at crumpling it. Floyd | Floyd | She answers in her language, and the subtitle says: If it were me only. Floyd | Floyd | He stuffs his hands into his pockets, streamer and all. "It could be Floyd | you only. With or without the treaty of cohabitation, I would still Floyd | marry you." Floyd | Floyd | Your genes are bad. Why would I marry you? Floyd | Floyd | "For pleasure." Floyd | Floyd | The recording plays on: Valenti has stopped pacing and is watching her. Floyd | She meets his eye and smiles a small smile. I do not know if I can walk Floyd | all the rest of my life on dirt, even for you. Floyd | Floyd | "It's mostly floors, really," Valenti says, fists held rigidly in Floyd | pockets. "The once-popular custom of walking barefoot in the dirt is a Floyd | few hundred years behind us." Floyd | Floyd | Our greatest art is a disgusting offense on Earth. Do we go where we Floyd | are despised? Floyd | Floyd | "I know," he says. "There are concessions I cannot make. If I tried, Floyd | they would not be honored." Floyd | Floyd | He gives the tormented streamer another pull, and it breaks apart in Floyd | his hands with a flash of grey light; here the recording ends. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put red seed in funnel" | ||||
Floyd | The recording machine rolls down inside the machine. There is a whirr Floyd | like your mother's juicer on the first day of a new diet. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "set pointer to story" | ||||
Floyd | The pointer turns with a heavy click. The selector now points to story. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push blue knob" | ||||
Floyd | Valenti and Aylene float serenely in a space that looks more like a Floyd | stage set than the Receiving Room. Their features, also, have been Floyd | simplified to the point of cartoonishness. Their songs are very long Floyd | and detailed, and the subtitles only try to provide a summary; you have Floyd | the sense that the lyrics are borrowed more or less directly from some Floyd | classic work. Floyd | Floyd | Aylene: Your people are not genetically compatible with mine. Floyd | Floyd | Valenti: Perhaps a cross-breed would not be so bad! Floyd | Floyd | Aylene: It would be a waste of the colony's resources! Floyd | Floyd | Valenti: I wish you felt otherwise. Floyd | Floyd | Aylene: It is not a question of my feelings. Floyd | Floyd | Valenti: You are cold-hearted! Floyd | Floyd | Aylene: You are stupid! Floyd | Floyd | Valenti, Aylene: How strange that I love you very much! Floyd | | DavidW says, "heh" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "set pointer to scientific" | DaveC says, "The best line was still Liam: Drat." | |||
Floyd | The pointer turns with a heavy click. The selector now points to Floyd | scientific. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push blue knob" | ||||
Floyd | Valenti and Aylene are standing together and looking at some papers. Floyd | Valenti is wearing white, Aylene some neutral color. Floyd | Floyd | Valenti says, "Look, I have prepared a model of our descendants!" Floyd | Floyd | Aylene bends to look at the paper as well, and her eyes go wide with Floyd | cartoonish horror. "Our child is deformed!" Floyd | Floyd | Valenti frowns and looks again at the paper. "It is true it is not Floyd | attractive --" Floyd | Floyd | "--it has two heads!" Aylene retorts. Floyd | Floyd | Valenti: "Looks are not everything--" Floyd | Floyd | Aylene: "--it would argue with itself all day!" Floyd | Floyd | Valenti: "Does anyone else offer you the same treaty?" Floyd | Floyd | Aylene: "No, there are no counteroffers." Floyd | Floyd | Valenti: "Then consider." And he rolls up the diagram of the two-headed Floyd | child, and walks away with it. Floyd | | DaveC says, "ha" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "set pointer to social" | ||||
Floyd | The pointer turns with a heavy click. The selector now points to Floyd | social. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push blue knob" | ||||
Floyd | Valenti and Aylene, in the receiving room. Floyd | Floyd | "I WISH YOU WOULD MARRY ME," says Valenti. Floyd | Floyd | Aylene looks at him shyly. "I am flattered by your offer, and not Floyd | indifferent to you personally, but I have some fears about the alliance Floyd | of our families." Floyd | Floyd | "YOU ARE HOT," says Valenti. Floyd | Floyd | Aylene blushes. "It would not be right to be persuaded by that sort of Floyd | reason." Floyd | Floyd | "LETS GET TOGETHER BABY," says Valenti. Floyd | Floyd | "I do not usually consider associating with men quite of your style," Floyd | Aylene admits a little awkwardly. "Despite your animal allure, you Floyd | would not be at all comfortable at the social gatherings as I must Floyd | routinely attend, and my friends would not hold you in high esteem." Floyd | Floyd | "THAT IS NOT VERY NICE." Floyd | Floyd | "Please try to understand." Floyd | Floyd | "IF YOU DO NOT GET WITH ME YOU WILL WIND UP SINGLE." Floyd | Floyd | Aylene looks annoyed. "Possible! Now leave me alone." She goes out. Floyd | | DaveC exclaims, "ha ha!" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "ha" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I totally don't remember these interludes." | ||||
| DavidW says, "I think you have the option of playing one of them in that bracket during the Gift Day ceremony." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "It's like she's having a conversation with Pokey." | ||||
| DavidW asks, "Like, do those flower petals squeeze the fruit on its own?" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push green knob" | ||||
Floyd | You push the green knob in: it resists, proving the solidity of the Floyd | machine. Floyd | Floyd | Nothing happens. Floyd | Floyd | Then a small flower blooms on the tree, hurrying in seconds through a Floyd | spring and summer, until the petals drop away. It swells into a fruit Floyd | the size of a kumquat. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take kumquat" | ||||
Floyd | (the kumquat) Floyd | Taken. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | two kumquats Floyd | a damaged recorder Floyd | a vaccine sample Floyd | a tiny sleeping man Floyd | a puffy white jacket Floyd | a silver kiddush cup Floyd | some fuzzy bunny slippers Floyd | a yellow paper note Floyd | a mail packet Floyd | an empty gift box Floyd | a handheld computer (in which is a data disk) Floyd | a grey widget saying SOC 15.79271, POW 20.83341, INT 12.5235 Floyd | a magnificent ensemble of flowing scarlet robe, chronometer, grey Floyd | undersuit, shoes, and socks Floyd | | ||||
| RootShell arrives, full of funk, but no fun. | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x kumquats" | ||||
Floyd | There is a symbol reading SOCIAL COMPRESSION on the skin of the Floyd | kumquat. Floyd | | DavidW says, "That's awkward. How to tell one kumquat from another." | |||
| RootShell gets bored and wanders off to the Toyshop. | ||||
| RootShell arrives, ready to play with the toys. | RootShell says, "good afternoon" | |||
| djfletch says, "that is a spendidly diverse inventory" | ||||
| DaveC says (to Floyd), "squeeze kumquat" | ||||
Floyd | Valenti and Aylene, in the receiving room. Floyd | Floyd | "I WISH YOU WOULD MARRY ME," says Valenti. Floyd | Floyd | Aylene looks at him shyly. "I am flattered by your offer, and not Floyd | indifferent to you personally, but I have some fears about the alliance Floyd | of our families." Floyd | Floyd | "YOU ARE HOT," says Valenti. Floyd | Floyd | Aylene blushes. "It would not be right to be persuaded by that sort of Floyd | reason." Floyd | Floyd | "LETS GET TOGETHER BABY," says Valenti. Floyd | Floyd | "I do not usually consider associating with men quite of your style," Floyd | Aylene admits a little awkwardly. "Despite your animal allure, you Floyd | would not be at all comfortable at the social gatherings as I must Floyd | routinely attend, and my friends would not hold you in high esteem." Floyd | Floyd | "THAT IS NOT VERY NICE." Floyd | Floyd | "Please try to understand." Floyd | Floyd | "IF YOU DO NOT GET WITH ME YOU WILL WIND UP SINGLE." Floyd | Floyd | Aylene looks annoyed. "Possible! Now leave me alone." She goes out. Floyd | | DaveC says, "yeah, that sucks" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x floatpoint" | ||||
Floyd | (first getting down so as not to kill yourself with foolish attempts at Floyd | acrobatic prowess) Floyd | You get off the personal float unit. Floyd | Floyd | Kiosk Floyd | The kiosk is no larger than a contamination testing booth back on Floyd | Earth. Floyd | Floyd | A personal float unit hovers three inches off the floor at the middle Floyd | of the room. Floyd | Floyd | The only thing of note here is a metal box, mounted on the wall at Floyd | about shoulder-height, with a bonzai-sized tree growing out of the top. Floyd | Floyd | The contents might come out, and that would make a real mess. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Kiosk Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | | DaveC asks, "Have you tried playing with the dial/knob on the floatpoint?" | |||
| DavidW says, "That's what I was trying to examine." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x float unit" | ||||
Floyd | The purpose of the float unit is to allow you to do awkwardly what the Floyd | natives do well: hover a few inches off the ground (or water). It Floyd | consists of an oval platform four or five inches thick and made of Floyd | dense material, with a reservoir for floatpoints inside. There is also Floyd | a dial on one side. The unit currently hovers three inches off the Floyd | floor. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x dial" | ||||
Floyd | A small dial, unlabeled but presumably meant to control the floatation Floyd | of the unit. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "turn dial" | ||||
Floyd | You reach down and twiddle the dial on the side of the float unit, Floyd | feeling very much the master even of the most alien technology. Floyd | Floyd | This feeling passes, however, when the dial sticks in place without Floyd | adjusting anything. Floyd | | DavidW says, "hm" | |||
| DaveC says (to Floyd), "push dial" | ||||
Floyd | The dial cannot be moved separately from the personal float unit. Floyd | | ||||
| RootShell says (to Floyd), "press dial" | ||||
Floyd | The dial cannot be moved separately from the personal float unit. Floyd | | ||||
| RootShell says (to Floyd), "turn dial left" | ||||
Floyd | You struggle with the dial, exerting the strength developed in the Floyd | powerful Earthly gravity... Floyd | Floyd | ...and there is a snap like the shot of a gun, and the dial spins Floyd | freely without effect. Floyd | | DaveC says, "hehe" | |||
| RootShell says (to Floyd), "press dial" | ||||
Floyd | The dial cannot be moved separately from the personal float unit. Floyd | | RootShell says, "at least it snapped" | |||
| RootShell says (to Floyd), "turn dial right" | ||||
Floyd | Whatever you did, it put an end to uses of the convenient dial. If you Floyd | want to change the setting of the float unit, you'll have to do Floyd | something with the contents of the reservoir by hand. Floyd | | RootShell says, "hummmmm" | |||
| DaveC says (to Floyd), "x reservoir" | ||||
Floyd | (first getting down so as not to kill yourself with foolish attempts at Floyd | acrobatic prowess) Floyd | You get off the personal float unit. Floyd | Floyd | Kiosk Floyd | The kiosk is no larger than a contamination testing booth back on Floyd | Earth. Floyd | Floyd | A personal float unit hovers three inches off the floor at the middle Floyd | of the room. Floyd | Floyd | The only thing of note here is a metal box, mounted on the wall at Floyd | about shoulder-height, with a bonzai-sized tree growing out of the top. Floyd | Floyd | The contents might come out, and that would make a real mess. Floyd | | ||||
| RootShell says (to Floyd), "x bonzai" | ||||
Floyd | A machine titled DATA COMPRESSION AND STORAGE. There is a miniature Floyd | tree growing out of the top, naked of foliage. On the front of the Floyd | metal box are green and blue push-knobs, and a movable bronze pointer. Floyd | Floyd | On the left side of the machine there is a funnel, the right size for Floyd | inserting a recording fruit. Floyd | | RootShell asks, "sorry to be late this week, but where are we stuck? i know it's floatpoint but what's our next goal?" | |||
| DaveC says, "We've seen one ending and are playing around a bit." | ||||
| RootShell says, "haaaa ok..." | ||||
| DavidW says, "yeah, we're not stuck, just exploring." | ||||
| RootShell says, "did the device work (in the other play?)" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I suppose adding and removing floatpoints from the reservoir might adjust the height." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put tiny man in reservoir" | ||||
Floyd | The floatpoint reservoir is closed. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open reservoir" | ||||
Floyd | The contents might come out, and that would make a real mess. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x reservoir" | ||||
Floyd | The contents might come out, and that would make a real mess. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "look in reservoir" | ||||
| RootShell says (to Floyd), "put little man in funnel" | ||||
Floyd | The contents might come out, and that would make a real mess. Floyd | Floyd | You push the tiny sleeping man into the funnel. The machine fires it Floyd | back out, as from a cannon. Floyd | | ||||
| schep says (to Floyd), "make a real mess" | ||||
Floyd | I didn't understand that sentence. Floyd | | DavidW says (to RootS), "meanie" | |||
| RootShell says, "hehehehe" | ||||
| schep asks, "which ending did you get?" | ||||
| RootShell says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Kiosk Floyd | The kiosk is no larger than a contamination testing booth back on Floyd | Earth. Floyd | Floyd | A personal float unit hovers three inches off the floor at the middle Floyd | of the room. Floyd | Floyd | The only thing of note here is a metal box, mounted on the wall at Floyd | about shoulder-height, with a bonzai-sized tree growing out of the top. Floyd | | DavidW says, "We did white jacket with vaccine gift. It seemed okay." | |||
| RootShell says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | two kumquats Floyd | a damaged recorder Floyd | a vaccine sample Floyd | a tiny sleeping man Floyd | a puffy white jacket Floyd | a silver kiddush cup Floyd | some fuzzy bunny slippers Floyd | a yellow paper note Floyd | a mail packet Floyd | an empty gift box Floyd | a handheld computer (in which is a data disk) Floyd | a grey widget saying SOC 15.50803, POW 20.5871, INT 12.24329 Floyd | a magnificent ensemble of flowing scarlet robe, chronometer, grey Floyd | undersuit, shoes, and socks Floyd | | dhakajack asks, "Can you put both kumquats in the funnel and blend them?" | |||
| DavidW says, "I don't know if blending works or not." | ||||
| RootShell says, "let's blend then" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x mail packet" | ||||
Floyd | Largely demands from people on Earth that Valenti pursue what happened Floyd | to relatives long ago dead during the foundation of the Aleheart Floyd | Colony. There's a particularly insistent batch about someone called Floyd | Charla (the authors had apparently written to Valenti before, without Floyd | satisfaction). Floyd | | inky asks, "will it blend?" | |||
| DavidW says, "Hard to know without trying." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push blue knob" | K-Y asks, "Did we ever look that up?" | |||
Floyd | You press the blue knob a little way in, but the machine buzzes Floyd | angrily. Perhaps it doesn't work without something in the funnel. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "consult computer about blending" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "consult computer about recorder" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "consult computer about kiosk" | ||||
Floyd | You're already in Kiosk, so further directions are needless. Floyd | | ||||
| schep says (to Floyd), "consult computer about computer" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "consult computer about kumquat" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "consult computer about fruit" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: Appears that recording fruit retain everyone's social Floyd | broadcasting as well as audio and visual -- the same stuff picked up by Floyd | my live rock. Too bad it is not possible to read this off the Floyd | recordings. Would be useful to record people and then study afterward Floyd | what they really meant. Floyd | | DaveC asks, "Can we make recordings?" | |||
| K-Y says, "sorry, lag" | ||||
| K-Y says, "I meant Charla" | ||||
| schep says, "you are always being recorded ... bwa-ha" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "consult computer about rock" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | six months ago: Aylene gave me a live rock! Which, in theory, Floyd | calculates what everyone thinks of me, to many decimal places of Floyd | accuracy (!). Don't think she realized what negative reinforcement Floyd | this would be. Can't help experimenting with ways to make numbers go up Floyd | and down. Bet I could crash all three to zero if I ran through the Floyd | Solarium bareassed. Apparently the thing corresponds to a portion of Floyd | the alien brain. I admit (if only to myself) that I find the concept Floyd | disgusting. But I admit a lot to myself lately. I gather my predecessor Floyd | talked to herself as well. I need some recordings of human speech or Floyd | may go insane... Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: Appears that recording fruit retain everyone's social Floyd | broadcasting as well as audio and visual -- the same stuff picked up by Floyd | my live rock. Too bad it is not possible to read this off the Floyd | recordings. Would be useful to record people and then study afterward Floyd | what they really meant. Floyd | Floyd | three months ago: I tried asking her whether she can factor in my Floyd | thoughts the same way her little live rock tracks everyone else's. She Floyd | said no, I don't broadcast. She looked tremendously uncomfortable. I Floyd | cannot say how smug this makes me. Floyd | Floyd | five weeks ago: Is it possible that Liam is jealous of me because of Floyd | Aylene? I find him lurking around after she's been here, looking sniffy Floyd | and grim. Naturally Aylene's live rock doesn't offer any sort of data Floyd | analysis function. That might be dangerously useful. Floyd | Floyd | five weeks ago: Suppose I could feed recordings through social Floyd | compression to get some idea what Feckless Assistant is thinking. Not Floyd | sure I want to know, though. Despite live rock, this method feels a Floyd | little like spying. Not to say I won't. Just that I'm not sure I will. Floyd | | ||||
| inky arrives, full of neither funk nor fun. | K-Y says, "wait, wait" | |||
| K-Y asks, "so the SOCIAL setting is actually playing back the 'social broadcasting' recorded?" | ||||
| schep says (to Floyd), "consult computer about charla" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | seven months ago: Huge wad of demands from Earth that I do research to Floyd | find people's missing ancestors. In my spare time from carving out a Floyd | treaty, I am to look for someone's great-aunt Charla. Floyd | Floyd | five months ago: More background research. Think I found the files on Floyd | this Charla character, but they're very strange. All their historical Floyd | data is preserved in severely lossy formats. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: More research. My Charla seems to have been married to Floyd | Peter Long. Wish I had a clearer idea of what Peter Long was up to. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: So. Put together the archive files on Charla and her Floyd | companion Peter Long here. I have what appear to be six versions of the Floyd | same events, recorded in distinctly stylized and different forms -- Floyd | including what looks like an opera. (Or some perversion thereof.) I'd Floyd | say they were literary reworkings but no, they seem actually to be a Floyd | convention-based compression of some original, now-lost data recording. Floyd | The weird thing is that they don't all end the same way -- apparently Floyd | the conventions of recording are allowed to override, for instance, Floyd | matters of fact. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: Oh my. Cross-comparing the data and the compression Floyd | algorithm information I could find I think I have worked my way to a Floyd | fuzzy but more-accurate version of the original. Spent a good while in Floyd | the archive building messing with the kiosks. Got to talk to A about Floyd | this, find out if it is really true. If it is, we may end scuttling the Floyd | whole treaty if I report what I found on Charla and Peter Long. Long is Floyd | really the issue; it's just our bad bad bad bad bad luck that Charla's Floyd | relatives are still alive and, worse, pushy about finding out what Floyd | became of her. Floyd | Floyd | three months ago: Long talk with A, and she essentially confirmed for Floyd | me what I had already pieced together, though with some bits that I Floyd | hadn't quite understood about Peter and Charla. And then I got rid of Floyd | the recordings. The destruction of data, a slippery slope. This was Floyd | much bigger than getting rid of Yamashita's correspondence disc but it Floyd | felt less awful, somehow. This is something I cannot, cannot report Floyd | back if I want these people saved. And increasingly I do. Even my Floyd | infuriating assistant. Floyd | Floyd | two months ago: Funny sort of personal conversation with A. Turns out Floyd | that she is descended from Peter and Charla herself -- the whole A line Floyd | is. This is such a strange thought to me. Apparently they're among the Floyd | most human-like of the remaining lines (though with certain obligatory Floyd | modifications, of course), which I suppose is why she was assigned to Floyd | deal with us. Floyd | | DavidW says, "I guess so." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x live rock" | ||||
Floyd | You can't see any such thing. Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x widget" | ||||
Floyd | A plain grey device, fitted to the shape of the hand, on whose surface Floyd | are three constantly flickering numbers: SOC 15.9316, POW 20.12017, INT Floyd | 12.8573. SQUEEZE TO SUMMON AIDES. There is an inscription on the back, Floyd | and it is in English: To LV from A3205. Floyd | | ||||
| K-Y says (to Floyd), "consult computer about charla" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | seven months ago: Huge wad of demands from Earth that I do research to Floyd | find people's missing ancestors. In my spare time from carving out a Floyd | treaty, I am to look for someone's great-aunt Charla. Floyd | Floyd | five months ago: More background research. Think I found the files on Floyd | this Charla character, but they're very strange. All their historical Floyd | data is preserved in severely lossy formats. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: More research. My Charla seems to have been married to Floyd | Peter Long. Wish I had a clearer idea of what Peter Long was up to. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: So. Put together the archive files on Charla and her Floyd | companion Peter Long here. I have what appear to be six versions of the Floyd | same events, recorded in distinctly stylized and different forms -- Floyd | including what looks like an opera. (Or some perversion thereof.) I'd Floyd | say they were literary reworkings but no, they seem actually to be a Floyd | convention-based compression of some original, now-lost data recording. Floyd | The weird thing is that they don't all end the same way -- apparently Floyd | the conventions of recording are allowed to override, for instance, Floyd | matters of fact. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: Oh my. Cross-comparing the data and the compression Floyd | algorithm information I could find I think I have worked my way to a Floyd | fuzzy but more-accurate version of the original. Spent a good while in Floyd | the archive building messing with the kiosks. Got to talk to A about Floyd | this, find out if it is really true. If it is, we may end scuttling the Floyd | whole treaty if I report what I found on Charla and Peter Long. Long is Floyd | really the issue; it's just our bad bad bad bad bad luck that Charla's Floyd | relatives are still alive and, worse, pushy about finding out what Floyd | became of her. Floyd | Floyd | three months ago: Long talk with A, and she essentially confirmed for Floyd | me what I had already pieced together, though with some bits that I Floyd | hadn't quite understood about Peter and Charla. And then I got rid of Floyd | the recordings. The destruction of data, a slippery slope. This was Floyd | much bigger than getting rid of Yamashita's correspondence disc but it Floyd | felt less awful, somehow. This is something I cannot, cannot report Floyd | back if I want these people saved. And increasingly I do. Even my Floyd | infuriating assistant. Floyd | Floyd | two months ago: Funny sort of personal conversation with A. Turns out Floyd | that she is descended from Peter and Charla herself -- the whole A line Floyd | is. This is such a strange thought to me. Apparently they're among the Floyd | most human-like of the remaining lines (though with certain obligatory Floyd | modifications, of course), which I suppose is why she was assigned to Floyd | deal with us. Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku should be illegalized. | DavidW says, "I'm starving. afk." | |||
| djfletch says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | You are carrying: Floyd | two kumquats Floyd | a damaged recorder Floyd | a vaccine sample Floyd | a tiny sleeping man Floyd | a puffy white jacket Floyd | a silver kiddush cup Floyd | some fuzzy bunny slippers Floyd | a yellow paper note Floyd | a mail packet Floyd | an empty gift box Floyd | a handheld computer (in which is a data disk) Floyd | a grey widget saying SOC 15.4806, POW 20.3531, INT 12.2608 Floyd | a magnificent ensemble of flowing scarlet robe, chronometer, grey Floyd | undersuit, shoes, and socks Floyd | | Jacqueline says (to DW), "You hear chicken leg falling from the sky to the west!" | |||
| K-Y says, "wait, I forgot all about this part" | ||||
| K-Y says (to Floyd), "consult computer about peter" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: More research. My Charla seems to have been married to Floyd | Peter Long. Wish I had a clearer idea of what Peter Long was up to. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: So. Put together the archive files on Charla and her Floyd | companion Peter Long here. I have what appear to be six versions of the Floyd | same events, recorded in distinctly stylized and different forms -- Floyd | including what looks like an opera. (Or some perversion thereof.) I'd Floyd | say they were literary reworkings but no, they seem actually to be a Floyd | convention-based compression of some original, now-lost data recording. Floyd | The weird thing is that they don't all end the same way -- apparently Floyd | the conventions of recording are allowed to override, for instance, Floyd | matters of fact. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: Oh my. Cross-comparing the data and the compression Floyd | algorithm information I could find I think I have worked my way to a Floyd | fuzzy but more-accurate version of the original. Spent a good while in Floyd | the archive building messing with the kiosks. Got to talk to A about Floyd | this, find out if it is really true. If it is, we may end scuttling the Floyd | whole treaty if I report what I found on Charla and Peter Long. Long is Floyd | really the issue; it's just our bad bad bad bad bad luck that Charla's Floyd | relatives are still alive and, worse, pushy about finding out what Floyd | became of her. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: Amazing it never occurred to me to wonder exactly what Floyd | happened when they lost Earth contact here. Peter Long's solution seems Floyd | obvious. In retrospect. Floyd | Floyd | three months ago: Long talk with A, and she essentially confirmed for Floyd | me what I had already pieced together, though with some bits that I Floyd | hadn't quite understood about Peter and Charla. And then I got rid of Floyd | the recordings. The destruction of data, a slippery slope. This was Floyd | much bigger than getting rid of Yamashita's correspondence disc but it Floyd | felt less awful, somehow. This is something I cannot, cannot report Floyd | back if I want these people saved. And increasingly I do. Even my Floyd | infuriating assistant. Floyd | Floyd | two months ago: Funny sort of personal conversation with A. Turns out Floyd | that she is descended from Peter and Charla herself -- the whole A line Floyd | is. This is such a strange thought to me. Apparently they're among the Floyd | most human-like of the remaining lines (though with certain obligatory Floyd | modifications, of course), which I suppose is why she was assigned to Floyd | deal with us. Floyd | Floyd | 27 days ago: Went to the Earth Sanctuary and heard a few songs. Floyd | Strangely moving. One of them was in fact about old Peter. Felt like it Floyd | was the play to catch the conscience, etc., except of course in this Floyd | case I'm not the murderer and it's everyone else's conscience that Floyd | really ought to be bothered, not mine. It was a good song, though. They Floyd | got out the flint knife at the end -- it's a prop of this performance, Floyd | I gather. Floyd | | ||||
| schep says (to Floyd), "consult computer about solution" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: Amazing it never occurred to me to wonder exactly what Floyd | happened when they lost Earth contact here. Peter Long's solution seems Floyd | obvious. In retrospect. Floyd | | ||||
| K-Y says (to Floyd), "consult computer about knife" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | gift symbolism: knife: Apparently, according to the etiquette files, Floyd | any edged instrument is a symbol of restrictions, living under strict Floyd | controls imposed by someone else, and dating back to clinical trials in Floyd | which new genetic lines deemed to be failing their intended purpose Floyd | were slaughtered with a knife. This practice is now called flushing and Floyd | does not require a blade, but the associations remain. Floyd | Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | seven weeks ago: Liam told me about the flint knife in the Earth Floyd | Sanctuary. Turns out it wasn't brought by us (always thought that a Floyd | really odd thing to send) but they brought it here from Earth Floyd | themselves. There's some sort of gloomy symbolism there which, as Floyd | usual, he couldn't bring himself to explain directly. A less useful Floyd | assistant would be difficult to find. Floyd | Floyd | 27 days ago: Went to the Earth Sanctuary and heard a few songs. Floyd | Strangely moving. One of them was in fact about old Peter. Felt like it Floyd | was the play to catch the conscience, etc., except of course in this Floyd | case I'm not the murderer and it's everyone else's conscience that Floyd | really ought to be bothered, not mine. It was a good song, though. They Floyd | got out the flint knife at the end -- it's a prop of this performance, Floyd | I gather. Floyd | | K-Y says, "oh" | |||
| DaveC asks, "Can we find out what happened when they lost Earth contact?" | ||||
| schep says (to Floyd), "consult computer about contact" | zarf asks, "knife is hidden in the sanctuary somewhere?" | |||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | five months ago: I wonder whether HC have done any psychological Floyd | studies on the effects of isolating a single person without any human Floyd | contact whatever. I can guess the outcome! Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: Amazing it never occurred to me to wonder exactly what Floyd | happened when they lost Earth contact here. Peter Long's solution seems Floyd | obvious. In retrospect. Floyd | | ||||
| K-Y says (to Floyd), "consult computer about flushing" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | Aleheart family structure: On Aleheart Colony marriage bears a strong Floyd | resemblance to a corporate merger. Possessions, resources, and Floyd | knowledge are pooled; the efficiency rating of the family unit is Floyd | understood to be an average of the efficiency of all its members, with Floyd | income determined accordingly, so that merger with a significantly less Floyd | efficient partner is a sacrifice rarely made. Children are rated on a Floyd | different scale, but their rating is also counted for the family Floyd | starting at the age of four. This produces extra economic and social Floyd | pressure towards flushing children who turn out to be lazy or ill-made. Floyd | Floyd | gift symbolism: knife: Apparently, according to the etiquette files, Floyd | any edged instrument is a symbol of restrictions, living under strict Floyd | controls imposed by someone else, and dating back to clinical trials in Floyd | which new genetic lines deemed to be failing their intended purpose Floyd | were slaughtered with a knife. This practice is now called flushing and Floyd | does not require a blade, but the associations remain. Floyd | Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | 28 days ago: Naturally after I read that I asked Aylene about it (if Floyd | we're modeling our alliance on a marriage I'd rather not have Floyd | "marriage" mean "eugenics program"). She says in practice there's Floyd | hardly any "flushing". I still have some serious questions about this, Floyd | but I think inasmuch as it applies to the current occasion we're Floyd | looking rather at a joint stewardship of the resources available to Floyd | both planets. HC should be able to live with that. I don't know Floyd | whether the general population would be so enthusiastic, but the Floyd | general population seems to think it's a point of principle not to make Floyd | any concessions or in fact live in the real world in any way. Floyd | | inky says, "the knife is in the museum in the station" | |||
| inky says, "IIRC" | ||||
| inky says, "(like, I don't think it's hidden, I think it's in a display case)" | ||||
| schep asks, "hmm, can you look up 'the' or 'I' or somehow just read his entire log?" | ||||
| K-Y says (to Floyd), "consult computer about history" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | Europe: This could take a while to read, but as far as recent history Floyd | is concerned, that territory is now mostly under the control of High Floyd | Command, and still populated, though not nearly so thickly as it once Floyd | was. There are a lot of crumbling suburbs all over the former first Floyd | world, where no one wants to live any longer, because the lifestyle Floyd | eats resources and the neighborhoods are lonely. Floyd | Floyd | Earth history (general): The recent history of Earth is not light Floyd | reading, and it's hard to scan through the encyclopedia article without Floyd | some sense of irritation; but it was prepared with the understanding Floyd | that the computer might be taken and read by the Aleheart colony. Floyd | Perhaps that is why it is so coy about the plague years, the desolation Floyd | of Africa, Chinese separatism... Floyd | Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | three months ago: I don't know why High Command likes this conditional Floyd | adoption concept. For one thing, even if we do make them agree to do Floyd | what we say for a while, we don't have the power to keep them in line Floyd | by force, and if they resent us they'll eventually fight back. And Floyd | second, segregating a minority culture and relegating it to some ghetto Floyd | has a long history of being a horrible idea. HC does not think of these Floyd | things? Floyd | | ||||
| K-Y says (to Floyd), "consult computer about aleheart" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | Aleheart Climate: The article is somewhat rough, since, though Earth Floyd | has been running its own tests by probe and satellite on the viability Floyd | of Aleheart's climate, most of its information comes from the Floyd | statements of the Aleheart diplomatic structure. There are those Floyd | paranoid enough to think that they might be fabricating the problem for Floyd | unknown reasons. Floyd | Floyd | Aleheart Colony: You've read the article before, but you refresh Floyd | yourself on the major topics: how the Aleheart corporation grew large Floyd | and powerful; how its forays into genetic experimentation came into Floyd | conflict with many Earth laws; how Aleheart launched its own colony in Floyd | order to have a place completely under its own jurisdiction. The Floyd | rumors of human experimentation that trickled back to Earth made it Floyd | difficult for Aleheart to continue operating at home at all, so instead Floyd | the last employees were given a choice between layoff and emigration. Floyd | Sometime after Aleheart Colony was established, it lost all contact Floyd | with Earth, in the so-called Separation. The colony was picked up again Floyd | only two years ago, orbiting a star in the wrong place, and so much Floyd | changed that at first contact Earth-command thought it had heard from Floyd | humanoid aliens. Floyd | Floyd | human genetic experimentation: There's no question, of course, that Floyd | Aleheart has done things illegal on Earth -- far more extensively after Floyd | all Earth contact was lost. The current population is the product of Floyd | those changes; they've been changed in appearance and body shape, and Floyd | probably in an assortment of personality traits. It is an open Floyd | question whether they are still human enough for interbreeding, or Floyd | whether they should now be considered a different species. Floyd | Floyd | Separation: The separation of Earth and Aleheart Colony occurred for Floyd | reasons as yet undetermined. Contact was re-established when Aleheart Floyd | sent a message to Earth requesting a meeting. Floyd | Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | six months ago: Oh, I feel I am losing touch. Don't know whether Kruger Floyd | intends this: for a smart man he can be very stupid. What happens if Floyd | you send to Aleheart someone with no living family or lovers on Earth, Floyd | and no humans to talk to? Of course they're bound to go a little Floyd | native: people are social. Floyd | Floyd | five months ago: Have been doing the background research home people Floyd | keep asking for, in attempt to stave off the suicidal gloom of winter, Floyd | and because no one around here seems to want to do much in the Floyd | mornings, when it is still so dark. Not that I blame them. But it turns Floyd | out that the archives for Aleheart Corporation and the early days are Floyd | terrible. Floyd | | ||||
| K-Y says (to Floyd), "consult computer about separation" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | Aleheart Colony: You've read the article before, but you refresh Floyd | yourself on the major topics: how the Aleheart corporation grew large Floyd | and powerful; how its forays into genetic experimentation came into Floyd | conflict with many Earth laws; how Aleheart launched its own colony in Floyd | order to have a place completely under its own jurisdiction. The Floyd | rumors of human experimentation that trickled back to Earth made it Floyd | difficult for Aleheart to continue operating at home at all, so instead Floyd | the last employees were given a choice between layoff and emigration. Floyd | Sometime after Aleheart Colony was established, it lost all contact Floyd | with Earth, in the so-called Separation. The colony was picked up again Floyd | only two years ago, orbiting a star in the wrong place, and so much Floyd | changed that at first contact Earth-command thought it had heard from Floyd | humanoid aliens. Floyd | Floyd | Separation: The separation of Earth and Aleheart Colony occurred for Floyd | reasons as yet undetermined. Contact was re-established when Aleheart Floyd | sent a message to Earth requesting a meeting. Floyd | Floyd | First contact: First contact between Earth and Aleheart Colony after Floyd | separation was the result of an Aleheart ship coming within cautious Floyd | hailing distance of Earth. It remained in the solar system for several Floyd | days before approaching directly. The crew then sent a message in Floyd | rather simple English and Chinese, requesting the right to meet "to get Floyd | to know one another with an eye toward better friendship". Floyd | Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | seven months ago: If you ask me, the separation was the result of some Floyd | kind of boneheaded physics experiment they did themselves. Who knows? Floyd | Of course they wouldn't say, if so. But where do they get the Floyd | floatpoints from anyway? Collective act of will so they'd never have Floyd | to touch anything ever again? Floyd | Floyd | three months ago: Weird sort of nobility about the separation story. Floyd | Wish I could tell someone. God, god, god. I might ask for a human Floyd | assistant or something. But of course what good would that do? Floyd | Burdening a second person's conscience wouldn't really improve matters, Floyd | and besides, he or she might not agree with me about what to do. No, I Floyd | should avoid that. Floyd | | ||||
| K-Y says (to Floyd), "consult computer about conscience" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | three months ago: Weird sort of nobility about the separation story. Floyd | Wish I could tell someone. God, god, god. I might ask for a human Floyd | assistant or something. But of course what good would that do? Floyd | Burdening a second person's conscience wouldn't really improve matters, Floyd | and besides, he or she might not agree with me about what to do. No, I Floyd | should avoid that. Floyd | Floyd | 27 days ago: Went to the Earth Sanctuary and heard a few songs. Floyd | Strangely moving. One of them was in fact about old Peter. Felt like it Floyd | was the play to catch the conscience, etc., except of course in this Floyd | case I'm not the murderer and it's everyone else's conscience that Floyd | really ought to be bothered, not mine. It was a good song, though. They Floyd | got out the flint knife at the end -- it's a prop of this performance, Floyd | I gather. Floyd | | ||||
| K-Y says (to Floyd), "consult computer about nobility" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | three months ago: Weird sort of nobility about the separation story. Floyd | Wish I could tell someone. God, god, god. I might ask for a human Floyd | assistant or something. But of course what good would that do? Floyd | Burdening a second person's conscience wouldn't really improve matters, Floyd | and besides, he or she might not agree with me about what to do. No, I Floyd | should avoid that. Floyd | | ||||
| K-Y says (to Floyd), "consult computer about story" | ||||
Floyd | The computer beeps irritably: NO RESULTS FOUND. PLEASE REPHRASE AND TRY Floyd | AGAIN. Floyd | | ||||
| K-Y says (to Floyd), "consult computer about yamashita" | ||||
Floyd | Your search turns up the following articles: Floyd | Floyd | Ambassador Yamashita: You met Yamashita a few times before coming out Floyd | here, but didn't get a strong impression of her, and her computer Floyd | record is as tediously laudatory as you would expect; you lack the Floyd | context to read between the lines. She spent several years here before Floyd | honorably returning to Earth, apparently without doing anything other Floyd | than sending home reams of reports. But possibly that was all there Floyd | was to do here at the time. Floyd | Floyd | Your search turns up the following entries from Valenti's personal log: Floyd | Floyd | eight months ago: Met my counterpart, the ambassador Aylene, today. Floyd | Frankly, High Command should have left Yamashita here -- they probably Floyd | did wonderfully having tea parties together and comparing fashion Floyd | notes. Have never met another human -- no, strike that, because she Floyd | isn't human. Have never met any person with so little emotional affect Floyd | in speech and behavior. Not sure what gene modifications they made to Floyd | her, but it is frightening. Floyd | Floyd | eight months ago: Surprised and horrified by Yamashita's taste in Floyd | office decor. Thought about donating hideous paintings to museum, but I Floyd | worry this would lower us further in the opinion of the locals. Floyd | Floyd | six months ago: Well. Have been going through Yamashita's Floyd | correspondence disk. I have solved the mystery of the hideous Floyd | paintings: they appear to be a gift from a lover back home, who painted Floyd | them herself. I had not guessed Yamashita was interesting enough to Floyd | have a secret lover Kruger doesn't know about. Floyd | Floyd | Lover seems to be afflicted by residual plague nerve-degeneration too. Floyd | I sense a conflict of interest! Wonder if Kruger did find out and yank Floyd | Yamashita out for this reason? But since she doesn't seem to be Floyd | languishing in disgrace, I don't know. Floyd | Floyd | four months ago: Destroyed Yamashita's correspondence disk. Don't Floyd | really want HC reprimanding her after the fact for relationship that Floyd | was probably the one thing keeping her sane... Then again, when I look Floyd | at the paintings... Oh well. Floyd | Floyd | three months ago: Long talk with A, and she essentially confirmed for Floyd | me what I had already pieced together, though with some bits that I Floyd | hadn't quite understood about Peter and Charla. And then I got rid of Floyd | the recordings. The destruction of data, a slippery slope. This was Floyd | much bigger than getting rid of Yamashita's correspondence disc but it Floyd | felt less awful, somehow. This is something I cannot, cannot report Floyd | back if I want these people saved. And increasingly I do. Even my Floyd | infuriating assistant. Floyd | | K-Y says, "I guess it's all destroyed irrevocably" | |||
| inky asks, "what, yamashita's disk?" | ||||
| K-Y says, "and the recordings" | ||||
| inky asks, "did you check the disposal area in the basement?" | ||||
| K-Y says, "I've lost track of it all" | ||||
| K-Y says, "I know we recovered the Liam recording" | ||||
| inky says, "okey doke" | ||||
| inky has had his fill of playing for now, and goes back to the Lounge. | ||||
| K-Y has had his fill of playing for now, and goes back to the Lounge. | zarf says, "I'm in dinner-cooking mode" | |||
| zarf asks, "shall we call it a day?" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to z), "People seem to still be poking about now and then, so I've just been leaving the transcript running. I can shut it down whenever." | ||||
| zarf says, "ok" | ||||
| zarf says, "thanks for hosting, especially in your frail state" | ||||
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