Andromeda Dreaming
Joey Jones
andromeda series conspiracy conversation dreaming female protagonist multiple endings parser puzzleless science fiction Xyzzy Awards 2012
Aliss can control her dreams, but will this help her when she's stuck in a galaxy on the brink of destruction? Winner of the Andromeda Legacy competition 2012, Andromeda Dreaming is in the same setting as Andromeda Awakening.
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"...deflagged the bitster down in big M, but he had less than four."

"By Fat! That must've lagged."

"Thought I was gonna be deflagged too but no, they zip me up here with you one-oh."

"Cold as Korh. Well us we... wait... our reg is stirring. Space it."



Please type ABOUT.

Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You awake in Bunk C of Pod 19-Q, in the Morbozzo space station, location unknown. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen.

Across the pod, a bearded man leans out of Bunk A, staring avidly at the screen.

You can also see Bunk B (closed) and Bunk D (closed) here.
About yourself
You are strapped into a bunk in a quarantine pod, and despite the bizarre lack of gravity, you feel like you could sleep easily here.
You look around
Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen. The pod is quite warm, and warm enclosed spaces have a naturally soporific effect on you.

Across the pod, a bearded man leans out of Bunk A, staring avidly at the screen.

You can also see Bunk B (closed) and Bunk D (closed) here.
You examine the bunk b.
The bunks are like micro-pods set into the sides of the main pod and they can each be sealed off. Bunk B is currently closed.
You look at the man
The man has a great bushy beard that obscures his face. And yet...
You talk to the man
You turn to the bearded man and he temporarily turns off his speakers. "So at last the reg awakes. Stato me amato?"
3
"Amato, that's cold as Korh. I hope the bitsters deflagged it. Wouldn't want to catch something I couldn't throw back."
You examine the screen
A low-res screen, not even vibertronic. It's showing what looks like some incredibly dumb looking action vid, but it's hard to tell with the speakers off.
You talk to the man
You turn to the bearded man and he temporarily turns off his speakers.
2
"Look amato, if you're gonna get far in Morbozzo you gotta speak the right frequency, you bit?"

He looks at your look of incomprehension and continues, "You ever even been to a sky city, reg?"
1
"Monarch true, huh?"

The man opens his palms and says, "Well, most places gots their own slang, you bit? Uh, 'you know'? Well us age-long Morbozzans have our words for things. It's so regs and prens don't bit our frequency."
1
"A pren is someone who apprehends you but Fat knows why they call Monarchans 'reg' or 'nob' or 'queeny'. There's a lot I don't bit, like what a hyerotrope is or why the bad guys never deflag Gettare," he says emphasising his last point by pointing at the big screen.
1
"Morbozzo is the best quarantine space station there is," he says. "Of course, there's less than four others. It's the place for deflagging disease and each of its self-contained pods can be attached to shuttles and zipped elsewhere, totally spaced so the rest of the station won't even miss it."
1
"I said that there was less than four others didn't I?" He shakes his head in despair. "That means there's exactly oh-one Morbozzo and not a station more."
1
"Ah Fat bits," says Kadro shrugging his shoulders, "there's more than four but less than a googolplex of them."

Now that you think about it, you recall that the hyerotropes are perfect spheres sometimes found under the surface of Monarch. You haven't the foggiest about them, but then, you didn't exactly study hard sciences.
1
He coughs unconvincingly and leaves it at that.
You look at the straps
The straps bind you to the bunk. As you're not going anywhere, you might as well get some rest.
You check what you're carrying
You are wearing:
a medical shift
You examine the shift
It's a strange cover-all that's pricked into the skin in various places. It seems to be supplying you with nutrients and taking care of personal cleansing all by itself. If you'd have studied a more practical degree, you might have known how it works.
You listen
It's very quiet in the pod. Each bunk has its own localised sound system and yours is switched off.
You examine the screen
A low-res screen, not even vibertronic. It's showing what looks like some incredibly dumb looking action vid, but it's hard to tell with the speakers off.
You turn on the speakers
You turn on the speakers, and noise starts burbling out. It's quite quiet, so you'll have to actively listen to pick up anything.
You listen
"There's only one thing worth going to Phelios for... the Terracentral Fortress!"
Sleep
You let the warm stale air of the pod overcome you and soon you drift into altconsciousness. Your internal world-creator is deprived of your full range of senses and draws on memories to fill in the gaps.

The hall is full of vibertron screens for picking modules. There are dozens of stalls where experts stand, ready to give advice. You guess there should be other students here, but you find it hard to focus on any of them.

One expert stands near you. This is the one you will speak with.
You look at the expert
You can't remember whether it was a man or woman. As you stare, the expert looks like the professor that taught you later and your mother's second sister at the same time.
You talk to expert
You approach the nearby expert and it seems to tower over you.

"What course do you represent?" you ask. You don't remember there being any banner or reading material laid out.

"What is a dream?" the expert asks.
6
"Education is not training. I do not give you answers for you to memorise. Would you like to discover the truth for yourself?"
1
The expert takes out an E-Pad from below the stall.

"You won't find oneironautics on the core syllabus. Touch the pad here."
You touch the Pad
You begin to enter in your details in the E-Pad and the expert turns to you and says, "Are you awake, reg?"
No
That was a rhetorical question.
You say no
Whom do you want to say that to?
You look around
Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen. The pod is quite warm, and warm enclosed spaces have a naturally soporific effect on you.

A thin woman has leaned out of Bunk D as far as her straps will allow, staring right at you.

The bearded man is looking on with interest.

You can also see Bunk B (closed) here.
You examine the woman
The woman has very angular features and is perhaps in her mid-forties, but it's hard to tell for sure. Although she is very thin, her cheeks are flush with colour and she doesn't seem to be displaying any outward signs of illness.
You talk to the woman
"You don't know how lucky you are," says the thin woman. "I'm Sen Kulpa, you can call me Sen.
2
"Oh, you'll see," she says before withdrawing to her bunk, sealing herself in again.
You describe your surroundings
Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen. The pod is quite warm, and warm enclosed spaces have a naturally soporific effect on you.

Sen has withdrawn to Bunk D, now closed.

The man in Bunk A has resumed watching the never ending series of action vids.

You can also see Bunk B (closed) here.
You look at the Bunk
The bunks are like micro-pods set into the sides of the main pod and they can each be sealed off. Bunk A is currently open.

In Bunk A is a bearded man.
You examine the bunk b.
The bunks are like micro-pods set into the sides of the main pod and they can each be sealed off. Bunk B is currently closed.
You check what you're carrying
You are wearing:
a medical shift
2
"Hah! She's a regular cannery girl, that is to say, she's not a reg like you or a Morbozzan like me and Jimmy. She's from the sky cities but I'd say she's spent time grounded."
2
"You bit Morbozzo's the can where they space whatever the prens don't want spreading. Jimmy, well he has a head full of ideas and there's less than four more infectious."
1
He smiles wickedly. "Dreaming is a very bad habit."
You look around
Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen. The pod is quite warm, and warm enclosed spaces have a naturally soporific effect on you.

Sen has withdrawn to Bunk D, now closed.

The man in Bunk A is staring at the big screen.

You can also see Bunk B (closed) here.
Sleep
You let the warm stale air of the pod overcome you and soon you drift into altconsciousness. Your internal world-creator is deprived of your full range of senses and draws on memories to fill in the gaps.

You're lying in the soft cyanotic glow of the sleeping chamber. It's the third week of your new course.

Jaspers, a new instructor with sparkling eyes and perma-stubble, sits nearby whispering.

Your eyes are shut.
You open eyes
You stir and find yourself back Morbozzo, strapped in a bunk in Pod 19-Q.

Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen.

Sen has withdrawn to Bunk D, now closed.

The man in Bunk A is staring at the big screen.

You can also see Bunk B (closed) here.
You listen
"...and when I say the word duty, a new feeling of calm will come over you."
You listen
"Duty."
You listen
"...and when I say the phrase do your duty, you will listen."
You listen
"Do your duty."
You listen
"...and when I say the word..."
Sleep
You begin to drift off as Jaspers' whispered words wash over you. You wake up and the room is dark and there's no one around. Then you wake up again, back in Pod 19-Q. That was the last time you remember seeing Jaspers.
Look around
Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen. The pod is quite warm, and warm enclosed spaces have a naturally soporific effect on you.

Sen has withdrawn to Bunk D, now closed.

The man in Bunk A is staring at the big screen.

You can also see Bunk B (in which is a sleeper) here.

>Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen. The pod is quite warm, and warm enclosed spaces have a naturally soporific effect on you.

Sen has withdrawn to Bunk D, now closed.

The man in Bunk A is staring at the big screen.

You can also see Bunk B (in which is a sleeper) here.
You say the duty
Whom do you want to say that to?
You say the duty to the man
Do you mean:
You examine the sleeper
The man is fast asleep, turned away from you, and all you can see of him is his wild shock of hair and scars interlaced down his back.
You say the duty to Jimmy
[If you want to communicate with the sleeper, just TALK TO SLEEPER (or T SLEEPER for short).]
The man is asleep and it would be rude to rouse him without a reason.
You talk to the man
(the bearded man)
You turn to the bearded man and he temporarily turns off his speakers.
You talk sleeper
The man is asleep and it would be rude to rouse him without a reason.
You listen
A female side-kick is incensed, saying "That fiend! What could he be doing there?"
You continue
Gettare on the screen says, "He must be going to change one of the secret bounds so that it favours his ascension to the council!"
You pinch yourself
You pinch yourself: still awake.
You look at the Bunk
The bunks are like micro-pods set into the sides of the main pod and they can each be sealed off. Bunk A is currently open.

In Bunk A is a bearded man.
You look at the straps
The straps bind you to the bunk.
Escape
You're strapped in tight to your bunk and unable to move out.
You examine the speakers
The speakers emit sound in a localised field around you. They're linked to the shared screen.

The speakers is currently switched on.
You examine the bunk C
You are strapped to a bunk which doesn't look very soft, but that doesn't really matter in zero-g. There are built in speakers for the big vid-screen which (despite you being strapped in) can be turned on or off. There doesn't seem to be a way of changing the channel.
You switch the speakers off
You switch the speakers off.
Sleep
You let the warm stale air of the pod overcome you and soon you drift into altconsciousness. Your internal world-creator is deprived of your full range of senses and draws on memories to fill in the gaps.

Final Exam (on the hard chair)
It's your final exam; you've already passed all the practical lucid dreaming and hypnosis tests. You're at a steel table, there are no other students around you.

On the steel table is an Exam-Pad.
You talk to Pad
You have in front of you the vibertron exam-pad. You must dictate a short thesis encapsulating your position on the nature of dreaming.
3
You take a perpendicular leap from the main question and use it as an excuse to discuss the possible uses and abuses of hypnotism and dream-suggestion, ending with a recommendation that in future dream-defence might be taught in schools. You'll get a poor mark for not sticking to the question, but you won't really care.

The invigilator says, "Time's up, we're gonna be there any moment now."
You look around
Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen. The pod is quite warm, and warm enclosed spaces have a naturally soporific effect on you.

The two men are leaning out of their bunks, engaged in a low conversation that you can't quite make out.

Sen has withdrawn to Bunk D, now closed.
You listen
You can't quite make out the conversation between the two men. Perhaps you should interrupt?
You talk to the men
You listen on for a lull in their conversation before jumping in. While you do, you catch both their names: Kadro and little Jimmy.

"Ah, excuse me," you venture.

"What is it, reg?" says the man in Bunk A.
1
"You shoulda spaced it," says little Jimmy.

"Yeah, but the reg was asleep. She's always asleep," says Kadro. Then, turning to you he says, "Look amato, all one-double-oh of us are zipping out of this can in just a few clicks. Would you do your duty and give us a hand when we dock?"
2
You open your mouth to question him, but to your surprise you say "Sure thing!" instead.

The two men share a knowing glance, and little Jimmy floats out of his bay towards the airlock, his straps clearly undone. In moments, he has it open and has disappeared out.
You look around
Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen. The pod is quite warm, and warm enclosed spaces have a naturally soporific effect on you.

Sen has withdrawn to Bunk D, now closed.

Kadro looks on at you expectantly.
You remove the straps
(first taking the straps)
That seems to be a part of Bunk C.
You talk to Kadro
"I'm very much still strapped to the bunk here Kadro," you say.

"You bit that I can't just let you loose. It's not time for you to leave the can. Float tight, I'll go and see what Jimmy's snaffling. This may take a while."

With that he floats over to the airlock, opening and closing it behind him. Much time passes and no one returns, and still it is warm in the pod.
Sleep
You let the warm stale air of the pod overcome you and soon you drift into altconsciousness. Your internal world-creator is deprived of your full range of senses and draws on memories to fill in the gaps.

The pink light of two of the three suns paints your bedroom pink, but the morning scene is hard to appreciate as you're covered in blood.
You examine the blood
Your jumpsuit is coated in blood. This must be part of the sickness for which you were quarantined. It's becoming very uncomfortable to wear the jumpsuit now.
You remove the jumpsuit
You pull your sodden jumpsuit off. Perhaps you had an external injury to have so much blood?
About yourself
Looking at yourself now, you realise that you have no injury and you don't feel unwell. The blood can't be your own. The words 'do your duty' echo faintly and your bedroom fades into darkness.

You're in a narrow backstreet, hunched over the dead body of the scientist, Dr. Andy Re's. He's supposed to have a folder on him. It was your duty to find it. To find it and forget. Except in dreams no one ever truly forgets.
You examine scientist
You rifle through Andy's pockets, his sticky blood coating your jumpsuit even more. But he has nothing on him. You know that this wasn't supposed to happen, but you can't recall who ever gave you the order to kill and search his body.

"You really are luckier than you know," someone says behind you.
You look at someone
Sen has very angular features and is perhaps in her mid-forties, but it's hard to tell for sure. Although she is very thin, her cheeks are flush with colour and she doesn't seem to be displaying any outward signs of illness.
You talk to Sen
You turn to the woman before you.
1
"Answers?" Sen says, "I owe you many things, but answers are not one of them."

Then, pondering for a moment, she says, "Actually, you'll be of more use to us if you're not completely in the dark. Do you know much about the ancients?"
2
"About two thousand years ago a great event wiped out part of our galaxy and our ancestors came to live in the mechanosatellites, long range orbitals floating around Monarch. I have arranged for our pod to be dislocated from Morbozzo and taken to the Mechanosatellites. The quarantine was, if you like, a ruse to get us all up there without certain someones finding out."
3
"We've been priming you for a long time to act as a sleeper assassin. The best killer is someone who doesn't know they are one. But it turns out that there might be another good use for you."
1
"You'll have to wait and see. You'll be quite instrumental when we get there."
1
"Why the other council members of course. After we had you knock off poor Dr. Re's, I was supposed to have you and the other sleeper agents killed too. Be glad that I had other plans."
2
"Yes," she says wryly, "I have access to records in the Phelios Fortress, and I have reason to believe that the end of the human race is afoot, and I rather like living. You three are useful towards that end."
1
"Haven't you figure it out yet?" I'm Sen Kulpa, one the masked Council of the Thirteen, and I have read all the bounds and known things beyond the ken of all others alive."
1
"When we arri..." and Sen is cut short by gravity suddenly emerging in the tiny pod. She lands roughly on her shoulder, and you're left dangling unceremoniously from your binds.

"Here," she says, "let me get you down so you can do your duty."

Sen leads you through the airlock into a series of narrow chambers. The gravity is not quite what you're used to on Monarch but is better than the weightlessness of the Morbozzo pod. Soon you reach the others.

You are standing with the others in front of a vast window, through which you can see a tiny blue dot (half illuminated by Sehrn) in the distance of space: Monarch.

The place is strewn with the detritus of past archaeological expeditions.

"By Fat! Would you look at that view," says Kadro.
You look at the view
You once heard that space isn't really black, but a dark blue. Or was it beige? In any case it would be very black and forbodious beyond the window were it not for all the brilliant stars.

"It's about to get more spectacular," says Sen Kulpa, peering out into the void.
Keep going
You once heard that space isn't really black, but a dark blue. Or was it beige? In any case it would be very black and forbodious beyond the window were it not for all the brilliant stars.

"It's going to lag hard if Monarch really does explode," little Jimmy says.
You talk to Sen
For now you can't get in a word edgeways as the others speak.

"It will," says Sen, "the alpha radiation readings are unequivocal: there will be no Monarch soon enough. If my research is right, the ancients had put in place technology to harness the energy of an Event such as this. This must be how they travel from galaxy to galaxy."
You examine Monarch
Monarch, the planet of your birth, sixth in Andromeda's trinary system. Something looks wrong with it.

Kadro is looking uncomfortable, as if the truth of it is starting to sink in. "Amato are you sure that this can we're in is the oh-one that'll zip us the next galaxy?"
Look around
You are standing with the others in front of a vast window, through which you can see a tiny blue dot in the distance of space: Monarch.

The place is strewn with the detritus of past archaeological expeditions.

"Well," says Sen, "there's a small possibility that it's the Hyerotropes we want instead."

And that's when Monarch implodes and the mechanosatellite fills with brilliant white light.

In the final moment, you know what to do. You desperately perform a reality check, hoping fervently that this is just a suggested dream.
You wake
You suspect that this is another sabotaged dream. You're probably lying on a bed back in Monarch with these creeps whispering over you. Before Monarch is destroyed, you calmly try opening your eyes for the second time...
Sleep
You couldn't possibly sleep now.

"Well," says Sen, "there's a small possibility that it's the Hyerotropes we want instead."

And that's when Monarch implodes and the mechanosatellite fills with brilliant white light.

In the final moment, you know what to do. You desperately perform a reality check, hoping fervently that this is just a suggested dream.
You ask the MAN about the dreams
[If you want to communicate with the bearded man, just TALK TO BEARDED MAN (or T BEARDED MAN for short).]
You turn to the bearded man and he temporarily turns off his speakers. "So at last the reg awakes. Stato me amato?"
2
"Digital! I'm Kadro, but that's not what I asked you, reg."
1
"Why'd they can you then?"
2
Now you come to think about it, your memories of your illness are very vague. You remember coughing up a lot of blood, passing out and waking up here. Maybe a nurse talked to you in between and told you where you were going. It's all a bit unclear.

"Digital," Kadro says emphatically, as if that settled it.
1
"Monarch true, huh?"

Kadro opens his palms and says, "Well, most places gots their own slang, you bit? Uh, 'you know'? Well us age-long Morbozzans have our words for things. It's so regs and prens don't bit our frequency."
1
"A pren is someone who apprehends you but Fat knows why they call Monarchans 'reg' or 'nob' or 'queeny'. There's a lot I don't bit, like what a hyerotrope is or why the bad guys never deflag Gettare," he says emphasising his last point by pointing at the big screen.
2
"Ah Fat bits," says Kadro shrugging his shoulders, "there's more than four but less than a googolplex of them."

Now that you think about it, you recall that the hyerotropes are perfect spheres sometimes found under the surface of Monarch. You haven't the foggiest about them, but then, you didn't exactly study hard sciences.
4
"And is your consciousness just your brain processing things while you're awake?"
1
"I think you may be ready for our course," the expert says, "are you ready to join?"
1
The expert takes out an E-Pad from below the stall.

"You won't find oneironautics on the core syllabus. Touch the pad here."
You touch Pad
You begin to enter in your details in the E-Pad and the expert turns to you and says, "Are you awake, reg?"
Describe the surroundings
Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen. The pod is quite warm, and warm enclosed spaces have a naturally soporific effect on you.

A thin woman has leaned out of Bunk D as far as her straps will allow, staring right at you.

Kadro is looking on with interest.

You can also see Bunk B (closed) here.
You talk to the woman
"You don't know how lucky you are," says the thin woman. "I'm Sen Kulpa, you can call me Sen.
1
""Kadro here tells me that you were quarantined for illness, is that true?"
1
"Then I wonder why they quarantined you then," she says.

The strange thing is, she doesn't sound curious.
1
"Oh, you'll see," she says before withdrawing to her bunk, sealing herself in again.
You repeat
The available options are:
3
[Valid responses range from 1-2. Type REPEAT to relist the options.]
1
"Oh, you'll see," she says before withdrawing to her bunk, sealing herself in again.
Look around
Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen. The pod is quite warm, and warm enclosed spaces have a naturally soporific effect on you.

Sen has withdrawn to Bunk D, now closed.

Kadro has resumed watching the never ending series of action vids.

You can also see Bunk B (closed) here.
Sleep
You let the warm stale air of the pod overcome you and soon you drift into altconsciousness. Your internal world-creator is deprived of your full range of senses and draws on memories to fill in the gaps.

You're lying in the soft cyanotic glow of the sleeping chamber. It's the third week of your new course.

Jaspers, a new instructor with sparkling eyes and perma-stubble, sits nearby whispering.

Your eyes are shut.
You wake
You stir and find yourself back Morbozzo, strapped in a bunk in Pod 19-Q.

Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen.

Sen has withdrawn to Bunk D, now closed.

Kadro is staring at the big screen.

You can also see Bunk B (closed) here.
2
"I'm always right, by Fat! Except when I ain't."
1
"Look amato," he says, taking on a condescending tone, "you probably didn't notice what with being so grounded all the time, but there are three suns in the sky, right? Fatimah, Korhos and a certain Sehrn. Ring a bell?"

You decide not to rise to the bait.
Look around
Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen.

Sen has withdrawn to Bunk D, now closed.

Kadro is staring at the big screen.

You can also see Bunk B (closed) here.
Sleep
You let the warm stale air of the pod overcome you and soon you drift into altconsciousness. Your internal world-creator is deprived of your full range of senses and draws on memories to fill in the gaps.

You're lying in the soft cyanotic glow of the sleeping chamber. It's the third week of your new course.

Jaspers, a new instructor with sparkling eyes and perma-stubble, sits nearby whispering.

Your eyes are shut.
You remember
What a good idea.
You look around
Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen.

Sen has withdrawn to Bunk D, now closed.

Kadro is staring at the big screen.

You can also see Bunk B (in which is a sleeper) here.
You talk to Kadro
You turn to the bearded man and he temporarily turns off his speakers.
You examine the SLEEPER
The man is fast asleep, turned away from you, and all you can see of him is his wild shock of hair and scars interlaced down his back.
You look at the hair
Jimmy's hair is vast and incredibly messy. It's unusual that he was allowed to keep his.
2
You explain how we do not see reality directly, but as through a glass darkly. Dreaming involves the same processes of waking conciousness, but our dreams do not have to cohere with the perceptions of others. Your more phenomenological approach gels well with the prejudices of your department and you'll come top of the class. (Though by this stage, there are only three of you left in the unadvertised Advanced Onieronautics course.)

The invigilator says, "Time's up, we're gonna be there any moment now."
4
You'll explain how, although it is possible to experience dreams lucidly, real deep sleep dreams are nonsensical experiences that bear no direct relation to veridical experience and are perhaps best ignored in favour of more concrete pursuits. It is only your measured style and good marks in other modules that allows you to pass the course.

The invigilator says, "Time's up, we're gonna be there any moment now."
1
You explain how dreams are a neurological feature hard-wired into our biology, and you reel off the main theories as to what evolutionary purpose they serve. You're guaranteed a good mark, but you know that some of your instructors would vehemently disagree with you.

The invigilator says, "Time's up, we're gonna be there any moment now."
5
You put forward a full defence of solipsism, arguing that, theoretically, full dream control might allow one to alter waking experience, as all experience is only in the mind. You'll get a fairly high mark but will convince none of the markers of your position.

The invigilator says, "Time's up, we're gonna be there any moment now."
You wait
Time passes.
You look at your surroundings
Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen.

The two men are leaning out of their bunks, engaged in a low conversation that you can't quite make out.

Sen has withdrawn to Bunk D, now closed.
You talk to the men
You listen on for a lull in their conversation before jumping in. While you do, you catch the two of them pointedly not looking at Bunk D.

"Ah, excuse me," you venture.

"What is it, reg?" says Kadro
1
"Sure thing!" you say, and it seems the most natural thing in the world to help these people out.

The two men share a knowing glance, and little Jimmy floats out of his bay towards the airlock, his straps clearly undone. In moments, he has it open and has disappeared out.
You look around
Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen.

Sen has withdrawn to Bunk D, now closed.

Kadro looks on at you expectantly.
You talk to Kadro
"I'm very much still strapped to the bunk here Kadro," you say.
You talk to Kadro
"You bit that I can't just let you loose. It's not time for you to leave the can. Float tight, I'll go and see what Jimmy's snaffling. This may take a while."

With that he floats over to the airlock, opening and closing it behind him. Much time passes and no one returns, and still it is warm in the pod.

>You can't see any such thing.
Look around
The pink light of two of the three suns paints your bedroom pink, but the morning scene is hard to appreciate as you're covered in blood.
You remove the jumpsuit
You pull your sodden jumpsuit off. Perhaps you had an external injury to have so much blood?
About yourself
Looking at yourself now, you realise that you have no injury and you don't feel unwell. The blood can't be your own. The words 'do your duty' echo faintly and your bedroom fades into darkness.

You're in a narrow backstreet, hunched over the dead body of the scientist, Dr. Andy Re's. He's supposed to have a folder on him. It was your duty to find it. To find it and forget. Except in dreams no one ever truly forgets.
You examine the body
You rifle through Andy's pockets, his sticky blood coating your jumpsuit even more. But he has nothing on him. You know that this wasn't supposed to happen, but you can't recall who ever gave you the order to kill and search his body.

"You really are luckier than you know," someone says behind you.
You look at someone
Sen has very angular features and is perhaps in her mid-forties, but it's hard to tell for sure. Although she is very thin, her cheeks are flush with colour and she doesn't seem to be displaying any outward signs of illness.
You talk to Sen
You turn to the woman before you.
1
"Answers?" Sen says, "I owe you many things, but answers are not one of them."

Then, pondering for a moment, she says, "Actually, you'll be of more use to us if you're not completely in the dark. Do you know much about the ancients?"
1
"As I said, I think you'll be useful beyond being just an expendable assassin. The benefit of having you here is that the others think that you're dead."
1
"When we arri..." and Sen is cut short by gravity suddenly emerging in the tiny pod. She lands roughly on her shoulder, and you're left dangling unceremoniously from your binds.

"Here," she says, "let me get you down so you can do your duty."

Sen leads you through the airlock into a series of narrow chambers. The gravity is not quite what you're used to on Monarch but is better than the weightlessness of the Morbozzo pod. Soon you reach the others.

You are standing with the others in front of a vast window, through which you can see a tiny blue dot (half illuminated by Sehrn) in the distance of space: Monarch.

The place is strewn with the detritus of past archaeological expeditions.

"By Fat! Would you look at that view," says Kadro.
You kill Sen
You're not a violent person. You cannot self-conjure a violent impulse even if you wanted it.

"It's about to get more spectacular," says Sen Kulpa, peering out into the void.
You check what you're carrying
You are wearing:
a medical shift

"It's going to lag hard if Monarch really does explode," little Jimmy says.
You kill Jimmy
You're not a violent person. You cannot self-conjure a violent impulse even if you wanted it.

"It will," says Sen, "the alpha radiation readings are unequivocal: there will be no Monarch soon enough. If my research is right, the ancients had put in place technology to harness the energy of an Event such as this. This must be how they travel from galaxy to galaxy."
You talk to Sen
For now you can't get in a word edgeways as the others speak.

Kadro is looking uncomfortable, as if the truth of it is starting to sink in. "Amato are you sure that this can we're in is the oh-one that'll zip us the next galaxy?"
Escape
From here you can go absolutely nowhere.

"Well," says Sen, "there's a small possibility that it's the Hyerotropes we want instead."

And that's when Monarch implodes and the mechanosatellite fills with brilliant white light.

In the final moment, you know what to do. You calmly lie on the ground, close your eyes, and wake up to create a new universe.
You look around
Final Exam (on the hard chair)
It's your final exam; you've already passed all the practical lucid dreaming and hypnosis tests. You're at a steel table, there are no other students around you.

On the steel table is an Exam-Pad.
You look at the table
One of the many light steel-alloy tables designed to fit into the university's 9720"s décor.

On the steel table is an Exam-Pad.
You talk to Pad
You have in front of you the vibertron exam-pad. You must dictate a short thesis encapsulating your position on the nature of dreaming.
2
You explain how we do not see reality directly, but as through a glass darkly. Dreaming involves the same processes of waking conciousness, but our dreams do not have to cohere with the perceptions of others. Your more phenomenological approach gels well with the prejudices of your department and you'll come top of the class. (Though by this stage, there are only three of you left in the unadvertised Advanced Onieronautics course.)

The invigilator says, "Time's up, we're gonna be there any moment now."
You look at your surroundings
Pod 19-Q (in Bunk C)
You have been quarantined in Pod 19-Q. It's a narrow cylinder, big enough for one person to float in, with four bunks. You must have been shuttled in through the airlock on one end; the other end is taken up by a huge screen.

The two men are leaning out of their bunks, engaged in a low conversation that you can't quite make out.

Sen has withdrawn to Bunk D, now closed.
1
Across the pod Kadro chuckles.

"You're new here so I'll forgive the indiscretion," Sen says. "I am not nor will I ever be your 'amato' in either a serious or a jocular sense."

Kadro laughs again saying, "Don't mind her, reg, she's still sore from her inoculations."
1
"Just some jabs to make dormant the illness that wracked me."
Wait
Time passes.

"It's going to lag hard if Monarch really does explode," little Jimmy says.
Continue
Time passes.

"It will," says Sen, "the alpha radiation readings are unequivocal: there will be no Monarch soon enough. If my research is right, the ancients had put in place technology to harness the energy of an Event such as this. This must be how they travel from galaxy to galaxy."
You keep going
Time passes.

Kadro is looking uncomfortable, as if the truth of it is starting to sink in. "Amato are you sure that this can we're in is the oh-one that'll zip us the next galaxy?"
Keep going
Time passes.

"Well," says Sen, "there's a small possibility that it's the Hyerotropes we want instead."

And that's when Monarch implodes and the mechanosatellite fills with brilliant white light.

In the final moment, you know what to do.

"This is the vessel to another galaxy, it is, it is!"

You scream, hoping desperately that the other three survivors of humanity believe it as fervently as you do.