Earth and Sky 2: Another Earth, Another Sky
Paul O'Brian
cover art graphics IF Competition 2002 IFComp Game IFComp Winner science fiction superhero Xyzzy Awards 2002 XYZZY Best Use of Medium
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Episode 2:
ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY

It's been quite a week.

Was it just two nights ago that you found the suits? You were searching through your parents' lab as usual, desperate for clues to explain their recent disappearance, when you found a latch on one of the machines. It opened, revealing two bodysuits crammed inside. One fit you perfectly. The other seemed to be made for your sister Emily. Hers, the "skysuit", gives her the power to fly, to generate thick fog, and to fire blasts of intense electrical energy, while your "earthsuit" has granted you the strength of a giant, and the invulnerability of a mountain.

The powers came in handy the next morning, when your parents' best friend, Dr. Nina Icolari, found herself transformed into a raging, hundred-foot-tall monster. Aunt Nina had been working with some ancient bacteria, trapped for eons in a salt crystal, when an untimely earthquake shattered the crystal. She inhaled the microbes, became a behemoth, and only the power of your suits and your brains saved the campus from destruction.

You employed a fast-acting antibiotic to reverse the transformation, and when she changed back, Aunt Nina realized that her memories of your parents' disappearance had been mysteriously altered... and that the trauma of metamorphosis had somehow restored them. Those memories have led you here, to a remote cabin in the Sierra Nevadas. Here, you hope that where the police have failed, Earth and Sky may succeed.

The air is vivid and cold here, deep in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Evergreens surround you, except to the north, where a gravel driveway leads back to the main road, and to the south, where a small cabin occupies a clearing. Beyond the cabin, and above it, the observatory's domed roof casts a long, round shadow.

Emily is here, having just hiked up the driveway with you. "Thanks for driving us up here, Austin," she says. "Remember, though: I get control of the CD player on the way back down!"
You look at Emily
Like you, Emily is decked out in her superhero regalia, a blue skysuit with cloudy white streaks.
You ask Emily about the cabin
You are carrying:
an earthsuit (being worn)
a cabin key

>"Pretty tiny, when you look at it."
You examine the earthsuit
It's a form-fitting grey bodysuit, peppered with black speckles and shot through with streaks of yellow and orange, and it grants you immense strength and near-invulnerabilty to impact. The earthsuit is made of a thick, flexible material that you suspect must conceal an amazing array of enhancer circuitry. A combination cowl and mask rises from the collar to cover your head and eyes.
You blast you
"I'd better not. We don't know that your suit's electrical resistance is working, remember?"
You ask Emily about your suit
"I have to say I prefer mine. I'm sure super-strength is great, but your colors are just a little too drab."
You ask Emily about her suit
"The superpowers are great and everything, but I'd really prefer something a little less... skintight."
You ask Emily about Nina
"Seems like she's recovering OK. I know she really wants to look into how that bacteria was able to do what it did, but I'm not sure if she has any other samples."
You examine the cabin
When an alum of modest means and solitary habits bequeathed this cabin and its small parcel of mountain land to the University, Administration was faced with a choice. They could either sell off the land and put the money into the general fund, or they could try to find some use for it. Enter Dr. Thaddeus Andrews, who offered to use his own inheritance to build an observatory on the land, and to christen it the High Sierra Research Station. Indeed, that's what the sign on this humble little cabin reads. The cabin's door is closed.
Lift cabin
That's hardly portable.
You lift Emily
"Hey. Hey!" protests Emily. "Hands off!"
Unlock cabin
(with the cabin key)
You unlock the wooden door.
You ask Emily about the cabin
"Pretty tiny, when you look at it."
You enter the cabin
[first opening the cabin door]
You step into the relative dimness of the small cabin.
You look around
[Please press a key to continue]

Episode 2:
ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY

"The Owner of this House
A Stranger He must be --
Eternity's Acquaintances
Are mostly so -- to me."

Emily follows you.

Some people might describe the interior of this cabin as "cozy", but you're more inclined to face facts and call it what it is: cramped. Furnishings are minimal: a table, a few chairs, a hotplate, and a television that probably hasn't worked since the mid-1980s. The back door is south and the front door north, and two doors on the eastern wall lead northeast and southeast, to the bedroom and bathroom respectively.

Emily stands here, looking around.

On the table are some loose papers.

Emily takes a quick glance at the papers on the table, and exhales.

"Listen, Austin," she says, "I find all these diagrams and observatories and whatnot a bit exhausting, so I'd like for you to take the lead for a while, if that's OK. Let me know if there's anything specific you'd like me to do -- otherwise I'm just going to follow you around and offer my help if I think of anything that seems significant."

Please select a reply:

1) "No problem."
2) "Don't sell yourself short. Just because you're not a scientist doesn't mean you can't comprehend this stuff."
3) "Oh sure. When it comes to flying around and fighting monsters, you're all over it, but things like diagrams just tucker you out."
3
Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 3

She laughs. "Well, I could probably do diagram-reading and then monster-fighting, but for some strange reason I find the other way round just a wee bit more taxing."
You enter the cabin
[first opening the cabin door]
You step into the relative dimness of the small cabin.

Episode 2:
ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY

"The Owner of this House
A Stranger He must be --
Eternity's Acquaintances
Are mostly so -- to me."

Emily follows you.

Some people might describe the interior of this cabin as "cozy", but you're more inclined to face facts and call it what it is: cramped. Furnishings are minimal: a table, a few chairs, a hotplate, and a television that probably hasn't worked since the mid-1980s. The back door is south and the front door north, and two doors on the eastern wall lead northeast and southeast, to the bedroom and bathroom respectively.

Emily is here, watching you.

On the table are some loose papers.

Emily takes a quick glance at the papers on the table, and exhales.

"Listen, Austin," she says, "I find all these diagrams and observatories and whatnot a bit exhausting, so I'd like for you to take the lead for a while, if that's OK. Let me know if there's anything specific you'd like me to do -- otherwise I'm just going to follow you around and offer my help if I think of anything that seems significant."

Please select a reply:

1) "No problem."
2) "Don't sell yourself short. Just because you're not a scientist doesn't mean you can't comprehend this stuff."
3) "Oh sure. When it comes to flying around and fighting monsters, you're all over it, but things like diagrams just tucker you out."
2
Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 2

"I never said I couldn't comprehend it, just that it annoys and tires me to mess with it. I need a break, okay? I had a pretty rough day yesterday -- it's your turn to be the leader of this outfit."
You read papers
These papers are torn from a legal pad, and you recognize your father's handwriting and his extremely minimalist notation style on them. Most of them contain diagrams and equations that look quite similar to those you found with the suits, but there is one paper that seems to have notes on an unrelated topic:

WWK: [This you recognize as Dad's abbreviation for "What We Know" -- he's in the habit of making "What We Know" lists when trying to figure out a problem.]

1) Al. thru port.
2)T gone
3)T cont. by Al. (4 help?)
4)Al. prob. OK, but ???
5)N's mic. maybe invol.?

Must purs. -- Claire agr.

Claire is your mom's name, but that's all you can say for sure about this note.
You show the papers to Emily
(first taking the loose papers)
"I'm horrible at figuring out Dad's notes, but I bet this last word is 'agree.' I wonder what Mom agreed to?"
You ask Emily about the papers
"That's pretty definitive proof that at least Dad was here."
Examine tv
This dilapidated old wreck of a TV appears to have been cannibalized for spare parts some time ago.
You look at the table
This battered table looks like it's seen many a meal.
You look at the hotplate
Here you thought it was only college students whose only culinary equipment consisted of a hotplate and a saucepan. Turns out at least one college professor shares the predilection.
You look under the table
Dust. Ancient scraps of food. The occasional ant. In short, nothing interesting or useful.
Go northeast
Emily follows you.

Dusty, golden light seeps in through the closed curtains, further highlighting the various earth tones that adorn this sparse room. The wallpaper is brownish-orange, the nightstand is dark oak, the bedspread burnt sienna, and so on. The cabin's main room is west.

"Wow," says Emily. "Somebody hasn't redecorated since the 1970s."

Emily is alongside you, resplendent in blue and white.

The nightstand has a drawer, which is closed.
You open drawer
The drawer is locked.
Break drawer
CRRASH! You hammer your fist on the oak tabletop, and the nightstand splinters into pieces. A notepad and a legal pad appear to be lying amid the debris.

"If I ever open an antique store," says Emily, "you aren't allowed in."
You examine the notepad
From the unfamiliar handwriting and the nature of the notes, you surmise that this notepad must belong to Dr. Andrews. Amid pages of detail about the orbital periods of various planets, telescope azimuths and elevations, spectroscope readings, and suchlike, you find a crude drawing of an apparently artificial sphere, with a cross-section showing an inner circle connected to its outer shell by two long columns.

Beneath these pictures is a swarm of equations, some of which appear to be calculations of density, gravitational pull, and surface temperature. The temperature equations in particular are interesting, as it appears that Dr. Andrews was either unable to come up with a solution, or unable to settle on one of many.
You take the notepad and the legal pad
notepad: Taken.
legal pad: Taken.
You examine the debris
These are the remains of a once-proud nightstand. Well, maybe not proud. A once-intact nightstand.
You examine legal
This is one of those legal pads that your Dad is known for filling with his cryptic notations, and indeed, this one bears his signature style. The notes are for a process that looks utterly unfamiliar to you. The most you can piece together is that it takes the dumbbell-shaped wave function of an electron at a particular energy state and splits it into two bubbles (though how a wave function can even be treated as a physical entity, let alone split, is left unexplained), allowing "half-electrons" to jump instantaneously from one bubble to the next along some extra-dimensional quantum pathway. Dad's laconic note-taking style doesn't make clear whether this is just a thought experiment, but knowing him, he's probably found some physical use for it.
You show the notepad to Emily
She scratches her head. "Yikes," she says. "That thing looks like a hamster wheel."
You examine the bed
The bed is unmade, and you suspect that's its natural state.
You look under the bed
Peering under the bed, you discover... that Thaddeus Andrews apparently was not big on the concept of "dusting."
You ask Emily about Andrews
"I never met him. Small wonder, really, considering how much time he spent up here."
Dust
What do you want to dust?
You open the curtains
You open the curtains, letting light through the window.
You look through the window
You see the driveway and evergreens outside.
You examine the bedspread
This bedspread is rumpled and messy, and obviously many years old.
Go outside
Emily follows you.

Some people might describe the interior of this cabin as "cozy", but you're more inclined to face facts and call it what it is: cramped. Furnishings are minimal: a table, a few chairs, a hotplate, and a television that probably hasn't worked since the mid-1980s. The back door is south and the front door north, and two doors on the eastern wall lead northeast and southeast, to the bedroom and bathroom respectively.

Emily stands here, looking around.
You go outside
There are several ways out. Please specify a direction.
Go south
[first opening the back door]
It seems to be locked.
You unlock the back door
You unlock the back door from the inside.
You open it
You open the back door.
Go south
Emily follows you.

The view from behind the cabin is spectacular. The research station isn't situated in the highest part of the mountain range -- it isn't even above timberline -- but it's high enough to afford an expansive panorama of the valley below. The observatory is a little further up the incline to the south, and the cabin stands to the north, its back door open.

Emily is nearby, waiting for you to do something interesting.
You fly
Emily rockets upward, swooping out over the valley. "Whooooooo!" she cries. "It's just beautiful up here!" After a few more aerial fillips, she returns to earth. "I didn't see anything alarming, but it is a heckuva view."
You ask Emily about the roof
"It keeps the rain out, I guess."
Go south
Emily follows you.

A rocky path ends here, just north of the door to the concrete, rectangular portion of the observatory. Unlike the small observatory on the main campus, this one makes no particular concessions to aesthetics, and its door wouldn't be out of place on a bank vault. The path leads back down and north to the cabin.

Emily is nearby, waiting for you to do something interesting.
You look at the door
The observatory door is an imposing affair, with a large U-shaped handle and a very serious-looking lock. It's hard to be sure, but you're guessing the door's made of solid steel, no doubt with a massive deadbolt. It's currently shut tight.
You unlock door
(with the cabin key)
That doesn't seem to fit the lock.
You fly
She nods, and floats upwards. When she alights on the ground again, she says, "The telescope dome is closed, and there are a bunch of solar panels on the roof, but that's about all I noticed."
You break the door
BANG! You slam your fist into the door, denting it a little.
Zap door
"Yeah! I'll give it my fastball," says Emily. She goes into an exaggerated windup, and as her hand comes forward for the pitch, brilliant blue electricity crackles between her fingertips and the steel door. An explosive KER-POW splits the air, and the steel door is left standing, scorched but unmoved.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," she says.
Lift observatory
That's hardly portable.
You pull the door
SKREEEEEEEK! Planting your feet firmly, you pull at the handle. The door strains, then buckles, and the handle comes partway detached. But by then you can grip the door itself, and a mighty heave pulls it the rest of the way free, tearing it right off its hinges.
You give door to Emily
(first taking the mangled steel door)
You've already rendered the door useless. Let it go.
Enter
Emily follows you.

The observatory is astonishing. It's not the desk, or the computer, or the other laboratory accoutrements that make it so, but rather the staggeringly complex mass of ornate machinery that smothers every wall. Tubes, readouts, and gleaming metal plates swarm together in a lunatic collage, every lever and dial shouting your parents' design influence as surely as if they had autographed their work. You've known these sights all your life, but their presence here is a shock -- clearly, Mom and Dad were collaborating far more closely with Dr. Andrews than they ever revealed. The newly opened entranceway leads back north, and a doorway leads east to the telescope dome.

Emily leans against the wall here.

In front of the dome doorway, seemingly generated by the room's prodigious gadgetry, is a curious projection: a curtain of light, within which coruscate ever-shifting patterns and colors. The curtain covers the doorway completely -- there doesn't seem to be any way to cross the threshold into the dome without first crossing the flickering barrier.
You look at the curtain
The patterns of light that define the curtain refuse to stay still. Symmetrical fluorescent squiggles travel from the edges to the center, only to dissolve into sparkling dots that dance in Brownian ecstasy, adhering into gentle pastel waves, which in turn become spinning geometric designs, and so on.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a legal pad
a notepad
some loose papers
an earthsuit (being worn)
a cabin key
You go east
Gingerly, you reach out to touch the sparkling curtain, and feel a force pull sharply on your fingers, drawing you further into the light. Startled, you yank your hand out and back away from the curtain, with a clammy suspicion that it was only the power of the earthsuit that allowed you to break free of that inexorable pull.
You ask Emily about the the curtain
"Freaky, isn't it? I feel like the Jefferson Airplane should be playing in front of it."
You throw Emily at the curtain
(first taking Emily)
"Hey. Hey!" protests Emily. "Hands off!"
You throw the key at the curtain
The cabin key sails toward the curtain of light, and disappears. The barrier is only semi-transparent, but you don't see the cabin key land on the other side.
You examine the desk
"I think I'd prefer to stick together."

>Unlike the corporate, modular furniture popular in university offices, this is an honest-to-goodness desk: huge, made of wood, big file drawer... the works. There is a computer on the desk.
You examine computer
A cursory examination of the computer reveals that it is password-locked, and you haven't got a clue what Andrews' password might be. Looks like this is one lock that you won't be able to tear open.
You examine file drawer
The drawer is closed, but doesn't appear to have a lock. Apparently Dr. Andrews thought that the immense steel door was security enough. So much for that theory!
You open it
You open the drawer, revealing a headset.
You look at the headset
It's clear that this device is meant to be worn on the head, but that's the only obvious thing about it. It's got one piece that seems intended to fit over the ear, and another that arcs over the head and balances out the other side. The earpiece bristles with electronics.
You take it
Taken.
You wear it
You put on the headset.
You turn the headset on
You don't see an on/off switch on the headset. Unless you miss your guess, Mom and Dad probably outfitted it with a permanent, long-lasting power supply, so it's always on.
You examine the machinery
Sometimes, growing up, you suspected that Mom and Dad's designs were deliberately ornate, exposing their complexity in order to impress or intimidate. As you've gotten older, though, and learned more from them, you've realized that the reason the complexity isn't covered is because neither one of them wants to waste time on making things pretty.
You search the notepad
What do you want to type that on?

>You find nothing of interest.
You type Andrews on the computer
Nice try.
Look around
The observatory is astonishing. It's not the desk, or the computer, or the other laboratory accoutrements that make it so, but rather the staggeringly complex mass of ornate machinery that smothers every wall. Tubes, readouts, and gleaming metal plates swarm together in a lunatic collage, every lever and dial shouting your parents' design influence as surely as if they had autographed their work. You've known these sights all your life, but their presence here is a shock -- clearly, Mom and Dad were collaborating far more closely with Dr. Andrews than they ever revealed. The newly opened entranceway leads back north, and a doorway leads east to the telescope dome.

Emily leans against the wall here.

The patterns of light flicker hypnotically in front of the dome doorway.
You ask Emily about the password
"A good question. A very good question. Okay, I actually have no idea what you mean."
You ask Emily about the headset
"Looks like one of Mom and Dad's gadgets to me. Not that I have a clue what purpose it might serve. Still, might be good to have along."
You examine the lever
Sometimes, growing up, you suspected that Mom and Dad's designs were deliberately ornate, exposing their complexity in order to impress or intimidate. As you've gotten older, though, and learned more from them, you've realized that the reason the complexity isn't covered is because neither one of them wants to waste time on making things pretty.
You look through the curtain
There is only the doorway beyond.
You look at doorway
The doorway seems to twist and flash behind the translucent light patterns.
You touch the doorway
Not after last time.
Fog curtain
"You got it," says Emily, and stares intently at the curtain of light. Nothing happens at all, and her face scrunches in frustration. "It's not working," she says.
Blast curtain
Emily nods, and extends her hand towards the curtain of light. Nothing happens. "Well, that's a gyp," she says.
You say open the sesame
(to Emily)
There is no reply.
Go east
You take a decisive step towards the curtain of light, and Emily catches your arm. "Austin, wait!" You turn to face her.

"We don't know what will happen when you try to cross that curtain," she says. "I think we should stop and think a moment before we do it. Do you think we should really take the risk?"

Please select a reply:

1) "I think we have to, Em. I think this curtain has everything to do with Mom and Dad's disappearance."
2) "You're right. Let's back off for now and I'll consider what else we can do here."
2
Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 2

"Fair enough."
You throw Emily
Emily is already here.
You go to the east
You take a decisive step towards the curtain of light, and Emily catches your arm. "Here we go again," she says. "Look, let's talk about this instead of you just charging off. Do you really think it's worth the risk to cross this curtain?"

Please select a reply:

1) "I think we have to, Em. I think this curtain has everything to do with Mom and Dad's disappearance."
2) "You're right. Let's back off for now and I'll consider what else we can do here."
1
Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 1

"I guess you're right," she says, "but shouldn't we make a team decision about it? We have no idea what it does, or if it even does anything. Austin, what if it's broken, or a trap, or something? It could kill us to go through there!"

Please select a reply:

1) "And what are the alternatives? Call the police, or the Army or something, and have them charge through there? If Mom and Dad have been kidnapped, we could be putting them in greater danger by doing that. And they did say not to involve the authorities unless absolutely necessary. No, I'm going to try it."
2) "My god, that's true. You're right. I need to take a little more time to think this over."
1
Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 1

"Okay, I accept all that," says Emily. "Still, if it is dangerous, should I go through with you, or stay here in case you don't come back?"

Please select a reply:

1) "I can't make that decision for you, Em. But if you're asking my opinion, I think we should go through together. It might take all the power both of us can muster to face whatever's across that barrier." 2) "I can't make that decision for you, Em. If it were my call, I'd say you should stay here. No sense both of us taking such a huge risk, and maybe if I don't come back, you can go ahead and get the Army or whatever, and send the cavalry my way."
3) "I can't make that decision for you, Em. I see pros and cons either way. But I'm walking through that curtain, and whether or not you follow me is up to you."
3
Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 3

Emily sets her jaw. "Then I'm coming with you. We may need all the power that both of us possess to face whatever's on the other side of that curtain."

"Watch," you say. "We'll walk right through and nothing will happen at all."

"That would be great," she replies grimly, "but somehow I doubt it." She grabs your hand, and the two of you step into the light together.

Episode 2:
ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY

"How soft this Prison is
How sweet these sullen bars
No Despot but the King of Down
Invented this repose"

. . .

. . .

Sleepily, you open your eyes. What's that pinkish glow? Sunrise? Did you leave the bedroom window open? Wait, this isn't your bedroom. Where...?

Wait -- the curtain! You stepped through with Emily, and that's the last thing you remember before awakening on this... floor. And Emily -- she's gone!

You find yourself in a small, square room, perhaps eight feet on a side. The ceiling is high, maybe fifteen feet above your head, but what's even stranger is that it and all the walls are glowing with a bright pink energy field.

You can see a cabin key here.
You get the key
Taken.
You examine the field
A bright pink field of energy glows from the walls and ceiling, radiating about six inches from them. It hurts your eyes to look at the field too long, but it's also sort of hard not to.
You touch the field
The energy yields momentarily to your touch, then repels your fingers as gently as you applied them.
You hit the field
Picking a wall at random, you aim a punch at the energy field. The field slows your fist, stops it, and then propels it back outward with kinetic force equal to that of your blow. You never penetrated the field more than an inch or two.
You hit the floor
THOOM! You bring your mighty foot down on the polymer floor, causing a minor tremor. The floor seems completely unaffected.
You check your inventory
You are carrying:
a cabin key
a headset (being worn)
a legal pad
a notepad
some loose papers
an earthsuit (being worn)
Shout
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
You jump
You crouch, then launch yourself at the ceiling. As you expected, the energy field absorbs your momentum, then propels you back downward with equal force. You hurtle towards the floor, hitting it with a tremendous CRRUNCH! Beneath your feet, a spiderwebbed network of hairline cracks radiates from the point of impact.
Continue
Once again, you leap upwards, bouncing off the ceiling's energy field to smack into the floor with a resounding CRRUNCH! The cracks have grown larger, and light filters through some of them.
You continue
Bracing yourself for a final assault on the weakening floor, you vault upward, then plummet down again. This time, when your feet slam into the polymer, there is a deafening KA-THUNKK! as the floor splits, and you find yourself falling.

And falling. Air buffets your face and whistles past your ears, as you try to take in the situation. You appear to be falling to Earth, from a great height, as if you had just jumped out of a plane, sans parachute. The ground below you, though... there's something strange about it. You can see its curvature, as if you were much farther away from the planet than you seem to be. Or as if the planet itself had shrunk.

As the ground comes closer, you can see that the planet itself seems demarcated into clearly defined zones -- a bluish-white Arctic, a sandy desert, a blue-green ocean, and others -- all tidily encased in separate regions of the globe. Even stranger, you're catching glimpses of a huge metal cylinder that rises up from the ground and far into the sky above you. This isn't Earth you're falling towards. Either that, or Earth has changed a lot since the last time you were above it. Gravity feels about the same, though -- the ground is still rushing towards you at alarming speed. Actually, you're rushing towards it. Funny, how many thoughts can pass through your brain in a situation like this. The suit is supposed to make you invulnerable to impact, but will it really protect you from this kind of fall? Guess you're about to find--

W  H  A  M  M  O  !

Episode 2:
ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY

"I saw no Way -- The Heavens were stitched --
I felt the Columns close --
The Earth reversed her Hemispheres --
I touched the Universe --"

Arctic (in the ice hole)
You remember the ground, blinding white, reaching up to clobber you. Then blackness. Then cold. Serious cold. As you gather your senses back to you, several things become clear. One, you're not dead -- in fact, not even hurt, though a little dazed. Two, you've landed in a cold place. And three, your landing has created a deep pit with icy walls, and you're at the bottom of it.
Up
You spring upwards and fly out of the hole more quickly than you expected. Landing softly in the snow, you estimate that gravity must be around 0.8G on this planetoid.

Icy monoliths, ridged with frozen rivulets, rise up around you. Your suit's insulation feels distressingly meager in the freezing, stinging wind, and the light glistens white as the snow reflects the distant sun. For all you know, you're at the pole of this little world, so compass directions don't mean much, but you invent some just to keep your bearings. The faraway blue-green smudge is north, the faraway tan smudge south. Your views east and west are blocked by huge, rugged breccia hills.

A deep crater is here, which is what happens when an immovable object like this glacier meets an irresistible force like a plummeting superhero.

Beside the crater, a long metal tube reaches into the sky. The bottom of the tube has been entirely dislodged from its base, no doubt wrecked by your recent impact.

That impact also appears to have exposed some sort of access panel.
You examine tube
A metal cylinder, wide enough that you could comfortably fit inside it -- if you could figure out how to enter it, that is. As your eyes follow it upward, you can see that it terminates alongside a glowing, pink hole in the sky. Its other end, at your feet, has been wrenched free from the ground, exposing a base rife with wrecked machinery.
You look at the access panel
The panel is set directly into the ground. It's acquired a light dusting of snow, leading you to conclude that your cataclysmic entrance probably removed the panel's cover. Its only control is a square touchplate, colored indigo and emblazoned with an upwards-pointing triangle.
You examine the base
The base of the tube contains a great deal of intricate machinery, some of it obviously crushed or torn by its forced separation from the tube proper.

In the distance, you can see a rookery of penguins waddling blissfully around the ice. Or, wait. Are they penguins? They appear to be throwing snowballs at each other. Penguins can't throw, can they? Taking a closer look, you fancy that their heads are larger than those of normal penguins, and that you can make out gripping fingers at the edge of their wings.
Look around
Icy monoliths, ridged with frozen rivulets, rise up around you. Your suit's insulation feels distressingly meager in the freezing, stinging wind, and the light glistens white as the snow reflects the distant sun. For all you know, you're at the pole of this little world, so compass directions don't mean much, but you invent some just to keep your bearings. The faraway blue-green smudge is north, the faraway tan smudge south. Your views east and west are blocked by huge, rugged breccia hills.

A deep crater is here, which is what happens when an immovable object like this glacier meets an irresistible force like a plummeting superhero.

Beside the crater, a long metal tube reaches into the sky. The bottom of the tube has been entirely dislodged from its base, no doubt wrecked by your recent impact.

That impact also appears to have exposed some sort of access panel.
You examine the crater
The hole is probably twenty feet deep. If you were Wile E. Coyote, it would be shaped like an outline of your body, but instead it's more generally crater-like, though a deep crater rather than a wide one.
You look at the pink hole
Like a punctured eggshell, the sky is missing a piece, letting pink light shine through.
Go north
You begin trudging northwards for a few minutes, but the landscape changes little. This planet may be much smaller than Earth, but it'll still take you ages to get anywhere on foot. So you head back to where you stared from, thinking that there's got to be an easier way.
Leap north
You take a running start, get up to top speed, and then vault upwards. The ground drops away beneath you -- gravity is definitely less than 1G on this planetoid, though your mind boggles to think how dense the core must be in order to even come close. Your thoughts return to the present as the border of the arctic area approaches -- the demarcation between it and the adjoining areas is distinct and sharp. Incredibly, you've traveled almost 45 degrees across the sphere already, and your trajectory will take you another 45, to the side of the sphere, before you land. Always assuming, of course, that the borders are permeable.

As the border passes beneath you, a momentary nausea sweeps over you, gone as soon as you enter the next area.

You've reached the arc of your parabola, and have begun to descend. An ocean sloshes below you, uncluttered by islands or land masses. As the water approaches, you suddenly realize that some of the things you're carrying will be ruined if they get wet. Frantically running your hands along your costume searching for a pouch, your finger slides over a line that splits into an opening. Thinking quickly, you stuff the items inside, and run your finger along the line to close it again. Just in time, too, because you hit the water with a massive SPLOOSH!

Once your head is submerged, a plastic sheath emerges from the sides of your cowl, covering your nose and mouth. You take a hesitant breath, and realize that the suit must be filtering oxygen from the water. Mom and Dad sure planned ahead when they made this thing! Unfortunately, they apparently weren't able to make it very lightweight, and you quickly sink to the ocean floor.

You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow motion, you're experiencing no discomfort.

A large circular door, apparently a hatch, is set in the ground here.

Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a glassy eye in the sand.

You also notice a beige touchplate embedded in rock about ten yards away from the hatch.
You look at the hatch
The hatch is of a rather generous diameter, and appears to be made of the same polymer as the floor of your former cell. In its center is a turquoise touchplate. The hatch is closed.
Go inside
The walls are close and smooth in this utterly nondescript, cylindrical room, currently filled with water. The only noteworthy feature is that a couple of touchplates adorn one wall, one crimson and one turquoise.
You look at what you're carrying with you
You are carrying:
a cabin key
a headset
a legal pad
a notepad
some loose papers
an earthsuit (being worn)
Wear headset
You put on the headset.
Enter
You're now standing beneath the mirrored bubble. The air in this room feels rather stale, and the only light comes from the plants outside the bubble. That bubble gives an excellent view of the ocean floor, and you surmise that this room must have been built for observation of that area. The waterlock is west of here.
You examine the plants
You see the ocean floor, dimly illuminated by bioluminescent plants.
You examine bubble
The bubble must act as a sort of one-way glass, though it's clearly made from something much tougher than glass.
Go west
The walls are close and smooth in this utterly nondescript, cylindrical room. The only noteworthy feature is that a couple of touchplates adorn one wall, one crimson and one turquoise. There's also an exit to, oh let's call it the east.
You move it
You push some of the sand more toward the center of the dome, but more flows in through the gap.
You examine the platforms
If you had to guess, you'd say these platforms serve as furniture for whoever built this dome.
You look at the pedestal
This is just a small, cylindrical pedestal, about four feet high. Atop its angled surface is a crimson touchplate.
You describe your surroundings
You're in a dome, probably about ten feet high at its zenith and twenty feet in diameter at its base. The wall is transparent, but that's not too useful, since the entire dome appears to be buried in sand. There are several platforms on the ground, reaching to your hip and covered with a soft bedding on top, and to one side of these is a pedestal with a crimson touchplate. You can see no exits.

On one side of the dome, a large pile of sand covers the floor, drifting to its highest point at a junction of dome wall and floor.
Dig
(the pile of sand)
The pile of sand is fairly shallow, and there's nothing buried in it.
You examine the gap
There's about a six-inch gap between the dome wall and floor, through which has spilled an impressive quantity of sand.
You eat the sand
(first taking the pile of sand)
There's no particular reason to carry around a bunch of sand.
You hit the dome
Your punch bounces ineffectually off the dome wall, though you do hear a creak, and the sound of the sand shifting.
Open gap
You bend your knees, work your fingers into the gap, and heave. You can feel the earthsuit augmenting your muscles, its amazing strength struggling against the weight of the dome and the sand surrounding it. You feel it give, just a little, and you redouble your efforts, shaking with the strain. Sand flows between your feet as the dome edge inches ever higher, and finally, with a mighty CREEEAK!, the rest of the seal gives way, and a tsunami of sand smacks you in the face. Spluttering and coughing, you dig yourself out of the dune, and pull the dome the rest of the way free. The pedestal and platforms are buried -- all that's left of the dome is its shell, upended into the big bowl beside you.

The first thing you notice is the heat. It is punishing, astonishing, like standing inside an inferno that burns without flames. Your suit insulates you somewhat, and a lucky thing, too, because otherwise you wouldn't last long under a sun that feels like it's just a few feet away. It's hard to tell which direction is which, since you emerged from the dome rather than landing here -- you'll need to invent some directions based on gut instinct and hope they work out. So let's say that the cool, distant greenness is east, and the gentler, golden hue is west. Sand dunes block your view north and south.

A large, Y-shaped cactus stands nearby.

You can also see an enormous bowl (which is empty) here.
You look at the cactus
This sturdy cactus looks like a headless, prickly, green referee signaling a touchdown. Hmm, maybe extreme heat affects your brain's ability to come up with good metaphors. The sun is shining directly between the arms of the cactus.
You get the bowl
The bowl is too big and awkward to carry while you're holding anything else.
You drop all
cabin key: Dropped.
legal pad: Dropped.
notepad: Dropped.
loose papers: Dropped.
You get the bowl
You heft the bowl over your head. Taken.
You put the bowl on the cactus
The bowl is way, way, way too big to fit between the cactus' arms.
You get all
You set the bowl down near the cactus.
enormous bowl: You heft the bowl over your head. Taken.
loose papers: You can't pick up anything else while you're carrying the bowl.
notepad: You can't pick up anything else while you're carrying the bowl.
legal pad: You can't pick up anything else while you're carrying the bowl.
cabin key: You can't pick up anything else while you're carrying the bowl.
cactus: You can't pick up anything else while you're carrying the bowl.
You drop the bowl
You set the bowl down near the cactus.
You get all except the bowl
loose papers: Taken.
notepad: Taken.
legal pad: Taken.
cabin key: Taken.
cactus: Somehow, you don't have the heart to uproot the only sign of life you see here.
Describe the surroundings
The first thing you notice is the heat. It is punishing, astonishing, like standing inside an inferno that burns without flames. Your suit insulates you somewhat, and a lucky thing, too, because otherwise you wouldn't last long under a sun that feels like it's just a few feet away. It's hard to tell which direction is which, since you emerged from the dome rather than landing here -- you'll need to invent some directions based on gut instinct and hope they work out. So let's say that the cool, distant greenness is east, and the gentler, golden hue is west. Sand dunes block your view north and south.

A large, Y-shaped cactus stands nearby.

You can also see an enormous bowl (which is empty) here.
You jump east
Once again, you get a running start and launch yourself upwards.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

From the zenith of your jump, it looks like a lush, green carpet is spread below you, but as you fall, the landscape soon resolves itself into treetops, with occasional glimpses of tall, thick trunks below the canopy, and one clearly artificial tower that is even taller than the surrounding forest. By now, you've gotten the hang of steering your descent a little, so you aim towards that tower, crashing through the branches and landing solidly at its base.

The air is cool and quiet down here, far beneath the treetop canopy. On every side of you, massive trunks rise majestically. These trees are enormous, like old-growth redwoods but growing higher than Earth gravity would ever permit. The trees completely block the horizon, and you feel quite disoriented as to where the compass directions are.

Beside you is the base of a tower that's even taller than the trees.
You examine the trees
The sheer height of these trees is absolutely breathtaking. Their bark is smooth and tan, and even their lowest branches are a hundred feet above your head.
You examine the tower
This tower appears to be made of the same familiar polymer from the floor of your cell, and its sides are perfectly smooth. It rises well out of sight, past the treetops.
Go upwards
You launch yourself straight upward, shooting above the treetops and hanging in space above the forest for a moment. You catch a glimpse of icy whiteness -- the Arctic area -- so that's where north is. Then you're hurtling down once more, landing heavily at the tower base.
You climb the tree
Not a chance -- even the lowest branches are far above you. Also, since these trees grew in a low-grav environment, you have your doubts that their branches would support you all that well.
You hit the tower
The tower seems utterly impervious to your hammering fists.
You listen
You can make out the sounds of complex, varied birdsong from high above you.
Smell
The air smells crisp and clean here.
You jump east
There isn't a great deal of room to run, but you do your best, and launch yourself upwards.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

You've reached the arc of your parabola, and have begun to descend. An ocean sloshes below you, uncluttered by islands or land masses. As you fly through the air, you tuck your non-waterproof possessions into the suit pouch. Soon, you hit the water with a massive SPLOOSH!

As you sink, the suit begins supplying oxygen to you.

You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow motion, you're experiencing no discomfort.

A large circular door, apparently a hatch, is set in the ground here.

Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a glassy eye in the sand.

You also notice a beige touchplate embedded in rock about ten yards away from the hatch.
You look around
In the funnies, all deserted islands are barely large enough to fit two people, and always have a palm tree in the middle. This island is just like that, except without the palm tree. Orienting yourself by the distant smudges, you decide that the Forest is west, the beige smudge is east, and the bright green smudge is south.
You jump south
You can't get much of a running start in such a tiny area, but you crouch and launch yourself upwards, and that seems to provide sufficient momentum.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

Your landing spot is entirely obscured by thick, grey clouds, pierced by a long, metal tube that reaches far into the sky. You fall into the clouds, soaked in rain, thinking of Emily -- please, let her be okay. Suddenly a thick, broad leaf strikes you across the face, and you're crashing through slick, wet vegetation. One bouncing, awkward, and destructive fall later, you pick yourself up from damp ground, brush the mud off your costume, and look around.

You stand amidst a symphony of green. Deep jade moss covers the trunks of trees, whose leaves far above filter mottled avocado light over emerald bushes and green grass -- adjectives run out long before the shades of green do. The air is warm, muggy, and filled with the sounds of wildlife.

Beside you is the bottom of a long steel tube that rises into the sky and past the clouds.

One small square at your feet appears free of moss, or at least it might, if you could see past the swarming mass of slugs that infest it.

A closed metal canister sits next to the slug-infested square.

In a rare patch of foliage-free ground near you, the mirrored surface of a dome reflects the surrounding greenery.
You examine canister
This is a small canister, about twice the size of a beer can.

You hear voices in conversation above you -- no language you've ever heard, but clearly a dialogue -- and look up to see two parrots on a nearby branch, vocalizing to each other with occasional glances at you. Their tones make you feel like you've just crashed a very exclusive party, and are terribly underdressed to boot.
You examine the parrots
You can't be sure that these birds are actually parrots, of course, but that's what they most resemble, with perhaps somewhat larger heads, and feet that more closely resemble articulated fingers. One of the birds sports the sort of blue, yellow, and green plumage that accompany your mental default image of a parrot, while the other is a uniform shade of grey.
You ask the parrots about Emily
There is no reply.

You hear a crashing, thumping sound from above, and jump out of the way. No one falls, though, and in a moment it becomes clear that one of the parrots was imitating the sound of your galumphing descent through the rainforest vegetation.
You look at the slugs
You've never seen this behavior in slugs before -- they're crawling over, under, and around each other in a slimy, pale mass. They're covering the panel almost completely.

You hear a crashing, thumping sound from above, and jump out of the way. No one falls, though, and in a moment it becomes clear that one of the parrots was imitating the sound of your galumphing descent through the rainforest vegetation.
You examine the panel
What with the slugfest, it's difficult to discern anything about the square. You do occasionally see a tiny corner of indigo underneath the slimy swarm.
You examine tube
This tube is an exact duplicate of the one from the Arctic area, with one salient difference: it hasn't been wrecked by a massive impact. It looks easily wide enough to fit yourself into -- if you can figure out how to enter it, that is.

One of the parrots squawks loudly and indignantly, but you're not sure whether its outrage is directed at you, at the other parrot, or at the world in general.
You examine the moss
Water runs down the sides of these trees in a continual trickle, feeding the moss that grows on every trunk.
You look at the trees
Water runs down the sides of these trees in a continual trickle, feeding the moss that grows on every trunk.

In unison, the parrots fly to a different branch, and resume their conversation from there.
You examine the parrots
You can't be sure that these birds are actually parrots, of course, but that's what they most resemble, with perhaps somewhat larger heads, and feet that more closely resemble articulated fingers. One of the birds sports the sort of blue, yellow, and green plumage that accompany your mental default image of a parrot, while the other is a uniform shade of grey.
You open the canister
You open the canister, revealing a few crystal grains.
You examine the grains
These are a few grains of a white, crystalline substance.
You taste the grains
A bit reluctantly, you shake the grains onto your tongue, and swallow. They were common table salt.
Close canister
You close the canister.
You look in the canister
You can't see inside, since the canister is closed.

You hear a crashing, thumping sound from above, and jump out of the way. No one falls, though, and in a moment it becomes clear that one of the parrots was imitating the sound of your galumphing descent through the rainforest vegetation.
You open the canister
You open the canister.
You look in the canister
The canister is empty.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a canister (which is open but empty)
a cabin key
a legal pad
a notepad
some loose papers
a headset
an earthsuit (being worn)
You jump
If this is the opposite pole from the Arctic area, everything is north of here, in a sense. However, that doesn't do you much good -- you'll need to decide on some arbitrary directions, preferably ones that correspond with the ones you've been using so far. So you launch yourself straight upward, punching through the rainclouds and hanging for a moment in the sunshine above them. Quickly, you look around: the sand dunes of the Desert area are visible from here, so that would be north. You fall back through the clouds and trees, with an improved sense of direction.
You jump west
There isn't a great deal of room to run, but you do your best, and launch yourself upwards.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

You're descending towards a broad savannah, sparsely dotted with tall trees. For a second, you think you spot movement, the grasses parting and dark shapes darting away over the gentle hills, but once you land and look around, everything seems perfectly still.

Tall grasses of faded gold reach past your knees, swaying; here and there, baobab trees pose elegantly against a brilliant blue sky. Soft hills ripple through this prairie, and the hot, thick air buzzes with the sounds of distant insects. You can see blue-whiteness in one direction -- the Arctic area -- so that's north, and the Rainforest area is south. Far on the eastern horizon is the tan haze of the Desert area, and the blue-green Ocean shimmers in the distant west.

Beside you is a dome, its mirrored surface reflecting the sun.
Examine dome
The dome is about ten feet high at its zenith, and perhaps twenty feet in diameter at its base. Its surface is reflective, but you don't recognize the material it's made of -- no doubt another miracle polymer from the same technology that produced your cell floor.
Dance
You briefly boogie to music only you can hear.
Sing
Your singing is abominable.
Xyzzy
You're a superhero, not a magician.

Something tickles your peripheral vision, and you turn. A feline face is peeking over one of the ridges, and its eyes lock with yours for a moment. Then it disappears, leaving the tall grass rocking behind it. The moment passed quickly, but you did notice that the head was more oval than triangular, and that the space between the eyes and ears was enough to contain a brainpan larger than that of any earth cat. In fact, the size of the head seemed to imply a rather large creature overall.

You stealthily approach the ridge and look over. About a hundred yards away, there are perhaps a half-dozen cat-creatures, feline bodies covered with fur but walking upright on their hind legs, and with articulated gripping fingers on their front paws, from which you can see claws occasionally extending. They are indeed large, probably about eight feet tall and impressively muscled. The cat-people notice you immediately, and retreat to a safe distance, but from there regard you with equal curiosity.
You examine the cats
These creatures are definitely feline, but don't appear to derive from any animal you recognize. They stand about eight feet tall, walking upright without awkwardness. Each wears a crude skin loincloth and has a small, apparently vestigial tail. The patterns in their fur are unique to each, but you suspect you can see some genetic inheritance among two or three of them.
Wear headset
You're already wearing that!

You hear the cats speaking to each other in a series of growls, trills, and vocalizations that is occasionally overridden by your mother's voice in the headset, whispering in your ear words like "food", "stranger", and "child."
You talk to the headset
You can only do that to something animate.
You jump west
Once again, you get a running start and launch yourself upwards.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

You've reached the arc of your parabola, and have begun to descend. An ocean sloshes below you, dotted by just one tiny island. As you fly through the air, you tuck your non-waterproof possessions into the suit pouch. Soon, you hit the water with a massive SPLOOSH!

As you sink, the suit begins supplying oxygen to you.

You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow motion, you're experiencing no discomfort.

A large circular door, apparently a hatch, is set in the ground here.

Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a glassy eye in the sand.

You also notice a beige touchplate next to a towering silver cylinder about ten yards away from the hatch.
You examine the bubble
The bubble is made of a substance you don't recognize, and reflects your face back at you, distorted into shapes that would startle Chester Gould.

You sense a presence behind you. Whirling, you find yourself face-to-eye with an enormous squid, at least fifty feet long. The squid is regarding you, not with aggression, but with curiosity.
You examine the squid
This squid is one of the most astonishing living creatures you've ever seen. Its dark, mesmerizing eye is as big as a hubcap. Eight long tentacles and two even longer feeding arms trail from its maroon, torpedo-shaped body, and at the center of that body is a formidable-looking beak. The squid is keeping a safe distance from you, examining you and your possessions with keen interest.
Hello
"Uh, hi there." you begin gamely. "I'm Austin Colborn."

The squid just looks at you, its tentacles swaying slowly.

"You, uh, come here often?" you say.

The squid continues to look at you.

"Hey wait," you say, "I'm encased in a suit. I'll bet you can't even hear me. Tell you what, if you can't hear me, or can't understand me, just stare at me and do absolutely nothing."

The giant squid just stares at you. It does absolutely nothing.

The squid taps you, then points one tentacle at the beige touchplate while waving the others in an urgent but uninterpretable pattern.
You touch beige
You lay your hand on the touchplate, and it lights up briefly. The silvery column begins sliding downward, retreating back into the ground. Soon, the ocean floor is flat once again, looking as undisturbed as if nothing had ever happened.
You touch beige
When you lay a finger on the touchplate, nothing happens, but when you press it with your whole hand, it lights up briefly, and once again, nothing happens. At least, nothing happens at first, but in a moment, you hear a rumbling, and suddenly the bit of ocean floor you're standing on begins to rise! Soon, you find yourself shooting upward on a small plot of land, spearing through tons of water that would surely crush you if not for the earthsuit.

You break the surface with a terrific SPLOOSH! And then it's over. You find yourself standing on a small island as water sluices off its surface and back into the ocean. By all rights, you should have a serious case of the bends after such a rapid ascent from deep underwater, but you feel fine -- the earthsuit must somehow have fooled your body into thinking it was still at one atmosphere of pressure, thus preventing nitrogen absorption. The plastic sheath over your nose and mouth retreats back into the cowl.

In the funnies, all deserted islands are barely large enough to fit two people, and always have a palm tree in the middle. This island is just like that, except without the palm tree. Orienting yourself by the distant smudges, you decide that the Forest is west, the Veldt area is east, and the Rainforest is south.

Now that you're dry again, you unzip the suit pouch and retrieve your delicate items.
Dive
Before diving in, you tuck your non-waterproof possessions into the suit pouch. Then you dive into the water, and sink like a cinderblock until you reach the bottom.

You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow motion, you're experiencing no discomfort.

An incredible giant squid floats alongside you, just out of reach.

A large circular door, apparently a hatch, is set in the ground here.

Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a glassy eye in the sand.

You also notice a beige touchplate next to a towering silver cylinder about ten yards away from the hatch.
You examine the squid
You see the ocean floor, dimly illuminated by bioluminescent plants. A giant squid floats calmly near the bubble, exploring its environment with tentacles and enormous eyes.
You touch the cat
You lay your hand on the cat touchplate, and the bubble begins spinning smoothly. You have the sensation of swift, effortless movement. With surprising suddenness, the energy transport deposits you elsewhere, then dissolves around you.

You're in a dome, probably about ten feet high at its zenith and twenty feet in diameter at its base. The wall is transparent, and on the other side of it is a wide grassland, creased with gentle hills and the occasional baobab tree. There are several platforms inside the dome, reaching to your hip and covered with a soft bedding on top, and to one side of these is a pedestal with a crimson touchplate. You can see no exits.

A white cylinder sits atop one of the platforms.
You examine the white cylinder
This cylinder is about the size and shape of a paint can. Its entire surface is white except for a small black button on one of its flat faces.
You take it
The device is surprisingly heavy, as if its core is quite dense. Taken.
You examine the black button
The black button bears the icon of an oval with some indecipherable scribbles inside.
You examine the touchplate
This crimson touchplate sports the icon of a circle from which six spokes radiate.
You touch it
You lay your hand on the touchplate, and a field of crimson energy materializes next to the pedestal, surrounding you in a glowing shell. The floor beneath you opens, and the energy field carries you downwards, hurtling through darkness until you reach the...

You hang suspended within a translucent crimson bubble of energy, with nothing but inky darkness beyond. Also suspended by the energy field are six touchplates, each bearing an icon. The icons are: a snowflake, ocean waves, a cactus, a broad leaf, an evergreen tree, and one you don't recognize, which looks a bit like an abstract rendition of a cat's face.
You touch the evergreen
You lay your hand on the tree touchplate, and the bubble begins spinning smoothly. You have the sensation of swift, effortless movement. With surprising suddenness, the energy transport deposits you elsewhere, then dissolves around you.

You're in a dome, probably about ten feet high at its zenith and twenty feet in diameter at its base. The wall is transparent, and through it you can see that you're about twenty yards above the treetops of a magnificent forest. There are several platforms on the ground, reaching to your hip and covered with a soft bedding on top, and to one side of these is a pedestal with a crimson touchplate. You can see no exits.

In the center of the dome, an odd device rests atop an eight-foot pole.
You examine device
You're not sure exactly what this device is, but given that it has a large lens on one end and a face-shaped indentation on the other, you're inclined to believe it's somehow intended for long-distance viewing -- a "viewscope", you decide provisionally. Sadly, it's at the top of an eight-foot pole in the center of the dome, and the indentation doesn't appear to be shaped to accommodate a human face, so it's not exactly tourist-friendly.
You examine the lens
This is a large, convex lens meant for focusing light to view distant objects. It is currently screwed onto the viewscope.
You look in the viewscope
It's too far above you.
You climb the pole
It would probably be easier just to climb up on one of the platforms.
Climb platform
You climb onto the platform nearest the viewscope.
You unscrew the lens
It takes a fair amount of strength, but you unscrew the lens from the viewscope.
You take the lens
You already have that.
Down
You get off the platform.

You're in a dome, probably about ten feet high at its zenith and twenty feet in diameter at its base. The wall is transparent, and through it you can see that you're about twenty yards above the treetops of a magnificent forest. There are several platforms on the ground, reaching to your hip and covered with a soft bedding on top, and to one side of these is a pedestal with a crimson touchplate. You can see no exits.

You can see a viewscope here.
You look through the lens
Try looking through the eyepiece instead.
You look through the eyepiece
It's hard to get a steady view, and it's a bit blurry looking through only one eyepiece, but you can see creatures in the treetops. They're humanoid, in fact almost human-like -- mostly standing upright but crouching occasionally, large front teeth tearing into their food, interacting with each other in what appear to be fairly social ways. In fact, if you didn't know that you were in the present, staring at a world that isn't Earth, you'd have identified them as Australopithecus.
You unscrew the lens
It takes a fair amount of strength, but you unscrew the lens from the viewscope.
You touch the leaf
You lay your hand on the leaf touchplate, and the bubble begins spinning smoothly. You have the sensation of swift, effortless movement. With surprising suddenness, the energy transport deposits you elsewhere, then dissolves around you.

You're in a dome, probably about ten feet high at its zenith and twenty feet in diameter at its base. The wall is transparent, and through it you can see a verdant jungle, its colors only a little bit muted by the interposing dome. There are several platforms inside the dome, reaching to your hip and covered with a soft bedding on top, and to one side of these is a pedestal with two touchplates. You can see no exits.
You examine the pedestal
This is just a small, cylindrical pedestal, about four feet high. Atop its angled surface are two touchplates, one crimson and one indigo. The indigo one has a very thin sponge attached to it.
You examine the sponge
Depending on how you look at it, this is either a very thin sponge, or a fairly thick piece of spongy paper -- it certainly wouldn't be useful for absorbing much of anything, except perhaps odor. In any case, it's white and adorned with patterned ink scrawls. You surmise that these scrawls may be some sort of writing, but you haven't a clue how to decipher them.
You look at the indigo
The icon on this indigo touchplate is an upward-pointing triangle, identical to the one you saw in the Arctic area.
Go upwards
You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow motion, you're experiencing no discomfort.

An incredible giant squid floats alongside you, just out of reach.

A large, open hatch leads downward.

Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a glassy eye in the sand.

You also notice a beige touchplate next to a towering silver cylinder about ten yards away from the hatch.
Ascend
You spring upwards, shooting through the water like a torpedo, but it's no good. By the time you reach the surface, the water resistance has drained your jump of its inertia, leaving you to sink back down to the ocean floor.

You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow motion, you're experiencing no discomfort.

An incredible giant squid floats alongside you, just out of reach.

A large, open hatch leads downward.

Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a glassy eye in the sand.

You also notice a beige touchplate next to a towering silver cylinder about ten yards away from the hatch.
You jump west
You can't get much of a running start in such a tiny area, but you crouch and launch yourself upwards, and that seems to provide sufficient momentum.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

Once again, you hurtle through the canopy of leaves and land more or less at your previous arrival point.

The air is cool and quiet down here, far beneath the treetop canopy. On every side of you, massive trunks rise majestically. These trees are enormous, like old-growth redwoods but growing higher than Earth gravity would ever permit. The trees completely block the horizon, and you can only keep yourself oriented by remembering the direction you were facing when you jumped up and saw the Arctic area.

Beside you is the base of a tower that's even taller than the trees.
You jump west
There isn't a great deal of room to run, but you do your best, and launch yourself upwards.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

Once again, you land in the sandy, sweltering desert.

The first thing you notice is the heat. It is punishing, astonishing, like standing inside an inferno that burns without flames. Your suit insulates you somewhat, and a lucky thing, too, because otherwise you wouldn't last long under a sun that feels like it's just a few feet away. Orienting yourself based on the direction you came from, you can see enormous sand dunes rising north and south of you, creating no shade but blocking your vision. Through the heat haze, you can barely perceive the Forest to the east, and the Veldt to the west.

A large, Y-shaped cactus stands nearby.

You can also see an enormous bowl (which is empty) here.
You put the lens in the cactus
You wedge the lens between the arms of the cactus, and it fits perfectly, catching the sunlight and creating an intense, concentrated beam aimed directly at the bowl.
You take the bowl
The bowl is too big and awkward to carry while you're holding anything else.
You drop all
very thin sponge: Dropped.
white cylinder: Dropped.
canister: Dropped.
cabin key: Dropped.
legal pad: Dropped.
notepad: Dropped.
loose papers: Dropped.
headset: Dropped.
You jump east
Once again, you get a running start and launch yourself upwards.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

Once again, you hurtle through the canopy of leaves and land more or less at your previous arrival point.CRRASH! The bowl upends when it hits the trees, and you just manage to grab its lip and drag it down with you so it doesn't get stuck in the treetops.

The air is cool and quiet down here, far beneath the treetop canopy. On every side of you, massive trunks rise majestically. These trees are enormous, like old-growth redwoods but growing higher than Earth gravity would ever permit. The trees completely block the horizon, and you can only keep yourself oriented by remembering the direction you were facing when you jumped up and saw the Arctic area.

Beside you is the base of a tower that's even taller than the trees.

You can also see an enormous bowl (which is empty) here.
You jump east
There isn't a great deal of room to run, but you do your best, and launch yourself upwards.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

You've reached the arc of your parabola, and have begun to descend. An ocean sloshes below you, dotted by just one tiny island. You hit the water with a massive SPLOOSH!

As you sink, the suit begins supplying oxygen to you.

You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow motion, you're experiencing no discomfort.

An incredible giant squid floats alongside you, just out of reach.

A large, open hatch leads downward.

Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a glassy eye in the sand.

You also notice a beige touchplate next to a towering silver cylinder about ten yards away from the hatch.

A sizable fish floats by, and the squid conceals itself behind an outcropping. Then, with startling speed, one of its feeding arms darts out and ensnares its prey. The squid takes the fish into its tentacles, tearing and crunching with its sharp beak, and then returns its attention to you.
Inventory
You are carrying:
an earthsuit (being worn)
You jump west
You can't get much of a running start in such a tiny area, but you crouch and launch yourself upwards, and that seems to provide sufficient momentum.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

Once again, you hurtle through the canopy of leaves and land more or less at your previous arrival point.

The air is cool and quiet down here, far beneath the treetop canopy. On every side of you, massive trunks rise majestically. These trees are enormous, like old-growth redwoods but growing higher than Earth gravity would ever permit. The trees completely block the horizon, and you can only keep yourself oriented by remembering the direction you were facing when you jumped up and saw the Arctic area.

Beside you is the base of a tower that's even taller than the trees.

You can also see an enormous bowl (which is empty) here.
You jump east
There isn't a great deal of room to run, but you do your best, and launch yourself upwards.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

You've reached the arc of your parabola, and have begun to descend. An ocean sloshes below you, dotted by just one tiny island. You hit the water with a massive SPLOOSH! You can't manage to hang onto the bowl, and leave it floating at the surface while you sink downward.

As you sink, the suit begins supplying oxygen to you.

You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow motion, you're experiencing no discomfort.

An incredible giant squid floats alongside you, just out of reach.

A large, open hatch leads downward.

Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a glassy eye in the sand.

You also notice a beige touchplate next to a towering silver cylinder about ten yards away from the hatch.
You take the bowl
You heft the bowl over your head (which is significantly harder now that it's full of water.) Taken.
You jump east
You can't get much of a running start in such a tiny area, but you crouch and launch yourself upwards, and that seems to provide sufficient momentum.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

You land in the tall grasses once again. A few hundred gallons of water slosh from the bowl before you can steady it, but your landing in the grass is soft enough that you don't lose too much.

Tall grasses of faded gold reach past your knees, swaying; here and there, baobab trees pose elegantly against a brilliant blue sky. Soft hills ripple through this prairie, and the hot, thick air buzzes with the sounds of distant insects. You can see blue-whiteness in one direction -- the Arctic area -- so that's north, and the Rainforest area is south. Far on the eastern horizon is the tan haze of the Desert area, and the blue-green Ocean shimmers in the distant west.

Beside you is a dome, its mirrored surface reflecting the sun.

The cat-people startle as one for no apparent reason, and retreat a little further from you.
You check your inventory
You are carrying:
an enormous bowl
a massive quantity of salt water
an earthsuit (being worn)
You jump east
Once again, you get a running start and launch yourself upwards.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

Once again, you land in the sandy, sweltering desert. A few hundred gallons of water slosh from the bowl before you can steady it, but your landing in the sand is soft enough that you don't lose too much.

The first thing you notice is the heat. It is punishing, astonishing, like standing inside an inferno that burns without flames. Your suit insulates you somewhat, and a lucky thing, too, because otherwise you wouldn't last long under a sun that feels like it's just a few feet away. Orienting yourself based on the direction you came from, you can see enormous sand dunes rising north and south of you, creating no shade but blocking your vision. Through the heat haze, you can barely perceive the Forest to the east, and the Veldt to the west.

A large, Y-shaped cactus stands nearby, with a lens between its arms, creating a beam of concentrated sunlight aimed at the ground.

You can also see a headset, some loose papers, a notepad, a legal pad, a cabin key, a canister (which is empty), a white cylinder and a very thin sponge here.
You put the bowl in the beam
Just dropping the bowl here will put it in the path of the beam.
You drop the bowl
You set the bowl down near the cactus, intercepting the beam. Within minutes, you can see bubbles forming on the sides of the bowl.

With the beam hitting the water like this, it's sure to boil sometime soon. On the other hand, as overheated as you feel right now, you're not at all certain you can handle standing around waiting for it.
You take all but the bowl and the cactus
headset: Taken.
loose papers: Taken.
notepad: Taken.
legal pad: Taken.
cabin key: Taken.
canister: Taken.
white cylinder: The device is surprisingly heavy, as if its core is quite dense. Taken.
very thin sponge: Taken.
You jump west
Once again, you get a running start and launch yourself upwards.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

You land in the tall grasses once again.

Tall grasses of faded gold reach past your knees, swaying; here and there, baobab trees pose elegantly against a brilliant blue sky. Soft hills ripple through this prairie, and the hot, thick air buzzes with the sounds of distant insects. You can see blue-whiteness in one direction -- the Arctic area -- so that's north, and the Rainforest area is south. Far on the eastern horizon is the tan haze of the Desert area, and the blue-green Ocean shimmers in the distant west.

Beside you is a dome, its mirrored surface reflecting the sun.
Wear headset
You put on the headset.
You show the sponge to the cats
The cat people are unimpressed.

You notice that one of the cats is obviously female, and carries a child. (Or kitten, perhaps.) She licks the child clean with obvious affection, and coos to it.
You show the button to the cats
(first taking the black button)
That seems to be a part of the white cylinder.
You show the cylinder to the cats
The cat people are unimpressed.
You jump east
Once again, you get a running start and launch yourself upwards.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

Once again, you land in the sandy, sweltering desert.

The first thing you notice is the heat. It is punishing, astonishing, like standing inside an inferno that burns without flames. Your suit insulates you somewhat, and a lucky thing, too, because otherwise you wouldn't last long under a sun that feels like it's just a few feet away. Orienting yourself based on the direction you came from, you can see enormous sand dunes rising north and south of you, creating no shade but blocking your vision. Through the heat haze, you can barely perceive the Forest to the east, and the Veldt to the west.

A large, Y-shaped cactus stands nearby, with a lens between its arms, creating a beam of concentrated sunlight aimed at the bowl.

You can also see an enormous bowl (in which is a pile of sea salt) here.
Wear headset
You're already wearing that!
You open canister
That's already open.
You wait a while
Time passes.
You put the salt in canister
You scoop up the sea salt with the canister.
You jump south
Once again, you get a running start and launch yourself upwards.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

This time, you're a little more ready for the rainclouds and vegetation, but that doesn't stop your fall from being a careening, wet one.

You stand amidst a symphony of green. Deep jade moss covers the trunks of trees, whose leaves far above filter mottled avocado light over emerald bushes and green grass -- adjectives run out long before the shades of green do. The air is warm, muggy, and filled with the sounds of wildlife.

Beside you is the bottom of a long steel tube that rises into the sky and past the clouds.

One small square at your feet appears free of moss, or at least it might, if you could see past the swarming mass of slugs that infest it.

In a rare patch of foliage-free ground near you, the mirrored surface of a dome reflects the surrounding greenery.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a very thin sponge
a white cylinder
a canister (which is closed)
a cabin key
a legal pad
a notepad
some loose papers
a headset (being worn)
an earthsuit (being worn)
You open canister
You open the canister, revealing a pile of sea salt.

You hear a crashing, thumping sound from above, and jump out of the way. No one falls, though, and in a moment it becomes clear that one of the parrots was imitating the sound of your galumphing descent through the rainforest vegetation.
You pour the salt on slugs
You pour the salt onto the slugs, and they shrivel in droves. More rush in to replace them, but you keep pouring, and they keep desiccating. In the end, it takes all the salt you have, but you get rid of all the slugs, and no others arrive.
You look at the touchplate
The touchplate is indigo and emblazoned with an upwards-pointing triangle.
You touch it
The pad lights up briefly, and the tube's once-seamless face splits; a ten-foot tall section slides open, revealing a clean, lighted interior.
You jump south
There isn't a great deal of room to run, but you do your best, and launch yourself upwards.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

You've reached the arc of your parabola, and have begun to descend. An ocean sloshes below you, dotted by just one tiny island. As you fly through the air, you tuck your non-waterproof possessions into the suit pouch. Soon, you hit the water with a massive SPLOOSH!

As you sink, the suit begins supplying oxygen to you.

You're standing on silty ground, deep underwater. The light is dim, but you can still see well enough, thanks to bioluminescence from plants that make their home here. Judging from the time you spent sinking, your rough estimate is that you're about two thousand feet below the surface. Happily, the suit seems equipped to handle such extreme pressures, and although you feel like you're moving in slow motion, you're experiencing no discomfort.

An incredible giant squid floats alongside you, just out of reach.

A large, open hatch leads downward.

Just alongside the hatch is a large, mirrored half-bubble, like a glassy eye in the sand.

You also notice a beige touchplate next to a towering silver cylinder about ten yards away from the hatch.
You show the sponge to the squid
The squid takes the very thin sponge and examines it with great interest, passing it from tentacle to tentacle and even biting down tentatively with its beak. Finally, its curiosity satisfied, it gently deposits the very thin sponge back at your feet.

Apparently startled, the squid jets away, only to return in a few seconds.
You take the sponge
Taken.
You put the sponge on the beige
Putting things on the beige touchplate would achieve nothing.

The squid taps you, then points one tentacle at the beige touchplate while waving the others in an urgent but uninterpretable pattern.
Inventory
You are carrying:
a very thin sponge
a white cylinder
a canister (which is open but empty)
a cabin key
a legal pad (stashed inside your costume)
a notepad (stashed inside your costume)
some loose papers (stashed inside your costume)
a headset (stashed inside your costume)
an earthsuit (being worn)
You jump south
You can't get much of a running start in such a tiny area, but you crouch and launch yourself upwards, and that seems to provide sufficient momentum.

The familiar flash-nausea passes as you cross the barrier.

This time, you're a little more ready for the rainclouds and vegetation, but that doesn't stop your fall from being a careening, wet one.

You stand amidst a symphony of green. Deep jade moss covers the trunks of trees, whose leaves far above filter mottled avocado light over emerald bushes and green grass -- adjectives run out long before the shades of green do. The air is warm, muggy, and filled with the sounds of wildlife.

Beside you is the bottom of a long steel tube that rises into the sky and past the clouds.

The newly slug-free access panel winks up at you from the ground.

In a rare patch of foliage-free ground near you, the mirrored surface of a dome reflects the surrounding greenery.

The parrots jabber some more, and you could swear you just heard one of them snicker.
You examine tube
This tube is an exact duplicate of the one from the Arctic area, with one salient difference: it hasn't been wrecked by a massive impact. It looks easily wide enough to fit yourself into -- if you can figure out how to enter it, that is.
You touch the tube
You feel nothing unexpected. Of course, you're wearing gloves, but you probably wouldn't feel anything unexpected anyway.
You enter the tube
You step into the tube and it closes around you. A second later, your stomach lurches and your feet leave the ground -- this isn't an elevator whose floor lifts you to your destination, it's some sort of levitation device. What's more, although it's opaque from the outside, from in here the tube is perfectly transparent, so you see yourself punching through the clouds of the rainforest and hurtling upward at an alarming rate. Just as it's crossing your mind to be grateful that Emily got the flying power instead of you, the barrier of the sky passes, and the tube expels you into new surroundings.

Episode 2:
ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY

"Perhaps I asked too large --
I take -- no less than skies --
For Earths, grow thick as
Berries, in my native town --

The walls of this corridor reflect your image back at you, mazed with the outlines of machinery built into their surfaces. After the tube ride, your sense of direction is confounded once again, so you posit that the tube entrance is west, the corridor continues east, and the large door is to your south. There is also a pink touchplate next to the door.
I beg your pardon?
You look at the pink
The icon on this touchplate exactly matches the shape of the door beside it.
You examine door
This isn't a traditional door, with knob and hinges and such, but its outline in the wall makes its function plain. It is currently closed, and pink light seeps around its edges.
You wait a while
Time passes.
Go south
This cell is exactly identical to the one that imprisoned you, with three critical differences. First, there's no pink energy field -- the walls are simply bare. Second, there's an open doorway in the north wall. And finally, there's no giant, gaping hole in the floor.

Your sister is here, sitting in a corner and looking dejectedly at the floor.

Emily scrambles to her feet. "Austin!" she shouts. "Woo hoo! Boy, am I glad to see you!" She rushes over and hugs you.

Please select a reply:

1) "Likewise! So have you been in here ever since stepping through the curtain?"
2) "Well, considering you'd probably be trapped in there forever if not for me, I'm not surprised at the warm reception."
3) "Thanks. You have no idea what I had to go through to get here."
1
Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 1

"Pretty much," she replies. "What happened to you?"

Please select a reply:

1) "Well, actually, it was quite interesting. I was in a cell just like this one..."
2) "Oh, you know... stuff."
3) "I'll tell you the whole story, but not right now."
3
Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 3

"Now there's a plan I can support. Let's get to work."
Go north
Emily follows you.

The walls of this corridor reflect your image back at you, mazed with the outlines of machinery built into their surfaces. After the tube ride, your sense of direction is confounded once again, so you posit that the tube entrance is west, the corridor continues east, and the large door is to your south. There is also a pink touchplate next to the door.

Emily stands a few feet away from you, looking bored.
You tell Emily about the cylinder
"Um... right! Good point! Okay, I actually have no idea what you mean."
You give the headset to Emily
Emily takes the headset from you. "Looks like one of Mom and Dad's gadgets to me. Not that I have a clue what purpose it might serve. Still, might be good to have along."
You take the headset
That seems to belong to Emily.
You give the headset to you
"Sure," she says, handing you the headset.
You tell Emily about the headset
"Looks like one of Mom and Dad's gadgets to me. Not that I have a clue what purpose it might serve. Still, might be good to have along."
You tell Emily about the cats
"Interesting. I wonder why that touchplate had the creature rather than the landscape inscribed on it?"
You tell Emily about the squid
"Yow. I'm glad it was you and not me -- that would have freaked me out a bit."
You tell Emily about the penguins
"Aww, that sounds cute! Then again, the whole 'oversized head' thing cuts down on the cuteness factor quite a bit."
You tell Emily about parrots
"That sounds irritating. I probably woulda blasted 'em."
You tell Emily about the slugs
"Ew. Next topic, please."
Go east
Emily follows you.

This section of corridor shows the signs of a recent battle. Scorch marks mar the gleaming machinery, and the grey carpet is distressed by bloodstains and rips. The hallway continues east to an intersection and west to the tube entrance.

Emily is nearby, waiting for you to do something interesting.
You look at the marks
The machinery inset into the metal walls appears still functional, but somewhat the worse for wear, assailed by dents and scorch marks.
Go east
As you enter the intersection, a shrill alarm begins to peal throughout the halls, bright lights flash, and polymer walls slam down on either side of you, leaving only small niches to the north and south. Matters deteriorate quickly from bad to worse as a portal opens in the corridor east of here, releasing a stream of broad, tall security robots that cut off the corridor completely. The robots see you, and are advancing menacingly towards you!

Emily follows you.

This intersection appears to have borne the brunt of the earlier fighting, with its walls dented, its carpet decimated, and even its ceiling showing a mark or two. Moments ago, passageways led north and south here, but they have just been closed off by impenetrable polymer walls, leaving just a small niche on either side of the corridor, which continues east and west.

Emily hovers a few feet above the ground here.

A piercing alarm shrieks through the hallways, accompanied by bright, flashing lights.

Security robots are advancing on you from the east in an imposing column.
Zap robots
"It would be my pleasure," says your sister, and blue lightning arcs from her fingers with a shattering KER-POW, frying the circuits of the robotic regiment and scattering them like bowling pins. As more robots emerge from the portal, you jump in to do your part, sending sentinels flying with the SKRANG  of your fists and feet colliding with their more frangible bodies. Finally, the two of you have cut a wide swath through the mechanical guardians, and find yourself east of the intersection, fried and smashed robots littering the ground at your feet.

The hallway dead-ends here at the portal that released the robots. It has since closed, and its robots litter the ground, soundly defeated by you and your sister. A doorway leads north, and the intersection is west.

A piercing alarm shrieks through the hallways, accompanied by bright, flashing lights.

Emily stands a few feet away from you, looking smug.

"Woo hoo! Yeah!" shouts Emily, and pumps her fist several times for good measure.
Go north
Emily follows you.

This room appears to serve several purposes, at least one of which is to be an observation center for the various environments below. You draw this conclusion from the six large panels arranged along the north wall, four of which display rotating views of the Ocean, Veldt, Forest, and Rainforest environments, while the other two are blank. On the western wall, a transporter curtain shimmers through its endless pattern changes, and to the east, a lavish arrangement of cushions suggests sleeping quarters of some sort. Control panels of various sorts dot the walls, and the only exit is to the south.

Emily is nearby, waiting for you to do something decisive.

You can also see a giant, catlike alien here.

As you enter, the huge, humanoid cat-creature stabs a button, and the alarm falls into sudden, tense silence. The creature glowers at you, oval-slitted eyes burning with a combination of fury, frustration, and fear. Its toothy mouth gapes, and a stream of angry, hissing syllables flows forth: "mr mrrowuoiiaow ssao aow urr mrr iaow<throat-clearing sound>eowff uaoweeoom<hiss> mrrm rr rrrrmrreou aowmrr rrmrao fffteeaouw !"

Seeing the look of incomprehension on your face, it stalks over to the other side of the room and twists a dial. When it speaks again, a hidden speaker broadcasts an English translation over its words.

"You stupid, clumsy, vomit-brained, simian cub!" it resumes, "You did this, didn't you?" It gestures angrily at one of the blank screens. "You wrecked my Arctic equipment, and tramped your filthy body through every other environment! You've destroyed my work!"

Please select a reply:

1) "Uh, well... You don't... I mean... That is..."
2) "Hey, back off Sylvester! All I did was escape from a prison cell! What was I supposed to do, just sit there and rot away?"
3) "Um... I'm sorry."
4) "What? I don't know what you're talking about!."
5) "Hello. My name is Austin Colborn. You killed my father. Well, maybe not, but do you know where he is?"
2
Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 2

The creature seems to deflate under the sting of your tirade. It slumps against the wall and begins preening its fur nervously. "Oh, stink. You're right, apeling. Owrr was right to insist that the transport channels be shunted to security cells. I ignored you from impatience and must take the blame of destruction."

Please select a reply:

1) "Well, I'm sorry all the same. I had no idea what would happen when I broke through the floor of that cell. What is this place, anyway?" 2) "You see how I had no choice. Still, those environments are fascinating -- are you trying to evolve intelligent species?"
3) "Who is Owrr? What are you? What is this place? What in the world is going on?"
4) "Fine. Have you seen any other 'simians' around here lately?"
2
Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 2

The creature tilts its head, giving you an odd look. "Not exactly, cub. Not for its own sake. I study the origin of my species, called iueeoorr. We have a gap in our fossil record, between feline ancestors and proto-iueeoorr."

"We have the same problem in ours," you say. "We call it the missing link."

"I know, cub. Quiet, now. I found ancient bacteria in salt deposits, and extracted it. Those beasts you saw were ordinary before infection. There is no missing link -- infection moves a species to sentience. Such is my theory, and this environment is to test it, but my rival Esrrua has sabotaged it with his spy-creature. That creature killed my... my pridemate, Owrr, escaped to your planet, and now endless strings of apes tramp through here to chase it."

Please select a reply:

1) "Wait, are you telling me that some alien creature is on my world, and that my parents and their friend are chasing it?"
2) "I'm sorry for your loss. This spy-creature... it's on my planet? Is it dangerous?"
3) "That's all I needed to know, and since you're obviously so eager to be rid of me, I'm going to go find my parents."
1
Select an option or 0 to say nothing >> 1

"Yes," says the cat-creature, still preening its fur. "Probably Esrrua as well."

"Could they be dangerous to the people on my world?"

"Very likely. That's why those others pursued it. Myself, I have more important priorities, like repairing the damage you caused."

"Yeah, you work on those priorities," snarls Emily, "and we'll work on ours. Okay, Austin, this curtain takes us one step closer to Mom and Dad. Let's head back home, shall we?" Without waiting for an answer, she grabs your hand and pulls you into the curtain with her. The familiar, sleepy feeling of teleportation engulfs you immediately.

Episode 2:
ANOTHER EARTH, ANOTHER SKY

Coming in 2003 to an IF Archive near you!
You press the space
[Please press a key to continue]

1) Al. thru port.
2)T gone
3)T cont. by Al. (4 help?)
4)Al. prob. OK, but ???
5)N's mic. maybe invol.?

Must purs. -- Claire agr.