text: [Themes: sci-fi, mystery, science fiction]
  
  This is a story told in the classic "gamebook" format. There are no stats, and no items you need to collect—just a narrative that branches into many different storypaths. In other words, this is old-school CYOA fun!
  
  In this story, the main character is a young officer in the Astral Navy, one of the united defense forces that has been protecting Earth and the various human colonies for several centuries. You grew up on the planet Usul, where you found life on your family's gava rice farm to be dull. You joined the Astral Navy for adventure, but it wasn't until you led more than a dozen survivors to safety on the deserted planet Giri Minor that your career has started to take off!
  
  Beyond this basic background information, the character is yours to inhabit. Is he or she bold or thoughtful, daring or analytical, confident or plagued by inner doubt? The decisions are yours to make as you navigate the story and learn the multitude of fates that may befall you, your teammates, and your mission.
  
  Remember, the gamebook format was intended to be read more than once. To get the full impact of this story, you should explore many of the storypaths, and not just settle for the first ending you encounter. Overall you will find 45 endings spread out across 219 pages of storytelling. I think you'll agree that this is a lot of branching!
  
  However, if you truly want to learn the secret of the Grass Planet, you will need to explore the various storypaths carefully. There is only one resolution to this story, and it is not just going to walk up and present itself to you. There are many who would prefer that you leave Folvan empty-handed, so it may take a combination of skill, luck, and perseverance to succeed in your mission.
  
  I sincerely hope you enjoy Secret of the Grass Planet, the second entry in The Orion Chronicles.
  
  --Bill Ingersoll
  
  > Secret of the Grass Planet
  The Orion Chronicles Part II:
  
  Secret of the Grass Planet
  
  Bill Ingersoll
  
  Text (C) 2019 Bill Ingersoll
  
  Published July 2019
  
  Illustration: "Plains dweller" by Philip Hood, published in Man after Man by Dougal Dixon, 1990.
  
  > BEGIN STORY
  In the four years since the crash on Giri Minor, Lieutenant Commander Dionysya Andrade has sponsored your training to become a commissioned officer in the Astral Navy. For the last year you've held the rank of ensign, with one of the most prized assignments in the Fifth Fleet: a post on the Starship Orion!
  
  Long forgotten are the days when your future looked bleak and beyond your control. Commander Andrade observed your leadership potential when you were marooned on Giri Minor and helped all of the crash survivors reach safety, and now Captain Javid Ynthramanni is watching your career development as well.
  
  The ship is now preparing to embark on a mission to the planet Folvan, which is inhabited by a primitive race of sentient beings. A team from the Orion will land on the planet and attempt to make contact with the xenoanthropology team led by researchers Dr. Lori Munro and her husband, Ander Dyo, who ceased transmitting signals two weeks ago.
  
  The rumor is that Captain Ynthramanni is considering you to lead the mission to locate the researchers, but as an ensign you are not yet eligible to command a team. Therefore you have put yourself up for promotion, hoping to land the rank of lieutenant before the ship takes off for Folvan and the team is assembled.
  
  Lieutenants' stripes aren't handed out freely, though, and so you have been subjecting yourself to a battery of examinations and physical fitness tests. You've even made a point of logging many hours in the ship's Gravity Gym, with your workouts set to 2.3 Gs, or more than twice normal Earth gravity. Not coincidentally, that is the measurement of Folvan's gravity.
  
  > Page 2
  You're pretty sure everything has been going well so far, although when you've spoken to Commander Andrade lately she's been pretty tight-lipped. This has made you nervous, because perhaps you have not been doing as well as you've thought. Later today you have a meeting scheduled in the commander's office on B Deck for a performance review; perhaps you'll learn your fate then.
  
  The meeting doesn't start for another 90 minutes, and time already seems to be dragging.
  
  For the moment, you are in the Sensor Array Control Room, running diagnostic tests on the equipment to ensure everything will be ready when the Orion arrives at Folvan in a few days. With you are Chief Jod Dansmith from the engineering department, as well as Petty Officer Nacia Stio, a technician who specializes in maintaining the starship's complicated sensor array.
  
  This is your first assignment with Stio, so you don't know much about her, other than what you can see now: a technical-minded subject matter expert engrossed in her work. Chief Dansmith, on the other hand, is a celebrity on board the Orion, probably as charismatic as any of the command officers, with a robust personality and a love for life. He is a service veteran, with an impressive career across multiple starships.
  
  You once asked him where he was from. "Earth," he said, "or more precisely, Missouri."
  
  "Misery?" you said incredulously.
  
  "No, Missouri," he corrected you, but the distinction meant nothing to you. You've never been to Old Earth. Dansmith flashed you a dour look, but then explained, "It means I see things exactly as they are, and I take no bull from anybody."
  
  > Page 3
  You're the officer who has been tasked with guiding the diagnostic project to completion, but you get the distinct sense that it's Chief Dansmith who has been watching you. It's made you feel uncomfortable and self-conscious to be scrutinized by someone so much more experienced than you. Could it be he resents being assigned to a team led by an ensign as young as yourself? It doesn't fit his reputation, but the possibility nags at you all morning long.
  
  As the diagnostic tests are nearing completion you are surprised by the smell of smoke. Dansmith and Stio seem to be oblivious, so you try and identify the source. The smell, faint at first, leads you down the narrow room to the lateral sensor control board, where you find an unusual device plugged into the sensor controls.
  
  Wasn't Chief Dansmith working down here a little while ago? Before you can get too close, the device flashes. Now you see a plasma energy leak emanating from the wall. Within seconds the room will be filled with toxic gases and radiation--but something seems fishy.
  
  > If you evacuate the room and shut off the plasma conduit, turn to page 15.
  Your suspicions aside for the moment, the priority is to evacuate the compartment.
  
  "Plasma leak!" you shout. "Everybody out, now!"
  
  Stio briefly flashes a doubtful look, but she sees the greenish cloud filling the control room and promptly exits. Dansmith, on the other hand, seems to be willfully ignoring you.
  
  "Chief," you say, "I said we need to clear this room now."
  
  He is focused on recalibrating the forward transtator, but even in the profile of his face you can detect his disdain. "It's minor," he says. "With a leak that small we'll have half an hour before we reach critical radiation levels. If you want to be a starship captain someday, kid, you can't get bent out of shape over every little plasma cloud."
  
  You are stunned by his cavalier response to this crisis situation. You know Chief Dansmith is flat out wrong; plasma energy leaks are notoriously unpredictable, and the slightest charge could ignite a deadly explosion.
  
  "Chief, please, we need to evacuate the control room right now and see if we can shut off the plasma conduit--"
  
  "I can't just leave," he says, barely hiding the fact he is losing his patience with you. "If I leave this transtator now I'll have to restart the realignment protocol, and lose an hour's work!"
  
  At that point you do something you've never done before. "Chief, we need to leave now. That's an order!"
  
  With that, Dansmith's expression softens instantly. "Well, since you put it that way, Ensign." He flashes you a grin and steps away from the transtator, and you follow him out of the control room.
  
  You still get the sense he's up to something, but there is no time to indulge your suspicions now. "Help me find the control valve for the plasma conduit--" you start to say, but then you notice Commander Andrade standing in the middle of the corridor.
  
  "That's enough, Lieutenant," she says. Dansmith nods to her silently, and then he guides Petty Officer Stio away down the corridor, leaving you and the commander alone.
  
  > Page 16
  Andrade walks into the sensor control room, and a moment later returns with the strange device you found a few minutes earlier. The smell of smoke is gone, you notice. "It's a portable simulator," she explains. "Are you ready for your evaluation now?"
  
  Feeling more than a little confused and embarrassed, you follow the commander to the nearest lift, and then ride with her to B Deck.
  
  Commander Andrade's office, located one level below the main bridge, is small but tidy, as if it's a space where she rarely spends much time. A black desk curves through the middle of the room, and the only adornment is a family portrait standing beside her computer terminal. The image box shows, in three dimensions, a young couple about your own age with two small children sitting in a park. This must be her son and his family; the daughter-in-law is very dark-skinned, nearly true black, but Andrade's son is more moderate in tone, just slightly lighter than his mother.
  
  The lieutenant commander settles into her chair, the image box at her right elbow, and with a gesture she invites you to pull up another chair from against the wall.
  
  "You'll be pleased to know the captain has approved your promotion," she says. "Allow me to be the first person to congratulate you, Lieutenant."
  
  You are still too stunned to feel grateful. "So you were testing me back in the Sensor Array Control Room... ?"
  
  "We actually signed off on the promotion yesterday," Andrade says. "Frankly, you've been performing so well that it was never in doubt. But Captain Ynthramanni had some questions about how you'd stand up to someone with so much more seniority than you. So Chief Dansmith and I devised this simple test with the simulated plasma leak."
  
  "I suspected he was up to something," you say.
  
  "But your first instinct was to get your people out of harm's way," she says. "I saw that quality in you back on Giri Minor. The captain wanted to see it in action once more before agreeing to let you lead the contact mission on Folvan. So let me congratulate you again, Lieutenant!"
  
  This may be the best news you've heard ever since you earned your commission! While you've been trying your hardest not to get your hopes up, landing this mission has been your primary goal since you learned of Dr. Munro's disappearance. And now it's yours!
  
  You barely got to know Dr. Lori Munro back on Giri Minor; in a crisis situation, there was little time to socialize and develop friendships. With the exception of Commander Andrade, you've had no contact with any of the other survivors since you were rescued by the Orion. But Dr. Munro's initiative, when she made use of her medical training and took charge of the wounded passengers, really made an impression on you. Her actions during that difficult incident inspired you to play your own role to help ensure the survival of everyone who had been marooned with you on that dusty, deserted planet.
  
  And then there was Ander Dyo's good-natured sense of humor, which he maintained despite his injuries and the bleak reality of the situation. You were intrigued by what little you knew of their xenoanthropology mission to the so-called "Grass Planet," but you never got the chance to ask them more about it. Not long after you were whisked away from Giri Minor to safety, the survivors of the crashed transport vessel went their separate ways.
  
  But now it will be your responsibility to locate this wife-and-husband team. The days of babysitting passengers on an unnamed transport are long behind you. At last, your career in the Astral Navy is taking off!
  
  > Page 119
  There is no time to celebrate, however; as the leader of the upcoming mission, your work begins right away. The voyage to Folvan will take almost five days, and during that time you will be kept very busy.
  
  The first step is to assemble your team. Commander Andrade guides you through the selection process, presenting a roster of qualified crewmembers along with their service profiles. Some choices are easy. For instance, you select Dr. Tyam Wildon as your medic largely because he is the most experienced field operative on the entire medical staff. He considers off-ship assignments to be his specialty, and volunteers for just about every mission. When the ship's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tetro Asmeld, confirms his availability, Dr. Wildon becomes your first selection.
  
  Next you choose Lieutenant Ceta Hun-Spruk as the team's science officer. You know little about her, other than that she holds the same rank as you, and is likewise eager to make a name for herself. The one detail in her profile that recommends her above the other candidates is her familiarity with Dr. Munro's research. But she has had some recent field experience as well, most recently on Brebba along with Dr. Wildon.
  
  The Security Chief, Lieutenant Skaxa of Tyuu, recommends Starman Sisny Quabiss for the mission's security detail. He is young--less than a year out of Naval Occupational Training, actually--but he has been rated highly in his performance evaluations. Skaxa says she wants him to build experience.
  
  You are unsure about adding such an inexperienced crewman to your roster, but Andrade suggests you can round out your team by selecting Chief Dansmith as a technical advisor. In fact, she seems to insist on it, and not just because of Starman Quabiss. She points out that Dansmith's multiple talents are sure to come in useful, although you know the real reason is that she and the ship's senior staff want to have someone with tons of experience to provide guidance.
  
  You are thrilled that the commander added Chief Dansmith to your roster, because you're not sure you would have otherwise been bold enough to choose someone with as extensive a resume as his. But you're also more than a little intimidated by the chief, as you just found out during the sensor diagnostic. Won't a non-com who has been on so many missions and served under so many distinguished officers be inclined to secretly critique your every decision? You may have to learn to trust him as much as he will have to trust you.
  
  > To receive your mission briefing, turn to page 120.
  A few hours after the Orion pulls out of the spaceport at Star Base Ishtria, sets course for Folvan, and accelerates into hyperspace, your newly created team is called to the main conference room on A Deck. The message you received stated that Captain Ynthramanni and Commander Jonn Diston, the ship's First Officer, wanted to conduct a mission briefing at 0930 hours.
  
  A Deck is the command center for the entire ship, where the Main Bridge is located, and the conference room is the place where the senior officers usually meet. You've only been there a handful of times before, and you aren't sure what the protocol is for meetings with the ship's command staff: Arrive early? Exactly on time? Is there an aide with whom you will need to check in?
  
  You decide to err on the side of caution and arrive five minutes early. Only two lifts service A Deck, and when you reach the one nearest your quarters you find a young woman with lieutenant's stripes on her sleeves, also waiting for the lift to arrive.
  
  The door opens and a technician steps out; you and the other lieutenant step in.
  
  "A Deck," you state for the benefit of the lift's AI, and the car glides into smooth motion. Your companion was about to state her destination as well, but stops. Apparently you are both going to the same place.
  
  After a second she says, "Thank you for selecting me for this mission."
  
  You turn and look at her more closely; the same age as you, but somewhat shorter, brown hair collected into a regulation ponytail, soft features and a look of hesitance, as if speaking up had required a minor act of courage.
  
  "Ah," you say, "you must be Ceta Hun-Spruk. Good to meet you."
  
  "Likewise," she says.
  
  The lift ride is over quickly, and the doors part to reveal A Deck. You see an empty hallway with an open door to the left, from which you can hear voices.
  
  Sure enough, this is the conference room. A large table runs down the length of the room with seating for a dozen people, and spillover seating along the walls. Currently only two people are present, sitting across from each other at the table. You recognize both: Chief Dansmith on the left, Dr. Tyam Wildon on the right.
  
  "So did you have time to hit up any of those jaxa bars I was telling you about?" Dansmith is saying as you and Hun-Spruk enter the room.
  
  "No," Dr. Wildon says. "Unfortunately we didn't."
  
  "Well that's a shame," Dansmith says. "Years ago some friends and I had a lot of fun in one of those places. Let's just say the service was stellar there. The food and drink weren't bad, either. Those Brebbans may look a little silly, what with all those whiskers and all, but they make a damn good beer."
  
  "Sorry I missed it," Dr. Wildon says. "Maybe we should turn the ship around and go back."
  
  "So I assume the repair mission went smoothly?"
  
  "Very," the doctor says. "That's what happens when you bring the right person along. Lieutenant Hun-Spruk here was able to assess both the chemical composition and the source of the contaminant in the water supply, and so we were able to fix the filtration unit pretty quickly."
  
  "Thanks," Hun-Spruk says, sitting a couple chairs down from Dr. Wildon. "I'm glad I was useful." There is a touch of nervousness in her voice, as if being singled out for the praise is as embarrassing as it is encouraging.
  
  "But next time you might want to be a little less efficient in your work," Dansmith says, his tone light. "Brebba has an interesting culture. When missions take longer, you get to enjoy that kind of thing more."
  
  "Well this mission sounds interesting," Dr. Wildon says, turning to you. "I suppose congratulations are in order for your first assignment."
  
  "Yes, and for your promotion too," Dansmith says. This is the first you've seen him since the incident in the Sensor Array Control Room; you still feel slightly guilty for suspecting him of sabotage, however briefly, but the chief seems unconcerned now. After all, the entire episode was a fiction.
  
  "Thanks," you say. "I'm excited." But in reality you feel a little nervous; you sincerely wanted this mission, but now that it's actually coming together, there is something surreal about this moment--being here in this room, with three of the people who will be under your command.
  
  "Searching for missing xenoanthropologists," Dr. Wildon says. "That's not something you do everyday."
  
  "I just hope they're all right," you say.
  
  "You've met Dr. Munro and Ander Dyo before, didn't you?" Hun-Spruk asks.
  
  "Yes," you say, "briefly, though. Our ship had crashed on a place called Giri Minor. Ander Dyo was injured in the crash, and Dr. Munro served as a medic for the survivors. We were only there for couple days before the Orion rescued us. Commander Andrade was there, too."
  
  "That's cool," Hun-Spruk says. "I've read some of Munro's books before, especially her work on the Quilu culture on Cantan. I'm jealous that you got to meet her."
  
  This is the first time anyone has ever expressed jealousy about your horrific time on Giri Minor, but whatever; you get what she means.
  
  Before you can respond you hear the lift doors open again, and in walk two more people. The first is a stunning Tyuuan woman, with a distinctive pink skin tone and a head of crimson-black hair. Following her is a tall young man, very slender and wide-eyed, as if overwhelmed by this invitation to attend a meeting on A Deck. He wears the common jumpsuit of an enlisted member--just like you did up until a few years ago.
  
  "Lieutenant Skaxa," Dr. Wildon says. "I didn't know you were on this mission."
  
  "I'm not," the crimson-haired woman says in her dusky voice. Lieutenant Skaxa's striking appearance is a combination of genetic adaptation and environmental influence; Tyuu would be uninhabitable to humans were it not for the modifications her ancestors made to her people's genome so long ago. As a result, Tyuuans identify themselves as a separate species: Homo tyuuensis confortatus, or the "strengthened people from Tyuu."
  
  "Commander Diston says he's running a little late and will be here in a moment," she says. "But I wanted to introduce one of the members of your team: Starman Sisny Quabiss."
  
  You stand up to shake the young man's hand. "Welcome," you say.
  
  "Thank you, Lieutenant." He looks around the table and quickly takes a seat next to Chief Dansmith, the only other person in the room not wearing an officer's uniform.
  
  "Good luck on your mission," Lieutenant Skaxa says. "I'm on my way to the bridge. I'll let Commander Diston know you're all here for your briefing."
  
  Hardly any time passes at all when the First Officer steps briskly into the conference room. "I apologize for being late," he says. Commander Jonn Diston is a tall man with broad shoulders--an imposing physical presence, even though he is in his forties now. Behind him is another young lieutenant, tall and very dark-haired, in contrast with his name: Aolin Wyte.
  
  Lieutenant Wyte sits in one of the chairs nearest the door. Commander Diston strides down the length of the room and assumes the seat at the head of the table. "Captain Ynthramanni wanted to be here, but he got called away," he explains.
  
  "So let's get started. I invited Lieutenant Wyte to join us because he will be serving as your mission liaison with the bridge. He will be monitoring your status and relaying your findings to myself and the captain."
  
  You look toward Wyte, but his attention his focused squarely on Diston. You and the lieutenant are well acquainted with each other; he has been your biggest rival since you both arrived on the Orion at almost the same time. He made lieutenant two months before you, and rumor has it that he also wanted command of this mission. So he got promoted first, but it was you who landed the mission. If he is upset by that, then perhaps he is trying to passively express himself by avoiding eye contact with you.
  
  "So I'm sure you're all aware of the basic mission parameters," Commander Diston continues. "Four researchers have been living on the planet Folvan for about four years. The leader of the group is Dr. Lori Munro, who I understand is well regarded in scientific circles. With her is her husband, Ander Dyo, and two assistants: Aro Tligman and Emman Theep.
  
  "During this time they have been secretly observing a village of indigenous people. They were trying to unlock the mystery of how some members of this bronze-age race were apparently able to move across the planet almost instantaneously, but since they were avoiding direct contact with the Folvans at all costs they had not met with much success. Then the researchers ceased transmitting their regular status updates to Star Base Ishtria about two weeks ago."
  
  You imagine the commander must have been a paradigm of strength and athletic prowess when he was younger; now that his hair has turned salt-and-pepper and his muscles have lost their tone, he is adjusting to his new role in life as an administrator. The crew of the Orion loves the commander for his sense of fairness and his relatability; unlike some naval officers, Commander Diston doesn't lord his rank over the crew--even if he does stand a full head higher than most of them.
  
  "Your mission will be to make contact with the xenoanthropologists, assess their condition, and provide whatever assistance they require," he says.
  
  "Do we know anything about the circumstances behind their disappearance?" you ask. "Did Dr. Munro indicate something was wrong before she went dark?"
  
  "We don't know much," Diston says. "Just that they have based themselves in the planet's northern latitudes, in an impact crater created by an asteroid collision thousands of years ago. According to Star Base Ishtria, there was no indication that anything was amiss."
  
  "It could just be a transmitter issue," Chief Dansmith says. "Let me take a technical team down there and we will have the doctor back online in a few hours."
  
  "No, that's out of the question," Diston says. "Not until we have a better idea of what the situation is."
  
  "Why? What would be the risk?" Dansmith says.
  
  "The problem is that we are under strict orders from Admiral Stackhouse himself not to reveal ourselves to the native populatio