text: > look around
  The western half of the upstairs hallway ends at the door of the communications room, which you don't have clearance to enter. Theres a door to the officers' lounge to the north, and a narrow staircase
  leads up to the observatory.
  
  Go601 is scanning the surroundings for enemy activity and vents its nasal sensors.
  
  > Go up
  This is the room where the scientists come to warm up and rest after long days and nights out in the cold air of Mars. The observatory, which is open to the Martian air, is to the west, and a narrow staircase leads back down to the upstairs hallway.
  
  Go601 follows you, its titanium claws rattling against the floor.
  
  > Go west
  This is the outdoors observatory where the scientists and other eggheads explore the secrets of the cosmos. Your mission is to protect them and their studies. A door to the east leads back into the base.
  
  The squad of Martian soldiers guarding the road to the mountain base are almost right below you. They keep scanning the horizon, not thinking about looking up. Stupid Martians!
  
  Go601 follows you, its titanium claws rattling against the ground.
  
  > examine Martians
  Martians are horrible betentacled monsters with eye stalks, drooling mouths and sharp teeth!
  
  > Inventory
  You are carrying:
  a smoke bomb
  a packet of canine motivational treats
  a battle helmet (being worn)
  a time bomb
  a tactical armor (being worn)
  a laser caltrop mines
  
  > throw the smoke bomb at the soldiers
  You throw the smoke bomb at the squad of Martian monstrosities, and it lands smack in middle of them with a loud crack and a BANG. The smoke envelopes the betentacled monsters, who try in vain to call for help
  on their radios!
  
  > examine time bomb
  It's a grenade sized explosive that has a timer. You use it by setting the bomb and taking cover.
  
  > go south
  The airlock is designed to keep out the dust and poisons of Martian air, and keep the good, healthy Earth air in. It has turned into a storage for all kinds of junk.
  
  Go601 follows you, its titanium claws rattling against the floor.
  
  You can hear the jamming device hiss and crackle in the Rec Room.
  
  > Go south
  You can't go that way.
  
  You can hear the jamming device hiss and crackle in the Rec Room.
  
  > throw the motivational treat at the thrower
  Go601's head snaps up when you take out the packet of treats, and
  break away a small piece. You throw the piece over the fortifications, and Go601 is up in the air almost before the piece has left your fingers. The Cyber Hound soars over the fortifications, landing on all fours on the slippery rock.
  
  The treat has landed right next to the flame thrower, and Go601 snuffles around it for a moment before grabbing it in his jaws and looking at you questioningly. 'Here, boy, come on!' you shout at it, and Go601 trots behind the Firebase, arriving around the corner a moment later and dropping the fire thrower at your feet. Good boy!
  
  > take it
  You already have that.
  
  > Go northwest
  The western flank of Firebase Bravo is still occupied by the Martian menace, but the soldiers who were guarding the road are now coughing
  in the cloud of smoke and trying to figure out what caused it! The filthy Martians are babbling and gargling into their communications devices, which you have jammed. Hahaa!
  
  Go601 follows you, its titanium claws rattling against the ground.
  
  > attack Martians with the flamethrower
  You burst out of your hiding place, and with a blood curdling battle cry you fall on your enemies, spraying around liquid fire that fries the tentacled Martian monsters to bits. They are so distracted by the smoke bomb and their malfunctioning communications that you take three of them out before they even realize what is happening. The rest of them are an easy prey for your flame thrower.
  
  In mere seconds you are standing amidst the smoking and crackling corpses of the Martian horrors, and the road to their base is open!
  
  > Go north
  The Martian base is a huge bunker built atop the mountain next to Firebase Bravo. The cowardly Martians have sealed themselves in, no doubt waiting for reinforcements to take over the Firebase and the whole area. That must not happen, this foothold has to be destroyed at any cost! The problem is, the bunker has really thick walls.
  
  Go601 follows you, its titanium claws rattling against the ground.
  
  > examine the bunker
  (the martian bunker)
  Up close it's even more massive and hideous than seen from afar. They have built it from their concrete-like spit, combined with electrics and electronics. There's a weird device assembly on the top of the bunker, and although it's otherwise seamless, there's something that looks like an entrance: a totally featureless slab with slight seams.
  
  > examine slab
  The bunker entrance is a totally featureless slab, with a seam that's so narrow it could as well be a line drawn with a pen.
  
  > look at the device
  You can't fathom most of the functions of the devices, but some of
  them are quite obvious: there are motion detectors all around the bunker. If you get within a few meters of it, no doubt an alarm will ring inside and you will get swarmed by dozens and dozens of Martian monstrosities pouring out of the entrance. You will need something to slow them down a bit!
  
  > look at the caltrops
  They are named after an ancient weapon, which was a spiky thing they dropped in the olden times to slow down horses and men. Laser caltrop mines shoot out hundreds of laser beams that fill your feet with
  holes.
  
  > drop the caltrops
  You run to the bunker door, and hear a whirring sound from the device assembly on top of the bunker, shortly followed by an alert klaxon inside. You place the mines quickly on the ground, toss a few pieces
  of lichen on top of them, and duck around the corner and out of the blast radius. There! Now you have only a few seconds to set the time bomb!
  
  > set the time bomb
  You dash towards the Martian bunker, wary of gunnery holes, secret doorways or other ambushes, but the cowardly Martians are totally sealed in. But oh no, what is this - there are gliders above you and they have spotted you! You have only a few seconds to act, and you decide to make the biggest sacrifice a soldier can make.
  
  You set the timer for a few seconds and leap on the bunker! You can hear the lasers of the gliders squeawking above you as the Martian glider pilots zero in to you.
  
  "FOR EARTH!" you scream and press the bomb against the wall of the bunker, and BOOOOOOOM!
  
  You fly through the air and land on the ground, blown to shreds by the bomb, but the Martian bunker is destroyed! Now the Earth Command can retake the area and Firebase Bravo, you have lost your life but you will be a hero, maybe they will name the base after you and build you
  a statue!
  
  You stay on your back on the crunchy but soft patch of lichen, and
  look at the skies. That was an intense game, and a little bit sad, since the hero had to die in the end. But that's war, people die, but they die for their planet and they die as heroes.
  
  Gogol walks next to you, sniffs your ear and lies down next to you - a big, hairy warm animal. Although it's windy, the sun is warm and the navigational cairn next to you provides some cover. You turn your head and look past your house to the southern end of the island. For a moment you think there's something silvery and glittery in there, but having been running outside the whole morning, you suddenly realize
  you are very sleepy.
  
  You wake up to Gogol licking your face. You splutter and get up,
  wiping the dog drool off your face. You have no idea how long you have slept, your back is a bit sore from lying on the rocky ground, even with the soft lichen. The sun has moved in the sky, you must've slept at least a couple of hours! You feel all groggy and messy, but well rested. Time to go back in, I guess.
  
  Wait a minute, is it just sun glinting on the wavesâ¦? No, there
  is something shiny in the sea in the southern end of the
  island!
  
  The top of the hill is almost on the level of the roof of your house, and you have a beautiful view over the whole island. The navigational cairn is eye-blindingly bright seen up close, the white paint really shines and reflects the hazy sunlight. There is not much vegetation in here, except for some patches of crunchy and dry lichen.
  
  Gogol looks up at the wheeling seagulls.
  
  > go south
  The center of the island is covered by low hardy shrubs whose roots manage to cling to the rocks in the harsh winter winds. Here and there rocks poke through the undergrowth, covered with gray and orange lichen. There's a narrow path through the area to the south of the island - wading through the brush is a good way to rip your clothes
  and turn your ankle on the rocks.
  
  Gogol trots after you.
  
  > go to the south
  In the southern tip of the island the vegetation has lost the fight against the winds, and the rocks are almost bare here. There are several pools of water that almost never dry out. Some of them are close enough to the shore that when the tide is in, the waves can fill them up again, but you are not sure where all of them get their water.
  
  The waves are hammering the shore to the west and south of you, their noise is loud enough to drown the sound of the seagulls. In the east, in the lee side of the island, the waves are much more quiet.
  
  Gogol trots after you.
  
  > go south
  It takes you a moment to really understand what you are seeing, what
  is the thing that's bobbing up and down with the waves, tangled in the rocks a couple of meters from the shore.
  
  Oh my god!
  
  IT'S A SPACE SUIT!
  
  A silvery wrinkled space suit and a large helmet, with a visor that glints in hues of gold, being bashed against the rocks by the waves, it's so bright in the sunshine that it almost hurts your eyes.
  
  No, wait, oh my god!
  
  IT MOVED, IT JUST MOVED! THERE'S A PERSON IN THERE, IT'S A ROCKET-MAN!
  
  He's in trouble, he's trying to grab the rocks while clutching a large suitcase to his chest! I must help him!
  
  The thundering of the waves is ear-splitting in this end of the
  island, and the air is full of the salty mist of their breaking. In
  the south the island has no clear waterline (except at high tide),  it just gradually vanishes under the sea, leaving tall rocks jutting up from the sea meters and meters from the shore. Father says that there are many shipwrecks close to the south tip because careless captains and sailors came too close to the shore. Often there's all kinds of flotsam floating between the rocks. Now there are only slimy and old sticks, leaves and algae mats, but sometimes you have found cans, bottles and once even plastic doll. In spite of the high winds,
  there's a stink of rotting seaweed and old fish.
  
  There's a rocket pilot fighting for his life amidst the waves that are pounding him against the rocks. The stubby gloves of his suit can't
  get a purchase on the slimy rocks, and he's trying to hang on to a small suitcase with one hand.
  
  Gogol trots after you.
  
  > look at what you're carrying with you
  You are carrying:
  a white plastic spray can
  an egg timer
  a pasta strainer (being worn)
  a child size life vest (being worn)
  a packet of wieners