text: > 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!
  
  > open canister
  That's already open.
  
  > wait a while
  Time passes.
  
  > put the salt in canister
  You scoop up the sea salt with the canister.
  
  > 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)
  
  > 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.
  
  > 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.
  
  > look at the touchplate
  The touchplate is indigo and emblazoned with an upwards-pointing triangle.
  
  > 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.
  
  > 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.
  
  > 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.
  
  > take the sponge
  Taken.
  
  > 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)
  
  > 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.
  
  > 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.
  
  > touch the tube
  You feel nothing unexpected. Of course, you're wearing gloves, but you probably wouldn't feel anything unexpected anyway.
  
  > 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?
  
  > look at the pink
  The icon on this touchplate exactly matches the shape of the door beside it.
  
  > 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.
  
  > 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.
  
  > tell Emily about the cylinder
  "Um... right! Good point! Okay, I actually have no idea what you mean."
  
  > 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."
  
  > take the headset
  That seems to belong to Emily.
  
  > give the headset to you
  "Sure," she says, handing you the headset.
  
  > 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."
  
  > tell Emily about the cats
  "Interesting. I wonder why that touchplate had the creature rather than the landscape inscribed on it?"
  
  > tell Emily about the squid
  "Yow. I'm glad it was you and not me -- that would have freaked me out a bit."
  
  > 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."
  
  > tell Emily about parrots
  "That sounds irritating. I probably woulda blasted 'em."
  
  > 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.
  
  > 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!
  
  > 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.