ClubFloyd Transcript: The Weapon by Sean Barrett
As played on ifMUD on April 13, 2008

The idea behind ClubFloyd is that each week at a pre-arranged time, a group of people meet online to cooperatively play a game of interactive fiction.

Below is a transcript of The Weapon, written by Sean Barrett. The Weapon was originally released in 2001. It received two XYZZY nominations, one for Best Puzzles, and one for Best Individual NPC. You can learn more about the game, including how to download it, by visiting Baf's Guide.

WARNING! Below you will find a transcript of people playing this game, and it goes without saying that the transcript is full of spoilers. So, if you've never played this game, and think you might like to at some point, I do not recommend reading any further. Instead, you might want to return to the interactive fiction page.

Floyd | Welcome to the Cheap Glk Implementation, library version 0.9.0.
Floyd |
Floyd |

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |

Floyd | You pass the sentry watching the doorway to the Yi control room,
Floyd | hardly aware of his presence, and step inside, stopping before the
Floyd | owner of the familiar, frowning face just inside. Your escorts come to
Floyd | a halt behind you.
Floyd |
Floyd | "Tolan," the tall, wiry woman says to you.

Floyd |
Floyd | You steel yourself for the need to speak. "Cheryl," you reply. "Dig
Floyd | Leader Cheryl Thadafel. I knew you would have need of the greatest
Floyd | Mechanist in the galaxy. Again." The longest speech ever to cross
Floyd | these lips?
Floyd |

Floyd | "Tolan, this is going to be on my terms, or not at all."
Floyd |
Floyd | You turn your empty hands face-up. "Cheryl, this is important to me.
Floyd | It is the Yi-Lono-Mordel. Whatever the restrictions, I cannot miss
Floyd | this opportunity."
Floyd |

Floyd | "Especially if the restrictions required you be kept away from it.
Floyd | Enough. I don't have much else to work with here, do I?" As she
Floyd | dismisses the guards, you sweep your eyes about the room.
Floyd |
Floyd | Again.
Floyd |

Floyd | This time you will pull it off--regardless of Cheryl's desires.
Floyd |
Floyd | THE WEAPON
Floyd | an Interactive Misdirection
Floyd | Copyright 2001, Sean Barrett
Floyd | Release 1 / Serial number 010706 / Inform v6.21vs Library 6/10stb

Floyd |
Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel Control Room
Floyd | Most humans would probably find it the height of fashion, but this low
Floyd | ellipsoidal room makes you uncomfortable with its perfect symmetry and
Floyd | sterility. The featureless white wall is broken up only by the large
Floyd | elliptical window in the ceiling and the circular doorway through

Floyd | which you entered. A cluster of forms sits in the center, atop the
Floyd | slightly concave floor.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl Thadafel stands here, watching you closely.
Floyd |
Floyd | [Type "ABOUT" for special information about interacting with THE

Floyd | WEAPON.]
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | EXAMINE everything to learn what the character you're controlling
Floyd | knows, even tiny objects which are unlikely to have traditional
Floyd | descriptions.
Floyd |

Floyd | The only other significant deviation of this game from typical
Floyd | interactive fiction is in communication with other characters:
Floyd |
Floyd | TALK TO character; TALK; T    Respond to another character's
Floyd | conversation
Floyd | ASK character FOR object      Ask a character to supply you with an

Floyd | object
Floyd | character, EAT FOOD           Ask a character to do something specific
Floyd |
Floyd | If someone threatens to incapacitate you if you don't do as they tell
Floyd | you, take the threat seriously. You can always UNDO if things do go
Floyd | wrong; the game prevents you from taking actions that would require

Floyd | more than one UNDO to recover from--that is, actions that put the game
Floyd | in an unwinnable state.
Floyd |
Floyd | Hints and credits are available by typing HINT.
Floyd |
Floyd | Remember, EXAMINE everything to learn what the character you're

Floyd | controlling knows.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The room is about fifteen meters long, eight meters wide, and three

Floyd | meters tall, in the traditional Yi ratio 4:2:1, with the vertical
Floyd | compromised to only 2/3 its height before the somewhat flat floor
Floyd | intrudes.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "This is our chance to make a difference, Tolan. But only
Floyd | if we do it according to my rules. You're going to see what sort of

Floyd | information you can get displayed. As soon as you bring some Yi text
Floyd | up, you stop. You don't touch anything until I say it's ok to
Floyd | continue. Got it?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Just use TALK or REPLY to engage in idle chitchat; for
Floyd | non-conversational communication, see the information in ABOUT.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You reply, "Of course. I will do it your way rather than not at all."
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "I'd be more glad to hear that if I actually trusted you,

Floyd | Tolan."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You glance down at your body, taking care not to let the loathing show
Floyd | on your face, but there is really nothing worth noticing. Unless you
Floyd | count these idiotic handcuffs.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "As you asked, the guards will keep their distance so
Floyd | they won't disturb your concentration. It'll just be you and me. And,

Floyd | since I'm no mechanist, I've got this--just so I can keep tabs on
Floyd | you." She shows you a holographic reproduction of this room, hovering
Floyd | over a black base. "There are sensors for movement, electromagnetic
Floyd | radiation, and I don't know what else, all analyzing this room. This
Floyd | little display lets me monitor the activity everywhere in the room so
Floyd | I can see what you're up to. So don't think you'll get away with

Floyd | anything."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Military grade handcuffs--oblong, blocky, but perfectly functional.
Floyd | You have seen them often enough in your lifetime--almost always in
Floyd | similar circumstances, sadly. They are securely fastened around your
Floyd | wrists, although since they are locked in front of you they should not
Floyd | interfere too much with your work.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The pale flesh of human wrists.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | They're plainly inedible.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (with the handcuffs)
Floyd | Those don't seem to fit the lock.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (the floor)
Floyd | The floor is such a gentle concave slope, with its lowest point at the
Floyd | center under the various forms, that you cannot tell whether it is
Floyd | elliptical, spherical, parabolic, hyperbolic, or something
Floyd | higher-order.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | (the room)
Floyd | The room is about fifteen meters long, eight meters wide, and three
Floyd | meters tall, in the traditional Yi ratio 4:2:1, with the vertical

Floyd | compromised to only 2/3 its height before the floor intrudes.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl sighs. "Tolan, do you have any idea how important it is we
Floyd | figure this place out, once and for all?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Looking out the window you can only get the faintest sense of the
Floyd | magnitude of Yi-Lono-Mordel. The sun you now orbit is on the opposite
Floyd | side from this window, although you can see one star, very close. The
Floyd | other asteroids are in the same orbit, so they'd never appear above

Floyd | you--and they would surely be too distant to be visible even if the
Floyd | window did face them.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "The problem is with the Lono, as you might guess."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "Are not the Lono long gone? Or is there a Terran Alliance
Floyd | secret?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Dig Leader Cheryl Thadafel is a tall, wiry woman in her forties,
Floyd | perhaps late thirties. You spent the last three months looking forward
Floyd | to seeing her again, but now that you do, you wonder why you found her
Floyd | pug nose and staring eyes attractive in your memories. Perhaps it was

Floyd | just that you had little else to think about. Cheryl is carrying a
Floyd | monitor hologram, a laser pistol, and a key.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl replies, "Gone, but not forgotten. We didn't lie about
Floyd | anything, though. After the battle at Calder's Star, every last one of
Floyd | their ships retreated through the wormhole back to their galaxy."

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The forms consist of a raised slab (in the same proportions as the
Floyd | ellipsoidal room, but a rectangular parallelepiped instead) and two

Floyd | gleaming swept curves (one on each side of the slab).
Floyd |
Floyd | "But," Cheryl continues, "They swore an oath. Apparently the same one
Floyd | they swore against the Yi, millennia ago. They're going to be back,
Floyd | Tolan, back with a vengeance. Soon. So before they show up, I'm going
Floyd | to have found a way to put an end to it--and that's why you're here."

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Given that one of the guards who brought you up here gave the key to
Floyd | Cheryl, this elliptical disk of grey metal is almost certainly the key

Floyd | for a certain particularly annoying pair of handcuffs.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "You probably never realized it, Tolan, but the Yi had a
Floyd | somewhat high opinion of themselves. The word Yi isn't just their
Floyd | name--it means 'the end' or 'the ultimate'. The 'Yi-Lono-Mordel' isn't
Floyd | 'the Yi's Lono weapon'; it's 'the final Lono weapon'. They were

Floyd | planning to win their war with it."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | A flickering three-dimensional image in the shape of the control room

Floyd | hovers over a plain black base, itself a rectangular parallelepiped.
Floyd |
Floyd | ("Rectangular parallelepiped"! How can any sane creature stand to use
Floyd | a language with no proper word for the simplest form with parallel
Floyd | sides? It's a wonder humanity made it off Terra.)
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl says, "So I guess I'll finally make it into the history books
Floyd | by doing it for them."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You are carrying:
Floyd |   a pair of handcuffs (being worn)
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Apparently standard issue to military officers, given the frequency
Floyd | with which you have been on the wrong end of them, the shiny chrome
Floyd | and spiky protrustions leave no question as to the purpose of this
Floyd | device. At least the Yi tend to be subtle about it.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You could not manage it while wearing those handcuffs.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You jump on the spot, fruitlessly.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "That's a bit of Mechanism I've never seen before."
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd |
Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel Control Room

Floyd | This low ellipsoidal room makes you uncomfortable with its perfect
Floyd | symmetry and sterility. The featureless white wall is broken up only
Floyd | by the large elliptical window in the ceiling and the circular doorway
Floyd | through which you entered. In the center sits a slab, two swept curves
Floyd | surrounding it.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl stands here, watching you closely.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Though the reason they are shaped into hyperboloids is unknown to you,
Floyd | you are well aware that each of these metal lumps served as an energy
Floyd | locus for a Yi--in this environment, a work location. The two sit on
Floyd | either side of the slab, one on the side nearest the door, one on the
Floyd | far side. They would be far too awkward to serve as a chair for your
Floyd | body.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You are unable to.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | Although they are seemingly metallic, no free electrons wander the
Floyd | surface of these shapes; you can find nothing to influence.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | (Cheryl about that)
Floyd | Just use TALK or REPLY to engage in idle chitchat; for
Floyd | non-conversational communication, see the information in ABOUT.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The slab, subtly off-white, is warm to the touch, and hides the
Floyd | sensitive Yi technological components needed to manipulate the whole

Floyd | of Yi-Lono-Mordel; this much you were able to determine the last time
Floyd | you were here. In the top center edge on the side opposite the door is
Floyd | a small notch.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You recognize the notch as a standard Yi heat-sensitive triggering
Floyd | device; human body temperature happens to be sufficient to activate
Floyd | this one, as you figured out before you were halted in your tracks on

Floyd | your previous attempt at conquering Yi-Lono-Mordel.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Cheryl says, "Tolan, I don't trust you further than I can throw you.

Floyd | Until I see a problem you can't solve with the handcuffs on, forget
Floyd | it."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (Cheryl)
Floyd | You don't think talking right now would accomplish anything.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You glance down at your body for a fresh reminder of your situation.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch the the notch with a minimal pressure. It is cooler than the
Floyd | rest of the slab, and you can feel the heat from your finger being

Floyd | drawn out momentarily. Where no cracks had been visible before,
Floyd | nevertheless sections of the top of the slab give way, and a control
Floyd | surface slides up and clicks into place.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Ok, this is interesting." She peers at the control
Floyd | surface.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The control surface is covered with a large grid of studs arranged in
Floyd | a hexagonal packing; it also features a set-in viewscreen.

Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "What's on that screen?" She approaches from other side
Floyd | of the slab. "Bah. See if you can find some text there."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You find nothing of interest.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The viewscreen is a small, perfectly square display set into the
Floyd | control surface. It shows some indecipherable icons.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | They are indecipherable.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (first taking the icons)
Floyd | That's hardly portable.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Each of the thousands of studs arrayed in a regular hexagonal packing
Floyd | across the control surface has a color and shape, but those two

Floyd | together are not enough to make each unique. However, it resembles all
Floyd | the other Yi mechanisms you have encountered in your life; although
Floyd | nobody else in the galaxy might ever realize it, the third axis of
Floyd | encoding is in the electric potential of the stud. Although the human
Floyd | body is poorly suited to the task, your long study has made you
Floyd | sensitive to this dimension as well. With that extra information and

Floyd | your encyclopedic knowledge of Yi technology, you can hazard a guess
Floyd | about many of these controls.
Floyd |
Floyd | There are a number of studs whose exact function you are fairly
Floyd | certain you would recall if you studied them more closely and which
Floyd | seem relevant right now: an information stud, a powerup stud, a

Floyd | project status stud, a sequence stud, and a forcefield stud.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Activating this stud will bring up a large display on which will be
Floyd | shown what you imagine must be a detailed description of the purpose
Floyd | behind Yi-Lono-Mordel and information on how to use it--none of which
Floyd | would do you any good, since you can not read Yi writing. You are not
Floyd | certain that this is the information it displays, but you did activate
Floyd | and then deactivate this stud several months ago, so you are quite

Floyd | positive about it being full of Yi text.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Activating this stud should power on and off all the major systems

Floyd | needed to use Yi-Lono-Mordel.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the powerup stud and focus

Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | Hmm... Absolutely nothing happens. Given the years of disuse, perhaps
Floyd | the generator is in need of minor maintenance. You search the control
Floyd | surface and find a generator access stud, which should give you access
Floyd | to the generator so you can make any repairs necessary.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | Activating this stud ought to produce some sort of more detailed
Floyd | display of the Yi-Lono-Mordel status. Knowing the way the Yi tend to
Floyd | compartmentalize knowledge, it will hopefully not give any detail

Floyd | about the point of the entire mechanism.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Activating this stud should give you access to the fusion generator

Floyd | used to power this facility.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Activating this toggle stud will most likely bring up a concise

Floyd | listing of the steps needed to use Yi-Lono-Mordel on the control
Floyd | surface viewscreen. It probably has text that Cheryl could decipher,
Floyd | but hopefully it includes symbolic instructions; despite your bravado,
Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel is on a vastly different scope that any other Yi
Floyd | technology you have worked with, and you'll need help getting it
Floyd | going--help you can not rely on Cheryl for. Unfortunately, Cheryl

Floyd | seems to be able to see the viewscreen pretty clearly.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You are no coward, but you know when you can use some help, so you

Floyd | always have an eye open for something like this. Activating this stud
Floyd | probably turns on a forcefield generator around the control slab--and
Floyd | Yi forcefields are nearly impenetrable by human technology. This might
Floyd | come in handy if Cheryl was not always so close to the slab.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | This is the only stud you were able to activate when you were here
Floyd | before, and you are positive that it will produce the information
Floyd | Cheryl's looking for--which would make her bring today's session to a
Floyd | halt. It might be enough information for her to figure out what this

Floyd | place is; if so, you'd never get a chance to try again. So you better
Floyd | not activate it unless you've got some way to stop her.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the generator access stud and
Floyd | focus your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |

Floyd | A pale green energy appears on the monitor hologram. Cheryl says,
Floyd | "What's that? Don't touch..."
Floyd |
Floyd | To the right, a white pillar with an elliptical cross-section slides
Floyd | up out of the floor.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl says, "You better know what you're doing here, Tolan."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "I'm looking for the manual override."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | This looks to be the fusion generator. It is an elliptical white
Floyd | pillar, almost two meters tall, one meter wide, and half a meter deep.
Floyd | On the long front side is an access panel, which is closed.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Well, of course. I'd help, but I'm busy watching you."
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "Of course."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Visible only by a small color variation, a parametrically-rectangular
Floyd | section of the front of the pillar seems to be an access panel.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Tolan, my superiors don't want you anywhere near here.

Floyd | If they find out, I'll be in a lot of trouble."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "Even if I find a way to win the war?"

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | There's no good reply to make.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl says, "If I manage to find a way to win the war, they'll
Floyd | forgive me. But I can't tell them about it yet. They don't trust you
Floyd | at all. I don't really trust you. But we've worked together, so I'm
Floyd | sure I can keep you under control, and more importantly, I'm sure you
Floyd | can get me access. I know you can do this. I don't know if anybody
Floyd | else could."

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You smile. "Nobody else could."
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | The access panel has no seams you could work your fingernails into,
Floyd | and nothing else you could grip.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl says, "And of anyone, I'm the only one who will be able to make
Floyd | heads or tails out of whatever information you can dig up."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingers to the access panel and immediately recognize
Floyd | the subtle flow of energy through the surface. How much easier this
Floyd | would be if you could see in the electromagnetic spectrum! After a
Floyd | moment of concentration, you align the energy in your fingertips
Floyd | against the flow. The access panel swings open, revealing a fusion
Floyd | generator bay.

Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "What exactly is that?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "It is a wiring crossover terminal. Something is not
Floyd | connected correctly."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The fusion generator bay is a spherical chamber which houses several
Floyd | Yi components you recognize comprise a plasma generator--a much bigger
Floyd | generator than you have ever seen in your long life--while the one
Floyd | remaining mechanism must be a plasma containment system--something you
Floyd | have always suspected the Yi were capable of, despite it being beyond
Floyd | your species' ability to produce. Closer inspection of the containment

Floyd | system reveals twelve contact points.
Floyd |
Floyd | You recall noticing a tool stud which might give you something useful
Floyd | for analyzing the situation.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Oh, right, I should have recognized it."

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The twelve contacts are arranged around the edge of the plasma
Floyd | generation zone in perfect symmetry. They all look quite identical.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Which do you mean, the plasma generator or the plasma containment
Floyd | system?

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You feel nothing unexpected.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You feel nothing unexpected.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (the white pillar)
Floyd | This is the fusion generator. It is an elliptical white pillar, almost
Floyd | two meters tall, one meter wide, and half a meter deep. On the long
Floyd | front side is an access panel, which is open, revealing a fusion

Floyd | generator bay.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | I only understood you as far as wanting to touch the tool stud.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The thing you suspect is a plasma containment system looks perfectly

Floyd | serviceable. The twelve contacts arranged around the bay must be the
Floyd | loci of some sort of magnetic field used to contain the plasma.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the tool stud and focus your
Floyd | mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | A slot appears on the top of the slab, to the left. Rising out of the
Floyd | slot is an electropulse probe.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl says, "What is that? Hands off, Tolan." She grabs it as it
Floyd | emerges.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | There's no good reply to make.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "You can have this once I'm sure it's safe, Tolan."
Floyd |
Floyd | She examines the probe carefully, then aims it so neither end is
Floyd | pointing at either of you, and fiddles with it for a moment.

Floyd |
Floyd | Although you cannot see anything happening directly,  Cheryl's monitor
Floyd | hologram lights up with a multi-colored iridescent sphere which slowly
Floyd | fades away.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Huh. Just an electromagnetic toy." She sets it down on

Floyd | the slab.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | A thin, cylindrical, half-meter-long rod, the electropulse probe is a

Floyd | common Yi device for working with certain kinds of Yi technology. The
Floyd | subtle interplay of electric and magnetic fields found in mechanisms
Floyd | can be stimulated with the probe, useful for detection, analysis, or
Floyd | calibration. At one end are two control sensors.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Which do you mean, the top sensor or the bottom sensor?
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The top sensor will trigger the probe to fire immediately.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The bottom sensor triggers the probe to fire after a delay.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Taken.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You trigger the top sensor.
Floyd |

Floyd | Although you cannot see anything happening directly,  Cheryl's monitor
Floyd | hologram lights up with a multi-colored iridescent sphere which slowly
Floyd | fades away.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You put the electropulse probe into the fusion generator bay.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You trigger the top sensor.
Floyd |
Floyd | Although you cannot see anything happening directly,  Cheryl's monitor
Floyd | hologram lights up with a multi-colored iridescent sphere which slowly
Floyd | fades away. At the same time, a number of smaller points of white

Floyd | appear in the part of the hologram corresponding to the fusion bay,
Floyd | but you cannot make out the details; they are somewhat obscured by the
Floyd | glow of the probe.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You trigger the bottom sensor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Time passes.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Your singing is abominable.
Floyd |
Floyd | Although you cannot see anything happening directly,  Cheryl's monitor
Floyd | hologram lights up with a multi-colored iridescent sphere which slowly
Floyd | fades away. At the same time, a number of smaller points of white
Floyd | appear in the part of the hologram corresponding to the fusion bay,

Floyd | but you cannot make out the details from here; they are somewhat
Floyd | obscured by the glow of the probe.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Tolan, we both have to be here. So please don't make it
Floyd | any worse for me."
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "The urge has passed now."
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd |
Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel Control Room

Floyd | This low ellipsoidal room makes you uncomfortable with its perfect
Floyd | symmetry and sterility. The featureless white wall is broken up only
Floyd | by the large elliptical window in the ceiling and the circular doorway
Floyd | through which you entered. In the center sits a slab, two swept curves
Floyd | surrounding it.
Floyd |

Floyd | In the center of the right side of the room is a white pillar. The
Floyd | access panel on the pillar is open, exposing a fusion generator bay.
Floyd | An electropulse probe sticks out of the bay.
Floyd |
Floyd | On the slab are a slot (which is empty) and a control surface.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl stands here, watching you closely.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You could not manage it while wearing those handcuffs.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | Violence isn't the answer to this one.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | A thin half-meter-long rod, the electropulse probe is a common Yi
Floyd | device for working with certain kinds of Yi technology. The subtle
Floyd | interplay of electric and magnetic fields found in mechanisms can be
Floyd | stimulated with the probe, useful for detection, analysis, or

Floyd | calibration. At one end are two control sensors.
Floyd |
Floyd | The probe is sticking out of the fusion generator bay
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | This narrow rectangular slot is where the probe emerged.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You feel nothing unexpected.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | What do you want to probe?
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You're not holding the probe.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Taken.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You move the probe near yourself and trigger the top sensor.

Floyd |
Floyd | Although you cannot see anything happening directly,  Cheryl's monitor
Floyd | hologram lights up with a multi-colored iridescent sphere which slowly
Floyd | fades away.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You put the electropulse probe into the fusion generator bay.
Floyd |

Floyd | You trigger the top sensor.
Floyd |
Floyd | Although you cannot see anything happening directly,  Cheryl's monitor
Floyd | hologram lights up with a multi-colored iridescent sphere which slowly
Floyd | fades away. At the same time, a number of smaller points of white
Floyd | appear in the part of the hologram corresponding to the fusion bay,

Floyd | but you cannot make out the details from here--unfortunate, since
Floyd | those details are just what you need to make the repairs; they are
Floyd | somewhat obscured by the glow of the probe.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You trigger the bottom sensor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | A flickering three-dimensional image of the control room hovers over a
Floyd | rectangular black base.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You try to get a better look at Cheryl's monitor hologram as the probe
Floyd | fires; it looks like you only see eleven flickers of white, but you
Floyd | can not be sure, and Cheryl does not look comfortable with the idea of
Floyd | you standing any closer.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | Cheryl isn't particularly interested.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You trigger the bottom sensor.
Floyd | Time passes.
Floyd | Cheryl isn't particularly interested.
Floyd |
Floyd | Although you cannot see anything happening directly,  Cheryl's monitor

Floyd | hologram lights up with a multi-colored iridescent sphere which slowly
Floyd | fades away. At the same time, a number of smaller points of white
Floyd | appear in the part of the hologram corresponding to the fusion bay,
Floyd | but you cannot make out the details from here; they are somewhat
Floyd | obscured by the glow of the probe.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You can't see any such thing.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | I didn't understand that sentence.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You need to be holding the electropulse probe before you can put it
Floyd | into something else.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | (first taking the electropulse probe)
Floyd | You put the "top" end of the probe back into the slot, leaving the
Floyd | sensors exposed. The probe is held in place firmly, but sticks up out

Floyd | of the slot.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You trigger the top sensor.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl's monitor hologram lights up with a burst of radiant energy
Floyd | from the probe, just under the surface of the slab.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Time passes.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (first taking the electropulse probe)
Floyd | You put the electropulse probe into the fusion generator bay.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You trigger the bottom sensor.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Taken.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Time passes.

Floyd |
Floyd | Although you cannot see anything happening directly,  Cheryl's monitor
Floyd | hologram lights up with a multi-colored iridescent sphere which slowly
Floyd | fades away.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Cheryl Thadafel is a tall, wiry woman in her forties. You spent the
Floyd | last three months looking forward to seeing her again, but now that
Floyd | you do, you wonder why you found her pug nose and staring eyes
Floyd | attractive in your memories. Cheryl is carrying a monitor hologram, a

Floyd | laser pistol, and a key.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (Cheryl for the laser pistol)

Floyd | Cheryl says, "You think you're amusing? If there's something that you
Floyd | need a laser pistol for, I think you'll just have to let me do the
Floyd | shooting for you."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (Cheryl for the laser pistol)
Floyd | Cheryl says, "I'm not giving it to you. If you need something shot,
Floyd | maybe I'll do it."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Cheryl says, "Very funny."

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Cheryl says, "Trust me, Tolan, I will the minute you give me a good

Floyd | reason to."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (Cheryl for the monitor hologram)

Floyd | Cheryl says, "This monitor hologram is how I'm keeping tabs on you. If
Floyd | I don't have it, you're not going to get to do anything, anything at
Floyd | all."
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl thinks for a moment and then speaks again. "However, I recall
Floyd | we confiscated a pair of electromagnetic-sensitive goggles from you

Floyd | back when we... found... you here." She speaks into her communicator.
Floyd |
Floyd | Several minutes later, one of the guards stands in the doorway and
Floyd | tosses the goggles on the floor next to you, then leaves.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (first taking the electromagnetic goggles)

Floyd | You clumsily struggle to put on the electromagnetic goggles and the
Floyd | room suddenly bursts to life visually. Whorls and eddies of energy
Floyd | play over every surface of the room but the window. Although it is a
Floyd | far cry from being able to directly perceive this much of the
Floyd | electromagnetic spectrum, it is far, far more than you have been
Floyd | forced to live with for some time.

Floyd |
Floyd | The one drawback is that it is difficult to read displays, since the
Floyd | display spectrum is compressed to such a narrow band, and the display
Floyd | circuitry itself is exposed.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The twelve contacts are arranged around the edge of the plasma
Floyd | generation zone in perfect symmetry. They all look quite identical.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (the white pillar)
Floyd | The fusion generator is an elliptical pillar, with small amounts of

Floyd | energy playing over it. Energy flows in a regulated way across an
Floyd | access panel, which is open, revealing a fusion generator bay.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The fusion generator bay houses several Yi components you recognize
Floyd | comprise a plasma generator, while the remaining mechanism must be a
Floyd | plasma containment system. The containment system has twelve contact
Floyd | points. There is little energy flow to be seen, since the generator is
Floyd | off.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You trigger the top sensor.
Floyd |
Floyd | A sharp, multi-colored burst of electromagnetic radiation pulses out

Floyd | of the tip of the probe.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You put the electropulse probe into the fusion generator bay.

Floyd |
Floyd | You trigger the top sensor.
Floyd |
Floyd | A sharp, multi-colored burst of electromagnetic radiation pulses out
Floyd | of the tip of the probe.
Floyd |

Floyd | The contact points in the fusion generator bay resonate in
Floyd | response--all but the ninth one, which stays utterly black. There is
Floyd | probably a recalibration stud for each of the contacts amongst the
Floyd | giant array of controls on the slab.
Floyd |
Floyd | It is a good thing you got the goggles; the probe flash tends to

Floyd | overwhelm the details on Cheryl's hologram anyway.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | There are a number of studs whose function you are fairly certain of

Floyd | and which might prove relevant: a calibration stud, a tool stud, a
Floyd | generator access stud, an information stud, a powerup stud, a project
Floyd | status stud, a sequence stud, and a forcefield stud.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the calibration stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | Nothing appears to happen, but that is hardly surprising, since you

Floyd | know well it can't be calibrated without an appropriate stimulus.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Are you sure you know what you're doing, Tolan?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "Trial and error is part of the process of Mechanism."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Which do you mean, the contact points or the calibration stud?
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You're not holding the probe.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Make sure you err on the side of safety."
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You're not holding the probe.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | There's no good reply to make.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You're not holding the probe.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Taken.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You already have that.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You move the probe near the calibration stud and trigger the top

Floyd | sensor.
Floyd |
Floyd | A sharp, multi-colored burst of electromagnetic radiation pulses out
Floyd | of the tip of the probe.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You put the electropulse probe into the fusion generator bay.
Floyd |
Floyd | You trigger the top sensor.
Floyd |

Floyd | A sharp, multi-colored burst of electromagnetic radiation pulses out
Floyd | of the tip of the probe.
Floyd |
Floyd | The contact points in the fusion generator bay resonate in
Floyd | response--all but the ninth one, which stays utterly black. There is
Floyd | probably a recalibration stud for each of the contacts.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Cheryl says, "I don't think that would be a good idea."

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Activating this stud will recalibrate the ninth contact point in the
Floyd | fusion generator bay if the contact is appropriately stimulated at the

Floyd | same time.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the calibration stud and focus

Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | Nothing appears to happen, but that is hardly surprising, since it
Floyd | can't be calibrated without a simultaneous electromagnetic stimulus.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You need to be holding the electropulse probe before you can put it
Floyd | into something else.
Floyd | You trigger the bottom sensor, and the ambient electromagnetic
Floyd | activity in the probe increases significantly.

Floyd | Time passes.
Floyd | Timing your action carefully, you touch your fingertip gently against
Floyd | the calibration stud and focus your mind to concentrate your energies
Floyd | through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | A sharp, multi-colored burst of electromagnetic radiation pulses out

Floyd | of the tip of the probe.
Floyd |
Floyd | The contact points in the fusion generator bay resonate in response.
Floyd |
Floyd | You are confident it will power up now.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | This is the only stud you were able to activate when you were here
Floyd | before, and you are positive that it will produce the information
Floyd | Cheryl's looking for--which would make her bring today's session to a
Floyd | halt. It might be enough information for her to figure out what this
Floyd | place is; if so, you'd never get a chance to try again. So you better

Floyd | not activate it unless you've got a way to stop her.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | There are a number of studs whose function you are fairly certain of
Floyd | and which might prove relevant: a calibration stud, a tool stud, a
Floyd | generator access stud, an information stud, a powerup stud, a project
Floyd | status stud, a sequence stud, and a forcefield stud.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the powerup stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | Nothing happens. It would be typical of the Yi to have a safety

Floyd | interlock which requires the access panel be shut.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Your singing is abominable.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The probe blocks it from closing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Taken.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You close the generator access panel.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the powerup stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.

Floyd |
Floyd | The fusion generator pillar radiates a sequence of colors: dark red,
Floyd | deep purple, light blue, and then builds and peaks with a very bright
Floyd | yellow.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl's monitor hologram reveals significant electromagnetic activity

Floyd | beginning to occur within the fusion generator.
Floyd |
Floyd | It looks like powering up was a good place to start; that was fairly
Floyd | obvious. But you have no intuition about what to do next with a
Floyd | mechanism on this scale; the grid of stud offers thousands of studs,
Floyd | any of which could plausibly be involved.

Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "You're making quite a bit of progress, Tolan."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "No. This is little more than turning the lights on."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the sequence stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The viewscreen lights up, pulsing and probing energies dancing all
Floyd | over its surface.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl notices the changed display on the viewscreen. "What is that?
Floyd | Move away from the controls, Tolan. I want to decipher that text." She
Floyd | draws her laser pistol and points it at you.
Floyd |
Floyd | You look down at the viewscreen as you raise your hands for Cheryl and
Floyd | determine that this is exactly what you needed to know.

Floyd |
Floyd | Unfortunately, you'll never get the chance to make use of the
Floyd | information.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |     *** You have lost ***

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, UNDO your last move
Floyd | or QUIT?
Floyd | >

Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel Control Room
Floyd | [Previous turn undone.]
Floyd |
Floyd | >
Floyd | [Can't "undo" twice in succession. Sorry!]

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Activating this stud ought to produce some sort of more detailed
Floyd | display of the Yi-Lono-Mordel status. Knowing the way the Yi tend to

Floyd | compartmentalize knowledge, it will hopefully not give any detail
Floyd | about the point of the entire mechanism.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Oh, well, sure, for a place this big and complicated,
Floyd | that would be true."
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the project status stud and
Floyd | focus your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |

Floyd | Projected on the left half of the far wall of the room, an
Floyd | installation status display showing the current configuration of
Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel appears.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "What's this?" She takes a step closer to it. "Shoot, no
Floyd | text."

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You can't see any such thing.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | It's a little too hard to make out the display through the visual
Floyd | noise of the goggles.

Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Cool, that must be Yi-Lono-Mordel. I'm sure there's more
Floyd | to this, Tolan. Find me some text!"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You take off the goggles, revealing the drab world of the natural
Floyd | human visual spectrum.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the sequence stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |

Floyd | The viewscreen lights up with a list of Yi text and corresponding
Floyd | control iconography.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl notices the changed display on the viewscreen. "What is that?
Floyd | Move away from the controls, Tolan. I want to decipher that text." She
Floyd | draws her laser pistol and points it at you.

Floyd |
Floyd | You look down at the viewscreen as you raise your hands for Cheryl and
Floyd | determine that this is exactly what you needed to know.
Floyd |
Floyd | Unfortunately, you'll never get the chance to make use of the
Floyd | information.

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |     *** You have lost ***
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |

Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, UNDO your last move
Floyd | or QUIT?
Floyd | >

Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel Control Room
Floyd | [Previous turn undone.]
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the forcefield stud while
Floyd | focusing your mind to concentrate your energies through it. But you
Floyd | can not quite achieve the right electrical flow, because the handcuffs

Floyd | on your wrists short-circuit your hands.

Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "I can't imagine how you can stand wearing those bulky
Floyd | things. Of course they make a huge difference in what you see."

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | There's no good reply to make.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Just use TALK or REPLY to engage in idle chitchat; for
Floyd | non-conversational communication, see the information in ABOUT.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You seem to want to talk to someone, but I can't see whom.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (the installation status display)
Floyd | The installation status display uses crisp, simple geometric symbols
Floyd | to display a representation of the entire Yi-Lono-Mordel installation:
Floyd | the star system you are in now, with the twenty asteroids including
Floyd | this one orbiting it, and the twenty stars arrayed around it like the

Floyd | vertices of a dodecahedron, each with twenty asteroids of their own.
Floyd | The indicator corresponding to this asteroid is glowing brighter than
Floyd | those for the other asteroids.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Cheryl says, "Tolan, I don't trust you further than I can throw you.
Floyd | Until I see a problem you can't solve with the handcuffs on, forget
Floyd | it."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The installation status display shows a symbolic representation of the
Floyd | entire Yi-Lono-Mordel installation: the star system you are in now,

Floyd | with the twenty asteroids including this one orbiting it, and the
Floyd | twenty stars arrayed around it like the vertices of a dodecahedron,
Floyd | each with twenty asteroids of their own. The indicator corresponding
Floyd | to this asteroid is glowing brighter than those for the other
Floyd | asteroids.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | The installation status display shows a symbolic representation of the
Floyd | entire Yi-Lono-Mordel installation: the star system you are in now,
Floyd | with the twenty asteroids including this one orbiting it, and the

Floyd | twenty stars arrayed around it like the vertices of a dodecahedron,
Floyd | each with twenty asteroids of their own. The indicator corresponding
Floyd | to this asteroid is glowing brighter than those for the other
Floyd | asteroids.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The installation status display shows a symbolic representation of the
Floyd | entire Yi-Lono-Mordel installation: the star system you are in now,
Floyd | with the twenty asteroids including this one orbiting it, and the
Floyd | twenty stars arrayed around it like the vertices of a dodecahedron,

Floyd | each with twenty asteroids of their own. The indicator corresponding
Floyd | to this asteroid is glowing brighter than those for the other
Floyd | asteroids.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | There are a number of studs whose function you are fairly certain of
Floyd | and which might prove relevant: a calibration stud, a tool stud, a
Floyd | generator access stud, an information stud, a powerup stud, a project
Floyd | status stud, a sequence stud, and a forcefield stud.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the forcefield stud while
Floyd | focusing your mind to concentrate your energies through it. But you

Floyd | can not quite achieve the right electrical flow, because the handcuffs
Floyd | on your wrists short-circuit your hands.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You wave, feeling foolish.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Yes? I do see you, Tolan."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You are carrying:
Floyd |   an electropulse probe
Floyd |   a pair of electromagnetic goggles
Floyd |   a pair of handcuffs (being worn)

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Just use TALK or REPLY to engage in idle chitchat; for
Floyd | non-conversational communication, see the information in ABOUT.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You consider just how many sacrifices you would be willing to make to
Floyd | achieve your goals; reflecting on it, there is really nothing you

Floyd | would not be willing to do. But Cheryl has a laser pistol.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Which do you mean, the calibration stud, the tool stud, the generator

Floyd | access stud, the information stud, the powerup stud, the project
Floyd | status stud, the sequence stud or the forcefield stud?
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You point at the forcefield stud.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (first taking the forcefield stud)

Floyd | That's hardly portable.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You move the probe near the handcuffs and trigger the top sensor.

Floyd |
Floyd | Although you cannot see anything happening directly,  Cheryl's monitor
Floyd | hologram lights up with a multi-colored iridescent sphere which slowly
Floyd | fades away.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | This stud controls a probe storage mechanism.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the generator access stud and
Floyd | focus your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The elliptical pillar disappears back into the floor.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | There are a number of studs whose function you are fairly certain of
Floyd | and which might prove relevant: a calibration stud, a tool stud, a
Floyd | generator access stud, an information stud, a powerup stud, a project

Floyd | status stud, a sequence stud, and a forcefield stud.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the project status stud and
Floyd | focus your mind to concentrate your energies through it.

Floyd |
Floyd | The installation status display fades away.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | This stud controls a probe storage mechanism.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the project status stud and

Floyd | focus your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The installation status display showing the current configuration of
Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel appears, projected on the wall.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl looks at the status display to see if there's anything new.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | This is the only stud you were able to activate when you were here
Floyd | before, and you are positive that it will produce the information

Floyd | Cheryl's looking for--which would make her bring today's session to a
Floyd | halt. It might be enough information for her to figure out what this
Floyd | place is; if so, you'd never get a chance to try again. So you better
Floyd | not activate it unless you've got a way to stop her.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd |

Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel Control Room
Floyd | This low ellipsoidal room makes you uncomfortable with its perfect
Floyd | symmetry and sterility. The featureless white wall is broken up only
Floyd | by the large elliptical window in the ceiling and the circular doorway
Floyd | through which you entered. In the center sits a slab, two swept curves
Floyd | surrounding it.

Floyd |
Floyd | Projected on the left half of the far wall of the room is an
Floyd | installation status display.
Floyd |
Floyd | On the slab are a slot (which is empty) and a control surface.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl stands here, watching you closely.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You clumsily struggle to put on the electromagnetic goggles and the
Floyd | room suddenly bursts to life visually, including the various displays,
Floyd | which become more challenging to read.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The control surface is covered with a large grid of studs arranged in
Floyd | a hexagonal packing; it also features a set-in viewscreen.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Are those goggles helpful? Can you see anything through

Floyd | them that isn't on my hologram?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Cheryl takes the goggles from you. "Something interesting to see this

Floyd | way, Tolan?" She puts them on and looks around as if slightly
Floyd | disoriented.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the sequence stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The viewscreen lights up with a list of Yi text and corresponding
Floyd | control iconography.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl says, "Is that it?" She reaches up to take off the goggles.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The viewscreen is a small, perfectly square display set into the

Floyd | control surface. Although you can not understand the Yi writing, you
Floyd | can recognize a number of the control icons in the sequence: power-up,
Floyd | then transmit go, then control rods, then ignition. Powering up you
Floyd | have done; no doubt there are studs to trigger the other three.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Show's over, huh?" She takes off the goggles and tosses

Floyd | them on the ground beside you. Good thing they're sturdy enough to
Floyd | take a fair amount of abuse.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl notices the changed display on the viewscreen. "What is that?
Floyd | Move away from the controls, Tolan. I want to decipher that text." She
Floyd | draws her laser pistol and points it at you.

Floyd |
Floyd | Too bad you'll never get another chance.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |     *** You have lost ***
Floyd |

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, UNDO your last move
Floyd | or QUIT?
Floyd | >

Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel Control Room
Floyd | [Previous turn undone.]
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the sequence stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.

Floyd |
Floyd | The viewscreen returns to its normal display.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Show's over, huh?" She takes off the goggles and tosses
Floyd | them on the ground beside you. Good thing they're sturdy enough to
Floyd | take a fair amount of abuse.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (Cheryl)
Floyd | Cheryl says, "I'm not particulary interested in that."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (Cheryl)
Floyd | You would prefer not to do something that might provoke Cheryl and
Floyd | earn you a trip straight back to the brig.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Cheryl circles the slab and gives you a look of warning.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd |
Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel Control Room

Floyd | This low ellipsoidal room makes you uncomfortable with its perfect
Floyd | symmetry and sterility. The featureless white wall is broken up only
Floyd | by the large elliptical window in the ceiling and the circular doorway
Floyd | through which you entered. In the center sits a slab, two swept curves
Floyd | surrounding it.
Floyd |

Floyd | Projected on the left half of the far wall of the room is an
Floyd | installation status display.
Floyd |
Floyd | On the slab are a slot (which is empty) and a control surface.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl stands here, watching you closely.

Floyd |
Floyd | You can also see a pair of electromagnetic goggles here.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | This narrow rectangular slot is where the probe emerged.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | (first taking the electromagnetic goggles)
Floyd | Cheryl takes the goggles from you. "Got something to show me?" She
Floyd | puts them on and looks around.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You trigger the top sensor.

Floyd |
Floyd | Although you cannot see anything happening directly,  Cheryl's monitor
Floyd | hologram lights up with a multi-colored iridescent sphere which slowly
Floyd | fades away.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl, watching through the goggles, says, "Huh. Tolan, I'd never

Floyd | have thought you'd be one to admire beauty."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Time passes.

Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "That it?" She reaches up to take off the goggles.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Time passes.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl takes off the goggles and tosses them on the ground beside you.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (Cheryl for the electromagnetic goggles)
Floyd | Cheryl says, "You must be on artificial stimulants, Tolan."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (Cheryl for the key)
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Tolan, I don't trust you further than I can throw you.
Floyd | Until I see a problem you can't solve with the handcuffs on, forget
Floyd | it."

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (Cheryl for the laser pistol)
Floyd | Cheryl says, "I'm not giving it to you. If you need something shot,

Floyd | maybe I'll do it."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (Cheryl)

Floyd | Cheryl Thadafel is a tall, wiry woman in her forties. You spent the
Floyd | last three months looking forward to seeing her again, but now that
Floyd | you do, you wonder why you found her pug nose and staring eyes
Floyd | attractive in your memories. Cheryl is carrying a monitor hologram, a
Floyd | laser pistol, and a key.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | (Cheryl for the monitor hologram)
Floyd | Cheryl says, "I'm using this monitor hologram to track your
Floyd | activities, Tolan."

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | That is insubstantial.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | (first taking the electromagnetic goggles)
Floyd | Cheryl takes the goggles from you. "Got something to show me?" She

Floyd | puts them on and looks around.
Floyd | You trigger the bottom sensor.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "That's it?" She reaches up to take off the goggles.
Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the sequence stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.

Floyd |
Floyd | The viewscreen lights up with a list of Yi text and corresponding
Floyd | control iconography.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl takes off the goggles and tosses them on the ground beside you.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl notices the changed display on the viewscreen. "What is that?
Floyd | Move away from the controls, Tolan. I want to decipher that text." She
Floyd | draws her laser pistol and points it at you.
Floyd |
Floyd | You look down at the viewscreen as you raise your hands for Cheryl and
Floyd | determine that this is exactly what you needed to know.

Floyd |
Floyd | Unfortunately, you'll never get the chance to make use of the
Floyd | information.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |     *** You have lost ***

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, UNDO your last move
Floyd | or QUIT?
Floyd | >

Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel Control Room
Floyd | [Previous turn undone.]
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Time passes.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd |
Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel Control Room
Floyd | This low ellipsoidal room makes you uncomfortable with its perfect
Floyd | symmetry and sterility. The featureless white wall is broken up only
Floyd | by the large elliptical window in the ceiling and the circular doorway

Floyd | through which you entered. In the center sits a slab, two swept curves
Floyd | surrounding it.
Floyd |
Floyd | Projected on the left half of the far wall of the room is an
Floyd | installation status display.
Floyd |

Floyd | On the slab are a slot (which is empty) and a control surface.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl stands here, watching you closely.
Floyd |
Floyd | You can also see a pair of electromagnetic goggles here.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You move the probe near the control surface and trigger the top
Floyd | sensor.

Floyd |
Floyd | Although you cannot see anything happening directly,  Cheryl's monitor
Floyd | hologram lights up with a multi-colored iridescent sphere which slowly
Floyd | fades away.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You put the "top" end of the probe back into the slot, leaving the
Floyd | sensors exposed. The probe is held in place firmly, but sticks up out
Floyd | of the slot.
Floyd |

Floyd | You trigger the top sensor.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl's monitor hologram lights up with a burst of radiant energy
Floyd | from the probe, just under the surface of the slab.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Taken.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You trigger the bottom sensor.
Floyd | (first taking the electromagnetic goggles)
Floyd | Cheryl takes the goggles from you. "Got something to show me?" She
Floyd | puts them on and looks around.
Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the sequence stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.

Floyd |
Floyd | The viewscreen lights up with a list of Yi text and corresponding
Floyd | control iconography.
Floyd |
Floyd | Although you cannot see anything happening directly,  Cheryl's monitor
Floyd | hologram lights up with a multi-colored iridescent sphere which slowly

Floyd | fades away.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl, watching through the goggles, says, "Quite neat."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Activating this toggle stud will most likely bring up a concise
Floyd | listing of the steps needed to use Yi-Lono-Mordel on the control
Floyd | surface viewscreen, and you're pretty stuck for what to do next
Floyd | without that information. It probably has text that Cheryl could
Floyd | decipher, but hopefully it includes symbolic instructions, so you can

Floyd | figure it out on your own.
Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the sequence stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The viewscreen returns to its normal display.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl says, "That's it?" She reaches up to take off the goggles.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (Cheryl)

Floyd | (first taking the elliptical window)
Floyd | That's hardly portable.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl takes off the goggles and tosses them on the ground beside you.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You trigger the bottom sensor.
Floyd | (first taking the electromagnetic goggles)
Floyd | Cheryl takes the goggles from you. "Got something to show me?" She
Floyd | puts them on and looks around.

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the sequence stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The viewscreen lights up with a list of Yi text and corresponding
Floyd | control iconography.
Floyd |

Floyd | Although you cannot see anything happening directly,  Cheryl's monitor
Floyd | hologram lights up with a multi-colored iridescent sphere which slowly
Floyd | fades away.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl, watching through the goggles, says, "It's nice, but I've seen
Floyd | it before."

Floyd | The viewscreen is a small, perfectly square display set into the
Floyd | control surface. Although you can not understand the Yi writing, you
Floyd | can recognize a number of the control icons in the sequence: power-up,
Floyd | then transmit go, then control rods, then ignition. Powering up you
Floyd | have done; no doubt there are studs to trigger the other three.
Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the sequence stud and focus

Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The viewscreen returns to its normal display.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "Is that it?" She reaches up to take off the goggles.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | There are a number of studs whose function you are fairly certain of

Floyd | and which might prove relevant: a transmit stud, a control stud, an
Floyd | ignition stud, a calibration stud, a tool stud, a generator access
Floyd | stud, an information stud, a powerup stud, a project status stud, a
Floyd | sequence stud, and a forcefield stud.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl takes off the goggles and tosses them on the ground beside you.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | (the control surface)
Floyd | The control surface is covered with a large grid of studs arranged in
Floyd | a hexagonal packing; it also features a set-in viewscreen.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Activating this stud no doubt transmits a signal of some sort,

Floyd | presumably to the other asteroids in the Yi-Lono-Mordel installation.
Floyd | Considering their ability to miniaturize, the Yi would not need an
Floyd | external transmission source; the transmitter is probably right inside
Floyd | the slab. However, given the location and energy necessary, the signal
Floyd | it produces will surely be visible on Cheryl's monitor hologram or
Floyd | through your electromagnetic goggles.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Activating this stud should give access to the final control system.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the transmit stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | A very bright blue ball appears on Cheryl's monitor hologram in the
Floyd | center of the control slab.

Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "What was that? I suspect that's what a signal
Floyd | transmission would look like. Don't touch a thing, Tolan." She draws
Floyd | her laser pistol. "Until I can find out what just happened, I'm
Floyd | sending you back to the brig."
Floyd |

Floyd | Unfortunately, once she finds out what just happened, they'll probably
Floyd | opt for a harsher penalty than just the brig.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |     *** You have lost ***
Floyd |

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, UNDO your last move
Floyd | or QUIT?
Floyd | >

Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel Control Room
Floyd | [Previous turn undone.]
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (the control surface)
Floyd | It is fixed in place.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the control stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | Nothing happens.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | There are a number of studs whose function you are fairly certain of
Floyd | and which might prove relevant: a transmit stud, a control stud, an

Floyd | ignition stud, a calibration stud, a tool stud, a generator access
Floyd | stud, an information stud, a powerup stud, a project status stud, a
Floyd | sequence stud, and a forcefield stud.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the ignition stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.

Floyd |
Floyd | Nothing happens.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Activating this stud presumably begins operation of
Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel--and there's no way Cheryl's going to miss that.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You can't see any such thing.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Activating this stud no doubt transmits a signal of some sort,
Floyd | presumably to the other asteroids in the Yi-Lono-Mordel installation.
Floyd | Knowing the Yi, the transmitter is inside the slab. Transmitting such

Floyd | a signal will be very visible on Cheryl's hologram.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The slab, subtly off-white, is warm to the touch, and hides the

Floyd | sensitive Yi technological components needed to manipulate the whole
Floyd | of Yi-Lono-Mordel. In the top center edge on the side opposite the
Floyd | door is a small notch. Extending across much of the surface of the
Floyd | slab is a slightly raised control surface. There is an open slot in
Floyd | the slab where the probe emerged.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | (the installation status display)
Floyd | That is insubstantial.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the project status stud and
Floyd | focus your mind to concentrate your energies through it.

Floyd |
Floyd | The installation status display fades away.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the project status stud and
Floyd | focus your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The installation status display showing the current configuration of
Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel appears, projected on the wall.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | There are a number of studs whose function you are fairly certain of
Floyd | and which might prove relevant: a transmit stud, a control stud, an
Floyd | ignition stud, a calibration stud, a tool stud, a generator access

Floyd | stud, an information stud, a powerup stud, a project status stud, a
Floyd | sequence stud, and a forcefield stud.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the tool stud and focus your
Floyd | mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | The slot through which the probe emerged closes.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | That's not a verb I recognise.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (the installation status display)
Floyd | The installation status display shows a symbolic representation of the
Floyd | entire Yi-Lono-Mordel installation: the star system you are in now,
Floyd | with the twenty asteroids including this one orbiting it, and the
Floyd | twenty stars arrayed around it like the vertices of a dodecahedron,

Floyd | each with twenty asteroids of their own. The indicator corresponding
Floyd | to this asteroid is glowing brighter than those for the other
Floyd | asteroids.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The installation status display shows a symbolic representation of the
Floyd | entire Yi-Lono-Mordel installation: the star system you are in now,
Floyd | with the twenty asteroids including this one orbiting it, and the
Floyd | twenty stars arrayed around it like the vertices of a dodecahedron,

Floyd | each with twenty asteroids of their own. The indicator corresponding
Floyd | to this asteroid is glowing brighter than those for the other
Floyd | asteroids.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the tool stud and focus your
Floyd | mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | A slot appears on the top of the slab.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | (the installation status display)
Floyd | There's nothing to feel.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You put the "top" end of the probe back into the slot, leaving the
Floyd | sensors exposed. The probe is held in place firmly, but sticks up out
Floyd | of the slot.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | There's nothing to feel.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You trigger the bottom sensor.
Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the tool stud and focus your
Floyd | mind to concentrate your energies through it.

Floyd |
Floyd | The probe sinks into the slot, which closes over it.
Floyd | Timing your action carefully, you touch your fingertip gently against
Floyd | the transmit stud and focus your mind to concentrate your energies
Floyd | through it.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl's monitor hologram lights up with a burst of radiant energy
Floyd | from the probe and from the transmission, both interfering with each
Floyd | other and masked by the surroundings of the control slab.
Floyd |
Floyd | An icon on the viewscreen changes subtly.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | They are still indecipherable.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | There are a number of studs whose function you are fairly certain of
Floyd | and which might prove relevant: a transmit stud, a control stud, an
Floyd | ignition stud, a calibration stud, a tool stud, a generator access
Floyd | stud, an information stud, a powerup stud, a project status stud, a

Floyd | sequence stud, and a forcefield stud.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The viewscreen is a small, perfectly square display set into the

Floyd | control surface. It shows some indecipherable icons.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the control stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | A pair of rods slowly emerge from surface of the slab.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "What are those?"

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "It seems it will not display any information unless you
Floyd | activate these controls."

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | They're not something you can sit down on.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl says, "I knew it! The place must be very important to have its
Floyd | information so protected. It's rather uncharacteristic of the Yi, but
Floyd | I expected that all along."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | A pair of slender cylindrical control rods sticks up from the surface
Floyd | of the slab through a thin crack. The rods are about a meter apart.

Floyd | You have never seen anything like this in your experience with Yi
Floyd | equipment.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | The rods poke up out of this thin crack.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch each of the rods one at a time, but the handcuffs prevent
Floyd | you from touching both at the same time. Although the rods have a
Floyd | subtle electric potential, you cannot find any way to trigger them
Floyd | energistically.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | They're fixed in place.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You try to reach and touch both of the rods at the same time, but the
Floyd | handcuffs prevent you.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | Cheryl says, "I'd rather leave my hands free to reach for my laser,
Floyd | Tolan. But I guess you can take the handcuffs off."
Floyd |
Floyd | She tosses the key to the handcuffs onto the floor next to you.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Taken.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You unlock the handcuffs.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You try to reach and touch both of the rods at the same time, but the
Floyd | handcuffs prevent you.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | (first opening the handcuffs)
Floyd | You take off the handcuffs.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You pull the rods together, towards each other, and they move until
Floyd | they are much closer. An icon on the viewscreen changes slightly. The
Floyd | rods want to spring back apart, and you can not do anything else while

Floyd | holding them together, so you release the rods.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You pull the rods together and slip the handcuffs on them. They seem
Floyd | to hold the rods together quite handily. An icon on the viewscreen
Floyd | changes slightly.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl says, "How clever."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "Took you long enough to notice."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the forcefield stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl notices the activity on her hologram monitor. She turns to face
Floyd | you. "Tolan, if I'm not mistaken, there's a forcefield around this
Floyd | slab... and us." Her laser pistol is in her hand. "I suggest you lower

Floyd | that forcefield. If I'm forced to use this... well, I might be trapped
Floyd | here for a while, but the Terran Alliance will ship the technology to
Floyd | break the field eventually. So why don't you make it easy on the both
Floyd | of us?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Little choice: in death there will be no second chances.

Floyd | Unfortunately, this has tipped them off, and you'll never get a second
Floyd | chance in what's left of your life, either.
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |     *** You have lost ***
Floyd |

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, UNDO your last move
Floyd | or QUIT?
Floyd | >

Floyd | Yi-Lono-Mordel Control Room
Floyd | [Previous turn undone.]
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | (the room)
Floyd | The room is about fifteen meters long, eight meters wide, and three
Floyd | meters tall, in the traditional Yi ratio 4:2:1, with the vertical
Floyd | compromised to only 2/3 its height before the floor intrudes. A status
Floyd | display is projected on one side of the room.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl says, "I'm surprised the Yi would have had such a physical
Floyd | control system. I could have operated that myself."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the information stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.

Floyd |
Floyd | A large display appears on the right wall of the room, filled with
Floyd | line after line of Yi text.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl notices the activity and turns to look at the display. "That's
Floyd | it! You've found it. Wonderful!" She walks over to take a closer look

Floyd | at it. "Oh, Tolan, I think the first word is 'humans'! I think this
Floyd | might be addressed to us! The first ever communication from the Yi."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the forcefield stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl notices the activity on her hologram monitor. She turns to face
Floyd | you. "Tolan, you're a dead man. I told you not to mess with anything."
Floyd | She draws her laser pistol, but hesitates. "Hell, that's a Yi

Floyd | forcefield, isn't it? Well, you can't stay in there forever."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | There's no good reply to make.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the ignition stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |
Floyd | On Cheryl's monitor hologram, an enormous surge of energy flows out of
Floyd | the fusion generator and out in all directions around the room.
Floyd |

Floyd | The indicator corresponding to this asteroid on the installation
Floyd | status display turns white.
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl looks at the monitor hologram in dismay, then turns to face
Floyd | you.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl says, "What are you up to, Tolan?"
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "Well, it has been fun, Cheryl. But it is over now."

Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "What do you mean?"
Floyd |
Floyd | A speaker at the doorway crackles to life. "Dig Leader, some time ago
Floyd | we detected a transmission to the surrounding asteroids, and have just
Floyd | determined it came from the control room."

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "Yi-Lono-Mordel is powered up and ready to go."
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl says, "Ready? What is Yi-Lono-Mordel?"
Floyd |
Floyd | The indicator for this asteroid on the status display turns bright
Floyd | yellow.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "It is the Yi's ultimate weapon, just like you said. You
Floyd | remember the Lono planet-buster? Yi-Lono-Mordel is more. Far more. It
Floyd | is a galaxy smasher. I think. I believe. I hope."
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl stares at you silently.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "We can only assume the Yi did not use it because they did
Floyd | not want to wipe out humanity along with the Lono--at least, not if
Floyd | humanity managed to stop the Lono."
Floyd |
Floyd | The indicators for the other asteroids around this star light up a bit
Floyd | brighter.

Floyd |
Floyd | >
Floyd | You say, "So now I will get to do the honors."
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "What? Destroy the galaxy? Why?"
Floyd |

Floyd | The voice on the speaker returns. "Also, a freighter in the area
Floyd | reports a signal was sent out to the neighboring stars."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You shake your head. "Cheryl, Cheryl. Come now. Why do you think I
Floyd | would want to destroy all of humanity?"
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl says, "I know you too well to believe you're a psychopath. So I
Floyd | don't know."
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "You do not know me at all, Cheryl. I am different from
Floyd | everyone you know. Different from every human being in the galaxy, in
Floyd | fact. Differently motivated."

Floyd |
Floyd | The indicator for this asteroid on the status display turns hot pink.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "Did your superiors suspect? Did they tell you to keep me
Floyd | away, or did they tell you to kill me? Tell me."
Floyd |
Floyd | Cheryl considers replying, but hesitates.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "Never mind, it matters not."
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You say, "Well, enough discussion. I find it hard enough to control
Floyd | this pathetic human body without forcing myself to try to make human
Floyd | speech. Say goodbye, 'Milky Way'."
Floyd |
Floyd | The indicator for this asteroid on the status display begins flashing.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You cackle maniacally.
Floyd |

Floyd | Cheryl opens her mouth to speak, but she is, for once, at a loss for
Floyd | words.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You wave, feeling foolish.
Floyd |

Floyd | >

Floyd | There's no good reply to make.
Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | Activating this stud presumably begins operation of Yi-Lono-Mordel.

Floyd |
Floyd | >

Floyd | You touch your fingertip gently against the ignition stud and focus
Floyd | your mind to concentrate your energies through it.
Floyd |

Floyd | You feel a final, tiny twinge of regret, as the energies start to
Floyd | course through your finger. Regret that, with the destruction of this
Floyd | galaxy, the Yi will have well and truly escaped the Lono forever.
Floyd |
Floyd | But the destruction of the Humans is a great thing. Since it required
Floyd | the Yi's Lono weapon--in addition to the weapon the Lono had

Floyd | considered a long shot: you--the unintentional contribution of the Yi
Floyd | is perhaps sufficient to justify abandoning the vow against them.
Floyd |
Floyd | Rationalization, but...
Floyd |
Floyd | the world turns white

Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |     *** You have won ***
Floyd |
Floyd |
Floyd |

Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, UNDO your last move,
Floyd | see some suggestions for AMUSING things to do or QUIT?
Floyd | >

Floyd |
Floyd | You saw 54 of the 107 conversation fragments. Mind you, you can't see
Floyd | them all in one playthrough, anyway.
Floyd |
Floyd | Besides exploring the conversations further, you might try:
Floyd |

Floyd |    commanding Cheryl to use her gun
Floyd |    examining things while wearing the goggles
Floyd |    pointing at things, including the handcuffs
Floyd |    turning off the forcefield before revealing your secret
Floyd |    using the probe's first appearance as a distraction for the
Floyd | sequence stud

Floyd |    looking under the handcuffs
Floyd |    REPLYing instead of TALKing (only a few differences)
Floyd |
Floyd | Authors might be amused at this line of code:
Floyd |    has lockable openable worn clothing locked pluralname;
Floyd |

Floyd | Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, UNDO your last move,
Floyd | see some suggestions for AMUSING things to do or QUIT?
Floyd | >