Game 39: Earthrise - Won!

Captain's Log, Entry 6: "I have completed my mission and the asteroid Solus no longer poses a concern to the inhabitants of Earth. I spent many hours trying to find a way into the inner security office to shut down the force field, but eventually I had no choice but to destroy the panel. In a huge stroke of luck, this choice led to the discovery of both screwdrivers I needed (note to self, take a toolkit on future missions). I was able to bring the navigation system back up, giving control of the asteroid back to humanity. Leaving wasn't as straight forward as I'd hoped, but I'm pretty used to these alien creatures now. I've been promoted, and as happy as I am to be back on Earth temporarily, am looking forward to receiving my next mission."

Just....why!!!???

I’ve completed Earthrise: A Guild Investigation! I wish I could say that I achieved this victory unassisted, but unfortunately that is not the case. I requested assistance at the end of my last post, and while I did have one more stab at trying to figure things out on my own, I ended up having to use the hints left for me by Lars-Erik. When I finally came to the conclusion that I was defeated, I deciphered Lars-Erik’s Hint 1: “Encounter any locked doors recently?” I had of course, as I’d never been able to find the key to open the door to the inner security office. I knew from looking through the glass that there was a panel that controlled the force field up on the surface, but I’d not been able to find any way to get to it. Had I missed a key somewhere? Was there a way to open the door without a key? I made my way back to the Security Office and tried a few things. I’d convinced myself that every item in the game only had one use, since I’d not found a single one that I’d used multiple times to this point. With that in mind, the only unused items in my inventory were a comb, an empty gun, and a smelly sock. How could any of those items help me? I wasn’t able to break the glass as far as I could tell, and any attempts to smash the lock failed. I ignored my instincts and tried all the other items in my inventory on the lock, but nothing worked. I would have to read Hint 2.

Yeah, well I can't alright!!!???

The second hint was “Too bad you’re in an adventure game and not an action movie!” Well, whatever the solution was, it obviously involved something violent. Out of desperation I typed “shoot control panel with drill”. My character walked down the screen a bit, making me think I’d found the solution! A message popped up saying “You just love hip shooting” and then my character fired the laser at the glass wall. It bounced back and cut me completely in half!!! “That glass is pretty reflective, and the L in laser stands for light stupid.” Well that wasn’t the solution. What would Arnie do!? He’d probably throw a chair through the glass. I tried it but it didn’t work. Damn it, how could I still not know what to do? Hint 3: “Got anything in your inventory that can help with uncooperative doors?” No, not really! OK, surely it has to be the laser drill, I thought, yet shooting the lock didn’t work. Was I supposed to shoot through the lock somehow? I typed “shoot through lock” and got “The lock is chrome plated, and would reflect most of the laser light.” After another few minutes of trying, I had to look at Lars-Erik’s spoiler. “Shoot the door.” What? The door itself? Really, that’s it? I typed “shoot the door with laser” and watched as my character blew a hole in it from a couple of meters away (3 points). Finally! So now I assumed I would be able to open the door somehow. Perhaps reach in and unlock it? Nope!

Wow! That's just...brutal!

So keep shooting until it's no longer a problem!

There was definitely a hole in the door, but I didn’t seem to be able to put my hand through it or open the door as far as I could tell. Was I supposed to shoot through it? I typed “shoot panel with laser”, only for my character to attempt shooting through the glass again, resulting in another painful death. “Shoot panel through hole” = “Please be more specific, shoot with what?” It was only when I typed “shoot panel through hole with laser” that my character finally did what I wanted him to. The panel exploded (12 points), and I immediately set out for the surface to find out what was behind the force field. When I got there I was able to investigate the trench, the rocks and the suit for the first time. The trench was empty, but the rocks turned out to be gold nuggets! I picked up a nugget (10 points), wondering whether it would serve a purpose other than points. The suit wasn’t in very good shape, but to my delight there was a flathead screwdriver in one of the pockets! I picked it up (15 points), and made my way north one screen to the Radio Tower. I climbed the ladder and positioned myself in front of the access panel that was being held shut by a screw. Typing “remove screw” did exactly that (10 points), meaning I was then able to press the Open button on the control panel located on the other side of the ladder (5 points).

I really don't think I would ever have solved this without help. The parser alone made it next to impossible.

I would have traded all the gold in the world for this thing!

What could possibly be inside!? It must be something incredibly important!

The access panel opened, and inside I could see a set of pulleys spinning around. That wasn’t all that was in there though, as I could see yet another screwdriver sitting towards the front! It had to be the phillips head screwdriver I needed for the Recreation Room! I tried to pick it up, but it seemed to be difficult to retrieve. My character got his finger caught in the belts and while he did manage to get it free, there was now a hole in my pressure suit! In what has to be the most awesome scene in the game, blood began to spurt uncontrollably out of the finger, and I was propelled into the air at a rapid pace! I laughed as my character flew off into the distance the way Sandra Bullock does in Gravity using the fire extinguisher. “You just did a wonderful impression of a garden hose. Next time be more careful with your pressure suit.” I restored and repeated everything I’d just done, except this time I knew how to avoid death. After opening the access panel, I climbed back down the ladder and cut the wires in the box at the base (5 points). This of course cut the power to the pulley system, allowing me to climb back up and retrieve the screwdriver. I felt like nothing could get in my way now, and quickly made my way back to the Recreation Room where yet another panel full of screws awaited me.

This tops all the death scenes before it, and some of those were pretty good.

I had a good chuckle at my awful misfortune.

I went through all that to find a screwdriver just so I could uncover another screwdriver?!

I once again typed “remove screws” and successfully opened the panel in the rear of the control console (10 points). Inside I found a bunch of regulators and “one noteworthy cable”. I immediately knew this was the cable I needed to repair the navigation system in the Engine Room, so I used my wire cutters to retrieve it (15 points). Cutting the cable shut down the Recreation Room projector, which meant the refreshing scenes of nature were no longer present. I made my way back to the central hub through a bunch of plain pink and purple rooms. With the cable in my possession, I journeyed back to the Engine Room and tried to repair the broken link with the cable. “The wire you have is insulated end to end. To replace the fusable link, you will need bare copper on both ends of the wire.” OK. I typed “strip cable with wires”, and it worked: “You brandish your wire cutters and carefully bare both ends of the wire.” With this done, I repaired the link, giving power back to the computer and tape drive in the navigation room (30 points). I figured I would now be able to press the big red button on the main console in the Engine Room, so that’s what I did (40 points). “GOOD JOB! Now that the asteroid’s engines and navigation systems are working, all you need to do is get back home.” I had 753 points out of 800, so clearly the end of the game was approaching rapidly! I figured it wouldn’t be completely straight forward though, and braced myself for whatever final obstacle awaited me.

What? No water cooling?!

Not quite as tranquil.

This is all starting to feel like my old day job now.

I left the underground base and hopped into my pod. “There is something green and very strange looking over your head. Wait a minute! It’s moving!” A large green slimey thing dropped down from the ceiling in my pod and enveloped me. It didn’t seem to be able to get through my pressure suit, but I was informed that I eventually ran out of air and suffocated. That was the last obstacle I was expecting, but thankfully it was pretty obvious what I was supposed to do. I’d previously tried giving the preservative-filled cake to the gelatinous blob in the Mine, since a note I found in the Research Labs seemed to suggest eating the cake would kill it. It was now clear that this green slime was the creature the scientist had been talking about! I restored and made my way back to the pod. Instead of hopping in though, I typed “throw cake into pod” and watched as my character accurately threw the cake onto the floor right below where I knew the slime to be located. As expected, the slime dropped down to consume it, but ran into trouble almost immediately. It tried to flee the pod, but melted into nothingness just a few feet away (20 points). There was nothing else stopping me from getting to the controls, so I sat down and pressed the “Automated Return” button. The pod took off from Solus and made its way back up to and then into the TMG-7 space shuttle. Could this be the end?

I had to look the Jolly Green Giant up, but now know he has something to do with canned vegetables.

I'm wheat intolerant, so I know just how he feels.

I'm finally off that rock!

No end credits appeared, so it looked like I was going to have to at least set my course for Earth. I jumped out of the pod and walked through the shuttle to the bridge. Laying down on the couch, I firstly closed the pod bay doors and then pressed the “Automated Return” button. “You feel the thrust of your main engines as your shuttle breaks orbit, and begins the trip back to Earth.” (7 points) Still no end credits though! I thought about what occurred when I first arrived at Solus, and remembered that I awoke in one of the cryofreeze units. I descended down to the unit and got in. “As you drift off to sleep, you think of the great task you just accomplished. You wonder what exciting mission the Guild will send you on next time.” (10 points) I was shown a quick display of my shuttle accelerating off into the distance and then the below closing message appeared. Basically I made it home, at which point a second team was dispatched for the asteroid. They discovered six survivors of the original team, who had apparently been living behind the barricade in the Living Quarters the whole time. The last thing I was told was that I had been promoted, and that my score was 790 out of 800. Oooohhh...just 10 short of a perfect score. Anyone know what I missed? Final Rating post will be up in a few days.

I want one of these in my car.

Where's the Space Quest music? Actually, where's the music!

The End

Session Time: 0 hours 30 minutes
Total Time: 11 hours 00 minutes